Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At the age of four, Izuku knew the world wasn’t fair. His quirk never came in, he lost his best friend…at least he still had his parents, right? Dad was working overseas when he got diagnosed, but now that he was six , Dad came back! He transferred back and was spending time with Izuku! He still loved him. Mom still loved him, too!

…right?

They’d been quiet lately, and he wasn’t happy about it. The house shouldn’t be quiet! Before Dad went overseas, the house was always loud! But maybe that was because Kacchan was always over, and…he wasn’t anymore.

But it should be fine anyway-

“Izuku!”

Izuku perked up and quickly left his room and ran-no, he didn’t run, you shouldn’t run inside- speed walked over to the kitchen where Mom and Dad were both sitting at the table. But why? Dinner had been an hour ago-Izuku was working on his latest analysis-Present Mic was just so cool!

Izuku walked over and sat down at the table, looking between his Mom and Dad. “What’s up?”

“Well…” Mom said as the two glanced between each other. “We were thinking…how do you feel about having a sibling?”

A sibling…a sibling! Maybe they’d be his friend! At least…for a while. But he’d have a friend!

“A sibling!” Izuku said excitedly. “Am I getting a sibling?! Sakura-chan said she got a sibling recently when her mom spent a few days in the hospital-Mom, are you going to the hospital to get a sibling?”

The two chuckled as Dad reached over and ruffled Izuku’s hair.

“Not exactly, Izuku,” Dad said carefully.

“But that’s how you get a sibling,” Izuku said, confused.

“Yes, it’s one way,” Mom said gently, reaching over and squeezing Izuku’s hand. “But that’s through giving birth , which is something I can’t do, ok.”

“You can’t?” Izuku asked, confused.

Mom shook her head. “No.”

“Then…I can’t get a sibling-no, you said that’s one way,” Izuku said, looking at the table. “So there must be some other way to get a sibling that will be so cool, I wonder what other ways there are-can we guarantee that my sibling will like me? I’m quirkless, so it might only be for a little while, but I could have a friend for a little while at least, right? Even if it’s just until my sibling gets to school and learns from the other kids that they should hate me… ”

Dad gently tapped Izuku’s cheek-oh, he’d been mumbling.

Izuku hunched his shoulders. “Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry-we just can’t always keep up with your thoughts-you can’t always, either,” Dad said with a big smile. “As for the other way, there’s something called foster care .”

“Foster care?” Izuku asked.

“Mmm-hmm,” Mom said. “Not everyone has a mom and dad like you do-some kids don’t have parents.”

“Everyone has parents, though,” Izuku said.

“Not every kid-sometimes, their parents leave them behind, either by dying or not wanting them,” Mom said.

Not…wanting? That’s…that’s possible.

Wait, I heard about that! I heard Tsubasa’s mom say something…about my parents…not wanting me-

Wait, are they going to leave me-

“Never,” Dad said quickly. “No, we aren’t leaving you-now or ever . That’s not what this is about, Izuku.”

Oh, I was mumbling again. I need to stop that habit .

Dad quickly reached over and picked Izuku up, settling him in his lap.

“That’s not what we’re saying, Izuku,” Dad said gently, carefully ruffling his hair. “Foster care is when families like us take in kids without parents for a while and see if they should be part of our family. If they don’t like you, though…well, they aren’t a good fit for this family, and someone else can love them. Ok?”

“Oh,” Izuku said. “Ok.”

Dad gave him a quick hug. “Mom and I are planning on doing this-we’ll be setting up the spare room, and a nice person will come by and see if we have a good house.”

“We have the best house!” Izuku said, and the two adults laughed.

“Yep, we do,” Mom said. “And, once that’s for sure, we’ll have some kids stop by and live with us for a while. If we decide that we want them to stay forever, we adopt them.”

“Ok!” Izuku said, then gasped. “Are they going to stay in the spare room?”

‘Yep,” Dad said.

“Then I can put some of my All Might things in there-to make them feel better!” Izuku said, squirming a little and getting off Dad’s lap. “Then they’ll like me!” With that, he ran to his room-his old All Might blanket would be perfect for this, and he had some old figures in good condition that he could put in there! He’d make sure the room was perfect so his new sibling would feel welcome and be his friend!

……………………………..

Hisashi smiled sadly as he watched his son run out to his room, then he turned to Inko.

“He’s…certainly excited, but…” Hisashi said.

Inko sighed. “I know…I wish I could fix everything, but…we can’t make the other kids like him. We can make home safe for him, though, just…what if the kids that come through are mean to him?”

“Then they can leave,” Hisashi said, moving to give his wife a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “That’s all there is to it.”

Inko sighed, gently touching her stomach. “Any foster kid will already have prejudice…we can’t just expect all of them to be fine…if only I could have a kid that we could raise not to hate Izuku…”

“It’s not your fault, Inko,” Hisashi said. “We can just…do our best. Have another kid and…we’ll find the perfect one for our home.”

……………………………..

Izuku ran to his room, sobbing as he slammed the door shut, curling up against the door.

The new foster kid-the first one, Hikaru Gojo-had seemed nice at first. In front of Mom and Dad. He didn’t seem to want to be Izuku’s best friend, but best friends took time!

But then Dad had work. Mom stepped out to get groceries. Izuku and Hikaru had homework.

Immediately, Hikaru had turned to Izuku and told him that he hated him, and that would never change. That with his quirk, Starshine, Mom and Dad would be fawning over him and get rid of Izuku instead-after all, with such a cool quirk compared to not having one, which child would a parent choose?

That had been three days ago, and Hikaru kept this up. He tolerated Izuku in front of Mom and Dad, but when it was just the two of them, either walking to or from school, if they had even a second alone? It was a different story.

Today, Hikaru had turned to Izuku and used Starshine to hurt him-Starshine let him make small little stars that glowed a little bit, and they were sharp . Hikaru did this when Mom stepped outside to greet Dad coming back home from work, saying he’d say that Izuku cut himself on something else, say that he was seeking attention-

Izuku ran to his room, which…yeah.

Izuku sniffled, wiping at his eyes as he slowly got up, locked his door, and went to his computer, logging in and staring at the search bar for a minute.

Usually, he’d turn on his All Might video, but…

How long would Hikaru stay? Even if-no, when Izuku told Mom and Dad about this-would Hikaru stay for a few more days? Hurt Izuku for telling? What if they didn’t believe Izuku ?

Izuku looked up quirkless fighting. Even if Hikaru left right away, the next foster kid…might not be as nice, and while Izuku wasn’t bleeding much, even a little bit of blood, cuts, bruises, were noticeable. Izuku had to have a way to defend himself.

There was a knock on his door.

“Izuku?” Mom asked. “Can I come in?”

Izuku paused. He should let Mom in, but…he needed to learn to defend himself.

“I’m coming in,” Mom said, and Izuku quickly clicked on the favorite link of the All Might video as the door opened, and Mom came in.

“Izuku, what’s-you’re bleeding!” Mom said, quickly rushing over and grabbing one of Izuku’s arms. “What-”

“Mom?” Izuku asked quietly.

“Yes?” Mom asked.

“Can…can Hikaru leave?” Izuku asked quietly.

Mom paused, then muttered a word he didn’t know under her breath as she gently picked him up.

“Of course, sweetie-I’ll call his social worker right after I get your arms taken care of,” Mom said, walking over to the bathroom, but walking through the living room.

“Hey, Izuku, I got-why are you bleeding?!” Dad said, rushing over.

Mom pointed at a little device that they had added recently to the living room. “Why don’t you check that? I’ll be right back-and call Ms. Sakura, please.”

“Why’s he hurt?” Hikaru asked, slightly pale as he glared at Izuku. “You just went to your room-how did you even-”

“Stop. Talking,” Mom said as she turned and walked out of the room and over to the bathroom.

………………………

“Why’s she mad at me?” Hikaru asked with tears in his eyes. “There’s no need to call Ms. Sakura because Izuku’s bleeding, right?”

Hisashi felt his heart sink as he grabbed the Echo Show and flipped to one of the apps. Inko was out of the house for three minutes , so-

Hisashi went still, then turned and grabbed his phone, glaring at Hikaru as he showed him the recording of him using his quirk.

Hikaru went even more pale.

“Go pack your things-one of the first things we told you was that Izuku’s our priority in foster placements-you just hurt him,” Hisashi hissed, dialing the social worker. “There was no reason to use your quirk, and we don’t tolerate that here-”

“Sakura Yamamoto here.” The phone was answered immediately -good.

“Hisashi Midoriya here-can you please come pick up Hikaru Gojo-he’s not welcome here anymore-I don’t care what it takes, but I don’t even want him here tonight,” Hisashi said.

“...I see-may I ask why?” Ms. Sakura said.

“Come on, it’s a misunderstanding,” Hikaru said, stepping forward.

Hisashi pulled the phone away from his ear and glared at Hikaru. “Go. Pack. Your. Things.” He put the phone back. “My son, Izuku, is bleeding because Hikaru decided to use his quirk on him.”

“...I see,” Ms. Sakura said. “I’ll be over soon to grab him-do you have proof?”

“We keep a recording device in the living room-we had it installed in case of something like this,” Hisashi said as Hikaru slowly left the room, heading over to his room- good . “I can cut the video and email it to you.”

“That’s a good idea,” Ms. Sakura said. “I’ll be over in thirty minutes.” With that, she hung up.

Hisashi immediately walked over to Hikaru’s room, peeking in through the open door to make sure the kid was packing-thankfully, he was , but he went to grab Izuku’s All Might things-

“Those aren’t yours,” Hisashi said sharply, walking in and grabbing the blanket and figurines.

“You put them in here for me,” Hikaru snapped.

“No, Izuku put them in here because he wanted his sibling to like him,” Hisashi said.

Hikaru huffed, but finished packing quickly. “Don’t see why you’re defending him-he’s just a quirkless freak -”

“He’s my son ,” Hisashi said. “The first rule of the house is to not hurt any of us-and that includes Izuku-applies to him more than anything-”

“Because he’s weak and defenseless -face it, he won’t survive in the real world,” Hikaru said. “He’ll die, and you’ll regret not having me as your kid instead.”

“Keep telling yourself that-you can keep thinking that out of my house ,” Hisashi said.

……………………….

Izuku should have been asleep a long time ago.

Ms. Sakura had stopped by and taken Hikaru away, and Izuku had been sent off to bed-he had school tomorrow, after all, although Mom and Dad said that he didn’t have to go since he got hurt. He should still be asleep, though.

But…what if this happened again? What if he needed to defend himself? All Might couldn’t come save him, and he wanted to be a hero. Heroes had to learn to fight, so maybe he could start now? But Mom would be sad if he asked. Dad would say he would always protect him.

But Dad wasn’t there today. Dad wasn’t there to stop the school bullies, either.

Slowly, too late for Izuku to be up, he crawled out of bed, locked his door, and logged into his computer, looking up quirkless fighting again.

Martial arts studios near him…they probably didn’t accept quirkless people. Most wouldn’t, trying to find a way around quirkless discrimination laws so he couldn’t attend-plus, fees, and that led back to Mom and Dad. The next few links were to HeroTube videos to how to fighting videos-Izuku opened them, he can do those when he’s home alone, not when he’s supposed to be asleep. He kept scrolling through the links-

What’s that?

Izuku clicked on the link. It was to a HeroTube video in English-a show that wasn’t ancient , but not exactly new , either. It was from a show that came out before Izuku’s parents were even born. Avatar: The Last Airbender. According to the video, there was a character in it named Ty Lee, who aimed for people’s nerves to…paralyze them? Stop the in-universe version of quirks…

Was that even possible in the real world?

Izuku looked through the comments on the video, glad that the page was translated into Japanese for him. Something about…pressure points, quirk nerves…this was possible in the real world according to someone! But how…

Pressure points and quirk nerves sounded important, so Izuku should probably start there.

………………………………

The second foster kid was…nicer than Hikaru was. She didn’t use her quirk on Izuku.

So, Izuku tried to be nice. She didn’t go to the same school, but the train station was nearby, and Izuku knew where it was, so he would help her get there. She didn’t seem comfortable around him, though…she was gone after two weeks when she said something about Izuku’s quirklessness being a sickness, so she didn’t want to be around him and catch it.

It didn’t bother Izuku…really, it didn’t! He promises…

He’s not sick, he knows that. He’s just…not like the other kids.

He spent more time on his computer, using alone time to practice the moves he was learning, looking into pressure points-they were pretty much the same on people, but quirk nerves…if he hit those hard enough, he could turn off someone’s quirk! Some people had more pro-min-ent ones than others, people who had quirks that worked all over their body! Like All Might! His quirk nerves are closer to his skin than Kacchan’s! Kacchan has ones closer to his skin around his hands where he activates his quirk, but he still has them everywhere!

And Izuku doesn’t have any at all…since he’s quirkless and all.

But Izuku, if he hits hard enough in certain spots, can even use these quirk nerves to paralyze someone’s arm, or leg, or all of them! And no one can do that to him! They can with regular pressure points, though, but everyone has regular pressure points! Izuku has an advantage here! So he has to learn how to use this as best as he can!

……………………

The third foster kid stayed for a month before Mom and Dad found out he was using his quirk on Izuku.

Izuku tried to tell them, he really did! But Minato was always there when Izuku wanted to talk to Mom and Dad, making him pretend that everything was alright.

Minato’s quirk was so cool, too. It was called Black Cat, enhancing his speed, flexibility, perception, senses, and gave him claws…as it turned out, he also had really bad luck at times, which was how he got found out, Dad walking in and finding him gripping at Izuku’s arm to make him bleed.

Minato was brought away fast , and his social worker said that Minato would be in big trouble for everything.

On the plus side, Izuku got a phone after that! Mom said that, if something ever went wrong with one of the kids and they tried to make him stay quiet again, to send either of them a fire emoji randomly, and they’d understand and find a way to pull him aside to ask. Easy enough! Plus, because he was seven now, he even got to have a smartphone! Mom made him promise not to talk to strangers and all, even telling him that he was added onto the unlimited plan, which meant Izuku could watch the martial arts videos outside of the house and practice! It was just a matter of where…

One day, after school, Izuku knew his Mom would be at her law firm working on a case, and Dad’s Analyst hours were all over the place, so he could have gone home, but he didn’t want to just yet! He needed a place to practice!

Izuku hummed as he wandered along, clutching his backpack straps as he looked around. That park was too busy…he could go play on the swings! No, focus-besides, Kacchan’s there and hasn’t noticed him yet-

Wait. Kacchan. Of course !

Izuku happily found his way over to the woods they used to play in-Kacchan started avoiding them after he fell in the river, and when Kacchan avoids it, his friends-lackies-avoid it, too, so Izuku will be fine to practice there!

So, Izuku found his way to the fence, staring at the hole in the fence-it was small-small enough for him to fit through at four years old, but he’s seven now! He’s a big boy! He’s growing fast! And he’s a little too big to fit through the hole in the fence.

Could he…cut the hole to be bigger? Bend the wires? They were flimsy, and this hole has been here for years-no one really cared about it…

Izuku grabbed onto the edge of the fence and tugged, tugged, tugged-he made the hole big enough! For now, at least…as he kept growing, he’d have to find somewhere else. It didn’t matter right now, though! He had a place to practice!

Izuku squeezed through the gap and walked along. He had to get far enough so he could play the videos with the volume on and no one would bother him, but not so far that he’d get lost.

He walked for about five minutes before he found the old creek-it had a clearing on the other side-perfect!

Izuku carefully crossed the river on the log-it was strong, but…this place was only temporary, when he got older, he’d have to find somewhere else. Or he could cross the river through the water! It felt deep now, but when he got older, it wouldn’t be so deep! But the hole in the fence…

He can figure it out later! For now, time to get the martial arts thing down!

…………………….

Izuku fell into a routine after that. When there was no foster kid, after school, he would head to the small forest nearby, finding new videos on his phone at night to practice-he also found this fun thing called parkour! It was usually done on buildings, and underground heroes did it-of course, Izuku couldn’t use buildings, but there’s an old skatepark around here to practice on! He could try that.

But there was one thing he was struggling with.

He was working really hard on the quirk nerves thing, but he knew on paper what he should do. He didn’t actually know how to do those punches or how much force to put behind it…if he didn’t put enough force into it, it wouldn’t do anything, and too much could cause extreme pain, which…would help keep him safe, but he didn’t want extreme pain, just enough to knock someone’s quirk out of commission! So he had to find an in-between point…

Routine, right. When there were foster kids over the years-none staying longer than a month, all leaving because of Izuku-Izuku would walk to and from school with them, trying to be friendly, doing his best…at least, he was at first, but…the bullies weren’t the only ones leaving scars now. Every new scar, scratch, bruise…his Mom and Dad weren’t happy about it.

There came a point when…

“Hi!” Izuku said, smiling at the latest foster kid, a boy his age named Hitoshi Shinsou. Izuku didn’t hold out his hand, just smiling as he sized this boy up. They were both ten years old, and the other boy looked…tired.

“Hi,” the boy said, looking Izuku up and down.

“HItoshi, this is Izuku, Izuku, this is Hitoshi,” Mom said, sighing-she was probably already wondering when she would be calling Hitoshi’s social worker.

“Nice to meet you, Hitoshi!” Izuku said, then looked at his Mom. “Want me to show him around?”

“Yes, please,” Mom said. “I’m getting started on supper-I’m making udon, that alright with you, Hitoshi?”

“...that sounds good,” Hitoshi said.

“I’m glad!” Mom said, then waved the two off. “Let me know if you need anything, alright?”

“Ok, Mom!” Izuku said, then turned to Hitoshi. “Your room is over by mine-do you like All Might?”

“Eh, I’m more of an Eraserhead fan,” Hitoshi said, then paused and sighed. “Right, you probably don’t-”

“Oh, he’s so cool!” Izuku said-oh, he hopes this one turns out to be nice, even if he’s one of those kids that pretends for a while before giving up and asking to leave. “Underground hero that can turn off your quirk, I’ve always had a few questions about him-he uses a white scarf that seems more like a support item than anything-his takedown rate is insane, although there’s no official report since he’s an underground hero and doesn’t exactly advertise that kind of thing, many villains are afraid of him -oh, sorry about that, that’s a bad habit of mine-forgive me.”

“Are you always this talkative?” Hitoshi asked.

“Eh, I try not to be,” Izuku said as they rounded a corner, and, from experience, Izuku knew that they were far enough away from Mom that she couldn’t hear him. “You don’t even need to talk to me if you don’t want, but there is something you should know.”

“Hmm?” Hitoshi asked.

“Mom and Dad’s first rule is that no one gets hurt here-you hurt me, you’re immediately gone,” Izuku said. “One time, the social worker said she’d be here in the morning, so Dad took the other kid to a hotel for the night. It’s a nice house, though-you’ll always get three meals a day, Mom and Dad really want another kid to love and care for, but if you have boundaries, they respect that. You’ll never not be loved here, and your quirk doesn’t matter, the three of us don’t care-heroic, so-called ‘villainous,’ no quirk at all, be kind and you’ll stick around.”

“Ok,” Hitoshi said. “But there’s a catch. There’s always a catch.”

“Don’t hurt anyone,” Izuku said. “And if I don’t like you, Mom and Dad will send you to the next family.”

“And, let me guess, you don’t like anyone,” Hitoshi said.

“No one likes me ,” Izuku said, glancing at him. “I’m quirkless .”

Hitoshi instantly tensed at that, and Izuku shrugged, gesturing at his room.

“That’s your room,” Izuku said. “My room has my name plaque on the door-when I’m in there, I usually lock my door, and Mom and Dad have a key and come in pretty much whenever they want, but please don’t come into my room-they won’t go into your room if you don’t want them too, and I won’t, either.” He sighed, looking at Hitoshi. “If you decide you want to leave, go ahead, but if you want to stay, at least pretend around them that we get along, and tolerate me when they aren’t around. No bruises, cuts, new scars, and please no insults.”

“...that’s a very low bar,” Hitoshi said.

“And if you meet it, you’ll be the first-I’ve had foster siblings since I was six , and I’m ten ,” Izuku said, then shrugged. “What school do you go to?”

“I’m transferring to whichever one you go to,” Hitoshi said.

“Aldera Elementary,” Izuku said. “Which means having to deal with me during school hours-I eat lunch alone, don’t have any friends, so don’t expect my help there.”

“Wasn’t planning on making friends, anyway,” Hitoshi said.

“Huh, got it-the rooftop is accessible, then, if you want to eat lunch there-Mom packs us bentos when she can, but she’s a lawyer, Dad’s a quirk Analyst, so hours between the two get weird-sometimes they’ll be here all week, other times we won’t see them all week. Dad also goes on work trips from time to time, he was gone for three years when I was really little. Mom’s occasionally gone, too, not for that long, but if that happens…well, it’s never happened with a foster kid around, so I doubt you’ll be the first.”

“Got it,” Hitoshi said, then stepped into his room.

“Mom will call us when dinner’s ready,” Izuku said as his phone buzzed. He looked at it-oh, cool, news notification-wait, Present Mic!? “That’s my cue to head to my room-let me know if you have any questions-no school tomorrow, so you don’t have to worry about that, but when there is school, we’ll walk together or something.” With that, Izuku turned and walked to his room.

………………………………

…this wasn’t what Hitoshi was expecting.

Either way, he walked into his new room, closing the door and unpacking his things. He didn’t have much-

What was that?

On the desk sat an All Might figurine-was that why Izuku had asked if he liked All Might? Did Inko or Hisashi leave it here…did Izuku? Is this a test? Is he supposed to…give it back? That sounds like a smart idea…maybe later, though.

For now, Hitoshi took out his phone and started scrolling through an underground hero forum.

Chapter Text

There was a knock on the door.

“What?” Hitoshi grumbled, sitting up.

“Can I come in?”

“Sure,” Hitoshi said.

The door opened, and Izuku poked his head in.

“Mom got called in early, so Dad’s making breakfast and bentos for us-ready for Day 1 at Aldera?” Izuku asked.

“No,” Hitoshi sighed, getting out of bed.

“ That’s the spirit,” Izuku said sarcastically. “Dad worked in America for a few years, so when he’s making breakfast, we usually get pancakes, scrambled eggs, stuff like that. Cereal’s always an option, too, if that’s not what you like.”

“...sounds good,” Hitoshi said, grabbing his school uniform out of the closet.

“Sweet, I’ll let Dad know,” Izuku said, shutting the door as he walked away.

Hitoshi stared at the door for a few seconds, then he quickly changed into his new school uniform -another school, I’ll be leaving soon, anyway-why do I have to go, I’m just going to get bullied again -he brushed aside those thoughts as he opened his door-having his own bedroom was a little weird, that didn’t happen often-he just…had to not hurt anyone here and could stay for at least a while, huh? Izuku hadn’t been there the previous day-apparently he usually disappeared for a while on Sundays, according to Inko, longer when new foster kids came in.

“If you want to stay, at least pretend around them that we get along, and tolerate me when they aren’t around. No bruises, cuts, new scars, and please no insults.”

Well…that seemed easy enough. Inko and Hisashi were really nice to him…so far, at least. Some foster homes pretended to be nice for the first few weeks before turning on him for his villainous quirk. (Granted, they outright said they didn’t care that his quirk was villainous when he asked, repeating what Izuku had said, heroic, so-called villainous, or no quirk at all, didn’t matter to them. Ha. They’d show how much they really kept to that soon enough.)

Either way, it had only been a little over a day, but it was nice here. He had his own room, had been told to tell Hisashi or Inko if he was getting bullied (yeah…that one wasn’t happening), and had been told that Saturdays were usually for family bonding, and he was welcome to join any Saturday he wanted, but if he didn’t want to…that was ok, too.

This family was weird .

Hitoshi walked over to the kitchen, where Izuku was already eating his scrambled eggs, and Hisashi was fixing up another plate, but turned and beamed as Hitoshi entered the room.

“Hitoshi!” Hisashi said. “Want me to make you a plate? You can make yourself one, too.”

“...I’ll do my own, thanks,” Hitoshi said, carefully walking over and grabbing a plate, grabbing one pancake and a scoop of eggs before going to the table, where Hisashi and Izuku were both already eating.

‘Any interesting quirks recently, Dad?” Izuku asked between bites as Hitoshi sat down-there were only four chairs at the table, so he didn’t have a choice of sitting by neither of them, but out of the two, Izuku seemed like the smaller threat, so he sat next to him, across from Hisashi.

“Oh, this pretty wind quirk-I can’t tell you much about it, but it’s called Stormcaller,” Hisashi said.

“Hmm…interesting,” Izuku said, looking at his plate. ‘If the name is literal , then that means it must be based on storm winds, maybe even having a storm aspect to it-winds during storms like typhoons can travel over 190 kilometers per hour, but that would probably be the limit and send the user into quirk exhaustion-I bet that all the quirk nerves would be concentrated in the hands and upper arms, although it’s also possible to have more located around the mouth depending on the activation style-hands are typically more common for wind quirks, but breathing like Dad’s fire breath can also be rather common for quirks like that… ”

Hisashi, with a fond smile on his face, reached over and tapped Izuku’s plate. “Don’t forget to eat, Izuku-you won’t be late to school, but don’t you usually like to leave some extra time in the mornings? You wanted to show Hitoshi around the school beforehand.”

Izuku snapped out of his mutter storm and hunched his shoulders. “...right, sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry-your mouth can’t keep up with your brain is all-but we should try to curb that habit a little better, kiddo,” Hisashi said, ruffling Izuku’s hair fondly and tapping his plate again. “Now, eat. Long day of learning ahead of you.”

“Right!” Izuku said, scarfing down his food.

Hitoshi watched the scene unfold-that was another thing about Izuku. His muttering habit and analysis of different quirks…he had yet to ask about Hitoshi’s quirk, but according to Inko, Hitoshi could expect that to happen at some point. Joy.

Well, school was going to happen today, whether Hitoshi liked it or not. Might as well eat up beforehand.

…………………………………..

“The king of the school is Katsuki Bakugou-I call him Kacchan, but you shouldn’t do that unless you want to piss him off.”

“...why do you call him Kacchan?” Hitoshi asked.

“We were friends as kids,” Izuku said.

“You said you don’t have friends,” Hitoshi said.

“I said were ,” Izuku said. “No one likes the quirkless kid-I’m showing you around the school, but otherwise, we meet up at the gates and happen to be heading the same way. If I’m not there ten minutes after school, I suggest heading home on your own. I also might show up running , so if I do, just take off, too-don’t bother trying to follow me, I’ll be running from bullies.”

“I already don’t like this school,” Hitoshi said.

“Eh, don’t get in Kacchan’s way-stay clear of his hands, too, his quirk is called Explosion, he sweats nitroglycerin and ignites it in his hands, making various sized explosions, can cause first and second degree burns if you’re not careful, but he’s barely older than we are, so I’m almost scared to see how he’ll get when we’re older -right, muttering, sorry. You catch my drift. People here don’t like weak or villainous quirks, but it’s better than no quirk-bullies focus on me more than anything, but I can handle myself-just enough that I’m not too hard to bully, enough for it to be fun, apparently.”

“You shouldn’t have to deal with that,” Hitoshi said.

“You’re just saying that-don’t worry about me,” Izuku said as the two stepped onto school grounds. “You just live in the same apartment building as me unless the teachers say otherwise. That’s why I’m showing you around the school and walking home with you.”

“...you really thought this through,” Hitoshi said.

“Stay a few steps ahead of everyone else,” Izuku said as they entered the school, a few students nearby staring. “Front entrance and all that, shoe lockers right in the door-like any other school you’ve been to, I suppose.”

“...yeah,” Hitoshi said, looking around.

“What class are you in again?” Izuku asked.

Hitoshi thought for a few seconds. “Uh…5-C?”

“Different than mine-your locker would be right over there, then,” Izuku said, pointing as he opened his shoe locker-no tampering over the weekend, that was either a good sign or a really bad one. “You’re already enrolled in your class, so your locker should be there-you grabbed your school shoes first, right?”

“Yeah-found it,” Hitoshi said, taking out his school shoes and changing into them. “So…where did you say my class is?”

“You’re right down the hall from me,” Izuku said, gesturing for Hitoshi to follow him, which Hitoshi quickly did-

“Hey, who’re you?”

Both boys stopped to see-

“Hey, Tsubasa,” Izuku said, cowering a little bit and inching away.

“Go away, Deku,” Tsubasa said.

“Deku?” Hitoshi asked, giving the boy an odd look.

Tsubasa scoffed, gesturing at Izuku. “That freak is quirkless-I haven’t seen you around before. You new?”

“...first day,” Hitoshi said.

“Got it- I’ll show you ‘round-you’ll want to avoid that one-we don’t know if it’ll infect you with its quirklessness,” Tsubasa said, reaching over with one wing and gently guiding Hitoshi along.

Izuku watched the two walk away before he shrugged and turned in the opposite direction-there was more than one way to get to his classroom, and he wasn’t going to follow those two.

………………………………….

“Everyone, this is Hitoshi Shinsou. He probably won’t be here long, but be nice to him.”

Hitoshi looked over his new classmates before giving a small wave and going to an empty seat, sitting down.

“Are you going to share your quirk?” the teacher asked gently.

Oh, right, that’s a thing. He could just not say anything, but with Izuku in the school…maybe people really would overlook a villainous quirk because there’s a quirkless kid a few classes over.

“Brainwashing,” Hitoshi said.

The classroom was immediately dead silent as the teacher cleared his throat and started roll-call.

……………………………………

“Hey.”

Izuku looked up mid-bite, then quickly swallowed. “Shinsou, what are you doing up here?”

“You said I could join you on the roof if I wanted, right?” Hitoshi asked, plopping down next to Izuku and opening his bento. “Curry, I see.”

“Yeah-it’s really good,” Izuku said, taking another bite. “Mom and Dad are really good at cooking-they can get really busy, though, so sometimes, I stop to buy a bento at the convenience store before school.” He hummed. “Doesn’t taste as good, but food’s food, better than nothing-or, even worse, cafeteria food.”

“The cafeteria food taste that bad?” Hitoshi asked.

“No, the kids suck, though,” Izuku said.

“Oh, tell me about it,” Hitoshi said. “I’m probably better off running after school like you said you might.”

“Eh,” Izuku shrugged. “You still might be able to find friends and such with some kids around here. You’d have better luck doing that in the cafeteria, you know.”

“I’ll probably be gone in a few weeks, anyway,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku hummed, taking another bite of food. “Already that annoyed with me, huh?”

“Nah, you’re chill,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku gave him a weird look, and Hitoshi gave him one in return.

“...what?” Hitoshi asked.

“...that’s a new one,” Izuku said, then shrugged. “All the other kids left because they didn’t like me-I’m quirkless, so that makes enough sense.”

Hitoshi hummed. “No, not really.”

Izuku huffed, taking another bite. “Sure.”

“You don’t trust anyone, huh,” Hitoshi said.

“Of course not,” Izuku said. “Why should I?”

“...fair point,” Hitoshi said, taking another bite. “People suck.”

“Yeah,” Izuku said as his phone dinged, and he looked at it- “Ooh, a new Gang Orca fight!” He immediately set his food aside and clicked on the link. “Oh, this is so cool-Gang Orca is such a great hero! He’s mostly on the coast and working on water-based rescues and villains that come up with that, which makes it amazing that he’s so high in the rankings while being discriminated against for having a mutation quirk-I still think that it’s really dumb that people don’t like mutation quirks, mutation quirks are so strong-heroes with mutation quirks don’t typically make it so high up the rankings like Gang Orca has, but recently, there’s been a surge of mutation quirks getting higher in the rankings- ”

“I did not understand most of that,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku tensed up, then hunched his shoulders. “...sorry.”

“You do that a lot, huh,” Hitoshi said, rolling his eyes. “I have a feeling I’ll have to get used to it for as long as I’m around.”

“As long as you’re around me-or just ignore me,” Izuku said. “Most people do.”

Hitoshi went to reply, but Izuku dug out earbuds and plugged them into his phone, one hand holding his phone while the other covered his mouth.

………………………………

“Looks like they’re both at work,” Izuku said as the two stepped into the apartment. “I’m gonna head out for a little while, then-you know where the snacks are, right?”

“Yeah-I’m gonna take a nap,” Hitoshi said, making his way over to his room.

“Sweet,” Izuku said, walking over to his room, changing, dropping off his backpack, locking his bedroom door, then leaving.

Hitoshi, meanwhile, got into his bed, glancing at the All Might figurine-he’d figure out how to give that back to Izuku later-and quickly fell asleep.

……………………………….

“That move makes sense considering Kamui Woods’ quirk causes a major weakness to fire, so switching to have Wash take on this villain is a smart decision while Kamui Woods works on crowd control. However , that’s not the best mash-up in this situation- ”

“Interesting-what quirk do you think would work better in this situation?”

“ Well, in short notice, Wash was the logical choice since he was close by and the closest hero that could potentially subdue the fire, but with more time and preparation, the Water Hose Duo would be the smartest choice, seeing that the two have strong water quirks. Based on the way that the two use their quirks, I wonder about the placements of their quirk nerves…”

Hitoshi stared at the two quirk nerds sitting in front of the television with the news on as Izuku became unhearable-he still had no idea what quirk nerves were, only that he’d vaguely heard Izuku mention them once or twice, and at this point, he didn’t feel like asking.

Inko sighed happily as she looked at Hitoshi. “Those two are always like that, as you’ve probably noticed-I remember when I first started dating Hisashi, he would mumble just like Izuku does. He grew out of the habit-I’m sure Izuku will, too, but until then, it’s endearing.”

“...ok,” Hitoshi said. “Something to get used to, I guess.” He snorted. “Maybe I can even understand what they’re saying. I’m only catching words here and there.”

“Unfortunately, I think you’ll find it’ll stay that way,” Inko sighed. “I’m still not sure what Izuku’s saying all the time.”

“All Might!” Izuku suddenly shouted, lunging for the remote and turning the volume up eagerly. “It’s an All Might fight, All Might fight!”

Hisashi laughed as Izuku bounced in place, talking so fast that Hitoshi didn’t even try to understand what he was saying as All Might battled a villain on the news. At least, he mostly didn’t try, not until-

“All Might’s quirk appears to be energy based to a degree, which would explain how he can have different levels of strength depending on the fight-the difference is subtle, but it’s still there between this fight and the last one-which makes the matchup here not exactly ideal considering the sheer amount of energy colliding and knocking away the reporters and causing insane amounts of wind-All Might has certainly earned his title as the Number One hero-he’s the coolest!-but in this situation, it would be better to have someone that’s not as much of a heavy hitter and would end this fight quirky in order to minimize the amount of damage done to the surrounding area-that building has a chunk of concrete missing from the bottom, I wonder if All Might realizes how dangerous that is and works to evacuate the civilians inside before the building collapses-in cases like this, a quirk similar to Eraserhead’s would be best to prevent the damage, or a quirk like Hitoshi’s Brainwashing would be a good idea, stop the villain from being able to do damage like that-of course, Eraserhead is underground, and his quirk wouldn’t stop the villain from running, so Hitoshi’s Brainwashing quirk would be best in this kind of situation to minimalize casualties, which means that the best quirk in this situation would be something similar to Midnight’s quirk in order to knock the villain out quickly, but Midnight is not in the area, but it would still make sense for a different hero to be dispatched for this situation rather than All Might-his agency deals with damage done in his fights really well, though, so as long as he’s careful to prevent casualities, that should be easy enough-”

Izuku…knows Hitoshi’s quirk? Hitoshi never told him what it was…right? At least, not directly, but Izuku never hesitated to answer any questions Hitoshi directed towards him, even saying…

“What was that about my quirk?” Hitoshi found himself asking.

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at Hitoshi. “Oh…sorry about that. It would be more useful in this situation to minimize property damage-All Might’s great and all, but the force of the blasts is causing damage to nearby buildings.”

“There’s come a day where Izuku criticizes All Might-I never thought it would be possible!” Hisashi said.

“All Might’s the best hero there is for a reason!” Izuku said, looking at his dad. “But there could still be people in that building-All Might probably thought ahead for the damage and had other heroes on-call to evacuate people, but as for rebuilding the buildings, perhaps Cementoss would be on-call to get that situation taken care of since rebuilding with construction crews would take a while and those are office buildings, people need to work and make money, so closing down the buildings for an indefinite amount of time wouldn’t be ideal-”

There was a ding noise.

“The oven’s done, so food’s ready!” Inko said, stepping over to the oven and taking out the lasagna.

“Aw, but the All Might fight,” Izuku said, pouting slightly.

“We can see it from the kitchen table-let’s grab food-quickly, now, don’t want to miss a thing,” Hisashi said.

“Ok!” Izuku said, getting up and walking over to the kitchen.

………………………

“About my quirk…you said it could be used there?”

“Well, yeah,” Izuku said, blinking at Hitoshi. “Brainwashing is a great quirk for that situation.”

“I didn’t…I never told you about my quirk,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku shrugged. “Well…no, you didn’t, but I did overhear someone saying something about a new kid with a quirk called Brainwashing, so I can easily guess that’s you. Based on the tone of your voice and how smooth it sounds, I can guess that your quirk is voice activated, I haven’t seen you use it yet, so I’m not completely sure about the rest, but I think I can guess that it has certain requirements for control, it would mean your quirk nerves are concentrated around your voice box, similar to Present Mic’s- right, mumbling, sorry-”

“ Do you know that you talk a lot ?” Hitoshi asked.

“That was-” Izuku started, and Hitoshi took control of him.

“Spin in a circle, ” Hitoshi said, and Izuku did that. Hitoshi then reached over and flicked Izuku’s forehead to break him from his control.

“There,” Hitoshi said. “That’s gonna break your whole ‘so-called villainous quirk’ thing, huh-”

“That. Was. So. Cool!” Izuku said, making Hitoshi jump as Izuku had stars in his eyes. “ So it’s question based, and your voice changes slightly-definitely a mutation of your vocal cords in order to cause that to happen, concentrated quirk nerves there-being under control made it so I was less aware of my surroundings, it was foggy, which was an interesting feeling, and the only thing I could hear clearly was your command-if I didn’t respond, would you still be able to take control? What if I didn’t respond right away? Could it be used in an interrogation setting to make the person talk? Is it an on-off quirk where you either have complete control or you don’t, or could it work similar to a suggestion quirk where you can guide someone into believing something? If I had a quirk, could you make me use it under your quirk, or would that reach past the limits of what you’re able to do? What are the limits of what you’re able to do? How many people can you control at once? I wonder- ”

“You…you don’t think I’m a villain,” Hitoshi said.

“Of course not!” Izuku said. “I mean, if you were , you probably would’ve done more than just make me spin in a circle, and based on my character analysis of you so far, you don’t seem like someone that wants to hurt others, otherwise you probably would’ve used your quirk to do much more at this point to hurt others at our school, and based on the fact that you’ve been worried about bullies at school, you haven’t exactly been fighting back against it-”

“You,” Hitoshi said slowly, “are by far the strangest foster sibling I’ve had so far.”

“...oh,” Izuku said, hunching his shoulders. “That’s…you probably didn’t want to hear that-”

“I didn’t say it’s a bad thing,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku blinked, then beamed .

His smile is too bright, was the first thought that went through Hitoshi’s head.

…………………………….

Izuku ran through the school grounds, having nearly been ambushed by Kacchan and his lackeys at the shoe lockers-he had some new parkour moves he wanted to try today, so he was going to walk home with Hitoshi, drop off his backpack, and head over to his usual spot, but if Kacchan got to him and used his quirk , it was gonna hurt, and Izuku wouldn’t be able to go today!

