Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

October 15, 2XX2

Danny’s been in this new dimension for at least a week by now. Clockwork, in all his timely glory, had insisted the young Halfa King take a ‘vacation’ from his ‘depressing sulking’ because it’d ’help him forget about the fact that he had to leave behind every human he loved’. Psssh. What does he know?

So, here he is, once again following the teenager with curly green hair he’d found at the beginning. He was one of the first people Danny had seen here who looked at least somewhat similar to the humans he was used to, so he kept haunting out of a sense of familiarity.

It was routine at this point, really: Wake up in the depressingly silent apartment building that Clockwork had scored for him, attempt to learn how to cook more than just basic American breakfast, mess around at various locations, wait for the boy’s school to get out, follow him and silently fret over the new mysterious injuries, mess around with him some, leave when Greenie started on his route that he always goes when the sun starts to set- probably the way to his house, following him home seemed like a violation of his privacy, and finally, head home, rinse, and repeat. The routine worked, alright?

Danny… couldn’t help but be a bit worried, though. When Greenie had left school he seemed even more depressed than usual. Danny could only wish he were able to help. But, the best he could do was subtly release feelings of comfort-it’s okay-feel better. CW said that for the best possible timeline, he should avoid interaction until he gave Danny the okay. He’ll probably mess it up anyway, though. He’s never been the best at following directions, after all.

After some time of following Greenie, they approached an underpass, Danny couldn't tell if he recognized it though. Suddenly, though, the sewer cover on the ground starts to clank up some. And out came some kind of living sludge monster! Danny thought it might have been a ghost at first, but his ghost sense hadn't gone off. And, almost as if to dispel his suspicions, it spoke as though it were living.

“A medium-sized body… to hide in…” The sewage incarnate stated. And then launched at Greenie. It covered his body in its nasty self, it appeared to be trying to force itself into the boy's mouth!?

“Don’t worry.” The sludge grossly started, “I’m just hijacking your body. Calm down. It’ll only hurt for about 45 seconds… and then it’ll all be over.”

Greenie appeared to struggle against the slime, to no avail. Fingers grasping at the liquid, failing to catch anything. It looked absolutely disgusting and Danny’s core began to ache with a need to help.

“I’m saved. You’re a real hero.” The sludge continued, “I never thought he’d show up in this town.” It then caught on to Greenie's struggle, “No point trying that. I’m fluid, you see!!” 

Danny struggled to hold himself back, his core almost seeming to burn as he watched the teen painfully flail. He cursed Clockwork for instructing him to not interact with anyone until he received permission.

And then, out of nowhere, a large, buff, blonde man appeared. He seemed to be wearing regular civilian clothes and parts of his hair stuck up like an antenna.

Big Buffie then reeled his fist back and shouted, "Texas… SMASH!!” And he punched straight through the sludge. The very shockwave of the attack breaking through the nasty enemy. It was kinda cool to watch until Greenie fainted.

Thankfully, buff blondie noticed it too.

…Or not thankfully? Why is he slapping Greenie to wake him up? What if he uses too much strength? Surely there are better methods! 

To Danny’s very exasperated relief, Greenie woke up.

“Hey… uh.” Greenie started before Buff Blondie™ cut him off.

“Thank goodness.” Buffie thanks, “You’re okay! Excellent!”

“WHA-?!”

“Apologies for getting you caught up in my villain hunt. Mistakes like that aren’t my style, but, This is a strange land to me. And besides, I’m off camera!!” And… Buffie just slicked his hair back. Seriously? “But my success here is all thanks to you!! I’ve contained the villain!!” Yeah, in a plastic bottle! That is so much worse than a Fenton Thermos!!

Danny was a bit annoyed at Buffie. He seemed unprofessional and unprepared, not that Danny who started fighting ghosts at 12 could really argue about professionalism… But, judging by Greenie’s muttered praises, Greenie was a fan. And Danny would respect that.

Danny attempted to listen to the muttering, but it didn’t work out too well… He did hear Greenie call Buffie something like Fall Might. Weird.

Greenie then started to look all around like a madman, “Oh! A-an autograph! Where’s…” He suddenly found his notebook, “Ah, my notebook…” Only to open it and see it already signed.

Danny looked over Greenie's shoulder and read the text. Thank the Ancients for omnilingualism… Huh. Looks like Ball Fight is actually All Might. Bit of a cocky name…

“WOWWW!! Thank you so much!! What a treasure!! It’ll be my family heirloom!!” Greenie praised All Might while rapidly bowing. A bit much in Danny’s very honest not jealous opinion.

“Now I must bring this fellow to the authorities!!” All Might began to waltz away, “You can catch me on TV!!”

Poor Greenie looked upset, “Um! Wait... Is that it...? I…”

“A pro hero battles not only villains but time!” And All Might… squatted??? “Until next time… THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!!” And then All Might jumped with so much force he rocketed into the air and practically flew. He didn’t actually fly though. Only cool people like Danny could do that. Duh.

‘Wait… what is Greenie doing?’

And then Danny noticed Greenie had latched onto All Might’s legs and he was quick to fly after them.

"Hey now!!" All Might yelled, "Release me! Such enthusiasm is a bit much!" All Might must be stupid to tell a kid holding onto him, in the middle of the air, to let go of him.

"If I.. let go now... I'll die...!" Greenie explained, helpfully, "I... Need to ask you.. so many things... Gah! You..."

"Okay, okay. Just do me a favor and close your eyes and mouth!" All Might relented. 

Greenie did as he was asked and they landed on a random rooftop. Danny floats easily to join them.

"Scary..." Greenie muttered.

"Of all the...!! Hopefully, the people downstairs will help us get down." All Might practically spoke to himself, "I've no time though! Truly!!"

Greenie did catch onto that last bit, though, "Wait! Um..." He started.

"No!! I will not wait." All Might interrupted. Rude.

"Can someone without a quirk..." Danny latched onto the word 'quirk', CW had explained the interesting superpowers to him, and Greenie continued, "...become a hero like you?" He closed his eyes while saying so. Practically in his own world.

"Quirks are..." All Might began to say.

"Because I don't have a quirk, I...well, maybe that's not the only reason. But I've always been picked on..." Greenie supplied, was he getting bullied!? "That's why... Maybe that's why I think that saving people is just about the coolest thing someone can do."

"Damn it all" All Might cursed as he began to sizzle and steam appeared. Was he... cooking himself? 

"The way you save people with that fearless smile! I want to be the strongest hero just like y-" And then Greenie opened his eyes and the smoke and steam dispersed, "WHAAAAAT?!" In front of him stood a skeleton of a man, with clothing too big and deep-seated eyes. "You're all shriveled up! Huh?! A fake! An imposter?! So thin!!"

The man glared at Greenie and began to say, "I am All Might." As blood spewed from his mouth. Yikes..!

"No way!!"

"You know how people hold in their gut at the pool?" All Shrink explained, "It's like that!" Danny had to hold back a snort at the, frankly, humorous response.

"No way!!"

"A fearless smile, huh..." And All Shrink slumped to the ground, "You've seen the real me, kid. But don't write about it on the internet, okay?"

"No way..." All right buddy, time to say something else.

All Shrink then lifted his shirt and revealed a caved-in wound. Cracks and scars rippling throughout his torso. Which, damn.

"Five years ago... an enemy did this to me." All Might began to explain, "My respiratory system was nearly destroyed and my stomach was removed. I've wasted away because of the after-effects of those surgeries. I can only do my hero work for about three hours a day now." 

"Five years ago..? Was that when you fought Toxic Chainsaw?" Greenie asked. 

"That lowlife? He could never do this to me! You've done your homework, though..." All Might answered, "This was never made public. It is a national secret after all... Even me, the symbol of peace can be bested..." Did he just tell a teenager (technically two, but he doesn’t know that) a national secret!? A stranger, at that, too!

All Might stood up slowly and then said, "Without power, can one become a hero?" He asked. "No. I should think not." 

The fuck!? Did this guy seriously just tell a kid, A KID, that he couldn't do something he so clearly dreamed about!? 

"ah..." 

"If you desire to help people, becoming a police officer is always an option... It's not wrong to dream..." He started as he prepared to leave, "However... you need to be realistic, kid." An explosion let off in the distance and All Might was gone.

He seriously just... left a teenager on a rooftop!? After crushing their dreams!? This All Might is an idiot!!

And so what if Greenie didn’t have a quirk!? Jazz doesn't have any powers, but she used to save Danny’s ass all the time! Sam didn’t need to be able to shoot lasers out of her butt to be able to help keep Amity safe. Valerie’s time as Red Huntress wasn’t thanks to some wacky genetics, it was man-made technology. And Tucker isn't the tech guy because of some power! If anything, they're more trouble than it's worth!

All Might is just some dumb oaf who doesn't deserve the title of hero.

Danny watched with muted anger and sympathy as Greenie gazed blankly out at the sky. And, still in his broken state, he walked over to the door on the roof and attempted to open it. It was locked. 

Greenie let out a groan of frustration and slipped his yellow bag off his shoulders, tossing it to the side, as he slumped down against the wall and onto the ground.

The sobs were obvious. It hurt Danny to see this.

After about an hour, Greenie's seemingly endless tears began to dry up. Danny should've been glad, but Greenie felt so strongly that even he, a minor empath, could feel his emotions. He wasn't okay.

Greenie lifted his head and looked up at the sky, the sunset painting it in beautiful hues. He rose from his spot and headed over to the ledge. Danny hoped with all his might it was simply for a better view. 

He swiftly shook his head, as if shaking away a thought, but continued to look out over the city. Danny could hear some explosions in the far distance, but Greenie was his focus right now. The heroes they totally overhype here can deal with it. Hopefully.

And Danny knew he wasn't allowed to interact with Greenie yet, but he feared the worst. He did the only thing he could think, he forced as many feelings of COMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORTCOMFORT-PLEASEDONT-STOP-DON'TDOIT-ITSOKAY-PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE out through his core and towards Greenie.

It might have worked, or something else could have done the trick, but Greenie finally stepped down from the ledge after maybe thirty minutes of riskily standing at it. 

It was clear that he wanted to go home, but that any little thing might set him off, so Danny rushed over to the locked door and used his intangibility to sneakily pick the lock. It was a smart move, too, because soon Greenie approached the door and picked his bag up off the floor. He slung it haphazardly around his shoulder and reached out for the door. Seemingly forgetting the locked situation from before, he opened it up easily and trekked down the stairs.

Danny, in the spur of the moment, decided to follow him rather than leave him be as he usually would at this time. Greenie reached the bottom floor and exited the building. Danny recognized most of the route that Greenie took, but it began to appear unfamiliar at some point.

The further they went, the worse the buildings got. Danny tried his best to not judge Greenie if this was where he lived. Speaking of, right in front of a seemingly abandoned, burnt building, Greenie took a sharp turn. He approached a rickety fire escape that had a strategically placed dumpster. Greenie climbed onto the dumpster and then reached out for the fire escape. He had to jump a bit to make it, but he eventually got over it.

Danny's curiosity was continuously piqued the further Greenie went. He eventually got to a window and pried it open, then climbed in. Danny followed easily as Greenie plopped his bag onto the floor. 

Simply put, the place was a mess. The room was caked in dirt and soot, it appeared to have been burnt. There were notebooks strewn across the floor alongside piles of blankets, clothes, and towels. A first aid kit was shoved to the side amongst the mess. And there were two whole posters on the cleanest wall, Danny didn't recognize the people pictured.

Even Danny's lonely apartment here was better than this. 

And so, on impulse, Danny blurted out, "Damn bro, you live like this?" 

Chapter Text

October 15, 2XX2

"Damn bro, you live like this?"

Shit, Greenie's head immediately shot up, and there was an obvious look of fear.

"W-who was that?! What do you want from me?" Greenie asked nervously.

"Woah! Uh, calm down?" Danny put his hands up, even though he was invisible, "I...uh... Come in peace?"

"Eh!? Are you an alien!?" Greenie yelped.

"What!? No!” Danny answered, “At least I don’t think so…”

"W-well, why are you in my house!?" Greenie asked.

"I, uh, may or may not have been stalking you..."

"What!?" Greenie gasped.

"You’re the most normal-looking person I could find!" Danny tried to reason.

"W-what is that supposed to mean!?” Greenie demanded.

"I don’t know!?" Danny squeaked feeling his face heat up, "Most people here look less human than even my fellow ghosts!”

"GHOST?" Greenie looked shocked, "Am I talking to a dead person right now!?"

"Sorta...?"

"I WAS BEING STALKED BY A DEAD PERSON?!"

"It wasn't reaaallly stalking," Danny attempted to explain, "I just followed you around whenever I saw you in public and got accustomed to your routine!"

"Well considering you're standing in my house right now after following me for- how long?"

"A week..."

"Right, after following me for a weEK!? How have I not noticed you!?" Greenie shrieked out the last part of 'week'.

"Invisible?"

"Okay, no, you know what? I'm going to just..." He sits down on the dirty ashy floor and crosses his legs. "So, what I'm hearing is that some random dead guy with an invisibility quirk has been stalking me? How are you still anyway? Is your quirk actually that you stay after death and not invisibility? Is it just a side effect? Why have you been following me? Do you plan to hurt me? What is your quirk?"

Danny starts to feel a little lightheaded from the barrage of questions, "Okay, wow. You clearly have a lot of questions.”

Greenie has devolved into muttering and tuned out Danny. Does this guy have no sense of danger?

Seeing that Greenie wouldn't acknowledge him speaking, Danny shifted back into visibility and floated down to the ground in front of him. He waved a hand in front of Greenie's head that had tilted forward into his palm as he muttered.

Greenie quickly looked up, "Wha!?”

Danny started speaking, "Okay, so, my situation is realllly special and I really wanna be your friend for some reason so can I, like, explain it to you?"

"Oh, uh, I guess you can... If you promise not to hurt me, though!" Greenie allowed.

Danny took a breath in and prepared the background story he and Clockwork cooked up. Sadly, not all of it was fake. It was his true story with changes to fit this 'quirky', hah, dimension."Hooh boy, okay, so...

My name is Danny Nightingale, I'm currently in Japan because my sister and friends are all gone and my parents want me dead. When I was 12 I died, but my quirk revived me and gave me all the powers of a ghost. I lived as a vigilante for some time and my friends and sister, all quirkless, helped out. My parents were quirkless and prejudiced towards quirked people. They didn't regard them as people. So, when they found out I had a quirk they as well as another group attempted experiments on me. My friends and sister sacrificed themselves so that I, and others, could get away. Now, I'm here in Japan because my... mentor... didn't like seeing me so depressed. While hanging out here, I found you. I wasn't used to seeing so many people with quirks, especially mutant types-yeesh that sounded quirkest... So, I sorta, kinda, latched onto you whenever I saw you. I never followed you home before though- I only did it this time because of the roof situation." Danny breathed out heavily.

"Holy shit."

At Greenie's simple response, Danny burst out laughing, "Crazy right!?"

———

After Danny's big explanation, he realized it'd be best if he formally introduced himself, "So, uhm. Hi? I'm Daniel Nightingale, you can call me Danny, and I want to be your friend. What's your name?"

Greenie looked at him a bit bewildered, "You... want to be my friend, actually? And you don't know my name after stalking me!?"

 Danny whined and leaned back, "It wasn't stalkiiinnngggg."

"Right, sure., Well I'm I-Izuku Midoriya, you can call me Midoriya, and are you sure you want to be friends with me?"

Danny snapped back up straight, "Midoriya suits you! And, why wouldn't I want to be your friend?"

Midoriya wrung his hands together, "Well because I'm quirkless? We get a lot of bad stigma about us and people don't really like us. We're super mistreated, too..."

Danny leveled him with a stare, "Midoriya, dude, did you not hear me tell you that my parents, best friends, and sister were all quirkless? Or that I was until I 'died'?" 

Midoriya looked shocked, "O-oh yeah! I, um, forgot?" He flinched back some.

"Eh, it’s fine,” Danny waves him off, “Anyways- what was up with that buff blonde guy from earlier? The one with the major America getup?"

Midoriya looked at him in shock, "You don't know All Might!?"

"My parents weren't big on heroes...?"

"Okay, I guess that could explain that, but what about him?"

  "The shit he said to you. Why can't you be a hero if you're quirkless?" Danny was genuinely confused. Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and, heck, even Valerie would all make great heroes and they didn't have any ghost abilities!

Midoriya visibly slumped, "I guess... Everyone has always told me that since I didn't have a quirk I wouldn't amount to anything. That I couldn't fulfill my dream of being a hero and saving everyone with a bright smile. I thought All Might might have a different answer, but..." Midoriya shrugged, and Danny could see the tears in his eyes, "It's, y'know?"

Danny looked at his environment. The ash and dirt caking the floors and walls, the clothes, notebooks, and clearly used often first aid equipment. The poster of a winged blonde and a second poster black-haired man with a gray scarf and goggles. The blankets making a sort of nest bed. And then Danny looked at Midoriya. A boy the same age as him, with poorly hidden scars. Battle earned scars, and yet he wasn't a soldier, not like Danny was. He had a cutesy edge to him that was slowly being engulfed by a lingering monster of depression, one Danny knew all too well. Danny looked into his large, green eyes and said the very words that would shape the future:

"Izuku Midoriya, I believe that you can be a hero."

Danny then looked Midoriya dead in the eyes, "A hero is not made by their abilities. The same powers that make heroes make villains and civilians. Anyone can be trained, but not everyone can be a hero. But you, Midoriya? You didn’t even know I or anyone else was watching you, and yet I have seen you be a hero. I have seen you protect others when you yourself needed saving. I saw you show a lost little girl the way back to her mom. I have seen you pick up trash that could've been ignored. I have seen you care for the uncared for. You have all the makings of a hero," Danny waved a hand around a little, "You just need some help if you want to go pro." Danny then reached his hand out to Midoriya on the floor, "And I can be that help. If you'll let me."

Midoriya looked up at Danny with an almost sort of wonder. He visibly gulped and reached a trembling hand out to grasp Danny's own firm hand. Once they made contact Danny hoisted him up and waved an arm out at the crispy room they still were in.

"Awesome! Now, step one of making Midoriya a hero! A new base of operations!" Danny beamed at Midoriya.

Midoriya was clearly confused, though, "What do you mean??"

Danny looked more sheepish now and brought his arm up to scratch at the back of his neck, "So, I, ah, may or may not be hellishly rich and own an entire apartment building just for myself?"

..."WHAT."

Chapter Text

October 16, 2XX2

Danny had a boy over...

Well! Technically kidnapped a boy from his burnt homeless person nest and shoved them into an apartment across from him! But, that kinda counts, right? Yeah, sure. So, Danny had a boy over.

A boy, that Clockwork told him he wasn't allowed to interact with yet!

"Shit!" Danny shot up in his bed, he had gone to rest after leaving Midoriya to settle in, "Clockwork? If you can hear me- Please tell me I didn't just doom this universe..."

In lieu of a response, Danny got a small pocket watch dropped on his head. Ouch. He picked it up and looked it over, it was obviously Clockwork's doing. And, thankfully, engraved on the back was the phrase, 'All is well.' Sweet. He didn't accidentally doom the world by insulting his new friend's house!

Speaking of the new friend, Danny realized he could see the sun coming up and decided he should make a welcoming gift for his new neighbor! Truthfully speaking, Midoriya reminded Danny of a skittish rabbit, so, inspiration struck through that thought, and Danny was hurdling out of bed. He shuffled into his everyday clothes and NASA sweatshirt easily. Rushing through the kitchen, he chugged some pure ecto and proceeded to catapult onto the couch. Once there, he sat crisscrossed and began to form some unmelting ecto-ice in his palms. Easily, he shaped it into his desired form. It resembled a cartoonish bunny with extra large eyes, and the ectoplasm gave it a green tint. It really did remind him of Midoriya. After adding some finishing touches, he quickly headed over to the door, Danny shuffled into his shoes and was outta there.

Suddenly, he was in front of the door across the hallway, a bit too aware of how he might come off. He didn't want to seem too strong, but he hadn't had a human friend in a while now- and he was just so excited to finally interact with the cute- wait what?- boy he had been following.

Swallowing his doubts, Danny knocked on the door. It was starting to take a while and he worried that Midoriya had left or was ignoring him. Right as he began to chew his lip out of nerves, Midoriya burst the door open in his Junior High School uniform. Did they call it a Gakuran here, or was that something else?

"Oh! Danny, uh, hi!" Midoriya blurted out, "Did you need something? I was about to head to school..."

"Oh, I just wanted to, y'know, give you a housewarming gift!" Danny explained.

Midori looked a little confused, "Really? But- huh??"

Danny decided to just give it to him before he could get any more confused. He quickly thrust out his hands, "It's ice! In the shape of a rabbit! But it doesn't melt because I made it with my quirk-"

"You made it with your quirk?" Midoriya blurted in, eyes sparkling, he quickly grabbed the bunny, "This is awesome Danny! Here, let me go put it somewhere safe..." He turned around into the apartment and Danny watched him disappear. After listening to his footsteps for a bit, he reappeared. "There! Safe and sound!" Midoriya then looked over Danny's outfit, "Uhhh... Danny?" He questioned.

Danny went back and forth on his feet a bit and then replied, "Yeah?"

"Do you... not go to school?" Midori asked.

"Oh! Since the schooling is all different between the nations, I'm waiting for high school!" Danny answered, "And speaking of school, as much as I'd love to continue talking, you probably should get going."

Midoriya suddenly looked a mix between alarm and remembrance, "Oh crap, you're right!" He quickly ran out the door, "Bye Danny! I gotta go so I'm not late!"

"Yeah, yeah, get going!" Danny called back. 

———

Danny was nestled into his comfortable couch with his laptop in, well, his lap. Now that he'd accepted his first tenant, he'd sent out some advertisements for the apartments. There were already some people wishing to move in. The apartments were in a desirable area and relatively safe due to their proximity to that large hero school, U.A. Danny planned to leave rooms open for when the school year started, in case students who didn't live close got in.

A lot of the people looking for an apartment there seemed reasonable, but one married couple stuck out to him. Their email introduced themselves as the Aizawa-Yamada family and stated that they needed to move closer to work. They also said they had cats, which is AWESOME!? Danny was sold the second they mentioned a cat named fucking BASTARD!? Danny was already 100% down to rent out an apartment for them, but he was doing a tour for them today anyway. He probably should've informed them of how old he was though...

Shouta and Hizashi had been planning to move for a little while now. They realized that their apartment was too far away from their jobs, and it would do better to find a closer living space. But, much to both of their annoyances, any apartment near U.A. was always exceedingly expensive or just obviously not a great fit. They had almost given up hope when Shouta stumbled upon a new apartment complex that had sprouted up near U.A. They didn't have any information on the landlord and would be meeting him for the first time today. They could only hope he wouldn't be some bastard. 

He must've jinxed himself somehow, or he was cursed. No, the landlord wasn't a bastard. He was much worse. He was a problem child. He didn't even have to prove his problem childishness, he practically radiated it. Upon meeting the kid and finding out that he was their possible new landlord, Hizashi started cooing over the 'little listener' and mentioning how this was a very amazing achievement for someone of his age.

And the worst part? Shouta couldn't find a genuine reason to dislike the kid. He had good, no great, answers to all their questions, allowed pets, didn't have any problem with their relationship, and showed no sign of being some kind of villain who wanted to get close to U.A. Shouta, much to his chagrin, had already resigned himself to being dragged the new apartments by Hizashi. And if he planned to learn more about where Danny's parents are and why he seems alone? Well, that's for him to know, and him only.
                                                                          

The Aizawa-Yamada couple were wonderful! Danny was super hopeful that they would move in, he needed more neighbors anyway. Jazz would probably say something about social interaction. And, he probably needed more adults in his life. The couple had taken the time to explain that they were pro-heroes and asked if there would be any problem with it. He explained that the only problem would be the other tenant being a pro-hero superfan. Aizawa had mentioned something about him probably not being able to recognize him or Hizashi without the pro-get up. Danny understood, how else would he have lasted so long as Phantom in Amity? 

After interviewing the couple, he realized he had nothing planned for the day. So, he sat and moped around waiting for Midoriya to show up. When he didn't arrive even an hour after Danny knew his school let out, he got worried. Maybe it was his core talking, but he was worried something had happened to his green friend.

Quickly he turned invisible and intangible and shot through the walls, taking to the sky he followed the route he knew led to Midoriya's school. He was almost there when he heard an almost whimpering noise coming from an alleyway. His heart raced and the familiar pitch of voice and he took a closer look.

"Y'know Deku, I still don't see why the fuck you think you should even be allowed in our presence."  A rough voice spat out.

A whinier feminine voice then added in, "Tanakaaa, what if he infects us!"

A third voice, that practically sounded slimy added in, "Don't be stupid, it's not contagious."

"Well- I can still worry!"

"Psh, whatever. Let's go before someone finds us and doesn't realize we were just taking out the trash." Voice one, Tanaka? adds in.

Voices 2 and 3 agree and disappear. Once Danny is sure they're gone he drops into the alleyways and about promises murder.

There, on the ground in the corner of the alley, is Midoriya. He's battered and bruised. He has a split lip and his nose appears crooked. He has cuts all over him as if someone had sicced a rabid animal after him. His hair is matted and bloody, and his body is a rainbow of colors. Bruises. The boy was visibly shaking and letting out the quietest whimpers.

"Midoriya?"

The poor boy stiffened immediately, the sudden movement causing another wince and whimper of pain, "D-Danny..?"

"Midoriya what happened!?" Danny all but yelled after confirming it was Midorya.

"I-I told you didn't I-" Another wince, "-People really don't like quirkless people."

Danny's heart broke at his words and actions. Gently he swooped to the ground and knelt next to Midoriya. "Midoriya? Can I help you?" A pause. "Please?"

"A-alright..." Midoriya manages to mutter out. Swiftly and gently, Danny immediately lifts him, trying his best to ignore the poor boy's groans, trembling, and whimpers. He does his best to hurry back to the apartments, he had a feeling the hospital wouldn't be a good choice. He decides on his apartment instead of Midoriya's. He phases them both through and beelines towards the bathroom.

Once in the bathroom, he does his best to gently lay Midoriya in the tub. He rushes over to the cabinet and pulls out painkillers, an almost overpacked first aid kit, some towels, and a paper cup which he fills with cool water. He practically stumbles back to Midoriya in his rush.

"Okay, Midoriya... I'm gonna need you to take your shirt off so I can get a better view of what they'd done. Is that alright with you?"

"Y-yeah..." Midoriya whines.

Danny swiftly sets his supplies down and gets to work, gently removing the clothing off of Midoriya's torso. Danny was met with the familiar sight of bruised ribs. The large, purplish bruise that decorated his chest was a telltale sign. His torso was also adorned with multiple cuts and other assorted colors of bruises. 

"What the fuck??" Danny muttered under his breath, quickly getting the appropriate supplies to disinfect and dress the wounds.

Danny softly cleaned Midoriya's torso and arms with a soft towel, removing dried blood and dirt. He paused, and before continuing, asked, "Are your legs hurt any?"

Midoriya groaned a bit, but responded, "N-no... They thankfully, ugh, they thankfully avoided it."

Danny hummed nicely, hiding his rage at the fact that he was even hurt at all. After finishing cleaning up Midoriya's torso and arm, he swiftly grabbed some antibiotic ointment and applied a thin layer to the wounds. He reached back into the first aid kit and removed some bandages. 

"Since your ribs are bruised, this may hurt a bit, but I have to do it," Danny explained and then helped Midoriya sit up. Once Midoriya was sitting up correctly, Danny began to wrap the bandaging around his torso.

"Ugh..." Midoriya groaned.

"I know, I know. But I have to do this." He finished up wrapping Midoriya’s torso and moved on his arms. They were easier to wrap, and Danny was done quickly. He grabbed a bottle of pain medication and handed 2 tablets over to Midoriya, as well as the cup of water he had gathered beforehand. Midoriya took it shakily and swallowed the pills. 

"Here, wait there, I'll be right back," Danny said before rushing out to his room. He flew over to his drawers and gathered some of his most comfortable clothing. Once it was collected, he quickly returned to the bathroom. Setting the clothes down on the closed toilet, "It's a change of clothes," He explained, "There's a large shirt and some loose pants."

"Thank you..." Midoriya whispered.

"Of course, now I'll leave you to change," Danny responded before leaving the bathroom.

———

Danny waited on the couch in anticipation, and Midoriya finally left the bathroom. Despite Danny's own smaller stature, the clothing was surprisingly large on Midoriya. The underweight boy shuffled out into the living room. And Danny spoke up, "So, you totally could go back to your own apartment, especially cause it's just across the halls, but I'd rather you stay here. Is that okay?"

Midoriya seemed to consider it for a bit before nodding his head. Danny took the confirmation in stride and hopped up to lead Midoriya to the couch. The boy laid down shakily and Danny flew over to gather some blankets. He came back quickly with a lightweight, fluffy blanket and a pillow. He laid the pillow down under Midoriya's head and flopped the blanket on top of him.

Midoriya, after all that had happened, was drifting off. "Goodnight, Midoriya," Danny said softly.

"G'night... Danny..." Midoriya all but whispered back.

Chapter Text

October 17, 2XX2

It was already 10 AM and Midoriya was still sleeping. Sure, Danny had only woken up about 30 minutes prior, but he'd gone and made breakfast and he didn't want it to get cold! He made bacon for Ancient's sake! So, in a feeble attempt to wake Midoriya up, he'd sat down right next to the couch and begun to tap on the boy's cheek. Ellie used to do it with Danny before and it had worked, so he went with it.

Clearly, the boy wasn't waking up. But, right as Danny began to get up, Midoriya groaned and smacked a hand out. Said hand then proceeded to smack down the front of Danny's face and he plops right back down to his spot on the floor with a subtle cry.

Midoriya opened his eyes groggily and looked out, wiping at his eyeballs to clear the sleep away. He wasn't expecting to see Danny on the floor in front of him.

"What- Danny?" He asked and then yawned, wincing a little as he reached his arm to his mouth to cover it, "Why are you on the floor..?"

Danny blushed a little and then swiftly hopped up to his feet, wiping the dust off his pants, "Well I was trying to wake you up to share some breakfast with you- But right when I gave up ya' reached your hand out and smacked me!"

"O-oh! I'm so sorry Danny!" Midoriya quickly apologized and little spots of tears appeared in the corner of his eyes.

Danny waved his hands around frantically, "No no no! It's all good Midoriya, I just didn't expect it!" Midoriya reached up and wiped at his eyes, wincing a little. Danny was quick to notice, "Don't move too much! You might irritate your wounds. Here, how about you just sit up and I go get you some food, capiche?"

Midoriya slowly started to rise up in the bed, "Uhh, sure? Thank you, Danny."

"Yup!" Danny flew off into the kitchen where the eggs and bacon (classic) were waiting. Jazz had taught him how to cook some basic food a while ago after Jack and Maddie constantly failed to remember to feed them. And when they did, the food was always contaminated. You could only get attacked by reanimated hot dogs enough times before you stopped trusting it. Not even their little sentient mold ball was able to keep the hot dogs from planning multiple revolutions…

He swiftly grabbed a plate and utensils, then proceeded to scoop the breakfast onto it. He then gathered some for himself on another plate and headed out into the living room, where Midoriya was waiting.

"Tada~" He sang out as he arrived in the room. Midoriya immediately perked up from where he was sitting. "Here, hold this." Danny handed Midoriya the plates and then went over to where the coffee table had been pushed away. He simply pushed it right back and then retrieved the plates from Midoriya, setting them on the table.

"T-thank you, Danny." Midoriya squeaked out.

Danny sat on the ground on the other side of the coffee table. "Meh, it's nothing special. Plus, I was making myself some anyways." He explained as he reached out with his forked and stabbed the blissfully unalive bacon.

"Still, though, thank you. For the food and the save." Midoriya responded, reaching out for his plate.

"You’re my friend now, dude," Danny began to explain, waving around his fork that held a new piece of bacon, "It only makes sense. But, you're welcome anyways." Midoriya still looked at him with watery eyes and hadn't yet eaten any of the food, Danny leveled him with a look and then pointed to the food, "Eat your breakfast, you need it."

That snapped Midoriya out of his stupor, "R-right!" He began to dig in.

———

"So... would you mind telling me why I found my new friend all bruised and bloodied?" Danny finally asked. He had switched to lounging on a chair parallel to the couch on which Midoriya lay.

"A-ah... Well, I told you people don't like the quirkless, didn't I?" Midoriya responded.

"Oh no, you most certainly did." Danny remarked with faux enthusiasm, "I was just hoping to learn more details of what exactly I missed!"

Midoriya cringed a little at that, but began, "Well, I was walking home from school...

“I was already a little late because my teacher held me back to discuss my, ah, cheating... Which I hadn't! He just didn't believe I was smart enough to do so well. A classmate, Tanaka, caught wind of this and he, his girlfriend, and best friend stayed behind. So, when I finally got out of school I was able to go for a little while without problem. But, when I reached an alleyways I got shoved into it. Turning around to see what had happened, I saw that trio standing there. Tanaka advanced sprouting some stuff about the quirkless. I, in some kind of bout of confidence, spoke back to him.

“Tanaka's quirk allowed him to grow two extra arms. In doing so he, well, he just basically attacked me a bunch with them. Like, a basic beating, just with extra limbs. He also used his legs to crush my fingers.

“His friend, Yamaguchi, has a quirk that covers his hair and hands with hard stone. He used his rock-covered fists to cause my bruised ribs. Thanks for helping me with those by the way.

“Tanaka's girlfriend is Takahashi. She has a quirk that allows her to make these light blue orb things. When broken, they turn into, essentially, glass shards. She would continuously send them above me and then detonate them. The shards are what gave me all those cuts.

“And that's...all." Midoriya shifted a bit after his literal analysis of his own beating.

Danny looked at Midoriya, quite frankly, shocked. "That's, holy shit, that's bad. How are you moving around so easily right now???" 

Midoriya winced a little and looked at Danny, "I'm not." he said, "I'm just used to the pain."

"Midoriya." Danny looked at Midoriya, both sternly and sympathetically, "You know this isn't okay and shouldn't be normal, right?" 

Midoriya looked away a little and spoke up, "Danny, I-I don't think you understand-"

"No." Danny cut in, "I don't think you understand." Midoriya winced and Danny cringed some, "Sorry- It's just. Your scars, wounds, and pain tolerance? Your ability to analyze a literal beating and its perpetrators? That's, that's not normal. Neither is the stuff you face. Most bullies don't corner you in an alleyway and assault you, they'd go to jail if they did." Danny opened up his arms and gestured towards Midoriya, "All of this isn't normal. And it never will be."

Midoriya started to cry and then yelled, "That's because I'm not normal!" His tears, as well as snot, were pouring down his face.

"So?" Danny asked, "Look at the world you're living in, Midoriya! Nobody is normal! That's just how it is. Quirked world or quirkless world, nobody is normal. Normalcy is a lie that people buy into. Normalcy is a trick that everyone puts too much focus on. Normalcy isn't normal. Normal and abnormal are not excuses for people to get away with things. You can't keep letting yourself go through this!"

Midoriya looked at Danny, almost shell-shocked. He was shivering some, even with the blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He spoke up after a pause, "I... I don't know what else I can do..."

The gears in Danny's head were moving at top speed, "Then don't do anything." Midoriya looked up at him, confused, "Alone. I mean. I, I know what it's like to be viewed as abnormal. Something that shouldn't exist. I've been called a monster or a freak more times than I can count. I don't think I could live with myself if I just sat by while someone experienced that same life." Danny reached out and grasped Midoriya's hands. The tan hands were littered with scars and freckles, with crooked fingers and picked-at nails. Midoriya looked up into Danny's eyes, both of the boys now crying, "Let me help you."

Midoriya's tears spilled out so much faster as if his eye sockets were connected to a spring or waterfall. He wiped furiously at his eyes. "A-All right, Danny." 

Danny smiled and reached out a pinky, "Promise."

Midoriya chuckled wetly as he grasped it with his own, "Yeah. Promise."

Chapter Text

 October 19, 2XX2

“What’s this?” Izuku asked.

It’d been about two days since the, well, ‘crying fest’ as Danny so proudly named it. Midoriya had permitted Danny to use his first name and Danny had helped Midoriya with recovery. Typically, such wounds can’t heal that quickly. But, Danny has access to an entire realm of dead people who come from all sorts of dimensions. If he wants to find a way for Izuku to heal faster, he will. (He played it off as the byproduct of an acquaintance’s quirk.)

Now, Danny decided that with Izuku going back to his apartment (it’s just across the hall) he should give him an easy way to get to him.

”It’s a key!” Danny proudly exclaimed, “To my apartment!”

Izuku looked up a little shocked, “W-what!?  Your house keys!?”

”Apartment, but yes.” Danny responded.

”But, why?” Izuku asked.

”Well, this way you can come see me whenever you want—Don’t worry I’m not one of those people who walk around nude— and you can come over even if I’m not home or able to get the door!”

Izuku flushed a little and started blabbering about how this was a bad idea and he shouldn’t be trusted with the keys.

"Izuku," Izuku was seated on the couch from when he was recovering, and Danny was comfortable on the chair parallel to it. Danny reached out to Midoriya and grabbed his hands. Izuku turned a bit pink, "I want you to have easy access to me and reasons to trust me. I'm trying to make good on my promise."

"Promise..?" Midoriya looked at Danny, confusedly, and cocked his head to the side a little.

"To make you a hero... Remember?" Danny asked, a bit concerned.

