Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It’s a cliche really. The ‘not all men are born equal’ quote. But to be honest, that phrase doesn’t really apply to me. From a biological standpoint I’m definitely not equal, I’m better than ‘equal’ in fact. My body has its own built in weapon system, who needs a quirk when you have a kagune? Socially I’m also not equal, but in this case it’s because my kind are persecuted. When I was nine both of my parents were butchered by the Commission of Counter Ghoul (CCG). My father was arguably deserving, he had previously killed large amounts of humans before committing himself to a pacifist lifestyle. One could argue that a decade of pacifism didn’t make up for his three decades of murder. My mother however… she was a different story. She’d never killed a human, instead she was what is called a ‘scavenger’ in the ghoul world. Looking for those that die of natural causes, or who take their own lives. She’d gotten the idea after hearing of a group ghouls who did much the same thing from a coffee shop in Tokyo. Alas that wasn’t enough to save her, she was a ghoul and therefore she was slaughtered trying to keep me safe. 

It wasn’t just the CCG, an underground hero had also been involved in the raid. He was the one who found me and for some reason… spared me. Maybe it was the tears, or something in him saying that killing children wasn’t morally just. Some days I wished he had killed me, that way I wouldn’t be mooching off of others. At the moment I’ve got an abandoned apartment in the slums that I live in, it’s honestly disgusting and chances are that if it weren’t for my superior biology I’d have caught a disease and died in here. I stuck with the pacifism that was shown to me by my parents and it hasn’t failed me yet. 

A couple of years later the law changed, being a ghoul was no longer justification for extermination, now a body count had to be directly tied to you. A more naive me might’ve thought that I could be open about who I was, but that would’ve been a mistake. Lynch mobs would roam the streets of Musutafu and attack anyone who was known to be a ghoul. As expected the ghoul would release their kagune to defend themselves and as such would become a target for extermination. Logically that would make what I was about to do really stupid and dangerous, but I was tired of just living, I wanted to thrive! And that’s how I found myself at the entrance exam for UA’s heroics course. 

I took a deep breath in and a deep breath out, potentially one of my last if I don’t get lynched. As confident as I hoped I appeared on the outside on the inside I was utterly terrified. The written exam was a piece of cake, but that hadn’t involved the use of my kagune. Admittedly I got some looks when I put N/A under the ‘Quirk’ section of the info form but I’m sure they’ll get it soon enough. I was standing amongst a large crowd outside of an area called Battle Center B, somewhere that looked like a large city. Everyone was displaying faux confidence, anybody who wasn’t slightly apprehensive must be lying. Within the crowd, I noticed a girl who’d helped me earlier when I almost tripped up on my way to the massive lecture hall, “Should probably thank her” I muttered. From nowhere I felt a hand touch my shoulder and I immediately turned around and prepared to do whatever it took to defend myself. It was another person I’d noticed earlier, this time the one with blue hair “She’s probably preparing for the test. You shouldn’t disturb her.” he stated, as though he had some sort of authority over me. Staring directly into his eyes, in the most calm yet threatening voice I could muster I simply stated “Do that again and you’ll find yourself missing a hand”. It didn’t take long for his hand to find itself where it belonged, back by his side. Before he could retort further the doors to the mock city opened and everybody made their way inside. 

Barely visible on top of a tower was Present Mic, mucking about with a microphone. Looking like he’d sorted the issue he just stated “Go”. Everybody just stood still, looking at him for further instruction. “Real life doesn’t have countdowns little listeners! Run, go go go!” That got everybody, myself included, moving. Once I’d ascertained where everybody was running I moved to the opposite end of the battle ground, no point in running the risk of them trying to kill me then and there. For the one pointers my standard ghoul strength was enough, two pointers were more difficult but manageable, and as for three pointers… I just tried my best to avoid them. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to use my kagune but more that I wanted to save it, sort of keep it in reserve. That was a lie, I suppose part of me didn’t want to use it, lest any ideas of me just being another regular UA student candidate would be shattered and the truth of my ghoulish nature revealed. Honestly I’d felt as though I’d racked up a fair number of points, maybe even enough for a low end pass. But the universe evidently had different plans, the ground roared as though there was some sort of earthquake. Running to the center of the grounds however revealed a different story, the zero pointer that we’d been warned of. And just barely audible thanks to my ghoul hearing was a cry of “Help!”, in the path of the zero pointer was that girl from earlier, stuck under a pile of rubble. Everyone else ran away, assumably to save their own behinds and maybe rack up a few more points. Before I could even consider the logical thing to do, I was running towards the girl, kagune exposed in the light of day, and whilst I didn’t have a mirror on me I could tell the kakugan in both eyes were visible. Using my tentacle like muscles to propel me I closed the difference between myself and the brunette. For a moment I could see the pure terror in her eyes when they made contact with my own, ignoring that I set to work. Using my strength it wasn’t hard to remove the rubble, though it looked like it had done some damage to her leg and she couldn’t run. I quickly picked her up and moved her to a position of safety. “You’re alright” I told her. “Your leg might be broken, I’m sure once the exam is over you’ll get medical help. Now stay right here, I’m going to deal with that zero pointer, lest it hurt anybody else.” A thanks was on her tongue but she wasn’t quite able to let it out, not that I expected her to thank a ghoul after all. Mustering as much speed as possible I jumped upwards towards the zero pointer. Using my tentacles as though they were ice hooks and the front of the machine a thick wall of ice I climbed my way up to the head. Round the back was likely where the logic boards and circuitry was located. Without any precision I just let rip into the head with my kagune until it stopped moving. Before I could think the machine’s head exploded, sending me flying like a ragdoll, rapidly falling to the ground. Buildings were too far away on either side to grab onto them with my kagune, I accepted that I was going to have a rough landing. By no means would it kill me though it would certainly hurt. 

Just before I made impact I’d stopped moving, it was the girl again. Using her quirk she slowed my descent. “Release” she stated before falling over, me falling immediately after her.

“And the exam is OVEEEEEEER”.

I just remained where I was, looking upwards. Not out of tiredness but out of a sense of amazement, here I was, a ghoul, for the second time in my life being saved by a human. Admittedly I was only fifteen so I had more years ahead of me, hopefully, for that to happen again, but still… it was interesting. The girl rolled onto her side and let out some vomit, it looked like saving me really took a lot from her. I’d have to make a point of giving a proper thanks at some point. My kagune reentered my kakuhou as though it was never there, and my eyes went back to their usual colour. Not that it mattered, several members of the growing crowd of people had noticed my rinkaku as I destroyed the zero pointer. Some people were showing fear, to be expected, and others displayed raw hate. If it weren’t for the fact that a group of heros came to where I was lying on the ground, chances are they’d have tried to kill me. Amongst the heroes were Present Mic, Vlad King, and Recovery Girl. Present Mic and Vlad King acted as a barrier, ordering the examinees to leave. Whilst Recovery Girl gave aid to the girl. Meanwhile I was in the centre of all this and just being totally ignored except by the crowd who weren’t exactly pleased by my presence.

One more teacher turned up when I wasn’t really paying attention, I was brought back to reality by his rough voice saying “Get up and come with me”. Doing as I was told I got up and followed the man, not really looking up from the ground. He led me to the main building of UA where I assumed a squad of CCG would be waiting to finish the job that they’d started those six years ago. Instead I found myself at the door of the office of the principal, Nedzu. The man opened the door and entered, dutifully I followed. The office was rather ornate, with the rat… bear… thing… sitting at his desk. For the first time I looked at the hero I’d been following for the last couple of minutes, and there was something just that little bit familiar about him, but I couldn’t quite place it.

“Midoriya Izuku” the principal started. “This is the first time in a long time that I’ve been in a room with people and not been the only non-human.” I gulped. The rodent had a mysterious glint in his eye. “This is honestly the first time in history that we’ve had a ghoul on UA grounds. And we’re not totally sure how to handle it. Points wise you’ve passed both the practical and written exams with flying colours. Midoriya, what would you do in my shoes?”

It was almost as though he was testing me. “Well… to be honest if I was in your shoes I wouldn’t let me in. Whilst legally there’s no repercussions to you letting me into the school, some in the CCG would argue that I still pose a threat.” Nedzu nodded. “Well Midoriya, do you pose a threat to the school or its students?” I hummed, considering my answer. “Well… I don’t pose a threat to the students. Whilst I haven’t signed up for the government trial where they deliver uh… meat to your door, I don’t kill people. I’m what other ghouls would call a ‘scavenger’ so it’s kind of like guilt free methods of getting food? No killing people anyway. But I suppose I might threaten the reputation of the school, since I’m a ghoul”. 

My answer must’ve pleased the principal because it looked like for a moment he actually smiled. “Eraserhead here is going to take you to another office to ask some further questions. Otherwise Midoriya, welcome to UA. You’ll get your official acceptance letter in the mail.”

My normal stoic facade was dropped for the first time in years I showed happiness on my face. Somehow, I’d beaten the odds and gotten into the UA hero course as a ghoul!

Once more the man, Eraserhead, gestured to me to follow him. He lead me to what I assumed to be his office, though it looked like it was shared amongst multiple teachers. “Midoriya, it’s been a long time. Five or six years if I’m correct.” Eraserhead drawled. It clicked. The reason I recognised him is that he was the hero that had spared me those years ago. I wasn’t entirely sure how to feel, whilst on the one hand this was the man who saved me, he also participated in the raid that killed my parents.

“Why?” I asked, staring directly into his eyes. “Why didn’t you just kill me?”

He broke eye contact and looked away. “You were… are… just a child. I don’t hurt or kill kids. An- We’re not here to talk about me, we’re here to talk about you.”

Whilst he evidently had more to say I let him off with it for now, if he’s in the same school as me I’m sure I’ll get the chance to ask him more questions in the future. I nodded as a sign he could start asking questions.

“Firstly, just to confirm. Your name is actually Midoriya Izuku?” I nodded. “What have you done with your education? Did you go to school after your parents were killed?” 

Once again I nodded. “I did middle school classes online.” He asked me for a few more questions, just confirming that I did indeed scavenge for food, if I’d associated myself with any wanted ghouls, that sort of thing. Finally he asked, “Where do you live? We looked up the address you’ve provided and it’s a long abandoned building.” I merely nodded.

“Well it’s not totally abandoned, I live there.” 

Eraserhead looked lost in thought and then said “Oh damn it, come with me again.” Like a puppy I followed him some more until we reached his car. I got in the front passenger seat and he got in the driver's seat, after depositing some empty boxes in the car boot first. After fifteen minutes or so of driving we’d ended up in front of my apartment building. There were some other people around who gave us stares, turning up in a somewhat expensive looking car will do that in the slums. Guessing what he wanted me to do I led him to my apartment and entered. As always it was barely safe for human habitation. Setting some of the boxes from the car boot down he took a look around and shook his head. Muttering out “Hizashi is gonna kill me” he turned to look at me. “Grab your things, you aren’t living here anymore.”

I stared at him incredulously. “Y-you’re kidding right? I mean I get that this place is bad, but better here than some hostel, or going into the system.” I protested.

Eraserhead sighed. “No kid, I’m not taking you to an orphanage or anything like that. I played a part in making you have to live here rather than your old home, so I’m going to do what I can to right that wrong. So, you’ll live with me and my husband, Hizashi.” I was stunned. 

“You actually trust me enough to live in your house? Like even when you’re asleep and stuff.” He merely nodded. 

“Now, grab anything of yours that you want to keep. Anything else stays here and I dare say will get looted eventually.” It didn’t take me long to have all my possessions, I was fairly spartan when it came to possessions. The only real luxury I had was the last ever gift given to me by my parents, an old All Might figurine. Ready to say goodbye I put the last of my stuff into the boxes.

Chapter Text

Before he’d gotten behind the wheel of his car it looked like he’d sent a text or something to somebody. Not that it really mattered. We arrived at a humble looking apartment building and made our way up a few flights of stairs. He opened the door to a loud shout of “Shota! You took so long. What kept you up?” It was then that I chose to enter the apartment and saw the man who had just spoken to Eraserhead. It was Present Mic, was he the Hizashi that Eraserhead had mentioned. Was Eraserhead married to Present Mic? That alone was almost a bigger shock than being allowed into UA. 

“Ah I see, that must’ve been what the text I didn’t read was about.” Despite the initial surprise at seeing me, he didn’t seem particularly off put by me. He walked towards me and kept speaking. “Nice to meet you little listener, I’m Yamada Hizashi, but you can just call me Hizashi. That grump is Aizawa Shota, but you can just call him Shota. So I guess you’re living here huh?” I just shrugged my shoulders. I mean I know I’m living here for now but who knows how long that’ll be. 

Shota interrupted his husband’s next outburst. “Yes, he’ll be living with us. His parents are… well I’ll talk with you more about that later. But it’s just him, and where he lived was barely safe for habitation. As I’m sure you know he passed anyway so he’ll be in 1-A. Anyway let me show him to his room.” Hizashi nodded in understanding. For hopefully the last time today I followed Shota, this time to what I assume was to become my room. It was pretty plain with a small double bed. 

“I know it’s not much right now, but you’ll have a chance to make this room your own. Every week you’ll get an allowance to spend or save as you wish. And I’ll sign you up for the government funded artificial meat progra-” 

“No.” I interrupted. “If possible I’d rather keep scavenging.”

He looked a little shocked, before asking “I suppose that’s alright… any reason why though?”

He’d probably find it disgusting but I suppose I’ll give him the truth. “Doesn’t taste good. I know it’s artificial meat but it’s like they just got a ton of different cuts from different parts and blended it into one thing. I’ve never eaten it before but imagine eating a hybrid of fish, apples, and cake. With an actual corpse I can be a bit more picky. Like specifically I can choose thigh mea-”

“Okaay I think that’s plenty. No artificial stuff it is. When’s the next time that you’re going to have to go and scavenge?” I thought about it, I’d had a big meal in preparation for the exam so I should be good for a month.

“About a month I think. Though, depending on how often classes exert me or if I get injured then maybe sooner rather than later. A month is the figure the CCG like to spout but that’s assuming that the ghoul does nothing to exert themselves, like trying to not get killed by the CCG.”

After that Shota and I talked a bit more before he left me in my room with my thoughts. As positive as I was feeling about the situation I did my best to keep it in check. You can’t be disappointed if you don’t expect anything good. And if something good does happen, then you’ll be pleasantly surprised. 

Several days passed by fairly quickly. I’d settled into a routine, in the mornings I’d appear for breakfast even if I couldn’t eat with them, though I would have a black coffee. During the day I’d read books, play video games, or watch TV. I never had a TV or a games console at my old apartment. Despite having not played video games since I was young I somehow managed to beat Hizashi whenever we played anything together, part of me suspected that he’d just let me win out of kindness. Lunch and dinner went the same way as breakfast. It was nice, it reminded me of being with mum and dad. They’d ask how each other’s days went, maybe a joke or two at the expense of the other, and then they’d ask how my day was. I wasn’t sure what it was, but something told me that being with these two everything would be okay. 

Today however dinner was a little different. After we’d all finished Hizashi loudly proclaimed. “Izuku, I’ve got something for you.” He passed me an envelope with the UA seal on it. “Whilst I know at this rate it’s basically a formality, here’s your results for UA.” I opened the envelope on the dinner table to reveal a disk. I touched it and suddenly a projector appeared.

“Booya, it is I All Might, appearing to you in projector form!”

“A-All Might!” I remember as a child watching videos of him saving people, and wishing to be just like him. I didn’t yet understand the difference between his abilities and mine, but I did understand that I wasn’t supposed to let others see them.

“Midoriya Izuku, not only did you pass the written exam, you also passed the practical exam with the third highest score of all the applicants! Not to mention you hold the honour of being the first ghoul to pass the UA heroics exam. I’m sure you’ll do well to show others the good that ghouls are capable of.”

He had a point. I was going to be the first ghoul in history to attempt the heroics course. As such I’d be an example for all of ghoul kind, if I failed I’d just be another reason to hate ghouls. But if I succeeded, I could be a force to improve ghoul rights.

“Of course, I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m the one delivering this message. Well, that’s because I am the newest member of the UA faculty! I look forward to teaching you. Midoriya Izuku, this is your Hero Academia!”

For the first time since my parents were killed I felt tears run down my cheeks, I’d actually made it. Whilst I’d already known I was in, this made it official. I’d make my parents proud, I’d show the world that not all ghouls are evil. I got out of my chair and turned around to the two heroes standing behind me. I opened my arms and brought them into a hug. I was just so emotional I had to let it out. And I’d forgotten how good hugs could feel. 

Recomposing myself I let go and looked at some of the papers that were also found in the envelope. One of them was just a written version of what I’d just had projected in front of me, and the rest were various administrative forms, including one from the CCG which made me a bit uncomfortable. 

Sensing my discomfort Shota spoke up. “Don’t worry about that, it’s just a legal waiver from the CCG which states that you’re allowed to use your kagune as part of your hero training and a letter explaining that you won’t get any legal repercussions for using your kagune during the entrance exam.”

That made me feel a lot better. The very last bit of paperwork was my class schedule, class 1-A. I turned around and noticed Hizashi wasn’t standing with Shota anymore. Though he did reappear out of their shared bedroom. In his hands was a UA student uniform, my uniform. 

And it was only a couple of days later that I was in a rather cramped car with Hizashi, Shota, and another teacher called Nemuri - Midnight. Not to mention the amount of teaching materials, lesson plans, and various other things in the usually clean and spacious car. As we got out Shota quickly pulled me aside. “Just so you’re aware, nobody in your class has been told that you’re a ghoul, though a couple of students from your exam area also got in so they might tell people. There’s going to be a quirk assessment on the first day that you’re taking part in, so they’ll probably find out then. Just be prepared. We wont accept discrimination but there’s not actually any legal protections in place, and there’s a good chance not everybody will be pleased to have you around.” I nodded, it's not like I expected everybody to be as accepting as Hizashi and Shota. It took me a while due to how big the campus was but I eventually found my way to the classroom, though surprisingly I wasn’t actually the first person here, but second. Leave it to that blue haired kid to arrive before teachers. He outstretched his hand, gesturing for a handshake. 

“I’m Iida Teyna from Soumei Junior High School. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I didn’t take his hand and instead responded “Are you sure you’re actually pleased to meet me?”

That caught him off guard. “W-well whilst your biology may be unconventional you got accepted into the school, so you must have some heroic qualities.”

I’d let out a snort and shook his hand. “Unconventional biology” I muttered. “Midoriya Izuku, good to meet you. And sorry about what I said during the entrance exam, you touching me from nowhere gave me a fright.”

Iida shook his head. “No, it is I who must apologise!” he proclaimed. “I touched you without asking and just assumed you were trying to distract that girl.”

Before we split apart I quickly asked “Could you not tell anybody that I’m a ghoul? I’ll tell them today, I just want to do it on my own terms. You know?”

Iida started making strange chopping motions with his hands. “Yes of course Midoriya, I won’t tell a soul. I declare so upon my family name!”

It didn’t take long for the class to fill with people after that, some arriving on their own, and others arriving in groups. It was then that I saw a face that I hadn’t seen in years. 

Bakugou Katsuki.

For a moment our eyes lock before he whispers “Zuku…” He walks towards me, as though he’d seen a ghost. “You’re alive. I thought for sure they’d killed you. I thought you were dead.”

Katsuki and his family were the only humans to know my family’s secret. After everything that happened I didn’t want to endanger them by staying with them, not to mention they’d be committing a crime by harbouring a ghoul. 

“Yeah, someone let me live.” I whispered. There was a growing crowd around us, trying to listen in. “But now’s not the time or place. I’ll talk about it later.” He nodded. For a moment he just stood awkwardly before giving me a brief hug. 

“It’s good to have you back Zuku.”

“You too Kacchan”.

The last person to walk in was the girl from the exam. She looked happy to see me. “You made it in!” she exclaimed as she hurried towards me. Then in a lower voice “You know I wasn’t sure if they would.” I got what she meant, she thought they might deny me due to being a ghoul. Back to a regular speaking volume she continued. “My name is Uraraka Ochaco, it’s good to meet you.”

I smiled at her. “My name is Midoriya Izuku, it’s good to finally put a name to the face Uraraka.”

Before we could talk any further Shota entered the classroom. Knowing what he’s like I immediately moved to sit down, though some other people took a bit longer. “Eight seconds, that’s how long it took you all to quiet down. You only spend so many hours at school, wasting time like that is irrational, don’t do it again. For reference, that adds up to about half an hour or so over the school year.” Shota took a look through the class, most muttering something along the lines of ‘Who is that guy?’ and ‘Did he get enough sleep?’ No. He did not get enough sleep.

“My name is Aizawa, and everybody head to the changing rooms and get changed into physical exercise clothing.”

Urakara burst out with “But Sensei, what about orientation?”

With a critical eye he responded with “Waste of time, now as I said, go get changed.”

Illogically he didn’t make sure we all had maps so it took us a bit of time to navigate the unfamiliar school to get to the changing room. I was glad to see that the PE uniform the school had issued me with had holes for my rinkaku, I didn’t want to damage the uniform too much. 

Once I’d finished changing I went outside where Shota was waiting, nobody else had finished changing (chatting) yet. Shota smiled, “I’m glad to see you’re not being irrational Izuku” before putting back on his professional teacher face. Moments later we were joined by the rest of the class arriving in groups of two to three. 

“Not only will you need to quieten down quicker, but you’ll need to change quicker. Regardless, Bakugou step into the circle.”

Doing as he was ordered, Katsuki made his way to the designated area. “So Bakugou, what was the maximum distance you could throw a ball in the standard fitness test?”

“Sixty seven metres” he responded without hesitation. He hadn’t changed, of course he’d remember that.

“Alright, now I want you to throw it with your quirk. The Ministry of Education is irrational and doesn't allow the usage of quirks during fitness assessments. Now, don’t waste any time here Bakugou.” Shota tossed Katsuki a softball and Katsuki did a quick stretch before throwing the ball using his quirk, letting out a yell of “DIE!”

Shota turned around the PDA device in his hand so that everybody could see the score. Sevenhundred and five point two metres. “Knowing your maximum is only rational, it allows you to have a goal to improve upon and measure your successes. You will be undergoing eight tests where you will use your quirk.” Several people made exclamations of joy at the prospect of being able to freely use their quirks, a bad idea. 

“So you think that this is going to be a ‘fun’ test? Do you think that little of your heroics education? Just to show you how serious this is… the person who comes last in the test is expelled as they will be deemed hopeless.”

Sheer terror. Well, not everybody. People like Katsuki and the dual haired guy didn’t seem phased, they probably had quirks suited to physical application.

Throughout the various tests I did good enough to be in the top ten results, my enhanced stamina, strength, and speed coming to good use. Not once had I used my kagune, that was until the final assessment, the ball throw again. Whilst if I used my superior strength I’d still get a decent score, nowhere near as good as though I used my kagune. Shota knew this, he wouldn’t be pleased if I didn’t perform to the best of my abilities. At the very least I knew that I’d have Urakara, Iida, and Katskuki on my side, even if others in the class didn’t like me. 

“Midoriya, it’s your turn. You held back on some of your earlier tests, that is irrational and you’ll be doing those again privately after class. If you don’t exercise your full potential you’ll be expelled.” 

I took a deep breath in, followed by a deep breath out. As quickly as I could manage I let my rinkaku out, my eyes flaring a black and red kakugan. There were gasps of surprise, someone even explicitly stated “I can’t believe UA would stoop so low.” Ignoring the hushed whispers that I could hear perfectly thanks to my hearing I threw the ball using my kagune, getting a respectable score of two hundred and eighteen metres. Letting my kagune slip back into the kakuhou. I returned back to where everybody was standing, and it seemed like I was being given a wide berth by everybody except Urakara, Iida, and Katsuki who all congratulated me on my score. 

In the end despite having the worst score, a kid by the name of Mineta Minoru wasn’t expelled as it was just a ‘logical ruse’, something I knew to be false based off of the fact he expelled a whole class a couple of years ago. 

“Now that we know your maximum capabilities currently, in future we now have a standard to measure you against. If I were you I’d get changed back into regular clothes, you have classes due to start in fifteen minutes.”

Before anyone moved a blond haired kid that I recognised as Kaminari Denki interrupted. “Sensei, aren’t you kind of ignoring the elephant in the room here?” he asked. It was the question on most people’s minds to be fair, he just appeared to be the only one with the guts to ask.

“What do you mean?” Shota replied. Of course he probably knew, but he likely wanted to see how Kaminari would word it.

“Uhhh you didn’t notice Sensei? Midoriya is a ghoul! What if he gets peckish and goes sicko mode in class?”

Before Shota could even respond, small explosions were coming from Katsuki’s hands. “What was that you said about Izuku you cheap knock off pikachu?”

Suddenly the explosions stopped, Shota had activated his quirk. “Bakugou stop using your quirk, you’re going to give me dry eye here. And of course I know Midoriya is a ghoul, which as of several years ago isn’t itself a criminal offence. As such I expect him to be treated like a regular classmate. And don’t worry, he won’t, as you put it, go ‘sicko mode’ on anyone. I don’t have anything else to say on this topic, now get moving.” 

Showing no room for debate, the class complied with his orders. For the most part I was just ignored when getting changed back into my uniform, that was until Kirishima Eijiro approached me, when he did it was almost like a spectacle. All talk ceased, and all eyes were on us. 

A little bit nervous he introduced himself to me. “Hey dude, just wanted to say that it’s super manly that you’re using your abilities to be a hero, super manly! You’re the first ghoul that I’ve ever spoken to before so it’ll be cool getting to know you bro.” Kirishima was way too positive of a person, but at least he said hello I guess. I finished getting dressed and quickly made my way to my next class, English.

I did have to admit though, I did have to suppress a chuckle at the thought of going ‘sicko mode’.

Chapter Text

English was taught by Hizashi so it was good getting two teachers in a row that I knew, though that meant that for the rest of the classes today I wouldn’t have that advantage. I couldn’t necessarily guarantee that teachers would be supportive of me being here. I actually spoke decent English already, before they’d been killed my parents emphasised being able to speak multiple languages. It was actually a bit of a misquote, but there was something my parents told me and it stuck. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”

We also had a lesson on Heroic Art, as well as Hero History. As I’d suspected there would be, there was a class on Ghoul Studies. It was going to be so awkward, I could feel it already. Snipe arrived in class and started his lesson without any pleasantries. 

“So, Ghoul Studies, the study of ghouls, a study of monsters.” He looked directly at me as he said monsters. This was how it was going to go. “Of course legal now, but still a threat. Let's get straight into the basics. Can anybody here identify the three main components that make up a ghoul, in terms of being different to us humans.”

Nobody answered at first, everybody feeling an awkward tension. Eventually Yaoyorozu Momo spoke up. “Firstly their eyes, when they feel an emotion strongly or use their built in weapon it goes black and red. If I recall… that’s called a kakugan. They’ve got said weapon which is known as a kagune which is made up of RC Cells. Finally there’s a kakuhou which is where the RC Cells are stored when not in use as a kagune.”

Snipe smiled at her. “You got it all in one, you clearly already have a basic understanding. Can anyone in the class tell me the different types of kagune though?”

Everyone looked at Yaoyorozu for another answer but she just shrugged her shoulders. Deciding to confront the awkwardness head on I answered his question. “Well you’ve got Ukaku which is stored in the shoulder area, Koukaku which is just below the shoulder blade, Rinkaku which is on the back close to the waste, and finally the bikaku which is near the tailbone.”

“Correct” he responded curtly before moving on with the course. Through the basics lesson the topic of feeding was brought up.

“Now take note of this, ghouls must feed on a full corpse every three days to sustain themselves.”

That was a blatant piece of propaganda spread by the CCG to whip up an anti-ghoul frenzy in the populace. 

“Sensei?” I asked. 

“Yes Midoriya?” he responded.

“Sensei, that was a lie spread by the CCG as propaganda.” Snipe didn’t look very pleased at being told he was wrong. “It’s actually closer to once a month on a whole corpse Sensei. Though that’s low to medium exertion”.

“Oh really?” he responded. “Care to explain the number of mutilated corpses the CCG finds then? Definitely implies more than once a month.”

He was actually challenging an actual ghoul on ghoul eating habits. It was almost laughable if it weren’t so idiotic. Sighing, I answered his question. “Well sensei. Mostly it’s because, there is a very small population of ghouls who would classify as binge eaters who eat more than required for the same reason humans sometimes eat more food than what they need.” 

Smiling, Snipe said “Oh, eat more than required for the same reason us humans do? And what reason would that be.”

Ah, that’s what’s happening here. I give the obvious answer in hopes that it disgusts the class at the idea ghouls, and therefore me, find human meat to taste good. Well, I guess I’ll just overwhelm him with honesty and see what he does with that.

“I see what you’re doing here Sensei, knowing this answer will make me look bad. Okay then, here’s the honest answer why some ghouls binge eat. Food tastes good, and the emotions of the prey prior to death can actually influence the taste due to the presence of adrenaline and other hormones in the body. Some ghouls merely become addicted to the taste of human flesh itself. And that’s why some ghouls play with their prey before death, to increase certain hormones in the system. Not to mention the synthetic stuff whilst it nourishes ghouls, it tastes disgusting.”

Snipe looked like he wanted to interrupt with some ‘Eureka gotcha!’ moment so I just kept speaking.

“Personally I find such behaviours to be disgusting, and any ghouls who commit such atrocities will be punished as they deserve. I myself have never killed a human for food, if I had killed a human then it would be the CCG that came through my door, not a UA acceptance letter. Though you’ve clearly displayed that you’d prefer it was the former and not the latter. As a professional you should be ashamed at such biases becoming obvious through your work.” 

I turned right and immediately left the classroom, heading straight to the bathroom. Looking at myself in the mirror I could see my kakugan had activated. I reached into my pocket and sent Shota a quick message asking for him to come to me. I did some breathing exercises my mum had taught me when I was younger. The door burst open, but instead of Shota it was Katsuki. 

“Kacchan I’m going to get in so much trouble I just walked out of class. What if they expel me?” I said, starting to hyperventilate. It had been years since anything like this had happened to me. “And oh my god I overwhelmed them with brutal honesty about human meat tasting good which I thought was a good idea but now they’ll all find me disgusting.”

Katsuki looked unsure of what to do, he moved closer to me and spoke. “Zuku it’s going to be fine, everybody could tell that Snipe had something against you. And while maybe the food thing was a bit much nobody cares.”

“Are you sure?” I asked.

He rolled his eyes. “I wouldn't say it if I wasn’t sure, nerd. Now c’mere.”

I moved closer to Katsuki and hugged him.

“We used to do this all the time as kids” he said.

Sensing an opportunity for a joke, I took it. “That’s a bit gay Kacchan. You’re literally hugging me and I’m a dude.”

Without missing a beat he replied “Can’t be gay, I’m wearing socks.”

“W-what?” I said.

“It’s not gay if you’re wearing socks. Not to mention you’re a ghoul so can you even be gay with another species? Didn’t think so.”

I laughed, it was just like old times, though admittedly the gay jokes were new. Katsuki found out really young that I was a ghoul, not that he cared. His family was actually at the forefront for ghoul activism, so it would make sense that he’d not care. He protected me from other kids when I accidentally slipped up and said something that might have given me away. We were best friends, going to be the top two heroes. Katsuki with his explosions, and me with my rinkaku. The last time I’d seen him before the CCG raided our house was the day before, we were messing about and talking about what we were gonna call ourselves for our hero names, and talking about what our costumes would look like. Usual kid stuff.

We stayed like that until Shota entered the room, followed by Hizashi. Hizashi apparently found it cute that we were hugging, with Shota instead finding it confusing why Katsuki was in the bathroom with me. 

“Zuku might’ve had a panic attack, I’m not quite sure. He was hyperventilating though and was really worried.” Shota gave a quick look at me before gesturing for Katsuki to keep speaking. “Snipe was doing the ghoul studies course and was really getting on at Zuku, especially when he corrected some CCG propaganda that found its way into the course.”

“I understand” Shota replied. “I’ll speak with Snipe once the class is over. Honestly it raises a good point though, we should probably have an actual ghoul look over the teaching material to make sure it’s not made up. Are you okay now Izuku?”

I nodded. 

“Good. You and Bakugou can leave to the lunch hall since it’s lunch that’s due after this class. Otherwise, the issue will be dealt with.” Before we went to the lunch hall Katsuki briefly made an appearance in class just to get his bento from his bag, and the thermos from my bag, before leaving again. We pick a random table, secluded away from any tables that are already populated with people who got out of classes early, and got down to talking.

“Zuku, what happened that day? Yesterday we were just playing, and the next day the CCG raided your house.”

I made sure to take a deep breath, it wasn’t a story I liked to tell. “I don’t know how the CCG found out about us, but raid is an accurate way to describe it. It was in the middle of the night, they just burst in. Dad took out a dove or two, but quickly got put down. My mum didn’t stand a chance, she was cut down trying to stop an investigator from getting to me. In the end I was hiding in a cupboard when a hero opened the door and found me, probably didn’t help that I was sniffling. He didn’t kill me though, he closed the cupboard door and told everyone that the room was empty. After that I lived rough for a year or two before finding an abandoned apartment. After the entrance exam though, the hero that spared me all those years ago let me live with him.”

Katsuki let out a breath. “I’m sorry, your mum was the kindest person I’ve ever known.”

Yeah. She was.

“Why didn’t you come to us though? We would’ve protected you.”

“I didn’t want to risk your safety” I answered. “Think about what would’ve happened if I was found to be living with you, a CCG and police raid, you’d all go to jail and you’d have a criminal record. You’d never get into UA.” I could tell that Katsuki didn’t like that I was right. “And after legalisation, I’d just gotten used to the apartment I lived in to be honest.”

After an awkward pause I tried to move onto a lighter subject. “So do you still have really spicy food then? I think it was really spicy, I’m not sure to be honest. Spiciness isn’t really a thing for us.”

Katsuki nodded, he was very proud of his ability to scoff down extremely spicy food. Whilst I didn’t really get the big deal, I understand that not everybody can apparently eat spicy food and that’s what kind of makes it a thing.

The bell sounded throughout the school, denoting the official start of lunch. I took a deep drink of the coffee from my thermos. Soon members from our class started entering the hall. Some found a table to sit at, though in the end a few members of the class came to sit with us. Urakara, Iida, Kirishima, Ashido, Tokoyami, and Asui. Admittedly I hadn’t actually spoken to Ashido, Tokoyami, and Asui yet but it was good to see that they’d chosen to sit with us. 

“What were you talking about Deku?” Urakara asked.

“Deku? What’s a Deku?” I asked.

“Oh, I thought it kinda sounded like Dekiru, you can do it! That’s what I’m calling you since when I tried to call you Zuku Bakugou got really mad at me”

That was another classic Katsuki move, he didn’t let any other kids call me Zuku, that was his name for me and his alone.

“Aha, Kacchan did that a lot when we were kids too” I said.

“I did not!” Katsuki protested. 

“You did, and I’m afraid it’s terminal. Only I can call him Zuku-itus. Best you send yourself to Switzerland, make it dignified.”

“Oh yeah? At least I didn’t come up with something like Kacchan, makes you think how many times you woke up and forgot to not be the big dumb.”

Everyone at the table watched the exchange back and forwards. As kids we had this style of joking where we just make fun of each other using the most stupid things our minds could come up with at the time. The best bit was that we’d never do it with other people, just use regular jokes when it came to them just to confuse them.

“So what was it like as a kid Izuku?” Asui asked. Everybody just turned to her and gave her the sort of stare that says ‘You did not just ask that question?’

“A-Asui you cannot just ask that question. It is rude.” Iida said, back with the hand chopping motions.

Asui suddenly understood that she’d just asked what the childhood of a ghoul was like, not exactly the greatest questions known to mankind. 

“No it’s alright” I quickly assuaged. “Well on one hand it was kind of like a normal childhood, just doing usual kid stuff. But on the other hand there was… an overbearing sense of danger. Any mistake could be the one that results in doves, CCG investigators, knocking your door down. Having a human friend who knew made it easier though, even though at the time he was flaunting the law by doing so. I remember one time when I was really young almost mucking up. When I was in nursery this kid’s mum had baked some cookies and the nursery staff gave everyone a cookie. I refused to eat it, as you’d probably expect, but they said that it was rude. So I had no choice but to eat it. And I don’t know what cookies are meant to taste like, supposedly they’re really good. But I’d rather light my tongue on fire and then rub it against a cheese grater. But I couldn’t risk myself by uh, doing something that I won’t say whilst some people have food here. So I had to hold it in until I got home.” 

After that little anecdote we just talked about usual school stuff, how we couldn’t believe we were actually here, the premier hero school in all of Japan. I got properly introduced to Ashido, Asui who as I found out prefered to be called by Tsuyu, and Tokoyami. Though as lunch went on I noticed that Iida kept staring at the thermos whenever I’d take a drink from it.

“It’s not blood, if that’s what you’re thinking” I said to him. 

“Midoriya?” he asked.

“You’re looking at my thermos whenever I drink from it. Despite it being one of three liquids we can ingest, it is not blood. This is regular old black coffee. Well, not regular black coffee. It’s actually quite expensive, but black coffee nonetheless.”

“Ah okay, sorry for staring, that was rude of me.”

I waved a dismissive hand, it was to be expected after all. The fact that we could drink coffee wasn’t actually widely known. Eventually the bell actuated and we all made our way back to class for our first ever heroics class. However we were not prepared for who suddenly entered the class, allegedly like a normal person: 

All Might.

Chapter Text

It was him! The genuine article, All Might. It was almost a struggle to suppress my joy at seeing my childhood hero in person, but I forced myself to remember that too much emotion is something potential enemies will notice and exploit. 

“It is I, All Might! This time here in physical form. And welcome to the most important class here at UA, heroics!”

A wave of excitement spread throughout the class, evidently I wasn’t the only one excited by the presence of All Might. Some people commented on his more retro style costume, others on how fun they expected hero training to be, and others itching for a chance to actually get involved in combat.

“Think of this as ‘How To Be A Hero 101’ my students. And today we’re going to hit the ground running with battle training!”

I swear that as All Might said ‘battle training’ I heard Katsuki say “I get to beat someone up”, the look in his eyes definitely implies that’s what he said.

“But first, in order to act the part of a hero you must look the part of a hero.”

From a compartment in the wall stacks of suitcases suddenly appeared. All Might informed us that these were the costumes that we’d put requests in for. One by one we all stepped forwards and collected our costumes, All Might helping to reach the ones that were higher up. After everybody got a chance to have a brief look inside their suitcase we were ordered to go to the changing rooms closest to battle ground beta. Inside my case was a simplistic design, based off of a ghoul from Tokyo that my mum had once mentioned. It was a simple design, a black body suit designed to fit perfectly. It also came with a mask, it was a full face mask with a difference in design split diagonally between the bottom left and top right. The left side of the mask being a dove, somewhat ironically, and the top right being a raven. I don’t remember much about how I got the mask, but the original design came from a mask artist in Tokyo when I was younger. When filling in my forms for UA I basically sent them the mask design and asked them to make it bigger to fit my head, 

In the changing room everybody started putting on their gear, and then comparing it to one another. By comparison mine was a bit plain, bar the mask that is. Maybe in future I could get some modifications done to make it a bit more ‘heroic’ looking or something. Once I’d finished putting on the bodysuit Kirishima came over to me in his gear and said “Woah dude, I didn’t know you were so ripped.” I don’t know if I’d say that ‘ripped’ is the correct answer, but I did make a point of exercising every day after my parents were killed. In the ghoul world the weak get killed, either by doves or by other ghouls. And whilst I didn’t often have to use the strength I’d gained, I’d fought off more than a few ghoul attackers who though the lone child would be unable to defend themselves. Admittedly the body suit showed the muscles in a way that my regular uniform and PE uniform didn’t show.

I smiled at the compliment regardless. “Thanks, I exercise every day.” The last thing I did after getting my combat boots all tied up was getting the mask on. One last look in the mirror and I had to say, I looked ready to fight. Katsuki followed me out, and he looked a little bit over the top with the whole grenade aesthetic. Though it could be said to suit his personality. Though the things on his wrists looked a little on the heavy side.

“Zuku, looking like quite the fearsome ghoul. Mask and everything.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to fool anybody into thinking I’m something I’m not would I?” I could’ve gone for a more heroic look in the first place but in a strange way I didn’t want to deny that I’m a ghoul. It’s not something that I want to hide behind some pseudo humanity, I’m a ghoul and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.

“True. But what’s with the mask? It looks dumb.”

He did not. His family was at the forefront of ghoul activism, surely he knew that you never insulted a ghoul’s mask. Before I could respond he assured me that he was just joking.

“Don’t worry, I get it. There’s a meaning to the mask, always is with ghouls. Though I don’t think most of the extras will get it.”

I shrugged, it didn’t really matter if nobody else in class got it right away. I’m sure we’ll cover masks at some point in ghoul studies, they’ll get it eventually. Along with everybody else, who took their sweet time, we all emerged at once into ground beta. Everyone’s hero costumes were shown in the full light of day, some were functional, some were bright, and some were something in between. 

“They say the clothes make the pros” All Might enunciated, “And you are all proof of that. From this point onwards, you are all heroes in training.”

Whilst All Might made some extra points, I could just slightly hear somebody say “The hero course is the best” in what I can only describe as a weird tone of voice. Turning around I saw Mineta ogling some of the girls, whose outfits didn’t leave very much to the imagination. Yeah… no. I walked over to Mineta, purposely making sure my kakugan was visible. 

“M-Midoriya” Mineta squealed once he realised I was staring at him.

“Don’t like being stared at like a slab of meat?” I asked. Mineta urgently shook his head, muttering ‘nuh uh’ and the like. “Well then don’t do it to the girls you purple pervert, and in return I won’t do it to you. Got it?” Mineta nodded and turned to face All Might. Deciding that he’d learned his lesson for the moment, I walked back over to Katsuki.

“What was that about?” he asked.

“Pervert, was staring at the girls. We can deal with him later.” Katsuki nodded. Despite all of his abrasiveness, he never stooped to the level of a pervert. I knew he wouldn’t appreciate having one in the class as much as I wouldn’t.

Once All Might had finished up we all progressed to the outside of a specific building that All Might had chosen. 

“Today class, we will practice indoor combat! Despite what you might think, the majority of villains are in their hideouts when they get a hero raid on their door. As such knowing how to fight in an indoor space is imperative. So, to start we’re going to randomly assign teams of two.”

The random element appeared to rub Iida the wrong way as he objected “But Sensei, would it not make more sense for us to pick our teams according to our quirks?”

Chances are, All Might just forgot that was a possibility given by how long he just stared blankly at Iida trying to think of an answer. I felt sorry for him so I gave him an excuse. “Not necessarily. In real life heroes don’t always get a choice ahead of time who they’re working with. So randomness replicates that.”

“Midoriya is spot on. It is for that reason I’ve decided today’s battles shall be random. Let’s get started.” Directing us to a building close to the one we would be battling in, a temporary control centre was set up with monitors and a variety of buttons that likely all had a purpose to the trained eye. Pressing one of those buttons a list appeared on a monitor, a list of teams and who was in them. My team, Team A, was comprised of myself and Urakara. The team that we had been pitted against, Team D, was comprised of Katsuki and Iida. When seeing the team compositions I felt sorry for Iida, there was no way that Katsuki would listen to him.

Next a random selection of teams to fight each other was selected, Team A, and Team D. “It’ll be just like old times Zuku, you ready to get your ass beat?” he taunted.

Smiling under my mask, and flaring my kakugan, I gave a scrutinising look to Katsuki. “You’ll find that I’m not the Zuku that you sparred with as a kid, so bring it on, Kacchan.”

With Team D being declared the villain team they entered the building whilst I waited outside with Urakara. No doubt Katsuki and Iida would take a little bit of time to get used to the building layout. In the meantime I planned with Urakara. At the explanation that Katsuki would no doubt rush to engage me Urakara let out a squeal of a ‘fated battle between men’. I don’t know if that’s exactly what I’d call it, but it was certainly a battle that’s been long overdue. As kids we’d spar all the time inside the Bakugou house. They had a small gym area where I was free to use my kagune, it was where I’d gotten most of my practice in. When I was younger I only had two tentacles that I could manifest, now I was up to six. Theoretically, with further practice that could increase. 

The plan for the attack was a simple one. Knowing Katsuki would come for me, I’d lure him as far away from the most likely position of the bomb as possible. Then we’d engage in battle and if all goes to plan then I’d win, resulting in Katsuki being captured. Meanwhile Urakara would sneak around the top floors and try to find the bomb. If at all possible she would attempt to capture the bomb then and there, otherwise she’d hold position until I could group up with her. If we got to the point where only five minutes remained and I hadn’t caught up, or I thought I was going to lose, Urakara would have to engage Iida on her own to try and win.

Admittedly it wouldn’t be too hard for me to just climb up the side of the building using my kagune, but that would mean bypassing Katsuki, and I wouldn’t skip a battle with Katsuki for anything. 

After a short wait the alarm signalling the sound of the exercise actuated, it’s showtime.

The great thing about battling against Katsuki is his quirk. On one hand it’s definitely dangerous, but on the other it gives his position away. Even when not actually using it, the sweat it produces let's one with a keen nose find his position. And the sweet smell of the nitroglycerin was like a flashing light in the middle of the night. Directing Urakara which way to go to avoid Katsuki, I pushed towards him.

“Well then Zuku, you here?” he called out. 

“Perhaps.” I responded. Knowing exactly where he was, I turned round a corner, putting me face to face with him.

Small explosions crackling in his hands he smirked. “Let's do this, I’m gonna kick your ass!”

Mustering the most blank voice I could, I merely said “No, you.” and then turned around, running away from him. For a brief moment he didn’t follow, muttering something along the lines of ‘what even does that mean?’ before he realised that he should probably try and chase me.

“Get back here broccoli head!” he yelled, finally pursuing me.

“Whatever you say pomeranian!” I returned as I ran. 

As soon as I got a message from Urakara informing me that she’d located the bomb I stopped running and turned to face Katsuki. With a grin on his face “You finally gonna get serious?” he asked. 

“Nothing less for Kacchan” I responded as my rinkaku formed with six tentacles protruding from my back. Running towards Katsuki I closed the distance as I swung at him with two of my kagune, using another two to hold me above the ground, with the remaining two holding back in reserve. As expected he let off two blasts towards my approaching kagune forcing them back. I had to make a conscious effort of not sharpening them too much, lest I stab Katsuki or chop off a limb. Katsuki didn’t have to make such a consideration as he knew that I’d regenerate from almost any damage that he could do to me. The battle continued in this fashion for a few minutes as I’d approach with a combination of two kagune and he’d see them off with blasts.

“You’re just messing around with me! I see those other two tentacles hiding back there you shitty land octopus. Now actually fight me!”

Besides from mentally noting down the idea to dress up as an octopus next halloween I put all my efforts into attacking with four of my kagune rather than just the two. Evidently Katsuki had only made things worse for himself, barely managing to fend off the strikes I sent towards him. As a bit of an incentive to do better I made sure that one of my tentacles was sharpened, and ever so slightly nicked his face - a mistake. The smell of fresh blood in the air, the adrenaline in said blood, even the littlest drop before the wound coagulated gave the whole area a sweet smell. I was distracted as a little bit of drool came from my mouth. Capitalising on that distraction Katsuki got an explosive punch through, sending me ragdolling down the corridor. Realising my mistake I used my kagune to slow me down, back to a standing position. At the far end of the corridor I could see Katsuki fiddling with what I remember to be the safety on the grenade shaped sweat storage tanks on his wrists. Seemingly All Might also noticed this as he let out a call through the speaker system.

“Katsuki! That’ll kill him!”