Izuku ran towards the front gates, where Hitoshi was waiting already- of course he’s already waiting, I had to stay behind in class for a few extra minutes because the teacher wanted to talk to me about my recent essay-I’ve already told him not to bother with me when I’m being chased -

Izuku darted towards the gates and darted past Hitoshi, giving him a small wave as he continued to run for it, hoping that Hitoshi would understand-

He heard a shout, and when he glanced over his shoulder, he saw both Hitoshi and Kacchan sprawled on the ground, then Kacchan was getting up to yell at Hitoshi-

…………………………

“What are you doing, you extra?!” Bakugou yelled at Hitoshi, who just blinked at him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t be running through school grounds like a madman,” Hitoshi said slowly. “I mean, you ran into me .”

“What’d you say?!” Bakugou yelled.

“Are you going deaf or something?” Hitoshi asked. “I said you shouldn’t be running through school grounds like a madman. You ran into me .”

“You shouldn’t be in my way!” Bakugou snapped.

“Yeah, because I have a radar for exactly where you are when we haven’t met yet,” Hitoshi deadpanned. The only reason he knew who this kid was was because Izuku had pointed him out once on the way to school.

“He’s that new kid,” Tsubasa said. “The one that came to school with Deku on his first day.”

“Tch,” Bakugou said. “You friends with the freak or something?”

What did Izuku say I was supposed to say in this situation? I don’t exactly want to say that I’m his foster brother, that’s going to lead to way too many problems.

“Downstairs neighbor,” Hitoshi said. “He knows the way to school, so he walked with me here on the first day, and we usually leave at the same time, anyway.” He glanced in the direction Izuku had gone-he had, kinda smartly, continued to run away-Hitoshi couldn’t see him anymore. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go home.” With that, he turned to walk away-

Bakugou’s hand fell on his shoulder. “Hold it, eyebags. We’re not done talking here.”

“You’re not, but I am,” Hitoshi said, brushing him off and briskly walking away-

“Psst!”

Hitoshi jolted and turned his head to see Izuku standing in a side alleyway that Hitoshi ducked into.

“Sorry about that,” Izuku whispered, guiding him through. “They won’t bother us if we go this way-tiny, dark alley and all that-they also head the opposite direction, so that helps.”

“Yeah,” Hitoshi said. “They suck, huh.”

“Kacchan’s gonna be a great hero someday…when he gets over his superiority complex,” Izuku said.

Hitoshi snorted. “Sure.”

“He will be,” Izuku said, then stopped and grabbed onto a fire escape. “Ever jumped across rooftops before?”

“Have I what ?” Hitoshi asked.

“Probably not, then,” Izuku sighed. “It’s such a valuable skill, though…”

“Can you ?” Hitoshi asked.

“...yes,” Izuku said.

“I’m gonna need to see this one to believe it,” Hitoshi said. “We going up?”

“You might have a harder time-I don’t want to leave you behind…but if you want , I’m practicing parkour at a nearby skatepark once I change out of my uniform…if you want to join me?” Izuku asked.

“Are you serious?” Hitoshi asked.

Izuku nodded sheepishly. “Well, you’re probably going to take a nap, so probably not-”

“Oh, I’ve got to see this ,” Hitoshi said. “Let’s head home and change-do Inko and Hisashi know?”

“Nope-please don’t tell them!” Izuku said as the two kept walking. “I hate making them worry about me, so I try to be quiet about it, but I…I want to be a hero , so without a quirk I have to do everything I can to get there…”

“Smart choice,” Hitoshi said, then paused. “What…what have you been doing? If Inko and Hisashi don’t know, probably not martial arts stuff, huh.”

“I have been!” Izuku said. “Through internet videos, I’ve been teaching myself how to fight, been teaching myself parkour, doing some strength training- One Punch Man was an interesting anime to find, it’s older, but it’s very interesting to think that Saitama was pretty much an ordinary man that was able to fight before he started his strength training, and I know that they said that it’s pretty standard stuff, but if I want to get stronger, I need somewhere to start, so 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, 100 squats, and a 10 kilometer run everyday is good enough to start at than any place, I guess-”

“I’m sorry, you do what everyday?” Hitoshi asked, eyes wide.

“...just some strength training-I try to do half of it in the morning, and the other half in the afternoon while you’re napping…” Izuku said, scratching the back of his neck. “If I want to be a hero, I’m going to have to work ten times as hard as everyone else…you know? High school is still five years away, but if I want to get in…I need to be stronger, faster, smarter than I am right now.”

“...that’s…that’s a fair point,” Hitoshi said, then groaned. “I want to be a hero, too-I should probably think about that, too, since my quirk isn’t physical.”

“If you want, you can train with me!” Izuku said. “Just… please don’t tell Mom and Dad about it, I don’t…I don’t want them to worry and make me stop, you know?”

“Ok…I won’t,” Hitoshi said.

“You promise?” Izuku asked.

“I promise,” Hitoshi said.

“Thank you!” Izuku said, hopping slightly as they left the alley and stepped onto a busier street. “Alright, so I’ve been doing this routine since I was eight, but I started with ten each day and worked my way to where I am now over the course of a few months-I”m probably going to add more, but I’m still ten, so maybe I’ll add an extra ten with each year I get older, you know? But! But! Parkour is a workout, too, so I also get stronger while doing that, and I’m having a lot of fun while doing that-oh! We can also train your quirk and be heroes together-if you want to, that is, I know that you might not want to be-”

“I want to be underground,” Hitoshi said. “I’m guessing you don’t.”

“No…I don’t,” Izuku said. “So not heroes together…sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself-”

“It sounds like it could be fun, though,” Hitoshi said, scratching the back of his neck. “We could…we could work together when we get older, you know?”

Izuku smiled wide. “That sounds amazing !”

Hitoshi found himself smiling, too, as Izuku started to ramble about different agencies that had limelight and underground heroes in them.

Oh, I hope this placement lasts for a while longer…it’s been three weeks already, and I…I don’t want to even think about leaving…

…………………………..

“I’m glad you’re happy here, Hitoshi.”

Hitoshi nodded at his social worker. “Yeah…it’s a nice house.”

Ms. Sakura nodded, writing something down on her clipboard. “Getting along with Izuku, Inko, and Hisashi alright?”

Hitoshi nodded. “I’m not in the same class as Izuku in school, but we eat lunch together. Inko and Hisashi are really nice, too. Busy sometimes, but that’s fine. They make time when they can and like to do family stuff.”

“Alright!” Ms. Sakura said. “If you’re happy here, then I’ll leave you to it and check back in in a month or so-let me know if that changes, though, immediately , ok? But you should be fine-I’ve yet to have kids actually want to leave this house besides hating Izuku, but you don’t , so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“He’s nice,” Hitoshi said.

“I’m glad you think so,” Ms. Sakura said, gently patting his head. “I’ll see you soon, ok?” With that, she stepped into the genkan and put on her shoes, leaving-

“I’m guessing that means you’re staying?”

Hitoshi jumped to see all three Midoriyas peeking at him from around a corner, all smiling.

“Yep,” Hitoshi said. “She’ll be back next month…unless you want me to leave, I’m staying.”

“And we don’t want you leaving!” Inko said, walking over and pulling Hitoshi into a tight hug. He tensed for a half second before returning the hug. “You’re staying for as long as you want to!”

Even if…that’s forever?

Hitoshi didn’t share that thought as Hisashi and Izuku eagerly joined the hug.

……………………………

“Backflip!” Izuku said, running at the wall and kicking off it, indeed doing a freaking backflip and landing on his feet, arms outstretched.

Hitoshi groaned. “I still don’t understand how you do that.”

“Ok, so this took trial and error to do and a few months-I think I’ve figured out how to explain it, though, so let me just think for a second…” Izuku said.

………………………………….

“I thought you two were neighbors .”

“What the heck ?” Hitoshi whispered as he stared at Bakugou sitting on their couch-the boy in question was staring right back.

“This must be your new foster child!” a woman who looked like a female version of Bakugou said, walking over and hugging Hitoshi. “Hi, I’m Mitsuki Bakugou, but you can call me Auntie! This brat’s my kid-you’ve met? That’s good-how long you’ve had this one, Inko?”

“A month and a half now-Hitoshi, I’m sorry, this was last second and I didn’t want to wake you from your nap,” Inko said sheepishly. “They’re just over for dinner.”

“Time to get to know us, though!” Mitsuki said with a big smile. “I’m Inko’s best friend-but still, you’ve met my brat at school, I’m guessing? Same or different class?”

“Eyebags is in a different class, hag!” Bakugou yelled.

“Hey, I’m not a hag!” Mitsuki yelled back.

“I walk in the door and immediately hear auntie,” Izuku said, stepping into the room.

“Izuku!” Mitsuki said, walking over and bear-hugging the boy. “You’ve grown so much since I’ve last seen you-all the more reason I should come over more often!”

“We’re usually pretty busy, Mitsuki-the Midoriyas aren’t much better,” a man with brown hair sighed. “Hello, I’m Masaru Bakugou-feel free to call me Uncle Masaru or whatever you’re comfortable with. What’s your name?”

“...Hitoshi Shinsou,” Hitoshi said.

“Nice ‘ta meetcha, Hitoshi!” Mitsuki said.

“Mitsuki, we don’t know the kid-at least use his last name” Masaru sighed.

“...is this normal?” Hitoshi asked Izuku.

“Pretty much, yeah,” Izuku said. “Sorry, would’ve mentioned it if I’d known.”

“We had a cancellation this afternoon and decided to stop by last moment!” Mitsuki said. “Just our luck that Inko and Hisashi were free, too! So of course I had to stop by and see my nephew and the new kid.”

“...ok,” Hitoshi said awkwardly.

“So, what’s been new, Izuku?” Mitsuki asked. “Any new All Might figurines you want to show off?”

Izuku perked up and nodded before running off to his room.

“Hitoshi, what’s your favorite hero?” Mitsuki asked.

“Eraserhead,” Hitoshi said.

“...I’m not familiar with him,” Mitsuki said.

“He’s underground,” Hitoshi said as Izuku slid around the corner, holding as many All Might figurines as he could carry, stars in his eyes-here we go.

“Are we talking about Eraserhead?!” Izuku asked excitedly as he walked over to the coffee table, setting his stuff around, rummaging for a second before pulling out- ok, that’s absolutely perfect . “I got this from a store and bought the other materials-it was too perfect to not .”

“So you made an Eraserhead cat plushie?” Hitoshi snickered.

Izuku tossed the plushie at him. “Don’t be mean to Erasercat!Besides, he matches Cat Might!” Izuku picked up another plushie- that one was clearly official merch of All Might…as a cat. “It was too purrfect not to do, so now there’s matching ones! So! I got Cat Might a little while ago-he’s wearing All Might’s Silver Age costume, it’s a great costume because- ” With that, Hitoshi stopped being able to understand even one word he said as he rummaged through his (mostly All Might) hero merch to show to Mitsuki, Masaru, and Bakugou, who didn’t exactly look thrilled to be sitting on the couch listening to Izuku ramble, but he looked…calmer than he did at school. It was weird .

…………………………….

“By the way, you can keep Erasercat.”

“...huh?” Hitoshi asked, blinking at Izuku. “Seriously?”

“Of course!” Izuku said. “I…I actually made him to give to you for your birthday, but that’s a while away still, so I didn’t want to wait that long-I’ll have something else when it comes to that, but…think of this as a ‘happy month-and-a-half here’ gift instead!” He picked up Cat Might. “We match now!”

“Are…are you sure?” Hitoshi asked.

“Of course!” Izuku said, hugging Cat Might to his chest. “Do you like it? I can figure something else out-”

Hitoshi quickly gave Izuku a hug.

“It’s purrfect ,” Hitoshi said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Izuku said, hugging him back.

Chapter Text

“What the hell was that this weekend!?”

Izuku didn’t run away fast enough to escape Kacchan, his lackeys snickering nearby.

“W-What was what?” Izuku asked nervously, backing into the wall-he can’t get away without throwing punches, this is bad, he can’t fight Kacchan, he’ll get in trouble for fighting, and Kacchan would be furious if Izuku fought back-he knew about Hitoshi being his foster brother now, too, what if he went after him because Izuku can fight back and has figured out chi blocking- it would almost be- not the time, don’t mutter, don’t mutter, don’t mutter-!

“That brainwashing kid isn’t your neighbor ,” Kacchan hissed. “That freak is your newest foster brother.”

“I-I didn’t want anyone to bother him!” Izuku said, hunching in on himself. “P-People don’t like me, I-I didn’t want-”

“ Hey, what are you doing? ”

“Wha-” Kacchan started, turning around-

“ Let. Him. Go.”

Kacchan let go of Izuku and stepped back as Tsubasa and Fushiguro stepped forward, Fushiguro using his incredibly interesting quirk, honestly -to trap Izuku while a furious Tsubasa stepped towards Hitoshi, raising a fist to punch-

Izuku was not going to let that happen.

Before he could even register what he was doing, Izuku grabbed onto Fushiguro’s wrist, quickly reaching forward and tugging him, surprising the boy as Izuku slammed him into the wall, stunning the boy momentarily before Izuku darted towards Tsubasa, grabbing onto his uniform and yanking him back, stopping the fist from landing seconds before as Izuku quickly hit a few spots along Tsubasa’s spine, causing the boy to yelp in shock and crumble to the ground in a heap.

“What the-!?” Hitoshi said, eyes wide in shock-

“WHAT THE FUCK ?!” Kacchan yelled-he’d been broken out of the control, probably when Hitoshi lost concentration-before turning to attack Izuku-

Still not completely thinking straight, Izuku ducked the blast, landing a few shots in certain spots- wrist, right by elbow, strike harder there than wrist, near shoulder- causing Kacchan’s arm to go limp, unable to use his quirk in that arm, surprising the boy for long enough for Izuku to grab his left arm and pull him off balance, maneuvering his arm behind his back, palm towards his back as Kacchan was pushed and pinned to the ground, Izuku’s knee in the small of his back, right next to the pinned hand, straining his shoulder and ribcage.

“What the fuck ?!” Kacchan yelled as Izuku looked at Hitoshi, Fushiguro staring in shock as well, unsure of what just happened.

“Are you alright?” Izuku asked.

“Am I alright-when were you going to tell me you could do that ?” Hitoshi asked.

“W-Was that a quirk?!” Fushiguro squeaked.

“What’s going on?” a teacher asked, coming around the corner. “Midoriya, what did you do ? You know what, no, principal’s office, now . All of you!”

Izuku quickly scrambled off Kacchan’s back, debating on helping him up, but instead going over to Hitoshi as Fushiguro poked at Tsubasa.

“Hey, dude, get up,” Fushiguro said.

“I…I can’t move ,” Tsubasa said, clearly freaking out-

“You’ll be able to in about…five to ten minutes,” Izuku said. “Your wings, on the other hand…take about a day or so…probably.”

“How the fuck did you do that?” Kacchan hissed.

“Midoriya, you shouldn’t be starting fights and hurting other kids-” the teacher said.

“ They cornered him ,” Hitoshi said.

“We can talk about this in the principal’s office ,” the teacher hissed before reaching and getting Tsubasa to stand up, only for the boy to crumble again. The teacher sighed, opting to carry the boy instead.

………………………………….

“I would like to see the camera footage of this fight , please.”

Hitoshi nudged at Izuku slightly, but the other boy was still looking at the ground, as he had been since all five boys had been told to sit in the office, Tsubasa’s wings completely limp while Bakugou was flexing his hands, his left hand setting off explosions while his right…wasn’t.

And where had that come from? That…was that a quirk? But Izuku didn’t have a quirk-he would’ve told Hitoshi by now if he did…right?

And Inko and Hisashi would’ve mentioned it, surely. Hopefully. After a month and a half, Hitoshi would’ve had some kind of idea if Izuku had a quirk…but that didn’t explain what happened back there. That shouldn’t be possible without a quirk. Granted, if anyone could do it…it would probably be Hitoshi’s foster brother.

“I’m not entirely sure why-” the principal started.

Hisashi leveled the principal with a glare that immediately shut him up. “As stated in your school handbook, parents are allowed to request security footage in moments such as this as long as all students and parents involved are informed of this, and it looks like we’re all present here.”

“You made us sign this contract at the start of Izuku’s time here, and you made us sign it again when Hitoshi started,” Inko added. “So I strongly suggest that you get that footage pulled up for us so we can see what happened with our own eyes.”

“Aren’t their testimonies enough?” the principal asked. “Midoriya attacked-”

“According to Hitoshi, he was cornered , and it was self-defense , and I’m more likely to take his side here-I know my son,” Inko said.

“And yet Midoriya won’t say a word about it-he knows he’s guilty here,” the principal said.

“Footage. Now ,” Inko said. “You don’t want to get sued over this, I’m sure .”

The principal immediately turned to his computer and started to type to pull up the files needed.

Inko walked over and gently pat Izuku and Hitoshi’s heads. “And neither of you are hurt, right?”

“I’m fine,” Hitoshi said, nudging Izuku, who only shook his head.

“ Your kid hurt ours ,” Tsubasa’s mom said.

“Oh, Izuku couldn’t hurt a fly,” Mitsuki scoffed. “I’m not sure what kind of mix-up was present, and I mean no offense, but does Hitoshi have an illusion quirk that could have caused this-”

“Don’t you dare accuse my son of this-” Inko started.

“I have the video pulled up,” the principal said, turning his computer around to show everyone.

The video started with Bakugou using his quirk as he cornered Izuku against the wall, the other two behind him snickering, and the incident played out.

“So, as you can see-” the principal started.

Inko slowly looked at him, and the principal stopped before Inko turned to Bakugou.

“Katsuki,” she said-Hitoshi did not like that tone in her voice. “Quirk usage is not allowed in such a manner- why did you use it to corner my son?”

“Oh, quirks activate on accident all the time-I’m sure you would-” the principal started as Inko turned to glare at him, and he immediately went quiet as she turned to Tsubasa and Fushiguro’s parents.

“I’m not sure why you two think that it’s alright for your kids to act like that-Tsubasa, you were going to punch Hitoshi-you may be ten years old, but that doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t get in trouble for that-and Fushiguro, you moved to pin Izuku against the wall-Principal, Hitoshi didn’t do anything, and Izuku only acted in self-defense-therefore, the fact that you were going to give my sons detention and let these three off without even a warning is despicable when they started the fight,” Inko said.

“My son can’t even move his wings right now!” Tsubasa’s mom said.

“And I still can’t use my quirk-Deku, what the fuck were you hiding a quirk for-” Bakugou started, moving to stand, his left hand flashing with explosions.

“Katsuki, sit ,” Mitsuki snapped, and immediately , Bakugou was back in his chair and silent .

“I have to agree-a quirk like that…I was under the impression that Midoriya didn’t have a quirk-would you mind explaining that?” the principal asked, and everyone looked at Izuku.

“Izuku…” Hisashi said quietly, and Izuku hunched his shoulders and lightly shook his head.

“Not…not a quirk,” Izuku whispered, but it might as well have been a shout with how quiet the room went. “I…I don’t have a quirk.”

“Then what the hell -” Fushiguro’s mom started.

“Midoriya, I’m disappointed that you would lie about this-what you pulled back there couldn’t be anything but a quirk,” the principal scolded.

“I’m not lying,” Izuku said. “I-”

“Detention for a week,” the principal said.

“Oh, hell no,” Inko said. “You can’t seriously be making my son be in detention when he was defending himself-”

“He’s a troublemaker, Mrs. Midoriya,” the principal said. “I’m sure that Bakugou had a good reason for cornering him like that, and we don’t have audio of the incident, so Shinsou must have done something to provoke him-”

“We’re done here-Izuku won’t be serving detention,” Inko said.

“Suspension, then?” the principal smirked.

“I’m pulling Izuku and HItoshi from your school-expect to be hearing from my law office soon,” Inko said, looking at her sons, who were both shocked. “Let’s go.”

Hitoshi quickly got up, Izuku standing up a few seconds later.

Hisashi reached over and took their backpacks, glaring at the principal before the four left the office quickly, walking to the parking lot and getting into Inko and Hisashi’s car-

“You two promise that you aren’t injured?” Inko asked, looking at the two as she got in the passenger seat, already taking out her phone to send a text.

“I’m fine,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku just hummed, looking at his lap after he buckled his seatbelt.

“No injuries, Izuku?” Hisashi asked, fully turning to look at his son.

“No,” Izuku whispered.

“...so, what…?” Hisashi trailed off.

“...I don’t want to talk about it,” Izuku whispered.

It was silent for a full minute.

“...we can talk about it later, then,” Hisashi said. “After a nap, does that sound good?”

Izuku hummed. 

“Alright-we’ll start looking for new schools in the area and let your social worker know of this, Hitoshi,” Inko said. “We’ll start looking into quirk discrimination policies and such when we get home.”

“...you’re sending me away?” Hitoshi asked quietly.

“No, no, of course not!” Inko said. “You’re staying here for as long as you want! We’ll enroll both of you in a different elementary school in the area-it might be a bit of a commute, but I refuse to have either of my sons at that school any longer. I don’t care what Mitsuki does-oh, she’s making me so mad right now, accusing you of using your quirk to try to get her son in trouble-what was Katsuki thinking , using his quirk like that? It’s not legal, and yes , quirk accidents happen, especially in younger children, but Katsuki should be better than this by now.” She turned to the front again and looked at her phone. “My law firm has already gotten complaints about Aldera School district, so we’re going to pull some footage immediately and start a case about that. Either way, you’re not returning there, so you don’t have to worry about all that.” She sighed, clicking on something on her phone. “I wonder if a private school would be better…don’t they usually have a better record about bullying and such?”

“Aren’t those expensive, though?” Hitoshi asked. “There’s more public schools around here-”

“It would be worth it if you’re both healthy and happy,” Inko immediately said. “You’re my sons, and I refuse to let you be hurt like this.”

Hitoshi paused, then smiled at that. “O-Okay.”

“ Good ,” Inko said.

……………………………..

Right as they walked into the door, Izuku bee-lined for his room and shut and locked the door, curling up on his bed and hugging Cat Might tightly to his chest as he started to silently cry.

Mom and Dad were going to hate him. Not just yet, but they would. A quirkless kid was one thing, but one that could stop people from using their quirks? One that could take someone down in an instant? Mom didn’t exactly approve of his choice to be a hero, and Dad would rather he was an Analyst just like he was-that’s one of the reasons he hid this! Sure, it was also so he could defend himself against the meaner foster kids, but he’d passed that a while ago. And what if Hitoshi hated him over this, too? What if Hitoshi wanted to leave, too? Izuku couldn’t handle it if Hitoshi decided to leave-he was Izuku’s favorite foster sibling, he was the nicest one that had come through the house, might be the nicest to ever come through the house, he was surely disgusted with Izuku now, Izuku messed up, Izuku messed up, Izuku messed up-

There was a knock on his door.

“Izuku…sweetie, can I come in?”

Izuku stayed quiet, pulling his covers over his head and curling in on himself even more.

“...I’m going to order takeout-I’ll get you some Katsudon and come get you when it gets here,” Inko said through the door, and Izuku could hear her walk away.

Izuku buried his face in his pillow and silently cried himself to sleep.

……………………………….

“Hey, buddy.”

Izuku woke up, but he didn’t bother opening his eyes as his Dad shook him awake.

“Izuku, food’s here-Katsudon, your favorite,” Dad said. “There’s also a cool fight going on on the news-Mom said we can eat in the living room today.”

“I’m not hungry,” Izuku whispered, pulling his covers back over his head.

“...buddy, you need to eat,” Dad said softly.

“I’m not hungry,” Izuku repeated.

“Then just the news?” Dad asked hopefully. “I saw All Might-”

“I just want to sleep,” Izuku said sharply.

Dad paused, and Izuku felt bad-he should apologize-

“Ok, buddy,” Dad said, getting up slowly. “Just…we’ll put your Katsudon in the fridge for you, ok? Just…come talk when you’re ready, ok?”

Izuku hummed. Dad waited for a few seconds before quietly leaving the room and closing the door.

………………………………..

“When am I leaving?”

The two adults looked at Hitoshi.

“You’re not,” Inko said immediately, setting her chopsticks down. “We…we said that earlier. You’re not leaving here.”

“You were just saying that, though-I know that you were,” Hitoshi said, looking down at the table. “Is Ms. Sakura on her way? I can go pack my stuff-”

“Hitoshi,” Hisashi said. “You’re staying with us for as long as you want to. We want it to be forever-as far as we are concerned, you’re already our son, not just our foster kid at this point.”

“Izuku’s no longer our oldest,” Inko joked. “The adoption papers won’t be going through fast enough when we can start on them.”

Hitoshi looked up at the two of them. “You…you’re serious?”

“Of course we are, Hitoshi,” Inko said. “You’re a part of this home that we’ve been looking for for years now, and we’re so happy that we have you here now. That’s if you want to stay, of course, if you don’t want to-”

“I want to stay here forever,” Hitoshi blurted out. “I don’t want to leave-Mom, Dad, I don’t want to ever leave-”

The two were almost immediately next to him and pulling him into a tight hug.

“Then you’re staying here,” Inko said. “I’ll call Ms. Sakura and let her know.

……………………………………

“Hey.”

Izuku didn’t say anything, hugging Cat Might a little tighter.

“Don’t ignore me,” Hitoshi said, plopping down on Izuku’s bed, fully laying down and flinging his arm over the bundle that was Izuku. “Crazy day, huh?”

Izuku hummed.

Hitoshi groaned, sitting up and yanking the blanket back. “Come on, get up-Mom and Dad went to their room-still looking into a new school for us and all-so you need to eat-you need to eat three meals every single day or whatever you said that one time when I asked where your training routine came from. You haven’t done the second half of it, either, I’m guessing, so up and at them. We can talk about whatever the hell happened today.”

“I don’t wanna,” Izuku said.

“Too bad,” Hitoshi said, grabbing onto Izuku under his arms and dragging him all the way to the kitchen, forcing him to sit at the table as he reached into the fridge. “Do you wanna eat your Katsudon cold or heated up?”

“I’m not hungry,” Izuku said.

“Warmed up it is,” Hitoshi said, putting the food in the microwave and starting it, grabbing chopsticks and setting them next to Izuku. “You’re still wearing your uniform, huh-gross, it’s, what, ten at night?” He yawned.

“You can go to bed, you know,” Izuku said.

“Nah, I think I’ll sit up with you-I’m tired, but I don’t think I’m sleeping after today,” Hitoshi said, leaning against the counter and staring at Izuku. “So. When were you going to tell me that you could do that whole…whatever it is you did today? I knew you could fight, but I didn’t know you could do that . When were you going to teach me that ?”

“...you didn’t need to know,” Izuku whispered. “I…that was the first time I actually used it against someone, I…I shouldn’t have.”

“Well, you definitely saved my butt from getting beat,” Hitoshi said. “I’m glad you did. Thank you.”

Izuku paused, then looked up and blinked at him. “H-Huh?”

“Thank you,” Hitoshi repeated. “Seriously, I didn’t want to have to deal with the black eye, and like Mom said, they started it, so no trouble for us. Hopefully our next school will be better, huh?”

Izuku looked down at the table. “...yeah.”

The microwave beeped, and Hitoshi grabbed the food, setting it in front of Izuku and sitting next to him. “Do you think Bakugou’s still gonna come visit? Mom and Dad seemed pretty mad at him.”

“Auntie Mitsuki is Mom’s best friend-has been for a really long time,” Izuku said. “I don’t think that’s going to change.”

“Darn,” Hitoshi said. “Well, I guess one can dream.” He paused for a second, then reached over and smacked Izuku upside the head, causing Izuku to flinch and turn to glare at him.

“What was that for?” Izuku said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Stop moping around,” Hitoshi said. “Get your head back here and stop . I don’t know what you’re thinking, but you’re overthinking about something. So? Walk me through it .”

“I’m not overthinking,” Izuku pouted.

“ Yes , you are,” Hitoshi said. “You can’t just avoid us for an entire day and worry Mom and Dad because you think something’s wrong. So? What’s up?”

“...they’re mad at me,” Izuku said.

Hitoshi snorted. “No they aren’t. They’re worried , not mad. A little proud, too, I think. Keeping yourself safe and all that.”

“They don’t want me to be a hero and learn to fight like this-I-” Izuku started.

“Izuku, they don’t care about that,” Hitoshi said.

“Mom…Mom doesn’t want me to be a hero-she thinks it’s too dangerous for me,” Izuku said. “And Dad would rather I be a quirk analyst like he is-”

“They only care that you’re happy and healthy-you’re working towards both,” Hitoshi said. “Besides, if you’re so worried about that , just talk to them about it tomorrow or something. They’ll understand or something.” He nudged Izuku. “So? Stop moping around and just talk.” He tapped Izuku’s food. “And eat up, then let’s go to bed-past our bedtime by now, huh? I mean, you’ve been sleeping since we got home, so you might not be tired, but I sure am. Insomnia won’t let me sleep for a while, though, and I don’t usually talk this much, so how ‘bout you explain what happened today? Some quirkless thing, or can I learn it? It would definitely help in underground heroics.”

“...quirk nerves,” Izuku said.

“ Still don’t know what those are,” Hitoshi said, but gestured for Izuku to continue.

Izuku took a big bite of food as he thought for a few seconds. “Everyone with a quirk has an extra set of nerves called quirk nerves. I don’t have them, since they’re specifically meant to control quirks, but everyone with one does, all over their body, concentrated around where their quirks are, but still everywhere. Yours would be concentrated around your throat, for example, same with Dad’s, while Mom’s would be concentrated around her hands, similar to Kacchan’s. However, they aren’t just in those spots, instead spanning the entire nervous system, closer to the skin than regular nerves like mine are, which means they’re easier to hit and knock off balance, causing the quirk to fail in use and can even lead to temporary paralysis of the affected area, such as Kacchan’s arm, where I only affected the nerves of his arm, and Tsubasa’s entire body, as I hit his spine, which controls all the nerves in the body, leading to his collapsing. I could also be affected with regular pressure points, but I have less targets on me as a result of my lack of quirk nerves-it’s an interesting concept based on chi-blocking, but people aren’t studying the downsides of quirk nerves, instead only focusing on the benefits, case in point of being able to control quirks with ease.” He stopped himself, taking another bite. “...sorry, muttering.”

“I think I’m getting used to your muttering-I actually understood a chunk of that,” Hitoshi said. “So, quirk nerves, huh?” He lifted his arm and touched his neck, then looked at his arm. “I’m not sure what you mean by all over, though-I mean, why would they be when-”

Izuku grabbed Hitoshi’s arm and ran his thumb roughly along a certain spot, causing Hitoshi to tense up.

“Feel right there, then feel that spot on my arm,” Izuku said, holding out his arm.

Hitoshi paused, then felt his arm, then Izuku’s-

What the hell ?

Hitoshi felt his arm again. There was a slight bump there that wasn’t on Izuku’s arm. If he pressed down, it felt weirder, but it didn’t on Izuku’s arm.

“What the hell?” Hitoshi whispered, feeling up and down Izuku’s arm. “What the hell ?”

“Quirk nerves,” Izuku shrugged, taking another bite. “Mom’s are more pronounced in her arm, while yours would be in your throat-it makes them harder to specifically target, since…well, it would be me just punching you in the throat, which gets a desired result, anyway-you out of the fight. The throat is more squishy than the arm, so the nerves have more leeway to move, so  it’s harder to take your quirk out of the picture. Same with Dad’s.”

“...I’ll keep that in mind-what I’m hearing is protect my throat if we ever get into a bad fight,” Hitoshi said.

“Smart idea anyway,” Izuku said. “A person’s throat is an easy weakness to exploit unless they have a quirk that specifically protects their throat or something, like Crimson Riot or Crust. Interesting quirks-a hardening quirk and Shield. I wonder how the quirk nerves would be affected by a hardening quirk-the skin would be harder to deal with, so the quirk nerves would be protected, as well as his throat, so I would have to find a different solution to facing him, perhaps going for the eyes or trying to figure out if there are parts of his body that aren’t as hardened as the rest of him, such as his legs or torso-more likely torso, or perhaps his back-places that would be less likely to be right in the line of fire. I wonder if he can move around what parts of his body are hardened. His spine would be a weakness potentially if he can’t harden his entire body at the same consistency or fast enough if I were to get around him and land a few lucky punches. ”

“That’s almost a fight I would pay to see, but you’re ten and shouldn’t be fighting pro heroes,” Hitoshi said.

“If I fight a villain with a hardening quirk, I’ll have to find an on-the-spot solution, so it’s better to think about it now,” Izuku said. “It’s good practice.”

Hitoshi hummed. “Fair point. How would you defeat an Eraser quirk, then?”

“Can’t erase what’s not there,” Izuku said. “And based on Eraserhead, assuming the person with the eraser quirk knows how to fight hand-to-hand since that’s what it comes down to, the opponent would likely be more experienced in fighting than I am, but chi-blocking isn’t exactly well-known, so it would come down to the difference in experience and if I can catch them by surprise enough to hit a few points on their arm, take one arm out of the fight and surprise them enough to stumble, then go for the knock-out and arrest assuming that it’s a villain. ”

“All Might?” Hitoshi smirked. “Assuming you ever fight someone with a similar quirk, that is. Probably impossible, huh?”

“ Nothing is impossible,” Izuku said, a light in his eyes.

…………………………………..

“He’s not in his room!” Inko whispered to Hisashi, the two of them panicking a little bit.

“He said he was still tired-oh God, what if he ran away, what if he’s gone and we can’t find him-where would Izuku even go-” Hisashi said, stepping into the living room area-

-and immediately stopping, causing Inko to bump into him.

“What-” Inko started, peeking around him-

Both of them immediately relaxed to see Izuku and Hitoshi curled up on the couch, Izuku’s notebook in front of them, falling from Izuku’s grip as the two boys leaned against each other, fast asleep.

Inko immediately pulled out her phone and took a few pictures. “Should we get them to bed?”

“I…I don’t think I want to move them,” Hisashi whispered with a shaky smile on his face, some happy tears in his eyes. “It’s been a long day-sleeping on the couch might be fine if they’re both comfortable.” He stepped over and took one of the blankets, carefully tucking it around the two before grabbing the notebook, closing it and setting it on the coffee table.

Inko stepped over and gently kissed both of their foreheads before the two adults went to bed.

………………………………

“Hey…Mom?”

“Yes?” Inko asked immediately, turning and smiling at Izuku, who was rubbing his eyes.

“I’m…I’m sorry,” Izuku said.

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry for,” Inko said, giving him a hug. “Katsuki and those two boys shouldn’t have cornered you-I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself and Hitoshi.”

“...thanks, Mom,” Izuku said.

“Now…mind telling me what you did yesterday?” Inko asked, pulling back slightly as she continued with breakfast.

“...I hit at Kacchan and Tsubasa’s quirk nerves,” Izuku said.

“Quirk nerves?” Inko asked. “I’ve heard you mention them before-can…can they really do that, though?”

“If you hit hard enough, you can cancel out quirks for an entire day,” Izuku said. “Paralyze for five to ten minutes, too.”

“...you don’t need a quirk to do that,” Inko said.

“Nope,” Izuku said. He paused for a second, then sighed. “I…I want to be a hero, still. I never really stopped wanting to be a hero, you know? So I’ve been…I’ve been teaching myself how to fight, been learning how to cancel out quirks, different martial arts styles, how to break down quirks to get around them, I’ve been strength training, learning parkour-I’m sorry I never told you-”

“How?” Inko asked.

“The internet and practicing after school and on Sundays,” Izuku said.

“So that’s where you’ve been,” Inko said. “No martial arts studios?”

“No,” Izuku said. “Didn’t want you to know about it, and I can’t exactly pay for it-”

“We’ll pay for it,” Inko said. “I’m guessing Hitoshi’s been learning with you, too?”

“Yeah,” Izuku said, then paused. “He’s…he’s the best one yet.”

Inko smile, patting his head. “I agree.”

………………………………….

“We’re gonna adopt him.”

“Inko…Inko, we’ve had Hitoshi for less than two months, that’s-”

“Izuku said he’s the best one yet, and we already love him-he’s already our son, even started calling us Mom and Dad already. Ms. Sakura can pry him from my cold, dead hands.”

Hisashi sighed fondly. “Ok…ok, we can bring it up with him. How’s…how’s Izuku doing?”

“Apparently he’s been teaching himself to fight-that thing we saw was him hitting at quirk nerves to temporarily paralyze someone and stop their quirk,” Inko said.

“I’m sorry, how did he learn how to do that?” Hisashi asked.

“Taught himself!” Inko said. “And I’m guessing he’s going to teach Hitoshi, too!” She shook her head. “Those two are going to take the hero world by storm, I can already feel it-we’re enrolling them in an actual fighting class instead of letting them rely on internet videos-hopefully one near their new school.”

“So we’ll have to look into that one, too-sounds good enough for me,” Hisashi said, kissing her quickly before grabbing his computer. “I think the Nabu school district has a martial arts studio near it…right?”

Inko reached over and gently closed his computer. “We can look into that later . For now, let’s just…go to bed. It’s been a long day, and don’t you have a meeting early tomorrow? I know I do.”

“Yeah…I’m not a fan of leaving the boys home alone all day, though,” Hisashi said.

“I’m sure they’ll be fine for the day-Izuku and Hitoshi are both responsible,” Inko said. “My meeting should only last a few hours, though, so it’s not like we’ll be gone all day, right?”

“...that’s fair,” Hisashi said.

………………………………

“Quirk nerves are typically closer to the surface around joints, but it can depend on the person for exact points, however, they’re typically in a few certain points along the arms, legs, and back,” Izuku said, pointing at a diagram-and this is what Inko came home to, her two boys in the living room as Izuku taught Hitoshi about quirk nerves. “If you hit too hard, you can run the risk of permanent paralysis, which isn’t something that you want to do and all that, heroes or whatever, so instead , you have to calculate the exact amount of pressure you’re going to want to use based on muscular and fat mass in the areas and how close that would cause the nerves to be to the skin. In order to do that, you would have to know several factors or be able to make a close enough estimate on the spot and apply the right amount of pressure-I made an equation for that!”

“And how do you do this fast enough?” Hitoshi groaned. “You did this in an instant , and you didn’t even have practice !”

“It’s less complicated than it looks,” Izuku said. “All you really have to do is make a few assumptions on someone’s weight based on their mass, and from there, you see how much of that is muscle-at least, where you’re looking to hit at-and you figure out how that’s going to affect how hard you need to hit.”

“...I’m going to make snacks,” Inko whispered as she stepped into the kitchen, both boys whipping their heads up to stare at her. Louder, she said, “you might want to work on noticing people around you better.”

“That’s a good point!” Izuku said. “Spatial awareness is a great idea!” He took out his phone and started typing. “Alright, let’s figure out the best way to train that-it’ll do both of us some good!”

………………………………..

“Boys, we need to talk.”

Immediately, both boys sat down at the kitchen table, looking back and forth between Mom and Dad.

“What's up, Mom?” Izuku asked.

“We found a new school for you two-Nabu Elementary, you start next week,” Mom said. “It’s not too far, and it’s actually closer to my law firm, so I’ll be bringing you on the first day. There’s a martial arts studio near it, but we’ll wait a little while before getting you set up in classes there.”

“Nabu?” Izuku asked, taking out his phone and looking it up. “The reviews on it make it seem better than Aldera in terms of teachers and discrimination, even if they only really do much about physical bullying rather than verbal, according to some of the reviews, although they do typically try to curb that. Interesting…”

“Got the uniforms already?” Hitoshi asked.

“I’m picking them up tomorrow after work,” Mom said. “But there’s one more thing we need to talk about.”

Hisashi reached down and picked up a large stack of papers and gently pushed them over to the boys. “Hitoshi, these are for you.”