"Oh!" A metaphorical light bulb went off above Midoriya's head, "I kind of thought I might have dreamt or imagined that. Which, I know, doesn't make sense considering you're here right now and I'm here right now, and that was a pretty important event to lead up to this point but it just seemed too good to be true and—"

"Izuku!" Danny cut in, "It was real, I made that promise, and I plan to fulfill it."

Midoriya snapped his mouth shut.

"Now, onto other reasons, I wanted to talk to you today..." Izuku looked a little concerned at Danny's serious demeanor. "Due to the fact that you now live here, I've decided to open up the other apartments for new tenants." Izuku visibly relaxed.

"That's great, Danny!"

"Yeah, I'm a bit nervous though. I've already got some people planning on moving in..." Danny explained.

"Wait," Izuku asked, "Really?"

"Mhm, not right away, but next month. There's a married couple, a boy our age, a friend of mine, and a, like, college student." Danny answered.

"Wow, that's a lot of people..." Midoriya looked a little nervous, "And did you say a friend of yours..?"

"Oh yeah, they're just coming around to help out some.” Danny was not going to mention that this friend was actually a hand servant from his keep in the ghost zone. Or that they’re being sent to make sure ‘Danny takes care of himself’ as if he can’t do it without someone watching over him. “And also, I feel I should mention some quick stuff about the boy our age."

Izuku adopted a fear of worry.

"See, he's not going to have a guardian with him even though he's a minor," Danny mentioned, "He's being moved because he's been getting bullied at his school and in his neighborhood and he recently went through an especially damaging event unrelated to the bullying. His family's neighborhood and community are very tight-knit though, so his parents figured it'd be better to send him off to go to school somewhere farther away. They saw how cheap I'm renting and chose to buy an apartment here."

"That's.. Why are you telling me?" Izuku wondered.

"I figured it would make you less wary of him if you knew he was also getting bullied." Danny reasoned.

”Oh…” Izuku replied.

”Yeah, moving on!” Danny tried to lighten the mood, “So, you should be going back to school soon, right?”

”Well, I am all healed up…” Izuku answered.

”That’s great!” Danny replied, “I don’t want you to!” He kept an innocent smile on his face.

”Okay— wait what.” Midoriya had begun to reply before cutting himself off.

Danny turned some on his chair, draping his legs over one arm while resting his head on the other. He turns his head over to Midoriya, “Well, you’re smart right?”

”Ah, well, sort of? I guess?” Izuku answered uncertainly.

”Right. So, you’re smart, and your school clearly isn't a safe space for you,” Danny started, “So why not just finish the year online? If you get everything done quickly you’ll have more free time for ‘hero’ training.”

Midoriya’s eyes gained a little sparkle, “I… hadn’t thought about that.”

Danny immediately corrects his seating position, sitting up straight and leaning forward towards Midoriya. “Great! So that’s a yes?”

Izuku turns a bit pink before answering, “Uhm, yeah! Haha, sure, Danny!!”

”Awesome!” Danny leans back and pumps his fist.

Chapter Text

November 12, 2XX2

Danny stood outside Midoriya’s door. Midoriya had taken his advice and begun online schooling, so obviously Danny had taken it upon himself to make sure Midoriya actually got out of his apartment. He’d gone over to the apartment multiple times now! There was no reason for him to be nervous!

Except for the fact that he wasn’t alone outside of the door. Or that he was going to introduce his ghost friend? Servant? To his new human friend. It most certainly didn’t help that Karisma kept saying the craziest stuff!

”So I’m getting to meet the human our king’s been courting recently?” Karisma asked with a mischievous smirk.

Danny quickly spun over to them and practically hissed, his face a shade of pink that put flamingoes all around the world to shame.

”I am NOT courting Izuku!” Danny squeaked out.

Karisma took this as a sign to push farther, they leaned down emphasizing their tall stature, “But you are interested in him, right?” They replied, “You think he’s cute?”

”No—well, yes? Maybe? I don’t know!!” Danny groaned out, rubbing a hand down the front of his face.

Karisma snorted and reached an arm out to ruffle Danny’s hair, “Chill out, Little King. I’m just teasing ya’.”

Danny crossed his arms, “That’s what they all say.” Before finally knocking on Midoriya’s door.

It took barely a couple of seconds before they heard scrambling and someone rushing towards the door. The door opened up slowly before Izuku popped his head out.

”Hello? Danny?” Izuku asked before opening the door more and jumping when Karisma came into view, “And… friend?”

Danny quickly rushed to explain, “Midoriya! Meet my friend!” He gestured wildly to Karisma.

Karisma leaned forward into a bow, their choppy teal hair falling in front of their green eyes. “Karisma, they/them. At your service.”

Midoriya flushed and started waving his arms wildly, “Wha!? You don’t need to bow for me, Karisma!”

Karisma took it in pride and stood back up to full height.

”Right!” Danny started, “Karisma is moving in today so I thought I’d introduce you both to each other!”

”Oh!” Midoriya spoke up, “Then, it’s nice to meet you, Karisma! I’m Midoriya Izuku, he/him.”

Karisma gave him a smile, their eyes crinkling a bit, “It’s nice to meet you, too, Midoriya.”

Then, Danny clapped his hands together. “Well! This was great but Karisma should keep unpacking,” he turned to Karisma and asked, “You remember where your apartment is, right?”

Karisma chuckled a little and ruffled Danny's hair, again, much to the young halfa’s annoyance, “Sure do, I’ll let you chat for a bit.” Before walking off down the hall.

Danny watched them go before whirling around at the sound of Midoriya clearing his throat, “They seem nice?” Izuku said.

”That’s what they want you to think.” Danny hissed playfully, “And don’t worry ‘bout the whole quirks no quirks thing. They could care less.”

Izuku giggled a bit and Danny swore his heart was trying to run away, “That’s great, you should go help them though.” Izuku leaned against the door frame and Danny prayed to every ancient he wasn’t as red as he felt.

”Oh, yeah—I’ll… go do that. Help Karisma.”

He quickly flew off to Karisma’s apartment. He met them in the center where they were kneeling over some boxes.

”You’re lookin’ pretty red there, little king.” Karisma joked when they looked up.

”Oh shush, and what was with all that fancy talk? You didn’t sound midwestern at all!” Danny asked.

”What? Did ya want me to start talking like the dairy king?” Karisma chuckled.

”Oh Ancients no. Talk as fancy as you want, anything’s better than his constant ‘Dontcha know?’s’!”

Karisma laughed harder.

November 14, 2XX2

Danny was a bit shocked when his next tenant had a stowaway.

”Hi!” The pink girl started, throwing a hand out, “I’m Mina Ashido!”

Danny took it in stride and shook her hand, before questioning, “I’m guessing you’re here to help my actual tenant?”

Mina took her hand back and cackled, “Yeah, he’s a bit nervous and his parents have work.”

”Understandable,” Danny replied, “But where is he?”

Mina in a comical manner spun around and looked behind her in shock, as if she’d expected him to be right behind her. “What the?” 

Mina then proceeds to run outside the front door of the apartment building lobby and starts shouting, “Eijiro! Kirishima Eijiro! Get your butt over here!”

Eventually, she returns to the lobby with a black-haired boy in tow. She drags him to Danny and stops right in front of him before gesturing proudly to the boy, “This is your new tenant!”

”Dragging people like that is so not manly.” The boy says before turning to Danny “Hi, I’m Kirishima Eijiro. And I totally expected you to be an old man.”

Danny snorts, “Well I’m Nightingale Danny, call me Danny, and I hope you’re not disappointed.”

”oh my god, Eijiro!” Mina turns toward Kirishima, “Your landlord is a minor! I thought he was just really short!”

That gets a laugh out of Kirishima and a cry from Danny, “I’m not that short! I’m just 15!”

”Wait,“ Kirishima cuts in, “is it even legal to be 15 and a landlord.”

Danny looks straight at Kirishima and grins, his fangs showing easily, “Anything’s legal if you have enough money.”

”Is it bad that I find that manly?” Kirishima asks and Mina just pats him on the back. 

Danny laughs and gestures for the two to follow, “Let me bring you to the apartment and give you the keys, I’ve also got another tenant I’d like you to meet.” 

Danny begins to walk away as Mina skips afterward, Kirishima is a bit more nervous but follows along regardless.

———

They loved Midoriya and he enjoyed them too. There was nothing to worry about.

November 16, 2XX2

Nakamura Kenzo was an interesting guy, his mutation quirk causing a resemblance to ghosts was a plus.

His pale skin and eye bags might just be a college student trademark, though.

He seemed shocked when Midoriya found his mutation quirk interesting. There was almost a kinship between the two in accordance with the discrimination they’ve faced.

Accepting him was a good choice.

November 20, 2XX2

Danny would be lying if he said he wasn’t already excited to see the Aizawa-Yamada couple. But to see them show up with the cat carriers RIGHT THERE WITH THEM!? Danny was ecstatic. 

They were accompanied by a woman with dark purple hair, she was carrying a couple of the boxes and chatting with them. When Danny held the door open for them to carry in their boxes, she seemed unfazed. Until it became glaringly obvious in conversation that he was the landlord.

”What!?” She shrieked delightfully upon realizing, “But you’re so young and small!” She tried to grab Danny’s face, but he easily dodged, letting her flail a little.

”So I’ve—“ He scoots away from another cheeks-squishing attack, “—been told.”

She pouts a little about her failed attempts but takes it in stride otherwise, “I bet your parents must be very proud!”

Danny struggled to keep a nice smile on his face, “It’s a nice sentiment and all,” he starts, “but last I checked my parents would rather cut me open to see what I’m made of.”

That statement easily disturbed all the adults present.

”Little listener what—“ Yamada started before Danny cut him off.

”Welp!” He claps his hands together, “Let’s keep going! Do you guys need any more help with carrying things?”

The adults took the conversation topic change for what it was. But, Aizawa gave Danny a look that practically screamed, ‘This will be discussed later.’ Oops?

They were bringing up the last boxes of the couple when Midoriya emerged from his apartment. His eyes latched onto Danny and he seemed oblivious to the sound of footsteps on the stairs.

”Danny! I need your opinion on something—“ he cuts himself off when Yamada makes his way up the steps. “Oh. my. god.”

Yamada hears him and tilts the boxes he’s holding to get a full view of the new company.

”Danny, oh my god!!” He grabs Danny's shoulder and starts shaking him.

”What? What is it???” Danny asks confused and worried.

”Danny. That’s Present Mic!! He’s a pro hero!!” Izuku had stars in his eyes.

”Oh, yeah I knew that already.” He walks over to Yamada and takes the boxes from him. Yamada just gives a confused smile.

”What!?” Midoriya squeaked out, “Your new tenant is a pro hero and you didn’t think to tell me!?”

Before Danny could defend his case, a gruff voice spoke up, “That’s because we told him not to.” It was Aizawa and the newly introduced Nemuri with the last boxes.

The second Midoriya sees them he looks like he’s about to pass out.

”Yeah,” Yamada starts, scratching the back of his neck, “we didn’t expect someone to recognize us out of costume. My getup’s pretty different and my husband is an underground her—“ 

Midoriya cuts him off, essentially vibrating with energy, “Eraserhead!!” Something sets in, “I Knew he was married!!”

All three adults tensed, and then suddenly both Nemuri and Yamada began laughing. 

”L-looks—“ Yamada laughed out, “like you’ve got a fanboy, Shou!”

Nemuri just kept laughing, but Aizawa was disturbed. “Which. Shouldn’t. Happen..!” He grouched through clenched teeth.

Almost immediately, Izuku’s energy does a full 180. Now, he looks guilty and, possibly, even fearful. With tears forming in his eyes, he looks down at his hands, twisting them together, “I-I’m sorry. I d-didn’t know! I’m just a really big hero fan, so I found out about underground heroes. And based on the footage and reports, you fight quirkless. Which I thought was just so amazing. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to know you—“

”Hey!” Aizawa puts a hand out and shushes the kid, cutting off his sorrowful apologies, “You’re not in trouble.”

”R-really?” Midoriya looks up at Aizawa, accidentally pulling absolutely lethal puppy dog eyes. Danny’s already halfway through reaching for his wallet to give him his credit card.

Aizawa grunts like he’s been physically attacked when he sees it, but assures Izuku anyway, “Yeah, it’s just not expected for someone without… sinister intentions to care to find so much out about an underground hero. Especially to the point of recognizing them, even out of costume.”

”Well,“ Danny cuts in, wrapping an arm around Izuku’s shoulders, “You don’t have to worry about ‘Zuku here.” Midoriya’s face flushes a little, “He’s practically the most forgiving, kind, angelic person I know.” Izuku is now blushing like crazy. Awesome. “And I’ve met actual angels!”

That last statement gives everyone a pause, and collectively multiple people speak up, “What?”

”What?” Danny parrots back innocently. He then slips off of Izuku’s shoulder and keeps going down the halls, “Anyways, you’ll all have time to chat later. Now time should be used getting those boxes put away.” 

Danny continues marching down the hallway, leaving no space for rebuttals.

———

Bringing the boxes to the newly established Aizawa-Yamada apartment was easy.

What wasn’t easy was prying Izuku away from the heroes-Nemuri-included after he got permission to discuss them and their work.

Chapter Text

December 12, 2XX2

The “Make Midoriya Buff” plan was simple, really.

Back when Danny had been in his so-called “stalker phase” he’d stumbled upon a beach. A very dirty beach, Sam would be outraged. When he initially saw it, he’d been rightfully disappointed. But, in the long run, it didn’t have too much of an effect. Until now.

The beach, Dagobah Beach, was going to be Midoriya’s very own gym! Kinda!

Simply put, Danny and Midoriya would go out to the beach every day and Midoriya would clean up the trash. Danny would make sure Midoriya was safe and taking care of himself, and teach him how to throw proper kicks and punches. It was a great plan!

———

They’d gone out, probably eight or nine times before Mr. Aizawa stopped them. (He wasn’t gonna call him Aizawa—anymore—he had manners gosh darn it!)

He’d seen them go before, but never cared to stop them! He simply gave them a suspicious glance, and let them go on their way. Occasionally he grumbled about sleep schedules. They weren’t doing anything wrong, though! Everything was perfectly legal and they didn’t have anything else to do with their time, anyway.

Danny should’ve expected something like this from a teacher. But, maybe it had to do with the fact that he stopped them at the beach that caught Danny off guard.

”What are you two doing?” He had asked with his gruff voice while emerging from the shadows cast by the night and trash mountains. Danny had not jumped. He just had an itch.

”W-what?” Midoriya, who definitely had jumped, asked, “What are you doing here Mr. Aizawa, sir?!”

Mr. Aizawa sighed at the titles and shifted some, “I was investigating where two of my minor neighbors could possibly be going to at 8:30 pm every night for eight days.” Ah, so it was eight.

“What? Did you think we were in a gang or something?” Danny joked.

”Yes.” Mr. Aizawa answered back, dryly.

”We’re not, sir!” Izuku explained, “We’re just picking up trash!”

Aizawa raised an eyebrow, though, “We?”

Danny took that one personally, “I’m not making him do this alone for nothing! It’s his hero training!”

Aizawa sighed and rubbed his temples, “Hero training?”

”Mhm!” Izuku answered back excitedly, “Danny’s gonna help me get into U.A. And become a hero!”

”By picking up trash?” Mr. Aizawa phrased it as a question, but it was clearly a statement.

”Totally!” Danny answered, regardless, while hopping off some trash, “I mean, have you seen the junk they’ve got out here? It’s easily enough to substitute for usual weights!” Danny gestures wildly all around him as he speaks.

”An-and I get to heroically clean up trash while I do it!” Izuku chimed in.

Mr. Aizawa simply sighed again, he did that a lot, and spoke up, “It’s a nice sentiment,” he’d started, “But muscles alone aren’t going to get you into U.A.”

Danny let out a huff, though, “Well, duh! Midoriya’s smart enough to totally ace the written portion and I’ve been teaching him how to throw punches, kicks, and whatnot!”

Mr. Aizawa, in a pattern that was becoming increasingly common, questions Danny, “And do you know how to do any of that?”

Danny let out a scandalized gasp, “What! Of course, I can!” He shrunk a bit under the man’s gaze, “Sorta! Kinda… Not really.” Teach, that is. Danny does in fact know how to fight, Madeline was his mom after all.

Mr. Aizawa stared at the two boys a bit annoyed for a bit before, “Ah God damn it.”

———

Needless to say, though, Mr. Aizawa gained two new students that day, and he wasn’t even getting paid to teach. He’s good at it though, and Danny’s pretty sure he plans to teach Izuku how to use a knife.

December 18, 2XX2

Danny, Izuku, and Kirishima were all hanging out in the lobby when it was brought up. Danny was draped over a couch with Midoriya at his feet and Kirishima on the chair across from him, placing the Jenga block on top.

”Have you guys ever dyed your hair?” Kirishima easily asked.

Both of the other boys perked up, but held the same unanimous answer of ‘no.’ It seemed to bum out Kirishima so Danny decided to add in, “But Karisma used to do it all the time before they… uhh… before something happened. Why?”

Kirishima let his turn end and Izuku began his own. “I’ve been thinking about maybe dying my own,” Kirishima explains easily as he pulls some of his black hair away from his face. “Seems manly.” 

Midoriya finishes his move successfully and speaks up, “What color?”

Danny, rather than simply sit up, uses his telekinesis on a block, and listens closely.

”I was thinking, maybe red?” Kirishima replies, “My idol Crimson Riot has red hair and it’s a pretty manly color!”

Danny succeeds at removing his block and Midoriya beams at Kirishima, “I think you’d look great with red hair!” Izuku exclaims.

”Yeah?” Kirishima asks as he gets his next block.

”Totally.” Danny adds in from his couch spot, “We could get Karisma to help and everything. And if it helps you feel better about yourself? Then you should do it.”

Kirishima slowly pulls a risky block out, “Sweet.”

The tower collapses and two cheers plus one groan ring out.

———

Kirishima looks great with red hair. Correction, manly.

December 19, 2XX2

Danny knew and was accustomed to screams. Children yelling out of fear for ghosts, teens squealing and shrieking about the totally awesome Phantom, adults berating the only person who actually did anything. Hell, he practically used screams as an alarm clock back home.

So, when Danny woke up to screaming, he readied himself for a ghost fight. Until he remembered, there were no ghosts here. And realized that the screams were panicked, worried, and coming from the apartment across the hall. Izuku’s apartment.

Once the realization set in, Danny kicked the blankets off of himself in his bed and flew out the door.

Phasing through the walls, he reaches Midoriya’s apartment swiftly. Much to his surprise, though, he isn’t the only one. There, trying to get in, is Mr. Aizawa.

”Mr. Aizawa!?” Danny yells, “What are you doing!?”

”I’m trying to get in, I can hear Midoriya screaming.” He explains coolly.

”Shit, move.” Danny commands a bit harshly. Thankfully, Mr. Aizawa doesn’t comment on it and backs away, leaving Danny to easily phase his hand through the lock and open it up. The second the door is open the two of them are rushing in, the yelling seems to be coming from the bedroom and they’re upon it in seconds.

”Midoriya!?” Danny yells, “Mr. Aizawa and I are coming in!!” He shoves the door open and immediately scans for Midoriya. He hears the yells coming from above and looks up.

”What the hell?” Mr. Aizawa asks, projecting both of their thoughts.

”D-Danny!?” Midoriya floats and accidentally does a spin midair, bumping his head on the ceiling, “A-and Mr. Aizawa!?”

”Are you hurt?” Danny asks, making sure nothing is wrong.

”No, except for my head just now…” Midoriya answers.

At the confirmation that Midoriya isn’t in pain or immediate danger, Danny bursts into laughter. It’s so harsh he falls to the floor.

”You’re like a balloon!!”

Mr. Aizawa looks at him like he’s grown two heads and Izuku just looks at him sadly.

Danny sighs and gets off the floor, hiccuping out the faintest wisp of a cold breath.

”Problem child. Explain.” Mr. Aizawa demands.

”Well,” Danny starts, “Seems Izuku isn’t as quirkless as he thought!”

Chapter Text

December 19, 2XX2

”Well,” Danny starts, “Seems Izuku isn’t as quirkless as he thought!!”

”What” Midoriya and Mr. Aizawa asked at the same time. Izuku’s high-pitched and full of disbelief, while Mr. Aizawa’s gruff and commanding.

“I thought it was a bit obvious.” Danny explained, “He is flying after all.”

”That doesn’t mean he has a quirk.” Mr. Aizawa countered.

”Mr. Aizawa, sir, my dude.” Danny started to float some too and Mr. Aizawa bristled at the ‘my dude.’ “I can literally feel it.” Danny flies up to Midoriya and pulls him down, setting him on the bed.

”That doesn’t help explain, Problem Child.” Mr. Aizawa responds.

Danny makes sure Izuku is connected with the ground before he starts, “You’re aware of my quirk, right? The whole ghost shabang?”

”…Yes.” Mr. Aizawa answers.

”Right, well, my quirk's powered by what we like to call ectoplasm. We liked to refer to ecto-powered quirks as Liminal Quirks.”

”Who’s we?” He asks.

”There were a lot of Liminal Quirks back home, we were our own little community.” Danny leaves out the fact that his ‘little community’ includes the billions of dead souls that he rules over in the infinite realms, “Karisma’s one of ‘em.”

Midoriya has sparkles in his eyes, “You mean to say there’s a whole separate category of quirks and we didn’t know!?”

”We’re very… rare. Some of us even consider it as quirk-adjacent rather than quirk-quirks,” Danny is totally bullshitting at this point, “It’s not one of those types of quirk you’re born with or manifest early. Mine showed up when I was twelve.”

Something clicks for Midoriya, “How many quirkless deaths could have been Liminals who never knew…”

Danny cringes but responds, “I don’t know Midoriya. There’s usually a cause for Liminal Quirks to form.”

Mr. Aizawa is now on the bed too, “Such as?”

Danny swallows, “Long exposure to fellow Liminals, or the more common, injuries that should have resulted in death.” Danny feels a lump form in his throat, but continues, “Midoriya is probably the former, due to him hanging out with me.” Or at least Danny hopes, especially considering how ‘long’ they’ve coexisted. He heads over to the nightstand and lifts up the Ecto-ice bunny he had given to Izuku prior, “And if he’s been sleeping next to this, it would’ve affected things too.”

Izuku blushes a little and grumbles out, “It’s pretty and I needed decoration…”

Danny returns to the bed, and Mr. Aizawa speaks up, “And you? Which one are you?”

Danny had hoped he wouldn’t ask, but he relents, “Both Karisma and I are the latter.” Izuku sucks in a sharp breath. Danny points a finger at the light switch and pushes it using his telekinesis. He turns his left cheek and points to a light pink Lichtenburg scar. He holds out his left arm, as well, the short sleeve displaying the jagged lines. “I was electrocuted. It was deadly, I should’ve died.” ‘I did’ “My quirk saved me.”

Izuku leans over and wraps his arms around Danny. He leans his head into him, and Danny can feel some wetness in his eyes. “I’m so sorry, Danny.”

“It’s.. I’m okay. It was two years ago, and I’ve had time to get over it. Besides, most Liminals experienced worse.”

”And you think that Midoriya is one?” Mr. Aizawa asks, thankfully ignoring the fact that Danny’s only had a quirk for 2 years.

”My quirk has an aspect that allows me to recognize other Liminals. A like calls to like type thing. I felt it after I finished laughing at Izuku.” Danny answers.

”Well.” Mr. Aizawa lifts himself from the bed, “This has all been… enlightening… but I believe it might be better if this is discussed tomorrow. You two need sleep.”

”True.” Danny agrees, “Talk to you tomorrow, Izuku.”

”Right, of course.” Izuku responds as his visitors make their way back to their own apartments.

———

Izuku, Mr. Aizawa, and shockingly, Mr. Yamada all turned up the next day with many questions. Danny lied as if it were an Olympic sport.

The Time Ghost sighed as he looked at his finished work. Daniel sure caused him quite the workload.

But, if anyone cared to check, then Liminal Quirks are recognized as real by every governing power.

Chapter Text

December 2XX2

'GHOST POWERS 101' The whiteboard said in bright green marker. The handwriting was obnoxious, and the concept was childish. Danny was so proud of himself. He had one of those teacher-pointing tools with a funky gloved hand at the end and obnoxious glasses. In front of him lay valid ghost self-help books stacked upon a classic teacher’s desk. There were exactly four student desks parallel to Danny’s. The most amusing factor of the setup, though? It was on the still-being-cleaned Dagobah beach.

”Welcome! To Danny’s Ghost Powers 101!” Danny introduced his class, “I know why some of you are here,“ he looked at Karisma, his self-proclaimed teaching aid, and Izuku, “I’m confused about why others are here,“ He looked at Mr Aizawa and Mr Yamada, “but most importantly, I’m glad you’re here!!” Karisma shoots off a little confetti popper from their seat and blows a kazoo.

”I’m getting the feeling tagging along was a mistake.” Mr. Aizawa says from his essentially too-small desk.

”Don’t be like that Shou!” Mr. Yamada leans over, “We’re encouraging them! And getting to know more about these liminal quirks…”

”Well, according to all my sources, they’re real. But there is virtually no information on them outside of that. It would be illogical as a teacher and hero to avoid information that could help me to aid others.” Mr. Aizawa says.

”Sure!” Mr. Yamada simply smiles back.

”Ahem,” Danny dramatically clears his throat, “Today’s lesson is an introduction to liminality! It is… what’s the word…oh yeah… a fickle thing! I remember when I first got mine, I had no real clue about them and was thus constantly dropping books, beakers, my own pants...” Karisma snickers, “So I know from personal experience, that it is better to know what you’re getting yourself into with these.”

”I believe we should start with the most common powers of a ghost—I mean liminal quirked person!! Starting with flight, intangibility, invisibility…”

———

By the time lesson 1 of ‘GHOST POWERS 101’ is finished the sun has started to set. Danny lets his ‘class’ off with a warning of lesson 2: Ectoplasm and its effects on the human body.

December, 2XX2

”…Which is why, if you’re liminal enough to have ectoplasm in your blood, your blood is toxic and corrosive! Which ends our lesson for today. Tomorrow will be a lesson on cores and how they reflect quirk factor!” Danny finishes off his lesson and Mr. Aizawa groans from the ground where he’s decided to lie, “See you all tomorrow.”

”Of course! See you tomorrow teacher Danny!” Izuku indulges Danny, and his ‘class’ leaves. Except for Karisma, they linger behind.

”So, how long do you think till Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada give up the ‘class’?” Danny asks.

”Ehhh,” Karisma wobbles their hand in a so-so gesture, “two days, give or take.”

”I bet less, I’m planning on at least scaring off Mr. Aizawa with my lesson on liminality’s ‘cosmetic’ effects.” Danny snorts.

”Oh my Ancients that is awesome.” Karisma responds.

December, 2XX2

”… So, as you can see here on Karisma, ectoplasm can affect your looks. They used to look human but now they’ve got their white skin, teal hair, horns, neon green irises with pointed pupils, and their sick-ass dark blue scleras.” Danny uses Karisma as an example.

”Wait, I thought Karisma just had some mutations! You mean they weren’t born like this!?” Izuku exclaims from his seat.

”Nope, I used to be a basic white girl in the American Midwest. I also lost my reproductive organs when this happened, oddly enough.” Karisma explains.

”Does that mean a liminal quirk works like a mutation quirk that manifests after birth..?” Izuku muses to himself.

Mr. Aizawa groans from his spot, grasping his hair, “This makes no sense!”

“I know! It’s awesome!” Danny laughs.

”I think I agree with Shou on this one…” Mr. Yamada sighs.

”Hey, you guys are the ones who insisted on sitting in! You can quit if you want and use your time on more urgent things!” Danny pushes.

Mr. Yamada leans over to Mr. Aizawa, “Maybe the Little Listener is right, Shou…”

”Hrrrnnnnn.” Mr. Aizawa groans from where his hand has landed on the desk, “Yeah yeah, we’ll go back to our actual work and leave them alone…”

”Great!” Danny's fist pumps, “I, ah, I mean— Awe man! That’s too bad.”

”Hm.” Mr. Aizawa answers defeatedly.

December, 2XX2

Danny meets Izuku in a more hidden-by-trash-mountains area on the beach. They were finally going to test what Izuku could do.

”Heyy, Izuku!” Danny waves as he approaches. He notices that Izuku looks a little dull and out of it just sitting there on the sand. He slows down as he gets closer and asks, “Hey, something wrong?”

Izuku slowly looks up at Danny and his eyes look numb. “I didn’t actually manifest a quirk. Did I?” He phrases it as a question, but it’s clear he knows the answer.

Danny sighs and plops down on the ground next to Izuku. “What gave it away?”

Izuku looks back forward, “Liminal quirks were too… intense, I guess? For none of us except you or Karisma to have ever heard of them.”

”Ah.” Danny responds.

”Danny.” Izuku turns over to Danny, there are clearly tears in his eye threatening to break free, “What’s really happening to me?”

”…The only thing I’ve lied to you about is the fact that liminality is a quirk. It’s not.” Danny explains, “Ectoplasm—you remember what that is, right?—is everywhere. It’s part of the world, and sometimes, when someone dies a gruesome enough death, they’ll absorb it. They become a ghost.”

”Are you a ghost?” Izuku asks, taking what Danny has said in a stride.

”Sorta.”

”And me?” Izuku asks, more quiet.

”No! You’re not dead!” Danny quickly explains, jolting up in his spot.

”Then what am I?”

”Liminal. With a period at the end. Some prefer the term ‘ecto-contaminated’, an overexposure to ectoplasm does it to a person. I probably infected you on accident, somehow.” Danny explains, “Liminals can sometimes inherit minor ghostly abilities.”

Izuku hums at the explanation and then grabs Danny’s hand. Danny’s heartbeat takes up and he feels a bit flushed when Izuku speaks up, “Your quirk isn’t why your parents hated you, is it?”

“…No,” Danny responds. The sun has almost set at this point, and he can see the way Izuku’s eyes seem to glow in the soothing darkness of night.

”I’m sorry.” Izuku apologizes as if he had anything to do with it.

”It’s okay.” Danny says.

”Do you miss them? Your parents?” Izuku asks.

”All the time.” Danny answers, shocking himself with his honesty.

”Same,” Izuku agrees. “My dad left when I was 4, and my mom died when I was 10.”

”I’m sorry.” Danny responds.

”It’s okay.” Izuku repeats Danny’s earlier statement with a sad smile.

Danny lets himself sink all the way onto his back with Izuku, their mutual hands still holding.

Tears start to flow from his eyes, “I miss my family more than my parents. I miss my best friends, Sam and Tucker, and my sister, Jazz. Heck, I even miss Valerie’s taunts. And I don’t even know if Ellie is alive.”

“It will get better,” Izuku assures him and Danny rolls over to face him.

”God, I hope so.” He slips back into how he may have spoken before that fateful day when he turned on that damned machine. 

Karisma flies around in a frantic search for their King and his obvious crush. They almost forget to check the beach when they feel a bit of a tug. Immediately, they’re speeding up and onto the beach.

They see their king and the boy.

The two are passed out on the sand, they look exhausted but at peace. Both have one hand entangled in the other’s.

Karisma smiles and picks them up, with the combination of ghost strength and too-light boys. They return them to the king’s apartment, and lays them on the couch, before draping a blanket atop them.

It will get better.

Chapter Text

December, 2XX2

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

The skin was easily broken through, and the bones were frail.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

The blood seeped from the bird’s body in a deep red color, like an elegant wine.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

It dripped from the bird’s wounds. It dripped from her mouth. It dripped on her hands.

CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH

She’s so sorry

Waking up on a couch, under a blanket, holding Izuku’s hand was, to put it lightly, embarrassing.

Thankfully, Izuku was too focused on how he and Danny had ended up in Danny’s apartment. (It was Karisma. Of course, it was.)

Then, in what Izuku insisted was the obvious course of action, they’d proceeded to answer some questions and air things out about ghost shit. Ghosts had a lot of shit.

Danny was, quite frankly, exhausted from all the talking. Thankfully, they postponed their assessment of what abilities Izuku possesses.

January 4, 2XX3

”Well,” Danny started. To his left, Karisma stood tall and elegant, like a true businessperson. In front of them, skewed to the right, Izuku was tired, dirty, and on the ground. “I think that settles what you possess.” Danny passes the clipboard to Izuku.

Izuku pants some, and Danny quickly looks away. “Ughhh… Why is the way to discover my powers fighting?”

”Hey,” Danny starts, “At least it was only some light sparring and not potentially deadly fights!”

”Yeah, well I’m only liminal. You’re a—what was it called again?” Izuku asks.

”Halfa. Half ghost, half human.” Danny answers.

”Yeah, that.” Izuku responds.

”What are you waiting for!?” Danny asks, “Read the results!!”

“Oh yeah…”

‘Izuku Midoriya’s Ghost powers!!!

ACCELERATED HEALING - Small Bruises faded away after a couple of hours. (Does it extend to more major wounds? IDK -D)

FLIGHT - More of a float. He could hover a few feet above the ground. (So he’s a balloon? -D)

INVISIBILITY - Seemed to fade more than disappear. 

INTANGIBILITY - Worked on his hands and feet, nothing else though.

RESISTANCE TO OS - Body rejected Danny and Karisma whenever they attempted to overshadow him. (Thank the Ancients -D)

ECTO-RAY - Similar power to the lipstick blaster. Not a very efficient weapon.

MULTILINGUALISM - Can speak languages he had no prior knowledge of. (Started speaking French and scared the shit out of Danny -K Izuku did not know French - D)

GHOST SHIELD - Made a shield on his forearm out of nowhere. Oval in shape and size of his forearm.

VULNERABILITY TO GHOST WEAPONS - Caused a minor sting.’

“Woah…” Izuku mutters out.

Danny shuffles over to him, “Yeah- you hit the liminal only jackpot, dude. Most people just get glowy eyes or some ability to affect their surroundings.”

”But why though?” Izuku ponders.

”I don’t know man,” Danny groans, “We could probably spend a whole lifetime trying to figure it out. Some things are better left unknown.” 

“R-right! Sorry!” Izuku apologizes.

”Nothing to be sorry about, let’s just go back home.” The word home slips out from Danny’s mouth rather than ‘the apartments.’

”O-oh yeah!” Izuku hurries to his feet.

———

The three of them head back to the apartments and Danny lets Karisma head on to their apartment, before stopping Izuku.

”Hey.. uh... Izuku?” He asked.

”Hm?” Izuku turns around at the call of his name.

”I, uh, I slept really well that night a couple of days ago and I was just wondering if you’d— if you’d uh—IFYOUWOULDSTAYTHENIGHTWITHME!” Danny hurled out.

Izuku looked shocked for a moment before turning fully to Danny with a large blush on his face. His features were soft and he was twiddling with his fingers. “That, uhh, that sounds nice, Danny. I’ll stop by before bed, tonight.”

”Right! Cool!” Danny rubs the back of his neck, “See you then?”

”Mhm!” Izuku hums before running off to his apartment.

Danny waits for him to be out of sight before pumping his fist, “Yes!!”

Karisma takes this chance and returns to the visible spectrum, having lied about leaving, and snorts, “Yeah, real smooth there, Little King.”

No matter what Karisma says, Danny does not shriek and spin around when he hears them.

”Karisma!” Danny whisper-shouted, “What are you doing!?”

Karisma sighed, “Watching you pine after Midoriya is adorable and entertaining! I was simply… making sure I didn’t miss anything important.” They said with a shrug.

Danny’s face alighted in a red color and he grumbled some before stomping off to his apartment.

———

Izuku arrived at Danny’s apartment around 8:00 PM with a change of clothes and a pillow. Danny let him in and had him sit on the couch as he glided over to the beeping microwave in the kitchen.

”So,” Danny starts as he pulls some popcorn out of the microwave, “I was thinking we could watch a movie!”

Izuku perked up when he started talking and looked over towards the kitchen, it was connected to the living room with no dividing factor between them. “That sounds great, Danny. What movie did you have in mind?”

”Well,” He shoves a handful of popcorn in his mouth, “I was thinking a pre-quirk one would be fun.” He makes his way into the living room and plops down on the couch next to Izuku.

”Hmm,” Izuku pits a curled finger on his lips, “I haven’t seen many pre-quirk movies. What are we watching?”

Danny turns his head to Izuku, his sharpened canines accentuating his shit-eating grin, “Ghost Busters.” And Izuku can’t help but laugh. Danny watches as his eyes curl into crescents and his freckles seem to shift with his cheeks. Holy Ancients he’s fucked.

———

The movie was going great until Danny jerked up and paused the movie.

”Danny? What’s wrong?” Izuku asked.

”There’s… There’s something in an alleyway…” Danny answered.

”What…?” Izuku asked.

”I— I sent out a duplicate to get my groceries for me. It stopped by an alleyway right outside the apartment, it felt something malicious.” Danny breathed heavily, “I have to check who or what’s out there.”

Danny started to get up, when Izuku grabbed his wrist, “Wait,“ Izuku started, “Let me come with.”

Danny paused and gulped, but agreed, “Alright.”

———

Danny and Izuku found the duplicate easily. It was outside one of the alleyways closest to the apartment. Danny quickly reabsorbed it. Standing outside he understood why his duplicate was so unnerved. There was an odd energy about the alley, and disturbingly enough, a crunching noise.

Danny slowly started stalking in, Izuku on his tail. Nothing happened.

