Chapter Text
January 13, 2XX3
Danny’s getting ready to go out to the beach with Izuku! Tonight they’re going to focus on his powers, helping him to control it. Danny knows what it’s like to not know, and he’d only wish some of that embarrassment on his worst enemies. Like Vlad and his fugly vampire mug. He’s getting off-topic. All in all, it’s a nice afternoon-evening on a trashed beach with his cute friend!
Heck, he’s already got his hand around Izuku’s wrist and leading him out of the lobby and into the outside world. Soon enough he’s gonna have some sweet sweet Zuku time-
“Where’re you going?” A voice cuts through his thoughts.
Danny stops and turns around to face the person in question. The voice is too high for Mr. Aizawa, a common interloper, or Karisma who occasionally helps with the more ghostly side.
Danny sees her wide wondering eyes and blonde buns. Ah, it’s Toga. Wait, Toga?
”Huh?” Danny ever so eloquently asks his question and Izuku turns around too.
”I asked where you guys are going!” She repeats with a smile and a little giggle.
”We’re going to the beach,” Izuku explains, “Training and stuff.”
Her eyes light up and sparkle as she skips closer to them. “The beach!? With, like, water and sand???”
”More like water and trash,” Danny cuts in, “It’s Dagobah Beach. ‘We’ve’ been cleaning it up as muscle training and using the space for other activities.” Toga was already in the know of Izuku’s dream as a hero. He wasn’t exactly subdued or secretive when it came to heroics.
Toga droops a bit at this revelation, but perks back up as her imaginary light bulb goes off, “Can I come?”
”I thought you weren’t interested in heroics?” Izuku says, assuming she wanted to join in on the training.
”I’m not,” Toga explains, “Buuuut! I think it’d be fun to hang out there with you guys! Oh! We could even have a picnic!”
Danny’s tempted to say no until she starts the dramatics. She clasps her hands in the universal ‘pleaaaaaassseeee?’ Sign and gives some of the most insane puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen, and he’s got Cujo for a dog.
Danny sighs and says, “Alright, but only if you can get the supplies for the picnic you’ve got me thinking about now.”
”Yes!!” She pumps her fist in the air and sprints off to the stairwell, rushing off to somewhere.
”…She’s kind of like an excitable dog…” Izuku notes.
”Oh 100%.” Danny responds.
Toga comes flying back down the stairs and Danny immediately realizes what she went to retrieve. Or really, who?
Auriel lifts up a woven basket with a floral fabric on top, “Toga mentioned a picnic?”
Karisma holds their regular smugness, Auriel is standing gracefully, and Toga is absolutely vibrating in her spot. Looks like Danny-Izuku time just became a group picnic. Yay?
———
”…And then I grabbed his fingers and pulled them back so far they were stuck unnaturally bent!” Karisma recounts the time they found some sleazebag messing with one of the younger Keep Servants. Thankfully they left out the more gruesome details. Like Auriel wearing pointy heels for once and stomping on his- never mind. It seems they also twisted the scenery for where it had taken place. Smart.
Toga, Karisma, and Auriel are seated next to a larger trash pile atop their picnic blanket. They seem to have separated the food by blood and not blood. Toga is currently munching on meringues made of blood, Danny doesn't want to even try to figure out how that works.
Danny snaps back from his thought process when he hears a yelp from Izuku across from him. He immediately shifts to a combative stance, only to realize that Izuku was simply standing there, wearing one shoe.
”…” Danny stares for a moment, “You, uh, you good there, Izuku?”
Izuku flushes embarrassedly, “…Yeah. I accidentally phased my foot through my shoe and it scared me.” He deflates a little when he hears Toga cackle from her spot on the beach.
”Hey, look on the bright side!” Danny exclaims, “At least it was your shoe and not your pants! I used to accidentally depants myself all the time!” He pauses for a moment, “I sounded way too proud of that.”
Toga cackles even louder and subsequently grunts when Danny sends a minuscule harmless beam her way. That gets a little giggle out of Auriel, which causes Toga to pout a little.
Everything about this is so domestic, that it positively warms Danny’s heart. And core. And now that buzzing noise is getting a little annoying- Why is everyone looking at him?
”Danny- Are you- Are you purring?” Izuku asks incredulously.
Oh. The buzzing was him.
Now Karisma is laughing too and Toga is cooing about Danny being a big kitty, and Danny’s positively embarrassed. It’s like when your parent tells a secret about you to their friends during small talk level embarrassment.
”Ooh! We should get him cat ears and a tail!”
”NO!!!”
Don’t talk, don’t speak, don’t talk, don’t speak, don’t talk, don’t speak, don’t cry, don’t scream, don’t cry, don’t scream, don’t cry, don’t scream, no noises, no noises, no noises, no noises. Don’t let them hear you don’t let them hurt you, don’t let them hear you don’t let them hurt you don’t let them hear you don’t let them hurt you. Why do they hurt you?
January 16, 2XX3
It’s common knowledge to anyone aiming for a good hero school that both physical and educational test scores are important. Danny’s come to realize that he, Izuku, Toga, Kirishima, and Mina all hope to get into U.A.
Danny wants to experience life and continue fulfilling his protection obsession. Izuku has always dreamed of being a hero and proving the others wrong. Toga may not want to be a traditional hero, but she doesn’t want to leave Danny and Izuku. Kirishima wants to be respected and noticed by people, while also acknowledging that helping people is what manly men do. Mina has expectations from both sides of a coin put onto her, she is seen as the perfect candidate for both a hero and a villain, with her personality and flashy quirk, but also her mutations and harmful acid.