“...huh?” Hitoshi asked, picking up the first paper-

He immediately looked at the two with wide eyes as Izuku leaned over and scanned the papers, eyes lighting up with excitement.

“Really?!” Izuku said, almost vibrating in his seat. “That’s awesome !”

“Y-You…you mean it?” Hitoshi asked, looking at Mom and Dad.

“Of course ,” Mom said. “When we said you can stay here forever, we meant it-normally, we’d have to wait some more months, but Ms. Sakura said we can speed up the process. It won’t be done by the time you start at Nabu Elementary, but it will be soon.”

Hitoshi immediately got up and walked over, giving both of them a big hug.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you ,” Hitoshi sobbed, burying his face into Hisashi’s shoulder.

Izuku got up and walked around, joining the family hug.

Chapter Text

The years began to pass in the blink of an eye.

The boys enrolled in Nabu Elementary, same class, thankfully. They didn’t exactly make any friends while there, but they didn’t get bullied, so they had that going for them!

On Mondays and Wednesdays, after school, they would go to the martial arts studio to learn how to fight…at least, learn to fight from a teacher that Izuku quickly proved to be better at fighting than. Either way, on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, the boys typically went to Inko’s law firm if she was working that day, otherwise they just went right home…and would usually go to Izuku’s usual spots to learn fighting themselves or parkour. Either way, they would eventually get home and, at some point, do their strength training, Hitoshi would usually take a nap while Izuku did homework, then after dinner, Izuku would do more research (either on quirks on into different methods he could use for fighting or any kind of hero work) while Hitoshi did homework. After (or, depending on the day, sometimes during), Izuku would excitedly put some show on the t.v., from Avatar the Last Airbender (“Everyone has to watch this show at least once, Toshi!”) to Dr. Stone (“Do you think I could teach myself to make support items like the stone device? That would be a great capture item-” “Jesus, Izuku, no !”) to Pokemon (“Pikachu, I choose you!” “God, I wish I could just sleep like Snoralax.”). Inko and Hisashi often joined, and on the weekends and family nights, they watched a lot of these shows, plus more recent ones.

And, by the time the two boys went to Nabu Middle School, after a lot of paperwork, some court visits, with a small little “oh my god congratulations!!!!” party where the Bakugous came over with Auntie Mitsuki forcing Katsuki to apologize for the situation, when introductions to the whole class were done…

“Izuku Midoriya, I like to analyze quirks, and I want to be a hero.”

The other kids started to whisper among themselves as Izuku shrugged and sat back down-he didn’t have to state his quirk (or…well, lack thereof) if he didn’t want to. So what if people didn't like that? The kids that came with them from Nabu Elementary didn't know, either, and they typically avoided the two, but as long as Izuku had Hitoshi, then it didn't matter to either of them.

Hitoshi stood up as Izuku sat down.

“Hitoshi Midoriya, Izuku’s my twin brother, and I also want to be a hero.”

Life changed drastically .

…………………………………….

“Oi, Greeny!”

Izuku paused and turned to see one of his classmates walking up to him.

“Hey, Nakamura,” Izuku said. “Did you need something?”

“You and your brother are really gonna try to get into the UA hero course?” Nakamura asked.

“Of course we are!” Izuku said. “I mean, it's no secret we want to be heroes together and have been working towards that.”

Nakamura scoffed, shoving at Izuku’s shoulder. “With your villainous quirks?”

“...huh?” Izuku asked.

“Come on, we ain’t dumb ,” Nakamura hissed, shoving Izuku harder- ha. Izuku barely budged -he’s fourteen, doing 140 push ups, sit ups, squats, and 14 km runs each day . Hitoshi stuck to around 100 of each and 7 km each day, sometimes not even that. He was better at parkour than Izuku was, though.

“I never said you were,” Izuku said. “I mean, how could I when I never even talk to you?”

“Yeah, when trying to hide your freaking quirk ,” Nakamura said, shoving at him again. “I recently made a friend from that old school of yours and learned what your real quirks are.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “Nabu Elementary?”

“No, Aldera Elementary, you freak ,” Nakamura hissed. “Does the name Fushiguro ring a bell?”

“Should it?” Izuku deadpanned, but meanwhile, his heart was pounding. That’s really bad-no muttering right now, Izuku, be conscious of if you’re talking or not…

“It should , because he told me your quirks!” Nakamura said. “Brainwashing and Paralysis!”

…was Fushiguro…ok, you know what, he really was that stupid.

“Brainwashing takes away your free will, Paralysis takes away your ability to move, of course ,” Nakamura said, acting as if he’d won-as if he hadn’t just said the dumbest thing he possibly could have. “You two are just villains in the making-”

“First of all, quirks don’t make villains,” Izuku said. “Brainwashing is a quirk that I have seen many different uses for in hero work, including being immediately able to diffuse any hostage situation-”

“It’s a villain’s quirk,” Nakamura said.

“Have you heard of the American hero Skycrawler?” Izuku asked. “His quirk is called Slide and Glide. Interesting enough quirk and something that a particular hero has-he started as Japanese, fun fact, before being forced to transfer over to America due to certain circumstances -right, mumbling, but, fun fact! There were three villains with the exact same quirk as him that he faced at one point! Skycrawler used his quirk in order to save people and slide around to bring people to safety, while these particular villains, called the Three Sturm und Drang Brothers, who used it to look up girls’ skirts and steal their underwear. So? Which is it? Hero or villain quirk?”

“T-That’s-you’re lying!” Nakamura said.

Izuku shrugged. “You can do your own research on the subject if you want-not my problem if you don’t. Only makes you look dumber- just like taking Fushiguro’s word for that subject.”

“Why shouldn’t I?” Nakamura snapped.

Izuku smirked, looking him in the eye. “Because I don’t have a paralysis quirk.” With that, he turned to run off-

Nakamura grabbed Izuku’s shoulder. “It’s so stupid that you think you can lie about your own quirk-why, ashamed of it?” Nakamura snorted. “I mean, you could always pray for a different quirk in your next life and die or something-I’m sure we’d all be thanking you for that-”

Izuku grabbed onto Nakamura’s hand and twisted it behind him to restrain him, leaning in close to Nakamura’s ear.

“Believe what you want about me-honestly, I really don’t care ,” Izuku hissed. “But I’ll have you know that saying that is unacceptable , so here’s what we’re going to do. We’re both going to forget you ever said that, and if you even think about saying that again…well, I’m sure the teachers would love to hear about suicide baiting like that-if not the teachers, then the police-or perhaps…what hero school were you planning on applying to, again? UA like everyone else? Or was it Isamu you had your eyes set on since it’s close enough that you can move in with your grandparents…?”

Nakamura went still and pale.

Izuku shoved him away, then pointed at a camera nearby. “And if you even think about trying to claim that I did anything, don’t forget that I can ruin you in a heartbeat .”

With that, Izuku turned and stormed off, leaving a shocked Nakamura behind him.

Izuku walked for about ten minutes before glancing behind him, but he knew that Nakamura wasn’t there-he was going to put that entire conversation out of his head-Nakamura was a moron , Izuku didn’t need to even consider anything he said as serious.

Izuku huffed slightly, then sighed, looking up as he continued his walk home.

Walking home was so boring when Hitoshi wasn’t there! But nope , he had a doctor’s appointment today that Mom took him too, and it was for a sleep specialist in a different part of the city, so the lucky twin got to skip the second half of the school day. Well, he wasn’t lucky that he was dealing with pretty bad insomnia (it was actually normal for people with mental quirks, there was a particular chemical in Hitoshi’s brain that people without mental quirks didn’t have called exoustonin, coming from the Greek word exousia, meaning power, that would typically move throughout the quirk nerves in the body, and in situations with adrenaline, exoustonin would increase in amount alongside adrenaline, causing the quirk to become stronger than typical, but people with mental quirks had exoustonin centered around their brain to help with the mental strain of what they were causing, and due to the chemical makeup of exoustonin in comparison to melatonin, the body would instead choose to produce more exoustonin instead of melatonin on a regular day-to-day basis, making it harder for people with mental quirks to sleep as easily without taking supplements, like in Hitoshi’s case, where he was having trouble even taking his usual naps recently as he got older and his quirk became stronger, causing his body to lack melatonin, which was the cause of the appointment and the need for medication-Mom had been getting him over-the-counter supplements, but a prescription would be a better option due to the amount of prescription melatonin medication that wasn’t generic and made for mental quirks in mind-

There was suddenly a sound behind Izuku, and he immediately sensed some kind of… presence behind him.

Before Izuku could even turn around to face the newcomer, they were upon him-it was some kind of green sludge that started to shove themself down his throat-

“A meatsuit-a perfect disguise!” the villain said as Izuku clawed at the goo-it wasn’t completely solid, slipping through Izuku’s fingers and making it likely impossible to physically shove the villain away-all kinds of mutation quirks such as this have some kind of weakness, would biting work, or would they be able to control the sludge still in Izuku’s mouth- moving down throat, how long can he go without air again? A few minutes, that’s what he had to resolve this -

“I didn’t know he was going to be in town-I’ll have to lay low for a while and escape,” the villain was saying-ok, so there was at least some kind of mouth-mutation quirks like this would make it near impossible to find a throat to punch at, but if Izuku could reach this villain’s mouth and start shoving his hand down their throat or something , perhaps that would be enough distraction to buy him more time-would his body naturally expel the sludge and vomit it out, or would he have to figure a way to get the sludge out in a different manner-he was going to run out of time if he didn’t-

There!

Izuku grasped at the villain’s mouth, causing the villain to pause whatever they were saying-not really something that Izuku cared about-as Izuku felt a tongue, teeth, his other hand-wait, the villain has eyes! Perfect!

“What the hell are you doing, kid?” the villain asked. “Do you think you even-”

Izuku reared his fist back and punched the villain’s eye and teeth as hard as he possibly could while kicking even harder.

The villain screamed, drawing back slightly-it was enough to get some of the sludge away from Izuku’s mouth, allowing him to grab onto the thinner layers and pull , gasping for breath as his foot landed on the ground-good! Izuku squirmed more until both feet were on the ground-

There was another sound behind him-Izuku can deal with this guy’s friend later, he had to get away while they were distracted-Izuku broke free from the villain, gasping for breath as he stumbled back, vision slightly blurry as he found his footing, stumbling his way into a fighting stance-

There was a blast of wind that blew Izuku back, causing him to fall to the ground and roll a little-ok, that hurt , so this guy’s friend was more powerful, that would lead to some trouble for Izuku, but he could figure out how to get out of here and call the cops-he can’t get arrested for unlicensed quirk usage or vigilantism when he doesn’t have a quirk, but it would definitely get him less of a lecture if he didn’t engage more than he had to-and the hospital visit would not be pleasant, either.

Izuku peered over to the villain and their friend, mind already starting to take in the approximate wind speed in order to figure out exactly how much power this guy must have-

All thoughts immediately left Izuku’s head as he comprehended exactly who was standing there.

Izuku’s jaw dropped-that was the Number One Hero standing there-it was All Might! The All Might in the flesh-he wasn’t in his hero costume, in a white t-shirt and regular pants, a grocery bag in hand-was All Might going grocery shopping? In Musutafu, so far out away from his typical patrol route-

All Might looked around at all the sludge before taking out two soda bottles from his bag- if Izuku zeroed in on the brand and made a mental note of it-if All Might buys that brand of soda, then Izuku should buy that brand of soda, too! -before All Might…dumped out all the soda and started to gather up the sludge-oh, right, capturing the villain, that’s a good idea-Izuku looked around, the sludge was scattered about everywhere -it wasn’t all connected, either, which meant that the quirk most likely was more of a control and separation quirk where the villain would be able to control all the sludge even when it wasn’t connected-at least, to a certain extent, since it was likely the sludge was entirely the villain’s body. In cases like this, a container of some kind would be used, and while plastic bottles weren’t the best option in general due to its ability to hold up entirely dependent on how well the villain could move around-

“I suppose from how much you’re talking you’re not suffering from any infections in your throat or lungs!”

Oh my All Might I was talking out loud.

Izuku felt his face immediately go red from embarrassment as he found himself gathering up sludge further from All Might and bringing it closer- it has a more solid consistency now that the villain is unconscious, but it’s still clearly a liquid-approximately the same consistency as jello- wait, no, muttering again, Izuku really needs to curb that habit and stop getting himself into situations like this-

“There we go-villain successfully captured!” All Might said, holding up the two bottles that the sludge villain was contained in. “Sorry that I did not arrive sooner-the sewers are very tricky to navigate, after all!”

“Oh, that’s completely understandable-wait, can you please sign my notebook?!” Izuku asked, scrambling to get his backpack off his back and taking out Notebook 13, quickly flipping to the nearest two empty pages and holding it out, along with a pen, to All Might. “If it’s not too much trouble-”

All Might took the pen and signed the notebook, causing Izuku to beam with joy-he had All Might’s autograph!Best day ever !

“Thank you so much!” Izuku said, bowing rapidly. “I promise I’ll make it into a treasured family heirloom-thank you so much!”

“Glad to save the day!” All Might said. “Well, I had better get going!”

Wait…what ?

“You’re…leaving already?” Izuku asked, blinking. I know that I’m talking, but he hasn’t called any paramedics to check on me-what if I suffered from brain damage due to the suffocation? Not to mention that the villain jammed their way down my throat and could have potentially caused infections-there were things floating in that sludge-getting me into the hospital and making the report would be the most efficient way of making sure that I don’t contact anything from this attack-I understand that All Might is a busy hero-one of the busiest in Japan due to his status-so perhaps it slipped his mind, but that could be dangerous, especially if my response time in escaping was even a little later-

Before Izuku could even comprehend moving, he was grabbing onto the hero’s leg to ask a question-there was one question Izuku always wanted to ask the hero, and if the hero was busy, it was all Izuku could do just to ask -but All Might took off into the air before Izuku could even let a word out, and the two were suddenly flying through the city-

“What, kid, you have to let go!” All Might said, attempting to shove Izuku off-

“If I do that, I’ll die!” Izuku shouted, the wind blowing in his mouth and eyes-this was not comfortable at all .

“Oh…right,” All Might said. “Just…close your mouth and eyes-I’ll land soon.”

Izuku did that, gripping onto All Might’s leg tighter as he felt the hero hold onto him, too.

It wasn’t long before All Might landed on a roo and was turning and scolding Izuku-yeah, that was reckless, Izuku was usually better than this, but he didn’t expect that All Might wouldn’t notice him holding onto him!

“Knock on the door-someone will come and let you down,” All Might said, turning to leave-

“Wait, I just have a question!” Izuku said desperately.

“I will not wait!” All Might said. “I really do have to go!”

“I just…” Izuku trailed off, then took a deep breath. “Is it possible to become a hero, even if I don’t have a quirk?” All Might stopped in his tracks, but Izuku looked at his feet, fidgeting with his hands. “I don’t…I don’t have a quirk of my own, and almost everyone that knows says I’ll never be able to be a hero-my family believes in me, but that’s…that’s any family, you know? My friends, my classmates…no one else believes that I can do it, but more than anything in the world , I want to be a hero and save people with a smile, just like you do-” He looked up, then stumbled slightly-that was not All Might standing in front of him! “Wha-who are you?” He looked around. “Where’s…where’s All Might?” The hero wouldn’t have left silently-at the very least, there would have been a gust of wind-taking stock on the man in front of me, he’s…he’s wearing the same clothes that All Might was wearing, not to mention that his hair is similar enough-All Might’s quirk is energy based if my assumptions are correct, perhaps upon activation it buffs up his body in such a manner, but then it would make it strange for him to suddenly deactivate his quirk, especially in front of a random middle schooler when it wouldn’t be known by the general public-

“You are…a very strange child,” the man said. “You’re…scarily accurate. I am All Might.” He buffed up for a moment-yep, that’s All Might-then went back, sitting down and…coughing up blood?!

Izuku immediately dug out a handkerchief and tossed it over to the hero, who took it and dabbed at the blood.

“Thanks, kid,” All Might said, leaning against the railing and looking at him. “As you can probably guess, you shouldn’t tell anyone about this form-I’ve done everything in my power to keep this under wraps.”

“Of course- it seems to be a weaker form, so any potential weakness would be a bad thing to share with anyone- right, mumbling, sorry,” Izuku said.

“That’s a good point-seems like you already understand,” All Might said, then lifted up the edge of his shirt to show…that looked painful . “I got this five years ago in a villain fight-destroyed most of my internal organs and part of my lungs.”

“Five years…Toxic Chainsaw?” Izuku guessed, thinking.

“You know your stuff, kid, but no, no one knows about this villain,” All Might said. “Even with my quirk, I was almost killed by this villain.”

Oh, I don’t like where this is going .

“So, honestly?’ All Might continued as Izuku’s heart dropped. “No, I don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk.”

Izuku’s brain completely came to a halt as he just…stared at his…at the Number One Hero. The man that he’d looked up to for his entire life.

“If you want to save people, try becoming a firefighter, a doctor, or even a police officer-people don’t value them as much because there are heroes around, but it’s a fine profession,” All Might said, standing up and walking to the door, just…leaving.

Izuku stood there for a minute, just…staring into the distance…

…then all of his thoughts came rushing back to the surface.

I have been able to fake a quirk for this long-enough to convince people that I’m not quirkless-

“I don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk.”

-I was already away from that villain and had come up with strategies to get away and not get in trouble-I can cancel out quirks with chi-blocking-

“I don’t think you can be a hero without a quirk.”

-Eraserhead! He has a quirk like chi-blocking that works from a distance, but mine lasts longer-I don’t have the distance advantage there, but I could still-

IF THE NUMBER ONE HERO SAYS YOU CAN’T BE A HERO WITHOUT A QUIRK, THEN THAT’S THAT-

-All Might’s an idiot!

Izuku’s eyes widened at that statement-how could he think such a thing, All Might’s the pro hero-

There was an explosion in the distance that cut through Izuku’s thoughts, and without another thought, he looked around, and at the edge of a neighboring building, there was a fire escape.

All Might would still be in the stairwell, and…I don’t think I can run into him right now.. So, let’s do this instead.

Izuku stepped back, then turned and ran, jumping and quickly scaling down the building’s fire escape, walking towards whatever hero fight was happening now.

………………………………..

Katsuki didn’t expect to get attacked by a villain on the way home, especially not one that didn’t even flinch from his explosions.

These dumbass heroes weren’t doing jack shit! This was their entire job, and not one of them could figure something out?! This sucked ! It was getting harder and harder to breathe with every second-he was going to get out of this, but his explosions only knocked off a bit of the sludge at a time, not enough, not going fast enough-

Then, from the crowd, someone very familiar came running and chucked something at the villain.

………………………………..

OH MY GOD THIS IS SO FREAKING STUPID!

Izuku ran forward before he could stop himself, chucking his backpack as he analyzed the situation.

The eyes are a weakness as I realized earlier, and I’m strong enough that I can hit the eye from this distance-direct hit, he’s reeling back enough-

Izuku grabbed onto Kacchan’s arms and yanked as hard as he possibly could, breaking the explosion user out of the sludge, enough for Kacchan to gasp for air-

“You BRAT-” the sludge villain yelled, moving to engulf Izuku as well-

Izuku stumbled back, holding onto Kacchan tightly as he stumbled away from the villain, jabbing his hand upward at the villain’s eye-

-and that was the moment that All Might showed up.

After All Might defeated the villain (again), everything moved fast.

Izuku and Kacchan were pulled aside by the heroes on the scene, Kacchan praised for protecting himself-

“You shouldn’t have done that, kid-you could’ve made the situation worse-”

“You didn’t even get Bakugou away from the villain-I heard the initial explosion and can take a wild guess at approximately how long he was unable to breathe based on how close he was to passing out,” Izuku said. “Meanwhile, I showed up and was able to get the villain away from him within 30 seconds. It shouldn’t take 5 heroes almost letting a hostage suffocate for a random child in the crowd to come in and do something, and All Might comes along and simply take over from there-how did a kid with no professional hero training manage to do more here than you? Without a quirk used at all?”

The heroes were quiet.

“That’s what I thought,” Izuku said, getting up and grabbing his backpack-all his things had been gathered already, so he was good to go whenever. “Well, I’d better get home-have fun with clean-up.” With that, he quickly walked away, pushing past the crowd of people still standing there. Some of the people glanced at him, others even starting to greet him, but Izuku just wanted to get home.

………………………………

Ugh, my uniform smells, and I have a feeling that Mom, Dad, and Hitoshi would know about that from seeing the news-I should probably turn on my phone to see…I just need a little more time to think, I’ll say I forgot to check it after school, not the first time it’s happened, after all-usually Hitoshi answers, so I don’t have to check right away, so it’s a bad habit at this point to just ignore it-

Today was rough, I need to stop distracting myself from that.

No martial arts today, so I just need to head straight home and continue my workout routine-if I want to be a hero, I need to be physically strong and smart, so maybe I’ll see if I can find another fighting style I want to find out-

All Might said I can’t be a hero. He’s…he’s the number one hero, so…he has to be right, right? I can’t be a hero-I…I can’t-

“Oi, Deku!”

Izuku jolted slightly, but he stopped and turned his head to see…

“Kacchan,” Izuku said, fully turning to face his…former childhood friend.

Kacchan squared up, and Izuku tensed up, ready to throw a few punches if he needed to-

“Don’t think that you accomplished anything back there-I didn’t need your help-I’ll never need help from you!” Kacchan said, then spun around and stomped away.

…did he seriously chase me down to tell me that? What a-

“What a jerk.”

Izuku turned around to see-

“Hitoshi!” Izuku said, quickly giving his brother a big hug as he felt tears come to his eyes.

Hitoshi hugged Izuku back immediately. “Mom got called into the office, and someone wasn’t answering his phone, and since we usually walk home this way…I figured…” Hitoshi trailed off, pulling back slightly and giving Izuku a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

“Bad day,” Izuku mumbled, burying his face in Hitoshi’s shoulder. “Just…just want to go home.”

Hitoshi pulled back slightly and instead tucked Izuku under his arm, then made a face.

“You’re pretty slimy-that villain from the news, I’m guessing?” Hitoshi asked.

“Yeah,” Izuku said. “It’s pretty gross-”

“I AM HERE!”

Hitoshi and Izuku both jumped and turned to see All Might himself jump out from an alleyway and look over at the two of them…

…before promptly shrinking into his smaller form with a burst of blood coming out of his mouth.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Hitoshi yelled, and All Might looked right at him, eyes wide as he slowly blinked.

“Uh…I didn’t see you there,” All Might said, wiping at the blood.

“WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING SHI-!” Hitoshi started yelling, but Izuku elbowed his twin in the side, cutting Hitoshi off with a glare.

“How about we just go home and go to sleep ?” Izuku groaned. “And shower ?”

“Ah, first things first, Young…man that I met earlier-” All Might started.

Hitoshi whipped around to stare at Izuku. “You what ?!”

“Hush for a moment, ‘Toshi,” Izuku sighed, looking at All Might. “What do you want?”

“Ah…well…a moment alone, if you don’t mind?” All Might asked, looking at Hitoshi, who simply tugged Izuku into his side a little more.

“Like hell I’m stepping away from my twin,” Hitoshi said, glaring at the number one hero.

“If you have anything to say, he’s going to hear about it, anyway,” Izuku said.

“... what’s going on here ?” Hitoshi asked, glaring at All Might.

All Might opened his mouth to respond-

“Never meet your heroes, I suppose,” Izuku said. “Because your heroes think you can’t be a hero without a quirk.”

All Might winced as Hitoshi’s jaw dropped, then he stepped fully in front of Izuku, his glare hardening.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Hitoshi snapped, then looked at Izuku. “Let’s head home-Dad gets off his shift soon, I think, so you should probably take a shower before that-”

“Wait!” All Might said, stepping forward. “I just want to apologize for earlier-I was wrong!”

All Might…wrong?

Hitoshi paused as All Might looked at Izuku.

“Back there…when all the heroes on the scene were standing aside, you were the only one to move and help that boy,” All Might said. “You acted quickly and very well might have saved that boy’s life. Earlier, I said that you couldn’t be a hero without a quirk. I was wrong, forgive me.”

But…heroes aren’t wrong-

But he was. And he’s saying that he was.

“Well, at least you acknowledge it,” Hitoshi said. “My brother’s gonna be one of the greatest heroes there is, fuck you very much.”

All Might glanced at Hitoshi, looking uncomfortable, then he looked at Izuku.

“I’m very sorry for what I said earlier,” All Might said. “It’s been a few years since I’ve met anyone with as much conviction as you-in the moment, while all the heroes on the scene-as I -hesitated to step in, you rushed in and saved that boy. So, let me reanswer the question you asked earlier. Yes, you can become a hero.”

Izuku felt tears come to his eyes as he started shaking a little. Hitoshi noticed and held his brother a little closer to him to stop him from falling-

“That said, I have an offer for you. Being a hero without a quirk would be difficult and full of uphill battles, so it would be much easier for you to take my quirk to help with your journey.”

Both boys paused and stared at him.

“I’m sorry… what ?” Izuku asked.

Chapter Text

Izuku huffed as he lifted up the fridge, Hitoshi and All Might- the All Might!-watching as he struggled to shove it across the sand-this wasn’t the best footing, and pushing the fridge would be easier than lifting it and risking falling over like this, but at this point, if he was going to go through with this strength training, then he was better off making this harder on his muscles.

“So…why are we at the trash beach again?” Hitoshi asked, looking up from his phone to glare at All Might. Izuku looked over at the two.

“Strength training,” All Might said. “My quirk can be rather dangerous when given to another user, so if we’re not careful, Young Izuku’s limbs might explode.”

“They might what ?” Izuku asked, eyes wide.

“My quirk is incredibly powerful, so you need enough muscle to contain it,” All Might said. “While you already possess a ton of muscle-more than the average middle schooler, I think-it’s better to be safe than sorry, so I’m giving you the task of cleaning this beach-hero work is more than just saving people, after all. As heroes, we strive to make the world a better place, and with something like this as community service, it acts both as a way to make sure you’re strong enough and a way to teach you a lesson about serving the community.”

“Makes sense, I guess,” Izuku said, looking around the beach. “When I was really little, it used to be a really pretty  beach, but because of ocean currents, trash ended up here, and people started to dump trash here. Now, it’s…this.”

“You know your stuff, kid,” All Might said. “I’ve never seen this beach as it was, but you’re tasked with restoring it! There’s plenty of trash here, and I’ll take care of paying for dumpsters for you to put the trash in. Once you’ve cleaned this section of the beach, I’ll give you One for All. Now! We’ve only 10 months until the UA entrance exam, but while that may seem like a lot of time, we’re actually on a time crunch!”

“Yeah…I’m gonna be lucky to get this done in ten months,” Izuku said, his eyes darting around the beach. “ I’ll have to figure out the surface area of the beach and divide that from day to day to figure out what I should expect to clean on average each day, then take into account how much muscle I currently have and how much I should expect to gain over the next ten months, which will mean I have to take into account the difference from day to day and week to week and how much more I can do-”

“I…did not catch most of that,” All Might said.

“He’s calculating how much he’ll have to clean each day,” Toshi said.

“...I have a feeling I’ll be working towards understanding him these next few months,” All Might said.

“Good luck with that,” Toshi said. “I think Mom still struggles here and there. Dad’s better about it.”

Izuku snapped out of his thoughts and looked at the two. “Ok, I think I’ve figured out how much trash I should try to clean each week and how much of an increase I should be expecting to do. I’m aiming to get done before the entrance exam, so the sooner I get done, the better.”

“Just don’t push yourself too hard-if I have to drag your ass to the hospital because you passed out while carrying something, Mom’s never gonna let you hear the end of it,” Hitoshi said.

“Right!” Izuku said, sitting down near them and taking out his notebook and a pencil. “Alright, let’s see… if we go about this in sections, numbering each section of the beach, clearing a section a week and making them grow from week to week…with ten months left, that’s a little over 46 weeks, so 46 different sections…”

“Does he do this often?” All Might asked, giving Hitoshi a look as Izuku continued to mumble and write.

“It’s how he organizes his thoughts,” Hitoshi shrugged. “He does this often .”

“...is there a risk of him mentioning One for All to anyone…?” All Might asked.

Hitoshi pointed at Izuku. “You think anyone actually tries to understand him outside of immediate family?”

“...I see your point,” All Might said.

…………………………

Izuku grabbed Hitoshi’s fist and threw him onto his back, the sand making the fall feel less horrible, but it still hurt.

“You good?” Izuku asked as he helped Hitoshi up.

“Yeah,” Hitoshi said, getting back into a fighting stance. “I think I’m gonna get it this time.”

…………………………

Izuku fully picked up the cabinet and tossed it into the dumpster, smacking his hands together as he turned around to go grab the next piece of garbage.

“You’re making really good progress-are you ahead of that schedule you made?” All Might asked, walking alongside Izuku.

“Just by a few days-there’s still garbage being dumped here, and more is washing up each day,” Izuku said, looking at the section he’d cleared already, some trash already near the shore. “I need to be ahead, but it won’t be long before I have to go over the same sections again-especially if people keep dumping here. I might be able to keep up with trash that’s just washing up, but if a ton of people come back to dump trash…”

Hitoshi looked at his brother and All Might, then looked over at the trash near the shore. It wasn’t a lot , but enough to be concerning, that’s for sure. And couldn’t Hitoshi use some training, too? He wasn’t as strong as the absolute beast that was his twin brother, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t strong in his own right. Izuku would finish the beach by the deadline, maybe even sooner if Hitoshi picked up the washing-up trash from the sea.

…………………………..

“We need to tell Mom and Dad about this, you know.”

“All Might said not to tell anyone -he didn’t even want you to know!” Izuku protested. “What if he decides not to give the quirk to me? I’d never -”

“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence,” Hitoshi said, shoving him slightly. “You’ll be a great hero, with or without One for All. But Mom and Dad should know what’s going on, you know? I mean, they’re already suspicious since we’re spending more and more hours training.”

“We’re getting ready for UA,” Izuku said.

“We’ve been doing that for years,” Hitoshi said. “This feels different .”

“Training harder since we have a few months left?” Izuku asked.

“And you suddenly taking on a more intense strength routine and wanting to go to the dojo less each week?” Hitoshi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“...I see your point,” Izuku said. “I’ll ask All Might if I can-”

“Oh, we’re telling them whether he likes it or not,” Hitoshi said. “But if you want to give him a heads up, do it by the end of the week.”

“Hitoshi!” Izuku said. “If he says he doesn’t want them to know-”

“-then I’m telling them without his permission,” Hitoshi said. “Mom and Dad deserve to know .”

“But-” Izuku protested.

“This quirk can be dangerous , Izuku-blow off your limbs or whatever,” Hitoshi said. “Shouldn’t Mom and Dad, I don’t know, be prepared for any injuries you might have? And the whiplash of you suddenly having a quirk? C’mon, you’re supposed to be the smart one, how shocked and worried would they be if they didn’t get time to prepare beforehand?”

“...I’ll tell All Might tomorrow that we’re telling them,” Izuku said.

“Good choice,” Hitoshi said.

……………………………..

Inko and Hisashi stared at their two sons. Izuku fidgeted as he looked at the table, while Hitoshi stared right back at them.

“...you’re serious,” Hisashi said.

“Yep-pretty cool, huh?” Hitoshi asked. “The quirk part, not how he met All Might.”

“And why didn’t you tell us about this months ago?” Inko asked, looking at Izuku.

“...what if he doesn’t want to give it to me anymore?” Izuku asked, hunching his shoulders. “I…I really want this quirk, you know? I…I don’t want All Might to think I’m worthless again.”

“Oh, we’ll be having some words with him about that-mind if we come to the beach with you this weekend?” Inko asked, cracking her knuckles.

“Mom, don’t kill the symbol of peace,” Hitoshi said monotonically, as if that was a completely normal sentence.

“I won’t kill him-that’s illegal,” Inko said.

“So is assault,” Hisashi said.

“Oh, good point,” Inko said. “But threats aren’t.”

“That’s also a good point!” Hisashi said as Izuku sunk in his seat a little bit.

………………………………

Hell hath no fury like a mother scorned. Or like Inko and Hisashi glaring at the number one hero as Izuku cleaned up the beach nearby, Hitoshi sitting somewhere between the two and glancing between his parents scolding All Might for being an idiot and questioning him about the quirk and how they can help and Izuku just pointedly ignoring the entire situation and picking up some tires.

………………………………

“There’s a loophole if you look closely.”

“I’m not sure if I’m seeing what you’re seeing, Izuku,” Hitoshi said, glaring at the packet. “What loophole are you talking about? The Sports Festival back-up?”

Izuku shook his head, then pointed at a paragraph. “‘All non-combative belongings must be left in the locker rooms during the course of the entrance exam.’ It doesn’t say all personal belongings, just ones not for combat.”

‘So…we could bring in knives or something?” Hitoshi asked.

“I think so,” Izuku said. “Maybe hide them in our shoes or something just in case, but maybe that’s me being paranoid.”

“Your gut hasn’t led us wrong yet,” Hitoshi said. “But we don’t have much practice with knives-what even is the exam?”

“They keep that locked tight,” Izuku said. “I can’t find the content anywhere online, but I have a feeling we won’t be fighting other students-liabilities and all that, the school would get sued often enough to cause a ruckus about the entrance exam and have it changed. However, looking at the quirks of students that are featured in the Sports Festivals, their quirks tend to be combat-oriented, opposed to students that would be good at search-and-find or speed in particular, and UA graduates students that are good at fighting, so I’d guess that there’s at least some fighting portion of the entrance exam involving quirks. I doubt against students, and fighting against pro heroes would be an interesting choice, but to risk injury to teachers…even with Recovery Girl on site, that wouldn’t be a good idea, so what could the students be fighting instead…? ”

“Got it, you genius, we’re fighting someone, just not students or teachers,” Hitoshi said. “We still have one month to prepare for the exam-think we can do knives in that time?”

“Realistically, no,” Izuku said. “But we don’t have to be perfect at them, just good enough to get through the exam. It’s a good skill for heroes, anyway, especially underground heroics like you’re planning. So…do you want to convince Mom and Dad to buy us knives?”

“...I’ll take that challenge,” Hitoshi said.

…………………………………..

The next week saw Hitoshi using the living room t.v. to show his parents a slide show he put together on that exact subject while Izuku laughed his ass off in the background, shakingly taking a video to later show All Might.

The day after that, they walked out of the mall with two packs of training knives with the promise to practice with at least one parent present at all times.

……………………………………

One more piece of trash. You can do this, Izuku!

Of course, Izuku left one of the more difficult pieces of trash for last. An entire truck with flat tires. Moving it across the sand was gonna be a bitch and a half, but it was the last thing Izuku needed to do. He just had to get it up the ramp and to the pile of trash-

The sand wasn’t making it easy, and he almost wished that he’d left some tires to change out for the truck-

No! It was better for this to be harder-the harder this was, the stronger he was by overcoming this. He can do this! Go beyond!

Izuku reached the ramp and dragged the truck up it-it’s uphill, if he lets go or relaxes for even a second , it might start sliding back down to the sand, but he can do this! He can do this! Almost there! Go beyond…plus ultra!

Izuku reached the top of the ramp-he’s home-free from here! The trash pile by the dumpsters-the garbage men hadn’t come by for a few days when the dumpsters had gotten full, but Izuku was finishing up and didn’t want to have to wait for them to come by-was right there! Almost…almost…

Izuku reached the trash pile and, just to prove himself a little further, dragged the truck up it a little bit, letting go and leaving it there as he climbed to the top of the trash pile, looking at the sky and shouting in victory. He did it! He cleaned the entire beach! He did it, and with a week to spare-

He was so freaking tired -

Izuku fell back slightly as the exhaustion hit him-it was early in the morning, and how long had he been cleaning today already…Hitoshi wasn’t even here right now, having slept in a little later-

He felt someone catch him, and he opened his eyes as All Might carefully set him on his feet.

“You alright, my boy?” All Might asked.

“Yep-just…just finished the beach,” Izuku said, swaying slightly before fully getting his balance. “Plus ultra and all that.”

“And you did a great job-the beach is restored, and people can finally enjoy it again,” All Might said. “And with an entire week to spare!” He reached up and plucked out a hair from his V-bangs and held it out to Izuku. “Now, eat this!”

…what the fuck ?

Izuku blinked at the hair, then at All Might.

“...come again?” Izuku said.

“You see, my quirk requires DNA to transfer,” All Might said. “This is one of the easiest ways to do so. So, eat up!”

Izuku blinked, then grabbed the hair.

“Well, bottoms up, I guess. ” Izuku shoved the hair in his mouth and swallowed a few times to get it down his throat.

“It should take a few hours to take effect,” All Might said. “Time for you to digest it and all!” He coughed, then deflated. On instinct, Izuku grabbed out a handkerchief and handed it to him. All Might gratefully took it and wiped the blood away. “Thank you, my boy. Now, I’m sure that your family will want to be present when the quirk develops, but I would prefer to be around in case of anything happening, and the beach is probably a safe enough place for the sheer power behind any punches you might throw.”

“Good point-I’ll call Mom right now,” Izuku said, taking out his phone and dialing his Mom.

………………………………

“Any minute now, right? Will it be dangerous?”

“Not really,” All Might said. “It can be dangerous if the muscle mass of the User isn’t enough, but Young Izuku has more muscle mass than I had when I first received the quirk, and I was able to use it at full strength without repercussions very quickly. Of course, the quirk has gotten stronger than when I received it, but I’m sure that-”

“Can I see your arm?” Izuku asked suddenly, reaching out.

“Um…sure?” All Might said, reaching his arm out to Izuku, who grabbed it and pressed down- “What was that?!”

“ That was your quirk nervous system,” Izuku said. “I don’t have one, but you do-quirk nervous systems are there to make it easier to use your quirk.”

“I…I shouldn’t have those-besides One for All, I don’t have a quirk of my own,” All Might said.

“It’s rare, but it’s possible for someone quirkless to develop quirk nerves and people with quirks to not…” Izuku paused at that as the entire family stared at All Might. “Wait…what was that?”

“You didn’t have a quirk, and you still told him that he couldn’t be a hero without a quirk?!” Hitoshi exclaimed.

“I…I wasn’t thinking straight,” All Might said. “I’ll admit that it wasn’t the best thought process at the time-”

“Either way, by feeling for quirk nerves on my arm, I don’t have any at all ,” Izuku said, feeling on his arm and holding it out to All Might. “Quirk nerves work to regulate quirks from harming the user. It naturally stops you from going over your limits and hurting yourself. Since I don’t have that, I’m more likely to get hurt because-” He suddenly stopped as he felt something begin to crawl up his skin, and he looked down to see light dancing across his skin.

“Oh, it’s activating!” Inko said, eyes wide. “That almost looks like lightning.”

“That’s so cool !” Izuku said as the light continued to get stronger. He started to stand up-

All of a sudden, Izuku was several hundred feet in the air-

Pain radiated through his legs, and he felt his bones hate him as he reached the highest point-the view was absolutely beautiful from up here, and he could almost forget the pain in his legs as he took in the view-

-then he started to fall back towards the ground with a violent reminder that falling from this height was going to hurt like a bitch .

All Might was quickly jumping upward and catching Izuku, getting him to the ground in a less dangerous way.

“Oh my god!” Inko said, rushing forward as All Might laid him down on the ground.

“I am in contact with Recovery Girl-I’ll call her and ask her for help with this,” All Might said, immediately taking out his phone and stepping away to make the call.

……………………………..

“Oh dear,” Recovery Girl said as she looked at Izuku. “What happened here?” She blinked, then looked at All Might. “Wait… please tell me this isn’t what I think it is.”

All Might scratched the back of his neck. “Well…”

Recovery Girl grumbled to herself before taking her cane and smacking All Might, then she kneeled down next to Izuku and gave him a kiss.

