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Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya stared at the large screen in the auditorium, surrounded by not only his class but the rest of the first year courses, and he had one significant resounding thought.

He was going to die.

Or commit murder.

Either one of those would work just fine for him.

The reason?

It was the time of year for the annual Heroes vs. Villains competition held at UA. A competition that took place towards the end of the second semester as a replacement for the practical exam for the Hero course. This event is known worldwide seeing as UA broadcasts the entire thing. It is an event that produces more viewers than the sports festival. Everyone in the world, for a week, watches the first year students of UA play Heroes vs. Villains while under the direct command of the “chosen students.”

The chosen students, or rather the unfortunate ones, were chosen randomly by principal Nezu. 

However, sitting in the auditorium looking at the screen, Izuku Midoriya realized what a lying bitch UA truly was. Because there was absolutely no way that the names displayed on the screen for the entire first year class of UA to see were random. There was absolutely no way his childhood bully got the commanding officer position for the Heroes while he got the position for the Villains. There was absolutely no way the selection was random. 

He could feel the eyes of his classmates on him. He didn’t even need to look to know that Bakugou was drilling holes into him, as if he were the one to choose to go up against him. 

He was going to completely and undeniably die.

“Now this year,” principal Nezu spoke out towards the crowd from his position on the stage, “the annual competition is going to be a bit different. Typically, the teams from both sides are randomly chosen evenly so that no leader is at a disadvantage from the start. However, due to the events that took place during the first semester, not everything is going to go as we expect. Therefore, this is the first year where students are able to choose what team they would like to be on. You will have a total of five minutes to make your decision before one by one you all are asked to come up on this stage and place your name in either the Heroes box to be on the Hero team or the Villains box to be on the Villain team. After your decision is made you can not change it. Furthermore, you may choose to not participate but doing so will cause you a failing grade in one of your finals, regardless of the class designation. Also, it is important to note that the winning team of this exercise will not only pass their final with a perfect score, but the students in the hero course will also win an all exclusive pass to visit any hero agency of their wish. For the students in business, support, and general, if your team were to win you will also be able to visit any place of your choosing as well.” The auditorium had never been so loud before. “Now, will both commanding officers please come up here and stand behind your designated box.”

Katsuki Bakugou immediately got up and trudged his way to the stage, his sneer never leaving his face.

Izuku Midoriya however, well he was just trying to get his breathing under control before he passed out from anxiety. He shakingly got up from his seat and purposefully kept his gaze to the ground. He could feel the eyes of his friends and that made him want to cower more than anything.

Maybe he should give up and just take the failing grade. The principal could assign another commanding officer and he will just take the hit. However, risking a glance up to where the faculty were standing near the wall by the stage, he met All Might’s smile and he knew without a doubt he couldn’t go through with that plan.

He was so going to die.

Don’t faint , he said to himself as he commanded his feet to go up the steps.

Don’t faint , he repeated as he pointedly ignored Bakugou’s sneering gaze and slowly walked behind his own box.

Don’t faint , he once again stated while risking a glance at the auditorium and seeing the gaze of every first year that attends UA on him.

Do not fucking faint , he finally repeated, before standing straight up and forcing his arms by his side, both of his fist tightly clenched.

“Students we will convene in five minutes. Choose wisely,” principal Nezu announced before jumping off the stool that he was standing on and walking towards the direction where the rest of the staff stood.

Midoriya surveyed the crowd and saw that almost his entire class were staring at Bakugou, a decision already made from the glint in their eyes.

And god that hurt.

He knew that his class were nothing but heroes. He knew how they wouldn’t stray away from their role even if it were just an exercise. But he also had hoped that maybe they would want to be on his team as well. That maybe despite being the villain commander, his classmates would have remembered everything he had done and would put their faith in him.

What had hurt the most was knowing from the look in his eyes that Todoroki would not join his team. Yeah it would have been nice to have his power on his side, but Todoroki was his absolute best friend. He was the one who stood by his side when both of his arms were broken and he felt like all was lost. He was the one who would fall asleep by the side of his bed some nights when his nightmares got too much for him to handle. The one that despite his stoic personality, ranted and raged about the bullying he endured from Bakugou. He was the one who he had an undeniable crush on. But he was also the one who was staring at Bakugou’s side, a decision clearly etched into his very emotionless face.

Izuku Midoriya felt betrayed.

He shouldn’t have.

It was simply just a school competition where everyone had the right to choose which team to join. But watching all of his friends not even risk a glance to his side, he had never felt so alone before. Or rather, he had not felt that feeling since his last year at Aldera.

He desperately tried to catch someone’s eyes, anybody’s eyes, but everyone was either clearly ignoring his desperation or staring at Bakugou as if he were their savior.

He thought he saw some contemplative looks from students in 1B, but their faces quickly changed before they redirected their gaze once again to the hero side.

“I am so going to die,” he faintly whispered out, mind so plagued with betrayal and hurt that there was no room for his despair to remain in his inner monologue.

After the auditorium got a bit noisy and the staff noticed that the five minutes were up, principal Nezu made his way back onto the stage and up to the stool where he could reach the mic.

“Alright students, please one by one come up the stairs and make your decision. Remember, you can not change your decision so whatever you choose is final. Let’s start with the business course in the front.” 

As predicted, every student from the business course and the rows after chose Bakugou. Not even one person glanced towards Midoriya or even seemed to consider him. When it was time for 1A to choose, he almost wanted to turn away from his empty box in order to prevent the hurt from spreading even more. Iida placed his name first in Bakugou’s box, then Uraraka, Asui, and then Todoroki. From the corner of his eye he knew Todoroki was finally trying to catch his gaze, but Midoryia couldn’t care less. Todorki made his choice and forgiveness was a hard thing for Midoryia.

In his daze of betrayal and hurt, Midoriya almost didn’t see the body that stopped right in front of his box, placing a paper with a name inside. If anything, when he finally did notice, his mouth dropped down in shock when his brain finally registered Momo Yaoyorozu standing right in front of him, a sincere smile plastered on her face.

“Um what?” Midoriya spoke out for the first time since he stood on the stage. He was imagining things. That was the only and most logical explanation to why Momo Yaoyorozu was standing in front of him, declaring herself to be on his team.

Despite his obvious shock, Yaoyorozu just smiled kindly at him before leaning over the box to whisper into his ear.

“I believe in you,” she stated. “You are the most hardworking person I have ever met and the plans that you come up with are legendary. I know I will never be able to conjure up the plans you do. I believe in you and I know without a doubt you would win by yourself if it came down to it. But I would really like a perfect score on my final so please don’t mind my interruption.”

Izuku Midoriya knew he liked boys since he was little. So he absolutely did NOT have a blush on his face once Yaoyorozu leaned backed and smiled at him once more.

“Oh um, yeah of course, um, thank you,” he quietly responded, making sure the tone of his words conveyed how grateful he was that someone from his class believed in him.

Yaoyorozu simply just smiled at him once again, before making her way down the stage and back to her seat. He could feel the murderous rage coming off of Bakugou, which fair, Yaoyorozu was an all-rounder and had an incredible quirk. However, he wouldn't even let the emotion the other was feeling bother him. He had someone on his team. Someone who not only had an amazing power, but was just as smart at executing plans. He suddenly didn’t feel so alone anymore. Betrayed still definitely, but alone not so much. If anything, his brain was already coming up with ways for the both of them to win the entire thing.

Maybe that is why he almost missed the obnoxiously loud voice announcing themselves as they made their way towards his box.

Oh god please no , he internally despaired.

“OH,” Neito Monoma painstakingly shouted, “It seems as if 1A, with the acceptance of one person, has abandoned their own classmate. Well dear old Izuku Midoriya do not fret, FOR I, the Phantom Thief of 1B shall assist you in taking down the scum of 1A.”

“Um, you really don’t have to,” Midoriya pleaded out. He would accept any help he could get, but Monoma? Really?

Before he could announce his refusal again, Monoma placed his name in his box and shrieked some nonsense down the stairs as he was making his way back to his seat.

Midoriya at that point was just plain confused. Monoma was the only one from 1B to be on his team. Even Kendo went to Bakugou's team.

Oh well , Midoriya thought, at least Monoma is well tuned with his quirk and can be a great assist.

After all of 1B was seated, he noticed how 1C, the general studies course, was up next. He saw how the purple haired boy who he fought at the sports festival, Hitoshi Shinsou, stopped next to Aizawa Sensei and Yamada Sensei and exchanged a few words before making his way up the stage with the rest of his class.

He also noticed how Shinsou’s gaze never wavered from his own.

Please , he internally pleaded. Having Shinsou on his team would change many things. There were so many plans he could come up with and scenarios where his quirk would be perfect. 

Please , he pleaded again.

Hope was not on his side with Todoroki earlier, but it was when Shinsou stopped in front of his box and dropped his name into it.

“You better not fail,” Shinsou muttered, before making his retreat down the stage.

Typically Midoriya would cower into himself once talked to with the tone that Shinsou just spoke to him in, but if anything, Midoriya just felt more powered up. He knew Shinsou did not like him but yet, he still went to his team. He would not fail the only three members he had on his team out of 100.

Well four now, if the screeching of “10 million” was anything to go by.

“10 million,” Mei Hatsume of the support course shouted, “You have very few members on your team!” She announced, as if that were something he should be proud of.

“Yeah I noticed,” He kinda snarked back, the hurt still lingering from earlier.

However, before he could feel bad for his tone, Hatsume just grinned widely and dumped her crumpled up paper with her name in his box.

“Perfect!” She screeched once again. “Absolutely perfect. Few people means that the camera will only pick up what the very few people are doing. Which means my babies will be the center of attention. Which means my babies will get recognition! Perfect! Oh this is just so perfect!”

Hatsume just mumbled on and on about how perfect his team was for her babies as she too descended the stairs.

Midoriya could only just shake his head fondly. He should have known that was what it was about. But if anything, Hatsume’s inventions could come very handy to him so he shouldn’t be bothered that he was being used just as Iida was used during the sports festival.

“Four is better than three I guess,” he uttered out.

“Yeah well ninety-five is better than four so I guess you're shit at counting and knowing what’s better and what’s not you damn nerd,” Bakugou ranted out, finally speaking to Midoriya.

“Well actually it would be ninety-four since you yourself do not count, so I guess it isn’t me that’s not good with counting.”

Yup, he was going to be murdered if the explosions coming off the other boy's hands were anything to go by.

It was the betrayal, that is why he said what he said. The betrayal was ruining his sweet precious mind.

Bakugou’s explosions were quickly shut off, which only meant that Aizawa Sensei was off to the side, glaring murderously at Bakugou for making him use his quirk.

Serves him right

After a few more minutes of the remaining courses choosing Bakugou, the selection process was finally over.

Midoriya thought he should have been more upset by how small his team was compared to the others, but he wasn’t. If anything he was overjoyed. Yayorozu was right earlier when she said that he would find a way to win just by himself. There was absolutely no way he would fail. But now he had a team of five people. Five people whose quirks would fit perfectly into his plans. Five people who now would win with him.

“Since Bakugou’s team is quite large,” Nezu spoke out into the mic, “Gym Gamma will be your training ground as well as meeting room for this exercise. The next week of classes are canceled and obviously the week after that is the competition. Although the staff and myself would have liked to have more students on the villain’s team, you all chose your teams by your own will and therefore, the numbers will stay the same. Commanders, you will have the rulebooks handed out to you tomorrow during homeroom. Midoriya, since your team is quite small, you can meet wherever you like, just give the teachers a heads up.” Midoriya could only nod as Nezu continued. “And finally, first years of UA, make not only the teachers, but the world proud. Show everyone why UA is the best, and will remain the best for years to come. Use your quirks. Use your training. Use your intelligence. But most of all, go beyond, Plus Ultra!”

After the cheer which everyone contributed to, Bakugou stomped off the stage and out of the auditorium doors with ninety-four students following him.  

Midoriya got down from the stage as well, but stayed near the stairs as his four teammates walked up to him.

They were all looking at him, waiting for directions. They all had glints in their eyes which reminded him of a rabid animal, ready to pounce on their prey.

He could only smile back at them, with the same feral glint in his eyes.

Izuku Midoriya was the sunshine boy of class 1A. However, never let it not be said that he also had a feral side to him once he was challenged.

And with ninety-four students choosing his bully instead of him, he will take this challenge very seriously.

“Are you ready?” He manically spoke out while walking the opposite directions of the other team towards the side doors.

“For what?” Hatsume asked.

Izuku Midoriya only offered them a smirk from over his shoulders before pushing the double doors in front of him open and walking out, his team following closely behind. He finally stopped in front of the support department's lab before turning fully around and facing his team once again. He noticed the excitement piling up in Hatsume and the confused look given to him by the other three hero students.

“We are going to win this.” He spoke out quietly, the feral grin from earlier creeping steadily back onto his face. “We are not only going to win, we are going to have a perfect win. By the end of this, all those students will regret not picking our team.” One by one, every member of his team shared the same feral grin as he, before he turned around and walked straight into the lab and towards Hatsume’s workspace.

After all, when challenged and betrayed, Izuku Midoriya always found a way to win.  

Chapter Text

“Nezu, do you really think the size of young Midoriya’s team is alright?” All Might announced, making his way into the Staff room.

Almost every first year teacher was present, the only presence missing was Power Loader Sensei since he was responsible for overlooking Midoriya’s team in the support lab.

“Oh yes,” Nezu responded, seeming happier than he had in a while. From within the sleeping bag on the couch, Shota Aizawa just watched the interaction with narrowed eyes.

“Sir, with all due respect, young Midoriya is going up against ninety-five students. Doesn’t that seem a bit unfair to you.” All Might once again put his input in.

“Do you not believe in the problem child?” Aizawa spoke up for the first time still with narrowed eyes, slowly getting up to a sitting position on the couch, body still comfortably inside the hideous yellow sleeping bag.

“No!” All Might responded loudly. “I believe in young Midoriya to the fullest! However, it’s five against ninety-five. That is hardly fair!”

“What’s hardly fair is Midoriya’s favorite teacher not believing in him,” Aizawa snarked back, almost as rude as the barking pomeranian would have.

All Might just stood from his position in the room, with his mouth failing open and closed at a loss for words.

Aizawa should have felt bad, but he didn’t. He believed in his problem child. Plus his adoptive son, Hitoshi, chose to be on the problem child’s team after making sure he wouldn’t be considered a true villain if he were to join Midoriya. He had no other choice but to believe.

“I think the little listener will be just fine!” Hizashi Yamada spoke out, “If anything, we all will be able to see how the green bean not only works under pressure, but also at a disadvantage.”

“Yes that is quite correct,” Nezu spoke once again. “Oh to be at such a disadvantage, it truly makes you wonder how Midoriya will overcome this obstacle. I believe we will finally get to watch the mind of a truly remarkable student in two weeks time. Oh I just can’t wait.” If Nezu's tail wagged, it would be swinging back and forth with glee.

Heaven help us all, Aizawa thought, before trying to go back down in a supine position and close his eyes. However, the small Dad coming from the entrance of the staff room, made him immediately sit back up.

Sure enough, Hitoshi was shyly standing by the front, wanting only his Dad’s attention but instead, having every pair of eyes in the staff rooms attention

For fucks sake, Shinsou internally berated himself.

Nosey fuckers

“Toshi?” Yamada responded instead of Aizawa, “Is everything alright?”

It took about five seconds for Shinsou to respond, seeing as he was trying to get his breathing under control from all the eyes of the teachers present staring at him.

“Oh yeah Papa everything is fine, well we, Midoriya’s team I mean, we wanted to ask what objects we were allowed to use. Like, are we all able to use guns and knives?”

If Shinsou didn’t have the attention of every member of the staff room before, he surely did now. 

“Knives!” All Might spluttered.

“Guns!” Snipe shouted.

“Is your team being naughty?” Midnight smirked out, Shinsou refusing to admit he blushed.

“Oh for fucks sake,” Aizawa muttered.

“And why do you ask?” Nezu responded instead of Yamada, his beady eyes already seeming overjoyed. “The rule books will be handed out tomorrow with all the information available.”

“Well um,” Shinsou quietly uttered out, “We wanted to get started right away with forming plans, and we, um I mean Midoriya, you see he wanted to know what was alright to use now so he wouldn’t waste his time crafting useless plans tonight.” 

“I see,” Nezu responded almost proudly, “Well since you asked, the rules of what is allowed are simple. The hero team can only use what is already included on the hero courses costumes while the other courses on the hero team can use whatever they want but it has to be approved first. So for instance, Bakugou can still use his gauntlets since it’s a part of his costume but nothing else, while members of the support course on his team can use any support item of their choosing, it just needs to be approved beforehand. As for the villain team, you can use whatever you like. You do have hero course students on your team but since it is the villain team, the rules of the costumes do not stand. It goes without saying that killing is absolutely not allowed so there should not be any actual bullets in the guns or sharp edges on the knives. However, guns and knives are allowed if the bullets are replaced as well as the edges of the knives. If you were to use them, again the teachers would need to look over the weaponry and make sure the objects will not severely injure or kill.”

Shinsou stayed quiet the entire time taking it all in, doing his best to remember everything when he had to report back to Midoriya.

“So if we were to use guns,” Shinsou retorted, “and let’s say replace the bullets with rubber pellets or paintballs, how would you know for certain if the opposing team is out or not?”

“Oh well that is simple,” Nezu cheerfully stated, “the cameras that will be watching all interactions have a built in system, courtesy of Power Loader, that assesses any damage done to a person. The results are not shared with the public that is viewing the games, but instead the information is sent to the teachers viewing room computer system. If the cameras report that damage was done to significant area of the body and in a real-life scenario would lead to death, than one of the teachers will speak into the ear piece every participant is required to have to notify of their status, and then that said student would have to “pretend” to be killed by not moving until a teacher can come and collect them.”

“I think I understand,” Shinsou replied. “So if we were to use a bomb filled with stick on color powder, and that said bomb went off and got on several students, the cameras would assess the potential damage done and then the teachers would rule out if the student would have died or not if it were real?”

“Exactly,” Nezu announced at the same time that Vlad King yelled “Bombs!”

“Alright, thank you for the clarification principal Nezu,” Shinsou responded while quickly bowing and taking his leave, rushing to discuss his findings with Midoriya.

“Sir, guns and knives are fine, but bombs?” All Might stuttered out, becoming more and more uncomfortable with the images of what was to come.

“You forget Toshinori,” Nezu said, “this is a competition yes, but it is also a Heroes vs. Villains competition. You can not win on either side if you do not play the role to the fullest. I have already arranged for the week after the exercise to be solely dedicated to Hound Dog and the services he provides. This exercise will affect the students, just as it has every year. And we will offer all the services available, just like we have every year. This competition is hard to watch since we know the students and the students know their peers. But that is simply not the case in the outside world. We do this to prepare the students for the evils that are to come once they leave the walls of UA.”

“And the villain team?” All Might fired back. “What are they supposed to learn?”

“How to survive in spite of setbacks,” Nezu responded. “Izuku Midoriya knows how to survive as I am sure you already know, but a few members of his team do not. They will have to learn the true strength of how to survive and how to win. Their methods might not be pretty, but it is a competition after all. And with Midoriya leading them, I do believe this year will be the most exciting show yet. More exciting than the last villain team that won, which was more than 25 years ago.”

“But young Midoriya is a-” All Might tried but was interrupted.

“Problem child,” Aizawa cut in. “He is a problem child but a problem child with the desire to help others. He will take this task seriously because I know that despite being a hero through and through, he wants to prove himself more than anything. Say All Might, shouldn’t you know your favorite student more than me?”

“Shota” Yamada quietly admonished but Aizawa did not care one bit if his words hurt the older hero. 

Call him salty that Midoriya liked the big buffoon more than him if you’d like, but no one will underestimate his hardworking self sacrificing problem child in front of him.

“Midoriya will be fine,” Aizawa continued. “Why? Well All Might, seeing as you do not know your favorite students I guess I’ll have to enlighten you.”

“Now young Aiza-”All Might tried again, but was once more interrupted.

“Problem child will be fine because he was challenged. In all of the training given to him, he did the best when an impossible challenge was right in front of him. He will win, not because he is a hero, but because he is a problem child who hates being underestimated. I think it’s about time you stopped underestimating him as well”

With those words, Aizawa just flopped back down on the couch and closed his eyes, embracing the sweet relief of sleep.

All of the staff just stared at his sleeping form shocked while Hizashi just looked fondly down at his husband. The grump loved his green haired student almost as if he were his own son and even though he would never admit it to himself, it seems as if he would defend the boy even to the number one hero’s face.

All Might just stared at the wall, cheeks flushed with embarrassment and shame.

“Oh yes,” Nezu once again spoke out to the deathly quiet room, “this year will be the most exciting show yet.”

“So are we really going to make bombs?” Yaoyorozu asked Midoriya, who was grinning at all four of them with the same maniac gleam in his eyes that appeared after Shinsou came back and told them what the principal had said.

“Yes we certainly are,” he announced, before turning to Hatsume and asking if it were possible.

“A bomb?” Hatsume asked when responding to his request. “You want me to make a bomb baby. A baby, one of my babies, as a bomb. A color powder baby bomb? A baby that is supposed to explode on the other team. A baby bomb?”

“Well yeah,” Midoriya shly confirmed, hand coming up to run through his curls behind his head in an act of embarrassment.

“Ten million you are a genius!” Hatsume yelled before running towards him, kissing him on both cheeks, and then rushing off to her station, muttering “I am going to make the most absolutely amazing jaw dropping contract signing color powder baby bomb ever.”

Midoriya did NOT blush. However, Yaoyorozu’s laughter would say differently.

“Alright, slightly less scum of 1A, what shall I do?” Monoma asked, refusing to admit that the golden boy of 1A plans were slightly interesting.

“Yaoyorozu, can you and Monoma work together with your quirks? Let him copy yours and then teach him how he should create things. If we are able to have two creation quirks the victory will be ours in less than 7 days.”

Yaoyorozu just politely smiled at him once again, before she started to pull a shrieking Monoma into the corner to start discussing her quirk.

“And me?” Shinsou rudely asked.

Midoriya just stared at him silently before he too grabbed Shinsou and pulled him into the opposite corner.

“You and I are going to talk.”

“Let go of me,” Shinsou snapped while pulling his arm from Midoriya's grasp.

“Okay I’m sorry I shouldn’t have grabbed you. But please, just please, can we talk,” Midoriya begged.

“And why should we?” Shinsou snapped again.

“Well, you chose my team. I am not sure why, but you did, and I just, I want us to win but I want us to win as one. So please, can we just talk for a bit.”

Shinsou assessed Midoriya for a couple of seconds before he finished the walk to the corner they were heading to, and leaned against the wall with both arms crossed in front of him.

Midoriya joined him only a few moments after, placing his body into a similar position.

“So talk,” Shinsou demanded after a few moments of tense silence. “You wanted to drag me over here to talk, so just get it over with.”

“Right yeah,” Midoriya stuttered.

Fuck I didn’t think it through this much, he internally screamed at his idiotic self.

“I just,” he stuttered out once again, “I just wanted to ask why do you hate me? I mean if you’re mad I beat you at the sports festival I completely get it and all. But just for this exercise can you just not hate me and then immediately hate me right after?”

Shinsou gaped at Midoriya as if he were a fish out of water.

“You think I dislike you because you beat me during a competition?”

“Um yeah?” Midoriya responded, voice quieter than he would have liked.

“Well you’re wrong,” he spoke out. “It was a competition I couldn’t care less if I lost or not.” Which was a lie but he would never admit that out loud. “I dislike you because you were born with everything I had wanted. You have a strong quirk, friends who like you, probably an amazing home life, and a rival who is the strongest in your class. It’s hard for a villain kid like me to like someone who was born with everything.”

Midoriya kept his gaze towards the floor.

I can’t tell him, he argued with himself.

I can’t, he will hate me too

I can’t

Don’t say it

Don’t say it

Don’t say it

Don’t-

And he was saying it.

“You’re wrong, you know. I didn’t have everything.”

“What,” Hitoshi snapped out.

“I didn’t have everything,” Midoriya once again said, gaze still directed towards the ground. “I didn’t get my quirk until the entrance exam.” He blatantly ignored the audible inhale Shinsou took next to him. “I lived almost my entire life quirkless. The activation for my quirk required muscle mass. And since I was a small and lean child, if I had my quirk when I was younger I would have blown off my limbs. I guess my body was just protecting itself from me. Either way, I didn’t have any friends growing up. No one would even look at me, and if they did, it was with nothing but pity or disgust. The first friend I made was Uraraka who I met at the entrance exam. I don’t have a good home life. My dad left once my diagnosis came in and my mom blames me for his departure. She never hit or yelled at me, so I guess I can be grateful for that, but she pretends as if I do not exist, which to be honest hurts more. At least if she hit me I would know she knew I was there. And my rival, well he’s more of a bully than anything. I went to school with him when I was younger and let’s just say he doesn’t like weak people. My friends know how he treated me and yet, they still chose his side. Todoroki, the boy who was supposed to be my best friend, never even considered joining me. He didn’t even look at me even if he knew more than anyone how I was treated. So you can dislike me, I can’t change that. But I am not perfect and believe me, you don’t want my life.”

Midoriya ignored the silent tears streaming down his face. 

Shinsou was quiet for a few minutes before he said something that shocked the tears right off of Midoriya’s face.

“I am a villain”

“No the fuck you’re not,” Midoriya interrupted outraged.

Shinsou just smiled sadly before continuing, “All my life I was told my quirk was villainous. My foster parents muzzled me so that I wouldn’t be able to act upon the “villainous acts” they knew I had planned. It wasn’t until my first year of junior high where I was finally adopted into a good home and even then, it took years for me to even start to ask other people questions. I started to hate people who were born with powerful quirks because they would never understand the prejudices that I faced everyday of my life. I guess I judged you before even knowing anything and I’m sorry about that. I just wish I had a more powerful quirk somedays.”

“No you don’t,” Midoriya immediately intervened.

“Um what?” Shinsou asked, confused.

“Your quirk is the most powerful one I have ever seen, and my favorite hobby is analyzing quirks. It’s not flashy, but it is extremely powerful. If anything, it is a quirk you should be nothing but proud of. Quirks aren’t villainous, they are just tools. It is the person who commits crimes that make them villainous. And you, Hitoshi Shinsou, are no villain. I know you want to become a hero and after this competition is done, I will help you reach your dream. After all, we both felt the same pain.”

Shinsou just stared at him before chuckling a little bit, ignoring the water that was piling up in his eyes.

“You know what Midoriya, call me Hitoshi. After all, I have a feeling I won’t be able to get rid of you from now on.”

Midoriya gave off one of the brightest smiles he had ever seen in his life once he heard that statement, and he lives with Present Mic so he was surprised more than anything.

“Then you can call me Izuku!” Midoriya cheered out.

“And you both can call me Momo,” Yaoyorozu interrupted, sheepishly admitting she overheard their conversation. “I haven’t been told what you have or experienced the same horrors, but I am appalled by the actions that were taken against you. So please know, from this day forward, you will have me standing in your corner.”

“My quirk has been called useless ever since I was little,” Monoma also added his input once Yaoyorozu was done speaking. Also admitting at the same time that he accidentally overheard the conversation, “so I guess it is alright if the most pleasant scum out of 1A and 1C referred to me as Neito.”

“I’m honored,” Hitoshi deadpanned, noticing how Izuku and Momo hid their chuckles behind their hands.

“And you servants can call me Mei,” Hatsume shouted from her work station, already producing a fifth bomb. “You respected my babies and therefore, I like you.”

Hitoshi turned towards Izuku and for the first time since they met, both smiled towards one another.

“We will win,” the purple haired boy announced.

“We will take down the scum of the other courses” Neito screeched out.

“We will work as one to complete our task,” Momo added her input.

“My babies will prevail!” Mei shouted from her station.

“And we will have a flawless victory,” Izuku contributed. “After all, the scariest people are the ones who have been burned by society. So team, let’s show the others why they are glad this is just an exercise. Let’s show them the villains we could have become. And let’s show them why they were wrong for ever underestimating us!”

Because after all , Midoriya thought, principal Nezu did say to go plus ultra .

Chapter Text

“So first things first,” Midoriya announced after Mei completed all 500 bombs that were requested.

Yes.

500.

She completed 500 bombs in less than 30 minutes. Midoriya was amazed and also slightly terrified.

“Do any of you know how to shoot a gun?” He stated, completing his earlier sentence.

“Oh oh oh me! I do! 10 million I do! Me, pick me. I’m right here! 10 million pick me!” Mei cheered, almost as if she won the lottery or something.

Midoriya just smiled fondly and turned his attention to the other three members of his team, who were looking at Mei as if she were an anomaly.

“I’ll take that as a no,” he chuckled. “Mei,” he announced, causing the pink haired girl to break her chanting and stare directly at him, “do you think that maybe for this week, you would be able to spend an hour everyday teaching us how to shoot a gun. I think we all know how to pull the trigger, but we mostly would need help with aim.”

“Yes yes yes yes yes!” Mei cheered once again, “I will gladly help my servants. Do not even worry. And also, do not fret! I will make babies for each one of you. The same type of gun isn’t suited for everyone so I’ll get into customizing and building your own baby right away.”

“Thank you,” Momo politely responded, a feeling of warmth swirling in her chest from feeling included.

“The scum of the support course is going to build my gun?” Neito dramatically raged out.

“Dude,” Hitoshi responded, “Is everyone just a scum to you?”

“Of course,” Neito snarled back, “for the only people worthy of my praise are the amazing students of class 1B.”

“So amazing that the letter of your class is B and not A. Which means your class was second best to class A. So amazing Vlad sensei got the leftovers after Aizawa sensei was done choosing the best of the best.”

“Why you disgusting-” Neito raged, having to be held back by Momo while Izuku just glared at Hitoshi with no heat behind it.

“Hitoshi you know damn well the selection was random. And Neito, please relax, Hitoshi will gladly be called a scum if it means you will be a true teammate to us.”

“No the fuck I won-”

“Yes you will,” Izuku glared right back, daring for Hitoshi to contradict him.

Glaring half-heartedly, Hitoshi took a very, very, deep breath before muttering “yes I will.”

“Alright scum, I forgive you,” Neito announced, resuming a calm composure and allowing Momo to sit back and release him.

“Now listen here, support scum,” he tried again, however, Mei was not as nice as Hitoshi.

“I know for a fact you’re not calling me scum. Because if you were calling me scum, you would be calling my babies scum, and if you were to call my babies scum, well you would have just signed your death certificate.”

“Holy fuck I think she just made me straight,” Hitoshi whispered out, staring at Mei who was glaring at Neito while making finger guns and pretending to end his life.

“Ow fuck,” Hitoshi cried out, holding the back of his head that Izuku had just slapped as he approached Mei.

“Mei, Neito wasn’t calling your babies scum. I promise.” Izuku tried to reassure the pink haired girl.

“You weren’t calling my babies scum?” Mei asked Neito through narrowed eyes while her quirk was in full effect.

Neito went to answer, but he too was slapped behind the head by Izuku and when he went to rage, was met with a withering and terrifying glare.

“No I guess not. You are not scum. You’re welcome.” He mumbled out, mimicking Hitoshi and rubbing the back of his head to relieve the pain from being slapped.

“Thank you servant,” Mei responded, going back to building the individual guns.

“Oh but she can call me a serv-”

“Neito,” Izuku snapped, successfully silencing the glaring copy quirk user.

“Children,” Izuku muttered under his breath while turning to Momo, who had watched the entire situation with amusement shining in her eyes.

“Alright Momo, for right now toy guns will have to do until Mei is done crafting our real ones. Which I believe should be by the end of the day today.” Izuku only got a small nod from the girl who was now in her own little world. “Everyone, please take the gun that Momo is going to make and practice hitting a target. Right now, any target will do. Just do your best to aim and hit it.”

“Sir yes sir,” Hitoshi replied, saluting him.

Neito also nodded his head, suddenly seeming interested in the task.

“Now,” Midoriya began, “class is almost over and I am sure you guys are tired. Go back to your dorms and practice everything I had told you earlier. We will convene tomorrow after homeroom since that is the last day of our classes for the week. Take a deep breath, we got this.”

“Of course we got this,” Neito proudly said, “I would not choose to be on a team of losers.”

All Izuku could do was deadpan and shake his head while Hitoshi snickered at the exasperation Izuku was displaying.

Neito was the first to leave, while Hitoshi simply gave a wave and followed quickly behind.

Mei was still in her own little world and from the tired stare that Power Loader was giving her from behind the glass of his office, he knew she would be there almost the entire night.

“Izuku,” Momo kindly asked out, waiting for the boy to stare at her, “Do you want to walk back to the dorms together?”

He just smiled and agreed with a nod before running to grab his backpack that was carelessly thrown in the corner earlier.

As they made their way back quietly to the 1A dorms, Izuku couldn’t help but ask Momo something that had been on his mind since she first placed her name in his bin.

“Momo?” He spoke out, head looking up to greet her eyes.

“Yeah?” She responded, angling her head down a bit so she could hear and see him better.

At that point, both of them stopped walking and just stared at each other.

Anxiety filled Izuku’s body and he fiddled with his straps on his backpack as a way to calm his nerves.

“I um,” he started, “I was just wondering why you chose to go with my team.” Before Momo could respond Izuku carried on, gaze now directed down to the bottom of his shoes. “I know what you said before, I mean what you said on the podium, but even then, that shouldn’t have convinced you to join me. You could have gone with your friends. I wouldn’t have blamed you. I mean my own friends didn’t go with me. So I guess I was just wondering why you did.”

Momo remained quiet for a bit, her attention now towards the swaying trees overhead. It was almost as if she was finding the best way to form her answer.

“You know Izuku, you were the first one to say that my quirk was useful.” His head had immediately snapped up to meet Momo’s eyes, but her attention was still directed towards the swaying cherry blossom trees. “I have heard all my life that my quirk was powerful and amazing. I had heard how my quirk was perfect for heroics and that I should be lucky that the gods graced me with such a power. I had heard every compliment there could be, but you, well you were the only one that said it was useful. Powerful yes, but also useful. As if I myself was the power behind the quirk. Which I guess in a way, I am. My quirk only works if I understand the composition of what I want to create. I have to know everything to create anything, and yet, you didn’t see the power of my quirk first, you just saw me. When I first told you about it, you immediately said how useful it was not because of the power that came from it, but because I am probably the only one smart enough to memorize and understand chemical composition. You made me feel seen for the first time in my life. You made me feel like me, not some girl who was graced with a powerful quirk.”

“I’m honored I was able to make you feel that way,” he uttered out, “but I just don’t see how that correlates to choosing me instead of going with your best friends.”

“Oh silly me,” Momo laughed, “I guess I got a little off track. It is because you had said those words to me that I started to watch you more in class. Your drive and desire to win and come out on top inspired me. Everything I did or decided to do, I would ask myself “would Midoriya go about it this way as well?” I guess, I saw you more as a leader than a classmate. Someone who cared about everyone and simply wanted to help wherever he could. It’s true that my friends went with Bakugou. They even thought I was going to as well, but I just couldn’t. I most likely should have said beforehand who I was picking, so they wouldn’t be upset at me that I chose differently than them, but I just couldn’t. I don’t care if our team is the villain team. I wouldn’t have cared if you were the commander of the hero team as well. I still would have picked you. Because I believe in you and have faith in you.”

It is no secret to the student body of UA that Izuku Midoriya is a crier, but what he was doing next to Momo was rather excessive. He was going to flood the school straight off the hilltop.

“Oh my I am so sorry,” Momo tried to calm him down, on the verge of panicking.

“No no it’s fine,” Izuku finally responded, after reducing his tears to silent streams down his face.

“It’s just, we haven’t even talked that much and you believed in me more than my own friends did. More than my best friend. I guess it just hurts.”

“You mean Todoroki right?” She suggested. “I always see guys together. To be honest, I was rather quite shocked when he didn’t choose your team.”

“Yeah,” he stated, “I was shocked as well. Well not really shocked, betrayed is the better answer.”

“I see. I’m sorry Izuku.” She kindly stated.

“It is what it is,” he said, before they both started to continue their walk to the dorms.

It was a rather peaceful walk and he couldn’t help the small smile that graced his face as they made their way back to the dorm.

Nothing could ruin the calmness that overtook his body.

You see, Izuku Midoriya was a smart boy. An extremely intelligent boy that understood and dealt with many of life’s hardest problems.

However, at this moment, he had never felt so stupid before. He should have kept his damn mouth shut earlier. Or his mind. He should have kept whatever shut so that his statement of calmness wouldn’t come back to haunt him.

Because what he was experiencing now was just plain bullshit.

The moment that Momo and him walked into the 1A dorm, the noise that graced the common room came to an abrupt halt.

Every one of his classmates were present, but not one uttered a single word. Not even Mina or Denki, who were known to never shut up.

The two of them stood by the entrance awkwardly looking around the room, while their classmates looked at them impassively.

Midoriya typically never got angry, but at that moment, he was fuming.

It wasn’t his choice to join the villain team. If anything he was forced into that position. And if anyone should be staring impassively, it should be him. He was the one that stood on that stage earlier in the day while his entire class, except Momo, blatantly chose against him and indirectly clarified that they didn’t believe in him.

He should be the one to give the cold shoulder, not the other way around.

He made a step forward to rant out his feelings, but a hand shot out in front of him, stopping his pursuit.

He immediately turned to Momo, ready to argue, but the look on her face caused him to halt. There was understanding etched onto her face yes, but there was also a hint of anger that laid behind her eyes. She too was angry about her classmates behavior, she was just approaching it more gracefully.

“Izuku,” she calmly spoke out, slightly smiling at the gasps that escaped from her peers. It was no secret that the heir of the Yaoyorozu family only behaved respectfully towards others. She had never used a first name before. Even Jiro, who was her best friend, was never graced with her first name coming from Momo Yaoyorozu’s mouth. Sneaking a peak, she could see the hurt that was present on Jiro’s face, but she couldn’t find it in herself to care. Her best friend made her choice and she made hers. There was nothing more to it.

“Izuku,” she once again repeated after gaining her composure, “remind me again, are we meeting at the same time tomorrow?”

Izuku was confused because he knew he had just told her the plans 15 minutes prior but then it suddenly clicked, and he couldn’t help the smirk that graced his face.

“No Momo,” he too ignored the gasps, “I said we would meet later in the evening. I need to go visit my mom before I won’t be able to talk to her for a while. I know we don’t have a lot of time to prepare, but one day won’t hurt us and I’ll make sure we train harder the day after tomorrow to make up for it”

Momo faked understanding, and the entire class was eating it up.

“Stupid fucking nerd,” Bakugou barked out from his position on the couch. 

Midoriya made sure to bury the hurt that surfaced when he saw Todoroki sitting close to him before he answered.

“May I assist you with something Kacchan?” He sweetly asked, making sure he smiled wider and his eyes became bigger. 

“You know you’re going to get your fucking ass kicked. I don’t know why you’re smiling over there like an idiot. One day of extra training won’t do you any fucking good.” Bakugou raged out.

“And here I thought you were going to compliment my devotion,” he pouted, making sure to dramatically drop his shoulders into himself. “Oh well, I would say good luck and to do your best because your hero will be watching, but we both know All Might will only be paying attention to me the entire time.”

Was that petty and egotistical?

Yes, yes it was.

Did it feel good to see the shock in Bakugou’s eyes for once?

Yes, yes it did.

“You fucking extra I’ll fucking kill you,” Bakugou yelled out, jumping up with small explosions coming from his hands, having to be held back by four of his classmates.

“Whoops did I say that out loud,” Izuku dramatically cried out, almost as if he didn’t really mean what he said. However, the smile on his face and look in his eye told a different story.

Momo was trying to contain her laughter behind her hand and Izuku’s friends were looking at him as if he were a different person.

And maybe in that moment he was.

What can he say?

Karma is a bitch.

“This is unheroic behavior Midoriya,” Iida tried to intervene, arms chopping in their normal robotic way.

“Good thing for the next two weeks I am not supposed to act heroically huh.”

Izuku would forever deny the joy that appeared in his chest when the class president was suddenly at a loss for words. He had never spoken back before to him. And he more importantly had never talked to him in the way he just did.

He had to reel himself in though. It was not the time to act this way.

In a week though, that is when he will let loose.

And his classmates will be in for one hell of a surprise.

Izuku turned to face Momo before bowing lightly and offering a goodnight. However, she too said she was going to bed and they both made the movement to head toward the elevator. However, before he got a chance to completely turn, a voice spoke out.

“Midoriya,” he heard from in front of him.

He knew it was Todoroki.

He didn’t even need to lift his head to know. He could recognize that gruff voice anywhere.

But the pain in his chest from the betrayal had not subsided and if he spoke to the dual quirk user now, he would break.

And Izuku Midoriya would not break in front of the class.

Momo gratefully saw his turmoil and simply brought him into her arms before turning them completely away, and started to walk them both towards the elevator, no words spoken to the class. No words spoken to their respective so-called friends.

Once safely behind the elevator doors, Momo released Izuku, who just murmured a quick thanks. 

After responding with a quick smile, she squeezed his hand one time before leaving the elevator once the doors opened, indicating they had already arrived at her floor.

“Izuku,” she spoke out to him, making sure her body was turned enough so they could talk face to face. “I will help you take them down. It’s hard when you’re being underestimated. It’s even harder when you’re not being believed in. I’ll help you, and like you have been saying since this team was first formed, we will win.”

Izuku gave her the biggest smile he had in his arsenal, before responding “yes we will,” as the elevator doors were closing. He was able to see one last smile before the doors closed completely and it was just him and his thoughts for the first time since the auditorium.

Midoriya made his way to his room, making sure to lock it once inside in case any unwelcome visitors decided to make an appearance later.

He had just put down his backpack when he felt his phone vibrating in his pocket.

Taking it out, he didn’t recognize the number but he still decided to answer it, too lazy to deal with voicemails if it were an important call.

He had suddenly regretted keeping his phone at full volume because the loudest “10 million” blasted into his ears the moment he pressed accept.

He could hear Mei ranting and saying something but he was still recovering from the ringing in his ears. Once he had partially recovered his hearing, he finally interrupted Mei.

“Mei calm down and tell me what’s got you so excited?”

“10 million this is the greatest news you will ever hear in your lifetime. I deserve a prize for this news. New materials. Yes I want new materials tomorrow for this information. I will take them from anywhere. But don’t get me rusted materials, I want shiny ones. My babies deserve the best. Oh and make sure that there are no labels on the materials, I need to declare my company on them. Also make sure that Power Loader doesn’t see you bringing them in, he hates my materials. And also-”

“Mei!” Izuku interrupted once again, “are you going to tell me first why you deserve to be rewarded or are you just going to keep the news to yourself?”

“Oh yeah! 10 million you will never believe what I heard over dinner today!”

Suddenly, Midoriya was very interested.

“Okay? What did you hear?”

“Okay okay you need background information. So 10 million I never eat dinner with my class. Like never ever. I always eat it in the support lab because my babies need my full attention. HOWEVER, today I was forced to leave after I finished the guns, oh yeah they are already finished by the way. I need to know if the colors suit you guys tomorrow before I add-”

“Mei!” Izuku interrupted a little louder than before. Both intrigued and annoyed.

“Yes yes my bad 10 million! Anyways, after I finished the guns, Power Loader kicked me out of the lab, saying he had plans and couldn’t watch me forever tonight. Which is rude but fine. So I had to go back to my dorm and get food there. However, I never eat with my class and never make my presence known in the dorm. Everyone knows I’m always in the lab with Power Loader and since he is a loner that doesn’t do anything, they know that I am always there until super late everyday. Which means that they can discuss anything and everything because they know I won’t be there to hear it. I mean this was the first time ever I was sent to the dorms early.”

A slow grin started to crawl onto Izuku’s face as he sat on his bed absorbing the information.

“And what did you find out?” He asked, suddenly extremely proud of his teammate.

“10 million, the rude blonde hair boy isn’t using any support items during the exercise!”

“What did you just say?” Izuku asked for clarification. Because there was no way, absolutely no way that Bakugou was that much of an idiot and so self absorbed that he wouldn’t use the help of the other departments.