”I… don’t see anything?” Danny said. And subsequently jinxed it, because immediately there was a figure jumping out from behind trash and jumping on him, causing him to yell and fall on the ground.

He was pinned underneath a blonde-haired girl with red eyes. Her face and hands were covered in blood and her hair appeared matted. Her eyes were pinched up and she seemed to be breathing heavily.

”What—hey!” Izuku, sweet Izuku, surges forward and grabs the girl’s shoulder.

She turns to him and, fucking hisses. She seems to have fangs like Danny. 

“What are you doing!?” Izuku yelps.

”Calm down!” She smiles and her teeth are red, “I’m just gonna take a teensy bit of blood and leave you on your way!!”

”What is it with me and creepy vampires!?” Danny groans thinking of Vlad.

Both Izuku and the girl turn to him confused.

”What?” Danny asks, “Anyways! You can’t have my blood!!”

The girl wilts and pouts, “Why noooottt???” She whines.

”Uuh, maybe because it’s toxic and will hurt you?” He explains and holds up an arm. “Scratch me real quick.”

She quirks her head and complies. Her nails are sharp enough to rip the skin and blood flows out a little. There are specks of green, noticeable when the blood is free from his veins, but not when it’s still, ya know, inside him.

The girl’s face pinches, “Why’s it green?” She asks sounding grossed out.

”Cause’s it’s like, super toxic. Why do you need blood anyway??” Danny asks. She looks a little embarrassed when he says that and mutters something. “What was that?” Danny asks her.

”I’m starving!!” She yells out, “I’m so hungry it hurts! But food only makes me sick!”

Danny and Izuku look a little shocked, but Izuku recovers quickly.

”You have a blood-based quirk, don’t you?” He asks.

She looks up at him, with some tears in her eyes, “How’d you know?” She smiles.

”Well,” Izuku starts to list off reasons, “You have the classic fangs and an infatuation with blood right?” The girl nods. “Those are blood-quirk trademarks. People who have quirks like that can’t eat normal food and need to consume blood! Like the hero Vlad King!! Without a source of blood, they might go a bit crazy from starvation.”

Danny cringes a bit at the name Vlad and speaks up, “So it’s like an Obsession?”

The two turn back to him, “Well, I guess it can be an obsession the same way you might be obsessed with food. But not really…”

”Nevermind. You’ll learn about Obsessions in one of our next ghosts classes.” Danny brushes him off.

”Right. Sure, whatever,“ Izuku turns back to the girl, “You need blood, but can’t have Danny’s.” He reaches an arm out, “Take mine.”

She looks at him with wide eyes, “Are you sure?”

”Totally!” Izuku reassures her.

It should still be normal blood, there hasn’t been enough time for the contamination to settle into his bloodstream completely. And even if there is, it should be a small enough amount to avoid adverse effects.

”Alright…” She stands up off of Danny and walks over to Izuku. She bears her fangs and bites down on Izuku’s wrist. He flinches for a moment before returning to normal. After a bit, she stops and licks the wound.

”Did you just—“ Danny asks, “Lick him???!”

”My spit helps close up wounds.” She explains.

”Of course it does.” Danny responds as he wipes some of the alley grime off, “What were you doing in the alleyway anyways??”

”Oh! I don’t know!” She answers way too cheerily, “Sometimes when I don’t get enough blood, I blackout and wake up somewhere new!”

Danny sighed and asked, “Is there anyone we can call for you?”

“Hmmm…” She puts a finger on her mouth, “Nope!”

“Alright, so we’ve got a dirty, starving, homeless, teenage orphan on our hands,” Danny says as he puts his hands on his hips. He turns to Izuku and tilts his head towards the girl a bit, “Take her home?”

Izuku just sighs a little, “Yeah alright.”

Danny grins and grasps the girl’s hand, and begins the small walk back to the apartments. The girl looks a bit bewildered, and Izuku follows the two.

”So, I’m Danny Nightingale,” Danny says, and then gestures to Izuku, “He’s Izuku Midoriya. What’s your name?”

”I’m Himiko Toga! I think… Where are we going?” She answers.

”Danny’s like suuuuuper rich,” Izuku answers for him, “He’s got his own apartment building where I live.”

”We’re taking you there to get you cleaned up. Maybe offer some shelter and food, as in blood.” Danny finishes for him. They reach the apartment almost right after he says it. As he goes to head inside, Toga freezes. Danny turns around to ask what’s wrong when he sees the dark look on her face. “What’s wrong, Toga?”

She clenches a fist and chews on her bottom lip, “I’m not that kinda girl.”

”Hah??” Danny asks, confused about what she means.

Izuku runs up to him and says, “She, uh, I think she thinks you’re trying to, you know, prostitute her.” Izuku explains, “Homeless kids get asked for that an annoying amount.”

Danny pales and looks sick. His head snaps up to Toga and he starts waving his hands, “Oh my, Ancients no! I promise I am not that kind of person!! That didn’t even cross my mind!! I am so sorry if it seemed that way!!”

Toga eyes him a bit warily, “Swear?”

Danny smiles a bit weary, “I, Daniel ‘Phantom’ Nightingale swear on all my blood that I have no evil intentions with ‘Himiko Toga’.” Danny states proudly and raises his pinky. A green string wraps around it and Toga’s pinky. A bit later it fades from sight.

While Toga looks down at her pinky in shock, Izuku speaks up, “What was that!?”

Danny looks sheepish as he answers, “I may or may not have just signed a binding contract that states that I will have to give up all my blood if I reveal to have evil intentions with Toga?”

Izuku looks at him a little slack-jawed. Toga’s eyes gleam, though, “Really? You’d do something like that for someone like me?”

“Well, it’s not like I have any evil intentions. So it shouldn’t cause any problems,” Danny states. “Now let’s get in. No offense Toga, but you need a bath.”

Toga blushes in an embarrassed manner, “…Okay Danny.”

———

Danny and Izuku left Toga to Karisma to freshen up. She showed up at Danny’s apartment, where Izuku was still at. She looked a lot happier and nicer with some cleaning up. Danny made the executive decision to have her finish the movie with them. 

She stayed even after the movie. Izuku and Toga bonded over their ‘homeless adventures.’ Danny even finds himself growling hearing about the Toga parents, shocking the other two.

Danny’s got plans to get his hands on some of the best, most delicious, most nutritious blood in all of the Infinite Realms.

Toga is so getting an apartment as well.

Chapter Text

January 5, 2XX3

Danny woke up leaning against Izuku. Had the boy been awake, he may have reacted differently. But he wasn’t, and Danny was never one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

He lifted his head some and looked out into the apartment lit up by the morning sun coming through the windows. Across from him and Izuku, he could see Toga. She looked remarkably better than how she had in the alleyway. Danny doesn’t know what kind of voodoo magic Karisma did, but it must’ve worked. The girl’s dirty and matted blonde hair, now clean and combed-through, was cascading around her in smooth waves. Her previously dirt-crusted skin still looked a bit too pale, but much cleaner. Her nails were cut shorter, and her mouth had been diligently cleaned of its blood and grime. She still had obvious signs of homelessness. From her gaunt cheeks, various bruises, and pulled a bit too tight skin. Seeing her sleeping peacefully, though, let a fact sink in.

She was a child. Like Izuku was. Or Danny.

How could anyone look at a child, and see them as unworthy of love? How could someone see an innocent girl and decide she was a monster? Or an incredibly smart and sweet boy and decide he was worthless and less than? Or their own child, and see nothing but an un-sentient entity determined to destroy the world?

Who would hurt a child like this?

Maybe Danny saw himself in the others. Maybe that was why he was eager to offer up a sanctuary.

Maybe he just didn’t want another child-sized coffin. 

Maybe he-

“..myehhh… Danny??” Izuku’s groggy voice cut through Danny’s thoughts. He brought a hand up to his face and rubbed it a little, Danny softened at the sight. “What… year is it?”

Danny snorted as he watched Izuku unfurl himself from where he had seemingly curled into Danny. “It’s 2XX3 ya dummy.”

”Mm’not a dummy, you’re a dummy.” 

Danny laughed again, and it caused Toga to stir. She must’ve been a light sleeper from her time on the streets, because soon she was awake and talking, “Shaddupppp I’m tryna’ sleep o’er here!”

Both Danny and Izuku laughed that time, Toga looked like an angry cat all curled up on the chair where she was sleeping.

”Right, I’m hungry. I’m gonna go see if I can get Karisma to make us waffles.” Danny says, getting up and stretching some.

”I’ve never had waffles.” Toga says.

”My mom once tried making them for my family when I was little. They were good, I think.” Izuku adds in.

Danny finishes stretching and cracks his neck, “Oh Ancients, you guys are missing out!”

“Toga can’t have any though, anyways,” Izuku responds. Toga pouts.

”Oh, yeah, shit I forgot-“ Danny says, now a little deflated, “Sorry Toga. Guess I’ll add ‘find good blood-based recipes’ to my checklist.”

”Really?” She asks, a bit sadly “That’s so sweet of you…”

Danny pulls out a phone and calls Karisma, “It’s really nothing-“ He responds to Toga before Karisma answers. “Heyy, Kari!”

One can practically hear the distrust and subtle annoyance in Karisma’s voice, “What’d you do?”

”I didn’t do anything!” He responds, scandalized, “I was just gonna ask if you could make Izuku and me some waffles and some kind of blood alternative for Toga!”

“Oh. Yeah, sure I can do some waffles for you guys. You should ask Auriel about blood food though. She’s got some practice with that, she was close with one of the chefs who worked during X’listhe’s reign. That guy had a very bloody diet.” Karisma responds.

”Awesome, and I’ll do just that. See ya Karisma!!” Danny says.

”You too, dork.” Karisma answers and hangs up.

Danny turns around to the other two, who are more awake now, “Ok, so Karisma is gonna make some waffles for ‘Zuku and I, and I’m gonna get a friend to make something for Toga.”

”Like what?” Toga cocks her head at Danny while Izuku’s cheeks turn a bit pink at the nickname. Sweet.

”I have no idea!” Danny answers, honestly.

”Cool!” Toga answers back, excitedly.

”Righty then, I’m gonna go get changed. Do either of you need anything?” Danny asks.

“No, I should be fine,” Izuku answers.

Toga holds up a bag, “Kari gave me clothes!!”

Danny laughs softly and heads off to get changed. After a bit, he re-emerges with a black shirt with a blob ghost on it and some oversized jeans. He’d smoothed his hair out a little after brushing his teeth. The other two must’ve gotten changed also. Izuku is wearing a black short-sleeved shirt that says ‘Slip-dress’…? And grey basketball shorts. Toga is more put together than the both of them combined. Her hair is put up into two buns with strands sticking out. Her shirt is off-white and has a black cat with obnoxious fangs on the front, definitely Karisma’s. She has a plain black skirt and a light brown jacket tied around her waist. She’s got some black Mary Jane’s on as well as some knitted cream leg warmers. She has a couple of bracelets and seems to have found herself a choker, too, somehow.

Danny starts to say something to get rid of the silence, when there’s a knock on the door, “I’ll get it, it’s probably Karisma.” He says before he goes over to the door and opens it up. He was partially correct, because in walks Karisma with the waffles, but they’re not alone.

”Danny.” A girl with white skin and pointy ears comes in, she has a tray with something red on it. Her hair is light blue and her eyes are bright purple with dark sclerae. She has a calming vibe to her alongside some baby horns on her forehead.

”Holy shit-“ Danny says before opening his arms wide, “Auriel! What are you doing here!?”

”Karisma told me you’ve gone and gotten yourself a mini bloodsucker.” The head maid of Phantom’s Keep jokes while gesturing to Karisma. “It’s the blonde girl, right?”

Before Danny can answer, Toga pops up next to them and points at the tray, “Is that really blood? Cause I can’t have anything else…”

Auriel gives her a warm smile, “Yes, it is. I won’t bore you with the details on how it’s made, but everyone who’s had it has given it raving reviews.”

”Awesome…” Toga says eyeing the platter.

”Come on guys, let’s go sit down!” Danny ushers them into his kitchen and they sit down at the little table with Karisma’s waffles in the middle.

Izuku is already sitting at the table when he speaks up, mouth full of waffles, “Theshe ‘r amazing. I c’n die hapthy now.”

Danny just bursts out laughing, sits at the table, and looks around. Karisma is opting out of eating, Izuku is scarfing down waffles, Auriel is showing Toga the best way to eat her treat, and Toga is watching her with stars in her eyes.

Once Toga has figured it out and is chowing down, Auriel speaks up, her attention on Danny, “I see you still have a hoarding problem.” She smirks. Karisma immediately snorts and the joke and Danny is scandalized and confused.

”I do not???” He says.

Auriel just raises an eyebrow. And Karisma speaks up, “She’s talking about you hoarding humans, Little K.”

”What!? I don’t hoard humans!” He responds.

”Danny, I am currently sitting at a table in your apartment with you, Karisma, and two teenagers. One of which, I know you’re probably going to go out of your way to sustain her diet.” Auriel rebukes him.

”That’s not even counting Kirishima or that Hero-Teacher couple. Or Kenzō.” Karisma butts in.

”Exactly.” Auriel nods sagely.

Danny doesn’t even have it in him to fight back when he hears Izuku and Toga laughing and giggling at the situation, so he just melts onto the table and mutters a smushed-sounding, “Jerks.”

”Love ya too, dork.” Karisma ruffles his hair and Auriel hums in agreement.

———

“So, uh, not to sound rude or anything,” Izuku starts, looking up from his spot at the table and at Auriel, “but who are you?”

”Ah. I guess you could say I am a friend of Danny’s.” Auriel responds.

”What’s she trying to say is, she’s from the same place as Danny and I,” Karisma butts in, “We offered her a place up here but her ‘work is too important’ as if she can’t just do it here…” Karisma seems to grumble the last bit a little.

”She’s also Karisma’s ‘gal pal’ if you catch my drift.” Danny says, pulling off an obnoxious wink as Auriel’s white skin turns pink.

”Daniel.” Auriel says.

”AH!!” Danny shoots up into the air, “She used my actual name, not good!!” 

“Don’t worry, Danny!” Toga says triumphantly from her spot, blood smeared around her mouth, “I’ll protect you!”

”Toga, honey, you look like you’ve just committed a murder.” Karisma says. Toga wipes her face with her thumb and makes an ‘ohhhhh’ sound and face when she sees her thumb come back red.

”It’s a fear tactic!! Fear me Auriel!!” Toga decides to say while making claw hands and hissing.

”Oh my!” Auriel says, her eyes widening comically, “I fear my heart may have just stopped!” Despite her sad acting, she punches on her chest a bit, and Toga snickers.

“I'm just that good!” Toga says proudly.

“Yes, but your fear tactic is quite messy. Would you like any help?” Auriel asks.

Toga looks a bit confused, but answers nonetheless, “Sure?”

”Wonderful.” Auriel smiles in a way that smooshes her eyes a bit but doesn’t distort her whole face. She gathers a napkin and reaches out to clean off Toga’s face. Toga, though, proceeded to start making spitting noises and scrunching up her face.

While Karisma and Izuku laugh at Toga’s reaction, Danny can’t help but coo at the interaction between two that he’s claimed as his own. Shit. He’s a human hoarder. Unfortunately for Danny, he ends up chirping instead of normally cooing. Karisma and Auriel don’t react past small smiles, but Izuku and Toga full-turn to Danny.

”What was that?” Izuku asks, and Danny shies away some.

”That was adorable!!” Toga cheers from her spot, finally free from Auriel, “What was it?”

”That,” Karisma smirks, “was a chirp.”

Toga gasps happily, “Like a bird!?” And Izuku just stares at Danny in shock. Danny is terribly embarrassed and red at this point. He hadn’t meant to do that!

“Eh,” Karisma responds, “More like a cat’s.”

”Chin up Danny,” Auriel tries to comfort him, “At least it was just a chirp and not a purr!”

”He can WHAT!?” Toga and Izuku shriek at the same time.

———

Danny admits he’s sad to be seeing Auriel off. He, Karisma, and Auriel are standing outside of the apartment to talk. They’d left the other two in his apartment.

”Do you have to leave…?” Danny asks.

“Yes, My King. You know I have a job to do.” Auriel answers.

”But what’s the point in being the head maid of my keep if I’m not even there!!” Danny exclaims, “You’d be doing your job more if you’d stay here like Karisma!!”

”Danny-“ Auriel starts.

”He’s got a point.” Karisma cuts in. They’re attempting to act like they don’t care, looking at their claws. “You’d be doing more for him here than you could ever at the keep. The others can take care of it just fine. Nellie should be able to cover for you if need be.”

”I…” Auriel begins to talk but stops herself.

”And you could help with Toga! You did so well with her!” Danny attempts to support the argument.

”I’ll… I’ll think about it.” Auriel answers, “You should be focusing on getting the little bloodsucker settled in rather than me, anyways.”

”… Okay.” Danny says, “Promise you’ll consider it?”

Auriel looks down at the boy who she helped care for after he was torn apart and reassembled. The boy who lost everything and still cared. Her boss, her king, her friend. “I promise, Danny.” He smiles at her and she fades from visibility.

That’s fine. Danny’s got a job to do and a vampire to house.

Danny had reentered his apartment and asked Toga if she wished to say. The answer was an obvious yes and she immediately claimed one of the apartments nearest to Danny, Izuku, and Karisma. The treat Auriel had given her must’ve been made with the blood of a very sweet being because she was positively bouncing off the walls. Danny would say he mourned the loss of peace, but that’d be a lie. Toga was like a loveable tornado, and it was wonderful.

After her apartment situation was decided they all discussed a checklist on how to get her more situated. The list had various topic like clothes, toiletries, education, introductions, food, etc. They decided to do the introductions first.

“I love your hair color!!” Toga had squealed almost immediately upon meeting Kirishima. Danny couldn’t decide if they were lucky or not to catch Kirishima when he was hanging out with Mina. But, it is what it is.

”Really?” Kirishima asked, taking the squeals in stride, “It’s a pretty manly color isn’t it!” Mina laughed a bit at the way he essentially posed.

”Sure!” Toga responds, “It reminds me of blood!”

Kirishima deflates a little when she says that and Mina bursts out laughing, “Oh I like you!”

Toga smiles brightly at her.

“…mmmIAMAWAKE!!” Kenzō’s turquoise-green hair flops in front of his eye as he shoots up from where he had passed out at his desk. The green stitches on the corners of his mouth stretched as he yelped.

“Hi Nakamura!” Izuku greets him.

Kenzō blinks dumbly for a moment before fixing his round glasses and sighing, “Midoriya, I said you can call me Kenzō. I’m more comfortable with it.”

”Right, sorry!” Izuku apologizes and Toga smooshes him a little when she surges toward Kenzō, Danny just barely manages to snatch into the collar of her shirt.

“Hai!! I’m Toga!! Is your blood green???” She asks all too happily.

Kenzō jumps back in surprise, “WOAH! Freaky teenager!”

Toga frowns a little and Danny butts in, “Sorry Kenzō, Toga is a bit eccentric and probably just hungry. Or curious. Or just super hyper.”

“Well. At least I’ll probably be too freaked to fall asleep while studying again…” Kenzō mutters.

”Ooh, whatcha studying??” Danny asks, his enhanced hearing having caught it.

Kenzō seems to choke a bit in surprise and he raises his fist to his chest to cough it out, “Oof, sorry. I’m just looking over some schematics.”

“What’s that?” Toga tilts her head in question.

“It’s like… a detailed diagram with a lot of information on it.” Kenzō tries to explain. Toga just looks at him with wide eyes and he sighs, “It’s a pretty drawing with words to explain it.”

Toga lights back up, “Cool!”

”Yeah, I’m majoring in engineering. All the good engineers nowadays go into support work for heroes and not enough focus on the kind of work engineers did before heroes. That’s the kind of stuff I do.” Kenzō explains.

”That’s… actually really admirable Kenzō!” Izuku says.

“Mhm. That doesn’t mean I don’t at least dabble a little in support items. So if you ever find yourself in need of something…” Kenzō says while imitating money with his hands.

Danny snorts, “Sure thing Kenzō.” And Kenzō smirks lazily right back at him, with a little fang poking out.

“I’m starting to believe traumatized children are pack animals.” Mr. Aizawa states dryly.

”That, or we ended up renting an apartment at their breeding grounds!” Mr. Yamada joked back at him.

Toga had seemed much more worried about meeting the couple. Danny suspected it had to do with them being older than any of the others so far. Well, technically Auriel was MUCH older, and possibly Karisma too, but the point still stands. Thus, they decided to just get it all out there about what happened with Toga. She needed trustworthy adults in her life, and Danny believed the Aizawa-Yamada couple to be just that.

”You’re not… grossed out by it?” Toga said.

”Oh, honey of course we aren’t.” Mr. Yamada jerks forward as if to offer a hug, but changes his mind.

”If anything we’re angry about it.” Mr. Aizawa grumbles. Poor choice of words, man, seeing as Toga flinches back as though she’s in danger.

”Not at you.” Mr. Yamada assures her, “At the people who’ve made you think you’re gross for something you can’t control. There’s nothing wrong with you consuming blood, our own coworker does the same thing.”

”R… Really?” Toga asks hesitantly.

Mr. Yamada easily answers with an “Of course,” and Mr. Aizawa grumbles in affirmation. Toga’s still not as eager with them as she was with everyone else so far, but she lets a real smile grace her face.

Auriel shows back up while they’re setting up Toga’s apartment. She doesn’t appear in some big show and shocking reveal. She just… comes to be, it seems.

”Hello everyone.” Auriel seems a bit shocked by everyone who’s there.

”Haii!!” Toga waves rapidly and Auriel smiles kindly at her.

Auriel searches the place for Karisma and Danny and approaches them. “I, I believe I’ve made my decision.”

The two look up at her and Karisma asks, “Yeah?”

“Well. Nellie has gotten fairly well at her job lately, and there’s nobody important staying in the keep at the moment. And the biggest part of my job is making sure Danny is comfortable…” Auriel fidgets some.

”Are you saying what I think you are!?” Danny exclaims hopefully.

”Yeah, I’d like to, ah, stay here. With you all.” Auriel answers.

”YES!!” Danny flies up into the air and spins a bit before floating back down like a leaf.

”I was also wondering, though, if I could…” Auriel starts, and Danny gives her an encouraging look, “Watch over Toga. Take care of her, maybe even.”

”I don’t see a problem with it,” Karisma butts in and Danny nods his head, “But it’s ultimately Toga’s decision.”

”You should go ask her!” Danny says and Auriel finds a way to make her white skin pale more.

”I- I don’t know-“ She’s cut off by Danny.

”HEY TOGA!!” Danny calls and Toga comes running in, skidding to a stop right in front of them.

”Yeah?!” She asks excitedly.

”How would you feel if Auriel stayed here with ya’?” He asks.

”I’d love it!!” Toga says jumping up and down, “Is she going to!?”

Auriel takes that moment and floats next to Toga, “Yeah. I am, it seems.” She practically whispers.

Toga jumps in surprise, but then turns on her and gives her a hug, “We’re gonna be the best of friends!!”

Auriel breaks. “I’d love that, Toga.”

Danny went to sleep absolutely overjoyed that night.

He was living in the same building as Izuku, Karisma, Toga, Auriel, Kirishima, Kenzō, Mr. Aizawa, and Mr. Yamada. He hadn’t felt this fulfilled since before his parents found out.

He never thought he could feels this way again. And maybe… maybe he could fill the gaping hole in his heart with more. Maybe he could be selfish, for once. 

…

Shit. He’s a people hoarder

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.

Chapter Text

January 22, 2XX3

Danny doesn’t know why he was out. Well, that’s not entirely true. He’d had the nightmares again, the ‘Y’ shaped scar on his chest burned, and he had failed to fall back asleep. Thus, he’d decided to take a flight, with no destination in mind.

The thing he didn’t know was why he came here. Dagobah beach. It was still dirty and not exactly the most calming place. So why did he come here?

The answer came comically fast. A rustle, a clang, and an almost silent whimper. Danny was shooting up faster than you can say ‘Ectoplasm!’

He flew around the trash heaps, in search of the voice. He recognized the sound of pain, he knew it intimately. He’d been too focused to recognize where it had come from, though.

There! A groan that was muffled erupted from near the edge of the beach, next to the sidewalk, where the land is separated.

Immediately Danny was shooting over to it, and the first thing he spots is a shock of purple hair. And then there’s the rest of the person. They had their back leaned against the dip between the sidewalk and sand, and they were curled up. Their face was in between their legs and they appeared to be shaking.

Danny knew he had to be careful about this.

”Hello?” He quietly asked.

Almost immediately the boy’s head is up and he’s staring at Danny. Right away Danny sees it. The boy is wearing a muzzle.

Men in white suits, something about wails, banging and scratching, cutting into his cheek, cuts on his nose, bruises on his neck, hands in his hair, green everywhere, pain pain PAIN-

“Oh, my ancients- Are you okay!?” Danny shoots forward and kneels in front of the boy. “Wait- shit you can’t speak. Do you sign?”

The boy looks wary and terrified, but nervously nods his head.

”Awesome,” Danny says as he signs, “Are you okay.”

‘No’ The boy signs.

”Do you need help?”

’yes.’

”Can I help you-“

The boy's eyes widen and he starts shakily signing ‘no’ over and over again while shaking his head.

”Woah, calm down. Why?”

The boy looks at him and signs, ‘No hospitals.’

”Right, that’s cool. Can I help you though?”

The boy considers it for a moment and then winces as if he just remembered the muzzle caused pain. He warily nods his head and starts finger spelling.

”Shinsou? That your name?” Danny reaches down and helps him to his feet, there are a lot of cuts and scrapes on his hands and legs.

The boy- Shinsou- nods. “Cool. I’m D-A-N-N-Y, Danny.” Danny finger spells and then does the signs for ‘ghost’ and ‘boy.’ “I’m American, so I’ll stick with my first name.

Shinsou points at himself and signs ‘tired’ and ‘cat.’ Danny snickers, “Tired cat, huh?”

Shinsou looks a bit embarrassed, “No, no! It’s cute!” It doesn’t help. “Sorry. Anyway, I’ve got an overpacked med kit back at my apartment. Walk or fly?”

Shinsou looks at him confused over the question for a bit. And then signs ‘fly’, which he would come to regret later.

Danny floats up behind him and grabs him by his armpits. The dude is a lot taller than him or Izuku, so bridal wouldn’t work. Shinsou stiffens and Danny turns them both invisible, then flies off to his apartment.

After a minute or two of flying, he kept the speed safe for a human and didn’t go intangible, they arrived in front of Danny’s building. He sets Shinsou down and starts walking forward, beckoning him to follow.

They walk into the lobby and Shinsou relaxes when he doesn’t see anyone, relatable. Danny keeps leading him up the stairs and to his apartment. He forgoes keys and just phases through the lock, opening the door. He continues to the bathroom, Shinsou following behind like a duckling.

”Alright,” Danny begins once they’re both in the bathroom, “Please take a seat.” He gestures to the toilet, the lid already down. Shinsou slowly abides. 

Danny walks over to his cupboard. Humming a small song Jazz used to enjoy, to distract himself from the fact that the boy on his toilet had a muzzle on. He pulls the first-aid kit out and sets it on the side of the bathtub. He pulls out some gauze, he knows there will be puncture wounds in the mouth. He gathers some water in a small paper cup. He also retrieves a towel, some antibiotic ointment, and bandaids.

”So,” He turns to Shinsou, “I’m going to take the muzzle off first. I’ve got water for you to rinse it out and then some gauze.” Shinsou nods at him, “Alrighty then, this will probably feel weird.”

Danny reaches out to Shinsou’s face and grabs the muzzle, he allows both his hands and the contraption to go intangible, Shinsou looking shocked. Once he pulls it away he releases the intangibility and throws it to the floor.

Swiftly, he hands Shinsou the water. The boy complies and swishes it in his mouth before spitting in the sink, his spit red. Shinsou sits back down, not caring to look at the blood and Danny urges him to open his mouth. Danny spots the puncture wounds easily and places gauze in the boy’s mouth. He closes it, grabs some wrapping, and starts on the long cut across his nose. 

Satisfied with his work on the muzzle, Danny sags a bit backward. He then points to Shinsou’s arms and legs, “Those hurt?” Shinsou confirms and he gets to work on them. Cleaning with a towel and warm water, antibiotic cream, band-aids, and repeat.

Finally, Danny is done and sighs. He gets up and stretches out and then proceeds to help Shinsou up. “Do you have a place to stay?” Shinsou looks fearful and sheepish at the same time, if that’s even possible, and shakes his head. “Right, you take the couch.” He leads him out of the bathroom and gestures to the couch. Shinsou heads over and sits on it.

’Really?’ He signs.

"Yah,” Danny yawns loudly, “‘ere’s some blankets…” He tosses a lightweight and a large fluffy blanket to Shinsou. “Sleep tight, don’t let the reanimated hot dogs bite!”

Shinsou looks bewildered at that statement and Danny wobbles off to his bedroom.

Danny sees his alarm clock, as he crashes into bed, in bright green numbers.

’4:20 AM’

Hah, 420…

Chapter Text

January 23, 2XX3

...Hold it down. IT HURTS Don't let it touch you! Cover its mouth! I SAID STOP Make an incision starting on the chest area. It's tricking you! LET ME OUT  It doesn't need a sterile environment. It's a monster! Hold it down. What's that circular thing in its chest? Shut it up! Fucking freak of nature. I DON'T WANT THIS It sounds so... hurt? Ghost scum! Give us back our son! It's what they do, lying is their thing. Leave it to the professionals. Those kids were hanging around, again. Ugh, I'm gonna have to dry-clean this! Any updates on the portal? The ginger one got too close to the truth again. I CAN FEEL IT The other specimens respond oddly to the ghost boy. I'M ALIVE The tech ghost tried to break in again! Wow, Masters sure is generous. I don't feel comfortable taking these photos. Be careful what you touch! We need a budget increase! MAKE IT STOP  A reporter got super pushy recently... WHY WON'T YOU LISTEN They keep rioting! Tell it to shut up! The muzzle should keep its wail under control. WHAT DID I DO The other ghosts keep acting up and screaming! What's happening to the lights? Agent O! Oh my god- is that a brain? Everyone get out, they're attacking! I knew they were all evil! Leave that monster! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO Turn on the ghost shield. Shoot them down! What the hell is that!? I think I just shot a kid... They had help from the outside! I'm gonna puke, that was a human!?  THEY'RE GOING TO WHAT!?- STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT STOP IT-

The ghost boy wakes up, it’s in its bed. The blanket is kicked off and it’s sitting up in a cold sweat. Its skin is clammy and its bangs are stuck to its forehead. 

It hadn’t had one of its nightmares since it came here. Why now? What triggered it- Shinsou. Shinsou and a damn muzzle. It needed to do something. It couldn’t go through those nightmares every night again.

It knows what it needs to do.

With robotic movements, the ghost boy leaves its bed. Carefully making its way to the bathroom where it had taken care of Shinsou the night before. Before entering it takes a moment to check on the boy. Make sure it didn’t hurt him.

Thankfully, Shinsou is sleeping peacefully(?) On the couch™, undisturbed by the ghost boy.

With that confirmation, it continues its mission into the bathroom. Once inside, it scans the room until it spots the metal junk on the ground. It shoots towards it and picks it up. Taking a moment to examine it, it finds dried blood and grinds its teeth. Placing the muzzle on the ground, it jumps up. And down. And up. And down. Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down-

A knock on the door interrupts the ghost boy’s antics. It looks up at the noise, ignoring the crumpled mess of metal on the floor. In the doorway, Shinsou is standing. He starts to sign.

’Ghost boy?’ No- that’s wrong. His signing means something else-

‘Danny’ Shinsou had signed, with a look of worry on his face. Danny, the boy in question, resurfaces. He notices Shinsou signing something else now.

’What are you doing?’ 

Danny looks down at the ground and the demolished muzzle, his handiwork. Or footwork, you could say. Danny lets out a little laugh at his joke before speaking up.

”I, uh, I was fixing something.” He bashfully answers.

Shinsou raises an eyebrow and continues to sign, ‘Fixing?’

”Yup!” Danny smiles.

… ‘alright’ 

“Anyways, since we’re both up, would you like some help with your gauze, and then I can make us some breakfast?” Danny responds.

‘sure’ Shinsou signs to him.

”Sweet! If you would,” Danny bows some and points his arm at the toilet, “Your throne awaits.”

He swears he hears the faintest laugh and Shinsou is next to him, soon enough, and sitting on the toilet lid. The boy seems to be knocking his ankles against each other and fiddling with his fingers some. Danny gets it.

He goes and collects some more gauze from the med kit from last night, fills another paper cup, and washes his hands. He sets his supplies on the sink counter, before focusing back on Shinsou.

”Alrighty! You should be able to get the dirty gauze out yourself,” he instructs and gestures to a bin next to the toilet, “You can throw it away in the trash can.”

Shinsou complies and removes the red and pink -once white- gauze pads and drops them in the trash. Quickly, Danny is in front of him and hands him the water cup. He swishes it around some, before turning to the sink and spitting. The spit is less bloody than it was the night before. He sits back down and opens his mouth for Danny to see. Danny can see easily into the darkness and notices that there isn’t any active bleeding. Sweet!

”Oh,” Danny says, “looks like I didn’t need these.” And he starts putting the gauze pads back into the med kit. “You’re not bleeding anymore, but your mouth is still gonna be super tender. I’m gonna get you something soft to eat.”

Shinsou looks a bit shocked, for some reason. Danny takes his time to put the med kit away and wash his hands again before he leaves the room and gestures for Shinsou to follow.

”You can go back to sitting on the couch. I’m pretty sure I bought some pudding recently because they had some funky flavors-“ He pauses when he notices Shinsou look a little worried, “-Don’t worry! I bought normal flavors too!!” Shinsou relaxes again and makes his way over to the couch™.

Danny keeps walking and enters the kitchen. Yanking open the door he sees that he does have some good normal pudding and a turnover that Auriel had made. Danny keeps the turnover for himself, shoving it in his mouth where it hangs out like those Anime girls who are ‘late to school! I don’t have time to eat breakfast!’ And he makes his way over to the silverware drawer. He takes out a spoon and shuts the drawer with his hip, before walking back to the living room. He hands the pudding and spoon to Shinsou before sitting across from him in his comfy chair.

He finally bites down on the turnover and takes it out of his mouth, after chewing it, he speaks up, “You can eat the pudding, dude.”

Shinsou, who had been previously staring at it, blushes some and opens it up. He digs in with his spoon and takes note of the fact that it’s chocolate.

”So, Shinsou, ya mind if I ask some questions?” Danny asks.

Shinsou ponders for a bit, before nodding his head.

”Great. First of all, do you have anywhere to stay?” Danny asks and Shinsou pales a bit before nodding.

”How about anywhere safe?” Danny rephrases his sentence. He watches as Shinsou slowly shakes his head.

”Okay… What if I told you, I have a habit of letting homeless kids stay here for free?” Danny asks and Shinsou gains a suspicious glare in his eyes. He looks around the room slowly.

’Where?’ He signs.

“Oh! Not like, here as in my apartment- I meant here as in the apartment building. I own the building.” Danny tacks on.

Shinsou still looks suspicious, and he signs, ‘Why?’

”It’s cause the dork’s got a bleeding heart.” Karisma appears out of nowhere, causing both boys to jump. Danny, and he loathes to admit this, yelps a little.

Shinsou calms some and shakily signs, ‘Who is that?’

“That,” Danny gestures to Karisma, “Is Karisma. They live in the building.”

”Karisma, they/them, at your service.” Karisma does their typical introduction, including the bow, which seems to surprise Shinsou.

’Do you sign?’ He signs.

”Yep. You can call, er, sign, me as," And they lift their hands to sign along, “Fluid Phoenix.”

Shinsou looks a bit confused but repeats the gestures back.

”Exactamondo!” Karisma clicks their tongue and points a finger gun at Shinsou, he just looks even more confused.

”Anyways, like I was saying before Karisma interrupted,“ Danny glares at them, “I like to help and protect people. It’s like, my thing, I guess? And with that muzzle-“

Karisma’s head shoots up to Danny in shock, “Did you say muzzle!?” 

“Uh… Yeah?” Danny says back.

Karisma shoots forward and grabs Danny’s shoulders, where they begin to inspect him, “What’s your name?”

”Danny??? What are you-“ Danny starts, but Karisma grabs his cheeks in one hand to shut him up and keep his head still. They cause their eyes to glow some, looking into Danny’s own. 

They must’ve gotten what they wanted because they relaxed quickly enough, and deflated some, “Oh thank goodness.” Shinsou looks even more confused.

”Karisma, with all due respect, what the fuck???” Danny asks.

Karisma rubs their temple some, “A muzzle, Danny. Snowflake said that shit like that could be a trigger for you! I was making sure you hadn’t relapsed!!” They exclaim. Now Shinsou feels like he’s invading some, but the mention of a trigger and relapsing keeps him attentive.

“I, ah, I did. Actually. Relapse, that is…” Danny carefully says.

”Shit! Seriously!?” Karisma exclaims and shoots to their feet.

”It’s okay!!” Danny puts his hands out in a placating gesture before pointing to Shinsou, “Shinsou helped me out of it!” Shinsou looks desperately lost and confused.

“Oh. Thanks, kid.” Karisma turns to Shinsou and thanks him.

’I didn’t even do anything??’ Shinsou signs a bit shakily, and his face conveys his confusion.