Almost immediately, Izuku’s legs healed up, but his eyes slipped shut.

“I was going to tell you-I didn’t think he’d break his bones,” All Might said, rubbing at his leg.

“Of course you didn’t think ,” Recovery Girl said. “You never do!” She kneeled down next to Izuku’s leg and felt around, making sure that the bones were fine. “Make sure he gets plenty of rest and gets a handle on that quirk of his.”

“Of course!” All Might said.

“How should we go about that?” Hisashi asked. “Quirk counseling usually stops around the end of elementary school, but starting it for teenagers is…difficult.”

“Yes, it can be,” Recovery Girl said. “Hopefully, Toshinori here can help you figure it out.”

“...who’s Toshinori?” Inko asked.

Recovery Girl slowly blinked, then sharply turned to All Might, already getting up to smack him with her cane. He started to back away from her as she began to go to hit him, then she quickly closed the distance with the grace of someone much younger than her and began to hit him hard . 

“I can’t believe you never told these people your name , Toshinori!” Recovery Girl yelled as she hit him. “How long have you been doing this?! You need to be able to tell people that if you’re handing over your quirk!”

“I know I haven’t been the smartest-ow!” All Might said. “I’m doing my best here!”

“And it sure as hell isn’t enough!” Recovery Girl scolded, then sighed. “Child, are you planning on entering UA?”

“Yep-working to the entrance exam next week,” Izuku said.

“I know a few colleagues of mine that would be great with working with the strength of your quirk,” Recovery Girl said. “I can ask them to compile a list of counselors in the area to help you with your quirk, and if you make it into UA, I’m sure they would be glad to help you out.” She glanced at All Might, then back at Izuku. “The entrance exam is in a week, and with a quirk that can break your bones…it might be best if you focus on going into Gen Ed and transferring later when you have better control.”

“I’m taking the regular exam-I can do it quirkless if I need to,” Izuku said.

“Bold choice,” Recovery Girl said. “Just avoid ending up in my office with too bad of an injury, please.”

“I’ll do my best!” Izuku said.

………………………………………

Izuku stared at the large building in front of him, his mind racing .

It’s UA! The UA! I can’t believe we’re actually standing here-with any luck, we’ll even get to go to school here! Oh my gosh, that would be a dream come true-!

Hitoshi lightly smacked Izuku upside the head.

“Calm your ass down-it’s too early for this,” Hitoshi sighed, shifting slightly. “My shoes are not comfortable right now.”

“It’s the best way to bring in any kind of weapon,” Izuku muttered. “At least, any durable weapon. You also grabbed your pocket knife, right?”

“Of course I did,” Hitoshi said. “You?”

“Yep,” Izuku said.

“Get out of my way.”

Both boys stepped to the side slightly as Bakugou walked past them, glaring slightly.

“Of course you’re gawking,” Bakugou said, rolling his eyes. “You’d better not get in-and stay out of my way.” With that, he continued walking.

“Well, I see he’s as rude as ever,” Hitoshi said. “Does he seriously think we won’t get in?” Izuku glanced at him, and noticed that his twin brother was shaking slightly. “I mean, we figured that the entrance exam is geared towards physical quirks…”

Izuku reached over and grabbed his hand, squeezing slightly. “It’s gonna be alright, Hitoshi. We’ve got this! We’ve been preparing for this since we were ten , remember?” With that, Izuku took a deep breath and took a step forward-

-only to trip over his own feet and start to fall over.

“Woah!” Hitoshi said, grip on Izuku’s hand tightening to help him stay upright-

-but someone else beat him to the punch as Izuku started to float .

“You alright?”

The two looked up to see a girl with brown hair, and it looked like she had little pads on her fingers, since Izuku was floating, it was safe to assume that this was her doing, so maybe some kind of gravity manipulation quirk? Five-finger touch activation based on her hands-

“Um…” the girl said, trailing off, making Izuku realize he had been talking out loud.

“Oh, uh, sorry-thank you!” Izuku said.

“Of course-it’s bad luck to trip right before the exam, after all,” the girl said. “But…how did you just…piece my quirk together?”

“My twin here is a quirk nerd,” Hitoshi sighed, guiding Izuku’s feet back to the ground.

“Release,” the girl said, and gravity returned to Izuku. It took him a second to regain his balance, but then he bowed.

“Thank you,” Izuku said. “And sorry about that-my muttering gets creepy at times, I know, it’s a bad habit-”

“No, no, I don’t think it’s creepy!” the girl said as there was an announcement.

“Tests will begin in fifteen minutes-please begin making your way to your designated testing room!” a voice said cheerfully.

“Oh crap, still have to find our rooms-good luck!” the girl said, then turned and quickly walked to the doors.

“Good luck!” Izuku shouted back, then dragged Hitoshi to the doors as well. “Ok, so we’re in different rooms-you’re in 2-C, I’m in 2-D-according to the map we got, second floor, stairs should be right through the doors.”

“Did you memorize the floor plan?” Hitoshi sighed. “Don’t answer that, I think I already know.”

…………………………….

“GOOD MORNING, LISTENERS!”

Present Mic, Quirk: Voice, can adjust the volume of his voice. Heavy-hitting pro hero and can do a bunch of damage with a single use of his quirk. Side effects could include losing his voice more often, potential hearing loss depending on how well his body mutated to-

Hitoshi hit his hand, causing Izuku to quickly put a hand over his mouth and hunch his shoulders.

“Sorry,” he whispered. Thankfully , no one seemed to notice.

“One of these days, I’m putting duct tape over your mouth,” Hitoshi whispered back.

“Now, for the practical part of the exam!” Present Mic said, gesturing to the screen behind him. “You’ll be fighting robots in a cityscape!”

That’s a good way to test out the strength and combat ability against other objects, which would make sense considering the patterns of people with strength-based quirks, but it also discriminates against people like Hitoshi-how would his quirk work against a-

Hitoshi smacked a hand over Izuku’s mouth.

“There will be four different kinds of robots that you’ll be facing, worth one, two, or three points,” Present Mic continued. “For each one you defeat, you get that amount of points-written on the side of each, so feel free to track your points, but don’t worry, you aren’t required to! We will be watching each examiner and calculating all of your points!”

That would explain how long it takes for the exam results to get back-I wonder if they have some kind of AI tracker, or if the teachers go over each examiner themselves. The first would make sense unless…

Izuku looked at the test pamphlet, glad that Hitoshi’s hand was still over his mouth as he began to scan through.

Specific section about weapons-perfect, they’re encouraged, but obviously, at this point, if you didn’t bring any, there’s no point…wait, what’s this? “A true hero looks out for civilians surrounding them and acts accordingly.” I wonder…

Izuku flipped through the pamphlet, quickly scanning over all the information as Present Mic continued talking-it’s not outright stated , but, interestingly enough-

“Excuse me!”

A boy with blue hair stood up, raising his hand despite clearly having no intention of waiting to be called on.

“You forgot to mention the fourth robot!” the boy said. “This would be a gross overlook on the part of someone from such a prestigious institution!” Suddenly, he turned and looked right at Izuku and Hitoshi. “And you with the green hair! You’ve been muttering on and off this entire time, enough that the person next to you is clearly annoyed! If you’re not going to take this test seriously, then I suggest you just leave!”

Hitoshi looked the boy directly in the eye as he glared at him.

“That is all!” the boy said, sitting back down.

“I was getting to that part, listener!” Present Mic said. “The last robot is worth zero points, and therefore is just an obstacle you should avoid. Now, you have cards showing where your testing ground is. Please make your way over to the dressing rooms dedicated to your testing ground!”

Izuku grabbed his card and showed it to Hitoshi. “Different grounds.”

“Makes sense-they don’t want people from the same school working together,” Hitoshi said as everyone started to get up and move. “And ignore what that guy was saying-”

“Did you read the pamphlet?” Izuku asked as the two stood up.

“Why, didn’t Present Mic tell us everything?” Hitoshi asked. “My changing room is that way-I’ll see you after the test.”

“Wait-!” Izuku said, but Hitoshi was already far enough away.

He’ll figure it out…I hope.

Izuku quickly made his way to his changing room, changing as fast as he could, patting down his shoes and pockets for his knives-yep, he has them-but since they’ll be in a cityscape, he’ll try to grab some kind of pole.

Izuku got onto the bus to his testing ground, already going over his strategy in his head…but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the blue haired boy in a nearby seat, so he covered his mouth and bit his lip as he started to think.

There’s no telling how many robots are in each area, so my best bet is to try and get through as fast as possible to take out as many robots as I can right away, then continue on like that. I’ll want to grab some kind of pole, maybe tear something off a robot right away if I can. However, there’s also my theory about some kind of second point system involving keeping an eye on the people around you and keeping them out of trouble. So I’ll be going back and forth between fighting robots and keeping people out of trouble, but I should probably focus more on the first in case it can also be interfering with their tests.

The bus stopped, and the test takers began to get off. Izuku’s hand slipped as he stood up and got off the bus.

No time to hesitate, continue to attack all the robots, don’t stop and try to only aim for the higher-points. That’s the best way to go about this-rush in and get as many robots as possible as soon as possible-

There was a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, and he quickly snapped his head to the side to see the blue-haired boy.

“You are causing a distraction!” the boy said. “Your muttering is causing everyone else to lose focus-are you trying to make the rest of us fail our exams?”

“Muttering is how I focus-I know it’s a bad habit, I’ve been trying to curb it for years now,” Izuku said, only sort of focused on the boy as he noticed Present Mic gearing up for something-Izuku immediately prepared himself to start running.

“Well, that boy sitting next to you-” the boy started.

“START!”

Izuku immediately dodged through the crowd and ran through the opening doors into the fake city.

“There’s no countdown in real life-go, go, go!” Present Mic shouted at the other students, but Izuku quickly took out his pocket knife and charged the first robot he saw-a one-pointer-if he could destroy it and take out a chunk of metal, he could use that as a bo-staff to jam into more robots-

Izuku clashed into the robot and stabbed at the weak links of the robot, quickly slashing through the wires and kicking at the chunk, eyes quickly latching onto a metal pole in it. As the robot died, Izuku grabbed onto the metal pole and pulled as hard as possible, tearing it out with all his strength.

No time to waste!

Izuku hit the ground and ran towards the next nearest robot-a three pointer that began to shoot a laser at him-

A laser came from the side, and Izuku looked to see another examinee, who was starting to say something-

“Thanks, I guess!” Izuku said, then turned and ran towards the next robot, quickly stabbing this one with the metal pole, using momentum to chuck it at another robot nearby-two points, two more points, that’s five points total, but a girl stood up after cowering from the second robot, so who knows how many points from that-doesn’t matter, no need to calculate that right now-he needed to get to the next robot.

Izuku ran forward, quickly losing count as he continued to destroy more robots, glancing around at people nearby and aiming for robots that were close to attacking people that didn’t seem ready to fight back.

It wasn’t long before there was a rumbling sound, and Izuku turned, along with everyone else, to see-

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT!?

From the ground rose the Zero Pointer as it clawed at the surrounding buildings, causing them to collapse.

Ok, I should have enough points-the test should almost be over anyway-I guess this would be a great time for extra rescue opportunities-

As people continued to run away, Izuku saw the girl from earlier on the ground, crushed by some rubble.

Guess there’s a reason that Recovery Girl is on sight.

Izuku immediately turned and ran towards her and the Zero Pointer, falling down next to the girl and quickly lifting off the rubble.

“T-Thank you-you’re that guy from earlier!” the girl said as the Zero Pointer continued forward.

Izuku looked at the Zero Pointer, then glanced around nearby-the rubble had gotten a few other people, too, and, sure, the thing would stop soon enough, the UA staff would surely not let any students die or anything, but…

“I’ll be right back,” Izuku said, then he ran towards the Zero Pointer-the easiest way to slow that thing down would be to destroy it, so what was the easiest way to do that-

Almost as if summoned just by the thought , One for All coursed through Izuku’s veins, and he knew that this was going to hurt, but he jumped and punched the Zero Pointer in the face, destroying it-

-then he started to fall.

Ok, so what should I do here? I can’t just free fall from this height, but both my legs and my arm are broken-I have enough points, and Recovery Girl is on site, so if I break my other arm-no more time to think, I’m almost at the ground-

SMACK .

Suddenly, Izuku was floating just above the ground. Then he hit the ground.

Well, then. That was eventful.

Present Mic announced that the test was over, and soon, he heard a sigh. Looking up, he saw…

“Sorry,” he muttered sheepishly as he looked at Recovery Girl.

“Reckless teenagers,” Recovery Girl said. “Should’ve seen this coming.” She kissed his forehead, and Izuku felt tired as he felt his bones snap back into place.

“I’ll have the med bots bring you to the infirmary-that twin of yours is taking the exam, too, right?” Recovery Girl said. “He’ll have to make sure you get back home safe and sound.”

“Yeah…thanks,” Izuku said, then closed his eyes.

……………………………………

Hitoshi sighed as he stepped into Recovery Girl’s office, looking directly at his brother, sleeping on one of the beds.

“Broke three of his limbs?!” Hitoshi asked, pinching his nose and groaning.

“Yep,” Recovery Girl sighed. “Going after the Zero Pointer.”

“He did what ?!” Hitoshi yelled, rushing to Izuku’s side just as Izuku started to wake up and looked at him.

“Hitossshhhiii,” Izuku said, rubbing at his eyes. “Why’re you so loud ?”

“Why are you such an idiot ?” Hitoshi hissed, then sighed. “You know what, let’s just go home and get some sleep-you look like you really need it.”

“Yeah,” Izuku yawned, then slowly got up.

“Make sure he eats something, too,” Recovery Girl said. “And I’d say I’d better not see you again anytime soon, but if you get into UA, I have a feeling I’ll see you often .”

“I’ll make sure we get him to a quirk counselor for teenagers when we get in,” Hitoshi said.

“Good luck,” Recovery Girl said, then shooed them away. “Now, go home!”

Hitoshi dragged Izuku out of the infirmary and out of the building.

“Hitoshi,” Izuku said sleepily as they walked out.

“Mom and Dad should still be working for a while-I’ll text them right quick to let them know-”

“Did you notice the extra point system?”

Hitoshi paused at that. “The what ?”

“The extra point system,” Izuku said. “It wasn’t outright stated in the pamphlet, but it said, ‘a true hero looks out for civilians surrounding them and acts accordingly.’ I scanned the pamphlet, and there were places in it that suggested some kind of second point system for helping out other examinees.”

“...there was?” Hitoshi said.

“I can’t guarantee anything, but I’m pretty sure,” Izuku said. “It would make sense since there are heroes that don’t focus on the fighting. Most people that would gain these points wouldn’t gain them on purpose since I’m probably the only one that realized. It would make sense for why the test results take so long to get back-the teachers would have to view each and every person individually to figure out how to deal out the points instead of just using a specialized AI to track students to see how many robots they destroy.”

“...ok,” Hitoshi said. “Do…do you think you got in? How many robot points did you get?”

“I don’t know-I didn’t keep track,” Izuku said. “...you?”

“I think I got 28,” Hitoshi said. “I hope that’s enough-what if it’s not enough-”

“There were people that didn’t even get one point,” Izuku said. “And, worst case, there’s Gen Ed. You’re more than smart enough to get in, y’know? And that’s only worst case-I took note of different examinees and think that we’re gonna do great.”

“Yeah…yeah,” Hitoshi said. “We’re gonna get in. Now, let’s get home-you look dead on your feet.”

“And feel every bit of it,” Izuku yawned, leaning heavier against Hitoshi.

“Do I need to give you a piggyback ride?” Hitoshi asked.

“That sounds nice,” Izuku mumbled, yawning.

“Alright, get on,” Hitoshi said, kneeling down. Izuku got on his twin’s back, and Hitoshi carried him home.

……………………………..

“Test results, test results, test results!” Izuku said happily, darting into the living room, holding the two envelopes. “Toshi, Toshi!”

“Alright, alright, I’m up,” Hitoshi sighed, sitting up from the couch and looking at Izuku as Inko poked her head into the living room from the kitchen. “Hand mine over.”

Izuku handed it over as he plopped down next to Hitoshi, holding his own envelope. “Wanna open them together, or should we go to our rooms and open them separately?”

“Together,” Hitoshi said. “Well…you go first.”

“Ok…ok,” Izuku said, carefully pulling open his envelope to reveal…

…a disk?

The disk lit up, and suddenly, there was a hologram above it. Inko quickly grabbed out her camera to record as All Might him-freaking-self appeared on the hologram !

“I am here!” All Might said. “To show you the results of your exam!”

“All Might-but this…it’s from UA?” Izuku said, tilting his head.

“It is I, All Might, here to deliver your results for the exam!” All Might said. “As the newest member of the staff!”

“...I don’t think he’s qualified to teach,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku lightly smacked his arm and gestured to the hologram.

“Now, onto your results!” All Might said. “On the written test, you did exceptional, scoring 95%, making you one of the highest scorers we’ve had this year! As for the practical, you scored 55 villain points fighting against the robots! This alone would make you able to pass into the hero course! However! Look at the screen behind me!” All Might gestured.

“Wait, is that the girl that stopped you from tripping?” Hitoshi asked.

“Yep-she also got crushed by some of the rubble-I helped her out,” Izuku said.

“Hi,” the girl said. “I was going to ask about the boy that saved me? Green hair, freckles, kinda plain looking?”

Izuku pouted as Hitoshi snorted, patting him on the back.

“He saved me-he could’ve gotten more points-I think I heard him say something about knowing that I wouldn’t be crushed, but…well, I was wondering if I could give him some of my points?” the girl asked, causing all three to pause. “If you don’t mind, just…as a thank you, you know?”

All Might paused the video and turned back to look towards the camera. “A true hero looks out for civilians surrounding them and acts accordingly. How could we deny such a person from joining the hero course? This is why we had a secondary point system-Rescue Points!”

“You called it,” Hitoshi said. “Color me impressed.”

“Izuku Midoriya, for your actions during the Entrance Exam, you have earned 65 rescue points, bringing your total points to an astonishing 110, making you the highest scorer this year!” A ranking screen appeared behind him. “Ochako Uraraka herself has earned 45 rescue points, earning herself a place in the hero course as well!” There was a whispering to the side. “Wait, I have to do how many of these things?”

Hitoshi snickered.

“Well, time to wrap up!” All Might said, looking back at the camera. “Izuku Midoriya, this is your Hero Academia.” With that, the hologram ended.

“So…we gonna talk about how Bakugou got second?” Hitoshi asked, grinning at Izuku. “He’s gotta be so mad right now.”

“I…I got first ?” Izuku whispered, eyes wide. “I…I got first!” He whipped his head to Hitoshi. “Your turn, your turn!”

“Ok…ok,” Hitoshi said, opening his as well for a disk to fall down.

“I am here!” All Might said. “To show you the results of your exam! It is I, All Might, here to deliver your results! As the newest member of the staff! Now, onto the results! On the written exam, you scored 84%, which is well done and on the higher end of scores, the average score being around 60%. Principal Nezu sure makes hard tests, doesn’t he! As for the practical, you earned 28 villain points, placing you on the higher end of test takers-there were many that didn’t even get a single point! There was a hidden point system, however! A true hero looks out for civilians surrounding them and acts accordingly. This is why we introduced rescue points for helping out fellow applicants! You earned 5 rescue points, earning you 33 total points!” The screen showed up behind him, and Hitoshi grabbed onto Izuku’s hand, squeezing gently as his eyes fixated on his place…

…tied for 36th place.

“Now, this is a little tricky,” All Might said. “The cut-off for the hero course is 36th place, which makes it a little hard to figure out which of you will be in the hero course, so the Board of Directors had to make a tough decision. They ultimately decided…”

Hitoshi held his breath, shaking slightly. He had to make it, he had to make it, he had to make it-

“The Board of Directors decided to place you in the Hero Course Reserve-if any student doesn’t show up on the first day, you’ll be contacted and moved into the Hero Course, same goes if any student leaves UA within the first week,” All Might said. “With your exam score, you’re welcome to join the General Education Department. We’re excited to see you when school begins!” The hologram turned off…

“I…I lost,” Hitoshi whispered, then the tears began to fall.

Chapter Text

“Look what I found!”

Hitoshi leaned over Izuku’s shoulder to look at his phone. “What?”

“ So , apparently, there’s this super strict first-year teacher with an expulsion record according to some online forums,” Izuku said, tilting his phone to Hitoshi. “It’s hard to find, I had to do some key-word searching, no names mentioned, but it’s a hero course teacher-so if anyone gets expelled today, you’re in!”

“Then I’m working against an expulsion-happy teacher- great ,” Hitoshi said.

“It’s a start!” Izuku said. “We can do this!”

“Just have to get through today,” Hitoshi said, then reached over and adjusted Izuku’s tie. “Seriously, you’re really bad at this.”

“It doesn’t make sense,” Izuku sighed. “Are you sure you can’t tie it?”

“I can tie my own , but not someone else’s,” Hitoshi said.

“But Hitoshi,” Izuku whined.

“You can probably ask one of your classmates for help-make a friend to help you tie your tie each morning,” Hitoshi said.

Izuku made a face. “Make a friend besides you…I haven’t had one since Bakugou.”

“ Ouch ,” Hitoshi said. “But that’s fair.”

“You’d better make some friends, too,” Izuku said. “Even if you’re transferring, it’s always a smart idea to make connections in school.”

“Yeah, yeah-but no one with us at lunch, right?” Hitoshi asked.

Izuku made a face. “I’ll meet you at the bathrooms between the Gen Ed and Hero Course halls-I’m really glad Mom made us bentos for today.”

“Same here,” Hitoshi said, patting his back. “Now, we should probably get to class.”

“Right…right,” Izuku said, taking a few deep breaths. “I can do this-I’ll see you for lunch.” He gave Hitoshi a quick hug, then walked away, rushing down the hall to find his classroom-

1-A!

Izuku stared at the doors for a few seconds, letting excitement fill him before the dread did.

Bakugou got in, and that blue-haired boy probably did, too. I know that the girl-Uraraka-got in. Maybe we’ll be in the same class-I should thank her for trying to give me her points, even if I was fine without them. It was still a nice gesture-

Oh, he’s muttering again. He really needs to get over that habit.

Izuku took a deep breath, then mentally decided fuck it and threw open the door-

“Remove your feet from this desk this instant!”

“Oh, go ahead and shove it, four-eyes!”

Izuku’s eye twitched as he stared at the exact two people he didn’t want to see.

“So vulgar-you’re a hero student, and our upperclassmen have sat at these exact desks-it is disrespectful to place your feet on them when those before us have-” the blue-haired boy said.

Bakugou scoffed while Izuku looked at his other classmates-a few were looking his way- he looks vaguely familiar, but where did I see him…the entrance exam, maybe? -while others were looking towards Bakugou and the boy. Two were trying to ignore the two, but with how freaking loud they were, that wasn’t an easy task.

“Let’s start over-I’m Tenya Iida from Somei,” the blue haired boy said.

“Somei, ey-no wonder you have a stick up your ass,” Bakugou said.

“How rude-” Iida started.

“Well, I see nothing’s changed.”

Immediately, Iida and Bakugou looked over at Izuku- why the hell did he say that? He usually mutters, not talk that loud- Izuku bit his lip as he stepped further into the classroom. Not the time to mutter, don’t give his new classmates a reason to pick on him.

“Hello!” Iida said, walking over. “My name is Tenya Iida-we had the same section during the entrance exam-”

“I-I remember you,” Izuku said-what does he do here? He raised his hand to shake Iida’s. “I-I’m Izuku Midoriya-”

“Hey, you’re that plain-looking boy-Greeny!”

Did she just call me -no. Muttering.

“H-Hi-Uraraka, right?” Izuku asked.

“Yep-wait, you know my name?” Uraraka asked.

Was I not supposed to?

“Uh…yeah, I…I saw you on my hologram thing,” Izuku said. “I’m Izuku Midoriya-there’s someone behind you.”

“Huh?” Uraraka asked, slowly turning around, but Izuku’s eyes fixed on the figure behind her-laying on the ground, in a yellow…sleeping bag? A man with a scruffy beard, black, shoulder-length hair, looked tired. Security at UA is really good, so he’s likely a teacher with a strange way of introducing himself-maybe even their homeroom teacher-

“Wow, someone figured me out quick,” the man said slowly, drinking a jelly pouch before getting up. “It took the rest of you eight seconds to calm down-that kind of poor time management won’t work in the hero course.” He got up and walked to the podium-Izuku quickly scanned the seating chart and went to his seat-right behind Bakugou, who gave him a look as he walked past and quickly sat down. Uraraka, Iida, and most of the students just stared at the teacher-Izuku bit his lip as he started to think more. Black jumpsuit and scarf-my guess is that we’re looking at Eraserhead-one way to confirm would be if his goggles are under that scarf-it would probably be weird to ask to see his goggles, though, but he’s Hitoshi’s favorite hero, and I’d like to get a more accurate view of his goggles.

“As the green one said, I’m your homeroom teacher, Mr. Aizawa,” the man droned on, then reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out gym uniforms. “Put these on and meet me outside in fifteen minutes.” With that, he left.

Izuku quickly got up as everyone started to look around, confused.

Izuku sorted through the gym uniforms and looked at the names, then looked around. “Let’s get going, guys.”

“What if he’s not our homeroom teacher, though?” a boy asked. “He doesn’t look like it.”

“Well, he had our gym uniforms,” Izuku said. “And he’s at least UA staff-you heard him, outside in fifteen minutes.” With that, he walked out, racking his brain for the way to the changing rooms-just down the hall-

Present Mic was in the hallway and looked at him.

“In Aizawa’s class, huh?” Present Mic asked, stopping to look at him, then into the classroom.

“Yep-he said to change and meet him outside,” Izuku said.

Present Mic nodded, then looked in the classroom before poking his head in. Now, people recognized him as a member of staff. “Yo, you might want to head outside-Aizawa-sensei doesn’t like waiting on people!” Everyone started to rush to grab their uniforms as Present Mic looked at Izuku. “Have fun.”

“Thanks, you too-and you should probably get to class-it’s already started, and you’re a homeroom teacher,” Izuku said, then continued walking.

“How did you-” Present Mic started, but the 1-A students started to rush out of the classroom as they grabbed their uniforms.

“Hey, where’s the changing rooms-Midoriya, why are you so confident?” someone asked.

“We got maps a few days after acceptance letters!” Izuku said.

………………………………

Izuku didn’t waste time with talking in the changing rooms, changing as quickly as possible and rushing outside where Aizawa-sensei was standing.

“Well, someone’s fast,” Aizawa-sensei said, glancing at Izuku. “Izuku Midoriya, right?”

“Yes sir,” Izuku said. “And you’re Eraserhead, right?”

Aizawa-sensei gave him an odd look. “Most people don’t recognize me.”

“You’re…you’re my twin’s favorite hero,” Izuku said. “Plus, I did some…some light digging into the staff records-nothing like hacking or anything, just reading some hidden gossip blogs, they can be a great source of information sometimes-”

“Relax, kid-you talk too much,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Izuku hunched his shoulders. “I’m…I’m working on it.” He bit his lip as he thought, probably not the best time to ask about quirk counseling like Recovery Girl mentioned-I already talk too much. Don’t mutter, don’t mutter, don’t mutter-

“Oh, good, you’re getting here,” Aizawa-sensei said, turning and addressing the other students coming out. “Only one of you arrived in a hasty manner-that kind of slowness can get civilians killed if you’re the hero saving them. Now, let’s get this test done.”

“Test?” Uraraka asked. “What about orientation?”

“The teaching curriculum here allows the teachers to have freedom, and I see orientation as a waste of time,” Aizawa-sensei said. “You have three years before you get out there and save lives, and that’s barely enough time to get everything you’ll need to succeed.” With that, he looked around and at Bakugou. “Bakugou. You placed second in the entrance exam. Step up.”

Bakugou grumbled something, but did as he was told.

Aizawa-sensei tossed him a ball. “What was your ball throw score in middle school?”

“Like 67 meters, I think?” Bakugou said.

“Throw it, but use your quirk,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Just don’t leave the circle.”

“Alright,” Bakugou said with a grin, then did as he was told-

“Plus Ultra,” Aizawa-sensei said, showing the results to the rest of them. 705.2 meters.

“Woah, that’s insane!”

“This looks fun!”

“ Fun ?” Aizawa-sensei said, glaring at the student that said that. “You think this is fun ? You’re saving people’s lives and risking death on a daily basis as a hero.” He grinned- oh, I don’t like that . “How about this for fun ? Whoever gets last place gets expelled .”

Oh, so this is where the expulsion record thing came from.

“You can’t do that-we just got here!” someone said as Izuku began to observe his classmates, making sure to bite his lip and cover his mouth, just in case.

Alright, the small purple one with the balls on his head looks the most nervous, Bakugou is most likely to score high-I don’t like him, but I can recognize his strength-if we’re doing a ball throw and Uraraka can manipulate gravity, she might be able to completely remove gravity depending on how well she’s trained with her quirk-six-arms over there looks very physically strong-I wonder what other tests we’re doing and how many-I should be focused on how well I can do, I can’t get last, but I should do good, I’ll have to be careful about quirk use, though-Recovery Girl would be really angry if I landed myself in the infirmary again .

There was a tap on his shoulder, and Izuku jolted slightly, reaching to grab whoever just touched him-

“You mutter a lot.”

“O-Oh, sorry, I don’t always realize it,” Izuku said as Aizawa-sensei guided them to the first test-apparently they weren’t doing the ball throw first. Those look like earjacks-I’m guessing some kind of hearing quirk.

“Yep,” the girl said, holding out her hand. “Kyoko Jirou-my quirk improves my hearing.”

“...you caught everything I said, didn’t you?” Izuku asked.

“Yep,” Jirou said.

“Oh my All Might, I’m so sorry-I’m working on it, it’s probably really annoying-” Izuku said.

“It’s fine,” Jirou said. “And…it’s the first day of school, what did you mean by again ?”

“Uh…” Izuku said.

“Midoriya, Bakugou, you’re up first-50 meter dash,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Izuku quickly got to the starting line as Bakugou glared at him, getting ready to run.

“Three, two, one, go,” Aizawa-sensei said.

The two took off, Bakugou finishing in just over 4 seconds, Izuku at just over 5. He was no Saitama or All Might, but after going on runs every day for years (up to 15 km per day now!), he’d gotten pretty fast without needing a quirk.

………………………….

Grip Strength was the next test, and Izuku glanced around at his classmates as he squeezed as tightly as possible. He stared at the result, feeling his chest swell with pride. 95 kg! It wasn’t what the boy with multiple arms was showing-540 kg was a lot -but from the sounds of it, the rest of Izuku’s classmates weren’t exactly doing as much as him, most falling around 20-40 kg. Looking at the classmate with the purple balls on his head, he was around the lower end-he didn’t do so well in the 50 meter dash himself. The invisible girl was doing better, so…Izuku didn’t want to say that he’d be expelled, but Izuku wasn’t liking the boy’s chances. I can’t wait for Hitoshi to get in.

……………………………

Standing long jump was easy enough-thank you parkour training, even without Izuku’s quirk, he still cleared the sandbox-barely, but it was still enough, especially doing this quirkless. The boy with balls on his head-Mineta, Izuku learned his name was-didn’t actually clear it.

The Repeated Side Steps, however…Mineta did the best there, Bakugou doing well, too. Izuku did well enough, but…well, he was no Saitama. Surely that would be enough, though, right?

It was time for the ball-throw, and Izuku started to calculate his chances on the test. He made sure to cover his mouth as he muttered.

I should use my quirk at least once during this test, since it’s a quirk apprehension test-I’ll have to ask for the quirk counseling thing Recovery Girl mentioned…I’ll do that later, after school…maybe tomorrow…or ask for more advice from-remember, Izuku, Jirou can hear you, stop muttering.

“Midoriya, you’re up.”

Izuku stepped forward, taking the ball and looking around.

Ok, should use my quirk-three tests remain-I think I have enough points right now, but shouldn’t bank on that, so quirk or not-

Aizawa-sensei, as Izuku walked next to him, stopped Izuku and looked at him.

“Don’t break your whole arm-if you do, you’re out of here,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Izuku felt a shiver up his spine, then focused on the words.

Whole arm…don’t break your whole arm. But what if I…?

Izuku stepped into the ring, vaguely hearing some muttering from his classmates-they’d stay his classmates, they had to stay his classmates, but he had to focus on this.

Alright…here goes everything .

Izuku went to toss the ball, letting One for All flow through his veins as he concentrated hard-he had to get this timing perfect, he wasn’t getting a second chance-

One for All traveled through his arm, following the momentum he was creating before exploding only in his finger just before the ball took off, sending the ball flying-it wouldn’t be Uraraka’s impressive infinity score, and it might not be as good as other classmates, but it would be enough-

The wind around Izuku blew as his finger throbbed in pain, but he’s had worse-from bullies, former foster siblings, from his own training-so he just clenched his hand into a fist and looked at Aizawa-sensei.

“Didn’t break my arm,” Izuku said, rotating his shoulder a little to show that he could still use his arm.

Aizawa-sensei grinned -

“WHAT THE HELL?! THAT AIN’T YOUR QUIRK, DEKU!”

…that’s right , Bakugou had been under the impression he had a Paralysis quirk.

Bakugou lunged at Izuku, explosions rearing-

Aizawa-sensei’s capture weapon quickly restrained Bakugou as his quirk flashed, turning off the explosions and stopping him from getting any closer to Izuku.

“ Enough -you don’t want to deal with me with dry-eye,” Aizawa-sensei said, tugging Bakugou away and shoving him away from Izuku. “Next, Asui, it’s your turn for the ball throw.”

Izuku stepped back as the frog girl stepped forward. Izuku shook his hand slightly, but ultimately clenched his hand into a fist again.

“That looks painful-I knew your quirk was destructive, but it’s another thing to see it again,” Uraraka said as she looked at his hand. “Are you alright?”

“We just have three more tests, then I’ll see if I can get a slip to see Recovery Girl,” Izuku said.

The next three tests ran by in a flash.

The Distance Run was an endurance test-how long could you keep running? It came down to Izuku, Iida, and Yaoyorozu as the other classmates slowly began to drop out. Ha, when Izuku did his 15 km runs, he often tried to do it all in one go, so he was used to this. With the injury, he probably couldn’t go as long, but after thirty minutes of just straight running (or, well, using a scooter in Yaoyorozu’s case, she had such an interesting quirk!), Aizawa-sensei told the three to stop.

Seated toe-touch was easy enough. Again, Izuku thanked his parkour training for that one. Hitoshi was a little more flexible than him, but Izuku could do the splits-the seated toe-touch was easy enough for him.

The final test was sit-ups. Uraraka looked a little worried as he winced and looked at his hand, but Izuku still gave the test his all, doing really well.

“Alright, everyone, time for the test results,” Aizawa-sensei said. “I’m not going to read them out loud.” He pressed a button, and they were all displayed.

Izuku quickly scanned through, feeling pleased with himself that he got 9th place-not bad for only using his quirk once which made him wonder if he could’ve done this without his quirk at all-did he even need it if he almost passed the Entrance Exam without-not the time to feel bitter, Izuku, not the time- before his eyes snapped over to the last place-Mineta.

Izuku looked over at Mineta, who was sobbing. Izuku didn’t know him well and wouldn’t miss him-

“By the way, I lied-no one’s getting expelled.”

…what?

“It was just a logical ruse to get you all to do your best.”

No, no, no, no-

“I thought it was obvious,” Yaoyorozu said, looking around at her shocked classmates.

Izuku just stared at Aizawa-sensei, feeling a wave of anger through him-

He calmed his thoughts quickly-not the time, not the place. He could feel angry later .

“Oh thank God!” Mineta said.

“Whatever-don’t go slacking,” Aizawa-sensei said, then looked at Izuku and handed him a slip of paper. “Go see Recovery Girl for that injury-and don’t make this a habit, you need to work on your quirk.”

“R-Right,” Izuku said, looking at the slip.

“You’re all dismissed-change and head back to class,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Fifteen minutes, I expect you to take that count seriously .”

“Right!” everyone said, then turned to rush back, Izuku included as he let his thoughts wander.

He’s the teacher with the expulsion record-he completely meant to expel whoever came in last place. Changed his mind last minute-why? Seeing potential in Mineta? My brother has so much more-if only I’d been able to talk to him beforehand, he would’ve scored higher-he would’ve been here instead of someone else.

Izuku quickly changed back into his uniform.

“Midoriya, would you like help getting to Recovery Girl’s office?” Iida asked. “I’m sure Aizawa-sensei would understand-”

“I’m fine, thanks for offering,” Izuku said as the two stepped out of the changing room. “I memorized the school layout already-her office isn’t that far from here, I should be back in class soon enough.”

“I shall see you soon-would you like to eat lunch together?” Iida asked.

“I’m meeting up with a friend from a different department for lunch-I’ll see you soon!” Izuku said, then darted away and to the nurse’s office, stepping in-

“Who’s-oh, damn it, Midoriya!” Recovery Girl said, and Izuku hunched his shoulders.

“...I’m sorry?” Izuku said. “I only broke my finger this time, though-”

“Have you talked to Aizawa about quirk counseling-sit, sit!” Recovery Girl said, gesturing at a bed in the infirmary.

Izuku quickly sat down, not wanting to anger her. “I…not yet? I’m working on it-”

“You’d better ask today after school,” Recovery Girl said. “You should’ve asked already.”

“I didn’t want to ask in front of everyone!” Izuku said. “And he’s scary-threatened to expel someone, then he didn’t!”

“He didn’t ?” Recovery Girl said, raising an eyebrow. “That’s…that’s not normal-he usually follows through-expelled his entire class last year.”

“I know-I looked into the expulsion record thing I heard about online,” Izuku said, fuming slightly as Recovery Girl brought over a split to work on his finger-better to set it before healing it and all. “Hitoshi’s the runner-up-if someone gets expelled this week, or if someone drops out, he gets to join since he tied.”

“That brother of yours, right?” Recovery Girl asked.

Izuku nodded. “He won’t end up in here like me.”

“He’d better not-it’s the first day, and I’ve already healed you three times now,” Recovery Girl said, finishing the splint. “Alright, I’m going to use my quirk.” She kissed his forehead. “I’m sure you’re tired-rest here.”

“I still have classes-I’m a little too angry to fall asleep,” Izuku said, getting off the bed.

“Hmm, are you sure?” Recovery Girl asked.

Izuku nodded.

“Very well-I’ll write you a hall pass back to class-if you feel like you need to come back at any point, tell your teacher,” Recovery Girl said. “And keep that finger bandaged-I healed it, but better safe than sorry.”

“Right-thank you,” Izuku said, then walked out of the office and back to class, knocking on the door before entering.

“Oh, hello-Aizawa told me you’d be out for the day,” the teacher-Cementoss-said, giving Izuku an odd look. So did the rest of his class. “With Recovery Girl.”

“I’m not feeling tired, so might as well come to class,” Izuku said, then walked to his seat and sat down to look at the syllabus sitting on his desk.

………………………….

Izuku quickly left the classroom when the bell rang, disappearing into the crowd that was starting in the hall as he made his way to the meeting point.

“Hey, Izuku,” Hitoshi said when Izuku got there. “Didn’t see you at orientation.”

“Yeah, we skipped for a quirk apprehension test-by the way, my homeroom teacher is Eraserhead ,” Izuku said.

Hitoshi’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, seriously?”

Izuku nodded, then pouted, crossing his arms. “He threatened us with expulsion for whoever got last, then changed his mind at the last second. You almost got bumped into the class already.”

“Well, dang,” Hitoshi said.