To which Katsuki simply replied “He’s a ghoul, he’ll be fine!” before letting rip the biggest explosion I’d ever seen come from him. Turns out that I wasn’t the only one who’d improved since childhood. Doing my best to get low to avoid the blast I felt a searing heat. The room was covered in smoke and I used the opportunity to try and escape. Whilst I’d regenerate, I was severely wounded by the blast. Reaching up to my earpiece I informed Urakara that there was a chance that I wouldn’t win, and that she’d have to do her best to defeat Iida on her own. Aware that I was losing blood rapidly I hubbled into a corner. For some reason the wounds weren’t regenerating as fast as usual, then again I’d never been hurt this bad before. It had also been a little bit since I’d last fed though. 

“Come out Zuku! I haven’t finished kicking your ass yet!” he exclaimed. He’d find me soon anyway by following the blood trail on the ground. Smelling him get closer I prepared to strike. When Katsuki turned the corner I had a feral look on my eyes, my ghoul mindset had taken over and it was screaming FLESH. I jumped at Katsuki, holding nothing back. Striking as fast as possible, using all of my rinkaku. A feral ghoul is a human’s worst nightmare. Using my kagune I got Katsuki onto the ground. I raised a sharpened tentacle, preparing to stab into Katsuki’s heart. There was no way that Katsuki wasn’t aware of what was happening, he knew enough about ghouls to tell that I was hungry, and that I was going for the kill. 

“Hero team wins!” was announced throughout the building which could only mean one thing - Urakara had gotten the bomb somehow. This was the jolt that I needed to get my rational mind back in control. I jumped off of Katsuki and unmanifested my kagune.

“What did I almost do…” I whispered. Katsuki approached me slowly.

“Zuku I’m alright, you didn’t do anything. I’m fine.”

I wasn’t really paying attention to what he was saying. My mind was too busy focusing on the image of Katsuki below me, entirely at my mercy, the prey caught by the hunter. On one hand I hated it, I was totally prepared to murder and devour my best friend. But another part of me was pleased, ghouls were naturally hunters, and my ghoul mindset was over the moon at a successful hunt. There was also something else I couldn’t quite pinpoint about the mental image. My stomach rumbled. 

Slowly I got up and walked out of the building with Katsuki. Iida and Urakara wouldn’t know what had happened, but likely everyone in the control room saw what happened. Meeting up with Urakara and Iida who were already in the control room waiting for us, Urakara attempted to initiate a high five at our victory, I just shook my head. All Might ended the silence at our entry.

“Bakugou, Midoriya, you should both go see Recovery Girl at once. Once all the battles have been completed we’re going to analyse them so be quick!”

Without actually acknowledging what All Might said I just left the control room. Though instead of heading towards where Recovery Girl was located, I moved to the locker room. 

“Zuku, where you going?” Kastuki asked.

“Something in my bag I need to get” I responded to him. Instead of heading straight to the medical room where Recovery Girl would be he decided to follow me. In my bag was some synthetic meat that had been sent by the government a day prior. I knew that I should’ve eaten it as soon as I got it but I thought I’d been fine since I had a lot before the entrance exam, but I didn’t account for the injuries and all the fighting I’d be doing. Chances were even the weekly deliveries from the government wouldn’t be enough to sustain a hero in training, but there was no official way to request a larger supply. I’d have to ask Shota what could be done about it. 

Annoyingly Katsuki had followed me all the way into the changing room. Wordlessly I took the mask off and reached into my bag to grab the container that the meat was stored in. At the sight of it Katsuki looked surprised. For a ghoul to eat in front of a human was a big thing, it showed that the ghoul trusted the human a great deal. “It’s uh… the artificial stuff.” I whispered. “It tastes like human food does, absolutely disgusting. But it’s actually digestible.” Katsuki nodded in response as he watched me devour the meat with a macabre sense of interest. Artificial blood was dripping from my mouth. I quickly grabbed a handkerchief and wiped it away, before washing it down with some coffee from my thermos - lukewarm at this point. 

Deciding that it might look a little strange to walk around the school in our battle gear, me especially considering that my gear all screamed ‘ghoul’ at whoever saw it, we changed into our regular school clothes. Before we left the room however Katsuki put his hand on my shoulder and stopped me. I turned around and he said “I still trust you. I know you’re going to be thinking about what you almost did, but you didn’t.” We made eye contact for a moment before I nodded and he let go of me. 

Silently we walked to the medical room where Recovery Girl had already been informed of our imminent arrival. She immediately saw to Katsuki as he was the only one with injuries, mine having regenerated after eating the synthetic meat, though my body and face was still bloodied, with blood and dust in my hair. Whilst going to get some antibacterial wipes she noticed the state I was in and directed me to the shower that was attached to the medical room. It didn’t take long to get the blood off of me, having some experience with fighting ghouls I also had experience with cleaning up blood. Ghouls as it turns out are bleeders, they can bleed more blood than it would take to kill a human and be fine, and due to the nature of fights between ghouls stab wounds were common, and as such blood loss was common. 

Reemerging from the shower Katsuki was good as new since, apart from some bruises when my kagune made contact at high speed, all that had really happened to him was the cut across his face. If you looked close enough there was a slight scar from where it had started on his cheek. 

Aware that this was the last class of the day I asked Katsuki for his number and we swapped details. He invited me to his house to see Aunty and Uncle but I declined, I wasn’t sure if I was ready yet to go back to that street. “You could come to my place though?” I asked. After sending a quick message to Aunty Misaki he asked me if it was okay with who I was staying with. Admittedly I didn’t actually ask Shota because he liked his privacy and might say no, so instead I asked Hizashi via message instead since I had a feeling he’d approve. Getting the confirmation we both needed, we headed back to the battle ground control centre to see how things were getting on. And as we arrived it appeared that the last battle had just finished. 

“Welcome back Young Bakugou and Young Midoriya! We shall now analyse all the previous fights, starting with the fight between Team A and Team D.” Before we discussed anything, to jog our memories an autogenerated highlight reel was played for us all to watch. “So, firstly we shall decide who was the MVP of the match?”

Yaoyorozu was the first to respond to the question. “I’d say that it’s hard to choose an MVP. For Team A it was Midoriya who came up with the plan, and also he conducted his fight with Bakugou very well, displaying a strong physical prowess. However a couple of times he got distracted and at the end appeared to almost lose control of his sensibilities, something that he can’t do on the battlefield and as such can’t be the MVP.”

It was hard criticism to take but it was true. In an actual battle like that I wouldn’t be able to lose control like I did.

“And whilst Bakugou also showed strong combat capability he totally ignored any attempts at teamwork for Iida and went straight for Midoriya, and as such cannot be the MVP.” Despite an under the breath ‘bullshit’ from Katsuki, Yaoyorozu continued on. “Urakara followed orders well, and ultimately won the battle for her team though admittedly only by a single moment of luck. So she can’t really be the MVP either.” I hadn’t actually seen the fight between Urakara and Iida but the highlight reel certainly showed that it was only really due to luck the Urakara had come out on top. “Finally there was Iida. Whilst in the end his team lost, he faithfully stuck to the objective, showing a fair ability to fight. Also he was the only one to really get into their designated role, even if it was slightly over the top. As such I’d say that he was the MVP of the match.” Looking like a puppy that had just been told it was a good boy Iida took the praise. 

Following further discussion about the other battles class was dismissed as the bell signalling the end of the school day sounded. Shota and Hizashi had both sent me messages letting me know that they would be at the school for a few more hours due to some staff meetings and told me to make my own way home and to use the key that was in my bag. With Katsuki at my side I finally walked home, my first day at UA was officially done and dusted.

Chapter Text

It took a little while to walk to the apartment but eventually we got there. I reached into my bag and unlocked the door. Dropping my bag by the side of the door I made my way straight to my room and practically threw myself onto my bed. Katsuki joined me in my room except he put his bag down next to my bed and sat down next to me. 

“I can see you only moved in recently. Unless something’s changed, your room has a big problem - it’s not a shrine to All Might.” Katsuki joked. I smiled, thinking back to my old room with my parents. A shrine to All Might would be an accurate way to describe it, though Katsuki would always make fun of it. Not that Katsuki’s room was much better, it was more of a shrine to heroes in general, but a focus was put on All Might. 

I wasn’t too sure how I wanted to decorate my room now. In the abandoned apartment I never had the luxury to furnish it beyond stealing stuff from dumps. I liked All Might so much as a child not because of what he did, but what he didn’t do. As far as the public record showed, All Might never worked with the CCG on anti-ghoul missions. He never said anything pro-ghoul, but you could see the mental gymnastics at work trying to avoid answering ghoul questions during interviews. Maybe at some point I’d be able to talk to All Might privately and get his real opinion.

With a stretch of my muscles I sat up, moving so that I was sitting side by side with Katsuki. Leaning his head on my shoulder he put an arm around me. Just as I was about to make a comment Katsuki interrupted. “Don’t.” he said. Probably could tell the joke coming from a mile away. “I thought you had been killed. They didn’t announce it on the news but they never did when it came to kids.” There were some tears building up in Katsuki’s eyes but they refused to flow. As much as he put on a very brash persona in front of others, on the inside he was like any regular person - and that included the grief at the loss of a best friend. If I’d known it had affected him this much I might’ve shown up sooner. We stayed like that a bit longer so that Katsuki could get it out of his system. Though I wasn’t running the water works I was equally as glad to see Katsuki, though there’s probably a difference between seeing your best friend for the first time in years and seeing your best friend for the first time in years and thinking that they had been killed. “None of those extras at school took your place Zuku, we’re both still gonna become the best hero duo this world has seen.” Katsuki said with conviction. 

That had been our dream for years. Katsuki would be number one of course, but I’d be his number two and we’d be the best hero duo the world had ever seen. And of course I’d be the world’s first ghoul hero. Together we’d kick ass and be untouchable. Those were much simpler days, and despite having to hide my true self on a daily basis it never really occurred to me back then that it would be a massive uphill struggle to be the first ghoul hero. It was as though I thought that being a hero would just be handed to me on a platter, as though rights for ghouls would be handed to me on a platter. The world wasn’t that kind though, and humans… did what humans always do. Fear that they may in fact not always be the good guys, so fight progress tooth and nail to protect their fragile psyches. 

For the first proper night back with my best friend I wanted to lighten the mood a bit. “Can I say it now Kacchan?” I asked. Rolling his eyes, he told me that I could. “That’s just a little bit gay Kacchan.”

“Might be” he replied. My smile grew. Today was the first time we’d seen each other in six years, but we’d have more time to figure out where we stand with each other. Ghouls can be interesting when it comes to interpersonal relationships. “You ready to hate me?” I asked. Showing a confused look on his face I explained further. “I’m putting Mario Kart on, it’s the second best way to ruin friendships.”

“What’s the first?” he asked.

“Monopoly.”

The system was set up in the living room so in the end we had to force ourselves to get up. After an hour or two of playing games I got a text from Hizashi telling me the meetings would be done soon, and asking if my friend - Hizashi didn’t know it was Katsuki - wanted to stay for dinner.

“Kacchan, do you wanna stay for dinner?” Pausing to think for a moment Katsuki thought, before telling me that he’d stay and sending a quick text to Aunty telling her the story in balamory. There weren’t actually any pictures of Shota or Hizashi in the apartment, at the insistence of Shota due to his work as an underground hero. That meant that Katsuki was going to be in for a big surprise when they arrived. Only another half hour or so and the car had pulled up outside the building. Shota had asked me to preheat the oven in preparation for their arrival, though I had to get Katsuki to show me how. Whilst we could heat the meat we ate if we wanted to, ghouls tended not to. Given that most ghouls would just eat the meat straight from the corpse, rather than take it home. 

Upon the door opening I wasn’t sure what I found more funny. The surprised look of Katsuki realising that not only did I live with Eraserhead and Present Mic, but that they were actually married to each other. Or that look when Shota handed Hizashi money the moment Shota spotted Katsuki, as though they had a bet about who it would be that I’d brought round. 

“You’re married?” Katsuki spluttered out, as though this was the biggest revelation to mankind since the discovery of quirks.

Shota nodded. “Yes, it surprises me too sometimes.” 

After a display of mock hurt from Hizashi he moved over to the kitchen area and started cooking dinner. Not wanting to encroach on us playing games, and likely wanting a somewhat quiet moment after school, Shota made his way to the study to do whatever it is that he does in there. Whenever I asked I’d either get ignored, or on a good day I’d get “classified” grumbled in response. It was probably hero work. I noticed that sometimes when he was watching the news something would happen and he’d bolt upright and go straight into his office. It was usually stuff to do with kids around my age going missing. He was probably working on a missing persons case. He wasn’t exactly subtle.

Katsuki and I kept playing and talking, and despite Hizashi definitely being able to hear every word we said we both spoke freely. Mostly just catching up on what we’d been up to for the last six years. I could tell that some of what I’d gone through was disturbing Katsuki, and likely Hizashi in the kitchen as well. Generally I was never this honest with Hizashi and Shota, not that I didn’t trust them or anything. There was just something about Katsuki that made me want to be true to myself when around him, warts and all.

Dinner was interesting to say the least. I had my coffee as usual whilst everybody else enjoyed their meals. Even with the strong scent of the coffee the smell of their food found its way into my nostrils, but for the sake of everybody else I did my best to ignore it given that neither Shota or Hizashi had mentioned that I was starting to make their apartment smell like a coffeehouse. Whilst, as far as I was aware, the food wasn’t spicy, Katsuki appeared to enjoy the meal. Though he did seem a little bit unsure how to refer to Shota and Hizashi in conversation, it was the first time that he’d ever had a meal with his teachers before. In the end he resorted to calling them by surname, rather than given name or ‘Sensei’. 

I think that both Shota and Hizashi were confused about Katsuki. From their experience of him during classes today they likely left with the impression that he was a troublemaker, but during the evening he was nothing but polite and respectful, even offering to clean the dishes as a thanks for the meal. Once the dishes were cleaned Shota offered to drive Katsuki back to his house rather than have him walk or take public transit. This left me alone with Hizashi who almost immediately bombarded me with questions.

“So you and Bakugou? Huh?” he asked with a knowing look in his eye.

Even the years of stoicism couldn’t hide the red creeping onto my face. “No!” I responded harshly. Then with a bit more decorum I clarified “Well not right now anyway. Maybe in the future.”

Hizashi questioned me further, the whole time coming off like a mama bear, wanting to know what was happening with her cub. “Do you want it to be a thing?” he asked, calmly. 

“We’ll need to see how things go. He was my best friend for years and I hadn’t seen him since the day before it all happened. If that hadn’t happened then maybe our relationship might’ve grown further but for now he’s my best friend that I’ve been reunited with.” Hizashi understood. He ruffled my hair, gave some words of wisdom from his experiences at my age, and moved over to the sofa to put on a movie. As Shota returned they put the movie on, apparently he’d gotten some popcorn at a store before returning. To them this new day was the start of an academic cycle that they’d undergone many times before, and surely would undergo many times again. To me, this was the start of a brand new routine and I was excited to see where it would take me.

Chapter Text

The newly established routine continued for several weeks without much change. Classes as usual and once a week Katsuki would come over and visit after school, occasionally on sunday as well. Though I was yet to visit his place, every time the idea came into my head I just wasn’t sure if I was ready to go back to that street. My understanding was that the house I used to live in was claimed by the city government, cleaned up, and then sold to a family who now live there. I don’t know if I’d just be able to walk by as people lived in my house as though it wasn’t taken from me through the slaughter of my parents. 

My bond with Katsuki was growing stronger each day, at times it was as though it had all never happened. I also made progress in my friendships with some other members of the class, primarily Urakara, Iida, Kirishima, and Tsuyu. I spoke a bit with Tokoyami but it seemed that despite him making pleasant conversation at lunch he didn’t really want much to do with us. At the very least, it seemed that my status as a ghoul hadn’t really left class 1-A. Though I doubt that it would remain that way for very long. 

Today was different though, the routine that had been established was ever so slightly rocked during homeroom with an announcement from Shota. At first when Shota informed us that he had an announcement there were some fears that it was another ‘do well or be expelled’ test, it was in fact something much worse. A popularity contest, or in other words picking a Class President and Class Vice President. Politician in waiting Iida suggested a democratic vote. Leaving my scrap of paper blank the votes were counted and I somehow had three votes. Whilst by no definition a majority, it was more combined votes compared to other people, and as such I was duly elected as Class President - as is the way of First Past the Post.

All eyes were on me as the result was announced. “Who even voted for the guy?” Kaminari asked. As Iida was saying something along the lines of ‘secret ballot act’ three people raised their hands, very much upsetting Iida. Those who raised their hands were Kastuki, Urakara, and Kirishima. 

“You didn’t vote for yourself?” Kaminari asked. 

“You know ghouls can’t vote at all right? Consider this my form of civic protest. I refuse the position of Class President.”

As Iida desperately attempted to figure out what the official UA rules stated in regards to this situation, Urakara let out a small cry of “Ghoul Rights!”, followed by Katsuki and Kirishima. At this rate what should’ve been a simple class popularity contest turned into a constitutional crisis and a rally for ghoul rights and was due to turn into a class political revolution. Before sitting back down I let out a small call of “Ghoul Rights” myself. Eventually it was decided that everybody who had received more than one vote were now officially candidates for the role and a second ballot was held. Like the last I refused to vote, though this time Katsuki, Urakara, and Kirishima all coordinated to post votes for Ghoul Rights. Despite the tidal wave of support the concept of Ghoul Rights wasn’t elected Class President or Class Vice President. In the end Yaoyorozu was elected Class President, and Iida the Class Vice President.

With the class election out of the way the day continued as usual. At lunch I decided to stay in the class as I drank my coffee. Today I just didn’t want to deal with the smells of the food, sometimes it was just overpowering. At least I’d arranged to meet up with Katsuki once he’d finished eating. That was the case until an alarm started blaring throughout the school. As everybody in the school started panicking I noticed a strange smell. Throughout my time at UA my nose had gotten used to the specific smell that UA and all its students emitted in the creation of a sort of ‘UA’ scent. But really close to me there had been a smell that I hadn’t noticed before. Following it took me to the shared teachers office, and inside was a man I’d never seen before. He was staring at documents until he found one that he appeared to be looking for and took a photo of it. And just like that he was gone. He’d walked towards a strange mist at the very back of the office. It was strange, he smelled like a human and likely was one, but there was also the stench of ghoul. The only humans that really spent lots of time with ghouls, besides from the more progressive people in society, were villains. 

By now the panic in the halls had turned into a more ordered evacuation, with all the students calmly making their way towards their class’ designated evacuation area, similar to the fire drills that schools would conduct. Looking outside the window I noticed Shota who was attempting to shoo members of the press out of school grounds. Maybe the man was just a journalist who accepted the aid of a villain in order to get onto the grounds for information. Regardless, I decided that it’s in the best interests of the school that Shota was told. 

Outside I waited for him until he stepped aside, heroes that work better with the public took over crowd control. Quickly briefing him on all the information that I had he promised to inform the principal as soon as possible, and asked me not to tell anybody. Once everybody was accounted for we were told that we could go back to having lunch, though the sight of that man was still making me feel uncomfortable. Despite that, lunch continued as though it had never happened - though to be fair I was the only student to know about the mysterious man.

Katsuki eventually joined me in the class, along with Iida, Urakara, Tsuyu, and Kirishima. 

Eventually the bell sounded and everybody made their way back to class, my thermos put back in its bag since the only thing I was allowed to drink during class was water. The period was scheduled as Heroics, but instead of All Might entering the door, it was Shota. 

“Whilst I’m sure you all expected All Might to walk in the door, I’m afraid to say you’ve got me instead. Don’t worry though, you’ll see him later. We’re going to commence an important lesson in heroics, one that I’d argue is more important than combat training - rescue training. Whether the disaster is caused by a villain or by nature, there will always be somebody in need of rescue. As such, we’re going on a field trip to one of our connected training areas that’s off campus.”

Going off campus with the potential intrusion of a villain didn’t sound like a particularly good plan to me, and chances are it didn’t to Shota either. Likely he was overruled by the principal. 

Everybody got changed into their costumes as usual, luckily despite the blast several weeks earlier mine was all in a serviceable state. I could tell though that most of the class was still put off by the mask. The outfit forced them to confront the reality of being close to a ghoul. During regular classes I’m dressed as they are, I talk like them, by all accounts I’m the same. Maybe they were uncomfortable with the idea that not all ghouls are mindless monsters. Not that it particularly mattered, I’m in their class and I’m not suddenly going to become human, so they’re just going to have to get used to it. Some schools of thought argued that we should attempt to assimilate and try to avoid any outward appearance of ghouls being different from humans - anybody who argued for that could go and stand on a lego brick. We shouldn’t have to assimilate in the first place, there’s nothing innately wrong with being a ghoul!

Lining up outside the bus Iida attempted to get us all prepared in a seating plan, only to be crushed when instead of the usual rows the bus instead sported a more open seating plan. Clapping his shoulders I told him “Better luck next time”. My words only made it worse as he appeared to slowly but surely die inside.

Whilst on the way to the unspecified facility we all spoke amongst ourselves when suddenly Tsuyu spoke quite loudly, directing a question towards me. “Midoriya, I tend to speak frankly. Do you mind if I ask something?”

I shrugged my shoulders. “Go ahead.”

“The mask that you wear. I heard that for a ghoul a mask is very important, and that they often contain symbolism. Yours appears to be two birds, what’s that about?” 

As was becoming a semi-frequent occurrence all eyes were on the ghoul in today’s edition of ‘how is the ghoul going to answer this question about ghouls and society?’

“Well, my mask is split between a raven, and, a little bit ironically, a dove.” I answered. Seeing some confused looks I clarified “Doves are the nicknames that ghouls give to CCG investigators.”

“So what does it symbolise then?” somebody asked.

Under the mask, I smiled. “Me.” Before somebody got the chance to ask for further clarification Shota announced that we’d just arrived.

“Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, where your rescue training is to be conducted.”

Disembarking the bus Shota led us into the building, with the doors sealing behind us with a hiss. Inside was the space hero: Thirteen, but no sign of All Might. Shota and Thirteen had a quick discussion in private before coming forward to speak to the class. Thirteen started by saying “Welcome to the USJ. Today we will learn not how to use our abilities to hurt, but to help. If you learn one thing today, I hope that it will be that your abilities aren’t purely for offensive capabilities, but are also to help others.”

I internally laughed. Try telling that to handsy mcsplodo, or better yet, try telling that to me directly. My innate abilities are literally predatory weapons.

“Today’s training will be important. Because used wrong and my quirk could easily kill a person, and I’m sure that some of you here will be the same. If you lose focus for a single second, the person you were trying to rescue could be dead at your hands - so pay attention. And with that, take it away Eraserhead.”

As Shota was about to start speaking the lights suddenly started flickering in the USJ, and despite nobody else being able to smell it the USJ smelled like blood, death, and ghoul. And amongst the concoction of smells that were assaulting my senses was the smell of the man from earlier. In the central plaza a portal appeared, and coming through were what looked like hundreds of villains.

“Has the training started already?” Kirishima asked. As he stepped forwards Shota outstretched his arm. 

“Stop!” he shouted at Kirishima, putting his goggles on as he yelled. “These are actual villains.” 

Suddenly it all made sense as to why the school had been broken into. They were preparing to follow up by breaking into the USJ. We were under assault from villains.

Murmurs of panic spread throughout the class as they realised that Shota wasn’t kidding. 

“Thirteen protect the students!” he shouted. And then after a moment’s thought “Izuku, with me, now!” I ran over next to Shota where quietly he explained “I hate to ask this of a student, but if anybody’s going to be able to help out here it’s you. So I need you to listen carefully to what I’m about to say. You are permitted to use as much force as is required to defend yourself and others, up to and including lethal force if you need to.” I nodded in response. This was actually a dangerous enough situation that he thought there was a fair likelihood I’d have to resort to lethal force. Though given that there were almost certainly ghouls alongside the regular villains I wasn’t surprised.

And then as a unit we ran towards the threat, prepared to do whatever it took to defend lives, even if it meant taking lives in turn.

Luckily the ghouls were few and far between, if there were any more than what was here then we’d have needed the presence of the CCG, and I’d rather not get killed by an overzealous CCG investigator. Most of the ghouls were C class, with the occasional B rated ghoul for good measure. 

Shota jumped into the middle of a group of villains, whilst I singled out a ghoul who was standing away from the rest of the crowd. Manifesting my kagune I didn’t stop to listen to a monologue or issue a warning, I moved straight for a kill shot. Though as expected he blocked and I had to back away.

“A ghoul in the UA hero course. How amusing, I bet you’re a human sympathiser, the worst kind of ghoul. You’re a traitor to all ghouls!” he snarled. There were factions of ghouls that still believed in ghoul superiority, and it looked like this ghoul was a member of such a faction. A tad ironic given that he was working with humans but no time for a debate when there’s a kagune coming straight for your throat. 

Dodging out of the way I counter attacked and managed to pierce his kagune. Letting out a scream he sent another attack at me, this time too quick for me to dodge and managed to pierce my side. Accepting that I had no choice I sent all six tentacles at him at once and before he could react, all six had lodged into his throat. Pulling them out he fell over and started choking on his blood. As I turned around I saw the Shota had several unconscious villains lying around him, he briefly looked at me and nodded. 

As I moved on to engage my next target Shota moved to fight the apparent leader of the group, the man with the hand mask. Though rather than engage in actual combat the man merely said “Nomu”. And faster than Shota could react the bird looking beast that was by the fountain was suddenly picking up Shota and threw him to the ground like a ragdoll. Before he could roll out of the way one of the creature’s feet were holding him down, with sharp talons piercing his back. And then it started breaking his arms and legs, before smashing his face onto the ground.

Before I could consider the consequences I yelled “DAD!” as I ran towards Shota. Dad… I shook my head, I’d have time to consider the ‘dad’ comment later. Using my kagune I pierced the chest area of the Nomu and threw it away, hoping I’d got its heart.

I kneeled next to Shota, checking his wounds. They were really serious, if he didn’t get help soon then he was going to die. “I won’t let you die” I promised, as I stood up to face the hand masked villain. 

“Very strange, not only is there a ghoul attending UA’s hero course, but he’s found a father figure in a hero. You’re an interesting one. I’ll let you live the longest, so that you can watch everybody else die around you. And then, I’ll starve you until you feast on the corpses of your friends. How does that sound?” the villain asked with glee. Ignoring the fact that the idea of feasting on corpses was making my stomach rumble, I ran towards the villain. 

“Not if I kill you first!” I yelled, going after him with my kagune. Somehow he managed to dodge everything I sent at him, and then somehow he managed to actually grab a hold of a tentacle. And that’s when I felt a pain like never before as part of the kagune disintegrated before my very eyes. I let out a scream of pain, louder than anything I’d ever done before. It caused agony in my throat, and as I next spoke my voice was raw. “Now I’m definitely going to kill you!” I screamed. I ran straight towards him but instead of piercing him with my kagune I aimed to bite his neck. At the last moment he was able to move just enough that instead of taking a chunk out of his neck I took one out of his shoulder.

He turned around to look at me before saying “You actually bit me!” in a scream of anger and confusion. 

“If it’s any consolation I’d only rate this two out of five stars, I’ve had better. But even this wasn’t as bad as the synthetic shit.” This only enraged him more as he let out a scream of anger. At least the flesh was allowing my kagune to regenerate, if only a little bit. Though the blood dribbling from my mask and mouth were a little bit distracting. 

As his warp friend appeared next to him to discuss something the villain just shouted “Nomu, kill the ghoul!” And as though I’d never even touched it the monster was back in front of me. Piercing my chest with its talons it picked me up and threw me onto the ground next to Shota. I coughed up blood with enough force to send my mask flying away from me. Just as he was about to land a killing blow by crushing my now exposed head the doors to the USJ burst open. And appearing from the smoke, All Might. And for the first time that I could ever recall, All Might was not smiling. In the knowledge that with All Might here we’d be safe, I closed my eyes as everything started to go blurry. 

A few times I’d opened my eyes during All Might’s battle with the creature and at one point even surrounded by Katsuki, Kirishima, and Todoroki, he was losing. I could see that Urakara was nearby. Using what was left of my strength I called out her name.

She approached me, visually panicked at the sight of me and Shota bleeding on the ground. “Bring me the body of the ghoul” I whispered. I could tell she didn’t want to leave me alone but what tone I could muster left no room for debate. After what felt like an eternity she arrived, body in tow. I could tell she clearly wasn’t comfortable, and under any other circumstance she wouldn’t have even touched a corpse. I knew it was going to taste awful, but I knew what I had to do. Urging Urakara to turn away I did what ghouls do best, and feasted. It was disgusting, but by the end I was on my feet, fully regenerated. 

“Urakara,” I said. “Pick up Shota and get him to safety. Do not let him die” I ordered. Without saying a word, she made Shota and made him weightless, before picking him up and carrying him up to safety. Back to almost full strength I moved to join the battle between the students, All Might, and the Nomu. 

Noticing my arrival Katsuki commented “Good to see you’ve stopped staining the floor with your blood. Do you know how difficult it is to get rid of red stains?”

Smiling, I hit back with “Well at least I don’t cause scorch marks everywhere I go!”

I could tell that Katsuki wanted to respond, but Kirishima yelling “As funny as this is to observe during lunch, now is not the time!” stopped him from doing so.

Preparing for his ultimate move All Might yelled “UNITED STATES OF SMASH!” before delivering the most powerful punch I’d ever seen. The punch alone caused a shockwave which pushed us all back a bit. And the Nomu, well it looked as though it had been sent into orbit.

“Cheater! Hacks! You’re hacking, no fair!” the villain from earlier yelled. 

“Look though” the other villain started to explain. “All Might is clearly running on fumes here. Taking him and his students out will be easy.”

The hands villain looked as though he was about to push towards us when suddenly a gunshot was heard within the USJ. And a bullet wound appeared in the villain’s hand. And then more shots hitting him in his arms and legs before the warp villain moved to protect him. 

“Shit, it’s game over” he bit out as heroes began to flood the entrance to the USJ. And like All Might, they did not look happy. And with that the hand villain disappeared with his friend, and the heroes made short work of any remaining villains. 

And with that, the villain attack on the USJ was over. All of the students were ordered to line up outside in order to be checked off a list. Instead though I followed Hizashi, knowing he’d be going to see Shota. Outside it was pandemonium as police were booking villains, the students were chatting in the best cases, and crying at worst. All the while sirens were blaring as more ambulances and police cars were arriving. Hizashi stopped at an ambulance where Shota was being loaded in. Without hesitating, Hizashi got in the back and I followed him. Technically ambulances were only supposed to allow one person to ride in the back with the patient but at Hizashi’s insistence I was allowed to stay.

“I’m sorry” I said. I wasn’t fast enough to protect Shota, if I had been stronger then he would never have been hurt. 

“Don’t be” Hizashi said, barely being able to hold it together. “This isn’t your fault. Shota would do anything for his students, it’s what he signed up for.”

The ride in the ambulance was excruciating. The awkward silence in the back of the ambulance juxtaposed to the blaring siren was driving me insane. In order to break the silence I suddenly blurted out “I called him dad.” Hizashi turned to look at me. “When I saw what happened to him and I reacted on instinct. That’s what I called him.” 

Hizashi took a breath before answering. “He thinks of you as a son. I know he doesn’t show it well but… that’s just how he thinks of you. The only thing stopping him from talking about it with you is the guilt he feels.”

He thought of me like a son? It was conflicting to hear, whilst at least he felt similarly about me, part of me felt as though in a way I was betraying my birth father. “What does he feel guilty about?” I asked.

“The raid. He feels guilty that he took part in the raid that killed your birth parents. He doesn’t feel like he has the right to look at you as a son. In the short month and a bit we’ve had you with us it’s been tearing him apart. Well, it’s been tearing him apart for a bit longer than that - he looked for you a few times over the years.”

“What about you? Am I a son to you?”

“Even though I’ve not known you for long, you’re definitely my son. If you’ll have us that is?”

I didn’t even bother thinking about the question. I just let my gut answer the question. “Yes”.

As much as I wanted to talk more about how the whole adoption thing was going to work, decidedly it wasn’t a conversation to be had in the back of an ambulance hurtling down the road going over one hundred miles per hour with lights and sirens blaring. If it weren’t for the sight of Shota being badly injured it would’ve been kinda fun - being in the back of a vehicle driving that fast. 

When the ambulance arrived at the entrance to the Accident and Emergency Department the doors to the ambulance were swung open. The paramedics wheeled the gurney out of the ambulance where a trauma team of doctors and nurses were standing by. Hizashi and I followed wordlessly as Shota was wheeled through the entrance and hospital corridors. The paramedics and the trauma team conducting the handover spoke in fluent medicalese and only the odd phrase like ‘severe haemorrhage’, ‘critical condition’, and ‘requires intubation’ actually got through to me. 

As he got wheeled into a trauma bay Hizashi and I were taken aside by a nurse. The nurse was saying something but it went in one ear and straight out of the other. I wasn’t particularly thinking about anything. I could see clearly but it was like I was watching a movie. 

“Izuku?”

I shook my head, returning to reality. “Sorry, yes?” I asked.

“The nurse wants to know if you’re hurt at all.” Hizashi explained.

I quickly looked around, the room was really small and cosy, blue walls and wooden floors. If I hadn’t seen myself mindlessly walk in there I’d think I was in some kind of show living room for micro homes. “Where are we?” I asked.

“This is one of our relatives rooms in the Mustafu Imperial Hero Hospital.” the nurse answered. “But I need to know, are you hurt? Sore anywhere?”

I looked up at the nurse and told him “No, I’m fine. I got impaled but I’m all healed now.”

“How did you heal so quickly, is that your quirk?” the nurse asked, taking notes on a tablet he’d picked up from the table.

I shook my head. “I don’t have a quirk, I’m a ghoul.” I replied. Normally I wouldn’t just say something like that so freely, but with Hizashi around I wasn’t concerned about an attempt at lynching me. At least, not at that time anyway.

The nurse didn’t appear to like my answer. His face, once plastered with concern for my wellbeing, now showed nothing but naked contempt. It seemed that when it came to ghouls people didn’t worry about little things like professionalism, why care that much for a ghoul. “I see. I’m going to have to ask you to leave, I'm afraid.”

“Excuse me!” Hizashi exclaimed, temporarily losing some control of his quirk. I rolled my eyes, I should’ve known. As I went to get off of the sofa I was sitting on, Hizashi put his arm in front of me. “Izuku, sit down.” His voice was darker than I’d ever known it to be. He turned his attention to the nurse still standing with a frown on his face. “Izuku is here under my authority as a pro hero. If you have an issue then make a complaint to the HPSC. I want another family liaison, you can leave.” 

The nurse tried to protest, but Hizashi’s glare saw him off. Suddenly I yawned, realising how tired I was. Acting on instinct I moved myself so that I was lying down on the sofa instead of sitting. It wasn’t that comfortable, but that hardly mattered because as soon as my head touched the sofa it was lights out. 

Chapter Text

School was cancelled for the next few days as the principal and other members of the faculty held an investigation into what actually happened at the USJ and how it happened. Meanwhile in the news UA was getting absolutely torn to shreds for allowing villains to actually get onto a UA facility. Due to the high interest in the case the Japanese government decreed that almost all documents pertaining to it were a matter of public record, and part of that was the fact that one of the villains - the ghoul that I killed - showed signs of being cannibalised. That alone wasn’t of too much interest but for one other fact, the CCG made no arrests and reported no kills of ghouls. 

Your more respectable outlets didn’t really focus on that detail, instead focusing on the situation at large, however your more… clickbait focussed magazines and websites ran wild with conspiracy theories of a ghoul being amongst the students, or even UA teaching staff. The official UA stance on the matter was that ‘UA does not comment on specific students or teachers as a matter of principle’. All that said, the CCG would’ve gotten a full report on what happened due to my presence, they probably wouldn’t like that I was using my bite as a weapon.

As I was sitting in the apartment, admittedly bored out of my mind, I heard a knock at the door. Hizashi was visiting Shota in the hospital, and none of them would need to knock since they had keys. Slowly I made my way to the door and looked through the peephole, it was Katsuki. Relief spread throughout my body as I for just a moment I thought it might be a CCG investigator at the door. Welcoming him into the apartment we both moved to sit on the couch in the living room.

“How’s Aizawa?” he asked. 

“I don’t know much. But I know that he’s stable and not in a critical condition anymore. For a minute though it looked like he might…” I couldn’t finish the sentence. I’d encountered death plenty of times as a ghoul, though for the second time in my life I was faced with the prospect of it being somebody close to me. “I killed somebody at the USJ”.

Katsuki didn’t turn to face me and instead kept looking at the blank screen of the television. “I know” he replied, voice even. “But it was you or him, wasn’t it.”

I nodded. Admittedly most ghouls had killed somebody by my age, whether it be a human so that they could eat, or defending themselves from another ghoul. I’d been lucky in that regard, most ghouls I’d had to fight off retreated after being wounded - though I suppose one could’ve died due to their wounds and I’d never known. If anybody else in the class had killed the ghoul they’d probably be able to rationalise it as just ‘killing a ghoul’ in the same way humans rationalise the killing of dear old bessy in order to make burgers, it’s just a thing we do to survive.

“The whole class knows, don’t they?” I asked.

“Yeah, they do.” Katsuki confirmed. “Only a couple actually saw it happen, and I think somebody also mentioned seeing you eat that guy when you were on the floor.”

My whole body froze at the words. At the time it was necessary to get back up, I wasn’t regenerating. And sure, I understood that Urakara would probably know what I was doing but I never intended for anybody to see.

Katsuki sighed. “What would’ve happened to you if you didn’t, you know, go pacman plus cherry buff on the guy?”

I let out a snort before replying. “Well honestly it depends. If one of the heroes or ambulance crews had real or artificial meat and took the risk of feeding me it whilst unconscious I’d probably be fine. But more likely I wouldn’t have been fed until Hizashi found me and probably managed to get a delivery urgently ordered or something. And there’s a chance I would have bled out in that time.”

For a moment, as I explained that I could’ve died, Katsuki froze. He’d seen me on the floor surrounded by a pool of blood, he even joked about it, but he must’ve overestimated my ghoul healing abilities. Pulling him into a hug I reminded him “But in the end I survived. I’m here.”

“Don’t die on me.” Katsuki huffed. “If you die, then how are we going to be the best hero due to ever hero duo.” There was a certain smugness to Katsuki’s voice, as though he’d already decided that we were the number one hero duo. “Besides, you’ll end up being an inspiration to all of ghoul kind, or some shit like that.”

Despite his brashness he definitely stood behind his parents when it came to the rights of ghouls. Though at first it was probably a selfish thing, a belief solely held because he didn’t want to see me taken away by the CCG. 

“That’s what the Sports Festival is for.” I replied. “Well, assuming that it’s not cancelled after the attack.”

Katsuki shook his head. “UA won’t back down, they can’t afford to. They’re the most well known hero school in the world, when you take on that role you lose the ability to back down and de-escalate things.”

It was true. If UA tried to de-escalate people wouldn’t see that as smart, they’d view it as cowardly and UA’s reputation would suffer. Perhaps Shiketsu would take over UA’s mantle. We continued chatting late into the night and it became abundantly clear that Katsuki would have to stay over, by now the trains would have stopped running for the night and there was no way he was going to be walking home. Without Hizashi or Shota to keep us in check we ended up having a movie marathon on the sofa. Popcorn for Katsuki, coffee for me, and a blanket shared between both of us.

For some reason Katsuki had a strange obsession with horror movies. Whilst I didn’t dislike horror films, I wasn’t exactly a fan of them either. And the reason why became evident as the main villain cut open the belly of one of the protagonists. As guts and organs fell out of the victim my stomach rumbled and there’s a fair chance that my kakugan had activated. Katsuki paused the movie and turned to see my face, it was so embarrassing I just wanted to walk to the nearest window and fall out of it. Katsuki just laughed and then suddenly he became serious. “The stuff that the government provides. Is it enough?” he asked.

I shook my head. “Not really. For a normal ghoul not getting involved in fights and stuff it would be fine, but because of all the hero training it’s not. I’ve put requests in but they get denied by the CCG doctors every time, I’m starting to think that they want me to starve so I’ll give them an excuse to kill me. At this rate I’ll need to go back to scavenging to supplement my rations.”

Katsuki was positively fuming. “What the shit!” he exclaimed, mini-explosions crackling at his hands as he stood up in indignation. “So they give you permission to train to be a hero but don’t give you the proper nutrition to see it through. Those shitty bastards are setting you up to fail.”

I shrugged. “Nothing to be done about it.” I said. I’d tried the formal request forms for an increase in rations, I’d tried letters, even I showed up at the office in charge of the request forms to make a plea in person but none of it worked. “I know you’re mad Kacchan but we can’t do anything about it right now. Let's keep watching?” I suggested.

He didn’t look pleased with my suggestion. “You’re hungry and I have a feeling that won’t be the last scene like that. You need to eat something before we keep going.” I hated that he was right, as always. The issue though was that we didn’t have any artificial stuff left. But in a minifridge that we kept in my room for emergencies we did have some real meat that I’d scavenged. Thigh if I recalled correctly.

“Okay, but I’m going to do it in my room. I’ll be back soon.” Katsuki was confused. 

“You’ve eaten in front of me before, in the changing room after our match. What’s different this time?” he asked.

I gulped. “In the changing room that was artificial stuff, the stuff in my room is real human flesh Kacchan.” He did his best to hide it but for a moment Katsuki’s whole demeanor changed. I wasn’t surprised, I literally just told him I’m going to eat human. Not wanting to deal with the awkwardness of the situation I quickly excused myself to my room and opened the minifridge. Inside were several cuts of thigh, I grabbed the closest one and the aroma filled my nostrils. Yes, this was what I needed. Nothing compared to the smell. Without thinking twice it was in my mouth and I chomped down. Blood filled my mouth as the sweet taste assaulted my senses. It was like I was there when the person died. Male, late twenties, feeling fear - likely murdered. More. More I need more. 

As I was about to grab the second cut I stopped myself, one would do. I closed the minifridge, the only lightsource in the room extinguished. It was just me, and my thoughts. The more clearly I thought the more disgusted with myself I became. A young man had been murdered and I was enjoying the thought of it as I devoured what was once him. I forced myself to get up and I mechanically walked into the bathroom where I quickly brushed my teeth and used some mouthwash, being especially careful not to swallow anything. I inspected my teeth and mouth to make sure there wasn’t any blood lingering. All clear. I joined Katsuki who was waiting patiently for me on the couch.

As I sat down he could tell something was wrong. He covered me with the blanket and asked “Zuku… are you okay?”

Quietly, with a broken voice I said “I really am just a monster.”

“No you’re not” Katsuki replied, bravado evident in his voice.

“But I am!” I shouted. “I just ate part of a person and as I did so I fantasised about how he was killed. And what’s worse, I enjoyed it! How can you even sit next to me right now?”

Katsuki went to reply and then paused, mouth hanging open before it snapped shut. He took a deep breath before he spoke. “I can sit next to you because you’re my best friend. And you’re just doing what your biology needs you to do. We all have… thoughts that we don’t like, yours just happen to be a bit more gory than the rest. And I noticed you go into the bathroom to brush your teeth, you probably even used mouthwash. You’re no monster, Izuku.”

I wasn’t totally sure if I believed him, but for the time it would do. Without saying a word I practically crashed into Katsuki, letting out silent sobs. It wasn’t long after that we decided not to continue watching the film, instead we fell asleep entangled in each other’s arms on the couch.

A sudden noise woke me, but I made sure that I maintained the look of being asleep. The door closed and walking in was Hizashi, no Shota. I fully opened my eyes so that he could see that I was awake. He didn’t say anything as not to wake up Katsuki, but after seeing the position we were in he just gave a thumbs up, winked at me, and then presumably went straight to his bed. Somewhat mortified I quickly fell back asleep at the lack of a threat.

It was the day after the sleepover when Shota came back home literally covered head to toe in bandages, as though he was some sort of resurrected egyptian mummy. Though despite the state he was in, I was glad to see him back home rather than in hospital connected to a bunch of tubes and machines. 

Shota and Hizashi sat me down before we all made the trip to UA. Shota took in a deep breath, summoning courage. “I’ve spoken with Hizashi during my time in the hospital and… it’s clear we both care a lot about you. If you’re willing, we would like to adopt you as our son.”

I let out a breath I didn’t realise I was holding in. Like the time in the ambulance I immediately answered with what my heart told me was the right answer. “Yes, I’d love that”.

“If you’re not comfortable you don’t need to ca-“

I interrupted him by taking him into a hug. “Thanks, Dad.” It was almost hard to believe that I’d have a family again. A step towards a normal life. Saying ‘dad’ felt a tiny bit forced, but as long as I said it often enough it would start to feel normal.

And just as soon as Shota was back home, he was somehow standing in front of our class as school started again. Though noticeably there was a seat empty, and a certain pervert wasn’t in class. 

“Welcome back after your extended break. First things first, yes Mineta is not present. He made the choice to move to General Education due to the incident at the USJ. It’s unfortunate, but in his case it was the choice he needed to make. On a similar topic, all students will be expected to either see a counsellor as appointed by UA, or a private one if you have one. What you’ve all experienced was traumatic, none of you will be entirely okay after that. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, almost every hero has a counsellor or therapist.”

Nobody really complained at the loss of Mineta, maybe with the exception of Kaminari who was a little sad to see him go. 

“Otherwise, onto something more important. Your fight isn’t over yet.” A slight panic set across the class as someone gasped and said ‘more villains?’ Shota shook his head and kept speaking over the interruption. “The illustrious principle has decided that the UA sports festival is going to continue this year as planned, you’ve all got to prepare yourselves. So for the next two weeks all of your non-heroics classes are being scaled back so that you can spend more time training. Use this time wisely, your futures may be at stake here, be rational.”

Without giving any more detail Shota returned to his true form, burrito-hero. There were a few minutes left of homeroom before the next classes began. I turned my chair around so that I was facing Katsuki.

“Nerd?” he asked. 

“The sports festival… that’s just a bit terrifying”

Katsuki smirked. “I’m going to destroy during the sports festival.” He paused for a moment, appearing to think before he continued saying “You better make it to the final ya hear me, I need somebody competent to fight”.

I smiled at the very Katsuki way of delivering praise. “Our classmates are competent as well, be careful not to underestimate them.” 

The rest of the day continued as normal, and it wasn’t long until I found myself in a class that I really didn’t want to be present for if I could help it - biology. The class was taught by Vlad King and it was always a bit of a doozy because the class was studying human biology. And human biology made me hungry, there was no helping my ghoul biology. We were watching a documentary whilst Vlad King did some work at his desk when the documentary showed a human eye in the hands of a presenter. It was only then that it occurred to me that it had been a while since I’d eaten and throughout the entire class was an audible ‘grrrrrrr’. My traitorous stomach had rumbled, and almost the entire class was looking at me. No doubt my kakugan was visible as well. My also traitorous mind reminded me that eyeball was a nice treat to have every once in a while, and it had been a really long time. 

Nobody said anything directly to me luckily, but I could easily make out whispers with my advanced hearing. ‘That is so disgusting’ somebody said. Then a peculiar sound. Laughter. I looked over and true enough Katsuki was visibly shaking as he tried his best to keep the laughter inside… it wasn’t going well. Katsuki also noticing the staring said “I’m sorry it’s just… it’s funny. It’s like a scene from a sit-com”. Nobody else was laughing, not that it stopped Katsuki. If it wasn’t so horrifying I’d be inclined to agree that it was a bit like a scene from a poorly written sit-com.

Whilst everybody was focussed on Katsuki, I swiftly grabbed the thermos from my bag and left the classroom. Vlad King noticed me leave, but wasn’t in any rush to stop me. I decided today was a good day to visit the school roof, the door at the top of the stairs was supposed to be kept locked but it seemed that it never had been locked. I looked around and found a spot and sat down with my thermos, occasionally taking swigs of it. I had about nodded off when I suddenly heard “What are you doing in my spot?” I opened my eyes and noticed an irate looking guy with purple hair and eyebags to rival Shota. 

I shrugged. “I wasn’t aware you’d claimed it, there’s plenty of space for the both of us though”. I inched over a little bit to his right to make space. The purple haired boy sat down next to me. 

“So, are you a fellow social reject then?” purple guy asked.