“No no I thought that too!” Mei cried out into the phone, “but then I stayed and listened to my entire classes conversation for a while and 10 million, they are super duper angry. They said that the angry boy just said that his team doesn’t need their “useless items” and that the hero courses' costumes were enough to beat 5 people. I think because there’s only 5 of us that my class gave in easily and didn’t really fight back. They are more mad that the world won’t get to see their inventions but the hero team isn’t using support items. Not one! And my class is the only first year support course.”

“How sure are you about this information?” Izuku asked. “Is there any way they said this so you can report back to me?”

“No way 10 million! My class knew I wouldn’t be there at that time since it was hours before my usual time and even then, I was in the vents since I was bored. No one saw me come in and no one suspected a thing. I will make sure to pretend to come in my normal time in a few hours to throw them off, but there is absolutely no way they could have known I was there. I mean, ever since school started, I haven’t even been there at the time when they were discussing this.”

The full blown smile on Izuku Midoriya's face would scare the cruelest men away from him.

“This is excellent. This is such good information. Thank you Mei for telling me.”

“Of course 10 million,” she cheered, “I don’t care about the competition between hero courses much but my classmates believe my babies are useless, I get a chance to show them why my babies will always be better than theirs. If anything I should thank you!”

“No need for that,” he chuckled, “just get some rest, we have a busy day tomorrow.”

“Agreed servant, oh also I made sure your gun- MY BABY,” was heard on the other line before it cut off due to an explosion. Izuku once again shook his head and chuckled. At least it was never boring talking to Mei. But tomorrow he did have to talk to her about how she was able to get his number.

“Kacchan, you’re a fucking idiot,” he murmured, before taking out his note book full with plans and adding more information to it, getting closer and closer to having his plan for his perfect victory.

“One of us will get our asses kicked,” he continued to mumble while writing down notes, “but I can assure you, it won’t be mine.”

Chapter Text

“Toshi, how is the team coming along?” Yamada asked his son during breakfast, noticing how the purple haired boy seemed more awake and alert for the first time ever at this hour of the day.

“Good,” Hitoshi responded, slurping on his cereal as he scrolled through his phone.

“Well have you guys come up with any cool plans yet?” Yamada tried again, intrigued.

Hitoshi just deadpanned over his phone, completely ignoring the question.

“Zashi, you know you can’t ask questions like that,” Aizawa muttered, walking out from their shared bedroom and into the kitchen, searching for the sweet relief of caffeine.

“But Shoooo,” Yamada whined, “Toshi hasn’t seemed this alive in forever, I’m just curious what plans have they conjured up for him to be acting like this, this early in the morning!”

“Although that may be true, you will have to wait just like the rest of us,” Aizawa muttered, begging the coffee machine to go faster with nothing but his eyes.

Hitoshi simply just smirked, attention going back to his device. He was planning on ignoring his father’s some more, but the conversation he had yesterday with Izuku suddenly arose in his mind. He knew that one conversation would not truly fix how he had treated the boy, but he would do his best from now on to act as he should have from the beginning. However, that didn’t change the fact that Izuku still said some rather concerning things, especially about his home life.

“Hey dad,” Hitoshi called out, “If let’s say hypothetically, a friend of mine was being neglected by their parents and I told you about it, hypothetically of course, what would you do?”

Aizawa stared at his son, coffee mug forgotten about, and offered nothing but a grim look.

“Is this hypothetical friend safe or happy where he is?” Aizawa responded, not liking where this conversation was going. 

“Hypothetically, no.,” Hitoshi retorted, “Or at least I don’t believe so.”

Aizawa just stared at him again.

“Hypothetically of course,” Hitoshi announced, feeling as if he had to clarify that for a third time.

“Well then, I would first ask the friend themselves about the situation, and then go from there.” Aizawa finally remarked.

Hitoshi offered a small “I see,” before turning his attention back to his phone, already scrolling through it just as he had before the conversation occurred.

Aizawa and Yamada shared a glance with each other over their son’s head, a glance that conveyed how that hypothetical conversation was far from over, but one they would let be for now.

“I have to go, I have a lot to do before class,” Hitoshi spoke out while getting up from his position at the table and making his way to put his bowl of cereal into the sink.

“Like what?” Yamada asked, trying to gain any information at all.

“Zashi,” Aizawa groaned, chugging the scalding hot coffee in his mug as if it were juice.

Hitoshi just smirked as his parents started to bicker before he went to the front door of their apartment dorm, put on his shoes, and started to make his way to the meeting area that Izuku had texted them to meet earlier that morning.

He knew that his new green haired friend wouldn't appreciate him bringing up the topic of his home life, but Hitoshi understood just how harsh life could be when not even one person was in your corner. 

He could only hope that soon, Izuku would trust him enough to allow him to tell his parents, without the hypotheticals.

As he came closer and closer to the team's meeting point, he could hear bickering from inside of the classroom.

Hitoshi just shook his head and did his best to bury the smile that started to grace his face.

Huh, he wondered, is this what it feels like to have friends?

“But why not?” Neito whined to one overly annoyed green haired boy.

“Neito we have been arguing about this for over 30 minutes, just accept my answer already.” Izuku ranted, becoming more and more agitated the longer Neito disagreed with him.

“I just don’t understand why we can’t have code names.” The blonde haired boy ranted back.

“Oh oh!” Mei cheerfully added, “What code name would you want blonde servant?”

“I think dumbass would go well for him, but for the sake of this competition let’s go with little bitch,” Hitoshi announced as he entered the room, already smirking at how red the other boy’s face had gotten.

“You purple-”

“Okay enough!” Izuku finally broke. “There are 5 of us. Literally just 5. If there were more than maybe but there’s not. So we’ll just stick to our actual names for the exercise and that’s final.”

Hitoshi just smirked at Neito while the other boy crossed his arms, refusing to accept the answer but knowing he had to. Mei was already busy getting out the guns she had made not even 12 hours before and Momo was just watching the interaction with amusement in her eyes as she typically did.

“Did you all practice last night with the guns Momo gave you?” Izuku asked, wanting to get straight down to business since they did not have much time before homeroom.

“Yeah,” everyone announced, earlier arguments forgotten about. 

“I was able to finally hit my target after a couple of hours before I finally got the hang of it.” Hitoshi added. Momo shared a similar scenario while Neito, well, was being Neito.

“I hit my target on the first try,” he shrieked. “As if aiming and firing a gun would be difficult for someone from the superior hero class.”

“You couldn’t hit it at all could you,” Hitoshi snarked back at him, already ready for a bickering contest.

“I swear-”

“Okay no! Guys we just stopped one fight, please don’t start another” Izuku quickly cut in, already glaring at the purple haired boy a bit, knowing he was just riling up the other for fun. And from the large grin he got back, he knew that Izuku had caught on.

“Alright, that's very good. Neito, even if you didn’t hit the target right away, that’s fine. I just wanted you guys to practice hitting something right in front of you instead of from a distance. Since Mei has the most experience, she will be the one to carry out the sniper shots. This is more as a last-result method in case you get caught, or if one of us is bored and decides to go on a shooting spree. Oh, which reminds me, we need to work on our stealth. Hitoshi, I know the teachers can’t help or interfere, but has Aizawa sensei taught you any tactics that we may be able to use?” 

Hitoshi couldn’t help the smirk that appeared on his face. “He trains me quite often. Typically it’s normal martial arts, but we have gone over some stealth tactics. I know he gave me a book on how to disguise footsteps that I will find when I go home later. I also remember a lot of good tips that I think will be beneficial for us.”

“Perfect!” Izuku cheered. “After we get our rulebooks during homeroom, I’ll put together teams to work together to obtain the objectives. I know it’s going to be a lot of work. More work than any of us have experienced. I mean, there’s 5 of us doing the job for 50. But if we divide and conquer we will be just fine. I already have an extremely good plan that I will be adding to and back up plans that will work just as well.”

“The way your brain works amazes me and freaks me out,” Hitoshi muttered, turning to slap Neito when the boy elbowed him in the stomach.

“Actually, that’s something I wanted to talk to you guys about.” Izuku announced, gaining the attention of all his teammates. “My plans, well the best way to put it is that they are not the best. Not bad in the way that we will fail if we go through with them, but in the way where it could very well traumatize the other team. I just, I don’t want you guys to view me differently. I would never in a million years do in real life what I am planning on doing, planning on making you guys do, during the competition. I want to play the role of the villain perfectly because that’s what we are supposed to do. But also, I just, I don’t think any of you know this, but I almost became a villain.”

Izuku ignored the eyes that were on him, needing to get through this speech, not able to contain the turmoil any longer. “I was in a place in life where I couldn’t take the pain anymore. I couldn’t take the insults, the bullying, the neglect, the hatred, the pity. I just couldn’t take it. Everywhere I turned, someone hated me. I woke up to my mom not being home because she blamed me and hated me for my father leaving, I went to school and dealt with bullies and insults, I would get denied access places because everyone in my neighborhood knew I was quirkless, and I would get pushed around left and right on my way home from the people in my neighborhood, just to return once again to an empty house. It was all too much for me. And I just got so angry that I wanted to make the people that had hurt me hurt too. But I just couldn’t. I couldn’t go through with it. If I did become a villain, that would have meant that everyone who did me wrong would win. That I would be proving them right.”

“So then, you’re scared that we will see you the same way with your plans,” Momo asked, feeling nothing but sorrow for the bright eyed boy she met on the first day of school.

“I'm scared you will think of me as a monster,” Izuku finally admitted. “The plans I created for this competition are plans I have already considered years before. And in a way, I’m excited to show the world my plans. I know I shouldn’t feel this way, but I do. I want to play the role of the villain perfectly, because I want to show the people who knew me before, just how much damage I could have done if I was weaker. I want to scare the other team to the point where they will finally understand how fragile the human mind can be. I want to prove to everyone that although I almost became a villain, I’m training to be a hero. I know I shouldn’t go through with half of these plans. I know it’s vindictive of me to take my frustrations out on our peers. However, out of 98 students, only 4 chose me. Only you 4 believed in me. I guess, I just want people to understand that anyone, when pushed, has the potential to become their worst self possible.”

Izuku, after his speech, refused to look up from his gaze on his feet. He knew the looks that the four in front of him would be sporting. He knew how crazy and villainous he sounded. But he also knew that if any of them said anything about his plans, he would change it in a heartbeat. Because despite what he believed, he was not a monster.

“I think,” Hitoshi began, Izuku holding his breath, “I think you’re fucking awesome.” He finally concluded.

Izuku almost gave himself whiplash from how fast he whipped his head up to stare at his teammates across from him. Where not one of them held the look on their face that he believed they would hold.

Not one.

Not even Neito.

Everyone just looked, understanding.

“Um, come again?” Izuku asked, needing this to desperately not be a dream.

“I said you’re fucking awesome,” Hitoshi repeated, an actual genuine smile on his face. “Everyone in this room has been told one way or another that we weren’t enough. You with how they attacked your lack of quirk, me with my villainous quirk, Neito with his useless quirk, Momo with how people believed her quirk made her special, and Mei, with how her classmates don’t believe in her inventions. All of us have experienced similar things, and hey, if we need to wreck some shit to feel better about it, then I don’t see why not. If anything, those pompous bitches around the world deserve to know how terrifying someone can be when treated a certain way.”

Now it was Izuku’s turn to remain speechless.

There was just no way this was real.

He died.

He was dead.

That was the only plausible explanation.

The only explanation as to why after sharing his deepest and darkest feelings, all of his teammates, even Neito, were looking at him and smiling, seeming even more excited for the competition.

“You’re not a monster 10 million,” Mei stated. Not good with feelings but knowing if it were coming from her, Izuku would understand the severity of her statement. And from the immediate tears that she saw pile in his eyes, she knew she had made the right choice.

“You’re absolutely not a monster,” Momo also added her input. “If anything, I am now more in awe of your determination to remain good, even with all that you have been through.”

“It is true that class 1A is filled with scum,” Neito added as well. “But out of everyone in that class, you are the one who I dislike the least. And this does not change that. If anything, I may start to actually like you a bit more,” which would have been believable if Neito didn’t gag with that statement, “it just proves that you are not all smiles and actually have a backbone.”

“You guys,” Izuku cried out, no longer able to keep the tears of relief at bay.

“Let’s fuck some shit up,” Hitoshi cheered, becoming slightly uncomfortable with the softness of the moment. 

“Let’s make my babies put on one hell of a show,” Mei cheered.

“Yeah!” The other three joined in.

“Oh wait!” Izuku suddenly shouted, interrupting the moment. “Mei by any chance, can you hack?”

The smile on her face was absolutely feral.

“Oh why yes 10 million, I certainly can.”

“Yaoyorozu, problem child, you are late,” Aizawa announced the moment his two students walked into class three minutes after homeroom had begun.

“Are we?” Momo asked in fake shock, “Oh my, please forgive us,” she stated, after bowing lightly and moving towards her desk, making sure to ignore everyone’s eyes.

“Aizawa sensei,” Izuku said, still by the front of the class.

“Problem child?” Aizawa asked, too tired to scare the boy with his quirk.

“Did you pass out the rulebooks yet?”

Aizawa would deny it to anyone that asked, because he certainly did not chuck the rulebook into his problem child’s face, a small smirk on his lips when he heard the spluttering from the boy that he had started to become fond of.

“You could have at least given me a heads up,” Izuku muttered quietly, while making his way to his seat.

“What was that,” Aizawa coldly stated, quirk now in full effect.

Izuku had never sat in his seat so fast before.

After putting eye drops in his eyes, Aizawa went about the daily announcements before he was interrupted once the topic of the competition came to be.

“Sensei-” Iida yelled out, “When is the exact time that the competition starts. Every year the broadcast starts at a different time.”

“Iida sit down,” Aizawa stated, before continuing on to answer his questions. “Well, the time it begins is up to the villain commander.” And of course everyone was staring at Izuku. “The villain commander has between 12 am to 12 pm, a total of 12 hours on the first day of competition to determine what time they would like to start. The teachers just need to be aware so we can open the gates of the city and prepare the broadcast. The villain team is let in exactly one hour before the hero team and the broadcast begins when the hero team enters.”

“Oh so it’s up to the villain team when to start but the broadcast only begins when the hero team enters,” Mina stated.

“That is what I just said,” Aizawa tiredly responded.

“But why doesn’t the broadcast start when the villain team enters and why don’t the heroes and villain enter at the same time!” Iida once again yelled out.

“Because in a real life situation, villains will already have the upper hand. They will already be ahead of the heroes and will have more time planning. That is why the villain team gets one hour to prepare before the heroes are let in. And broadcasting the villain team set up might give away some plans before the hero team even enters. It would be unfair.” Aizawa answered.

“What’s unfair is having us go up against that damn nerd and the other useless extras on his team,” Bakugou raged out from in front of Izuku.

“Don’t call my teammates useless,” Izuku spoke up in a quiet and deathly tone.

“Huh!” Bakugou yelled, turning his entire body around in his seat to stare at Izuku, “What the fuck did you just say to me?”

“I said,” Izuku answered in the same tone, “do not call my teammates useless.”

“I’ll call them whatever I damn well please you piece of shit.”

Izuku grabbed his pencil that was in his fist hard, containing his rage. He narrowed his eyes at Bakugou and glared at him with the heat of a thousand suns.

He heard movement from around him, most likely his classmates getting nosey about the altercation.

However, Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself before releasing his pencil and untensing his body.

Not yet, he reminded himself.

You can’t fuck him up yet  

“Someones in a shitter mood than normal,” Izuku cheerfully said, putting as much goddamn sunshine as he could into his tone. “It must be because Kirishima finally saw reason and decided to not waste his precious time on the likes of you.”

Calm down, he pleaded with himself.

“WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO-” Bakugou raged out, exploding his desk in the process.

Izuku simply just smiled at him before tuning out the yelling from around him and opening up his rulebook to go over what is expected of him and his team.

He also made sure to note down to apologize to Kirishima later about using his name to get under Bakugou’s skin.

As he was reading the list of the many, many, objectives his team were responsible to get, he couldn’t help but feel the stare that was piercing into the back of his head.

He knew that stare.

He knew who it belonged to.

But he would not look.

He wouldn’t.

Todoroki made his choice, and it wasn’t him. Although it wasn’t in terms of romance when he did make his choice, it very well could have been. You don’t betray your best friend.

As he read the rules and regulations more, a sinister feeling settled within him.

This is perfect, he thought to himself.

Because reading the rules, he could win in two ways.

The first way to win was to obtain all the objectives by the end of the 7 days while making sure the villain commander isn’t captured. The villain team could be taken out and captured, but for the competition to still be in effect, the villain commander had to remain. So for instance, if all four of his teammates were captured, the competition would still be in play since he, the villain commander, was still in the game.

The second way to win was through the villain team taking out every single one of the heroes. In order for the competition to come to an end, every student on the hero team, including the hero commander, had to be taken out.

The second method, Izuku realized, was one that no one in the past years had tried. Every broadcasted competition he had watched when he was younger always displayed the villain team finding and gaining objectives. They always, every time, went with the first method. Which made sense, the second way was clearly the most difficult and almost impossible route. However, Izuku only saw that as a challenge.

And no one challenges him.

His team would have a perfect victory. 

Not one of them will be captured.

Every member on the hero team will be eliminated before the time limit of 7 days is up. 

He and his team will show not only UA, but the world, why you don’t underestimate people.

But most of all, he will win out of pure spite.

Because no one, absolutely no one, challenges Izuku Midoriya.

Chapter Text

“Alright wonder boy,” Hitoshi announced as he walked into the support course lab, “what evil twisted plans did you come up with now.”

“My plans are not evil,” Izuku muttered, fingers flying across the keyboard on his laptop as he sat next to Mei.

“Oh but you’ll agree that they are twisted?”

The green haired boy could only offer a smirk over his laptop, before zoning back into what he was doing.

“What are you doing over there?” Hitoshi asked, intrigued. However, he was only met with silence.

“Izuku?” He asked again, still not gaining a response from the boy.

“Mei what is he doing?” He asked instead, recognizing that his new friend was too focused to even hear his question.

Mei simply raised her head from her own laptop, eyes filled with confusion before she looked at Hitoshi, then at Izuku, and then as it clicked, she finally was able to answer him.

“Oh he’s just hacking Nezu,” She happily announced, as if it were just normal information.

Hitoshi deeply regretted taking a sip of his water while he was waiting for her to answer, because now the entire front of his uniform was soaked with spit.

“I’m sorry what?” Hitoshi coughed out, body still recovering from shock. “Did you just say he is hacking Nezu?”

“Yup!” Mei clarified. “10 million got here earlier and explained that he needed help breaking through principal Nezu’s firewall. He is a seasoned hacker like myself, but Nezu’s stuff is hardcore. However, two great minds is better than one and so here we are! He’s almost done so that’s why he’s so focused right now.”

Her statement was perfectly timed, because in the next few seconds, Izuku raised both hands above his head and cheered.

“I’m in!” He shouted in glee.

“Isn’t hacking Nezu against the rules?” Hitoshi asked, interrupting the green haired boy’s and pink haired girl’s celebration.

“Not really,” Izuku smiled at him. “The rules say outside help of any kind is prohibited. But we’re not using outside help. We are not even using Nezu. All we need is access to the broadcast in order to make sure our plans go off without a hitch. And to do that, we needed to get through Nezu’s firewalls.”

“I thought you were just going to hack the hero's comms though?” He asked, confused.

“Well yes,” Izuku replied, “But Nezu’s system is interconnected. We can’t just hack the comms without breaking through the firewalls first. Oh, which reminds me! You need to go to the staff room and be a diversion.”

“What?” Hitoshi asked, because he was absolutely not going to do what his friend had just suggested.

“A diversion purple. You need to be a diversion,” Mei clarified while nodding her head, almost as if she believed Hitoshi didn’t hear him the first time.

“And what exactly am I supposed to divert for?”

“Well that’s simple!” Izuku cheered once again, “We have to access the broadcast system before we even get through the gates. If we access it on the day of the competition when we are already in the arena, then that technically would be considered cheating because no outside help is allowed. However, the rules state that any supplies that are brought into the arena have to be checked out by one of the teachers. So I’m going to bury an encrypted file onto my laptop where the teachers won’t find it. They can’t say we are cheating since we had the computer which had the encrypted files already checked before the competition begun. Which means we aren’t using outside help, simply our supplies that were already improved!”

“Okay now you lost me,” Hitoshi replied. “What encrypted file? Why is there an encrypted file? Why would we need an encrypted file to begin with?”

“Well it’s less an encrypted file and more of a virus,” Izuku sheepishly admitted.

“You just lost me even more,” Hitoshi responded, head beginning to hurt from confusion.

“Okay okay listen up purple!” Mei cut in, “In order to take over the hero’s comms we need access to the broadcast since it’s interconnected just as 10 million mentioned. However, we can’t just access the broadcast system since the firewalls Nezu has in place is some seriously difficult stuff to get through. But what we can do is create a virus that bypasses the firewall and implant that into the system so when we want to access the broadcast, it’s with the push of a button.”

“So the encrypted file is the virus?” Hitoshi asked, slightly catching on but still confused.

“It’s part of it,” Izuku nodded. “I first needed to get past the firewalls without alerting Nezu in order to implant part of the virus. Seeing as I haven’t been kicked out yet, I’m guessing he still doesn’t know. The other part of the virus is more like an activation key if anything. On the day of the competition, when we want to take over the broadcast, all we have to do is access the virus that will be stored on our laptop, and that should trigger the virus stored behind the firewalls, which will temporarily deactivate it and allow us immediate access.”

“Yeah yeah!” Mei cheered, “10 Million built the virus that would be stored in Nezu’s system last night and so when he was granted access moments ago, that’s when he stored it. He made me responsible for building the activation part of the virus! I needed to see what he had built so my virus would be compatible with his!”

“Wouldn’t Nezu be alerted if something was stored in his system though? And why would you need to encrypt the file to begin with?” The purple haired boy asked, already tired of hearing about computer viruses.

“He won’t know that something is in his system until the virus is activated, which it is not right now. Once it is though, he will know but at that point, we will already be in the competition and he would have no way to stop us from using it.” Izuku explained. “We need to hide the encrypted file because Power Loader sensei will be the one to check over any electronics. Just like Snipe sensei is responsible for checking over our weaponry. Power Loader sensei knows what a virus activation key looks like, so in order to trick him that there is nothing there, we have to hide it extremely well. I mean if we get caught it’s no big deal, we will just have to scratch that part of our plan, but we won’t get caught!”

“And you’re absolutely certain this is not considered cheating,” Hitoshi asked, needing the reassurance that his team wasn’t going to get disqualified on the first day.

“It would be if we decided to hack him during the competition,” Izuku responded, “the rules clearly state that there is to be no outside interference during the 7 day competition. And Nezu’s system is outside interference. However, it says nothing about prior to the competition.”

“A technicality!” Hitoshi shouted, “You're going off of a technicality!”

“It’s not really a technicality purple servant,” Mei intervened, “The rules say nothing about hacking, only about no outside interference. But if the outside interference was corrupted prior to the competition, it’s fair game. That’s why we need to corrupt his system now. So it’s considered prior to the competition and not during.”

“But how will the teachers know that?” Hitoshi asked again, calming down from his earlier outburst.

“Oh that’s simple!” Izuku said, “When the virus is activated all the teachers will get a notification with a description of when the virus was stored into the system as well as highlighted parts of the rules and notes that says we are within them.”

“Okay,” Hitoshi responded, “But I still don’t understand why I need to be a diversion.”

And suddenly, he wished he had never asked.

Because now he was staring at not one, but two, almost psychotic grins.

“Because we need to test it,” Izuku said, “And we need the teachers to not know of it yet,” Mei finished.

“We need you to take this jamming key to the staff meeting, which will prevent any communication from being delivered, while we activate the system to make sure the viruses are working.” Izuku stated once more.

“Staff room,” Hitoshi stuttered, “With Pro Heroes. You want me to deceive Pro Heroes?” He raged.

“Precisely,” Izuku stated.

“No no I can’t, my fathers will be there and they will know something is up. No! Have Momo or Neito do it, not me. No!”

Hitoshi will NOT be the distraction.

“You have to purple,” Mei cried, “You're the only one who would have a plausible reason for being there since your parents are on the staff!”

“I will not do it!”

“Please Hitoshi,” Izuku begged.

“No!” He responded.

“Come on purple please!” Mei cried out again.

“I said no!” 

“Please!”

“No.”

“Come on, think of it as a mission. Distract and deceive!” Izuku tried

“Absolutely fucking not!”

“You have to!” Mei shouted.

“No I don’t!” He shouted back.

“Please!”

“No!”

“Pretty please!”

“Take that pretty please and shove it up your ass, I said no!”

“Come on, just agree!” Mei once again shouted.

“I will never in a million years agree to this!” He ranted back, standing firm on his decision and knowing he will not ever change his mind.

You motherfuckers , Hitoshi raged in his mind, standing right outside of the staff room, waiting to make his reluctant entrance while fiddling with the jamming key in his pocket.

Fucking use cats against me again and I’ll stab you , he once again raged.

Because yes, Izuku did in fact say that if he were to do this, he would buy the boy a 6 month subscription to the cat cafe that was located down the hill by the school. 

“Oh for fucks sake,” he whispered, taking a deep breath, turning the jamming key on, and pushing open the door to the staff meeting where he was immediately met with the eyes of every faculty member.

“Toshi?” Yamada was the first to announce, concern shining in his green eyes.

“Shinsou, is there anything that we can do for you?” Nezu asked right after from his position at the head of the table.

Well fuck , Hitoshi thought to himself, I didn’t actually think what I should say.

“ I um, I just wanted, I uh needed, you see I uh, well actually you know um-” Hitoshi was going to drown himself in a water bottle after he left this room.

Well actually he will punch Izuku first, then he will down himself in a water bottle.

“Hitoshi?” Aizawa finally spoke up, concern also shining in his eyes.

Hitoshi’s palms were producing buckets of sweat and his heartbeat was on the verge of being irregular.

He was going to pass out.

“I just wanted to come in and tell you, I just needed to say-” Yup, the water bottle it was after this encounter.

“That we are to be married,” A voice broke out behind him, causing his stuttering to come to an abrupt end.

Hitoshi had never turned around so fast in his life before.

And sure enough, standing right by the entrance, was no other than Neito.

He was going to commit murder.

“ WHAT !” Yamada shouted, not being able to control his quirk.

“What the fuck,” Aizawa spoke.

“What naughty boys you are,” Midnight added while All Might was coughing up blood and Vlad King looked pale as a ghost.

“Neito what the actual fuck,” Hitoshi ranted, forgetting about the room of Pro Heroes behind him and the task that Izuku had given him.

“Oh do you not wish to marry me? What a terrible shame. But understandable given that I am superior to you in every way.” Neito responded in his usual self absorbed way.

“Your superior ass is about to meet my fucking fist if you keep talking.” He ranted back.

“Kinky,” the blonde haired boy responded with a smirk.

However, that smirk was wiped off his face once Hitoshi lunged at him and chased him from the room, leaving some very confused, amused, and horrified staff members in their wake.

“What the fuck,” Aizawa spoke again, looking at Yamada as if what he had witnessed truly occurred.

Nezu on the other hand tried his best to contain his amusement. He had of course known that his student was hacking into his system and would do something to distract him while the boy checked to see if it was working. Nezu did have an intelligence quirk after all. However, he did not know how the boy was going to stop the other teachers from figuring it out.

Oh , he thought, this year truly will be interesting.

“Why are you running,” Hitoshi shouted, still chasing Neito through the halls. “I just want to talk!”

“Izuku help me!” Neito shouted as he ran into the support lab and flung himself behind the green haired boy.

“Woah woah woah! What’s going on?” Izuku asked, confused as to why both of his teammates were out of breath.

“That maniac is going to kill me” Neito shouted.

“You’re damn right! What the fuck!” Hitoshi yelled, trying to go around Izuku to reach the boy but was blocked.

“Okay what happened?” Izuku asked. He had sent Neito over to help Hitoshi once he saw how quickly he was losing his composure from the cameras, but didn’t watch what occurred when the boy got there since he was checking to see if the viruses actually worked.

“That bastard told my parents we are getting married!” Hitoshi ranted.

“Oh my,” Momo laughed out in surprise.

“I was just trying to help!” Neito defended.

“Okay okay!” Izuku interrupted, “Neito maybe next time, think of something better. And Hitoshi, I sent Neito over there to help you. I didn’t know what he was going to say so I’m sorry. But you guys distracted the staff long enough for me to check everything to see if it works so technically it was a mission accomplished!”

“Technically you’re about to get your ass kicked,” Hitoshi ranted, but everyone in the room noticed how there was no more rage in his body. “Anyway,” he continued on, “did the viruses work?”

“Oh yes,” Izuku chuckled, “everything is going just as planned.”

“We only have 5 days left right?” Momo asked.

“Yeah but everything is going according to our timeline so it should be alright. However, I need to make an adjustment somewhere. Neito, how long can you store a quirk for?”

“Um,” Neito thought, “if I want to use it right away maybe for about 5 minutes. I can copy and store multiple quirks at a time that way. It also allows me to use the quirks continuously. However, I can copy and store a quirk for a total length of two weeks, but I won’t be able to copy any others and I would only be able to use it once.”

“That is actually perfect,” Izuku replied.

“Why?” Neito asked, becoming uncomfortable talking about his quirk.

“Because for my plans, we would only need one very certain quirk at the very beginning of the exercise to be used once and all the other quirks I want you to use come from our team where you have access to them. We don’t have hero training right now since classes aren’t in session for the rest of the week, but, yes I think that may work!”

“What might work?” Momo asked instead of Neito, intrigued by Izuku’s excitement.

The boy looked at all of his teammates before a terrifying grin crept onto his face.

“Neito!” Izuku cheered.

“Um yeah?” The boy shakily responded, bravado suddenly forgotten.

“You are to get injured so that you can see recovery girl!”

“I call dibs on smacking the shit out of him,” Hitoshi innocently stated right away.

“WHAT!” Neito shouted, silently stepping further away from the boy with the wild look in his eyes.

“Don’t worry, just break your arm or whatever. Momo can even make you something so you don’t feel the pain. We just need you to go to recovery girl and copy her quirk!”

“Just break my arm or something,” he whispered back horrified, “like that isn’t a big deal!”

“I know it’s scary,” Izuku sheepishly admitted. “But the only way to see her outside classes is if you are seriously injured and need her to look after you. We really need her quirk for my first plan to work so please, please just break your arm!”

“I’m on a team with crazy people,” he muttered again, before slightly nodding his head in agreement before rushing to Momo, demanding the best medicine possible for him to feel no pain at all.

“10 million?” Mei asked, “Why do we need recovery girl’s quirk?”

“Because,” Izuku replied, “the start of this competition is going to be rather destructive.”

Hitoshi could only shiver at the gleam in his friend's eyes.

Yeah, he thought, the hero team is so fucked

Chapter Text

“I don’t know how to break my arm!” Neito cried out in desperation. “I’m not Izuku who can break it whenever he wants to!”

“Despite what you may believe, I would actually prefer to not break my limbs,” Izuku emotionlessly delivered his response.

“I can break your arm if you’d like,” Hitoshi pitched in, a sinister look overcoming his face.

Neito took a huge step back from him.

“Oh oh!” Mei cried, “Let me blow it off with one of my babies!”

“NO” Izuku and Neito shouted at the same time, ignoring the now suddenly defeated girl.

“Well, I already made the medicine for him to not feel anything, maybe Izuku should just twist his arm until it does break?” Momo stated, trying to soothe the now almost hysterical blonde boy.

“That’s unethical,” Hitoshi replied, “We need to throw him off the roof of a building.”

Neito was horrified to see Izuku almost considering it.

“And my option was shot down,” Mei sadly spoke out.

“No no no No!” Neito ranted. “No roof of buildings, no machine that blows off my arm, none of it!”

“But we have to do something,” Izuku retorted. “We really need her quirk.”

“Then why don’t we just tell her we have an emergency, make her come here, I copy and store her quirk, and then we apologize greatly for wasting her time.”

Izuku could only make an “oh” face, suddenly ashamed his mind went immediately to violence.

“I still like the roof idea better,” Hitoshi added.

“Shut your damn mouth,” Neito fired back.

“Oh and why would I-”

“Okay guys enough!” Izuku interrupted. “Neito, that's actually a genius idea!”

“Obviously,” the boy muttered out, “I thought of it.”

“But we still at least need evidence that something big did occur, which would make it believable as to why we need Recovery Girl’s assistance,” Momo politely stated.

“Why don’t we just use one of Mei’s inventions to blow something up and say that Izuku got hurt in the blast? One of us can run to All Might because of course he will freak out that his favorite student is injured, and because he will freak out, he will listen to us when we ask for Recovery Girl instead of asking the standard questions before she’s too be contacted.” Hitoshi supplied.

“I’m not his favorite student,” Izuku shly muttered.

“And my hair is blue,” Hitoshi fired back.

“I have to agree with Hitoshi, that’s a rather solid plan.” Momo added on.

“Okay but we need to make it believable. Hitoshi can’t lie for shit, as we just saw earlier,” Neito added, “Momo you’re nice and all but you can’t lie to a teacher, and I would be too dramatic with it, but then that leaves us with the psycho.”

Mei really shouldn’t light up whenever someone calls her crazy.

“I can do it!” Mei cheered, “I’ll be the most believable out of all of us. Plus no one has seen me freak out so it will work!”

“Didn't the staff meeting just end?” Momo asked, “I think now would be the best time for the plan if we were to do it. I fear if we wait any longer, we might catch another teacher other than All Might who may not believe us as much.”

“Alright Mei,” Izuku announced while turning to the girl, “Take one of your inventions and blow up that table over there, once that’s done run out to find All Might and put on the best act possible.” He then turned to the other three and spoke out once again, “I’ll get under the table in the meantime while the three of you try your best to look worried. When Recovery Girl comes, Neito you take her hand to lead her to me, while you’re doing that, copy her quirk. Momo, make sure All Might doesn’t get too close in order for him to not see what Neito is doing, and Hitoshi, well, just be nice.”

Everyone nodded their heads determinedly, even Hitoshi, whose only job was to literally just be respectful.

Mei, Izuku thought after the table was in pieces and he climbed beneath them, I know you can do it.

Mei had been told her entire life that she was just too much.

Her mother and father would tell her those words when she would spend all her time in the makeshift lab at her home.

On days when she would refuse to eat because she just got too excited to make a baby, her parents muttered those words religiously.

It never bothered her though. She was too busy creating new things and experimenting for her to be bothered by them. However, she wasn’t an idiot.

She knew the looks her classmates gave her weren't looks of awe. She knew how loud she could be and how her chaotic energy could annoy people. She knew she wasn’t normal.

And she didn’t want to be.

She loved feeling excitement all the time when a new idea popped in her head. She loved how bouncing around and saying the most outlandish things would cause others to look at her with a sense of caution. She loved being herself, even if others didn’t love it with her.

She was alright being the only one, because her loving who she is was all she would ever need.

Until she met the boy known as Izuku Midoriya during the sports festival.

She saw the way he won the obstacle course, the way his mind came up with new plans on the fly when one would fail, the way he destroyed his body like a madman when he tried to save one of his classmates from himself.

She saw it all and suddenly was amazed that maybe somebody, just like herself, was out there. Someone who under the surface could be dangerous, but who also refused to be.

That’s why it was no mistake she joined his team. Of course she did it under the ruse of her babies getting recognition, she would never admit anything but that. But she joined so that she too, for once in her life, could experience someone who understood her.

The first time she went off on a rant about her baby's capabilities was when she explained to Izuku all the mechanisms she stored in the bombs and the additional factors she added to his gun.

She went on and on talking about everything she included with a large smile and a chaotic look in her eyes. It was only after she took a deep breath did she notice him staring at her, with kind eyes and an even kinder smile.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered out, “I know I’m sometimes too much.”

“Actually,” Izuku responded, “I think you’re just enough.”

Mei would forever deny how good it felt to hear those words. How good it felt to be able to do what she did best, create and destroy, and instead of being looked at in fear, be looked at with the same type of energy.

She would deny it, but she didn’t have to. She knew that Izuku felt the same as her. The longer they spent together discussing his plans, the more they grew to understand how alike they truly were.

And how happy they were that their minds that worked almost the same were no longer alone.

So she would march right up to All Might, and put on one hell of a show.

Because she was Mei Hatsume, CEO of Hatsume Industries, and there was no one, absolutely no one, more chaotic than her.

“All Might,” Mei yelled out, the moment she saw the teacher walking the halls alone.

“Young Hatsume?” All Might asked shocked, not because of a student calling out to him, but because of the large tears that spilled from her eyes.

“All Might we need help!” Hatsume cried out, “I was making a baby for the competition. And Izuku, well Izuku, he told me we weren’t allowed to use actual explosives but I didn’t know! I swear I didn’t know. I swear, I swear, I swear, I swear!” 

“What happened young Hatsume?” All Might once again asked, beginning to become increasingly panicked due to the state the student was in and the name of who was injured.

“I finished one of my babies,” Mei continued to sob while telling her story, “I had just finished it! I put it on the table for a second, only a second, for a second! Izuku had just told me we weren’t supposed to use explosives. I didn’t know! He went to pick it up and I couldn’t stop him in time. All Might I couldn't stop him in time!”

“Is young Midoriya alright?” All Might stuttered out, watching his student become more and more frantic.

However, Mei was not quite done with her show.

“All Might I’m going to get expelled! I didn’t know I swear. It was the tiniest bit of explosives but I had just finished it, it wasn’t ready to be touched! I can’t be expelled, I can't, I can’t. My babies will be homeless. I'll never be able to create more. I’ll have  to become a villain to continue to create them! I don’t want to but All Might that’s the only way! I guess I can become more of a good villain but it’s all ruined. I didn’t know and now my life is over. It’s over! And oh god Izuku!”

Mei was hysterical.

Tears streaming down her face and snot falling from her nose.

All Might was panicked.

Hands shaking and chest tightening.

“Now young Hatsume it was just an accident. You just told me you didn’t know and it wasn’t ready to be touched. That isn’t your fault. There’s no need to begin plans on becoming a villain.” And wouldn't that be terrifying he thought. “Now tell me, is young Midoriya alive?”

“Yes yes he’s alive!” Mei shouted, “But 10 million is hurt, he’s really hurt! He’s trapped under the rubble. We need Recovery Girl! Momo and the blonde servant are getting him out but he’s hurt All Might! The moment it happened I ran to get a teacher, you were the first one I was able to find!” Which was a lie, she had actually ran past 7 before him, but he didn’t need to know that. 

“Okay,” All Might stated, getting his breathing under control. “You go back to the support lab and stay with young Midoriya. I’ll go grab Recovery Girl and meet you there.”

“Okay!” Mei yelled out, running back to the direction of her lab with tears still streaming down her face.

All Might immediately changed his route in order to hunt down Recovery Girl.

As Mei rounded the corner, she came to a halt and dried her eyes with her sleeves. Barely peeking out from her spot, she was able to see All Might head towards the medical bay, where Recovery Girl’s office was located.

She couldn’t help the smile that was plastered on her face as she leisurely walked back to her lab.

Izuku, she thought to herself, I did it.

“He’s coming!” Mei shouted as she entered the lab, regrouping with her other classmates.

“Perfect!” she heard from under the rubble, causing a giggle to escape from her. “Everyone in their positions.” Just as that statement was said, All Might and Recovery Girl sprang into the classroom as Mei once again, forced tears from her eyes.

Now, it was Neito’s time to shine.

“Recovery Girl over here, let me help you climb over these pieces, they are rather sharp.” 

Typically, the healer would have denied the request, but she was still a bit frantic from how All Might bolted into her office, ranting about how hysterical one of the students was and how Midoriya had gotten hurt.

“Oh my, okay yes please.” She uttered.

Neito could barely contain his grin as he touched her hand, making sure to instantly copy and store her quirk.

“All Might,” Momo spoke out, recognizing how it was her time to act, “I think you may want to console Mei, she hasn’t been able to stop crying.”

And as he looked over to the direction of the pink haired girl, he noticed how tears were still dripping down her face.

“Young Hatsume,” he spoke, “It will be alright. Recovery Girl is here now and she will be able to heal any injuries that young Midoriya may have. Take a much needed breath.

“Alright,” Mei shakily responded, making sure to hide the smile on her face by turning her head.

“Thank you for helping us,” Hitoshi added from his position by the wall, at least putting in some effort for his role.

“Toshinori,” Recovery Girl spoke from her position by Izuku, “I am confused, Midoriya seems just fine to me. He himself even said he wasn’t hurt.”

“What!” Mei shouted, interrupting All Might’s stuttering. “He’s fine?! But I saw him get blasted! He went “umph” and then “oomph” and then “uh” and then he was buried.”

“Hatsume,” Recovery Girl announced, “did you actually see Midoriya get hurt or hear him tell you that he was in pain?”

“No, why would I!” Mei once again shouted. “I saw him under there and ran to get a teacher!”

“Young Hatsume you told me he was extremely hurt,” All Might added in, cheeks flushing in embarrassment.

“And he is! Who wouldn’t be extremely hurt if their friend accidentally buried them! I know my feelings would be too!”

“All right I’m leaving,” Recovery Girl once again announced, “And next time make sure I am actually needed before disturbing my afternoon.”

“Yes yes I’m so very sorry!” Mei shouted, watching the women grumble under her breath as she began chastising All Might when he came to her aid.

The moment the two left the room, all 5 of them couldn’t help but break out into laughter.

“Well Mei,” Hitoshi started, “I’ve got to say, your acting skills are on point.”

“Yes, they were actually quite good. Your energy was able to have All Might bypass the standard questions that are usually asked when Recovery Girl is requested.” Momo added.

“I will say,” Neito added as well, “your energy was alright.”

“Mei,” Izuku stated, waiting for her attention. Once he got it, he couldn’t help the genuine smile that crossed his face.

“You did it,” he stated proudly.

“I did it,” Mei repeated.

Being chaotic had never felt so good before.

“I’m sorry I’m late,” All Might announced while rushing into his seat, this particular meeting only being for the head of the departments rather than for the faculty.

“And why are you late?” Aizawa grumpily asked, wanting to get through how the foundational heroic department was fairing so he could get some sleep.

“There was an incident that happened with young Midoriya and young Hatsume that needed my attention.” He answered.

“Oh?” Power Loader cut in, “What happened with Hatsume?”

“Well apparently she accidentally made a bomb with explosives when she didn’t know she wasn’t supposed to and when young Midoriya picked it up too early, it exploded and he became trapped under the rubble. Everyone is fine and Recovery Girl even said he wasn’t injured!”

All the department heads looked worried and relieved, except for Power Loader, he looked confused.

“That doesn’t make sense,” the man replied.

“And why not?” Yamada asked.

“Because Midoriya told Hatsume that explosives weren’t to be used a couple of days ago. She even had me remove them from the lab so she wouldn’t accidentally use them.”

“And you were there for this conversation?” Midnight asked.

“Seeing as I had to calm down a distraught girl, yes, I was present.”

“But then why would she lie?” All Might asked.

“What happened when you guys went to check on Midoriya?” Yamada cut in again, trying to gain any information about their plans.

“Well nothing really. She checked in on him, told him he was fine, and we left. Nothing really happened.”

“Interesting,” Nezu cut in, eyes gleaming with almost too much joy.

“Interesting indeed,” Aizawa agreed, staring down Nezu and not liking the clear excitement one bit. 

“Fucking problem children,” he muttered, already knowing this year was going to give him one hell of a headache.

Chapter Text

Izuku knew hoping that Bakugou would leave him alone until the day of the competition was a pipedream.

He should have been more careful.

But it was the last free day until the competition began. He didn’t think he would have had to watch out now since the other boy went 6 days without tormenting him.

Sadly, he was wrong.

Very wrong.

So wrong that the moment he walked into the 1A dorm, the atmosphere almost made him immediately turn around and go right back out the doors.

If the atmosphere wasn’t an indication of something bad happening, it was every member of his class standing by the stairs and elevator, preventing him from taking either route to go to his room.

He noticed that Momo was missing, and that worried him even more.

“Um hey guys,” Izuku nervously spoke out, not exactly terrified of the upcoming encounter, but extremely anxious of what was to be said.