“Yeah-seriously, though!” Izuku said, throwing his hands up. “He has an expulsion record, so why didn’t he go through with it!?”

“What happened to your finger?” Hitoshi asked.

“Used my quirk-I managed not to break my arms this time!” Izuku said. “I almost went through the test without a quirk-I got 9th place when only using my quirk once, maybe I could’ve been a hero without my quirk-”

Hitoshi flicked his forehead.

“Ow!” Izuku said.

“Have you talked to your teacher about quirk counseling yet?” Hitoshi asked.

“...not yet-” Izuku said.

“If you’re doing it after school, I’m gonna be there,” Hitoshi said.

“I can do this-” Izuku said.

“If you’re going after school, I’m gonna be there,” Hitoshi said, narrowing his eyes. “We both know that you were thinking of trying to ask you-know-who for advice and just calling that good.”

“Aizawa-sensei’s quick to threaten expulsion!” Izuku said. “How can you not be scared of the guy?”

“Recovery Girl told you to talk to a teacher-if you’d feel better talking to my homeroom teacher, we might be able to do that instead,” Hitoshi said.

“That would be weird!” Izuku said. “Seriously-”

“Let’s just go eat lunch,” Hitoshi sighed, grabbing Izuku’s arm and dragging him away. “Wanna go eat on the roof?”

“Sounds good to me,” Izuku said. 

………………………………………

“Hey, let’s just head home-”

“We’re doing this right now, Izuku.”

“Oh, come on, Hitoshi,” Izuku said. “We don’t have to-”

“Izuku,” Hitoshi hissed. “I am not letting you try to brush this off-we are doing this right now and getting this taken care of, got it?”

“Why not tomorrow?” Izuku asked. “It’s the first day and all-I’m sure he’s busy-”

“If I let you do that , you’ll brush it off until the day after , then over and over again,” Hitoshi said. “And I won’t let you-let’s just pull the bandage off, ok? You need help, and I don’t want to see you struggle with breaking your freaking bones until you actually ask, so we’re doing this right now.” With that, he carefully slid open the door of the teacher’s lounge, causing the teachers inside to look up.

“Oh, Midoriya, did you need something?” Present Mic asked, looking at Hitoshi, then looking at Izuku. “You’re in Aizawa’s class, right? He stepped out for a few minutes, but he’ll be back soon.”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said, hiding behind his brother. “I can talk to him tomorrow-”

“How soon?” Hitoshi asked, reaching back and grabbing Izuku’s arm without looking.

“A few minutes, I think,” Present Mic said. “I’m guessing you’re here to see him-”

“What do you need, Midoriya?”

Izuku jumped slightly, turning to see Aizawa-sensei standing there.

“Uh-”

Hitoshi turned and looked at him. “You’re Aizawa-sensei?”

“Yep-who are you?” Aizawa-sensei asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Hitoshi Midoriya-this one’s my twin brother,” Hitoshi said. “And he has something to ask you.”

“It can wait-come on, don’t we have to head home-” Izuku started.

Aizawa-sensei raised an eyebrow, then herded the two into the lounge. “Meeting room in the back, let’s go.”

“Need me there-the purple one’s one of my students,” Present Mic said.

“I’ll let you know,” Aizawa-sensei said, then guided the two teens into a meeting room in the back, sitting across from them-the chairs were comfy-looking, but Izuku couldn’t relax-he wanted to go home, this wasn’t fun, he didn’t want to-

Hitoshi tapped his hand. “Calm down, Izuku.”

“May I ask why you’re panicking?” Aizawa-sensei asked, raising an eyebrow before looking at Izuku’s hand. “I heard you still sat through classes today-feeling alright after breaking your bones?”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said, hunching his shoulders as he almost hid behind Hitoshi.

“He’s here to talk about that-c’mon, Izuku,” Hitoshi said, nudging Izuku. “You promised you’d talk about it, remember? Mom and Dad would be upset if you don’t.”

I don’t want Mom and Dad to be upset-ok, ok, best case scenario, I get help…worst case scenario, I get expelled and Hitoshi gets bumped up-

“I’m not going to expel you, Midoriya,” Aizawa-sensei said. “So? What’s wrong?”

“I…uh…I was told UA can do quirk counseling for teenagers?” Izuku blurted out.

Aizawa-sensei raised an eyebrow. “It’s available, yes-with how much you break your bones, it’s a good thing you’re looking into it. Your last quirk counselor not able to do much?”

Izuku hunched in on himself a little more. “U-Uh, s-something l-like that-”

“He didn’t have one,” Hitoshi said.

Aizawa-sensei’s eyes grew wide as Izuku stared at his brother.

“Hitoshi!” Izuku hissed out.

“As smart as you are, you can’t just walk into whatever quirk counseling session where the person thinks you know what’s gonna happen when you don’t-besides, the quirk counselor will have to look into your previous records, anyway, he’s gonna find out either way,” Hitoshi said.

“So Problem Child hasn’t been to a quirk counselor-that explains a lot,” Aizawa-sensei said. “You should have sought one out sooner with your quirk, or your parents should have placed you in right when your quirk developed.”

Izuku sank more into the chair. “U-Uh…t-this is w-what w-we’re doing a-about that.” Oh my All Might, just let me disappear.

Aizawa-sensei looked unimpressed, then like he was thinking, glancing back and forth between the two before ultimately looking right at Hitoshi. “What does that mean? I have a feeling you’re the one giving straight answers.”

Hitoshi nudged Izuku. “My twin here got his quirk a week before the entrance exam and hasn’t had the time to see a counselor yet.”

Aizawa-sensei’s eyes got really wide as he stared at Izuku, who curled in on himself.

Oh God, I’m gonna be expelled, I’m gonna be expelled-I can’t do this, can’t do this-this is bad, this is bad-

Hitoshi patted his back a few times, then looked at Aizawa-sensei. “As you can probably guess, he doesn’t want his classmates to know, and getting him here was like pulling teeth, and we should probably head home before this becomes a panic attack, but you can guess why we needed to talk to you. And don’t expel him-he’s doing great considering-he’ll be one of the greatest heroes-”

“I don’t doubt it, and I won’t expel you, Prob-Midoriya-Green Midoriya,” Aizawa-sensei settled on, walking over and kneeling down in front of Izuku, who was calming down slightly. “You scored ninth today without using your quirk a lot-you have potential, so you’re staying in the course. Can you show up an hour before class starts tomorrow? I’ll figure out quirk counseling tonight and let you know first thing tomorrow what the plan is.”

“Ok…ok,” Izuku said.

“Good,” Aizawa-sensei said, then got up and walked to the door, opening it. “I’ll see you tomorrow-I’m guessing both of you?”

“Yep,” Hitoshi said, getting up and dragging Izuku with him. “Let’s go, Izuku.”

“R-Right,” Izuku said, and the two quickly left.

………………………

“What was that about, Sho?” Hizashi asked as the two boys left.

“Long story-are you free after school for quirk counseling lessons?” Shota asked, sitting in his chair and looking at Hizashi.

“Well, yeah-the Green one?” Hizashi asked.

“Yep,” Shota sighed, leaning his head against the desk. “He’s going to be my biggest problem child this year, I can already feel it.”

Hizashi patted his back. “Yeah, yeah, but he’ll be one of your favorite students, I’m sure-tell the little listener I’ll do quirk counseling lessons with him after school for a few hours. Can you hand me his student file so I can read about it? Get myself ready.”

“Yeah, yeah-you’re a lifesaver,” Shota said, grabbing out his student files and sorting through before handing over Izuku Midoriya’s file. “He got his quirk a week before the entrance exam, apparently.”

Hizashi did a spit-take. “He what ?!”

………………………………

Ok, where do I turn again-why does this have to be so confusing?!

Denki sighed as he looked around. His new apartment was…was it to the left or the right of the convenience store?

Should I use maps…no, nope, I can do this! I’ve got this! I’m sure it’s to the left…or the right…

Ok, time to regroup-maybe some snacks would help-snacks made everything better!

So, determined, Denki walked into the store-sugar would be good-and he just went through his first day of high school! He earned some candy!

So, he turned into the candy aisle-

-and he stopped and found himself staring .

Crouched and grabbing some snacks from the bottom shelf was one of his new classmates-Denki wasn’t the best at names, but his name was Midori-something, he remembered that because it means green like his hair and eyes-but Denki was more focused on the hottie standing next to him, saying something as he grabbed something on a higher-up shelf.

“I’m just saying, Toshi,” Midori was saying as he grabbed a bag of chips, scanning the back of it. “What if-”

“I’m a little tired of hearing your ‘what-if’s, Izuku,” the purple boy-Toshi, apparently-said. “You heard Aizawa-sensei-you’re fine , and nothing bad’s gonna happen tomorrow.”

First-name basis? Damn, Midori, who’s this friend of yours?

Midori sighed, then suddenly turned his head and looked right at Denki, Toshi doing the same.

“O-Oh, hi!” Denki said, walking over. “Hey, aren’t we in the same class-you’re the finger-breaking guy!”

Midori and Toshi both flinched at that-oh, he said something wrong! Oops-but Midori nodded. “That’s me-it’s Izuku Midoriya. You’re…Kaminari, right?”

“Yep, that’s me!” Denki said, then looked at the purple boy-he was wearing a UA uniform, too-Denki definitely would have noticed if he was in their class, though, different department? Maybe an upperclassmen? Wow, a hot senpai. That would almost make him hotter- “Who are you?”

“Hitoshi Midoriya,” the boy said.

“Oh, older brother?” Denki asked. “Are you a second year…?”

The purple Midoriya snorted and looked at the green Midoriya. “Guess those two weeks make us look that different.”

Green Midoriya pouted. “I don’t look that much younger than you, Toshi!”

“Apparently you do-we’re twins,” purple Midoriya said, looking back to Denki.

“Oh, cool-what department are you-are you in 1-B?” Denki asked.

“1-C, actually,” purple Midoriya said, sounding almost…bitter. Hero-hopeful, maybe? That’s rough.

“Cool, cool,” Denki said.

“What are you doing here, Kaminari?” green Midoriya asked.

“Oh, just heading home-I got off a stop after the one I should have and am working my way back to my apartment,” Denki said. Wait, that makes me seem dumb-what if purple Midoriya thinks I’m an idiot? I want him to like me!

“Been there,” purple Midoriya snorted, then grabbed another thing of candy. Oh, thank God, he probably doesn’t think I’m dumb, then.

“So you live in this neighborhood?” green Midoriya asked. “Maybe that’s why you’re familiar…but you didn’t go to Middle School with us.”

“Nope, I’m from a different part of the country-my parents set me up in a nice apartment around here when I got in!” Denki said.

“Oh, nice,” green Midoriya said, then stood up. “Got my snacks and Mom’s-you, Toshi?”

“Mine and Dad’s,” purple Midoriya said.

“Alright-I guess we’ll see you around, Kaminari?” green Midoriya said, then walked up to the cash register, purple Midoriya following.

Wait, Denki wanted to talk more!

Without particularly looking, Denki grabbed a few snacks and walked up to the register, too, standing in line behind them. He wanted to get to know purple Midoriya, but he already knew green Midoriya, so his best bet was talking to him and then getting to know the purple one. Become friends with green, get invited over (or, better yet, invited to take the train to and from school with them-he was struggling, damnit, but he didn’t want to admit that!), and get closer to purple, figure out a good time to ask him out, do that, and go from there!

“So, you two live around here, then?” Denki asked as they stood in line.

“Yep,” purple Midoriya said, looking at him. “We went to school around here, too.”

“Oh, nice!” Denki said. “You get to see school friends anytime you want, then.”

“…sure,” purple Midoriya said slowly as he stepped up to the counter to buy his snacks.

Denki turned to green Midoriya. “So, that quirk test was crazy, huh? Man, I thought Aizawa-sensei was serious! Thank God he wasn’t, right?”

“…he has an expulsion record,” green Midoriya said.

“Huh?” Denki asked.

“I did my research-apparently, he actually does expel students-he fully intended to expel whoever was in last place today and changed his mind last second,” green Midoriya said.

“Aw man, really?” Denki asked, shuddering slightly. “Geez, he’s scary. By the way, what hero is he? You recognized him immediately, so I’m guessing you know?”

“Oh, he’s Eraserhead,” green Midoriya said. “An underground pro hero with a quirk that allows him to erase emitter quirks. It doesn’t work on mutant quirks, but with his capture weapon and fighting skills, he doesn’t let his advantage get the best of him-I wonder how unstoppable he would be if he knew how to Chi-block-can’t reveal that hand, though, that’s my secret weapon.”

“…sorry, I didn’t get most of that,” Denki said.

“Oh, sorry, it’s a habit-I’ve been working on it since I was a kid,” green Midoriya said as purple Midoriya thanked the cashier.

“Time to head home, Izuku,” purple Midoriya said.

“Mind waiting a sec for me to check out?” Denki asked.

The twins exchanged a look, both shrugging before looking at him.

“Sure, why not,” purple Midoriya said.

“Sweet!” Denki said, then quickly checked out his snacks before turning back to the two, and the three walked out.

“Where do you live-you don’t have to say your address, but what apartment building-wait, that might be creepy, what…street…what direction?” green Midoriya stumbled.

“Oh, I live at the Birch Apartment buildings,” Denki said. “Over on Kaede Street.”

“Huh, cool,” purple Midoriya said. “That’s close to us.”

Score!

“So walking the same way, anyway!” Denki said.

“Yep-let’s get going,” green Midoriya said, and the twins started to walk, Denki quickly following.

“So…any nicknames I can call you?” Denki asked. “I’m just calling you green Midoriya and purple Midoriya in my head, but that’s probably confusing.”

“Deku works-“ green Midoriya started.

Purple Midoriya smacked him upside the head. “You will not call him that-if it makes it easier, just call me Hitoshi.”

I get to call him by his first name! Score!

“Alright, then, Hi-to-shi,” Denki said, hoping that it didn’t sound like he was cherishing every syllable. “Nice to meet you!”

Suddenly, Midoriya’s phone started to ring, and he looked at it, sighing.

“Uh…I need to take this,” Midoriya said, glancing at Denki before stepping back and answering the call. “Hello? Yeah, I can stop by-yep, I’ll head over right now. See you soon!” He hung up, then looked at Hitoshi. “That was…uh…”

“ That blonde idiot, got it,” Hitoshi said.

“Stop calling him an idiot,” Midoriya sighed.

“I’ll stop calling him an idiot when he’s learned his lesson,” Hitoshi said. “Need me to bring your snacks home?”

“Yes, please,” Midoriya said, then handed over his snacks before running off-

Leaving Denki alone with his insanely hot twin brother.

“Uh…who was that?” Denki asked.

“Don’t worry about it-let’s go,” Hitoshi said, turning and continuing to walk. Denki looked after Midoriya for a second, but quickly followed Hitoshi.

“So…Gen Ed, right?” Denki asked. “Looking to be in the hero course?”

“Working on it,” Hitoshi said. “I didn’t make the cut off by a coin flip.”

“ Ouch ,” Denki said. “But that means you’re probably really strong, huh? You look strong.”

And he did . He had really big muscles-not as big as Midoriya’s, but Hitoshi was also taller than his twin brother, which was amazing since that meant he was taller than Denki .

Hitoshi shrugged. “I’ve been joining Izuku in his workouts since we were ten. His are more intense than mine, but his quirk depends on his strength, so that makes sense.”

“Really?” Denki asked. “It was really cool to see in the test-do you have a similar quirk?”

“Nope-completely different,” Hitoshi said.

“What is it?” Denki asked.

“It works best if you don’t know about it,” Hitoshi said with a small smirk-and oh , Denki’s heart swooned .

“G-Got it,” Denki said, then paused. “Mine is electricity, by the way.”

“Ah, so the lightning bolt makes sense,” Hitoshi said, gesturing at Denki’s strand of black hair. “Natural or dyed?”

“Natural, believe it or not!” Denki said. “I style it, but the black is natural. Does your hair naturally stand up like that?”

“Eh…yes and no,” Hitoshi said, reaching up and running a hand through his hair, making it lay down- woah . He shook his head, then ran his fingers upward, making it stand right back up again. “Still trying to figure out how it does that-it’s not a quirk or anything like that, not a secondary effect-drives Izuku and Dad crazy trying to understand it.”

“That’s really cool!” Denki said. “Is your hair, like, super stiff? It looks soft.”

“It’s soft,” Hitoshi said, then he stopped and looked to the side. Denki did, too-oh, his apartment building!

“Oh, sweet!” Denki said. “I mean, uh, here’s my stop-do you have a while to go?”

“Eh, not too far,” Hitoshi said, pointing down the road. “A few buildings that way.”

“Nice!” Denki said. “Guess that makes us the perfect study partners, then-since we live right by each other and all, and I think we mostly have the same classes, right?”

“Yep,” Hitoshi said. “Well, see you soon, I guess-“

“Can I get your phone number?” Denki blurted.

“…why?” Hitoshi asked.

“Well…since we live right by each other, maybe we can meet up before school tomorrow and go together?” Denki asked-please, please, please say yes-

“Izuku and I are going pretty early tomorrow,” Hitoshi said, then sighed. “Too early, but it’s gonna be worth it.”

“Oh…” Denki said. “Wanna meet up after school, then?”

“Eh, we might see you on the train ride back,” Hitoshi said, then turned and walked away. “See you around.”

“Wait, can I still get your phone number?” Denki asked.

Hitoshi turned around and looked at him, and Denki hoped he wasn’t blushing from that look.

“Maybe another time-I don’t get into the habit of handing out my phone number,” Hitoshi said, then turned and continued walking, sending back a wave.

Denki stared for a few seconds, then quickly went to his apartment, shutting himself in and going to his room to scream into a pillow.

The best part about living alone for high school? He didn’t have to deal with the embarrassment from his family dealing with his disaster-bi ass.

Chapter Text

“I need to use the bathroom-”

“We both know you don’t,” Hitoshi sighed, glaring at Izuku. “It’s not that hard-your teacher is already expecting you, he’s not mad, you’re getting help with your quirk. Don’t go freaking out.”

“O-Ok,” Izuku said, taking a few deep breaths. “I-I’ve got this.”

Hitoshi patted his back. “Yeah, you do. Now, I’m gonna go to the library-you head to your class to see him, or check by the teacher’s lounge. Do not chicken out, or he might call you out in front of your classmates, and which of those is worse?”

Izuku’s eyes went wide. “Heading to class-I’ll see you at lunch!” With that, he rushed off to his classroom-

-and proceeded to pause at the door. Maybe he could just-

Nope, I need to go inside-I can do this, I can do this-

Izuku slowly opened the classroom door. Sure enough, Aizawa-sensei was sitting at his desk and looked at Izuku.

“Good, you’re here,” Aizawa-sensei said, standing up. “Come on.”

Aizawa-sensei left the room, and Izuku quickly followed him over to the teacher’s lounge.

“Yamada!” Aizawa-sensei said as they stepped in.

Present Mic looked up from his desk, then stood up as Aizawa-sensei led Izuku to the meeting room from yesterday.

“Alright, sit, sit!” Present Mic said as he sat down. Izuku did, too, Aizawa-sensei sitting as well, but not right by Izuku. “Now, I hear your quirk came in very recently, yeah?”

Izuku nodded. “A-A week before the entrance exam…”

Present Mic hummed. “Unheard of, but I'm sure we can figure it out! Now, the plan right now is for training after school for an hour each day, can be bumped up to two if you continue to struggle with it. You’ll meet me at the teacher’s lounge every day right after your classes are over, and we’ll go from there!”

“Yamada’s in charge of working with you on your quirk,” Aizawa-sensei added.

“Makes sense,” Izuku said. “Eraserhead’s quirk works more like Hitoshi’s, where it’s on or off, not really any room for in-between-although it would be interesting in theory if there was some kind of dampening effect instead that could potentially combat dry-eye if it can work like that, same way with my theory of Hitoshi’s quirk potentially being able to plant suggestions in someone’s mind to gear them towards acting a certain way instead of fully making them, producing less exoustonin, at least I’d hope- ”

“Mind saying that a little louder, little listener?” Present Mic asked.

Izuku slapped his hands over his mouth, hunching his shoulders. “S-Sorry.”

“No need to be sorry-just say it a little louder-I think I caught the word exoustonin in there,” Present Mic said. “You don’t meet a lot of first years that know what that is!”

“M-My brother has a mental quirk-his brain has a lot of it, making it harder for him to sleep,” Izuku said, carefully choosing his words. “HIs quirk is more like Aizawa-sensei’s, with on and off. Mine isn’t, though? At least, it shouldn’t be either breaking my bones or not.”

“Exactly!” Present Mic said. “We’re gonna work on figuring out how strong you are and how much of your quirk you can use, so it’s more like my quirk with levels instead of on or off, so that’s why I’m training with you after school instead of Aizawa over here-he’ll join us from time to time just to make sure you aren’t getting hurt-best to stop that from happening when we can, you know?”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said.

“Good!” Present Mic said. “Now, we’ll have the first few sessions be nice and easy, just getting an understanding of your quirk before we start fully training with it.”

“Ok,” Izuku said-he can work with that. He can do this.

“Good!” Present Mic said. “Now, I’m seeing you for English class today-hope you’re ready for a placement test. Your brother was able to hold a conversation in English yesterday, and I think I remember him saying that your dad lived in America for a while, yeah?”

“Yep-until I was six, and he sometimes goes back for a month or so at a time, but not for years anymore,” Izuku said, then slipped into English. “I wouldn’t say I’m fluent, but I got into some American t.v. shows when I was younger, so I’ve got a good enough handle on it.”

Present Mic laughed at that. “Alright, now head to homeroom-I’m sure you’ll be there before this softie over here-”

“Hey,” Aizawa-sensei grunted.

“-he really does care about his students, trust me-now, I’ll see you later!” Present Mic said.

Izuku nodded, then got up and walked over to the door and out of the teacher’s lounge. He debated on going to find Hitoshi, but he ultimately decided to go to his own homeroom-

“Good morning, Midoriya!”

Izuku jumped-why was Iida already here?!

“G-Good morning, Iida,” Izuku said as he walked over to his seat, sitting down and pulling out his training plan notebook.

“What’s that for?” Iida asked.

“O-Oh, just looking at my training plan,” Izuku said, flipping open to his routine pages. “I-I just need to add in some training I’m doing.”

“Very admirable of you!” Iida said-he is way too loud for this early in the morning. “I was meaning to talk to you yesterday, but I couldn’t find you at lunch or after school! Mind if we sit at lunch together today?”

“Oh, uh…I-I’m sitting with my brother-he’s in a different department and doesn’t like sitting with strangers,” Izuku said.

“Oh, I see!” Iida said. “Is he a second year?”

“First, actually-we’re twins,” Izuku said.

“Oh, interesting-that doesn’t happen often,” Iida said. “What department?”

“Just…a different one,” Izuku said. “Maybe another time for lunch, though?”

“Perfect!” Iida said. “Now, I have been meaning to ask you a few questions about the entrance exam?”

“Oh, uh…s-sorry for mumbling,” Izuku said. “I really am working on it.”

“It is a strange habit,” Iida said. “I’m sure you will have a curb on it very soon!”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said, hunching over his notebook a little bit.

“But something I was meaning to ask you yesterday was about your quirk-you broke your limbs at the entrance exam, and your finger yesterday-with how on-top you seem of your training schedule especially, I find it strange that you don’t seem to have the best control over your own quirk.”

Oh, I really don’t want to have this conversation.

“N-No quirk counselor wanted to work with a kid that breaks his bones,” Izuku lied. “I’m getting help now, though-UA is a little more willing to help out with Recovery Girl on site if something happens.”

“Ah, that makes sense!” Iida said. “I’m sure you will be doing well with your quirk very soon, although you seem strong without it-you placed very high yesterday and managed to get first in the entrance exam, after all!”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said, feeling a little…unsettled at that as he leaned against his hand and bit his lip. Please tell me he’s not only talking to me because I’m strong…

“I was meaning to congratulate you yesterday on your quick thinking and understanding of the exam!” Iida said. “I had no idea there were rescue points, but you clearly had some kind of idea since you jumped in without hesitation.”

“A-Ah, w-well, it...it was in the pamphlet, i-if you read close enough,” Izuku said.

“It was?” Iida said. “Interesting! But that is a failing on UA’s part to not inform us!”

“The line was, ‘a true hero looks out for civilians surrounding them and acts accordingly,’” Izuku said. “They wanted to see if you would save people because it’s the right thing to do.”

“Ah, I see!” Iida said. “That is a truly exceptional way of figuring-”

“You’re really loud, you know that?”

The two turned to see Todoroki walk into the classroom- he has a really cool quirk, don’t geek out about it right now .

“My apologies-how has your morning been, Todoroki?” Iida asked.

“Eh,” Todoroki said, sitting down.

Iida walked over to him, and Izuku quickly focused on his notebook instead, scribbling down more.

Ok, so that’s an extra hour after school each day, we’ll have to see what all the ideas for my quirk are…something like Present Mic at levels…maybe I need to think of it in levels, too? Like, my currently level is…level 100 or something, and I need to defeat the previous levels first? Hmm…so I start at level one with my powers…or 1% of my power. I start there and try to use 2%, then up to until I’m at the level I should be at? I don’t know what level I’m on right now-

“Midoriya, you’re mumbling! I didn’t catch that, though-”

“Sorry!” Izuku said, closing that notebook-he can figure out more later . For now, mentally prepare for the day.

………………………

“I AM HERE! COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!”

Izuku’s eyes widened in excitement-yes! Class with All Might! (Ignoring the fact he’d been training with the man for the last almost year now-this was actual, official class!) He was wearing his Silver Age costume-so cool!

Excited whispers scattered around the room as All Might stepped up to the podium with a huge smile on his face.

“I'll be teaching your Practical Heroics course for today!” All Might said. “We'll be at Ground Beta for this, so it's time to head over there, but first!” He clicked a button, and cases came out of the wall. “Grab your costumes!”

Oh, heck yeah!

Izuku, right alongside his classmates, quickly grabbed his hero costume and rushed to the changing room, eagerly pulling out his suit-one that Mom handmade for him, even! And…well…

“Oh, that had better not be what your costume design is!”

“I like it, though…” Izuku mumbled, shifting slightly as Hitoshi scanned it over, then gave his twin an exasperated look.

“You look like a freaking bunny,” Hitoshi said. “You even have bunny ears.”

“They’re supposed to be All Might’s hair!” Izuku said.

Hitoshi smacked him with the notebook. “That’s even worse-also, that green is an eyesore .” He sighed. “ Look , let’s just…here.” He grabbed a pencil and started to sketch. “Are you really attached to the bunny ears…?”

“It’s All Might’s hair!”

“That ain’t All Might’s hair!”

…ok, in person, it didn’t look like All Might’s hair, but Mom made it, and it turned out even better than he’d planned-he was still wondering when she found the time-but he did have some add-ons through the school’s costume department.

It was a dark green jumpsuit, the top looking like Katara’s initial blue outfit that attached to the pants, which were baggier and a slightly longer version of Ty Lee’s pants that ended about mid-calf, the rest covered by Izuku’s combat boots (or, well, something like combat boots, they were made of a more flexible material to make it easier to kick at things). The sleeves were long and tight-fit (couldn’t have them catching on anything), and there was a hood that had the…bunny ears on it, complete with a mouth guard that looked like a smile. Around his waist was a utility belt with some knives strapped to it, although more would be hidden in the boots, and there was a few pockets for emergency first-aid equipment and anything else he might need. Mom had sewn it from some fire-proof cloth lying around the house (can never be too careful with someone that breathes fire in the house, but it wasn’t the easiest to work with-seriously, when did she get the time?!), and the fabric was sturdy and could be reinforced if needed. Overall, it was a solid first costume!

Izuku changed quickly, then glanced around the room at his classmates and their costumes…

…ok, first of all, he had some concerns.

Mineta should scrap that costume altogether and leave the hero course while he’s at it- . Seriously, that looked like a diaper -what the hell?!

Iida’s looked like Ingenium’s, straight up-and Hitoshi had the nerve to tell him not to copy a detail from All Might.

Bakugou’s was…well enough.

Kirishima needed to put a shirt on. That’s all Izuku had to say about his costume.

“I heard my name-what’ya say, Midoriya?”

“S-Sorry,” Izuku stammered, then quickly darted his way over to the door and rushed out to start walking over to Ground Beta-

“Hey, wait for us!”

“Holy shit he changes fast!”

It wasn’t long before all the boys were at Ground Beta, the girls quickly joining them (probably hearing the boys rushing to leave and rushing after them), where All Might smiled at all of them.

“They say that the costumes make the pros-you all look great!” All Might said-All Might said the costumes looked great! Then all of them were definitely great…

A voice that sounded suspiciously like Hitoshi’s in Izuku’s head went yeah, well, All Might’s not always right-just look at the girl costumes!

…was Uraraka wearing heels ? And Momo’s costume was…Izuku was pretty sure that was breaking a few laws. Hagakure’s was definitely breaking a few based on her muttering to Ashido that she wished she could wear something besides gloves and shoes. Wow .

“We will be doing Battle Trials!” All Might explained as Izuku glanced around-he was as new to the costume scene as his classmates were, but…he’d been studying heroes for years now and was certain that some of these costumes could use a lot of work-

Not. The. Time. He was so glad that his face-mask thing was designed to block out what he was saying when he wanted it to.

“Everyone will be randomly assigned  to teams of two, and you will be facing off against another team!” All Might said. “One team will be infiltrating the building, while the other is going to be inside the building, protecting a fake bomb. The hero team will have fifteen minutes before they lose, and to win, they either have to capture both villains or capture the bomb.”

Iida rose his hand.

“Yes?” All Might asked.

“Is it smart to assign us to random teams?” Iida asked.

“It does work that way sometimes-you’re randomly paired with someone in a moment’s notice because you’re who’s available,” Izuku said.

“Ah, that is a good point-my apologies!” Iida said.

“Right, now let’s show the teams!” All Might said as a screen appeared behind him, loading for a few seconds before showing the teams.

“Oh, we’re teamed together!” Uraraka said, giving Izuku a high-five.

“Let’s do our best,” Izuku said, glancing at the other teams. Bakugou was with Iida… that sounded like a disaster waiting to happen.

“I’ll draw the first teams now!” All Might said, reaching into two boxes and pulling out… “Team A will be the heroes, while Team D will be the villains!”

OH GOD DAMNIT!

Izuku could practically feel Bakugou’s eyes burning into the back of his skull, but he resisted the urge to turn and look at him as he instead looked at Uraraka.

“We can do this,” Izuku said.

“Yeah!” Uraraka said.

“Alright, Team D, proceed to the building-Team A, you’ll get a map of the floorplan and five minutes of prep time!” All Might said, handing over papers to all four.

Iida and Bakugou went into their building while Izuku and Uraraka stood outside.

“Alright, they won’t place the bomb on the top or bottom floors-too obvious,” Izuku said, analyzing the floor plan. “Most rooms are by windows, so there’s a high chance they’ll have the bomb in one of those rooms- smartest idea would be to be away from the window, but that’s not as much of an option here, so maybe we can peek through windows or, if possible, climb out through the windows and proceed to other floors that way- mumbling, sorry. My guess is that Bakugou will come after the two of us while Iida stays with the bomb-our worst chance would be both of us against both of them. Best case, we can get just us against Iida, but Bakugou is strong-he’s earned that respect. I bet that he’ll come after me, allowing you to move past and find Iida. Let me know when you do-I’ll try to get away from Bakugou and join you from there.” He paused. “Uh…anything you want to add?”

“That all sounds good to me!” Uraraka said. “You seem almost familiar with both of them, though, Deku.”

Izuku tensed up at that and turned and blinked at her.

“...what did you just call me?” Izuku asked.

“Deku-that’s what Bakugou’s been calling you?” Uraraka said.

“...you know that means useless, right?” Izuku asked.

Uraraka’s eyes widened. “Oh, I’m sorry, it just sounded like Dekiru-like you can do it!”

“...feel free to call me that , then, but just…just not Deku,” Izuku said, then thought for a few seconds. “Midoriya or Izuku works, too. Call me anything, really.”

“Wait, really?” Uraraka asked.

“Yeah-I have a twin brother, so I’m used to not being called Midoriya to differentiate between the two of us,” Izuku said.

“That’s so cool-does he go here?” Uraraka asked. “In 1-B?”

“1-C, actually,” Izuku said, looking at the building. “But that’s not the point.” He tapped his earpiece to talk to All Might. “Hey, All Might sensei?”

“Yes, Young Midoriya?” All Might asked.

“Once we enter the building, are we allowed to leave before time’s up?” Izuku asked-better make sure there’s no penalty for this.

“Of course!” All Might said.

“Sweet, thanks,” Izuku said, then turned to Uraraka. “If you need to, feel free to climb between windows-can you make yourself float?”

“I can, but it makes me nauseous,” Uraraka said.

“Ah, not a fun weakness to work around,” Izuku nodded. “If necessary, the ledges by the windows look wide enough to slide on if you’re careful-but only if necessary.”

“Ok!” Uraraka said.

“Hero team, are you ready?”

Both of them nodded.

“Your fifteen minutes starts…NOW!”

Izuku quickly walked into the building, Uraraka right behind him.

“Alright, keep close, and the second you get a chance, go on without me,” Izuku said.

“Right!” Uraraka said-

“DEKU!”

Bakugou came bursting around the corner, immediately aiming for Izuku with-you guessed it-a right hook.

Now, Izuku might have once cowered in fear. He might have once let himself get beat up, or been too scared to fight back against his bully, or just generally at a disadvantage.

Instead, Izuku grabbed onto Bakugou’s arm, minding the explosion he set off, and shouted, “NOW!” as he slammed Bakugou onto the floor, noting that Uraraka ran right afterwards.

“You-what-” Bakugou said as Izuku stepped back and got into a fighting stance while Bakugou hopped up.

“You always start with a right-hook, you know that?” Izuku said. “You always have, ever since we were kids. I know how to fight against you-and I know how to win, too.”

If looks could kill…well, which one of them would have been dead first? Bakugou, who was glaring daggers and clearly about to lunge into the fight, or Izuku, who looked at every single weak point he could find in Bakugo’s costume and began to plan around how to exploit that?

Bakugou lunged at Izuku with a roar, explosions being set off, again, going for a right hook-will he never learn to adapt? Izuku stepped to the side, then dodged down when Bakugou set off an explosion to change the direction he was going to aim right back at Izuku-smart idea, it almost worked-keyword being almost . Izuku dodged down and to the side, then quickly rebounded, and before Bakugou could react, Izuku brought up his foot and slammed down into Bakugou’s back, sending him to the ground, but Bakugou kicked out his legs to try and catch Izuku off balance.

Izuku braced against the kick and managed to stay upright as he grabbed out the capture tape-he wasn’t completely sure if Bakugou would really stay down if captured-he was supposed to, but supposed to and actually doing so are two very different things when Bakugou wants to keep fighting or doesn’t feel like he’s been properly defeated.

“You damn nerd!” Bakugou said, throwing another punch at Izuku, then grabbing at his gauntlet. “You were supposed to be weak with that weird quirk of yours-not show up with something stronger!”

“Well, sorry to disappoint!” Izuku said, then rushed at Bakugou as the explosion boy grinned, then began to pull something on the gauntlet-

It looks like a grenade-is he about to set off an explosion?!

Vaguely, Izuku could hear something over the comms, and Bakugou replied, but Izuku couldn’t focus on that-he had to get the fuck out of the way of that blast before it killed him -

Izuku could feel the heat of the explosion, but barely managed to duck under the gauntlet just in time-his hood got singed, he could distinctly smell burning fabric-the fabric was fireproof, but at point blank like that, didn’t matter-and he prayed there was no damage as he punched once, twice-just as Bakugou realized what was happening, before he could pull his arm away-Izuku hit the third point he was going for, grabbing onto the arm as it went slack and yanking Bakugou forward.

The explosive boy wasn’t down just yet and brought his other hand to set an explosion off right in Izuku’s face.

Oh come on, Bakugou, your tell is obvious, even for you.

Izuku quickly reached up with the capture tape and secured it around Bakugou’s wrist, bringing up his knee to smash into the gauntlet, causing Bakugou to falter as Izuku then yanked Bakugou down- there’s always another pressure point-his costume doesn’t cover it, so this is going to be easier- and brought his hand up to his neck, hitting his intended pressure point hard , causing Bakugou to fall to the ground, out cold. Just in case, though, Izuku was quick to secure the capture tape, then he tapped his comm.

“I’ve captured Bakugou-where are you?” Izuku asked.

“Third floor, Room 5-Iida’s smart, he hid all things I could use for ammo,” Uraraka replied. “But now he’s…monologuing?”

“Got it-I’m right below you,” Izuku said, walking over to the window. “Keep him looking away from the window and eyes on you-I’ll be there in a few seconds.”

“Got it,” Uraraka said, then went off the comm as Izuku climbed out of the window and looked up. There weren’t any pipes to climb up, and the windowsill was very thin…it would be easier with a fire escape, but he’d make do.

Izuku took a deep breath, then jumped from the window and grabbed onto the thin ledge, carefully pulling himself up-thankfully, he wasn’t too far off the ground, so if he fell, he wouldn’t be too badly hurt.

Izuku peeked into the window to see…yep, Iida was indeed monologuing. He’s dedicated to the role, at least-he’d make a great theater kid, not gonna lie. But his dedication would be the end of him here.

Izuku tested out the window-it wasn’t locked, so he didn’t have to break the window and risk tearing his costume-sue him, he had a sentimental attachment to it.

Either way, he carefully climbed through the window and slowly snuck up, smiling under his mask as Iida was saying something about “the proper way to be a villain is to let the hero truly know that they have lost.” Izuku stood next to the bomb, looking it up and down for a second before touching it-

“THE BOMB HAS BEEN CAPTURED-HERO TEAM WINS!”

Iida spun around as Izuku and Uraraka burst out laughing.

“W-When-how?!” Iida said. “I thought that Bakugou-”

“He’s unconscious right below us,” Izuku said, then tapped his comm. “All Might, want me to bring him to the viewing room, or…?”

“Ah, that won’t be necessary-Recovery Girl’s medical robots are already deployed to pick him up and bring him to the infirmary!” All Might said.

“Oh, that won’t be that necessary-I just hit a pressure point, he’s not injured…too badly,” Izuku said.

“Protocol!” All Might said.

“Fair enough,” Izuku said.

“Now, make your way to the viewing room for feedback!” All Might said.

“Let’s go!” Iida said, and the three left the building-Izuku glanced to see Bakugou getting taken by the recovery bots despite insisting that he was perfectly fucking fine, asshole!

………………..

“Now, who was the MVP of this round?”

“I would say Midoriya-he executed his strategy with ease and captured the bomb. His takedown of Bakugou was quick as well, crucial to a real villain fight.”

“Very good observation, young Yaoyorozu!” All Might  said. “Now, anyone have other notes for the battle trial?”

“I do, actually,” Izuku said, then looked at Iida. “You moved everything Uraraka could have used for ammo out to make it easier for you-that was a great strategy.”

“Oh, thank you!” Iida said.

“That is a good point, young Iz-Midoriya!” All Might said. “As for Young Uraraka, any notes?”

“I would suggest finding other odds and ends to use your quirk on, perhaps carrying some on yourself, or using your quirk on Iida to stop him,” Yaoyorozu said.

“Having extra ammo on yourself is always a good idea, but acting as a distraction was a good idea, too,” Izuku added, looking at Uraraka, then at Iida. “No offense, but the monologue thing was a little…over the top, so Uraraka indulging in it gave her time to strategize and figure out a plan of action in the moment, which turned into waiting for me.”