“Sure you did!” Danny cuts in, “When you walked into the bathroom and I was destroying the muzzle!”

’What does that have to do with relapsing?’ Shinsou signs.

“Danny had some shit happen to him back in America.” Karisma decides to explain, and Danny returns to his chair. “Some bad guys got to him. They treated him like he wasn’t sentient or alive. They would call him an ‘it’ or ‘ghost boy’-“ “Don’t forget ‘freak’!” “-They’d also muzzle him. When he finally got out, we recognized that he’d fallen into a habit of dehumanizing himself and calling himself ‘The Ghost Boy’ and ‘it’. He had to get therapy and he’s doing better, but his therapist and doctors warned that shit like human experimentation or muzzles could cause him to relapse.” They finish their spiel.

“…H-holy shit…” A raspy voice mutters out. Danny’s and Karisma’s heads snap to Shinsou, where he has a look of shock and borderline horror. Danny, on the contrary, looks overjoyed.

”You can talk!!” 

Shinsou’s eyes widen more, if that’s even possible, and he turns a bit red. He nervously signs out a, ‘Yes, I can. I’m not supposed to. I’m sorry-‘

Danny cuts his signing off by reaching out and placing his hands on top of Shinsou’s and letting them fall to his lap. “Shinsou. You can talk around us, okay? Why aren’t you allowed to talk? And you can sign if you need to.”

Shinsou looks into Danny’s eyes and his own tear up a bit, “I-I c-can’t! I-I’m dangerous!”

Danny’s brow furrows, “So am I?”

”Y-you don’t u..understand..! I c-can mAke you d-do things you don-don’t w-want!” Shinsou cries out.

“What do you mean?” Danny decides to ask.

”My- my q-quirk! It’s a v-villain quIrk!!” Shinsou attempts to explain. Danny looks over to Karisma.

”Are villain quirks a thing? That doesn’t make sense…” Danny asks.

”Not a thing, Little K. Auriel looked into it after Toga. Apparently, people think that some quirks are inherently evil due to villainous potential or the stigma around them. They’re under the same discrimination umbrella as mutant quirks.” Karisma explains.

”It- it is r-real!” Shinsou stutters out.

”What’s your quirk, Shinsou?” Danny inquires. 

”…It, it’s… b-braINWASHING!!” Shinsou yells out.

Danny and Karisma turn to look at each other for a bit. After their staring they turn back to Shinsou who’s shaking a bit now.

”That’s it?” Danny asks. And Karisma cuffs him over the head.

”Be polite, Danny!”

”ACK- Sorry!”

Shinsou looks a bit shellshocked and signs, ‘What do you mean, ‘that’s it’?’

“Well, it doesn’t exactly have to be evil. Take Karisma and I for example. We can both do this thing called ‘overshadowing’. It’s basically just a pretty word for possession. We can possess people and make ‘em do stuff they don’t want to. I don’t like to do it unless it’s necessary, though.” Danny explains.

”W-what?” Shinsou asks.

“Really! And besides- mind control with evil intent or good intent feels different! Evil intent feels like you’re a puppet drowning underwater and a prisoner in your own body. Good intent feels kinda like a good trip- you’re all floaty and funny feeling. It’s also pretty calming!” Danny says.

”How d-do you kno-w that?” Shinsou asks. His voice seems to be adjusting some, thankfully.

“I’ve experienced both. A creepy clown mind controlled me and made me join his circus while also robbing banks, like, a year or two ago. His mind control was hurtful and suffocating. I went through some exposure therapy after that and found out that good intent mind control was a thing and feels kinda good? I guess? It was basically like hypnotherapy, just without the suggestions and creepy vibes,” Danny answers.

”Y-you’ve been mind controlled? And you s-still wanna help me?” Shinsou asks.

”Of course!” Danny responds, “Oh! I’ve got a good idea! How about I let you brainwash me, and if I still want you to stay, you do!”

”R-really?” Shinsou asks. Thank goodness he finished his pudding, this is taking a little while.

”Totally!” Danny answers.

”Y-you promise you won’t get m-mad?” Shinsou asks.

Danny smiles and thinks of when he met Toga. With that in mind. He retaliates with, “I, Daniel ‘Phantom’ Nightingale swear on my heart, that I will not show one ‘Shinsou Hitoshi’ contempt for brainwashing me.” He reaches out his pinky and his face softens at the familiar green string, wrapping around both his and Shinsou’s pinky.

”What the fuck was that?” Shinsou says without error.

“A binding oath! Now, if I break those conditions, my heart will, quite literally, belong to you!” Danny explains.

Shinsou almost seems to blush a little at the explanation, but accepts it. “A-alright. I’ll do it…”

”Great!” Danny answers, waiting a little… “On you go then, buddy…” He urges Shinsou.

“Danny?” Shinsou asks.

“Yeah-” Danny starts to ask before everything feels fuzzy. It’s as if he’s on a comfortable cloud. Its fluff seems to touch his very core. His ghost core, that is. It feels like Jazz checking on him to see if he’s sleeping, or Sam gently showing him how to care for the flower she had gotten for him. It feels like Tucker nudging him playfully and asking if he wants to play Doomed. It feels like Ellie crawling on top of him like a cat, just to fall asleep sprawled out… like a cat. It feels like Dante putting a comforting hand on his shoulder after a good spar. It feels like Val when she insists on a little fight ‘for old time's sake.’ It feels like everyone making fun of Wes for his stalker phase, especially when they found out his parents thought he was gay because of it. It feels like home. It even feels like Dante checking in on him and Ellie every month before Danny was captured. 

“Tell me the truth, Danny.” Shinsou’s voice cuts in, “Why do you want me here?”

”I have a condition and one of its side effects makes me obsess over things. My obsessions are Space and Protection. Seeing you on the beach stirred up my obsession. I want to keep you here so I can keep you safe and protect you. I also felt kinship when I saw the muzzle. I also think you’re hot.” Danny feels like he said something, but he’s too floaty to recognize it.

On the outside Shinsou listens with muted shock and turns a pretty pink shade at Danny’s final admission.

“Will I be safe if I stay here?” Shinsou asks.

“I plan to keep you safe to the best of my abilities. So, most likely, yes.” Danny’s mouth feels a bit fuzzy, too, huh.

“Well, you’re certainly cocky,” Shinsou responds.

“Rightfully so,” Karisma mutters, and Shinsou elects to ignore the fact that he heard it.

“If I end up a bigger asshole than you expected- will- will you hate me?” Shinsou asks.

“I have a habit of befriending assholes, so no.” Danny feels like he just admitted something weird.

Shinsou pauses for a moment in consideration. “Do… do you want out now?”

“It’s up to you.” Danny feels like he said something nice.

Shinsou feels the strings and releases.

Danny whines a bit at the lovely floaty feeling leaving him. He was tempted to stay there forever if he could. It felt so warm and loving in there. He blinks a couple of times and comes back to looking at the others in the room.

Shinsou looks super red, for some reason. Did he strain himself? Karisma has that weird knowing smirk on their face.

Danny quickly shakes his head to get the rest of the fog out, making a funny little ‘brbrbrbrbrbr’ noise as he does. He looks up at Shinsou and says, “Dude. You have to do that for me again. That felt amazing.”

”R-really??” Shinsou asks.

”Oh totally. It felt all cool and fluffy like I was on a cloud!” Danny replies.

“… Okay.” Shinsou gives in.

Danny flies up, literally, and pumps his fist, “Hell yeah!” It causes Shinsou to laugh.

“I’ll stay here!” Shinsou blurts out, causing Danny to pause mid-air, before he floats down right in front of Shinsou, upside down.

”Really!?” He asks, smiling.

Shinsou looks a little lost in his mind before he snaps out and answers, “Uh, yeah! I can have my own apartment though, right?”

Danny flies back up, stomps his feet in the air in a mock cheer, and zooms back onto the floor. “Oh, totally! You can have one on the same floor as Zuku, Toga, Karisma, and I!”

”Zuku and Toga?” Shinsou asks.

”Izuku Midoriya and Himiko Toga. They’re the other homeless teens he kidnapped.” Karisma jokes.

”Not a kidnapping!” Danny retorts.

”That’s what they all say.” Karisma remarks.

Danny just huffs and grabs Shinsou’s wrist. He pulls him with him to the exit and they leave into the hallway. They leave from the second closest door to the stairwell and elevator (damn).

On either side of the hallway are four doors. Each leads to an apartment. The apartment across from Danny’s has a little sign saying ‘Izuku Midoriya’ with a green rabbit. Two doors to the left of Izuku’s is Toga and Auriel’s apartment. They, too, have a sign. It says ‘Himiko Toga’ with a little bat drawing, and next to it is ‘Auriel Hearth’ with a dust bunny. Across the hallway from Auriel and Toga is Karisma’s apartment. They took the liberty to paint their door pitch black with a few blob ghosts. Their sign says ‘Karisma Glindt’ with a little white devil cartoon caricature next to it.

”Hmmm… Oh! We should give you the one to the left of me!” Danny declares. He goes to lead Shinsou off when the door across from them opens.

Izuku walks out, yawning and stretching some, “D’nny?” He asks.

”Hey, Izuku! Meet my new tenant!” Danny exclaims.

Izuku’s eyes shoot open, “Whu!?” He spots Shinsou and sprints back into his room.

Danny turns some and notices Shinsou staring in shock at Izuku’s previous location.

”He’s cute, right? That was Izuku. He was my first tenant and also the first guy I befriended here in Japan.” Danny says.

”Uh, yeah, he’s not the only one…” Shinsou says, seemingly to himself before shocking back to reality, “I mean— just show me to my apartment, please!”

Danny cackles and rushes Shinsou off to the apartment right to the left of his. He pulls off what was essentially a full real estate salesperson pitch. Shinsou voiced how he thought it was too good for him, which Danny fought with him on. Eventually, they were done by the time lunch came around. So, Danny elected to bring Shinsou to the lobby with him.

———

“So, yeah, each apartment has its own kitchen, but the lobby has one too! It also has some places to sit around and hang out. As well as bathrooms, places to get into the elevators, a package room, a front desk, a laundry zone, a sunroom, and a patio on the outside! Honestly, part of me wonders if I accidentally bought a luxury hotel and decided to turn it into an apartment complex. There’s even a pool and jacuzzi outside! I love being rich!!” Danny explains to Shinsou and cackles out his last comment. 

“This… wow. Do I seriously get to live here? For free? Holy shit- isn’t that a bad idea for you and your money?” Shinsou remarks.

”Shinsou, I am richer than god. This is chump change!“ Danny began to evil cackle again before he walked into a table. Shinsou, the evil man that he is, snickers some. “Well seems like someone’s not scared to talk anymore,” Danny grumbles.

“I’ve been told I’m an asshole, before,” Shinsou responds with a little shrug.

”You are what you eat!” Danny references before thinking it through, with the time displacement and dimensional travel, Shinsou probably doesn’t even know what Snapcube is!

”What!? Yeah right, ya dick!” Shinsou retorts.

”Are you implying that I—“ Danny starts before Auriel appears before them.

”Danny.” She simply says, a judgy look on her face.

Danny jumps back and shields himself, “No! Not the mom stare!”

Auriel sighs, and Danny stops shielding himself. He notices Shinsou has backed up some and hidden himself. “And who would this be?” She asks.

”Right. Auriel, meet Shinsou Hitoshi. He was being abused at an orphanage so I kid—helped him and he’s our latest tenant! Tada~!” Danny introduces Shinsou.

”Well,” Auriel states kindly, “It is wonderful to meet you, Shinsou. Would you like some food?”

”I—“ Shinsou planned to refuse, but his stomach growling betrays him, “—… yeah.”

”Wonderful.” She says with a sweet smile, before walking off to the kitchen.

”She’s… nice.” Shinsou states.

“Oh totally. She helped take care of me when I was still recovering after the bad people we told you about. She’s also currently taking care of Toga. And she and Karisma are totally in love.” Danny remarks.

”That’s… really sweet.” Shinsou says. Soon enough they’re venturing further into the dining area and taking a seat. Danny trusted Auriel to make something good and raved to Shinsou about her cooking. After a few minutes, she must’ve been already cooking when they showed up, Auriel announced that the food was ready. It’d been hard to convince Auriel to stop presenting food like a maid when not in the keep.  The boys ate the food swiftly, and soon enough Shinsou’s apparent discomfort convinced Danny for them to return to the apartments. 

———

“Ancients it’s dark out!!” Danny exclaimed when he stood up to peer out the windows. He had invited Shinsou to play Doomed, and the boy… positively sucked. It was still fun though! 

“Holy shit, how long have we been playing?” Shinsou asked.

Danny thinks for a couple of seconds before answering, “I have no fucking idea.”

Shinsou laughs a little, and then clears his throat, “Should I head over to my apartment… that feels so weird to say.”

Danny laughs at his last remark, “You’ll get used to it. And, that sounds like a good idea. Do you need any clothes?” 

“I mean… yeah, but I don’t think any of yours would fit on me.” As if to prove his point, he stood up and walked over to Danny. Danny's eyes were level with the area under Shinsou’s nose and above his lips. Curse you Madeline and your short genes!! Why did Jazz get to have all the Fenton height!?

“Hmm..” Danny leaned left and right looking at Shinsou, mentally measuring his torso and legs to consider if he had anything in his size. “I can see why you’d think that… But! I’ve got oversized clothes!” Danny backs away from Shinsou and turns to fly to his room. He digs into his closet and drawers and pulls out the pajama pants that he accidentally bought too big, and the ‘I Need Space’ shirt that he purposefully bought too big. He rushes back out to Shinsou and presents them to him. “See!”

Shinsou reaches out gingerly and takes the clothes. He rubs the fabrics under his fingers, testing the feel, before smiling. “Hm, I guess you were right, Danny.”

Danny feels a fluttery feeling looking up at Shinsou smiling down at him, with the still healing cut on his face, his bluish-purple hair sticking around all crazy-like, and his smirky grin. Which is just weird! Cause—cause he has a crush on Izuku! Doesn’t he? He can’t like two people… Can he?

Danny breaks out of his thought process when he hears a snapping noise and sees Shinsou snapping his fingers, “…nny? Danny? Earth to Danny??”

Danny jumps back and holds his chest where his heart would be. “Yup! I’m here!”

”…Are you okay?” Shinsou asks.

”Of course I am! Why wouldn’t I be?” Danny sputters.

“Whatever you say…” Shinsou says, holding the clothes, “I’ll get going then. See you tomorrow? Maybe?”

”Sure! Bye!” Danny waves him off and he leaves the apartment. Once Danny’s sure he’s gone he shoots off to his bedroom.

Approaching his bed, he wanders over to the nightstand. He opens the right nightstand and pulls out a compact mirror. He opens it up, draws a pentagram on the glass, and says, “Auriel.” He then pulls out his phone and dials Karisma. The two answers at almost the same time and he pulls them right up to his face and cries out, “I need romance help!!!” Before hanging up on the both, and lying down on his bed, sighing.

Not even a minute later, both of the ghosts are in front of him. Auriel looks concerned, and Karisma almost looks excited.

”So, you finally realize you have feelings for Midoriya?” Karisma asks.

Danny sits up and looks confused, “I realized that already,” he waves them off, “I need different help.”

”Ummm, practice safe sex and use a con-“ Auriel starts.

”NOT THAT KIND!!??” Danny shoots up in his spot while Karisma begins to double over in laughter.

”Oh. My apologies.” Auriel apologizes, “What did you need help with?” Karisma sobers up to listen to Danny’s answer.

”Can I, like, like two people at the same time?” Danny asks, wringing his fingers.

”Oh! Are you considering polygamy? It was a very common practice by former Ghost Kings! They would have their Queen Consorts, concubines, and mistresses or other paramours!” Auriel answers.

Karisma does a spit take and Danny speaks up, “I am not old enough to be even considering marriage, Auriel!!”

”Oh… I forget, sometimes.” Auriel responds.

“It’s okay,” Danny reassures her.

”Yeah, but you were pretty close to what he’s probably actually talking about.” Karisma adds, “I believe what Danny is asking about is Polyamory which is having intimate relationships with multiple people. It’s completely normal and nothing to be ashamed about.” Karisma directs the last part towards the boy in question.

”Oh. I think I’ve got some research to do.” Auriel responds.

”Me too, Ari. Me too.” Danny says before falling back onto his bed

Chapter Text

The past couple weeks since he’d ’kidnapped’ Shinsou and realized some things about himself had been a little hectic. See, the day of the kidnapping had been in the final week of January. Most of the week had been spent integrating the boy into the little Veiled Residences community Danny had been forming.

Izuku, after the initial failed introduction, was surprisingly willing to meet with Shinsou. Shinsou’d been wary of telling him his quirk, but once it was out Izuku went all motor-mouth-muttering-monster on Shinsou, and the boy’s confidence in his quirk was boosted.

Toga was just happy to meet a new friend. She was a bit interested in Shinsou’s quirk. For prank purposes, of course. And petty revenge.

Kirishima thought that Shinsou’s tenacity was exceptionally manly, and told him so. While Mina scolded Shinsou for insisting it was villainous.

Kenzō took a whole minute after meeting Shinsou and learning his quirk before he presented them with a voice changer blueprint and other support ideas. Danny thinks he understated his interest in his hobby.

Shinsou’s meeting with the Aizawa-Yamada couple was… interesting. He had taken one look at Aizawa-Sensei (the further they got in their lessons, the more he insisted he be called that) and nearly fainted. He gushed about how Eraserhead was his favorite hero, and Aizawa-Sensei about had an aneurysm trying to figure out if it was normal for teenagers to recognize him so easily. Yamada-Sensei (he didn’t want to feel left out) found this hilarious. The humor of it all was only multiplied when Danny thought to point out how similar Aizawa-Sensei and Shinsou looked. 

Once Shinsou had settled some, he revealed he had some cool ideas for the apartments. Or Veiled Residences as Danny had lovingly named it.

Shinsou suggested, that, due to the apartment’s obvious ‘luxurious Look’ he hire some staff. Danny thought it over, let his hunger steer him and called up Lunch Lady. Now Veiled Residences had its very own chef in the lobby for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It was a win-win. Residents got food, and Lunch Lady got a consistent schedule for fulfilling her obsession. Lunch Lady was exceptionally generous the day Yamada-Sensei had told her that Aizawa-Sensei’s face had never looked so full.

Danny considered other staff, like a secretary. But, something in him (that sounded suspiciously like a certain time ghost) insisted he wait. What for? He had NO idea!

So, integration of Shinsou? Absolute success! There were some hiccups, and a lot of Shinsou reverting to signing, but that wasn’t a problem. As much as Danny loved to hear him talk, he couldn’t fault the boy.

But, by now, it was early February. He’d been getting closer to Shinsou and Izuku. Danny was almost sick of pining. Did Izuku purposely ignore his actions? Did Shinsou think his trashy flirting was a joke? Probably. Truly a travesty.

February 7, 2XX3

Danny flops over from where he had been sitting up straight. He, Izuku, and Shinsou had been sitting on the couch™  watching some trash TV and chatting. They had chosen to sit three wide, with Danny in the middle, Izuku on his right, and Shinsou on his left. Danny's flopping in such a position led to him resting his head on Izuku's lap and his feet on Shinsou's. He hears Izuku squeak and watches his face turn a little pink.

"Don't mind me just getting comfy," Danny says while pulling off a semblance of a shrug, and Izuku hums what sounds like a nervous agreement.

"So, guys, I've been thinking about your quirks lately," Shinsou starts and both boys stiffen.

"Y-yeah?" Izuku asks.

"Could I ask some questions?" Shinsou responds, "It's about your intangibility." The two immediately relax.

"Shoot," Danny answers.

"So, hypothetically... Could you just stick your hand in someone's chest and rip, say, their heart out?" He asks.

"Well, that's morbid." Danny responds, "And it depends, especially with all the different quirks. There are tons of factors that play into it. Firstly, it'd be a delicate process. You'd have to avoid losing concentration on turning your arm and their...organ intangible because if you do, you could easily lose your hand inside of them! The molecules and atoms cannot coexist in the same space, so your limb would get chopped off!"

"Woah. There goes what I was hoping would be a trump card..." Izuku mutters.

"I know, right?" Danny responds, "You also have to take into account other people with density-shifting-related abilities. If both you and your opponent are intangible, you're tangible to each other. Which loses that opportunity. Also, if someone is protected by the energy that powers Izuku and I's quirks, it could make them invulnerable to the phasing. There's also the fact that your opponent has to be open and clumsy enough for you to even get that close! There are also other factors because quirks are weird. And powers are weird."

"Holy shit, Danny." Shinsou responds, with a bit of morbid fascination, "How often have you thought about this!?"

"I used to have a lot of free time in detention," Danny answers sagely.

“Wha- DETENTION?"

February 9, 2XX3

Danny was amazed by how little light pollution there seemed to be here. He expected to not be able to see anything in the sky when he'd first arrived and was still in a slump. His mood had been exceptionally boosted the first night he noticed the stars. They weren't that visible and certainly didn't compare to Illinois. But, they were visible, and that made something deep inside him (probably his core) feel nice and warm. 

Danny had wanted to show it to Izuku, at one point. The view from the roof of the apartments. But, then they'd had their moment on the beach. And they realized that they seemed more beautiful there, on that trash-filled beach.

But, Danny still longed to share the stars with more people. So, he'd cornered Shinsou. He'd asked him to meet him on the roof at around 10:00 PM.

The boy had shown up, and he must not have expected Danny to have a sanctuary on the roof. It was the basic walkable roof with a door, and Danny saw an opportunity. 

There were neon green fairy lights in the shape of ghosts, surrounding the, well, 'nest' in the center of the roof. It made a square surrounding the area. There were some worn down, but not dirty, couches on the next layer in. An L-Couch and two other couches made a square. In the next layer, there were cushions and blankets, forming the inner nest. It was all shockingly comfortable. And Auriel always made sure to set up a cover on days with poor weather.

Shinsou had walked onto the roof and stopped in his tracks, a little gasp leaving his mouth. He stared in awe as Danny's head popped up from one of the couches and ushered him over, accidentally chirping in excitement a bit as he did. Shinsou insisted that it was cute when he voiced his embarrassment. They'd sat in comfort in the inner nest under some fluffy blankets for a little while and simply chatted. Talking about what led Danny here, and life before. How Shinsou was accumulating, and how it compared to his before. They both recognized the Veiled Residences was good for them.

At about midnight, Danny turned off the fairy lights. He scooted closer to where Shinsou was in the inner nest and curled up in the blankets. He guided him to lie down next to him, before pointing up to the sky. Even though it wasn't the clearest, it was still beautiful. Danny pointed out as many stars and constellations as he could see and recognize, and Shinsou indulged him. Talking about how beautiful it was.

Eventually, under the stars and wrapped in blankets, the boys began to drift off. Danny's heart felt full and he began to purr, curled up next to Shinsou. Before he drifted fully, Shinsou spoke to him.

"Please call me Hitoshi, Danny."

Danny purred louder.

February 11, 2XX3

“Ya know what’s boring?” Toga asks, lying on her stomach on a couch while kicking her legs back and forth in the air. It was one of those days when everyone had nothing to do, so the teens all hung out in the lobby. They had games, their phones (Danny had insisted on buying phones for Izuku, Toga, and Hitoshi), snacks from Lunch Lady, and some pillows & throw blankets. There was also a TV nearby which had been quietly playing some kind of heroes movie.

“Aizawa-Sensei?” Danny asks from his spot on the floor in front of the couch Toga is lounging on.

”Well, yes-“ She agrees with a laugh, “but no.”

”What’s boring, Toga?” Kirishima asks from his spot next to a little table, where he is stacking a dastardly amount of cheese slices.

”That!” She snaps her finger and sits up straight.

”Cheese?” Hitoshi asks from the chair where he’d curled up to mess around on his phone.

”What? No.” Toga replies, “I was talking about him calling me Toga!” 

“Is it… not your name?” Izuku asks from where he’d decided to sprawl out on the ground.

”Yeah, but it’s boooring! Nicknames are so much more fun!” She answers.

”You already call me by a nickname.” Danny chimes in.

”I do?” 

“… Yeah? Danny is a nickname.” Danny responds, “You should know this, Toga- I literally told you my full name!”

”I can’t remember stuff like that!” She retorts.

”Clearly,” Danny snarks, “My name’s Daniel. Don’t call me that by the way.”

”Daniel?” Mina pipes up, from her spot next to Kirishima and the cheese tower, “Like that old American neighborhood tiger show?”

”Oh Ancients please no.” 

“Daniel’s and tigers aside!” Toga cuts in, “We should totes do nicknames!”

”I think I’ll stick with Danny. Seriously.” Danny answers.

”Bo-ring!” Toga complains, “You guys can call me… oh! Himi-Chan! It’s cute and uses my first name, Himiko!”

“I’m fine with Zuku or Mido, but you don’t have to call me either.” 

“I can go by Kiri! It’s pretty manly!”

”I’ll stick with Mina, it’s pretty short on its own.”

”Uh. I’d rather just be Shinsou. Or Hitoshi if I’ve given you permission.”

”You’re all a buncha losers!” Toga whines as she flops around on the couch like a fish.

”Sorry, Himi-Chan!” Danny apologizes and Toga squeals at the use of her nickname, “Most Danny nicknames have been ruined for me!”

”Really? No Dan or Dann-o?” 

“Himi-Chan. It’s like you read my mind before suggesting the worst options.”

”Oh. Sorry!” She apologizes.

“It’s fine! It’s better than just Daniel, anyways.” Danny shrugs, “The Venn diagram of people who want to kill me, creep on me, and call me Daniel is, like, a full circle-Not including my goat, CW.”

…

”Say what now?”

Hitoshi was not only a determined, attractive, asshole (his words, not Danny’s. Swear!) He was also a smart asshole. After noticing Danny and Izuku going out at the same time every evening, he caught on. Eventually, as he was suspicious, cornered them and asked what it was about.

But, see, Hitoshi was a bit fearful, so he asked ‘aggressively.’

Basically, he caught them in the hallway of their floor one evening as the two planned to go to the beach and meet up with Aizawa-Sensei.

Danny didn’t really need any training, but he enjoyed watching Izuku. Recently, the boy had been learning how to use karambits and escrima sticks efficiently. He’d just recently gotten done with his Bo staff lessons, after all.

Circling back to the topic, Hitoshi had cornered them in the hallway. And by cornered… well. Izuku watched in flustered shock as Hitoshi essentially… aggressively kabedoned Danny and hounded him for answers as to what they were doing.

Danny, being his little shit self, simply slipped away and explained the hero training. He did have to wait for Hitoshi to stop dumbly looking at the wall, where he’d been prior before he could start.

Hitoshi immediately wanted in, knowing his quirk wouldn’t do well in physical battles if his opponent understood it. Thankfully, Aizawa-Sensei was willing to teach him some given he wasn’t actually teaching Danny any. Aizawa-Sensei’s lesson plans for Hitoshi included basic hand-to-hand, essential self-defense, capture weapon mastery, proper taser use, basic knife use, and parkour.

If Danny knew he’d get to watch both Izuku and Hitoshi training in athletic wear at the same time, he would’ve told Hitoshi sooner. God DAMN!

February 14, 2XX3

It was nearing midnight a few days after The nicknaming fiasco. Danny was relaxing in the roof nest and just enjoying some alone time when Auriel, Karisma, and Lunch Lady came for him. Lunch Lady at least had the rational idea to bring some snacks.

”…Danny.” Auriel had greeted him when they’d all arrived at the nest. 

Danny popped up from the inner nest’s blankets, his hair a bit wild, “Yah?”

“We’ve got news, Little K. Big news. Ya might wanna take a seat.” Karisma answers. “On a couch.”

Danny, now with worry, rises to the couches and seats himself on one. The three ghosts situated themselves across from him, and Lunch Lady offered him a cookie. He took it, of course.

“…So, remember all the chaos during your capture and release?” Auriel eases in.

”…Yeah?” 

“And how there were some ghosts, important ones,  unaccounted for?” Auriel continues. Danny flinches but nods. “Well they found some stuff out…”

”-They found your sister!” Karisma cut in, running out of patience.

Danny’s head immediately snaps to them. Watching them with eerie precision. “…What?”

”The princess was found by the Captain of The Royal Guard.” Auriel attempts to explain.

”For all our English speakers,” Karisma addresses an invisible audience, “Dante found Ellie.”

Danny lurches forward and looks like he wants to cry in joy and relief and puke at the bombshell at the same time. “She’s- is she okay?” He seems to beg them.

“Yeah. Dante found her roaming around the Infinite Realms. There was some reunion shit between the two, but Ellie didn’t want to come with him.” Danny’s heart drops, and Karisma continues “She was… you gotta understand, kid, she was fulfilling her obsession. Hers. She was found traveling and exploring, she found out so much about the Realms. She couldn’t give it up…”

”Not even to see me?” Danny asked, his voice hurt.

”She wrote a letter, hun.” Lunch Lady says, holding out a white envelope with a neon green wax seal.

”Can I…?” Danny asks.

”Of course.”

He reaches over and retrieves the letter. Ellie had decided to write this rather than see him in person. He knows it might not be easy for her to reach him, especially if she was finally living her half-life- but- She was his clone; she was his cousin; she was his friend; she was his sister… Fuck… It still hurts to acknowledge what Vlad did, but… She was his daughter.

Danny opens the letter gingerly…

✧✧✧

Hey, Danny!

It’s me, Ellie! Surprise, I’m alive!! Kinda. You know how it is. After the whole capture and containment, I know it was wrong of me to flee. But, I couldn’t stay around. You were in so much pain, and it hurt me to see it. I couldn’t do anything to help, and I was still registering what happened to the others, I guess. So, I ran.

I’ve spent some time traveling around the realms. I took a camera and bag, and I don’t think I’ve ever said it before, but… This dimension is beautiful, Danny. It deserves to have someone travel it, and treasure all of its beauty.

I know, I should have come to see you in person, but… I feel so free.

I promise I’ll come see you one of these days. Maybe check out the Apartment Dante mentioned. He said something about you having some kind of crushing crisis that Auriel told him about? Congrats, bro, I think. Anyways. I love you, Danny. But I needed to love myself some too.

With all the love in space and the realms

Danielle ‘Wraith’ Nightingale-Masters

✧✧✧

Danny felt the tears drift down his face, as well as a few wet laughs leave his mouth. Ellie deserved this time to herself. Danny is so proud.

Chapter Text

The inhabitants of an abyss watch in shock. Any untainted dead would know their King, recognize him easily. Just his energy is enough to instill fear in the weak. Not even fading from the visible spectrum could remove that innate horror.

October15, 2XX2

"... First? You've been dead the longest... That... feeling... that was the King's signature, wasn't it?"

"... Yes. He may have been hiding from 8th's sight, but that oppressive force could only belong to him. I've experienced it firsthand, at the request of a powerful Ancient. That was undeniably him. He was there with that kid."

"I don't get it. What's he doing here? And what does that mean for us?"

"I'm afraid that, I do not have an answer for."

"8th doesn't stand a chance against him, does he?"

"..."

"... No, he does not."

"Guess all we can do is hope he is as benevolent as they say... Hell, maybe this could be a good thing."

"I hope you're right, Fifth."

"Me too, Fourth, me too."

February 16, 2XX3

"An assessment???" Danny asks Aizawa-Sensei, bewildered.

"Yes, that's what I said." Aizawa-Sensei replied, "It's already February, and I want to see how far you've all improved. Also, Shinsou, I don't expect you to be on the same level as Midoriya."

"Right..." Hitoshi groans from his spot on the beach.

"There's still so much trash though!" Izuku argues, "Surely this assessment can wait!"

"Midoriya, it would take about 10 months at least to get all this trash cleaned up. You can't expect to have it all picked up with your schedule and training plan. Especially since you didn't spend all your time at the beach cleaning it up." Aizawa-Sensei explains.

"Alright..." Izuku pouts.

———

Danny is, to say the least, impressed. He thought he had been paying good attention to the boys' progress, but clearly he was wrong. He already knew that Izuku, in the time before meeting him, had taken a lot of his free time to teach himself stuff. But, this? This was, wow.

In watching the assessment Danny got to learn more in depth of the others' abilities.

Izuku had taught himself how to use a butterfly knife, kunai alongside rope, shurikens (for fun), and how to effectively use tasers. Apparently, he was inspired by some hero. And then, in his time learning under Aizawa-Sensei, he learned how to use regular knives, a bo staff, a karambit, escrima sticks, and a fucking handgun. He also learned some basic hand-to-hand. He was already well versed in first aid, played around with hacking (He hacked into a police department's security cameras when he was 9 and decided not to tell anyone!?), and was very flexible after he thought to take up yoga. He was exceptionally intelligent and could answer questions leagues above others his age. 

Hitoshi, and this may come off as rude, was not as impressive as Izuku. So far, he knew how to use a taser and some knife skills. He knew First aid beforehand and had a strong stomach. He was agile and shockingly fast (which Danny credits his long legs for.) He'd been learning how to use a capture weapon like Aizawa-Sensei and had been dabbling with the voice-changer that Kenzō had made him. Regardless of his apprehension towards using it, he had a shockingly firm grasp on his quirk. More than once during the assessment, he caught Danny off guard and activated it per Aizawa-Sensei's wishes. Even when Danny, who had a strong will and resistance to mind control, fought it, he could keep a solid hold.

All in all, Izuku and Hitoshi could certainly hold their own in a fight. And they should be set for the entrance exam. That didn't mean they were going to stop training, though.

February 17, 2XX3

“Oh, Kenzō~” Danny sings songs into the Abyss, clasping his hands together and leaning forward.

”…”

The Abyss does not answer.

“…I have blueprints..!” Danny tries.

The Abyss answers. It answers by spitting out a deranged college student who is bored out of his mind.

Kenzō rushes to the entryway and stumbles to turn on the lights, when he does he breathes heavily and leans on the switch, “Are they original?”

“I mean, somewhat? Depends. Like, one of them is a modified Boo Staff for Izuku.” Danny answers.

”Do you mean Bo Staff…?” Kenzō inquires.

”I said what I said.” And Danny marches into the Abyss. He sprawls the blueprints all over any surface he can find, and adds ‘Make a workshop’ to his mental checklist. He’d forgotten how much he enjoyed creating things. The blueprints are a menagerie of ‘modified by Danny’ FentonTech and Danny originals… DannyTech. Wait, no- That sounds stupid. TBDTech…

Kenzō wanders over to a random blueprint. , “Oh shit, it is Boo Staff.” Before looking at another, “What the fuck is a ‘Fenton Peeler’?” He mutters and drifts away.

”…”

”IS THAT A BAZOOKA!?”

———

“All right, Danny, here’s a list of everything we should need.” Kenzō hands the obnoxiously large list over to Danny, “Luckily, I know someone who owns a shop for support and miscellaneous tech materials.”

”Really?”

”Yeah,” Kenzō explains, “She taught a small Support Item creation class back in College for a year or less.”

”Oh, sweet!” Danny replies, “Think she can give us some tips?”

”Maybe,” Kenzō replies, “She has a daughter around your age.”

Danny hums, “What’s the woman’s name?”

”Akane Hatsume.” Kenzō answers before waltzing out his door.

———

“WoAHOLYCRAP-“ Danny yells out before falling into a coughing fit after entering the little shop. The bell on the door had jingled cutely, in contrast to the extensive amount of smoke filtering in from the back room. “Cough cough— HELLO???”

Kenzō puts his hand on Danny’s shoulder, “Don’t worry about it, she probably just had a simple malfunc-“

His words were cut off by a woman, with red hair, covered in soot and dirt, coughing intensely. She seemed to crawl over the front desk, and choked out a, “…Save…. Yourself…” While reaching out with one hand.

Danny flinched back and shrieked, “What the fuck!?!?”

Another voice screamed through the smoke, “My babies!! Somebody save my babies!”

Hearing that, Danny got into position to take flight into the smoke when Kenzō stopped him, “There aren’t any actual babies, trust me.”

”… Kenzō what kind of shop did you bring me to??”

Once Danny said that the woman with red hair stood back up straight and smiled. The goggles on her forehead threatening to fall. “Oh! Kenzō! And customer! It’s good to see you!” She called out.

”You too Mrs. Hatsume.” Kenzō replies.

Danny looks back and forth between the two, “That’s Mrs. Hatsume!?” Danny asks incredulously. 

“The one and only!” The woman cuts in.

Danny turns completely to Kenzō and asks, “Is she… you know..?” While making gestures for ‘kookoo’ or ‘crazy.’

”Oh, absolutely. But, the best engineers always are.” Kenzō answers. Danny decided to ignore the little voice in his head that reminded him that he knew that. Jack and Madeline were great at inventing tech and using it to harm him, after all.

Suddenly, the woman turns around and yells into the smoke, “Mei, honey, could you air out the smoke and clean up some? We have a customer! And Kenzō!”

”Okie dokie, Mama!” The voice that had been yelling about burning babies responds.

Mrs. Hatsume opens her mouth as if to say something else, right as Danny realizes his definition of airing the smoke out is most definitely different from the younger Hatsume.

A smaller girl with pink hair and goggles emerges from the smoke cackling and holding some kind of vacuum that began to suck up all the smoke. It was like watching a ghost get sucked up, Danny mused. 

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Danny tried to ask, but was drowned out by the vacuum, before clearing his throat and yelling over the vacuum, "ARE YOU SURE THAT IS A GOOD IDEA?"

"WHAT!?" The girl yells over the noise, "OF COURSE NOT!"