“Shut the fuck up,” Bakugou immediately raged, honestly taking Izuku by surprise.

“Bakugou you said you wouldn’t be harsh,” Iida cut in right after, arms moving around disapprovingly.

“You idiots said that, not me,” Bakugou spat harshly back at the class president.

“Okay well this has been lovely,” Izuku interrupted, “but I forgot I’m late to something and I got to go.”

Before he could even take a step towards the front door after he turned, a blazing hot hand gripped his arm.

“Let go of me Kacchan,” he immediately seethed, his patience drastically decreasing.

“You think that because you’re the villain commander you’re better than me huh,” Bakugou replied. “News flash asshole, you’re still nothing but a worthless useless Deku.”

“Let. Go,” Izuku once again spoke, voice coming out harsher and deeper than any of his classmates had ever heard.

“It’s fucking sad to see that you think you have a chance. It’s even sadder that we both know everyone who is gonna to watch tomorrow will be rooting for me to win, even your own mother.”

“I said let go!” Izuku yelled out, green lighting surrounding his body and a green aura sticking closely to his skin.

He turned his body with his fist tightly clenched, ready to strike, when Bakugou’s arm was suddenly ripped off of him and said boy was flung across the room and into the wall.

At first, Izuku’s mind short circuited, trying to come up with an explanation as to who besides himself, had the strength to fling Bakugou like he was nothing. However, taking a closer look at the boy currently embedded into the wall, he noticed ice holding him in place.

And when he turned his head slowly, he noticed Todoroki standing slightly in front of him, right hand stretched out with frost covering his fingertips.

“He said to let go,” Todoroki announced, his demeanor much colder and darker than anyone had seen before.

“Fuck you, you icy hot bastard,” Bakugou yelled from his position in the wall, knowing if he were to use his explosions to escape, a teacher would surely hear.

“Todoroki no force was to be used!” Iida once again shouted, “This was supposed to just be a friendly conversation!”

“A friendly conversation that had his entire class corner him while allowing that deranged fuck head to touch him,” a voice spoke from the front door. “It clearly seems like it was supposed to be just a friendly conversation.”

When everyone turned to see who it was that spoke, Izuku could almost cry tears of joy when he saw that familiar purple head of hair.

The tears almost did fall out of his eyes when he noticed Neito and Mei standing right behind him, glaring at his classmates as if they were nothing but dirt. Momo was also behind him, hands on her knees and hunched over as she tried to catch her breath.

And suddenly it all made sense to Izuku.

Momo probably figured out what was going to happen since she left before Izuku, and when she did realize, she immediately ran to gather their other teammates.

Izuku would kiss her if the thought of his lips on a girl didn’t repulse him.

As Hitoshi and Iida started arguing with each other, a small but deep “Are you alright,” came from beside him.

He didn’t even have to look to know who it was.

That voice was embedded into his soul almost as much as Bakugou was currently embedded into the wall.

“I’m fine,” Izuku replied, realizing this was the first time he spoke with the other boy in a week. However, his words did nothing to stop Todoroki from gently grabbing his arm and cooling off the spot where Bakugou lightly burned him with his right hand.

“Todoroki,” Izuku hesitantly spoke, trying to ignore the way his heart clenched.

“I thought I told you to call me Shoto,” Todoroki once again quietly interrupted.

Izuku could only look down at his shoes, too tired and overstimulated to deal with the emotions he was currently feeling.

That didn’t stop Todoroki from talking though.

“I know I hurt you,” he whispered into the green haired boy's ear. “And if I had time I would explain it to you but I can’t. Not now and especially not here. But I need you to know, even if you hate me right now and don’t want to hear it coming from me, I need you to know that I believe without a doubt that you’ll kick ass tomorrow.”

Izuku could only whisper out a tiny “how,” refusing to admit how good the proximity of the other boy felt.

Todoroki gently removed his right hand from the boy's arm, and gently cupped his jaw, moving Izuku’s head so emerald green eyes were staring directly into silver and red ones.

“Because I believe in you,” Todoroki gently uttered, before tearing himself away from the boy and moving across the room to stand next to the stairs, where the rest of their classmates were.

Izuku looked around to see if anyone had just witnessed what occurred but everyone’s eyes were still fixated on Iida and Hitoshi.

Well fuck, he thought, this complicates everything

Still tuning out the argument, Izuku was having a heated conversation with himself,

He betrayed you

But he also just helped you

“Izuku?”

He didn’t mean those words

But Todoroki never says stuff he doesn’t mean

He didn’t chose you

But he protected you

“10 million?”

He shouldn’t have said those things to me

But you’re glad he did

He doesn’t believe in me

But he just said he did

“Zuku?”

He was lying

But what if he wasn’t 

I can’t forgive him

But you love him

“Izuku,” was finally shouted at him, causing the internal argument to come to an abrupt halt.

“Are you alright?” Momo asked, right next to him and inspecting his arm.

“Oh yeah I’m good,” he sheepishly admitted, not going to even give a hint to the conflicted feelings he felt. However, by the way Momo was looking at him, he knew he didn’t even have to utter a word.

“Now that you are out of lala land can we leave?” Neito said while making his way over to the pair. “I would rather not be in the presence of the 1A scum any longer.”

“10 million let me explode him!” Mei shouted while also making her way over to them, all the while glaring at Bakugo who was still trapped by the ice. 

“Hatsume!” Iida intervened, ready to give another lecture but Mei immediately cut him off.

“Nu uh,” she said in a rather uncharacteristic tone, “do not even talk to me. I have nothing to say to you people.” She cemented the fact that she was extremely unhappy with the dark glare she sent to everyone in the room.

It was only natural everyone shivered from that look. It was one none of them had ever seen come from the pink haired girl who was always filled with excitement.

“Come on 10 million,” she whispered when she reached Izuku, lightly wrapping his arm around her and dragging him to the front. “Let’s go, you don’t need to be here anymore.”

As the four of them reached Hitoshi and stood behind him, the purple haired boy now spoke to the entire class instead of just Iida.

“It’s a fucking competition,” he seethed while making sure to scan the room and stare at everyone while continuing his speech, “I don’t understand the hostility that you are showing to him. It was a competition where everyone in this room but him got to choose which team to go to. You all decided to go to the hero side, fucking fine, but don’t for one second think you have the right to act this way towards a classmate who never even got the fucking chance to choose. And even if he did choose, what right do you have to act this way towards him? What right do you have to behave this way? Who the fuck do you all think you are behaving as if he was some sort of disease that should be avoided? You didn’t choose him, but we fucking did. So don’t you ever fucking pull this shit on our friend again. Because at this point, we’ve been better friends to him in less than a week than all of you have since school started.”

Hitoshi turned around to join his group as they all started to walk out the doors. However, before he crossed the doorstep to leave, he turned his head around one last time and said something that caused all the classmates to widen their eyes and drop their heads in shame.

Hitoshi left the 1A dorm with his words plaguing each and every classmate.

“ Some heroes you are.”

“It’s okay to cry 10 million,” Mei said as she still refused to let go of Izuku, even though he had reassured her that he was alright and that yes, he could walk without help.

“But I don’t need to cry?” Izuku responded, confused.

Yeah he was beyond hurt that the people he had known since school started would think that cornering him like that was alright. But he also knew that since Bakugou was at the center of it, the boy probably lied or came up with a good excuse as to why to go through with the plan.

He also probably would be crying if Todoroki also went along with the class. But he didn’t, and his heart was more at ease because of it.

“Your class is full of douchebags,” Hitoshi announced, still quietly seething from what he had just seen.

“They are scum!” Neito shouted, “I have been saying this all along!”

“Yeah yeah,” Hitoshi fondly retorted, “You were right. Happy?”

“Delighted!” Neito proudly stated.

Hitoshi couldn’t help the snort that escaped from him.

“Izuku?” Momo cut in. “Forgive me if I overstep, but you like Todoroki don’t you. I know we talked once before about him being your best friend, but you like him romantically right?”

Which apparently was the wrong thing to say in front of his teammates because each and every one of them suddenly stopped walking and turned to him with smirks plastered across their faces.

Gosh Momo, throw me to the wolves why don’t you

“Um yeah,” he responded, refusing to acknowledge the blush that coated his cheeks.

“And how are you feeling now about him, after what happened.” Momo asked again, glaring at Hitoshi and Neito as they whispered to one another about their evil genius being smitten.

“I don’t know,” Izuku truthfully admitted. “When he didn’t choose me a week ago I thought I was angry and hurt enough to never speak to him again. I mean, he hurt me. He didn’t even look at me. He chose my bully over me. But tonight reminded me of something. He always does things for a reason. Maybe he had a reason to join the hero team and not mine? I don’t really know and I won’t know until I ask him. I just, yeah it hurt and he did betray me. But he also just flung Bakugou into a wall after he touched me for more than 15 seconds. That matters. At least to me it matters. No one had ever helped me before growing up. No one had ever defended me against him. But he straight up flung him into the wall full force. After this tournament I’ll talk to him about the betrayal and everything and where we stand. But for now, at least my mind is less plagued with hurt knowing that despite not choosing me, he still defended me.”

“Oh oh!” Mei cheered, “10 million sounds in love!”

“What!” Izuku cried out. “No I’m not. What! No! How does that even correlate to love!”

“Yup,” Hitoshi added, “our mastermind is in love. He’s almost glowing with it. It’s sickening to look at.”

“Your face is sickening to look at,” Neito responded, inching slowly away once Hitoshi turned a deathly glare on him.

“Your-”

“Boys,” Momo interrupted, shaking her head fondly when she noticed that although Hitoshi stopped talking, his body didn’t stop advancing towards Neito and ultimately, started chasing him around.

“Izuku,” she stated once she directed her attention back on him, “take your time figuring out how you feel. There’s no rush. We have a week of fighting ahead of us where you can just let go and let your mind run free. Having that conversation after the competition where both of you stand is a splendid idea. But in all honesty, I think you may not need to have it to know what you mean to each other. I mean, I know we got there late, but the look he was giving Bakugou would have made a lesser man cower in fear. I can tell you’re important to him, so just take your time.”

“Yeah you’re right,” Izuku replied. “Thank you.”

Momo only offered a kind smile back to him.

“10 million if he breaks your heart, Hitoshi will kill him and I’ll hide the body!” Mei happily announced.

“Damn right,” Hitoshi announced from where he currently had Neito in a headlock.

“What no,” Izuku quickly shot out, horrified, “there’s no need for that!”

“Alright we won’t do that,” Mei said dejectedly. “But just know we will be super duper unhappy with him.”

“Alright,” Izuku chuckled, “that sounds like a plan.”

“Izuku,” Hitoshi announced while shoving Neito to the ground and coming towards him. “Technically what Bakugou and the others did right now is against the rules. We can report him and essentially win now if that’s something you wanted to do.”

“No.” He immediately answered, not even noticing how fast the sad looks on the others' faces disappeared and turned to happiness. “We will not win the easy way. And even if I wanted to, I will not let our plans and training go to waste. He will be punished. But he will be punished by our hands. By our plans and by our teamwork. He will feel what it’s like to be helpless. To be at the mercy of others with no help coming for him. And everyone watching will recognize how words and actions can shape a person. He will not get the easy way out. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

“Fuck yeah!” Hitoshi shouted, “I knew I liked your demented ass for a reason.”

“10 million you say the greatest things,” Mei cheered.

“We’ll show them what scum they truly are,” Neito added.

“And we will not lose,” Momo said with a smile, thanking the gods above for letting her be a part of this team.

As all four of his teammates walked off to prepare for the upcoming battle, the green haired boy came to a halt and took in everything around him.

“Kacchan,” Izuku said as he looked up to the night sky. “You’re about to experience who I could have been if I was any weaker.”

The boy then rushed to catch up to his group with a smile gracing his face.

Izuku is a student in the hero course training to become a Pro Hero. However, deep inside of him, is a broken boy who longs for the justice that was never received. A broken boy that was buried a long time ago so that no one would get hurt.

He was the villain commander, and his team would not under any circumstances lose. 

Because he wasn’t only fighting for his justice, but for his teammates justice as well.

And for the first time in his life, he would let the broken boy roam free.

Because after all, the most broken people are usually the most dangerous.

And some people needed lessons harshly delivered to them.

“What the actual fuck,” Aizawa barked out when he heard his phone going off at 1:30 in the morning.

He had just returned from an early patrol and was planning on getting a few hours of sleep. On the first day of the competition he always takes an early patrol since his normal patrol ends at 5 and the competition regularly starts at 8.

Every year, since he was a student and even when he became a teacher, the villain team always starts around 8 or 9 in the morning to allow their team a full night of sleep.

So Shota Aizawa takes an early patrol that ends at 1 every single year.

He had just gone to bed. He had just closed his eyes when his phone went off.

Fucking hell.

“What,” he snapped into the device, not even caring if it woke up his husband sleeping next to him.

“Good morning sensei!” Izuku cheered happily from the other end. “I am just calling to let you know that we are ready and would like to enter the gates.”

“Problem child,” Aizawa grumbled out, “it’s 1:30 in the fucking morning, are you sure?”

“Yes I am positive,” he once again spoke out, too cheerful for how early it was.

“Alright meet me by the gates, I’ll be there soon.”

“Thanks sensei!” He replied before hanging up.

Aizawa really should have felt bad for shoving his husband off the bed as a way to wake him up, but he was too much in a bad mood to.

“What?” Hizashi mumbled, “Shota, what's wrong?” He sleepily asked from his position on the floor.

“The fucking problem child wants to start. I need to go open the gates for him and check everything while you need to wake the other teachers and start the initiation of the broadcast. We also need to wake the hero team and send out notifications that the competition is to begin shortly.”

“But it’s so early,” Hizashi whined.

“I’ve noticed,” Shota snapped while getting up and getting ready.

Problem child , he thought, if you lose this I’ll give you detention for making me wake up this goddamn early. 

Only my problem child, was the first thing Aizawa thought when he saw the villain team.

Izuku was decked out in black cargo pants and dark black combat boots. His pants had dark green lines going up both sides. He was wearing a black leather zip up combat jacket that had streaks of dark green displayed.

Looking at the rest of his team, they all had similar styles but different colors.

Mei was wearing pink and black.

Hitoshi had purple and black.

Momo had red and black.

Neito had silver and black.

“Fucking problem children,” he muttered.

“Good morning father in law,” Neito spoke out, not even caring about the harsh smack that was delivered to the back of his head by Hitoshi.

“I’ll kill you,” Aizawa grumbled while reaching for his keys and opening up the arena that Power Loader and Cementos had created throughout the week.

“Once you step foot inside feel free to set up. Since this year the arena is a maksehsit city, I need to check if the electricity and water supplies are functioning properly as well as if all the cameras are working. The hero team has already been woken up and will get the hour countdown once you do step inside. You will have a countdown but that will be communicated to you through your comms. If you take them off you're disqualified. The notification of the competition beginning will be released when you enter the arena. Any questions?”

God Aizawa really hated being the one to go over the rules.

“When will the grading begin?” Izuku asked.

“The moment you enter. All the teachers are already awake and in the private viewing room. We will assess how well your team works together to set up, how well you guys fight and find objectives, and how far you go. It is still a final.”

“Hey dad,” Hitoshi called out. “The winning team still gives the speech after to the broadcast, right?”

“Yeah,” Aizawa responded. “It will be where the teams were chosen. The other team will be in attendance so they and the teachers will hear it in person, but it will be broadcasted so the rest of the world can hear it too. Why?”

“Oh no reason” he smirked, “just wanted to make sure we could address everyone with our victory speech.”

All of them could only chuckle while Aizawa closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

As soon as the gates were open and Aizawa left to do his inspections, the four of them immediately went to find a base where they could put their stuff before setting up around the city.

“Hey guys,” Izuku announced after they found the perfect spot and were taking out whatever they needed for the first day.

After gaining all of their attention, he couldn’t help the fond smile that was etched onto his face.

“Let’s win this shit.” He stated, his body swarming with exhilaration.

And when he heard the cheers coming from the other four, he couldn’t help but feel sorry for his bully.

He was going to leave a mark.

He was going to take everyone down.

He was going to make the world remember his performance.

But most of all, he was going to win.

And as he saw Mei getting out the equipment that was needed for his first plan he couldn’t help the smirk that crawled onto his face.

Oh Kaccahn, he thought, you’re in for one hell of a week.

Chapter Text

“Mei is everything set up?” Izuku asked from his place against the wall, looking at the huge screen he had Momo make the moment their base was established.

“Yes yes,” she happily announced, fingers panning over the keyboard of her laptop almost as fast as the speed of light.

“And everyone will hear right?” He once again asked.

“The speakers you had Momo make a while ago are some of the best quality ones I’ve seen in a while, 10 million!” Mei responded, still concentrated. “Everyone who is watching the broadcast will have a visual but the speakers we put throughout the city will only deliver audio to the hero team.”

“That’s fine,” Izuku stated, “the beginning speech is mostly for the audience anyway.”

He then relaxed his posture even more against the wall, scarred arms loosely crossed in front of his chest as he watched Mei work her magic. 

“15 minutes until go time boss man,” Hitoshi announced after stepping foot into the room, Neito and Momo following closely behind.

“Everything is good to go out there?” Izuku asked the three of them.

He had faith that they would follow his orders but he still just wanted to make sure.

“Everything is in position,” Hitoshi responded, giving Izuku a sarcastic salute to which he snorted at.

“Good,” he stated, “we want the first minutes to be memorable.”

“I just wish we could record the hero team's reaction,” Mei pouted out from over her laptop before continuing on with her work.

“Oh well my father is recording this competition on our television at home, so I’ll make sure to create tapes to send you after this is over,” Momo supplied.

“A goddess of a woman,” Hitoshi stated, ignoring the way Neito glared at him.

“If we want people to hear our message we have to be convincing,” Izuku muttered out.

“No,” Hitoshi replied, “We just have to be ourselves.”

Izuku could only smile back, his nerves slightly calming down but still passed his threshold.

“Don’t worry Izuku,” Momo spoke out to him gently, recognizing the panic that was occurring in his mind. “We’ve planned for this. We trained for this. And we have come so far. We will be just fine.”

Izuku took one last, very deep calming breath, before he gave her his signature sunshine smile and pushed himself off of the wall he was against.

“You’re completely right,” he started. “We will be just fine. Mei, make sure everything is completely ready and good to go since the exam starts in 10 minutes. I’m so glad we pre-recorded the message because if I were to do it now, my nerves would take over.”

The others could only laugh.

“The video is already set up and ready to be played,” Mei cheered while walking away from her laptop. “I’m monitoring the time since I know you want the video to be played the moment all the heroes step foot into the city. It’s still sad that the hero team won’t be able to watch, only hear, but oh well! All of our cameras that Momo created are all working and already recording around the city. I made sure everything is linked so when this thing starts, all I have to do is push a button!”

“Thank you Mei,” Izuki said, smiling at her, before turning around and addressing the rest of his group. “We have 10 minutes left so we need to be in positions. Mei stay here and push the button when it’s time. Hitoshi, go downtown to the coordinates I gave you earlier and finish setting up the building, Momo go with Hitoshi and help him finish setting up since it is a lot to do, and Neito is with me.”

“Let’s fuck shit up!” Hitoshi screamed out, the others soon joining him with their own cheers.

As his team started making their way to their designated areas, Izuku suddenly called out to them once again, gaining their attention.

“I know I’ve said this a lot this past week, but thank you for choosing me.”

“As if I would follow that walking bomb over your deranged ass,” Hitoshi grinned before grabbing Momo softly and showing her which way the direction to the building was.

“I’ll always pick you 10 million!” Mei cheered out, while doing her last check overs.

“You’re scum, but they are worse than scum, so I guess I'll choose you every time as well,” Neito spoke from his side, before abruptly turning away in order to hide his red face.

“Right,” Izuku smiled before copying Hitoshi and softly dragging Neito behind him and towards their own destination.

“It’s time to tell the world that we are here.”

Katsuki Bakugou is many things.

He is hot headed, rude, short-tempered, and all around a bitch of a person to be around.

But the one thing he is not, is a coward.

His name and the word coward were never even spoken of in the same sentence.

He had never felt the crippling fear that is the sole factor of a person being branded as a coward. But although he had never felt it before, didn’t mean he had never expected not to.

Katsuki Bakugou realized that one day, he was going to experience something that would turn his world upside down and mess with his emotions to the point where no matter what he said to himself, one foot would not step in front of the other.

He knew that there would come a day where someone who was stronger than him, would cause fear to crawl its way through his mind and curl around him as if it were always present. He knew it would happen one day and he was prepared for it.

He just never thought he would experience it the moment he stepped foot into the makeshift city and a cold voice filled with hatred rung out around them. 

A voice so loud and menacing students with hearing quirks would slam their hands over their heads to prevent the noise from reaching them. A voice filled with anger and disgust. 

A voice that belonged to one Izuku Midoriya, the useless quirkless Deku he had known all his life. And when the realization came of who made him feel fear for the very first time, it caused his body to fill with rage.

And when he couldn’t for the life of him take a step forward, his body rooted to the ground almost as if it had a mind of its own, his rage turned murderous.

Because there was no way, absolutely no way, a lowlife like Deku would make his body for the first time in his life, feel afraid. There was absolutely no way someone like fucking Deku, would make him for the first time in his life, feel like a coward.

He hadn’t even noticed that the rest of his team was having the same problem as him. It didn’t even cross his mind that he wasn’t the only one struggling with this.

And he didn’t care.

Because the moment his hands got on Deku, hero team or not, he was going to beat his ass.

The longer he listened to Deku's speech, the angrier he became. 

He was angry he had to listen to an idiot who didn’t deserve to go to school with him.

He was angry his feet wouldn’t move despite his best efforts to make them.

He was angry that he was feeling like a coward, making himself listen to this speech because his body would not listen to him.

But most of all, he was angry that the statement “Life is a fickle thing,” was what made his body betray him.

“I’ll fucking kill you Deku,” he seethed out between clenched teeth, noticing the cameras from the rooftop observing him but not giving a single fuck what the world had to say about his statement.

He would put up with the bullshit of a speech since his body, and the rest of his teams, would not move.

He would listen to it and the moment he could move, he was going on a manhunt.

“You can’t hide forever,” he seethed again, ready to take down his weakass opponent in less than a day.

However, in his internal struggle with fear, and with the speech blasting through the city, he had not even noticed two figures in the distance on the roof of a building, one green and one blonde, watching the entire thing with smiles on their faces.

Because after all, Izuku Midoriya’s first plan had multiple parts to it.

“What the actual fuck,” was shouted in the staff viewing room, every one of the teachers staring at the display screen with their jaws dropped to the ground.

Power Loader was working on his computer trying to override the broadcast but it was no use. Instead of there being a visual of the hero team entering the city, like there was 10 seconds ago, there was a visual of 5 students who were dressed in black combat gear, with streaks of color that resembled their hair going up their sides. Green was in the middle slightly ahead of the other four, with grey and pink flanking his right and purple and red flanking his left.

Life is a fickle thing, was what green stated, staring directly into the camera as he was the one in the spotlight while the others were behind him, in the darkness.

“Nezu isn’t this against the rules?” Yamada shouted, watching the broadcast with a hint of amazement and fear.

“It is not!” Nezu cheered from his position by the computers. “If everyone were to look at their laptops now, you would see why.”

And sure enough, the moment the staff looked at their laptops and saw the notification of how the villain team had access, and when they obtained access, everyone’s face held even more shock than before.

“Fucking problem children,” Aizawa mumbled, turning his head down to hide his smile but doing nothing to hide the pride in his eyes.

“WOAH WOAH WOAH,” Yamada yelled out again. “Is this why our listener interrupted the staff meeting a couple of days ago?”

Yamada was asking Aizawa, but it wasn’t Aizawa who answered.

“Why yes!” Nezu stated happily. “I believe a jamming key was used to prevent the notification from appearing.”

“Unbelievable,” Power Loader muttered from his spot, still trying to bypass the system. “Everything I try doesn’t work!” He shouted out in frustration. “There’s no way around it. It’s almost as if it’s inside the system.”

“Well that’s because it is,” Nezu announced, eyes shining with excitement while looking at the shocked faces of his staff.

“Midoriya and I believe with the help of a Hatsume, created a virus and stored it into our system. I’m assuming a part of it is in the system and the other part is in one of their laptops, which would explain why all Hatsume had to do was press a button and our system switched over to them.”

“But if they stored a part of their virus on their laptop, I would have found it when I expected it earlier,” Power Loader replied.

“Not if it were encrypted,” Nezu smiled back.

“For fuck sakes,” Aizawa muttered, “You’re telling me my problem child built a virus, hacked into UA’s system, stored the virus, distracted us so that we didn’t receive messages when it was activated, and then encrypted the part of virus which activates it. And then on top of everything, dragged Maijima’s problem child into it.”

“Precisely.”

“His ass is fucking grounded after this,” Aizawa grumbled into his capture weapon.

“Shota,” Yamada squeezed out in laughter. “You can’t ground a kid that’s not ours.”

“No, I don't care. Grounded. Detention. Phone taken away. All of it.”

“Aizawa maybe if I talk to youn-” All Might started but was cut off by Aizawa.

“No. Grounded. End of discussion.”

“But-”

“No.”

“My my,” Midnight cut in, interrupting an argument that most likely would have broken out. “Our students have been very naughty during their week of planning.”

“They have done everything expected of them,” Nezu replied, voice filled with excitement.

The entire staff had their mouths open ready to protest, until the next line of Izuku’s speech cut through the entire room. 

Suddenly, everyone’s attention was on the video.

Life comes and goes, Izuku stated after his first statement, and if you are lucky enough, life is beautiful

But life can also be horrible. It can be filled with hate and disgust. Fear and anger. Hatred and regret.

Life is a fickle thing, but to kids like us, there is only one predictable route for our life.

The entire staff room was staring at the green haired boy, hearing the emotion behind his words, and understanding that whatever he was about to say, came from personal experience.

Revenge.

Revenge is all we know, all we care about, all we live for, and all we die for.

Revenge is what makes us, us.

Life is good to those who are special. 

But to the ones where the light does not shine upon them, life is cruel and unforgiving.

The heroes of this world, the heroes that symbolize peace and tranquility, are nothing but bold face liars.

No hero is in it for the people.

No hero is in it to help.

If a job doesn’t have a paycheck at the end of it, no hero will ever waste their time to save someone in need.

And no one ever will.

And how do we know this, may you ask?

Well that’s very simple

We are the product of what happens when heroes decide to not waste their time.

All the staff could do was watch Izuku speak. Watch his emerald green eyes glint in the spotlight, and voice remain cold and deathly calm. It frightened them, but if it frightened Pro’s who were watching, it terrified the civilians.

We are what happens when someone gets pushed a little bit too far

The heroes will know the same pain we do.

The heroes will experience what it’s like to beg for someone to help them.

And the heroes will understand what it’s like to not have anyone be there.

They will know the feeling of desperation.

And when they beg us for death because the prospect of living is too much, we will not waste our time.

Society calls us villains.

They claim we are evil and dangerous. Despicable and disgusting.

But who made us this way?

Who molded us into who we are?

It’s about time for society to feel the fruits of their labor.

Because after all, we were not born villains.

If you want to create a villain, then you get to experience your creation.

The broadcast ended with Izuku taking a couple steps forwards, raising his right arm which held a stylish dark green gun, and fired off a shot right in the center of the camera, effectively ending the video and transferring it back to the arena, where 95 students on the hero team stood with looks of fear plastered over their faces.

“What the fuck,” Snipe spoke out, thankful his mask covered the way his eyes held fear as well.

However, before any of the other staff members could add in their input, the viewing camera panned to the two villains on the rooftop a ways away from the hero team, staring directly at them with manic smiles on their faces.

And when the green haired boy took a step back and his body suddenly lit up in green lighting, illuminated by the night sky, all the staff could do was hope that the other students would not be too traumatized by the end of it. 

And when Izuku brought his arm back all the way behind his head, eyes gleaming with chaos, all the staff could do was watch what would happen.

Because in this scenario he was a villain, and he was making sure they experienced the villain that society had created

“Neito you still have Recovery Girl’s quirk right?” Izuku asked, barely containing the smile that was on his face.

“Of course,” Neito responded. “But remind me again, why did we have to start this early?”

Neito was having a very good time watching the way the hero team's faces changed from happy to terrified the longer the audio went on. He wasn’t able to get the best view since he was on the roof of a building, but it was enough to make him feel giddy.

“Because more than half of them had only gotten an hour or two of sleep. During our hero training Mr. Aizawa has us scan our entire surroundings before proceeding forward. I saw a couple of them start to scan the buildings, but our recording, as planned, distracted them. If we did this when they were well rested, they would be able to listen and scan, but that is not the case. Also, the darkness allows us to hide easily since the streetlights don’t reach up here.”

“And what’s your plan?” Neito asked after taking in the information.

“It’s time to get destructive,” Izuku responded, a terrifying grin sliding onto his face. 

As Izuku watched the reactions to his last statement on the recording, he quite enjoyed the emotion he was feeling.

The hero team was scared of him.

They were stuck in their tracks, because of him

From the corner of his eye, he saw the broadcast camera refocusing on him and Neito. He knew that they wouldn’t get a perfect image of them since it was still dark and their costumes allowed them to blend in. But he also knew the smiles they were sporting would be seen.

Good

“Neito,” Izuku lightly whispered, only continuing on when the blonde boy looked at him. “The hero team is looking quite comfortable standing there, let’s fix that.”

Izuku then took a huge step back, activated his quirk to 1 million percent, drew his arm back in the direction of the hero team, and yelled at the top of his lungs for everyone to hear,

DETROIT SMASH

The impact caused mass destruction.

Members of the hero team flew through the air, crashed into buildings, and were even hit with flying debris.

Izuku Midoriya simply just smiled before turning around and making his way down the building, leaving screams of terror and chaos in his wake.

All around the world, citizens were watching the competition with their jaws dropped and eyes filled with fear.

The beginning speech left millions rattled, but that was nothing compared to what they just had witnessed.

Nothing compared to the screams they heard when the smash hit or the way multiple bodies were flung as if they were nothing.

Nothing compared to the destruction that was left behind.

“They’re just kids,” someone whispered under their breath from the other side of the world.

“They are strong, they will prevail,” was what was answered.

Competition or not, the world felt as if they were watching real heroes fight for their life.

“They’re just kids,” was whispered under a breath from the opposite side of the country.

“And look what society has done to them,” was what was answered.

Because competition or not, the world would never forget what they had just witnessed. But on top of that, the world would come to understand the true power of how far someone can break.

“They’re just kids,” was whispered under a breath.

“So is the villain team,” was what was answered.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck,” Izuku shouted holding his severely destroyed and mangled arm. “Holy fucking mother of fucks! This hurts like a fucking fuck!”

“10 million!” Mei shouted once Izuku came into view and sat down on a nearby chair. “I’ll go get the energy gummies Momo made as a supplement to Recovery Girl’s!”

“Hold still and let me heal you,” Neito grumbled, unhappy and uncomfortable at the way his lips stretched out to place a healing kiss on Izuku’s arm.

“Thanks,” Izuku muttered, suddenly extremely exhausted.

“I knew why you wanted me to copy her healing quirk but if I somehow lost it, you would be so screwed.”

“I know,” Izuku answered, feeling his heartbeat slow down from the pain that was slowly subsiding. “I won’t use that much power for the rest of the competition. I’ll use only what I can control from now on. I just wanted to make an impression.”

“And you did!” Mei cheered from her position by the giant screens, looking at the destruction that was caused. “It was confirmed that we were able to get rid of 45 students!”

“45 you’re fucking joking,” Hitoshi ranted while he and Momo made their way towards them after just entering the room.

“Nope!” Mei happily responded. “The good thing is that no one was severely injured so we didn’t get disqualified. It was a good thing we added the padding to several dangerous spots when we were setting up!  But as I was saying, I was able to confirm through the students that were escorted out by teachers, that almost half of them are gone!”

“You actually are a mad genius holy fuck,” Hitoshi chanted, punching Izuku on his newly, and still sore, healed arm.

“Okay so what’s next?” Momo asked, viewing everyone with her kind smile and happiness in her eyes. 

“Well we move on to plan 2, we hit them again at noon.”

“At noon?” Momo asked shocked, “isn’t that a bit too bright for us to pull something.”

“Well yeah but also no,” he replied. “We need to get their numbers down fast because whether I like to admit it or not, we need to get out the members who had training for this situation. We mostly got out support, general, and business course students since they didn’t know how to act in a situation like that. Now, we need target members from the hero course on his team that could be a bit of a problem in the near future.”

“But we’ll be noticed if we try anything mid-day,” Momo once again stated her worries.

“Not from a sniper 5 miles away,” he answered, a smile back on his face.

Every single member of his team turned to the pink haired girl who by the minute got more and more excited.

“You mean it 10 million you mean it!” She chanted, jumping up and down. “I can play with my baby. You mean it!”

“Yes I mean it,” he chuckled, while slowly walking towards a room he called dibs on earlier. “Now you go and be all excited and I’m going to pass out for a few hours or until my arm stops throbbing.”

“Yes sir,” Hitoshi saluted before running after Mei as she tried to tie down Neito so he could be a practice target.

If the hero team was worried about Izuku causing mayhem, they should have also considered the girl with wild eyes and an even wilder personality.

Because after all, it takes two to be a chaos duo.

“Grounded for life,” Aizawa shouted while jumping out of his chair and marching right up to the screen, almost as if he could lecture and punish Izuku right there and then.

First he had to watch his problem child almost blow up his arm, then he had to overcome the shock of figuring out he took out 45 students in the span of 2 seconds, after that he had to watch the class 1B kid use a quirk that he would never in a million years considered him having, and on top of everything, he had to watch the support course gremlin prep a gun excitedly.

 He was so totally grounded.

“How in the world does he have my quirk,” Recovery girl asked shocked while coming back from healing the couple of students who had scraps and cuts from the impact.

“Doesn’t Monoma need hand to hand contact for that?” Power Loader asked, subtlety ignoring his excited student loading a sniper rifle. “Did you come into contact with him lately?”

“No not at-” Recovery girl started before a look of realization crossed her eyes. “Toshinori that day with Midoriya and him being hurt, Monoma helped me over the debris.”

No one could have stopped the laughter coming from Yamada if they tried.

“All Might you got played,” he chuckled, absolutely losing his mind.

“Young Midoriya wouldn’t,” All Might stated, shocked.

“Oh but he did,” Yamada wheezed out, unable to get himself under control.

“I should be upset,” he responded after several minutes of coming down from the embarrassment, “but I’m more impressed.”

“As we all are,” Nezu finally pitched in, extremely excited how everything was so far playing out. “Midoriya has shown a very cunning side to him. Oh this competition is just so exciting!”

“I think you mean exhausting,” Aizawa cut in. “If he makes me have any more heart attacks, detention.”

“Oh I thought you were going to ground him,” Yamada asked, a sparkle in his eyes.

“That too,” Aizawa grumbled, “one punishment isn’t enough.”

“His plans are actually quite good,” Snipe announced. “I see the reason for them. They are well thought out.”

“Problem child wants to win,” Aizawa responded instead of Nezu. “He doesn’t want to cause harm to people, his heart is too good for that, but he wants to win. He was challenged and because of that, his competitive streak came in. His methods may seem unethical, but when have we known villains to be ethical?”

“But he’s not a villain,” All Might interrupted, automatically trying to defend his favorite student.

“He is for this competition,” Aizawa answered. Not annoyed by the statement since he too would have automatically defended before thinking. “He’s behaving like a villain, and that’s the point of the exercise. Real villains wouldn’t be as kind as he is being right now. They wouldn’t leave or let the heroes recover from an attack. He is still giving them a fighting chance because competition or not, Midoriya is still a hero .

All the staff held faces of approval before it was suddenly wiped off with Power Loaders cussing.

“She’s banned. I do not care. Banned and detention and whatever else I have to give her because what the fuck.”

Staring at the screen, Aizawa couldn’t help the chuckle as he watched Mei chase around Neito with a machine gun, Hitoshi close on her heels as he yelled for her to aim for the balls.

“Problem child,” he muttered, “you can win this. But when you do, you’re grounded until you graduate.”

Aizawa did not have a favorite student.

But he had a problem child.

And no matter what, his problem child would not ever give up. No matter if he was playing the villain right now.

Some people needed to face a harsh reality and if Izuku could be the one to teach that lesson, then so be it.

 Because competition or not, he was still a hero 

Chapter Text

“Izuku wake the FUCK up,” was screamed out by Neito as he barged into the room and promptly jumped on said boy.

“Wha-” Izuku got out, disoriented by the sudden weight on top of him.

“What happened!” He once again stated once he got his bearings. He threw his covers off of him, making Neito fall on the floor, jumped up, and was ready to come up with any new plans if something unexpected happened.

“You need to save me,” Neito pleaded again, grey eyes wild with fear.

“Neito what happened. Did Bakugou make a move? What’s going on.”

“What’s going on is that you gave that freak a machine gun and she has been hunting me down for the better part of five hours.” Neito ranted, still not bothering to get up from his position on the floor.

“Neito,” Izuku started coldly, “did you just wake me up for that.”

“FIVE HOURS,” Neito shouted again. “She’s supposed to be traumatizing the other team, NOT ME.”

Izuku could only loudly sigh before making his way out of the room, saddened by the fact his good dream was interrupted.

Chaos met him when he entered the room with all the screens of surveillance.

Momo was lightly sleeping in the corner.

Hitoshi was on his knees bowing to Mei.

And Mei, well Mei was prancing around the room with her machine gun above her head, yelling about how “all should bow to her baby.”

“Mei,” Izuki sighed out disapprovingly.

“10 million!” Mei cheered, “please, please let me go out and use my baby. It’s taking too long!”

“It’s not even 10 yet. I said at noon.”

“But 10 million,” Mei pouted.

“No, we have to wait. And please, stop traumatizing Neito, he is on our team.”

“Please don’t stop doing that, it’s funny as hell,” Hitoshi added in his input.

“Me shoving my foot up your ass would be funny as hell,” Neito fired back, walking closer to the purple haired boy.

“I’d like to see you try,” Hitoshi replied almost instantly.

Izuku could only deeply sigh and close his eyes as Neito suddenly tackled Hitoshi and both boys began wrestling on the floor.

“Get a room,” he muttered under his breath, while going to where Momo is to try and get some more sleep as well.

However, before he could get there, a small “Izuku” was heard from the front of the room.

Slightly turning his head around, Izuku was able to see Mei in the front facing his direction with her machine gun laying on the table next to her.

That in itself was fine, however, what was not fine was the look on Mei’s face. Her eyes were downwards and her shoulders hunched in.

Izuku didn’t even have to think twice before walking in her direction.

“What’s wrong?” He asked her quietly once he reached her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I don’t think I can do this,” Mei got out, eyes still facing the ground.

“Can’t do what?” He asked, confused.

“What if I miss the shot 10 million? What if it doesn’t even hit anyone and they know and can track us. What if I let you down? My quirk is not good for much.”

“Oh Mei,” Izuku lightly whispered before bringing her into a small hug. “Do you have any idea how amazing your quirk is? If you miss then that’s alright, I can always come up with a new plan. What I can’t come up with though, is a new you.”

“A new me?” She asked, confused.

“Yes. There’s only one of you. I can always come up with different plans but Mei, you are one of a kind. Even your quirk. You can see from miles away. Do you have any idea how awesome that is? Your quirk alone is allowing us to stay hidden. And your mind is giving us a way to win. Hit it, don’t it hit, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that you’re still here, standing by our side.”

Mei had tears in her eyes but they would not fall.

She was too chaotic to allow them to fall.

Instead, a wild smile grew on her face and her energy that had been gone suddenly came back as if it never left.

“You’re damn right I’m still standing by your side. I will hit them all don’t you worry. No one can hide from my quirk! 10 million I will slaughter them all!”

“Yes you will,” Izuku slightly smiled, heading back over to Momo once he heard Mei start to mutter to herself about how many babies she can shove in her shirt

“Everything will be alright” he whispered to himself as he finally sat down next to Momo and got comfortable.

Everything will be alright , he thought as his eyes closed and his mind turned off.

Everything would be alright because they had Mei, and Mei was one of a kind.

Todoroki watched the shit show that was currently occurring in the so-called “battle room” and all he could do was wish he were anywhere but there.

Iida was repeatedly yelling about how cruel the beginning was while waving his robotic arms around.

Asui was trying to calm down Uraraka who was distraught because she didn’t think Deku could do anything like that.

And Bakugou was raging because there was absolutely no way a worthless Deku could come up with something like that.

“That’s fucking it!” Bakugou yelled. “Send some fucking drones out or whatever shit to try and find him.”

“We can’t,” Todoroki responded in his usual deadpan voice.

“What the fuck did you say you icy hot bastard.”

“I said we can’t,” Todoroki responded once again in the same tone.

“And why the fuck not!”

“Because you decided that we didn’t need any support items. And seeing that there are no drones attached to any hero students' costumes, you need to figure out another way.”

The entire “battle room” immediately came to a halt as every eye turned toward the pair. The hero team, or what was left of it, stared at Todoroki with wide saucer eyes. Astonished that he would even dare to talk back to Bakugou like that.

“Support items are for incompetent fucks,” Bakugou sneered out.

“Yes, because saying that in a room with several support students and the world watching is the right thing to do,” Todoroki once again replied. “And let me remind you, the villain team has Hatsume on it. You saw what she did during the sports festival.”

“And I’m not afraid of some stupid pink haired fuck.”

Todoroki could only shake his head as he left, deciding to spend his time in another room.

 “You should be,” he muttered under his breath.

He was on a team with an overconfident hero student whose head was so far shoved up his ass it would be a surprise if he smelt anything but shit.

He hated being on the hero team.

He hated not having anyone take the villain team seriously even though they knew who was leading it.

He hated underestimating people.

But there was nothing he could do about it.

He made his choice.

He knew why he made his choice.

Now, he just hoped Izuku could forgive him for the choice he made. 

“You should be,” he once again reiterated as he found an empty room and leaned against the wall.

Mei Hatsume was a support course prodigy, and when given the green light to go all in, there was nobody, not even a hero student, who could stand in her way.

“ITS TIME,” was what was screamed into Izuku’s ear the moment it hit 11:30 am.

“You people have got to stop waking me up like this,” he muttered out after sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

“10 million get up and move it! It’s time it’s time!”

“I know Mei,” Izuku spoke out fondly, “but it’s not me who has to be on top of the skyscraper in 30 minutes.”

“No it’s me so you have to get up and help me. There’s so much to take!”

“Um how much?” He asked, confused.

“Like our fucking inventory much,” Hitoshi interrupted, a gun strapped along his shoulders while both of arms were filled with various kinds of sniper rifles.

“Mei you don’t need that much, you only need to take out specific people.”

“No, I do need that much!” Mei protested. “10 million trust me I will get down their team to 20 like it’s nothing!”

“Just let her take them,” Momo said. “Worst comes to worse, she doesn’t use them.”

Izuku was about to make his refusal known, until he took one look at Mei’s face and didn’t have the heart to.

“Alright,” he agreed. “Take as much as you need but we are going to stay here after we’ve helped to transport them.”

“YES,” she screamed, jumping up and down. “Yes yes yes yes yes! Let’s go servants! It’s time to set up!”

Izuku, once again, could only sigh as he grabbed a couple more sniper rifles and followed Hitoshi out the door.

Only you Mei, he thought as he noticed Neito’s exasperated face once he noticed the stickers alongside the guns.

Mei was worried about letting Izuku down, but what she didn’t know, or at least didn’t understand, was that to Izuku, she could never do anything to let him down.

Only you Mei, he thought again, after he got to the top of the skyscraper and noticed her set up.

“Only you,” he chuckled as he noticed her putting on pink zinc across the top of her cheeks.

She was a support course prodigy, but now, it was her time to show the world how strong people who were viewed as “weird” could be.

“Banned for two months,” Power Loader muttered, while effectively banging his head on the table in front of him repeatedly.

“They are going wild,” Snipe added, after seeing how many guns were surrounding the support course student and how happy she looked.