“That is a good point-distractions, especially when having backup at the ready, can be beneficial,” Yaoyorozu said.

“Alright, time for the next trial!” All Might said, going to draw the next two groups.

Yaoyorozu ended up walking up to Izuku. “Want to look at critiques together? You seem to know what you’re doing.”

“Sure!” Izuku said. “You made some great points about performances-any critiques for me?”

“Perhaps taking down Bakugou before the blast went off?” Yaoyorozu said. “All Might had to ban him from using it again, so I assume it was very dangerous-if it was a villain using something like that and had aimed at the structure of the building, it could have put everyone at risk of the building collapsing.”

“That’s a great point-you’re right, I should have gone for the knock-out immediately, perhaps a sneak attack, or the moment I got close enough,” Izuku said.

“He snuck up on you, so it would likely have been the second-the moment you started hitting his ar, aiming for the neck would have been a better idea if possible-his costume wasn’t fortified there, either,” Yaoyorozu said, and the two continued their little nerd rant about that as the next round started.

…………………..

By the time the day ended-and Bakugou came back to class, grumbling about how he shouldn’t have left in the first place-Izuku had a new friend, a reason to avoid Bakugou-or, well, another, they weren’t exactly friends anymore, hadn’t been for a while-and a sense of anxiety as the day went on until he was standing outside the teacher’s lounge.

I can do this-I already got through the hard part yesterday. I can do this. I can do this-

The door opened, and Cementoss-sensei stepped out, right into Izuku, causing the student to stumble back slightly.

“Oh goodness, I’m sorry,” Cementoss-sensei said, helping Izuku steady himself. “Are you alright?”

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said. “M-My bad-”

“Is that the Green Midoriya?”

Present Mic poked his head out of the door with a big smile on his face.

“H-Hi, Present Mic-sensei,” Izuku said.

“Hi, Midoriya!” Present Mic-sensei said. “Let’s get going-change into your gym uniform and meet me at Gym Zelta-do you know where that is?”

“Y-Yeah-I memorized the map-to the NorthWest of the building, right?” Izuku asked.

“Yep!” Present Mic-sensei said. “I’m heading there now, so meet you there!”

“Ok!” Izuku said, then turned and speed-walked- he didn’t run -to the locker room to change.

………………………….

Damnit, where did he go?!

Denki grumbled to himself-right after class, Midoriya had run off-he was going to ask if he could ride home with the twins- a chance to get to know Hitoshi a little more! -but he didn’t get the chance to ask! The whole day!

It didn’t help that he had a hard time remembering what stop to get off on…and had trouble getting to his apartment building from there.

Maybe he and Hitoshi leave right after school? Then I won’t get the chance to hang out with them! Can’t go to school with them, can’t go home with them-try to sit with them at lunch? I’m sure Ashido and Sero would understand, right? I hope so-

Midoriya suddenly turned a corner and started walking towards Denki.

“Oh, hey, Kaminari,” Midoriya said as he walked by.

“Hey, Midoriya-hey, where you going?” Denki asked, quickly following Midoriya as he walked down the hall.

“Uh…I have somewhere to be,” Midoriya said.

“Heading home-can I tag along?” Denki asked.

“Uh…not yet,” Midoriya said.

“Wait, really?” Denki asked. “I can wait and come with-we’re going to the same place, anyway-”

“I’m busy-really sorry,” Midoriya said, then paused. “Hitoshi’s hanging out in the library for a while, though-maybe go ask him?”

Perfect!

“Got it-have fun with whatever you’re doing!” Denki said, then turned, then stopped. “Which way’s the library, again?”

“Take the hallway three to the right, two to the left, then walk past the Gen Ed classes-you’ll see it,” Midoriya said.

“Thanks!” Denki said, then turned and tried to follow those directions, succeeding and finding himself at the school library-middle school him wouldn’t be caught dead here, but he could make an exception for such a hot boy.

Denki stepped into the library, looking around-alright, where was Hitoshi sitting…?

Denki turned around a corner, and there he was, sitting at a table and reading a textbook, taking notes.

How does he always look so hot?!

Hitoshi looked up and spotted Denki, blinking at him.

Well, no backing down now.

“Hi!” Denki said, then walked over and plopped down next to the taller boy. “Mind if I wait here until you go home? I spotted your twin, said he was busy and said you’d be here.”

“Ah,” Hitoshi said. “On his way to or from the teacher’s lounge?”

“Uh…I don’t know?” Denki said, thinking. “I think…from?”

Hitoshi nodded, looking back at his book. “Makes sense.”

“What’s he up to?” Denki asked.

“Probably wouldn’t want me to tell you,” Hitoshi said.

“Ok,” Denki said, peeking at the textbook. “What’cha reading?”

“A medical textbook,” Hitoshi said.

“Planning on being a doctor?” Denki asked.

“Nope, hero-but it’s always a good idea to know first aid,” Hitoshi said.

“Oh, right!” Denki said. “How are you getting into the hero course?”

“Sports Festival,” Hitoshi said. ‘If I get to round three, there's almost a guarantee that I’ll get in.”

“Awesome-hope you end up in our class-but that might get confusing with two Midoriyas, huh?” Denki said.

“Eh, probably, but Izuku and I have been in the same class since we were ten,” Hitoshi said, turning the page and squinting at it. “I don’t know if it’s sad or not that I already know all of this.”

“Oh?” Denki asked, looking at the page… “I don’t. Mind explaining it?”

“Sure,” Hitoshi said, then gestured at the page.

……………..

“Ok, so I looked at the video of you using your quirk at the entrance exam, then at the quirk assessment test yesterday,” Present Mic-sensei said. “You’re doing really well with hand-to-hand from what Aizawa’s told me, so we’re just figuring out your quirk. Any ideas you’ve been working with?”

“Uh…just two,” Izuku said, fidgeting slightly. “I…I think my bones might be breaking because I’m not controlling the power output? Like…like if you put an egg in a microwave and turn it up too much and it explodes? I just need to keep it at the lower end and not let my bones break…I just have to figure out how to do that. It’s not like I’ve had to personally control a quirk before, and since I don’t exactly have quirk nerves, I’m going to have to spend every second controlling the output of my quirk to prevent it from going overboard until my subconscious mind can take care of that, or until my body develops a set of quirk nerves on its own, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen-I’ll have to look into case files for that and see if it’s happened before, someone getting a quirk later in life and not having quirk nerves but developing them, but then again, quirk nerves aren’t exactly the most studied area… ” Izuku stopped, hunching his shoulders. “S-Sorry.”

“That’s alright, little listener-can’t say I caught all of that, so would you mind walking me through?” Present Mic-sensei asked. “Sounds like you had some very interesting ideas that we might be able to work with.”

“O-Ok,” Izuku said, thinking for a few seconds. “Well…”

……………….

“Sorry I’m late-hi, Kaminari! Coming home with us, then?”

Denki looked up as Midoriya entered the library and walked over to their table.

“Hey, Izuku-how’d it go?” Hitoshi asked.

Midoriya glanced at Denki, then back at Hitoshi. “It went well enough-time to head home?”

“Yep,” Hitoshi said, quickly packing up his things, Denki doing the same. Both boys stood up.

“Great!” Midoriya said, taking out his phone and sending a text. “Just let Mom know…also, I’m staying after tomorrow, too.” He glanced at Hitoshi, then at Denki. “You can head home sooner if you want, you know.”
“I can wait,” Hitoshi said.

“I don’t mind, either-if you’re fine with me waiting here each day, that is,” Denki said.

Hitoshi looked at him. “You’re insistent on that…I don’t get it.”

“Well, we’re friends, and friends usually go home together, so…” Denki said.

Please don’t deny it-my heart wouldn’t take it!

“...huh,” Hitoshi said, shrugging. “That’s fair-still, though, don’t feel like you have to wait.”

“I want to, though!” Denki said as they left the library. “So, Hitoshi, did you hear about heroics class today? Your brother killed it.”

“...what happened?” Hitoshi asked as Midoriya groaned.

Chapter Text

“So…what I’m hearing is you need a wingman?”

“Ashido, leave me alone,” Denki groaned as he face-planted on his desk.

“No-come on, you have to tell us about the purple guy we saw you walk here with this morning!” Ashido said, pouting slightly. “You’re clearly crushing hard, you know!”

“Why don’t you ask Midoriya-it’s his brother,” Denki said.

Ashido’s eyes went wide, then she whipped her head around to stare at Midoriya, who was at his desk and writing in a notebook, not really paying attention to the people around him.

“Does he know you like his brother?” Ashido asked.

“I don’t think so-” Denki started.

Ashido quickly got up and marched over to Midoriya’s desk, and Denki quickly followed her.

“Hey, hey, are you serious-” Denki started as they arrived, and Midoriya finally looked up.

“Oh, do you need something?” Midoriya asked, setting his pencil down and gently closing his notebook.

“Yeah-you have a brother, right?” Ashido asked.

“Uh…yeah, why?” Midoriya asked.

“Ashido, seriously-” Denki said.

“Someone here has a crush~” Ashido said.

“Huh?” Midoriya asked, taking a few seconds to process, then his eyes went wide and he whipped his head to Denki. “Wait-you like Hitoshi?”

Denki felt his cheeks go red as he slowly nodded.

Midoriya blinked for a few seconds, then beamed. “Aw, that makes so much sense! So that’s why you’re insisting on coming back from school with us-I was starting to think that it was because you were having trouble getting off at the right train station or something similar.”

“Uh…that, too,” Denki said, scratching the back of his head. “I blank sometimes-new area, route, and all that.”

“Ah, gotcha,” Midoriya said, nodding. “Well, in that case, taking the train to and from school with us is a good idea, as long as you can be ready, say, around 8 to start going to school each day? I might be able to get Hitoshi to agree to a little later than that since it would mean sleeping in a bit longer, but we’ll still have to catch the train here.”

“I can do that!” Denki said.

“Sweet,” Midoriya said, taking out his phone and typing in something, then handing it over. “Here, add your number-Hitoshi said you don’t have his yet, and I don’t want to hand that out without him saying that’s ok, so we can text and set up times here.”

Denki grabbed Midoriya’s phone and took out his, putting in his phone number and sending himself a text.

“Alright, and Hitoshi will probably be in the library after school again today, studying-I’ll ask him during lunch if he’d be alright with you joining him there again,” Midoriya said.

“Alright-thank you so much!” Denki said, handing Midoriya back his phone.

“No problem-if you two get together, though, I’m giving you the shovel talk,” Midoriya said, looking strangely scary as he said that.

“Uh…noted,” Denki said.

Midorya beamed. “Good!” He turned and looked at the door, talking a little louder. “Now, you might want to sit down-Aizawa-sensei’s about to come into the classroom.”

Everyone immediately dove for their seats as, sure enough, Aizawa-sensei walked in and looked around.

“Good, you’re learning,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Now, we have something important to do today.”

Oh God, who are we fighting today?!

“Today you’ll be choosing a class representative,” Aizawa-sensei said.

“So normal!”

“Figure this out yourselves-just don’t wake me up,” Aizawa-sensei said, crawling into his sleeping bag and…passing out at the front of the room.

Immediately, everyone started whispering among themselves before getting louder, proclaiming that they’d be the best class president.

It wasn’t long before Iida calmed everyone down and got everyone voting. Denki looked at his paper and looked around at his classmates.

He would love to be class president! In middle school, it was boring as hell, but in a hero school? It was extra opportunities for hero stuff!

With that said , he was getting lost on the way home, and how long would student council meetings last each day? Or would he have to get there early for them? Missing out on time with Hitoshi, or even getting lost on his way to or from school! (Not sure which one is worse!) Yeah…probably not the route he would go down in that case.

However…if Midoriya was class president, that could mean more time alone with Hitoshi-Midoriya was pretty smart, and he stayed late anyway doing…something, Denki wasn’t sure what , but something. So…it was clear what name he should put down.

……………………

Izuku was quick to look around before writing down Yaoyorozu and turning in his ballot.

He did not have the time for student council meetings at this point-not when he was training with Present Mic after school, doing some training on his own or with All Might after that (less relevant at the moment because All Might was too busy with figuring this teaching thing out to really focus on Izuku’s training, but that was fine!), and even if student council meetings were in the mornings, he enjoyed going to school with Hitoshi and Kaminari! They didn’t need to come in earlier, and even if they agreed to, that would leave less time to make lunches-Izuku and Hitoshi already woke up late today and didn’t get the chance to make lunch-

Wait, is he muttering?

Izuku glanced around-no one seemed to comment on anything, so he’s probably good.

Izuku stared around the classroom and focused on the board, putting a hand over his mouth, just in case he started to mutter.

Soon, all the ballots were collected, and Iida volunteered to count them-

WHY DID IZUKU HAVE FIVE VOTES!? YAOYOROZU ONLY HAD THREE?!

“Well, I guess we have our president and vice-” Iida started, sounding a little disappointed-

“I resign the position!” Izuku blurted out quickly, and everyone stared at him.

“...pardon me?” Iida asked.

“I, uh…I have a lot going on right now and don’t really have the time-really, I’m sorry, I didn’t think I’d get votes…” Izuku said, scratching the back of his neck. “Uh…sorry.”

“My apologies-perhaps I should have asked and had people refrain from voting from people unable,” Iida said. “So, Yaoyorozu is our president, and for vice-”

“I think it should be Iida,” Todoroki said bluntly, and everyone looked at the usually silent kid in surprise. “I mean, he stepped up and brought everyone to order to vote.”

“Sounds good to me!” Uraraka said.

“All in favor, raise your hands?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Most of the class-Izuku included-raised their hands.

Yaoyorozu counted, then nodded. “It’s settled, then!”

“Good,” Aizawa-sensei said, getting up. Everyone quickly looked at him. “Homeroom is almost over, so I’m stepping out-don’t destroy the classroom while I’m gone.” With that, he walked away.

Yaoyorozu immediately walked over to Izuku.

“Are you certain?” Yaoyorozu asked. “We could always do a revote-”

“I’m sure-I voted for you, so I’m glad to have you as class president,” Izuku said.

Yaoyorozu looked surprised at that. “You did?”

Izuku nodded. “You had really good feedback at the Battle Trials yesterday-it was a really fun discussion!”

“I see-thank you for your trust in me,” Yaoyorozu said.

“Of course-we should trust our fellow heroes-in-training, after all!” Izuku said.

(A certain student in the room tried his best not to flinch upon hearing that-if you know, you know.)

Yaoyorozu smiled. “May I sit with you at lunch today?”

“Uh…I can ask my brother if he’s alright with that, but sounds good to me,” Izuku said.

“Hey, can I, then, too?” Kaminari asked quickly.

“Hey, I wanna sit with you at lunch!” Uraraka said, leaning over.

“Would you allow me to as well?” Iida asked.

Bakugou huffed, glaring over at Izuku as he felt overwhelmed.

I still have to ask Hitoshi!

“Good morning, everyone,” Cementoss-sensei said, stepping into the classroom.

Immediately, everyone got into their seats.

“Sorry that I’m a little early,” Cementoss-sensei said, setting down his folder and setting up the computer. “Continue to talk amongst yourselves, I won’t be starting until I’m supposed to, I promise.”

Izuku quickly got out his math notebook and quietly pulled out his phone and sent a quick text to Hitoshi before grabbing out his pencils and textbook while the rest of his classmates did the same.

………………………………

Hitoshi glanced at his phone during free period and raised an eyebrow, then sighed, sending Izuku back a, Sure, fine by me. He put his phone away and started sketching.

……………………………….

“My brother says ok,” Izuku said, looking at Uraraka, Iida, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, and-surprisingly-Todoroki.

“Sweet!” Uraraka said. “Wait, I forgot to ask earlier-what year is your brother?”

“Oh, he’s in the same year as us-Gen Ed,” Izuku said.

“Oh, really?” Yaoyorozu asked. “Twins, I assume?”

“Yep,” Izuku said. “He’s hoping to get into the hero course at some point-Hitoshi!”

Hitoshi stepped around the corner and walked over, glancing at the small crowd of 1-A students, glancing at Kaminari for a few seconds longer before looking at Izuku.

“Quite a few friends you’ve got there,” Hitoshi said, raising an eyebrow.

“Yep-you know Kaminari, that’s Iida, that’s Uraraka, that’s Yaoyorozu, and that’s Todoroki,” Izuku said, pointing at each one in turn. “Guys, this is my twin brother, Hitoshi Midoriya.” Izuku paused. “Uh-”

“Feel free to call me Hitoshi-makes it easier,” Hitoshi shrugged. “Nice to meet you hero kids.”

“You say like you’re not trying to join us,” Izuku said, stepping forward and starting towards the cafeteria. “Let’s get going-what do you think we have for lunch today?”

“Not something as good as bentos,” Hitoshi said, walking after Izuku, the others following along quickly.

“I’m sorry-I’ll wake up on time tomorrow, I promise,” Izuku said. 

“Eh, I could’ve made them last night, not on you,” Hitoshi sighed. “Oh well, I guess.”

“Do you usually not  eat in the cafeteria?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“No-we usually make food at home and hide out on the roof,” Izuku said.

“Are we even allowed on the roof?” Iida asked.

“Yep!” Izuku said.

“Everything’s allowed if the teachers don’t give a crap,” Hitoshi said at the same time.

Uraraka and Kaminari snorted as Iida started to lecture Hitoshi on that, but they quickly arrived at the cafeteria and got in line.

“Rules are in place for a reason-just because no one is watching doesn’t mean that the rules shouldn’t be respected and followed!” Iida was still saying as the group found a table to sit at.

“Sometimes, you’ve just gotta bend the rules a bit,” Hitoshi said. “Not everything’s so black and white.”

“Name one rule that should not be followed!” Iida said.

Hitoshi made a point to make direct eye contact at that.

“I had a teacher once that made a rule that I wasn’t supposed to talk in school-do you think I should have followed that?” Hitoshi asked.

Everyone stared at him at that.

“Have you told Mom?” Izuku asked, blinking at him. “I’m sure she’d have a field day tearing a shitty school to shreds again.”

Everyone sputtered at that and whipped around to stare at Izuku.

“Eh, it was when I was…seven, I think?” Hitoshi shrugged, taking a bite. “Back before I was adopted-I don’t think Mom would be able to do anything.”

“You underestimate Mom,” Izuku said.

“Wait, adopted?” Kaminari asked, looking at Hitoshi.

“Well, it’s not like we look alike-it’s obvious I’m adopted, especially when you meet Mom and Dad,” Hitoshi said, then jabbed at Izuku. “Izuku here is the spitting image of both of them.” He smirked. “Just really short.”

Izuku jabbed back. “I’m not that short!”

“It’s almost comical having you stand next to the local dumbass skeleton,” Hitoshi said.

“The local what ?” Kaminari asked, eyes wide.

“Stop calling him a skeleton,” Izuku sighed.

“Not even gonna argue the dumbass part?” Hitoshi asked.

“Oh, I’ve given up on stopping that ,” Izuku said. “But he’s not a skeleton!”

“He basically is!” Hitoshi said. “All skin and bones-even his blood knows it doesn’t belong!”

“I’m sorry, what ?” Uraraka asked.

“Seriously, who are we talking about-should I be scared to be in the neighborhood?” Karminari asked, eyes even wider.

Izuku waved him off. “He’s not scary.”

“Yeah, couldn’t hurt a fly,” Hitoshi said. “A strong wind could knock him over-”

“Hitoshi,” Izuku sighed, glaring at him. “It’s not his fault he got such a bad injury, and stop making him seem that weak-he’s strong when his injury isn’t acting up.”

“And when it is, follow the blood trail to find him,” Hitoshi said, nodding along solemnly.

“He doesn’t cough up that much blood!” Izuku said.

“I think someone needs to get this man to a hospital,” Iida said.

“He has a doctor on speed-dial,” Hitoshi said, looking at Iida. “He barely even reacts to it anymore, just coughs and moves on with his day like nothing happened.”

“That is very concerning,” Iida said. “I would highly suggest-”

An alarm started to go off, cutting Iida off as the students quickly looked around and began to get up to evacuate…

…overcrowding the hallway and nearly causing a stampede. Izuku found himself smushed against the window and able to look outside-

Was it seriously just the press?

The gate didn’t look so good there-did something happen?

Something’s wrong here…

It wasn’t long before Iida was calling for everyone to calm down and explaining that it was just the press. Soon enough, everyone was walking back to their tables to eat, albeit less calmly than before.

Izuku leaned close to Hitoshi.

“Something’s wrong,” he whispered, and Hitoshi tensed up slightly as he slowly nodded.

“Got it-let’s just focus on lunch for now,” Hitoshi said, taking a bite of his food.

“Is something up?” Iida asked.

“Nothing,” Izuku and Hitoshi said at the same time, taking another bite of their food.

………………………

“Hey, Present Mic-sensei?”

“Yeah?” Present Mic-sensei asked as the two did some stretches.

“The break-in today…” Izuku trailed off. “There was something else going on at the same time, right?”

Present Mic-sensei looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well…the gate was destroyed in the middle of the school day,” Izuku said. “If there was someone that could destroy the gate there sooner, why didn’t they?” He looked at his feet. “I think someone used the break-in as a distraction for something else…you know?”

“Hmm…I see your thinking there,” Present Mic-sensei said. “We’re getting everything figured out though, so don’t worry about it, ok? Today we’re working on your quirk-I have some ideas I want to try to get it working, and your homeroom teacher will be here once we’re done with warmups so we don’t risk any broken bones.”

“Right…right,” Izuku nodded. “Thank you!”

“Of course!” Present Mic-sensei said. “Now, here’s what I’m thinking. Yesterday, we just talked about your quirk and went through a plan, but today, I want you to use it instead.”

Izuku tensed slightly at that.

“Don’t worry-like I said, Aizawa will be here when you do,” Present Mic-sensei said. “Hopefully, we won’t need to go see Recovery Girl, but she’s on stand-by if we need her.”

Izuku nodded. “So…do you want me to punch something, or jump, or…?”

“Activate it first, then we’ll try and have you move around and fight robots with it,” Present Mic-sensei said. “Nothing too stressful, just getting you used to moving around with it, you dig?”

Izuku nodded. “Got it!”

As if on cue, Aizawa-sensei walked into the gym and over to them.

“Almost done warming up?” Aizawa-sensei asked, looking between the two.

“Almost!” Present Mic-sensei said.

Izuku nodded a little. “Quirk practice today?”

“Yep,” Aizawa-sensei said. “No breaking any bones today, Problem Child. Your class has a field trip tomorrow, and I don’t think you want to have to be tired from healing for that.”

Izuku perked up at that. “Field trip?”

“Yep-don’t tell your classmates,” Aizawa-sensei said as Present Mic-sensei got up. Izuku quickly got to his feet as he nodded. “But it’s rescue training-no fighting and just going over the basics. No quirk use, so if you can’t handle it today, don’t beat yourself up about it, got it?”

“Right,” Izuku said. “I’ll do my best, though!”

“I know you will,” Aizawa-sensei said, then guided him over to the mats nearby. “Alright, so, here’s what we’re trying. Small levels, spread all through your body so one part of you isn’t taking all the pressure. Do you think you can do that?”

“I’ll do my best!” Izuku said, stepping back onto the mats and taking a deep breath.

Ok, small levels…if I think in percentages, I’m starting at one percent. All over my body…

Slowly, Izuku felt his quirk seep into his muscles and start to crackle on his skin. He took a deep breath and waited for a few seconds.

Ok, I can handle one percent. Let’s try two.

Izuku took another deep breath, then imagined…

His power was a flowing river, and currently, the dam he had built was only letting a trickle through. Just needed to let the slightest amount more through-

It shot up to five, and Izuku hissed slightly-

Instantly, his quirk was turned off, and Izuku looked over at his teachers sheepishly.

“Are you alright?” Aizawa-sensei asked, stepping forward slightly.

“Y-Yeah,” Izuku said. “I can go higher-I just…put more in than I thought I would.” He looked at the mat. “I meant to only use two percent, but I shot up to five-I…I can keep going.” He stretched his arm slightly. “Everything’s good so far.”

“Alright…I’ll still be ready to erase your quirk when I feel that I need to,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Continue.”

“Right!” Izuku said, closing his eyes and breathing again, turning his quirk back on at 5 percent.

10 percent…jumping by fives, it looked like. Still going well…the fact that he had been training for so many years, doing Saitama’s workout and adding onto that, plus his fighting training, was definitely a good thing. Keeping it at this percent subconsciously was going to take some time, though, but this was at least a start!

15 percent. 20. 25. 30. 35-

As soon as Izuku got to 40, he hissed again, and his quirk was turned off immediately.

“Anything broken?” Aizawa-sensei asked.

“Just a little sore,” Izuku said, rubbing at his right arm. “That was 40 percent, so…I think I could fight at 30 percent and burst up to 40 percent if I need to without breaking my bones. That said , I would have to concentrate in order to hold it, so when I add on that I would have to focus on both the fight and the percentage output, I think that I might be able to consistently do 20 percent without risking anything. Plus Ultra, though, I’ll have to get myself to 100 percent without anything breaking by the time that I graduate. 40 percent is a good starting point for right now, and considering I just got the quirk, it's more than enough of a starting point-nothing to be mad at myself about, I don't need to be just like-

“Alright, let's try punching things now-this gym has some robots for sparring-they're made to be replaced, so don't worry about destroying them-I encourage it, in fact,” Aizawa-sensei said, breaking through Izuku’s muttering. “You already know how to throw a punch without breaking your thumb, right?”

Izuku nodded.

“Good,” Aizawa-sensei said, then pulled something out of his pocket-a remote?-and pressed a button.

Instantly, a few doors on the wall opened up, and a few one-pointers came out, singling Izuku as a target.

“No lasers, slightly reinforced-don’t get injured, do your best, plus ultra or whatever,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Izuku instantly geared up.

I’ll start at five and get used to that, go up from there.

With that, Izuku felt his quirk spark through him as he curled his fist up and punched the nearest robot.

………………….

“Alright!” Present Mic-sensei said as Izuku laid on the ground, panting as he was surrounded by broken robots-he didn’t know how many he’d broken, or how long he’d been going, but all of his muscles ached . “That’s really good! You said you only went up to about 20 percent as a base through that to keep concentration, right?”

“Y-Yeah…” Izuku said.

“If that’s only 20 percent, no wonder full strength shatters your bones,” Present Mic-sensei said. “It’s a great baseline, especially since you just got your quirk and have only used it a few times so far.”

“We’ll still keep up the after school counseling, and don’t expect me to go easy on you during class,” Aizawa-sensei added. “Great work today, though, Problem Child.”

Izuku shakingly gave him a thumb’s up.

“Want us to call your brother right quick for you?” Present Mic-sensei asked. “Or did he go home?”

“He’s at the library with Kaminari,” Izuku said, sitting up and wincing slightly-his muscles were so sore.

Aizawa-sensei raised an eyebrow. “Kaminari doesn’t seem like someone to stick around after school.”

“He lives near us, so he stays until we head home-comes to school with us, too,” Izuku said, then hunched his shoulders a little. “I…I haven’t told anyone I’m doing quirk counseling-I don’t know what he thinks I’m doing after school, but I don’t know if he’ll pick on me if he finds out I’m so far behind the rest of the class…”

“Oh, don’t say that!” Present Mic-sensei said, coming over and kneeling down next to Izuku. “You’re doing great, and you’ll keep improving from here. It’s not your fault, and you honestly aren’t as far behind as you think-I mean, you did get first place in the entrance exam and ninth place in your test thingy on the first day-you’re not behind, listener, unless everyone that scored below you is behind, too.”

“That’s…that’s not-” Izuku started.

“Just relax a little bit, ok?” Present Mic-sensei said. “Again, everything’s fine-you have that trip with your class tomorrow, remember? It’s most of the day, and I know your class doesn’t have homework due tomorrow, so go home and get some sleep-make sure to stretch your muscles so they aren’t so sore, and we’ll see tomorrow if we’ll have another session after the field trip, alright? Don’t want you to overwork yourself.”

“Right…right,” Izuku said. “Just do my workout routine and relax after.”

“No, just relax,” Aizawa-sensei said. “You’ve already done pretty much a full workout just fighting those robots.”

“But that’s just training-I have a workout routine that I keep up with-I usually do half in the morning, but I woke up late today,” Izuku said.

“Of course you aren’t counting that as a workout-what’s your routine?” Aizawa-sensei asked.

“150 push ups, 150 sit up, 150 squats, and a 15 kilometer run,” Izuku said.

Both of his teachers stared at him.

“... no ,” Aizawa-sensei said, pinching his nose. “You’re going home and not doing that-I’ll come tell your brother to make sure that gets enforced.”

“Hey, you don’t have to-” Izuku said.

Aizawa-sensei glared at him with his quirk, and Izuku immediately shriveled up a little. 

“You have a long day ahead tomorrow-you’re fifteen, you don’t need to work yourself that hard,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Overworking can be just as detrimental to your training as not working enough. You’ll get plenty of exercise and training tomorrow going over basic rescue training-it may look easy to some, but I hope you know better.”

Izuku nodded immediately. “Rescue training is very tough on people! From having to move rubble without damaging the structures nearby and preventing collapses and carrying civilians to safety, rescue work is very physically demanding. People watch heroes like All Might and Endeavor, but heroes such as Thirteen are very important to keep an eye on, too-it’s so interesting-”

“Your brother is in the library, right?” Aizawa-sensei interrupted. “You still need to change and shower-I’ll go pull him aside and let him know what’s going on.” With that, he walked away.

“Alright, some cool-down stretches right quick-you can either shower here or at home, or maybe both-a quick shower here to get the sweat off, and a longer one at home to help your muscles,” Present Mic-sensei said.

“Stretching first?” Izuku said.

“Stretching first,” Present Mic-sensei nodded.

…………………..

“Hey, Purple Midoriya, can I talk to you for a second?”

Hitoshi and Denki looked up to see Aizawa-sensei glancing at him-sort of at Denki for a few seconds, too, but mostly looking at Hitoshi.

“Sure-hey, Denki, be right back,” Hitoshi said, getting up-he had a feeling this was private-probably had something to do with Izuku’s quirk counseling.

The two stepped away, and Hitoshi gave Aizawa-sensei a sort of worried look.

“Is Izuku alright?” Hitoshi asked.

“He’s fine-I’ll let him tell you about how today went,” Aizawa-sensei said. “That said, he worked hard today and should not be exercising or doing his workout routine after he gets home.”

“Like, at all?” Hitoshi asked.

“At all,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Tomorrow’s going to be a kind of physically-intense day for 1-A-don’t tell Kaminari or anyone else, really-so he needs all the rest he can.”

“Got it-I’ll use my quirk if I have to,” Hitoshi said.

“Technically I shouldn’t condone that,” Aizawa-sensei said. “But if you’re aiming for the hero course, you need all the training you can get, I guess-just don’t do anything illegal-public quirk use counts.”

“You got it,” Hitoshi said. “Guessing Izuku’s coming up soon?”

“He’s doing cool-down stretches, then has to change, but he should be here soon,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Which means I get to leave.” With that, he walked away, and Hitoshi walked back over to Denki.

“What was that about?” Denki asked.

“Nothing, really-Izuku’s joining us soon,” Hitoshi said.

“What is he doing right now, anyway?” Denki asked.

“Nothing you need to know about,” Hitoshi said, carefully shutting his textbook and picking it up, standing up. “Come on, books back on the shelves before we go.”

“R-Right!” Denki said, his face slightly red-was he getting a fever or something?-then quickly followed Hitoshi into the shelves.

Chapter Text

Izuku could barely contain his excitement as he bounced in place in his hero uniform. They were doing rescue training today!

(And the writer had to step back for a week after writing that-)

“Alright, everyone, on the bus!” Iida said, chopping his arms in the air as he gestured towards the bus. “Line up by student numbers! Single-file!”

“Ah, stick in the mud,” Kaminari said, standing close to Izuku and nudging him a little. “You’re towards the end of the line-up, right? Would Hitoshi be, too?”

“Yeah, probably-depending on who he’d replace,” Izuku said, quieting down at that, glancing at Mineta before quickly glancing at the bus. “...who’s gonna tell him that the bus isn’t built like that?”

“It isn’t?” Kaminari asked, giving him a bewildered look.

“You can see that through the windows,” Izuku said, gesturing at the bus. “Look closely-you can see the back of some seats and a bit of the open-concept design.”

“Ah,” Kaminari asked. “Wanna sit by each other?”

“Fine by me,” Izuku said. 

“Alright everyone, file on-huh?!” Iida said, stepping onto the bus, quickly followed by Aoyama and the rest of the class, in order. A few people laughed as they randomly sat down, Izuku finding himself squished between Kaminari and Kirishima, everyone else finding their seats as well, Aizawa-sensei getting on the bus last.

“Alright, everyone, don’t be too loud, no standing while the bus is going, we’ll be there soon-myself and two other pro heroes will be there, so be on your best behavior,” Aizawa-sensei instructed as he sat at the front of the bus, pulling out his yellow sleeping bag. “I’m taking a nap.” With that, he crawled into his bag and fell asleep.

“That man really can sleep anywhere,” Sero said.

“He’s an underground hero-teaches during the day, patrols at night, so he probably sleeps whenever he can,” Izuku said.

“Yeah…you called him Eraserhead on the first day, kero,” Tsu said.

“Yeah, he’s my brother’s favorite hero-he’s really interesting!” Izuku said. “As you’ve probably noticed, his quirk is his eyes and he can turn off other people’s quirks. Drawbacks are not as severe as some quirks, but he gets dry-eye and can only be active as long as he keeps his eyes open. It also lifts up his hair when active, as well as making his eyes glow, but he typically has goggles on in order to both protect his eyes and hide who’s quirk he’s erasing, not to mention hide if his quirk is activated in the first place, but if you add on his hair, that’s a way to see if his quirk is active, so if he were to tie his hair back and keep his goggles on, no one would have any idea if his quirk is on or not. However, as he’s an underground hero, people wouldn’t exactly know that. Someone would have to be observant and figure it out on the spot in order to use that against him, but it’s a small, yet distinct possibility- ”

“You talk a lot, but you’re pretty smart, bro!” Kirishima said, knocking Izuku out of his thoughts.

‘O-Oh, sorry about that,” Izuku said. “My mind goes too fast, and I just…word vomit. Feel free to tell me to stop if you notice.”

“Nah, it’s pretty manly!” Kirishima said. “You really know a bunch about heroes and quirks!”

“Yeah!” Izuku said. “There are so many heroes out there, and it’s easiest to look at their quirks and learn more about them while observing and seeing different ways that I could potentially counteract their quirks if I ever encounter a villain with a similar quirk. It’s interesting to think about, actually, I’ve been speculating about quirks since I was a child, so it’s more a habit at this point, but I think that it’s a useful skill to have-Toshi says so, too, it helps that I’ve been putting it to use for as long as I’ve known him- I’m muttering again, sorry about that.”

“It’s cool, bro!” Kirishima said. “Not gonna lie, I didn’t understand most of that, though.”

“Yeah…sorry,” Izuku said. 

“So, what do you already know about my quirk?” Kirishima asked.

“It’s a hardening quirk, right?” Izuku asked. “I wonder how hard you can make your skin and if you can shape your skin in certain ways other than making it like spikes-can you sharpen those spikes and use them as blades? Does the chemical composition of your skin change when you’re using your quirk, or does it stay the same? Is it different than another person’s as a result? I wonder if your quirk nerves are more protected or if they come to the surface more. Does your entire skin, muscles, all the way to the bone harden, or just the surface layers? It’s interesting to think- ” He stopped. “Muttering, sorry.”

“Nah, bro!” Kirishima said, then held out his arm and used his quirk. “You make every quirk seem cool-my quirk isn’t very flashy or anything. Not exactly something to be gushing about.”

“I think it’s very cool!” Izuku said. “Your quirk not only keeps you safe, but it can shield people around you, too-and I’m sure punching someone has to hurt! I’d hate to get on your bad side!”

“Aw, thanks!” Kirishima said. “But if you’re gonna gush about anyone’s quirks, I’d say yours, Bakugou, and Todoroki’s quirks are the flashiest in the class!”

“So is mine,” Aoyama said.

“But you double over with a tummy ache when using it,” Ashido reminded him, and he sighed.

“Hey, what about mine?” Kaminari asked. “Flashy and powerful!”

“Yeah, but you short-circuit your brain-not exactly something good in the field,” Jirou said, and Kaminari pouted. “Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki are the most likely to push past sidekick and go pro.”

“Hell yeah!” Bakugou said as Todoroki sighed.

“Yeah, but Bakugou’s personality might get in the way,” Tsuyu said.

“What’d you say?!” Bakugou said, standing up a little. “I’ll kick your ass!”

“Oh, come on, we haven’t known you for long, so it’s telling that we know your personality is hot garbage,” Kaminari said, and Izuku snorted.

“I’ll kick your ass, you hear me?!” Bakugou said.

“Shut up .”

Immediately, everyone was quiet as Aizawa-sensei stood up, and they realized the bus had stopped.

“We’re here,” Aizawa-sensei said.

Everyone got up and started to file off the bus, standing in front of a huge building.

“Come on, 1-A,” Aizawa-sensei said, walking inside, and everyone was quick to follow.

“Woah, it’s almost like Universal Studios Japan,” Ashido said as they looked around from the doors.

And Izuku had a feeling that something was…off. He couldn’t quite place it, though. Was it the fact that Hitoshi should be standing here with him?

“Is he here yet?” Aizawa-sensei asked, looking around.

“No, no-I don’t think he’s joining us,” Thirteen said, holding up three fingers- oh, that means -no muttering. Can’t afford that here.

“Ah, it’s the Space Hero: Thirteen!” Uraraka gushed, and Izuku was quick to look at said hero.

“One of the best rescue heroes there is!” Izuku gushed. “With their quirk, Black Hole, able to wrangle any natural disaster they encounter and save lives by getting rid of rubble and getting to civilians faster than any other hero on the scene!”

“Thank you for that introduction!” Thirteen said, and Izuku blushed as a few classmates chuckled. “This is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or, as I like to call it, the USJ!”

“Universal Studios Japan,” a few students mumbled.

“We have different areas here to simulate different disasters you might encounter,” Thirteen continued. “The Ruins Zone, the Landslide Zone, the Mountain Zone, the Conflagration Zone, the Flood Zone, and the Downpour Zone. Now, I have one…two…a few things to say.” They held up their hand. “As your classmate pointed out, my quirk is called Black Hole, and I use it to save lives, but at the same time, I could easily use it to kill.”

A silence fell over the students. You could hear a pin drop, and Izuku bit his lip to make sure he wasn’t muttering.

All quirks can be deadly if used a certain way. Even something that seems harmless, like a quirk like Mom’s…the heart only weighs a pound and a half, the brain about 4. No one would ever call Attraction a dangerous quirk, but it easily could be.

The key is using the quirk in a way that isn’t dangerous to others or yourself. Only using your quirk to take down villains and save others.

“That said, a quirk is only a tool in your arsenal,” Thirteen continued. “Previously, with Aizawa, you’ve learned how far you can push your quirks, and with All Might, you’ve learned how to fight others with your quirks. Here, I’m going to teach you how to use those same quirks to save lives.”

“So manly!” Kirishima said.

“Truly inspiring!” Iida said.

“What’s that?” Izuku asked, pointing at a…purple blob in the Central Plaza.

“Is that part of the exercise?” Kirishima asked, stepping forward-

“Stay back!” Aizawa-sensei snapped as Izuku quickly reached forward and grabbed onto Kirishima to stop him from taking another step. “That’s not part of this-those are real villains.”

Villains were stepping out of the purple blob-a portal quirk, those are very rare, can I ask him questions-not the time Izuku, not the freaking time . There were so many of them-and only two heroes- wasn’t All Might supposed to be here…not the time to think about that. We just have to get through this.