I laughed in response. “You could say that… you know the rumours about a ghoul in the hero course?”

Purple guy nodded. “I saw some stuff in gossip rags but I didn’t put much stock in them.”

A logical approach, but also wrong. “Well, I am a ghoul, and I’m in the hero course.”

Purple’s eyes widened in surprise. “Cool. Nice to meet you mister ghoul.”

“Not afraid I might gobble you up?” I asked the purple guy.

He shook his head. “Look at me, I’m skinny with hardly any muscle or fat. I’d be wholly unappetising.”

I laughed at him, it didn’t help that he was actually right. Most ghouls, myself included, wouldn’t classify him as being particularly good food. “Midoriya Izuku” I said, outstretching my hand.

Shinso took it and shook. “Shinso Hitoshi” he replied. 

“For what it’s worth, you’re right about the food thing. I don’t think you’d be many ghoul’s first choice unless they were starving.”

Shinso looked at me with a mock frown on his face. “Really? You mean to say I’m not an absolute snack?” He also pretended to flex his muscles, as though he wasn’t trying to convince a ghoul he was a worth the effort to eat.

I looked at Shinso clinically, looking him up and down. “Maybe an entrée. Save the eyes for dessert though.”

It was nice having somebody who could appreciate my ghoul sense of humour, apart from Katsuki there wasn’t really anybody else my age who I could share these sorts of jokes with. Most people got weirded out.

We chatted for a little bit more, but mostly remained silent. Before we could really get into any deep conversations my phone buzzed. I checked it and I had a text from Katsuki, apparently I was to go to the principal's office and Katsuki wouldn’t offer any more details. I said my goodbyes to Shinso and rushed to the office. And inside were a lot of people.

Katsuki was there, as was the principal, Shota, Hizashi, and… Mitsuki! “Auntie Mitsuki!” I exclaimed. It had been so long since I’d last seen here, and I was flooded with positive memories. It wasn’t just seeing her, but her unique scent. I really had missed her.

“Little Izuku” she replied, pulling me into a hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”

Nezu interrupted our reunion. “I apologise for interrupting, but we do have business to attend to.”

“Ah yes, of course” Mitsuki said. Either she’d mellowed out, or this was serious business where she had to deploy her business persona. 

“Midoriya,” Nezu began. “At the sports festival your status as a ghoul will likely become public knowledge. You’re going to be working with missus Bakugou here to determine your public relations strategy.” I was completely flabbergasted. Normally UA didn’t appoint PR to students unless they were in their third year and normally those PR reps were themselves students from the management course. This showed how serious Nezu was, that he’d give a first year a professional PR person. “Mostly this will be one to one between yourself and missus Bakugou, but she has some initial questions about the overall direction and I’d like to hear this for myself so I can coordinate the UA PR response.”

I nodded, it made sense. It also reassured me a little bit, her job wasn’t to make UA look good, but to make me look good. She worked for me first and foremost. 

Mitsuki looked excited to be working with me. “I always knew you’d change the world” she reminded me, before forcing her business face on. “Okay so with the general message we have two options. We can try to humanise you, mitigate your ghoul features, or we can actually focus on those things. Both are workable, though the second option may be more difficult. Your thoughts?”

I didn’t even need time to think. “I’m a ghoul, not a human, and there is nothing wrong with that. I won’t play human to appease people.”

Mitsuki nodded. “I see.” She hummed for a bit before noting something down on her tablet. “Okay, so what we’ll primarily have you doing is posting on twitter and instagram. We want to stay away from mainstream media for a while, they’re still an unpredictable entity. Pictures of you training would be good, really try to push the heroic side of things. Rescue training would be best, though combat training will work but we need to tread carefully there. On top of that we’ll also want some of you during your downtime. Does that sound good?” she asked.

I nodded, head trying to keep up. “Yes I can do that.”

“Fantastic” she replied. “I’ve gone to the liberty of preparing your various accounts. I’ve also made you a new personal email address, as well as one for PR and business dealings. Until you’ve graduated you don’t reply to those emails without my approval.” She quickly handed me several sheets of paper. “The last page has details including passwords, memorise, then destroy the paper, and then for the love of god change the passwords and enable two factor authentication. The other pages are guidance.” She was very insistent on the account security front.

Mitsuki was going full on not holding anything back. “For now the accounts are set to private and the descriptions are blank. I’ll be watching the sports festival, and once it’s obvious you’re a ghoul I’ll unprivate the accounts and update the descriptions and profile picture. Do you have any questions?” I shook my head, it all made sense once I was able to process it. “Well that’s all for now. Katsuki will give you my number.” She shook hands with all the adults in the room, and gave both Katsuki and me short hugs.

“So is that everything?” I asked, anxious to start reading the guidance given to me. Nezu shook his head.

“I heard from a contact at the city office that an adoption form had been electronically filed by an Aizawa Shota and Yamada Hizashi for one Midoriya Izuku.”

“And what of it?” Shota asked defensively.

“Nothing, I just wanted to let you know that I may have used a favour or two. The adoption is being fast tracked, it should be approved by the end of the week. Congratulations.”

The question of the adoption being approved was always something of an open question. As far as anyone could tell a ghoul had never officially been adopted, by humans to boot. So there was always a chance that it would just simply be rejected. 

Tears slowly trickled from my eyes. Confirmation that in a week I would officially have a family again made me feel over the moon. I moved over to Hizashi and Shota who were standing next to each other and brought both of them into a hug. I had a family. “Thank you Principal Nezu” I replied.

“Don’t thank me with words, Midoriya” Nezu said with a glint in his eyes. “Thank me by showing humans what we non-humans are capable of. Izuku, if you give a good showing at the sports festival, you will change the world.”

I knew in the back of my head that I had the power to be an inspiration to ghouls, but it was only just kicking in. The smartest being in the world said that I had the power to change the world. “I won’t let you down Sir. I’ll make sure that they all know what we can do. I’ll make the world a better place, somewhere being a ghoul doesn’t mean living every day knowing it could be your last.” I had a fire in me and it was burning bright. When I was younger I always wanted the situations for ghouls in Japan to improve but just waited for somebody else to do something. Now, it was time for me to force my dream of true ghoul equality down Japan’s throat. 

With a newly instilled confidence I said “The world is going to realise that it fucked up and should’ve investigated coexistence so much earlier.” And then, to myself I whispered “And that my mother didn’t deserve to die, and my father should’ve at least gotten a fair trial.”

I looked up and saw a shocked Katsuki, an unusual expression on his face. 

Chapter Text

It was one in the morning and Shota was out on patrol, Hizashi was asleep, and I was bored. I found myself slipping into old habits. I needed to get out of the apartment, so I wrote a quick note for Hizashi in case he woke up, and left the apartment. I just wore some sweat pants and a hoodie. In the pocket of the hoodie I kept my mask, you never knew when you’d need one. I’d put in some earbuds and walked listlessly. There weren’t many people walking the streets at this time of night, and most of those that were weren’t exactly reputable people. Not that it bothered me, I wasn’t reputable either. 

Eventually I found himself inside of an underground club that was run by and catered towards ghouls. One of the few joys of being a ghoul in the current state of affairs was that concepts like a ‘drinking age’ didn’t actually apply since those laws only applied to humans. And I had a sneaking suspicion that even if those laws did apply most ghoul clubs would flout them anyway. 

“Izuku, we haven’t seen you for a while” a bartender named Julia said upon spotting me. I really liked Julia, one of her parents was a ghoul from England and the other native to Japan. I’d heard all, and by all I meant way too many, of the romantic stories of how the two had met. “How’s tricks?” she asked.

“Oh you know, about to make history and all that” I replied with a cheeky grin. “I’ll tell you more, but first I need a drink.”

Julia smiled, she liked me as well. “One blood wine coming right up”.

Blood wine was the first ever ‘alcoholic’ beverage ghouls made. I wasn’t fully aware of the process other than it was somewhat similar to how human wine was created. The end result was a drink that could get ghouls drunk if consumed in enough quantities. Not that I made a habit of getting drunk, but when you’re a ghoul with way too much free time ghoul parties are a very good way to spend time.

“So, changing the world?” she asked me.

I laughed mirthfully. “Yeah, could you believe it. I’ll tell you but it stays between us for now. It’s being very well managed.” Julia nodded. Bartenders had a penchant for scooping up secrets and not divulging. “I attended the entrance exam for UA…” I paused for dramatic effect. “I got let in and also adopted.”

Julia could hardly believe what she was hearing by the looks of things. Whilst she was happy Izuku was able to pursue his dreams, she had concerns. “I’m happy for you, but aren’t heroes complicit with the CCG?”

I hummed, I’d thought about that a lot. Heroes often went on CCG operations, especially where ghouls were working alongside villains which was a semi-regular occurrence. “Ghoul rights aren’t just going to change with outside influence, you need somebody on the inside. And if I successfully become a hero I can change public perception. I’ve already got a PR manager. It’s total madness but I think it can work.”

We talked a bit more, though our conversation was constantly being broken up by other patrons at the club. After a few more glasses of blood wine I found myself on the dance floor dancing to the music. Fuck I’d missed this. If only Katsuki could come. Sadly whilst alcohol for humans was available that did require ID, not to mention all the ghouls who’d just want to snap up a drunk human. The thought filled me with a feeling of rage and possessiveness, Katsuki was his!

“Hey! Izuku you bastard, where have you been hiding?” a voice came from behind me.

I smiled as I looked behind me “Arai!” I yelled. I liked Arai, he was kind of like an uncle to me. Arai ordered two more blood wines from the bartender and gave one to me. “Got myself a dad and into school” I said. 

“I’m glad to hear that, I was worried about you. Not a word from you and you just up and disappeared.” I felt a little guilty about that. Arai always looked out for me, he taught me how to fight and everything. He was also the one who found me the apartment I used to live in. He knew my dad from back in the day, which kinda worried me since ‘back in the day’ my dad known as the SS rated ghoul ‘Dragon’, so called after his dragon inspired mask. 

“Sorry about that Arai. But I’m doing something I think will make mum and dad proud. I’m in UA’s hero course.”

“Wow, nice one kid! Damn right your old mum and dad would be proud of ya for that. I gotta go, but nice work kid. Know that your uncle Arai is proud as well. See ya” he waved as he walked away. It was a brief chat, but Arai was always a busy man.

A few more drinks, and a few bottles later, and time had passed by in the blink of an eye and I decided it was definitely time to go home. The walk back to the apartment wasn’t too bad, what was bad was Shota sitting inside the living room waiting for me like a wife waiting for her cheating husband to come back home.

“Izuku, we give you lots of autonomy but you had me worried. It’s almost four in the morning and you have school tomorrow, actually today.” Shota lightly intoned. 

“I-I’m sorry. I uh, I was out. I had a very good walk thank you very much.” I thought I was nailing acting sober, but Shota had dealt with many a drunk teen in his profession and it turned out I was clearly drunk as a skunk. 

“Are you drunk?” he asked, surprised.

“Uh… maybe.” I giggled. This was so funny, Shota thought I was drunk. How did he know? “It’s been waaaay too long since I visited the club.”

Shota pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. “We’ll talk about this in the morning, go to bed.”

I did a mock salute. “Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full sir.” and tried my best to walk to bed looking like I wasn’t drunk.

My head hit the bed and I was asleep immediately. 

When I woke up I instantly knew what had happened, my head was not happy. “Aaaaagh” I moaned as my head made its displeasure known. Worse, ghouls didn’t have the option of painkillers that humans had, they just had to make do. I quickly checked myself out in the mirror and oh god I looked exactly as I thought I would - like death.

Still wearing last evening’s clothes I walked into the kitchen slash living room to find Shota listening to Hizashi animatedly talk about something. As my door closed behind me both heads turned to face me. Hizashi laughed. “Oh my god, he actually looks dead Sho’. That’s about on par with you at Minami’s engagement party.”

Shota looked nowhere near as pleased as Hizashi. Either because he was reminded of what must’ve been a really fun night followed by a horrific morning, or because I thought that getting drunk was a smart idea. “Sit.” Shota said, gesturing towards an empty chair. My stomach dropped, this was it, this was how I died.

Shota stared at me for a brief moment, before letting out a breath. “Izuku, we aren’t… angry per se, we want to hear things from your perspective.”

“Well I couldn’t sleep so I went on a walk and before long I’d walked myself to a ghoul nightclub. It’d been a while since I’d been in there so I stopped in and caught up with the staff and various patrons that I know from there. I didn’t mean to get as drunk as I did. I’m sorry about getting that drunk, I’ll be more careful in future.”

“In future?” Shota asked, eyebrows raised. “You’re under age, you can’t buy alcohol.”

I allowed myself to show a sly smile, pretending my head wasn’t trying to kill me. “Drinking age laws don’t apply to ghouls, most laws don’t actually.”

Shota sighed. He’d clearly hoped that I would be a few years older before he needed to do the whole ‘drink responsibly’ talk. “Okay then… just let me know in future. If you really want to go drinking then I know some pubs and clubs that cater to both human and ghoul clientele.”

I smiled at the offer, so Shota wouldn’t be a total downer! “Thanks, the place I go to does serve humans but it wouldn’t be the smartest idea. Though they do have dedicated staff now whose job it is to safeguard humans in the club but I can’t vouch for them since I was only there one night.”

“Such a problem child” Shota sighed. “We’ll also stock a bottle or two of blood wine in the apartment just for you. But regardless, the sports festival is soon, don’t you have training to get to?”

I sighed in return. “I’d love to train but I need to recover from a hangover.” I said the sentence with optimism, optimism that was entirely unearned.

As I finished my sentence an evil smirk was shown across Shota’s face. “You made your bed, now lie in it. Training, go, chop chop.” Shota punctuated the last two words with claps of his hands. 

I supposed this was my comeuppance. 

Chapter Text

The days leading up to the Sports Festival were interesting to say the least. I had made a point of training a lot more than I usually would, I had to be in peak physical condition after all. But, this resulted in a rather awkward problem, my hunger. All the extra training, on top of my preexisting UA training, meant that at times it almost felt like my hunger was getting out of control. And so part of the Sports Festival preparation became dealing with the CCG’s red tape to get a rations increase, though eventually Nezu himself had stepped in and one CCG approved doctor’s appointment later my rations were increased to levels that would sustain a hero in training. Some other relatively interesting things happened as well, the most interesting of all being the horde of students outside of the Class 1-A classroom, and Shinso’s declaration of war. 

But those days were gone now. Instead I now found myself in the waiting room, waiting for the signal to walk into the stadium proper. It was then Todoroki walked up to me, a look of disgust clear on his face. “Midoriya, biologically you’re built stronger, but that makes sense since you’re a ghoul.” He spoke clearly, his voice displaying the disgust also clear on his face. “The Todoroki family for decades have supported the CCG in their mission to eradicate ghouls, so despite your strength I will overcome you and I will beat you.” 

“Hey! That’s so unmanly dude.” Kirishima responded quickly with a frown on his face. He looked almost like a little kid who got told their toys were bad. Katsuki’s response however, that was less ‘sad little kid’ and more ‘enraged murderer to be’. Sparks were flying from his hands and he was crossing the room towards Todoroki at a rapid pace. “I’ll kill you!” he yelled, dragging out the ‘you’. 

Very quickly I had to step in Katsuki’s path before he did something he wouldn’t be able to undo. With as calm a voice as I could muster I stated “Kacchan, save your strength for the competition. I’d be sad if you lost because you wasted your energy in here.” Katsuki stopped right in his tracks and looked away, a light blush on his face. 

“Yeah well… whatever I guess. He’s still a bastard like his father.”

Todoroki flinched at the accusation. Giving him my full attention I replied “I may have the so-called biological advantage, but you’ve been trained your entire life for this moment. I’m doing this to show the world what ghouls are truly capable of, so I can’t lose to a CCG puppet. So let me return the favour, I will destroy you, not just for me but for all the ghouls unjustly slain by the weapons Todoroki money procured.”

It was no secret that the Todorki family made big donations annually to the CCG, so it was in no doubt that the money the CCG might otherwise not have had would have played a role in an unjust death, or hundred. Todoroki didn’t have a reply to what I said, and so with that the room fell into an awkward quiet. The tension in the room was immense, everybody had their own reason for being there, a goal to work toward, but at the end of the day there was only one first place.

A teacher escorted us to the player’s tunnel where the girls were already waiting for us boys to catch up, and just in the nick of time. Cementoss called “1-A you’re up!” 

Without a moment’s hesitation we all started walking forwards towards the main stadium field, and as we did so the voice of Present Mic got louder and louder, as did the general sound that tens of thousands of people make when they’re all in one place. Leading the charge I breathed in, breathed out, and crossed the threshold of being shielded in the tunnel to entering the public eye. To all the spectators I was just another member of Class 1-A, the class that fought off a villain attack sure, but all in all nothing too special. It was that cloak of hiding in plain sight that allowed me to keep moving until we’d reached the designated spot for us all to stand as the other classes were introduced. 

I turned to my left and looked at Katsuki, he turned back to look at me. Best I could I mustered a smile, and tried to at least pull off a facade of confidence. Katsuki had no such issues, he was already smiling when he looked at me, in fact he looked positively feral. I could only imagine the thoughts of violence rushing through his head. In fact, he was probably still thinking about ending the Todoroki family line because of what was said in the changing room. But on top of his excitement there was something else. Leaning towards me he cupped a hand in front of his mouth and whispered “You got this, nerd.”

Somehow Katsuki knew exactly what to say, the facade of confidence being replaced with the genuine article I stood resolute as the final classes were introduced. Katsuki was always a symbol of victory to me, and if he said that I had it then who was I to doubt?

Standing atop the podium ahead of us was Midnight in all her regalia, soaking in all the attention of the crowd. “Be quiet you rambunctious lot” she yelled to the crowd, cracking a whip in the air. And with that a stadium filled to the brim was silent. “I call upon Bakugou Katsuki to give the student pledge!” 

Katsuki marched on to the podium and up to the microphone, once there he paused for a moment. “Everybody do your best” Katsuki started, a promising start. “... because I’m going to win and I at least want a challenge.” A not so promising end. Katsuki went to walk away before turning around and saying one last thing into the microphone “Oh and, ghoul rights”. The stadium erupted. Students were angry at Bakugou for his preemptive declaration of victory, and the crowd was a mixed bag. Most were cheering at the cocky display, after all they paid a lot of money to be entertained with kid violence.

“Riled up, ready to fight, and politically aware, just how I like ‘em” Midnight spoke once again into the microphone. “Let’s spin our wheel of torment and see what’s up first for our first years!” Pressing a button a digital wheel on a screen spun with indecipherable blurry text until it slowed down and the words became understandable, ‘Obstacle Race’ it read. So far, so predictable. The sports festival always came in three types of round, the first round was designed to whittle down to a much more manageable number of contestants, then the second round would focus on teamwork and whittle numbers down until there was enough for either duos or singles to duke it out with direct kid violence. 

Everybody headed over to the starting area for the Obstacle Race, once there Midnight explained what was about to happen. “When my dearest friend Present Mic yells start all of our little munchkins will try to make it to the finishing line unscathed. There are well over one hundred students here but only the top forty of them will pass!”

Those numbers weren’t amazing. The hero course put forward two classes, general ed put forward three, as did the support course. Working on the assumption that each class has about twenty people in them, then seventy five percent of people won’t pass! Though, most years almost all of the people in the surviving cohort are hero course, with a spattering of representation from the support course and very occasionally the general ed course. 

As Midnight ended her explanation we all stood resolutely, just waiting to go. Those brief seconds were the longest in the world, and then finally “Go!”

Somehow I’d managed to get first place, even now as the final contestants were crossing the line it didn’t feel real. I was joined by Katsuki who was standing next to me who managed to place third in the race, second place had gone to Todoroki. 

“You may have beaten me that time Zuku, but it means squat if you don’t fight me in the finals. You better make it okay!”

Once everybody made it back from the race Midnight continued her announcements. “As a reminder, in first place is Midoriya Izuku, followed swiftly in second by Todoroki Shouto, and in third we have Bakugou Katsuki! Can they hold onto their crowns though? It’s time to find out in our next game!”

Once again Midnight pressed a button and once again the digital wheel spun, landing on ‘Quirk Dodge Ball’. “This game is simple, we have a large dodgeball arena where the top forty contestants from the last race will compete. There are fifteen balls, and forty players all free for all. If you get hit by the ball you’re out, if a person catches a ball the person who threw the ball is out. The game will continue until only sixteen players remain! Players may use their quirk in any way they like to help them stay in the game.”

Once more I did the maths and it came to sixty percent of players not passing. It wasn’t going to be easy that was for sure. The game would require constant vigilance and awareness. If I dropped the ball for one moment I could be suddenly attacked and lose. And failing during the second round would definitely upset Katsuki. And I didn’t want to disappoint Katsuki, I couldn’t.

It was time to play ball.

The match had finally ended, and only sixteen of us were left. Whether through skill or sheer luck we’d made it to the third, and presumably final round. Though it wasn’t unknown for there to on occasion be a fourth round. 

Present Mic announced that before the kid violence round there would be a brief lunch break. Alas to my dismay there wouldn’t be stalls with a selection of the finest cuts from humans, but given the human clientele it was probably for the best. I’d just have to suffice with the meat I’d brought with me. Normally I’d never take actual human meat out of my room, but with all the fighting I’d be doing I had to be at the top of my game, and the CCG substitute just wouldn’t make the cut. 

“Midoriya” I heard behind me. As I turned around I saw the apathetic face of Todoroki to fit alongside the apathetic voice I’d just heard. “I want to talk,” he said. Briefly he looked to my right and saw Katsuki, before adding “in private.”

“Fuck no you half and half bastard!” Katsuki responded, instantly on the defensive.

“It’ll be fine Kacchan.” I told him. “He just wants to talk, right?” I directed the last part at Todoroki who nodded in reply. 

Katsuki didn’t look happy, but he knew where the boundary was. “For the record I don’t trust him.” Katsuki grumbled. “But I trust you to kick his ass if he tries anything. When you’re done I’ll be waiting.”

Todoroki led me to the same tunnel we used to get onto the stadium in the first place. Didn’t seem like the most private place in the world, but that was his call. He stood still, looking away and constipated. He was the one who invited me here, yet here he was just standing around. Did he want a contest of who could withstand the most boredom? 

Finally, he spoke. “I don’t get you.” he said. “I theorised that you’re trying to become a hero so that you can get good PR, which would help you get away with murder.” The logic barely made any sense, but it never really did with bigotry. “But, if anything that would just put a larger spotlight on you. So what’s your endgame, ghoul.”

I sighed, it was as though he was just entirely incapable of comprehending the idea I might not be a bad person. “You already know my endgame, it’s to become a hero. As for why I want to do that, I want to show humans that ghouls aren’t monsters. You know, the CCG used to report monthly figures of murders committed by ghouls, but they never compared it to murders committed by humans.”

“Your point being?” Todoroki asked.

“Yes, some ghouls do evil things, just as some humans do evil things. And now that an alternative to human is available to ghouls the murder rate for ghoul related murders has fallen ninety percent. We were never innately evil, we just weren’t given an alternative and weren’t given the chance to develop one.”

I couldn’t tell what Todoroki was thinking under his stoic face. I doubt it was anything positive, it wouldn’t be like one conversation would overturn a lifetime of disliking ghouls. Still, it would be nice to have one more ally in class. For a moment there was an awkward silence, none of us sure what to say. 

“I don’t like ghouls, but I’ll give you the opportunity to change my mind.” Todoroki said matter of factly. A chance, I was being given a chance. 

We went our separate ways, I wasn’t sure where he went but I made my way to the classroom. I’d deposited my bag in there, alongside my food supply. That was also where Katsuki would be waiting for me. I’d have a light snack before the third round, probably a couple fingers, and then save the good cuts for after a couple fights worth of exertion.

As I walked to the classroom I noticed some CCG investigators looking at me, likely just part of the standard complement of security. No doubt they knew about me, they probably all had to be warned about my presence so that they didn’t rush in and try to kill me during the festival events. I mustered a smile and waved at them as I continued walking. Given their frowns I could tell that they didn’t like that one bit. 

Sitting alone in the classroom when I arrived was Katsuki. “You alright Zuku?” he immediately asked. 

I waved my hand dismissively. “It was fine, who knows he might even eventually stop hating on ghouls. Could take a light year though.” I said to him. I sighed, I’d need him to leave the classroom for a moment. “Kacchan, I’m going to eat again. You should probably step out for a moment.”

I could see Kastuki think for a moment before he replied “Fuck no. You’re my best damn friend, I can watch this.”

I paused for a moment, how the hell did I proceed? I looked at Katsuki and he showed me no sign of backing down. I guess I had no choice. Wordlessly I entered my bag and pulled out a small clear tub, inside it were various different cuts. I opened the tub and instantly it was like my mind was yelling at me to consume, to eat all of it. For sure my kakugan was showing again, but I forced myself to act with some decorum. I took out a finger, an index finger by the look of things. 

As I understood it, fingers were eaten similar to how humans would eat a chicken wing. Obviously we can’t digest bone, and fingers are mostly bone. Looking down, I bit into the fleshly top of the finger, around the knuckle. Quickly I continued, scraping along the bone to get every bit of flesh in my mouth as possible, eventually only bone was left. 

I looked up to see a queasy looking Katsuki, that just wouldn’t do. Wagging the finger bone in front of Katsuki I had a slight grin on my face. “I love finger food, so convenient, eh Kacchan?” To my slight dismay Katsuki still looked uncomfortable, though a bit less than earlier. It was easy to talk a big game, but no doubt it still wasn’t easy to watch me eat what once was part of a living breathing person. For me it wasn’t so much that the food used to be alive that bothered me, after all humans ate animals themselves. No, it was when I could tell that the person had been murdered, that they didn’t want to die. That always made me a little sad. 

I took out a handheld mirror from my bag and gave my teeth a look over. This finger had been drained of any blood before being given to me, so whilst it was a little dry it meant I didn’t have to worry about bloody teeth. 

I put the tub and mirror back in my bag, I wouldn’t need them for a little while. “You good?” I asked.

It took Katsuki a moment before he replied “Uh yeah. Just a little surreal, but it doesn’t change anything. I- you’re still my best friend Zuku.” He tried his best at a smile, which honestly just felt wrong. Katuski didn’t smile, he smirked plenty, but never quite a smile. But he was trying at least, for me. “So, you able to tell anything about who it came from?” he asked awkwardly. 

“Usually I can,” I answered. “But the fingers I got from an ethical black market vendor and he basically dried it, among other things. The nice cuts like rump, breast, and thigh you can almost always tell. Like the thigh inside the tub, once I have some I could tell you.” I looked quickly at the clock on the wall, we didn’t have much of lunch left. “Let’s make our way back, lunch is almost over.”

“You know, there’s never a not zero chance that the CCG might get uppity about me and I could get squeezed into a briefcase.” I mentioned as we walked, the thought coming to my head at random. “I wonder if I could put that in my will or something. Donate my kakuhou to the CCG to make quinque.” I looked at Katsuki and saw him looking even more uncomfortable about this than when I was talking about eating humans. “Oh don’t worry Kacchan, I’d make sure to leave a briefcase to you in my will. You know they can make quinque without killing ghouls, that could be the ultimate stop hitting yourse-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Katsuki shouted. Little cracks were popping from his hands, the telltale sign he was pissed. It wasn’t often I managed to get him this angry, but even the infamous Kacchan whisperer must have the day he bites off more than he can chew. “I’d slaughter every CCG employee in existence before they get to hurt you. So stop fucking joking about the CCG killing you, you shitty nerd. I had to deal with the CCG offing you once, I won’t do that again.”

I went to reply, but promptly shut my mouth. I guess those years apart did more harm than I thought. And there was a good chance that he never would’ve received grief counselling, not for the death of a ghoul that’s for sure. “I’m sorry Kacchan, I’m here now, and you’ll send the CCG packing long before they get close to me.” I said to him. As we walked the rest of the way to where our class would undoubtedly be waiting I leaned slightly on Katsuki, my head against his arm. I always liked Katsuki’s scent, and being this close I could definitely smell it. It smelled like home.

All the students were gathered on the grass as Midnight prepared to announce the event that would be taking place. It turned out the final event would be a duos tournament. The teams had been assigned at random during the break, and what god I had pleased I did not know, but I’d done enough to get me assigned to Katsuki for the tournament. Sure it meant we couldn’t fight each other, but it would help us prove our ability as a duo. 

The other duos were Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki; Hatsume and Aoyama; Shinso and Yaoyorozu; Kaminari and Urakara; Todoroki and Tokoyami; Iida and Ashido; as well as Kirishima and Sero.

And for the very first match of the tournament, Katsuki and me versus Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki. Frustratingly that meant very little time to prepare or strategise, just right into fighting. Perhaps now that the lunch break was over UA didn’t want to keep their customers waiting to see the child violence they’d paid for. Luckily for us they did at least give us five minutes to strategise in a ready room. 

“I think you should go for Shiozaki, and I’ll handle Tetsutetsu” I said. “You can explode any of her vines before they touch us, and if Tetsutetsu uses his quirk then that will probably lower his mobility. My goal will be to pick him up with my kagune and throw him out of the ring, and once that’s done we can both deal with Shiozaki. That work, Kacchan?”

Katsuki smirked at me, mini explosions cracking from his hands. “Hell yeah, Zuku. We’ll wipe the floor with these shitty extras.”

As we left the ready room and entered the view of the crowds Hizashi began his introductions. “And in team one we have 1-A’s own firecracker, it’s Bakugou Katsuki! Alongside we have the mysterious Midoriya Izuku. On the otherside we’ve got Shiozaki Ibara from 1-B, who has the power of God and anime on her side. Also in team two is the sturdy Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!”

Katsuki and I stood across from Shiozaki and Tetsutetsu, Midnight was talking about a clean fight and so on, but I tuned her out. This was it, the moment of truth. Midnight yelled for the match to begin and time slowed down. It was just me and the crowd. I looked up and to my left and caught the shape of Shota and Hizashi in the tower. The crowd came here for a show, it was time to give them one. With a moment of blistering pain the rinkaku burst forth from my back and the familiar black and red filled my eyes. The crowd’s collective gasp was audible.

“That’s right folks!” Hizashi started. “Midoriya is the first ever ghoul to attend UA’s hero course. A very capable hero in the making!” Hizashi was talking me up a little bit, probably to try and calm down the crowd. I had no time to think about the crowd, right now the enemy was right in front of me. And luckily for me they were distracted. They were so shocked that they were just standing there dumbly.

I ran towards Tetsutetsu as Katsuki followed, blasting away any vines that threatened to get too close to me. As Tetsutetsu realised what was happening it was already too late, he’d totally misread my attack. He hardened his skin, waiting for a stabbing or slicing attack to come from my kagune. Instead the rinkaku went low, one tentacle tripping him up. His face made contact with the floor, and by the sudden smell of blood in the air the nose was broken and bleeding. Using another one of my kagune I tried to pick Tetsutetsu up by the leg, but it was intercepted with a vine that Katsuki hadn’t managed to explode. 

“I’m going to focus on crazy, force her on the defence!” Katsuki yelled as he broke off rom beside me, to focus purely on Shiozaki. By this point though Tetsutetsu was standing again, and this time he was focussed purely on me.

“Who’d a thunk it, a ghoul in UA’s prestigious class 1-A. What a joke.” Tetsutetsu spat at me. Whether he meant it, or was just trying to rile me up I didn’t know, I didn’t care. At the end of the day there was no way he could win against me in a one on one fight. His range extended to the length of his arms, my rinkaku could reach much farther. Using two kagune to hold me off of the ground, I sent the remaining four to each of Tetsutetsu’s limbs. Wrapping around his limbs he was totally immobilized. 

I looked at midnight to see if that had counted as an immobilization, but she gave a miniature shake of the head. Perhaps it was something she deemed Tetsutetsu to have too high of a chance to escape for it to count as an immobilization. 

As Tetsutetsu yelled and tried kicking and punching I calmly sat him down outside of the ring.

“Tetsutetsu is out of bounds! Only Shiozaki remains in team two!” Midnight yelled into the microphone. The crowd was a mix of cheers, general yells, and some booing as well.

I’m not sure what Shota heard in the announcing tower, but whatever it was he didn’t like it. “To the heroes in the audience disparaging Midoriya, you ought to be ashamed. Midoriya has risked everything to be here today because all he wants to do is help people, he’s risked himself every day since he’s been born. He’s more a hero than many of you will ever be!” Shota had gotten really annoyed. I guess it was his fatherly instincts kicking in.

I looked over to Shiozaki who was practically standing on the edge of the battle area. She just couldn’t keep up with the barrage of explosions. “You’ve got this Kacchan!” I yelled. With a smirk and renewed energy he let off a huge blast that had me stepping backwards to get away from the heat, and also had Shiozaki flung outside of the boundary like a ragdoll. 

“Shiozaki is out!” Midnight said into the microphone. “That means team Bakugou and Midoriya pass onto the next round!”

The crowd went wild, this time there were no boos. Likely for fear of Shota getting angry again. But to me it was only me and Katsuki. Our first battle fighting side by side and we crushed it. I walked towards him and brought him into a hug. It didn’t last long, but it was long enough. “We’re unstoppable Kacchan.” I said to him as we walked off the field.

“Damn right we are. Don’t tell me you were ever in any fucking doubt?” The question was facetious, he knew I never doubted our abilities. After all, to be a duo we had to trust in each other fully. 

I laughed and said “Kacchan knows I’d never doubt him.”

“Yeah well, don’t doubt yourself either you green haired fuck. You’re the best fighter in this school, apart from me of course.” He exclaimed proudly.

His words made my heart beat faster in my chest. I’d known that for years I loved him, he was my best friend after all. In the years apart I realised that perhaps my love was more than just platonic, and when we reunited I focussed on getting that platonic closeness back. But in the tunnel, just out of public view, I realised that those years ago I was right - I loved Katsuki, not just platonically but romantically.

I said “Thanks Kacchan” in reply to what he’d said. I desperately wanted to tell him, it felt wrong to keep this revelation to myself. There wasn’t a single secret I intentionally kept from Katsuki, so it felt wrong to start now. But we had a sports festival to deal with first. I could worry about the realisation that I wanted to suck face with Katsuki later. 

It wasn’t long before we were at the seating designated for our class, similar to lunch we sat around Urakara, Iida, Kirishima, Ashido, Tokoyami, and Asui. The fight up next was Aoyama alongside somebody called Hatsume from the support department. They would be fighting Shinso, the purple haired kid from the roof a few weeks earlier. On his team was Yaoyorozu, and she’d definitely prove to be a problem for the opposing team. Though her weakness was that it took a bit of time to actually make things. It would be important to pay attention to this match, whoever won the fight would be our opponents in the next round of matches. 

Throughout the fight it became very readily apparent that Hatume was half assing it. Aoyama was truly putting the effort in so that he could progress, but Hatsume was only really trying to advertise her products. And suddenly it looked like Hatume stopped, and then she just turned around and left the arena. It was strange though, she moved in a manor that looked forced, nothing like the extravagance she’d shown earlier. Hizashi was about to announce Shinso’s quirk when Shota shut him up, but the damage was already done. Shinso had some sort of brainwashing quirk, but I had no idea what the conditions were to activate it were. Definitely something that could pose a problem.

I did find myself rooting for Shinso and Yaoyorozu, not that I had anything against Aoyama as such, but more that if Shinso did well it would help prove how biased the UA entrance exams were. And it was a longshot but, since Mineta moved to Gen Ed there was an empty seat in our classroom. 

Yaoyorozu had created what looked like a mirror, and as Aoyama fired a blast from his navel laser the mirror deflected it into the sky. Just in time for a well timed punch from Shinso to hit Aoyama in the head. Aoyama dropped like a sack of potatoes and was deemed unconscious, which meant that Shinso and Yaoyorozu would be our opponents in the next round. 

“Shinso has some kind of mind control quirk, we should watch out for him.” I said to Katsuki in a whisper.

“Yeah, ponytail could be a problem. If you’re able to get ponytail out of the fight quickly, I can handle brain freak.”

I frowned at his nickname for Shinso. His nicknames were usually a little bit mean, but calling somebody a freak didn’t sit well with me. “That’s a meaner nickname than normal Kacchan.” I pointed out to him. Normally if anybody complained about a nickname he’d go out of his way to use it more, but as a certified Bakugou whisperer I hoped I’d get through to him.

“Hmm, fine. From the looks of things his eyebags match Aizawa Sensei’s so, Eyebags. That work ya damn gremlin?”

I smiled. “Yeah that works Kacchan. You know, he might end up being a future classmate of ours if he does well enough.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Great, another extra to deal with in class.”

The next fight was Urakara and Kaminari against Todoroki and Tokoyami. Urakara and Kaminari were capable fighters, but Todoroki was in a whole different league. He fought with a precision and grace only achieved after years of practice, to be expected of the child of the number two. Tokoyami wasn’t to be underlooked though, whilst Dark Shadow was a difficulty for the opposing team he was more than capable in hand to hand combat. In a last ditch attempt to win the match Kaminari let go all the electricity he could. In what seemed like a brief moment of panic for Todoroki he put up a small wall of ice. The ice didn’t stop the electricity, but it did hinder it. Urakara and Tokoyami were both unconscious, and Kaminari now had the mind of a three year old. Todoroki on the other hand was still standing. For the safety of the two electrocuted students Todoroki’s team was declared to have won the fight.

The fight after that was Iida and Ashido versus Kirishima and Sero. That match was possibly the shortest of all the fights in the first round. Right at the start Iida rushed towards Kirishima with blinding speed, kicking him right out of the ring. It had been less than five seconds and it was one against two. Ashido fired a line of acid around Sero meaning he wasn’t able to move in any direction without stepping onto acid. Despite that, Sero knew that if he stayed still he was guaranteed to be taken out. So he put one foot forward and immediately slipped. It turned out the acid wasn’t any more acidic than a fizzy drink, but it was instead extremely slippery. Ashido sensing the opportunity rushed forward to try and push Sero out of boundary but tape shot forth and wrapped around one of her legs, pulling her and then dragging her out of bounds. It was just Sero and Iida left. Iida hadn’t been stationary all that time, and Sero turned around to see a boot right in front of his face, right before it made contact and kicked him out of bounds like it had Kirishima. 

And like that the first round of fights had ended. Katsuki and I would be fighting Shinso and Yaoyorozu, and in the opposite bracket would be Todoroki and Tokoyami versus Iida and Ashido. 

There was a short break to allow inspection of the arena, but it really was just that, a short break. Five minutes later Katsuki and I were inside the ready room again. We both did some stretches to loosen up our muscles. And I would have been lying if I said I didn’t occasionally peek at Katsuki. Whether it was intentional or not I wasn’t sure, but it looked like Katsuki’s PE uniform was just a tad too small, giving his muscles quite a bit of definition in them. 

Before long both teams were standing facing each other. Hizashi announces away like normal. “You certainly heard him in the last round we have Bakugou Katsuki in team one, joined alongside UA’s Ghoul Midoriya Izuku!” Cheers roared in the crowd. “Opposite we have the mystery kid from Gen Ed, it’s Shinso Hitoshi, and next to him is the eminent Yaoyorozu Momo who can make anything her mind conjures.”

As the round started I rushed towards Yaoyorozu with my kagune out, annoyingly I hadn’t acted fast enough and she had managed to create a staff and hitting any kagune that came her way. I briefly looked to my right and saw Katsuki trying to explode Shinso who kept dodging. I shouldn’t have looked away from Yaoyorozu as when I turned around the blunt tip of the staff hit against my forehead sending me onto the ground. It hurt like hell, there was a lot of force behind the hit. It was time to stop playing around. 

I pushed myself onto my feet with my kagune and then started trying to hit her with all six at once, there was no way she’d be able to defend against it. Annoyingly whilst I was on the ground she’d made a shield to go with her staff which she was using more like a spear than anything else. It meant that it was hard to get past her defence. Meanwhile I managed to hear Shinso yell something at Katsuki. “I can’t believe they let a monster into UA. Such a freak, don’t you think?”

If the plan was to anger Katsuki and make him more of a sloppy fighter it was working. “How da-” Katsuki stopped fighting. 

“Walk out of bounds.”

Knowing it was risky I turned my head, and true enough Katsuki had just walked himself right out of bounds. 

I had to end this fight now. If it remained as two against one, we’d easily lose. I rushed towards Yaoyorozu. Luckily for me she’d made a large roman style shield, so her vision was poor. Seeing no other option I body slammed right into the shield, something she didn’t expect. She fell over to the side, past the white line denoting the boundary. Each consecutive hit with my kagune against her shield forced her to move a little, right until she had moved herself to the edge. Poor battlefield awareness.

I turned around just in time to dodge a punch aimed right at my jaw, and managed to return a punch to Shinso which actually connected and got him in his jaw instead. “You throw a good punch, ghoul.”

I ignored Shinso. I couldn’t be sure, but Katsuki only got brainwashed after replying to something that Shinso had said, so I had to work on the assumption that’s how the quirk works. As a sort of taunt I pretended to zip my mouth shut. Shinso’s eyes widened.

“I see, so you’ve figured it out, have you. Well I’m still more than capable of beating you!”

I didn’t want to be overconfident, but when it came down to somebody who was effectively quirkless and a ghoul, the ghoul would win it every time if the human didn’t have a quinque. But as a matter of kindness I didn’t use my kagune to fight, but I’d keep them out in case I needed them for maneuverability. I’d fight Shinso with a good old fashioned brawl to give him a chance to showcase himself a little more.

Even only using my fists to give Shinso something of a chance it became obvious that he wasn’t all that strong. He relied mostly on his quirk and ambush, meaning that even in a one on one fight with fists he was outmatched. It became clear to Shinso that he wasn’t going to win, despite his statements to the contrary earlier. He put up his hands and said “I concede”. And just barely Katsuki and I scraped by into the final round. 

There would be two more fights before the finals. The fight to determine who goes into the finals with Katsuki and me, and then a third place fight to see which duo gets onto the third place spot on the podium. 

I looked at Katsuki who was waiting for me just inside the tunnel to get onto the pitch, and I could tell he was pissed. As we walked he suddenly turned and punched a wall and yelled. Whatever methods he was taught for anger management weren’t working right now. “Fucking fuck!” he yelled. “I fucking let you down Zuku. We’re a team and I just walked out like some shitty extra.”

I wasn’t sure what to say, Katsuki was being too hard on himself but there was no way he’d see that even if I pointed it out to him. Instead I walked up to him and hugged him from behind. Like that all the anger left him. Instead all that was left was how he was really feeling, sad and disappointed. “It’s okay Kacchan. We won the fight, that’s what matters. Now we’re guaranteed at least second place. You’re so strong to have gotten us this far Kacchan.”

Katsuki sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

It was heartbreaking to witness. The usually brash Katsuki was acting like a kicked puppy. He was truly disappointed in himself. I let go of Katsuki and turned him around, I then slapped him. 

“What the fuck!” he yelled at me.

“Don’t fucking ‘yeah, I guess’ me!” I yelled back. “You’re Bakugou fucking Katsuki, you are amazing, my symbol of victory, my hero. No hero of mine is gonna act sad even though he won! So cheer up, we have a sports festival to win you lug.”

That seemed to have gotten the message across. “Yeah, you’re right. We’re going to win this whole damn festival Zuku.” He said, his confidence returned. “That damn extra just got lucky. If I’d known how his quirk worked I’d have thumped him.” Yup, Katsuki was back to normal alright. 

We got back to the stand just in time for the start of the fight between Todoroki and Tokoyami against Iida and Ashido. “Who do ya think’s gonna win?” Kirishima asked nobody in particular. 

I thought about it for a bit before saying “Todoroki and Tokoyami. Iida is good, so is Ashido, but I think Todoroki and Tokoyami just have the edge here.”

As Todoroki walked onto the field I wasn’t sure what it was, but he looked pissed. Right as the match started he released a massive burst of ice, capturing both Iida and Ashido. So much ice was released that it almost reached the crowd. And like that the fight was already over, both Ashido and Iida were unable to move. Todoroki turned around and left the field, he didn’t even say anything to Tokoyami.

This time there was a short twenty minute break. This was to allow Iida and Ashido time to recuperate for their fight against Shinso and Yaoyorozu, as well as to repair the field from damage. 

That meant it would be us against Todoroki and Tokoyami. Tokoyami would definitely be at a disadvantage, it appeared that Dark Shadow was weakened by light. With Katsuki’s explosions being rather bright, Dark Shadow would be almost useless. As for Todoroki’s ice, my kagune could handle them, as well as explosions from Katsuki. It wouldn’t be the easiest thing in the world, but it should be a winnable fight.

The fight between the two teams vying for third place was brutal. Shinso had a few minor acid burns, and Iida had used his engines so much that they appeared to be malfunctioning or something. Perhaps some ice had turned into water from the last fight and it was causing engine problems. Yaoyorozu took full advantage of it and managed to get Iida out of bounds, and at the same time despite the acid burns Shinso must’ve talked enough smack to get Ashido to give in and she walked out of the stage, and then punched herself as well, which appeared to have broken the control. With that the third place team was confirmed as Shinso and Yaoyorozu, and Iida and Ashido got fourth place. As soon as Iida was out of bounds he rushed straight for the ready room, way quicker than just somebody who wanted to leave. Whatever it was, I hoped Iida was okay.

Five minutes later after the acid damage was repaired, Katsuki and I were standing in the pitch for one last time, staring down our opponents.

“On the left side we have the human and ghoul duo showing the world what happens when ghouls and humans work together, it’s Bakugou Katsuki and Midoriya Izuku! And opposite is Todoroki Shouto, UA’s very own ice prince. And let’s not forget the ice prince is joined by the prince of darkness, he’s kinda scary it’s Tokoyami Fumikage!”

That was kinda mean about Tokoyami. I’d mention it to Hizashi when we got home. 

When the match started as predicted Todoroki fired ice at us, but with my six rinkaku and Katsuki’s explosions they were all dealt with. Interestingly it wasn’t as big a blast as the previous match, perhaps he was less angry… or it was something to do with his quirk. One night Shota had left some student files lying out in the open in his UA office, and on top was Todoroki. I didn’t open it myself, it was already open. But clear as day the quirk was called “Half Hot Half Cold”. But in class he’d either avoid quirk questions or just call it an ice quirk. He clearly had some issue with his fire, but perhaps his body needed to use it. His ice portion might have been overused. This was a definite advantage, he wasn’t anywhere near his full strength anymore.

Katsuki was closing in on Tokoyami and Dark Shadow with his explosions when Tokoyami voluntarily stood outside the bounds. He shrugged and said “Dark Shadow refused to fight with you as an opponent, Bakugou. I put my trust in Todoroki.” A mistake.

No matter what Todoroki did we were getting closer, ice fired at us directly was dodged or destroyed, and ice walls also got destroyed by our combined efforts. Todoroki was strong, but Katsuki and I weren’t far off his level. And so, whilst he might have handled the cannon fodder at the USJ with ease, we weren’t mere fodder. As long as it was two against one he wasn’t going to win. And with that, suddenly there was fire. Katsuki and I retreated as flames rushed by us. 

“I vowed I would never use his flames!” Todoroki shouted at us. “But in order to take down a ghoul with a human at his side, I have no choice but to go all out. Even if it means breaking my vow!”

Katsuki was enraged that this entire time Todoroki hadn’t been using his full quirk. “You bastard I’ll kill you!” he yelled, rushing towards Todoroki. 

“Not if I kill you first!” Todoroki replied in kind, rushing towards Katsuki. I looked to my right and saw Midnight yelling something with the microphone off towards cementos who was off to the side. As they closed in on each other a wall suddenly went up, but it was too late. Using all six rinkaku I stabbed them into the ground as a massive explosion happened right in front of my eyes. The entire field was covered in smoke. I could tell that I hadn’t moved at all in the explosion, but I kept still as I waited for the smoke and dust to settle. When it did settle I saw that Katsuki was unconscious but just inside the boundary, and Todoroki was now standing but outside the boundary. 

We’d won!