"Mei, honey, I think the smoke is plenty gone by now." Mrs. Hatsume says smoothly to her daughter.

"OKAY, MAMA!" The girl exclaims before shutting the obnoxious machine off.

By now, the smoke has easily cleared, simply accentuating the two's messy states. Both of their faces are covered in dirt and soot, with a clean outline where their goggles would have been. Their hair is messed up and frazzled, the younger girl's much more so. Danny is pretty sure one of her locs still has a little baby flame on it. Oh! Never mind, she got it. 

"So, Kenzō, what are the two of you here for today?" Mama Hatsume asks.

"Oh, Danny here drew up some excellent blueprints and we need the mats to make it!" Kenzō replies, eagerly.

The younger Hatsume hears that and bounces up to Danny, she gets in his face and excitedly asks, "You're making babies?"

...

"NO!?" 

"Oh," Little Hatsume says, "Really?"

"Mei, stop pestering the boy!" Mrs. Hatsume reprimands her daughter, before directing her attention to Danny, "She calls all of her inventions babies."

"Ohhhh..." Danny realizes, "Well, then, I guess we are making babies..?" 

"Sweet!" She yips before shooting off another question, "Can I join??"

"Ah..."

"You're gonna have to give in," Mrs. Hatsume says from the counter, "She doesn't give up easily."

"I don't know..."

"I'll let you guys use the workshop back there." She gestures behind her with a gloved thumb.

Kenzō leans over to Danny and speaks from the corner of his mouth, "Danny, she's offering us a proper workshop... And Mei is eccentric as in the 'eccentric genius' variety not the 'batshit insane' variety. You'll like her."

"...Alright." Danny relents.

"Yay!" She cheers, "You can call me Mei!" She adds on before gripping onto his wrist and dragging him to the back.

”I’m Danny!” Danny managed to yelp out as she dragged him along.

Back in the inner workshop, Danny was a bit impressed. While the Lab back home had a futuristic sci-fi look to it, the Hatsumes’ workshop was more oil and rust steampunk. Which was odd considering the time difference. The shape of the room reminded Danny of Utah or a misshapen ‘L’, it was one big square with a small square on the end. There were metal cabinets lining windowless, possibly concrete, walls. Each drawer had labels,  for example, ‘Goggles,’ ‘Drills,’ ‘Wrenches,’ and ‘Pliers’ were some noticeable labels. There were around three tables, one large one on the left side of the room, and two full rectangles serving as islands, with a few round cushioned stools surrounding them. The islands were surrounded by a ‘U’ of drawers, cabinets, and counters in the small square of the room. There was also a saw to the side, most likely for wood. There were some leathery gloves thrown oddly on one of the counters, next to an electric drill and a heavy-duty flashlight. There was scrap metal and tools scattered all around the room. A rusty metal bin in the corner smelled oddly of smoke and was full of paper. There was also a large fan plugged in, when Danny walked in front of it his bangs went so high up he could’ve said ‘Fly wigasus fly’ and watched his hair fly away.

The Hatsumes also seemed to have taken some artistic liberty. There were some band posters on the walls, American bands from the late 20th century and the early 21st century, oddly enough. That’d be weirdly retro for how far in the future this dimension was. But, it matched the vibe of the room. Danny spotted some he recognized, The Offspring, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Killers, The Front Bottoms… (That is a lot of ‘The’s)

There were also some neon-wire light fixtures set up on the walls. Danny at least noticed a beer bottle, a wrench, and an open sign depicted on the walls. (Honorable mention to the one pizza one he saw.)

There were also some tools hanging on the walls, a shovel, interestingly enough, hanging alongside large brooms, with some cinderblocks beneath them. Atop of which, a blowtorch rested. 

“What the heck why is the room more midwestern than my entire childhood?” Danny exclaimed when he took it all in.

”Hm?” Mei cocked her head at his outburst.

”I feel like I just wandered into an emo farm kid’s wet dream.” He reiterates.

Mei snorts and claps him on the back, “I like ya, Danny!” To which he hacks out a little cough. He pointedly ignores the little bit of ectoplasm he notices by his feet.

Kenzō walks in like he’s done it a million times before and sets the high-priority blueprints on the large table while leaving the others in the corner.

”So, these are Danny’s babies, eh?” Mei asks edging closer to the table.

”Well, some of them were purely me. Some are based off of some of my parents’ old stuff.” Danny explains.

Mei looks over the blueprints with stars in her crosshair-pupil yellow eyes. Before gasping and spinning around rapidly,

”I WANNA MAKE THE BAZOOKA BABY!!” 

———

Danny and Kenzō had left for the Hatsumes’ shop at noon, it is now approaching 5:00 P.M. and they’ve made surprising progress, with the help of Mei.

Alongside her wishes, they did the bazooka first. She was a bit disappointed to find it didn’t launch a deadly projectile but went along with it, nonetheless. Danny is 90% certain she edited to allow deadly projectiles when he wasn’t looking.

They’d also taken to the edited Boo Staff for Izuku. They’d decided to call it the Bunni Staff in honor of Danny constantly comparing the boy to one. The base of the staff was made from lightweight metals and hollow, to allow ‘trinkets’ as Mei so lovingly called it. (When Mei says she’s giving her baby trinkets, she is probably creating a weapon of mass murder. NOT just giving a little kid some toys.) There was a grippy hold on the middle of the staff, alongside a few buttons. There was a taser mode, a minor blowtorch setting, little openings on the rod for ecto shots to emerge from, an ecto foamer setting, and capture tape. There was also a cartridge for rubber bullets, given the staff could be quickly transformed into a shotgun if needed.

Using fibers, custom synthesized by the Hatsumes, they were able to make a heavy-duty rope that could hold up to 800 lbs if the need arrived. There is also an end for Izuku to grip onto, while the other is latched to a kunai, for a makeshift grappling hook. On that note, they had a hook that could be attached to a belt and hold the rope.

They recreated the Fenton Anti-Creep stick for shits and giggles.

They also completely rewired and redesigned the Fenton Phone planes to make high-quality hearing aids from low-quality materials. Danny hoped to mass create and distribute, he’s seen how destructive the quirks of this world can be.

After picking Danny’s brain some, he remembered the mechanics that Vlad used for his hovercraft and Val’s board. Using the same tech they made hover boot prototypes.

They also got away with making a coupl ofe wrist rays, a holographic wristwatch (with further potential for Izuku’s hacking ‘hobby’), some smoke bombs for fun, an actual bomb… and Danny’s pretty sure Mei almost discovered the secret to immortality (for mortals, not Danny and his subjects.)

”Holy crap!” Danny exclaims when he finally checks the time.

”Wha’s wrong?” Mei asks from her spot.

”It’s almost 5:00! We’ve been here for, like, five hours! I gotta go back, and I don’t know how I feel about leaving Kenzō here.” Danny explains.

”What!?” Kenzō asks indignantly, “I’m the adult one here!”

”Like I was saying.” Danny says as if it explains everything.

”Hrm. Alrighty then! Let’s pack up and send you guys on your way!” Mei replies.

”And pay!” Danny chimes in.

They packed up the completed projects, some blueprints, and extra materials that they had no plans for. Once cleaned up a bit they returned to the front of the shop. Mrs. Hatsume is waiting there reading a magazine on what appears to be support items. Danny lets Kenzō continue to the door as he approaches the front desk. He starts to rifle around in his pockets for his wallet.

Mrs. Hatsume looks up and asks, “Something wrong, Danny?”

”Ah, no, just trying to find my…” He pulls out his wallet, “aha!”

”Oh!” Mrs. Hatsume remarks, “You don’t have to pay, Danny. You didn’t really buy anything.”

”But I used your supplies? And I can afford it!” Danny argued.

”I don’t know how I feel about taking money from a kid…” 

“Even if you reject me straight up, my money will end up in your belongings.” Danny subtly threatened, before fishing out ~7,500 yen and shoving it at the shop’s owner.

Mrs. Hatsume bursts out into a hearty laugh and Mei just watches from the sidelines with a wide smile, “Alright, Danny. If ya say so.” Before accepting the money. Danny shoves his wallet back into his pocket and heads for the door.

”Byeee Dannyyyyy!!!” Mei exclaims and waves her arm rapidly.

Danny laughs and responds, “Bye, Mei!” Before waltzing out the door and heading home.

Chapter Text

 Midoriya Izuku

If you’d told Izuku that one day he’d be suicide-baited, attacked by a sludge villain, gotten his dreams crushed by All Might, and then saved from a life of homelessness and misery by a rich half-ghost; Izuku would ask you what your quirk is. And if you’re on drugs. Or both. Both is good.

Regardless, Izuku would’ve been a bit skeptical that he, a useless Deku, would have his life changed for the better out of absolutely nowhere! But. It happened. He had both the best and worst day of his life on the exact same day. He was beaten down and crushed, and then lifted up and healed. Izuku was given another chance to be a hero. He was given housing, an apartment, friends, and what was basically a quirk!

Daniel Nightingale gave Izuku a new life. For the grand price of nothing but a promise. A promise to live, and thrive, and dream. To not let anyone tell him he can’t. 

Danny makes Izuku feel like he’s actually worth something. On the days when he only remembers Deku, Danny remembers Zuku. When he feels the only thing he can be is useless, Danny always proves him wrong. His, well, journey getting to where he is now was hard. Hell, it still is hard. But, it’s better. He wouldn’t trade his new life for anything. He wouldn’t trade Danny for anything.

Karisma Glindt

Karisma never planned on dying. Really, their plans had been much happier. They planned to go to their first ever pride parade! Growing up in the Midwest, that stuff was frowned upon. Their parents always wondered where their ‘daughter’ went. But Karisma was never their ‘daughter.’ They were their child, and their child was going to meet others like themself! It was exhilarating!

But, prejudice is alive and well (unlike Karisma).

Karisma doesn’t remember much, they theorize that they block out the memories as a way to protect themselves. All they really remember is fire, and searing hot pain. Crying and screaming. Then, nothing.

But the nothingness didn’t last. It faded to swirling green and purple skies, black clouds, floating islands, many a door, and a… hum.

Karisma knew death, and death knew them. It had lifted their battered and burnt corpse, cradled it close, and mourned for them. It gave them another chance, it gave them afterlife. It guided them to a new realm, a land of the dead. It showed them their new home, full of beings willing to accept them no matter what. And Karisma embraced this new life. So much so, they’d done all they could to cement themself. And it worked out.

They were now an established hand servant at Phantom’s Keep. The home of the Ghostly Boy-king. And they were acquainted with him. They were they when he came to power, and they were there when he fled to his keep, a respite from his draining life. They were there when he had been taken, and remained when he returned. They stayed as he healed, and did the best they could to help. 

Part of them likes to think they helped.

The Boy King, Danny, healed. Scars remained, but that was inevitable. Danny still had healed, regardless. But he wasn’t truly better. He was missing something. So the Ancient of Time sent him away. Karisma thought that they would have to wait egregiously long periods to see him again.

Karisma was wrong. Dang wanted them to live with him. Danny asked for them to stay in his presence.

Karisma is a friend of Daniel Nightingale’s first, and a hand servant to the Boy King Phantom second.

Auriel Hearth

Auriel Hearth has worked for the Ghost King for as long as she can remember. She doesn’t remember her before, only her after. Her after, where she, a humble maid, rose to the position of head-maid of the Ghost King’s Keep.

Auriel’s universe is old. Older than that of the current king’s and that of which she currently resides in. 

Auriel is old. She has existed before the reign of Pariah. Before the throne reigned empty, she was there. A maiden in the keep. She has served many a master, many a king. But… She’s never served one like Daniel.

Daniel doesn’t seem to realize who and what he really is. He doesn’t dedicate his life and afterlife to the throne. He laughs and plays with all manner of ghosts, from the Great Ancients to the small blobs, Danny entertains. He doesn’t demand, and he doesn’t declare. He asks and he states, he accepts criticism and opinions.

Daniel Nightingale is an enigma. Auriel believes she’s always enjoyed those.

Aizawa Shouta

Shouta was no stranger to chaotic children. He was a Highschool teacher after all. He may not have it as bad as Majima, but he certainly has it worse than Hizashi. Of course the damned rat had given him the job of teaching rowdy hero students instead of general education or something.

So. Shouta knew chaos. He recognized it, to the point that Hizashi insisted he had some kind of natural radar. Shouta almost believes that he’s a magnet for it, instead. They both may be right.

Shouta knew at first glance that Daniel Nightingale was a problem child. Him catching Danny and the other problem child hanging out at a garbage beach only solidified this belief. Shouta is no stranger to problem children, so, he took it upon himself to make sure they knew what they were doing. Because it is a cold day in hell when Shouta convinces a problem child not to do something they are dead set on doing.

Daniel Nightingale is a problem child. Shouta has always had a soft spot for those

Yamada Hizashi

Like recognizes like, ya know? So when Hizashi laid his eyes on the little listener that is Daniel Nightingale, he knew they were destined for great stupidity. And destined for great stupidity, they were.

Only now, Hizashi wishes he could get the boy to call him his name. But, Danny has taken it upon himself to only refer to Hizashi as bizarre names.

Hizashi cried when Danny called him a cockatrice instead of a cockatoo on accident, only to shrug it off and say it works anyways. His breath is NOT that bad!!

Nakamura Kenzō 

Kenzō is a college student. Which, obviously means he’s broke. Kenzō also has visible mutations, which means he is not tested the same as others. 

Kenzō was nearly homeless. Kenzō, essentially, was homeless. Then, he found an ad. It was an apartment listing. A very, clearly, luxurious apartment. He had checked the price out of boredom, and was almost convinced that it HAD to be a scam! The rent was so cheap.

So, Kenzō enlisted in it. He visited beforehand, and it was in fact the very same as the pictures. Meeting the landlord seemed to explain the cheap rent. He probably didn’t understand that he wouldn’t be making good profit.

Kenzō felt a little bit bad, like he was tricking a child. But he needed housing. In the end, though, it seems Kenzō was the one tricked. Danny didn’t need a profit, he had plenty of money. He had rent so low for the more unfortunate to afford it, and he took in homeless children for free.

Daniel Nightingale is an angel. Danny Nightingale is also a gremlin. He never should have introduced him to Mei.

Kirishima Eijiro

Eijiro is a coward. His quirk is defense-based, and yet, he couldn’t take all that was happening. He hadn’t done anything to attract the negative attention, even so, his classmates seemed intent on hurting him. Maybe they thought he couldn’t feel pain? They always did the best they could to force him to harden. He fears his heart may have hardened if not for his idol, Crimson Riot; Who taught that quirks didn’t matter if one was manly enough. He wanted to be manly.

Mina had a great quirk, she was liked by almost all of the student body, and she was brave enough to stand up to baddies. 

Eijiro was not. Especially when it counted. 

He tried, he tried to stand up to bullies, but they only hit harder. Saying stuff about him only having a simple hardening quirk -he used to hate his quirk, ever since he hurt himself with it when it first manifested- and Mina showed up and got the bullies to stop.

He pushed through the bullying, and kept attending school. He didn’t run away, then at least. But, eventually he did. He couldn’t stay there after witnessing his classmates almost getting killed by a villain, as he simply stood by.

So, he fled. His parents found a nice apartment complex for cheap, and trusted him to take care of himself. He was scared. But… then he met the landlord.

Daniel Nightingale. A boy only a couple months younger than him, already owning an apartment building. Eijiro worried he may not like him, but those fears were unwarranted. They became friends easily, alongside Mido. They even encourage him to dye his hair to a sick red color! Which he did, and it looks awesome.

Danny tries to protect and help everyone he sees. Eijiro admires his manliness.

Ashido Mina

Mina didn’t really know what to expect when she helped Eijiro move in and meet his landlord, but Danny was totes fun! He was super chill about her hanging around all the time, too! Despite not being a resident of the apartment complex, with how often she hung around she easily befriended the other teens! And Lunch Lady. Her cooking soooo good, it’s, like, half of the reason she shows up all the time!

Daniel Nightingale is totally fun, and super nice! Mina enjoys hanging out with him, especially when they make fun of Mr. Yamada!

Toga Himiko

Himiko had gotten used to her life, she guesses. She’d gotten accustomed to blacking out in starvation and waking up with her hands coated in blood, a mangled animal nearby. She’d gotten used to disgusted looks, and more disgusting asks. It’s not her fault that she could only consume blood. She didn’t ask to be this way. She wanted to be loved by her parents, too. And to have friends to hang out with! 

She didn’t expect to get those friends as a result of pouncing on some random teenager in an allleyway. But it worked!! And now- she has friends, a place to stay, a steady source of blood, a parent-adjacent figure, and cute clothes!! 

Himiko is thankful everyday she wakes up and sees a ceiling rather than the sky. Feels the warmth of a blanket, rather than the grime of the city. Heard a ceiling fan instead of squeaking rats.

Himiko is thankful everyday for Danny-Kun!!

Shinsou Hitoshi

Hitoshi hadn’t always been disgusted in his villainous quirk. Hitoshi hadn’t always been an orphan. But, things change. For the first 6 months of his freshly four year old life, he enjoyed making family do funny things, or getting his friends to laugh. But, then it all changed.

He and his parents had been on a walk, innocent, really. Hitoshi had wanted ice cream, his parents said no. He pushed and pushed, before his bratty, spoiled self remembered his quirk. He demanded the ice cream. As his parent walked off into a direction he remembered having ice cream, he cheered triumphantly.

It was a mistake. 

He didn’t fucking know.

Brainwashed people don’t care for their own safety.

Brainwashed people don’t wait or dodge.

Brainwashed people can’t survive the easily avoidable debris from a small scale villain fight.

He didn’t know.

Hitoshi learned to hate his quirk. And the he ended up in the system, and learned to loathe his quirk.

Then, he ended up stuck in the orphanage, and he learned to fear his quirk. He learned to fear muzzles, placed upon him in precaution. He learned to fear cramped, dark closets. He learned to fear slaps on the wrists, that were always more than just that. He learned to hide his things, himself included. Hitoshi learned. You can’t escape. But…

He did.

He did what he had to- It had all gone too far, so he ran with the muzzle tightened painfully on his face and jaw, digging into his nose and mouth. He fled to the dirty, trash beach. A place no one would find him. Or at least, no one should have found him there.

But, Daniel Nightingale did. 

And, rather than gaze at him in disgust and contempt, he took Hitoshi with him… to safety. He patched him up and took care. He assured him his quirk was fine. He even gave him an apartment for free! He gave him a group of friends and a mentor-mentee situation with Eraserhead!

All because he was obsessed with protecting, and he found Hitoshi worth protecting.

He may never tell the boy, but Hitoshi loved Danny Nightingale

Hatsume Mei

Mei looooooves her babies! She loves inventing and sharing her inventions! She wants everyone to enjoy them as much as she does. But, people don’t, for some reason… They treat her like there’s something wrong with her. Like she isn’t supposed to be like this. Sometimes, they’ll even look at her with pity! Like, yes, she’s not normal, but normal is boring anyway! Mei loves her chaos! Sometimes, it feels like only Mama, Kenzō, and herself love it though. And then- on one of those days where the chaos was so intense and amazing- Kenzō brought another chaos lover in! He tried to resist the chaos and act cool, but Mei could see through his disguise!

Daniel Nightingale is a chaos lover and maker!

He also doesn’t act like Mei has something wrong with her. He was a bit concerned for her at first, but once he got into the workshop and saw her at work, he changed his mind! He kinda looked like he was used to the chaos. He didn’t ask Mei what was wrong with her, and only called her crazy in a joking manner. He’s a lot nicer than others she’s met. 

Danny didn’t get frustrated with her when she got too hyper fixated on controlling a project, or adding what she wanted. He didn’t get upset with her when something he said flew over her head! (Oooo that rhymed!) 

Danny doesn’t find Mei weird, nor does he pity her. Mei doesn’t find Danny weird, either. 

Danny’s nice.

Time

Daniel has experienced many a hardship. And he will continue to do so. But here, in this new universe, the good will outweigh the bad. His very presence will ease the pain of others, the universe, and the future. And in turn, his newfound companions and future companions will ease his pain.

Daniel is still a child. 12 years of life, 2 years of death. He has much ahead of him. May he take his future by the reigns and forge a better life.

A Rodent.

Aizawa and Yamada really should learn how to hide when their lives have changed. They make it far too easy for him!

Their new landlord, one Daniel Nightingale, is very interesting, too!

It’s shocking how no one has realized he isn’t human yet. Though, he has a hunch they’ll be seeing more of each other very soon. 

How exciting!

???

Daniel Fenton needs to learn his fucking place.

Daniel can’t stay away forever.

They will get what they want. They always do. 

Daniel is THEIRS.

Chapter Text

February 26, 2XX3

“Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap-” Danny was repeating it like a mantra as he circled a table in the apartment lobby, flapping his hands around.

“Danny-Kun, calm down!” Toga chirped supportively from her seat at the table, drinking some blood.

“But, Himi-Chan! Today is the entrance exam!” Danny retorted.

”Which is exactly why you should chill out, bro.” Kirishima supplied from his seat adjacent to Mina.

“But, we’re all trying out for the same school! This means, that if we all get in, we get to go to the same school, and that’s awesome! But, if we don’t… Well, we don’t. And that is so not awesome.” Danny replied.

“Worrying like this isn’t going to help anyone, Danny.” Hitoshi, who, surprisingly, doesn’t look dead on his feet for once, adds in.

“I know, but I’m just so anxious, 'cause I, like, really want to go to school with you all! I won’t know anyone if I have to go to school without any of you!” 

“Danny, let’s look at the facts here.” Izuku speaks up, “You have proven through our studies to be smart enough to get a good grade on the written exam. And you have also proven your battle prowess to some of us, which includes Aizawa-Sensei, which has to mean something. I have no doubt you’ll do well on the exams.” 

“Which means all you really have to do is cheer us plebeians on.” Hitoshi snarks playfully from his seat. 

“Shpeak for yourshelf!” Mina declares, with a chocolate muffin stuffed in her mouth. 

Danny glides over and flops onto a chair, “Sorry guys. I just get anxious sometimes.”

”No shame in that, Little Listener!” A chipper voice chimes in. The teens all turn around to see Yamada-Sensei and Aizawa-Sensei dressed in hero regalia.

”Presentation Michael,” Danny nods to Yamada-Sensei, while the cockatoo in question squeaks indignantly, “Aizawa-Sensei.” Danny nods to Aizawa-Sensei.

”Problem Children,” Aizawa-Sense grumbles in the teens’ general direction, “You are all ready for the exam, correct?”

“Of course, Aizawa-Sensei!” Izuku answers, “We’re just trying to ease our nerves a bit!”

“And eating Lunch Lady’s chocolate muffins!” Mina sings.

“…Right. Well, you should plan on leaving soon. It ought to give you all more time to find your ways.” Aizawa-Sensei says before leading himself and Yamada-Sensei outside.

”Bye Aizawa-Sensei! Bye, Cockatoo-Sensei!” Danny yells after them, waving his arm. He smirks when he hears Yamada-Sensei’s faux cry.

Danny turns back around to the council (not to be confused with his actual council) and says, “Who’s ready to kick U.A.’s Entrance Exam’s butt?”

One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

There, Danny stood, in front of his future. Through Clockwork, Danny has come to know that the timeline, as well as one's life, is like a river. Every obstruction, whether a small pebble, a large rock, or an amalgamation of sediment can change the trajectory of a river easily. Those pebbles, rocks, and sedimentary stones are the events of our lives. Danny does not know where or when his river will end, finding its way to a great body of water, but he does know U.A. will be one large rock in the path of his river. 

He just has to pass the entrance exams, first, of course.

"Da~nny-kun!" Himiko whined, "Why are you just standing there? Kiri-Kun and Mina-Chan have already gone ahead!"

Danny snapped back to reality (oh there goes gravity-) and whipped his head side to side before dumbly stating, "Izuku and Hitoshi are just staring too!"

"Pointless semantics."

"Wow, those are some pretty impressive words for you, Himi-Chan." Hitoshi snarks.

"Hey!" Himiko yelps back.

"Himi-Chan's right, guys!" Izuku suddenly cheers and pumps his fists a little, "We gotta get going if we don't want to be late!"

"Oh shit, you're right!" Danny exclaims right as Himi-Chan starts to speedily skip forward while humming.

The boys rush to catch up to her, and Danny almost feels all his nerves start to ease.

And then Izuku trips. And falls.

Or not?

Right as Izuku trips, a cutesy girl with rosy cheeks and a brown bob smacks him on his back and he pauses mid-fall.

"Sorry! Are you okay?" The girl asks, politely as Izuku rights himself. She taps her fingers together once he's corrected himself, and his subtle float ends.

"U-uh, yeah!" Izuku stammers out.

"What wazzat?" Danny asks, and she turns to him.

"It's my quirk," She laughs half-heartedly, before turning back to Izuku, "Sorry for stopping you, but... Well, it's a bad omen to trip and fall."

"Ah, haha, y-yeah." Izuku tilts his head downwards, shyly. 

"Well, this sure is nerve-wracking." The girl says before saying to the whole group, "Good luck to you all!" And continuing forward.

"Ya.. Uh.. um..."

"G'luck!"

"You too, I guess."

"Good luck pretty girl!!!"

As she keeps going they turn to Himiko, slowly.

"What?" She asks, "She is pretty!"

"Sniff," Danny mock-sniffles, before wiping away a non-existent tear, "My baby's all grown up!"

"Da~nny-Kun!" Himiko groans, "I'm literally older than you!"

Danny starts to open his mouth and Hitoshi cuts in, "Quick! Before Danny says something weird about his life back in America and we're all too distracted to get to the exams on time!" Before breaking out into a run, with his hands grasping his backpack.

Danny's not grumpy. Danny doesn't get grumpy! He's just a little annoyed that the seating arrangements for the announcements separated him from all his friends! At least he gets to sit by some interesting dude with a rock-like head. They held a very riveting conversation in sign language over birds being used as spies and goons! (Danny has eternal beef with fez hat-wearing vultures.)

As Danny starts to sign to his new friend, Koji, about crows vs ravens, Big Bird-Sensei takes the stage.

"Welcome to today's live performance!!" He yelled, "Everybody say, 'hey'!!" He turned the side of his head to the crowd and cupped his ear.

...

...

Silence.

"Well! That's cool, my examinee listeners!!" Yamada-Sensei recovered quickly, "I'm here to present the guidelines of your practical!! Are you ready!?"

...

...

Okay, now Danny was feeling a bit bad for the guy.

"This is how the test will go my listeners!" He began to explain, "You'll be experiencing ten-minute-long 'mock cityscape maneuvers'!! Bring along whatever you want! After this presentation, you'll each head to your assigned testing location!"

Danny tilts his head and asks Koji the silent question of ‘why?’

’It’s so Kids from the same middle school can’t help each other out, and why consecutive I.D. numbers are assigned to different locations.’ He signs shyly.

”Sweet, thanks, dude.” 

“Each site is filled with three different kinds of faux villains. Points are rewarded for defeating each according to their respective difficulty level!!” Yamada-Sensei continues, “Use your skills to disable these faux villains… And earn points! That’s your goal listeners!”

Danny took note of the fact that he said skills and not quirks, not everyone has a flashy quirk after all. Or any quirk for that matter. Danny remembers what Izuku told him…

”I’m going to do the entrance exam without any ghost powers. I just… I need to prove that quirkless people can be just as great.”

Danny had no doubt he’d do amazing.

”Of course, playing the anti-hero and attacking other examinees is prohibited!” Yamada-Sensei added on, and thank the Ancients! Danny was worried about his friends, he couldn’t help it!

Hearing a rustling noise, Danny turns his head quickly to see a boy with glasses, blue hair, and red eyes standing up. He held a sense of responsibility to him.

”May I ask a question!?” The boy asked loudly

”Go ahead, listener!” Yamada-Sensei allowed.

“There appear to be no fewer than four varieties of faux villains, on this handout!” The boy declared, “Such a blatant error, if it is one, is highly unbecoming for U.A., Japan’s top academy!! We’re all here today in hopes of being molded into model heroes!!”

Oh. He’s a stick in the mud.

“And you with the curly hair!” Danny turns around in the direction the boy has pointed to. It appears he’s pointing at… Izuku!? What does he want with him!? “You’ve been muttering this whole time… It’s distracting!!”

Danny can hear Izuku mumble out a quiet, “Sorry.” And watches as the examinees next to him burst out into snickers. Who do those assholes think they are!? Danny can feel his nails dig into his hands as he grips them into fists, a small growl falling from his lips. He stops when he feels a tap on his shoulder and turns to look at a worried Koji.

’Your eyes were glowing. You looked upset. Are you okay?’ The boy signs.

’Yeah. Sorry, I got angry. I know the muttering kid.’ Danny signs back.

Koji's eyes alight with understanding and he signs, ‘I see. Don’t worry about the loud boy, he seems rude.’

’Exactly!’ Danny signs the motion vigorously.

“Alright! Alright!” Yamada-Sensei thankfully quiets everyone down, “Examinee 7111, Nice catch. Thanks! But the faux fourth villain variety gets you zero points! He's more of an obstacle!" Yamada-Sensei explains, "Have you all played Super Mario Brothers!? Ya know, the old retro game?" Danny can hear a few confirming sounds from the crowd, "It's kind of like a thwomp!" Yamada-Sensei continues, "Only one at each site! A 'gimmick' that'll rampage around in close quarters!"

"Thank you, sir! I apologize for the interruption!" The blue-haired boy replies.

"That's all from me!! I'll leave my listeners with our school motto, that great hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said... 'True heroism consists in being superior to the ills of life.'" Yamada-Sensei finishes up, "PLUS ULTRA!!"

The students begin to arise from their seats and flee to their locations, guided by the tired teachers milling around.

"Woah... It's so big..." A random examinee says in amazement at the large cityscape in front of them.

"That's what she said!" Danny chimes in, to the left of them, and watches in amusement as they blush in embarrassment and anger.

"T-That's not what I meant!!" They shout back at him as he speeds away cackling.

"They've got, like, a whole ass city here!! And there's a whole bunch of 'em on the grounds!? U.A. is totally out of every other school's league!" The next contestant that Danny lands next to exclaims.

Danny looks around at his fellow examinees and feels his anxiety lessen some. Not to be rude, but he can simply tell that he's stronger and more trained than some of these people! Just look at that one kid, he looks like Beaker from the Muppets!!

Danny, with his acute senses, picks up the sound of a speaker starting up, "And... Begin!"

Danny didn't need to be told twice and felt the rings shift over him, revealing Phantom. His blue skin radiated with power, his scars glowed in a pulsating rhythm, and his white hair flowed in a nonexistent breeze. He floated some off of the ground and shot through the gates once he got the go-ahead. He could hear the other examinees' noises of confusion as to what was happening as he sped through the fake streets.

"What's wrong? The test's started!! Run! Run!!" Yamada-Sensei urged them on, "The die is cast!!" And the rest were off.

Danny continued on his path, ignoring most of the weaker robots while throwing a few ectoblasts. He was aiming for the stronger three-pointers. Maybe a few two-pointers, along the way, too. Following the sounds of rumbling and falling debris, Danny located the three-pointers easily. Oddly enough, they seemed to be sticking to the rooftops. Which isn't a problem for Danny at all! Danny powered up a few stronger blasts and aimed for the areas on the bots' that appeared to have holes, hoping the blasts might get into the wiring through them if they weren't destroyed on impact. Which, they were. Danny summons some telekinesis to force the defeated bots to crash into the still-standing bots and decimate them as well. Once done there, he flies off to his next destination.

Soaring over the roads, Danny repeatedly stops at clusters of three-pointer or two-pointer robots and takes care of them. A few times along the way, he stops when he spots fellow examinees in trouble. More often than not, the threats were collateral damage rather than combat damage. He had continuously used shields, rays, repulsion, and telekineses, and at one point he summoned a sword of ecto-ice and sliced right through a particularly threatening three-pointer advancing on a competitor.

Danny had counted about 74 points for himself when the 5-minute remaining mark was announced. Truthfully, he could've had more by now, but his breaks to help others and the space between enemies had slowed him down.

3 minutes remained when he heard it all. An alarm, a warning, a rumble, a cry. Danny didn't hesitate, he was off. He stopped slowing for his, suspected, viewers and arrived at the scene. There it was, a few contestants running and one just... standing there! And behind them all... THE ZERO POINTER??? What is that!? Just an obstacle!? Dangit Cheese-Sensei, what the heck!

Danny traces his eyes rapidly over the runners, looking for anyone with an impediment. Spotting none he focuses on the boy just standing there. He appears large and muscular, with brown hair and... absurdly thick lips. He starts to stumble some, and Danny zips forward to catch him before he crashes.

"Gh... You're heavier than you look." Danny groans, with the guy? Man? He kinda looks like an adult... leaning against his back, "Are you okay?"

"Ehaaaaaa eu. Urgh. Ugh. Mrmrmrphm." The guy grunts and laughs back.

"Yeah, me too bro, me too," Danny shifts positions so that he can lift the dude in front of him. He scans over his surroundings and spots a little- but not too little- This guy's gotta be on steroids or some shit- nook to leave the fellow teen? He turns the both of them intangible to make a direct route to the nook and slides to a stop. Kneeling, he sets the guy down and props him against a wall. "Are ya gonna be okay here, big guy?" He decides to ask.

"Hn. Myeaaaaa." The guy answers and nods his head. So he's still with there, somewhat, huh?

"Great, I gotta go deal with an even bigger guy." Danny points a thumb over his shoulder at the zero-pointer, "See ya, Macho Man!" And Danny's off, Macho Man reaches an arm out to him as if trying to stop him. 

Once more, Danny is in front of the bot, floating. He takes a couple of seconds to observe and plan the best course of action. Sending out a repulsive field, but only as a frontal attack, he watches as a 'target' on the robot weakens the most. Dropping every acting ability, besides his transformation, Danny drops to the ground. He plants his feet and holds his hands in a cupping shape above his head. Slowly, a green orb forms crackling with energy and power. He lets it grow until it is 3x the size of his head, and he seems to be struggling under the weight of a weightless power. 

With a final grunt, he launches the green orb and watches. He watches as it soars, defying the gravity that it never had, and going straight for the weak spot.

And the zero-pointer? It...

E
X
P
L
O
D
E
S

The light was almost blinding, as shrapnel shot off. None of it reached Danny or Macho Man. Why? Well, the giant green dome surrounding the bot and its explosion of course! Last second, Danny had finished activating an obnoxiously large shield to match the extravagant orb. It kept all of the disasters in an enclosed area. All is well that ends well, after all. Just- ignore the giant crater in the ground. It's nothing.

Distantly, from another testing site, he can hear a vaguely familiar battle cry and the sound of machinery powering down.

Danny stands there, numbly keeling over and holding his gut, as he pants aggressively. He coughs up a mix of acid and ectoplasm, that he promptly spits out to the side of him.

"Compared to Pariah... That was nothing." He says, clearly attempting to sound cool. He then releases the rest of his stomach's contents, and whines. "Still hurts though. That was a really big shield..." He turns around shakily stumbles over to Macho Man, and slumps down next to him. "U.A. Amiright?" He asks.

Macho Man stares in shock and wonder while nodding his head a bit. Danny leans his head back against the wall and sighs.

"THE TEST" Danny hears Yamada-Sensei's booming voice over the speakers, "IS OVER?!?!!!!!"

Oh, thank the Ancients. Danny is pooped.

"Alright buddy, let's get ya outta here," Danny speaks to Macho Man, calmly. He slowly rises to his feet, before once more bending down to reach his arms under Macho Man's and support his weight as he walks. The two of them made a steady exit, and Macho Man retained his caveman-like personality the entire way. 

Once they reached the gates, Danny realized they were the last two. A short old lady looks up from where she appears to be treating a patient and manages to simultaneously coo and tsk. 

"Oh my, you too don't look too great." She says as she hobbles over with her cane.

"I'm okay, it's not as bad as it looks and I've had worse." He shoulders Macho Man off onto a mat, "I'm not too sure about the big guy over here."

"Hmmm..." The lady's frown deepens at Danny's admissions but decides to approach Macho Man first. She leans down and gives him a big, loud kiss!?

"Uh..." Danny mumbles out in shock.

"Oh, right! Hello there, Sonny. I'm Recovery Girl, U.A.'s nurse." Recovery Girl explains, "My quirk is the ability to amplify and speed up a patient's healing process with a kiss."

"Ohhhh..." Danny accepts the explanation as he watches Macho Man seem to pass out, "Uh... Is he?"

"Alright?" Recovery Girl finishes for him, "Of course! My quirk just uses the target's energy for healing."

"I see... That's pretty cool..." Danny says before he hears a familiar voice.

"Da~nny-Kun!" Himiko runs over to him and Recovery Girl, carrying a first-aid kit.

"What- Himi-Chan!? What are you doing at my testing site!?" Danny asks in astonishment.

"Ah, you're familiar with my little helper, I see." Recovery Girl chuckles as Himiko reaches them and starts looking over Mach Man a little extra before popping back up.

"Huh??? Little Helper???" Danny asks, thoroughly confused by the development.

"Indeed, I saw her helping out her fellow examinees with first-aid before I arrived at her testing site. I decided to snatch her up!" Recovery Girl explains.

Himiko grins wildly and chirps, "Chiyo-San says that if I don't pass the exam she's going to snatch me up! Again!!”

Wow, Chiyo-San? Last name basis already? With a hero? If what Danny's learned is correct, that's pretty impressive.