“Kaminari, can you send a signal to the school?” Aizawa-sensei-no, Eraserhead -asked, pulling his goggles over his eyes, pausing, then pulling his hair into a ponytail.

Kaminari immediately pressed a button on his comm- “Something’s blocking my signal. I can’t get through.”

“Shit,” Eraserhead mumbled. “Thirteen, protect the students.”

“Wait!” Izuku blurted out, stepping forward. “Your fighting style is best suited for alleyways and one-on-one, not melee combat like this-”

“You don’t become a hero as a one-trick pony,” Eraserhead said, then jumped down.

I know that, but that doesn’t mean you should-there are at least fifty down there, and the odds aren’t the best.

“Let’s go-I’m sure he’ll be alright.”

Todoroki’s calming voice snapped Izuku out of it as the students began to run towards the doors.

“R-Right,” Izuku said, turning back to the doors and stepping to run with them-

“I don’t think so.”

Everyone stopped as the purple mist appeared in between them and the door.

“I hope you don’t mind, but we heard All Might would be here today, so we decided to invite ourselves,” the purple mist said.

Some kind of teleportation quirk-they’re after All Might. I knew that the school was getting more publicity over him becoming a teacher, but villains?!

We can handle them. We have to.

“It seems that he’s not here-how unfortunate,” the mist said, starting to spread a bit. “Oh well. It is my job to scatter you all around to meet your doom!”

“LIKE HELL!” Bakugou yelled, lunging forward, Kirishima right behind him, sparks crackling in his palms-

“Get behind me!” Thirteen yelled, quickly sweeping their arms out to stop Kirishima and Bakugou from moving further as they opened their gloves and let their quirk wreak havoc.

“Very valiant effort-as expected from the Space Hero: Thirteen,” the mist said as mist started to form right behind Thirteen -

“Look out!” Izuku yelped, starting to step forward before his brain could even process what was happening-

-then he was suddenly falling into the water-

SPLASH!

No time to think-villain at my 2, shark mutation.

What do I have with me? Knife!

Izuku whipped out his knife, kicking his feet to face the villain instead, ready to stab as best as he could-

Tsuyu slammed into the shark villain, tongue lashing out and grabbing onto Izuku before pulling him up and out-

They were on the boat in the shipwreck zone, and Izuku gasped for breath-

“Thanks, Tsuyu,” Izuku said, putting his knife away.

“Call me Tsu, ribbit,” Tsuyu said, pulling Mineta out of the water, too. “We’re surrounded by villains with water based quirks, ribbit.”

“Not good, not good!” Mineta said. “We’re gonna die up here!”

“We aren’t going to die,” Izuku said, peeking over the edge of the boat and squinting at the villains. “25 villains in total, I’m estimating here, all water quirks…I don’t think they know our quirks, so we can use that to our advantage.”

“How do you figure that, ribbit?” Tsuyu asked.

“They placed you here-a frog in water versus the fire zone,” Izuku said.

Tsuyu thought for a second. “This is my element, ribbit.”

“They’re also not trying to get on the boat, either, which provides more evidence for my theory,” Izuku said, looking around before ducking back down. “Which means they won’t be underestimating us, either. We’re gonna need to fight them, but how ?”

“How can you expect us to fight them?!” Mineta exclaimed. “We’re just kids! We can’t do this! We’re gonna die!” He curled in on himself. “It’s our first week of school-we don’t have the training yet!”

“You want to be a hero, right?” Izuku asked.

“Yeah, but they’re supposed to teach us what to do!” Mineta said. “We-”

“-don’t know if backup is coming,” Izuku said firmly, shutting Mineta up. “We don’t know where our classmates are-I’m assuming they’re in the other zones, it would make the most sense, but we don’t. Know. Which means that we’re stuck up here right now, and we don’t know how long we’ve got before they come up here-and yeah, we’re in our first week of training. We’ve pretty much had tests to see what we already know. That’s the reality right now, and I get that’s stressful, but you know what? We have to push all that aside and think .” He took a deep breath. “We have to get out of here and make it out of this situation alive , because I am not letting myself die here, which means I’m not letting either of you die here, either.” He looked at both of them, then at his hands. “My quirk is hard for me to handle, but I’m getting a handle on it with help. I can use up to 40 percent of my strength without breaking my bones, but try to be consistent below 30-hasn’t worked well just yet, but I was supposed to start using it during class today-guess I’m using it against villains instead of to lift rubble like I thought.” He looked between the two. “What are we working with?”

“My quirk is Frog, ribbit, which is self explanatory,” Tsuyu said as Mineta just looked shocked. “I can stick to walls, have a long tongue, jump really high, and all the abilities of a frog, like spitting out my stomach.” Mineta made a face, but Izuku just nodded. “That last one probably isn’t useful here.”

“You really do have an amazing quirk,” Izuku said, then looked at Mineta. “Well?”

“Uh…well, my quirk is called Pop Off,” Mineta said, pulling one of the balls off his head and sticking it on the wall, poking at it. “I can pull a bunch of these off my head, and they grow right back, but if I pull too many off, I start bleeding. They’re really sticky, stay sticky for a while depending on how well I’m feeling. They stick to everything, but they don’t stick to me.”

Alright, Frog, Pop Off, and my quirk. I can work with this. I can -

“I know that it’s a lame quirk, but it’s gotta be useful for something, right?!” Mineta asked.

“Yep-just need to figure out what,” Izuku said-

The boat suddenly got split in half, and all three rocked a little bit. Mineta screamed as Izuku peeked over-ok, that’s one villain’s quirk identified, split the boat in half.

“Not good-we don’t have much time-if we get in the water, it doesn’t matter what our plan is-we’ll be overwhelmed,” Izuku said.

And of course Mineta rushed to the side and just started to pull the balls off his head and toss them into the water with no other plan.

“Hey, what are you doing-you only have so many of those!” Izuku said, peeking over-

The villains were avoiding them.

They don’t know what our quirks are-they’re cautious-they’re overly cautious.

If I use 40 percent of my quirk, combine that…

That could work.

Izuku turned to Mineta and pat him gently on the back. “Good idea-let’s do this.”

“What idea-what are we doing!?” Mineta exclaimed.

“Do you know how many more you have right now?” Izuku asked.

“I don’t-I don’t know my limit!” Mineta said.

“Well, guess we’re testing that out,” Izuku said, looking at Tsuyu. “Tsuyu-”

“Call me Tsu, ribbit,” Tsuyu said.

“Right, Tsu,” Izuku said. “I’m gonna create a whirlpool-you grab both of us and get us out of the blast and back towards shore. Mineta, throw as many of those into the whirlpool as you can.”

“How are you gonna make a whirlpool?!” Mineta asked. “You don’t have a water quirk!”

“Surface pressure,” Izuku said. “Are you two ready? Because we don’t have a ton of time.”

“Let’s do this, ribbit,” Tsu said.

“I-I guess?!” Mineta said.

“Good,” Izuku said, then fully stood up-he could feel his nerves making him shake, but that didn’t matter right now. This was a do-or-die situation-Eraserhead needed help in the plaza, and honestly, while he wasn’t a one-trick pony, there were way too many villains in the plaza, not to mention their classmates-

One thing at a time, Izuku. I can freak out about the next thing when I get there.

So, pushing all his fear down , he put a foot on the railing, took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of his lungs, jumping over the edge.

“Are you crazy?!” Izuku thought he heard shouted after him, but he paid that no mind as he thrust his arms out in front of him, charged up 40 percent in his arm, he punched straight down, causing a bit of recoil as the whirlpool started-

Tsu’s tongue wrapped around him, yanking him along as she jumped towards the shore, and as Izuku watched the villains get sucked in, Mineta threw down more purple balls, sticking to the villains as they got closer to each other, unable to swim away from the whirlpool that dragged them downwards as the hero students went to safety-or, well, waters they could walk in, landing with a small splash, but nothing that hurt as Izuku stood up and stretched a little.

“That went well, ribbit,” Tsu said.

“Yeah-great jump, Tsu, and that was a lot, Mineta,” Izuku said, looking at the two of them with a small smile, then he looked over towards the plaza-there were still a bunch of villains over there that Eraserhead was fighting. Not good. Less than before-some must have been teleported to other zones with the other students- not the time, Izuku.

“That was intense-time to see if we can get through the door?” Mineta asked, looking towards the entrance.

“Go ahead-I’m gonna see if I can help Eraserhead,” Izuku said, stepping that way.

“What?!” Mineta exclaimed. “You can’t seriously think you can go into another fight!”

“He might be getting overwhelmed-even taking out a few villains will help-you don’t have to come with,” Izuku said, walking. “See if you can get outside and contact the school.”

“I’m coming with you, ribbit,” Tsu said, walking right next to him as Izuku pulled out one of his knives. She eyed it curiously. “You’re stab-ready, ribbit.”

“Want a knife?” Izuku asked, leaning down and pulling out one of his shoe-knives.

“Sure, ribbit,” Tsu said, taking the knife. “I’ll give this back later.”

“I’ll hold you to it,” Izuku said, then looked at Mineta. “Want one?”

“Uh…I’m good,” Mineta said, looking back towards the door, but ultimately joining Izuku and Tsu.

…………………………

Aizawa was overwhelmed.

He wouldn’t let that take him down. He wouldn’t let that stop him from protecting his students. But damnit , if only that idiot had shown up for work today instead of going over his time limit! He was a teacher now-he needed to show up for his classes at the very least !

Aizawa beat another villain into the ground, but another quickly took their place. Over and over and over again-

“Final boss,” Aizawa finally could say as he leapt at the weirdo with the hands-were those real or just some intimidation tactic? It just looked weird and creepy.

Aizawa leapt at the villain, who dodged and grabbed onto his elbow-

WHAT THE FUCK?!

Aizawa immediately turned on his quirk and glared at the villain, noting that the skin off his elbow was gone.

“You really are cool, Eraserhead,” the villain-Shigaraki, Aizawa thought he heard a different villain refer to the hand villain as-said, scratching at his neck. “An erasure quirk like that is so valuable -there’s some kind of limit, but I can’t guess it!”

So the ponytail might have been a good idea-he’ll have to remember that. Sure, it was hard to tell when he was jumping around, but with this villain just observing , he might have figured it out.

Aizawa didn’t say anything as he lashed out his capture weapon, blinking for just a second but having his quirk on the moment the weapon touched the villain, intent on pulling him forward and slamming him down-

“One thing, though, Eraserhead,” Shigaraki said as the black-bird-exposed-brain villain started to move. “I’m not the final boss.”

The villain grabbed onto Aizawa and yanked him away, yanking Shigaraki along as well because of the capture scarf, the hand villain yelping in shock and using his quirk to disintegrate part of Aizawa’s scarf as the bird villain went and yanked Aizawa’s arm behind his back, head to the ground, faster than Aizawa could use his quirk on him, and his injured arm was snapped , causing Aizawa to hiss in pain.

“Shigaraki,” the purple mist villain said, appearing by Shigaraki.

“What is it, Kurogiri?” Shigaraki asked.

“I’m afraid one of the students escaped,” the mist said.

Shigaraki scowled as he scratched at his neck hard, almost making his neck bleed. “You had one job-what are we going to do now? More heroes are going to show up.”

What student left? I hope it’s Iida or Midoriya-they’re the fastest, especially since Midoriya figured out his quirk yesterday. The faster help gets here, the faster the students are safe.

“And still no All Might-I guess it’s time to cut our losses here,” Shigaraki said-

To Aizawa’s absolute horror , he heard a very familiar mumbling, too quiet to make out the words, but loud enough for him to hear.

Loud enough for the villains to hear.

“But first, let’s leave him with a parting gift,” Shigaraki said, turning and rushing towards his students- Midoriya, Asui, and Mineta, three of his students that shouldn’t be here-they should be outside .

Aizawa activated his quirk the second Shigaraki got too close to his students…

But it turns out it wasn’t necessary.

Asui pulled a knife out of her hair- since when did she have a knife?! -and stabbed Shigaraki in the gut while Midoriya stabbed through his hand and twisted , bringing Shigaraki’s hand away from Asui and tearing through in one swift motion-well, no more five-finger-touch quirk in that hand-as he moved to place himself between Shigaraki, Asui, and Mineta.

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Shigaraki screamed as he stumbled back, reaching for the knife in his stomach and yanking it out-bad move, it’s gonna bleed without something in it-letting the knife clatter to the ground as Midoriya climbed out of the water, holding his blood-soaked knife, bits of flesh hanging off.

“Back. The fuck. Up,” Midoriya hissed, pulling another knife out- why did this child have so many knives?! Was that where Asui got hers?! Who approved this?! Aizawa owed them coffee- and glaring at Shigaraki.

“Nomu!” Shigaraki yelled as he stumbled back even more. “Kill the brat!”

Instantly, the bird-villain-Nomu-was off Aizawa and rushing at the three kids.

Aizawa scrambled to his feet, quirk flashing as the Nomu was right by his students-

There was a flash of light, and Nomu stopped, even going back slightly as Midoriya shoved it away from him.

…………………..

Izuku dropped his knives and shoved Nomu away with his quirk, panicking and pushing past 40- active at full, that’s gonna break his arms, that was a bad move, bad instinct-

…his arms didn’t shatter.

Izuku didn’t have much time to react as Nomu went for another punch, a ton of force behind it, and Izuku barely dodged it, thankfully keeping his quirk in check so he didn’t break his legs as he dodged. Then dodged again.

“Damn BRAT!” Shigaraki yelled, clutching at his hand-well, it wasn’t likely he’d be using that hand again unless he found a quirk that could rewind the wound.

(The writer sat back and cackled writing that, knowing I’m done writing this after the Sports Festival-)

“Damn handy man!” Izuku snapped back, dodging another blow and barely taking a moment to pick up one of his knives and stabbing at Nomu’s arm, embedding it into its muscle-

-just as the front doors flew open.

Backup. THANK FUCKING GOD WE’RE SAVED!

“Nomu, stop!” Shigaraki hissed, and just like that, Nomu stopped, allowing Izuku to dart back, over by Eraserhead and glancing at the doors-

It was All Might standing in that doorway, and even from this far away, Izuku could see that he wasn’t smiling as he tore off his tie.

In moments, All Might was down there with them, glaring at Shigaraki, Nomu, and Kurogiri.

“So you must be the villains that came to attack my students,” All Might said with a grimace.

“So you did show up to your own class-Nomu!” Shigaraki hissed, and Nomu lunged at All Might.

Eraserhead turned and looked at Midoriya. “What the hell were you thinking?”

“To be honest, I barely was,” Izuku said, glancing at his other knives, then the one stuck in Nomu’s arm. “I’d better get those back…”

“Who approved those for your costume?” Eraserhead asked.

“Good question,” Izuku said, looking at Shigaraki. “I’m sure you’d like to know-I doubt you have access to the kind of quirk that would fix your hand, huh?”

“You brat!” Shigaraki hissed. “I can’t feel my fingers!”

Sure enough, his ring and pinky finger were flapping uselessly as his other fingers moved-depending on how the quirk nerves were in that hand and how they wrapped around the tendons, it was possible Shigaraki’s quirk was completely gone in that hand, but Izuku didn’t have enough information on that right now. Just that his hand was too damaged to be of use right now.

“Well, you shouldn’t have tried to kill me or my classmates-I can’t be held liable for defending myself against death,” Izuku said, glancing over at Tsu and Mineta-they were walking over to the stairs-good. Izuku needed both of them to survive-and he’d have some words with Mineta for grabbing onto Tsu’s chest as they were watching all of that happen .

For right now, though, he had to focus on taking down this idiot-

There was an explosion, and suddenly, Bakugou came from the side and lunged at Kurogiri, pinning the metal bit- probably where the guy’s body was -and pinned him to the ground, Kirishima running up behind him.

“Gotcha, you fucker,” Bakugou snapped as the mist started to grow, but Bakugou released another explosion, and Kurogiri stopped. “Thought so. Your body is in this bracer, isn’t it? One wrong move, and you’re toast.”

Well, that works well enough.

“Well, now then,” Shigaraki said, turning to Izuku and Eraserhead. “I have a particular brat to kill.”

“Good luck with that,” Izuku said, reaching down and grabbing his other shoe knife, spinning it in his hand.

“How many of those do you have?” Eraserhead asked.

“Ten-and I’d better leave here with ten, too,” Izuku said. “But if one gets stuck in handy man’s other hand, it’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

With that, Shigaraki lunged at the two, bad hand outstretched towards Izuku, good hand towards Eraserhead, shouting, “Kurogiri, deal with those brats, and don’t forget the plan!”

The mist grew despite Bakugou setting off an explosion, the mist man not seeming affected as he moved into his portal, Bakugou drawing back fast enough to not get caught and sent who knows where, another portal appearing near All Might.

However, not the time to focus on that. Bakugou had always been strong in his own right, and All Might was the Number One Hero for a reason-he could take care of himself.

Eraserhead flashed his quirk at Shigaraki as Izuku swung his knife out at the injured hand, both dodging out of the way so Shigaraki moved past them.

“You aren’t leaving here alive, you brat!” Shigaraki hissed, lunging again for Izuku, blocked by Eraserhead’s quirk and Izuku dodging out of the way. “This was supposed to be an easy kill-kill the Symbol of Peace and collapse society as we know it! And yet you’re ruining it!”

“You’re ruining my training exercise!” Izuku said, kicking at Shigaraki’s legs and ducking away from his hands (the…attached ones, what would happen if he just…yanked away the disembodied ones?), punching at the stab wound in the villain’s gut, causing him to scream in pain and start to reach down for Izuku to kill him-

There was suddenly a drop in temperature, and over by All Might-the Nomu was part way through a portal and dragging All Might down as Bakugou and Kirishima tried to fight Kurogiri’s actual body, fighting them and keeping that warp gate open-where the Nomu was covered in ice, a quick glance showing that Todoroki had showed up and was now bringing the match-up six to three. The odds were increasing and getting better-perfect!

…………………….

“All heroes, please report-the USJ is under attack. I repeat, the USJ is under attack.”

Hitoshi tensed up as he heard that announcement, looking around just like the other students in the class as Present Mic snapped the marker he was holding.

Isn’t that where Izuku is today?!

“Everyone, stay put-UA is going to go into lockdown mode-now, I know we’ve only had a talk yesterday about what to do in case of an emergency, so here’s the run-down right now,” Present Mic said. “Stay put , the door will lock when I leave, and you can leave when we’re certain there’s no other attack. If something happens, there’s a panic button under my desk-we’ll know who pushed it, and if it’s not an emergency, there will be consequences that start at detention and end at expulsion.” With that, he started to leave-

Hitoshi quickly stood up. “Present Mic-sensei, isn’t 1-A at the USJ today?”

Present Mic paused, and everyone stared at Hitoshi. Present Mic blinked, then his face softened.

“Your brother is going to be alright, ok, Midoriya?” Present Mic said. “I promise I’ll check on him myself and let you know right when I get back, ok?”

“Ok,” Hitoshi grumbled, plopping back down in his chair as Present Mic quickly left.

“You have a brother in the hero course?”

Hitoshi looked at his classmate and nodded, looking back at his desk. “My twin brother’s in 1-A.”

“Damn, sorry to hear that,” the classmate said. “Uh…I bet he’s gonna be alright…?”

“He’s strong,” Hitoshi said. “But what if he’s overwhelmed? What if his quirk backfires? What if-”

“Hey, calm down a little,” the classmate said. “They have teachers there, right?”

“Yeah,” Hitoshi said. “Can’t help but worry, though.”

“That’s fair,” the classmate shrugged. “But hey, just think-even if he’s not ok, it just means another open spot in the hero course-”

“Choose your next words very carefully,” Hitoshi hissed, and if looks could kill . Or the knives in Hitoshi’s shoe that he should probably not have in class, but whatever.

The classmate held his hands up in mock surrender. “I’m just saying-”

“Don’t antagonize him, Sora,” another classmate said tiredly, leaning over. “Class 1-A is gonna be alright-they passed the entrance exam, after all, they know how to defend themselves against villains, at the very least.”

“Yeah…yeah,” Hitoshi said. Izuku at least has his knives, not to mention he got a handle enough on his quirk yesterday. Eraserhead’s there, too, maybe All Might. No way Izuku’s gonna…die. He took a deep breath, forcing his panicked thoughts down as he took out a textbook. “Think that homework is still gonna be due at the same time?”

……………………..

The fight became chaos as All Might tore off Nomu’s arm and it grew back .

“What?!” All Might said. “Could’ve sworn there was some kind of super strength quirk-your punches pack a punch!”

“Oh, Nomu has multiple quirks!” Shigaraki yelled from fighting against Eraserhead and Izuku tag-teaming punches as Shigaraki’s bad hand and side. He kept reaching out with his good hand, and Izuku knew that Eraserhead was using his quirk less and less, so Izuku resolved to kick Shigaraki away as much as possible whenever that hand got too close. “Shock absorption and regeneration. Nomu is a weapon bioengineered to be your match, an anti symbol of peace that will kill you!” He gasped out in pain as Izuku punched his injured side. “And as soon as you’re gone, I’ll have it kill this brat!”

“I’m not letting you do that!” Izuku said, grabbing onto Shigaraki’s good arm around the elbow and swinging it behind the villain’s back-

There was a sudden gush of wind as All Might started to beat the crap out of Nomu, punches being thrown left and right, the force behind each one almost sending the hero and students, plus the two villains, flying.

“You said shock absorption, not nullification, so there had to be a limit!” All Might shouted, barely hearable over the punches as Izuku was forced to let go of Shigaraki and back away, arms up to protect his eyes.

“Are you so insane that you think you can reach it?!” Shigaraki yelled from nearby. “Nomu is designed to kill you! Genetically engineered-”

“GO BEYOND!” All Might yelled. “PLUS! ULTRA!”

With another punch, Nomu was shot upward and through the roof of the USJ.

Woah…I can’t wait to be able to do that someday.

Not the time, Izuku, not the freaking time.

“WHAT?!” Shigaraki screamed, stumbling back as All Might, with smoke all around him-and, Izuku quickly noted, coming off him-started to turn, some blood dripping down from his mouth-Izuku could tell that he was about to transform back, so this had to be over now .

“You’re outnumbered now,” Todoroki said, taking a step towards Shigaraki, ice starting to spread a little bit towards the villain. “You really were so arrogant to think you could kill All Might, but in the end, you couldn’t back that up.”

Shigaraki scratched at his neck as Kurogiri moved to be next to him, “This isn’t fair-this isn’t fair! All Might was supposed to be weaker now! Sensei told me he would be weaker!”

Izuku tensed up slightly at that, clenching his hands into fists as he took a slight step forward, making sure to bite his lip to stop his muttering.

He isn’t that weakened, but the fact that they know in the first place is bad news. It’s an exploitable weakness, one that they’re aware of, and that’s enough.

“Now, it’s time for you to surrender!” All Might said, looking between Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

“Ugh, damn heroes, damn brats!” Shigaraki said, scratching intensifying, might be the reason he didn’t notice the smoke coming off All Might, the way he was starting to tremble, his smile forced, trying his hardest to keep the blood from dripping further. But Izuku noticed. And he knew that this had to end now .

Suddenly, the doors of the USJ blew open, and with a glance, Izuku felt immediate relief. The teachers-and Iida-were there. They were going to be alright.

“YEAH!” Present Mic yelled down as the heroes began to move down the stairs.

“No, no, no!” Shigaraki yelled, glaring over at All Might and taking a step towards him. “It’s not supposed to end like this-”

Two gunshots rang out-Snipe-and landed in Shigaraki’s thighs. A few more went off, but Kurogiri wrapped around the other villain, blocking as Shigaraki screamed in pain.

Izuku moved forward slightly, reaching for his knives. “You’re better off surrendering, Shigaraki. You’re fighting a losing battle.”

“Kurogiri, time to go,” Shigaraki grumbled, and just like that-and a few more bullets-the two were gone.

In seconds, there were heroes-Ectoplasm and Present Mic specifically-by the small group in the plaza-

-and All Might, with one final, bloody cough, deflated. And because of that cough, Bakugou, Todoroki, and Kirishima all looked over at him.

“What the-!?” Kirishima exclaimed, stepping back.

“God damnit , Yagi!” Eraserhead groaned. “You know, this wouldn’t have happened if you just didn’t do hero work on your way to school !”

“Ah, I’m doing my best, Young Aizawa!” All Might said.

“That’s seriously All Might?” Todoroki asked, blinking slowly.

“Yep,” Izuku said. “Part of his quirk allows him to buff up, but he can only stay that way for three hours a day.”

“How do you know that?” Todoroki asked as everyone gave Izuku an odd look. All Might just sighed.

“You don’t have to tell people my limit, you know,” All Might said.

“You don’t have to keep revealing to people your secret by going past your time limit, you know,” Izuku said right back.

“How often does this happen?” Eraserhead asked.

“Often enough Hitoshi calls him the local skeleton dumbass,” Izuku said.

“Ah, speaking of, your brother was almost panicking with worry in class,” Present Mic said. “Any injuries he should be worried about?”

“Eh…not really-oh, my knives,” Izuku said, walking over to the knives on the ground and picking them up, holding the one that he slashed through Shigaraki’s hand out a little. “Think we can get Shigaraki’s DNA from this thing and ID him?”

“Is that flesh ?” Present Mic squeaked, almost yelling if not for Eraserhead’s quirk flashing at him before Eraserhead grunted. Everyone quickly looked at him as he clutched at his elbow, the adrenaline no longer letting him ignore the pain.

“You might want to get him to Recovery Girl-wait, is Thirteen ok?!” Izuku asked, eyes wide as he looked towards the entryway. “Their quirk was turned on them-”

“Recovery Girl’s taking care of things-let’s get you four back up to the entryway-we’ll…brief you on the whole All Might situation later,” Present Mic said, glancing at All Might before herding the four to the stairs.

Todoroki turned to Izuku. “You already knew about that…whatever that was.”

“Yeah, long story,” Izuku said. “Again, my brother calls him the local skeleton dumbass.”

“Hmm,” Todoroki hummed, but didn’t say another word as they were herded up the stairs.

………………….

Hitoshi rushed over to the 1-A classroom, heart pounding.

The security measures had been dismantled, Nezu announcing that everything was fine, 1-A was safe, and the school day was over-they were welcome to go home for the day, no school until Monday, details would be sent via email to parents, yada yada yada.

But that didn’t confirm that Izuku was ok. Safe didn’t mean anything until he saw his brother with his own two eyes.

Hitoshi stopped at the 1-A doors, open, most of the class gathering their things-

“Where’s Izuku?!” Hitoshi exclaimed, looking around wildly, everyone immediately looking at him. Izuku’s not here, Izuku’s not here-oh my god, is he at Recovery Girl’s office-

“Hey, Hitoshi, calm down-he’s alright,” Denki said, walking over. “Midoriya, Todoroki, Bakugou, and Kirishima got pulled aside for some reason, but we saw them-your brother had some blood on him, but overall-”

“Blood?!” Hitoshi exclaimed. “Why was there blood-”

“Hitoshi.”

Hitoshi quickly spun around, and there was Izuku, looking tired and…kind of wet, but alive and standing and ok -

Hitoshi almost tackled Izuku in a hug.

“Hitoshi-Hitoshi, you’re crushing me!” Izuku said, but returned the hug immediately.

“They just said that the USJ was under attack by villains, no other details-they said 1-A was safe , but not ok -” Hitoshi rambled.

“Hey, calm down-I’m ok, everything’s ok,” Izuku said, pulling away a little and stepping into the classroom, dragging Hitoshi with him and over to his desk, grabbing his backpack and putting his uniform case away. “It was scary, but I’m ok.”

“Ok…ok,” Hitoshi said. “Time to go home?”

Izuku nodded, then looked at Denki. “Let’s get going.”

“Right!” Denki said, hoisting his backpack onto his back and following the two twins out of the classroom.

……………………

Ring ring ring .

Izuku answered the phone. “Hey, Mom.”

“Are you alright?!”

“Yep-Hitoshi, Kaminari, and I are getting out of the train station now,” Izuku said.

“Oh, thank goodness-oh, mind putting me on speaker?” Mom asked.

“Sure,” Izuku said, gesturing to Hitoshi and Kaminari to step to the side as he put the phone on speaker, holding it between them. “You’re on speaker, Mom.”

“All three of you there?” Mom asked.

“Yep-love you, Mom,” Hitoshi said.

“Hi, Mrs. Midoriya!” Kaminari said. “I’m Denki Kaminari.”

“I’ve heard a bit about you-are you busy tonight?” Mom asked.

“Uh…no?” Kaminari said, confused.

“Ok,” Mom said. “Hitoshi mentioned that you were living here alone-will you be alone tonight right after that attack?”

“Yeah-I’ll be fine, though-” Kaminari started.

“Izuku, Hitoshi, mind stopping with Kaminari at his place to back an overnight bag?” Mom asked. “Kaminari, I don’t feel comfortable with having you alone tonight, so would you like to stay here tonight?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea!” Izuku said, looking at a shocked Kaminari. “Being alone after something like the USJ would suck.”

“Uh…if you don’t mind!” Kaminari said.

“I’m offering, aren’t I?” Mom asked. “We have a spare futon, not to mention the couch, or I’m sure Izuku and Hitoshi wouldn’t mind sharing a bed so you can sleep in one room-”

“Mom!” Izuku and Hitoshi exclaimed.

“Oh, I’m just teasing,” Mom said. “You get my point, though.”

“Alright, then, thank you so much!” Kaminari said.

“Of course!” Mom said. “I’ll see you soon-I’m getting started on dinner. Bye-bye.”

“Bye, Mom!” Izuku said.

“See you soon, Mom,” Hitoshi said, then reached over and hung up.

…………………………

Denki’s parents were usually busy with work. There were days on end where he would eat instant ramen because it was something he could make during his dad’s long hours and his mom’s business trips. At a young age, he was putting himself to bed, walking with a neighbor kid to make sure he didn’t get lost-so he got to school on time everyday. He still saw his parents a lot, but sometimes…the house felt cold.

The Midoriya household wasn’t like that at all.

Here, he sat between Hitoshi and Hisashi Midoriya, Izuku between Hitoshi and Inko Midoriya, eating delicious food made by Mrs. Midoriya as the family talked about random things, mostly avoiding the USJ discussion, except for…

“I stabbed this guy through the hand and tore-I don’t think his five-finger-touch quirk is gonna work in that hand after this.”

“You did what ?!”

Yeah, Denki could get used to this-he hoped he could get an invite here again sometime.

……………………….

“Here, you can sleep in my room.”

Oh God, that sounds like heaven on Earth.

“H-Huh?” Denki asked instead.

Hitoshi grabbed the futon and gestured for Denki to follow him. “Izuku talks in his sleep, and if he has a nightmare tonight…yeah, not gonna end well. Dad gets up through the night to get water most nights, so sleeping in the living room might wake you up. Therefore, best to sleep in my room tonight.”

“Uh, sounds good!” Denki said, having a feeling he was beet red, but hoping that Hitoshi at least wouldn’t comment on it.

“Alright, this is my room,” Hitoshi said, opening a door and walking in. Denki followed, seeing a nice room with a bunch of cat stuffed animals, a hand-made Eraserhead figurine, some Wild Wild Pussycat posters, and some random knick knacks, black bed sheets, red and yellow themed bits and pieces around. Overall, a very nice bedroom.

“Don’t mind the plushies-you can borrow one for the night if you want,” Hitoshi said, laying the futon on the ground and grabbing a pillow from his bed, setting it down there. “Bathroom is marked. I need to go grab a blanket for you, feel free to change into your pajamas while I’m out.” With that, he stepped out and shut the door.

Denki quickly changed into his pajamas, glancing at the cat plushies before at the pillow, wondering if it smelled like-

Ok, let’s not go on that rant.

Denki sat on the futon with a small smile. This was…nice. This was really nice.

Chapter Text

“Izuku, can you hand over your phone for a minute?”

“Hmm?” Izuku asked, holding his phone out. “I’m not in trouble, right?”

“Nope, not at all-now that I’ve slept on it, I think it’s time to give our local skeleton a talk ,” Hisashi said, opening Izuku’s contacts. “ He didn’t show up to class on time, and as a result, you got close enough to stab a homicidal villain after nearly drowning . I’m sure I’m not the only parent that wants to give him a piece of their mind, but I am one of the ones that can actually personally contact him.”

“Ah, that’s fair,” Izuku said, looking at the t.v. and the news segment running on the USJ attack. “He was just doing his job beforehand and ran out of time, though-”

“And didn’t do his teaching job-other heroes were at the scenes he visited,” Hisashi said, muting the t.v. and putting the phone to his ear.

It only took a few rings before it was answered. “Young Izuku-”

“Hisashi Midoriya, actually-we need to talk ,” Hisashi said.

“Ah, is there-” All Might started.

“ Yes , I have a problem-you were late to class yesterday and my kid nearly died!” Hisashi hissed.

“Young Izuku didn’t get hurt, did he?” All Might asked, sounding worried. “He seemed healthy afterwards-”

“He was within arms reach of a villain with a disintegration quirk!” Hisashi said. “Not to mention that warping villain that dropped him in a water zone with other villains-my son has been training to be a hero since he was six years old, what would have happened to him if he hadn’t? I have two sons, you idiot, and yesterday almost changed that!”

Izuku reached over and gently pat his dad’s knee, nodding his head towards the bedrooms, where Hitoshi and Kaminari were still sleeping.

Hisashi took a deep breath. “How are you going to make sure this never happens again?”

“UA is working on upping the security measures-” All Might started.

“I’m not asking about UA, I’m asking about you ,” Hisashi said. “They were there to kill you and nearly started killing the kids instead-I’m sure I’m not the only parent that’s going to be pissed at you, so? What are you going to do about all of this? ”

There was a pause on the other end, and after about ten seconds, All Might sighed.

“I won’t use my muscle form until I get to school and start with class until we have captured these villains and ensure that the students will remain safe,” All Might said. “That will mean patrolling after school hours if I have time left, which means spending less time with Young Izuku, but if I remember correctly, he’s training with two of my colleagues, so I’ll be able to step back a bit-my apologies in advance.”

“As long as he stays safe,” Hisashi said.

“Of course,” All Might said. “I truly do apologize for yesterday. I should have been there and fought against the Nomu sooner to ensure the villains could have been captured on site or at least retreated sooner. It’s very fortunate that none of the students suffered any injuries.”

“At least you recognize that,” Hisashi said, then hung up and handed Izuku back his phone.

“Feel better?” Izuku asked, sending All Might a quick text apologizing for the quick hang-up.

Hisashi sighed, then pulled Izuku into a hug. “I can’t help but keep thinking about the what-ifs, Izuku. I…I don’t know what I would’ve done if you…if you hadn’t come home -”

“I did, though,” Izuku said. “And I stabbed Shigaraki-even if he has healing quirks at his disposal, he might not be able to use half of his quirk.” Izuku grinned. “And I bet once he’s done being angry, he’s gonna be scared of me.”

Hisashi sighed, ruffling his son’s hair. “You’re going to be a force to be reckoned with if you’re a few days in and a villain is already scared of you. I’ll worry every step of the way, though. So will Mom. It’s a parent’s job, after all.”

“I’ll do my best so you don’t have to worry so much,” Izuku said. “I promise.”

“I know,” Hisashi said. “Stay out of trouble when you can.”

“And if I can’t, make sure my knives get more action,” Izuku said.

Hisashi chuckled at that.

…………………………….

“Hey, Denki, time to wake up.”

“Mmmm, five’ore minutes,” Denki grumbled, burrowing deeper into his pillow. He was so warm…

“Breakfast’s ready.”

Denki immediately sat up, rubbing at his eyes. “Food!”

Hitoshi snorted, reaching a hand down. “C’mon.”

Denki grabbed onto Hitoshi’s hand and let him pull him up, the two walking over to the kitchen as Izuku was setting out plates.

“Morning!” Denki said.

“Morning, Kaminari!” Izuku said. “Morning, Hitoshi!”

“Too early for this…and why’d you greet him first?” Hitoshi said, glancing around the kitchen. “Any coffee?”

“Already brewing,” Inko said as Hisashi sighed.

“Still not good for you,” Hisashi said.

“How much coffee do you drink everyday?” Hitoshi deadpanned as he got a mug down for himself.

“Do as I say , not as I do -at least Izuku doesn’t drink coffee,” Hisashi said.

“I have an energy-based quirk-wait, if I do drink coffee, how much would that boost my quirk…?” Izuku said. “ On the one hand- ”

“Nope, nope, how about we change the subject?” Hisashi said. “Kaminari, you like pancakes, right?”

“Yep!” Denki said. “Anything I can help with?”

“Nope, almost done,” Inko said. “Sleep well?”

“Yep-thanks again for letting me stay here for the night,” Denki said.

“Of course, anytime-I wouldn’t want either of my two living alone-feel free to stop by for dinner anyday,” Inko said.

Denki lit up. “Really?!”

“Yep-I can’t say stay the night whenever, but it’s always nice to have an extra person around,” Inko said just as there was a knock at the door. Everyone looked that way.

“...are we expecting anyone?” Hisashi asked.

“I’ll get it,” Izuku said, getting up and walking over to the front door.

“I AM HERE!”

“Oh, are you fucking kidding me ?” Hitoshi hissed, looking that way.

“Is that-” Denki started.

“TO SEE HOW YOU’RE FARING-ach!”

Denki walked over and looked over just in time to see All Might himself- as he…deflated?!

“What the hell?!” Denki squeaked out.

Izuku and deflated All Might whipped their heads around to stare at him as Hitoshi, Inko, and Hisashi looked over as well.

Hitoshi groaned. “This is why I call you the local dumbass skeleton!”

“HUH?!”

………………………

“That’s four of my classmates in the last 24 hours,” Izuku said, slamming his head against the table as Denki just stared at All Might, looking around at the Midoriyas as if confirming that he wasn’t going insane. “God damnit , All Might, you are horrible at keeping secrets! How have you kept this from all of Japan so far?!”

“I’m usually much better about this,” All Might sighed, sipping at the apple juice given to him, eyeing the plates, the fact he couldn’t eat that delicious looking and smelling solid food shown in his eyes, eating at him.

(Don’t mind that random vivid description, I personally laughed.)

“How the hell did you guys find out?” Denki asked, looking directly at Izuku. “He’s our teacher .”

“Yeah-long story short, I, uh…saw him deflate last year,” Izuku said.

“I was there for it,” Hitoshi said.

“We later…dragged him into meeting us as well,” Inko said.

“And now he knows where we live and worries about the kids sometimes,” Hisashi said, glaring at All Might, almost as if daring him to argue against their spontaneous implied-lies.

“That’s…that’s weird, not gonna lie,” Denki said.

“Eh, we’ve gotten used to it,” Hisashi shrugged.

“Ok…ok, then,” Denki said, taking a bite of his food. “Uh…are you eating, too?”

Hitoshi snorted at that. “He can’t .”

“What do you mean he can’t?” Denki asked.

“I, ah…have a hard time eating solid foods,” All Might said. “I was injured badly a few years back, destroyed my stomach.”

“Ouch,” Denki said. “But, uh…you kinda need food?”

“I drift by on smoothies and other soft foods,” All Might sighed.

There was another knock on the door, and Izuku’s eye twitched.

“I swear to God, who is it this time?” Izuku muttered, getting up.

“I’ll get it and send them away,” Hitoshi said, walking over to the front door and pulling it open, blinking twice before shutting the door, small explosive pops immediately heard after.

“Hitoshi, you can let Katsuki in,” Hisashi sighed.

“I’m not explaining why he’s here,” Hitoshi said, pointing at All Might.