Both Katsuki and Todoroki were rushed to the infirmary to see Recovery Girl for their injuries. Though both weren’t in there for long. They didn’t need to be healed enough to fight, just enough to stand on a podium for five to ten minutes. 

As Katsuki left the infirmary, Todoroki right behind him, I brought Katsuki into a hug, careful not to do anything bad to his injuries. I hated to admit it, but there were a few tears in my eyes. “We did it, Kacchan. We won”.

He hugged me back, pulling my head onto his shoulder as he lightly played with my hair. “Damn right we did. We made sure the world fucking knows, we’re here."

Chapter Text

The night of the sports festival the talk shows went riot, any sort of preplanned programming was out the window as they all discussed the day’s big surprise, a ghoul not only in UA but actually getting first place in the sports festival. The show I was watching was generally supportive by the looks of things. Though it was annoying that they were talking as though the matches were singles, Katsuki played a huge role and he wasn’t talked about nearly as much as me!

“And we’re going to take some calls now.” The presenter started. “Line one you’re on Today Yesterday, what’s your name caller?”

“Uh, hi there. My name’s Akira” the caller replied.

“Well hello Akira, so what’s your take on a ghoul making it into UA’s hero course?”

Akira took a deep breath. “To me it’s inspiring. I’m also a ghoul and it’s just so inspiring to see a young ghoul work towards his dreams. It’s a step closer to true ghoul equality with humans, and it makes me hopeful that my child will have a more kind world to grow up in.” 

In my head I tuned out. I’d disabled push notifications from the twitter app on my phone, it was going mental. The account was sitting at just over two million and growing followers. At first the only followers were Japanese accounts, but as the news spread around the world a sizable contingent of international followers accrued. My official email was also getting emails, though mostly it was either from news agencies looking for an interview or statement, or from ghoul rights advocacy groups. The email address wasn’t public, and had only been given to certain people by Mitsuki so it wasn’t the same deluge of notifications as twitter or instagram. 

I really wasn’t a big social media guy, so learning the etiquette and uses of each different social media site was a task. Twitter worked well for being a bit more serious and opinionated, whereas instagram was a bit more casual and to quote Mitsuki ‘works well for sharing thirsty pics but not so thirty they get taken down’. 

I put my medal on the desk in front of me as well as my mask, which I put beside the medal. I took a photo of the pair together and drafted a quick tweet. The tweet was of the picture and a caption saying ‘To all the ghouls out there, don’t let anybody hold you back. Show the world ghouls are capable of! #UAGhoul’

In the social media guide Mitsuki gave me it mentioned making use of trending hashtags, and after my big reveal the hashtag of UAGhoul appeared to be going wild with news accounts reporting, and just everyday people putting their opinions online for the world to see. I sent a quick text to Mitsuki asking her to look over the tweet, to which she replied ‘post it’. I guess she liked it. I sent it and immediately closed the app.

I heard knocks against the apartment door, and then the sound of it opening. Very shortly it was followed by “Izuku! Katsuki’s here.” Huh? We didn’t plan that. Before I could even leave my room Katsuki opened the door and entered, closing it behind him. He was walking like some sort of man on a mission, making large strides with every step pushing him towards his final goal. He stopped and looked me directly in the eye, something about it captivated me and drew my breath away. Finally he stepped forward one last time where he was now right in my face. As I looked up at him he lightly held my chin forcing me to keep looking up, and then he kissed me on my lips. It was quick and chaste, but it got the point across. 

“Izuku” he said lightly, before pulling me into a crushing hug. Part of me wasn’t surprised, there was undeniably something between us ever since we’d reunited. And in that final fight during the sports festival there was definitely some tension. “I’m still not too good at talking about my feelings,” he started. “I’m working on it though. I… uh” Katsuki tried to get some words out but appeared to be struggling. “I fucking love you okay, so be my damn boyfriend.” The words were rushed, but I knew what he said. He’d just confessed in true Katsuki fashion. 

“I’d love to.” I replied. There was no doubt in my mind that if I’d never been forced to run then this would’ve happened a long time ago, but the important part was that it was happening now. And this time we kissed for real. Neither of us had done it before, all we knew was that it involved more than just a peck on the lips, but whether we’d gotten it right or wrong we enjoyed it. 

We both laid down next to each other on my bed, fully clothed and on top of the duvet. We were just lying there, occasionally cuddling. It felt amazing, just being next to Katsuki and being able to call him my boyfriend. It was then I realised I never said it back, just that I’d be his boyfriend. I turned my head to look at him, and he was already looking at me. “I love you too, by the way” I said. Katsuki blushed. 

“For years I thought you were dead.” he started suddenly. “And then the law changed, and I was so angry. Angry that it was too late, you had already been killed.” He was trying desperately to keep his voice devoid of emotion, but he was failing. There were tears collecting in his eyes, and his voice was shaky. Rarely, if ever, did I see such vulnerability from Katsuki. It was a testament to how far he’d come.

“Ka-”

“I’m not done.” Katsuki interrupted. “I imagined this day, I fantasised about it. You an’ me, at UA training to be heroes. The Sports Festival, and after I proved my strength by beating everybody I kept imagining that I’d kiss you. For a long time it confused me, and when I finally realised what I was thinking I got angrier because it would never happen.

“The old hag had to physically hold me back from going out and killing a dove after I realised what I felt. And then like you’d never been gone you were at UA. I actually thought I’d died or something and this was some sort of hallucination. I guess what I’m trying to say is don’t ever fucking leave me again because I will absolutely go on a rampage.”

“I realised that I felt romantically about you during the sports festival, after our first match” I said. “I’d loved you since we were kids, but it was only then that I realised what I actually meant by love, it wasn’t something purely platonic. The CCG stole so many years from us, but we’re together now and we’re still legally kids. We’ve got our entire lives ahead of us Kacchan.”

“Damn right we’ve got our whole lives ahead of us.” Again Katsuki kissed me. And it was right at that moment the door swung open and Shota entered my room. Us lying side by side, and the unmistakable sight of us kissing each other. 

As Shota rapidly analysed what he saw, he said “five minutes, living room” before leaving again. Absolutely perfect timing. 

“Fuck!” Katsuki yelled.

“Eh, don’t worry Kacchan. He probably just wants to give us the talk.” I told him. To be honest, I was kind of glad. I didn’t know how much Katsuki knew but I didn’t really know anything about sex, especially between two guys. I knew that the thought of it with Katsuki made me feel things, but other than that it was just a vague concept. I knew that at fifteen I was kinda late to the party, but I had other things to worry about than finding a partner.

Making ourselves presentable we entered the living room, both Shota and Hizashi sitting on a couch. We sat on the couch opposite. I wasn’t nervous so much as embarrassed. 

“You were kissing” Shota said, it wasn’t a question.

“Yes” I replied.

“How long have you been dating?” he asked.

“Barely a shitty hour.” Katsuki replied. His arms were crossed and he was looking down at the ground. He really didn’t want to be here right now. “Are you actually going to give us the talk?” he asked Shota.

“Damn right I am.” Shota said. “You’re both teenage boys full of hormones, there are things you have to know that you will regret if you don’t. I was your age too you know, and I wish my parents warned me about things.”

We resigned ourselves to our fate. 

Shota didn’t hold anything back. He didn’t just give us a vague ‘use a condom’ talk, oh no. He was thorough. He explained how you had to prepare for anal sex, and that despite the lack of pregnancy risk to still use a condom. I was glad for the knowledge, I just wished it hadn’t come from Shota and the odd input from Hizashi as well. But by far the most embarrassing part was when he brought out two boxes containing what looked like dildos, because they were. We had been assured that they had never been used, and that the school used them as part of their second year sex ed classes. Turns out Shota and Hizashi, alongside input from Recovery Girl taught sex ed. 

He had us practice putting condoms on the damned dildos, as well as how to tell the outside and the inside of a condom so we could roll them the right way. It was so embarrassing. 

“Lastly, we have something to give you.” Shota said. He reached behind him, grabbed something, and then placed those things on the table between the two sofas. In front of both me and Katsuki each, we had a box of regular condoms, a box of latex free condoms, a box of flavoured condoms, as well as two bottles of water based lube, one flavoured and the other not flavoured. “When Hizashi and I realised there was a good chance that both of you would start dating we got these.” he explained. It was somewhat reassuring to know that these were at least bought with us in mind.

Picking up a regular box he said “Use these, don’t be stupid.” Then he picked up a latex free box. “I don’t know if you have a latex allergy Katsuki, so this is just in case. And if you ever were to split up, or become sexually involved with others, you never know who has a latex allergy. So keep these on hand.” The thought of me ever splitting up with Katsuki was alien, why would I ever want to do that? Shota picked up a flavoured one next “I don’t know if these will work for you Izuku, but for you Katsuki, these come in strawberry, chocolate, mint, and blueberry. Use these for oral sex, trust me regular condoms don’t taste nice at all.” I really could’ve done without the added ‘trust me’. 

Next he moved onto the lubricants. “As I’ve said, the regular one is for anal sex. Use it liberally, better to use too much than too little. As for the flavoured one, if you really don’t want to use a flavoured condom for oral sex, or if you want to… do a certain other thing, then at least use flavoured lubricant.“

Finally as Shota finished, Hizashi had one last thing to add. “We’re not giving you these because we expect you to go at it like rabbits. You’ve just started dating and it’s perfectly reasonable that you might not feel ready to be like that with each other yet. The last thing I need to cover is the law. Nationally the age of consent is thirteen, but in the Mustafu prefecture it’s sixteen.” I suspected I knew where he was going with this, Katsuki had turned sixteen already whereas it was still going to be a bit before I turned sixteen. “Normally this would make any sexual relationships between both of you illegal, specifically Bakugou would be committing statuatory rape. I know you’d never force yourself on him Bakugou, but by law even if Izuku says he consents he legally cannot.”

“So what then? I just need to fucking wait until he’s sixteen right?” Katsuki asked.

Shota shook his head. “Not as long as you’re in Mustafu Prefecture. Rather recently they passed so called Romeo and Juliet laws. I won’t get into the detail, but since the age difference is a matter of months you’re legally safe. Not everywhere has those laws, so if you travel then make sure to research the local law.”

No doubt my face was beet red right now, just as I knew Katsuki’s was. “Uh, thanks dad, pops.” I said, looking at both Shota and Hizashi individually. “Can uh, we go back to my room now. I think we both need to die now.”

“Fine, will you be staying, Katsuki?” Shota asked.

Katsuki nodded his head. “If that’s alright with you.”

As fast as we could, we retreated to the safety of my room, various boxes in hand. I flopped onto my bed and just shriveled up, preparing to die. It was late at night, I could deal with this stuff later. Normally Katsuki would sleep on a futon on the floor, which I always felt slightly bad about since the bed was a double and we could easily fit the both of us on it.

“I was thinking” I said to Katsuki, “that maybe we could sleep in the same bed. We don’t have to do anything of course, and it’s big enough.”

“Sure.” Katsuki said, looking away as he spoke. 

We both quickly undressed down to our underwear and carried out our respective routines. Since my room used to be a spare bedroom it actually had a regular sized double bed in it so two people could easily fit on it. I took the right side of the bed whilst Katsuki took the left side. For a little bit I stared up at the ceiling, and then turned to look at Katsuki. In bed next to him like this it was undeniable that I found him attractive. I wasn’t quite ready to do things with him yet, but seeing him like this made me want to. And therein lied a problem. Ghoul biology was slightly more unique than just our diet and kagune. It was like we had this primitive part of us that spoke to us about our desires. It was the voice that told ghouls to keep eating even once they’d had their fill. That subconscious part of us also made itself known with desires other than food. As I looked at Katsuki I was filled with the thought of ‘that is my mate’, ghouls were animalistic in that sense. To better pretend to be human we used human terminology like boyfriend, girlfriend, and so on, but innately the word that fit best for ghouls was mate. Sure to the human world Katsuki and I were boyfriends, but to me Katsuki was my mate. And once a ghoul chooses its mate the body produces more hormones to incentivise sex and having kids. I wasn’t sure when it would happen, but eventually whether I was ready or not my body would make the decision for me.

Chapter Text

We had a week off school after the Sports Festival to allow for the other years to hold their competitions, and to allow us to recuperate. In that time we actually moved to a house instead of an apartment, and it was much closer to UA than the old apartment. The adoption had also finally gone through after the Sports Festival. I was now officially Shota’s son. A quirk of Japanese law meant that my name changed as well, legally I was now Aizawa Izuku. It was going to be a doozy getting used to being called that, and it was going to be interesting actually telling the class.

The first thing I did was text Katsuki to let him know. It wasn’t too bad since he didn’t really call me Midoriya all that much anyway, it was either Zuku, on occasion Izuku, or likely some joking insult nickname. We’d hung out a lot over the break, he was even nice enough to help us move into our new house. This one was a four bedroom house which meant we had two spares. Apparently they’d always wanted two spare bedrooms since it meant they’d both be able to take on work experience students instead of just one of them. I tried asking Shota about the work experience but he just said “You’ll find out in homeroom”.

The day before we went back to school Shota, Hizashi, and I were all watching the news. I wasn’t paying any particular attention, just something about research by a CCG doctor going missing. I didn’t really pay attention to the affairs of the CCG. It was a Doctor Akihiro or something like that. Suddenly a breaking news bulletin caught our attention. A newsreader solemnly looked towards the camera and said “A statement has been released by Team Iidaten in which they state that after being in hospital a number of days Iida Tensei, the leader of Team Iidaten, has died. The wounds were inflicted by the villain known as the Hero Killer. Members of the public who have information are asked to come forward.” 

I was stunned, totally unsure of what to say. I never knew Iida Tensei personally, but I knew of his hero persona Ingenium, and I knew that Iida would be devastated. Iida was a bit weird at first, but he was one of the first people at UA to accept me. I sent him a text asking if he was okay, but the message was never delivered. He probably turned his phone off or something. 

I looked to my left, Shota was staring at the screen as though nothing had happened. To my right, Hizashi looked like he was on the verge of crying. “Dad? Papa?” I asked.

“Tensei… uh, we went to school with him. He was one of our best friends. We haven’t seen him much recently, us busy with UA and he always kept himself busy with Team Iidaten, he worked himself ragged.”

As I quickly learned it wasn’t that Shota was intentionally keeping his emotions hidden, it was just that he hadn’t actually processed what had happened. I quickly realised that Shota and Hizashi would probably want to be alone for a little bit, one of their best friends had died after all. I went straight to my room so they could talk things out.

When I arrived in class there was a sombre mood. Shota was already there, he had perfected the look of apathy so he looked just like normal. Everyone else was just sort of silent, even Katsuki. Iida actually arrived five minutes early instead of ten, which in the circumstances was reasonable. It was weird though, it just wasn’t Iida.

Once we were all in Shota got everybody’s attention. Turns out there were quite a few things he wanted to say. “Firstly, because of his third place performance alongside Yaoyorozu in the Sports Festival please welcome Shinso to the class.” As he said that Shinso was gently shoved into the room by Hizashi who quickly skulked away back to his own class he was supposed to be giving homeroom to. 

Shinso gave a brief introduction and sat where Mineta used to sit. “Secondly, as Midoriya has been adopted he is now known as Aizawa Izuku.” It was clear Shota wanted to move on but there was no way in hell that class 1-A would just let him move on.

“That can’t be a coincidence can it?” Somebody asked.

“No way, it can’t be.” Somebody else seemed to agree.

Shota sighed. “It’s not a coincidence. I adopted Izuku, I will spend any more school time talking about this. Thirdly, Snipe will no longer teach ghoul studies. UA has compiled a new ghoul studies course in collaboration with scientists and ghouls. The class will be taught by a new teacher, the first teacher at UA to not be a hero and to be a ghoul. You may call him Arai Sensei and you will see him later today.”

The shock was obvious on my face. They got Uncle Arai to teach ghoul studies at UA? I knew that after he gave up his old ways he went to university and got a teaching license but I never expected him to make use of it at UA. At least now it wouldn’t be taught by a teacher who obviously hated me, and the material it taught would actually be entirely factual instead of the CCG propaganda it used to be. Shota gave me one of those looks that seemed to say ‘We’re gonna talk about this later’.

“This last one is technically part of the hero informatics class after homeroom, but since I teach that we’ll just go over it now. After the Sports Festival students are expected to go on a one week temporary internship with a hero. Based on your performances at the Sports Festival heroes will have sent UA requests. Even if you don’t have requests you will still be undertaking these internships from a list of preapproved heroes.” Finally, some field experience! “Everybody look at the screen” he said as he pressed a button on the remote sitting on his desk. The screen turned on and it showed how many requests each student had received. 

In first place was Katsuki with four thousand and ten requests, followed by Shouto with three thousand five hundred and thirty six requests. As I kept looking I found my own name near the bottom with only eighteen requests. Evidently Katsuki saw it too as he stood up suddenly from his chair. “What the fuck is this bullshit!” he yelled. “Zuku got first place alongside me but we’re on total opposite ends of this fucking list! Those shitty anti-ghoul bastards.”

Shota sighed. “I appreciate your anger Bakugou, but what’s done is done. Nothing more to be done about it.”

Katsuki sat back down in his chair but he was clearly still pissed. I looked at him until he caught my eyes. I gave him a smile and a thumbs up to hopefully calm him down, just a little bit at least.

“On the topic of temporary internships, you’re going to need hero names. Unluckily I’m really bad at names, so I’ve enlisted some help.”

Nemuri strut into the room and practically whipped Shota’s desk with her flogger. Shota rolled his eyes and disappeared into his slug form. He looked comfortable in it, perhaps if I asked nicely he’d get me my own sleeping bag.

“Even though these names are temporary, they’ll stick around for a while. So if you screw it up there’ll be hell to pay! You’ve got fifteen minutes to come up with something.” she said. 

When we were kids Katsuki and I had talked about our hero names at great length, though since we were kids the names were the definition of cringey and probably also a trademark infringement. As long as Katsuki didn’t try to use the name ‘Lord Explosion Murder’ it would be fine. 

Online I was going by the name of ‘UA Ghoul’ after Hizashi called me that during the Sports Festival, but I couldn’t really give myself a name with UA in it. I thought about my mask, perhaps I could draw some inspiration from that?

Before I realised it fifteen minutes had passed. “Does anybody want to volunteer to go first?” Midnight asked. 

“I’ll go first!” Katsuki exclaimed. I couldn’t see what he’d written on his board, but it must’ve been something great to get so much confidence from him. He walked up to the front of the class and turned his board around so the class could see it. And it said… “Lord Explosion Murder!” he yelled to the class. I really should’ve known better. 

“I can’t approve that name, try again Bakugou.” 

“What’s wrong with my damn name?” Katsuki asked as he begrudgingly went back to his seat. As time went on more and more people came forth with names, there weren’t many people in class left. It had taken some time, but I’d come up with my name. I wrote it down on the board and stepped up to the front of the class. All eyes were on me, everyone wanted to know what the ghoul was going to call himself I guessed. 

I turned the board around. “I’m The Ghoul Hero: Karasu” I stated. For a while I was going back and forth between Karasu: The Ghoul Hero and The Ghoul Hero: Karasu, but in the end I wanted to be as forthright as possible. I was first and foremost a ghoul. I turned to Nemuri as I awaited her approval or rejection.

She flicked her flogger left and right a little as she thought, before saying “Approved. I like it.”

Next Iida stepped up, and once again the class was silent. On his board, Ingenium. “My brother said, before he passed, that he wanted me to take the name Ingenium if he didn’t make it. So I must honour his last request to me.” With the level of conviction in his voice there was no doubt each word of it was true. As expected Nemuri approved of the name, with a barely noticeable tear in her eye. As Shota had told me yesterday, she was also a close friend of Iida Tensei.

I was surprised when Shinso stepped up, he’d had this blank look on his face for the entire time people were thinking of names. I’d gotten a bit worried that he just wouldn’t be able to think of a name and that somebody would just choose one for him. But he came through in the end. The name on the board was interesting, it definitely wasn’t Japanese. “Dolos?” Midnight asked, uncertain she was saying it correctly.

“It’s the name of a spirit from ancient greek mythology. A spirit of trickery, deception, and so on.” Shinso explained. “It felt fitting for me.” he then clarified.

“Hmm, it’s connotations aren’t amazing I’ll admit” Midnight said, still trying to make up her mind on the name. “You want to be an underground hero, Shinso?”

Shinso nodded. “Yes, I don’t have any interest in dealing with vultures.”

“Well, I’ll allow it in that case then. Dolos it is.” Midnight declared.

Next Todoroki stepped forth. On his board was “The Half Hot Half Cold Hero: Freezeflame.”

Nemuri hummed for a moment then said “The intro is a bit long, how does the Half and Half Hero sound?”

Todoroki thought for a moment before nodding his head in approval. The last person in class yet to choose a name was Katsuki. Finally he stepped back to the front of the class with a new name on his board. Like his last one there was no statement to go with the name, Katsuki alone was a statement enough. It simply read “Dynamight”.

“Simple and to the point, I like it.” Finally, we had all chosen our names. Midnight looked at her watch and told us that we still had some time left before Shota would wake up. So as expected everybody started chatting. Also as expected, I immediately started chatting with Katsuki.

“Your hero name is dumb” I said. Immediately Katsuki knew I was only saying this to get a reaction out of him, so he played coy. 

“Oh really? And why is that, Zuku.”

I smirked. Putting on a dumb voice I said “Huh duh, my name hero name is Dynamight because my hands go boom.”

“Like you’re any better ya damn gremlin” Katsuki replied. He too proceeded to put on a dumb voice and said “Oh look at me, my mask is half raven half dove and my hero name is Karasu I’m so complex and three dimensional.” Katsuki laughed as he finished his sentence. Not quite done he had one last thing to add “I’m such an intellectual” in the same dumb voice as earlier.

Both Katsuki and I almost broke down in laughter at that. We could tell that almost the entire class was staring at us but we couldn’t particularly find it in us to care.

Out of the corner of my eye I noticed that despite everybody talking, even Shinso was talking to Tokoyami, Iida was just sitting silent. I looked at Urakara who’d noticed me looking at Iida and she just shrugged and shook her head with a frown on her face. She’d probably already tried to talk to Iida.

I got up and walked over to Iida’s table. “What’s up?” I asked him.

Iida sighed and said “Please leave me alone Mi- Aizawa.”

I frowned at his reply to me. “Sorry, can’t do that. You’re my friend, and you look like you could use a friend right now.” Despite what I said I could tell that it clearly hadn’t cheered him up at all. “You know, it’s a shame we never got to fight during the Sports Festival. I think you’d be a big challenge for me.”

Iida perked up slightly at the compliment. “You think so?” he asked me.

“Of course, you’d probably win against me. Next year we need to try and have a match against each other in the Sports Festival okay.” I said back. 

I put my hand out to shake his, it was a deal. 

I went back down to my seat and had a look at some of the temporary internship offers I’d received. Nezu had done me the kindness of forwarding all the requests to my business email. As I opened each email with the requests I noted that Mitsuki had already marked a couple as ‘avoid’. Annoyingly lots of the heroes were no name heroes probably trying to cash in on my name. By the end of my own review I only had three left, Hawks, Endeavour, and Shota. After thinking some more I disregarded Endeavour’s request, I just didn't feel comfortable learning under a man who’d funded the CCG for decades. And then it was between Hawks and Shota, as cool as Hawks was I just had to go with Shota. I didn’t want to fully be an underground hero like Shota, my goals didn’t allow for it, but I did want to live half in that world, and the other half in the more glamorous world of being a limelight hero. If I wanted to be a well known ghoul hero I could hardly work entirely as an underground hero. Plus Katsuki and I were going to be a hero duo and Katsuki absolutely wouldn’t be an underground hero. He just wasn’t exactly well suited for it. Everything about him drew the eyes. His brash mannerisms, his confidence, his muscles, even hi-

I shook my head. Bad Izuku, no thinking naughty thoughts about Katsuki in class. That pesky part of me that wanted to act on purely my ghoul instincts had tried to lead me down a pretty bad path there. I remembered something my dad had told me when I was younger. I had seen a ghoul in a ghoul cafe practically grab his date and try to drag her away to do god knows what before the cafe staff intervened. I asked my dad what had happened and he told me “Sometimes when a ghoul has chosen their mate, and they let certain thoughts get the better of them, that start to act purely on instinct.”

“Instinct to do what?” I had asked him at the time. That was the day I first learned about the birds and the bees. 

“And that’s why when you choose your mate, you’ve got to be careful and keep your thoughts in line. Understood young man?”

I had told him back then that I understood, but now that I’d actually chosen a mate I truly understood him. It was embarrassing to admit, but every night since we’d gotten together I had dreams about Katsuki, and they weren’t just regular dreams. I didn’t know what I was going to do if it kept getting worse.

As I read the final email from behind me I heard Shinso say “Hey, Aizawa. Can we talk a second?”

I turned my chair around to face Shinso. “Sure, what’s up?” I asked him.

“I’m sorry about what I said about you during the Sports Festival. It wasn’t personal I promise.” he said bashfully. 

I waved my hand dismissively at him. “Don’t worry about it, you did what you thought would help you win.” I said. I paused for a moment before saying “By the way, I know you didn’t get any requests or anything, it’s because my dad is taking you for the internships.”

“Really?” he exclaimed. “How did you find that out?”

“Well, it’s not surefire. But knowing how he thinks, he probably wants to use the week as an opportunity to catch you up on some things. I’m doing my internship with dad as well, so it’ll be good to get to know you some more.”

Like clockwork Shota woke up at the exact time that he said he would. From underneath his desk he pulled out several stacks of papers, and he then went between each table, depositing each stack. Some stacks were noticeably larger than others, likely the internship offers. 

“You’ll have time to sort through these at lunch. You have two days to make your submission so don’t waste time otherwise the school will choose for you.”

The morning classes passed by rather quickly, I couldn’t wait until lunch was finished though since we’d have the first ghoul studies lesson with Uncle Arai as the teacher. Apart from that one night I hadn’t seen him in ages.

We sat at the usual table during lunch with the addition of Shinso who’d taken a liking to us. Despite Iida’s somewhat glum demeanour we all tried our best to be uplifting. “So who’re you interning with Bakubro?” Kirishima asked.

“Best Jeanist. He was the highest ranking hero to send me a damn offer.” Katsuki replied. Internally I cringed a bit, I didn’t think that Best Jeanist would be the best fit for Katsuki but he was entirely capable of deciding these things for himself. So I wouldn’t interfere with his decision making.

“Mido- I mean Aizaaa...bro? What about you?” Kirishima asked me. It was a little amusing watching Kirishima trying to find a way to fit bro into Aizawa. 

“My dad, Eraserhead. I’d like to learn some stealth from him.” I replied.

“Ah Shinso, didn’t you say earlier you’d also be interning with Aizawa Sensei?” Urakara asked. 

Shinso nodded in reply. “Yes, Eraserhead is my favourite hero so it’s an honour to work under him.” It was funny, but slowly as we talked between classes I realised that Shinso reacted to Eraserhead the way many would react to All Might. It was a little funny thinking that’s how somebody thought of my dad. It became weird when I realised that there were already ghouls that thought of me like that. 

“What about you Iida?” I asked.

He looked thoughtful for a moment before replying. “Well, originally I was going to intern with Tensei but” he paused for a moment, looking slightly pained. “I’m going to work for The Normal Hero: Manual”

As some of my friends asked Iida about Manual I found it odd. Iida had a sizable stack of requests yet he chose a hero who was in the two hundred’s for his internship. It was weird, sure he couldn’t intern for his brother anymore but surely there was somebody better than Manual. Then again, who am I to try and intervene. It’s Iida’s internship, not mine.

Lunch continued as normal with the odd intermittent conversations. I decided to leave early and head back to the classroom, the smell of all the food was just too overpowering. I felt like I might puke if I remained in the room a second longer. 

As I entered the room I noticed Todoroki was sitting alone at his desk. I borrowed a chair and sat at the desk in front of his, turning the chair around. “How you doing Todoroki?” I asked him. By the looks of things he had actually eaten his lunch in here as well.

He raised an eyebrow at me before replying “I’m fine. Thanks Aizawa.”

The Sports Festival raised some questions, and whilst I wasn’t sure Todoroki would spill the beans to a ghoul, hopefully it would spur him to tell somebody, anybody. “I hate to pry Todoroki, but you seemed really adamant about not using your fire. Some sort of vow you said?”

Todoroki sighed, he closed his eyes and appeared to be deep in thought for a brief moment. Finally he said “Quirk marriages, you know of them right?” 

I nodded my head, I’d heard of them alright.

“Well my father, in an attempt to create the ultimate quirk and successor to beat All Might, entered into a quirk marriage. He with his fire, my mother with her ice.”

“Oh my god, that’s horrible Todoroki.” I said on instinct.

“Yeah well, it gets worse. My father, he abused my mother. Slowly it twisted and corrupted her mind until one day she snapped. The memories are fuzzy, but I think my mother said something about me reminding her too much of Endeavour? I’m not totally sure, but either way she poured boiling water on my face. She said ‘no dau- son of mine will be anything like Endeavour’. So to spite him I refused to use my fire. Now, I’m not sure.”

Todoroki had been looking down at his desk the entire time, refusing to make eye contact with me. When he finally looked up he recoiled slightly. “Y-your eyes.” he said.

Oh great. “Sorry, when ghouls get emotional sometimes that happens even if we don’t want it to.”

“Oh… so you were emotional?” he asked.

He asks, after telling me a story of how he was mistreated as a child, if I was emotional? Jeez, Todoroki truly was emotionally stunted. “Of course I was!” I replied immediately. “You were mistreated, nobody deserves to go through that. I got angry and sad that you had to deal with that as a child.”

He looked at me quizzically, as though trying to decipher some sort of deeper meaning from what I had said. “Why did you get angry and sad about me though? I’ve never been particularly nice to you.”

I wanted to bang my head onto his desk until there was nothing left of my head but mush. “Oh my god Todoroki, because it doesn’t matter how you’ve acted towards me. You shouldn’t have been treated that way, end of story.”

“Thanks Aizawa.” He paused for a moment, as though something was on the tip of his tongue but he wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to say it. “I’m sorry about how I’ve acted towards you. I want to learn more about ghouls, and not just the propaganda made by the CCG.”

I smiled at his words, I was actually making progress! I’d get all of class 1-A on side, one person at a time.

Chapter Text

I was at the train station with Shota and the rest of the class. Technically I didn’t need to be here since my internship was in Mustafu, but I wanted to see off my classmates since we wouldn’t see each other for a week. I’d miss seeing Katsuki on a daily basis. Very quickly I walked over to Iida. “I know it’s been a few days, but call me if you need anything, okay?” I asked him.

He nodded and said “Of course Aizawa, you can count on me to call if I need anything.” I smiled, it seemed like he was getting back to himself a little bit.

Right on time the train arrived. Before everybody could get on the train Shota said “Alright, triple check you’ve got everything. Don’t cause me any problems and we’ll be fine. Have fun and learn something.” A resounding ‘yes sir’ came from the class who all started boarding the train except for me and Shinso. 

Just before Katsuki got on I tapped his shoulder. He turned around to face me and asked “Zuku?” 

Oh god it was embarrassing but my instincts were screaming at me, so I had to do something. Without warning I gave him a brief and chaste kiss, just acceptable enough for being in public. “Stay safe Kacchan. I love you.” I said.

Stunned and blushing he said “Uh… yeah no yeah I’ll stay safe. I love you too, Zuku.” before quickly getting on the train before the doors shut on him. 

The train was heading to Tokyo where everybody who needed to would get on connecting trains, Shota had been fretting about it this morning worrying about students getting on wrong trains but in the end there wasn’t much he could do about that. He just had to trust that his students were capable of getting on the right train, which sounded simple but it was class 1-A.

“I didn’t realise you and Bakugou were dating.” Shinso said to me as we both sat in the back of Shota’s car, heading to our house. “When did you start dating?” he asked.

“The night just after the Sports Festival.”

Shinso nodded. “I see, so how does the whole human and ghoul thing work? Not to be rude, but doesn’t your brain technically classify Bakugou as food?”

It was a fair question, to the average person it must sound like every time I saw Katsuki my brain was saying ‘eat him’, which it sorta was but in a very different context. “I don’t really register people as food unless I’m hungry, but even then since Katsuki is my mate that supersedes everything else.”

Suddenly the car screeched to a halt at a red light. Shota took his eyes off the road and turned to look at me. “He’s your what?” he asked.

His paternal instincts were in full force, it was almost comical if it weren’t for the fact his eyes weren’t on the damn road! Luckily for all of us in the car he quickly gave the road the due attention it deserved. 

“He’s my mate. You should really ask Arai if you could read over his material for ghoul studies, it’ll be in there somewhere.” Crisis averted he stopped asking questions as we continued the drive to get home. 

Once we arrived I showed Shinso the room he’d be sleeping in, it was the room next to mine. After he got settled in Shota took us to his new office room. The room was nice, it had a desk with a computer on it, as well as some bookshelves which looked filled to the brim with casefiles. “First things first, I want both of you to look over a case file. It’s currently my primary investigation and what we’ll be working on.” He handed me and Shinso a manilla folder with lots of papers inside of it.

Luckily the first page was a summary of the issue being investigated. There was a worrying increase in children being reported missing where child abduction was suspected. The age range generally went from twelve years of age to eighteen years of age. We ourselves were in the age range of those at risk, I shivered at the thought of it. So far of the twenty children thought to be linked to the same kidnapper three had been found. One was alive with no memories other than a brand new iatrophobia, a fear of doctors. He also had what looked like postoperative scarring on his lower back just above his backside. The other was also found with what appeared to be surgical injuries around the shoulder blades, and again with no memories of what happened. The last, he was found dead and appeared to have been eaten by ghouls. However, a post mortem examination determined that the body was eaten after he was killed, however the pathologist was unable to determine a cause of death due to the contamination of the corpse. 

I felt a little guilty, the family of the third child, only thirteen years old, would never get closure about how their little boy was taken from them. Because of scavengers like me the body was too mutilated to determine a cause of death. And, if the family had wanted an open casket funeral we’d stolen that opportunity from them as well. We didn’t kill the child, but we made it a whole lot harder to find out who did.

As I flicked through the pages in the report I found the autopsy of the third child, named Sato Kusunabe. Included were photographs from the pathologist’s lab and the body truly did look mauled. Not that my stomach seemed to care. As I examined the photograph I found myself thinking that there was just enough meat left on the arm to get a good cut, or that they’d left his eyeballs intact. I put the autopsy back inside the folder before my thoughts could get further down the rabbit hole, not that it made a difference since I could tell that my kakugan would be showing. 

“Is this human experimentation?” I asked.

Shota sighed. Some of the documents dated back months, clearly he was frustrated by the lack of progress on the matter. “We don’t know for sure, but that’s the current leading theory. We’re totally cold on tracking down the missing kids, so all we can do right now is patrol and try to catch one of them in the act. There’s over a hundred personnel in Mustafu working on this.”

“What do you want us to do?” Shinso asked, his eyes still appearing to be reading from the paper in front of him.

“For now I want you exercising and sparring, with the occasional paperwork help. Maybe if things are going well I’ll take you out on a patrol with me.”

Shota’s training with Shinso was more direct than it was with me. He was already confident in my abilities, and he trusted that I knew what I had to train on. Shinso on the other hand, needed more of a direct input. As I had suspected Shinso actually had very little in the way of combat training, and whilst he met the bare minimum standards of fitness for the hero course there was a reason it was the minimum standard and not the recommended standard. For our first day we spent the first half doing physical exercise in the yard, and then in the afternoon we helped Shota with paperwork in the office. Mostly it was proofreading reports Shota had already drawn up, with a little bit of original writing added by Shinso and I on the side.

Just as it felt like we’d been in the room for way too long I heard “Boys, it’s time for dinner!” from the kitchen. As the office door opened the smell of food wafted into the room. By Shinso’s reaction it must’ve been something really nice, but I couldn’t be sure as the smell was unpleasant at best. 

When he entered the dining room he did a double take at the sight of Hizashi, like everybody before him he never saw it coming; Present Mic being married to Eraserhead.

In my head I did the maths on whether or not I should quickly go to my room and have a bit to eat as well. I had a meal after the Sports Festival which was a couple weeks ago now, and I’d done a lot of exercise in that time. Not to mention I had the very occasional thought about killing random strangers and devouring them. As we all sat at the dinner table I noted that Hizashi had made me a coffee from a new brand. I took a sip and smiled as I put the mug down. It was nice. “Please excuse me for a moment.” I said as I stood up to leave. Hizashi and Shota nodded in understanding. 

I rushed into my room and opened the mini fridge. Looking at what stock I had I grabbed some of the CCG’s synthetic meat. I fought the urge to gag as I forced it down my throat. Since everything bar the taste was designed to mimic the real thing there was actual human blood running down my chin. As far as I knew the blood was taken from donors. I quickly wiped my face and rushed to the bathroom and brushed my teeth. I inspected my teeth for what felt like a long time before I was confident that there was no blood visible. 

I went back to the dining room and started drinking my coffee, everybody else still appeared to have a little bit of food left. 

There was a comfortable silence in the room until Shinso spoke up and said “Uhh Izuku, there’s a little something on your t-shirt.”

I looked down and right enough there was. It was a red stain… blood! I stood up suddenly as I realised what it was. “Shit, I’m so sorry” I said as I ran to my room. As soon as I got in I pulled the t-shirt off and replaced it with another one. I had been so focussed on making sure there was no blood on my teeth that I had failed to look anywhere else. They had just been eating food, I probably put them off whenever they were eating. So stupid and unthoughtful of me. And I swore at the dinner table on top of all that! I had so much to apologise for. 

Before I could get any deeper into my spiral the phone in my pocket started buzzing. I pulled it out of my pocket to look at the contact, it was Katsuki.

“Kacchan!” I said in greeting as I answered the call.

“Zuku, how are you doing?” he asked.

“Could be better, could be worse. Glad to be helping with some actual work, ya know?”

Katsuki grunted in affirmation. “I’m glad your internship is going well at least. Fucking Best Jeanist is a total prick.”

I gasped. “He’s always seemed really nice, what happened?”

“Damn bastard is trying to change everything about me. Called me a violent thug who’d never make it as a hero unless I changed or some horse shit.” 

Katsuki sounded really angry, but I knew that beneath that anger Katsuki was really hurt by Best Jeanist’s words. Sure he was a bit brash and blunt, and he knew that some of the things he did had to stop but he was trying. Best Jeanist had gone too far. “That’s not fair on you Kacchan, he doesn’t even know you.” I said.

Katsuki was silent for a moment before saying “Yeah, I know.” in a soft voice that he never used in the presence of others. “Look, I’ve got to go. I love you, I’ll text you a goodnight and goodmorning text. You better do the same or I’ll assume you’re dead.”

“I love you too Kacchan. Tell me if Best Jeanist says anything else, I’ll kick his ass for you.”

Once I finished speaking the line clicked as Katsuki hung up the call. At least I wasn't the only one with an internship that wasn’t going perfectly. 

I heard two rapid knocks on the door to my room, followed by “Izuku, can I come in?” It was Hizashi. 

“You can come in papa.” I replied. It was still a little forced calling Shota and Hizashi dad and papa, but day by day it was getting more and more natural.

Hizashi entered the room and closed the door behind him. He also flicked the light on, the room had been pretty dark earlier. He sat down next to me on the bed where I was also sitting. He didn’t say anything as I slowly moved my head to lean against him. He moved his own arm to bring me into a sort of sideways hug.

“I’m sorry” I said, my voice forlorn. 

“What for?” he asked, his voice showing genuine confusion. 

“You know, the t-shirt. It had blood on it, I probably put you off your food.”

Hizashi looked down at me for a moment before letting out a short laugh, that turned into a kind of long laugh. “I’m sorry kiddo, I didn’t mean to laugh” he said, between more laughs. “It’s just that Sho’ and I are heroes, we’ve eaten meals in front of worse sights than a tiny bit of blood. We weren’t phased in the slightest. My only worry was that we might not be able to get the blood out of that t-shirt. It’s a pain to get out, you know.” 

Every word he spoke seemed genuine, he probably wasn’t just lying to try and make me feel better. That was nice I guess. 

“Shinso’s looking tired. Why don’t you say goodnight to him before he goes to sleep?” Hizashi suggested.

I got up and went to the door of Shinso’s room. I knocked on it and went in when he said it was okay. He was already in his pyjamas when I stepped in. “Ah Izuku, I just wanted to say thanks.”

“What for?” I asked, confused.

“The hospitality you’ve all shown me today. It was nice, being in a home again.” he said wistfully. Being in a home again? What was that supposed to mean? The confusion must have been obvious on my face because Shinso started speaking again. “I live in an orphanage. Have done since my quirk manifested at five. My birth family never really liked my quirk, and neither has any prospective family that wanted to adopt. So today was nice, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to have a home.”

Every word he said hurt. Before Shota and Hizashi came into my life I’d also not had a family for years. Somehow what he said was almost worse than what I went through. Sure my parents were killed, but they both loved and wanted me. Shinso’s parents though, they just didn’t want him. All because of his quirk. Even ghouls didn’t abandon their offspring when they had an undesirable kagune. It was a part of human behaviour that sickened me, quirk discrimination. Ghouls had a whole host of problems, but for the most part ghouls didn’t discriminate against each other. We were too busy with other stuff to have time for that shit. 

“I’m sorry you went through that Shinso. I never went into an orphanage, but my parents were killed at a young age. So I can kind of relate. Whilst you’re here, please make yourself at home.”

“Thanks, and you can call me Hitoshi since I’ve been calling you Izuku all day.” he said. 

I felt bad that Hitoshi had gone through that. I actually quite liked Hitoshi, from the first moment he knew I was a ghoul he was chill with me. Most people weren’t chill from the first second. Even Urakara had flinched when she first saw me during the entrance exams. From the way that Hitoshi had described things he didn’t expect to get adopted anytime soon. Once upon a time getting adopted was extremely rare, but as Japan slowly westernised over time rates of adoption went up. But in a uniquely Japanese style it was still common enough for kids to never get adopted, especially ones with undesirable quirks. 

It just wasn’t fair, Hitoshi deserved a family just as much as anybody else. And with Hitoshi’s likely plans to become an underground hero he’d struggle to form a found family of his own. It just wouldn’t do.

I bade him a goodnight and went to my own bed, and quickly got settled in. I checked my phone, I had a message form a few minutes earlier. It was Katsuki wishing me a goodnight. I quickly replied with a goodnight of my own, with a heart emoji of course. 

As I lay in bed I thought about the day’s events. I wondered what was going on with my classmates, but I didn’t have any of their numbers. Hopefully they were all having a good day at least. 

The case we were working on dominated my mind. Something about the injuries just didn’t sit right with me, but I wasn’t sure what it was. What possibly could they be experimenting with? Evidently the abductor either had a memory erasing quirk, or had an accomplice with one. And according to the notes the surgical scars were professional, likely done by somebody with lots of surgical experience. Not that it made it any easier. Mustafu and its surrounding areas had way too many surgeons to interview them all one by one. And who’s to say it’s even a currently practicing surgeon? They could be retired, or like some villains their civilian persona might be listed as dead or missing. Just patrolling and hoping to catch the kidnappers in the act wasn’t going to work, but it was better than nothing. We’d have to get a breakthrough soon if we wanted to stop it from getting any worse, that was for sure.

Finally I turned my thoughts to Hitoshi. I didn’t want him to spend almost his entire childhood in an orphanage. He didn’t mention any friends, so perhaps he didn’t actually have any inside the orphanage. I wasn’t sure what I could do about it, but hopefully I’d be able to come up with something so that he didn’t have to stay in that orphanage until they kicked him out. I didn’t know what, but I knew that I had to do something. 

Chapter Text

I woke up nice and early. As I entered the living room I noticed that Shinso wasn’t up yet, which was strange. Of course I didn’t know for sure, but I was pretty convinced that he had some sort of insomnia. However, it certainly wasn’t my job to diagnose squat, that’s best left to trained professionals. I did notice however that there was a small light coming from underneath the door to Shota’s office. I’d spent all of yesterday and most of the day before in that office, so I knew that the only reason for that light to be on is that Shota’s still in there.

I walked up to the office and knocked on the door. “Dad, can I come in?” I asked.

“Sure” he replied to me.

I walked in to find him actually having a lie down on the sofa he kept in the office. That sofa had seen many a night where Shota just wasn’t ready to wind down and go to bed, much to Hizashi’s annoyance. “What’s up problem child, it’s a bit early for you isn’t it?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “I wanted to talk to you, it’s about Hitoshi.” He raised an eyebrow and motioned for me to sit down on one of the office chairs in the room. Taking the one closest to me I sat down. “Well, I assume you know he lives in an orphanage since you’re his teacher right?”

Shota nodded. “Yeah, it’s in his file. My job involves me with orphanages quite a bit, he lives in one of the few in Mustafu I haven’t actually been to yet. How come?”

“Well, it’s just that I don’t think he has any friends at his orphanage. And he doesn’t think he’s going to get adopted because of his quirk. I guess I’m just worried about him. Does the file say why he’s in an orphanage?”

Shota shook his head in reply. “No, that’s not really deemed need to know. Which is stupid by the way, almost everybody who ends up in an orphanage needs some sort of extra help but that’s just the way it is sadly. Did he tell you?”

I nodded. “Yeah it’s really sad. He was abandoned because of his quirk.” Shota’s eyes widened in understanding. “And on the first night he thanked me, and said that he’d almost forgotten what it was like to live in a home. I jus- I mean… it’s just not fair.”

Shota sighed. I desperately wanted to ask him to speak with Hizashi and maybe adopt Hitoshi but wouldn’t that be rude? Sure little kids ask their parents for younger siblings all the time but this is nothing near the same. I fully understand what I’d be asking of them. They’d only really just taken me in, who was I to be making those sorts of requests.

“Problem child, I think I know what you want to ask me. I won’t be offended, so just say what you’re thinking.”

“If you and Hizashi want to, and are able to, I wouldn’t mind Hitoshi being my brother. He deserves a family”. I said. I knew I’d gotten permission to say it, but it still felt rude and selfish nonetheless. It was such a big request. 

“Hizashi and I talked about it yesterday. We were going to ask for your opinion before asking Hitoshi what he thought. What you said about how he ended up at the orphanage and how he doesn’t have many friends only reinforces what we were thinking. I’ll ask him at breakfast.”

For another hour Shota and I stayed in the office, reading some reports and signing stuff. That was when Shota’s ‘breakfast’ alarm went off. The alarm was timed so that the food would be almost ready by the time Shota went to the kitchen. As we entered the kitchen Shota snuck a thumbs up at Hizashi and then whispered something in his ear. The couple had gotten used to my ghoul hearing, so they knew how low to whisper when they wanted something to be said in private. 

Breakfast was eaten in the living room instead of the dining room. Usually the TV would be on and switched to the news. Hitoshi was already there watching the TV. Shota walked up to Hitoshi and said “Hitoshi, could you come with me for a moment.”

Caught off guard Hitoshi replied “Uhh sure.” before his brain caught up with him and he replied “I mean of course, Aizawa Sensei.” 

I rolled my eyes at the encounter. Hitoshi probably thought he was about to get chewed out or something. I sipped from my coffee and relaxed, it was good coffee. When I first started living with them I didn’t let them even consider making me coffee, it always tasted awful. But with time and effort they grew to be able to make a serviceable brew. Hizashi looked at me and smiled knowingly. As much as his hero persona was very much the cool guy, at heart he was such a mama bear. Hizashi and Shota made great parents. My eyes watered slightly just thinking about it, and how luck I’d gotten.

Five minutes later Shota returned with a slightly tearful Hitoshi at his side. Shota had a smile on his face, it was the rare type of smile rarely seen since his usual smile was a sadistic smirk as he tricked people with one of his logical ruses. “Say hello to the newest addition to our family.” he said. 

At that Hitoshi was clearly putting a lot of effort into not crying. I smiled, at last Hitoshi would be getting his long deserved family. And I was more than happy to be in it.