“I blame you Aizawa,” Power Loader grumbled again, while turning his head and glaring at the hero course teacher.

“I blame you for letting your student corrupt my kid,” he stated while glaring right back.

“Shinsou is not even corrupted!” Power Loader yelled in defense.

It was at that moment when Aizawa realized what he said, and quickly buried his face into his scarf to hide the pink blossoming on his cheeks.

“Maybe not yet,” he said, trying to save himself, “but she will soon.”

Aizawa fooled Power Loader, but Yamada was far from fooled. If anything, the megawatt smile on his face only proved that he would be teased later for what he said.

“Why are there so many guns? Why does she need that many?” Ectoplasm asked.

“The problem child allowed it, which means he's letting her go crazy. The other team is doomed.” Aizawa answered.

“Aizawa after this,” Power Loader started, “you keep your student away from mine. He’s a bad influence.”

“That’s rich coming from the teacher of the girl who blows up the support lab every day. If anything, my problem child reels in her bad habits.” Aizawa defended.

“Hatsume does not have any bad habits!”

“My problem child is not a bad influence!”

“Okay guys,” Yamada cut in, hiding his smile. “Just watch and see what happens.”

“Zashi, he called problem child a bad influence,” Aizawa immediately stated, searching for the go ahead to continue arguing.

“I’m pretty sure he heard it when I said it,” Power Loader interrupted.

“He sure as hell will hear when I kick your ass to next week if you don’t stop talking bad about my ki- problem child.”

“Hatsume does not have-”

“All right everyone!” Nezu cut in with a fake cheer. As much as he liked the altercation going on between parental figures, he knew he would like what was about to happen within the next minute more. “Now take your seats, it’s starting!”

“Go crazy Hatsume,” Power Loader muttered while staring at his student laying on her stomach, ready to fire at any moment. 

He knew how much she hated being seen as inferior to others.

But he also knew how much she loved proving people wrong with her energy.

“Give them hell kid.”

“Mei do you hear me?” Izuku asked over her ear com.

“Loud and clear 10 million!” She cheered back.

“ Alright, the hero team should be patrolling around their headquarters like they do every year. The cameras we set up earlier picked up their location, they are huddled outside their building waiting for instructions. You have your hit list right?”

“Yes I do!”

“Perfect. Take them out first, and after that, I don’t really care who else you get. Go crazy.”

“Oh 10 million, I was born crazy.”

After that statement, the world witnessed a bright eyed and pink haired girl who laid on top of a building miles away from the other team, and rained down paintballs in the shape of bullets.

The world would forget the look in her eyes and the way she didn’t miss one shot.

They would forget how she looked so at ease on top of that building and in that position.

What the world would not forget however, for as long as time allows, was the sound of her chaotic laughter as bullet after bullet released from her guns and onto the world below.

Todoroki was the first one to notice that something was wrong.

He couldn't understand it.

There was no immediate danger around him that he could see.

But he could feel it.

He felt that something was off.

That something was just not right.

But no matter how much he surveyed his surroundings or looked on top of buildings, he could not see anything.

He knew he wasn’t going crazy, he saw several of his classmates make the same look he did once they walked outside for their roles- per Bakugou’s request.

He knew something was wrong, but even though he knew it, there was absolutely nothing he could do to stop a solid purple pellet hitting him square in the chest and shoving him back a couple of feet.

And although his classmates knew something was wrong, there was nothing they could do when the same solid purple pellets hit Denki, Shouji, Jirou, Kendo, Pony, Mineta, Sato, Sero, and Mina square in the chest as well.

The world around them was filled with purple as his teammates tried to take cover anywhere that would allow them. Bakugou and a few others never left the building so a few of them were safe, but still, no one could escape the pellets. It was almost as if there was a lock on target for each and every one of them.

He knew a good chunk of them were out of the game already, he even knew he was out before Power Loader’s voice rang out through his ear piece.

He opted to just lay down on the ground while the world filled with purple for a little while longer.

“I told you, you should be afraid of her,” he whispered out into the world, tuning out the cries of surprise coming from around him.

He should of been mad, or even upset he got out so early.

He wanted to prove himself to the world.

But he had already done that during the sports festival. It wasn’t his time to shine right now.

Now, it was the boy with sparkly emerald green eyes that made his entire being warm when concentrated on him, and hair greener than the forest trees time.

It was his time to shine and he would watch it with support in his eyes and a smile on his face.

“You should have been afraid of her,” he whispered out once again.

He should have been on the villain team, but he couldn’t be.

So he would cheer for them once he took a shower and found an available tv.

And as Power Loader instructed him to meet a teacher to escort him off the competition field, he couldn’t help but think he heard light laughter that flowed with the wind.

“You should be afraid of all of them,” he once again spoke after he stepped foot out of the arena.

Bakugou was strong, but Izuku was smart.

And after only a couple hours of competition, his almost 100 man team came down to a mere 25, with all his teammates experiencing some sort of trauma.

That’s why you don’t underestimate hurt people, he thought, they know how to face fear with a smile. But they also know how to give it back ten-fold.

“Bakugou, you’re so fucked.”

Chapter Text

The hero team was huddled in the battle room after the afternoon of purple, and the only one who was speaking, or rather throwing a tantrum, was Bakugou.

“FUCK,” he screamed while kicking chairs out of his way and throwing things off of the tables near him.

“WHAT THE FUCK,” he screamed again, not caring how the world viewed him at that particular moment.

“SOMEBODY TELL ME WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED,” He raged once more.

Bakugou was finishing the details of his patrol routes when he heard the screams and cries of pain from outside. He could only see purple hailing down on his team and there was nothing, absolutely nothing, he could do to stop it.

“Midoriya-,” Iida bravely answered, but immediately came to a halt once he noticed Bakugou’s raging red eyes placed upon him.

“Deku what?” Bakugou grunted out after Iida remained silent some more.

After clearing his throat and regaining his composure, Iida was able to continue on with his statement. “Midoriya must have used Hatsume to shoot us when we were outside.”

“And you just let her get away?” Bakugou yelled.

“None of us could see her. None of us knew where she was. We didn't even know where she could be.” He defended.

“STOP FUCKING MAKING EXCUSES,” Bakugou blew up once more. “There’s no way that support idiot could do something like this. There’s no way any support student could make something that could do this! Now we’re out twenty people and Icy Hot, our biggest asset, is out as well. So someone better explain to me how this happened because that pink haired fuck didn’t do this.”

The room remained dead silent.

No one was brave enough to speak, until a quiet voice from the back of the room uttered “and if she did?”

Bakugou, who was still experiencing murderous rage, didn’t even know who spoke before stating, “Then Deku has really gotten so pathetic using the likes of her.”

The room remained silent once more before Bakugou had enough and started to storm out of the room.

“Iida, take night patrol,” he grumbled before slamming the door shut in his wake.

No one even dared to make a noise.

Iida surveyed the room and saw the looks on his fellow teammates' faces.

There were several emotions plastered on them. Shock, horror, sadness, guilt. He saw every emotion but there was one thing most noticeable amongst all of them. 

They all shared the same look in their eyes.

A look he knew he harbored as well.

Fear

They were scared.

They weren’t afraid of some real life no-name villain. No, they were afraid of the kid who was classified as the “sunshine boy” of 1A.

They were afraid of someone he considered a friend.

“Midoriya, how far will you go?” He whispered, before following out the same door Bakugou left out of to get ready for his patrol.

How could someone like you be so unheroic, he thought as he was fixing his gear of his hero costume and walking towards the front.

Midoriya, he thought once more before making his way out of their base and onto the streets illuminated by the stars, I will help you be who you once were.

“If that boy insults my student and the work my students do one more time, hero student or not he’s not getting shit from us,” Power Loader ranted while staring up at the screen and glaring at the explosion boy through his mask.

“Now Maijima-” Nezu tried, but was interrupted by an angry protective teacher once more.

“No Principal,” he snapped, “the boy has gotten too many passes. He’s leading the hero team but yet acting like this? He insults my students and their work but yet he wears the costume they made. He called her a “pink haired fuck” yet she was the one who made those nasty ass gauntlets he’s wearing right now! One more word about them. One more word about her, and he will be blacklisted from every support company I can write a letter to.”

“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” Vlad King asked.

“Hardly,” Power Loader responded. “If anything he’s being put on that list right now without my help. You forget Vlad, the world is watching this. Which means the support companies are watching this. If I’m not happy about the way he’s treating my students, the companies will be furious about how he’s treating items made to assist. ”

“That is a good point,” Nezu added in, a look of understanding in his eyes. “The support companies use this competition to gauge how the support course students prepared for the exam. It is a way to scope out and offer internships. With what Todoroki said earlier, about Bakugou refusing any support items to be made, the companies may not take that lightly to that. They may, as you suggested, already are taking precautions to never take him as a client.”

“That’s a bit harsh,” All Might added in from his corner, still trying to come to terms with what he has been witnessing.

“The world is harsh,” Aizawa cut in, silently hoping what Power Loader is saying is true due to the explosion user insulting his problem child as well.

“He’s just a kid,” All Might tried once more.

“Jesus All Might they are all Kids!” Aizawa snapped. “Midoriya, Bakugou, Iida, Hatsume, they are all kids! Get off your high horse and realize not every kid is good. From what we have been witnessing, Bakugou is far worse than we thought, Iida is a hypocrite with a hero complex, and my problem child is releasing his hurt because he never could before. They are all kids. But sometimes, being gentle does not work.”

“So we just allow young Bakugou’s career to end before it even starts?”

“YES,” he yelled. “Because Bakugou brought this upon himself. He was the one who said he didn’t want to use those items, he was the one who disrespected the students whose role is to support in front of the entire world, and he is the one who is showing his true colors on national television. He needs to know the consequences. He needs to know that his actions have unfavorable outcomes.”

“Young Bakugou does not deserve this.”

“And Midoriya does?”

At this point, Aizawa was standing up from his chair, so angry his quirk was in full effect.

The other teachers present were staring between the two with differing expressions of understanding while Yamada was nervously trying to intervene before his husband lunged at the former number one hero.

Nezu watched on in glee while Power Loader was silently happy he was not the only one who hated the injustices happening to his student.

“Young Midoriya knows very well that I wish him nothing but the best.” All Might tried, but Aizawa was not having it.

“Does he? Tell me All Might does he? If you were to ask me I would say that he’s complacent around you because you’re always first to defend someone who was his bully growing up.”

“Young Bakugou was not his bully!”

“Yes he was.”

“So tell me Aizawa, if he was as you say he was, how do you know this?”

“Because dipshit,” Aizawa raged, “my son is on his team. My son is his friend . My son talks to him. My son helps him. My son understands him. And my son came to me when Midoriya told him some things about his unique friendship with that boy. I know it very well. But tell me All Might, the oh so gracious hero, what do you know?”

“I know that your son is a liar. There’s no way young Bakugou did what you’re saying he did.”

It was at that moment, where Yamada thanked every star above that he was right next to his husband. Because one second he was standing next to him, and the next, he was bear hugging him to his chest to prevent him from finishing his lunge towards the previous hero.

“Do not call our son a liar ,” Yamada spoke out for the first time, bear hugging his husband harder as he was losing control of his quirk from the anger.

“Alright boys that’s enough break it up or you’ll take a nap,” Midnight interrupted, while still slightly standing next to her friends since she too wanted to smack All Might for that comment.

“Everyone sit down and pay attention,” Nezu interrupted as well. He still smiled but there was a hint of anger forming by his eyes, clearly unhappy with what had just occurred. However, from him staring down All Might, it was quite clear who he sided with for the altercation. 

“We’re going to miss an amazing moment!” He cheered once more, not taking his eyes off the two teachers until they were seated in their prospective seats and were looking at the screen.

“This altercation should be interesting,” he smiled again.

Oh how he loved chaos.

“You two know what to do right?” Izuku’s voice echoed through Hitoshi’s comm.

“Yes sir,” he responded while stealthily making his way to his target's location.

“ Look I don’t care what you two do afterwards, so get this done first and then have fun or whatever.”

“My oh my, Izuku, are you telling us to do what I think you’re telling us to do?”

“ I’m telling you two to not mess this up because then you’ll answer to me and you won’t like what I’ll do.”

“Relax boss,” Hitoshi chuckled, “This is going to be a fun one, we won’t mess this up.”

“ He might not mess it up, I was mostly talking about you. But alright, I believe in you,”

“Have fun watching the show,” Hitoshi muttered before focusing more on his surroundings and trying to ignore a certain distraction next to him.

“So what did he say?” The distraction spoke out.

“To watch you so you don’t fuck it up,” Hitoshi answered, unable to stop himself.

“I doubt that’s what he said,” Neito spoke up while silently following Hitoshi and mimicking him from behind, not very well versed in stealth tactics.

“Don’t know why you doubt it, between the both of us I am more dependable.”

“Like fuck you are.”

“See, there’s no room for childish behavior here. Let the adults handle this.”

“I’m older than you fucker.”

“By two months that’s nothing. And I would have never known.”

“You fucking-”

“ What did I say?” Izuku interrupted the argument, not impressed by what he was hearing.

“You said to not mess it up and we won’t, chill boss man we got this.” Hitoshi answered, trying to stop the warmth from his chest from spreading onto his face.

So he liked arguing with the other boy- sue him.

Seeing him all worked up was hot.

“I won’t mess it up, he might,” Neito now spoke to Izuku directly through his own comm, refusing to ask for more information.

“You say the sweetest things to me,” Hitoshi answered back while smirking over his shoulder.

“Choke,” was what Neito proudly stated back.

“Oh? And what should I cho-” Hitoshi started with a raised eyebrow before he once again was interrupted.

“Absolutely fucking not ,” Izuku raged from the other end, the sounds of Momo and Mei laughing could be heard in the background. “ You two will not flirt when my precious and sensitive ears can hear. Absolutely not.”

“Oh?” Hitoshi stated once again, “but I thought it would be good for you to hear this and get some ideas for when you see Todoroki again.” 

The other side of the line was dead silent before a “ fuck yourself with a spoon” was heard and the line was cut.

Nothing could stop Hitoshi’s and Neito’s uncontrollable laughter.

“You know you’re going to get it when we get back right,” Neito stated after regaining his composure.

“Yeah but it was worth it,” Hitoshi smiled back. “On another note, we reached our destination a few minutes earlier than expected.”

“What do we now then?” Neito asked, confused.

“Now we wait.”

“You’re excited for this encounter aren’t you?” Neito chuckled while choosing the spot right next to Hitoshi and making sure their shoulders were touching.

 “Yes,” he responded. “I’ve been waiting for this one.”

The entire world gulped when they saw the menacing look and smile on his face as he waited for his target.

If you asked Iida, he would tell you that everyday he strove to be his best self.

He would say how he stood for what was right and he would help anyone who was in trouble.

He would tell you he was a hero.

But even heroes have weaknesses.

And his weakness, well, were dark alleys.

Ever since Hosu he hated alleys with a passion. He made it his mission to avoid them at all cost. And if it weren’t for the competition, he would avoid the one right in front of him as well.

But the world was watching, he was a hero, and he could not be seen avoiding something when cries for help came from said alley.

A woman was screaming for help in the alley.

If he took a second to actually think, he would realize that there were no civilians in the city and therefore, no one was actually in danger.

If he took a moment to regain his composure, he would know that no one but him from the hero team was out and about and therefore, it couldn’t be someone from his team that needed assistance.

He should have thought but he didn’t. All that was on his mind was his brother laying bloody and dying in a dark alley calling for help, and not knowing if anyone was coming.

His body decided before his mind had a chance to think.

“I will help you miss!” He yelled out while rushing into the dark place without a second thought. He knew the moment he stepped foot in there something was wrong.

One, the sound of a woman screaming for help was suddenly gone.

And two, they were two figures standing at the entrance of the alleyway, preventing him from escaping when he turned around ready to flee.

He was trapped.

He walked into a trap.

“Well well well,” Hitoshi spoke out. “What do we have here?”

“A hero?” Neito pretended to ask. “A hero in a dark alley at this time of night?”

“No that can’t be a hero,” Hitoshi carried on. “A hero wouldn’t mindlessly run into danger without taking precautions. A hero wouldn’t charge straight in without at least calling for backup.”

“Not a hero then,” Neito pouted. “Oh so then a criminal!”

“I am no criminal!” Iida immediately intervened. “I am a hero and I will bring you two into custody. Justice will be served for the actions you have taken today!”

“He says he’s not a criminal,” Hitoshi spoke out again while slowly walking towards the boy. “But I’m pretty sure criminals are the ones that break the law aren’t they?”

“Well yes” Iida started, his sense of justice so severe he didn’t realize he was walking further into their trap.

“And isn’t attempted murder against the law?” Hitoshi turned to ask Neito.

“Well yes it is. If anything, that would be considered more villainous than anything.”

“I-I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Iida stuttered out, realizing where this was going.

“Say hero, have you heard about what happened to the hero killer? How Endeavour found him?” 

“You shouldn’t know about that!” Iida shouted.

“Oh and you do?” Neito spoke out instead, grey eyes gleaming with malice.

“Stop this at once! Midoriya clearly has rubbed off his unheroic ways onto you. Stop this!”

Both boys on the villain team immediately stood straight and glared at Iida with nothing but hate behind their eyes.

“Calling him unheroic is a bit hypocritical don’t you think?” Hitoshi grunted out.

“That’s it!” Iida shouted, trying his hardest for the rest to not be aired to the world. “You are under arrest, come with me at once.”

“Fat chance I’ll listen to that order,” Neito stated while taking a couple of steps back.

“Fine then,” Iida replied before powering up his engines and yelling “RECIPRO BURST” and running straight towards Neito.

However, his ultimate move was interrupted by Hitoshi who quickly took out his gun and shot Iida in the places where his costume did not cover.

Iida immediately yelled out, more in shock than pain, before abruptly stopping and dropping to the floor at the teacher's request since if the bullets were real, he would be maimed.

“Think about touching him again and I’ll shoot you ten more times,” Hitoshi raged out after quickly scanning over Neito who reassured him with a nod.

“This is unheroic!” Iida yelled again. However, before he continued on, Hitoshi crouched right above him and said what he had wanted to from the very beginning.

“Shut the absolute fuck up,” he started. “You don’t get to shout about Izuku being unheroic when let me remind you, he was the one who saved you in an alley that looked similar to this one. You’re nothing but a worthless hypocrite. Pull your head out of your ass and realize that maybe Izuku is playing this part not because he wants to, but because he has to. And even if he wanted to, it’s a fucking competition. He is not evil, he is not unheroic, he is not a villain. He is playing the game to win. And if he has a little fun doing it I don’t see why not. He’s been through so much and if he has to show the world what the consequences of their actions could be, good for fucking him. You call yourself a hero, but you’re nothing but a disgrace. Now lay here and bleed out just like your brother almost did.”

After that, Hitoshi pulled out his gun once more, removed Iida chest plate since the teachers were still telling him he could not move, and shot him in the chest at the places where Izuku told him would hurt the least.

He was angry but he wasn’t a monster.

As he and Neito started walking back the way they came, Hitoshi turned back around and met Iida’s eyes one more time.

“Somebody saved your brother,” he started, “but no one is coming to save you. It’s interesting the way the world works. At least now you’ll understand what it’s like to want someone to come and help you. To want someone to save you. But no one will ever come. Maybe, you’ll know for a few minutes what it was like to be us. We screamed for help, no one came. We pleaded with any superior power, no one answered us. We begged to be saved, no one saved us. Now die, and be grateful that this wasn’t real. Because if it were, I would have made sure you could feel the pain we were always in. Die and be grateful this was just a competition.”

As Hitoshi turned right back around and made his way out with Neito, he could hear Iida’s pathetic sobs coming from the alleyway.

He should have cared, but he couldn’t have cared less.

After all he wasn’t responsible for his “death,” society was.

If society didn’t want villains, maybe they shouldn’t have created them. 

All he was doing was showing them their creation.

“The whole don’t touch him thing was really hot,” was what Neito muttered as they were almost to their base.

“Of course it was, I said it.” Hitoshi responded with a smile.

“Thanks I guess, for uh having my back.”

“There’s a price to pay, you know” Hitoshi started, “I want a reward.” He loved the way the other boy's eyes widened and immediately looked down to his lips.

“You’re out of your damn mind,” Neito uttered out, gaze still locked on the purple haired boy’s lips.

“Maybe,” he responded, “but I will get my reward by the end of this competition, trust me.”

“I wouldn’t have high hopes for that,” Neito responded, back to his grumbling and pretending he wasn’t interested or intrigued while looking away.

“Don’t worry, I’m a patient guy,” Hitoshi smugly smiled back while quickly shoving Neito and running away.

“Get back here you bastard,” Neito shouted as he yelled after Hitoshi.

“No need to run after me,  you can have me any time,” Hitoshi yelled back, laughing harder at the way Neito immediately stopped running and started walking at the pace of a snail.

For the first time in his life, Hitoshi was happy that he didn’t have a heroic quirk. Because if he did, he would have never met his friends.

“Unheroic my ass,” he muttered as he finally made his way into their home base. “They should be lucky Izuku is still being nice and taking their mental health into consideration.”

Bakugou, he thought, I can’t wait for Izuku to put you in your place.

“ABSOLUTELY FUCKING NO,” Aizawa screamed and jumped up while pointing at the screen in front of him.

“He’s flirting, my baby is flirting,” Yamada chanted while laying in a ball and rocking back and forth

“Guys it’s teenage romance, it’s normal,” Midnight tried, but with Yamada’s silent “I’m going to throw up” and Aizawa’s “Anyone but him, please,” she knew it was going to be a long road ahead for that boy.

“Oh for fucks sake,” she sighed.

“Great job guys!” Izuku and Mei cheered as both boys walked into home base.

Momo also congratulated them albeit quieter and much nicer.

“That was a rush on god,” Hitoshi announced as he sat down in a chair near them. However, he was immediately smacked hard behind the head and when he turned to complain, he saw Izuku standing over him. It was then he realized the comment he made earlier and knowing if he said anything more he would get hit again, he could only offer an apology grin.

“I’m jealous I couldn’t do it,” Mei pouted, already upset that her role for the day was over.

Izuku could only chuckle.

“So what’s next?” Neito asked, refusing to admit he was happy with the outing as well.

“Well, our next move is tomorrow at noon again, but we will only be targeting one person and only one of us will go.”

“Really?” Neito asked. “Who?”

Izuku only turned his head and stared at Momo before everyone got the message.

“Me?” She asked, confused. “Who will I be targeting?”

And well, let’s just say the moment she learned the person she went into crisis mode.

“I can’t,” she stated while playing with her fingers. “I really want to help but I can’t. There’s no way I can win. I’ll just let you down Izuku. Send someone else. I won’t be able to win. I can’t win.”

“You can,” Izuku firmly said. 

“But-” Momo tried.

“You can win,” Izuku firmly stated once more. “Your quirk is amazing, but so is your mind. You and your quirk together are extremely powerful. You can win. I wouldn’t put you up against this person if I didn’t believe you could.”

“But I can’t possibly-” Momo tried once more, trying to get him to understand.

“You can do it,” Izuku stated. “I will be close by just in case to ease your worries but you won’t need me. You can do it, I know you can.”

Momo wanted to disagree some more, but the look in her teammates' eyes made her realize that if she tried, they would just keep denying her.

“Oh all right, I’ll do my best!” She announced, trying to be positive.

The room erupted into cheers as she was suddenly drawn into several hugs.

Izuku sat back and watched it all with a smile on his face.

After all, he wasn’t the only one hurt by society.

His team was going to win the competition of course, but first, they were going to taste what it feels like to take revenge.

They would know how good it feels to realize that for once in their life, they were the powerful ones.

Show them Momo, Izuku thought, show them all why the person matters more than the quirk.

After all, this was a competition for sure, but he had a duty to make it realistic.

And there was nothing more realistic than an underestimated person finally showing what they could do.

Chapter Text

Todoroki sat and watched the competition from 1A’s dorm room couch with a smile gracing his face.

He couldn’t help it.

Watching Iida literally get humiliated and embarrassed on National Television caused him more joy than he could ever imagine.

At first, he thought that what Shinsou was saying to him was cruel. He even thought he was going a bit too far. But then, he remembered how he had treated the green haired boy in the dorm prior to the competition , and well, karma is a bitch.

He was surrounded by his other classmates who had also gotten out with him, and the noises they were making were annoying him beyond belief.

He had almost got up and left when Denki, who was sitting right next to him, yelled about how the villain team was being too villainous.

No shit sherlock , he thought, they are the fucking villain team.

The sound of the front door opening caused his attention to span from the tv to the door in order to see who had entered.

And wasn’t that a sight.

Iida stood in the entrance with his helmet in one arm and his other holding the door frame.

His face was haunted beyond belief.

Serves you right, Todoroki thought again, not feeling a single ounce of pity.

The moment Iida stepped a couple feet into the room, his other classmates who had been watching, immediately rushed up to him and started to ask if he were alright.

All Iida could do was nod.

Todoroki, still annoyed at his audacity, decided to pay attention to the tv and his friends' teammates who were already scheming. He even let out a little laugh as he saw Shinsou and Hatsume rock paper scissors over who would set up the gear for the next day.

“They seem close,” was what was uttered from beside him.

He knew it was Iida without even turning his head.

“Yeah they are,” he responded without breaking eye contact with the program.

“Can I talk with you?” Iida tried again, after a couple minutes of silence.

“Isn’t that what you're doing right now?” He once again replied, annoyed to be conversing with the boy.

“I mean somewhere more private,” Iida tried once more.

Todoroki contemplated the request until the eyes on him started to become uncomfortable.

“Fine,” he stated while getting up from his spot and walking right back out the front door to the world outside.

He was able to sit down on the steps leading up to the dorm and waited until Iida was right beside him to talk.

“What did you want?” He asked, annoyed he had to talk to the boy and frustrated he couldn’t watch the competition.

Iida remained quiet, almost as if he were gathering his thoughts.

“Did you see what happened,” he started, unusually quiet.

“If you’re asking if I saw you get humiliated and your shit rocked, yes, yes I did.”

“That was a bit unsightly wasn’t it,” the class president chuckled while staring down at his hands.

“You know,” Iida continued, “I think I understand them a bit better now.”

“Understand who?” Todoroki asked, somewhat confused.

Iida readjusted his glasses before continuing on.

“Midoriya, the villain team, I understand them more now.” Todoroki made an “O” shape with his mouth but before he could respond, Iida was talking once more. “I had a lot of time to think out there. I thought about my brother and how he may have felt in that alley. I thought of how I was stupid and should have done a lot of things differently. I thought of how I called someone unheroic just because they were following the rules of a school sanctioned activity. Most of all though, and probably the most important, I thought of Shinsou’s words and how I realized no one was going to help me. I guess that’s what shocked me the most.”

“I see,” Todoroki finally responded. “It’s not fun being at the mercy of others and knowing there is nothing you can do to change it is it.”

“No it’s not,” Iida sadly chuckled. “You experienced it too, right?”

“Experienced what?” He answered, confused

“Not having anyone there for you. You experienced helplessness too, right?”

The dual color haired boy sat on the top steps outside of his dorm and remembered the life he had lived. The life under the harshness of his father. The life that made him understand how villains come to be.

“Yeah I guess I have,” he finally responded. “Why are you asking me about it though?”

Iida seemed almost regretful, almost as if he knew he shouldn't have asked. But Iida being Iida, he asked anyway.

“I’m just curious why you didn’t decide to join the villain team when we got to choose. I know you and Midoriya bonded over your similarities, so I guess I was kinda shocked you didn’t go with him. You and him are extremely close.”

It was Todoroki’s turn to stare at his hands as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. 

He didn’t want to talk about it with Iida, he didn’t want to talk about it at all. But he knew he had to, so he did.

“My father wasn’t the reason why I joined the hero team, you know.”

“What?” Iida asked, shocked, thinking that was the exact reason why he joined the team.

“Yeah,” Todoroki chuckled a bit, “I mean there's always that obvious thing where I want to disobey him, but this time, I didn’t do it because of him.”

“Then why?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” was what was replied.

“Try me,” Iida shot back in the most sincerest voice Todorki had ever heard. And maybe that’s why he spilled everything to the class rep.

“I did it because of my mom,” he finally got out. “My mom, well, you know what she did to me when I was younger. Why she got sent away. She has been doing better, or at least that’s what the doctors are saying. Because of that, she has finally gotten her tv channel list updated to the news. Before, she was never allowed to watch it, just in case she saw my father on there and had another episode. My mom and I, well we have been very good. I visited her for the first time after the sports festival and after that, I just kinda kept going back. We’re in a good place. A place I didn’t think we could ever get to. But just because she’s doing better, doesn’t mean she still doesn’t have triggers. There’s still that image of my father in her mind. Beating her down and smirking as if he enjoyed her pain. I wanted her to watch the competition, but I just didn’t want her to watch me act like him. I know I’m not my father. I know I will never be him. But I look like him. I have the same eye as him. I couldn’t make her watch me do to my peers what my father did to her.”

Iida was extremely quiet after the confession. He broke the silence with “wouldn’t she know the difference?”

With that question, Todoroki got a small smile on his face, almost as if he was amused by his own suffering.

“That’s not how trauma works,” he finally answered. “You can’t just shut it off. She knows I’m not him just like I know, but when you witness something that altered your life, you can’t help the flashbacks or comparisons. You can’t help what your mind does to survive. I didn’t want her to be scared of me. I didn’t want her to see me like that. I didn’t want her to compare me to him. So I joined the hero team, hoping that with that choice, she wouldn’t have to relive her past. When I chose, I never considered how Midoriya would feel. It never even crossed my mind that by protecting my mom I would unintentionally be hurting him. That was a mistake on my part that I deeply regret. I don’t know, I just, I never considered how he would feel.”

“Does he know that?” Iida responded after a couple minutes of silence to take it all in.

“No not yet, but I plan on telling him right after,” was what said before Todorki got up, dusted himself off, and started making his way back inside.

“Todoroki?” Iida called out once more, standing as well.

“What?” He responded tiredly.

“Midoriya, he will understand. He’s good….like that. He won’t blame you.”

“I hope not,” Todoroki answered, looking over his shoulder with a smile. He went to reach for the doorknob before stopping himself and talking once more without looking back.

“You should apologize to him too. I see how shaken up you are after what happened and maybe that was the point of what they did. To get people to understand their wrongdoings. Either way, you should apologize.”

“Yeah I will,” Iida responded.

“Good.”

Todoroki finally turned the knob on the door and pushed his way inside. Once fully in, he was able to hear the screams and cries of his classmates, indicating his friend finally started to move onto his next plan.

He was proud of his crush, and even prouder of his crush’s team. 

His only wish was that he could be there standing next to him as well.

Please, Todoroki internally begged, please forgive me.

“Izuku I’m going to throw up,” Momo shakily got out while throwing one hand over her mouth to keep the contents of her stomach inside .

“You will be fine!” Mei cheered while adjusting all the cameras in their base.

“Yeah if anything you will lose and we won’t have a perfect win, it’s really no big deal,” Hitoshi got in before snickering at the dark glare that Izuku casted his way.

“Momo, just breathe. Remember, I won’t be that far from you and if you need any help at all I will intervene. But you won’t need it, you can do this.”

“Izuku, I really don’t think I can,” she responded back, on the verge of hyperventilating.

“Why?” He asked in return. “What reason is there that convinces you that you will lose. Why do you believe you can’t win or let alone put up a good fight?”

“Izuku I’m not like you guys,” she defended. “I don’t have Mei’s ability to make chaos work or Hitoshi’s humor that he wears as a second skin. I’m not powerful or strong like you and I can’t use multiple quirks. I’m just not like you guys.”

“You’re right, you’re not,” Izuku started. “You can’t be Mei, Hitoshi, Neito, or even me. It’s impossible. All you can be, is yourself. You’re so smart Momo. You’re smart, kind, caring, and above all, you are true to who you are. You know who you are. All of us here, we’re still trying to find our place in this world. Trying to fight for our place. Your quirk is useful because you make it useful. Your quirk is powerful because you make it powerful. Your quirk doesn’t define you. If anything, you define your quirk. You need to understand the chemical composition to make something. You are right, you’re not like us. You're a thousand times better than us. We work because you keep us grounded. We know you can do this because you have dealt with our antics these past couple weeks. You survived that, so I’m pretty sure you can survive anything now.”

Momo had tears in her eyes. The water only grew as each and every one of her teammates came up to her and gave her a hug.

“You got this,” Mei smiled.

“Kick fucking ass,” Hitoshi cheered.

“Beat the scum,” Neito added.

“Believe in yourself, like we believe in you,” Izuku finished.

All Momo could do was wipe her eyes, smile, grab her stuff, and begin the walk towards her destination.

Later, she will release all of the nerves she felt in the moment.

Later, she will cry about not believing in herself.

Later, she will work on her confidence.

But for now, well, now she had a rematch to focus on. 

“Izuku you evil little genius,” Momo uttered out from her position on the empty street.

She was in the open. Literally in the open. Anyone would be able to see her. And that was exactly what Izuku had wanted.

Somehow, he was able to know when exactly Tokoyami was to be out and about during the night.

“Momo, we have eyes on Tokoyami. He’s turning the corner and should be in your sight in a few seconds,” Izuku spoke through his comm.

“No pressure,” Momo chanted back, still a bit nervous.

“ Momo you kick his feathery ass you hear,” Hitoshi added in. From the sound of a slap being heard through the comm, he most likely stole Izuku’s mic to speak.

She could only smile.

That smile however, dropped the moment  she noticed the raven head boy turn the corner. It was just him, seeing as Dark Shadow was more than enough backup for him in the night.

“Hello Tokoyami,” she bravely announced, louder than she had intended.

Said boy immediately snapped his head to her direction and covered his entire frame with dark shadow.

“What a mad banquet of darkness,” Momo chuckled out, tilting her head to the side in a fashion that seemed almost mocking

Huh , she thought, maybe I am more like them then I thought I was.

“Yaoyorozu,” Tokoyami gruffly spoke out, hunched over with his arms out, Dark Shadow still wrapped around him.

“At the sports festival you beat me in the span of 10 seconds, I plan to beat you in five.”

“You can try, but I will not let your darkness cover this world any longer.”

The events after, to the world, occurred in a split second. To Momo Yaoyorozu, it felt like a lifetime.

Tokoyami lunged at her, faster than expected with Dark Shadow wrapped around him.

Momo when seeing this, froze. She was brought back to the day of the sports festival where she embarrassed herself. She almost lost her train of thought.

Almost

Suddenly, as if they were with her, images of her teammates and their words flashed through her mind. She wasn’t alone. She wouldn’t ever be alone again.

They understood her.

They cheered for her.

They believed in her.

She would not let them down.

Momo Yaoyorozu has always been known for being graceful. But she was playing the villain, and villains are anything but graceful.

The moment Tokoyami reached out for her, she quickly remembered the chemical composition of Mei’s favorite weapon, and in an instant, wielded a flamethrower.

She quickly turned it on and placed it right in front of Dark Shadow, who quickly covered his eyes and turned his head away. That action was enough for her to quickly pull out her gun and shoot Tokoyami repeatedly in the chest. Tokoyami had tried to retaliate but much like Iida, if it were a real life scenario, he wouldn’t still be breathing.

”Thank you Mei for those lessons,” Momo uttered under her breath. Rattled by the fact that she won.

“ MOMO YOU FUCKING GODDESS OF A WOMEN,” Hitoshi cheered from the other end.

“ MY QUEEN,” Mei yelled out.

“ SHOOT HIM AGAIN,” Neito chimed in.

“ We knew you could do it,” Izuku finished.

Once securing Tokoyami with quirk suppressant cuffs that Mei made to keep Dark Shadow at bay, she gracefully turned away and walked off with a genuine smile lining her face and the most confident she has been in weeks.

I won’t ever doubt myself again, she thought.

She was Momo Yaoyorozu, and in the words of one Hitoshi Shinsou, she was a bad ass boss bitch.

It was about time she started to believe it as well.

 “Interesting,” Nezu stated from his spot by the computer. “I wouldn’t have thought we were able to see a rematch!”

“I’m glad they had one,” Aizawa chimed in. “She lost her confidence after the sports festival and I haven’t been able to help her with it due to the events that had occurred after. She needed this. She’s extremely intelligent and well versed in battle strategies, I guess all she needed was a gentle shove to get her going.”

“That was more than gentle,” Midnight chimed in. “She copied Mei’s flamethrower that I’ve seen Maijima confiscate on more than one occasion. Say, what do you have to say about that Maijima?”

All Power Loader could do was bang his head on the desk in front of him and pray for death before Hatsume killed him with her antics.

“Oh what the fuck,” Aizawa suddenly blurted out, causing all the teachers to stare at him and then the screen in front of him.

They all had the same reactions, jaws dropped in horror.

“Is that-” Yamada started.

“Yes,” Aizawa answered.

“And he-”

“Yes.”

“When did he-”

“No fucking clue,”

“And he’s-”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to ground him again aren't you.”

“Like you wouldn’t fucking believe.”

Why problem child, Aizawa thought as he stared at what the villain team was hauling off and setting up.

You’re so fucking dead, he thought again as he heard what he wanted his team to do with those.

Judging from the cursing coming from Power Loader, he knew they were having similar thoughts.

When we said go plus ultra, we didn’t mean this, he thought for the last time as he saw Hitoshi and Neito snickering together over something Mei started cackling about.

He shouldn’t have been surprised.

He should have known that boy would pull something like this.

After all, he wanted the competition to be memorable.

Chapter Text

“We need to fight back right fucking now,” Bakugou raged from his position at the table, overlooking his team that had drastically reduced in numbers.

“I don’t care who, I don’t care how, but we have to do something. We have been sitting ducks for the past 24 hours and I am fucking tired of it!”

“What is there to do?” A voice from the back of the room called out.

“Fucking find them and kill them or whatever. I don’t give a shit. We have been walking around doing mindless tasks while they have been picking us off one by one. I’m fucking tired of it and I’m done playing the sheep!”

“But they aren’t getting any objectives and only focusing on taking us out,” another voice rang out. “We can’t find them if we don’t even know where they are.”

“ THEN TRY HARDER,” Bakugou finally lost it, flipping the desk in front of him over and pacing back and forth.

“WE ARE DOWN TO 20 PEOPLE! 20! We started with 95. We lost half the moment we started and we lost 20 more a couple hours after that. We lost Iida and Tokayami. We are down to 20 after one day and I’m tired of being undermined!”

“Maybe he’s just a better leader,” a brave voice quietly commented.

“What the absolute fuck did you say to me,” Bakugou raged out while gritting his teeth, trying to hold back his anger. His eyes scanned the room, trying his hardest to find the owner of that voice.

“No one is going to fess up?” He seethed, after the room remained deathly silent. “Fine then, if nobody is hero enough to come forward, how about you all go and do your patrols together. Maybe then you can finally grow some fucking balls and learn to not be cowards.”

Still, not one of them uttered a word.

The world that was watching however, did not need words to understand what was going through those students' minds.

It was all on their faces.

The faces that held resentment, disgust, but most of all, regret.

They regretted their decision to join the hero team. But as much as they regretted it, there was nothing they could do. They made their decision, now they had to deal with it.

“Bold of you to call us cowards when you have been doing nothing as the hero commander. How about you start acting like a hero instead of the villains we are trying to beat.”

The young boy who uttered this statement, was the last general studies standing. He wasn’t familiar with Bakugou’s attitude but he had enough of it. He was brave enough to speak, but not brave enough to act.

“You think because you got to play hero for a few hours that you can speak to me like that. You’re nothing but a fucking extra. So how about you shut the fuck up and do as you were told.”

The boy could only glare, hands clenching at his sides as his mind begged him to do something. But he knew he wasn’t as strong as Bakugou, he knew he could never win if he tried something. So he did as he was told. He shut his mouth and  followed his fellow teammates out of the room and onto the streets to begin their patrol.

“What a dick,” one student announced.

“Scumbag of the year,” another voiced out.

“Self righteous prick,” a final voice cemented.

Bakugou was their leader, but he was not a good one.

If he were, he would have known to double check the patrol routes he sent his team on. 

If he were, he would have known that surprise attacks were the villain’s team's best bet.

If he had even a sliver of leadership in his body, his gut would tell him to not send the rest of his team together on patrol.

But he wasn’t a good leader. 

He couldn’t be.

He was so self absorbed in his desire to prove that he was better than Izuku, that being a good leader completely bypassed him.

He was so focused on being the best, that his ego got ahead of him.

And well, as everyone knows, ego is the downfall of man.

“I want to press it! 10 million said I could!” Mei whined from her position on a nearby rooftop. Hitoshi and her were tugging something back and forth between them while Neito and Izuku watched on in exasperation.

Momo was back at their base, resting after she overused her quirk to make something that they had accidentally forgotten.

“I want to do it,” Hitoshi deadpanned, dragging the device towards him.

“10 million promised me I could!” Mei continued to whine back, doing her best pleading expression.

“No I’m doing it,” Hitoshi once again argued.

“If you don’t give it to me right now I’ll use one of my babies on you,” Mei finally threatened.

“I’ll sic Neito on you,” Hitoshi fired back.

Neito was mindlessly nodding along but after hearing that, he immediately straightened up while trying to pick up his jaw that fell to the floor.

“Um no you won’t,” Neito muttered, trying to regain his composure.

“Oh so you’re saying you won’t save your damsel in distress,” Hitoshi replied, looking over his shoulder as he smirked at the blonde haired boy.

“That’s not-I-you see-Now listen,” Neito tried to get out, but his mind had stopped forming coherent thoughts after the boy uttered “your.”

“I’m just fucking with you Neito,” Hitoshi snickered out, while also letting go of the device after Mei jammed the end of one of her laser pointer babies into his ribs. “Though, if you wanted to save me, I wouldn’t decline.”

“Like I’d ever save your ass,” Neito raged while crossing his arms in front of him and puffing out his chest. 

“But I already saved you, that’s not fair,” Hitoshi mocked pouted while walking closer to the other boy until they were chest to chest. “Things between us should always be fair don’t you think, after all, wasn’t it you who told my parents that we are to be married ” he whispered, while leaning forward to the point that their lips were barely touching. 

“I-um,” Neito flustered out, trying to avoid looking at the other boys lips and eyes. He literally looked anywhere else but there.

“Don’t back out now,” Hitoshi whispered once more, doing his best to keep his voice low enough so that the cameras would not pick up their conversation.

The world didn’t have to hear everything.

“I guess I did,” Neito finally gave in, the temptation too much for him to handle as those violet eyes stared into his gray ones. He leaned forward to the point that their lips were a centimeter away from one other.

 Just a bit more.

A little more.

A centi- “MY EYES, OH MY GOD MY EYES,”

And suddenly, a centimeter more turned into two meters as the boys flung away from each other so fast at the shrill of Mei’s screeching voice.

The boys were flushed and embarrassed, completely forgetting they weren’t alone and had an audience.

“My dads are going to kill me,” Hitoshi thought as he rubbed the back of his head and tried to laugh the embarrassment off.

Izuku looked unimpressed. “You know,” he started, “I don’t think the world wants to see you guys humping each other.”

“HUMP-” Neito started to yell out before realizing the words he was about to say and immediately deciding to not go through with repeating it. 

“We weren’t doing that!” He yelled instead.

“Yeah,” Hitoshi tried to pitch in. “If anything, Neito only got a hump or two in, I didn’t have time to respond.”

Neito slowly, very slowly turned to the purple haired boy and stated very clearly for the world to hear, “I’ll kill you.”

“No wait, I was just giving some insight into the situation,” Hitoshi defended while slowly backing up with his hands raised in a complacent manner.

“You’re dead,” Neito coldly stated while advancing faster with the intent to harm in his eyes.

“Now that’s not very nice of someone who just jumped my bones,” Hitoshi stated, knowing it would cause more damage but he just couldn’t resist.

“Run,” was what was finally announced and well, Hitoshi wasn’t stupid.

He ran as fast as he could down the rooftops stairs as thundering footsteps were heard behind him, chasing.

“When I get my hands on you, you’re going to wish it were your Dad instead of me,” Neito yelled after him.

“Oh in that case, should I call you Daddy then?” Hitoshi fired back as he jumped the last couple steps and sprinted into the direction of their base.