“Ah, I can leave,” All Might said, getting up and…walking over to the window. “Your fire escape goes all the way to the ground, right?”

“Are you seriously-” Denki started.

All Might opened the window and hopped onto the fire escape, sliding the window shut behind him and leaving.

“How often-” Denki asked.

“You saw nothing,” Hitoshi deadpanned as he turned back to the front door and opened it. “Can you quiet the hell down? It’s too early for this shit.”

“You always say that,” Bakugou grumbled, shoving past Hitoshi and into the house, slipping on a pair of house slippers-

-and then stared directly at Denki.

“What the hell is he doing here?!” Bakugou yelled, a few more pops coming from his hands.

“He lives nearby, so he stayed the night,” Izuku sighed, slamming his head back on the table.

“Are you sticking around to eat?” Inko asked, getting out another plate.

“Yeah, yeah, your cooking is better than the hag’s,” Bakugou said, grabbing a chair and sitting at the table.

“Is this normal ?” Denki asked, turning to Hitoshi as he sat down.

“Just another day,” Hitoshi sighed, sipping at his coffee. “Just another day.”

…………………………

“Are you staying after again today?” Kaminari asked, looking at Izuku.

“Probably,” Izuku said. “If not, I’ll head right up to the library.”

“Nice-I’m heading to class-see you at lunch,” Hitoshi said, then walked away.

“ So , I have several questions,’ Kaminari said as soon as Hitoshi was out of sight.

“Start naming them,” Izuku said.

“First off, oh my God I slept in his room and he has so many stuffed animals, why is he so hot ?” Karminari groaned.

“If it’s entirely questions about why you think my brother is hot, I’ve got nothing to say there,” Izuku said.

“Right, right…now, about the local dumbass skeleton ,” Karminai said. “Is he seriously…”

“Yeah…yeah, he comes by every once in a while-you might see him around the neighborhood, but he’s not around as often-as you can probably guess, he’s usually really busy.”

“Yeah, I’d guess ,” Kaminari said. “Now, what’s the deal with Bakugou?”

“Our moms are friends-we are not-well, not exactly-it’s complicated,” Izuku said. “But I still call his mom Auntie Mitsuki-the Bakugou’s live nearby, but we don’t see them that often.”

“Ah,” Kaminari said, nodding. “Gotcha.”

Izuku stepped into their classroom and looked around-

“Midoriya.”

Izuku looked over to Todoroki and gave him a small smile. “Hi, Todoroki! Doing better after the USJ?”

“I am ready for school today,” Todoroki said, blinking slowly. “If I’m correct, the Sports Festival should be coming up. Do you think they’ll still hold it after the attack?”

“With more security than ever and making sure we stay safe, hopefully, but it would be a show of strength and confidence that this won’t happen again,” Izuku said.

“Wait, seriously?!” Kaminari asked as Izuku sat in his seat, but turned so he’d be looking towards Todoroki.

“Good,” Todoroki said, then crossed his arms on his desk and laid his head down.

“He’s…a little too calm right now,” Kaminari said, sitting on Bakugou’s desk and looking at Izuku. “You’d think Iida would already be here, huh?”

“He’s in the bathroom,” Todoroki said, his voice muffled a little.

“Thanks, Todoroki!” Izuku said, then got out his homework. “You had questions about a math problem, right, Kaminari?”

“Oh, right!” Kaminari said, digging through his backpack. “You really are a lifesaver, Midoriya!”

…………………..

“Good morning.”

Everyone immediately sat up straight and looked at their homeroom teacher-some bandages around his elbow, but otherwise alright-thankfully.

Aizawa-sensei entered the classroom and looked around. “Good, you’re learning.” He stood at the podium. “Now, first on the agenda. Your parents have been sent emails about this already, but UA is formally apologizing for the danger that you went through. The USJ incident should never have happened, and we are in the process of putting in protection protocols in order to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again. While injuries were minimal, the risk was very real, and you were all very brave and strong to get out unharmed. That said, don’t let it get to your head-there are more matters to attend to, something very serious.”

Everyone immediately tensed up.

“The Sports Festival is in two weeks-prepare yourselves.”

“So ordinary!”

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Ashido asked. “With everything going on?”

“Think of it as a show of strength,” Aizawa-sensei said. “We’re under even more scrutiny than ever, but we aren’t going to back down. There will be more eyes than ever watching, so give it your all.” His eyes settled on Izuku for a few seconds, almost as if debating something, but ultimately seemed to decide against it and looked away. “Plus Ultra and all that. Now, that’s all from me-talk amongst yourselves, but let me nap in peace.” With that, he climbed into his sleeping bag and fell asleep.

“I’m so pumped up!” Kirishima said. “I can’t wait to show off at the festival!”

“Tch, I’m gonna win,” Bakugou said. 

“We’ll all do our best,” Izuku said quietly, looking at his fist.

Someone’s not making it past the festival-I’m grateful it’s still going to happen. Hitoshi’s gonna get to make it in. Too bad everyone came back after the USJ incident, though. I thought at least one person would drop out.

Izuku looked around as everyone began to talk amongst themselves as he took out a notebook and made sure to bite his lip as he theorized.

Let’s assume that we each have a counterpart in 1-B that’s just as strong as us, and let’s assume that all of us get to round 2. If I’m right from past festivals, 42 total students will make it past, at least two not from the hero course. Hitoshi will be one of them, and we just have to make sure he gets past round 2 to the third round-once he’s in round 3, he’s practically guaranteed a spot. Only 16 students-not even a full hero course class-gets to round 3. Now, the real question is…what will the events be ? Izuku paused his writing for a few seconds. More importantly, I’ll want to know what the quirks of 1-B are. Maybe I can trade quirk names with one of the students? If I can get the names of their quirks, I can figure out the rest-we’d both win in that case.

“Oi, Deku, shut the fuck up.”

Izuku looked up and blinked at Bakugou. “Didn’t really I was muttering, my bad.”

“Tch,” Bakugou said. “You don’t even need to know the other class’s quirks for a counter strategy-just use whatever quirk you used when we were kids-no one can go against it and you know it.”

“I didn’t use some kind of quirk back then-I don’t know how many times I’ll have to tell you that, but it’s the truth,” Izuku shrugged, looking back at his notebook and writing a few more notes, then writing down his classmates’ names and quirks. He’ll have to try to figure out 1-B’s roster and quirks later.

“Bullshit,” Bakugou said, but turned away. Izuku placed one hand over his mouth and continued to write down strategies for the Sports Festival.

………………………..

“Uh…hello?”

Izuku looked over, then stood up as he took in the fact that there were so many students standing outside their classroom.

“What are they all doing?”

“Scoping out the competition,” Bakugou said, standing up and walking over. “Move it, extras.”

“You can’t just call people extras because you don’t know their names!” Iida said, hand chopping.

Izuku sighed and looked around the crowd, stepping forward and holding his bento and notebook.

“Wow, aren’t you just full of yourselves!” a boy said, peeking in. “I’m from 1-B next door-”

“He doesn’t speak for the rest of us,” Izuku cut in, stepping in front of Bakugou, hand out.

“Hey-” Bakugou started, glaring at Izuku.

Izuku glared right back. “Get your head out of your ass-none of our spots are permanent, you know, and your attitude is gonna make someone all the more eager to knock you flat on your ass.”

Everyone around them tensed up as Hitoshi snorted, stepping forward even more.

“Oh, I’ll be more than happy to do that myself,” Hitoshi said, a smirk on his face.

“What do you mean none of our spots are permanent?” Sero asked, looking at Izuku.

“If a student from Gen-Ed ranks high enough in the Sports Festival, we get to move up to the Hero Course,” Hitoshi said, looking around at the 1-A students, eyes lingering specifically on Bakugou. “And I’m confident I can take down at least one of you.”

Izuku chuckled a little at that, and Hitoshi sighed, looking at him.

“You can at least try to take me seriously, Izuku,” Hitoshi said, causing most people to startle at that (and most members of 1-A to remember why this boy looked familiar. This confident boy was the same that had come running in trying to find his twin brother-was that only a few days ago?)

“Sorry, but that’s how you’re declaring war?” Izuku asked. “Can’t wait to see you put your money where your mouth is-speaking of!” Izuku stepped out of the classroom and looked at the silver boy from 1-B. “I was wondering if I could trade information with someone from 1-B-names of our students and quirks for yours!”

“Uh…what?” the boy asked.

“It benefits both our classes-gives us time to plan-same goes for anyone from Gen-Ed if you want!” Izuku said, looking around. “No weaknesses or anything, but a good way to start strategizing and planning on what-ifs.”

“Hey, are you serious?” Iida asked.

“Hell yeah!” the boy said. “I’ll take you up on that!”

“Perfect,” Izuku said, following the boy back towards his classroom.

“Wait for me,” Hitoshi sighed, walking past.

“I’m coming, too!” Kaminari said quickly, rushing along, too.

“...what just happened?” Kirishima asked as Bakugou started to walk away. “Hey, wait up, Bakubro! What was that?”

“Tch,” Bakugou said, but waited until they were past the crowd before, much quieter, adding, “Deku’s a quirk nerd-all he needs is names and quirks, and he’ll be able to tell you any kind of weakness that person’s quirk could potentially have. I’ll give him that. It sounds like a win-win situation, but in reality, it’s far from it.”

“Oh, that’s really clever-you’d never know,” Kirishima said as the two walked towards lunch, more of their classmates following.

Meanwhile, Izuku followed the boy over to Class 1-B.

“I’m Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, by the way,” the boy said. “You?”

“Izuku Midoriya,” Izuku said. “Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you, too-who are the ones with you?” Tetsutetsu asked, looking at Hitoshi and Kaminari.

“I’m Denki Kaminari!” Kaminari said.

“Hitoshi Midoriya,” Hitoshi said.

“Ah!” Tetsutetsu said. “And Hitoshi Midoriya’s Gen-Ed, right?”

“Yep,” Hitoshi said. “Won’t be handing over my own quirk’s name-works best when it’s a surprise, and I need all the advantage I can get.”

“Ah, fair!” Tetsutetsu said as they entered the classroom, where a few 1-B students were getting ready for lunch.

“Hey, Tetsutetsu,” a girl with orange hair said, looking over and pausing before sighing. “Who are these people?”

“1-A-Green Midoriya here offered to trade class names and quirks so we can start strategizing!” Tetsutetsu said.

A blonde boy huffed. “The esteemed Class 1-A is trading information? You’re just trying to trick us-”

Izuku opened his notebook and tore out a page, handing it to Tetsutetsu. “No weaknesses written, just our names and quirk names.”

“Wait, you’re serious?” the blonde asked, clearly confused.

“I try to keep my word-so?” Izuku asked, holding his notebook to Tetsutetsu.

The orange haired girl walked over and carefully grabbed the notebook, starting to write. “My name is Kendo-I’m 1-B’s class representative. I’m assuming you’re 1-A’s?”

“Nope, just trading information,” Izuku said. “At the end of the day, we’re both gaining valuable intel on each other as long as we know what to do with it.”

“And afterwards, we’ll be working together anyway, so it’s good to get to know everything sooner!” Kaminari added. “Right?”

“Good point-here you go,” Kendo said, handing over the list, and Izuku quickly scanned it over.

“Thank you!” Izuku said. “I can’t wait to compete in the Sports Festival and see what 1-B can do.”

“Hmm, you clearly think you’re better than us,” the blonde said.

“Monoma, stop antagonizing our fellow students,” Kendo sighed, then looked at Izuku. “I’m sorry about him. He’s…”

“Not the only blonde I know that’s like that,” Izuku said, looking at Monoma. “We don’t think we’re better than you. Well, not generally. Bakugou thinks he’s better than everyone , but he’s always been like that.”

“Let’s go to lunch,” Hitoshi said. “It was nice talking with you.”

“We’ll see you at the festival!” Kendo said as the three left.

…………………..

“Yosetsu Awase. Quirk: Weld. I’m going to make some assumptions here and assume that it lets the user weld one object to another-interesting quirk, I’ll have a bunch of questions when the Sports Festival ends, but that’s a given.”

Hitoshi nodded as Izuku wrote down his assumptions on the quirk, then glanced at the next one.

“Sen Kaibara. Quirk: Gyrate. That means moving in a circle or spiral, so I’m guessing Kaibara can use his quirk to move either himself or someone else in rotating motions. Makes me think of that old lady from Fairy Tail, the leader of- ”

“Focus, Izuku,” Hitoshi said, taking a bite and tapping Izuku’s bento.

Izuku took a bite and wrote down a few more assumptions, then swallowed and moved to the next one.

“Togaru Kamakiri. Quirk: Razor Sharp. Probably self-explanatory.

“Shihai Kuroiro. Quirk: Black. This doesn’t give much to work on, to be honest. Can he control objects that are black? Is it a shadow-based quirk? Based on the fact that the exam is combat-oriented, I’m going to assume it’s an offensive quirk, so likely doesn’t just turn objects black. Weaknesses might include light, similar to Dark Shadow, if my assumptions are correct there.”

“Alright,” Hitoshi said.

“Itsuka Kendo. Quirk: Big Fist. Also self-explanatory. It’s also specific, so she can likely make her hands bigger, but not the rest of her similar to Mount Lady. Take out her hands and call it good, if I’m right.

“Yui Kodai. Quirk: Size. Does this mean her quirk is similar to Mount Lady’s…? Probably not, so likely able to change an object’s size. If it works on living objects, difficult to avoid since she could potentially shrink people and make it harder to fight in general. If not, it would likely work on clothing. I’m not sure about the activation requirements, though, but either touch or close range.

“Kinoko Komori. Quirk: Mushroom. Creating mushrooms, I would assume. Sounds interesting-”

“So this is where you are! We’ve been looking for you!”

Izuku, Hitoshi, and Kaminari looked up to see Uraraka, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, and Tsu standing there with trays.

“Oh, hey, guys!” Izuku said, jotting down a few more notes.

“Did you seriously trade notes?” Uraraka asked as they sat down.

“I know that I should have asked, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t particularly matter-they’ll find out anyway, and I only gave quirk names-some of them are self-explanatory, such as Explosion , but other than that, it takes quirk analysis and guess work,” Izuku said. “For example, if I were to simply say Creation, one could guess that it’s the ability to create any object as long as you know the chemical composition, but you could also guess that you’re only able to create a certain kind of object, such as weapons-useful for heroics. Anivoice also makes you wonder-will they think ‘ani’ means ‘animal’ or just focus on the ‘voice’ portion? At the end of the day, all of the other students are observing us and will likely find different bits and pieces of our quirks and start to figure out what we can do-if they don’t ask a teacher that’s willing to give out that information, some of the teachers would see that as information gathering and give it out freely-but now, they have the names and the potential to look further, but if they think they have all the information they need, they won’t look further, but that’s a big if. This way, though, we also have a starting point to learn more information. It’s a win-win situation if we take advantage of it to the fullest .”

“I see-rather clever!” Iida said as Izuku held up his notebook. “Truly the kind of thinking a future hero will need!”

Izuku nodded as he wrote some more notes down. “Information is always within our reach if we’re willing to figure out how to get it. It’s better to be able to be comfortable trading information now before people’s lives depend on it.”

“That makes sense,” Yaoyorozu said. “Mind if I take a look?”

“Sure-here’s what I’m already done with,” Izuku said, handing over his notebook for Yaoyorozu to look over.

…………TW: PANIC ATTACK………………….

“Are you doing better after the USJ, listener?”

Izuku nodded, but his fidgeting made it clear he was not . “It was…bad, but everyone’s alright, so that’s all that matters, right?”

“Yep, but if you need to take a break, don’t feel bad and just let me know,” Yamada-sensei said. “Now, how are you feeling about the Sports Festival coming up?”

“I’m ready for it!” Izuku said immediately. “I did some information gathering during lunch today to get the quirks of 1-B and start figuring out strategies and how I would want to go about fighting any of them. I’m really interested in learning more details about the copy quirk, though. Copy quirks are very rare, and the possibilities are incredible. Can he copy the quirk of someone he knows or has a bond with? Copy quirks when he understands how they work? Copy quirks when he touches someone? How many can he use at a time? I wonder what would happen if- ”

“Could you speak up a little bit?” Yamada-sensei asked, and Izuku quickly shut his mouth.

“S-Sorry,” Izuku said quietly.

“Don’t be, little listener!” Yamada-sensei said. “Just speak up a little bit-I’m working to understand what you’re saying, but I’m not quite there yet!”

Izuku hunched his shoulders, making it pretty clear that he wasn’t going to continue that conversation.

“Alright, so today, we’re gonna be doing hand-to-hand combat, get your quirk ready for fighting people instead of just robots,” Yamada-sensei said. “So, the two of us will be sparring.”

“Ok,” Izuku said, then the two got up and walked over to the mats.

“Now, I’m gonna hold back a little bit-start without quirks, but more to get into the rhythm, ya dig?” Yamada-sensei said. “Aizawa-sensei will be here in a bit, and then we’ll start with your quirk.”

“Ok,” Izuku said. “Ready?”

“Yep-” Yamada-sensei said, and Izuku was quick to lunge forward and throw a kick at Yamada-sensei’s knees, a hand going up towards his armpit.

Yamada-sensei immediately stepped out of the way and threw an arm up to block the punch. “Never any countdowns in real life-you think quick, huh?”

Izuku didn’t reply, instead body-slamming into Yamada-sensei and throwing him…off his rhythm. Street smarts.

Yamada-sensei barely let himself even stumble before he responded by going to grapple Izuku and get him to the ground, but Izuku instead grabbed onto Yamada-sensei’s arms and ducked slightly, causing the teacher to go over him and fall to the ground behind him, and Izuku was quick to jump out of the way from Yamada-sensei trying to grab his ankles, although he did hesitate- should I help him up?

Yamada-sensei quickly got up and aimed to Izuku’s face-

-the hand villain was reaching towards Tsu’s face-where’s the knife-no knife, no time to think, just act-

Before Izuku could even comprehend what he was doing, he was hitting once…twice…three times in specific spots on Yamada-sensei’s arm, then before Yamada-sensei could realize what was happening, he was hitting certain points on the teacher’s back, sending him to the ground-

When Izuku finally snapped out of it, he was standing over a very confused Yamada-sensei, who was freaking out a bit.

“W-What…?” Yamada-sensei mumbled. “I…I can’t move.”

Izuku stumbled away. “I-I didn’t-I’m sorry!”

“Hey-do you mind telling me-” Yamada-sensei started, but Izuku was still backing away.

“I-I’m so sorry-I-I didn’t even-I shouldn’t have-sorry, sorry,” Izuku said, starting to hyperventilate, the corners of his vision starting to go dark as he backed against something…was that Aizawa-sensei, was that someone else, a mat, what…?

Izuku curled in on himself, dropping to the ground as his hands flew up to protect his head.

I just attacked a teacher! A pro hero! I’m gonna be expelled, I’m gonna be arrested-I can’t believe I did that, I can’t believe I did that, I can’t believe I did that-I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry-

…………………

Aizawa was quick to get Green Midoriya lowered to the ground as the boy had a full-blown panic attack, then he looked over at Yamada.

“Are you alright?” Aizawa asked.

“Can’t move…wait, now I can,” Yamada said, slowly getting up and hissing as he cracked his back sitting up, then looked at Green Midoriya. “Hey, listener, everything’s fine-I’m fine, you’re fine, everything’s-”

Green Midoriya’s quirk suddenly sparked slightly, but Aizawa was quick to turn his quirk off.

“His brother’s in the library after school, right?” Yamada asked, quickly taking out his phone and dialing Cementoss.

………………….

“That makes sense…I think.”

Hitoshi sighed as he gave Denki a tired, almost fond look. “Yeah, well, when you’re around Izuku for long enough, it’ll make more sense, I promise.”

“I hope so,” Denki said, glaring at the paper, almost like it was offending him. “Or maybe there shouldn’t be equations in quirk analysis when figuring out how someone’s quirk works.”

Hitoshi shrugged. “It makes sense if you think about it.” He tapped at a few different variables. “You have to take into account different resistances and how much someone’s quirk can affect that when active versus deactivated.” He paused for a few seconds, then looked at Denki. “In fact, you probably subconsciously realize all of this.”

“No way,” Denki said.

“Ok, then think like this-who’s more likely to be hurt by your lightning, me or Izuku?” Hitoshi asked.

“You,” Denki said immediately.

“And how do you know that?” Hitoshi asked.

“Well-” Denki started, then paused. “Uh…”

“ Exactly ,” Hitoshi said. “You automatically know what target would be worse off, but I wouldn’t , so instead, I have an equation to figure that out, although I probably wouldn’t.”

“ Oh ,” Denki said. “Is that equation the same for everyone?”

“Not by a long shot,” Hitoshi sighed, writing out another equation. “For example, this is the equation Izuku put together for Bakugou’s sweat and explosions.”

“Woah, that’s way different,” Denki said.

“Yeah-” Hitoshi started.

“Excuse me?”

The two looked up to see Cementoss-sensei standing there.

“Oh, hi!” Denki said. “We weren’t being too loud, right?”

“No, not at all-you’re Hitoshi Midoriya, right?” Cementoss-sensei asked.

“Yeah…” Hitoshi said slowly. “Why?”

Cementoss-sensei leaned in closer, causing both boys to lean in, too.

“Your brother is having a panic attack in Gym Gamma. Aizawa and Yamada are doing their best to calm him down, but-”

Hitoshi immediately shoved everything into his backpack and stood up. “Thanks-I’ll see you in class tomorrow.” With that, he quickly walked away.

“Hey-wait up!” Denki said, quickly stuffing his backpack and rushing after Hitoshi, waving at Cementoss-sensei as the two left the library.

………………

Hitoshi quickly rushed to the gym and looked around wildly before his eyes snapped on Izuku, Aizawa and Yamada-sensei close to him but not overcrowding.

“What happened?” Hitoshi demanded as he walked over to his brother, barely aware of Denki stepping closer, too, but staying just far enough back. Hitoshi crouched next to Izuku and pulled him into a hug, burying his face in his shoulder as he looked at the two teachers.

“We were sparring, and he used some kind of…I'm honestly not sure what he did, but before I knew it, I couldn't move, and he was panicking,” Yamada-sensei said.

Oh .

Hitoshi immediately sat back a little and gently ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Hey, Izuku, Can you hear me ?”

Izuku’s eyes seemed to focus a little bit as he looked at Hitoshi. “Hi-Hitoshi-”

“ Take a deep breath, ” Hitoshi said, waiting as Izuku did that. “Calm down a little bit-just like that. Keep breathing.”

Izuku followed the instruction and continued to calm down as Hitoshi looked at Yamada-sensei. “He accidentally used a technique called chi-blocking-it paralyzes you for a minute or so, but it also can make your quirk not work for a day.”

“Wait, really?” Yamada-sensei asked, eyes wide.

Aizawa-sensei’s eyes, meanwhile, narrowed. “That doesn’t sound like his quirk.”

“Because it’s not ,” Hitoshi said. “It’s not a quirk at all.”

“That…that isn’t how it works , though,” Yamada-sensei said. “It would have to be a quirk of some kind-are you sure he just doesn’t have another-”

“Can I see your arm?” Hitoshi asked, moving slightly away from Izuku and holding out his hand.

“Uh…sure?” Yamada-sensei said, holding out his arm.

“Now, I’m not gonna fully do it, but if I hit here-” Hitoshi said, quickly hitting two points and holding his hand right before the third as Yamada-sensei shivered and paused. “If I hit this last point, your arm will stop working. That's not my quirk, and I'm adopted, so can't be some kind of weird bio-twin thing.”

“I'm sorry,” Izuku whispered, and everyone immediately looked at him.

“Don't be sorry-I'm fine!” Yamada-sensei said. “That's a very rockin’ technique, though! Didn't know it was possible without a quirk. Mind showing me how sometime?”

“Sure,” Izuku said, slowly standing up, his knees shaking.

“Another time, though-we're heading home,” Hitoshi said, carefully putting an arm around Izuku's shoulders.

“I-I’m fine, though-” Izuku started.

“I'll see you in class tomorrow and check to see if you're feeling better-no point in continuing training today,” Aizawa-sensei said.

“But-” Izuku started.

“Training when you aren't in the right mindset can be dangerous, especially with a quirk like yours,” Aizawa-sensei said. “Recovery Girl would not appreciate having to see you because of unsafe training .”

Izuku hunched in on himself at that.

“Let's go home-take a nap or something,” Hitoshi said. “Is your backpack in the locker room?”

Izuku nodded.

“I'll carry it while you change,” Hitoshi said, then gently guided Izuku away, looking at Denki. “You saw nothing.”

“I saw nothing,” Denki agreed, nodding.

“Good,” Hitoshi said, walking out of the gym, guiding Izuku, Denki following.

………………..

“Thank you for having me,” Denki said as the three stepped into the Midoriya household.

“‘Course-thanks for carrying Izuku's bag,” Hitoshi said, guiding Midoriya, who had pretty much gone silent and barely responsive, into the house and shrugging off his shoes.

“No prob-anything I can do to help?” Denki asked.

“Can you set the backpacks in the living room?” Hitoshi asked, stepping on the back of Midoriya’s shoes, prompting the green boy to take his shoes off. “I'll get him to his room, then we can keep working on homework.”

“Sure,” Denki said, taking his shoes off and heading to the living room, carefully sitting down on the couch and trying not to think about what had happened.

First off, damn he was simping over Hitoshi real bad . But that's nothing new. All it took was Hitoshi saying something, and Denki found himself agreeing immediately…even if he really couldn 't pretend he saw nothing.

Why was Midoriya with Aizawa and Mic-sensei, anyway? Some kind of training, something involving hand-to-hand, but why did Midoriya , who had taken down Bakugou, who had (according to rumors) wounded the hand villain at the USJ, need training with fighting? Did it have something to do with…

Oh. Duh. His quirk . He broke his finger on the first day. He was probably doing some kind of fast-track quirk counseling before the Sports Festival. Aizawa-sensei had said Midorish's quirk made more training dangerous. Damn. Poor guy.

But still. To pull… whatever he pulled out of his ass. And apparently Hitoshi could do that, too. Good to know.

“He’ll be out for a while-Mom and Dad won't be back for a while, either,” Hitoshi said. “Mom said you can stay for dinner.”

“Aw, sweet!” Denki said, then paused. “Uh…”

Hitoshi sighed. “What?”

“So…I know you said that I saw nothing, but…” Denki trailed off.

“Don’t tell anyone about any of that,” Hitoshi said. “Izuku doesn't like talking about it.”

“Got it-my lips are sealed,” Denki said. I'm hopefully gonna at least be friends with him if I date his brother, I can at least keep secrets for this family. And All Might, apparently.

“Good,” Hitoshi said. “Well…his quirk is…”

“Destructive as hell,” Denki nodded. “I figured it's some kind of quirk counseling.”

“Yeah-he's pretty embarrassed about it,” Hitoshi said. “Thinks he's so behind-I won't go into much detail, so let's just say no quirk counselor wants to deal with a quirk that breaks bones.”

Denki winced. “Ouch.” He's been there-it took years to find a quirk counselor that would deal with his quirk. And that wasn't anywhere near here.

“Yeah-since Aizawa-sensei had an erasure quirk, he stays after school to figure out how to use it,” Hitoshi said.

“Ah,” Denki said. “Makes sense.”

“As for…well, the whole paralyzing thing-” Hitoshi started.

“Don't tell me,” Denki said.

Hitoshi gave him an odd look. “Huh?”

“I'm assuming it's some kind of ace-up-your-sleeve,” Denki said. “For the Sports Festival?”

“Well...yeah,” Hitoshi said.

“Then don't tell me until after the festival,” Denki said. “Besides, it looked complicated-my brain is already almost fried, don't get me closer-still need to finish homework…can you help me with math?”

“Sure,” Hitoshi said, getting out his textbook.

………………

Izuku slowly padded out of his room and down the hallway, already dreading everything.

I still have to eat dinner and do my homework…do the last bit of strength training for today…oh my All Might, do I have to tell Kaminari about what happened? I really don't want to-what if he tells our classmates? I finally have friends-I can't lose them-

“I can hear you muttering from here! We're on the living room!”

Izuku stopped, then hunched his shoulders. Damnit. He quietly walked into the living room to see Hitoshi and Kaminari watching TV. Both looked over at him, Hitoshi first, then Kaminari.

“Feeling better?” Kaminari asked.

Izuku slowly nodded, then he walked over and plopped down next to Hitoshi, grabbing his backpack and pulling out his homework. “...sorry.”

“For what?” Kaminari asked, tilting his head.

“...today, I guess,” Izuku said, hugging his knees.

“Don't apologize,” Hitoshi said. 

“Nothing to apologize for,” Kaminari said.

“...the panic attack?” Izuku said. “You two having to come get me and get me home?”

Kaminari shrugged. “As far as I'm concerned, I saw nothing.”

Izuku blinked at him. Kaminari blinked back, then shrugged.

“All I really know is that I got invited to dinner and whatever you do after school stopped early today,” Kaminari said. “So homework and TV time here instead of trying to understand…whatever Hitoshi was explaining to me.”

“Quirk equations,” Hitoshi said. “And you asked.”

“Doesn't mean I get it!” Kaminari said. “It's all a blur-I'm struggling with regular math, let alone whatever college-level junk you're reading!”

He really…he really doesn't know?

Hitoshi, as if sensing what Izuku was thinking, looked over and winked, then looked back to Kaminari and continued the conversation, almost seeming fond.

I wonder if Kaminari's crush is mutual.

Izuku made sure to bite his lip so he didn't say that out loud.

Chapter Text

Izuku took a deep breath in and let it go. This was it. Today would mean… everything .

Hitoshi has to get in. I won't allow anything else.

Izuku looked around the prep room at his classmates, making sure to bite his lip as he pondered.

Aoyama hasn't been doing so well against others-I don't think he's going to rank well today, but since he has his support belt, he may stand a chance…if it doesn’t malfunction. If I have to fight him at any point, I know where to aim.

Hagakure…her quirk thrives better in this kind of environment, but she would have to take off all her clothes. She seems to be more comfortable with that, but she wants to be noticed, so we'll see.

Mineta…if he makes one more side comment about how Yaoyorozu should wear her costume so we can see her boobs, I'm gonna be kicked out of the class for assault. 

As for biggest threats, Bakugou, obviously. I can take him down, as proven, but he’s still a force to be reckoned with.

Yaoyorozu is going to be an amazing hero someday. She’s formidable, and due to the nature of her quirk, you can never guess what she’s going to pull.

Of course, though, the biggest threat here is-

“Midoriya.”

Izuku immediately looked up to see Todoroki looking at him, looking more annoyed than usual. And that was saying something.

“Objectively, I’m stronger than you. My only goal today is to beat you.”

…huh?

“What’d you say?!” Bakugou shouted, everyone looking over. “I’m the only person in this class that you should be trying to beat, and you aren’t even going to get that!”

Todoroki hummed, completely brushing Bakugou off as he looked at Midoriya. “For some reason, All Might seems to have his eye on you. Beating you will be my goal for today.”

“Good luck with that,” Izuku said.

“I don’t need luck-I’m stronger,” Todoroki said.

“With your quirk?” Izuku said. “Of course you are. But here’s what you’re forgetting. That’s not the only kind of strength we’re talking about here.”

And wasn’t that the truth. Not all of his classmates had bothered with strength training, and while Todoroki clearly had , it wasn’t even close to the extent Izuku had been through. That wasn’t even taking into account his intelligence, fighting style, and more. Izuku had trained for years and was able to apparently take down Yamada-sensei, who…

“That’s a great ace up your sleeve, little listener-are you going to use it at the Sports Festival?”

“Uh…I’m not sure,” Izuku said nervously, fidgeting with his hands. “I…I don’t want my classmates to hate me, you know?”

“I doubt that they will-after all, Kaminari seems alright with it,” Yamada-sensei said.

“He’s actively pretending that he didn’t see anything,” Izuku said.

“Hmm…well, like said, it’s a great ace up your sleeve,” Yamada-sensei said. “It’s one that you should use, and at the end of the day, I think you should teach your classmates how to do it to help defend themselves. And shock all of them by revealing it at the Sports Festival, just like your brother is doing with his quirk.”

Izuku paused at that, thinking.

“The best part?” Yamada-sensei said. “You only need to use it once for people to start getting nervous to fight hand-to-hand against you, and that’s when people make mistakes.”

“Whatever,” Todoroki said as Aizawa-sensei walked in.

“Is everyone ready?” Aizawa-sensei asked, looking around.

Everyone gave a sharp nod.

“Then let’s go,” Aizawa-sensei said, nodding out of the door.

“Right!” everyone said, immediately going out of the door and out into the stadium-

Izuku took a deep breath as Yamada-sensei-Present Mic-called out their class, and the crowd roared .

Makes sense-I guess we’re sort-of famous for that villain attack, especially right now.

Present Mic continued to call out classes, and Izuku found himself looking over at 1-C, him and Hitoshi looking each other in the eye and giving a short nod. This was the event that got Hitoshi into the Sports Festival.

Hitoshi just has to get to round three. The highest ranking non-hero course student that gets to the third round gets offered a spot.

(A/N: I’m, like, 90% sure I said that previously, but can’t find it for the life of me. I think this is true in canon, and the only reason Hitoshi didn’t move forward was because it was offered to Hatsume, since Iida got higher up than Izuku, and Hatsume obviously declined.)

“AND NOW, LET’S HEAR A WORD FROM THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FIRST YEARS, IZUKU MIDORIYA!”

… what ?

“Yeah, highest ranking in the hero exam,” someone muttered.

Oh shit, that’s right, I forgot about that.

“Go up there!” Iida whisper-yelled, gently nudging Izuku, who walked up to the stage.

Shit, what do I say? Uh, uh…uh-

“Let’s all do our best,” Izuku blurted out as soon as the mic was in front of him. “Plus Ultra!” With that, he scampered back down the stairs of the podium and back to his classmates, ignoring the whispers of the other classes.

“So inspiring!” Midnight-apparently the rep for the first years-said, then a screen appeared behind him and started to spin a wheel, appearing “OBSTACLE COURSE!” “Our first event of the First Year Sports Festival is going to be an Obstacle Course! Please make your way to the starting line!”

Obstacle course? Easy enough-I’m not as good at parkour as Hitoshi, but I’m great in my own right-

“First up will be the Robo Inferno, then the Fall, then the Minefield, so tread carefully!” Present Mic yelled.

Oh goddamnit . Still doable, though.

“THREE!” Present Mic shouted. “TWO! ONE! GOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

And, of course, the real first obstacle of the course was revealed. The entrance .

People started to get packed together like sardines, but Izuku jumped up, his quirk active as he jumped to the ceiling and ran across the walls, barely avoiding Todoroki’s ice attack, ignoring everything around him, from Present Mic’s commentary to the other students-his classmates and Hitoshi could take care of themselves, he had a race to win.

Alright, next up is Robo Inferno. Probably the robots from the entrance exam, but I get to use my quirk this time, so I can destroy them-

Zero pointers stood in the way.

OH GODDAMNIT! I CAN NOT BREAK MY BONES TO TAKE THOSE DOWN!

A few other robots sat down around the rest of the area. Izuku, barely glancing around to watch as he landed on solid ground and continued to run. After a few seconds, he rushed one of the robots as more ice crept up, destroying a two pointer and tearing off a large chunk, taking some of the cables to tie it behind his back as he continued to run, a little slower than before, but still keeping in one of the lead spots, but, considering, he let Todoroki get ahead of him, Bakugou blasting his way forward, too.

The minefield has an advantage when you aren’t one of the first, not to mention-

Lo and behold, the Fall .

Todoroki used his ice to go across, some students following there- dumbasses, he’s gonna melt it when he’s done -Bakugou blasting over, a support student using a grappling belt thing to go over-cool! Izuku would ask questions about that when this was over.

As for Izuku!

I have to judge this carefully and control my jumps. Add on that I have approximately 70 kg on my back, add that to my own weight…5% should get me from platform to platform. Momentum won't be fun, so I'll have to just leap and keep jumping. If I fall over…aim for a pillar and jump from the side of that. No pressure.

Izuku fired up his quirk, took a deep breath, then jumped .

He landed on the edge of a platform, ran across the rest of the way, and jumped again, continuing until he was on the other side of the fall.

“Interesting quirk there, greeny!” the support student said, some air on her feet keeping her from actually touching the ground for a few seconds before she started running again, Izuku going faster-

-then he reached the minefield, Todoroki and Bakugou already ahead and fighting each other, mines-flashy, not harmful, according to Present Mic, just to slow the students down because they’re buried.

…they’d still slow Izuku down, though, and he still had the metal strapped to his back.

Oh, he had a terrible , yet wonderful idea.

Hitoshi was gonna kill him later, but it was gonna be worth it.

……………….

Hitoshi, as soon as he got across the fall, used his quirk to draw in four people to help him get across the minefield. He was far up in the lineup, so he was confident he would get to the second round.

…but what the hell was Izuku doing still near the start? He was moving so fast-and what was that in his hands-oh god, what was at his feet ?!

Before Hitoshi could move forward to scream at his twin, Izuku slammed the metal into the freaking mines , blasting him across the goddamn field.

…………………..

Shoto glanced back at the sudden explosion, and his eyes widened at the realization that it wasn’t the copy quirk from 1-B using Bakugou’s quirk.

No, that was Midoriya soaring through the sky with smoke behind him, riding on a piece of metal , eyes determined as he got closer.

Midoriya approached fast to where Bakugou and Shoto were fighting for first place, falling there.

It’ll take him a minute to get back up-he’s not my biggest threat here. I’ll beat him.

Midoriya fell between the two, head closer to the ground than the rest of him, and Shoto was ready to write him off-

-but all of a sudden, a foot slammed into his back, knocking him towards the mines on the ground as the same piece of metal slammed into the ground as well, setting off who knows how many mines and disorienting him.

By the time the ringing stopped and Shoto and Bakugou started to blast away the smoke, Midoriya was already activating his quirk and past the finish line.

……………..

“That’s him!” Shigaraki hissed, his hand wrapped in bandages--even Sensei didn’t have a quirk able to fix his hand. “That’s the NPC that did this to me!”

“Ah, I see,” Sensei said. “Izuku Midoriya…how interesting.”

……………..

I can’t believe that fucking worked.

As soon as he was past the finish line, Izuku tumbled to the ground and heaved a little, catching his breath before getting back up.

“What the hell?!” Bakugou yelled as he crossed the finish line-in third place, apparently, that was…interesting. “What the hell was that?!”

“Me beating you,” Izuku said, then looked at Todoroki, who still looked mad, but Izuku then looked at the finish line and watched people going past.

Not Hitoshi, not Hitoshi, not Hitoshi…come on, where are you? I know I saw you at the start of the minefield when I…oh, right, he’s gonna kill me when he sees me-

“Izuku Dumbass Midoriya.”

Oh, there he is!

Hitoshi, not placing in the top ten but still placing high enough, stormed over to Izuku, an angry look on his face.

“Did you seriously do that?!” Hitoshi hissed, a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You’re smarter than that!”

“It worked, though-first place!” Izuku said.

“And a near visit to Recovery Girl-seriously, how are you already a regular patient?” Hitoshi groaned.

Izuku just smiled at that and watched as more people joined, then looked at the ground, mind starting to wonder.

It’s usually a versus event, then a team event of sorts, then the third round. Should Toshi and I team up…? No…or maybe-

“Let’s not .”

Izuku looked at his brother and gave a short nod. “You’d be a great teammate, but…”

“Yeah, I get it,” Hitoshi said, nodding- thankfully , he seemed perfectly fine with it, not just saying that. “From here on, we’re against each other-I’ll knock you down a few pegs, you aren’t placing first again.”