Once we all had enough time to calm down from the announcement Shota took me and Hitoshi into his office. “Alright, we’re going to do a little patrolling today. I do my patrolling at late evening and night, so until then spend your day relaxing. I want you to be fresh faced for the patrol.”

Hitoshi and I spent some of the day getting to know each other better, we were going to be brothers after all. I learned that my prediction was correct, Hitoshi did have insomnia. Some days it was bad, some days it was more manageable. We played a game of sorts where we would take turns telling the other something about ourselves.

“I knew a ghoul once” he said when it was his turn. “She was called Akira, and she would play with me sometimes when I snuck out at night and went to the park. She mucked up one night and I saw her black and red eyes. What are they called again?”

“Kakugan” I supplied.

“Yeah that. She actually tried to kill me.” I tensed as he said the words. Despite knowing he was alive and right in front of me it still made me uncomfortable thinking how close I came to never meeting Hitoshi. “But she couldn’t do it. Instead she cried. She cried about how unfair it was that she couldn’t have human friends and so on. I hugged her, I promised I’d be her friend and not tell anybody.” Shinso’s smile as he reminisced slowly turned into a frown. “But it turns out it didn’t matter if I didn’t tell. Somebody saw her and called the CCG. They killed her right in front of me.” His words became more and more monotone and depersonalised as he recalled the events. They were almost scripted. “Since I was just a kid the CCG didn’t arrest me for treason or some BS. For a long time I wished I had died alongside her. She was my only friend in the world, and the CCG took her from me.”

If that had been the end to the story it would’ve been a tragedy, but the universe had one last fuck you to add to the story. In a shaky voice Shinso added “The next day I went to the park. I don’t know why, some childlike delusion she’d be there. Instead I saw what looked like an adult version of her, it was her mother. I- I had to break the news to Akira’s mum that the CCG killed her daughter. She t-thanked me. Told me she was happy that at least in her final moments she’d made a human friend, that her dream was to live in harmony with humans. Akira’s mum ended up going on a suicide mission to kill as many CCG investigators as possible before they eventually killed her. I think the news mentioned she killed five investigators and wounded a few more before she was killed.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say. Perhaps there wasn’t anything to be said in the first place. It was a tragedy, a tragedy that was par for the course when it came to ghouls. Humans were capable of doing horrific things to other humans with the power of dehumanisation, history had proved that, so when it came to a threat that itself wasn’t human it was no wonder they were capable of such brutality. It didn’t matter if you looked human, if you had your own hopes and dreams, if you weren’t human you were irrelevant. The fact that I didn’t turn to groups such as the Ghoul Freedom Front was practically a miracle. But some part of me that must be a hipster or something just couldn’t let go of the idea of peace between ghouls and humans. 

In the end neither of us said anything for a while. We didn’t need to say anything anyway, there was a commonality between us. A shared sense of loss at the hands of the CCG. Perhaps it wouldn't have been so painful if the CCG had reformed since the bare minimum of rights for ghouls were recognised. But the reality was that despite all the talk the CCG hadn’t changed one bit. They were still rabid dogs ready to attack on site, the only difference now was that they were held back by a leash that could get let go of at a moment’s notice. 

Despite how tempting it was we couldn’t spend the rest of the day until the patrol moping around. I sent Katsuki the occasional text and an occasional text in response. Because he was actively out patrolling there wasn’t much time for Katsuki to send me texts. During a break he sent me a selfie of him looking absolutely done with how his hair was styled. I made sure to save that selfie, it was the perfect sort of picture for being shown years later in order to embarrass him. I had to admit though, the hairstyle was a little cute, but it wasn’t very Katsuki. 

The day passed by slowly, Shota was working and insisted that he didn’t want any help, Hizashi was working, and Shinso was trying to see if he could nap some more. There wasn’t anything of interest on the TV, and even my various social media feeds were kinda dry. In the end I just put in some earbuds, put some music on, and vibed in bed. 

Around half seven as Hizashi was arriving home Shota knocked on my door. “Izuku, get your costume on! It’s almost time to head out.”

In my room was the briefcase my hero stuff was kept in. It amused me a little. All my ghoul stuff was kept inside a briefcase, if you shoved one of my kakuhou in there it would almost be the full package! I quickly got changed into my stuff, stretched a little, and then finally put my mask on. And like that Aizawa Izuku was gone and in his stead was The Ghoul Hero: Karasu. 

I stepped out of my room to hear a whilst from my right. “Wow, you nailed the scary ghoul look.” Hitoshi joked.

“That was the plan.” I replied. “I’m a ghoul, humans just need to get used to that or fuck off.”

Hitoshi’s eyes widened, as though caught off guard by what I had said. “Uh wow, that’s a bit more blunt than usual Izuku.”

I smiled under the mask, not that it was particularly visible. “Ah, yeah sorry about that. Dressed like this, it’s like I’m not Izuku anymore but Karasu instead. Sorry, I bet that doesn’t make any sense.”

“Hey boys” Hizashi said, walking over to us. “Shota’ll just be a minute, he’s just taking a call from the police department.” He paused for a moment before looking at me directly and saying “Don’t worry, lots of heroes personas change involuntarily with their costume on. When you’ve got all your stuff on, ready to kick villain ass, it’s like a switch in your mind gets flicked.”

“I admit,” Hitoshi started, “that despite not having too much training I do feel a bit like a hero with this stuff on.”

Hitoshi’s hero costume was, and I meant this with love, very much inspired by Eraserhead. To be expected from a fanboy, but I had no doubts that in time Hitoshi would forge his own hero identity and look. 

Shota emerged from his office in full hero gear. “You boys ready?” he asked us. We both nodded.

“Alright then, let’s get going. Normally we’d stick to the rooftops but since you’re not experienced with parkour Hitoshi we’ll stick to ground for now.”

For the first half an hour or so of the patrol it was exciting, my mind constantly wondering if something was going to happen. After that first half hour I realised that Shota had warned us that patrols tended to be boring for a reason. Suddenly I wasn’t looking forward too much at the prospect of a patrol lasting until two in the morning. One thing I noticed was that a lot of people were staring at us. Shota and Hitoshi looked a little bit like they were homeless, and I looked very clearly like a ghoul. 

As we were walking a father and his son walked up to us, clearly trying to get our attention. Though saying they had walked up to us would be a bit of an understatement, it would be more accurate to say that the son had practically dragged his poor father to us. “Are you the UA Ghoul?” the kid asked, excitement in his voice.

In all honesty I wasn’t too sure how I felt about being known as the UA Ghoul. I’d updated my display name to say The Ghoul Hero: Karasu but the UAGhoul hashtag was still as popular as ever. “Yup!” I said to the kid, putting on extra enthusiasm for him. “I’m The Ghoul Hero: Karasu, at your service.” At that moment I was very glad I didn’t want to work exclusively as an underground hero. Because that felt great. “What’s your name?” I asked the kid.

“It’s Daichi!” he said. 

Daichi’s father shushed his son before saying “Sorry about that, he’s really excitable. There’s a ghoul in his class at school and they’re best friends. I know you’re busy but if you could sign in his notebook he’d be over the world, Karasu.”

His father handed me a notebook which conveniently had a pen already in it. I’d have to make sure to have my own pen handy in future. I thought for a moment about what to say before signing it Karasu and adding the message ‘Thanks for being a fan and a ghoul ally Daichi!’. I flipped over a few pages and asked the father “What’s his best friend called?”

Before the father could say anything Daichi interrupted saying “Emiko!”

I signed a page again with ‘Karasu’ then asked Daichi “What does Emiko want to do when she grows up?”

“She’s going to be a hero, just like you are!” 

I added the message ‘Work hard and you’ll be a hero in no time Emiko!’ Handing the notebook back to Daichi’s dad I told him “I added something for Emiko too. I’d love to chat more but we’ve got to get going.”

Daichi’s dad actually ended up looking quite embarrassed. “Please don’t let us take up any more of your time. Thanks for the signatures, and best of luck.”

As we walked away from the father son duo I felt happy, it was nice knowing that somebody cared about me enough to want my signature. It was invisible under my mask but I had a massive smile on my face, Shota and Hitoshi on the other hand looked absolutely done. “Kid was cute, but never again, oh my god.” Shota complained. 

“You’re just jealous nobody asks for your signature.” I shot back.

“I’d ask for his signature if he wasn’t about to become my dad.” Hitoshi said, before realising exactly to what he’d admitted. As his face flushed red with embarrassment he looked right at me and said “Shut up!” before I even had the chance to rip the piss out of him.

With that brief moment of excitement the monotony set back in. Shota must’ve been taking us on a more quiet route or something, which made sense since Hitoshi still didn’t have much hero training. Taking him on a more active patrol route would just lead to disaster, and nobody had to die tonight. 

As we continued walking I noticed a sweet smell coming from a small distance away. That had me worried. It wasn’t a coffee sort of sweet smell, or just a sweet smelling person sort of sweet smell. No, this was the smell of a corpse. And as we walked we were getting closer and closer to the alley the smell was emanating from. “Eraserhead, I smell a corpse. Next alley down.” I warned him. 

“Understood Karasu, you and Dolos be careful not to contaminate the scene. I’ll call the police, bodies are their jurisdiction.” He replied.

As we approached the alley I heard a sound coming from the alley, it sounded wet and there was also some grunts. Right as I turned into the alley my newly formed suspicion was confirmed, a ghoul was eating a corpse. The ghoul in question had her kagune out and was positively covered in blood, and the corpse had clear signs of kagune induced trauma. She couldn’t argue she was a scavenger, and she knew it. 

“Kagune away!” I yelled at her. “Do it now!” I reinforced. 

She stood up from her previously kneeling position over the corpse. “Ah, what’s this. UA’s very own pet ghoul.” She spoke in a calm and smooth voice, as though in a blissful state of mind. If she’d gone binge eating it was entirely possible she was practically drunk on just how full she felt. “I don’t think I will get rid of my kagune. No, I don’t want to.” 

We were at an impasse. Shota was urgently arranging a CCG team to deploy, and Hitoshi wasn’t allowed to use his quirk without authorisation. I was the only person who was able to do something. “So, you won’t peacefully surrender then?” I asked. 

This time with a serious voice she replied “No, don’t feel like it. You’re going to have to fight me mister human sympathiser.” 

“I see.” As my kagune burst from my back I felt as though I was slowly overcome by instinct. There was an unspoken understanding between me and her, we would fight and there would be no holds barred. One person would one, the other would lose. No doubt the skin surrounding my kakugan was also surrounded by red veins just like hers, a sign a ghoul was truly giving their all. 

I analysed the situation one last time. We were in a narrow and long alley, not good. The enemy had a bikaku type kagune which generally weren’t easy foes for rinkaku ghouls like me. If she was smart she’d make every attempt to cut off my tentacles and disarm me. In a way this actually meant the alley was providing me a slight advantage, I’d be able to use my tentacles to maneuver around the alley whilst her bikaku would provide no such benefit.

We rushed towards one another and at the last moment I used my kagune to help me jump over the ghoul to get behind her. As I did so her tail didn’t go for where I had been standing, but actually went straight up and sliced me in the left abdomen. As I landed I fell onto the ground, but again used my kagune to help me stand before I presented too much of an opportune target. She smirked at me and slowly started walking backwards. It was then that I realised my folly, by swapping sides she was closest to the exit of the alley. 

“Such a silly mistake. So disappointing.” she said as she rushed back into the street. I followed as fast as I could until we were both standing in the middle of a deserted road. 

As I quickly orientated myself I could see that the police had stopped traffic, giving us a wide berth to fight. Multiple civilians were standing at police barriers with their phones out, putting themselves at risk just to watch a fight. Oh well, if we were going to do this in a street there was no harm in making a minor show out of it. “I’m giving you one last chance! Surrender at once!” I yelled.

She laughed at my theatrics. “I always hated heroes for that stupid showmanship of theirs. How disappointing to see you’re just like the rest.” she replied. 

Yet again we rushed towards each other to do battle. Two of my tentacles managed to slice her directly on the chest causing blood to spill everywhere. I’d have to be careful not to slip in blood, a common occurrence due to how bloody ghoul fights get. To the average viewer the fight was hard to follow, a blur of red kagune smashing against each other as we pushed towards each other. Finally as we were mere centimetres apart three of my kagune went over her shoulders and circled round to pierce her through the back, all popping out on the other side of her. Blood sprayed onto my uniform and hair, all rapidly departing from her chest in order to make way for my kagune. 

It was then I heard Shota yell “Karasu, back out!” 

I pulled my kagune out of her and jumped backwards to where Shota was standing with Hitoshi. Four CCG investigators ran in towards where she was now kneeling on the ground, coughing up blood. One had a hypodermic needle in his hand, and proceeded to stab her in the eye with it, a ghoul’s weak spot. The investigator injected the contents of the needle into her, rendering her unconscious. There was only one thing it could’ve been, RC suppressants. Chances are if the public wasn’t watching they wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her instead. 

“Are you alright?” Shota asked me, rapidly looking me over. 

“I’m fine, any injuries she gave me will be healed by now.” I answered. Luckily since ghouls were known bleeders I had everything coated with a spray that stopped liquids from being absorbed by my clothes. Instead it all ran off and onto the ground. So the only bloody part of me was my hair. 

The investigators picked up the unconscious ghoul and carried her into a CCG marked van used for transporting prisoners. 

Whilst I was fine, and Shota was clearly unphased, I was worried about Hitoshi. “Are you okay, Hitoshi?” I asked. He was staring at where the ghoul had just been before getting carried off. It was almost like he wasn’t here.

“Uh yeah. I’m fine.” he rushed, awareness returning. “I am all good to go.” he added.

Right as we were about to leave and the police were dispersing the crowd I heard a child yell “let me go!” I turned behind me to see a kid not any older than five being manhandled by a CCG investigator. Without worrying about the consequences I ran to the child.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I yelled at him.

The CCG investigator turned around to look at me. “I don’t have to say anything to ghoul scum like you. I’m doing my damn job.”

I was about to yell again when I felt a hand on my shoulder, I looked up to see Shota briefly shake his head at me. “You might not have to say anything to him, but I’m a licensed hero. So tell me, what are you doing?” Shota asked.

The man narrowed his eyes before sighing. “Little shit had his freaky kakugan out. You know the law prohibits public displays of a kakugan.”

It was true. A ghoul wasn’t allowed to just walk around with their kakugan or kagune in public, doing so was grounds for arrest by the CCG. And ghouls, unlike humans, didn’t have a legal age of criminal responsibility. And so little kids still learning to control their kakugan were especially at risk. 

“Hand him over, I’ll deal with this.” Shota said.

The investigator shook his head. “You may be a hero, but you’re not my boss. The ghoul is in CCG custody, he’s our issue to deal with.” I growled as the investigator spoke.

“Alright then, well I guess when the CCG next requests Eraserhead help out on a case, I’ll just say no. And when they ask why I’ll refer them to the investigators at this incident. That sound good to you?”

“E-Eraserhead!” the investigator spluttered. Eraserhead was well known to the CCG, whenever there was ghouls working alongside regular villains Eraserhead was usually asked to help. “Sorry sir, please, have the child sir.” the investigator rushed, pushing the little boy towards us.

The kid ran behind me, holding on tightly to my right leg. As Shota continued to speak with the investigators I turned around and crouched down so I was face to face with the boy. “Hey there, I’m Karasu. What’s your name?” I asked.

“Hyakumo Ritsuo.” he replied, a soft and still slightly scared voice. I recognised Hyakumo, that was the name of the ghoul orphanage in Mustafu that got set up shortly after legalisation. 

“And do you live in the Hyakumo orphanage?” I asked.

“Wow! I do, how did you know?” he asked. 

I smiled at his innocence. “That’s a secret.” 

“Karasu. Did you find out where the tyke lives?” Shota asked.

“Yeah, the ghoul orphanage not too far down the road from here.” I answered.

“Alright then, let's take him to his home then.”

Ritsuo looked really small, so to make things a bit easier on him I picked him up and gave him a piggyback ride. He asked me questions all the way to the orphanage, such as if I was the UA Ghoul, and if I had lots of human friends. It was really endearing. As we got closer to the orphanage I heard the sound of a woman yelling “Ritsuo!”

“That’s the director’s voice.” Ritsuo said when he heard it. Just in the distance I could see the woman Ritsuo had mentioned. She was yelling trying to find Ritsuo. She must’ve been so worried, and rightly so. 

She spotted us and lightly jogged over towards us. When she was right in front of us she said “Oh Ritsuo, you had me so worried you know.” She looked like she had a newfound peace of mind on her face. 

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Ritsuo said, still on my back.

“Thank you so much for bringing him back.” the woman said. She looked at me for a bit longer before asking “Are you the U-”

“Yes, he is.” Shota replied, interrupting her. It seems he was fed up with hearing ‘are you the UA Ghoul?’

“Then you must come visit and say hello to the kids. They’d be over the moon to see you! I can make you three gentlemen coffee. Please?”

I wanted to say yes, but it wasn’t my choice to make. In the end it all came down to whatever Shota decided was best. I looked up to him, an eyebrow raised.

“Sure, as long as you’re offering coffee.” he said.

“Yes, absolutely.” the woman replied happily. Walking way faster than she needed to she directed us to the orphanage. It was a nice building, there were kids playing in the yard and the inside was filled with bright colours. 

Once we got to the small kitchen I put Ritsuo down and took my mask off. I sat the mask on a countertop with a mental note to pick it up before we left. “Kids, we’ve got a guest!” she yelled as she poured three black coffees. I took one of the mugs and carefully sipped it. It wasn’t the best coffee, but it wasn’t bad either. It would do. 

Before too long there was a group of ten kids in front of us, including Ritsuo. They were all of varying ages, including a girl who looked to be about my age. The younger ones all swarmed me the moment that the director introduced me. “Kids, the UA Ghoul has paid us all a visit.”

I was bombarded by questions and requests to sign things for them. Luckily, the director, acting with some degree of forethought, had given me a notepad and a pen. Rapidly I was taking names and signing pieces of paper as Karasu and adding a little message of encouragement. Finally I got to the last person vying for my signature, the girl. 

“It’s Reiko” she said as I looked at her. As I was writing my signature she said “Wow, you have such big muscles.” She then proceeded to grab my left bicep and squeeze. This was absolutely not okay. I tried to keep writing, ignoring her. “You know, I’m a rinkaku as well.” she pointed out.

I sighed as I realised what was going on. A ghoul only made comments like ‘I’m a rinkaku’ for one reason, they saw you as a potential mate. Whilst ghouls with different kagune types could, and often did, produce offspring it was a bit of a gamble. The offspring either inherited one of the kagune from either parent, or they had a chimera kagune. And so when a ghoul commented that they had the same kagune type, that was their way of saying ‘we’re compatible, our kids will have a strong kagune, let’s bone’. 

“Sorry Reiko, but I have a mate.” I answered. 

She frowned at that. I handed her the paper I had just signed regardless. She took the notebook and pen out of my hand and quickly wrote something in it, tearing the piece of paper off of the book and handing it to me. It was her phone number! “Well, if you ever split up then call me.” Not content to have embarrassed me enough, then she winked at me.

With that I was prepared to leave then and there, but I knew that if Mitsuki found out that I had visited a ghoul orphanage and didn’t take a picture to upload she’d probably tear me a new one. I walked over to the director who was still talking with Shota, and appeared to be painfully attempting to flirt with him as well. “Do you have a donation page on a website or anything?” I asked her.

“We do, if you search Ghoul Orphanage Mustafu it should be the top result. Then just go onto the donations page.”

I navigated my way to the page she mentioned, and copied the address to my phone’s clipboard. “Do you mind if I take a picture with all the kids. You can be in it too if you want.”

She nodded very enthusiastically to my request. “Of course! And feel free to upload it as well.”

Raising her voice she got all the kids back into the kitchen. Shota took my phone from me and Hitoshi helped get all the kids, the director, and me in position. “Say cheese.” Shota said with uncharacteristic mock enthusiasm. 

“Cheeeese!” all the kids said as Shota took a few quick photos and then passed me the phone. After a brief inspection I decided the pictures would do. 

It felt like nothing could go wrong.

Right as Shota had handed me my phone his own had started ringing. I couldn’t hear the other end of the conversation, but whatever it was it didn’t sound good. “Fuck!” he suddenly yelled. “Right, uh shit fuck. Get all the fucking kids back to their intern’s headquarters and then get them escorted home.” Shota actually looked like he was losing control. “Hitoshi, Izuku, we’re leaving. Now.” I barely had time to grab my mask before Shota had hung up and grabbed me and Hitoshi by the wrist, practically dragging us behind him.

“Dad, what’s happened?” I asked.

“Yeah, did somebody get hurt?” Hitoshi added.

I looked up into Shota’s eyes and he was crying, the tears silently falling down his face. 

“Dad, are you okay?” I asked. 

Breathing deeply, Shota said “In Hosu, a classmate has been hurt. The odds of his survival are slim”.

Chapter Text

It had been a week since our internships had abruptly ended. Yesterday was the wake, today it was the funeral. All of Class 1-A had shown up, as did all of Team Iidaten, as well as most of the members of UA’s staff. It was a numbing affair. I wasn’t quite sure how to feel. I’d never attended a funeral or wake before, my parents certainly never got one of those. I was used to death, I’d seen plenty of corpses that was for sure. I was sad of course, but also slightly apathetic to it all. My classmates all had puffy red eyes, with a few exceptions of course. But at the end of the day, I never really knew him all that well. But the least I could do was attend his funeral and wake. If that helped everyone move on then I’d do it.

“Thanks for coming, Aizawa.”

“No problem, Iida.” I said, turning around to face him. He still wasn’t looking too great, but Iida had learned how to control his new wheelchair in time for Tensei’s wake and funeral. 

Iida had this haunted look in his eyes, the sort of look you only had when you’d knocked on death’s door, but death refused to answer. A week ago Iida broke off from Manual during his internship in order to try and avenge his brother by killing the hero killer. Hu succeeded in tracking the hero killer down, but the hero killer wasn’t about to be taken out by a student. He cut Iida down without hesitation, but instead of killing him paralysed him from the waist down since he was only a student. Todoroki found him bleeding out fifteen minutes later.

“What do you plan to do next?” I asked him

“Well, I think I’m going to transfer into the management course. Nezu said my injuries were punishment enough, so he wouldn’t expel me.” He spoke with resignation, he had accepted his fate. No doubt at one point he must’ve been angry, sad, distraught even. But, the Iida in front of me today was none of those things, he was just resigned. “When I take over management of Team Iidaten from my parents just remember that my doors are open to you if you ever struggle to find an agency to take you.”

“Thanks for the offer Iida, it means a lot to me.” I hadn’t thought about it too hard, but it was totally feasible that getting an agency to take me on wouldn’t be an easy feat. Of course I was trying to change the perception of ghouls by the time I graduated but that was no guarantee. It was nice to have Iida available as insurance of sorts. 

Iida nodded and then wheeled himself away so he could continue to thank people for turning up. I never knew Tensei other than from TV, and I’d only known Tenya for a matter of months, but that was all I needed to know that the hero killer had deprived the world of two amazing heroes. If things kept up at this pace there’d be no heroes left. Something had to be done.

Thanks to Nezu’s generosity Hitoshi’s adoption was also fast tracked like mine had been. I enjoyed having Hitoshi around, but at times it could prove slightly problematic. 

A few hours after the funeral and Katsuki was in my room. We’d just been talking and playing some games. As the current round of Mario Kart ended, my mind found itself thinking about the funeral. Not the emotions that came from a casket being lowered into the ground or the nauseating scent of embalming fluid, but the way some random girl had looked at Katsuki. While dad had assured me she was just looking in his direction I couldn’t accept that explanation.  Suddenly my ghoul instincts decided that I wasn’t allowed to be in the same room as my mate and remain platonic at that moment. I was filled with this overwhelming desire to kiss Katsuki. So, I did just that. We had both been sitting against the backboard of my bed, so I put my hand on his shoulder and straddled Katsuki so we were face to face. “Zuku what are yo-” Before he could say anymore I put my lips to his and kissed him. 

Whilst I remained in that position blood quickly went down south not just for me, but for Katsuki as well. Acting purely on instinct I started rutting against Katsuki, rubbing my clothed cock against his own. We hadn’t talked about doing this but I couldn’t help myself, once I started I just couldn’t stop. It felt too good, and Katsuki hadn’t complained yet. As we rutted against one another I stopped kissing Katsuki so that I could get a good look at his face. “Fuck, your eyes.” Katsuki said breathily. “So fucking hot.” he continued. It was a foregone conclusion that by now my kakugan was showing, and Katsuki’s reaction only could mean one thing.

“Is Kacchan a pervert with a ghoul fetish?” I asked, my voice equally as breathy as Katsuki’s was. “Does Kacchan want the big bad ghoul to eat him up? Would he let his mate eat him up just for a drop of pleasure?”

Katsuki refused to answer, but I refused to let him get away with that. With renewed vigour I humped against Katsuki faster and more forcefully. I moaned at the friction, I gripped onto Katsuki tighter, pulling his cock to brush against my own with as much strength as I could muster. At the same time I bit his neck and sucked. It wasn’t with enough force to take a chunk out, but it would leave a prominent bite mark, anybody who saw it would know Katsuki was mine. “F-ffuck Izuku.” he moaned. I sucked on the skin and a small amount of blood flowed into my mouth. It was so sweet I sucked harder. I groaned as the blood filled my mouth, my mate tasted so good. 

Finally letting go of his neck I admired my handiwork. Not only was a bruise forming, the bite mark was prominent. I traced it with a finger and Katsuki shuddered and let out a slight hiss of pain. I was filled with pride as I looked at how my mate was marked, he was such a good mate. “So tasty… Now everybody will know to stay away from Kacchan. You’ll wear my mark with pride, my mate.” I said, my voice leaving my room for argument. “You’ll answer my question, are you a pervert or not, Kacchan?” I asked. 

“Damnit yes” he admitted shamefully. “Fuck, I’ve always wanted to be fucked by a ghoul” he admitted.

I felt a rush of adrenaline as Katsuki admitted to me that he had a ghoul fetish. I moaned at the thought of my mate being such a filthy pervert. There always were humans who had a perversion for ghouls, and I wasn’t surprised one bit to find out Katsuki was one of them. 

Still rutting against each other like animals in heat I stared into Katsuki’s ruby red eyes. He was so beautiful. Nobody could compare, such a good mate. “Kacchan is the best mate. He acts straight laced in front of everyone but I know better.” I intoned. “Kacchan is actually a disgusting pervert, aren’t you?”

“Yes” Katsuki admitted, whimpering.

“Yes what?” I asked, making it clear that just ‘yes’ wasn’t good enough. 

“Fuck Zuku. Yes I’m a filthy pervert. I need a strong ghoul to fuck me and control me. I need you!”

My dick twitched in my pants at his admission. My inner ghoul’s pride swelled. My mate accepted me as his dom. He truly was perfect. Strong, a force to be reckoned with. But also able to let go of all control and let me take charge. 

If things had kept going at that pace I’d probably have came in my trousers, so I decided to change the pace a bit. I got off of Katsuki and he whimpered at the loss of contact. His hips jutted forwards trying to regain the lost friction. Kneeling next to Katsuki instead I slowly took Katsuki’s belt off, followed by his jeans so that he was just in his underwear. All the while I kept eye contact with Katsuki to make sure he was comfortable with what I was doing. Repeatedly Katsuki had tried to look away, but I grabbed him by the chin and forced him to look at me.

“Z-Zuku, if I keep looking at- ah… at your eyes I won’t last.” He admitted. 

Mate had been so good, yes so very good. He deserved a reward for being such a good mate. I could very clearly see the outline of Katsuki’s thick cock beneath his underwear. There was a wet patch where Katsuki’s tip was. By the size of the patch it was clear Katsuki’s cock had been leaking tons of precum. Without pulling his underwear down I slipped a hand beneath the band of his briefs and took hold of his cock. “Izuku fuck” he moaned. Experimentally I flicked my wrist up and down to jerk him off, occasionally rubbing the tip of his cock with my thumb, smearing the precum all over the tip. His cock was so wet with precum. He’d gotten this wet because of me. I was making my mate feel good! The sounds in the room were filthy, not only were both of us moaning but clearly audible was a wet slapping sound as I stroked his cock. He was moaning wantonly, jerking his own hips trying to get more friction as I jacked him off. “Fuck Zuku I need more. Please!” His whines went straight to my own cock, painfully hard in my pants. If my mate wanted more, who was I to say no? I let go of his cock and slowly tugged the waistband of his briefs down, teasing him with the slow pace, until they were off. 

The sight of Katsuki’s cock covered in precum was a huge turn on, it practically glistened in the light. Katsuki looked at me with need as I thought about what to do with his cock. I moved my head so it was right next to his cock. Experimentally I licked the tip of his cock and lapped up the precum, and instantly I tasted the precum. I didn’t know how it tasted to humans but to me it was great. I moaned at the taste. “Mate tastes so good.” Katsuki hissed in pleasure as I licked down his shaft all the way back up to the tip. Looking Katsuki in the eyes one more time I decided to just get on with it. My mouth hovering above his cock I opened my mouth and slowly took his cock into my mouth. “Ahh fuck. Izukuuu.” Katsuki moaned. I didn’t know what my limit was, so I kept going until my nose was pushing against Katsuki’s waist and golden pubes in my face. Instinctively Katsuki bucked upwards and I gagged on his cock. The feeling of running out of air exhilarated me as tears filled my eyes. I kept my mouth in place before quickly coming back up to get some air in. “Zuku, fuck, you don’t need to do that.” he said, practically slurring his words. He had a lidded look in his eyes.

“I want to do it Kacchan.” I said, before taking his cock back into my mouth. I moved my head up and down, licking all over his cock. “So wet” he moaned as my mouth filled with spit and his precum. I noticed that he especially liked it when I licked the head of his cock and sucked, so I focused on doing that. “Sh-shit Izuku. I’m gonna fucking cum.” he warned, probably expecting me to get off. But, if cum tasted anything like his precum I had no intentions of getting off him anytime soon. Just as he was about to cum Katsuki grabbed my head with both hands and pushed until my nose was right against his waist like earlier. I gagged on his cock he came down my throat with a loud moan. I focussed on swallowing every drop of his cum as I savoured the flavour. Finally once he finished cumming down my throat he pulled my head up by the hair. I kept my mouth open to show him that not a single drop of cum went unswallowed.  “So good Zuku,” he said. 

“Your turn, Zuku” he said. He leaned back some more against the backboard, his head low down. “I want you to fuck my mouth with your hot ghoul cock. I want to make you feel good,” he said. “Use your ghoul cock to choke me and force your cum down me.” Katsuki clearly knew what he wanted, and I had no intention not to give him it. My knees on either side of his legs, I moved forward and Katsuki adjusted himself slightly so that his mouth was at the same height as my cock. Expectantly he opened his mouth. 

“If you want me to stop then pinch my thighs three times okay?” I asked. He nodded in reply, he was stubborn enough that he would push himself to the limit rather than accept defeat in anything. God I could do any number of depraved things to him and he’d ask for more. Slowly I pushed my cock into his mouth, moaning as I did so. It felt so wet and warm. Katsuki’s tongue was licking all over my cock as I pushed in further until I physically couldn’t push in further. I held there for a second, looking into Katsuki’s eyes as they watered up. The sight was so lewd, Katsuki’s lips around the base of my cock, his nose pushing against my abdomen. Part of me knew I should’ve started slowly, but my mate was strong, he could take anything that I threw at him. He looked up at me expectantly. “I’m going to fuck your whore mouth” I growled at him. Without any further warning I aggressively fucked his mouth. Katsuki looked totally blissed out in his natural role, being aggressively used just like he was meant to be. I was transfixed by the sight of my cock moving in and out of Katsuki’s mouth, going between his lips. “My mate is so good, he was made to take my cock.” I said to him. “He acts like such a brat, but my cock is all it takes to shut him the fuck up. A good little human who knows his place...” He moaned at my words. They embarrassed him but he knew they were true. The sounds coming from our room were disgusting, a mix of moans, creaks from the bed, and the sound of a wet sloppy blowjob. 

My hips getting used to the correct motion I started to speed up, fucking his mouth even faster. I held onto his head and pulled it onto my cock as I fucked into his mouth. Katsuki gagged as my cock went in as deep as it was possible to go. “Fuck Kacchan, your mouth feels so good” I moaned. “It was fucking made to suck ghoul cock.” Katsuki moaned as I said ghoul, he truly was a pervert who got off to ghouls. I fucked his mouth faster and faster, whispering words equally of praise and of degradation. I could slowly feel myself getting closer and closer, so I sped up faster and faster until I was going as fast as I could. Finally I pushed my cock as far down his throat as I was able to, and came down his throat. “Kacchan!” I moaned as he audibly slurped on my cum. “My mate is so fucking good” I said lazily as I withdrew my cock from his mouth, a little bit of cum dribbling down his mouth before being caught by his tongue, watching as he licked it back up like it was the only water in the desert, eyes pleading for approval.

“Good boy. So good for his mate…”

Tired and sweaty, I practically collapsed next to Katsuki in bed. We didn’t speak as we both breathed heavily, processing what we’d just done. “Holy shit” Katsuki said. “That was fucking hot.”

“Mhmm” I agreed. “I’m just glad I got it out of my system.” I added.

“What do you mean?” Katsuki asked.

“Well, you’re my mate. On top of just the average horny teenager stuff, I’ve got ghoul instincts demanding that I mate my mate. That was just what pushed me over the edge though, I've been wanting to do this together for a while.”

Katsuki reached for the tissue box I kept next to my bed, and gave himself and me plenty of them. We quickly cleaned up and put all our clothes back on, as though nothing had happened. “I love you Kacchan” I said once we were back in bed next to each other.

“I love you too, Zuku” he replied. I had to admit, that was the most mellowed out I’d ever seen Katsuki before. You could probably tell him you’d be the number one hero and he’d just be chill with it. 

“Boys! Dinner’s on the table” Hizashi yelled.

Katsuki and I got up and went to the dinner table, and shortly afterwards we were joined by Shota and Hitoshi. Everybody ate their food and I drank my coffee. There was the odd minor conversation of no real importance but otherwise we didn’t talk much during dinner. Everything was going well, up until Hitoshi cleared his throat and loudly said to the table “Izuku, Katsuki, can you keep it down next time. I really didn’t want to hear half of what I heard.”

Everybody at the table now had red faces. Then, Hizashi spoke up. “I wasn’t going to say anything but… Izuku should we soundproof your room?”

“Oh my god please shut up.” I asked, absolutely mortified.

“Hey don’t worry kiddo. It’s perfectly normal to want to do things with your boyfriend. But you’ve either got to keep it down when others are in the house, or we’ll just have to soundproof your room. I have a quirk that makes my voice really loud, trust me when I say I’ve got my fair share of embarrassing stories.”

And just as I thought it couldn’t get any worse Hitoshi just had to add “So Katsuki, or should I say mate? I heard you really like ghouls.” He put heavy emphasis on ‘really like ghouls’ just so Katsuki knew exactly what he was referencing. 

With no bite to his voice, he at least had the humility not to get angry about it, he said “Fuck off eyebags, it’s perfectly normal you bastard.”

And with that, dinner returned to its peaceful state except for the dirty looks Hitoshi would shoot me just to try and rile me up. He fit into the big brother role way too easily. He was right to call himself Dolos.

The next day we were back to school. I walked up to Urakara as I entered the classroom, the desk in front of her usually taken by Iida empty. “How are you doing?” I asked her.

“I’m fine” she said sadly. “I’ll just miss having him in class. But at least I can see him at lunch, so it’ll be alright. At least he survived.”

She got on quite well with Iida, and part of me suspected she might have a thing for him as well. I remember getting a call from her on the day that it was announced Iida was in hospital in a critical condition. Honestly most of what she said wasn’t actually understandable, she was crying her eyes out and babbled most of her words. The only words I could really make out were ‘Tenya’ and ‘die’. It was a difficult conversation because I really didn’t know how to console her, death was death and it had a habit of happening when you didn’t want it to. “Did he mention Team Iidaten to you at the funeral?”

She shook her head. “No, he actually called me with the offer a few days before that.” Good to hear Iida had his priorities straight. “It was really sweet of him. He said that he’d really appreciate seeing me more often.” Oh god, that was the Iida speak version of flirting, and it went right over her head. 

Right as I was about to point out the horrible attempt at flirting Shota decided to enter the room and make himself known. Very quickly I moved to my desk and sat down. “First day back, welcome everyone.” he grumbled. “Your end of term exams are coming up soon. Normally we like to surprise everyone with the practical, but in the interest of letting you actually prepare for your exams I’ve made a presentation.” The screen behind him lit up with a presentation which almost certainly looked like it was made using one of the templates that came with the presentation software. There would be three exams we would have to sit. The first was a pretty standard written exam with questions we’d have to answer on the day. The second was an oral exam, in which we had to prepare a five minute speech on the proposition ‘does vigilantism make communities safer?’ and then answer questions about our answer to the question. And the last one, a practical exam facing off against teachers.

I tuned out as Shota listed who’d be fighting who, that wasn’t important. What was important was who I’d be fighting. “And that means the final pair is Aizawa and Todoroki. You’ll be fighting All Might in a city exam site. We still have a school day to get on with but I’ll give you five minutes to talk with your practical exam partners.”

Everyone in class really quickly started swapping tables until they were sitting next to their designated partners. “How are you?” I asked Todoroki. It was a single sentence with two questions in it, one unspoken. Luckily Todoroki got my meaning.

“For the exam, I’m cautiously confident we can win. But, that’s not what you were really asking me.” Todoroki paused for a moment. “It was scary, until more heroes arrived Iida was totally dependent on me for his survival. I’m just glad my training kicked in.”

“Uhh anyway about the exam. UA only has a handful of city based areas. Maybe we could try booking Ground Beta for a couple of hours so we can get some proper practice in a city?” I suggested. Booking access to one of UA’s on campus training areas was quite easy and very much encouraged, you didn’t even have to be a hero student to book a timeslot. The process was very simple, you just had to log in to the student section of the UA website and request a timeslot. 

“That sounds good. Also, I’d like to talk to you some more and learn about ghouls. Could I come to your house after school?” Todoroki asked unsurely. 

“Uhh sure, that’s fine.” I answered.

“Thanks. I haven’t visited other people’s houses before. It will be interesting.” he said, more to himself than to me. 

“You haven’t been to other houses before?” I asked him, the confusion apparent in my voice. 

He shook his head. “No, father said that it would be a waste of time that should be spent training.”

The answer made sense, in a fucked up kind of way, but I could see the horrible logic behind it. But something about how Todoroki delivered the answer just seemed off. There was definitely something deeper there. “Todoroki” I started. “I feel that I need to ask.” I paused, my brain desperately tried to find a way to ask the question in a better way. “You said your dad abused your mother… does he do that to you as well?”

Todoroki looked blankly at me. “I guess it depends on how you define training.” he replied. “Don’t tell anybody, I don’t want anybody else knowing.”

“But my dad could help” I rattled out.

“No.” Todoroki said with an air of finality. “Endeavour is the number two hero, there isn’t anything that can be done about it.”

Just as I was about to reply Shota loudly said that our five minutes was over. Begrudgingly I sat back down in my seat, worried about Todoroki. 

The next class of the day was a heroics class being taught by All Might. He said that it was rescue training, which I supposed if you squinted your eyes hard enough until they were shut it could be called rescue training. It was more like an obstacle course than anything else. All in all it was a pretty uneventful class.

The class after heroics was ghoul studies, and I cringed internally as I realised what was on the menu for today. The last ghoul studies class was on how ghouls formed relationships with other ghouls, specifically friendships and alliances. This class was on romantic relationships, and no doubt it would mention the very big role that a ghoul’s instincts played

As the class started Arai gave me a sort of playful look, he knew exactly what he was doing, the bastard. “When a ghoul reaches sexual maturity they instinctively start looking for a mate, much like you humans. That’s pretty standard, not much interesting stuff to talk about there.” he said. “The fun starts when a ghoul has chosen a mate. When it comes to a mate, ghouls can get a bit primal. One such sign of this is marking, take your classmate Bakugou for example” oh god. Was he allowed to do this? This had to be illegal or something please. “You can see on the right side of his neck a poorly concealed hickey.” There were a few barely concealed snickers coming from classmates at the mention of Katsuki’s poor attempt at concealing the hickey. Since he had come from my house he didn’t have his father who would probably have done a much better job. 

In the forefront of my mind I was absolutely mortified, but in the back of my mind was a voice telling me to strike out at Arai. He was making fun of my mate, I hadn’t given him the right to do that. 

“And for those of you sitting in rows in front of Aizawa, you can see his kakugan is present. This is because I ribbed Bakugou a little bit. As you can see ghouls can be very protective. No doubt if I tried to get closer to Bakugou he’d probably try to kill me.” He was right. “Now don’t worry, this mega possessive instinct only really kicks in with other ghouls. He’ll still be possessive, but you don’t have to worry about him cutting a hand off because you tried to touch Bakugou.”

Almost simultaneously all the classmates in front of me, Katsuki included, turned around to get a quick look at me. Those that did will have seen me with not only my kakugan visible, but the veins actually spread to the surrounding skin as well. My hands were gripping the wooden desk tightly, because if there wasn’t something keeping my hands busy they’d be raining down on Arai’s face.

“But of course” Arai continued “ghouls feel more than just possessive of their mates. Ghouls have an instinctual desire to mate much more powerful than humans. All species have a desire to mate of course, except for some individuals who may not feel this desire at all. For ghouls this desire runs so strong that in the right conditions ghouls are liable to start mating just about anywhere.” By now all my anger at his words had faded and were entirely replaced by embarrassment. They didn’t need to know this about me. “This leads to an interesting dichotomy. On one hand, a ghoul would hate for others to see their mate in a, shall we say, compromising position. But if the mood strikes right they will attempt to copulate in public.” 

I wanted to die on the inside. Katsuki had turned around to look at me and I couldn’t look up to face him. Instead my face was down on the desk, looking at the really interesting wood. It was just so interesting I couldn’t take my eyes off of it and why would I want to? 

“This leads us to one big difference between ghouls and humans. And of course this is talking about the average human and average ghoul, we’re all individuals after all. This is the phenomenon of public mating. Ghouls only in the company of those they trust the most will happily mate in public, and to do so is actually considered somewhat romantic.”

Nope, that was it. I was absolutely done. “D-do I need to be here for this class?” I asked.

“Of course you do Aizawa, I’m hardly using myself as an example for the embarrassing stuff.” 

I should’ve seen that coming. Luckily it wasn’t too long until ghoul studies class was finished, and any shred of dignity I had was gone. Part of me was certain that Arai had only conducted a class on ghoul romantic relationships because he saw the hickey on Katsuki and had heard from somebody else that we were dating. 

Somehow I managed to get through English class getting confused looks from Hizashi the entire time as to why I looked at the windows with a look of desire. 

As Katsuki and I walked to the cafeteria he whispered in my ear “So you want to fuck me in public then?”

“Kacchan!”

Chapter Text

 A month had passed since we were first told of the end of term exams, and I didn’t want to jinx anything but I was confident. As it turned out, having two teachers for parents who constantly remind you to study, and can help with said studying, was a massive advantage. Training alongside Todoroki was useful as well, thanks to the advance notice we had been able to develop a few strategies where my kagune would complement his quirk and vice versa. 

We were in the basement of the house, which as it turned out had a room with a quirk training certification. When I learned that the mortgage amount suddenly made a whole lot more sense. Houses with rooms certified as being suitable for quirk training were very expensive and inspected annually by the city’s Quirk Training Authority, which was liable to be audited by the Hero Public Safety Commission at any time. You had the application fees, the cost of construction to the specified standards, and the fees for the inspection had to be paid every year. Not to mention if a room fell below expected standards you could be fined heavily, and so in turn you had to spend crazy amounts of money maintaining the room. For most people it just wasn't worth it.

Todoroki was on the floor panting heavily, the sharp tip of my kagune mere centimetres from his throat. Whilst most of our sparring was cooperative against dummies, we fought each other so that we weren’t always fighting static targets. I pulled my kagune back and retracted it back into my kakuhou. I offered a hand to Todoroki, he took my hand and I pulled him up. “Good spar.” I said.

“Yes, that match was informative.” he replied. “Do you want to spar another round?” Todoroki asked me.

I shook my head. “Ah sorry, I want to but I’ve got a meeting with the CCG. Approval to bite villains and stuff.” I explained. 

“You’re not allowed to do that?” Todoroki asked, confusion on his face.

“Yeah, the CCG waiver I received when I got into the school only clears me for kagune usage and showing my kakugan at will. It’s actually a bit inconvenient to be honest, if I have to heal in an emergency I need to either have food or hope somebody else has some… well technically all humans have food for me but they’d probably protest at that.”

“I see.” he said in his usual Todoroki monotone. “Could I come with you to the CCG office?” Todoroki asked.

I wasn’t really sure why he was asking, it was a public building after all. And did he also happen to have business with the CCG or something? “Uhh, sure. No reason why not.” I said to him. 

We both left the training room and I went to the bathroom to have a quick shower whilst Todoroki waited in my room doing whatever it is Todoroki does left alone in other peoples rooms. Probably snooping through drawers or something. No doubt once I finished my shower Todoroki would want to make quick use of the shower, if I stank after sparring he probably did as well. 

Smell successfully dealt with, I stepped out of the shower. There was no point in wearing gym clothes to the CCG so I threw my discarded clothes in the hamper, and put a towel around my waist after I’d dried myself so I didn’t get the floor wet. I walked into my room and Todoroki was in fact snooping, though he’d chosen perhaps the worst thing to snoop at, the minifridge. He closed the door and turned around, which is when he noticed I was in the room. As soon as he saw me he averted his gaze and stared at the floor with the enrapturement befitting a David Attenborough documentary. 

“A-Aizawa! Your clothes!” he yelled.

“I’m changing into something a bit more formal for a meeting with the CCG. My first since the start of UA. I was just going to get changed in here, I mean we’re both guys.” 

“I-I yeah” Todoroki said, uncomfortable for some reason. 

“Uh, you can shower if you want. You can borrow some of my clothes if you still want to come to the CCG with me.” I added. Todoroki had come to my house already wearing gym clothes, after all he didn’t come expecting to go visit the local Commission Commit Genocide office.

Todoroki shook his head and said “No thanks, I don’t actually smell as bad as I thought it would. But if I could borrow something that would be nice, I’ll have it washed and returned to you.” 

I picked out a shirt and some trousers that were a bit too large for me. I’d bought them with the hope of growing into them, a purchase made with delusional hope and without any logical reasoning for sure. 

Todoroki took the clothes from me and said “Thanks, is there somewhere private I can change?” he asked.

“Uh yeah, the bathroom locks.” I said.

“Thanks again. I won’t take long.” he said before leaving. 

I shrugged, perhaps he just preferred his privacy. Who was I to judge that. Sticking to his word he didn’t take all that long, very quickly he was standing back in my room ready to get going. Luckily the clothes I’d given him actually seemed to fit perfectly. The more formal look suited Todoroki, it didn’t really suit me though. But that may have been less to do with suitability and more to do with my attempt at a disguise - also known as a ballcap and aviators. I loved it when people, particularly young ghouls, came up to me to say hello. That being said, those interactions could just take so long! I’d never have the heart to hurry them up, and the meeting with the CCG was not something that could wait because I had fans. If anything that would likely infuriate the CCG even more, I couldn’t imagine they liked being reminded of my popularity. 

It was as we were walking Todoroki asked “The stuff in the fridge in your room. Is that the artificial human, or the real human flesh?’ It was a reasonable question, ignoring that the scenario giving rise to the question was a slight invasion of privacy. 

“Both. The CCG don’t give me enough, so I don’t have a choice but to deal with the more ethical brokers.” I explained. 

“The more ethical brokers. So there are less ethical brokers too, right?” Todoroki asked me. 