He heard the yelling behind him get louder but he could only laugh.

He had never felt so free before.

He had never felt so alive.

He had never felt so himself .

And in the midst of all the chaos, he had even forgotten that he was in a competition with millions around the world watching his interactions.

All he knew was that for the first time since he was adopted, he felt like he belonged in a world separate of that from his Dad’s.

He was a villain for the competition but he knew without a doubt he would never become a real one.

Not when he had his people by his side.

Not when he had someone who could pull him back to reality.

He would never be able to question again if he was dangerous or villainous because there were people next to him that made him believe he was good .

“Thank you,” he breathily stated out loud as his feet still pounded across the pavement to get away from his enraged friend.

However, he wasn’t speaking to the world or whoever could hear, he was speaking to himself.

He was saying the one thing he had always wished he could say but never could.

He was saying the one thing to himself that he finally felt like he deserved to hear.

“Thank you,” he once again uttered before throwing the base's doors open and running for cover in his room.

“Thank you for never giving up.”

“I’m going to fucking kill him,” Aizawa seethed by the computers as he tried to get his quirk under control. “He's dead. More than dead. So dead there will not even be a body to bury once I’m done with him.”

“It’s just love Aizawa,” Power Loader cut in, trying to calm down the heroics teacher.

“How would you feel if your son made out with someone on National TV and then continued to flirt after coming back to reality?”

“Oh lighten up Shota,” Midnight cut in. “It’s just boys being boys. I know you and Zashi weren’t saints when you were his age, it’s fine. However, speaking of Zashi, where is he?”

Aizawa looked around until he finally spotted his husband in the corner of the room, laying face down on the floor, repeating “Kill Me” over and over again while banging his head.

And well being the concerned husband he was, he went to join him.

“You guys are fucking children,” Midnight sighed as she watched the grown men bang their heads on the floor after watching their teenage son be a teenager.

And when the banging turned into tantrums of how could their sweet innocent boy do this, all she could do was shake her head as she whispered out a “why me?”

“Those two will be the death of me,” Izuku sighed out as he watched one of his friends run for his life as his other chased.

“They are a bit silly but I’m glad they found each other,” Mei smiled out while her attention was still on the device in front of her. “Hitoshi was very serious when he joined but now he’s laid back and more open. Neito was annoying and self absorbed but now he seems genuine half the time. It’s good they found each other. It helps them.”

“Yeah I guess so,” Izuku agreed while still staring off into the direction they left in. “But do they have to be so lovey dovey in front of me,” he whined back, pretending to look sick from the idea.

“Like you and two hair colors won’t be the same once you're reconnected again.” Mei shot back, finally meeting his eyes.

Izuku choked on his spit, “Two hair colors?” He wheezed out, after getting his coughing under control.

“Yeah!” Mei cheered. “I don’t know his name but I know he has pretty hair! And it’s two different colors. So two hair colors!”

“Welp I guess the rumors are true, you are a genius,” Izuku joked out, faking hurt when Mei laughed and punched his arm.

“Izuku, this is going to be so pretty I can’t wait!” She cheered, too excited for what was to come.

“Momo did a very good job replicating all the triggers since we accidentally forgot them.” He responded.

“Yeah that’s my bad, my machine gun took too much space so I took something out and didn’t know it was the triggers.”

“It’s fine,” he smiled, “thank god Momo knew the composition though because then it would be difficult to set off the chain reaction.”

“Oh yes the glorious chain reaction!” Mei laughed out. “It’s such a genius plan Izuku. I mean having things explode is always awesome but having them explode one after the other is just glorious!”

“And it gives no time for them to recover or know what places are rigged.”

“It’s just perfect!”

The Chaos duo could only smile at each other before a sound from down below caught their attention.

Quickly shutting up and leaning over the edge, they were able to make out a large portion of Bakugou’s team patrolling and talking to the fake citizens.

Izuku could only stare in bewilderment.

He let all of them come at once, he thought, what the fuck, that doesn’t make any sense .

“Izuku that isn’t right, right?” Mei whispered to him, not knowing all the details but knowing that they shouldn’t be that many students together.

“What is he doing,” Izuku whispered back, still shocked but what he was witnessing. “We proved that we can take out large groups of students at once, why would he send them out in a group again?” He continued to whisper back, having no clue why.

“I have no clue,” Mei quietly responded. “But can I please press the button now, pleaseeeeee. They are getting away!”

“Yeah Mei,” Izuku chuckled quietly before getting comfortable to watch the show, “you can press it.”

“Yessss,” she cheered while repeatedly pushing the button.

One second the arena was peaceful and the next, it was nothing but chaos.

The only sounds other than the cries of terror from below was the sound of cackling laughter and the word “BOOM” being uttered after every bomb exploded.

Chain reactions had never been so pretty.

“I can’t believe he was chosen as our commander,” a student for class 1B spoke out after they were far enough away from their base.

“I mean what’s worst of all, is that he’s supposed to be leading us. But he’s not. Ever since we entered he hadn’t even stepped foot out of that building. He’s not giving us directions or rules. He’s making us fend for ourselves which is fine, but then don’t bitch about it when we get taken out,” another student complained.

“I wish I chose the other team, I mean, at least they seem to be having a better time than us.”

A chorus of agreements rang out across the group.

They were tired of the treatment, but just like before, they had to deal with it.

“A hero doesn't act like him,” the boy you spoke up in the room before announced. “I feel sorry for anyone who even interacts with him.”

“There’s no way he will make it far in his career.”

“Yeah if anything he may be an actual danger in the streets.”

“What goes around comes around.”

As the group of the remaining hero team all spoke of their leader, they didn’t even consider that they were out in the open.

But they didn’t even have to.

One second the small group of students who were leading in front of rest were joking about their leader being a ticking time bomb, and the next, they were being propelled back from the force of an explosion that erupted from in front of them.

The world filled with pink glitter and the air became think with smoke.

A chain of explosions came one after the other.

BOOM

A portion of students got blasted to the left.

BOOM

Another portion got blasted to the right.

BOOM

Some students quickly dropped down to take cover, hands holding their ears to drown out the noises of the explosions.

Students of the hero team were scattered, some laying completely still after being notified they were out, some running as fast as they can away but continuously being thrown around by the force of the explosions, and some simply trying to survive and limit the amount of trauma they would get.

The explosions came repeatedly one after the other.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

“Make it stop, please make it stop,” one student cried out while holding up a piece of wall to use as a cover

“ It’s going to be okay, it’s going to be okay,” another student sobbed while staying close to the ground and holding their hands over their ears while they squeezed their eyes shut.

“I don’t want to be here anymore. I want to go home, please,” another cried out while they laid on the ground waiting for the chaos to be over so they could be collected and they could leave.

The students begged and pleaded but the bombs would not stop.

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

BOOM

“Help us, please anyone help us,” student after student chanted while doing everything they could to survive .

The explosions lasted a total of 20 minutes.

For 20 minutes, those students were forced to endure the force of the bombs and the sounds of the world around them being destroyed.

For 20 minutes, the group from the hero team had to listen to their teammates cry out for help as their world was filled with pink. 

And for 20 minutes, all they could do was wait for help that would never come.

Izuku watched from the rooftop with regret in his eyes. He felt bad about them being terrified, and regretted that he made them feel that way, but he would never regret the action that made them feel that way.

He was chosen to be a villain and because of this, he couldn’t feel bad.

The world needed to understand that someone could do something as severe without there being glitter as a substitute.

The world needs to understand that every action has a consequence.

He watched the remaining students who weren’t out, a mere 7, shakily stand up and hurry back to their home base.

He watched while Mei cackled and all he could do was smile.

He was able to find a camera that was watching both of them and he quickly turned to it and gave it his signature megawatt smile.

“Plus ultra am I right?”

The world was silent.

Millions around the world watched the competition with nothing but shock and fear in their eyes.

The cries of help from those hero students echoed in their minds as if it were a broken record.

“That was-” a person from across the world started, but trailed off as they realized no words could ever explain what they had  just witnessed.

However, from the other side of the world, the statement was answered.

“That’s what happens when you push people too far. That is what happens when someone feels all is lost. They snap. They break. They hurt others. They make them feel what they felt. They take revenge. That is what happens when not one person gives a fuck about someone who is suffering.”

“How do you prevent that from happening?” A voice asked.

“You give a fuck,” was what was answered.

“Oh my,” Nezu cheered, absolutely delighted by the chaos he just witnessed.

“They are unhinged,” Snipe coughed out, as shocked as the rest of the world.

The rest of the staff room held the same expression of shock while Power Loader and Aizawa shared a similar look with each other.

“Grounded?” Power Loader asked.

“For fucking eternity,” Aizawa answered.

Chapter Text

Izuku sat in his room inside his base with his mind filled with many, many, thoughts.

He scanned his memory of what had occurred the past couple days and the reactions of the hero team. He saw their faces and the noises they screamed. He saw how they clung to one another and how they begged for it to end. It wasn’t the actions he took that made him think about what had happened, but the begging that came from one student as the bombs went off.

Make it stop

That was what was uttered from their mouth.

Make it stop

He thought it was funny. Them chanting for it to stop when his entire life he was saying the same  exact thing to the people who had hurt him.

“Make it stop,” he cried when his father raged about his lack of quirk.

“Make it stop,” he stated as his mother ignored him time and time again.

“Make it stop,” he whispered as Bakugou and his friends bullied him for something he had no control over.

“Make it stop,” he thought as All Might left him on that rooftop after he had crushed his dreams.

Izuku’s head felt heavy, too heavy, and he needed to just get out.

He moved out of his sitting position and walked towards the door to his bedroom, slightly opening it to hear where the rest of the team was.

He heard laughter and noises coming from their so-called “living room” and remembered how Mei wanted to throw a little compilation of what had occurred since the cameras recorded everything.

He wanted to join them, needed to join them, but first, he had to take care of his feelings, of his thoughts.

He took two steps towards the noise, but then quickly retreated and walked the other way.

He didn’t want to see them right now. He knew that they would catch on to what was going through his mind and he just needed some space.

He also didn’t feel like sneaking around them and risked being noticed. However, staring at his only way out to get the air he desired, he wished he just snuck around them instead.

Because staring at the stairs in front of him, he noticed that they only went up.

“Fuck me,” he whispered before deciding that the air he needed was now a requirement.

So up he climbed, closer and closer to the rooftop and the world it would show him, completely unaware of the violet eyes that watched him from the base of the stairs.

Izuku sat on top of their rooftop with his legs dangling over the edge and just sighed.

The breeze blew through his hair while his face remained on the stars above.

This was what he wanted.

Peace.

He felt at peace. His mind had quieted down after a couple of minutes being out and the only thing preventing him from going back inside, was his view.

He was aware of the broadcast camera staring at him, he was always aware of where they were. Every action he and his team took he noticed them right away. Noticed how they displayed everything for the world to see. He should have thought twice of just being out in the open like this, even knew he was probably being graded on his lack of awareness, but he needed to just breathe.

He needed to be alone.

And he was, well until he heard a voice behind him yelp about how “cold as shit it was out here,”

“That’s what you get for following me,” he spoke out with a smile, still staring up at those stars that flickered back.

“Yeah yeah yeah keep talking,” Hitoshi replied, while making a move to sit next to the other boy, feet dangling off the edge just the same.

“I mean it seems peaceful out here but there’s nothing good to look at,” the purple boy pouted out while surveying his surroundings.

“Then you can go back inside and stare some more at Neito’s ass so you can have something good to look at,” Izuku retorted, his laughter echoing into the night.

“That’s not-you know-my dad’s are watching!” Hitoshi spluttered back, refusing to acknowledge the pink that now coated his cheeks.

“Please,” Izuku chuckled, “your dad’s will probably strangle you when we’re out of here with how you’ve been acting.”

Hitoshi could have sworn he heard a “damn right,” coming from his ear piece but it was so slight, so small, he chucked it up into his imagination. He will only find out months later that Midnight had to physically restrain Aizawa when he lunged for the microphone on Nezu’s panel.

“Please,” Hitoshi echoed the other boy’s statement, “if anything you’ll probably never be allowed out without my dad’s following you or monitoring.”

Izuku laughed at the statement, but refused to acknowledge his feelings. Refused to put into words how he hoped they would. Instead, he put a small, sad, grin on his face and uttered a quiet “not for me.”

Hitoshi silently stared at his friend, noticed the sadness beneath those emerald orbs, and knew he had to get what was bothering Izuku out right now. If he didn’t, his friend would just bury it with all of the other injustices done to him.

It was quiet between them for ten minutes.

That was how long it took for Hitoshi to try and be helpful. However, when he made a move to speak, it was his friend who beat him to it.

“I used to hate rooftops,” Izuku quietly muttered while still staring at the shooting stars up above.

Hitoshi moved to open his mouth, but then saw the broadcast cameras staring directly at them. He cringed and turned to Izuku to let him know they could have the conversation in his bedroom where no cameras were, but once again, the other boy spoke out.

“I don’t mind them hearing. The world I mean. I don’t mind it. Our whole plan was to do to the other team what was done to us. So if they hear my story, I-I don’t mind.”

“Alright,” Hitoshi answered after a moment of making sure it was truly okay. When he saw no sign of resentment or hesitation on his friend's face, he carried on with their previous conversation.

“Why did you used to hate rooftop’s?” He asked quietly.

“I think because it gave me a way out,” Izuku answered, taking a deep breath before he continued. “I-I wasn’t in a good place when I was younger. You know bits and pieces from what I had told you before, but, I, well, I just wasn’t as mentally sound as I am now.” He saw the small smirk on Hitoshi’s face with that statement and subtlety whacked him before continuing. “I tried to be, fought to be, but with everything going on, I wasn’t. It was as if one more thing happened to me, I would break. I stayed clear of what I knew could hurt me, and did my best to push it all down. I was cracking inside but I didn’t break, I never broke, even if I wanted to at times. The day where I almost shattered, I found myself on top of a rooftop. Given this time it wasn’t by choice, I was still up there, staring down at the ground, and all I could think, all I knew, was that the peace if I jumped would feel so good. It was so enticing, like the concrete below was a siren calling me to it. I took a step forward, then another step, and another, until I was at the ledge looking over. I saw the world beneath me and all I wanted to do was jump. I wanted it, needed it, had to do it. But I couldn’t. I was a coward and couldn’t do it. I couldn’t go through with it.” Tears slid down his face but he still refused to look away from the stars.

“Not killing yourself doesn’t mean you’re a coward.” Hitoshi stated, hands clenching the world beneath him in anger at what Bakugou, at what the world, had almost made his friend do.

“Doesn’t it?,” Izuku asked with a small smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “I was told that killing myself was the coward's way out, then I was told that not killing myself was what a coward would do. So either way, I guess I still end up being a coward.”

“No,” Hitoshi firmly stated, leaving no room for any arguments. “I don’t think someone killing themselves is cowardly at all. And I don’t believe someone not killing themselves is cowardly as well. Who the fuck told you that.”

“Who do you think,” Izuku quietly uttered.

“I’ll kill him,” Hitoshi silently stated before continuing. “Suicide, it’s complicated. There are some people who say it’s cowardly and some who say it’s not. Some people say it’s a permanent solution to a temporary problem. But that’s the thing, every problem we go through feels permanent. It feels as if it will never end. The people who say it’s temporary don’t understand that we know that. We know it is. We know that it won’t be our life forever. But just because we know it, doesn’t mean it doesn’t feel like it. What you went through, you knew one day it would end but felt like it would last forever. You wanted to kill yourself because all you wanted was peace. Peace that was being forcibly denied from you. You weren’t a coward when you stood on that ledge, and you weren’t a coward when you got off.”

“Then what was I,” Izuku asked.

“Broken,” Hitoshi simply stated. “You were broken on that ledge and broken when you got off. You can say you weren’t Izuku, but you were. But just because you broke a little, doesn’t mean the pieces can’t be glued back together. You fought. Izuku you were broken and in pain but you fought. You fought to live. And as much as it pains me to say this, if you would have jumped, if you would have gone through with it, you still wouldn’t have been a coward. You simply would have just been a boy, broken by the world, that had no way out from his suffering. I know your story. I know how you told me you wanted to hurt others. Do to them what they did to you. How you wanted them to be hurt and experience the same pain you did. But no matter what you couldn’t. You were broken, and in pain, and still good . The assholes in the world, they won’t ever know how truly lucky they were that no matter what happened to you, you still believed it would get better. Even when a small part of you knew it wouldn’t. Even when you had to force yourself to believe it would. You believed and look where you are, fucking things up like the boss man you are.”

“I wouldn’t have ever killed myself, no matter how much I wanted to, I wouldn’t. But there are so many people out there that would, that did. They were in the same position as me, and because of what was done to them, they went through with it. That’s what this competition can’t recreate. We can recreate the hatred that filled our body and the longing for the same suffering to be placed upon them. We can make explosions and make people beg to “make it stop,” just like we begged, but we can’t show the side of what happens when someone is hurt, and just done. Villains aren’t born, they are created. But not everyone who has the story to be a villain becomes a villain. Some people just become a grave site. That’s what this competition lacks. It lacks the ability to see both sides.”

“Then make them see,” Hitoshi quietly responded.

“I don’t know how,” Izuku answered just as quietly, eyes looking away from the stars and tears slid down his face.

“Yes you do.” Hitoshi replied. “Just like you knew how to make them see what happens when you push someone too far. Make them see what happens when you break someone too far. They heard your words tonight, but words barely hold sway over people. Actions hold more than words. Make them understand both sides. The hurt and the rage but also the pleading and the pain. You were right. Some people just become a grave site. But grave site or not, everyone deserves to be understood. Not just the villains who lived.”

“If we are to make them see, I think we’re going to need the team,” Izuku smiled at Hitoshi, the first real smile since he sat on top of the roof.

“Mei is going to traumatize them,” he answered with his own smile.

As both boys got up and dusted themselves off, preparing to go back inside, Hitoshi suddenly grabbed Izuku’s shoulder and whirled him around until they both were chest to chest.

And then, almost as if he were afraid the moment would break, Hitoshi hugged him. He hugged him even harder when Izuku finally let a couple of sobs burst past his lips.

“I’m so glad you’re here, we’re so glad you’re here.”

All Izuku could do was bury his face even deeper into the other boy's shoulder.

“At the end of this, we’re having a long talk with my parents,” Hitoshi whispered into his ear, quietly enough so the broadcast camera wouldn’t hear. “You’re already a brother to me, why not make it official. If anything, my parents are probably coming up with ways to kidnap you and kill everyone who already hurt you by now.”

The answering laugh was all the purple haired boy needed to hear to know that he did good. That he helped his friend.

His brother.

Because that was what Izuku was to him now. His brother. The one who stated he wasn’t a villain without even knowing his story. The one who came up with plans so that everyone on their team would get some sort of revenge. The one who he would always, no matter what, stick up for because they were the same.

Izuku was his brother and he would never, ever, let him feel that way again. 

His parents found him and saved him. It was now time to return the favor to someone else in need.

And well, he knew it wouldn’t take much convincing on his part. He knew his parents like the back of his hand and he had no doubt that after hearing that conversation, they were out for blood.

He hugged Izuku, his brother in all but blood, and promised himself that no matter what, Bakugou would eat shit and lose.

“ Not killing yourself is the coward's way huh Bakugou,” he thought, still outraged by the story Izuku told.

“ Let’s see who’s the coward after what Mei will plan to do with you once she hears what you said.”

“Names right fucking now,” Aizawa raged, held back by four, yes four, teaches as he thrashed in their arms.

“Aizawa now is not the time,” Nezu tried but was cut off, again, by his angry employee.

“Now is the fucking perfect time. All I’m asking for is names. Of who bullied him along with Bakugou. That’s all I want, give me the names.”

“And what will you do if I give you the names,” Nezu asked, but already knowing the answer.

“I’ll make them beg. Make them plead as their blood drips down the face and their nails are scattered across the floor.”

“Jesus Aizawa,” All Might spoke out in horror, “aren’t you a pro hero?”

“That I am,” Aizawa looked back, quirk blaring to life at his anger. “But I’m a parent first and foremost. They hurt my kid, MY KID, I’ll make them bleed for what they did.”

Yamada was well, he was no better. He had to be put to sleep with Midnight’s quirk after he silently got up from his chair, put his directional speaker on, and made his way out of the room.

He made it two steps, two, before Midnight jumped into action to stop him. As she handled him, Vlad, Ectoplasm, Snipe, and even Power Loader did their best to hold Aizawa back.

“Papa bears,” Midnight shook her head while watching the scene before her.

“Midoriya is not your kid,” All Might said.

“Fuck you All Might, he’s mine as much as Toshi is.”

“Okay okay everyone let’s settle down, and I’m mostly talking to you Aizawa.” Nezu tried once more.

“I’ll settle down once I have the names.”

“Aizawa,” Nezu tried.

“Nezu,” Aizawa interrupted.

They both stared at each other. One wanting the room quiet and the other making his bloodlust known through his eyes.

At the end, the room did quiet down, however, that was only after Aizawa was physically restrained by duct tape to his chair in case he tried to get back up and find the names of the children who hurt his kid.

“This is going to be a long night,” Vlad mumbled while Midnight silently agreed.

“ Heaven help us all”

The world watched the conversation between the two friends and although understanding shined in their eyes, doubt shined just as bright.

They doubted his words.

But that was the reason why Izuku would show them, so the doubt would too turn into understanding.

Across the world people shared the same doubt in their eyes. However, in some eyes, there was happiness.

Happiness that someone finally understood. Happiness that someone would finally show their side of the story. Happiness that they might not be truly alone in the world.

Villains aren’t born, they are created.

But not everyone who has the story to become a villain, becomes one. 

The people with happiness in their eyes, for the first time in their life, felt seen.

Felt as if their story mattered. As if their suffering mattered.

Izuku Midoriya had no way to know this, but the night he told his story to the world, the night the world listened, well, let’s just say, for that night, there were fewer grave sites that needed to be filled.

Chapter Text

Kirishima leaned against the wall and just stared at Bakugou.

Before the competition began, he was tasked with being the explosion boy’s right hand man. He was told that he would need to stay by his side in case something occurred and if there needed to be leadership in different sections of the city.

Well, something did occur, leadership was needed, and yet he was still in that building by his side, doing nothing.

He wanted to be upset, wanted to argue about how unmanly his friend was acting, but he opted to stay silent.

When it came to him and the way Bakugou acted, he always stayed silent.

He didn’t utter a word in practice when Bakugou decided to not use any support items.

He didn’t open his mouth when he saw the look of regret his teammates were giving each other. 

He didn’t say one word. He stayed silent and just accepted what was happening.

Bakugou was his friend, best friend even, and yet thanks to this competition, he couldn’t help but see him in another light. He knew where his thoughts were going. He knew that he would end up thinking the same thing as the rest of his team, and that scared beyond belief him.

Bakugou was a hero, a hero who although was rough around the edges, fought to save people with a bravery that was unmatched to any other. That was what drew Kirishima to him in the first place. What drove him to befriend the boy. He wanted to feel that same unyielding bravery. The bravery that was absent that day in middle school.

And yet, Bakugou wasn’t acting like the boy he knew, if anything, he was acting like a….. coward.

“Are you scared of him?” Kirishima asked, fed up with being in the same room for the past two days.

“I’m going to ignore what you said and chuck it up to a lapse in sanity,” Bakugou replied, eyes on the city map in front of him.

“Bakugou, you have to do something. You have to do anything. You’re not focusing on your objectives and you're sending our teammates like lambs to be slaughtered, we need a plan.” 

“If our teammates weren’t so damn weak, maybe they wouldn’t be slaughtered,” Bakugou shot back, his eyes never wavering from the map in front of him.

It took a lot of things for Kirishima to lose his cool, but right now, at that specific moment, he went over his threshold.

“Would you for one goddamn minute stop looking at that map and do something! Make a plan, make 10 for god's sake, but you have been staring at that map for the past couple of days while we have been losing numbers left and right!”

Bakugou slid his ruby red eyes away from the map and pinned Kirishima with a glare that was never once placed on him before.

“Look at my markings. Look at them and tell me what you see,” he seethed, still not breaking eye contact with the red haired boy.

Kirishima on the other hand, removed himself from the wall and walked close enough to Bakugou where he could see exactly what he meant.

“Those,” he started, “those are where some of our teammates got out.”

“Exactly,” Bakugou stated. “I have been marking all the points where we lost people to narrow down where that fuckwad’s base may be. We take their base, we take them. We win by taking out the villain commander. Deku will go down fast and easily.”

“You have been leading our teammates like lambs to be slaughtered,” Kirishima responded, horrified.

“I need to find him and his dumbass team. All those useless extras were exactly where they needed to be. Let him think we’ve been playing right into their hand but when the time comes, he won’t know what hit him.”

Kirishima stared at Bakugou and couldn’t even recognize him.

This boy, this hero, standing in front of him wasn’t the friend he knew.

No, he was someone else. 

Something else.

“This isn’t right,” Kirishima pleaded to him. “Bakugou this isn’t right. You’re the hero commander. You were supposed to be leading your team. Helping with objectives and doing what a hero commander should do. Putting members on your team in places where they could get eliminated so you can mark down where the villain team has been, isn't right.”

“I will not let Deku get ahead of me,” the blonde haired boy seethed.

“This isn’t about you!” Kirishima yelled, finally having enough. “Bakugou this isn’t about you or him. It’s not about your personal experiences. It’s about you leading a team of heroes to defeat villains. You made this into a personal fight the moment he was chosen. I have sat back and watched you give orders to our teammates for patrol routes that didn’t make sense. I have watched teammate after teammate get eliminated because you gave them false orders to help your cause. Bakugou, catching villains isn’t the only role that heroes partake in. Part of being a hero is helping people.”

“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” Bakugou angrily spat out, almost losing control of his temper.

“You’re going to have to seeing that we have very few people left.” Kirishima spoke out just as rough. “Dude this is definitely not the time for this. We had 95 people, 95, and now we're down to single digits. We are losing because YOU have a grudge to settle.”

“Butt out of this shitty hair,” Bakugou once again spat out. ‘This doesn’t concern you.”

“YES IT DOES,” Kirishima yelled. “It concerns all of us! This is a substitute for our final. OUR FINAL! And we are losing not only the competition, but also points towards our grades because you don’t know how to pull your head out of your ass.”

“What did you just say to me,” Bakugou seethed while going up to Kirishima, chest to chest.

“You heard me,” Kirishima stated back, not one ounce of fear in his voice.

Bakugou was about to say something else, when the sound of someone sobbing came through. It was so  loud, so clear, that they both figured someone was outside of their base.

Both boys bolted from the room, hurrying to the front in order to find the source of the sobs. However, before they could even take another step forward, they noticed that the sounds weren’t coming from a person who was outside of their base, but rather inside.

And when they scanned their surroundings, they noticed those same sounds being emitted from the broadcast system.

The same broadcast system the villain team used on the first day.

“Momo and Neito, I am so proud of you,” Izuku stated from above the pair, who were now laying on the floor in sweat and grim.

“What about me, 10 million!” Mei whined, putting the last touches on their project.

“Yes you too,” Izuku chuckled, still reeling that his team worked so well together.

When Hitoshi told Izuku to show the world the other side of the coin, he had absolutely no idea how to do it. When he thought of how he should do it, he came up blank. It wasn’t until Hitoshi was ranting about his past and how everyone just watched him get bullied that it finally clicked.

Show them, that was what Hitoshi had said.

And so he would.

The plan was almost too good to be true. It required very certain quirks to even be successful. And well, he chucked it up to luck that he had someone on his team that could make almost anything. He also didn’t want the world seeing what they were building, just in case, so he would have his team work in a room with a camera that was just for the teachers, Pros, and any hero company watching to see. They would understand the difference, but most of the world may not.

He prompted Mei to make 4 robotic bodies that were able to walk, talk, and express emotions like a real living human being could do. He asked first to see if it were even possible, but he was talking to Mei and well, there wasn’t anything she couldn’t build.

Mei had just looked at him with a chaotic gleam in her eyes before she patted him on the shoulder, grabbed her wrench, and dove right into her pile of equipment.

He then had to get Momo on board to make realistic skin that would cling to the robots and cover their entire body. He wanted three layers of the skin surrounding all four robots. One layer would go directly on top of the metal, then a layer of realistic blood would go next, and then two more layers of the skin would go on top of that. It had to be so precise. The skin had to stretch and fit exactly to where the robot could be mistaken as a real person. Eyes had to be made that would seem almost identical to their own. They had to make a robot into a real person.

His plan was so far-fetched, but Momo simply said she would need more time than five hours. And when Neito heard that, he memorized the formula for realistic blood,  shoved an entire cupcake into his mouth, slapped Momo on the arm, and started to produce item after item.

Hitoshi, feeling left out, walked over to Mei while grabbing his voice modulator. Mei simply handed him something and after he messed with his settings for a while, he started to produce various voices into a recording device. Those voices were then transferred into a little chip Mei made, scanned through a database, placed into the robot’s throat, and then linked to a microphone on the outside that would be able to produce any sounds in the voices recorded when spoken through.

Izuku worked on his end to create a program that would allow the robots to walk, run, crouch, and even curl up into a ball. His hardest task was linking mouth movement to words being spoken, but a quick line of code fixed that. As he worked more on his program, Momo walked over to Mei and handed her a vial of liquid, which Mei then inserted into the metal eye socket.

A robot that cried.

His plan was so complicated but his team just took it in stride. After five hours of working, they had 4 robots that looked so human it made their stomach squirm.

Mei was able to control their movement from her laptop, Hitoshi was able to change the tone of their voice through the microphones laid out, and Momo and Neito made their skin look real and their eyes shine like no other.

“Holy fuck,” Hitoshi spoke, astonished that it actually worked.

“Power Loader is going to lose his mind,” Momo stated, amazed at the fact that Mei built 4 robots that acted as humans, in just five hours.

“This is going to work,” Izuku whispered, awed that his almost near impossible plan was working.

“Hell yeah it is,” Hitoshi cheered, “We killed that shit! I mean it was because of you and Mei but still, we built fucking life like robots in under 6 hours. We better get fucking extra credit.”

“I must say,” Neito started, “you and Mei both are scarily smart. This, what we just did, I don’t think even professionals could do this.”

“They aren’t known as the Chaos duo for nothing,” Momo added in, beaming with pride of what she did to help.

“Guys, it’s time to set up,” Izuku cut in, wishing he didn’t have to stop his, or his teams, admiration. “Hitoshi, Neito, Momo, can you guys please take the robots into an alleyway by the building that has the highest roof. We need the robots to bleed so we need a greater velocity and force of impact. We can’t test run anything so the higher the better. Mei, let’s go set up the broadcast again. After the robots are set up, Hitoshi come back here and get on the mics. We have four laid out which match the voice of all four robots, and I’ll also be giving you things to say for each and every one of them. Guys, this is our most genius plan ever, it has to work.”

“It will, don’t worry,” Mei cheered, already messing around with her laptop, “we came up with it, we will not fail.”

Izuku could only smile and hope for the best.

Show them , Hitoshi said

And so Izuku would.

The staff room was silent.

Completely and utterly silent.

Even Nezu didn’t make a sound.

What the villain team just did, what they just made, no one had even attempted it before. Not even Pro’s.

“I-” Power Loader started, but he too was shocked into silence.

“If their plan works,” Aizawa started, finding his voice, “I think they should pass their finals just off of that.”

“Aizawa” Power Loader stated, “What these kids just did, what they just built , is revolutionary. Forget passing a final, their faces will be everywhere after this competition. Support companies all around the world will be asking for their code, willing to buy it. Those kids, from the moment they tested and proved that the robots worked, just became millionaires.”

“You’re saying,” Yamada intervened, “that because of this competition, those kids are set for life?”

“Exactly,” Nezu finally added in. “Maijima is right. Those kids just built something no one has ever built before. Robots sure, but robots that look like humans, act like humans, talk like humans, cry like humans, that is something they are the first in doing. Companies around the world would want their code. Would want to see how they did that. So yes, after this competition, those kids, every single one of them, will be set for life.”

“It was just a competition,” Yamada responded, shocked.

“And yet, they managed to do something not even certified geniuses could.” Nezu admitted. “Not even I could do.”

And wasn’t that a scary thought.

The smartest being on the planet couldn’t create something that five children were able to in a span of five hours.

“What do you think those things are being used for?” Vlad King asked.

“I think we are about to find out,” Aizawa responded, staring at where those three kids just placed those robots.

Hitoshi told you to show them, Aizawa thought, fixated on what Izuku’s plan would be. So give them hell.

Aizawa would focus on the part about five kids becoming millionaires later, but at that moment, he was more focused on his boys proving to the world what happens when not everyone who is hurt decides to become a villain.

“Useless quirkless freak,” the robot that was standing over the one on the floor crying yelled out, face contorted in a way that showed pure rage.

Kirishima stared at that face, at the girl sitting on the floor, and he couldn’t move. He was rooted to his spot, forced to watch the scene broadcasted to him.

The world was forced to watch.

“I can’t believe that thing is still alive,” another one of the robots sneered out, giving a quick kick to the girl robot's side.

“How about you do us all a favor and just die. Rid the world of the filth you are,” The last standing robot sneered.

“Someone help me, please help me,” The robot on the floor cried out, covering her face with her arms in an act of defense.

“Who’s going to help a freak like you,” one of the robots standing spoke out again. “You are nothing to this world, nothing. Imagine being so worthless no one will think twice to help you.”

“You’re wrong,” the robot cried out again.

“Oh really?” Another standing robot said. “How about this then, how about you stare out that alley and beg for someone to help you, and if someone walks one foot into this alley, we’ll leave you alone from now on. Just one person, and we won’t ever bother you again.”

“Help me! Please! Please someone help me.” The girl begged and begged, screamed and sobbed, but no one came.

The broadcast camera could see people moving in both directions from the entrance of the alleyway, but no matter how loud that robot cried and begged, no one entered or even stopped.

The cameras weren't able to pick up that it was three members of the villain team walking back and forth since Izuku and Mei hacked the broadcast and angled the cameras in a way where they couldn’t see. But still, the messages to the world was loud and clear.

No one was coming to help that girl.

“A waste of fucking space,” the standing robots sneered as one, before kicking the poor girl again and making their way out of the alley.

The cameras stayed on that girl, who cried and sobbed just as her program was telling her to.

“How can I ever be a hero when I can’t even be normal,” the robot whispered, artificial tears sliding down their quirk built cheeks.

“Maybe they’re right,” the robot stated, “maybe the world is better off without me.”

It was at that moment, that Mei angled the robots head up to the sky above, and had her narrow their eyes towards the roof.

“If I can’t be a hero, and I refuse to be a villain, maybe I shouldn’t be anything at all,” the robot whispered what Hitoshi read off his paper, before Mei having that robot get up off the floor, open the door to the building next to her, and climb all the flights of stairs until the robot was on the roofs ledge, staring down at the world below.

“I just wanted to be a hero,” the robot whispered into the world.

“Why, why did I have to be this way? Why did I have to be born? Why did I have to be so worthless? Why would not one person help me?”

Line after line, Hitoshi read, and line after line the robot spoke them into existence.

“I only needed one person,” the robot spoke out again. “If only one person helped me, that would have been enough. If only one person stopped for me, I would have been happy. But that’s the thing, people like me don’t get to be happy. We don’t get to have friends or feel peace. We don’t get to be normal.”

The robot took one step forward, looked right into the camera, stated “People like me don’t get to exist,” and then plummeted down the building to where they could finally find peace.

The broadcast camera angled not to the body on the ground, but the puddle of artificial blood next to it, before completely cutting off.

It took five seconds after the broadcast ended before Kirishima threw up all over himself from the grief he felt.

The world did not move.

The world seemed to not even breathe.

They didn’t know the girl was a robot, only a select few could have known. But robot or not, they all saw what happened.

Across the world, people were shouting at their screens to the people passing to help that girl. From the other side of the world people were begging for someone to enter that alleyway.

But no one did.

And the world watched that girl take her life because her pain was too great for her to handle. They watched her die, because she felt as if it were better than living.

“Why didn’t anyone help her?” A lady uttered.

“That girl was quirkless, she’s better off dead,” a voice answered.

And that voice was met with fists and angry voices of “shut the hell up,” and “what’s wrong with you.”

That voice, the one that spoke, was confused. No one had ever stood up to them, let alone hit them for talking down about the quirkless. No one had ever paid enough attention to.

But all around the world, people revolted for not only the quirkless, but also for the ones who were seen as different. 

The world, for the first time, took a stand.

It was obvious that not the entire world agreed, and there were still people who harassed and bullied those who were different, but for the first time ever, when someone cried out for help, their plea was heard.

When someone begged for someone to save them, for the first time ever, they could hear footsteps coming towards their direction.

When someone opened the access door to a roof, for the first time ever, a hand held their own to prevent them from going up.

It would take much more for the world to change.

It would take much longer for everyone to be on board.

But for the first time ever, the world started to care.

Hitoshi told Izuku to show them.

And so he did.

Chapter Text

Bakugou, her hero commander, gave her one task and one task only.

Find where the villain team is staying.

Although it seemed as an easy task at first, it was anything but that now.

She couldn’t find their base.

At all.

She used every method in her arsenal to track the villains back to where they were staying. She followed Hitoshi and Neito after their encounter with Iida, but she lost them after a couple of twists and turns. She stuck to the shadows to try and follow Momo after her fight with Tokoyami, but again, she lost her. She tried to track the villain team, but she always lost them.

Always.

She was about to enter the hero base to relate back to Bakugou about her failure, but she had stopped abruptly when she heard Bakugou and Kirishima arguing.

From what she was able to make out, they were arguing about the competition and the impact it has on their grades.

She held in her gasp when she heard Kirishima shout about how Bakugou had been purposely sending their teammates out to get eliminated in order to track the villain team’s movements.

She didn’t know that.

She thought, believed , that he trusted her enough to let her complete this task. That he trusted her enough to let her do this while he focused on another aspect.

She wanted more than anything to prove her worth. To prove that she could be somebody.

But then she saw the video playing on the broadcast screen, and couldn’t help but wonder how she could ever be somebody one day.

Her abilities were really not that important and if not one person helped someone who was visible, how could they ever help someone who is invisible.

She had always chanted when she was younger that one day, she would be somebody. That one day, a time would come where she would be recognized.

A day where she would prove herself.

The more she thought about her past, the more the fire inside her burned to just prove herself.

She wanted to.

Needed to.

She had been invisible her entire life, she couldn’t be invisible during the time where it mattered most.

A time where her dreams could actually come true.

So, instead of going inside and relating her failure to Bakugou, she turned straight around and went to hunt down the villain team.

Hagakure would find them, and maybe then, for once in her life, someone would notice her.

“You’re still following her?” Neito asked into his comm, no longer tailing their target.

It had only been 30 minutes after the broadcast displayed when the villain team got the notification that someone was sneaking around the city.

From a quick scan of the cameras, Izuku wasn’t able to see anyone, which then led him to understand he wasn’t dealing with just anybody.

No, he was dealing with someone who he couldn’t see.

Hagakure was smart, sneaking around, but Izuku was smarter.

The moment it clicked in his brain who it was, he immediately turned to Mei and had her build a set of thermal vision glasses for the team. Once those were built, he handed them out to his teammates and then they were on the hunt.

Why is she coming at us alone, Izuku thought once he saw the orange and yellow figure stop at a street and take in their surroundings.

“Hitoshi,” Izuku muttered through his own mic, “follow her and when you are able to corner her, do it. Try to get out of her what you can, but ask her why she is out alone.”

“Is there a specific reason why I need to ask that?” Hitoshi answered, confused.

“Just do it,” Izuku replied .

“Alright boss it’s your call,” Hitoshi responded, making sure to stealthily follow the figure that his thermal glasses showed. “What method do you want me to get her out with? Gun? Knife? Bomb? Push her out a window?”

“If you push her out of a window you’ll be following closely behind,” Izuku threatened, annoyed that Hitoshi had an obsession with pushing people out and off things.

“Alright alright,” Hitoshi chuckled, amused at the threat. “But seriously what method do I use? I know we’re saving you know what for you know who but maybe we should use them now. It’ll make a bigger statement.”

“No,” Izuku answered. “It is not the time to use those, we have to wait. Mei isn’t quite done perfecting them. As for the method, talk to her and use what you deem fit. But I think I already know what you want to use.”

Izuku didn’t have to be there to know that there was a shit eating grin etched onto Hitoshi’s face.

“I could kiss you right now,” Hitoshi muttered.

“Please don’t do that,” Izuku stated, horrified. “Don’t get your saliva anywhere near me. If even a drop comes near me I’ll incinerate you.”

“Jesus man,” Hitoshi chuckled, “you know my precious spit is only reserved for Neito.”

Hitoshi could see Neito gaping at him while mumbling under his breath for no one to hear “not in a thousand fucking years.”

But Hitoshi heard.

And not only did the purple haired boy's grin get larger, he also blew Neito an air kiss.

Neito in response, flipped him off and started walking faster, steps becoming more rapid when he tried to escape Hitoshi’s laughter. 

For that stunt, Neito decided to head back to base and have Momo cover Hitoshi.

“Fuck ass,” Neito whispered into his mic. All he heard as a response was more of Hitoshi’s laughter.

“If anything,” Hitoshi uttered back to Izuku, “I would be burned to death by Todoroki if I came near you, not incinerated by you. I guess the genius doesn’t know everything.”

“Shut up and do your job,” Izuku snapped.

“Missing him already?” Hitoshi shot back, knowing that although Izuku sounded angry, he was anything but that.

“I’ll kick your ass when you’re back here,” Izuku remarked.

“Bet you wish it were Todorki’s instead huh,” Hitoshi bravely announced.

“Count your minutes,” Izuku snapped again and then cut off the line.

Hitoshi had to stop and lean against a wall in order to catch his breath.

He just amused himself too much sometimes.

After he regained his composure, he began walking faster when he noticed that his target was moving towards an alleyway.

“Jesus,” he muttered under his breath, “what is with all these alley’s. You would think that hero students would not go into an alleyway during a competition with no outside help or even backup. I fail to make it into the hero course based off of my quirk but minds like these get accepted, idiotic I tell you.”

Before he could mumble his displeasure a bit more, he noticed he was at the entrance of the dead end alleyway his target had walked into.

Here goes nothing, he thought to himself.

“Well well well, what do we have here,” Hitoshi spoke to the figure that completely tensed when he first spoke out. “It seems that a little hero is a bit far from where they should be. And in a dead end alleyway with no way out on top of that.”

Yup, he thought once again, idiots.

The moment Hagakure heard the well well well, she knew she was absolutely and undeniably fucked.

She knew it almost as much as she knew her own name.

She had not wanted to walk into this specific alley, but she needed to check all the places she didn’t before. She had to make sure all her bases were covered.

Hagakure knew if she stayed completely still and did not move, the boy on the villain team behind her would think that she had left. If she didn’t make one sound, he would think he was mistaken and move on. She couldn’t take him in a fight, but she could remain completely still until he left. She was invisible after all.

At least she had that to her advantage.

Or so she thought.

“Are you just going to stand there and stare at the wall or are you going to turn around and talk to me?” Hitoshi uttered out, annoyed that his target thought she could play him like an idiot.

“You can’t see me, it doesn’t matter where I look,” Hagakure sassed back, annoyed and devastated that she wouldn’t be able to prove herself.

“I don’t appreciate talking to someone’s back,” Hitoshi replied. “And I also don’t appreciate staring at an ass that isn’t my boyfriends so if you would turn around, that would be greatly appreciated.”

“ I’m not your fucking boyfriend you freak,” Hitoshi heard Neito rage through his comm, knowing he was watching everything go down from their base.

“Semantics,” Hitoshi chuckled into his comm, smile growing wider when he heard Izuku on the other end trying to calm the blonde haired boy down after a crash was heard.

“How can you see me,” Hagakure once again spoke, whirling around and putting her hands on her hips.

The world was watching well, nothing. They could hear the girl but couldn’t see her.

But Hitoshi could.

With his glasses he could.

And her attitude was just making this situation more fun for him.

“Well it’s pretty simple, there are two geniuses on our team. Building glasses that detect heat signatures isn’t as hard as one would think.”