"That's great Himi-Chan!" Danny congratulates her before absent-mindedly letting his transformation drop, "I think I'm gonna ask Karisma or Auriel to pick us up though. I'm a bit nauseous."

"Well of course you are!" Recovery Girl reaches up with her cane and bops him on the head, "That was a very powerful and intense strategy you used! I saw it on the cameras!"

"It worked, though! And, no one got hurt from it!" Danny pleaded his case.

"Well... Just don't make it a habit. I don't want to have to deal with you doing that every day these next few years." Recovery Girl grumbles.

"What I— Wait you think I'm gonna get in?" Danny cuts himself off and asks hopefully.

"If you ask me, I think you are a shoo-in for U.A." She stage-whispers before chuckling, "But what do I know? I'm just the old, senile nurse..."

"Never underestimate an old lady." Danny shivers thinking about Sam's grandma. Knowing her, she's probably still kicking after all the disasters during the capture, release, and recovery.

Phantom

Chapter Text

Danny likes to think the entrance exams went well…

Izuku kept to his promise of no ghost powers and thanks to the support items being allowed, he had a whole menagerie of items.

Using the typical knives and the karambit, Izuku would advance onto one-pointers and stab in their ‘heads’. He would also use the knives to cut through the visible wiring and joints on two-pointers.

To quickly access the roofs necessary to fight three-pointers and travel speedily, Izuku used his kunai and the custom-synthesized rope Mei and Danny had made as a grappling hook. He threw the knife and embedded it into the cement of the buildings before pulling and launching himself.

His most helpful weapon was the Bunni Staff, though. Using the staff, he was able to short-circuit the bots with the taser mode, bash their ‘heads’ and ‘limbs’ in, and vault himself. He was also able to use it to protect himself and others from attacks.

Towards the end when the zero-pointer had arrived, he initially planned to avoid it while watching his fellow examinees’ backs. This plan changed when he heard a cry and recognized the girl from that morning. 

The girl had been trapped under the rocks. Using the Bunni Staff, Izuku shoved it under the rocks keeping her stuck, and pushed down on his hand, lifting it. She crawled out, and Izuku assisted her in finding a good spot to stay. Once he was sure she would be okay, he went back in.

The zero-pointer was dangerous, and Izuku didn’t trust teachers to make sure students didn't get hurt. Aldera’s never did, after all.

So, he ran back out and readied his kunai. He swung the rope (which was tied to the knife) for a bit before aiming it near a joint and what could work as a platform. It shit up and jabbed into the bot. Izuku pulled to confirm its steadiness before he was launching himself up onto the zero-pointer.

Once there, he had taken his karambit, gripped it tightly, and shoved it into the metal where he knew there would be wiring. Repeatedly he jabbed it into the metal before it tore apart. Once he had a large enough opening, he lifted the Bunni Staff above his head and let out a sort of battle cry, before finally upping the voltage and stabbing the taser end into the bot.

The zero-pointer was fried and stopped dead in its tracks. Once Izuku had regained his bearings, he returned to the ground and checked on Uraraka. Yamada-Senseu announced the end of the exams by the time he reached her. Helping support her weight he brought her outside the gates. There he was greeted and treated by the Recovery Girl!!! And Himiko, oddly enough. Izuku could spot the blue-haired boy who had called him out during the introductions giving him odd looks…

If his numbers are correct, he had around the ~35 mark on villain points. 

Hitoshi relied heavily upon his capture weapon during the practicals.

With one-pointers, the strong metal alloy of his scarf allowed him to eventually crush the smaller bots within it. The actions were similar to that of a boa constructor. With the two-pointers, he would, well, capture the bot and keep it in place. He would then bash in noticed weak spots, or tase (with his normal not no staff taser) them till they were fried. He used a combination of both on the three-pointers.

His scarf was also efficient in shielding and dragging the other contestants. It was scary how unaware of their surroundings so many of them were. He could have ignored them in favor of villain points, but that’s just not heroic!

A few times, when his tactics and methods were not enough, he would innocently call out to other examinees and brainwash them to support him. Afterward, he’d release them and flee before they could get too angry.

Hitoshi was on the other side of the cityscape when his zero-pointer was released, but he could still see it. He heard a few shouts and cries, but none of pain so he continued to beat up faux villains.

At the end, he exited to an elderly woman, Recover Girl, handing out gummies and kisses. And not the old chocolate kind.

Hitoshi estimates that he scored around ~25 villain points.

Himiko… doesn’t think she did very well on the practicals. Or the written exam, she hasn’t gone to normal school in a while. The closest thing has been Auriel’s tutoring.

And while, yes, Himiko does want to be a hero and help people, she likes the medicinal and first aid aspect of saving and helping that Auriel teaches her. And sure, she could become a doctor, but that’s not what she wants. She wants to be out on the field nearby so that she can help before it’s too late. And, if she has to, she can also do support or backup! 

Karisma had insisted she learn knife work alongside first aid, though, so she was able to get some bots! Just… not a lot. 

She also got distracted by all the ‘carnage’. Every once in a while, she would stop by someone with a particularly bad wound and offer her help. She would then explain aspects of her quirk and get consent to use it. Some of the kids’ faces when she licked or spat on their cuts were so funny! But, her spit does help speed up both blood clotting and healing!

Toward the end, she saw the zero-pointer. It looked kinda silly so she stayed behind a bit, while everyone ran away. She got so distracted time ran out and she missed opportunities to get points.

Once at the end, she was one of the first out the gates. Noticing all the people who were hurt, she went around and started administering first aid (and spit) using the miniature kit she had on her person.

Eventually, an old woman came around and started to take over, but that didn’t stop Himiko! Instead, she kept going and when all was done, the lady asked if she wanted to help with the other sites.

Himiko obviously agreed and went with her. Along the way, she learned her name was Chiyo Shuzenji and that Chiyo-San was the U.A. school nurse! And a hero! Himiko chatted with her about how she wants to be a hero but also help heal people. Chiyo-San mentioned some about a battle medic and kept making jokes about snatching her up!

Sadly though, Himiko is pretty sure she only got about ~15 villain points. And she probably bombed the written portion, too.

March 5, 2XX3

All of the Veiled Residents (as they have taken to calling the people ‘living’ at Veiled Residences) + Mina were waiting anxiously in the lobby.

It had finally been a week since the entrance exam, which means they were sending acceptance and rejection letters out now! Mina had already received hers and went straight to Kirishima to alert him. They then announced the good news to the rest of the building. So now, the hopeful test takers were all waiting for Veiled Residences' mail to arrive so they could all open it together.

Himiko was positively vibrating in her seat, “If that darn mailman doesn’t show up soon I’m gonna—“ Her threat was cut off by the dinging of the bell on the door to the apartments. In walked the mailman, who rarely came around here, carrying only envelopes. The teens quickly all stood up and rushed from their seats to hound him.

”Hihihihi!!! I’m Toga Himiko!! Is there anything for me???” Himiko excitedly asked.

”Woah… haha… calm down kids!” The mailman tried to get them to relax, but it only worked a little. He then looked down at his list, “I’ve got letters for a Nightingale Daniel, Midoriya Izuku, Toga Himiko, Kirishima Eijiro, and Shinsou Hitoshi.”

”Oh! That’s all us!” Danny says before holding his hands out.

”Really?” The man asks.

”Really,” Danny assures, “They’re letters from U.A. To see if we got in or not.”

”Ahh,” The mailman says before handing the envelopes over to Danny, “that’s today, huh?”

”Yup yup!!” Himiko confirmed while making grabby hands at Danny.

”Oh, go sit down!” Danny reprimands her and turns back to the mailman, “Thank you, have a good day!”

”You too, little Mr.” The man responds before tipping his hat and making his way back out. Once the door shut, Danny was practically sprinting back to the couches with the envelopes. He took his space on his favorite chair and sat down as the rest of the teens followed him like ducklings and sat down.

”Alright…” Danny said as he started to pass the envelopes out, once done he asked, “Who’s going first?”

”Ooh! Me!!” Mina cheers, “I did get mine first after all!”

”I’m okay with that.” Danny shrugged and the rest of them added in their agreements as Mina set to work opening up the lumpy envelope. To everyone’s confusion, a disk falls out.

Mina picks the disk up, confused, and twists it around staring at it, “What is this-“ Mina cuts her sentence off with a shriek as she drops the disc which has revealed itself to be a mini projector.

”Holy shit, that’s cool!” Danny says.

”Shh!” Someone shushes him.

”Hello Darling!” A feminine voice accompanied by the crack of a whip sounded from the disc, “You may recognize me as the R-rated Hero, Midnight!” Midnight appeared on the projections, posing and blowing a kiss.

”Holy crap! It’s Nemuri!” Danny said. The woman had appeared at the apartment occasionally to hang out with Aizawa- and Yamada-Senseis. She even stopped by for breakfast a couple of times after she noticed Aizawa-Sensei had gained some color, which meant he was eating well for once!

“But,” Projection-Midnight continued, “This year you will come to know me as Midnight-Sensei! That’s right, Mina Ashido! You scored above average on your written exams, which secured you a spot in U.A. And then, on the practical you earned 32 villains points and 13 of the secret rescue points! Leaving you at 45 total points, you’ve earned a spot as one of this year’s 42 first-year hero course students! Welcome to your hero academia, Mina! Plus Ultra!”

”Holy crap.” Mina says aloud, “I got in!! I’m going to be in the hero course!” Mina jumped to her feet and started cheering, accompanied by a squealing Himiko.

”Yay for Mina!!” Himiko cheered and the boy started clapping and congratulating her.

”Does it say what class you’ll be in?” Izuku asks, reaching for her envelope to see if there is anything else. He finds an extra letter inside it and skims through. “Oh, yup. Says here you’ll be in 1-A!”

”Cool!!” Mina cheers once more.

”Kiri-Kun should go now!” Himiko suggests as she and Mina return to their seats, Mina still grinning wildly.

”You, uh, you sure?” Kirishima asks.

”Dude, just go for it!” Danny urges him. Kirishima complies and rips open his envelope. Inside there is a disc like Mina’s and Kirishima sets it on the ground. They can hear the sound of it starting, and a deep voice clears its throat.

”Ahem…” The screen fades to reveal Cementoss awkwardly holding a paper, “Ah, yes, hello… Kirishima Eijirou. I am the hero, Cementoss, and a teacher here at U.A. I’m… in charge of telling you your results.” The green chart appears behind Cementoss as he continues, “You did well on the written exams, got 35 villain points and 39 secret rescue points, earning you fourth place overall. Your scores have, ahem, your scores have landed you a spot in 1-A of the hero course. Welcome to your Academia, Kirishima. And Plus Ultra!”

”Well that was a bit more boring than Mina’s.” Danny says.

”Didn’t you hear what he said, Danny!?” Kirishima exclaims, “I’m in the same class as Mina and I got fourth place overall! Don’t you see how awesome that is, bro!?”

”It’s very awesome, Kiri-Kun!” Himiko congratulates him, “Nice job!”

”Thank you Himi-Chan!” Kirishima thanked her, “Anyways, I think Shinsbro should go next!”

”Please never call me that again.” Hitoshi deadpans and begins to open his envelope.

The disc starts up and Aizawa-Sensei appears, “Shinsou.” He simply states, causing the 'viewers' to giggle a little and smile, “You passed the written portion, scored 22 villain points and 16 rescue points that added up to 38 points. You’ve passed, hurrah.” Aizawa-Sensi does mock jazz hands and Hitoshi looks delightfully speechless. “You’ll be joining my class, 1-A. Plus Ultra or whatever.”

”Wait. Aizawa is the 1-A teacher!? That’s hilarious!!” Danny cackles as the others laugh along.

”I… I wasn’t sure I’d get in. Holy shit I got into U.A.’s hero course.” Hitoshi states, and Danny rushes forward to hug him.

”I knew you’d manage, Hitoshi! You’re amazing!” Danny squeezes a little and looks up at Hitoshi, who is red and almost silently squealing like a tea kettle.

”Group hug!!!” Himiko cheered before pouncing on the two, Mina following suit. Soon enough, everyone is piled on top of each other and laughing. After a few moments, Hitoshi sighs and accepts it. Not long after, they’ve all gotten off to continue reading the letters.

”My turn! My turn!” Himiko exclaims waving her hand wildly. Once she receives the go-ahead she tears into the envelope and lets the disc clamber to the floor. She gets level with it, for some reason, and watches in amazement as it turns on.

” Hrm… Is it on?” An old voice asks.

”Of course, just a few moments now!” A too chipper voice answers. The projection turns on to reveal Recovery Girl seated on a couch in what appears to be an office.

”Remember me, Toga Himiko?” The woman asks.

When Himiko nods her head vigorously Danny tells her, “It’s a recording, not a video call, Himi-Chan! She can’t see or hear you!”

”Ohhh…”

”Well, in case ya’ don’t, the name's Chiyo Shuzenji. Otherwise known as Recovery Girl, U.A.’s one and only nurse. Until now.” Recovery Girl starts to explain, “See, I’m getting on in my age, I won’t be here forever and I’ll be slowing down. I thought I could keep going by myself, though, until I got your help during the exams. I realized it’s about time I got an apprentice. So, unless you aren’t interested, you’ve been accepted into U.A. as my student. Initially, you failed both the written and practical exams, but I pulled some strings. Starting this school year you’ll be a hybrid student, learning from Vlad King in 1-B for heroics, and me for medical. Welcome to your Hero Academia, Toga, and Plus Ultra!” 

“Him-Chan’s going to be learning directly from Recovery Girl!?” Izuku looked like a shocked Victorian woman about to faint. Himiko, on the other hand, looked delighted.

”I failed the exams and still got in!? And I’m learning from Chiyo-San!? This is amazing!” Himiko exclaimed.

”But you aren’t in 1-A with us, Himi-Chan..!” Mina whined.

”It makes sense though,” Izuku explained, “Vlad King has a blood quirk, so he’s best suited to help her as a homeroom teacher.”

”Well, yeah, I guess…” Mina continued to pout, “still sucks though.”

”Mhm, yeah, you know what doesn’t make sense though!?” Izuku questioned, “How Himi-Chan landed an internship with Recovery Girl!? After failing her tests!”

”Hehe! It’s 'cause I’m just that amazing!” Himiko boasted.

”Damn right!” Danny remarked, “Now get to letter opening, Izuku!”

”What! Me!? Why not you!?” Izuku argued.

”I can’t go next. I have to go last, because…” Danny took a long pause and looked at everyone holding their breaths before dramatically stating, “… Suspense.”

”I hate you.”

”No you don’t!”

Izuku sighed and went for his envelope. He opened it gingerly and helped the disc out on his palm, waiting for it to start. It zipped into being and showed a white rat-like being. It being there seemed to shock Izuku. “Wha- Nezu!? The Principal of U.A. is doing mine!?”

Danny whistled, impressed, and Nezu continued, “Now, I’m sure an intelligent boy such as yourself must be confused as to why I am doing your projection, no? Even if you weren’t aware, I don’t typically do the projections!” The rat started to laugh, before stopping, “but it’s simple really. This year’s participants held some very interesting people after all! A whole two zero-pointers were defeated! For the first time ever!”

”Wait two? Who did the other one?” Danny asked as Izuku paused the projection.

”YOU BEAT ONE OF THOSE!?” Mina and Kirishima asked in unison.

”Yeah?” Danny replied, “I made it explode in a controlled area. I also puked afterward, though. But still, who else defeated one of those things!?”

Izuku meekly raised his hand in an embarrassed way, “… I did it. The girl who helped me when I tripped that morning was in trouble so I helped her and dug into the bot’s wiring, before short-circuiting it.”

…

”Awesome!” Danny beamed before reaching his hand out to Izuku, “High five, zero-pointer buddy!!” Izuku let out a relieved giggle and high-fived Danny, before slumping back and unpausing the disc.

”But of course,” Nezu’s voice sounded, “That’s not the only reason you caught my eye. Izuku Midoriya scored 42 villain points and 50 rescue points, defeated a zero-pointer without using a quirk, and scored the highest on the written exam.” Everyone gasped, “I’d be delighted to have you join my school, and Class 1-A, as well as possibly learning from myself! It is all up to you, though, of course! Welcome to your Hero Academia, Midoriya, and Plus Ultra!”

Izuku stared at the disc, which was no longer projecting, in shock. He got into U.A.. He got into U.A.’s hero course. He got the highest score on the written portion. The principal of U.A. wants to teach him.

Izuku looked up to see Danny smiling softly at him. Danny reached out and grasped his hand before proudly saying, “You did it, Izuku. You’re going to be a hero.” Izuku felt tears in his eyes.

”Jus-Just go open yours, Danny.” Izuku replied, watching Danny continue to smile as he removed his hands and reached for his envelope. Danny was the last one, they’d all gotten into U.A. and now he was the last one to be confirmed. Danny delicately opened the envelope and removed the disc, placing it on the ground and watching it start up.

“It is I, the Principal of U.A., Nezu!” The rat introduced himself cheerfully, “Though most humans know that.” Danny felt the color drain from his face. Fuck. “I was very impressed by your show of power in the practicals, when you destroyed the zero-pointers so quickly and easily, even if you were a bit tired out afterwards! I was also impressed by your willingness to help those around you and your high score on the written exam! You achieved 78 villain points, and—as much as we wanted to give you more, there is a maximum points— 22 rescue points! That earns you 100 total points! The highest score in history, outranking All Might’s 98!”

”Hah!! Take that ya big jerk!” Danny joked and cackled through his fear, making sure no one noticed his reaction to Nezu clearly calling him not human.

”Your scores were very high! Almost inhuman!” Oh, come on, dude. “I am so very delighted to inform you that you will be in this year’s class 1-A starting this September! I can’t wait to get to know you!” Oh, Danny is fucked.

”I… I don’t even have any word for that.” Hitoshi speaks up first, “I mean- 100 points!? Better than All Might!? What the hell, Danny!?”

Danny laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his neck, “Ah… Oopsies?”

”Oopsies?” Hitoshi repeated.

”Guys! Chill out!” Kirishima objected, “Who cares if Izuku scored the highest on the written and Danny got perfect practical scores? We all got into U.A.! And the hero course at that!”

”You know what?” Hitoshi asks before relaxing and smiling, “Hell yeah.” This small comment got everyone cheering and celebrating again.

They made it! All of them!

Chapter Text

Danny didn’t tell anyone but was especially wary of meeting the rat. The Principal of U.A. clearly knew he wasn’t human. Or, well, fully human. And he was smart with an analytical mind, Aizawa-Sensei mentioned him as having sadistic tendencies. All in all, a bad combination for Danny. He couldn’t do it again, the incisions, the cold medical table, the muzzle, the gas, his screams, the white white white suits, the white white white walls, the white white white jackets, the cries, the pain, the insults, the dehumanization- Shut up. You’re safe, Danny. They won’t let that happen to you, neither your new friends nor your ghostly ones.

All in all, March went by way too fast. This means, Hello U.A.!

April 8, 2XX3

To some, school is a privilege, to others, it is ‘torture’. To Danny, it was an escape.

Sure, he, Sam, and Tucker were outcasts— but they had each other. And yes, being an outcast led to being ostracized and bullied by others. Paulina, Dash, Star, and… well not really Kwan. The poor dude wasn’t usually aware of what was happening.

 Even the teachers treated Danny and his friends worse, especially Danny.

But school was an escape. An escape from home. From his negligent parents, faulty ghost tech—and then, later on, the working tech— safety hazards, blatant OSHA violations, the reanimated food… All in all, the school was simply safer.

Danny hopes U.A. can be like that for him.

———

“Well shit, this is really happening isn’t it,” Hitoshi stated, as they stood outside Veiled Residences, waiting for Mina to arrive.

“It doesn’t feel real, does it?” Izuku asks tilting his head over to Hitoshi.

”Honestly,” Danny shifts his backpack, an ‘artifact’ from his home dimension. It was a dark blue, almost black shade. It had a few patches sewn on: an alien, a blob ghost, the anarchist symbol, and a star. There were also some pins and keychain charms: A ‘save the trees’ pin, a Saturn charm on one of the zippers, a pin with his logo that he bought from his old fan club, and a stereotypical ghost keychain charm on another zipper. Danny continues, “I’m glad to be going back to school. I haven’t been in like, a year or so now. I was 13 the last time I was even in a school.”

Kirishima looks surprised by that and gasps, “Wait? Why not!”

”The government kidnapped me.”

”… Part of me hopes you’re joking, but I have an unsettling feeling you’re not.” Hitoshi responds.

They all turn their head when they hear someone running down the street.

”I’m—“ Mina rushes forward and pauses before them, taking a couple of seconds to catch her breath before standing up tall, “I am here!”

”Hehe! Mina-Chan is here!” Himiko jumps up to hug Mina and sings.

”Which means we can all head out now!” Izuku exclaims.

Danny looks outwards and upwards at the building in the distance, standing menacingly above the city. “…Are we walking?”

”I mean, yeah? We don’t have any other way to do it…” Kirishima states.

”At least we’re close enough to not have to take the train!” Izuku tries.

”I am so buying some kind of mode of transportation after this.” Danny complains before spinning on his heel and finding a space in the air. “We’re doing this Danny style.” Danny reaches out an arm, as his fingernails subtly turn to claws. The claws latch onto the thin fabrics of reality, tugging on loose threads, ripping through time and space. It tears and tears, and reality warps beneath his fingernails. The sound of an avalanche, a supernova, and the laugh of a child echo throughout the plane of existence. Streaks of space and stars appear in the air as claw marks and mend together, the air falling like wallpaper. Suddenly, a distorted shape appears.

”What the fuck was THAT?” Hitoshi exclaims.

”Transportation! Danny style!” Danny smiles and gestures to the portal like a magician, “It’s a portal!”

The group of gathered teens stare at Danny in shock before a brave soul spoke up, “Since when the fuck have you been able to do that!?” Hitoshi yells.

”For like, a year or less. Did I never tell you guys I could do this?” Danny ponders.

”No!?” Hitoshi shouts as Izuku looks at the portal in utter shock and… awe(?)

“This goes straight to the school, right, Danny-Kun?” Himiko asks.

”Yup! If you go in, it’ll just spit you out at the gates! This one’s only one way though, so once you’re through you’re through.” Danny explains.

”Okie-dokie, then!” Himiko says cheerfully before skipping forward and hopping through the portal.

”Did she just-“ Hitoshi starts before Mina rushes forward and dives in with a shout of ‘YOLO.’

”Well this is happening.” Kirishima says before sticking his head into the portal, losing his balance, and tumbling in.

”This is safe, right..?” Izuku asks Danny.

”Totally! I promise.” Danny promises him.

”Well, I trust you, Danny.” Izuku says, steeling his nerves and walking forward to the portal. He stops for a couple of seconds, before stepping through.

Danny turns to the final contestant, “Well?” He asks Hitoshi.

”Oh whatever. If I get hurt you’re paying my hospital bills.” 

“You and I both know you aren’t going to a hospital if you get hurt.” Danny snarks and Hitoshi flips him off as he walks into the portal.

Danny walks forward and puts a foot through. He grips the top of the portal and pulls down as he goes through all the way, pulling the portal shut. He ends up at the U.A.’s front gates easily enough and floats to the ground. In front of him stand Himiko and Mina chatting wildly and cheerfully about the portal, Kirishima nursing his head, Izuku looking at Danny with absolute awe, and Hitoshi crossing his arms with his eyes closed and back turned to Danny.

Danny sneaks up behind Hitoshi, still floating, and rests his chin on Hitoshi’s shoulder. He whispers into the snarky teen’s ear “So, did’ya have fun?”

Hitoshi jumps and yelps, spinning around with a blush across his face to glare at Danny, “What- what the hell!?” Danny takes one look at his face and snorts before cackling evilly. Just the appearance of 5 teens coming through a portal was enough to draw some eyes, but Danny’s cackling attracted even more attention.

Mina looks over at Danny laughing and Hitoshi blushes and whispers something to Kirishima and Himiko before slinking away to their classes. Izuku stays watching Danny, waiting to ask him about the portals. He feels… something watching Danny laugh with Hitoshi like that.

Once Danny calms down his laughing, Izuku speaks up, “Hey, Danny, can I ask you some questions about your… quirk?”

Danny looks up from where he had bent over and smiles brightly at Izuku, giving him a thumbs up, “Totally! Let’s talk and walk though, it looks like the others went ahead and abandoned us, the traitors!”

Izuku huffs out a small laugh at the 'traitor' comments and rushes over to Danny to rapidly fire questions. Danny does his best to answer all his questions as they start to walk. On their way into the school and through the halls, Hitoshi begins to ask some questions too. Eventually, they find their way in front of a large door labeled ‘1-A.’

Hitoshi lets out a low whistle at the sight, “That thing is huge.”

”That’s what she said.” Danny says, shoving the door open before Hitoshi can yell at him.

Immediately after opening the door, he hears the chaos.

"Remove your foot from that desk! Such an action is insulting to those who came to U.A. before us as well as the craftsmen who made the desk!!" Danny recognizes the boy reprimanding the other to be the obnoxious boy from the entrance exam who had insulted Izuku! Of course, they had to end up in his class!

"Like I care!" The red-eyed boy with spiky blonde hair, with his legs on the desk, replies, "What middle school are you even from, you extra!?" 

"I'm from Somei Private Academy." The boy states and reaches out a hand, "My name is Tenya Iida!"

The blonde jerk leans forward, "Haah? Somei!?" He barks, "A stuck-up elitist, then? I should blow you to bits!"

Iida retracts his hand in shock, "Blow me to bits!?" He exclaims in shock, "You're awful! Do you really wish to become a hero!?"

"Yeesh..." Danny says in surprise, his statement garners the attention of Iida, who notices all three of them. 

Iida shuffles his way over to them, especially Izuku, and tries to introduce himself, "I'm from Somei Private Academy..."

Izuku leans back and puts his hands up, almost defensively, "I-I heard you before!" He explains, "Ah... I'm Izuku Midoriya, pleased to meet you, Iida..."

Danny goes to introduce himself, but Iida continues speaking before he can even open his mouth, "Midoriya... You... You perceived the true nature of that practical exam, while I did not!" He states, "I misjudged you!! I hate to admit it, but you were the superior candidate."

Really? He hates to admit it? Is this guy complimenting Izuku or not?!

"Deku..." The blonde bastard rises from his seat and starts to say. Danny recognizes the name as a demeaning term that he has heard Izuku use for himself.

Suddenly, as if called upon by that name, Izuku flinches and seems to try to shrink back. Hitoshi and Danny make eye contact, agreeing that there must be some unperceived threat here somewhere. Izuku's fearful state puts him at a disadvantage, so Hitoshi and Danny push themselves forward to surround him, staying in defensive positions.

"What!?" Izuku says in shock, "Danny? Hitoshi? What are you doing!?"

Danny, from his spot in front of Izuku, tilts his head backward a bit, "You flinched, we assumed you noticed a threat that we didn't. And you're noticeably anxious and fearful, leaving you at a disadvantage in case of a fight."

Izuku begins to wave his hands in a placating gesture, "No, no, no! There's no threat!" At that, Danny and Hitoshi loosen their stances and decide to flank Izuku. Danny gives a cautionary glance at the gathered students when suddenly an almost familiar, high-pitched voice speaks up behind him.

"Ah! That curly hair!!" 

Danny whips his head around to see Uraraka walking into the classroom.

"The plain-looking boy!" She exclaims with a wave. Plain? Izuku? Seriously!? “You got in! Just like Present Mic said!!” She cheers, “Makes sense though!! What you did to the Zero-Pointer was awesome, you totally tore it to shreds!”

”O-oh!” Izuku scrunches up in embarrassment from the attention, “I…Well…”

”What’s Ya- Present Mic got to do with any of this?” Hitoshi says, leaning back with his hands shoved in his pockets.

”Oh! Midoriya helped save me from the zero-pointer when I was trapped under some rubble.” Uraraka starts to explain.

Danny leans over and places his arm on Izuku’s shoulder. Being only a couple of inches taller, it doesn’t have the effect he thinks it does. “Sounds about right,” Danny states with a sharp tooth smirk.

”Yeah, well, I was worried that all the time he spent helping me took away from his entrance exam, you know?” She continues, “So I went to the U.A. staff after school and asked them to give Midoriya some of my points!” 

All three boys soften up when she says that, and Izuku’s eyes start to tear up.

”R-really?” He asks.

”Mhm! But, then they said no! And I was like ‘why!?’ And they said it’s because you didn’t need it, and that you got rescue points—which I wasn’t even aware existed—from helping me!”

”O-oh! W-well, thank you regardless!” Izuku says and does a quick bow in thank you.

”Well it was the entrance exam to a hero school! I wasn’t going to just sit by and watch you suffer for heroic actions!” She exclaims and lifts her arm in a flexing position.

The bell rings, but Uraraka continues. (No offense to her, though!)

”So we’ve got our entrance exams and guidance sessions today, yeah?” Uraraka asks, “I wonder what our teacher will be like? Yeesh, I'm nervous!” 

“I don’t think you’ll have to wonder for much longer,” Danny says lazily.

”Huh?” Uraraka tilts her head, “Why’s that?”

Danny points a finger to the door behind Uraraka. “He’s been lying on the ground in all his hobo glory for the past couple of minutes.”

Uraraka turns her head slowly, as if in a horror movie, and jumps back when she sees Aizawa-Sensei.

After her yelp, Aizawa-Sensei speaks up, “If you’re here to socialize, then get out.” As blunt as ever, it seems. “This is…” He takes out a half-eaten blueberry muffin that Lunch Lady insisted he take and finishes it off, “…The Hero Course.”

The entirety of the class, sans Danny, Hitoshi, and Izuku, look at the yellow cocoon in shock. Danny instead, finds himself fighting back a laugh. Just then, the butterfly—no moth completes his metamorphosis, extracting himself from the cocoon.

”Not only did about only 3 of you notice I was present, but it also took eight seconds for you all to quiet down.” He reprimands as he shuffles out of his sleeping bag, “You lot aren’t very rational, are you?”

Danny can hear people whispering from their seats—people not including any of their present Veiled Residents or Mina—about Aizawa-Sensei, but he keeps going.

”I’m your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa. Pleased to meet you.” He deadpans and the whispers kick up a notch, he then extracts a large amount of gym uniforms from his sleeping bag and holds them out, “Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds.”

Izuku, Danny, and Hitoshi being accustomed to Aizawa-Sensei lead to them immediately retrieving their uniforms and rushing out. Mina and Kirishima weren’t as accustomed, but followed along the second they saw the other three rush. The rest of the class seemed to take their time.

Hitoshi, Izuku, and Danny slow their pace some as Kirishima and Mina catch up to them. Danny, knowing a trial when he sees when, decides to ask Izuku for some help, “Okay, so him skipping orientation means we don’t get free maps of the school. Which means we don’t know the location of any locker rooms. Izuku, pull up some maps if you would?”

”You got it, Danny!” Izuku responds and lifts his wrist with an innocent-looking smartwatch. He swipes his finger over the flat square screen, and a holographic green screen appears above it. The baby’s setup was the combined efforts of Danny, Mei, Kenzō, and Mrs. Hatsume helped as well. “GAIA, pull up U.A.’s maps please!” Izuku said to the watch.

“Alright. Searching through files for ‘U.A. floor plans.’” Now that baby was GAIA: Gifted Artificially Intelligent Assistant. She’s almost all Izuku, with some polishing from a friend of Mrs. Hatsume. GAIA is Izuku’s very own A.I. assistant to aid him in hero work. The watch also has ectoplasm embedded in it, so it works without any interference and fries offending software. It also has the added benefit of being able to synch up to some of Izuku’s other gear, like the Bunni staff, for quick and seamless use. GAIA was designed to run off of Izuku’s own files and learn, she’s still a bit robotic since she’s just a baby. “Done. Pulling up the easiest way to first-year locker rooms.” 

The holograms above Izuku’s watch switch from blank to displaying the quickest route to their destination. By now, a large amount of their peers are following them at a leisurely rate. Danny, not wanting them to face too much of Aizawa-Sensei’s wrath initiates an incentive.

”The last one to the locker rooms is a sidekick!” He uses a sidekick instead of a rotten egg to inspire heroes in training.

Izuku recognizes what he’s doing and picks up speed, following the trail. The Veiled Residents and Mina follow behind him as a guide, and the other students, who most certainly don’t know their way, do so as well.

Soon enough they’ve all arrived at the locker rooms. The groups, which is the best way to explain the people trailing after Izuku, diverge by gender and head to their appropriate locker rooms.

Danny bursts in and stops in his tracks when he sees that it’s all just lockers. He can’t spot any showers or toilets right away. Maybe they’re around the corner!?

”Yo, Danny, bro. You good?” Kirishima asks.

”Uhm…! Yeah? Just… am I supposed to get changed out in the open!?” Danny asks. It’s not that he has anything to hide, per se. But, he has a lot of scars. Scars that would bring up questions. It’s bad enough that his Lichtenberg figure is visible on his face. If they saw the rest of it traveling down, and the other various scars that littered his body, they might ask questions. And oh Ancients, how would he explain his vivisection scar!?

”I, mean, yeah? Do you guys not do that in America?” Kirishima wonders, stepping in now that Danny has moved over a little, allowing the rest of the boys to file in.

”No, no, we do! It’s just that, we also have showers, for showering. I just like to get changed in the showers.” Danny answers. Tucker would change in the showers as well, but that was more so because he was ‘self-conscious of his noodle arms, Danny!’

”Oh! Are you embarrassed changing in front of others?” The blonde boy with a black lightning bolt in his hair jumps into the conversation, “Don’t worry dude, no judgment here!”

”Thats… not really why…” Danny tries to come up with a good excuse rather than just saying the truth, ‘I’ve got a bunch of ugly scars that I don’t want anyone to see and then ask questions.’

Hitoshi walks over to Danny and cuts off the conversation, “Shoo, shoo,” he makes little shooing motions at Kirishima and Blondie before turning to Danny, “Izuku and I can flank you if you want. We’ve seen your scars before.”

”Are you sure? It would cause you to take longer.” Danny asks.

Izuku appears by Hitoshi’s side and answers, “We’re sure!”

So, like that, the two boys flank Danny as he changes and glares at anyone who looks at them weirdly. Hitoshi’s glare is much more effective than Izuku’s, clearly not understanding how much of a wolf in cute sheep’s clothing he is. Danny finishes quickly and lets them off, and they finish even faster. The rest of the boys are still changing by the time they make their way out to Aizawa-Sensei.

As they walk out onto the grass, Aizawa-Sensei nods at them and does his signature grin. “Boys.”

”Aizawa-Sensei.” Izuku and Hitoshi respond in unison.

”Hobo-Sensei.” Danny nods at him and he sighs.

”Right. Does anyone want to explain why you took longer than usual?” He asks.

”There were no showers or changing rooms, but Danny felt uncomfortable changing in front of a bunch of strangers! So, Hitoshi and I spent some time covering him. And then he waited while we got changed!” Izuku answers.

”That… Alright.” Aizawa-Sensei slips off his fond face when more students start showing up, “We have company.”

The boys straighten up some, but simply talk between themselves, acting unfamiliar with Aizawa-Sensei. Once every student had arrived, Aizawa-Sensei spoke up.

”All of you, minus Danny, Midoriya, and Shinsou took over 15 minutes to get changed. If you were really heroes, someone could have died in those 15 minutes.” Some kids start to speak up, but he cuts them off with a, “Be better.”

”Um, sir?”  A brave soul speaks up, “Why are we out here?”

“We’re here to test your quirks,” Aizawa-Sensei answers.

”But what about the entrance ceremony!?” Uraraka exclaims, “Or guidance sessions!?”

”No time to waste on that stuff if you want to become heroes.” Aizawa-Sensei replies, “U.A. is known for its ‘freestyle’ educational system. That applies to us teachers as well.”

Safe to say, the class’s general consensus is, “…?” He’s pretty sure he saw a kid sweat drop.

” Softball throwing, the standing long jump, the 50-meter dash, endurance running, grip strength, side-to-side stepping, upper-body training, seated toe touch…” Aizawa-Sensei begins, “You did all these in Middle School, yes? Your standard no quirks allowed gym tests?”

Following the echoes of acknowledgment, Aizawa-Sensei keeps going, “This county still insists on prohibiting quirks when calculating the averages of those records. It’s not rational,” Aizawa-Sensei explains, “The Department of Education is just procrastinating.”

Danny thought of the many quirks he’s seen so far used in all sorts of mannerisms, as well as the denizens of the Infinite Realms and how they use their powers outside of battle.

Aizawa-Sensei then spins a little to face the blond jerk from earlier (not to be confused with blondie who had a lightning bolt), “Bakugo,” He calls out to him, “How far could you throw in middle school?” He asks while holding up a softball.

” Sixty-seven meters.” The guy grumbles out.

”Great. Now try it with your quirk.” Aizawa-Sensei throws the ball to him as he steps into the circle, “Do whatever you need to, just don’t leave the circle. Give it all you’ve got.”

”Awesome.” Blonde-Jerk says cockily while stretching his arms. He then reels back his arm to throw and…

”DIE!!” He sends the ball off with an explosion and Danny watches it fly away. The… battle cry was an interesting addition.

”Die?” He can hear Kirishima somewhere within the crowd.

”It’s important for us to know our limits.” Aizawa-Sensei explains as the device he holds beeps, he lifts it up to show the crowd a whopping ‘705.2m,’ “That’s the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you’ll be.”

Danny can hear the teens around him chatting away.

”Whoa!! This is awesome!”

”705 meters? Seriously?”