“Uh yeah. They generally deal in humans who were murdered by ghouls, children, and mutant quirked humans.” Before Todoroki could ask the obvious question I clarified “Mutant quirks really change the way a person tastes, so their flesh is like a delicacy. Ethically sourced mutant flesh is really expensive, so some people started trafficking in the corpses of people with mutant quirks. Iida for example would likely taste very unique because of his engines, not that I’m going to eat him.” I ignored the feeling in my stomach created by the thought of eating Iida. 

“I see. So since I don’t have a mutant quirk am I less desirable to be eaten? Would you eat me?” Todoroki asked earnestly. What was it with people wanting to know whether I’d have a night of fine dining with their corpse! As I looked at Todoroki, my mouth hanging open, he looked right back at me with that earnest look still on his face. “According to Yaoyorozu friends talk about how nice each other look, so for ghouls that would translate to taste right?”

“Uh, I uh… sure.” I replied, my thoughts rapidly trying to catch up with reality. I had to say I’d never really thought about eating Todoroki before that point. I gave him a look up and down, appraising every detail that I could notice. “From what I see now, and what I know, I think you’d definitely be worth a fair amount at auction.” Annoyingly that wasn’t the answer that Todoroki was apparently looking for.

“But Aizawa, that’s not what I asked you. Would you eat me?” he asked, with that same damn earnest look.

“You’re a friend!” I whisper yelled. The question was making me increasingly uncomfortable and angry. “I don’t eat friends. Any ghoul who eats a human friend is a monster and deserves the worst punishment possible.”

Even then, Todoroki persisted. “But if I was a stranger?”

I sighed. “Fine. Yes, if I didn’t know who you were then I’d probably eat you. Assuming you met the standards for ethically obtained meat. I wouldn’t murder you.”

Todoroki smiled. “Yaoyorozu said that sometimes to find out how a friend truly felt you had to push them for the truth. She’s very good with people. Do you have a lot of experience with people, Aizawa?”

“Of a sort.” I answered, before asking “So, are you glad I’d eat you or something?”

“Yes. I don’t get complimented often at home so I enjoyed that.”

“I see.” I answered, once more worrying about Todoroki’s living conditions. Sometimes it was tempting to just spill the beans to Shota, but I was just getting Todoroki’s trust and it wasn’t something I wanted to squander just yet. It was selfish of me though, to be more worried about his trust than his well being. A true friend would have sought after his well being first. 

We continued walking towards the thirteenth ward CCG office, that horrific conversation behind us. Mustafu, much like Tokyo, was split into several wards for administrative purposes. It was larger than Nagoya’s sixteen wards, but still smaller than Tokyo’s twenty three wards, coming in with nineteen wards. Also like Tokyo each ward had its own CCG office, after all local investigators know local priorities in how to commit murder better than a head office would. 

“Favourite food?” Todoroki asked suddenly.

“Excuse me?”

“Mine is cold soba. You can’t say human, that’s cheating. That would be like me saying my favourite food is food.” Todoroki explained as though this was something that I should’ve known. “Yaoyorozu told me when getting to know a person it’s common to ask about that.” he clarified. I’d need to have words with Yaoyorozu later.

“Thigh meat for a meal, fingers are finger food, and eyeballs make a nice after meal treat. They’re best fresh when the conjunctiva, the mucus on your eyes, is still nice and wet. It’s really nice to lick it off and then pop the eye in.” I explained.

Without batting an eyelid Todoroki asked “Do certain colours taste better?”

I shrugged. “It’s kind of personal preference. I like blue eyes personally.”

“I have a blue eye, would you eat it?”

Sighing I said “Yes Todoroki, I would eat it.”

Before Todoroki could ask any more questions of me we arrived at the ward office. The thirteenth ward had been one of Mustafu’s quieter wards, so the office was small in terms of CCG offices. I walked into the entrance of the office, followed by Todoroki, and was confronted with two different paths. The one on the left was clearly marked as Ghoul, the one on the right Human. On both were what looked to be metal detectors, but I knew better. They were RC Scan Gates. 

Fully prepared for what was about to happen I walked through the gate. And just how in the morning the sun always rises, the gate let out a loud beep and the right light on top flashed. And as expected Todoroki didn’t get the same sort of fanfare stepping through his gate. The only thing separating us was a black queue barrier. Each led to the same desk, the only purpose for the barrier was to differentiate the humans from us.

We both arrived at the receptionist’s desk at the same time, now no longer separated by a barrier. The receptionist quickly looked at me, then Todoroki. “How can I help you today sir?” she asked, clearly addressing Todoroki. 

“I’m just with him.” Todoroki replied, motioning towards me.

“I see. Are you reporting him for a violation?” she asked.

Todoroki shook his head. “No. He has business with the CCG. A meeting.” he clarified for her. “I’m just also here.”

“Okay then.” she said, before turning in her chair to face me. “What business do you have with the CCG?” she asked in a much less polite tone than she’d used for Todoroki.

“I have a meeting with Associate Special Class Investigator Shiratori Akiya. My name is Aizawa Izuku.” I answered.

“Do you have an ID?” she asked.

I practically recoiled at the question. “Uh, of course I don’t. But you could always image search my name I guess.” I said before continuing “No ghouls have ID, you lot don’t let us.”

“I’m afraid an image search won’t suffice. And I’m afraid the legality of you having ID is a matter for the National Diet.”

“Which ghouls can’t vote for.” I hastily added.

Todoroki sighed. He reached into his right pocket and produced a wallet, he opened it and showed it to the receptionist. “Stop messing around.”

Her eyes widened as she looked at whatever was inside the wallet. “Of course, at once.” She hit a few numbers on a phone before saying “Hello Associate Special Class Investigator, this is reception. There’s an Aizawa Izuku down here waiting for you.” she paused for a moment before saying “Yes, I did try that sir but he wa- I understand. I’ll send him up.” She hung the phone up and said to me “Floor five, straight down the corridor. You’ll see an office with the Associate Special Class’ name on it.”

As Todoroki and I made our way to the office it became impossible to ignore the stares I would get. Men and women all in suits giving me dirty looks, and some even gripping their quinque cases just that tiny bit tighter, as though I was stupid enough to try and kick off inside a CCG office. It was almost kind of insulting that they thought so little of me. Then again, if they had any degree of intelligence they wouldn’t be working for the CCG. 

I knocked on the door to the office once we finally reached it. A deep “come in” came from inside the office. We entered the office, and sitting in a very grandiose fashion behind his desk was Associate Special Class Investigator Shiratori. By the looks of things he’d grown a little bit too comfortable in recent times. For a ward that was already very peaceful the decriminalisation of ghouls would’ve gotten rid of most of the work they already did. In all likelihood most of the work done in the office was administrative. Glorified desk jockeys truly. “Aizawa, the so-called UA Ghoul. I wasn’t aware that you’d be bringing the youngest Todoroki with you.”

“He’s a friend.” I replied. I wasn’t in the business of telling a CCG investigator more than was strictly required. They were insidious bastards, any and all information you gave them they would try to use against you somehow. 

“So, you wanted a meeting with me. My notes say it’s regarding a biting waiver?”

“Yes.” I replied. “I believe that in order to further my usefulness to society as a hero someday that I may be forced into scenarios where biting may be my only weapon. As such I would like that option available to me.”

“Hmm. Do you have any examples. Say, the USJ perhaps. Your saliva was detected in two places there.”

I nodded. I’d really hoped that they wouldn’t bring that up. I had no option but to tell the truth, if they interviewed any of my classmates and I lied to them then I’d be absolutely screwed. “Yes, once was offensively against the villain Shigaraki. The second time was in order to regenerate which was used on the corpse of a ghoul.”

“Why can’t you carry synthetic meat as part of your equipment?” Shiratori asked. 

I sighed. “Because the CCG doesn’t provide enough synthetic meat as it is.”

“Did you just admit to illegally buying human flesh via the black market? That’s a crime you know.”

“No! No, that’s not at all what I’m saying. It’s not enough but I get by.” I rushed, getting slightly flustered. I forced myself to calm down, just continue to portray the calm, and collected snazzy looking ghoul.

“Regardless of that, I’m not convinced of the merits. At this time I’m going to reje-”

“Excuse me.” Todoroki politely interrupted. “I think that it would be for the best to approve the waiver, and also to increase the rations issued to Aizawa.”

“What you think is entire-”

Again cutting Shiratori off Todoroki said “Entirely worth considering. As the heir to the Todoroki family I play a role in deciding our annual contributions, it would be a shame if the CCG’s unwillingness to make effective use of funding would result in a lower contribution this year.”

Shiratori’s face went as pale as a sheet of paper. “You can’t be serious!” he yelled with indignation. “This is extortion, I’ll have you reported to the police for that.”

Todoroki didn’t look phased. “It’ll be your word against not only my word, but the Todoroki family, and somebody with rapidly growing celebrity.”

Shiratori looked pissed, but as much as he looked pissed he also looked resigned. There wasn’t anything he could say to argue back. If it got back to the main branch that their donations were down specifically due to him then no doubt he’d be demoted to First Class Investigator at best, and a Second Class Investigator at worst. And he was in no condition to actually work like one of the rank and file. “Fine. I approve of the waiver. A physical copy will be sent in the mail, a digital copy will be sent soon. I’ll also contact our distribution office and pass the synthetic meat order down.” 

“We appreciate your cooperation.” Todoroki said. “Aizawa, let’s go. We have nothing more to say to Shiratori.”

“That’s Associate Special Class Investigator Shiratori to you!” the affronted man yelled as we left his office. 

“Wow” I said. “You’re a bit scary Todoroki. You’d make a great politician.”

Todoroki shrugged in reply. “I didn’t do much. I just reminded him who pays his salary is all.” I looked at Todoroki and that’s when it struck me, he had no clue what he’d actually just done. Was that just how things were done in his world?

As we walked back to my house I said “Thanks Todoroki, you didn’t have to do that for me.”

“You’re a friend. I still don’t know much about having friends, but I remember that Yaoyorozu said the most important thing is to help each other.”

I smiled, perhaps Yaoyorozu wasn’t so bad. “Still don’t trust ghouls?” I asked him out of curiosity. 

“As long as ghouls are like you then I don’t have a problem with them anymore.” Todoroki explained.

It had been hard work, but it appeared that I’d just won over class 1-A’s ice prince. All in a day’s work.

Now all that was left to do was the written exams, and somehow win against All Might.

Chapter Text

“Pens down.” Shota proclaimed to the class. “Stop writing, that’s time up for the written exam.” I put my pen down and quickly surveyed the class, and it was a real mix of silent emotion. Katsuki looked confident as ever, Todoroki looked like he always did, Shinso looked like he was considering the merits of falling asleep and not waking up, and Kaminari looked like he was second away from crying. Everyone else in the class was somewhere in between all those extremes. The exam definitely pushed me, but it wasn’t the hardest thing in the world. In the end I was confident that I’d get a good grade. The exam itself had lasted for three hours and was focussed on heroics. 

We’d already done all of the oral exams, and I was pretty confident with how I’d done in that as well. That meant that there was only one exam left, the practical exam against All Might. The thought of going against All Might himself was terrifying, he was the number one hero in all of Japan for a reason! Sure, I had the advantage of being a ghoul, and once upon a time that guaranteed victory against humans not armed with quinque, but with the advent of quirks those times were long gone. And All Might was no rookie when it came to taking on ghouls. They were never as publicised for some reason, but All Might had taken down ghouls before. Though in his case it was almost always ghouls working with other villains. 

“You have one hour respite, take as much time as you want but at the end of the hour I want you here.” Shota said.

Originally I intended to talk with Todoroki about our various plans for one last time, but that isn’t what happened. Instead Katsuki stood next to my desk and asked “Come with me Zuku, I need to talk to you real quick.”

Unsure what he wanted I raised and eyebrow but followed him. Whatever it was, it wasn’t something he wanted to say in front of the whole class. That being said I wasn’t actually sure where he was leading me, I couldn’t think of anything down the corridor we were in. Suddenly Katsuki stopped at what was labeled as a storage room and entered, what the hell had he been thinking? What could possibly so private it had to take place in a storage cupboard?

Closing the door behind me he looked me in the eye, and with a blush on his face he rattled “I couldn’t think during the written exam.” Whilst he’d rattled the first sentence, he slowed down and spoke with a bit more confidence for the rest. “Ever since that night I’ve been thinking about when you… fucked my mouth.”

Instantly the instincts which I had been barely keeping in check for a whole month was back at the forefront. From the look in Katsuki’s eyes I knew my kakugan was showing. He looked like he was about to speak more, but I already knew what he wanted. “Such a slut.” I chuckled, Katsuki groaning at the words. “We have exams soon but all you can do is think with your dick. Such a filthy human habit.” Katsuki groaned again, the tent in his pants becoming more obvious by the second. I walked forwards and groped his bulge which caused Katsuki to moan. “Does the disgusting little human need his ghoul better to take care of him?” I asked, already knowing the answer.

“Yes” he whimpered. “Please, let me suck your ghoul cock. Then… maybe you could suck mine?” he asked. If he wasn’t so enraptured with my eyes at that moment then he no doubt would have been looking at the floor, brain convincing himself how pitiful it was to ask such a thing.

“If you do a good enough job I’ll suck your cock, but if you do it badly I’ll eat it instead. So don’t fuck it up, human.” Katsuki was already palming himself with one hand as he slowly undid my belt and brought my trousers down. There was an obvious bulge in my underwear that Katsuki moaned at the sight of. He got down onto his knees and licked the tip of my cock through the underwear ‘F-fuck Kacchan” I said reflexively. 

With his teeth Katsuki very carefully bit onto the top of my underwear and pulled it down much like an actor in a porno would, freeing my cock. Katsuki’s mouth practically watered at the sight of it. “Fuck I love your cock” he said. “I want to choke on it.” he admitted shamefully. “When I couldn’t breathe because of your cock it was so hot, I can’t stop remembering it.”

“Don’t worry mate, you won’t have to remember it anymore.” I said.

“Huh?” was all Katsuki had the chance to say before I pulled Katsuki’s mouth onto my cock, causing him to gag on it. He moaned and palmed himself off some more. I held my cock in place for a few more seconds, and when he tried to pull his head off I put more force in to keeping his head still just for a couple extra seconds, before I let go and he pulled back fully, letting in a massive gulp of air. 

“Aww, is the human done already?” I asked.

Katsuki growled, quickly pulling his own trousers down so he could better his own cock as he sucked me off. “I’m just getting damn started.” he said before moving his head forward and licking the tip of my cock, and then licking a stripe down the shaft. Spit and precum glistened on my cock, which made all the more hot when Katsuki leaned his cheek on my cock, and then moved so that my cock was dragged from one side of his face to the other, covering his face with saliva and precum. 

“So good” I moaned, my hands both in Katsuki’s hair, lightly massaging his scalp. “Kacchan makes me feel so good, fucking cocksucker.”

Katsuki moved his head back, opened his mouth and moved his head forwards, taking in my entire length in one motion. He licked my cock and started by slowly moving his head back and forth. The entire time Katsuki looked up at me, staring into my kakugan. He was so beautiful like this, between my legs and my cock between his lips. 

Katsuki moved his head back and took hold of my cock and started pumping it, mesmerised by the sight of my foreskin covering the tip of my cock then being pulled back down again. A very audible squelching noise could be heard as he stroked my cock. With a raspy voice he said “I’ll suck again in a minute, just need a moment.” he said. I nodded in reply, glad that he actually let me know when he had to take a short break, pride welling up in my chest as my fingers affectionately up and down his jaw, soothing him in approval. After the last time, his jaw ached for a few days, and Shinso teased the fuck out of him for it. 

It wasn’t as long a break as it probably should’ve been, but as soon as Katsuki felt comfortable, my cock was back in his warm, wet mouth. He took my cock in all the way, his face slightly obscured by my pubic hair and held it there for a second before pulling back to let in a tiny amount of air, before doing it again. I slid back into my role with ease, saying exactly what Kacchan needed to hear in that moment. “This is what humans are made for. Serving the needs of ghouls, nothing more.”

Katsuki suddenly moaned around my cock, causing me to also moan. I looked down to see that Katsuki had stopped palming himself off. Instead cum was slowly leaking through his boxers. I growled at him. “Did I fucking say you could do that?” I asked. Before Katsuki could get my cock out his mouth I pushed his head further towards me and said “Such a disgusting whore. You just couldn’t help yourself you impatient little bitch. Humans fucking distgust me.”

Clearly Katsuki couldn’t be trusted to prioritise the right things, so I took control. Using my hands to hold Katsuki’s head in place I started thrusting in and out of his mouth. Katsuki’s eyes practically rolled back as tears built up as he struggled to breathe, spit dribbling out of his mouth as he fell deeper into subspace. Air was too good for a fucking slut like him. I had been so generous as to offer him, a human, my mouth around his cock and he just went and came before I could get round to it. 

“Fuck, your slutty mouth feels so good around my cock.” I said, not only pushing into his mouth, but also pulling his head towards me. My legs were shaking slightly as we kept going, a pressure starting to build. I wasn’t going to last much longer. Speeding up as fast as I could, no longer caring about whether anybody walking past heard my grunts or the telltale sounds of a sloppy blowjob.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck KACCHAN!” I yelled as I spilled inside Katsuki’s mouth. Dutifully I swallowed every last drop, before finally pulling his head back and opening his mouth so I could make sure it was all gone. 

“Fuck Kacchan, such a good mate.” I breathed out. “I love you.” I added, just so he knew for sure.

“Fucking hell” he replied, his voice still raw. “Well I don’t think I need you to give me a blowjob anymore, but thanks for the offer. And... I love you too nerd.”

I could still see the slightly dazed look in his eyes so my previously tight grasp in his hair turned into gentle threading of fingers and scratching at his scalp. He leaned into my leg from where he kneeled on the floor, eyes closed but face tilted so the second he opened his eyes he would be able to see me. We were both aware of how important aftercare was for the dominant and the submissive.

We stayed still for a while, just catching our breaths. When we were finally ready we cleaned ourselves up the best we could and made ourselves look presentable. I kissed him on the lips and said “We got this exam, I know you’re going to do great baby. Let’s get back.”

And right as we exited the closet we saw the absolute last person we wanted to see standing across the corridor, Shota. His face was a mix of shock, horror, and disgust. He hadn’t said a word yet, but he didn’t need to. We already knew that he knew. The look on his face said it all. 

“I cannot believe you right now.” Shota said. “Izuku, you know better. And don’t fucking give me that ghoul instincts bullshit, what you did crossed the line and you know it. I am completely disappointed in you.” I looked down, unable to meet Shota’s eye. “And Katsuki, your record from Aldera was spotless. I already knew you were brash, but this is beyond anything I ever thought you’d do.” Shota sighed. “As your teacher I really should report this, but as your father I could never do that, Izuku. Just… just head back to class and never do this again. Got it?”

“Yes dad. I promise that won’t happen again.” I said. I’d never made Shota so disappointed before, every word he spoke was like a knife to the heart. I never wanted to feel that way again. My heart clenched, the previous state of relaxation gone and turned into a mental hurricane.

“I’m sorry as well.” Katsuki added, his voice uncharacteristically soft, fingers threading in mine, sensing my inner turmoil without even having to look. 

“I’m going to need to have my hidey hole sanitised now.” Shota sighed to himself. 

We walked back to class in silent shame, the whole time I had been trying my best to silence the instinctual part of me which was proud at showing how good a mate I had. We quickly made ourselves look like we didn’t have urges to walk out the nearest window and then walked into class, quickly followed by Shota who immediately started talking to the class.

“You’ve all got the UA Campus app on your phone, or I certainly hope you do at this point.” Shota said abruptly. “During the written exam your maps were all updated with the route to your exam sites, get going.” 

I rolled my eyes. We were about to undertake what could possibly be the most physically challenging activity in our first year and here he was not even giving us the luxury of a ride to our exam grounds. He was my dad, I loved him, but he was a right bastard sometimes. My chest still ached but I pushed it aside. I needed to pass this. Maybe… maybe he’d forgive me?

As Todoroki and I walked towards the exam site I asked “Do you think we’ll pass?”

Todoroki gave it honest thought rather than just belting out an answer. “The school wants us to pass, so as long as we put the effort in, it should be possible.”

“Yeah, of course.” I said back to him. “It looks like they’re using Ground Beta for our exam, so if we stick to the escape plan we made it should work out.” We weren’t expressly told to do this, but having heard the stories from Shota there was nothing Nezu did without reason. So if Nezu decided we should know the type of terrain we’d be fighting in, it was because he wanted us to do something with that information. For us, we made an escape plan and a backup for each of UA campus’ five city sites. As each city only had two ways in and out, we worked on the assumption the entrance would be the closest entrance to the rest of the campus. By the look of the directions on the app we’d assumed right. 

Before long we had arrived just outside the site, in front of us an interactive podium with our exam details and some instructions just next to the gate. The instructions were simple, to enter the adjoining changing room and enter the site whenever we were ready. As soon as we entered the exam would start and we’d have thirty minutes to either capture All Might or escape.

It was as soon as we entered the changing room that we ran into our first problem, it was literally just one room. This hadn’t been an issue before since we usually came to this site already in gym clothes, so Todoroki who’d never been here before wouldn’t know any better. I turned to look at Todoroki who already seemed uncomfortable. It wasn’t something easy to tell, but with how often I’d trained and hung out with him recently I was slowly picking up his tells. “You change first, I’ll wait outside.” I told him.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but I was relatively convinced that his unease was at sharing a changing room. It wasn’t until recently that I noticed that whenever Todoroki had to change it was in a changing room stall instead of out in the open. I shrugged as I realised that I had been thinking too hard about something that was really none of my business. Luckily for my nerves Todoroki didn’t take too long to get changed. “Thanks for waiting.” he said as I walked past him into the changing room. 

I changed as fast as I could before leaving the changing room and joining Todoroki who was waiting for me at the gate. I looked at Todoroki and asked “You ready?”

He nodded. “Yes.”

We pushed open the gate, and as soon as we stepped inside an AI voice announced “Aizawa Izuku, Todoroki Shouto, the exam now has started.” 

Behind the bravado both of us were putting on I had no doubt that Todoroki was also anxious. I had no solid proof but it was safe to assume that if we didn’t pass this that his father wouldn’t be pleased with him. We needed to pass. I needed to have dad forgive me, and Todoroki needed to be safe from his father.

“We should do some planning before All Might gets here,” I rushed out, senses on high alert as I waited for signs of the number one hero’s presence. 

Todoroki nodded in agreement, “‘There is no feasible way we can beat All Might in a fight, even with my quirk and your Ghoul abilities. The most logical course of action will be for us to run.”

At the word logical I immediately perked up. Any reckless actions would probably make dad more angry. “Right. I’m naturally faster than you- sorry it’s true- but if I run a little slower at the same pace as you then we can hopefully trick him into thinking this will be easy,” I tugged on a strand of my hair as I thought more about our plan, running through possible plans from that point.

“No offense taken. I can distract him with my quirk and you can run through the gate. That’s what you were thinking right? It’s a good plan,” he commented, voice dry but eyes sparking with something along the lines of being impressed. The dual hair colored boy stretched, touching his toes before reaching his arms above his head. My eyes lingered for a moment before I moved to do the same, only stopping when I heard distant speaking. I tugged on Todoroki’s sleeve, indicating to him what was about to happen.

We both got in the starting position, ready to sprint. “The second we hear his voice, run, okay?”

“Right.”

It was a good thing we had braced ourselves. It would be an understatement to say that a gust of wind blew through the faux city, because the punch that had undoubtedly come from All Might completely decimated blocks of buildings, from those designed to look like hospitals, to ones designed as office buildings and apartments.

 The booming voice of All Might called over the noises of debris still falling from buildings, “Who really cares if I destroy this-”

He never got a chance to finish his monologue, because Todoroki and I were off, blitzing an unexpecting All Might and running through the dust and blocking his vision of us. He was sprinting as fast as he could, and I regulated myself so I was matching his pace. Neither of us needed to talk at this point. 

I followed Todoroki, not questioning him as he darted through an alleyway, any talking would just cause distraction and let All Might hone in on our location. Using his ice to form a series of platforms for us to climb so we could leap the fence blocking us from the next street over. With a burst of flames he melted it, leaving no evidence of our being there beyond some water which would either evaporate or end up in a drain.

Our working together was so natural, reminding me of Kacchan. My mind briefly wandered to how he was doing. He had already passed, something which filled me with pride, my mate was so strong…

“Hey, pay attention. Do you hear him?” Todoroki called to me breathily, snapping me out of my thoughts and making me flush in embarrassment. I heard nothing but the rush of wind as we ran and shook my head.

“There’s a chance I can’t hear him over us running though,” I confessed to him, glancing at him nod in a determined sort of anxiety. “But, estimating, I think we’re getting close to the exit gate,” the tension that eased out of him made my lips twitch upwards slightly.

The exit gate was in view. It was right there. I sped up, pushing ahead of Todoroki and looking back to shoot him a confident grin. I must have jinxed us. Instead of hearing the wonderful jingle of our win I smacked right into a chest. My kakugan showed instantly.

A very broad chest. An extremely muscular broad chest. An extremely muscular broad chest that smelled like All Might. 

I was picked up by the scruff of my hero costume, like an animal control officer would do to a feral animal. I dared to look and was far from surprised from who I saw. “Ha ha! Foolish ghoul! I am a villain, here to stop you! Young Todoroki and you were clever, but not clever enough! Because I am here!”

If I could have shot myself at the horrible use of his catchphrase I would have. Instead I shot him a glare before it finally clicked. Right. My kagune.

The rinkaku burst from my kakuhou and aimed straight for All Might. I absentmindedly wondered what the number one would taste like… as if he could hear my thoughts the appendages that had burst from my back were clutched in a powerful hand.

It was hard to describe the pain, mainly because there was nothing else I could focus on. An animalistic screech echoed, sounding like it came from everywhere. It took me a second to realize that it had come from me. Thrashing around in his grip, I locked eyes with Todoroki who had finally caught up with us, clearly running out of steam. It was impossible to blame him, we had run through an entire city designed for this test.

“RUN! GO!” I screeched at him as All Might leaped in the air, moving to slam me down into the concrete, or so I thought. Instead I was being spun through the air by my kagune. 

My brain went blank as he threw me at Todoroki, like one would do with a mace. We both crumbled to the floor, my rinkaku retreating back into my kakuhou, maybe that would spare me some pain. 

“Todoroki please… win this for us,” I begged, voice scratchy from my screaming as I struggled to move off of him. He opened his mouth to speak before closing and nodded. He was sprinting again as best he could, injured from the impact. I pushed myself back to my feet, our previous plan switched. I would be the distraction. The deterrent.

My muscles tensed in anticipation as All Might continued to grin, ready to rush to Todoroki. I snarled and was flying towards him, kagune back out. That fucker was toying with us. 

I was slower than usual though, my whole body throbbing with pain, and All Might used this to his advantage. He may be stupid but he was still a hero. A tactician. A well timed punch had me slamming into a building, glass and cement tumbling towards me as I had barely avoided being impaled on some falling rebar. Focusing was getting tough, but I had to push through it.

Bracing myself again, I launched right back at him before he could make any moves towards the gate to hurt Todoroki who was practically stumbling, out of breath. I must have hit him harder than I thought. My grip on my instincts faltered for a moment and I opened my mouth to tear any part of All Might I could grab. 

Control came back to me though and I snapped my mouth shut with a click of my teeth. Again though I was being thrown aside, a large hand grabbing at my kagune again, only grasping on to one tentacle. However, it was more than enough to cause me to screech again, the tentacle frantically retreating back into my body. I wasn’t able to escape his grasp so easily because I was grasped by my neck and launched right into another building. 

All breath was knocked out of me. It wasn’t because it was knocked out of me by the impact though. I looked down in horror. A piece of metal was right through my chest. Or more correctly through one of my lungs.

I had seen awful things as a scavenger but having injuries like this inflicted upon myself...

My body went to take a breath, only to feel pain. I heard a rattle. That was the sound I made at my attempt at breathing. Blood was pooling in my left lung, I felt so cold. I had to eat, I needed food to heal. Two sources of food were close, and they smelled delicious. Yes, they would do. I’ll eat them!

It was total fucking pandemonium inside the viewing area. Recovery Girl was already out of her seat, calling the med-bots to rush to where they were and rushing to the infirmary to prepare as best she could for whatever was coming her way. Whatever it was, it damn wasn’t good. 

Or at least that was what I assumed anyway. My eyes were glued to the screen. “Come on Zuku… get back up, Get back up shitty nerd. Please…” my voice cracking at the end. Was he dead? Oh god had I just watched my mate die? Reunited after so many years apart just to have him stolen from me again. 

Those eyes I loved so much changed. The Izuku I knew wasn’t there, no, his eyes had become feral. A different kind of fear filled my chest. I knew that look on his face. It was one I had seen online many times while looking up information on ghouls to impress my boyfriend with. 

My amazing mate’s brain was blank right now. Right then only one thought would be hammering through his brain, and I knew exactly what it was - hunger. Pure, uncontrolled, hunger. In a burst of fire I was blasting myself towards the locker room where Izuku kept his food. I reached into the locker belonging to my boyfriend and I pulled out a travel cooler covered in those stupid glittery hero stickers the nerd loved damn so much. 

With the cooler gripped tight under one arm I had my phone in the other. I looked down at the map so I could memorise where Izuku was being tested, Ground Beta according to the app. I committed the path to memory and shoved the phone into my pocket, smacking right into Aizawa who looked equally if not more panicked. 

“Bakugou. With me. Now.” Aizawa ordered. I followed after him like an obedient puppy out of the building and into the front passenger’s seat of a school owned car. He slid into the driver’s seat and the engine came on without a hitch as he slid his keycard over a screen right where a keyhole would usually be. 

Were this any other situation I would be screaming at sensei to slow the fuck down, but instead I stayed silent as we turned onto a well hidden side road with a gate that undoubtedly only opened due to some fucking sensor that could tell the car belonged to the school. I’d never been in a car going this fast before, Aizawa was absolutely booking it.

And suddenly the next moment we had arrived, maybe I had dissociated or something? The one thing I knew for sure about the ride is that one second we were speeding through the woods, I blinked, and now I was being shepherded out of the vehicle by Aizawa Sensei. “You know how to do this right kid? As of now I think you’re the one person he won’t attack,” guilt wormed its way into his voice. He must be feeling bad about what he said to Izuku… I nodded and patted the cooler. 

“Good. Now go-” I was gone before he could even finish whatever he was going to say, the handle of the cooler clenched in my teeth and hands held behind me to blast my way towards my mate, towards Izuku.

If I hadn’t already been getting used to blood and violence I might have thrown up at the sight before me. Izuku was truly feral, attacking All Might with everything he had. The number one was working in tandem with Icyhot to subdue Izuku. To keep him from hurting anyone. There was hesitation behind their hits, something which made me puff up with approval. I landed and took the cooler into my hands instead of my mouth.

Their job was done here, it was time for Dynamight to take over the show. “FUCK OFF SHITHEADS! I GOT THIS.” I yelled at the pair before focusing my attention back onto Izuku. “ZUKU!” Hungry eyes were locked on me suddenly as Aizawa Sensei’s capture weapon wound its way around All Might and Icyhot. 

I knew exactly how a prey animal felt, at that moment. The gaze of a true predator locked right onto my form. I forced myself to move though. Slow, with faux confidence as Izuku sized me up. I set the cooler on the ground and opened it up, eyes sweeping over the labeled meat. I ignored the meat labeled synthetic immediately, and picked up a large package in brown paper with twine. Written in dark black sharpie was one word in all capital letters. HUMAN.

I could tell Izuku was getting tired of toying with his prey. He was getting tired in general, his own blood spilling from the same mouth that loved to spout facts on heroes, the same mouth that told me that he loved me.

I ripped the twine away and the brown paper, taking the meat in my hand and trying hard not to focus on the fact that this came from a person. Or the feeling of it. Cold and squishy, yet somehow solid as it dripped with blood. 

I rushed forwards and took the ghoul I loved with all my heart and then shoved the meal into his mouth roughly, watching closely as he consumed it frantically. I pinned him to the ground, watching carefully as the kakugan faded from his eyes, replaced by emerald green. For a moment Izuku just stared up at me, horror clear in his eyes. It took mere seconds before Izuku was wrapped around me in a hug, sobbing harder than I had ever heard him before, babbling incomprehensible words. All I could do was hold him until he became limp in my arms, consciousness fading. 

Consciousness returned slowly to me, with a pounding headache and a dry mouth. It was the symptoms of a hangover without fun the night before, or simply put, it was dehydration. I opened my eyes only to shut them again for a moment, before opening them more slowly as I adjusted to the bright lights of the infirmary. To my right I could see a window, it wasn’t bright outside but it wasn’t exactly night time either. To my left was Shota and he was staring down at the ground as though he was watching a TV show. “Dad?” I asked. 

“I-Izuku!” he exclaimed as he stood up suddenly, and rushed towards my bed. He brought me into a somewhat reserved hug in order to not undo Recovery Girl’s work. For a moment there was silence, but it was as though the room had a strange atmosphere to it. It wasn’t an awkward atmosphere, but it was more that Shota had a lot to say but was unsure how to say it. After a few more moments he pulled back but put his hands on my shoulders as he looked me directly in the eyes. He took a deep breath before saying “I need to talk to you. Not as your homeroom teacher, and not as a hero, but as your father.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond. The words unleashed a torrent of feelings within me, but for all the anxiety there was also reassurance. Of all the words available, he chose ‘father’. Of course the chance that all of our relationship would be undone by my earlier lapse in judgement was slim, a rational mind is nothing if bound and gagged by an irrational mind. It would never be something capable of being put into words how word I felt that I was still his son. “I understand.”

“I… I said some things earlier that didn’t come out well. What you did with Katsuki was totally unacceptable, you know that. However, my response wasn’t totally fair to you, and I said something I deeply regret.” The words were spoken with the heaviness of a truck, and very slowly as each word was thought about at great length before being uttered. “I am not, and never will be, disappointed in you. Your actions may disappoint me, but I will never be disappointed by you. And for a while it was pretty touch and go, Shujenzi wasn’t sure you’d make it and all I could think about was how one of the last things I’d ever said to you was that I was disappointed in you.”

My breath hitched at his words, in those brief few moments since I’d regained consciousness I never considered how worried he must’ve felt about me. Instead I’d purely been focussed on myself and how I felt. “T-thanks. It means a lot that you told me that.” I replied to him. There was silence again for a moment before I asked “What happened? The last thing I remember is being impaled and knowing that I needed to eat.” A strange look overcame Shota as he furrowed his eyebrows. “What happened?” I asked again.

Shota saighed. “You went feral and attacked Todoroki and All Might. Bakugou and I arrived and we fed you, Todoroki and All Might are unharmed. Some students in the control room saw you get impaled, but due to how graphic it was we ended up cutting the video feed. Only you, me, Bakugou, Todoroki, All Might, and Nezu are aware of the full extent of what happened. Due to special circumstances you are both considered to have passed the exam, and not one of us will ever mention what happened there. If the CCG found out then you’d be done for. Got it?”

“I understand.”

“Fantastic, now let's get you home. Make sure to call Bakugou, he wanted to be here when you woke up but I forced him to go home. Maybe talk to Todoroki too, he seemed worried about you as well.” Shota said, a soft smile on his face.

“I’ll make sure to do that.” I replied. I’d spend some time consoling Katsuki and Todoroki, but I also had to prepare for tomorrow’s TV interview.

Chapter Text

The end of term exam had been difficult, but what came after wasn’t going to be a piece of cake either. Mitsuki had arranged for me to have a one on one sit down with Obi Rieko for her show Obi Hour. She was, by far, Japan’s most prominent TV presenter. Failing the end of term exam meant remedial lessons at camp, but with an interview set to air on national television there are no chances for a re-do. 

We were in a makeup room and there were two people with implements doing god knows what to my face. I didn’t recall the exact reasoning for it other than something to do with the sort of lighting used in the studio meant that it was a necessity for my face to be plastered with makeup. The experience gave me a whole new level of respect for anybody who decided to wear makeup and wasn’t being forced into it by two very aggressive makeup artists and a PR agent. As Mitsuki was nothing but a consummate professional she left the room to have a good cackle to herself, seemingly forgetting that as a ghoul my ears could still very much hear her.

Mitsuki had given me three choices in what to wear, either a dark suit, my school uniform, or my hero costume. It was a difficult choice since all had their benefits and detractors, but in the end we both decided on the UA uniform. It would send the viewers the message that I’m a hero student who’s looking out for them. Of course we had to clear it with Nezu first given the political nature of the interview, and at his knowledge of human psychology (mainly from books, as he at his core was still an animal) agreed. The studio also gave their approval for the uniform to be worn, quickly replacing the green screens with blue screens on account of the green hair, eyes, and parts of the uniform. Another concession we’d all agreed to was to minimise the use of ‘UA Ghoul’. It would likely be another way of referring to me for the rest of my life, but it was annoying in terms of marketing and branding. The UA Ghoul brand focused more on UA, the ghoul being a part of UA in a sense. The more we could get The Ghoul Hero: Karasu in people’s minds the better. 

“We’re all done Mister Aizawa” one of the makeup artists told me. 

I looked myself over in the mirror, but I didn’t actually know what I was supposed to be looking for so I gave the artist a thumbs up. It was then that the show’s executive producer entered the room. “Are you ready to have the interview Mister Aizawa?” he asked me. 

“As ready as I’ll ever be” I told him,

“Rieko’s really nice, so no need to worry. Before we start can I get you anything to ea...t”

I smiled at his sincerity. I waved my hand and said “No it’s fine thanks. I appreciate the offer though.” The man looked really embarrassed but I was able to hold the laughter in. He escorted Mitsuki and me to the set where the interview would be conducted. It was a nice looking room, with Obi already sitting in her chair. I was directed to the chair I’d be sitting in, whilst Mitsuki and the executive producer were stood behind the cameras. 

“Good morning Aizawa, it’s great to meet you.” Obi said. The cameras weren’t recording yet, so this was just a nice hello.

“Thanks, it’s great meeting you as well Obi. I’ve watched Obi Hour for years, so it’s kind of surreal being in the room I’ve seen on the TV so many times.” I said whilst a member of the production team was fitting a microphone to me. 

Obi laughed lightly and said “Yes, many of the guests who appear on here say the same. But you’ve got to be the youngest one to appear on set so far. How are you feeling about the interview?” she asked me. 

I did my best to put on a smile and say “Excited, and admittedly a little tense. It’s a lot of pressure.” It was true, my interview with Obi would be the first time the public truly got to know me. They’d seen me during the sports festival, and some of them might even have seen my tweets or the video of me on patrol, but this wouldn’t just be the UA Ghoul, it would be both Aizawa Izuku and The Ghoul Hero: Karasu on their screens. If the public liked what they saw, then perhaps the situation for ghouls in Japan would improve, but if the public didn’t like what they saw then for sure the situation would only get worse. The law decriminalising ghouls had a sunset clause of five years, and the date was getting closer and closer. 

“Well remember you can take a break at any point, just let us know, okay?” I nodded in reply. “Great, are you ready to start the interview?” she asked.

“I’m good to go.” I confirmed.

And just like that the entire set was silent, Obi clearly in her interviewer sort of persona. “Aizawa, it’s good to have you here.” she said.

“It’s good to be here, Obi.” I replied, Mitsuki’s practice sessions helping out immensely. 

“Most of Japan has heard of you by now, the infamous UA Ghoul, but for those that maybe haven’t, what can you tell us about yourself?” she asked.

“Well my name is Aizawa Izuku, I’m fifteen years old and a student at UA, part of the hero course. Most people know me as the UA Ghoul, but my hero name is The Ghoul Hero: Karasu.” I answered.

“And what’s it been like being the only ghoul in UA’s hero course, in fact the only ghoul student in any of UA’s tracks.” Obi asked me.

I smiled and replied “It’s actually been fun. I’ve got lots of great friends, and I know that all my training is pushing towards making me better able to help people.”

“Of course that’s what UA’s hero course is about, training you to become a hero. I’ve had many heroes here on Obi Hour before, and all of them have said that being a hero was like a calling, it’s something that they had to do. So I have to ask, why try to be a hero?”

“It all started when I was young. My best friend, you’ll remember him from being first place at the UA Sports Festival, Katsuki. But I call him Kacchan, had this really powerful quirk a-”

Obi interrupted, an apologetic look on her face. “Your best friend was human?” she asked, looking for me to clarify.

“Yes.” I answered. “Best friend then, still best friend and boyfriend now.” I answered. “But anyway, he had this really powerful explosion quirk. He really wanted to be a hero, and as his best friend of course I was going to form a hero duo with him. The first human ghoul hero duo.” I said, a smile on my face as I reminisced. 

“It sounds like your childhood was happy.” she pointed out.

“Mostly, yes. Kacchan was nice, I got to go to school and my room had lots of hero merchandise. Or at least as much as we could have considering how hard it was for us to stay under the radar and make a living. It was difficult at times, I had to have these sort of lessons on how to act human. It never really made sense to me then, why I had to pretend to be a human. It wasn’t really until I was nine it all sort of clicked into place for me.” I said.

“And if you don’t mind, what happened when you were nine?” Obi asked the question well, she already knew the answer to it. 

My voice slightly shaky I said “Well, the CCG raided my house. T-they killed my dad who tried to defend us, and then they slaughtered my mother. I never saw it, but her screams I remember. She n-never hurt anybody, you know. Her entire life she was a pacifist like her own parents had been. I barely managed to escape before investigators would’ve found me.” I made sure to lie about Shota, no doubt he could get in big trouble if it ever got out that he intentionally didn’t alert the CCG to my presence. 

“That’s horrible.” Obi said, clearly affected by my words. “How did you survive after that?” she asked.

“I was technically homeless for a long time. I lived in an abandoned apartment, sometimes even in safe areas if I was lucky. And despite how hard it was I maintained my family’s beliefs in not harming humans.” I told her.

She sighed and asked “We’ve heard a lot about pacifist or peaceful ghouls recently, what does that actually mean though?”

“Well it primarily means we don’t kill humans for food. Sometimes humans choose to take their own lives and we,” I hesitated for a second, unsure if it was wise to say the next part, “ahem... scavenge, and now the CCG is releasing the synthetic food so we don’t even have to do that anymore. But if I’m being honest here, it’s not enough. They provide us with the bare minimum to survive. Imagine if every meal you had was a small bowl of rice. You’d be exhausted and hungry all the time. Enough to stave off hunger pains but it still leaves the pit of your stomach wanting something more. Not to mention that since it’s mailed to us, they now have our addresses, leverage to keep us in place.”

I sensed the darkened aura of the room and tried to fix it with a slightly less fatalistic tone. “Ghoul pacifism also meant that we only ever fought humans, usually the CCG, in self defence. Not that as a younger child I would’ve had much success in defending myself.”

“Ah, yes.” Obi started, a little uncomfortable. “You’ve stated online quite a bit how children, even today, are targeted by the CCG.”

I nodded. “It’s true. In fact, can I tell you a story that my brother told me?” I asked.

“Of course.” she replied.

“My brother, Hitoshi, had made friends with a little girl called Akira, even when nobody else would be his friend all because of his quirk. But she didn’t care about something so silly as his quirk, she just wanted a friend. For days they’d meet at a park, until one night she accidentally revealed herself as a ghoul, kagune and everything. She cried, cried about how unfair it was that she couldn’t have human friends. But Hitoshi never told the CCG, he just wanted a friend.”

“That’s a really sweet story.” Obi said, smiling as I recalled my brother’s words.

“Yeah, sadly it doesn’t stay that way. Somebody peering out a window called the CCG, they killed her on the spot. She was six years old. The next day her mother was at the park, and my brother also only at six years old had to tell a mother that her child had been killed by the CCG.”

“But at least that isn’t allowed to happen anymore.” Obi added. 

I shook my head sadly. “I wish that were the case.” I said. “When we’re young, we have fairly poor control over our eyes, our kakugan. But under the current law any ghoul showing a kakugan without a waiver is a legitimate target for extermination. It’s like saying that if your toddler cries in public it’s fair game for murder.”

Obi I was stunned into silence, no doubt they’d either play it up or edit it out in the version that aired later in the night. “If I can circle back a little bit,” she said, “you mentioned being in a relationship with a human. How does that work?”

I laughed a bit then shrugged my shoulders. “How does any relationship work? It’s just the same I imagine.”

“Forgive me if this question is rude, but ghouls naturally see humans as prey right?”

Ah, that was what she was wondering about. “Kacchan is my mate, so he doesn’t register like other humans do. There’s no risk of me eating him.”

The interview carried on a bit longer, more questions were asked and more questions were answered. Luckily our time was nearing a close, and soon I’d be able to go home and rest. “One last question for you then. How do we fix things?”

“Abolish the CCG.” I said instantly, I didn’t even need to think. “Replace it with an organisation that’s fit for purpose, ran by both ghouls and humans. The main goal should be cooperation, not subjugation. Also, extend all rights enjoyed by humans to ghouls. Thirdly, make the recipe for artificial meat public knowledge so we aren’t totally reliant on government agencies for our food. Private companies can make ghoul food and it should go through a rigorous testing process by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s Department of Food Safety. Ghouls aren’t second class citizens.”

“And that’s all we have time for. It was amazing meeting you Aizawa, best of luck in becoming a hero.” Obi said.

“It was nice meeting you too. Thanks for having me on.” I replied.

As soon as I’d finished speaking the little recording light turned off and the production crew were on me, removing the microphone from me, as well as the wires. And just as soon as they were done doing that one of the makeup artists from earlier came back and started wiping everything off of my face. After what felt like an eternity of being poked and prodded I was free to go. 

Just before I left the studio Obi came up to me and said “I wasn’t allowed to say it on camera, but best of luck Aizawa. You’ve got a supporter in me.”

“Thanks.” I replied, a smile now on my face. 

I followed Mitsuki out of the building and into the back of a car she’d hired. Normally she’d drive herself she had hastened to tell me when I first saw the car, just that we’d both be tired after the interview. And she was right. Despite only handling the back end side of things she did look quite tired, being ready to jump in and cut the interview at any moment if something went wrong. 

We had been sitting in the back of the car for five minutes or so when she suddenly said “So you’re dating my Katsuki are you?” I froze. I hadn’t really spoken to Mitsuki about it, and she never brought it up, so I just kind of assumed that maybe Katsuki had told her. “Is he your mate then?”

Damn her and knowing all about how ghouls work. “Yes, Kacchan is my mate. He’s amazing.” I answered. There was no point in censoring myself around her, she’d just get any and all detail from me that she wanted. 

“I see.” she said before asking “Have you had sex with my son then?”

If it weren’t for the screen preventing the driver from hearing our words I wouldn’t have been surprised if he decided to crash the car in order to not have to listen to this conversation. I definitely didn’t want to be having it. It was in fact the second last conversation I wanted to have. The first being talking with Shota or Hizashi about it. “Umm, I mean I guess.” I replied. “I’m sorry is this necessary?” I asked.

“It’s absolutely necessary. I need to make fun of my son after all.” she pointed out as though what she said had been perfectly normal. “You said that you ‘guess’, so I’ll assume you haven’t gone all the way with him yet. Oral sex, is that what you two have done?” she asked.

Wordlessly I nodded my head, there was no way I could say to Katsuki’s mother ‘yes I sucked your son’s dick once, and he’s sucked mine twice’, it just wasn't going to happen.

“Right. So since you’re the ghoul in the relationship you take the more dominant one right? I mean somebody has to tame that damn brat. Plus he forgot to close his browser once and I know what he’s into.”

Oh my god. Trying to do my absolute best to ignore that semi-invasion of privacy I replied “My ghoul instincts mean that I may act in a way some may consider to be dominant.” It was just fancy media speak which Mitsuki herself had taught me. 

“You know I love you Izuku, but as Katsuki’s mother I must warn you that if you hurt him in any way shape or form he doesn’t consent to, then I will personally disembowel you, okay sweetie?” she finished the sentence with a bright smile on her face, one that did absolutely not fit the face of somebody who’d just threatened me. 