Just my luck, Hagakure thought to herself.

“I won’t go down without a fight,” Hagakure announced, Hitoshi noticing the way her stance shifted into one of defense.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” Hitoshi replied, a small smile creeping onto his face. “But before that, how about you enlighten me.”

“On what?” The girl asked, confused.

“Well it’s pretty simple. You’re on the hero team, in a hero course class, and yet, you are sneaking around this city alone.”

“I was ordered to find you,” Hagakure deadpanned to him, wondering how that wasn’t obvious.

“I’m not stupid, anyone could have known that,” Hitoshi deadpanned right back, matching her energy. “My question is, why are you coming at us, alone. We know there are members still left in your team, we know exactly which of your classmates are left, but yet, here you are, alone.”

“Are you sure you’re not stupid, because I’m pretty sure I just told you that I was ordered by Bakugou to find you.”

“Izuku orders us to do stuff all the time, doesn’t mean we don’t ask our other teammates to watch our back just in case,” Hitoshi shot back. “Unless this has less to do with your orders, and more to do with yourself.”

“Excuse me,” Hagakure snapped, eyes narrowing at the boy.

Hitoshi couldn’t see that, but he could feel it, and it just made even more giddy.

“I mean it’s just an observation. Bakugou’s a dick, a major dick at that, but as much as I hate to admit it, he’s not stupid. His battle strategy from what I heard before this whole competition was announced was decent. He was decent. Which means if you asked him, he might have or might have not let you take backup. If you had asked him, well there would either be backup right next to me, or you would be ranting about how much of a bastard I already know Bakugou is. But since neither of those happened, it’s safe to say you came here for selfish reasons. Now the only question is, why?”

Hagakure did not say one word.

She didn’t even move.

“I told you I’m not stupid,” Hitoshi snarked back, gleam in his eye showing how much he loved how unsettled the girl was.

He truly was spending too much time with Mei and Izuku.

“You like Bakugou so much that you’re able to read him just like that? That sounds like a truly dedicated fan if I ever saw one” Hagakure finally spoke up, knowing the effect her words would cause.

But instead of having the effect she desired, it had the complete opposite effect.

Hitoshi laughed.

Laughed.

He didn’t rage or curse. Yell or storm off.

He laughed.

“What’s so funny,” Hagakure snapped once again, annoyed that her backup plan was failing.

“You,” Hitoshi stated. “You’re funny. The fact that you believed what you said could ruin my mood is hilarious to me.”

“And why is that,” she snarled.

“Because no one on this planet hates Bakugou more than me, that’s why. It is something I had come to accept in the recent days. I can’t get back at him for hurting my friends and causing pain to the ones I care about. I have no control over that. But what I have control over, is my hatred. It’s so in tune with my other emotions that it’s just always there. So you saying that, expecting my hatred to take over and lash out is hilarious to me. I can’t lash out over an emotion I feel everyday.”

“Whatever,” Hagakure responded after a couple minutes of silence, too stunned to even think.

“Now are you going to answer my question,” Hitoshi prodded.

“I don’t see why you would care about my reasoning,” Hagakure answered.

“I don’t.” Hitoshi steadily responded.

Hagakure could only blink before Hitoshi started talking again.

“If I’m being honest, I don’t give a rat's ass about your reasoning. Why you did what you did, I do not care to know. It’s idiotic and not worth my time figuring out. So I don’t care. But Izuku does. And since he is my commander, I do what he tells me to.”

“So why does he care to know?”

“Because Izuku is Izuku. There’s really not much more to it. He’s the villain commander yeah, but he’s also a hero in the hero course. He’s also your classmate. He has his reasons, one’s I really don’t want to put the effort into figuring out. But he wants to know because he cares.”

“Yeah he cares so much he blasted all of us in the beginning with his quirk, shot at us with paintballs that felt like bowling balls being blasted at you, and caused explosions that traumatized half our team. It really seems like he cares.”

“If you can only take away the what and not the why, then you’re an idiot.”

“You can’t talk to me like that!” Hagakure shrieked.

“Looks like I just did,” Hitoshi answered before continuing on. “You can stand there and bitch about how what we did was awful, and you would still be an idiot. So what we did all those things?”

“So what!” She screeched again.

“Yeah so fucking what,” he snapped back, “We did those things because people needed to see. Actions speak louder than words. People need to see the possible outcome if reform isn't made. I mean we don’t regret what we did, it was fun as hell, but people, our classmates, the other courses, they needed to feel what we felt to understand. Feel what others do everyday to just open their eyes. So bitch all you want, it doesn’t change anything. We did all those things and we will do even more with no regrets. If that’s what it takes to get everyone to understand, we’ll bring down this entire city. This competition, it’s a game for others but not for us. It is our lives, or what could have been. So again, bitch all you want, we’re not stopping because you yelled and threw a tantrum. The worlds fucked, get over it.”

“Get. Over. It.” Hagakure slowly spoke out.

“Yeah that is what I just said.” 

“How can I ever get over the opportunities you took away from us! This was the time to prove ourselves. Prove ourselves as heroes. But all that has happened since we entered was to be at the hand of the villains and get embarrassed left and right. You don’t regret it? You should! This was the time for people who felt less than others to prove that they are somebody. And you took that away!”

“So that’s why,” Hitoshi chuckled, “you wandered alone, came at us alone, because you’re in drastic need to prove that you are somebody.”

“Did you not hear what I just said, you took those opportunities away from us!”

“I heard what you said and I don’t give two flying fucks. You wanted to prove yourself? Then you should have done it. Don’t blame the villain team for your shit performance. We had a goal and we worked for it. The only person you can blame for this is yourself.”

“ Wow Hitoshi, way to kick someone when they’re already down, ” Izuku muttered into his comm.

The purple haired boy rolled his eyes, but he also knew, just like Izuku, that what he said was the truth.

It was harsh and even a little bit mean, but it was the truth.

“I’m tired of this,” Hitoshi muttered.

Stand still and do not move, he ordered through his quirk, activating the connection he lightly held on earlier when he asked a question during their conversation. 

He then received a purple ball from his pocket and removed the clipping on top.

Hagakure stared at that purple ball until her eyes widened and she started to freak out, eyes filling with tears.

It was a grenade.

A purple grenade.

A purple glitter bomb grenade.

“This grenade was built specifically to last two minutes before it detonates, courtesy of Mei,” Hitoshi winked as he said that. He winked. “I’ll leave this by your feet so you can watch your impending doom. You can watch it and know that this all could have been avoided if you didn’t start to make decisions based on your emotions. Emotions are good, but they also lead you down bad paths, paths like this. It’s great you wanted to prove yourself, everyone wants to, but not like this. You do not do it like this. You do not put yourself in danger to make a statement in hopes that someone will notice you. You do not put your emotions before your safety. We do not regret what we do, because we do it to teach lessons. Lessons that people need to learn in order to become better. So be better. Learn from this and be better.”

“You planned this,” she whispered out, defeated.

“No,” he defended. “I planned for you to attack me on site. I planned for you to fight with everything you had. I planned for you to surprise me and have backup around the corner. I planned for you to have some sort of plan conjured up since you came at us alone. I planned for you to be smart about this. I planned for you to prove yourself in a way that didn’t compromise your safety. All those things I planned for. What I didn’t plan for, was you to be so caught up with your emotions and desire to be somebody that you didn’t even attack your enemy. That you would rather bitch about what we have done than at least try to avenge those you assume we have wronged. So watch that grenade, learn from this, and be better. Because next time, it might not be glitter you’re up against.”

He started to walk away, leaving the invisible girl rooted to her spot, looking at that bomb with nothing but despair in her eyes.

“I just wanted to prove that I was somebody.” She whispered out, completely broken.

Hitoshi came to a halt. 

He shouldn’t, he really really shouldn’t.

But when he tried to take a step forward to exit the alley, images of Mei and Momo flashed through his eyes and he couldn’t help but think, what if that was them?

What if they did what that invisible girl did to just be noticed?

He shouldn’t, but at that point, he didn’t care. Let his parents embarrass him about him going soft, he could be nice once in a while.

So taking a deep breath, Hitoshi turned his head and spoke out as firmly as he could to get the girl to listen and understand what he was saying.

“You’re already somebody,” he started. He didn’t need the thermal glasses to know that the girl's eyes snapped to him, full of disbelief. “You might not believe it since you probably had been told shit growing up, but you’re already somebody. I don’t understand why you need to prove it when you have always been. I get wanting to be noticed, I understand that, but from what I see, you already have been.” The next words out of his mouth almost caused him indigestion, but for Momo and Mei, he would say it. “Bakugou wouldn’t have just chosen anyone for his task. He chose you because he noticed you. He acknowledged you. You were somebody to him. You can try and fight me on this but even Izuku could tell you he doesn’t just give orders to just anybody. He doesn’t give orders to a nobody. He gave them to you, because you were already somebody. So next time you decide to pull a move only for morons, just know that there are people out there who have noticed you and your abilities. Who will acknowledge you because you are somebody.”

After his speech, he turned away and hurried back to their base, needing a shower to get the feeling of kindness off of him.

“Softy,” he heard Neito mutter into his comm.

“Fuck off,” he snapped back.

“Maybe you should start giving the pep talks because for someone who hates talking to others, you’re fairly good at it,” Izuku spoke, voice filled with amusement.

“Oh would you look at that, the rope just became tighter,” Hitoshi grumbled.

“Thank you,” he heard Momo and Mei utter at the same time, voices filled with emotion.

“Whatever,” he replied, refusing to admit his face started to become red.

He was not soft, and he would fuck up anyone who said differently.

But for his teammates, for the two girls who had filled his life with chaos and warmth, he didn’t mind making an exception.

He didn’t have to help Hagakure, if anything he wanted to get out of there right away. 

But he had to.

For Mei and Momo he had to.

Because what if that were them? What if it were them who felt as if they were a nobody?

He couldn’t allow it.

Wouldn’t allow it.

So he made an exception, and when he walked through the base and Mei jumped to him, chaos eyes shining bright behind tears and Momo smiling at him brighter than she ever had, he knew he made the right choice.

And well, if Izuku came up to him, patted him on the back, and then whispered in a demonic voice that he had hoped he counted his minutes, he would deny it to his very end that he hid behind those two very girls and pleaded for them to be his human shields. His justification was that he felt as if he earned that right.

He wasn’t soft, but for his team, for his friends, well he would always make an exception.

Hagakure stared at the purple grenade after Hitoshi left and she wasn’t afraid.

If anything, she was happy.

She didn’t know how badly she needed to hear those words that Hitoshi said until well, he said them.

It was almost as if a weight that had been on her chest for decades suddenly and magically evaporated.

She felt lighter.

She felt freer.

She felt at peace.

Their conversation rolled around through her mind and the more she thought about it, the more she realized the good that the villain team was doing. She called them out earlier with their harsh actions, but being in the same position most of her teammates were in, she realized that it was effective.

She knew what she did was stupid, but she let her emotions make her feel like she had to do it.

And the consequence of that was the purple grenade right in front of her.

She deserved it and she wasn’t afraid anymore to admit it.

“You guys better win,” she spoke out loud for the universe to hear before her entire body was covered in purple and a teacher suddenly appeared by her side to escort out.

She walked out that arena with a smile on her face and her heart lighter than it had ever been.

She didn’t know what the villain team's plans were, but she knew from the way Hitoshi spoke, it was going to be big.

The villain team were insane, chaotic, and slightly mental, but they were not monsters. And it seemed that everything they did, every plan, had a bigger message behind it. A bigger meaning than what was just on the surface.

We will do even more with no regrets, that was what Hitoshi had told her.

Alright, Hagakure thought, show the world what more you have to teach them then. After all, just like you said, people need to feel to learn.

Chapter Text

“I should be a motivational speaker,” Hitoshi spoke out into the room, mostly talking to himself more than to the others.

“Don’t quit your day job,” Neito muttered under his breath while also simultaneously rolling his eyes.

“All I’m saying is that I talked some good shit out there,” he defended.

“I think you talk too much,” Neito snapped back, still strapped to the chair that Mei put him in.

Yes.

Strapped.

Mei had strapped him into a chair right before Hitoshi came back. At first he thought it was a funny joke to have them separated so they wouldn’t fight or at least pretend to. But now, she was bringing out weapon after weapon that could very well be used as torture devices. 

He was scared.

“Help me,” he grumbled to Hitoshi once the boy saw his predicament. However, Hitoshi, the bastard that he was, just smirked at the blonde haired boy while walking out of the room.

“You’ll fucking pay for that,” Neito mumbled under his breath before he did the most manly thing possible, and started to beg for his life. “Hey Mei, so listen. This has been great. Truly wonderful. Spectacular even. But Izuku needs me for something and you know how he is, can’t be late. So how about you get me out of these restraints and I go do that. I’ll even bribe Momo to make you some new parts for things. How does that sound?”

“Izuku doesn’t need you,” Mei replied while still looking through her things without even glancing at the boy in the chair.

“I’m going to die,” Neito thought before taking a deep breath and once again doing the most manly thing possible, and screaming for his life.

“IZUKU YOU BETTER GET IN HERE BEFORE SHE KILLS ME. IF ONE OF HER TOOLS TOUCHES MY PRECIOUS SKIN SO HELP ME GOD I'LL START DOING FRIENDLY FIRE.”

Just as he expected, Izuku ran into the room two seconds after he had stopped screaming.

“Mei,” Izuku snapped, “what on earth are you doing?”

“10 million!” Mei cheered. “I wanted to test out some stuff for our next plan and I needed a willing participant.”

“I. Am. Not. A. Willing. Participant.” Neito seethed out, now struggling to get out of his restraints.

“Mei,” Izuku sighed disapprovingly, “you need to ask before you start doing things like this.”

“But if I asked he wouldn’t be willing to. So to go around that, I just didn’t ask and assumed he was good with it!”

“Mei,” Izuku sighed again, knowing that he wouldn’t be able to get through to her. At least not during this competition.

“Fine,” she finally relented. “I guess I can let him go just this once. But it would have been so fun to see what this tool did to him!”

The tool in question, a hammer.

“Get me out and the fuck away from her,” Neito now panicked.

The moment Izuku released his restraints, Neito flew out of the chair and across the room. Putting as much distance as he could between the two of them.

After catching his breath and eyeing Mei warily to see if she was going to make a move again, he decided to do what he had promised himself not even 3 minutes before he was released.

He steadily walked over to her “torture table,” picked up a crowbar, took a deep breath, and then screamed out into the room for the entire building to hear,“Hitoshi, I’m fucking coming for you. You better run or else today will be your last day here. I told you that you will pay!”

“Guys no-” Izuku tried but he couldn’t finish his statement since Neito had already run out the room.

He heard a crash and a bang and then feet rapidly running to another room with a door slamming.

He could hear Neito yelling that he “just wanted to talk,” and then he could hear Hitoshi responding with “leave me alone you crazy fucker.”

“Those two will be the end of me,” he thought before grabbing his mic.

“Momo,” he sighed tiredly into his comm.

“I’ll handle it,” she responded back without another word.

He heard two male voices screaming now and smiled vindictively. 

“That’s what they get,” he once again thought.

He stood in his spot and watched Mei bring out tool after tool that honestly, even scared him.

“Mei,” he spoke. “Our next plan doesn’t require this much stuff. If anything one hammer will do.”

“But Izuku,” she whined, “I need all these tools. How do we torture someone that’s unbreakable? The answer is, we can’t! We have to get through his defenses first before the real fun can begin.”

“Okay absolutely not,” he was quick to state. “The point of what we are doing is to get through his defenses so we can get him out quickly. We can’t use bombs or guns on him because it will just bounce off and not injure him enough to be classified as “dead”. That’s why we have to use these items in order to wear down his unbreaking so we are able to get him out.”

“So you’re saying I can’t use my tools on him anymore after he exhausted his quirk and is no longer hardened,” Mei clarified while pouting.

“Exactly,” he confirmed. “We can’t actually harm our competition. We just need him to exhaust his quirk. And what better way to do that then strap him in this chair, use these tools that won’t even cause a wince of pain in his quirked state, and then once he drops his quirk, we quickly use a “knife” or a “gun” to get him out.”

“That doesn’t sound like much fun,” she mumbled under her breath. Her previous excitement now close to none.

“I know,” he stated. “But it’s the only way to get him to a point where we can get him out.”

“I guess,” she once again sadly stated.

“How about this,” Izuku announced, trying to bring back her previous excitement since he hated seeing her down. “How about you go help Momo with the devices we need to capture him.”

“Oh oh oh!” She cheered, already forgetting what she was upset about. “How are we going to capture him! I overheard you saying that he hasn’t left the building.”

“Oh well that’s easy,” He supplied. “We’re going to smoke them out. Not with fire or anything but smoke bombs that cut off air for about a minute. It’s not a lot to the point that someone will die or even pass out, but it’s enough for their mind to register that they would need fresh air. If anything, that’s all they would be able to focus on. While the heroes are outside and disoriented, we will then use Momo’s device she’s making to secure him.”

Mei had looked at him confused for a second before her grin started to widen and her eyes became full with chaos. 

“I’ll go find Momo,” she quickly stated before dropping the tool she was holding and running out the room.

Izuku could only chuckle.

He knew that his next plan would paint him in a bad light. He knew he might even be docked points for the trauma he was about to bestow on the boy he kinda actually liked. But it had to be done. He couldn’t come up with any other plans than this to get him to release his quirk. Bullets bounced off him. He was protected by blasts due to his quirk. Everything he had in his arsenal for others, wouldn’t work for him.

There was no other way.

Staring at the chair where a red haired boy would be strapped to within the hour, caused an emotion of hate to settle within him.

He hated what he was about to do. Hated how people would view him and his team after. But this was a competition, one he would not lose. People could hate him all they wanted, he was tasked with being the villain commander, and so he would be villainous.

In a way, he knew what he was about to do would alter his relationship with All Might. He knew it almost as much as he knew his own name. All Might might have chosen him for this role, might have supported him for this role, but All Might had a sense of justice so strong even he could never compete with it. All Might wouldn’t be able to differentiate a competition from real life. He wouldn’t be able to see that although Izuku had made these plans, he would never act on them in real life. All Might wouldn’t be able to understand that he would never actually hurt someone.

He stared at that chair and those tools and mourned his loss. The loss of a mentor and the one who had gifted him his power. He knew it would hurt to see the look in All Might's eyes when he saw him again. The look of “I don’t know who you are anymore.” He would despise it and stress over it. Maybe cry and yell over it. But he wouldn’t break over it. He knew he wouldn’t. Because as much as All Might would look at him in disgust, Aizawa would look at him with pride. 

He knew he would. He knew Aizawa wouldn’t think that he was capable of harming others outside the walls of this competition. Aizawa, his teacher, and the man who he wanted so badly to be his father, wouldn’t look at him any differently. Aizawa would understand. Aizawa would be able to differentiate. And if he still had Aizawa, everything would be alright. If he still had Yamada, the man who could make him smile and laugh even on his worst days, he would be more than alright.

So Izuku stared at that chair and those tools, hated and mourned, but stood strong.

The world needed to understand.

And if it cost him relationships, then so be it.

He had his friends. He had his brother. He had the two men he thought of as his fathers. He had his family.

All Might could hate him.

The world could despise him.

But his family would support him.

And he was beginning to understand that their support was all he would ever need.

“Did I hear that correctly,” All Might uttered out into the room, staring at the chair on the screen with a hint of disgust and shock. “Is he really going to torture someone.”

“It’s not real torture. You even heard him say it. It’s just to weaken a quirk,” Snipe cut in, sensing the mood All Might was entering.

The entire staff room stared at All Might. From the moment Izuku revealed what he wanted to do, the tension and anger rolling off the man was palpable.

“All Might, it probably won’t even be that bad,” Midnight cut in, eyeing the number one hero but also eyeing her two friends, who had gone ridiculously silent the moment All Might had spoken. 

“Midoriya is doing this for show. He’s been sending a message to the world this entire time. I trust he won’t take this that far.” Ectoplasm put in, trying to de-escalate a situation he knew would escalate if it kept going.

“Oh you trust him do you,” All Might seethed. “You see, that’s funny. I trusted him to excel as a villain while still being heroic. I trusted him to do the right thing while abiding by the code that hero’s go by. I trusted him to not put in his plans to torture someone.”

Midnight stared at All Might and could almost see the anger coming off him. However, from the corner of her eye, she could feel the hatred rolling off Aizawa.

The hatred wasn’t directed at Izuku. No, it was directed right at the number one hero. Yamada could feel it. Aizawa’s hatred was so vicious that it even made him, his husband, cower a little bit.

“When this competition is over Nezu,” All Might started, “You, Me, and Young Midoriya will have a long talk in your office about his spot in this school.”

“Now All Might, before we go there-” Nezu tried, but All Might interrupted.

“People like that have no place in this school. People like that have no place becoming a hero.”

The staff room was completely silent.

Waiting.

And then Aizawa lunged.

He was able to get a hit or two in before he was tackled to the floor. All Might stepped towards him but Aizawa activated his quirk, staring at All Might with hate filled eyes.

“Let me go,” Aizawa yelled while struggling against whoever was on top of him. 

“Shouta calm down,” Yamada tried. He wanted to hurt All Might as well, but right now, he had to be the voice of reason.

“Let. Me. Go,” Aizawa yelled again, still thrashing in the arms of his colleague.

“You called him your son,” All Might spoke out. “Like father like son I guess.”

It took a nanosecond before Yamada lunged.

“I’ll ruin you,” Yamada seethed, struggling against another colleague who had their arms wrapped around him to stop him from advancing forward.

All Might didn’t get the message. He didn’t get the message that he should just shut up. However, he couldn’t just shut up. He was hurt. The plans Izuku was coming up with hurt him. He was seeing a side of the boy he never saw before, and he was hurt that he had to witness it for the first time along with the rest of the world.

He saw Aizawa struggling and knew that the heroics teacher had seen that side of him before. He saw Yamada struggling and knew that he had also seen it. So why hadn’t he?

Why hadn’t the person who he had given his quirk to not trust him enough to show him.

He was angry and hurt. And because of that, he couldn’t shut up.

He whirled around to Power Loader and let his hurt filled mind do the talking.

“I see Hatsume is all in with this plan as well. But I guess that’s normal for her seeing that she was always meant to be institutionalized.”

Power Loader lunged. But he too was held back by a colleague.

“Say that again I dare you,” he grumbled out, fighting against whoever was holding him.

“Everyone, that's enough!” Nezu yelled. The room suddenly became dead silent and all three restrained teachers stopped fighting. Nezu never yelled.

Never.

“I understand the hurt emotions in this room even though it took me a while to get there. Aizawa, Yamada, Maijima, please calm down. All Might, I think it’s best that you leave until this competition is over. If you can not act like an adult, then you are not allowed in this room any further.”

“Me not acting like an adult!” All Might's voice boomed through the room. “I’m not the one who tried to attack another hero, tried to attack a colleague, all because they didn’t like to hear what I had to say.”

“No,” Nezu stated calmly. “You’re the hero who for this entire competition kept provoking the teachers who have an emotional attachment to the students you were talking low of. I may not understand a lot about humans and their emotions, but I understand the need to protect what they deem as theirs. That is an emotion I understand very well. And those kids are who they think of as their own children. Although childish, I can justify their actions. Yours however, I’m not so sure of.”

“Absolutely ridiculous,” All Might mumbled under his breath.

“Either remain silent the rest of the time or leave,” Nezu responded.

Aizawa, Yamada, and Power Loader glared at him with the force of a thousand suns.

“I will stay,” All Might mumbled into the room. He didn’t particularly want to, but he thought he had to. He needed to know what other things the green haired boy never told him. What he had hid from him.

“Then shut your fucking mouth,” Aizawa seethed out. Slowly getting up from the floor after he was released.

“Maybe not in those exact words,” Nezu started, “but yes, please keep your comments to yourself and refrain from speaking about Midoriya and Hatsume.”

All Might could only nod, clench his fists besides his body, and stare at the screen that was broadcasting the competition.

All Might was a flawed man, that was obvious, but he couldn’t understand what he had done so wrong that warranted his student, his boy, to hide from him. Or at least hide a part of him. He couldn’t for the life of him understand why he couldn’t be trusted enough to be told or shown the truth.

He would remain silent, he would watch, and then after he reeled in his emotions, he would talk to his boy after everything was over. He cared about that green haired boy more than he did himself, and he needed him to understand that if he had just trusted him enough to show that side of him, he wouldn’t have said the things he did.

He needs Izuku to understand that if had told him the truth, he wouldn’t be seeing him as he does now. He wouldn’t be seeing him as a villain.

He glanced to his side and saw that all three teachers were still glaring at him. Almost as if they were waiting for him to say something stupid so they could try and attack him.

Again.

He rubbed his sore jaw from where Aizawa had hit him previously and stared at the broadcast screen as if it were his lifeline.

He wanted to talk to his boy.

He needed to talk to him.

He had to understand why Aizawa, who had only been his teacher for a short while, gained more trust and respect than him. Gained more trust than the person who had given him his quirk.

He had to understand.

If he didn’t, well, he didn’t know what his relationship would be with the boy. Because as of right now, from what he was seeing and from what was hidden from him, he wanted nothing to do with him anymore.

Kirishima never saw it coming. 

One second he was leaning against the wall watching Bakugou once again scan over his map, and the next, smoke was filling the room.

He knew something was thrown into the building, seeing as he heard the glass shatter from the window besides him. But although he knew he shouldn’t panic, his brain didn’t get the message. His mind kept chanting air air air air repeatedly until that was all he could think about.

He needed air.

He needed to get outside.

Removing himself from the wall, he grabbed Bakugou and started to move towards the front door. He could see his teammates covering their mouths with their hero costumes. He wasn’t able to do the same, since he had no shirt to go with his costume, so holding his breath was the best and only solution.

He was not even 30 feet away from the door when he heard Bakugou gasping for air. Panic filled his entire being which caused him to haul Bakugou up, and use all the strength he had to throw him towards the door.

The smoke around him wasn’t normal. Bakugou was disoriented. He never was disoriented. He could see his other teammates slowly trickling out of the building, swaying side to side as if they too had no control over their body.

Something was very very wrong.

Throwing Bakugou towards the door used up more energy than he would have ever thought. He couldn’t walk anymore. The moment he saw Bakugou out of the building, he collapsed on the ground and started crawling towards the exit.

He couldn’t breathe.

He needed air.

He needed to get out.

He heard something behind him but paid no attention to it. His mind was continuing the same chant over and over again which was all he could think about.

If he had paid attention, or at least turned around, he would have seen a portion of the floor lift up. The portion of the floor that had been covered by a rug from the moment the hero team entered the building. The same exact rug that prompted his teammates to rant about how nice it was for their teachers to try and spruce the place up.

If he had turned around he would have seen two figures emerge from the part of the floor that was lifted, both sporting gas masks. If he had only turned around, he would have seen exactly how the villains got in their base.

But he didn’t.

He couldn’t.

His mind, affected by Momo’s and Mei’s concoction of chemicals, wouldn’t allow him to. 

All he saw was the door and thinking air, before his vision became dark and he passed out.

One of the members of the villain team slipped a mask on him to allow the air he thought he badly needed to flow through. The other member of the villain team strapped a device that made his body weightless and hauled him into their arms before turning around and walking back towards that hidden stairway below the lifted floor. Once the villain’s and Kirishima’s heads were out of view, the remaining villain member closed the portion of the floor that was lifted, reassembled the rug to look as if nothing was astray, and then promptly escaped through the back door. Taking the roofs to prevent being seen on the ground.

After a minute of running across the rooftops, the villain member heard a rage filled explosion that could have only come from one person and one person alone.

Kirishima was gone and Bakugou was pissed.

Don’t worry, the villain thought, you’ll see the show soon enough.

As the villain member ran further and further away from the hero base, laughter bubbled out of their mouth and into the world.

Being villainous had never felt so good.

“How?” Was the question that every member in the staff room asked at the same exact time.

How?

How was it possible for the villains to have a secret stairway inside the hero’s base?

“That’s not possible right?” Power Loader asked, not understanding what had just happened. The smoke the villains used was a dark grey, but thanks to the cameras and their high resolution, it wasn’t visible to anyone watching.

“Nezu can you scroll back to the very first day when the villains were setting up,” Aizawa asked, face devoid of emotion but still just as shocked as everyone else.

Once Nezu scrolled all the way back to the first day on the film that was already recorded since it wasn’t a part of the broadcast, he went frame by frame to see what exactly had occurred during that one hour.

The teachers could see Hatsume setting up her workspace. They could see Izuku talking with Hitoshi while they both set up cameras all around the city. They could see Momo skim through all of her notes while making sure there was enough food so she had enough lipids. They even saw Neito helping out as well. As Nezu scrolled further into the video, the teachers saw Momo make the same rug that was in the hero base as well as the gas masks that were just worn. They were able to see how Izuku and Hitoshi stared at the building that was the hero’s base after the cameras were set up across the street. They could even see Neito go around the back of the building and practice the same escape route they just saw the villain member take. They saw everything, except the villains going into the building. They never stepped foot inside the building before the heroes were there because then that would be grounds for disqualification.

So how did they do it, every single teacher thought.

And suddenly, it clicked in Aizawa's mind.

“Holy fucking shit,” he mumbled out, turning to Yamada with wide eyes as the other man just stared back at him, confused.

“You know how they did it,” Vlad King asked.

“Tell us,” Midnight demanded.

“Spill it,” Snipe requested.

“Shouta what,” Yamada spoke.

“Nezu,” Aizawa turned to the principal, eyes still wide. “You have the first day already recorded right.”

“I do,” Nezu responded. Whiskers twitching as if he were finally catching on as well.

“Can you scroll back to the very moment the hero team entered the arena. To the very moment the broadcast started and everyone remained still and then pause.”

As Nezu did what he asked, the teachers were staring at Aizawa with faces of disbelief. How could he possibly know how they did it?

“Alright here's the image,” Nezu stated, looking at the paused screen and trying to find what Aizawa was looking for.

As Aizawa skimmed the photo, his eyes finally found what he was searching for. Or at least who he was searching for.

“There,” he pointed to the screen. “Right there. Do you see who is standing by that land post?”

As the teachers saw where he was pointing, it was Vlad King that cut in. “That’s Juzo Honenuki, his quirk is softening.”

“Yes,” Aizawa stated, “but do you see who is standing behind him?”

As every eye turned to the body behind the boy, every teacher suddenly straightened. Because standing directly behind the boy Vlad King just mentioned, was a tall purple haired boy in a ball cap with his face turned to the ground.

“He used the hijacked broadcast to slip in and to slip out.” Aizawa supplied.

“But that still doesn’t explain how they built a staircase underneath the ground. Honenuki’s quirk softens. It doesn’t create like Cemtoss’s.” Midnight questioned.

Nezu moved up the recording to where they could see Honenuki walk directly into the hero base, with Hitoshi and Momo directly behind him. Then they watched as Hitoshi quickly broke through the wood flooring, and revealed a small piece of cement. Honenuki then softened the small small piece while Momo built some sort of tubing system that entered the softened cement. This tubing system was unique. The more it went into the cement, the more the cement shaped around it, forming a stairway as well as hallway. They watched how Hitoshi quickly glued together the ripped out floor boards and attached something to the side of it. He then placed an electronic device right into the tunnel that Momo had just created. They watched as Hitoshi stood up and whispered something to Honenuki who had just nodded. Momo and Honenuki then disappeared into the tunnel while Hitoshi pressed a button in his hand, and watched the device he just attached to the glued floorboards move up and down. He covered the spot with the rug Momo created and made his way out of the base and to the back, where a couple blocks over he saw Momo and Honenuki appear out of the ground. They left the exit of the tunnel wide open since it was deeply hidden in an alleyway. Momo nodded to Hitoshi while Hitoshi whispered something to Honenuki. All the teachers then witnessed how Honenuki walked away, went back towards the entrance where his entire team was still standing watching the broadcast, and stood right back into the position he was in previously. Not even two seconds later he was blasted and declared out by the punch Izuku had thrown.

“What the fuck,” Aizawa spoke out, head still spinning from what he had just witnessed.

“What the fuck was that,” Power Loader voiced in.

“Did they-” Midnight started. “Did we really just watch our first year students do that?”

“But isn’t helping the other team against the rules?” Vlad King asked, ignoring Midnight since he was still so confused on why his student would switch to the other side.

“Normally yes,” Nezu answered. “But in this case, no. You forget Kan, Shinsou’s quirk is brainwashing.”

That statement alone caused a ripple throughout the staff room.

They had forgotten. 

In their moment of shock and amazement they had forgotten just how powerful the purple haired boys quirk really was.

“Fuck me,” Power Loader muttered, not even knowing how he should process what he had just witnessed.

“What those students did was completely within the rules. They knew where the hero base was because of the cameras they set up, but they could not do anything to it until the hero team entered the arena. Midoriya knew that and used it to his advantage. He had Hitoshi brainwash Honenuki when the broadcast started and then had Momo create a solid tunnel through whatever material she made. They most likely did a practice run during their week of preparation in order to use the best possible material to have the tunnel to hold and remain in shape. It truly is remarkable!” Nezu cheered. Extremely overjoyed about the events that had been taking place during the competition.

Aizawa went to open his mouth, but a sound coming from the live broadcast cut him off.

It was Kirishima who was currently struggling in the chair Neito had been strapped down to not even an hour earlier.

“Let’s see how much more remarkable this can get,” he mumbled.

He knew his kid was smart but holy fuck he didn’t know he was that smart. His plans were crazy but they worked.

Whatever Izuku wanted to happen during the competition always seemed to work.

I see you kid, Aizawa thought. Knowing that the villain team are doing what they have been doing in order to just be seen.

I see you, he thought again, knowing that although what he would witness at this moment would be rough, he still would undeniably be proud of his boy. His boy who felt as if he had to take it into his own hands to get people to understand.

I see you, he thought one last time. Knowing that after everything was over, he would do everything in his power to make sure both of his kids were okay.

He loved his class. Wouldn’t ever admit it out loud but he did. However, as much as he loved his class, he loved his kids more.

He would make sure his kids were alright and then his class.

After all, Hitoshi had told him what they did to his son before the competition had even started. Told him that Izuku had refused to report it since they needed to prove themself. Since this was their only time to let loose.

His class hurt his kid, and as much as he loved them, he loved his kids more.

What goes around comes around.

And as he watched Kirishima continuously struggle in that chair, he couldn’t help but think karma had finally come for the one who befriended the boy who had hurt his kid.

After all, karma isn’t very nice to those who make others feel bad about themselves.

And if he had to watch his son deliver that karma, he would watch with a smile on his face.

No one had ever claimed that he was completely right of mind either.

“This is so unmanly,” Kirishima raged from where he was restrained. “Let me out of these.”

“No can do bucko,” Mei cheered from her place by Izuku’s side. 

It was just them two. Hitoshi was tired from hauling the boy to their base in though he was weightless and Neito, well, he was tired from all the running across the rooftops he did. Momo was somewhere far away from where they were since she had no intention of listening or even watching. She couldn’t stomach it. Mei had stated that she was looking forward to testing her tools and although Izuku had already talked to her about not actually harming Kirishima, he was still scared.

“Midoriya man, this isn’t right, come on dude. Just let me go and we can talk.” Kirishima pleaded, struggling even more as he watched Mei take a rather long metal rod from her bags out.

Izuku, well, he was just amused. “There’s nothing we can talk about,” he stated. 

“This is so unmanly dude. Like seriously this is messed up. If it’s a fight you want then let me go and we can fight.” The red haired boy continued to plead.

“Oh I do want a fight,” Izuku cheerfully announced before his grin became wicked. “But that fight isn’t with you.”

Kirishima stared at him with wide eyes before a gleam of understanding shone through.

“Bakugou? You want Bakugou? You were just in our base. If you wanted him so bad why didn’t you just take him then? Why me? You know you win if you take out the hero commander.”

Izuku simply chuckled before stating, “I know exactly how we win. But although we won’t lose, our goal has never been about just winning. We have bigger plans. Plans that mean more than just a grade. If I were to take Bakugou, get him out now, what good would that do? He still wouldn’t understand. The world would still be shit. Our plans that we created to cause change would have all been for nothing. This is a competition, yes, but it’s also the time to prove what you can do. We’re proving what villains can do. We’re proving what happens when the world turns its back on people in need of help. Taking out Bakugou now would mean letting all of the people in the world who have wronged others win. And I will not allow that to happen.”

“So what,” Kirishima argued. “The world turned its back on you so you turn your back in the world,”

“Okay Lion King settle down,” Izuku spoke out once again, amused. “It sounds stupid but essentially yes. That’s how villains are created aren’t they? Something bad happened. Someone was wronged. And instead of the world helping. Instead of others caring, they turned their backs on those in need of help. So how is it wrong for the people who were hurt to do the same?”

“So you’re siding with real life villains now huh.”

“I’m not siding with anyone,” Izuku sighed. “All I’m saying is that I understand. I understand why villains do what they do. Why they feel like they have to do it. Everyone on my team understands better than anyone. And that’s why we’re doing this. Behaving this way. Making these plans. It’s because we understand that we feel as if we owe it to society to show them what happens. The world turned its back on us, but we refused to turn our backs on them. Not everyone can do that. Not everyone is strong enough to do that. Not everyone wants to do that.”

“You sound crazy,” Kirishima argued, still not relenting in his struggling. “So what villains refuse to not turn their backs or whatever. They made their choice.”

“That’s the thing,” Izuku stated. “They did make their choice. They made their choice to partake in villainy. To not hold out like me and my team did. But what we’re trying to do is to prevent that choice from even being presented. To stop the whole turning back thing. To just be in a country where someone who doesn’t have a quirk isn’t afraid to step outside. Where people who are different aren’t afraid to hide who they are. Where people can just live instead of being forced to make that choice.”

“Whatever you say man,” Kirishima mumbled, either refusing to listen or still so panic ridden he couldn’t.

“Example A,” the green haired boy mumbled under his breath before turning around to walk out the door. He was frustrated and becoming angry and those two were never a good combination for him.

“Mei,” he uttered, “I leave this to you.”

“Yesssss,” Mei cheered while grabbing the same hammer she had almost used on Neito earlier.

“Woah man where are you going. Midoriya!” Kirishima screamed.

Izuku simply kept walking towards the door that would lead to the hallway where his room was. However, before he reached for the knob to open the door, he turned his head far enough so that his emerald green eyes would meet Kirishima’s panicked red ones.

“You didn’t want to listen to me, so now you get to deal with Mei. Word of advice Kirishima, I suggest you harden.”

Izuku heard Kirishima’s quirk the moment it activated since it rubbed against the restraints. In the very next second he also heard a shout as Mei brought down the hammer on his rock-like skin.

It wasn’t a shout of pain but one of shock.

He meant it when he said he didn’t want to actually harm anyone. As he walked to his room, he heard more shouts of shock and various sounds of items being brought down upon the quirked body.

However, he wasn’t able to remotely enjoy his plan coming together.

“Why won’t anyone ever just listen,” he mumbled out, dejected. Even though he felt as if he wasn’t getting through to anyone, he would not give up.

He was challenged.

Challenged not only to be the villain commander but also to prove to the world that change is possible. That reaching a helping hand out isn’t as difficult as people assume it is.

If only there was a way to make an even bigger statement.

“10 million,” Mei announced as she entered Izuku’s room, hammer swinging in her right hand as if it were her own personal toy. “My test subjects quirk gave out. Like he might be on the border of quirk exhaustion. He was just too stubborn.”

“You didn’t do any harm right,” Izuku clarified as he got up from his bed and subtly grabbed her hammer, not wanting her to swing that around him any longer.

“Not even a scratch,” she pouted while Izuku just chuckled and mumbled out a quiet good.

As he walked into the room he noticed Kirishima sagging a bit and looking overly exhausted. And just as Mei stated, there wasn’t even a scratch on him.

“I guess the fun is unfortunately over,” Izuku spoke out, grabbing one of the guns loaded with paintballs that was just to the right of him.

“What was the purpose of this?” Kirishima asked. He would admit he was scared at first when the pink haired girl kept hitting him with tool after tool. He even screamed from shock in the beginning but towards the end, since it didn’t hurt, he just remained quiet and focused on holding his quirk up until he couldn’t no more.

“I’m so glad you asked!” Izuku cheered, previous frustration completely forgotten. “Do you see that camera straight ahead? Well that device recorded everything Mei did here. All sounds and noises and well, you get the image. Our teachers and the world will know that you weren’t actually hurt since it was broadcasted live and everything, but with some editing and higher sound effects, well, a package sent straight to someone who didn’t watch wouldn’t know the truth.”

Kirishima digested the information before his eyes got wide. “You’re going to send it to Bakugou?”

“Exactly,” Izuku smiled. “I’m getting bored of being the only one to make some moves and so, it’s time to drag him out of hiding.”

“He won’t fall for it.” Kirishima argued, hoping that he was right.

“I guess we shall see then,” Izuku smiled, knowing exactly how Bakugou would react. Everyone seemed to forget that although they were anything but close, they still grew up together. Izuku knew Bakugou like the back of his hand. And he knew exactly how to make him angry to the point it clouded his judgment.

“I’ll do the honors of getting you out since you were stuck with Mei for what I believe must have felt like an eternity for you.”

“How very kind of you,” Kirishima snarked.

“I try,” Izuku smiled before quickly shooting Kirishima in the vital spots and confirming the kill before removing his restraints. He grabbed Mei and dragged her out of the room because well, Kirishima was yelling and he was already getting a headache.

“Izuku?” Mei asked.

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you grab Bakugou. I mean I heard what you said, but wouldn’t it be easier to get him out now and embarrass him that way?”

Izuku thought about it, and let out a little sigh while they kept walking. “I thought about it,” he admitted. “It was actually something I strongly considered but I-I guess I wanted more.”

“More?”

“Yeah,” he responded. “If I were to get him out now, like that, I know I would still have this anger in me towards him. I would go everyday wishing that I used this time to do more to him. I guess keeping him in, prolonging the competition, it was a selfish decision.”

Mei thought about his statement a bit before she gently placed her hand on his shoulder. “It’s closure for you isn’t it?”

Izuku only laughed a bit and shook his head before starting that yeah, it was.

“This competition is closure for all of us.” Mei spoke out again. “You have been saying from the very beginning that we are acting like we should have. Like we would have if we were not stronger. I guess in a way, we’re getting a taste of what it would be like if we didn’t hold on. If we allowed the people to hurt us to win.”

“And what do you think?” Izuku asked.

“Of what?”

“Of the power and fear that we hold now over others.”

“I think,” Mei started after thinking over the question for a bit. “I think that power doesn’t last forever and that although it feels good to show what we are made of, it’s going to feel so much better getting back to our lives and acting like our true selves.”

“What if this is our true selves?” Izuku’s questioned

“It’s not. It’s a part of us, sure, but it’s not our true selves. We know who we are. We just had to show the world for this week who we could have been.”

“You’re completely right,” Izuku smiled, knowing deep down that although this persona is who he could have been, it’s not who he is .

“Are you really going to send the video to Bakugou?” Mei questioned.

“Absolutely. He’s been yelling for months about being the strongest and beating me and yet, he sends his teammates out instead of doing the work himself. Plus a little prank video never hurt anyone.”

Mei could only cackle while Izuku shook his head again and laughed.

It was time to draw Bakugou out. Time to show the blonde haired boy who he truly could have been if he was just a tad bit crazier.

Bakugou thought he was the best.

He believed that he was better than everyone else. Believed he was the strongest.

It was about time Bakugou learned that the strongest are typically people who don’t brag about their power.

It was time for him to learn who actually was the best between the two.

Bakugou had challenged Izuku. Calling him weak and a waste of space. Tormenting him his entire life.

Izuku would have let it go. He would, just like he always did, forgive and forget. But he was challenged.

And Izuku, when challenged, never loses.

Buckle up bitch , he thought, your turn is coming soon.

Chapter Text

The recording of Kirishima’s torture was delivered to the hero’s base in a nicely packaged present box that had a huge red bow sitting on top.

Why the big luscious red bow?

Well in the mind of the villain team, it was exactly what would draw out Yuga Aoyama from his place in the building.

There weren’t many heroes left.