”So we can use our quirks for real!! Man, the hero course is great!!”

”I’m still about confused about that guy yelling ‘Die!’…”

”This looks so fun!”

”This is sick-“

”Awesome…you say?” Aizawa-Sensei asks and ohhhh nooooo. That’s not good… “You’re hoping to become heroes after three years here… and you think it’ll be all fun and games?”

Danny gets a feeling of dread just watching the guy he knows owns 3 cuddly cats, has a joyful husband, decided to train 2 kids of his own volition, and eats Lunch Lady’s baked goods act so gloomy.

”Right.” Aizawa-Sensei looks at him through his eyebrows, “The one with the lowest score across all eight events will be deemed hopeless… and will be expelled.” 

Now that shut them up!

Oh shit, Danny can feel Izuku trembling from where he stands. Danny can understand making sure people understand that hero work isn’t all fun and games, but he’s going a bit heavy with the creepy vibes…

”Your fates are in our hands,” Aizawa-Sensei takes a hand up through his hair, pulling his bangs out of his golden eyes, “Welcome. This is…

The Hero Course at U.A. High!”

Chapter Text

April 8, 2XX3

"The lowest scorer will be expelled..!?"

"It's only the first day! I mean, even if it weren't..."

"That's totally unfair!!"

Danny takes that statement as his queue, "Seriously?" He turns to where he hears the voice and sees floating clothes, "We are literally training to become heroes. You don't get fairness in this type of occupation. What you get is natural disasters or, or chaotic villains who don't care who gets hurt. We're not playing some kiddy game on a playground, we're practicing to save lives, and that is important. The average citizen can't stop stuff like that, they're the ones who face some of the most unfairness. It is a protector's job to correct that stuff!" Danny huffs some when he finishes and blushes when he realizes all eyes are on him. Oh, and that he said 'protector' instead of 'hero.'

"Danny's right." Aizawa-Sensei simply says, directing attention back to him, "If you were hoping to spend your evenings hanging out at McDonald's... I'm sorry to tell you that for the next three years..." He takes a dramatic pause, "U.A. will run you through the wringer."

Danny looks over to Aizawa-Sensei with an almost relieved but thankful and determined face.

"That's Plus Ultra." Aizawa-Sensei smirks, "Using your strength to overcome it all. So bring it." He looks out at his crowd of impressionable minds and finishes, "The demonstration is over. Now it's for real."

50-Meter Dash

Danny finds himself on one end of a small track. Just before, he had watched a boy with a tail, Kirishima, and Uraraka racing. They were followed by Mina, a very sparkly French guy, and that one elegant girl with a ponytail. Now, next to him stands a boy with absurdly rotund elbows and a girl with, what appear to be, earphone jacks hanging from her lobes.

He readies himself into a position as if to run, but the second he gets the signal he digs, digs, digs his foot, not into the ground, but into the invisible wallpaper separating this world from his domain. The seams rip apart and Danny falls through. The portal was much less anti-climatic than the one he'd made earlier in the morning, but it did its job. By spitting him out at the end that is, the machine next to him beeps and signals his overall time: 0.8 seconds. Hell yeah! He turns around and watches his opponents release themselves from their stupor. The round-elbowed guy shoots tape(!) from his elbows and uses it to launch himself forward by pulling. The earlobe girl does a typical sprint but is pretty fast for her age range.

Danny turns to the gathered people after finishing and sees them watching him.

"Wazz wrong?" He asks ever-so-eloquently.

"0.8 Seconds is what! And what was that!?" Lightning Bolt.

"Oh! Thanks, Bolt, I'm gonna call you Bolt, like the dog. And that," Danny emphasizes the word, "Was a portal. That I made. With my feet."

"I want to respond to that with shock, but I'm still stuck on the 'Bolt, like the dog' comment..." Bolt mutters.

"Is that your quirk? Portals?" Elegant Lady asks.

"No? I mean, kinda? It's more like a side effect." Danny tries to explain.

"What does that even mean...?" Someone questions.

"I like to call my quirk an 'Unholy Trinity.'" Danny jokes, "Get it? Cause it's mutant, emitter, and transformative?"

...

"IT'S WHAT!?"

———

Izuku, went up against all bark no bite (or at least Danny hopes), and a guy with a bird head. And he used the floating aspect of his liminal powers! Danny's so proud. He wasn't obvious about it, though. He just lifted a bit off of the ground to remove the friction and forced himself through the air and gravity that no longer would affect him while floating. He got 5.72 seconds!

Hitoshi, though, took the quirk part of the assessment seriously. The second his dash started he went all, "Danny!"

And of course, Danny responded, allowing Hitoshi to latch onto him and order him to, "Portal me to the end of the track."

Danny obliged, shooting over to him and tearing at reality. Soon enough, Hitoshi was walking through a portal to the end. 

A bunch of the kids questioned Aizawa-Sensei about if that was allowed and complained that it was unfair. All Aizawa-Sensei gave them to work with was a grin and, "He used his quirk."

Grip Strength

Danny, Izuku, and Hitoshi all stand next to each other in the gym. They planned to go one at a time when they heard speaking.

"Wow!!" They all turned their heads at the loud exclamation. The source was Round Elbows and Sticky Kid talking to this one dude who looked awesome! He had white hair, a mask, and these strong webbed arms!

"540 KG?! Are you a gorilla? Or an octopus?!" Round Arms asks.

"..." Is all he gets for an answer.

"Octopus?" Sticky Kid asks, "Sexy..." And he made it weird.

Their attention was returned when Kirishima and Mina came running up to them to hear their scores. The second she found out they hadn't done it yet, Mina got to urging them to start.

Hitoshi goes and gets 46 KG, when he frowns about it Mina tries cheering him up by saying she got even less. Total lie, though. She had 49 KG. Hitoshi mentions eating more of Lunch Lady's chocolate muffins as a joke.

Izuku squeezes as hard as he can and gets a surprising 112 KG! When he expressed his own personal shock, Danny explained that ghosts are naturally stronger than humans. Thus, Liminals are also stronger!

Danny, though, squeezes his grip tester with as much strength as he can muster and he doesn't feel anything. Anything. No resistance to his squeeze. He looks around at his friends and notices their looks of shock.

"What? Did I drop it?" He looks down at his hand and pauses, "Oh. Oh, that's broken." The mangled-up machine lays in his hand, looking absolutely pitiful.

"Uhh... Aizawa-Sensei..!" Kirishima calls out.

With an exasperated sigh, he walks over to where he sees the gaggle of Problem Children, stopping right next to them he asks, "What?"

"Danny broke his machine," Hitoshi answers easily.

"What?" Aizawa-Sensei looks over at Danny, sees his sheepish expression, looks at the poor destroyed machine, and sighs.

Danny got 999 kg by default.

Standing Long Jump

Standing long jump? Ridiculously easy. They just flew. All three of them. Danny, Hitoshi, and Izuku. Danny with his death-given flight, Izuku by jumping and then floating, and Hitoshi by having Danny carry him. With no idea when they would stop, Aizawa-Sensei had to give them infinities. Sucker.

Side-Stepping

The repeated side steps were mostly unremarkable for everyone involved, besides the weird little sticky dude. He gave Danny the ick. But the repeated side steps? Those just reminded Danny of when he was forced to sign up for basketball as a kid. Danny swears he can still remember getting his first concussion there. Good times, good times...

Sit Ups

Sit ups, Danny decides, SUCK! And it hurt his back... Well, that's probably on him. He went a little too fast and totally freaked out Iida, who had to hold his feet down. By the time he was done, he had both a crowd and a distressed Iida.

There wasn't much Izuku or Hitoshi could do to improve their scores. Landing Izuku with 53 and Hitoshi with 41

Seated Toe Touch

Danny had too much fun with the seated toe touch. By then, some of his classmates knew to expect the weird kid with the lightning scar covering his left cheek to do something chaotic. Danny, ever the entertainer, did not disappoint. The Aizawa-Sensei got him to sit down for the test, he bent practically in half and reached past where the tip of his toes would be. The pretty Elegant Lady asked him if he did yoga. 

Izuku got a whopping 10 inches though. Apparently, that was his normal! Danny doesn't know whether to be scared, amazed, or intrigued. Hitoshi says all three are good.

Hitoshi didn't do too hot, Danny thinks it's because his legs are too long. He got 1 inch at most.

Distance Run

After Danny finished cackling at the expression Aizawa-Sensei made watching Elegant Girl make a whole ass motorcycle and drive it for the distance run, he got to do it with Izuku!

Danny flew and Izuku floated repeatedly and leisurely around the track so much, that Aizawa-Sensei made them go high enough that the other students could use the track while they kept going. To be frank, both Danny and Izuku could have kept going by the time everyone else was done. So, really, that one should be undetermined.

On another note, Hitoshi didn't use his quirk for that one! He did it himself and got around 7 laps.

Ball Throw

Everyone stands around the circle for ball throwing. A large portion of people have already gone. All that's left is someone named Momo Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Hitoshi, Izuku, and then Danny! 

Aizawa-Sensei calls forward Yaoyorozu and Danny watches Elegant Lady walk forward from the crowd. She takes a step forward into the circle and seems to fiddle with the bottom of her shirt.

"Is something the matter, Yaoyorozu?" Aizawa-Sensei asks.

"Ah! No, no... I just had an idea of how to do this, but it's a bit embarrassing," Yaoyorozu turns to the crowd, "Would you all kindly look away? I have to show a bit more skin for this."

Enough people in the crowd agree that Yaoyorozu seems to think that means everyone will look away. She turns back around and starts to open her shirt, but suddenly gasps when a bright green, solid dome surrounds her.

"W-what is..!?" She asks, shocked and a bit worried.

"Sorry about that, Yaoyorozu!" Danny yells from his spot in the crowd, "That's my doing. It's completely solid, you can't see us, we can't see you. No offense, but I don't think all of your classmates are as trustworthy as you'd like to believe." Danny sends a not-so-subtle glare at the sticky kid who had been talking under his breath and making crude gestures the second she mentioned skin.

"...Oh! Thank you, Danny!" Yaoyorozu responds, shocking Danny. He hadn't realized she knew his name!

After some oddly clunky noises and a couple of seconds, Yaoyorozu tells him he can undo the dome. It disappears quickly and leaves Yaoyorozu standing there with her... CANNON!?

"Is that a fucking cannon?" Someone asks, voicing Danny's own thoughts.

"Indeed!" Yaoyorozu responds before grabbing the softball and placing it inside. She goes to the other end and sets it off, causing the ball to go flying. The machine records her as achieving 582.289 ft.

"Good job," Aizawa-Sensei commends her and lets her (and her cannon) go away, "Alright, Uraraka?"

Uraraka nervously shuffles to the circle.

"Thank you!" She says when Aizawa-Sensei tosses her a ball. She grips the ball and tosses it upwards, "Whoops!"

The ball goes soaring into the sky and doesn't seem to be coming back. Danny wouldn’t be surprised if it were to reach the moon at this rate. Danny wishes he was the softball.

Aizawa-Sensei holds out the machine for all to read the big infinity placed on it.

"Infinity?!"

"Wow!! The infinity symbol actually popped up!!"

Seems somebody wasn't watching the long jumps.

"Hitoshi Shinsou," Aizawa-Sensei calls Hitoshi up, and if Danny listens close enough he can hear the fondness.

Hitoshi skirts up to the circle and stands there lazily for a second, then speaks up, "Hey Uraraka? How'd you get infinity?"

"What? I used my qui-" Her words are cut off by Hitoshi latching onto the strings of his quirk. He walks over to her and lifts the softball.

"Use your quirk and throw this as far as you can."

Uraraka numbly grabs the ball with all five fingers and throws it. The teens watch it go up, up, and away! 

Boom! Another infinity.

"It's a bit less cool the second time..."

"I still don't think he should just be allowed to use his peers like this!"

Hitoshi releases his hold on Uraraka and goes to apologize for brainwashing her without permission. Right after she assures him it's okay, Aizawa-Sensei calls up Izuku.

"Izuku Midoriya."

Danny watches Izuku walk towards the circle as if he's walking towards his doom. Which is odd. He does know he's done pretty well on all his tests so far, right?

"Hah?" Blond-Jerk suddenly yells out, "And what do you think you can even do, quirkless deku!" Izuku flinches and seems to curl in on himself. Bolt speaks up, confused.

"Dude, quirkless? Have you not been watching? He was literally floating earlier!" 

"He was having someone help him! Or stole some kind of shitty support tool!" Mean Blonde tried to reason.

"Ignore him, Izuku!" Danny finds himself cheering out, "He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

Izuku turns in surprise at this and looks at Danny in shock.

"Yeah! He's just jealous!" Hitoshi yells out.

"He wants you to get upset!!" Kirishima reasons.

"We believe in you, Midoriya!" Mina exclaims, "If Himi-Chan was here, she'd be cheering you on right beside us!"

The four of them continued to cheer him on and drown out Asshole's grumbling and growling with it.

Izuku stands dead center in the circle. He holds the softball in his hand and grips it as he listens to his friends cheer him on and ridicule Kacchan. He flexes and unflexes the muscles in his arm and fingers. He thinks about the power he knows now flows through him. He thinks of the ectoplasm, of how it is often affected by emotion. 

He brings forth the memories of before he met Danny when everyone only ever sought to bring him down. He thinks of how many of his scars were caused simply because he was born different. He thinks and thinks and thinks. But he does not dwell. No. He thinks about how despite everyone who put him down and tried to destroy him, he's still here. He's here and on the path to becoming a hero. He kept his hope, his deepest treasure, and never let anyone keep him down for long.

No one will deny Izuku his future ever again.

Certainly not some little test.

Izuku grips the ball and winds his arm back. He can feel a rush of strength, but he knows it's not adrenaline.

Ectoplasm.

It's working in tandem with him, his desires, and his emotions. If he wants this ball to soar, it will.

And by the Ancients does he want it to soar.

Izuku winds it up and throws.

The ball soars and Izuku watches it in amazement, before slumping forward and feeling his arm which feels out of the socket. He grips his right shoulder with his left hand. He turns his head to Aizawa-Sensei with a smile on his face.

"How'd I do, Sensei?" He asks.

Aizawa-Sensei holds out the counter to him proudly.

'705.3' it reads.

"YEAH!!" Danny yells for Izuku once the score is shown, and the others cheer next to him as Izuku turns and makes his way towards them.

Danny, in his joy, flies (literally) and starts circling Izuku while in the air. He accidentally lets out a few chirps and trills of joy while congratulating him.

"Danny!" Izuku laughs fondly, "Stop it!"

"But, Izuku! You threw the ball so far! And farther than that blonde Asshole, too!" Danny whines.

"Yeah, well, you're attracting a lot of attention!" Izuku groans, embarrassed.

"Oh!" Danny says as his cheeks and ears turn red. He floats back down to the ground and starts to rejoin the crowd when Aizawa-Sensei calls out to him.

"Danny. You're up, and last." 

"Awe, shit," Danny says, turning around and entering the circle.

As Aizawa-Sensei tosses him to softball he asks, "You're not going to just simply throw it. Are you?"

Danny catches it and smiles innocently, "Nope!"

"I should've expected that." Aizawa-Sensei sighs, "Alright, go."

Danny holds the softball in his left hand and reaches out to the space in front of him with his right. He watches as his black nails sharpen and dig into the frail fabric of the dimension. As his fingers slip into the Infinite Realms, he feels the cold of the Far Frozen whip out at his face, adding a dusting of frost to his eyelashes and nose. Smiling, he throws the softball in. He then shakes his head to rid himself of the frost and looks to Aizawa-Sensei as he closes the portal.

"So? What does it say?" Danny asks cheerfully.

Aizawa-Sensei looks down at his machine and his brow furrows. He keeps and keeps looking before directing his attention to Danny.

"Danny. What the fuck?" The second he says it, everyone's direction returns to the center.

"What does it say, Sensei!?" Someone yells.

"Look for yourself." Aizawa-Sensei reaches out his hand and holds out the machine.

The digital lettering has changed to a bright, vibrant neon green. Its characters repeatedly glitch in and out, constantly changing. Characters that aren't even numbers start to show up, too. The number '1134' shows up multiple times, but upside down, creating letters and spelling out 'hell.' Suddenly the machine starts fizzling and Aizawa-Sensei throws it once it starts to spark. It lands on the ground and explodes into a green fire before the machine completely melts and the fire disappears.

"I say once again, Danny. What the fuck?" Aizawa-Sensei reiterates.

"What? I just sent it to the farthest place I know." Danny says innocently.

"The machine definitely said hell. I'm not the only one who saw that, right? Has Danny been to hell?" Someone questions.

"Which is...?" Aizawa-Sensei prompts.

"The space between my portals," Danny answers simply before returning to the crowd.

"I don't get paid enough for this..." Aizawa-Sensei grumbles and releases them all to get changed and go home.

"I know!" Danny replies.

And with that, all 8 trials were done and finished. 

“Well,” Aizawa-Sensei says, “Time to present the results. The total is simply the aggregate sum of each of your scores. If I recited all your scores it’d take a million years, so I’ll disclose them all at once. 

Danny can practically feel Izuku shaking with nerves next to him, and he places a, hopefully, reassuring hand on his shoulder as Aizawa-Sensei pulls up the results.

”Oh yeah,” Aizawa-Sensei speaks up, “That ‘expulsion’ thing was a lie.”

”!?”

“It was a logical ruse to pull out your best performances,” Aizaw-Sensei says with a pointy grin, and Danny feels Izuku deflate next to him.

”WHAAAAAATTTT!?” Danny watches as Uraraka and Iida shriek in rage(?)

“C’mon guys, use your brains!” Yaoyorozu chides, “Of course it was just a ruse!”

The entire class watches in astonishment as Aizawa-Sensei just shoves his hands into his pockets and begins to slump away.

”And…right. Yep. With that, it’s over,” He says stiltedly, “Your curriculum sheets are back in the classroom so give them a once-over.”

Danny blinks a couple of times, watching Aizawa-Sensei slink away.

…

”What the fuck?”

Chapter Text

April 8, 2XX3

“Guys,” Danny declares to Hitoshi and Izuku as they go to the locker rooms, “It’s official. I’m an idiot.”

Hitoshi snorts and quirks his head, “We know. What made you realize it?”

”Okay, rude,” Danny huffs, “But it may or may not have to do with the fact that you guys covered me while I was changing when I know darn well I could’ve just made a solid shield. I literally just did it for Yaoyorozu!”

”Yikes…” Izuku mutters.

”But, now I know!” Danny cheers, “You guys won’t have to flank me this time!!”

And with that, they all rush off to the locker room. Danny quickly retrieves his uniform and retreats to a corner of the room before setting up a solid shield and taking his time changing. There’s no rush this time after all.

He can hear other people join the room, the loudest being Kirishima and Bolt. The general conversation was about how Aizawa-Sensei’s ‘logical ruse’ was so evil of him, and how U.A. is on another level. Danny though, now that he’s spent a couple of months with Aizawa-Sensei by now, knew that the threat of expulsion was no trick. They just all did good enough to prove themselves.

Danny finishes off getting changed by fixing the cuffs of his jacket. With a flick of his wrist, the neon green globe melted away like an ice cream cone in a Timelapse. 

Playing with the uncomfortable collar of the uniform’s jacket, he notes that Hitoshi and Kirishima are still present, the latter conversing with Bolt. Danny decides to head out and find where Izuku could have gone.

Silently, he slips outside of the large, weighted doors of the locker room and begins to walk down the wall when he hears it.

”—What the hell was that Deku!?” An angry voice demands. And Danny… He recognizes that name… Izuku.

He speeds off toward the voice and catches Izuku’s response, “Well, Kaachan, last I checked it was a quirk apprehension test.”

”Exactly!” This Kaachan responds, “You don’t fucking have a quirk!”

“Didn’t,” Izuku corrects him right as Danny turns the corner and joins them.

“Back off,” Danny demands, and can feel his eyes glow some as he snarls.

“What did you do?” The boy asks, “You disappear for fucking months, and then show up in the hero course with a quirk!? And… whatever the hell this guy is.”

”You want to know what happened, Kaachan?” Izuku says darkly and approaches him, before glaring up at him, “I was suicide baited by you,” He jabs a finger into his chest and the guy shockingly flinches back, “I was assaulted by a villain and almost died,” He lifted a second finger, “Met my hero and then had him crush my dreams,” A third finger, “And then got stuck on a roof and contemplated taking a certain someone’s advice,” He lifted a fourth finger and the boy’s eyes widened some, “And then I went home to my house that burnt down and found I had been being followed for a week!” Danny winces at that last one, not his best move. 

”You…” 

“And all of this happened in one fucking day! And I still showed up the next day only to get the shit beat out of me by Tanaka, Takahashi, and Yamaguchi!”

”Well— I—“

”So, Danny took me out of Aldera. I finished online and thought I was finished with you.”

”Who the hell is Danny!?” He yells.

”You’re kidding me, right?” Danny groans and walks forward, “I’m Nightingale Danny. Izuku’s landlord, benefactor, and friend.”

”Right!” Izuku regains his cheery demeanor, “Danny, meet Bakugou Katsuki! He’s my childhood best friend!”

”Wait really?” Danny is caught off guard, “Why’s he such an asshole then?”

”Nurture over nature, you know how it is.” 

“Don’t fucking ignore me!” Bakugou yells.

”Shh, the adults are talking.” Danny shushes him.

Bakugou growls and grabs Izuku’s wrist roughly, “None of that fucking explains how you have a quirk now, Deku.”

Izuku yanks his hand away, “It’s called a Liminal Quirk, do your own research.” He then huffs and walks off.

”Deku, get back here—“ Bakugou demands and starts to stomp after him, but Danny blocks him off.

Danny smiles menacingly and shows off too many, too sharp teeth, “Go after him and I’ll tear your fucking throat out.”

Danny turns and follows Izuku.

——✧

It takes far too long to find Izuku, even though he'd barely taken any time to threaten Bakugou. Danny has good reason to suspect that Izuku had sprinted off after the altercation.

Soon enough, though, he passed a cleaning closet and heard… sniffling?

He approaches the door and turns his head intangible as he sticks it through. The green hair on the floor disturbingly familiar.

”Izuku!?”

Izuku yelps and looks up with tears draining from his widening eyes, “D-Danny!?”

Danny turns the rest of himself intangible and walks through the door, “You, uh… Are you okay?”

”I… No.”

Danny walks over gingerly and sets himself down next to the boy.

”D’ya wanna talk about it?” 

Izuku sniffles and rubs at his eyes, “N-no. I c-can’t. Not yet…” He cries, “I’m s-sorry Da..nny.

Danny reaches a hand out and places it on Izuku's back, rubbing it soothingly, “That’s fine, Izuku. You can tell me when you’re ready. And if you never are?” Danny smiles, “Well, that’s just fine.”

Izuku sniffles and leans into Danny, “I-I just d-didn’t think I’d g-get so upset…”

Danny stays silent as he wraps an arm around the boy.

”I-I thought I was o-over it.” Izuku cries, “Over him. But h-he’s still s-so…”

”Evil? Annoying? Stupid?” Danny tries.

Izuku lets out a small laugh, “N-no. Insensitive.” He corrects him, “I- I know th-that it’s not h-his fault he’s l-like this… B-but I was ho…hoping he’d be better.”

”People don’t change overnight,” Danny answers, “Some take years to better themselves. Others don’t get better at all.”

”I-I k-know…”

”Ultimately, it’s up to them,” Danny explains, “But, we can still help push them in the right direction.”

”Y-yeah… I just— I just thought with how I disappeared on him… he might have thought over what he did in the p-past.” Izuku says.

”Who’s to say he won’t?” Danny asks, “Maybe you blowing up at him was the wake-up call he needed.”

Izuku tilts his head and smiles at Danny, “Ancients, I hope.”

——✧

“Yo! Where were you guys?” Kirishima calls to them when he sees Danny walk into the room with Izuku tucked into his side.

”Oh, you know,” Danny says, “the closet.”

”What?” Someone asks.

”What?” Danny parrots.

——✧

The rest of the day, post-‘orientation’, simply involved lunch (thank the Ancients), meeting their teachers, and learning what to expect and what is expected. It was boring, but it was finally over.

Danny’s little gang of portal goers now stood in the hallway outside 1-B, waiting for them to be let out. Their teacher must’ve kept them a little longer for some reason.

Thankfully though, the door finally opened and a head of blonde hair walked out.

Not their blonde though.

”Oh?” The guy asks, “What’s this?” He strolls forward and gets a better look before sneering, “1-A, hm?”

”Uh, yeah?” Danny answers.

”And just what is the… inferior hero course doing here? Was skipping orientation to do who knows what not interesting enough for you? Have you come to scout out your superior schoolmates?” 

…

”Are you, like, a theater kid or something?” Danny manages to ask before a body barrels into him.

”Danny-Kun!” Himi-Chan greets.

Danny huffs and wraps an arm around her, “Hi, Himi-Chan.”

He can hear the boy sputter something out, but Himi-Chan swiftly spins and looks at him.

”Monoma-Kun!” She exclaims, “Meet my friends!”

”You… you’re friends with the 1-A brats!?”

”Dude, isn’t it a little too early to have a grudge against us already?” Kirishima asks.

”Yeah!” Mina agrees, “We haven’t even done anything!”

”Yet.” Monoma adds, “You’re just hiding your cockiness behind a mask, I’m not blind.”

”If you wanna call a 1-A student cocky go find Bakugou, now that guy is an asshole,” Danny says to Monoma, “And if you want to bully a creep, go for the one who looks like a toddler.”

”Excuse me?” He asks.

”You’re excused!” Danny chirps.

”That’s—I—“

Danny turns to Himi-Chan, “Right, we’re going, say bye.”

”Yessir!” She salutes and skips over to Monoma, giving him a large hug, “Bye, Monoma-Kun!”

Danny digs his nails into the empty space, tearing the veil and opening a portal, Himi-Chan sees it and immediately sprints to it and jumps in followed by the rest of the portal-‘poolers’.

”Yeah, see ya tomorrow,” Danny says to the shell-shocked Monoma before hopping in and pulling the portal closed behind him.

Chapter Text

April 9, 2XX3

Considering that, at its root, U.A. was, in fact, a hero school, Danny expected the academic classes to be more... fun? Extravagant? Abnormal?

Suffice to say, they weren't. They were so normal, it was annoying!

Speaking of...

"All right, class, tell me where the mistake is in this next English sentence example..." Butterfinger-Sensei asks his class, "WHO KNOWS THE ANSWER? EVERYBODY HANDS UP AND RAISE THEM HIGH!!"

So normal...

All of their classes before noon were so excruciatingly normal, that it was painful! But, at noon they get to gather at the grand mess hall to eat lunch-lady level (possibly better, but Danny values his half-life, so he'll keep that to himself) food for cheap! The guy in charge of the lunches was a pro hero known as 'The Cooking Hero: Lunch-Rush.' He wore an odd contraption on his face, leaving Danny wondering if all lunch ladies and...lads? Lords? Were strange like that.

But, finally, after all the bland and all the boring, came the afternoon portion! Daily foundational heroics studies!!

Danny was having a hard time focusing on his conversation with Koda, on his right, due to the fact that the the other birdie boy, sitting to the left of him, gave off some...ghostly vibes. And it was during this moment of distraction that the downward spiral began. And it began with a shout:

"I AM HERE-" Danny's head shot up in horror as the door opened up to reveal Shawl Flight, or whatever his name is, flying in, "...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!!!"

"I can't believe it!"

"All Might's really gonna be teaching us!"

"That design's so silver age!"

"Foundational hero studies!" Brawl Bite runs to the front of the room and flexes, "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials!"

There's no way this man is qualified to be teaching.

"Let's jump right in with this!" Fall Blight holds out a plaque with the word 'battle' scrawled on it in big letters, "THE TRIAL OF BATTLE!!"

Oh...Ancients...

"And to go with your first battle..." Small Kite pauses, obviously for unnecessary dramatic effect, "...We prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your quirks!"

"Our battle gear!"

"Awesome!"

"My costume...!!"

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone gather at Grounds Beta!" Ball Fight demands, "The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important, boys and girls!" 

"Yeah!!"

"Très chic!"

"And don't forget! From here on out, you're all officially..." Call Fright states, "...Heroes! Let's see what you're made of, embryos!"

Stall Light is so dramatic! He was doing that large obnoxious speech when he hadn't even released them yet! But now, they're finally actually entering the grounds after changing in the locker rooms! Danny didn't even really have to go into the locker rooms, but the less time spent with Gall Tight, the better. 

Danny looks to the tunnel next to the wall he was leaning against when he hears the scuffing of feet, and recognizes tells of Hitoshi and Izuku. The buzzing noise of GAIA operating in the background and the whirring and clicking of gears in Hitoshi's mask are both noises unhearable by the average human ears, but dead giveaways of the two boys nonetheless. Danny straightens himself up and hovers above the ground, back turned to Crawl Spite who was focused on Ancients knows what. 

Soon enough, the two boys are leaving the tunnel and Danny is finally able to see their costumes, the full extent of each had been kept from him.

Izuku was covered head to toe in black gear with dark green accents, both his black hood and black fabric mask were pulled up and into place. Resting on his forehead were the ectoplasm-green framed goggles. On his left wrist rested GAIA, and in his right hand he held the Bunni staff. His pants and belts had multiple pouches and pockets to hold all manner of assisting objects. His gloves were black and fingerless but with rough gripping material on the palms. His shoes had a multitude of grooves to assist with balance and digging his feet in. Underneath all of the outer black fabric was a dark green undershirt. Izuku was also wearing a black four-pointed star earring on his left ear, and an ectoplasm-green one on his right. He allowed for his eyes to glow some as well.

Hitoshi’s was much the same, with his torso, arms, and legs covered in tactical gear of varying shades of black. On his shoulders rested the light grey capture scarf he’d received from Aizawa-Sensei. The scarf didn’t cover his face, but the voice changer crafted by the chaos junkie trio masked the bottom half of his face. His own goggles, with purplish lenses and black frames, rested on his forehead.

Danny knows he has the ability to completely alter Phantom’s attire, but his ‘costume’ had already been designed for heroics back in his home dimension. However, he did take the liberty to elongate his suit, removing the white accents on the color of the shirt and allowing it to travel up his neck and over his mouth, creating a mask. He added a hoodie around his undershirt with a black bottom and white hood. Also, for the sake of matching the other two, he had goggles with black frames and green lenses resting on his forehead.

”Damn,” Danny remarks, “You guys look great!”

The part of Izuku’s face still visible was tinged with pink, “Th-thanks, Danny!”

”I wasn’t going for looks, but if it works, it works,” Hitoshi shrugs.

”Oh,” Danny replies, “You’re gonna be an underground hero, right Hitoshi?”

”Yeah, limelight would just hinder me,” Hitoshi explains.

”I don’t think I could go underground if I wanted to,” Danny laughs awkwardly as the rest of their class finally begins to emerge.

Danny, Izuku, and Hitoshi continue to speak to each other until the final student files in. Only then did they join the large group in the middle of the clearing. Danny looked around at the costumes, admiring some while judging others. He was just about to gush about Uraraka’s astronaut motifs when he noticed the monstrosity.

”Yaoyorozu,” Danny garners the girl’s attention, “With all due respect, what the hell are you wearing?”

”I—What?” Yaoyorozu sputters in shock and more people begin to pay attention to the two.

Danny surges forward and gestures to her attire, “This is an over-glorified swimsuit!” He then groans, “And you have a bookshelf on your ass! Who designed this!?”

”Ah…” Yaoyorozu blushes, embarrassed by the situation, “My parents hired an official costume designer for it. The skin showing is so I can create larger objects and the bookshelf carries books so I can learn the molecular makeup of something I don’t already know or forgot…”

”You know what? Just, you’re coming with me after school, and we’re fixing this.” Danny groans and then yells behind him, “And you too, Hagakure! Don’t think I’m just gonna let my teenage classmate run around naked!”

”Hah!?”

”Sorry for making a scene, though, Yaoyorozu,” Danny apologizes.

”It’s okay…” Yaoyorozu responds, “I think?”

Danny laughs and turns away to face Thrall Night.

“Sensei! This appears to be the same field used on the entrance exam,” Iida says from the middle of the group, “Will we once again be performing cityscape maneuvers?”

“Nope! You’ll be moving onto step two!” Scrawl Tight says with a large smile, “Anti-personnel battle training!”

”Wazzat?” Danny asks.

”Haha, great question Young Nightingale!” Bud Light exclaims, much to Danny’s annoyance, “Anti-personnel battle training is a trial between two teams of two to practice for what you might have to face in the future!”

…

”Are you going to keep posing or move on?” Hitoshi asks.

”Oh, ahem,” Drawl Dwight clears his throat, “You see, villain battles are most commonly seen outdoors, but, statistically, the most heinous villains are more likely to appear indoors.”

“Ohhhhh…” Danny hears one of his classmates.

”Between confinement, house arrest, and black market deals in this hero-filled society of ours… The cleverest villains out there…” Tall Knight pauses dramatically, which he appears to have a habit of doing. “…Lurk indoors.”

Hall White pivots on his heel and spins to the students, placing his hands on his hips, “You’ll now be split into villain teams and hero teams!” Yall ‘right practically spits out the word villain and Hitoshi’s tensing doesn’t go unnoticed by Danny, “…And face off in two-on-two indoor battles!”

“So no basic training?” The croaky voice of Tsuyu questions.

“Practical experience teaches you the basics!” Airtight argues. Which… no. Danny has plenty of experience battling but only learned how to correctly throw a punch after meeting Aizawa-Sensei.

”This guy's a total quack,” Danny mutters out of the side of his mouth to Hitoshi. He hears two snorts instead of one and notices Jirou, the girl with earphone jacks, holding a hand over her mouth.

”The distinction here is that you won’t be fighting disposable robots,” Doll Lite keeps going.

“What determines victory?”

“Can I just blast everyone away?”

”How do we proceed to divide ourselves into teams!?”

”How ✧fabulous✧ is my cape?”

”One at a time! My quirk isn’t super-hearing!!” Tall Height complains.

”Mine is and even I struggled with that,” Jirou remarks.

Unilateral A’ight pulls out a packet that looks comically small in his hands, “Listen up!! Here’s the deal, the villains will be hiding a nuclear bomb weapon in the hideout, and the heroes have to go take care of it!”

”Like a plot from a Western comic!”

”All Might’s using a cheat sheet???”

”The heroes have a limited amount of time to either capture the villains or secure the weapon.” He explains, “And the villains must either capture the heroes or protect the weapon until time is up.“

”How do we determine teams, though?” Yaoyorozu asks.

”Simple!” He responds, “By drawing lots!”

”Is that really the best way!?!?” Iida exclaims.

”Well, it makes sense because pros often have to team up with heroes from other agencies on the spot during emergencies…” Izuku speaks up.

”Exactly! Thank you Young…”

”Midoriya.” Izuku growls.

”Hm,” Buff-man-that-Danny-doesn’t-care-to-remember-the-name-of hums.

”I see..! I apologize for getting ahead of myself,” Iida says loudly, “My mistake!”

”It’s fine!!! Let’s just get to it!” Izuku cheers.

One by one, Danny and his classmates pick a piece of paper from a box, each with a specific letter. Danny walks back over to Hitoshi and Izuku, who are both now standing by Mina and Kirishima, with a strip labeled ‘C.’

”Hey!” Danny greets, “What’re your guys’ teams?”

”A,” Izuku responds and Danny sees Uraraka perk up a couple paces outside of the group.

“Ooh!” Mina chirps, “I’m team E!”

“I’m J!” Kirishima exclaims.

”F,” Hitoshi says calmly.

”Awe man, I’m C!” Danny whines, “We’re all separated.”

”I know right?” Kirishima jokes, “I was hoping to get Izuku and get carried.”

”What—Me!?” Izuku asks, shocked.

”I’m guessing I won’t have to worry, then?” Uraraka appears on the outskirts of the group, holding up a slip with the letter A.

”Lucky!” Mina cries and Uraraka laughs.

Chapter Text

“Moving on, first up are these!!” Drawl Sight plunges his hands into two separate boxes before retracting them just as dramatically.

He checks the ball in each of his hand before presenting them to the ‘crowd.’ “The heroes are team A!!”

”So fast…” Izuku and Uraraka wilt in sync.

”The villains are team D!” He-who-will-not-be-properly-named adds on.

“Who’s on team D?” Uraraka asks.

”Dunno,” Danny answers, “It’s not any of us though.”

“The villain team goes in first! The timer starts in five minutes when the hero team sneaks in,” Randall Plight explains, “The rest of us will watch via CCTV!”

”Well that’s convenient,” Danny says to no one in particular, “I’m as curious as Uraraka on who team D is, though.”

“Iida, Bakugou, you boys need to adopt a villainous mindset,” Falafel Bite suddenly addresses the two boys, “This is a practical experience, so go all out and don’t hold back!”

”Such uncanny timing…” Hitoshi mutters.

Danny turns to Izuku to cheer him on, but sees the boy much paler than his normal complexion, “Izuku?”

”Huh!?” Izuku jumps when Danny says his name.

”You okay?” Danny asks.

”Y-yeah, it’s just K…” Izuku’s voice teeters off.

”Bakugou?” Danny ponders.

”…mhm.” Izuku answers.

”I get it,” Danny replies, “But, I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

”Really?” Izuku asks.

”For sure!” Danny cheers, startling Izuku, “You haven’t spent these past few months just sitting on your ass, after all!”

”W-well, yeah, but it can still go so wrong.”