“Of course. In fact I would ask you to do so.” I replied. If I'd ever hurt Katsuki, I’d have wanted Mitsuki to kill me slowly. With my reply she finished her questioning, for then at least. No doubt she’d be coming back eventually, trying to get more updates on our relationship so she could embarrass Katsuki. I didn’t particularly like the idea of somebody embarrassing my mate, but with Mitsuki I’d let it slide for once.

One car ride later I was back home, and my bed was calling me to come have a short nap, something that I wholeheartedly agreed with.

That short nap had turned into a rather long nap, I woke up around half nine at night. I yawned and stretched a little as I got out of bed. Reflexively I picked up my phone to quickly check the notifications, and I very quickly put my phone back down. There were way too many notifications. Probably all related to the interview which would’ve aired between eight and nine. 

Still wearing the now wrinkled school uniform I fell asleep in I wandered into the living room and almost as soon as I did, all eyes were on me. “Izuku, you’ll want to check twitter. Seriously.” Hitoshi said to me.

“Sure.” I replied. I took my phone back out my pocket and opened twitter, and immediately I knew why he’d told me to check. It was the number one on trending for Japan, #AbolishTheCCG. It was followed extremely close by with #UAGhoul, #ObiHour, #GhoulRightsNow, and #CooperationNotSubjugation. There was even talk of organising a protest march by ghouls, something entirely unprecedented. And dangerous, not for the humans, but the ghouls. The best part was that it even had members of the National Diet expressing opinions. 

With how big things were getting on twitter I decided to check what was going on in r/ghouls. Normally I avoided reddit like the plague, r/ghouls specifically since a lot of the posts were… well they were questionable. Sometimes they were a little funny though. My favorite r/ghouls post I’d seen was by somebody called dab_ihaveatheory and it asked ‘Since people with mutant quirks have a different taste to non-mutant quirked people, if a ghoul ate Miruko would that ghoul actually taste what rabbit tastes like? And if so, how would they know. Please help, this has haunted me for days and I can't sleep.’ I absolutely hated the question because he made a damn good point.

I checked r/ghouls and it was a bit of a mixed bag to say the least. Some posts were about the interview, organising events, and so on. But it appeared that not everybody was concerned with furthering ghoul rights. A user by the name of ‘gibmightymeatpog’ made a post entitled ‘[DISCUSSION] Tasteful Hero Pics’ which to the innocuous user might sound nice, even kind of wholesome. But the text accompanying the post said ‘I gotta say, my favourite tasteful hero pic has got to be that one of All Might released last week. I mean look at all that meat, he'd definitely be tasty! Enough to feed a family for a couple months at least.’ I sighed at the replies, they weren’t any better. 

Checking r/ghouls had been a mistake I concluded.

The official CCG twitter account released a brief statement that read ‘The Commission of Counter Ghoul have acted lawfully at all times, and we have a robust system of oversight to ensure that nobody acts outwith the commission’s remit. We will continue to act in the best interests of humanity, within the law. As a civilian organisation we do not comment on political matters.’ What the CCG didn’t seem to understand was that the law was the problem, and them blindly following it didn’t absolve them of shit. And that they were literally tweeting about something political. 

An intriguing but fairly harmless, if slightly creepy, contingent of individuals had really latched onto me dating a human. Pictures of Katsuki and I together which were easily findable with a google search, mostly of us during the sports festival, were being posted and retweeted like mad, usually with the hashtag katzuku. People seemed really invested in our relationship, like really really invested. There was already fanart and some of it was really wholesome, and some of it would probably sit in people’s porn stashes for quite some time. Some detractors had commented on how it should be considered a wonder that I hadn’t eaten Katsuki already, which fans promptly created the concept of the ‘Wonder Duo’ somehow. We’d never agreed on a duo name, and it looked like fans had decided on one for us.

I sent a quick tweet out thanking everybody for their support, and saying that we need to keep up pressure on the Japanese government to grant ghouls rights. Not even two minutes after the tweet went up I got a text from Katsuki. It simply read, ‘I know you’re awake and fuck you. The old man just said my breath smells like the old hag’s does on his birthday.’

I deserved that.

I was really not looking forward to tomorrow, I had slept the day away so no doubt I’d struggle to get back to sleep, and tomorrow was the shopping day out that Yaoyorozu had organised. It was a sad reality that I was just going to look absolutely dead from a lack of sleep. 

I was glad that when we went shopping I had elected to wear my totally foolproof disguise of a ball cap and some aviators. The aviators did a great job in hiding the bags under my eyes as I forced myself to stay awake and not fall asleep in a busy mall. It was nice seeing everybody in their casual clothes, a bit more of their personality got through. It was a shame that Todoroki hadn’t been able to come, though there was always next time. As the class bonded closer together, and people got over the whole me eating humans deal, class outings like that would hopefully become more commonplace. 

The disguise was crummy, but it was working. Katsuki already had all of the stuff we’d need for the trip, and Shota had already bought stuff for me and Hitoshi a while ago. So in the end we ended up being dragged around shops by others. The girls really appreciated Katsuki’s insights in regards to fashion the moment they realised his dad, Masaru, ran a pretty successful fashion brand. Despite what his hero costume would lead you to believe, he knew a thing or two about fashion. I, on the other hand, knew nothing at all. Some of the girls could’ve left the changing room wearing hotdog suits and I’d probably have given the thumbs up on them. 

“I’m just going to step out for a moment.” I said to Katsuki as we waited for Hagakure to show off what she was wearing. 

“Sure thing Zuku.” Katsuki replied. 

I stepped out of the shop and into the open area of the mall. I hated to admit it, but I was bored out of my mind. There was nothing to do. A human in this situation might even resort to trying something at the food court to alleviate the boredom but the only food in the food court I could eat was still alive. It was just as I was about to check my phone I heard a raspy voice from behind say “Oh my god, is that the UA Ghoul?” quietly.

Putting on my ‘dealing with fans face’ I turned around to say hello when I got a big whiff of how he smelled, and then I got a good look at his face. Standing right in front of me was the leader of the league of villains, Shigaraki. “Come, let’s sit.” he said to me. “If you don’t I’ll kill people. Imagine how many people I could kill in a packed crowd like this before anybody could react.”

He was holding an entire mall hostage, and they didn’t even know it. I couldn’t afford to use my kagune with so many people around, I truly had no choice but to comply with his demands. I followed him over to a bench that wasn’t being used and sat across a table from him. Occasionally he’d pick at his skin and it made me really uncomfortable, it wasn’t a great habit. “Okay, you’ve got me. Now what do you want?” I asked, my voice more forceful than I’d intended. My ghoul instincts weren’t happy at the thought of a human having such an amount of leverage over me.

“I have a question for you. Why isn’t the news talking about me?” he seethed. 

I raised an eyebrow, confused. “Uh, what do you mean?”

“Hosu!” he exclaimed. “We were in Hosu but the news only talked about the Hero Killer injuring that student. And now they’re all talking about you.”

He came off like a diva complaining that their instagram post didn’t get enough likes. I tried not to laugh as I pictured a diva Shigaraki in my head. “Well, how do I put it… you’re not very marketable.” I told him.

“Marketable? We’re plenty marketable. We kill people.”

I sighed. “Dime a dozen, most villains kill people. You need something that makes you unique otherwise who cares.” I told him. I wasn’t totally sure what I was saying, just regurgitating some of what I’d gone over with Mitsuki about marketability. 

“So, how do we make ourselves marketable?” he asked.

Part of me thought that maybe I shouldn’t be counselling villains on their branding but either I gave them tips on how to brand or Shigaraki would kill a whole bunch of people. The marketing lesson seemed like a fair trade. “Well you know. You’ve already got the whole edgy thing but so do most villains. I mean marketing one zero one screams about sex appeal but I doubt you’d be interested in that.” I told him.

“No no, tell me about sex appeal.” Shigaraki insisted.

“You’re kidding, right?” I asked. He wasn’t actually asking me about sex appeal, he couldn’t be.

“No, I’m dead serious. Do I need to kill somebody to prove it to you?” he asked.

“Nope!” I replied. “I’ll just get on with it then. People like sexy, so you need to accentuate what you’ve got going for you. Know what I mean?”

“I don’t know what you mean. Explain yourself.” Shigaraki demanded of me.

I guess we were going there. “Well, you’re skinny which some people like I guess.” I said. “Down below, what’s packing?” I asked him.

“What do you mean?” he asked, confused. 

“Oh god, I’m asking what’s in your pants. Your genitals, what do you have?”

“Oh.” he replied, getting what I was asking him. “A dick of course.” he replied. “What else would I have?”

There would be time to unpack that assumption another day. “So are you a grower or a shower?” I asked, before realising he probably had no idea what that meant either. I sighed. This was actually happening, I was giving the leader of the League of Villains advice on how to better market himself. “Would you say your dick gets a lot bigger when it gets hard, and is relatively small when it’s soft, that’s to say a grower, or is it already pretty big when it’s soft but when it gets hard there isn’t that drastic a difference in size, a shower.”

At least Shigaraki had the decency to blush as well as he considered the question. “I mean, what’s considered small? I haven’t measured it since I was younger… And I am not about to go into a stall to show you.”

“I really don’t want to go into a stall to see either. Anyway, if you’re more of a shower then maybe consider wearing something that accentuates your bulge. Everybody loves a bulge. Also, ask one of your lackeys if you’ve got a good ass or not. If you do then consider booty shorts or something. Maybe pair it with a crop top to show off your skinny belly. Before long you’ll gain a reputation as one of Japan’s sexiest villains. Though I’d heavily invest in moisturiser for your skin and some chapstick.” At every word I said I was actively trying to fight the urge to keel over and die. I just couldn’t believe that I was giving this sort of advice.

“I see, and this will increase our marketability?” Shigaraki asked, excited at the prospect of more coverage.

“Oh for sure!” I affirmed. “Who knows, maybe pair it with some leather thigh high boots or something. People go nuts for that kind of thing. Also-” I was about to give further advice when I suddenly heard my brother Hitoshi shout very loudly “It’s the UA Ghoul!” Standing next to him was Katsuki who probably recognised Shigaraki. 

Suddenly people started trying to crowd around me to get a look at my face to see if I truly was the UA Ghoul. “Damnit” Shigaraki hissed. “I’ll see you later, I have more questions for you.” he said before quickly making his escape. Now I just had to try and escape the growing horde of fans and alert Shota about what had just happened. 

Hopefully Shigaraki would ignore all of what I’d said, otherwise the next time I saw him he might be wearing a crop top, booty shorts, and leather thigh high boots.

Chapter Text

Katsuki came over to the house the night before we were due to go to the training camp. He claimed that it was just to make logistics slightly easier, but with the way he was acting I knew that couldn’t possibly be the truth. He was too fidgety, something on his mind. As the resident Katsuki whisperer there was only one thing that I could think of, that he’d been thinking of but was embarrassed to tell me. We were both lying side by side on my bed just relaxing when I said “So, you’re thinking about sex, aren’t you?” Katsuki spluttered, looking like a rabbit caught in a trap. “You want to go all the way.” I said matter of factly, a gentle smirk on my face.

“Yeah.” he replied. “We won’t have a moment of privacy at that damn camp, so I was just thinking-”

“You want my ghoul cock shoved up your ass.” I said, my voice slightly deeper than normal.

“Yes” he said, his voice strained, the same as his pants. 

I maneuvered us so I was sitting up on his lap while he laid back on my bed, grinding my ass back against the bulge in his pants. As I stared down I made sure my kakugan was on, knowing Katsuki liked that. I lowered my hips to rub my hardening cock against Katsuki’s already hard cock. If I had to guess he’d been hard since he arrived. “Pathetic.” I said. “You want my cock so badly you’re humping against me to get even the slightest semblance of pleasure like a bitch in heat.” Katsuki moaned at the words. “Is that what my mate is? A little bitch?”

“F-fuck Zuku.” he moaned, his voice hitched.

I pressed against his cock with more pressure, giving a light hum at the noises I was drawing from him. “I asked you a question, human.”

“I’m a little bitch.” he admitted, the shame in his voice causing a burning deep in my belly. 

“Of course you are.” I said back to him, tsking as if I was disappointed it had taken him that long to admit it. “You could never hope to compare to me, a full blooded ghoul.” Katsuki whined as I pointed out my inherent superiority over him. “Imagine if the class could see you now, see how much of a slut for ghouls you are. They’d never look at you the same again, that big strong Katsuki would dissolve right in front of their eyes.”

I stopped rutting against Katsuki and got off of him and my bed, drawing an annoyed while from him. “Strip for me.” I told him as I also took my own clothes off, both of us tossing them into a haphazard pile in the middle of the floor. There wasn’t any time for messing around, not this time. I reached into my bedside drawer and brought out a bottle of lube and sat it on the bedside cabinet. I was about to grab a condom when I felt Katsuki’s hand on mine. 

“I-I want to feel your cum inside me.” he said bashfully. 

I dropped the condom packet back into the drawer, there was no way in hell I was saying no to that request. If he wanted to feel my cum in his ass he’d feel it. “Get on the bed, face down, ass up. I’m going to fuck you into the mattress.” I told him. Honestly I was just saying whatever came to mind, all I knew was that I was horny and I’d have to prepare him first.

I got on the bed and positioned myself next to Katsuki. I grabbed the bottle of lube and poured some of it on Katsuki’s ass, and then a bit on my forefinger. “S-shit it’s cold.” Katsuki breathed out. I teased the rim of Katsuki’s ass with my finger, occasionally pushing my finger in just a tiny bit then back out again. Not once did I push finger in even past the first knuckle “F-fucking g-get on with it!” Katsuki demanded. “You shitty ghoul.”

I pushed my entire forefinger in Katsuki’s lube filled hole, the filthy squelch sound it made caused my cock to twitch. Only mere moments later I pulled my finger so I was only in to the first knuckle, and then pushed back in. I repeated the movements, Katsuki panting like a bitch in heat the entire time. Feeling it safe, I poured some lube onto my middle finger and worked it in alongside my forefinger. It might stain the bedsheets but there was never enough lube as far as sex was concerned.

After fucking Katsuki’s ass with my fingers for a little bit I started feeling around, fingers curling against his walls. That’s when I felt something that didn’t feel like anything else around it. Experimentally I rubbed it and that’s when Katsuki moaned louder than I’d heard him before. That's how I knew I’d found his prostate. A smirk on my face I massaged the area more so Katsuki could feel good. I’d looked it up online, apparently this was supposed to feel heavenly. The feeling caused Katsuki to shudder and whine as he tried to push himself back down onto my fingers. “Wow look at that, a pathetic little human getting off on just my fingers.”

“B-but it feels so good,” Katsuki replied, still practically fucking himself on my fingers. Again pouring some more lube I added a third finger and went back to the thrusting motions as I prepared him. It was a bit of a long process but I wanted to make sure I didn’t hurt Katsuki during our first time. 

I wasn’t entirely sure, but Katsuki’s hole seemed a lot looser than it had earlier. “Hey, are you feeling okay? Are you sure you’re ready for this?” I asked him. If he asked me to stop then and there I would have. This was… well it was a big step. 

“F-fuuck.” Katsuki groaned in response to me. “P-please just fuck me. I’ve been imagining this for years. I need you.”

My breath hitched as soon as he said he needed me, I felt my heart swell with love and admiration for the human below me. I pulled my fingers out and lined my cock up with his twitching hole, before slowly sinking into the heat. It felt so warm and tight, and the lube made sliding in a smooth thrust for me and negated the possibility of tearing for Katsuki. Despite the temptation to just focus on nothing but how good it felt to push into Katsuki I slid one of my hands into one of Katsuki’s, holding his hand, careful for any signs he might be uncomfortable. 

As I continued to slowly sink into Katsuki I found myself staring at his eyes, I couldn’t take my eyes off them. I couldn’t help but love that man with every fibre of my being. It wasn’t long before I couldn’t push in anymore, my balls were pushed against Katsuki’s ass. I manoeuvred myself and Katsuki so that Katsuki was sitting in my lap, my cock still up his ass. It wasn’t the most graceful thing in the world but we stayed connected. His chest was pushed against mine, I could feel his rapid heartbeat against my chest as we both breathed heavily. I pulled Katsuki’s head down and kissed him deeply. 

Simultaneously the kiss lasted forever but also nowhere near long enough. “I love you, I love you, I love you so much.” I chanted as our mouths broke apart, still conjoined by a single arch of spit. There just weren’t enough words to describe how I felt. The moment was so intimate, the closest we’d ever be to each other. “You’re beautiful.” I whispered. I hoped Katsuki would forgive me for dropping the big bad ghoul facade just for a little moment, I needed to make sure Katsuki understood how I felt. 

“Such a nerd.” Katsuki whispered back, admiration dripping in his voice. I couldn’t help myself and kissed him some more. And that was when I decided to pull my hips back a bit and then push upwards causing Katsuki to moan into my mouth as we continued to kiss. Then I did it again, and then another time. I fucked into Katsuki as best as I could in our current position. Katsuki’s mouth pulled back from my own and he let out a steady stream of curses as I thrust into him. 

It felt so good, but it wasn’t enough. I pulled out of Katsuki and helped him into the next position I wanted him in, getting him on all fours. I lined back up with his cute little hole and pushed back in, holding onto his hips as I did so. This position was perfect, I was able to fuck into Katsuki with total control. Slowly I worked up to fucking Katsuki hard and fast, making sure that he was comfortable with the smooth change in pace. As I thrust into Katsuki his right hand found its way to his cock and he jerked himself off. “Feels so good Izuuu” he moaned. I started messing with the angle of my thrusts until I hit the same spot I found earlier making Katsuki yell “Fuck!” out loud. If we hadn’t been heard already no doubt ear plugs were getting put on now. 

His arms crumpled and his face was resting on a pillow, arms lying limp as only my arms and his back legs were holding him up from being limp against the bed. It was as if hammering at that spot was seeping all the energy out of him.

I wanted the moment to last forever, the noises I was drawing out from Katsuki and the feeling of my cock inside the other felt like heaven. However, that was hardly the case. We didn’t have very much time.

“A-ah Kachaan! I need to cum, you feel so good,” I whined, feeling him clench around me as he chased his own release. I think he was trying to say something but he quickly gave up, instead focusing on pressing back into me, each thrust forward rubbing his own cock into the soft comforter. 

Without warning, I felt him tense and he cried out my name, voice wavering as grabbed the sheets and rode out his orgasm. That was all it took to finish me, a growl bubbling from my throat as I lunged towards his neck and bit down, feeling a small amount of blood coat my tongue. That mark would last him the entire camp. He was mine. 

I came, hips stuttering as I called out his name in a low whine. After I took a moment to catch my breath, I eased out of him and flopped down back into bed. Katsuki groaned as he turned over, looking completely fucked out. After a minute or two he came back to himself. I had pleased my mate.

It took us a few more minutes to even muster the will let alone the energy to crawl out of bed. Grabbing some clothes for both of us, I quickly herded him into the bathroom with me. The shower may only be across the hall from my room but that didn’t entirely negate the danger of being caught completely nude.

Katsuki stumbled a bit as he reached to turn on the shower and put the water to an acceptable temperature. I quickly moved to support his still weak legs, listening to his grumbling with a smile as the water washed over us.

As he reached for the body wash to clean himself out, I poured whatever brand of shampoo Hizashi had bought for us into my hands and started to scrub his hair. I noted absently that it was new, the scent wasn’t too strong and it was already bubbling up heavily in Katsuki’s hair.

I chuckled softly at that as my boyfriend went near boneless, still scrubbing himself clean but eyes closed in a peaceful trance. The water washed the soap out as I finished with that, starting back with conditioner.

We didn’t need to talk, the feeling of each other and the sound of the water was enough for us. I washed the conditioner out of Katsuki’s hair and pulled away, turning around and wordlessly switching actions. I washed myself off while he did my hair.

We were probably in there for longer than necessary since I could now hear my family moving about the house.

Katsuki stepped out first, finally able to walk on his own two legs and hiding his limp from our activities surprisingly well. I followed suit and dressed myself for the day, turning to see that my boyfriend was already done. Our hair was damp but from the time my phone was showing we didn’t really have the time to do much more than a quick brushing of teeth and running our fingers through our hair to straighten it out. We both quickly covered our lower halves up with towels in case anybody was waiting outside.

With a soft exchange of ‘I love you’ and a kiss, he opened the door.

We both walked out of the bathroom to be met by Hitoshi who just stared at us, a stare seemingly meaning ‘fuck you’. “I’m making papa install the soundproofing, I never want to hear you fucking Katsuki again.” Hitoshi said in a monotone voice, a voice which was hiding lots of intense annoyance most likely. 

“You fuckin jealous, eyebags?” Katsuki asked with the bravado of a person who was very proud of their bedtime activities.

“Ew, no. Fuck off.” Hitoshi replied before walking away from us to the living room. We went back into my room in order to get changed into clothes before we joined Hitoshi in the living room where Hizashi and Shota were already waiting for us, fully dressed and ready to go. We were told specifically not to wear our school uniforms, which was a bit strange but we didn’t question it. Summoning as much ignorance as I could, I ignored the strained looks on Hizashi and Shota’s faces, they probably heard just as much as Hitoshi. Though in a way Hizashi was lucky, he could just take his hearing aids out and not have to put up with the noise, just a grumpy Shota. With some effort all five of us managed to fit in the car, and if you deluded yourself into not feeling how cramped it was then it felt pretty comfortable. 

It didn’t take long for us to get to UA where I could see two large coach buses were waiting. At the sight of them Shota explained “We chartered them last night, it cost us a pretty penny to do it at the last minute. It’s not foolproof, but it minimises the chance of the training camp location being leaked from the bus company.” 

Katsuki and I shared a brief look, perhaps Shota had given away slightly more than he intended. With all that’s happened to class 1-A it would make sense that the school was worried about leaks. First we were attacked at the USJ, then Iida was paralysed during his work experience, and most recently there was the whole incident at the mall. 

We were the first to arrive, and so yet again it was a waiting game. The next to arrive was Todoroki and Urakara, with Todoroki arriving only about a minute or so before Urakara. Todoroki looked like his usual self, if a slight bit relieved. We’d texted a few times since the exam, and he’d probably seen my TV interview, but this was the first time since then that we’d actually seen each other face to face. He came over to me, as did Urakara, and in typical deadpan fashion said “I’m glad that you’re okay, Aizawa.”

I laughed a little and said “Yeah I’m glad I’m okay as well. I’m also glad that you weren’t hurt. I know I texted you about it, but I’m truly sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, it wasn’t your fault.” Todoroki replied.

“Uhh, what are you two talking about?” Urakara asked, her head tilted slightly to the side.

“Just a training accident, that’s all.” Todoroki was quick to answer. Luckily Urakara took his words at face value and didn’t question them any. 

With her question answered Urakara’s face went back to its usual happy self, though something seemed different. She had a really bright smile on her face, brighter than usual. “Did anything happen?” I asked her. 

“W-what do you mean?” she spluttered.

“I mean, did anything good happen? You just seem really happy, happier than normal.” I told her.

She hummed for a moment before getting close and whispering in my ear. “Last night Tenya and I were talking and he admitted he had feelings for me! Once I get back from this trip we’re going to have our first date. I’ve already got it sorted out, I looked around for this cafe that’s a little fancy and it’s wheelchair accessible. It’s going to be so great, I can’t wait to try the mochi!”

“I’m glad for you.” I told Urakara, a warm smile on my face. They’d finally talked to each other honestly. It was clear that Iida felt something for Urakara, and Urakara definitely felt something back. They’d be great for each other. 

It didn’t take long for the rest of the class to arrive, we all boarded the bus without incident, though I slowed slightly as I walked past the bus driver sitting in his little cab. Every so slightly I could detect the smell of ghoul, but not enough to imply that he himself was a ghoul. Most likely he had been in the company of ghouls. He was an older gent, so statistically likely to hold negative views towards ghouls. Either he was unknowingly in the company of ghouls, or if he did know then that would imply… something not good at all. I made a mental note to mention it to Shota at some point. 

I sat down on a seat and just as Katsuki was about to sit next to me Kirishima spoke up and said “Hey, Bakubro!” to get Katsuki’s attention. Before Katsuki could blast out a refusal I whispered to him “You need friends besides me, sit your ass down next to Kirishima.” Katsuki grumbled but ultimately complied, wincing slightly. Last on the bus was Todoroki who asked if he could sit next to me, to which I replied “Sure, have a seat.”

From the frontmost passenger seat Shota turned around, did a quick headcount, and told the driver that we were good to go. “Alright, listen up. I appreciate that it’s only seven in the morning, but this is a two hour drive and I expect us to arrive around nineish. At the one hour mark there will be a small stop at a travel centre where you will be able to use a toilet, as well as get some breakfast, and for the love of god turn off your location trackers and don’t tell anyone or publish anything about where we are. Relax for about half an hour or so before we head back to the bus. Now keep the noise down, I wasn’t able to sleep in as long as I wanted to this morning.” As he said the last sentence he purposefully looked directly at me, something which definitely didn’t go unnoticed by Todoroki who was sitting right next to me.

“What did you do to keep Aizawa Sensei from sleeping?” Todoroki asked. 

Immediately I felt a blush arise and I spluttered a bit. “Ah, ah, I-I don’t have to tell you that.”

Todoroki looked almost saddened by the answer, frowning at what I said. “Yaoyorozu said good friends tell each other everything, but sometimes with normal friends you still keep secrets. I guess we’re only normal friends.”

“No!” I rushed to reply. “We’re good friends, I promise. In fact, I’d say that you’re my best friend.” I couldn’t stand it when Todoroki looked sad, it just didn’t sit right with me. It was like a part of me was yelling to cheer him up. 

“I see.” Todoroki responded. “But, isn’t Bakugou your best friend? Or can you have more than one best friend? Yaoyorozu wasn’t quite clear on that.” Todoroki’s face was slightly scrunched as he pondered his own question. I redoubled my intent to speak to Yaoyorozu about what she’d been teaching Todoroki. He was very literal about things and didn’t quite get nuance. 

“Kacchan is my romantic best friend, boyfriend, and mate. But you’re my platonic best friend! Also, some people have multiple best friends, some only have one, it depends on the person I think.”

Todoroki hummed. “Platonic. I understand. Well in that case you’re my best friend too, so you should probably call me Shoto. And Best friends definitely tell each other everything, so what happened where you kept Aizawa-Sensei awake.”

I sighed, I’d hoped that he had forgotten about that, but that was a fool’s assumption. When Todoroki Shoto wanted to know something, he would get his answer. There was no avoiding it, and as easy as it would’ve been I didn’t want to lie to him. “Kacchan and I…” I moved closer to him so that I could whisper into Shoto’s ear “We had sex, and sometimes we get a bit loud.”

I could feel Shoto’s temperature increase slightly, but he managed to prevent himself from bursting into flames. At least at that point I wasn’t the only one blushing, with Shoto likely regretting asking the question. As they say, curiosity kills the cat. I thought that was going to be the end of it, but instead the next question I was asked was “What’s it like?” I fought very hard not to smash the window to my right and just jump out onto the road and hopefully get smacked by a car. Right as I was about to try and not answer the question Shoto reminded me “Best friends tell each other everything, remember.”

Just like there was no getting out of the earlier question, there was no getting out of his most recent. “It’s addicting in a sense. It’s the closest we can ever be to one another, so not only does it physically feel good, as well as abate my instinct to mate, it’s also completing in a sense.” At least I’d been able to give a somewhat tame answer to Shoto’s question. It would’ve been the challenge of a lifetime not to jump from a moving bus if he’d wanted a more explicit answer.

“It sounds fun.” Shoto said, not really aiming his words at me. I snorted, ‘fun’ was an understatement. 

If we were going to be talking about this kind of stuff, then it was only fair that I got to ask him questions too. He wasn’t the only one capable of using the ‘Yaoyorozu said’ argument. “So, is there anybody in class that you’d want to do that kind of stuff with?” I asked him.

Instantly a full blush was on his face and he looked down at the ground. “I-I guess there’s a couple of people.”

Shoto looked like he was going to explode, and with his quirk that wasn’t just a figure of speech. I decided that it would be best not to press any further, though at some point I would figure out what two people had caught Shoto’s eye. It wouldn’t be easy to find out, besides me, occasionally Kacchan since we’re together a lot, and Yaoyorozu, Shoto didn’t hang out with other people all that much. Perhaps it was people he hadn’t properly spoken to yet! They’d better treat Shoto right, like a king, or I’d have no choice but to eat them alive. “I won’t ask who they are, but I wish you the best of luck Shoto.”

Shoto gave a grim smile, and slowly shook his head. “I don’t think they’d look at me and feel anything like that for me. It’s just the way it is, there’s nothing that I can do about it.”

I frowned at that. “Well, for what it’s worth I think they’re missing out. You’d make an amazing partner, and anybody who wouldn’t think that about you is clearly not right in the head.”

A short laugh came from Shoto. “Yeah, thanks Izuku. I just don’t like to think about it, knowing that it’s hopeless.” That just absolutely wouldn’t do. The best I could with our seatbelts on I pulled Shoto over to me so that his head was on my shoulder. Hugs always made me feel better, and this awkward sideways hug was the best that the current situation would allow for. “I-Izuku!” Shoto exclaimed.

“Hugs always help cheer me up, and so I thought that you needed one to help cheer you up.” I told him matter of factly.

“Thanks.” Shoto croaked. “I h-haven’t had a hug in years. Not since my mother was taken to the hospital. I’m sure you can guess that Endeavour isn’t the touchy feely type.”

It hurt to see Shoto this way. The way he was acting, this wasn’t just some crush or feeling of lust for somebody he felt that he couldn’t have, instead it was more like he was lovesick and broken hearted. Who could’ve caused such an emotional wound in Shoto, and how could I deck them for doing so? 

We didn’t talk for a while after this, we just remained in comfortable silence. Shoto kept his head where it was, and I had no interest in pushing him away - he needed the hug. I just scrolled through twitter and various other social media feeds to pass the time. Eventually I had to force myself to stop though, one negative news story about the CCG led to another and before I knew it I was doomscrolling my way through stories of ghouls being unfairly cut down. 

The timing worked out at least, as I put my phone back into my pocket in an attempt to quash the frustration the news was planting in me, the coach stopped at the travel centre. The shake as the bus released tire pressure woke Shoto up, who I hadn’t even realised had fallen asleep on my shoulder. “Ah, sorry about that.” 

I waved a hand at him. “Don’t worry about it, you needed it.”

We all looked expectantly at Shota who was now standing at the very front of the bus in the middle of the aisle. “Alright, listen up. This is why you’re not wearing your uniforms, you’ve got half an hour to do whatever you need to do. Stretch your legs, have breakfast, get a coffee, or just go to the toilet. Make sure to stick to pairs at a minimum, and keep a low profile. We will reconvene here in half an hour.”

I left the bus and formed a small group with Hitoshi, Shoto, and Katsuki. Hitoshi and Katsuki went to get some breakfast, whilst Shoto and I just went to a coffee place to grab some coffee. It wasn’t the most amazing coffee place, but it was a service station so I would take what I could get. I walked up to the counter to order my coffee when my sense of smell wasn’t only assaulted by coffee, but by the smell of ghoul. And it was coming straight from behind the counter.

“I’ll be with you in a second.” I heard. Somebody wearing an apron and uniform came out from what looked like a staffroom. He was barely older than some of the third years at UA, clearly invested in the emo look, and reeked of ghoul. His eyes widened as he saw me. “Oh my God, you’re Aizawa Izuku, the UA Ghoul.”

Seemed like that moniker wasn’t going away anytime soon. Thankfully though, he kept his voice down. At least the ghoul was a fan, and not a threat. I smiled at him “Hey there, it’s nice to meet you…”

“Takahashi! Takahashi Ankoku. I’m such a big fan. You see, my mate… he’s also a human and it’s been just amazing  seeing a ghoul speak out not just for ghoul rights but showing how happy ghoul human relationships can be. Thank you for everything you’ve been doing.” 

“No problem.” I replied, trying to ignore the giddy feeling bubbling inside me. This was the first time I’d really spoken to a fellow ghoul about these things. It was endearing to encounter a fan who was so excited. 

“I know you’re just here for the coffee, but could I get a selfie with you? Something I can show my mate.” Takahashi asked.

“Sure thing!” I replied enthusiastically. Takahashi passed me his phone and we took a quick selfie together, with him still standing behind the counter. He looked really happy in the picture, whilst it was a minor inconvenience for me it appeared to have made his day. If small things like that could really brighten a person’s day then the small inconvenience factor was worth it. 

“Thanks so much. Now what can I get both of you?” Takahashi asked us.

“A large black coffee for me, thanks.” I said. The order was a given, the only real question was in what size I wanted my coffee.

“A latte please, large as well.” Shoto said. 

“It’ll be ready in a couple minutes.” Takahashi told us. He worked very quickly, and before long it was ready and in front of us. “Will you be paying separately or together?”

“Together” Shoto rushed out as he showed me a debit card. He whispered to me “It’s Endeavour’s, I’m sure he can afford it.”

“Okay then, that comes to six hundred and fifty yen please.”

Shoto quickly made the payment, we said goodbye to Takahashi and we went to the place we’d agreed to meet up with Hitoshi and Katsuki. It was just a small table where the four of us could sit, eat, and drink until it was time to go back to the bus. Hitoshi and Katsuki were already there when we arrived, even though they’d ordered food they probably didn’t have to take a selfie break.

“Took your damn time.” Katsuki said.

“Izuku had a fan.” Shoto informed him.

“Tch, sounds about right. Zuku’s practically the ghoul messiah if the internet is to be believed.” Katsuki grumbled. He wasn’t jealous of my success or anything, he just didn’t like that total strangers were wanting hugs with me and so on. Me hugging friends he could understand, but total strangers who might harbour more than friendly intents made him a bit jealous. 

We still had just over twenty minutes before we had to go back to the bus, and rather annoyingly Hitoshi was aware of that and reached into his pockets to pull out something more addicting than the flesh of a human with a mutant quirk. He pulled out a pack of Uno. I sighed at the sight of the pack. “Okay then, let's do this.”

We’d probably only have enough time for one game. For the most part the game went exactly as you’d expect. Shoto had basically no clue what he was doing but he was giving it his best, Katsuki was being overconfident, and Hitoshi was constantly playing mind games. You never knew when a smile was because he’d picked up a good card, or if because he was just trying to mess with you. 

Near the end of the match it was down to Hitoshi and Shoto. Katsuki had been slapped with four plus fours right as he was close to the end and I was never all that great at Uno. In the end both Hitoshi and Shoto only had one card left, and it was my turn to place a card. Both of them looked like they were on the edges of their seat, so I decided to just pick a card at random since I wasn’t going to win. I separated all the cards I could play from the ones I couldn’t and placed one at random. It was a reverse card. Hitoshi looked absolutely betrayed as Shoto placed his final card and won the game.

“I can’t believe it, betrayed by my own brother.” he exclaimed melodramatically as I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Yeah well… if I hadn’t gotten those plus four cards then I would’ve won!” Katsuki boasted.

“Yeah well, you did get those cards so I’m afraid you didn’t win.” I reminded him. He gave me a look at what I said, and I just laughed it off. He wasn’t going to do anything about it. It was truly amusing when he tried the tough guy act on me when I knew I could evaporate that attitude at a moment’s notice. If we weren’t running woefully low on time I’d probably drag him into a bathroom stall or something to make my point to him. I purposely tried to ignore the tightness in my pants at the thought of doing that. 

“Shut up, Zuku. We should head back to the shitty bus before Aizawa organises a manhunt.” Katsuki barked out. Whilst it was absolutely a deflection from his stinging loss and de facto last place in Uno, it was also true. We only had about five minutes to make it back to the coach. 

After walking slightly faster than usual we made it back to the bus in time and got ourselves situated. After a brief headcount Shota sighed in relief and ordered the driver to get the bus moving again. The next stop was just to stretch our legs, and then the final stop after that would be the camp. 

Chapter Text

The remainder of the bus ride went by quickly and quietly, a sense of excitement was building amongst us as we got closer and closer to the camp. Sure, it was going to be a lot of hard work but there’d be down time as well. Shota had offhandedly mentioned hot springs and everyone was super excited to give them a go.

The bus pulled over at what looked like a pretty picturesque view of a valley filled with trees, the sort of place you’d pose for a selfie with your significant other. I left the bus and quickly stretched. This was weird, as far as Shota had told us there wasn’t supposed to be another stop on the way to the camp, unless he just really wanted to check out the view… No, not his style. Something’s going on. There was a black car just sitting on the outcrop, and the windows were tinted so I couldn’t see who was inside. Not that it mattered, the doors swung open and out stepped two cat themed, presumably, heroes. Along with them was a young child no older than five or six. His brows were furrowed and it would probably be an understatement to say that he probably wanted to be anywhere but here. 

“How ya doing ‘Raser?” the one dressed in pink asked.

“Well, thanks for asking.” Shota told her.

With their short introduction over, the heroes began their extended theatrical introduction. Striking poses they were quick to let the class know that they were the Wild, Wild Pussycats. The name was familiar to me, no doubt that in a better world my love for heroes would’ve been nurtured and I’d be spouting facts about them. But as it was I hadn’t really thought about them since childhood. 

“They like a show and dance, don’t they Izuku.” Shoto said quietly to me.

“Yeah, the moves are familiar. I think I saw them do that on the TV like twelve years ago or something.” I replied to him. The little dance must be their ‘thing’ that they do for the cameras, part of their brand image as heroes. It definitely fit their apparent goal of coming across as cutesy. 

“Wow, twelve years ago. That’s a while fo-” Shoto started, his voice louder than earlier. Loud enough to be heard. The one in the blue dress rushed for Shoto who clearly wasn’t prepared to be suddenly ambushed. She grabbed on to his face and very loudly declared that she was eighteen at heart.

I felt a growl in my throat as I looked at her hand covering her face, who on earth did she think she was to hurt my friends. Even Katsuki wasn’t pleased, abandoning Kirishima’s side to step a bit closer to Shoto in support. He clearly wasn’t happy either. He had been getting closer to Shoto and once you’re his friend he’d fiercely fight for you. The hero must have noticed us as she let go and took a step back, a light blush appearing on her face. She coughed and rushed out “In any event, I’m not old yet.”

The other hero cleared her throat to get everybody’s attention on her, and away from what would’ve been a very bad PR incident had this happened anywhere else. “We own all the land around here, and in fact if you look very carefully you might just see the summer camp over there.” she said, pointing at the camp. I doubted that anybody else in class could actually see it, but I was just about able to make it out thanks to my heightened senses. A deep pit formed in my stomach as Urakara asked the question nobody wanted the answer to. 

“If the camp is all the way over there, why are we here?”

That damn smile, the one that Shota had trained a pavlovian response to. This sort of stuff is what convinced me that Shota was in fact a sadist. As I felt a light tremble in the ground as people started running towards the bus I just grabbed tightly onto Katsuki and Shoto, I was under no illusions that we were going down. As the clifface crumbled and we all fell down I used my kagune and pierced them into the cliff as we went down, massively slowing our descent. When we touched down everybody else was still reorienting themselves.

Shouting down from where she stood, the pro hero in pink told us “You should only need about three hours to make it to camp by noon, if you take any longer then you don’t get food. Have fun with the beasts!”

“The beasts?” Kaminari shouted back, only to get a laugh in response as the hero walked away and out of our sight. 

Of course it wouldn’t just be as simple as moving through dense forest to camp, and all the trials and tribulations that such a thing entails, but also having to fight some sort of beast at the same time. If they were estimating that it would only take three hours for us to complete, either they miscalculated or were setting us up to fail. 

Cautiously the class stepped forth as a collective. It was surprisingly dark in the forest, the tree canopy blocked a significant amount of light from getting into the forest, leaving the class bathed in dark. If it had been just a bit brighter it might have actually made for a nice trail through the woods. The sounds of nature were overwhelming, cicadas singing their song, and the sound of birds taking off from and landing on trees. There was a light crunch as we walked through the forest, but for the prewarning of the forest’s name we might’ve found this to be an enjoyable, almost relaxing, experience. Instead it built up dread. It was the waiting as we stepped forth, waiting for something not quite right to happen. It was easy for paranoia to take over. Kaminari screamed in surprise and ran behind Jiro. The whole class was in a combative stance waiting for something to happen, only for nothing at all to have happened. 

“Seriously guys! I heard something threatening! It was real, I’m not making this up.” Kaminari insisted. We didn’t believe him.

“You know, Aizawa sensei probably had a part in planning this.” Shoto said aloud.

Shinso nodded. “I agree, this is very Aizawa thing to do. They’re messing with us psychologically, and that doesn’t seem like something people as loud and bright as the Wild, Wild Pussycats would do. He probably wishes he had secret cameras to watch us with.”

“If he was Nezu he probably would.” I muttered absentmindedly. There was no doubt that Nezu probably had hidden cameras all over the school, on top of the not so hidden ones.

We kept walking, and it wasn’t long before the next big thing happened. As Aoyama and Urakara were engaged in deep conversation Aoyama tripped up on a tree root, and thinking quickly Urakara hit him with her quirk, and then didn’t let go as she proceeded to fall in his place. By the time she realised her error and let him go it was too late, he was hugging a tree and was at least fifty metres or more high. 

“Merde! I need somebody to help me down!” he yelled, fear clear in his eyes. As far as I knew Aoyama didn’t have a thing about heights, but maybe something about his current situation just struck differently. Yaoyorozu was thinking aloud about the practicality of creating a ladder, meanwhile Katsuki looked up at Aoyama and did his utmost best to contain his laughter at his mechanism of getting so high up. 

Urakara was considering floating herself up, but her plan had the flaw of no actual plan of how to get down once she was up with him. Shota would be completely disappointed if he could see what was happening right now. Our class never really had great teamwork, something that could be partially attributed to the split in the class on me. It was clear that if we were going to make it through the forest we’d be relying on teamwork to do so.

I cleared my throat to get everybody’s attention. “Guys, this isn’t working. We need to work better with one another. Sure this might be camp, but Aoyama genuinely needs help getting down, so for all intents and purposes this is a real rescue. Do you think pro heroes would stand about muttering to themselves about the best way to rescue a civilian? Or would they talk with each other, and come up with a plan of action?”

Katsuki backed me up with a characteristic tch. “Zuku’s damn right. This shit’s like amateur hour.”

I looked around to see if there were any dissenters, but nobody raised their voices. “As I see it, we need to find a way up to Aoyama, a way to bring him down, and a failsafe incase we fall. For the failsafe Yaoyorozu, can you make something similar to an inflatable jumping cushion, the ones used by firefighters when a person is jumping from a building to escape fire.”

She thought for a moment before saying “Yes, though I’d need to make a pump to inflate it.”

I smiled, the first part was dealt with. “Okay, getting up. Sorry Urakara, but we need to rule you out. We need something more certain than zero gravity, which by its nature is a chaotic force.”

Urakara smiled and said “That’s alright, it was zero gravity that kind of got us in this situation anyway.” She sniffled a little bit, but as annoying as it was, a rescue wasn’t the place to address it.

“I’ll go up.” I said resolutely. “I can use my rinkaku to climb the tree, freeing my hands to hold onto Aoyama. And then I can get down. Ah- Let’s do this.” I was going to ask if there were any objections to the plan, but not only was there not the time but what I didn’t need was somebody causing a ruckus out of a distaste for me. 

Yaoyorozu worked fast, and before ten minutes were passed the jumping cushion was inflated so that if Aoyama or I fell it would catch our fall. Though it was very much a last resort, luckily it was a larger cushion than used normally by firefighters which was good, most commonly used cushions weren’t rated for that height. I looked around, everything was good to go. My uniform had no holes for my rinkaku and I really didn’t want to ruin it, so I had no choice but to remove my jacket and shirt and go shirtless. Katsuki unashamedly stared, Shoto blushed and looked away as did most of the other girls, but a few also weren’t afraid to ogle. 

I let out my kagune and there were a few gasps from people as they saw it literally burst forth from my back. To them it must’ve looked painful, which it was to be fair. Of course any ghoul worth their salt would quickly get used to the feeling of the skin being broken in order for the kagune to burst forth from the kakuhou. 

I walked towards the tree, felt it a little with my hands, and started climbing it with the assistance of my kagune. The ascent was faster than I expected it to be, and before too long I was face to face with Aoyama who had taken note of my shirtless state. “Mon ami, I didn’t know today they were doing a photoshoot for a sexy fireman charity calendar”.

“Today’s just full of surprises isn’t it.” I told him. “Okay I’m going to let go of the tree with my hands and hold on to you, when I do that I need you to hold on to me. Okay?” I asked.

It took him a second but he nodded. He took a deep breath when I grabbed on to him. It felt strange being attached to the tree by nothing but my kagune, but I pressed on and held onto Aoyama’s sides, pulling him towards me. Another deep breath and he let go of the tree, a short bark of surprise and then held desperately onto me, his head pushed against my chest. 

Slowly I descended the tree and held onto Aoyama, making sure I had a good grip and that I wasn't going too fast. “Bakugou has gotten very lucky with you.” Aoyama pointed out. “Smart, good as rescues, and these abs I’m pushed against. I should be lucky if I ever get this close to them again.”

All I could do was laugh. “I’m sure you’ll find somebody who’s body you want to get this close to even more than mine.” I told him with a smile. Aoyama was a good guy, he wouldn’t have trouble finding somebody who was right for him.

Before we could really talk anymore we were back on the ground and we all breathed a collective sigh of relief. I grabbed my clothes which Katsuki had been holding on to, appalled that I had intended to leave them on the ground. “Did Frenchy cop a feel?” Katsuki asked me.

I rolled my eyes. “No, do you think I’d just let a lowly human ‘cop a feel’ as you put it?” I answered in a lowered voice so only he could hear it. 

“N-no” he replied, his voice strained.

“So then you must think that I wouldn’t be able to stop him. You think a mere human stronger than a ghoul?”

“Of course not.” he rushed out.

I raised an eyebrow at him. I would’ve said more but we were approached by Shoto who probably didn’t want to be scarred by learning about Katsuki’s affinity for ghouls. “We have a slight problem. We don’t know what to do about the deflated cushion. We probably shouldn’t litter and leave it behind, but we can’t really carry it with us. I can’t burn it due to the risk of forest fire.”

I sighed, that was a problem. Even deflated it was huge and would need several people to carry it so that wasn’t an option. “Can Yaoyorozu make some sort of GPS tracker? At least with that we can pass the location on and somebody can come collect it.”

“Hmm, I don’t know if she can but I’ll ask her.”

As it turned out she could make a GPS tracker, so at least now we knew the location of the cushion and could pass it on to the Wild, Wild Pussycats who could collect it another time. I didn’t want to leave it behind, but given the likelihood of further hijinks ahead I didn’t want to be encumbered by carrying a huge deflated jump cushion. 

We progressed through the forest further, encountering more and more little problems, as tended to happen in forests. Never let it be said that mother earth couldn’t kick our asses any day it felt like it. Luckily nothing was quite as severe as Aoyama getting stuck on a tree and not being able to get down on his own. That was until suddenly something appeared before it, a beast appearing to be made of dirt and other things. It was only a matter of time until the beasts we were warned of reared their rather ugly heads. 

As one appeared in front of us, crawling on all fours, I rushed it alongside Katsuki and Shoto. Katsuki used his explosions to push him forwards whilst Shoto used his fire. With both being on either side of me I definitely felt the heat as I used my ghoul strength to keep pushing me forwards. The first to strike was Katsuki, letting out a huge explosion against its front left leg, causing the beast to fall forwards into a large ice spike prepared by Shoto, causing its other front leg to shatter. Finally it was my turn. I jumped as high as I could and landed on the head of the creature. Wasting no time I went right for its neck with my kagune until it too crumbled. When the head was severed the beast fell fully to the ground, lifeless. 

Before I could feel too much in the way of relief I looked up and saw two more, and one of them was flying! I groaned, it was clear that Shota’s involvement had ceased and that this was the planning of the Wild, Wild Pussycats because there was no mental torture to this, there was only combat.