Only 6, not counting Bakugou.

Izuku, for all that he had planned, realized he had gotten out more people than expected. Especially seeing that it was only the afternoon of the third day.

He was able to see that 7 people walked off the street after the bombing. He knew Kirishima and Bakugou were in the base since they hadn’t been spotted, which meant that he had to fight only 9 more people until his team could be declared victorious.

Getting out Hagakure and Kirishima was a miracle since he believed those two would be the ones he would have had the most trouble with. He counted himself lucky that they were vulnerable to his team’s attacks.

What he was not lucky about though, was Aoyama still in the running.

He wasn’t nervous about the boy's power, he knew his team had him beat there if it ever came down to a fight. The reason he counted himself unlucky was because every plan he used to lure out the boy had failed.

Mei had tried her capture net, which failed drastically after the boy literally twirled away from it.

Momo created some cheese and made some sort of human size mouse trap, which the boy just skipped over and took the cheese so gently off the trap it didn’t even go off.

Hitoshi used his voice modulator to copy Bakugou’s voice in order to try and get him cornered, but the boy refused to listen. Not because the voice didn’t sound like Bakugou, but because he declared that he would only be listening to commands in French.

Neito, well he flung a rock at the boy and hoped for the best, which too had failed.

Izuku’s team couldn’t get him out, and it was frustrating Izuku beyond belief.

They got out Todoroki.

They got out Iida.

They got out Tokoyami.

They even got out Bakugou’s right hand man.

But whatever they did, they couldn’t even touch Aoyama. Or at least they couldn’t until Izuku came up with a very basic, very mundane, very ordinary plan.

A plan so unlike him, he hated it with every fiber of his being.

A plan that revolved around a prank.

He knew how much Aoyama loved sparkling objects. He knew that the boy would be too encapsulated to notice something being amiss. And because he knew this, he decided to capitalize on it.

And how may you ask?

Well it was rather simple, Izuku had Momo create a present box that was purple and surrounded by glitter. Then he had her create the big red sparkly bow. And finally, he had her create a blinged out picture frame. Mei took some pictures of Aoyama and then printed them out before framing them.

Their plan was to hide a minuscule landmine under the picture frame that would go off when it was picked up. It would be much like a puff of air in the face, but instead of air, it would be purple powder since that’s what was stored in the “bombs.” The recording of  Kirishima would be below that so the “landmine” didn’t damage it.

It was such a disgustingly easy plan, and Izuku hated it.

He knew he should have liked how easy it was going to be to pull it off, but no matter what, he couldn’t bring himself to even entertain the idea of liking it.

For the entire competition, his brain worked overtime coming up with plans and strategies in order to take down the other team. He built revolutionary robots and set off a chain reaction of bombs. He blasted people away with one punch and even had an underground tunnel built going into their enemy’s base. He loved his plans. Loved the attention to detail, the skill, the knowledge needed to pull it off perfectly. Everything he came up with, he was proud of.

This though.

This he wished he never had to entertain.

He could see Hitoshi laughing from his peripheral vision as he delicately placed the miniature land mine into the box and the picture frame above it, causing the trigger to click into place. He even caught Momo hiding her smirk behind her hand because he was that annoyed and everyone would know it. He loved his plans, but this one was going to make him hurl and he said as much.

“Oh come on,” Hitoshi had chucked, shaking his head as if Izuku wasn’t going through a crisis. “The plan is not that bad.”

“It’s giving me constipation,” Izuku deadpanned, hating the way he had to rearrange the picture of Aoyama so it would be the first thing you saw when you opened the box.

“I think it’s good you’re giving your mind a much needed rest from the incredible plans you’ve created thus far.” Momo pitched in, trying to be supportive.

Izuku only glared at her.

“Sorry,” she chuckled, loving how annoyed her leader was.

“Awe 10 million it’ll be okay,” Mei added. “I mean the plan is boring but at least we know this time it’ll actually work.”

Izuku didn’t even glance her way.

“I mean the plan is fucking stupid,” Neito spoke.

“Thank you!” Izuku cheered as a response. 

“But if it works it works,” Neito commented right after his cheer.

Izuku’s team had never seen the green haired boy deflate so fast before. “I hate you all,” he muttered beneath his breath before making the final touches and shoving the box into Hitoshi’s hands.

“For me? You shouldn’t have,” Hitoshi snarked, knowing he now had to walk all the way to the hero’s base to drop it off.

“It’s nothing,” Izuku once again muttered, storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him, ignoring the cackles of laughter that his teammates emitted in his wake.

This plan would work, and he would hate every second of it.  

So there he was, sulking in his room and watching the broadcast which showed his plan sitting right square on the hero team’s doorstep.

Hitoshi had essentially ding-dong ditched after dropping it off and when Aoyama opened the door, looked at the present, and his eyes lit up after he said “for Moi,” Izuku would forever deny the scream he let out into his pillow.

His brilliant plans had all failed and the one plan that involved a fucking purple box with a big ribbon was the one that was going to do the trick. 

Yeah, he was fuming.

Did he mention how much he hated the plan?

Because if he didn’t, he fucking hated it.

“Don’t you think the green bean is overreacting just a little bit?” Midnight asked, watching the present that was currently in Aoyama’s hands on one screen, and Izuku’s teammates on the floor laughing on another.

“Unfortunately, I agree with you.” Aizawa stated, staring at his kid and already coming up with plans to help him after the competition.

“I thought I would never see the day,” Midnight replied, smiling once she noticed how her friend was staring at the screen, with nothing but love in his eyes.

Most people wouldn’t see it. If she were to say that emotion was there she would be called crazy or even psychotic.

But she had also known Shouta Aizawa for a very, very long time. And so she could tell.

The emotion was there, and she loved it.

“It’s hard to admit but yeah, he shouldn’t be this upset after coming up with a plan that’s not like the rest. I mean this one is still extremely smart, but because he’s been doing plans on a much larger scale, it probably doesn’t feel as rewarding. He needs to understand that any plan, of any magnitude, is still incredible.” Aizawa supplied.

“Hound Dog, could you maybe write down some behavioral traits you are seeing and discuss those with Midoriya during the mandatory sessions after.” Nezu stated.

“Of course,” was the growling response.

Yamada saddled up next to Aizawa and whispered very softly into his ear so only his husband could hear, “don’t worry, we’ll take care of our babies soon.”

Aizawa could only nod.

Yamada knew this was tough on his husband. Despite appearances, Aizawa cared very deeply for his students. And even deeper for those he loved. Watching his son struggle over something he shouldn’t be struggling with, well Yamada knew how much it had to hurt to not be able to help the kid or talk to him at that very moment.

And when Yamada saw the love in Aizawa’s eyes, he couldn’t help the smile that took over his face.

The emotion was in his husband's eyes, just like it was in his, and he loved it.

Now if Izuku could only see it too.

“Oooo what is this!” Aoyama cheered out, absolutely adoring the purple box and red ribbon on top of it.

A part of his brain knew to not open the box. Knew to not take the chance. But the box was just so sparkly and pretty he had no other choice but to see.

And when he opened it up and saw the bedazzled picture frame with him in the center of it. He had no other choice but to pick it up and view it. He couldn’t just look in the box and at the picture frame without inspecting it.

He wasn’t a monster.

And when he went to pick it up and heard Bakugou’s yell of “wait,” well, he just continued right on. He didn’t answer to commands that weren’t in French.

The moment he picked it up he heard a sound and then got a mouthful and eyeful of purple powder. He heard Bakugou cussing up a storm behind him but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.

The bedazzled picture frame of him was just so utterly beautiful it took his breath away.

“Oi magnifique!” He cheered as he clutched his frame to his chest and made his way out of the arena.

He was out, and Bakugou was down a man, but Aoyama had a picture of himself and he loved it.

Everything was going to be alright.

“You fucking idiot!” Bakugou bellowed out into the room, pacing and raging.

“Maybe you should calm down,” a member of his team said.

“Maybe you should shut the fuck up,” Bakugou sneered, still talking under his breath about the stupid fucking idiotic French boy that was on his team.

The remaining team members just stared at him and then at each other.

This definitely wasn’t how they expected the competition to go. They knew Bakugou was a hardaas, but that is also why they picked him. They thought he would actually be fighting in this competition instead of them being sitting ducks for every plan the other team came up with.

One of the team members held a flash drive in their hands that had the recording of the “torture” on it. After Aoyama was directed out of the arena, they saw it laying on the floor by the box that he had opened. At first, they were going to ignore it. When they saw the To: Bakugou From: Your Favorite Villains, well they had half the mind to not give it to him. They didn’t know how he would react, but they knew whatever was on that recording, wouldn’t be good.

They didn’t want to give it to them, but their team still had a one person advantage on the other team. Maybe the video would light a fire under their commander’s ass. So despite what their mind was telling them, they gave Bakugou the recording.

“This was in the box Aoyama opened,” they muttered while putting it on the table Bakugou was pacing by. There was no way they were going to just hand it to him.

Bakugou saw how it was addressed and his face held even more rage than before. Everyone took a huge collective step back.

Bakugou didn’t say a word.

He picked up the recording, put it in his laptop to play it, and then watched.

He heard gasps from behind him after the video showed Kirishima tied to a chair.

He heard the cries and sobs of his teammates who had to hear the screams and cries of pain coming from the video.

He heard and saw it all, and he was so deathly calm, the rest of his teammates vacated the room the moment they noticed.

“Deku,” he snarled with the most vicious tone even the teachers watching cringed a bit.

“I’m going to fucking kill you,” he snarled again, before shutting off the recording, and exploding anything he could with his quirk.

The world that was watching was scared.

They felt as if instead of watching the hero commander, they were watching a villain instead. 

This however, was not why they were scared.

No, they were scared because when they watched Bakugou snarl the words about killing someone, they could tell he meant it. 

The world was watching a hero commander, but he was no hero. At least, not in their eyes. Not anymore. Not after what they had witnessed.

And for the first time since the competition started, for the first time since the very concept was introduced years ago, the world started to root for the v illains .

They started to chant and cheer. Praise and scream. But most of all, they started to recite the names of the five students who, for the past three days, had dominated the competition. The five students who had ingrained it into themselves to teach the lessons society refused to teach. The five students who were given it their all to get everyone to understand how and why people turn out like they do.

Bakugou without a doubt would come for Izuku, and that was exactly what the green haired boy had wanted.

Because when he came, he would be ready.

When Bakugou came from him, he would not run.

Not anymore.

When Bakugou came to kill him, he would not just sit and take it.

He was not weak.

He was not defective.

He was not useless or worthless.

He was not a mistake.

He had proved to his classmates, to the world, what he could do. What other people had the ability to do.

He would hate it, but he refused to protect Bakugou any longer. 

He had done it his entire life but he would not do it anymore.

When the big fight came, he would make sure to tell the world what was done to him. What the boy he would be fighting did to him. He would tell his story and he would not falter.

He had to prove to the ones that felt like all was lost that even they, one day, could take a stand against their tormentors.

He had to prove that there is, and will always be, a light at the end of the tunnel.

He was Izuku Midoriya and he was a hero.

It was about time he showed the world why Katsuki Bakugou wasn’t one.

Chapter Text

“Is everything in place?” Izuku asked into his mic, crouching on top of a high rise building, watching his target.

“Almost,” was what Hitoshi replied, background noises being picked up through his own mic.

“I’m all set 10 million!” Mei cheered over her own mic as well. Soon after, Momo and Neito both affirmed they were good too.

“And you guys know what to do?” He asked everyone one last time. 

It was a resounding yes coming from his entire team.

“Alright then,” he spoke, “I guess playtime is over. It’s time to win this thing.”

The cheers coming over their direct line warmed his heart and put a smile on his face.

The moment he had waited for had finally come. He finally had his chance to release years of pent up hurt and rage. He finally could let that broken boy buried deep within himself free.

As a smile crossed his face, he closed his eyes and looked up to the sky, wind blowing through his curls.

He was Izuku Midoriya.

He was born quirkless.

He was declared useless.

He was branded worthless.

But yet, he was still here. Fighting for the life he should have had.

He was Izuku Midoriya and he would not give up.

So taking one last deep breath, his attention turned back onto his target. The moment they reached where he had wanted them to, he immediately stood up and descaled the building. Ultimately landing right in front of said target.

If his target was spooked, they didn’t show it. However, Izuku could see the anger, fury, and pure hatred raging in his target’s ruby red eyes.

There on that street, similar to the one he had previously fought on months ago, stood a boy with explosions booming from his hands.

A blonde haired boy who stood toe to toe with a green haired one.

Ruby red clashed with emerald green.

A snarl met a smile.

And a bully stood in front of the one he bullied.

Izuku Midoryia stared at the boy who had caused him nightmares, and buried any and all pity and empathy he once had for him.

This wasn’t going to be a fight of friends.

This wasn’t going to be a fight of rivals.

This was going to be a fight to prove that even though some people are at a disadvantage, they are not useless, defective, or worthless. 

Izuku Midoriya stood in front of Katsuki Bakugou, and in the cheeriest voice with the biggest smile he could muster, he said two words that caused the blonde haired boy to spring forward, arms blazing.

Two words that caused the world to stare at their screens in pin drop silence.

Two words that caused the hero course classes and the teachers to be at the edge of their seats, almost as if they were watching a championship for a sports match.

Two words that used to be Izuku Midoriya’s favorite words.

“Hello Kacchan.”

     3 hours earlier

“So……. What are we waiting for?” Hitoshi asked, leaning back in the comfy chair that was in front of their monitors.

“Well, we are waiting for Bakugou to find us,” Izuku answered, scanning the video cameras on the laptop that was in front of him.

Mei, Neito, and Momo were lounging around in the room as well, not really paying attention to the conversation that was occurring.

“Yeah okay,” Hitoshi answered before his mind caught up to his brother’s statement. “And why exactly are we waiting for that douchebag to find us?”

At this, Izuku turned his attention away from his laptop and stared at Hitoshi as if he had grown two heads.

“What do you mean?” He asked.

“I mean why exactly do we have to be the ones to wait for him to come to us, why can’t we go to him? I mean, this is your revenge battle. You should at least get to determine when it takes place. Don’t let that dickwad decide that as well.”

“But,” Izuku started, “that was my plan. He was supposed to find us and then we could battle. I’m not worried about everyone else on his team, but it would still be nice to get them out first. If we go after him instead, this competition could end soon.”

“I don’t know about you or the others, but I’m kinda ready to go home,” Hitoshi replied, leaning even further back in his chair.

“I do have to agree,” Momo cut in, refusing to admit she was listening to their conversation. “I think you should be the one to determine when the battle takes place. And I too am missing the tea my family imports in.”

“Can’t you just make the tea?” Hitoshi asked, confused.

“I can but it is not the same,” she replied.

Hitoshi could only give her a weird look.

“I am missing my babies back in my lab,” Mei also added in. “I am having a super ton of fun. I really am! But, I think it’s time.”

“I’ll have to agree, it’s time,” Neito added as well.

“But there’s still 5 heroes left not counting Bakugou,” Izuku stated.

“So you let us take care of them,” Hitoshi immediately responded. “You fight Bakugou and us 4 will go after the remaining heroes. The fight with Bakugou isn’t ours anyways.”

Izuku thought it over for a while before agreeing. He hadn’t even realized by letting Bakugou come to him, he was once again allowing that boy to do whatever he wanted. He would go to Bakugou, and he would fight him on his terms.

“Where do you want the fight to happen?” Hitoshi asked after he got all his equipment set up.

Izuku thought about it for a while, and then decided being out in the open for the world to see was better than being in an enclosed building.

“I want to do it on the street where we first entered from. It’s big enough for my power to not do any significant damage to the buildings.”

“Sounds good boss,” was Hitoshi’s reply.

As Izuku watched all his teammates gather all the stuff they needed for their individual battles, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride for how far they had come.

This team had become his family in such a short time, he could not let them down. He would not let them down.

As he contemplated his battle with Bakugou, he suddenly had a thought that he never once considered. A thought, a plan, he knew was the right one to implement.

“Hey guys,” he called out to his teammates, gaining their attention. “Before you leave let’s huddle up, I have a new plan for the battle that I want to run by you.”

Curiosity gleamed in each and every member's eyes, but they all simply nodded and continued on with their tasks.

And as he told his team his plan, he couldn’t help the pride he felt as he watched understanding and joy radiate on their faces.

This was his team.

They were his teammates.

And no matter what, he would not let them down.

No matter what, he would not give up.

And if he had asked his teammates to wait by the exit of the arena until his fight was over, it was because he knew he could beat Bakugou. The faces of his teammates proved that. The joy on their faces that acknowledged his confidence proved that.

They trusted him to win just like he trusted them.

He would beat Bakugou and not even a minute later, they would exit the city and be declared winners.

He is Izuku Midoriya, and no matter what, he will not give up.

Todoroki sat on the couch with the rest of his class and couldn’t help but notice the sense of dread that filled the room.

Iida had gone deathly pale not long after the bombs went off, and everyone else had been mostly quiet the entire time. Especially when Bakugou revealed he used them as pawns.

Todorki watched the screen, the smile on his friend's face, and he knew without a doubt that whatever was coming Bakugou’s way, would not be pretty.

His classmates knew that as well, judging from their whispers of how “terrifying” Izuku looked.

“I never knew Deku could act like this,” Uraraka announced to the room, clinging onto Asui as if she was her own personal anchor.

“Neither did I,” Kirishima grumbled, still angry over the whole “torture” scenario.

Todoroki wanted to step in and defend Izuku, but he didn’t. Anything he said at that moment most likely wouldn’t even be heard. Plus, it wasn’t his story to tell as to why Izuku could even be this terrifying. However, he could tell, just by the look on his friends face, that his classmates were about to find out the reason.

So, he sat on that couch and watched the boy he loved get ready for the fight he knew would not be pretty.

He watched him and hoped that some part of his friend, a part that was kept buried deep within him, would be healed from this encounter.

Bakugou had been a bully for far too long, and it was about time someone put him in his place.

“This isn’t going to be an easy watch is it?” Midnight asked into the room, noticing how every teacher had eager looks on their faces, almost as if they knew this time would come and had waited patiently for it.

The only ones in the room that held an impassive face were Aizawa and Yamada.

Midnight knew her friends were worried. Beyond worried at that.

She knew they were probably preparing themselves for what they were about to witness. Preparing themselves to watch the boy they considered their kid, finally expose the horrors he most likely went through.

She knew that Izuku hid behind a bright smile sometimes, but she never knew why. However, she knew she was about to find out.

“Kiddo,” she whispered under her breath, “leave it all out there. When you come back home, we’ll catch you. Your family won’t let you down.”

Midnight never had the opportunity to become a mom. She wanted to, but with her line of work, she couldn’t bring herself to. So instead, she involved herself with Aizawa and Yamada’s life and thrust her way into their child’s as well. She cared for Hitoshi as if he were her own, because to her, he was. Aizawa and Yamada were her brothers. They were hers to protect. Hers to shower with attention when both of them got too deep into their job. And hers to watch over. And because of that, any child they adopted would automatically become hers as well. She protects Hitoshi as her family, because to her, he is. And since Aizawa and Yamada found themselves loving that adorable green bean of a kid, she will love him just the same. She will protect and be there for him, because to her, he was now her family too.

So, after the competition, she will be there right alongside Aizawa and Yamada and catch Izuku with them if he feels as if he can’t stop falling.

She would be there for him, for all of them. Because if she weren’t, who else would?

And just like when Aizawa broke, when Yamada and Hitoshi broke, she would be there to pick up the pieces. She will always be there to pick them up.

“Give him hell kiddo,” she mumbled under her breath once more. “Your family will be here to pick you up, no matter what.”

“YOU’RE FUCKING DYING TODAY,” Bakugou screamed as he let out blast and blast at Izuku.

Izuku was dodging left and right, knowing that under no circumstances could he let the blasts hit him.

Bakugou went in for a right hook and Izuku promptly grabbed his arm and flung him over, slamming the other boy on the ground. However, Bakugou was up once more, throwing everything he could at the boy.

Izuku wasn’t using his power to throw any punches. 

Not yet at least.

He was using it to evade and make himself faster. It was already hard to see what attacks Bakugou would throw at him, he couldn’t let his guard down.

Bakugou threw a left hook, Izuku dodged right. Bakugou’s right arm immediately came up with a blast, Izuku immediately ducked to avoid full impact.

That was how the fight was going.

Bakugou attacked, Izuku evaded.

It wasn’t time yet.

He couldn’t release his power.

He couldn’t reveal his suffering.

It wasn’t time

Not yet

Not yet

Not yet

With Izuku’s internal monologue on waiting for the right time, he didn’t see the kick coming straight to the face as he ducked under another one of Bakugou’s explosions.

The kick was so strong it propelled him a few feet backward, causing him to roll over and ultimately end with him face down on the pavement.

Not yet , he recited

“THAT'S THE BEST YOU GOT?” Bakugou screamed out from the small distance separating the two.

Izuku lifted himself up on two fists, but immediately became dizzy and collapsed back down. He just needed a second. One second and he was good to go.

“I should have known this fight would be over in a minute,” Bakugou sneered, not moving from his position. “You really were nothing but a quirkless, worthless Deku. Do everyone a favor and just drop out.”

Izuku made a move to stand up once more, but he once again collapsed back down. He needed a couple more seconds.

“What?” Bakugou sneered out again. “You thought you could beat me? Thought you could pull your stupid little fucking plans and still win? You are nothing in this world. Nothing but a defective nobody who shouldn’t have ever been born. No wonder your mom and dad left you. No wonder you are alone. People like you don’t deserve anyone.”

“I am not alone,” Izuku mumbled under his breath, and for the third time, pushed himself up onto his fists.

“HA,” Bakugou shouted. “What did you say?”

“I am not alone,” Izuku mumbled again, pushing himself up until he was on both knees.

“Speak louder fucker, let me hear what disgraceful things you have to say.”

“I am not alone,” Izuku mumbled once more, slowly standing and ignoring the dizziness that overcame his body.

“WHA-” Bakugou started to shout but was cut off by Izuku.

“I said,” he seethed out while his body suddenly became covered by green lighting, “ I. Am. Not. Alone.”

And suddenly, almost as if the gods above finally took notice of the boy who was once forgotten, a wish was granted. A wish that had been casted a long time ago by a small boy with green hair and green eyes. A wish that begged for someone, anyone, to not leave him behind.

A wish that had finally been granted after so many years of being ignored.

He wouldn’t have ever missed it. He was still a little dizzy and he was just getting his concentration back, but he could never miss the chaotic smile that Mei wore when she fired her capture net. And if by chance he did imagine her being there, he couldn’t have ever made up the laughter that became more boisterous after she had missed her target.

Coming around a corner to his left, he saw Neito and Momo side by side, weapons on them but not drawn.

And to his right, almost as if he were always meant to be there, Hitoshi emerged from the shadows.

“What?” Izuku asked, still confused over what was happening. This wasn’t the plan.

It wasn’t the plan.

He didn’t plan this.

It wasn’t his plan.

“Sorry for the interruption,” Momo spoke out, still a ways away from the pair but cautiously watching. “We know we agreed to wait but as a group we decided that no matter what you told us, we would not leave you behind.”

“We will not abandon you,” Mei chimed in.

“This is your fight man, I’m not getting involved. But if you need us, we’re here. We will not let you go through this alone.” Hitoshi added.

“You were right about what you just said right now,” Neito spoke out. “You are not alone. You won’t ever be alone again.”

Izuku looked at all of them. All of his teammates. And for the first time in his entire life, he knew without a doubt he mattered. It is one thing to preach it. One thing to say over and over until you convince yourself it’s the truth. But it’s a whole other thing to actually feel it. To actually know and believe it.

“We will not get in your way,” they all said at the same time, almost as if they rehearsed it. “But we refuse to abandon you.”

If he wasn’t in such a serious situation, he could get on his knees and cry. Cry and sob about how grateful he was to finally, finally, be a part of something. But he was in a serious situation and because of that, all he gave them was a grateful nod.

“How sweet,” Bakugou grumbled out. “The helpless Deku needs his friends to come and help him.”

“Keep them out of your mouth,” Izuku snarled back at Bakugou. “And I don’t need their help to beat you. I can beat you all on my own.”

“Oh yeah,” Bakugou snarked, crouching down in his battle position once more. “Let’s see you try.”

Izuku got into position as well, plastering a cocky smile on his face before stating “I thought you’d never ask.”

Now, he thought to himself

Now

The time is now

It was time for Bakugou to finally realize who exactly Izuku Midoriya was. Who exactly Bakugou forced him to become after his years of bullying.

Izuku stated on the first day of the competition that if the world wanted to create a villain, then they would get to experience their creation.

And as green lighting surrounded Izuku as he put 40% into a punch that was aimed directly for Bakugou’s stomach, well, It was now time for Bakugou to experience his creation.

Chapter Text

Izuku unleashed his power.

Everything inside of him, everything he had, he let it run wild.

He let the broken boy inside finally go free.

Bakugou ducked under one of his fists but Izuku, more agile than the other boy because of his height, flipped his body over and kicked the side of Bakugou’s body. This time, Bakugou was thrown across the harsh and unforgiving pavement due to the force of one for all.

Izuku stood over him, staring down towards the boy with green lighting flickering around him, and smirked. His smile grew wider when one foot, decked out in a thick combat boot, was lifted and placed onto Bakugou’s chest.

This, as expected, pissed Bakugou off.

“I’m going to knock that fucking smirk off your fucking face,” he sneered.

Izuku just chuckled.

A dark chuckle that caused his teammates to take a huge step back. A chuckle so unlike the boy, it caused his classmates and teachers who were watching to gulp.

That boy, who was standing over Bakugou, was not the sunshine boy of 1A they had grown to know.

No.

The sunshine boy always had a smile on his face. Always apologized. And always shrunk away from Bakugou.

This boy though. This boy wore a smirk that could rival the devil. This boy wouldn’t ever apologize. But most of all, this boy didn’t shrink away from Bakugou.

No. He leaned towards him.

“Knock it off my face huh,” Izuku spoke, low enough for his words to come off deeper but also loud enough so the cameras could pick it up.

This was after all, a show to him.

“Are you going to knock it off my face just like you punched all the other ones off when we were kids?” He once again stated.

“What,” Bakugou spit out, too angry to realize where exactly Izuku was heading with this.

“I said,” Izuku repeated once more “Are you going to punch this one off, just like you did when we were kids. I remember how much you just loved using me as your own personal punching bag.”

Bakugou’s eyes widened a fraction. Not because he was remorseful, but because he knew what Izuku was about to do.

“Shut your goddamn mouth,” Bakugou raged while staggering upwards, only to be knocked back down with the force of Izuku’s kick to the chest as he lifted and slammed his foot back down into its original place.

Izuku continued to hold his foot there, putting just enough pressure for it to feel uncomfortable. Bakugou thrashed in the hold. He moved side to side. Up and down. He even drew his palms up to Izuku’s legs to blast him with his quirk. He did anything to get the boy's foot off of him.

But Mei had planned for that. Had planned for Bakugou to hurt her friend as a way out. So when Momo started to make their gear, she gave her the recipe for heat resistance, or in this case, blast resistance material. 

Izuku could not feel a thing.

He concentrated his quirk on his leg. Concentrated to put enough power and weight onto the boy's chest so that no matter what, he could not escape.

Bakugou lifted his hands from Izuku’s legs once he noticed his quirk did nothing to him and his gear, and so instead, he aimed his hands upwards directly towards Izuku’s face.

However, Izuku, the genius boy he is, predicted that would happen. He was able to move his body to the side to avoid the explosion while still having his foot plastered on Bakugou’s chest.

The blonde haired boy was not getting away, not from him he wasn’t.

“I mean I could, as you so eloquently stated, ‘shut my goddamn mouth,’ but….” He broke off, making his smile grow wider, “I don’t want to.”

Bakugou growled.

Like a rabid dog he actually growled at Izuku.

“When did you become such a fucker.” He sneered.

“Maybe around the same time you became a little bitch,” Izuku smiled.

The harder Bakugou thrashed, the more pressure Izuku placed on his chest.

He would not let him get away.

“Now what should I do with you,” Izuku thought out loud to himself. “I mean I could technically end this whole entire competition right here and now, but that would be no fun,” he fake pouted, grabbing his gun from his back and bringing it around his body to stare at it with fake sadness. “I could leave you here to die like we left some of the others, but that’s unoriginal don’t you think?” As he stated this, he tucked his gun back into its previous place and moved his arms in front of him while he grabbed his chin with one hand, pretending to “think.”

He did all of this, with Bakugou still on the ground and his foot still plastered on him. He had complete control over his quirk. Control that allowed the right amount of percentage to feel as if a ton was on Bakugou’s chest.

“Oh I know,” he cheered, moving both hands into the air, “I think I will tell you a story.”

“Yes yes I want a story,” Mei cheered from the sidelines.

“Give it to us Boss man,” Hitoshi stated as well.

“I guess I have time to hear one,” Neito announced.

“A story does sound rather delightful,” Momo added in.

Izuku laughed while moving his hands back to his sides. “Well I guess it’s decided then! A story it is.”

“I don’t want to hear a dumbass story. You’re scared that if you let me up I’ll destroy you.”

“Oh no,” Izuku smiled once again while leaning his body even closer as well as putting more pressure onto Bakugou’s chest. He really should have hated the wince the other boy made, but he secretly loved it. “I am not scared. And I will let you up. After I finish my story that is.”

Bakugou growled again but in that moment, that was really all he could do.

Izuku was the one in charge.

He was immobilized and his ribs felt as if they would be crushed any second. All he could do was listen.

“This story is not a sweet one or a happy one. This story doesn’t have a happy ending. But this story is nothing but the truth.”

“Get it the fuck over with,” he snarled, his breathing coming out shallow since it hurt too much to take deeper ones.

“Patience,” Izuku chuckled again, finding the whole situation entirely amusing.

He directed his attention away from Bakugou and up towards the sky. The crystal blue sky that he had once thought to be his enemy. After all, darkness had never turned its back on him. It was then, he knew where exactly to start his story.

He directed his attention from the sky and towards the broadcast camera. This story wasn’t for Bakugou, for he was in the story. But rather, it was for the world. For the world to understand that anyone can stray away from their path.

So with eyes full of determination, he gave his best smile to the camera, and stated for the world to hear, “Once upon a time, there lived a boy, who loved the light.”

Aizawa was raging.

Beyond raging if you could even call it that.

It was almost as if his hair had permanently decided to float above his head.

Izuku hadn’t even told his story yet. In fact, he had barely started the first line before he lost it. The words “personal punching bag,” echoed in his head.

Personal punching bag.

Personal.Punching.Bag.

“You told me they were middle school rivals,” Aizawa sneered towards All Might, who wasn’t looking very good himself.

“That’s what Young Midoriya told me,” he defended.

“Did he really All Might?” Yamada asked, slowly losing grasp of his own control. “Did he really say that or did you just assume?”

“Well it’s not like he ever denied it!” All Might once again defend, realization slowly dawning over his face.

“Un-fucking-believable,” Aizawa grunted out, rubbing his burning red eyes to try and get some moisture back into them. “I want him out of my class,” he also added on.

“Now just wait,” All Might started but was cut off by Yamada.

“No All Might. We have heard enough. We won’t ask for expulsion right now mostly because it’s not up to us as his teachers. If we were his guardians, then that would be a whole other story. In this case, the principal decides and we just add our input. So for right now, we want that boy out of both of our classes and away from the green bean.”

“If he were to be expelled altogether, he could go on a much darker path,” Midnight added in. “He needs punishment. Regardless of what we are about to hear, he needs punishment. He had failed this final the first day with all he had done. Taking into account his actions during the competition this far, he was docked enough points to not even be considered a hero student.”

“I agree!” Nezu chimed in. “However, these are conversations we need to have after the competition is over and our students are rested. Right now well, there’s a speech I want to hear.”

“Of course,” Aizawa grumbled under his breath. His hair still floating and his eyes still burning red.

He really hated when people hurt his kids.

Once upon a time, there lived a boy, who loved the light.

Izuku didn’t know exactly how he was going to start off his story, but “Once upon a time” hadn’t even been an option until his mouth uttered it.

He wouldn’t look at Bakugou throughout this story. It wasn’t a story even for the boy. So he would look into the camera, and tell the story of the boy he once was.

“Light isn’t tangible, but for the boy, it was.” He continued his story, still looking directly into the camera. “To him, light was the bright blue sky on a sunny day. Light was the smile on his mothers face when her eyes rested upon him. Light was the joy he felt when he saw his best friend everyday waiting for him. Light was the warmth that came with the knowledge that one day, he would have a quirk of his own. Light was everything the boy needed and had. But just like every story, nothing goes the way one plans. This boy, who loved the light, also loved the darkness. For when the light turned its back, the darkness welcomed him. The darkness was subtle. So subtle in fact it took years for the boy to notice it was there. It was there when the sunny days turned rainy and cloudy. It was present when his mothers smile turned to an indifferent frown. It was hiding when the boy's best friend turned from a friend to a bully. But most of all, it was alive the day this boy was declared quirkless.”

After taking a breath to allow the first part of the story to sink in, Izuku carried on. “On that fateful day, the light the boy had loved so much vanished. It was gone so fast it was almost as if it were never there in the first place. The boy reached out. He kept extending his hand, waiting for the light to return to him. Waiting for the light to hear him. But if it heard him, it never answered. Instead, darkness was there, taking the light's place. At first, the boy hated it. He hated the feeling that came with the darkness. Hated how it made him feel worthless and unlovable. Defective and unnatural. He hated it but at the same time, he craved it. He wasn’t feeling the light he once had, but he was at least feeling something, and something was better than nothing. Even if it was darkness. This boy loved the light, but had the darkness. And after a while, he no longer missed the light. For how could he ever miss something he never truly had.”

This time, he turned his head and stared directly at Bakugou. He told himself he wouldn’t look toward him, but he decided he needed him to say what he couldn’t. He knew what needed to come out. What needed to be said. But he couldn’t be the one to say it. No one would believe him if he did. So he continued with his story, hoping that Bakugou would slip up and give him the gift of spilling the truth for him.

“The darkness and him became almost brothers. It was always whispering in his ear. Demanding to hurt the others who had hurt him. It wanted revenge. It craved suffering. It thirsted for blood. But most of all, it wanted people to pay. With every punch the bully delivered upon the boy's body, the more the darkness brewed. With every insult and death note, the darkness started to take over. And when faced with sucide baiting, the darkness took control. It led the boy to a roof. One that had been hand picked out for years because of its easy roof access. The darkness led the boy all the way to the edge, so that when the boy looked down, even more darkness stared back up at him. The boy should have been scared. He should have fled or even backed down. But instead, he smiled, and took one last step forward to be with his darkness for eternity. It was at that moment, that a speckle of light broke through. It wasn’t a big amount. It wasn’t even large enough to make him want to reconsider, but it was enough to get him to remember. To remember the words he chanted in his head everyday whenever the darkness scared him too much. The words of ‘I will not back down.’ The light was gone, but his fight wasn’t and so, despite the darkness calling out to him, he stepped backward instead of forward because he promised himself, he promised the light, he would not back down.”

He stared at Bakugou and Bakugou stared back at him. It was time.

“You were that boy's bully.” He started. “You showed him the true side of darkness, what it was capable of. You proved to him how cruel people can be. But most of all, you spoke as if someone losing their life was an inconvenience. The boy hated the darkness because you took away his light. You were his bully-my bully- and you took away the light.”

“I did no such fucking thing,” Bakugou raged under his foot. Hated how the cameras narrowed in on his face, exposing him to the world.

“If you want a quick so badly, why don’t you take a swan dive off a roof and pray for one in your next life. That was what you said to me.”

“No it wasn’t,” Bakugou denied angrily. But his face showed everything, even if he didn’t want it to.

“You put spider lilies on my desk.”

“I did not.”

“You took away my light.”

“No I didn’t.”

“Why did you take my light?” Izuku asked instead of stated.

“I didn’t take it,” Bakugou continued denying. The world was watching, they couldn't know.

“Why did you take my light?” Izuku asked louder

“I didn’t take it,” Bakugou repeated.

“Why did you take it?” His voice got even louder once more.

“I didn’t take it,” Bakugou snapped.

“WHY DID YOU TAKE MY LIGHT,” Izuku yelled, pressing his foot down harder which caused Bakugou pain over discomfort. “WHY DID YOU TELL ME TO TAKE A SWAN DIVE OFF A ROOF”

“BECAUSE YOU DIDN'T DESERVE IT AND THE WORLD WOULD HAVE BEEN A BETTER PLACE WITHOUT YOU,” Bakugou yelled back. His anger issues refusing for him to see his problems.

Bakugou’s eyes widened and Izuku’s eyes sharpened.

Bakugou grimaced and Izuku grinned.

Hook. Line. Sinker.

Chapter Text

“What did he just say,” Aizawa seethed.

The entire staff room was quiet.

Dead quiet.

All Might was looking at the broadcast screen with a mix of sadness and disgust.

Yamada was looking at Aizawa because, well, his anger now turned lethal.

“What did that boy just say to my kid,” he seethed out once more.

Aizawa’s rage was palpable. It was like an aura of murderous rage surrounding his entire being.

He wanted Bakugou’s blood.

He needed it almost as much as he needed air.

His mind was telling him that Bakugou was still a kid. Still a child. But his rational side did not give a single fuck. Someone hurt his kid and they would pay.

“Nezu-” Aizawa started, needing to get his demands out but before he could, the principal cut him off.

“Now now Aizawa, why don’t we see how Midoriya handles him. You said it yourself, the boy needs this.”

Aizawa stared at him through narrowed quirked eyes before spitting out a “you knew.”

“I had a thought,” Nezu responded. “But I needed to see for myself how bad Bakugou truly is and if he should continue to be in the hero course.”

“That’s why you put him and Midoriya as leaders?” Vlad King asked, stunned from all of the events that have been occurring.

“In a way,” Nezu supplied. “I wanted to test out both of their leaderships but I also wanted Midoriya to stand up for himself.”

“What?” Yamada asked, shocked.

“Midoriya is a brilliant boy that’s true, but he lacks one significant trait. A trait that ever hero should have.”

“And what trait is that?” Midnight cut in, becoming almost as angry as the others. “What trait does this boy lack in your eyes, Nezu.”

“The ability to stand up for himself.” Nezu answered calmly. “He is beyond brilliant and has the mind of someone who had been hurt before. But he always refused to stand up for himself. He is going to be a hero. And a hero has to stand up for themselves.”

“Now you listen here-” Aizawa started but Nezu cut him off.

“I understand your anger Aizawa. I understand anger in general. That is the one thing I know quite well. You forget, I was in a similar position as Midoriya was in.”

This had the entire staff rooms attention.

Nezu never spoke of his past.

Never.

“We may have experienced different things, but torture is something we both understand quite well. And the anger that comes from that torture even more . I stood up to my captors by making a name for myself. The ones who tortured and conducted experiments on me, fear me now because of what I can do. What I have the ability to do. But for Midoriya, no matter where he went he continued to allow that boy to relentlessly bully him. I didn’t know how bad exactly the bullying was, but I knew it went to the extent where it shined in Midoriya’s eyes. And I knew then that I had to do for Midoriya what I had done for myself.”

“Make him hate who he is?” Snipe asked.

“Make him love the parts that are not all good.” Nezu answered. “He doesn’t hate who he is. At least not anymore. Throughout this competition, he had grown stronger and gotten more confident. He had learned to trust others. He learned to rely on others. He perfected balancing the good and the bad. But most of all, he learned to stand up for himself. That boy who is standing on Bakugou right now, is nowhere near close to the boy who stood next to him on a stage.”

“So all this, this entire week, was for Midoriya?” 

“It was for those who never had a voice before. Midoriya was a huge part of it, yes, but there was a much bigger picture to it. Nevertheless, Midoriya had learned to finally stand up for himself. Therefore, I would call this competition a success!”

“Scary fucker,” Aizawa muttered under his breath, staring at the screen where two children were facing off against each other.

One red, one green.

One bully, one victim.

One hero, one villain.

Bakugou would lash out and Izuku would fight back.

Because just as Nezu said before, but in nicer terms, Izuku no longer took shit from anyone.

Especially from Bakugou.

“Would you like to repeat that Bakugou?” Izuku smiled out towards the other boy, almost bursting with joy that his plan was going exactly like he had envisioned.

Bakugou did not answer him.

He just laid there, glaring to his heart's content.

“The world would have been a better place without me in it huh,” Izuku faked thought, tilting his head to the side in an act of “confusion.”

“Deku,” Bakugou finally snarled, but Izuku, who was still pinning him down and leaning towards him, smiled wider. “You took my light and now you refuse to take responsibility. So typical of a narcissistic idiot.”

“Let me up.” Bakugou snarled once more.

Izuku seemed to lean even closer towards him before giving him one last smile and cheering “okay.”

And just like he said, Izuku removed his foot from Bakugou and stepped back a couple of feet. Eyes watching every twitch of his body just in case the boy decided to try something.

Bakugou seemed almost confused that his demands were answered. He should have known it was a trap. He was dealing with Izuku after all. But he was so angry. So full of rage that the moment he got himself up and situated, he blasted towards Izuku in a fit of screams.

And Izuku, well he simply smiled as he watched Bakugou fly towards him.

He smiled because it was his time to humiliate the other boy.

He smiled because for the first time ever, he was standing up for himself.

He smiled because he would win this competition and reclaim some of the light that had been taken from him.

He smiled about a lot of things.

But the biggest thing he smiled about was his arm suddenly powering up to 65% and winding back just enough to the point where Bakugou couldn’t see it.

At least, not in time to dodge.

And when his One for All arm met Bakugou’s face, well he would admit he chuckled a little bit at the way the boy was propelled backwards and skidded across the pavement similarly to a rock going across water.

“Now Bakugou,” he stated, green eyes turning feral as he got ready to attack again. “It’s time to repay the favor don’t you think?”

And just like that, Izuku pounced forward with his quirk and his brains working overtime. He attacked with the heart of a hero and the mind of a villain.

He was Bakugou’s creation. And just like how Nezu broke free of his cage all those years ago, Izuku would break free of his chains.

Because after all, it was about damn time he stood up for himself.

The world was at a standstill.

They had watched a lot of things occur this past week.

They had witnessed things they thought they would go lifetimes without seeing.

But what they were watching, what was on the screen, was something that would stick in their minds forever.

It wasn’t even a fight at this point.

It was a massacre.

They had watched the blonde haired boy duck beneath a couple of the green haired boys' attacks, but as he stepped back to avoid a kick to the side, he had tripped over something.

They weren’t able to see what exactly he had tripped over, and at this point they couldn’t care less. No, at this point they just wished the green haired boy would stop. But they knew he wouldn’t. Even the world, which was full of some horrible people, knew that the blonde haired boy deserved every bloody punch given to him.

After all, it only took two punches in for Izuku to start speaking the truth.

The truth that immediately caused every hero watching to cross off Bakugou’s name from their invite list.

The truth that caused some criminals to stay where they were and listen to the life someone half their age had endured.

The truth that caused even some villains to stop their actions and just listen.

The truth of the life of a boy who had just wanted to be a hero without a quirk.

Izuku knew how Bakugou had tripped.

He knew it from the way Mei cackled to herself and swung to the side with her hand raised looking for a high five.

He wanted to be annoyed.

Wanted to at least be slightly angry.

But instead, he was amused. Leave it to Mei to still continuously help him even when he thought he did not need help. But it also wasn’t even that. That small action, the action of springing out a tripwire from a gun to assist a little was just like Mei.

Mei was chaotic and all over the place but when you needed her, despite if you said you were fine, she still showed up. She did a small thing that later turned into a monumental one. Mei was someone you could never just say you’re fine to. Izuku told her he didn’t need help and she had nodded, already thinking up ways to help him.

Later he would pretend to scold her while secretly praising her.

Later he would deal with it, but now, well Mei had basically served Bakugou up on a silver platter, he would be a fool to not capitalize on that.

And he capitalized the hell out of it.

As Bakugou had landed on his back, Izuku with the help of his quirk had leaped forward faster than the eye could see and essentially “straddled” the boy.