The next course of action was, evidently, clear.
Study groups.
“I just don’t get it!” Mina groans as she flops onto the table in front of her, “How am I ever going to pass the written exam? I can't even remember how to differentiate between Sine, Cosine, and Tangent!!"
”Really? That’s super easy though!” Kirishima says.
”Explain it to meeeee!!” Mina whines. Danny snorts a bit at their antics.
Danny was off to the side just fiddling with some tech that he’d gotten. He was trying to find a way to form a force shield for Izuku since his shield was only the size of his forearm. Sure, one could argue that he should also be studying, but he came from a family of scientists! His parents may have been a bit loco, but they had PhDs in more than ecto-science, and Jazz was on her way to getting her own in psychology. Heck, Danny was pretty smart too. He had been sailing through school, taking extra online courses on the side at 12 years old before the accident! His grades took a hit, sure, but he still made it through some of his 7th-grade year as a 13-year-old before the GIW- Don’t think about it. You’re safe, Danny. Now he’s 15 and starting high school soon. Oh, joy. Wait- how old are the others???
“Hey, uh, weird question, but- how old are you guys? I’ve never really asked…” Danny asks.
“It’s not too weird if you haven’t been told!” Mina supplies, “I, like, just turned 15!”
”If I have the date correct then I should have turned 15 in August!” Toga exclaims.
”I turned 15 back in October.” Kirishima says.
”I’m still 14, my birthday is in July…” Izuku chimes in.
”Cool, I’m 15, my birthday is…” Danny trails off. Why can’t he remember his birthday? Why is he inclined to say April 3rd? He’s not an April baby.
”What are you all talking about down here?” Karisma’s voice feels muddled under his thoughts.
”We’re studying!” Toga cheers, “But we started talking about our birthdays! Danny kind of drifted off when he was about to say his birthday, though…”
”Shit.” Karisma mutters under their breath, “Danny!”
Danny immediately snaps up and looks at them, “Huh?”
”Your birthday is August 17.” Karisma states matter-of-factly.
”Ah.” Danny says. August sounds right. What was April 3rd, though? “Right. Thanks.” Karisma walks off to continue whatever it was that they were doing.
”Danny, my bro, my dude, brove of my life.” Kirishima says, “Did you seriously forget your birthday?”
”No!” Danny defends himself, but relents, “Okay maybe?”
”How??? It’s your birthday!” Mina asks.
”My sister used to remember it for me! And I had this big gap recently where I didn’t even know the date!” Danny shoots back.
”Oh dang,” Kirishima mutters.
“You have a sister!?” Toga squeals, though.
Izuku hears the question and looks worried and a bit queasy. He goes over and decides to get comfortable next to Danny.
”Had… I, ah, had a sister. An older one. Her name was Jasmine, but everyone called her Jazz. She was more of a mom than a sister. My parents weren’t the best or very responsible, so she raised me…” Danny trails off.
Everyone has obvious looks of pity and sorrow on their faces, and Danny can taste the sadness in the air. He feels sickened by it all.
”Sorry,” Toga says, dully, “I didn’t know.”
”It’s okay, Toga.” Danny says with a bit of a sad smile.
… It’s quiet for a bit before Mina cuts in.
”Anyone else feel like watching a movie and eating a crap ton of junk food?”
”Oh my Ancients, yes!”
Why is it so dark? He can’t see. His mouth hurts. It tastes like blood and metal. Or is that just the same taste? He hadn’t meant to talk. He tried not to. It just came out. It’s not his fault he was born this way! It’s not his fault!
January 19, 2XX3
Danny shows up outside of an apartment door that he doesn’t visit as often as he might others. He raises a fist and knocks it against the door. After a moment of time passes, the door opens up. Kenzō looks a bit confused before he realizes it’s Danny.
”Oh! Danny, did you need something?” Kenzō asks.
”Uh, yeah, actually,” Danny answers, “Can I come in?”
”Sure,” Kenzō moves out of the way so that Danny can enter, “Sorry about the mess.”
”It’s fine!” Danny floats over to a chair and waits for Kenzō to follow. He fidgets a bit as he waits.
Once Kenzō sits down next to him, he asks, “So, what’s up?”
“Well, remember how you said that stuff about your major and how you sometimes do support items when we were introducing Toga?” Danny asks.
“Yeah…?”
”Um- could you look over this blueprint and fact-check it for me!?” Danny shoves the blueprint for his shield for Izuku at Kenzō.
“Sure.” Kenzō takes the blueprint and reads over it intently, slowly going faster. It was like that one scene in Ratatouille with the head chef guy. “Danny,” Kenzō starts, “Did you just hand me the blueprint to a working force field?”
”Yeah?” Danny responds.
”Both portable and stationary ones, at that?”
”Uh-huh… Why? Is something wrong?”
”Is something wrong!?” Kenzō shrieks, “Danny, this is amazing! Do you plan to make it?”
“I mean, yeah? I came to you to make sure it’d work…” Danny says.
”Danny.” Kenzō reaches out and puts his hands on Danny’s shoulders, “Will you please let me help you make this? No strings attached?”
”…Sure????”
———
Needless to say, Kenzō and Danny enjoyed their time together making the shield. And when Danny gifted it to Izuku, it was glaringly worth it. Especially the hug he got.
The fact that they’re gonna have to incorporate it into their training now is a bit annoying, but… That hug though.