My watch read 18:00 exactly. The sun was setting and the cabin was visible dead ahead. The entire class felt dead inside, and that included me. After dealing with the mentally tiring mental torture of moving shadows, tree roots tripping people up, and just waiting for things to go wrong, we then had to put up with hours of fighting these beats. Everybody played a role, even Shinso despite his quirk not having any impact on the beasts. 

Standing looking well rested were the heroes from early, the child, and looking less well rested was Shota. That was in stark comparison to us. Katsuki was just holding his palms out open as they stung from overuse of his quirk. Shoto on the other hand had little bits of ice all over him from overusing the ice component of his quirk which had been more useful than the fire component due to the risk of starting a forest fire after a small incident that was dealt with thanks to quick thinking. Urakara looked like at any point she’d throw up, again, and Aoyama was holding his belly as though trying to hold in his intestines. I was no better. All the fighting had left me hungry, and I didn’t have any food on me. It was hard, but I managed to prevent myself from snapping and having a bite to eat of my classmates. Though to anybody who knew ghoul behaviour they’d know something was up given that my kakugan hadn’t gone away at all. 

Once we were all within earshot the hero dressed in pink loudly let us know “Wow, that was almost nine hours. Triple the time it would’ve taken us. I guess I shouldn’t have guessed you would’ve done it in the same time as us. My mistake.”

“So mean.” Kirishima cried out as she humble bragged.

“Anyway, let me introduce ourselves. I’m Mandalay, and my friend is-”

“I’m Pixie-Bob and I am looking for a mate!” she declared loudly. Mandalay sighed at her outburst. 

“And this little guy here is Kota Izumi, my cousin’s son. He lives with us now though.” Mandalay told us, before turning to Kota and saying “Now don’t be shy and say hello.”

He let out a ‘hmph’ and merely said “I’m Kota” then walked away, a look of deep contempt on his face. What a strange child.

“I’ve taken the liberty of having your stuff taken off the bus, now let's head to the cafeteria where there’s food for you. I’m sure you’re starving, you can use the hot springs after that.” Aizawa told us. 

Like animals the class all ran into the cafeteria, but I followed more slowly. My nostrils were assaulted by the stench of all the food in the room. There was so much, and clearly it was fresh out the oven. I quickly about turned and walked out of the room before I threw up, overpowered by the smell. I was very quickly followed out by Shota. “Sorry about that, but I’ve got you something. In your bag I added a little gift for you. Also there’s a small mini fridge in the kitchen, I asked them to get one before you arrived. It has your food in it, I’d eat something before you have a look at what I got you.”

“Thanks dad, I’ll do that.” I told him, a smile on my face. Most humans wouldn’t even consider something like me not even being able to be in the same room as the feast and then plan something just for me as a result. I quickly entered the kitchen and spotted the mini fridge, it was the same model as the one at home. I scarfed down some artificial meat before making my way to the room where the boys were sleeping. As I walked through the canteen I had to try my hardest not to breathe. 

Inside my bag were coffee beans from a brand I’d always wanted to try! They were like, gourmet coffee beans. The sort of thing you’d spend lots of money on. I really had to make sure to thank Shota later, because that was above and beyond what was necessary. I put the tin back in my bag, they would be saved for a better day and when that day came it would be glorious. Whilst my classmates continued to eat I decided to rest a bit on my futon. I closed my eyes, and in moments I was asleep.

Sometime later, it couldn’t have been all that long, I was woken up by a couple shakes to my shoulder. Immediately I could smell the familiar scent of Katsuki. “Wake the hell up, I ain’t going to the hot springs without you.”

“I’m coming” I told him as I dragged myself out of the futon. We paid a quick visit to the shower to get clean before covering ourselves up with a towel. Everybody else was already in the hot spring when we arrived.

“Nice of ya to finally join us Midori bro!” Kirishima said before frowning “Forgot that doesn’t work anymore. Still, nice you’re awake.”

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to fall asleep. Kacchan was nice and waited for me.” I smiled as I thought about how my mate deprived himself of the hot spring to wait for me to wake up.

Customarily Katsuki let out a ‘tch’ before loudly saying “Of course I waited for my damn mate.”

I smiled even wider at Katsuki’s use of the word ‘mate’. It was nice to hear him say mate instead of boyfriend. 

We hadn’t been in the hot springs for more than ten fifteen minutes before I asked Kirishima “Where’s Shoto?” noticing his absence. 

“Not sure bro. Real shame, said he just couldn’t go into the hot springs or something.”

That was weird. Knowing Shoto as well as I did, it seemed strange he’d miss out on an opportunity to just relax and chill out for a while, especially with how hectic his home life appeared to be. I stood up suddenly. “I’m gonna go talk to him real quick.” Maybe I’d be able to convince him to join us in the hot springs.

Katsuki stood up after me. “I’m going as well. Won’t be long, let’s go Zuku.”

It took a little bit but eventually we found Shoto outside sitting under a tree, so at least he was relaxing in his own way. He saw us and blushed at our nearly naked forms. I just waved back. It was amusing how easily he appeared to fluster when either Katsuki or I were shirtless around him. “Hey Shoto, how are you doing?” I asked him.

“I’m doing well, thanks.” Shoto replied in his characteristic monotone.

I decided there was no point in beating around the bush “How come you don’t want to come to the hot springs? We’d love to have you there. Kirishima said something about you not being able to?”

Shoto sighed. He had a strange look on his face, something I hadn’t seen on his face for a long time… fear. With a shaky voice he asked “Can you two keep a secret?” Katsuki and I both nodded. “It’s not that I literally can’t, it’s like a mental block.” I was a bit confused about what he was talking about but I didn’t want to interrupt him. Instead I just let him explain things in his own time. “I have scars o-on my chest from top surgery.” In case we didn’t know what he meant by top surgery he added “Breast removal surgery. I’m trans.”

I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I didn’t have any issues with Shoto being trans, of course not, I just wasn’t sure what the etiquette was. ‘Congrats on being trans’ seemed a bit off. “Thanks for telling me Shoto, I promise I won’t tell anybody else. Neither will Katsuki.”

“Only pieces of shit out people, and I ain’t a piece of shit.” Katsuki affirmed.

“Thanks Izuku, Katsuki.” Shoto said, a smile on his face. “I want to tell the class eventually, but I don’t want to go from being Shoto to Shoto, the trans guy, if that makes any sense?”

“That makes sense.” I told him. Katsuki went through a similar thing with coming out as gay. It was one of the things we talked about when we were catching up. He didn’t want to be ‘Katsuki, the gay guy.’

“I mean... eventually I do want to be open about it, and maybe one day a young trans person can see me and they’ll know that being transgender isn’t a barrier to being a hero. Maybe I can be the role model that I desperately looked for growing up.” Shoto admitted. “Isn’t that a bit conceited of me.”

“Can I hug you?” I asked him.

“Sure.” he replied.

I moved forward and hugged him tightly. “Seriously, thanks for telling me. I think you’ll make an awesome role model Shoto, it’s not conceited at all.” My knowledge on heroes wasn’t amazing, but it wasn’t terrible either. Shoto definitely wouldn’t be the first trans pro hero, but trans people were still woefully underrepresented in heroics and not many had breached the top fifty, and no trans people had yet to breach the top ten. But Shoto, I had no doubt that he would make history, he’d make it into the top ten for sure. He was absolutely a contender for number one someday, that was for sure.

“I’m glad I told you Izuku, and you too Katsuki. It feels like a weight off my shoulders, knowing that I’ve got people in class who know. I’m just not ready for the rest of class to know yet”. 

At least now we knew why Shoto wasn’t going to the hot springs, but it was such a shame he was missing out on them. For the brief few minutes we were in the hot springs they were really relaxing. I was just about out of ideas when Katsuki suggested “When everybody’s done with the hot springs you can use it then. Zuku and I will stand guard at the door to make sure nobody interrupts you. That work, Icy Hot?”

Shoto smiled “Yeah, that would work. Thanks Bakugou.”

“Fuck that shit, call me Katsuki.”

Shoto let out a short laugh and nodded his head. “Of course. Thanks Katsuki, I’m very grateful.”

“I give you my word Shoto, if anybody tries to get in I’ll devour them.”

Shoto laughed. “Thanks Izuku, but you probably shouldn’t eat our classmates.”

With that Katsuki and I left Shoto to return to the hot springs. I definitely had questions, but I knew better than to let my curiosity get the better of me. Some questions it was up to Shoto to tell me if he ever wanted to, and other questions were just really none of my business. 

We soaked in the hot springs for what must’ve been another hour or so before we were the last ones left. Quickly we got up so that Shoto could enjoy some time in the hot springs.

Finally dried and into some more casual clothes we went on a Shoto hunt, and it didn’t take us long to find him since he hadn’t actually moved from the tree. “Shoto, the hot springs are clear.” I told him. He gave his thanks and we walked with him to the showers connected to the hot springs. Shoto was quick about the showering and when he walked out he had covered both down low and up top with towels just in case somebody happened to walk by.  He opened the door to the hot springs, and happy that nobody else was there he entered and closed the door behind him. Now all we had to do was stand around for a while.

“It’s shit that Icy Hot doesn’t feel comfortable being in the hot springs with the rest of class.” Katsuki muttered.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, but I don’t think there’s much the class can do in that regard. Either Shoto becomes comfortable with it one day, or he doesn’t. There’s no right or wrong about it I suppose.”

“Yeah, you’re right about that Zuku.”

I sighed. “I’ll need to do some research on trans people.” I paused before saying “That sounded wrong. What I mean is that I want to be a better friend to Shoto, so maybe I should google some stuff?”

Katsuki hummed. “I don’t know, the internet can be fuckin’ weird. Maybe we should just say to Icy Hot that we want to know if there’s anything we can do that would help him, or if we should just do nothing different.”

Katsuki probably knew more than I did. Katsuki was gay and was unashamedly accepting of it, and he made sure to educate himself on the wider LGBT+ community, not jus the gay male part of the community. Whereas I didn’t even know that much about the LGBT+ community. I never particularly thought much on my sexuality, I just liked what I liked. I personally never felt the need to put a label on it, to give it a word. Not that there was anything wrong with wanting to do that, it just wasn’t for me. Plus as a ghoul just trying to survive I had more important things to educate myself on. Things had improved massively in Japan since the early twenty first century, but it still lagged massively behind the curve on LGBT+ rights and education, and progress plateaued in the latter half of the twenty second century, and as such I doubted UA would cover much on the topic.

We chatted back and forth for half an hour with nothing much happening, until a certain somebody decided to approach us. “Hey guys” Kaminari started. “What’s going on in the hot springs?”

“None of your business, Sparky.” Katsuki growled.

“Oh?” Kaminari asked playfully, stepping forward slowly. “Oh my my, is somebody doing something they shouldn’t?” Kaminari asked. 

As he got closer to us I lightly started growling, I gave my word to Shoto that I’d stop anybody from interrupting him. I knew that my kakugan was showing. “If you get any closer I’ll tackle you.” I told him. There was no doubt in my voice, only a promise to follow through on my word.

Kaminari put his hands up in surrender. “Jeez, okay man I got it.” He slowly walked backwards until he was out of our sight. 

Katsuki sighed “Your old man is gonna pull you aside about this you know.”

“I know.” I replied. It didn’t matter to me if I’d get in trouble over threatening Kaminari or anybody else in class, I gave my word and I’d stick to it. Shoto meant a lot to me, by all accounts he hadn’t been dealt a great hand in life yet he still didn’t give up. He deserved to be protected, and it was something Katsuki and I could do. I knew Katsuki was slowly starting to feel the same way as me in that regard.

It wasn’t long after that we were joined by Shoto who had decided he was done with the hot springs. “Thanks for standing guard Izuku, Katsuki. I didn’t think I’d get to experience the hot springs whilst I was here, I’m very grateful.”

“Don’t sweat it half and half, just being a good friend.”

“Oh, we’re friends?” Shoto asked, seemingly half confused and half playful. 

“Shut the fuck up!” Katsuki yelled, huffing. “Course we’re friends dipshit.”

“Katsuki no, now he’s going to as-” I tried to warn Katsuki about the mistake of declaring friendship with Shoto but I was too late. Katsuki from this point onward was doomed to be asked weird questions and guilt tripped into answering them.

“So what’s sex with a ghoul like? Yaoyorozu said friends talk to each other about stuff like this.” Shoto asked. Unlike when he asked me these questions he didn’t have this sense of earnesty about him, instead it was more playful, as though he knew exactly what he was doing. As Shoto gained more social confidence one thing became more and more clear, he was a cheeky bastard.

“It’s fucking great, Icy Hot.” Katsuki replied unashamedly. I had entirely expected him to yell or freeze up, what I didn’t expect was an actual answer to the question. 

“I’m not listening to this.” I said. Katsuki and Shoto could talk about ghoul sex all they wanted, I absolutely didn’t need to be a part of this conversation. As I slowly walked away it became readily apparent that Katsuki and Shoto were still engaged in deep conversation. Another expectation shattered, I had entirely expected Katsuki would follow me as an out, but instead he was animatedly talking to Shoto. 

As I walked into the boy’s dorm I considered the likelihood of waking up tomorrow to find out that Katsuki had passed on his ghoul fetish to Shoto. I ignored the deep feeling of dread that the thought gave me.

Chapter Text

We were awoken at the ass crack of dawn, that is to say half past four in the morning, by Shota walking into the dorms with pots and pans and smashing them together to create a loud ruckus. As I was startled awake I resisted the urge to use my kagune to strike him down. However painful my classmate’s human ears were finding that my ghoul ears were feeling at least ten times worse. My hands slammed up against my ears, pressing hard and squeezing my eyes shut. He could’ve at least woken me up privately before trying to recreate the Krakatoa eruption localised entirely inside the camp. Several loud groans came from inside the room as their senses were assaulted by a sudden awakening. The curtains had been pulled open and light was pouring in from the sun. The muffled banging finally stopped and I cracked my eyes open, lowering my hands suspiciously. “You have one hour to complete your morning routine, have breakfast, and then meet me outside. Get to it.” Shota said. As he walked out of the room and looked directly at me and mouthed ‘Come with me’. 

Not one to disappoint, I got out of the futon, untangling myself from Katsuki who had moved his futon over to mine whilst I was asleep. Whilst not my normal routine I made sure to sleep with pajamas on since I was with other people and they probably weren’t interested in seeing me slide out from the futon naked or only wearing briefs… In fact there were probably a few people in class who were interested in seeing that but that was immaterial. I followed Shota dutifully until he took me into a small private room. He sat down and sighed. “Why did I get a complaint from Kaminari about you threatening to tackle him, and growling.”

“He threatened Shoto” I responded instinctively, snapping in defensiveness over my actions. 

Shota raised an eyebrow at that. “That’s quite an accusation to levy. Do you care to explain in more detail what you mean by that?”

I sighed and took a breath, bringing a hand up to scratch my neck absentmindedly. “Well, Shoto wanted to bathe in private so Kacchan and I guarded the door. Kaminari wanted to try and get past me. I had to make sure that he knew I meant business.”

“I see.” Shota stated. “And Todoroki wanted this privacy because…” Shota paused for a moment, as though trying to say something without trying to actually say it. “He’s uh…”. It was then that it occurred to me that Shota probably knew about Shoto being trans, but couldn't be the first one to admit it due to rules about confidentiality. 

“You know that he’s trans then?” I asked, my heart hammering. If Shota didn’t already know then this would likely be perceived as a huge breach of trust by Shoto if he found out. But either I told Shota the reasons behind my actions in order to not get punished, or I say nothing which is the safest option in regards to not passing unknown information but likely be punished for trying to help.

“Ah, so he told you then.” Shota said. “Okay, I’ll find some excuse to say to Kaminari and then after that you will apologise to him. He obviously didn’t know what he was going to walk in on. Are we understood?” 

“Crystal.” I replied, before furrowing my brows. “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know about Shoto?”

“It’s a matter of school policy. Regarding any student being trans the principal knows since it’s his school, Recovery Girl knows for medical purposes so she can do her job, their homeroom teacher will know since they’ll be that student’s first port of call for many issues within school, and then Hound Dog can find out if that student comes to him for counselling sessions. Outside of those people the information is private and only disclosed in emergencies or by the student themselves.” Shota explained to me. It all sounded reasonable about who knew and why. In a little sense I was proud that Shota had waited for me to confirm first that I knew Shoto was trans, it was clear that he was committed to not revealing information that wasn’t his to reveal. 

“That’s good that the school has these policies in place.” I said.

Shota sighed. “You don’t know the half of it. When I was a student Nezu wasn’t around yet, and the school didn’t have any policies in place. I had a friend who had to deal with the school’s shitty approach to helping their trans students. When Nezu came in sometime after I graduated but before I became a teacher this all got sorted.” What didn’t need to be mentioned was that whilst UA was progressive in that regard, many other schools in Japan weren’t. They might refuse to update gender markers, misgender their students, and just openly disclose their transgender status to just about anybody. 

“At least Nezu sorted things.” I paused for a moment, before continuing “I’m going to get dressed into something more appropriate.” Doing training with my PJs, whilst amusing, wasn’t a great idea. I returned to the boy’s room to notice it was entirely deserted, they were probably all scarfing food down as fast as possible in preparation for whatever hell awaited us. I stripped naked and quickly grabbed a pair of trunks I’d gotten recently. It was strange, for an item of clothing that basically nobody got to see there was a lot of thought put into the design when I was purchasing them. In the case of the trunks they were mostly black, with a hot pink band and trim.

It was only a few mere seconds after putting them on that I heard a wolf whistle from behind me. I immediately turned around to see Mina standing next to the door, which was wide open. “I didn’t open it.” she said quickly. “But damn if I knew what was behind the door then I would’ve. You could be a model Zu, you look delicious.”

I blushed “Ah thanks.”

“I’d ask if I could stay and get a show, but I know you’re with blasty and that ain’t my style. See ya later green.” 

As quickly as my privacy had been invaded, partially my fault for leaving the door open, she was gone. Though I did have to wonder, how long had she been there and did she see my naked ass. She was the second person to mention modelling to me though, and I had to wonder if she had a point. It was actually quite common for heroes to at least model some of their own merch products, and still relatively common for heroes to model other brands. Though most of the latter were more celebrity endorsements as opposed to just modelling. Midnight was known to model for brands, rather than endorse the products as Pro Hero Midnight. On the other hand, Present Mic was known to endorse products as part of his radio business. Rarest of them all, some heroes even engaged in xxx product endoresments or modelling, again something Midnight did a lot of. The prospect of modelling was definitely something worth bringing up with Midnight at some point. 

I got dressed into some clothes more appropriate for exercise and made my way straight outside, not bothering to stop inside the canteen. Already waiting for me outside was Shota who’d probably already slurped all his jelly packets labelled ‘breakfast’. He frowned when he saw me, I knew he didn’t like it when I isolated myself from my classmates but I just wasn’t in the mood to be in a room filled with that much human food. He walked up to me and said “We’re going to be working on that nose of yours.” He reached forwards and poked my nose, a glint of fondness sparking there at the way my nose scrunched up. “For search and rescue it’s probably your strongest asset.”

I nodded in agreement. Surprisingly it was something the CCG pathologists had never checked, exactly how many scent receptors a ghoul had. All that was known was that it was more than the measly six million in humans. Some estimates put it around the same level as dogs, that is to say over two hundred million but until it was actually tested and confirmed we’d never know for sure. Scientists weren’t interested in it and most ghouls weren't going to let themselves become test subjects. “How exactly do you want to do that?” I asked.

Shota gave a grim smile that screamed how much I wasn’t going to enjoy what he had to say. “Well today we need to make sure that you aren’t crippled when a villain kicks off in a restaurant. So you’re working in a nearby cafe today. Tomorrow we’re just going to practice following scents.”

I felt my stomach drop. “You’ve made sure they’ve got plenty of sick buckets on standby right?”

“The cafe is actually run by a ghoul, initially it was a place for ghouls to congregate and have a coffee together. After decriminalisation happened and people learned that ghouls frequented the cafe a lot of humans also started coming to it. It’s one of the safest places for ghouls and humans to meet up together.” I had to wonder how I’d never heard of such a place before.

Hopefully there’d be some sort of technique to being able to deal with the smells as opposed to just having to tough it out. The only other option I’d ever learned of was surgery to limit the sensitivity of my nose, but that also meant making it less sensitive overall, not just in relation to smells that I don’t like. For example, I knew healthcare workers often smudged spearmint oil in their masks to cover any unsavory scents. However I couldn’t stand mint and blood would just make me hungry. In the end it would just make me less useful in a search and rescue operation. I quickly had a look around the clearing, and I could see several stations had been arranged in much the same way that they had during the first day of school. Probably to measure our progress.

To pass some time I took my phone out of my pocket and opened up twitter. We were advised to leave our phones in our bags if we could help it, but Mitsuki had some choice words with Shota and that advice was very quickly rescinded in regards to me specifically. Instead my phone had this bulky case which entirely ruined the design of the phone itself, but at least it meant I could carry it with me. It felt bad to admit but twitter was my primary source of news, or at least where I first heard about something before checking some more reputable news sources. I retweeted a few things but otherwise didn’t do much. Mitsuki probably would’ve wanted me to take a selfie with the sun in the background and upload it to instagram or something but Shota would’ve had me by the neck and shouted ‘OPSEC’ at me. 

Before long I was joined by Shoto and Katsuki, who seemed like they were getting on with each other. “So, has he ever restrained you using his kagune?” I heard Shoto ask.

“Outside of training? I fuckin’ wish.” Katsuki grumbled. 

I sighed. It appeared that Katsuki enjoyed having somebody he could talk to about his rampant ghoul fetish, and it seemed like Shoto was at least intrigued by Katsuki’s ghoul fetish, or possibly even shared it. “Do you think… could he fuck somebody with it?” The question was at least whispered, so whilst Shota thankfully couldn’t hear it I still absolutely could.

Katsuki groaned in pleasure at the thought, I groaned in embarrassment. I loudly cleared my throat and gave them a pointed look to make sure that they knew I could hear them. Looking directly at me, Katsuki answered Shoto’s question “He fucking better be able to. I’ve seen it in porn but that shit’s not a good source.”

As the pair finally arrived at me I was acknowledged by Shoto. “Hey Izuku, we were just talking about sex with ghouls some more. It’s really fascinating. Could you fuck somebody with your kagune or would that not work?” The question was whispered but I heard Shota choke on air, obviously he was close enough to hear the question. I wasn’t looking at him but I very much heard the about turn and the crunching of his boots on the dirt as he walked far away from the conversation, probably considering the life insurance payout if he jumped off the nearby cliff.

I knew better than to try and avoid Shoto’s questions, he’d just keep asking until he got an answer to his question. “As long as I was careful about it, then yes I could. But I mean extremely careful.” The problem primarily lay in making sure that the kagune remained soft and pliant, as opposed to turning sharp and potentially making a very painful mess. If medical advice for safe ghoul sex existed kagune sex would absolutely be something advised to just outright avoid if one partner was human. It just came down to how well the ghoul self trained with their kagune. I would never admit that I was practicing it. I liked it as much as Katsuki (and now Shoto) liked the idea.

“I see, I’ll…” I couldn’t tell what Shoto said as he mumbled the rest of his sentence. I shrugged, it was hardly the most important conversation in the world. 

As Shoto appeared to enter the realm of his head as he thought about ghoul sex I assumed, I turned to Katsuki. “You corrupted Shoto.” I accused.

He smirked at my accusation. “Heh, halfie didn’t need me to corrupt ‘im, he just needed somebody to put words to how he already was.”

I sighed at his words. The worst bit about what he said was how it was almost certainly true. Shoto appeared to be somewhat repressed on sexual things. Evidently being homeschooled he received little to no sex education, and apparently didn’t really make many attempts to discover things on his own. As a result, it would make sense that he would have certain desires but not have the words to describe them. “You’re such a fucking brat.” I said offhandedly.

Katsuki’s breath hitched at the word, a light blush appeared on his face. 

“So Katsuki blushes at being called names?” Shoto asked, seemingly back in reality.

“Sh-shut up you half and half bastard!” Katsuki screamed in embarrassment at being found out. “Some people like that kinda stuff.” he further explained.

“I see.” Shoto said in deep thought. “I don’t think I would like being called mean things. If there’s a thing for being called nice things and praised I think I would like that. Is that a thing?” 

I looked at Katsuki, he was the one who had apparently appointed himself Shoto’s kink educator in chief so he could answer the question. 

After what seemed like a conversation between me and Katsuki conducted entirely with our eyes he turned to face Shoto and explained “Most people enjoy being praised, but some people enjoy it more than most I suppose. ‘S called a praise kink.”

Before Shoto could further consider the existence of praise kinks and whether he had one we were joined by Urakara who was busy conversing with Asui. Over the few minutes that followed we were joined by the rest of Class 1-A. At least Shoto had the sense not to have those kinds of conversations in front of the whole class. We were also rejoined by Shota who had probably poured copious amounts of bleach through his ears to clean them of Shoto’s words. “Alright class, listen up. Before we do any training I want to measure where you’re at. I assume you all recall what we did on the first day of class?”

The question was rhetorical, but he got a response all the same. “We did that fitness test thing?” Kaminari asked.

“Yes. Officially known as the Japanese Educational Fitness Assessment, it's used across all Japanese schools so that the government has statistics on the fitness of Japan’s youth. Of course our figures aren’t used since we allow quirk usage in our test.” The tests were brought in about a century ago after Japan’s average BMI steadily climbed year after year, to the point where there were concerns about Japan’s health system being overwhelmed with entirely avoidable health problems. The end result was that schools with students that had lower than average fitness had extra government investment in their student catchment areas to try to encourage more students to take up sports, and various other programs designed to increase fitness. An interesting side effect of these measures several years later was a decrease in deaths during villain attacks as more people were physically fit enough to save themselves. “That’s what you’ll be doing.” Shota explained.

“Is that so we can compare our scores to earlier in the year?” Urakara asked.

“That’s correct. This will let us see how well you’ve progressed with your quirks since the start of the year. It will also let us see how well this training camp has improved your quirks since we’ll be doing this on the last day as well.” 

It made sense to do it since the goal of the camp was to supercharge our progress.

“The goal of this camp is to get you ready to take the provisional licensing exam. Normally we wait until second year to do this, but events this year indicate that waiting until your second year may not be rational. We need to make sure that you’re fit enough to outcompete second years. It won’t be an easy task but I expect you to give it your all, to go beyond Plus Ultra.”

The first test I had to complete was the multi-stage fitness test. This was done by the whole class at the same time due to how long it took to complete it. The score that I had gotten at the start of the year was an eleven, but when I finally completed it this time round I had managed to get a thirteen, which was considered a really good score for the age group. The majority of students got at least an eleven or twelve, with only a few others like Katsuki, Shoto, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu joining me with getting a thirteen. Overall most people managed to go up a level or two.

The second test was done in groups of four and was a two hundred meter sprint. All in all I’d made some good progress knocking point five seconds off my score. I was first in the class, but that was only because Iida wasn’t in our class anymore. I hadn’t beaten his previous score, and if he was here then he probably would’ve trounced me. I’d have to catch up with him soon. 

After those two the rest of the tests went by quickly, and each time I noticed more and more of a scowl appear on Katsuki’s face. It wasn’t that his scores weren’t improving, they were, but that the level of improvement wasn’t that big. For all the training we’d been through it appeared that people’s quirks hadn’t improved all that much. Everyone’s core physical fitness had naturally improved, but given that the tests were more reliant on quirks than anything it made sense that people’s scores didn’t go up much.

Once we’d finished all the tests we were back to standing in front of Shota, who looked like he was seconds away from passing out. “As you can see your quirk improvements have been minor. That’s what we intend to change here. This will probably be the hardest you’ll ever work in your lives, you’ll probably feel like you’re dying. When you want to give up, say to yourself you’ll give up in five minutes, and then after that tell yourself you’ll give up in another five minutes, and keep doing that until you’ve reached your goal. I’ll let the pussycats take it from here, Izuku you’re with me.”

Whilst the Wild Wild Pussycats, two of whom we hadn’t seen yet, introduced themselves to the class I followed Shota who was walking back to the main building. “I just need to grab the car keys and then we’ll get going.” he explained. 

Whilst Shota was searching for the car keys I waited outside the building. Whilst I was there I was approached by Kota who just like the day before looked as though somebody had pissed in his cheerios. “Good morning Kota.” I said in hopes of getting a response.

The initial response he gave me was a ‘hmph’, followed by “How come you’re not with the rest of wannabe heroes?”

“Because I’ll be training to deal with food smells at the nearby cafe.” I told him.

Seemingly satisfied with the answer to his question he proceeded to ask “What’s a ghoul doing trying to be a hero? Don’t heroes just help the CCG murder ghouls?”

It was a good question, more or less the same question I was asked by Julia back in that pub. It was less fashionable now, but several years back heroes loved photo opportunities of them working alongside the CCG since it was pretty much guaranteed to increase their popularity. Had an affair get revealed to the public? CCG photo op. Accidentally injure civilians during a villain fight? CCG photo op. You name anything that could impugn a hero’s reputation or popularity and they’d be working alongside the CCG faster than you could say ‘The CCG is full of genocidal maniacs’. At worst many heroes actively agreed with the CCG position, and at best many were happy to use the CCG for their own gain. It was only in more recent years that as supporting the rights of ghouls became more fashionable that heroes stopped being buddy-buddy with the CCG. They still worked side by side in some cases, at the end of the day villains and ghouls still liked working together, but they weren’t the go to best friends that they used to be. 

Whilst not every hero worked with the CCG, and some even had proven track records of never working with the CCG, it didn’t change the fact that the Hero Commission did have a close relationship with the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Like it or not, if you wanted to be a hero you needed to have a license issued by the Hero Commission. “Well, I guess I just hope that I’m able to change the perceptions of ghouls. And one day as a result we’ll be on an equal playing field with humans.” I said, hoping that Kota would understand.

“You make some sense, the rest of the wannabe heroes are stupid though.” 

Kota had a serious bone to pick with heroes it seemed, almost as much as a bone to pick as I had with the CCG. Before I could inquire as to what he meant Shota finally appeared with the car keys in hand. “You ready?” he asked.

I nodded “About as ready as I can be to have my nose brutally assaulted by human food smells and then probably deal with entitled customers.”

Shota chuckled. “There’s nothing to worry about, working in hospitality never did me any harm. Just remember not to punch the customer, no matter how much they deserve it.”

“That sounds like a story.” I pointed out.

“One you’ll never hear. Just focus on the no harm part.” Shota quickly replied.

What I wanted to do was point out how being a ghoul meant that the smells associated with working in hospitality could in fact do harm. Specifically, how the smells could cause me to want to jump from the nearest rooftop to escape the smells- not that it would do me much damage. Instead I was forced to reconcile the image of my head of Shota actually looking tidy enough to work in the hospitality sector. I just couldn’t do it, it was impossible to imagine Shota looking like anything but a hobo. 

“Don’t give me that look you brat. I clean up quite well and I looked rather dashing in the waiter’s outfit. In fact Hizashi was at the restaurant where I worked for a meal with his parents. Of course he already knew me as the Gen Ed kid he saw occasionally in the hallway but apparently me in the waiter’s outfit was all he needed to decide to try and pursue me. Not that his parents were over the moon about it.” Shota explained.

What went unsaid was that the reason Hizashi originally tried to pursue Shota was that he was thinking with his dick. I shook my head as I tried to purge that logical conclusion from my head. “Maybe you can find an excuse to get Shinso to work in a restaurant or cafe as well, wouldn’t want the Aizawa family tradition to be forgotten.” I said jokingly.

“Hmm, you might be onto something kid.” Shota replied, deep in thought.

I’d have to make sure to apologise to Shinso in advance for probably getting him roped in to doing a shift in hospitality. Maybe I could cut a deal with Shota and convince him to make it a shift in a cat cafe or something, at least that way Shinso wouldn’t hate it as much. Though it still wouldn’t be as fun as just visiting a cat cafe as a customer like he was used to. Without much further ado we both got into the car that I’d seen some of the pussycats in yesterday and proceeded to drive to this cafe. 

The drive took about an hour or so and at the end of it we were in what seemed like a nice little town. He parked just outside the cafe which was inspiringly named ‘Cafe’. We got out of the car and walked inside, a little bell rang as the door opened and shut. The cafe itself was nice, with several large windows allowing customers to view the street. Stepping out from a now open door which presumably led to a kitchen was a woman who seemed to be in her forties. She had blonde hair, brown eyes, and a few grey hairs starting to slip in. She looked at Shota, and then at me. “You two must be the two Aizawas. It’s great to meet you. I’m Enokida Sayoko.” She spoke with an interesting twang that screamed she was originally from out in the sticks.

Straight to business Shota said “Thanks for agreeing to help my son today. I appreciate that as it is you must be pretty hands on with the cafe.”

She waved her hand dismissively in response. “No need to worry yourself about that. The ghoul community ain’t exaggerating when we call your boy our best hope at achieving equality. If there’s any way that I can help then you bet I’ll be doin’ it.”

It still surprised me whenever I was confronted with the reality that so many ghouls out there didn’t just believe in me, but some of them were relying on me. It wasn’t just my future on the line, but it was the future of all ghouls. It was a hefty responsibility that I would have to make sure to never forget.

“Thanks.” Shota replied, seemingly unsure of what to actually say back to Enokida.

“It’s still a little while yet until openin’ time. Is there anything I can do you for?” Enokida asked.

“A coffee would be nice actually. Black.”

Enokida raised an eyebrow at his order, a teasing lilt finding its way into her voice. “Black, if I didn’t know any better I’d have thought you were a ghoul for makin’ such an order. It’ll be coming right up.” She turned to look at me and said “Enjoy some time with your father, ain’t much time left until you’re going to be workin’ and learnin’.”

Enokida went behind the counter and I sat down at a table alongside Shota. It wasn’t too long before two black coffee’s were brought to the table, one for me, and of course one for Shota. My coffee didn’t last long, it was possibly the best coffee that I’d ever had. Enokida let out a slight laugh as she saw how much I enjoyed the coffee. She immediately promised to tell me which brand she ordered and how I could make it at home.

It wasn’t long before my shift was due to start and so Shota left in order to supervise the other trainees at the camp. But not before Enokida could get me into a waiter’s outfit and Shota could get a picture for Hizashi, and eventually my social media when it was safe to post. 

Things started nice and slow, a few customers came in right at opening time. They were all ghouls who looked to be enjoying their golden years. Meeting a ghoul that was that old was an interesting experience. On one hand it felt amazing to see ghouls that had reached such an age, but on the other hand most pacifist ghouls never made it to that age. Though they’d probably not hunted since decriminalisation they had almost certainly been active hunters before then. To an extent it really didn’t matter though, part of the decriminalisation was an amnesty extended to ghouls who only hunted for survival, and didn’t binge eat. Though it was difficult to prove when a ghoul was lying, so some binge eaters did make it through screening.

Things started to pick up when groups of ghoul and human customers arrived, whilst the ghouls only ever ordered a black coffee their human companions often ordered food as well. Enokida and I weren’t the only staff working luckily, because if we were then we would’ve had no chance in hell in keeping up. Enokida gave me some tips on how to deal with the smell of food, especially strong whilst it was cooking. It still didn’t smell great, but I was actually able to be in the room at the same time as the food was being cooked. 

I felt so much lighter throughout the day as I looked at the number of humans coming into the cafe with ghoul friends. There was even a small group of tables where the whole point was that you could just go sit there and meet somebody new. Enokida explained to me that it was one of the first initiatives she implemented when people found out it was  a ghoul cafe. It had been a major success, ghouls and humans got to know each other and the animosity in the town towards the ghoul cafe and its patrons had mostly gone away. Enokida made a point of telling me that she’d even been invited to a wedding of a ghoul and human couple that had met at one of those tables. Though of course the wedding was just a ceremony with none of the legal backing behind it. Still another right that had to be won. 

Things had been going pretty well until just after midday when a CCG car stopped outside the cafe and two investigators stepped out, quinque briefcases in hand. Instantly the mood in the cafe became extremely hostile. Neither the humans or especially the ghouls were fans of the CCG. They entered the cafe and the investigator standing at the front loudly declared “I’m an investigator from the Commission of Counter Ghoul. Everybody remain still.”

Of course Enokida ignored the request, dodging my hand that had reached out to hold her back and out of trouble, and walked right up to the investigators. Whilst the words were whispered every ghoul patron could hear exactly what was being said. “You have no right to be here.” Enokida snapped, the energy around her practically crackling with hostility.

“Under the Ghoul Control Act we can inspect any premises we suspect houses a dangerous ghoul.” The investigator said plainly, almost smug about it.

The Ghoul Control Act was an old law that still hadn’t been repealed which allowed investigators to inspect any premises that they suspect a dangerous ghoul was located in. The language of the act was vague which gave the CCG a lot of room to manoeuvre. There was no doubt that legally the cafe was a target for inspection since ghouls were known to frequent the location, it wouldn’t be much of a stretch for the investigator to say that there was a high chance one of them was dangerous. It looked like Enokida knew this as well as she let out a resigned sigh. 

Shota was going to murder me, but one thing came to my mind on how to stop the situation from escalating and I didn’t have the time to think of anything else. I immediately brought out my phone, opened twitter, and started live streaming. Whilst Enokida kept trying to get the investigators to leave I kept gaining more and more viewers who were curious why I was streaming. Once I had more than enough I loudly said “So I’ve never streamed before but right now seemed like as good a time as any to give it a try.”

“What are you talking about?” One of the investigators asked, walking towards me.

I ignored him and kept talking, taking a few steps back instinctively. “I’m at this lovely cafe here designed to promote cooperation between humans and ghouls but right now two doves have decided to try and use the antiquated Ghoul Control Act to stifle this cafe’s attempts at fostering good relationships.” I swapped the camera from the selfie camera to the front facing one, getting a good look at the investigators. “They even came here armed with the kagune of ghouls they’ve slaughtered.”

“Sir, please turn the camera off.” One of the investigators asked.

“And look at that, despite me being on private property and having permission of the property owner to film in here they’re trying to stop me. Very typical of the commission of committing genocide.” I loudly declared.

Before they could try and respond the phone of the lead investigator went off. He answered it, and very quickly hung up. “Fuck, headquarters says we need to go.” he whispered to his colleague. 

“Thanks for tuning in to this stream, it looks like CCG HQ picked it up and ordered their goons to leave.” I quickly ended the stream when the investigators had left the cafe and drove away. This had confirmed something that I had suspected for quite some time, that the CCG had a person actively monitoring my social media presence in case I said or did something that wasn’t exactly what the CCG wanted. It didn’t take long for the CCG to order the investigators away once I started streaming.

In typical Japanese fashion nobody made a huge fuss, but instead everybody went on with their day as if the interruption had never happened. Enokida thanked me for helping deal with the CCG. 

About an hour later, only a couple hours before my shift was due to end, Shota arrived in the car looking somewhat fuming. He was probably pissed that by streaming I’d managed to give away my location, but I wouldn’t apologise for stopping the CCG from harassing ghouls for no good reason. He ignored me and went straight to Enokida and explained that I would be going back to camp early. Enokida and Shota walked up to me, and Enokida handed me several notes along with a paper that listed the brand of coffee and steps on how to brew it in case I forgot what I had learned. “Here ya go kid. For what ya did I’ll pay you for the whole shift.” I gratefully took the money and paper and put it in my pocket. “And feel free to keep the uniform, a request from your father.” She gave me a quick hug and said “Great meetin’ ya kid. Keep at it.”

“I will.” I said resolutely. 

Shota and I walked out of the cafe and into the car. Once we were in he sighed. “I’m not angry, or disappointed… not at you at least. I know you were just trying to do your best to get the CCG to leave. I don’t necessarily approve of how you did it, giving away your location like that, but I understand why you did it. I’m proud of you son.”

“Thanks dad.” I replied, feeling slightly emotional. 

He looked at me and ruffled my hair slightly. “Now let's get back to camp, Katsuki and Shoto saw the live stream and need you to keep them from going feral.”

I didn’t account for them seeing the live stream, I assumed they would’ve been too busy to actually get a chance to watch it. I couldn’t imagine that they were too worried, it wasn’t like I had gotten into combat with two CCG investigators or anything- although there had been some fear bubbling deep in my gut. I’d just ever so slightly did my best to make the public absolutely despise them. 

The drive back was mostly silent, at one point I had put the radio on only to hear a report about my live stream from earlier. Some pundits were in favour, some were against, the usual when it came to radio. Nobody had anything particularly insightful to say about the whole incident, so I just ended up turning the radio off again.

By the time we had arrived back at the camp the sun was starting to set. Shota took me to the clearing which had been set up with several tables, ingredients, as well as various appliances. Standing in front of it all, looking absolutely dead, were both Class 1-A and 1-B. They’d definitely been worked hard that was for sure. Standing nearby was Pixie-Bob and one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats that I hadn’t been introduced to yet. Sensing my confusion Shota quickly supplied for me “That’s Ragdoll.”

Ragdoll explained that we would have to make our own food, despite our varying states of exhaustion. She clearly wasn’t concerned about the risk of injury and forest fire that the situation created. 

Then they just walked away, totally uncaring as to what we did next. There were no instructions or anything, so for a while things were a little chaotic. Shoto was using his fire to light the fires being used for cooking, whilst Katsuki was chopping up ingredients. I stood next to him and helped with the chopping.

“So whilst we work our asses off, you get a nice little trip to a cafe?” Katsuki asked in a mock accusing tone.

I laughed, “There’s a reason I’m not running away or puking in a corner right now Kacchan.” I explained. In addition, I didn’t have anything left to throw up. I grimaced at the lingering taste of vomit in my mouth. 

Katsuki nodded. “Good, so now you can actually be near food. Valuable training I suppose. I’m glad everything went alright with those damn doves,” he spat, venom in his voice.

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah, I’m glad it went alright as well. Joys of being famous I guess.” I wasn’t looking at Katsuki as I spoke, I was too focussed on chopping ingredients. 

I felt Katsuki’s hand on my shoulder and I turned to face him. “Seriously nerd, I’m glad you’re okay. I was worried.”

“Kacchan look at me, I’m here and I’m not hurt.” I explained. I put the knife down onto the table and gave Katsuki a hug, and a chaste kiss. “You can still feel me, I’m right here.”

“I-I know that. It’s just… the CCG almost took you away from me once. Everytime I see you dealing with them it’s like being a damn kid again. I keep thinking they’re going to try and take you away from me again.”

We didn’t have the time to really go in depth and talk about it. The rest of the class were relying on us making their food, but it was something that I’d make sure to bring up some other time. He clearly had some amount of trauma from when I initially had to go into hiding, and at the time it would have basically been impossible for him to get any sort of counselling or therapy. Maybe it would be good for him to speak to Hound Dog or something. It definitely seemed like he could benefit from some sort of talk with a specialist. If he went though I knew I’d be coaxed into doing the same. I tried to hide it but waking up after a nightmare with my dad’s fingers in my hair definitely didn’t bode well for any chance at avoiding therapy.

We went back to chopping food. Once all the fires were lit Shoto joined us. It felt amazing to be there with Katsuki and Shoto on either side of me. It didn’t take too much longer for the curry to be prepared. I helped with pouring the curry into bowls, putting my new techniques for blocking out smells to good use. As I finished pouring for the last Monoma who was the last person in line I saw Kota sneaking away into the forest. As far as I was aware he hadn’t had any food to eat, so I poured him a bowl and started following him.

It wasn’t always easy since I had to try and follow his scent whilst simultaneously ignoring the smell of the curry that was in my hands. I had to walk through the forest for a good five minutes or so, the kid was decently far in. At one point I’d caught up to him, but decided to keep back. Instead of ambushing him whilst he was heading to wherever it was he was going I’d wait until he got there. I was curious where he’d be going in the forest at this time in the evening.

In the end he was sat next to the entrance of a cave. As I approached him I heard his stomach rumble, clearly he was hungry. “I brought something for you.” I told him.

He turned around swiftly to face me, clearly surprised at my presence. “W-What are you doing here!” he shouted.

“I saw you walk into the forest, figured you must be hungry. Here, take this.” I outstretched my arm, offering to him the bowl of curry. 
With a scowl on his face he snatched the curry from me and started scarfing it down. Between bites he asked “How did you even find me?”

A slight smile on my face, I tapped my nose “Not as keen as a dog’s but good enough.” I told him. “I just followed the scent.” Kota nodded and didn’t say anything else to me. He seemed like the world had done something to piss him off, and it really wasn’t my business, but perhaps as somebody else who was pissed off at the world I’d be able to relate with him somehow. It was just a matter of figuring out what. All I really knew about him was that he seemingly disliked heroes and that he was staying here instead of with his parents. Whilst it was entirely possible that his parents were doing just fine, perhaps the reason he wasn’t with his parents was because he couldn’t be with them. A careful tone to my voice I asked “Kota, have your parents passed away?”

I felt awful asking that question. Kota stopped eating and dropped his spoon inside the bowl before he slowly whispered “Yeah. It happened about a year ago.” He paused for a moment, I didn’t think he would say anymore, but my expectations were shattered when he yelled “It’s so stupid! They train and train just so they can kill each other! What’s the point of it all?”

There was a lot to unpack with that. “So your parents were heroes then?” I asked.

“The Waterhose Duo is what they called themselves.” Kota confirmed. 

The name was familiar, as though I’d heard it before. Probably in the news after they were killed. “I lost my parents too.” I told him. 

“You too?” he asked, as though I might have lied to him.

I nodded. “Yeah, the CCG raided my house and killed both of them. I didn’t see it, but I heard it. They didn’t need to die, they weren’t a risk to anybody. They just wanted to raise their son and live their lives, but the CCG took affront to that and killed them. It’s just a pointless cycle of violence.”

“That heroes are a part of!” Kota added in. “They kill villains, then villains kill heroes, and it never stops. But as long as you got enough villains then it doesn’t matter if you die. ‘They saved so many lives, Kota’, ‘You should be proud of your parents Kota’. I’m not proud of them, I'm angry at them! They chose to be heroes instead of choosing me!”

I sighed. Whoever told him that he should focus on the good his parents did, rather than trying to console him clearly was just reading from the ‘delivering bad news’ textbook. “You do have a point. Your parents never meant to die, but they knew it was a possibility. And you’re right, there is a cycle of violence. I know that too well. A dove kills a ghoul, so a ghoul kills a dove in revenge, and it just snowballs from there.”

“That’s why this is all so stupid. You’re training to be heroes just so that the cycle continues.” Kota complained.

“I don’t think I’ll change your mind on this Kota, but it’s not as simple as that. There will always be bad people, and so we’ll always need somebody to put those bad people away. Whether it’s heroes and villains, investigators and ghouls, or police and criminals. Any hero worth their salt wishes they didn’t need to be employed as a hero, but that’s just not the world we live in.”

“Y-You’re just the same!” he shouted at me. “I thought you’d understand, but you’re just like everybody else, deluded!”

“Sorry Kota.” I said. I wasn’t really sure what I was apologising for, just attempting to placate him really.

“Just go away.” he said, no longer shouting but clearly still disappointed.

Wordlessly I got up and walked back to camp. Clearly I said something too similar to what he’d already heard. Hopefully I’d get another chance to talk to him and help him, not that it was any of my business to do that. 

I returned back to camp where some people were still sitting outside, whereas others had probably gone to bed. Both sitting engaged in animated conversation were Katsuki and Shoto. Upon spotting me Katsuki asked “Where were you hiding that entire time?”

I smiled, “Just talking with Kota.”

“The angry child?” Shoto asked.

“The angry child.” I clarified. 

“Oi, everybody out here get inside. It’s bedtime!” I heard Shota shout, sticking his head out of the door. 

Perhaps another time I’d get to explain to them what was going on with Kota, because if we stayed out here any longer to discuss it, Shota would probably skin all of us alive. “We’re coming!” I shouted back. 

We all got up and headed inside. Katsuki and I changed into PJ’s inside the room where the rest of the guys were probably asleep whilst Shoto quickly got changed in private and rejoined us. 

Training camp day one was down, day two was next.