Bakugou only had enough time to lift his head before a punch at 4% had landed across his face. It wasn’t enough force to break bones, but it was enough force to hurt like hell. Two seconds later, another punch connected on the other side of his face. Two seconds after that, another punch landed once again on the other side. It hurt now. Bakugou’s face was throbbing.

But no matter the pain, Izuku would not stop.

No.

Instead, he opened his mouth and spoke.

“You want me to stop? You want the pain to go away? Well the pain never goes away, you just endure it.”

Punch after punch was delivered onto Bakugou’s face, and punch after punch Izuku continued on.

“Enduring it will be easy for you won’t it be Bakugou? I mean, if you could endure tormenting me, treating me as if I were less than dirt, then you could endure a couple of measly punches can't you?” 

Bakugou opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku just punched harder, effectively silencing him. He wondered why the boy wasn’t fighting back, but when he caught the scent of a substance he had helped Momo create, a substance that acted almost like Mineta’s pop off, he once again hid his amusement. The substance must have been embedded into whatever device Mei used to trip Bakugou. That, or it was thrown on the ground during their earlier scuffle and that was why Mei had chosen that distinct moment to trip him. Either one was attainable, but it didn’t matter.

What mattered was that Bakugou was stuck to the pavement, with Izuku on top of him, and punching him over and over again with no signs of stopping.

Bakugou let out an almost incoherent “stop” but Izuku heard it. And well, he upped the power to 5%

“Stop? You want me to stop? No, I don’t think I will. I begged you to stop. Every time you cornered me. Every time you used your quirk on me. Every time I was thrown to the ground and stomped on I begged you to stop. I pleaded with you. I cried. I prayed. But you never stopped. Instead you laughed at me. You told me I deserved it. You said you were doing me a favor. That I would experience that treatment later on in life so why not prepare me. I begged you and you just hit harder. So I think I will do the same.”

Izuku, as stated, hit his face harder.

At this point, blood covered Bakugou’s face and Izuku's fist.

Izuku wanted to stop now but he wasn’t done.

“I looked up to you. I wanted to be you. I was quirkless and I still wanted to be you. It’s almost laughable. I never told anyone what you did to me because I thought one day you would change. I had hoped you would. I had wanted you to change. If you could change. If you could become better, then I might have been able to not see myself as a monster. To not look in the mirror everyday and reign in the hurt I wanted to inflict upon this world. If you could change, then I could forgive. But you didn’t, and I can’t. I won’t ever forgive you. And I don’t want to.”

Izuku had finally stopped punching him.

Bakugou’s face under all the blood was turning blue and purple. Izuku’s fists were not faring any better. 

The blonde haired boy had slumped down, almost on the brink of unconsciousness, but Izuku had grabbed him by his chin, making pained red eyes meet angry green ones.

“You are nothing to me. You might be the one responsible for molding me into who I am today. You might have made me colder and more aware of my surroundings, but you are the one who took a boy who wanted to be a hero, and killed him. The younger me, the one who was filled with pure joy, was murdered by you. And I hate you because I miss him. He wasn’t strong. He wasn’t perfect. He wasn’t likable. He wasn’t even brave. But he was me. And you took him from me. You stripped him away all because he didn’t have a quirk. You took him away because he didn’t fit your view of the world. Your view of a hero. That boy didn’t need a quirk to become a hero. He didn’t even need the support of his parents or peers. All he needed was for one person in the world to see that it could be done. All he needed was for one person to believe in him. You took him from me and I hate you because I can never get him back.”

“Looks like you’re stronger now, I don’t get why you’re fucking complaining,” Bakugou muttered out painfully.

“He didn’t need to be strong,” Izuku lashed back. “He just needed to be understood. But instead, he was tortured so badly by you he buried himself so far down and threw away the key. He left me because of you. You made him leave and I will never get him back. At least not fully. I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I may be strong now, but strength is not everything in this world. Strength will never just be enough. And that is something you will learn Bakugou. You will learn that being strong is not enough. You will learn and I will watch. And when you have learned your lesson, you will give him back to me. I don’t care if you can’t. You will find a way. You will find a way to return what you took from me. But until then, until you have faced the long deserved consequences, I hope from the bottom of my heart that you rot in hell.”

Izuku raised his fist one last time, and punched Bakugou so hard across the face he passed out.

He knew technically he could get disqualified for the violence but seeing as he spoke hypotheticals about this scenario with Nezu and got the go ahead before the competition started, he wasn’t worried.

“Fuck yeah Izuku you have one hell of a right hook,” Hitoshi praised while walking over and helping him off the unconscious boy on the ground.

“You did so good!” Mei cheered out at the same time as Momo’s and Neito’s appraisal. 

“What do we do now?” Mei asked again, confused when she saw her entire team just standing around looking at each other.

Izuku just chuckled to himself before getting out his gun and walking over to Bakugou.

He lifted his arm up towards the boy's face and turned his head to stare at his team.

The team who had put their trust in him.

The team who had let him feel glimpses of the boy he once was. 

The team that made him realize his old self, the one he deeply loved and missed, was still there somewhere deep inside him.

His team, who he had promised from the very beginning that they would not lose.

He stared at all four members with a smile that resembled his old self and cheerfully stated before pulling the trigger,

“Now we win.”

Chapter Text

The moment after Izuku pulled the trigger, a sense of relief washed over his body.

It was over.

He could finally just breathe.

Nezu’s voice rang over the speakers of the city declaring the villain team the winners.

The perfect winners.

Izuku listened to the hoots and hollers that his team was giving. He listened to the cheering and the excitement, and with his heart full of love, he cheered as well.

The members of the hero team didn’t choose him.

People who he thought were his friends didn’t choose him.

But four people did.

A chaotic pink haired girl with a love for inventing. A dark haired girl who could create anything she wanted. A blond haired boy who hated everything but his class. And a purple haired boy who at first hated everyone.

These four weren’t special like others. They weren’t anyone’s first choice. 

No, they were like him.

They were pushed aside. They were chosen last. They were nothing compared to their peers.

But they were just like him.

These four people had brought life back into him. Had brought him closer to feeling the light he had missed so much.

As he clapped and hugged these four people, he couldn’t help the happiness that entered his being.

His team had won.

He did what he said he would do.

And now, he had just one thing left before he would put this entire competition behind him.

He had one last thing to say before the world would no longer watch him. 

One last message he would leave with everyone watching.

After all, He still had to give the victory speech.

The first teacher to meet them after they exited the arena was Snipe.

Izuku refused to feel sad about this. He wanted to see Aizawa but at the same time he didn’t want to know what the man thought of him.

He couldn’t handle it if the man he thought of as his dad saw him just like the rest of them.

He wouldn’t survive that.

So as much as he felt the sadness making its way into his chest, he pushed it down and put a blinding smile on his face.

“You’re here to take us to speak to the group of idiotic losers right?” Hitoshi asked Snipe, chuckling a bit at the look of horror on Momo’s face from him speaking to a teacher like that.

“Yeah kid I am,” Snipe responded. He had witnessed so much in such a short time span that nothing could surprise him anymore. “Right this way.”

The team of villains all smiled to one another and followed Snipe in the direction where they would give their victory speech.

Everyone had smiling faces. All of them beyond happy.

Izuku was too, but he was also tired.

So very tired.

He had done things this past week that he had only entertained during his dreams. He had hurt people. Although sanctioned and necessary, he had still hurt them.

He was happy and tired and he just needed a nap.

But for everything he went through in life, he needed to give this speech.

He had to.

The moment he was chosen as the villain commander he was given a chance for him to finally be seen.

For the boy who had once been broken by the world to heal.

As they got closer to the auditorium and heard the loud voices of not only all the first year classes but also the teachers and alumni, he decided to block them all out.

He couldn’t be emotional.

Not yet.

He had to be strong for just a little while longer.

So he kept his head up, eyes straight, and ignored the looks of his classmates as they passed them. He ignored Iida’s stretched out hand and even pushed his way through Uraraka who had stood in his way. He ignored All Might and the man’s razor sharp blue eyes. Most of all though, he ignored Aizawa and Yamada, who he could see had not stopped looking between him and Hitoshi since they had entered.

He and his teammates had decided to stick together once they entered the auditorium. They wanted to show unity until the very end of the speech. However, from the way Mei was eyeing Power Loader and Neito his class, he knew they wanted to go with the people who had actually missed them.

It hurt but Izuku smiled anyway and let all of them greet the people they cared about.

However, he still continued right towards the stage and to the microphone.

It was decided that he would be the one to speak since everything went according to his plans. He tried to fight his teammates on that. He argued they all deserved to be standing with him on that stage. But each and every one of them just shook their heads and told him no.

The closer he got towards the stage he could see the joy in Mei’s face as Power Loader shook her back and forth and pointed his finger at her. He could see Neito and the way he laughed until Kendo hit him with her hand. He saw Momo and how she walked up to Jirou and quietly started to converse. Most of all though, he saw Hitoshi and how he sped walked to Aizawa and Yamada and threw his arms around both of them. Yamada of course accepted it with no complaints while Aizawa stood there with both arms plastered to his side and the most annoyed look on his face. 

Izuku smiled at that, and refused to let the tears fall. He wanted to be there next to Hitoshi, hugging both of his teachers as well. But he didn’t have the right to. Hitoshi had called him his brother. They had even started acting like brothers. But that was only between him and Hitoshi. They never spoke about what would happen after. They never talked about Izuku’s fear of his affection being one sided.

So he stared at Hitoshi, sucked in the tears, and continued walking up to the podium.

No matter how much he wanted to greet the two people who he had come to adore, he wasn’t a part of their family. He would rather not go over there than stumble for excuses as to why he did.

Izuku could see the confusion on Hitoshi’s face as he walked right past them without so much as a glance. He felt bad but he had to do it. He wouldn’t let his dreams mess up his reality.

Once he reached the stage, walked up the stairs, and made his way to the mic, the noise in the auditorium started to dwindle.

He stood in front of that mic, stared out into the sea of faces, and was suddenly very aware of the cameras and eyes bearing into him.

Deep breaths, he reminded himself.

You can do it, he thought again

Tell them your story and leave , he reassured himself.

Izuku didn’t want to talk in front of the entire world. He got nervous when he spoke in front of crowds with more than 5 people. He hated it but he also knew it had to be done.

He wouldn’t ever get another chance like this.

He wouldn’t ever be able to hold the world's attention like he was holding now.

And for him to make the world understand why he did what he did, he needed them to listen.

So Izuku took one large deep breath, released it, and then opened his mouth and began speaking.

He showed the world what he could have done with his actions. He even hinted throughout the week why he could never actually go through with it.

However, now it was time to tell the world the entire truth.

The truth of why even though he had every reason to become a villain, he decided to become a hero.

“For years I walked amongst all of you, carrying the weight of a world that often felt merciless. I faced hatred, betrayal, and despair at every turn. I saw my friends turn into enemies and kindness into cruelty. Each scar I received, whether physical or mental, became a testament to a life that had tried to break me, to push me towards a path I never wanted to go on.”

Izuku spoke while scanning the crowds of people and staring a couple of seconds into the cameras.

“In my darkest moments, I entertained thoughts that terrified me. I found myself yearning for power, imagining how it would feel to strike back, to become the villain this world seemed to demand out of me. I thought that if I embraced the chaos, if I struck back with anger, I could perhaps reshape my broken reality into one I could control. I thought maybe then I could carve out a place for myself. An existence where I wouldn’t be overlooked or discarded. I considered giving in to the hatred that simmered inside me, believing that if I embraced it, I could become something feared, something powerful. I was angry. So angry at a world that seemed fixated on tearing me apart. However, in that anger, I found a glimpse of clarity. As I stood on the edge of going through with my darkest ambitions, I realized one significant factor that changed everything. A factor so significant it changed the course of my life. It was the realization that becoming a villain would not free me.”

As Izuku stated the last sentence, he allowed a couple of seconds for the room to soak it in. 

For the world to understand his words.

“Becoming a villain would just chain me to an endless cycle of pain and revenge. I could unleash destruction. That is true. But through that, I would also become a part of the very hatred that had broken me.  Instead, I decided to fight not with malice, but with resilience. It took me a while to find people to stand by my side. But these people, my teammates, were like me. They had once been broken, but they also held onto hope. Today, in this very moment, my teammates and I celebrate our victory by giving this speech. I couldn’t be any prouder of my teammates, my friends, who persevered not only during the competition, but also during earlier stages of their life. We were able to act like we did in the competition because we all had been hurt by this world. This competition allowed us to feel the whisper of power we could have had. It allowed us to show everyone how overwhelmingly cruel we could have been. But despite all that, despite how good it felt to finally lash out, we refused to become what the world expected of us. Society makes villains. And we refused to be one of them.”

Taking a deep breath, Izuku finally started to look at more people.

He could see understanding in a lot of his peers' eyes and that elated him.

It made him feel as if he were finally getting somewhere.

And so with some newfound confidence, he continued.

“The journey I had taken this far in life has proven to me that heroism is not about perfection. It’s about fighting for something greater than ourselves. It is about holding onto our humanity even when everything around us does its best to strip it away. So as the competition comes to an end and we go back to our regular lives, remember those that suffer in silence. Those who are still on the brink. Reach out to them and tell them that they are not alone. That there is strength in suffering. That they still have their humanity. Me and my friends, we did some pretty messed up things in this competition. And as harsh as it sounds, we are not sorry about it. We are not sorry because there will come a day where something like that will happen and it won’t be for a grade. People will get hurt. People will die. And for what? Because the world believed that turning its back was better than reaching out a hand? Society as a whole has the power to create a reality where compassion prevails. Where every broken soul can find healing. There are still people out there in the world who are trapped in the storm. Those who feel as if they have no other choice but to fight with hate. And so I ask you, plead with you, be the light they need. Show them that even in a world filled with pain, there can be a glimmer of hope. That there is a reason to choose kindness over cruelty. And that having a better life is more than just a distant dream. But most of all, be the reason why they hold onto their humanity. Thank you for watching this competition. And thank you for listening to  not only my story, but our story.”

Izuku slowly backed away from the mic, hurried off the stage, and full blown ran out the sides of the auditorium doors.

He ran all the way to gym Gamma with tears running down his face.

He said what he needed to.

He used his platform to put his last plan into motion.

But it shouldn’t have hurt this much.

He knew what he said during that speech had to be said. He knew someone had to plead for the ones who were still lost in the darkness. He knew he did the right thing. He just hated the fact that he was the one who had to do it.

Izuku wasn’t lost in the darkness anymore. Not completely. And that was because he got himself out of there. He did it with no help from anyone else. He hated what he was becoming so he fixed it. 

He understood that not everyone could do what he did. That not everyone had the strength to fight for themselves. And that was why he pleaded with the world just now.

He hated pleading though because it made him remember the time where no one would even consider helping him.

It made him remember that he was all alone.

He would fight for others because he was a hero, but being reminded of his loneliness always stung.

Izuku stood in the middle of gym Gamma wiping the tears as quickly as he could off of his face. He heard footsteps behind him so he knew that someone was going to walk in to check on him.

And sure enough, not even two seconds later three sets of footsteps could be heard.

At first, he thought it was Hitoshi, Mei, and Momo that came to check in him. However, he knew the sound of their footsteps. He memorized it for the competition. And two of those footsteps didn’t belong to his friends. Before he could even turn around to see who was there, arms he was completely familiar with wrapped around him and gave him a comfortable squeeze.

Hitoshi.

His brother had come.

Izuku relaxed more into the embrace and wiped the remaining tears off his face. His team had just won. He should have been more happy and he said as much.

“Shut up,” was Hitoshi’s reply. “The rest of us already bragged in the other classes' faces, don't you worry. That was primarily the reason why we didn’t want to go up on stage. You handle the serious business and we handle the fun business. The victory speech was more for the world anyways.”

“Gee thanks,” Izuku grumbled, still in Hitoshi’s hold.

“What can I say, you are the boss.”

Izuku chuckled a little bit and rejoiced in the quite of the room.

However, he enjoyed it for a total of 3 seconds before Hitoshi was very rudely getting shoved out of the way and replaced by Aizawa.

Izuku, well, he had no idea what to do.

Should he hug the man?

Should he just stand still?

Should he put a hand in his arms?

He had no clue what to make of the hug. And in a way, he didn’t have to make anything of it. The hug was firmer than Hitoshi’s. It was warmer and even felt safer. It was just right. Two more arms slid by his side and he knew those arms belonged to Yamada. The man hated being left out.

Soon after, Hitoshi rejoined the hug.

There Izuku stood in gym Gamma, being hugged by his brother and two of his teachers, and he absolutely loved it.

He felt safe.

He never felt safe before.

“Embrace the rest of the darkness,” Aizawa grumbled lowly.

“Why?” He whispered.

“So that we can be your light,” Yamada answered.

Izuku opened his mouth to speak, but Hitoshi cut him off.

“You have been strong for so very long, Izuku. But you don’t have to be strong anymore. You don’t have to do this alone anymore.”

“But I’ve always done it alone,” he answered.

Hitoshi, Aizawa, and Yamada all squeezed Izuku at the same time before stating, “You will never be alone again. You will never have to be strong for that long again.”

“How can you be so sure?” The boy asked.

And it wasn’t Yamada or Hitoshi that spoke but rather Aizawa. “Because we are family. And I will not let my family suffer. You will not suffer. You will not be lost in the darkness anymore. You will feel the light again. I refuse for anything else other than that to happen.”

And as Aizawa’s words echoed through Izuku’s mind, the tears that had once dried up started coming back in full force.

The armor that Izuku always wore that protected him from the cruel world started to crumble.

The walls and barriers he had up for ages started to collapse.

And his impenetrable protection started to break.

He was always alone.

He always had to deal with things alone.

He always had to survive alone.

And because of that, he made sure nothing could hurt him. He made sure that nothing could get past his barriers.

But all it took was a few words from the man he thought of as his dad to cause it it to crack. 

And when Yamada very gently ran his hand through Izuku’s hair and muttered a small “my baby,” his armor shattered.

He wasn’t alone.

He wouldn’t ever be alone again.

And he wouldn’t ever have to face the darkness by himself. 

He was finally, finally, being given the chance to search for the light he had once lost.

He was finally being given the chance to live.

Not survive.

But live.

Chapter Text

“Give me your phone.”

Those were the words Aizawa spoke a minute after the family hug came to an end.

“Um w-what?” Izuku stuttered, taking a couple of steps away from Aizawa and staring between him, Yamada, and Hitoshi with eyes filled with bewilderment.

“You heard me problem child,” Aizawa repeated. “Phone now.” 

Izuku for a second thought the man was joking, until Aizawa flashed his red eyes at him and his hair started to float.

He let out a very unmanly “eep” and protectively held his phone to his chest after taking it out of his pocket when he thought he would “play” along.

“But why?” Izuku asked, glaring at Hitoshi who was smirking at him with so much glee.

“500 bombs, need I say more?” Aizawa answered, rubbing his eyes with one hand while still holding his hand out.

Izuku stared at his hand, raised his head to Aizawa, and took two huge steps while saying “nu uh.”

Aizawa just shrugged, brought his hand down, and then stated, “You’re just adding to your punishment so it doesn’t matter to me.”

“W-what punishment?” Izuku stammered and then quickly became afraid for his life when his sensei gave him his famous smile, the one full of teeth.

“You're grounded until your 25th birthday. I wanted to extend it to an eternity but Zashi talked me down from it. Be thankful.”

“You can’t do that!” Izuku stated, not quite believing what he was hearing.

“I can and I did.”

“You're not my legal guardian, I don’t have to listen to you.” Izuku announced, holding on to some of the confidence he got from fighting Bakugou.

Aizawa’s eyes flashed red before he stated, “would you like to repeat that.”

Izuku had never gulped so loudly before.

“N-no.”

“That’s what I thought,” Aizawa answered. “Now, phone.”

Izuku grumpily gave in and handed his phone over, muttering under his breath about a terrifying “Dad Mode.”

Hitoshi started to chuckle but shut up as soon and Yamada stated, “I don’t know why you’re laughing. Hand your phone over too.”

“What the fuck,” Hitoshi stated, wincing once Aizawa smacked him across the back of his head.

“Fucknuggets,” Hitoshi yelled once more, stepping out of reach when Aizawa leaned over to smack him again. “What did I do.”

”Flirt, that’s what you did.” Yamada stated, narrowing his eyes at Hitoshi.

And well, Hitoshi just avoided the eye contact while muttering a “worth it” under his breath.

“Problem child, take these to Nezu, he’s in his office,” Aizawa stated, handing over some papers that were stuffed in his back pocket after he gave Zashi a warning look before he used his quirk to shout his frustrations.

When Izuku grabbed the papers, and bolder right there on the first page was the title: PETITION FOR ADOPTION.

Once he realized what was happening, the papers dropped out of his hands and he started to shake his head.

“What’s wrong,” Yamada immediately asked. “Do you not want this?”

“No no I do!” Izuku nearly shouted. He needed all three of them to know that he wanted more than anything to be a part of their family.

He was just scared.

“Talk to us,” Aizawa muttered before walking over to Izuku and ruffling his curls. “What’s going on in that genius brain of yours.”

He slightly smiled at that before taking a few breaths and pouring everything out to them.

If they were going to be his parents, if they wanted to be his parents, he had to trust them.

He had to.

So he took a deep breath, and spilled all of his insecurities.

The insecurities he kept buried from the first day his mother never returned his smile.

“You know, sometimes I feel like I’ve been invisible for too long.”

Hitoshi opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku just shook his head, an indicator for him, and the two others, to just listen.

“After my diagnosis, I just kinda fell into the background in my own house. I used to sit on the edge of my bed, trying to make sense of everything. Trying to make sense of how I felt so alone  in a house that wasn’t empty. I have been invisible for so long that these papers in my hands don’t even feel real. My mom’s neglect had been my companion since I got the news. It hurts. After all this time, it still hurts. And because it hurts, I don’t know how to do anything but keep my head down and not get in the way. What if I let you guys in and then one day you realize I’m not worth your time? I need to trust you. I want to trust you. But if I open up and you guys end up walking away, I wouldn’t survive that. That would be my breaking point. That would push me over. I don’t want to disappoint you or have you regret choosing me. But I can’t feel the pain of being invisible again. I can’t. But I also can’t let my fears get in the way of me finally finding peace. There’s a flicker of hope but also a flicker of doubt. And so, for the first time in my life, I’m going to follow the hope. And I’m going to put my trust in you. But please. Please don’t allow me to become invisible again.”

Izuku remained quiet after his speech. His eyes closed because he couldn’t handle seeing the expression on their faces.

Two soft hands handled his face. And when he opened his eyes, it wasn’t Aizawa or Yamada staring back at him, it was Hitoshi.

Violet eyes met emerald.

Maybe Izuku was going crazy. Maybe he had finally lost it

But no words needed to be spoken between them.

Broken eyes stared back at broken eyes and Izuku knew he would be safe with them.

After all, he needed a home where there was no sugar coating his past.

He needed a home where his dark side was acknowledged.

And when Hitoshi grasped Izuku by the shoulders and hurled him into him, he knew he could trust them.

He knew he wouldn’t be invisible.

He had Hitoshi with him.

And Hitoshi had once been invisible just like him.

So if by chance he still was, in that category, he at least wouldn’t be invisible alone.

He looked towards Aizawa and Yamada, who stared at them with love filled eyes, and he knew without a doubt, he found his people.

“Alright Kiddo, go take those papers to Nezu,” Yamada cut in after Aizawa had threatened to lecture Izuku for 50 hours about self worth.

Yes.

50 hours.

And he was dead serious.

It took both Yamada and Hitoshi to physically pry away Aizawa’s phone when he started to put together lecture slides.

“I’ll be back soon,” Izuku smiled at him before turning around and walking to Nezu’s office.

He got about halfway there until he accidentally bumped into someone and scattered the papers all over the floor.

He muttered a quick apology while squatting down and pulling all the papers together.

However, when he looked up to see who he had bumped into, he met the eyes of Masaru, Bakugou’s father.

“S-sorry,” he quickly uttered before gathering all of the papers as quickly as possible and standing to his full height.

Masaru just stared at Izuku.

However, his stare wasn’t menacing or cold. It was almost…. sad.

Izuku stared at his bully’s dad and suddenly remembered the times before he was declared quirkless. The times where he and Bakugou would spend hours at each other's houses just playing and sharing stories.

Izuku had always loved seeing Masaru. He was kinder than his own father and never really made him question his role on this planet. 

Masaru Bakugou was kind and because of that, when the bullying started to occur, he had to stay away. Seeing him would have been too much.

“Izuku, son, how are you doing?” Masaru asked after a couple minutes of awkward silence.

They hadn’t seen each other since before middle school.

It had been quite awhile.

“Spectacular,” Izuku responded, shifting his weight from foot to foot in order to calm down his nerves.

“Yes right,” Masaru stated before continuing on, “if you’re looking for Nezu he’s talking with Mitsuki right now, so it might be a longer wait time than expected.”

“Right,” Izuku answered, his brain running at a million miles per hour from just that statement alone.

“Izuku,” Masaru started after a couple more seconds of awkward silence, “I know this is probably much too late, but I’m sorry. For what you went through. For what my son put you through. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to apologize, it wasn’t you who bullied me,” he replied.

“No,” Masaru cemented, “But it was my son who did and therefore, the responsibility lies upon me as well. It lies in both Mitsuki and myself. We saw the signs early on. I know that’s not what you like to hear, but it’s the truth. We saw them, we knew what it could lead to, and yet we still did nothing.”

“Why didn’t you do anything?” Izuku asked.

Masaru contemplated his answer before voicing it.

“Because we refused to accept the reality. Katuski to us, was still Katsuki. He was hot headed and brash, but he wasn’t ever mean. When things started to change, when his anger got more severe, I guess Mitsuki and I just wanted to wait and see if our boy would come back to us. I don’t know why he’s so angry. I don’t know why he feels as if he has to act like he does. I don't know why he changed, but he changed and this competition forced us to face our new reality. The reality of where our Katsuki was turning into some other Katsuki. It made us realize that we couldn’t just wait and see anymore. Katsuki needs consequences. He needs something to teach him that power is a privilege. But most of all, he needs something to teach him that thinking you’re superior than others, doesn’t mean you are. But again, I’m sorry we didn’t put a stop to everything sooner.”

Izuku was starstuck.

No one had ever apologized to him.

He didn’t quite know what to do.

“Is Nezu explaining the consequences to Mrs. Bakugou?” Izuku asked after finally soaking in everything.

“Sort of,” Masaru chuckled. “She’s technically explaining our consequences to Nezu and seeing if more should be added.”

“Your consequences?” He asked.

“Well of course,” Masaru answered. “We are still Katsuki’s parents after all. We failed him once by allowing him to believe thsi behavior was appropriate, we won’t fail him again. So essentially, Mitsuki and Nezu are scheming ways to see what would impact Katsuki the most to get him to reflect on his behavior.

Izuku simply smiled at Masaru before deciding it would be better to wait in another hallway just in case Bakugou was in that room as well.

He didn’t quite feel like being screamed at in that moment.

However, when he made it to the new hallway and got situated, he lasted a full 15 minutes before he was staring at a man in a yellow suit with a grim look on his face.

“All Might,” was what was stated

“Young Midoriya,” was what was answered.

Just great, Izuku thought, All Might looks pissed

And when All Might took a couple of steps towards Izuku, the green haired boy couldn’t help by notice an aura of anger surrounding him

Heaven help me, Izuku thought once again. This definitely isn’t going to be peaceful.

And when All Might opened his mouth and spoke the first words, well, Izuku hated how he was always right. 

Chapter Text

“Who are you?” Was what All Might said to Izuku.

“Um what?” Izuku responded.

All Might knew who he was. So why was he asking him that question?

“I said who are you?”

“Again, what?”

All Might took a deep breath, almost as if he were exasperated with Izuku, and stated the same sentence again.

“Who are you?”

Izuku moved to talk. Well, moved to repeat his statement for a third time, but All Might had finally decided to share his thought process.

“I just want to know who you are. Because what I just witnessed. What you forced the world to witness, isn’t the boy I trained. The boy who was in that competition wasn’t my Protege who I had given my quirk to.”

And suddenly, almost as if they were made for darkness, Izuku’s eyes became cold. He became rigid and stared down All Might with an impassive face.

He stared at this man.

The man who had shattered him.

The man who had somewhat put him back together.

And the man who had just broken a piece in him.

He stared at him, and not one single happy thought came into his mind.

When had he lost his love for this hero?

Was it when All Might always sided with Bakugou and never with him?

Was it when he would rather call them rivals then deal with what was actually going on?

Was it on that rooftop?

Or was it before that?

Izuku had all these questions and yet, no answers.

All he knew was the man staring down at him as if he were an actual villain, was not the hero he had once hoped to be like.

No, this man was just the hero who had refused, just like all the others, to save him.

“You don’t get it,” Izuku stated calmly, anger bubbling under the surface. “You never did.”

“I believed in you..” All Might started, but Izuku had enough. 

He was done pretending.

“Believed in me?” Izuku choked out in a fake laugh. “You mean you believed in your ideal version of me. The one that fits your narrative.”

“I trained you to be a hero,” All Might said.

“A hero?” Izuku asked. “Or your version of one? When did you ever stop to see what I needed? Was it when you always sided with Bakugou? When you refused to acknowledge what he was doing to me?”

All Might opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku just carried on.

“Was it on that rooftop, when you watched me break down? When you saw me shatter and did absolutely nothing?”

“I never meant-” All Might started.

“You never meant to save me. Just like everyone else” Izuku finished. “You were the one that shattered me All Might. The one to finally do it after years of people trying to. You shattered me, and now you’re acting surprised that I finally stopped catering to others.” 

“You’re too far into the darkness.” All Might argued.

“I'm right where I need to be.” Izuku answered.

“I can’t accept that. I won’t!” All Might argued once more.

“You don’t have to.” Izuku stated.

All Might stared at Izuku for a while. Assessing the boy just as much as Izuku was assessing him.

“I messed up alright. I did. I should have paid more attention and I didn’t. But you have to see what you did out there was wrong right? You have to know that what you did during that competition wasn't heroic. Take Bakugou out of the equation. Those other students, those other kids, didn’t deserve what happened to them. They didn’t deserve what you did to them. What you made your team do to them.”

“But I did? I deserved it?”

“What?” All Might asked, confused.

Izuku chuckled darkly before continuing on. “It seems you have forgotten that everything I put the other team through, I went through. I did. I had to deal with blows to the face that felt like 500 bombs going off. I had to deal with punches to the stomach that felt like getting hit with a paintball gun from miles away. I had to deal with being suicide baited in alleyways and having no one come help me. I had to deal with knowing that everyone I talked to saw me as a waste of space. I had to deal with that. My team had to deal with that. So no, I don’t see anything wrong with what we did. I don’t see anything wrong with teaching a bully a lesson.”

“That doesn’t justify-”

“Justify? You think I did it for fun. That I enjoyed remencising over the pain I had endured in the past. No All Might, it wasn’t fun. It was everything but fun. But it was necessary.”

“Necessary for who?

“Necessary for the ones still lost in the darkness. For the ones who are still succumbing to their pain. For the ones who had never been acknowledged before. Who never had their pain acknowledged before. It was necessary for the world.”

“Acting villainous is not what the world needs. That’s not what a hero is.”

“Maybe that’s where you’re wrong, All Might. The world is messy. The words hope and justice mean nothing to the people who are still suffering. They mean nothing to the people who are still waiting for a change that might never come. You can say I acted like a villain. That’s fine. I know why I did what I did. I know why I had to do it. And I know I’m not a villain. I couldn’t stay silent while the world looked over pain anymore. While the heroes looked over the pain. If the competition had to be a catalyst for change, then so be it. If we had to step further into the darkness, then so be it. I’m not losing anything from it. The most I’ll lose is the illusion of the hero you tried to shape me to be. The darkness of my past won’t dictate my future, but it will help me help those who were silenced by others. The world isn’t black and white. It’s not just heroes and villains. And if I had to tread into the gray during this competition to bring about change, then so be it. If showing the world the consequences of their neglect actually contributes to change, then maybe acting “villainous” as you so said I did, was what the world needed.”

“But you are a hero!” All Might shouted. Angry and in disbelief about what he was hearing.

“I am.” Izuku answered. “I am a hero. A hero who walks my own path. A hero who hears the ones who don’t have the energy anymore to speak. A hero who refuses to be silenced by those who have different ideals than mine. You speak of how heroes give hope to others. And that to me is the most laughable thing I have ever heard. Where was that hope when I was drowning in pain? Where was that hope when heroes turned their backs on me over and over and over again. You’re right All Might, I am a hero. I am a hero who will not be a symbol, but rather a beacon. A beacon that-”

“That what!” All Might shouted once again. “A beacon that promotes fear? Anger? Despair?”

“A beacon of light.” Izuku calmly answered. “A light that shines on the truth. The truth that it’s okay to acknowledge pain instead of burying it and pretending it doesn’t exist. I will be a beacon of light. I will be the light that others need to continue. The light that so many people had stolen from them. I will be the light for others because when my world was filled with darkness, a sliver of someone else’s light would have saved me. You can be the symbol of peace. That is fine. But you wanted me to be the symbol of hope. The new symbol. But I don’t want to be the new symbol. I don’t want to be the hero you think I should be. I don’t want to be your tool anymore.”

“Tool? When have you ever been my tool?”

“Maybe you didn’t do it intentionally. But you wanted me to fit into your version of a perfect hero. You wanted me to carry on your legacy. You gave me your quirk, and I will forever be grateful about that. But that doesn’t automatically mean I have to carry on what you can’t.”

“My quirk saved you.” All Might dared to suggest.

“I didn’t need a quirk to save me. The power of this quirk didn’t save me. You didn’t save me. I saved me. I did it all by myself. I pulled myself out. I needed help and help never came so I had to do it myself. God knows you wouldn’t have done it for me.”

“You never asked,” He once again dared to say.

“I shouldn't have to.” Izuku firmly stated, getting exhausted from this conversation that was happening right in the exposed hallway. “I shouldn’t have to ask to be saved.”

“I’m here now, Young Midoriya. I am here. I can help you now.”

“Help me now?” Izuku scoffed in disbelief. “I don’t need your help now. And you finally deciding to be here for me is too little too late. You want to know why I didn’t tell you. Why I didn’t share this side of me with you? It’s not because I was scared of what you would think of me. It’s not because I was scared to admit I had this side in the first place. It was because I didn’t trust you. I don’t trust you.”

All Might opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku cut him off.

“I don’t want excuses. I want accountability, but that’s something you can’t give me. Maybe instead of shaping me into the hero you want me to be, you take a good long look in the mirror and realize that being a hero isn’t about saving the day. It’s about being human.”

All Might, with all his faults, felt the sting of those words.

“Young Midoriya I-” he tried but was once again cut off.

“Don’t!” Izuku snapped. “Don’t pretend that you understand what I’m saying. You’ve always been a symbol, but I’m a person. I’ve fought through my struggles alone while you stood on a pedestal. I needed you to see me. I need you to understand me. You talk about training me to become a hero, but all I felt during those times was the pressure to be something I’m not.”

From the corner of his eye, Izuku could see Aizawa, Hitoshi, and Yamada staring at them. Aizawa’s eyes were filled with rage while Yamada was not faring much better. Hitoshi was standing in front of them, almost as if he were blocking them from getting any closer.

He saw anger in his parents eyes, but he also saw pride.

They knew he needed to do this conversation and emotions be damned, they were letting him without interfering.

This was family.

This was support.

And this was why he was able to say his next statement.

“You need to wake up. Being a hero isn’t just about saving people; it’s about connecting with them. It’s about being there when it counts. You let me down when I needed you the most. You preach about heroism, but where were you when I needed guidance? I’m not asking for handouts. I will never ask for handouts. All I wanted was for you to see me. Not your project or your legacy, but me. I want to be me. I need to be me. And if you can’t understand that, then what’s the point? What’s the point of me listening to somebody who will never understand. What’s the point of following somebody who immediately thinks of me as evil?”

All Might would come to regret his next words. But he was angry and hurt and he just couldn’t stop himself.

“I should have left you on that roof,” he muttered quietly under his breath. So quietly Izuku barely heard it. But even though he barely was able to make it out, he still heard it.

His fights clenched so tight and his posture became even more rigid the three people watching suddenly became nervous and antsy.

“You. Already. Did,” Izuku gritted out, doing his best to reign in the darkness that was slowly slipping into his eyes. “You already left me on a rooftop before, remember?”

Izuku saw the commotion happening from where his family stood. He saw Aizawa and Yamada struggling against Hitoshi who was body blocking them like his life depended on it. He saw everything but one thing. He didn’t see the fist that came flying from the other direction. The fist that knocked All Might to the ground in a heap of bloody coughs.

Izuku was shocked. Not because All Might got punched. But shocked by the person who delivered that punch.

He couldn't believe his eyes.

There was no way.

Absolutely no way.

There was zero chance that the fist that punched All Might was one that belonged to Mitsuki Bakugou.

There was no way, and yet, there she was. Standing next to Izuku, huffing and puffing, with her ruby red eyes filled with malice.

There she was.

Mitsuki Bakugou, standing in all her glory, protecting Izuku.

“Want to run that by me again?” She seethed, eyes glaring with the heat of a thousand suns. 

“Ms. Bakugou,” All Might groaned.

“It’s Mrs. fuckface,” she raged, pulling Izuku behind her as he watched Nezu silently strut up to them.

“Yagi,” Nezu stated, watching him with beady eyes that seemed almost unwavering.

“Nezu sir-” All Might tried, but Nezu just raised a paw up in the air, effectively shutting him up.

“Leave for the day and we’ll talk tomorrow,” He calmly stated. Too calmly for the anger that was palpable in the room.

“But-” All Might tried, but was once again cut off by Nezu.

“Either leave or I’ll have Shinsou release the hold on Aizawa and Yamada. And I can assure you Yagi, if they reach you, you will wish a punch is all you got. Now go home, we’ll talk tomorrow.”

All Might stared at everyone in the room. He knew the others wouldn’t hear him out, so he looked towards Izuku. He pleaded with him with his eyes. Pleaded for the boy to have his back.

But when did All Might ever have his?

And because of that, Izuku simply just looked away.

He looked away from the scene.

Looked away from All Might, the man that had shattered him when he was already broken.

“Izuku please, my boy. Please just let me show you the way.” All Might tried one last time to reach Izuku. But Izuku didn’t need to be reached. He didn’t need to be shown the way.

He didn’t need All Might.

“I don’t want to be you,” Izuku stated with his gaze still directed away from the hero he had once admired. “I’ll find my own way. I’ll be the hero that I want to be. The hero that is nothing like you. I’ll forge my own way and make my own choices.”

“The burden of your quirk-”

“Is my burden. Maybe my path will lead to even more pain and suffering. Maybe it won’t work at all. But that is my burden to bear. Mine. At least it’ll be my suffering. I won't regret being true to myself. I’ll find my own way, All Might. I’ll be a hero, but I’ll do it on my own terms.”

It was then that Aizawa broke free from Hitoshi and charged straight towards All Might. 

He didn’t hit him, even though he wanted to.

He didn’t even speak to him, even though he had thousands of insults lined up.

All he did was haul All Might up and drag him out of the room. Yamada and Hitoshi quickly followed, really not trusting Aizawa to refrain from getting a cheap shot in.

However, that left Izuku in the hallway with Nezu and Mitsuki. 

And seeing how Nezu was following the direction everyone had just gone through, he knew it was time for another confrontation.

He was so tired at this point. So tired that he craved sleep. But even though he was tired, this was something he needed to do. He needed to do this for himself.

Because if he could go up against the man that chose his bully’s side, then he could go up against anything.

So, the moment that Nezu was out of the room, he turned to Mitsuki with eyes full of challenge and waited. 

He waited for the yelling and the anger.

He waited for the cussing and the insults.

He waited for it all to come and yet, it didn’t.

She didn’t yell at him or cuss at him.

She didn’t even say a word to him.

All she did was grab him and hurl him into her chest, giving him a hug so tight he could barely breathe. And when he went to speak, to ask to be let go so he could breath, that’s when he felt it.

When he felt the hot water drops that fell onto the skin of his neck.

In that moment, for the first time ever, he felt the unshakeable Mitsuki Bakugou cry.

“Um, are you okay?” He asked, confused and concerned.

“You dumbass,” she whispered back, holding him a little bit tighter before fully letting go and separating them.

“You never came back.” Mitsuki stated while wiping her eyes that just seemed to get redder. “After that day in our house, you never came back. I kept telling Katsuki to invite you over. I kept telling him that we wanted to see you more, but he always had some sort of excuse. I asked your mom about it, but she just said that you were going through something. We believed her. I believed her.”

“A lot of people believed her,” Izuku stated.

“I asked about you. A lot actually.”

This surprised him. He had always thought that everyone just forgot about him. That everyone just wrote him off as the kid that was defective. He never for one moment thought that someone might actually remember him.

“You did?” he whispered back, not knowing how to process this information.

“All the time,” she whispered. “Every time I called I asked about you. Every time I saw her I asked. She always gave me the same answers over and over again. Maybe that was the sign I missed. Maybe if I noticed sooner you wouldn’t have been in so much pain. But I didn’t, and for that I am sorry. Katsuki, he was a handful growing up. He was angry all the time and would lose his temper, but he was so much like me when I was younger. So much like I am now. When we saw the signs of him changing, I just thought maybe he was going through some phase. I know I did. I thought maybe he would come to outgrow it. But he didn’t. And I never knew what he did to you. What he said to you. We never knew what he was doing. When I asked about his behavior in class, every teacher told me he was a model student. It was surprising, seeing how I saw him act at home, and I should have questioned it. But when someone tells you your kid is doing good, you don’t question them. Izuku, if I had known, if I had any clue to what he was doing to you, I would have stopped it. Please know, I would have put an end to it way before it ever got to the point it did.”

“I believe you,” Izuku whispered his response. And he did. He did believe her. Mistuki was loud and abrasive, but she wasn’t cruel. She wasn’t her son.

“Everyone wats to see the good in their child.”

“Well yes,” she responded. “But parents also need to see the bad as well. Because he was so much like me when I was younger, I pushed away the signs. I told myself that because I never did something, he wouldn’t either. And I realize know how flawed my thought process was. How flawed my parenting was. I can’t take back what he did to you. I can’t take back your scars or your pain. I can’t reverse the damage. All I can do is apologize and hope you know how truly sorry I am that I failed as a Mother.”

“You didn’t fail-” Izuku tried, but Mitsuki shot him down.

“I did. I did fail. And that’s okay. I know I failed. Masaru knows he failed. We know we failed. You know, it is our first time being parents. We have never done this before. We did the best we could but we failed. Yes we raised him. Yes he is safe and healthy. Yes he is getting an education. Yes he has parents who love him. But we failed to mold him into a good person. We failed to correct his behavior before it got detrimental. Before he hurt others. We failed and us recognizing it was the first thing we needed to do in order to move forward. Nezu wanted to deal with him but I asked him not to. Masaru and I will deal with him. He is our kid. We are his parents. The blame lies on us. And therefore, it’s time we started to actually parent him.”

“What will you do?” Izuku asked.

“Katsuki, after being cleared by recovery girl, will be taking a leave of absence from school. I have talked it over with Nezu and he will not return to campus until Masaru and I both believe he is ready to. He will still be a student here. He will still be taking his courses, but he will not be on the school grounds.”

“I see,” Izuku mumbled dejectedly. 

“We know he should be expelled.” Mitsuki continued on. “We know he should. We know his future as a hero is close to none. It will be a miracle if one person decides to even consider his application. We know it, but he doesn’t. He still thinks what he did was right. He still thinks his behavior was okay. If Nezu expelled him now, he wouldn’t change. There would be no reason for him to change. He’s still staying in school to get the education, but as of right now, he is not partaking in any hero courses. I will not allow him to partake in any hero courses. No school will take him. Not after this competition. Masaru and I are not home enough to homeschool him and if he did online classes, he would be free to do whatever he wanted. This was the only way. The only way where he still gets to be a student and learn a lesson. We failed him. He is like this because of us. We have to make it right. Even if he hates us in the end. Even if he never speaks to us again. We are his parents. And we will punish him as his parents.”