”It’s not just you and Bakugou, though.” Danny explains, “Iida and Uraraka are also in this. Uraraka being your partner, at that.”

”That’s true…”

”And if something really does go wrong, then fuck whatever his name is, I’ll interfere.” Danny swears.

Izuku laughs lightly and his shoulders intense some, “You still can’t remember All Might’s name?”

”What? It’s a stupid name!” Danny argues making Izuku laugh harder.

”Midoriya, come on!!” Uraraka says coming near.

”You’ll do great,” Danny promises and lets Izuku go.

Izuku Midoriya

Izuku twitches on his feet as he and Uraraka plan in a secluded area.

”So, what do we do?” Uraraka asks, “I’m not always the best at making plans…”

”W-well, first things first,” Izuku says and then addresses his AI, “GAIA, pull up the building layouts for Ground Beta.”

”Acquiring ‘Ground β blueprints’…”

”What are you gonna do with those?” Uraraka asks.

”U-uhm, well, the villain team is going to be g-guarding the bomb right?” Izuku explains, “And if we have to find it, th-these prints will give us an adv-vantage.”

”Oh!” Uraraka beams, “Smart!”

”N-not really…” Izuku teeters off, “W-while GAIA searches, w-we should plan,” Izuku explains, “L-like, anticipate what the villains will do.”

”Hmm,” Uraraka hums, “I don’t really know much about either. But, Iida seems strict, and Bakugo rude.”

”Oh, he’s more than rude,” Izuku grumbles out, “Kacch— Bakugo. Bakugo is arrogant, prideful, and obnoxious. He doesn’t listen to anyone and blows up at the littlest things.”

”Oh?”

”Yeah, so, most likely he’ll demand Iida stay with the bomb while he patrols—hunts us down—through the building. He always leads with a right hook and is provoked far too easily.” Izuku explains.

Uraraka looks at him as though she has a question, but thankfully refrains from asking.

”Prints acquired,” GAIA suddenly cuts in.

”GAIA, p-project please.” Izuku says and a light green hologram appears above his watch. 

“Woah,” Uraraka says and tries to touch it.

”Th-that won’t work,” Izuku explains, “It’s j-just a projection. The actual stuff is on the watch.”

”Awe man…”

Izuku notices something off with a few of the lines, they don’t seem correct and itch at something in his brain, “GAIA?”

”Yes?”

”Could you search for discrepancies? And possible unmarked entrances?”

”Of course.”

With that done, Izuku reaches into a pouch on his utility belt and removes a small metal earphone.

”What’s that?” Uraraka asks.

”It’s a communication link,” Izuku explains, holding it out to her, “It will allow us to keep in contact after separated.” 

Uraraka cheerfully grabs the comm and slips off her helmet to put it into her ear, “Cool!!”

”I have my own already in, let me just patch you into my channel.” Izuku explains.

”Allow me,” GAIA cuts in.

”Or… GAIA will.”

”Done, and done,” The AI says.

”Hello?” Uraraka asks and Izuku hears her voice overlap with his comm.

”Hi,” He responds.

”Woah!” She jumps in shock, “Awesome..!”

”I also have acquired some new information regarding the building,” GAIA says, “There are a few rooms with hidden hatches. Notably the third, fifth, and seventh. They appear to be accessible from the outside. Would you like me to pull up the schematics?”

”Please and thank you,” Izuku says and the projections change. Izuku peruses through them for a bit, looking back and forth between the building and the projection, before he speaks up once more, “Hey, Uraraka, how high can you float?”

”Depends, why?” She responds.

”S-see this?” He points to the hatch on the fifth floor, “It would be an easy and discreet entrance for you to get the bomb, while I distract K- Bakugou.”

”Well, I could make it up in theory,” Uraraka explains, “But, I would get sick and be out of commission.”

”O-oh…” Izuku thinks for a minute before a metaphorical light bulb goes off. Immediately he’s grabbing the rope on his belt and pulling it off. “Perfect!”

”What’s that?” Uraraka asks.

”U-uhm it’s a g-grappling hook,” Izuku explains, “I used a m-makeshift one during the e-entrance exam, but Danny and Kenzō got me an actual one.”

”Oh! Why not just use that then?” Uraraka asks.

”The hatch on the fifth floor does appear to have a ledge that I c-can latch onto,” Izuku says zooming in on his watch, “b-but I can’t throw that high.”

”Oh…”

”But, I can fix that!” Izuku quickly mends, “If we have you r-remove its gravity and I throw it up there, it can get high enough. And once it reaches, you’ll be able to release it, allowing it to drop down and hook onto the ledge.”

”Ooh!” Uraraka squeal, “Good idea!”

”A-ah, yeah!” Izuku tries to match her energy, “You’ll still need to climb up though. W-will you be, uhm, a-able to?”

”Midoriya, you’re looking at Musutafu’s number 1 rock climber!” Uraraka says and flexes her arm.

”Really?” Izuku loses his stutter in his confusion.

Uraraka slumps over, “Okay, not really, but I’m still good at it!”

”Th-thats fine!” Izuku responds.

”So, to summarize,” Uraraka starts, “I’ll be climbing in and sneaking up on Iida from the outside, in an attempt to discreetly acquire the bomb and or tape him up.”

”Mhm.”

”And while I do that, you’ll enter from the bottom and distract Bakugou?” She finishes.

”Yup!” Izuku answers.

”Well, good luck,” Uraraka says, “No offense, but I would not want to be you right now.”

“I don’t think I want to be me right now,” Izuku responds and she snorts.

“Start,” All Might’s voice sounds over the intercoms of Ground Beta, “Indoor Antipersonnel Battle Training!”

And with that, the two separate.

Chapter Text

Danny was, to say the least, not impressed with the setup provided to watch over the trials. Sure, it was cool that there were multiple screens and they were able to watch over what was happening from multiple angles, and there was that nice little microphone to connect to the intercoms in Ground Beta. But! There was no audio, that meant they could be planning something excruciatingly dangerous or risky, and they would have no idea!

He knows he shouldn't be worried, Izuku is smart, after all. But, he can't help it! He's a protector spirit, and Zuku is under his protection...

"Start,” Squawl Uptight straight-up yells into the microphone, “Indoor Antipersonnel Battle Training!”

Danny's eyes immediately latch onto the attention-catching colors of Uraraka's suit. He noticed that she and Izuku had separated, the boy having gone inside. He was confused by this approach for a bit before he noticed the rope Uraraka was now climbing up as she scaled the wall. That means she's going in for stealth which means...

"A sneak attack!!" The sticky toddler exclaims in surprise from their viewing room. Danny's attention snapped to the monitor that the overgrown grape bunch was watching just in time to see Bakugou fly around a corner a Izuku. 

Bakugou let off a bright explosion right in the position where Izuku previously was, thankfully though, the boy had dodged immediately. Bakugou dropped to the ground from where he was leaping, in tandem with Izuku's tuck and roll.

"That's low Bakugou!!" Kirishima cries out, "Sneak attacks are so unmanly!!"

"It's a good tactic though, for both heroes and villains," Danny argues without any heat.

"Izuku sure can dodge!" Mina exclaims cheerfully.

Danny's eyes narrow as he watches Bakugou reel his arm back and smile wildly in a yell. Instead of hitting Izuku, though, Izuku grabs onto the arm and halts it before flipping boom-boom boy over his shoulder. Bakugou flies forward and rights himself in mid-air, landing on his toes and fingertips in a crouch. Danny watched in awe as Izuku panted and seemed to yell at Bakugou as the angry teen glared. Izuku takes in a deep breath, and so does Danny. Danny stretches his senses out and listens to what Izuku has to say.

"Kacchan, I'm..." He hears Izuku start to yell, "I'm the Deku who always does his best!!"

Danny smiles proudly and reigns in his senses right as Bakugou begins to speak.

"You spou..."

Bakugou leaps to his feet and yells something, unheard by the viewers, as he glares down at Izuku in a cruel rage.

"What is he saying?" Kirishima asked, sounding a bit worried, "There's no sound through the surveillance footage."

"Teammates can communicate through wireless transceivers!" Maul Smite explains. But... Danny watched Team A go. Nobody gave them transceivers.

"Excuse me, Squall Slight?" Danny speaks up and receives no reaction.

Mina leans over and whispers, "It's All Might, Danny."

"Oh, yeah, right," Danny corrects himself, "All Might?"

All Might turns his head back to Danny, "Yes, Young Danny?"

"You say that they have wireless transceivers, but I watched Team A go, and you didn't give them anything. But, you did call forward team D." Danny explains and asks, "What's with that?"

"Wha- What are you talking about Young Danny?" All Might asks and turns to the camera's zooming in on Uraraka, who is almost on the fifth floor. He kept zooming in until it showed her ear through the glass of her helmet. In her ear was a comm link. "See! It's right there!"

"Uhm, no." Hitoshi butts in, "That's not the 'wireless transceivers' or whatever you call them."

"Then what are they?" A disembodied voice asks. Hagakure(?)

"Modified Fenton Fones, communication links that Izuku would have had stored away in his utility belt," Danny explains, "Not property of U.A."

"Fenton Fones???" Danny hears Yaoyorozu say to herself in confusion.

"They must have just switched them out then!" All Might argues.

Someone clears their through and all eyes snap over to Mina, who had walked away and some point. She lifts up two earbuds and blueprints, "What are these doing here, then?"

"Yeah, All Might what are they-" Danny's interrogation is cut off by a shout.

"OH MY GOD WHAT IS BAKUGOU DOING!?" All heads snap back to the screen to see Bakugou holding his arm up, the other hand on the gauntlet, while he and Izuku stand in a small hallway. On another monitor, Uraraka and Iida are seen having a standoff as well.

All Might wastes no time in running forward to the microphone, "Bakugou, my boy, stop this!" He pleads, "You'll kill him!"

Bakugou smiles widely and says something, hooking his finger onto the pin and beginning to pull. If Bakugou did this, the explosion would be insurmountable! It would most certainly be fatal if it went off in Izuku’s face, blasting his head clean off. Not only that, but it could wreck the floor that they stood on—taking out the support and collapsing the building—which would cause the multiple stories to fall and crush the two boys and their teammates. All in all, Bakugou may just become a murderer, and dead himself if he went through with this.

Suddenly, Izuku isn't Izuku. He's Jazz, no wait, he's Tucker. Or is that Sam? What is Valerie doing down there? Why is Wes facing off against Bakugou? That's not Bakugou. Bakugou doesn't wear so. Much. White. It's not safe. He has to do something. Save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them save them-

Fuck it.

Danny watched Bakugou’s grin widen, and he took a deep breath before surging forward, pushing past Loll Ignite, and grasping the small microphone.

“Izuku!” Danny yelled and watched as the unexpected voice caught both boy's attention.

Danny watched as Izuku’s mouth moved at the same time as the pin fell completely out of Bakugou’s grasp.

“Izuku, listen to me!” Danny only has a few seconds, “You need to turn yourself and Bakugou intangible right now!”

Izuku gained a look of fear and worry. They didn’t have time for this! He doesn’t doubt that Izuku could dodge the blow, but the aftermath is too much for the boy to handle!

“I know, you don’t think you can do it,” Danny pleads, “But you have to. Bakugou might die if you don’t!” Bakugou grew red in the face when Danny said so and began yelling at Izuku, “I’ll get Iida and Uraraka, just—do it! Now!”

Danny didn’t spare any time to see if Izuku had succeeded once he saw the sparks ignite in Bakugou’s gauntlet. He dropped the microphone and clawed at the air, forcing open a portal. Its outline was wobbly, but that didn’t matter. Danny shot through and landed on the fifth floor where Iida and Uraraka were having a standoff. They seemed stilted, though, clearly having heard Danny through the microphone.

“Nightingale, what—“ Iida starts to ask, but is cut off by Danny running shooting over to him, and tearing the ground beneath him open, resulting in him falling through a portal.

“Danny?” Uraraka asks.

“Bakugou’s gonna bring the building down,” Danny explains breathlessly as he leaps over to her location.

“What!?” Uraraka exclaims.

Danny ignores it in favor of tearing open another portal and pushing her through, “Sorry,” he apologizes before jumping in after her.

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya

Danny’s speaking ends abruptly and Izuku eyes snap to Kacchan’s gauntlet, which is missing a pin. He sees sparks begin to light and drops to the floor immediately and shields his head. The explosion that is let off above him shakes the building and Izuku watches in disturbed awe as the rubble falls down to the ground beside him and shakes where it lays. A pillar falls down not too far behind him and the crash of it is astounding.

It’s terribly loud, and Izuku almost worries that his ears are bleeding. But, that’s not important. Danny said that he needed to turn himself and Kacchan intangible so that they aren’t crushed under a building with over 5 stories. But, Izuku’s never gone fully intangible before. He’s not supposed to be able to do that, much less to both him and another person! So why did Danny seem so confident that he could do it?

He’s spending way too much time thinking, Izuku decides when a chunk of the ceiling falls right next to him and Kacchan. Izuku forces himself to his feet.

He’s trusted Danny before, he just has to again.

”What the fuck are you doing, Deku!?” Kacchan demands when Izuku looks up at him with determination and his head tilted, ear towards the ceiling.

Izuku pounces forward and he and Kacchan goes flying just as another piece of the ceiling collapses right where Kacchan had to stood a second before. Even when they’re out of the way, he doesn’t let go.

”Get—“ Kacchan yells, “Get off of me!”

”No!!” Izuku cries back.

Kacchan goes on to say something else, always having to have the last word. But, Izuku tunes him out. He keeps his hold on Kacchan and focuses on his intangibility. He starts with his head, feeling as though someone is letting cool water pour slowly over him. He begins to struggle when it reaches his shoulders, but he keeps pushing. He forces his thoughts of Middle School to the forefront. His memories of dodging what he could, when he could. Whether it be at school, or chasing a hero fight. 

Izuku knows how to avoid getting hurt, he just isn’t always the best at it. But, he needs to be this time. The cool feeling continues to pass down his shoulders and reaches his forearms and stomach. He’s physically struggling now, and starts to slump. Kacchan, most likely unwillingly, keeps him up. The intangibility traverses to his fingertips, and suddenly surges down to his knees. Izuku cries out in shock and it flickers for a moment, but he forces it to stay.

Finally, it reaches his ankles and this will have to work. He can’t focus on flying and intangibility at the same time. He’s gonna need his feet.

“What the hell!?” Kacchan yells when Izuku is no longer solid in his grasp, “Since when could you—“

His voice is cut off by a loud crash above them, sounding like an entire floor just fell. Which, is entirely possible. It hits Izuku that Kacchan is still solid and that’s not going to work.

He holds his hand out to Kacchan, asking for the boy’s own.

”What the hell is up with you!?” Kacchan demands.

”Hand.” Izuku just barely manages to whisper out.

Kacchan looks at him and his hand in disbelief, but reaches out when a pillar falls right behind him. His look of shock when he was able to grab Izuku’s hand almost caused him to laugh. 

Izuku grabs on firmly, and forces his intangibility over with gritted teeth. Kacchan’s density begins to shift, slowly turning intangible with him.

”Holy hell!?”

Izuku keeps forcing it over even when he feels his intangibility start to traverse backwards over his body. He keeps going until only Kacchan’s feet are solid.

Izuku is intangible to his knees when it all fell down.

The building collapses inward on the two boys, and the rubble hitting Izuku’s legs forces him to the floor as he pulls Kacchan with him.

”Shit, shit, fuck,” Kacchan says sounding more concerned that Izuku has ever heard him, “Fuck! What did I do!?”

Izuku curses himself when Kacchan’s intangibility wavers for a moment, and suddenly his legs are tangible, too. He lowers himself to his knees, and crouches down next to Izuku.

”There’s—“ Kacchan cuts himself off with a cough, “We’re in a— an air bubble? There only enough rooms for our legs…”

Izuku looks up at him, “I’ve got you.”

”I don’t need you, you damn Deku!” Kacchan yells in rage and seems to instinctively set off a small explosion. It unsettles the rubble and their small air pocket shrinks even more.

”Shit!” Kacchan yells.

Izuku shares the sentiment, but keeps it to himself. It’s going to be okay, it will have to be okay. He still needs to become a hero, Danny’s investing in him after all.

Oh yeah. Danny.

Danny’s here, he’s going to save him, isn’t he? It’s going to be okay.

Izuku’s eyes close slowly and Kacchan starts yelling at him. But, he tunes it out.

For a moment the world is quiet and peace full.

”You did great, Izuku,” He hears, “I’ll take it from here.”

Chapter Text

Danny steps out of the last portal, Bakugou slung over his shoulder and Izuku in his arms. The two boys are covered in dust and dirt, sporting a few minor cuts. However, Bakugou has a concerning red spot in his normally blonde hair and Izuku’s legs are wet from blood, blood not visible on the black fabric of his pants. Danny gently floats to the ground and ignores the gazes of his classmates.

”Iida, Uraraka!” He calls out, “Can you guys take these two with you and head off to recovery girl?”

Iida sprints to Danny and Uraraka makes her way over. Iida carefully peels Bakugou off of Danny’s shoulder as he gently hands Izuku over to Uraraka.

”Uhm, thank you for saving us Danny—“ Uraraka starts to say, but Danny smoothly cuts her off.

”But, you should be going now,” Danny finishes her train of thought for her.

Uraraka squeaks and turns around to follow Iida, who has already begun to leave.

Danny turns his head slightly and zeroes in on Hitoshi, “Hitoshi? Could you get Aizawa-Sensei for us?”

Hitoshi nods and finds his way out of the room. Finally, Danny turns to the snot-face with balls on his head.

”And you, Sticky, mind getting me a bucket?”

”Me???” The boy asks with a stuffy voice.

”No, the other sticky dude next to a trash can— Yes, you!” Danny says and then cups his mouth. Sticky pales and grabs the trash can next to him, bringing it over to Danny.

Danny nods and takes it from Sticky. Once the boy backs over some, Danny finally loses his lunch. 

“Is it… glowing green??” The guy with large elbows asks.

”Oh, ew, I forgot it did that,” Mina comments.

Once Danny finishes, he wipes his mouth and gently places the bucket on the ground. He takes a deep breath, steeling his nerves and soothing his stomach, before turning and rounding on All Might.

”What the hell is wrong with you!?” He demands.

”What—me!?” He has the gall to act shocked.

”Yes, you!” Danny says and pauses to say, “I’m getting Deja vu… Like Olivia Rodrigo…”

Everyone suddenly looks confused and Danny shakes his head in an attempt to clear his thought.

”Gah, not the point,” He declares and looks up, right into All Might’s eyes, “Now that everyone is safe from any direct danger. Would you mind explaining why, just why, Mina found the supplies that you were supposed to give to Team A? Or why you didn’t step in, physically, when it was clear Bakugo was going to let off a large explosion in an enclosed state?” Danny jabbed a finger at him with every remark before backing off and stretching his arms out, “Or, how about why Bakugo had access to literal fucking weapons of war without any training? Or any of us with any of our gear or costumes for that matter!? You could have at least had Aizawa here!”

”I, well,” All Might tries to argue, “Young man, you have to understand—“

”No, no,” An oddly calm voice cuts All Might off, “The ‘boy’ has a point.”

Danny and All Might turn their heads in sync to face the door. In the doorway stands Hitoshi, Aizawa-Sensei, and Principal Nedzu on the aforementioned shoulder…?

The Principal hops down and Hitoshi nervously makes his way over.

”That was fast,” Danny comments when he slides up beside him.

”I was worried,” Hitoshi argues and Danny can see the visible portions of his face and ear turn a bit pink.

”And the rat?” 

“Principal Nedzu was already talking with Aizawa-Sensei when I got there.”

”I am quite curious why I just had to find out from a… frantic student,” Danny grins at Hitoshi and nudges him. Hitoshi smacks his shoulder. “Who had come to Aizawa here to tell him that four of his classmates were on their way to recovery girl? All because they had gone and done battle training at ground Beta, with completely new, likely to be faulty, costumes and a single teacher to watch over them?” Nedzu asks calmly, but Danny can recognize the slight underlying anger.

”Well, I just, I believed them all to be ready—“

”Dude! It’s the second day!” Tape dispensers for elbows argues.

”Exactly,” Nedzu nods, “This class, much like Class 1-B, should have been trying on their costume prototypes. Instead, you decided to take a group of teenagers, the majority of them untrained, and force them to battle each other.”

”He makes it sound like we’re Pokémon,” Danny remarks, “Hitoshi, I choose you!”

”What on earth are you talking about???” Hitoshi asks, confused.

Danny visibly wilt and slumps forward, “You guys don’t have Pokémon here..?”

”And, from the sounds of Nightingale’s rant, you also failed to provide two of your students with the same equipment as the others,” Nedzu continues, stalking his way over to the map, communication links, and capture tape Mina had found. “I do hope that was a one-time thing. I’d hate for the Number 1 hero to turn out to be prejudiced. Or even just slipping up in his old age. We can’t have either of those happening, after all.”

”Wait… Does All Might even have a teaching license?” Danny dares to ask, redirecting attention to him once more, “Cause, back home at least, that’s kind of something you need to qualify as a teacher.”

”He does,” Nedzu assures them, “He just might need some…refreshers.” He skitters his way over to All Might and places his paw on his knee, “Lessons every Wednesday afternoon should do the trick, no?”

”Nedzu I—“

”Every Wednesday it is!” The Principal cheers, and spins around, “Now I ought to go check up on those four at Recovery Girl’s office.” His little legs carry him over to the cool-looking guy with multiple arms. He says something to him, and Danny watches as he lifts Nedzu to the ceiling. The Principal then proceeds to open the vent cover and crawl in, shutting it behind him. Danny can hear him quietly cackling as he crawls away.

”Alright everyone,” Aizawa-Sensei finally speaks up, “Go get changed. You're with me for the rest of the period.”

”Awe man…” Kirishima sighs, “I was totally looking forward to my own round.” When Aizawa-Sensei directs his gaze to Kirishima he quickly amends his statement, “Until I found out how wrong this whole thing was, obviously!!”

Aizawa-Sensei raises an eyebrow but doesn’t say anything else. “Danny, good job. You and Shinsou can go check on the four at Recovery Girl’s.” Aizawa-Sensei commands, “The rest of you, get changed.”

As he walks away, Danny and Hitoshi’s classmates slowly shuffle out. Once the room empties, Danny shifts back from Phantom and stumbles backward some. Hitoshi catches him before he can hit the ground, though and his eyelids weigh heavy and shut.

”Ugh…” Danny groans, “Thanks, ‘Toshi…”

”Are—“ Hitoshi’s voice squeaks a bit and Danny cracks open an eyelid, but Hitoshi clears his voice, “Are you alright?”

”Yeah…” Danny stays positioned against Hitoshi, “Just tired. I made like way too many human-sized portals in a short amount of time.”

Hitoshi lifts Danny into a normal standing pose and Danny whines, “I didn’t realize that was so tiring for you.”

”Opening portals isn’t hard, I’m just tired because all of them were big enough for two people, at least, and I kept making them way too fast. Didn’t exactly have the luxury to pace myself.” Danny explains.

”Well, can you make it to Recover Girl by yourself?” Hitoshi asks, “I’d like to get changed back.”

”Hm?” Danny hums, “Yeah, sure.” He stands up and stretches his arms out, yawning. He arches his back some and listens to it pop. He’s way too bendy as Phantom, always makes his back all cracky.

Danny turns around to see Hitoshi just standing there, staring. “Are you going or not???”

Hitoshi’s body goes rigid and he answers quickly, “Nope, I mean yeah, I’m, I’m going!” Once finished he sprints off out the door.

Danny just stands there for a couple of seconds, “And I thought I was a dork,” He snorts.

———✧

”Peekaboo!” Danny jokingly says when he sticks his head into Recovery Girl’s office.

”Danny!” A variety of voices exclaim in response. All are expected, except one. One he should have expected.

”Danny-Kun!” Himi-Chan greets Danny as he brings the rest of his body in with his head.

”Hi Himi-Chan,” Danny walks over and ruffles the top of her head. After meeting Hitoshi, Danny worried that people here would often be mostly taller than him. He was glad to learn that the boy was simply an outlier. Danny is still growing, anyway. He'll hit his Jack-Height growth spurt one of these days.

Danny keeps making his way over to the cots, grabbing an uncomfortable-looking plastic chair and taking a seat.

Iida and Uraraka seemed to have done the same, while Bakugo and Izuku were each unconscious on a cot.

Danny turns his head over to Recovery Girl, “How are they doing?”

Recovery Girl sighs in a sad tone, “Both boys are fine now. I was a bit nervous about taking even more energy when they were already unconscious, but their large injuries are okay now. Midoriya’s legs were broken, as well as a few fingers. Bakugo had a harsh head injury and displayed symptoms of smoke inhalation and some debris in his lungs. Besides that, everything was able to be treated manually.”

Danny winces sympathetically, “Yikes…” Danny redirected his attention to Uraraka and Iida next, noting that Recovery Girl was guiding Himi-Chan out of the corner of his eye, “And you guys?”

”Us?” Uraraka asks.

”Yeah, you were in the building too.” Danny explains, “I’m also a bit worried I might have been too harsh extracting you guys.”

”Not at all!” Iida reassures him, “I was simply confused at first, at the most.”

”I’m fine myself, so I don’t think you were too aggressive,” Uraraka adds.

”That’s…good,” Danny says and slumps in the plastic chair, “Sometimes I get carried away.”

The three of them sit awkwardly for a moment before Uraraka continues the conversation, “And you? Are you okay?”

”All those portals left me totally pooped,” Danny sighs, “And I lost my lunch cause of it all. But, as long as everyone else is okay, I should be.”

”Oh,” Uraraka remarks, “Ew.” After realizing her bluntness and possible rudeness her cheeks turn even rosier than usual.

Rather than be offended Danny just cackles, “I know, right?”

A noise, sounding like (paw?) padded feet, approaches the medical cots of Bakugo and Izuku. Danny directs his attention to the source. It pauses for a moment before a voice is cleared.

”May I come through?” The voice of the Principal travels through the curtains creating a makeshift room.

”Of course, sir!” Iida replies loudly, chopping his hand through the air.

”Splendid,” Principal Nedzu replies before pushing the curtain back.

”Is there a reason you came back, sir?” Uraraka asks, “You already checked on us all.”

”Of course!” His eyes curl into crescents with his grin as he claps two paws together, “I was informed that Nightingale was in here, and hoped I could talk to him.”

”I’m not in trouble, am I?” Danny asks, “Cause detention on the second day would be a new record, even for me.”

”Of course not!” The Principal replies, placatingly, “I was just hoping to discuss today’s event with such an important character.”

”Uhh, okay?” Danny agrees and rises from the chair, “Lead the way, I guess.”

”Wonderful!” Principal Nedzu exclaims and turns on his heel, making his way out.

They make it only a few paces outside of the door to Recovery Girl’s office when Danny asks, “Will I have to stay after school for this? Cause I’m kinda-sorta in charge of transportation for the whole student section of my apartment complex.”

”Interesting,” Principal Nedzu comments, “And of course not! We’ll be having our discussions while the rest of your class is watched over by Aizawa.”

”Okay,” Danny replies, “Cool.”

They continue in silence once more and Danny can’t help but cringe at the awkwardness of it all.

After what felt like endless hallways and doors (As if the infinite realms had become a school or something) they finally arrived at a stained mahogany door. A plaque labeling it as the ‘Principal’s Office’ rested innocently on the door.

”Here we are!” Principal Nedzu exclaims.

”Yay,” Danny retorts dryly.

Danny expects to have to watch the Principal Reach up to the doorknob, but when he looks down the sight that meets him almost causes him to snort out of laughter. But, he didn’t. Cause that would be rude. And Danny is never rude, obviously.

Danny does look on in mild humor at the extra doorknob positioned at the bottom of the door.

”Why not just make it a push door like the rest?” Danny asks.

”There are a multitude of reasons, I could go on and on.” Principal Nedzu states and then winks, “But, I’d rather not bore you with the details.”

Danny lets out a huff, “Ooookay…”

”Now, come, come!” The Principal gestures for him to follow in as he himself marches inside. Danny hesitantly obliges.

Danny walks forward to the plush couch facing across from a clearly Nedzu-based chair.

”No desk?” He asks as he sits down on the small, slightly stiff, couch.

”Having a coffee table instead promotes comfortability and conversation,” He simply answers.

”You sound like my sister,” Danny comments absentmindedly.

”Oh? A sister?” Nedzu asks, “I didn’t know you had any siblings. Tea?”

”Yes please,” Danny replies, “And my older sister, Jazz, died a couple of months ago.”

The Principal falters for a split second that would have been missed by anyone just barely less vigilant than Danny.

”Oh,” He says, “My condolences.”

”It alright,” Danny replies and then lets a little smile show on his face, “My family has a habit of not staying dead.”

Principal Nedzu places two cups of tea on the table right after Danny says that and then makes his way over to his chair. The Principal lifts himself into it before allowing his face to drop.

”So I was correct to assume you aren’t human?”

Chapter Text

”So I was correct to assume you aren’t human?”

Danny stiffens on the couch and freezes. His slow, slow heartbeat picks up. Beating as if he were still alive. Sweat drips onto his palms and his fingers shake minutely. His eyes snap onto the Principal in front of him.

”What? Not human? I— you— you’re— You’ve gotta be joking!” Danny backs up into the couch, “…haha…”

”I’m no fool, Nightingale,” Nedzu reprimands, “I can see it when I look at you. An…uncanny valley feeling, if you will.”

”It’s— um— Part of my q-quirk…?”

”Clearly you are unaware of my origins,” Nedzu replies, “I was a normal lab rat before I became who I am today.”

Danny’s head jerks up from where he had been avoiding eye contact, “Normal lab rat? Experimented on?”

The Principal’s paw tightens minutely, “Indeed.”

Danny begins to frantically giggle in a sporadic manner, while curling even more into a ball, “This, this is karma isn’t it? Kill them and they’ll kill you…”

It’d been weeks since its last meal. The only thing dropped off are their…failed experiments. The rats, mutated and damaged. Bulging and skeletal. Rotten and decaying. The Ghost Boy thought it would keep them for company, pets if one would. But…it was just…so, Ancients damned, hungry.

“Nightingale?” The rat Principal Nedzu asks.

”Lab rats, always lab rats…hah.” The Ghost Boy giggles as it curls in on itself. It feels as if its skeleton itself doesn’t fit, it’s not right, “I used to love that show.”

The scientists were intrigued by what it had done. They stopped meals. Completely. All they’ll give it are those poor, poor, failed experiments. With their protruding bones and off colored eyes. The once pristine white coats covered in green and red, like Christmas. It hates Christmas.

”Nightingale? Are you still with me?” The latest failure Principal Nedzu attempts to ask, but The Ghost Boy just continues to fold in on itself.

Don’t want to. It doesn’t want to. It doesn’t like eating its fellow creatures. The spikey scientist says that all good animals eat their food. That it’s normal for animals to eat other animals.

“Daniel!” Principal Nedzu shouts and Danny uncovers his head to peer at him. His ears covered by his arms and hands, pressing them firmly against his head.

”I—I didn’t want to eat them, I s-swear,” Danny chokes out, scratching his arms and neck as he begins to unfurl, “I didn’t ha-have a choice!”

Principal Nedzu gains an almost confused, but concerned, face, “Nightingale, I believe there’s been a misunderstanding.” He attempts to explain.

Danny allows himself to unfurl from his protective position even more, but continues to scratch at his skin, “You, you mean y-you’re not going to hand me over to the government because I k-killed the others?”

Nedzu’s face immediately darkened and Danny regretted uncurling, “Government? Others?”

”They, uhm…The scientists made me eat their failed experiments, the rats, specifically…”

Nedzu’s furry face gains so much evident stress that a vein is visible through the hairs. Danny, for a second there, is worried he’s going to turn out like the rats, bulging and broken. But instead, the Principal’s paw is suddenly slamming down on the coffee table, causing the tea set to rattle.

”Damnit…” Principal Nedzu mutters to himself, “I was hoping to be wrong…”

”Uhm, sir…?” Maybe he’s doing that one panic attack tactic where you just confuse the hell out of the person?

Principal Nedzu reaches an arm out and grabs tea, before lifting it up and…partially chugging it. There was tea all down the front of his shirt.

”What,” Danny says, not sitting completely upright.

“Let’s reconvene in 2 days time, when we’re both in a better mindset, why don’t we?” Nedzu falsifies a grin.

”O…Kay?” Danny hesitantly replies, before phasing through the back of the couch and getting the hell out of dodge.

On his way back to class 1-A, his enhanced hearing can’t help but catch the sounds of gnashing and growling from the principal’s office.

He didn’t have time to focus on that peculiar meeting, he had a friend to check up on and group to portal-pool back home.

After returning from Nedzu’s office, Danny had gone straight back to Recovery Girl’s office. Both Uraraka and Iida had gone back to the rest of 1-A after Izuku had woken up. Bakugou, on the other hand, was still passed out, but Izuku was liminal, that’s to be expected.

”I must say, the amount of energy you have to have to sleep for such a little amount of time is remarkable…” Recovery Girl comments.

”My mom always said I was an energetic child,” Izuku jokes and Danny snorts from his spot next to the bed.

”And you’re sure you’re all right?” He asks.

”For the fiftieth time, Danny, I’m okay,” Izuku stares into his eyes as he reassures him, “You made sure of that.”

Danny stares right back with wide eyes, Izuku seemed to know just the thing to say to abate the obsessive need to wrap him up and hide him away from the dangers. 

Their impromptu staring contest ends immediately when Recovery Girl lightheartedly scoffs, “I’m not paid enough to deal with lovesick teens.”

Danny feels his pointed ear turn warm and watches Izuku’s own face become red, “I— We’re not—“

”Yeah—we don’t—“

”Come on Toga, let’s leave these two lovebirds,” Recovery Girl gestures at Himi-Chan to follow her away.

”Yes, ma’am, Chiyo-Sensei!!” Himi-Chan cheers and skips after the little old lady.

Silence reigns supreme for a moment afterwards, before both he and Izuku speak up,

”So, I—“

”Are you—“

They both stop and stare, before breaking down into laughter.

”Sorry, sorry,” Danny says, “You go first.”

”I was just going to ask if you really called All Might out,” Izuku explains.

”How’d you hear about that????” Uraraka and Iida had been gone by then.

”Himi-Chan told me,” Izuku answers, “Principal Nedzu told Recovery Girl, and Himi-Chan overheard.”

”And no one said anything?” Danny remarks, “That’s another tally on my ‘Himi-Chan would be an awesome spy’ board.”

Izuku snorts, “Please tell me this board isn’t real.”

”I guess we’ll never know…”

“We!? You’re the one who would own the board!” Izuku laughs.

”Nah, that’s actually my evil twin Fanny, inventor of the Fanny pack.” Danny says without cracking once, and solemnly adds, “He started his villain arc after searching up what his name means.”

”Oh my god, shut up,” Izuku continues to laugh.

”I usually go by Danny, but that works too, I guess,” He jokingly shrugs.

Izuku leans out of the med cot towards Danny just so that he can push his shoulder.

”You’re so stupid,” Izuku mocked.

”Thank you, I’ve spent years honing my ability,” Danny jokingly thanks.

”Oh get ou—“ 

Izuku is cut off by a groan from the other med cot.

”Ugh…” 

“Oh shit, the blonde urchin is waking up.” Danny says as Bakugou opens his eyes and twitches a hand. “I’ll go get Recovery Girl.”

”No need,” Recovery Girl pops up out of nowhere, with a relatively small kit, “He should be fine, regardless.”

”Perfect!” Danny chirps, “I had so many mental breakdowns the past few hours, I think I’m going to be stuck in little shit mode for the rest of the day.”

”Joy.” Izuku comments.

Bakugou begins to twitch even more and Danny zooms over before he can open his eyes. He stands right above the borderline-accidental-terrorist and grins with his pointy teeth on full display.

Bakugou cracks an eye open, “Ugh…” The other one opens up and Bakugou full body flinches before he sends out his right fist, punching at Danny’s face. Danny simply turns his head intangible, “Oh, what the hell!?”

”Good morning sunshine, the earth says hello!” Danny quotes as he returns his head to intangibility.

”Get the fuck out of my face, Slimer,” Bakugou grits out and pulls his fist back.

”Slimer?” Danny wilts and backs off, “I can’t even joke about you giving me a nickname, that guys the ugliest ghost I’ve ever seen. Behind Spectra.”

”I’m surprised you, of all people, would know about a pre-quirk franchise like Ghostbusters,” Izuku comments slyly.

Bakugou’s head turns to Izuku so fast, Danny wouldn’t have been surprised if it had flown off, “Hah!? Deku!?” He yells, “What the fuck happened?”

Himi-Chan pops up from out of nowhere with her large smile, “You set off the equivalent—“

”That’s a large word for Himi-Chan,” Danny jokes, thinking back to watching Elmo and Sesame Street with Jazz.

”—Thank you, anyways you set off the equivalent of multiple bombs while on one of the first floors of a multistory building.” Himi-Chan seems to quote someone else’s words before continuing, “Basically, you went BOOM!” She imitates an explosion with her hands, “And the building was like ~shwooshssshhhasks~” She wiggles her fingers, “And you were like, ‘Oh no!!’ And then Izu saved you.”

Everyone stares at her for a solid three seconds before Bakugou grumbles, “Deku didn’t do shit.”

”I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Danny argues, “You had a nasty head wound that would have been a lot worse had Izuku not given you some intangibility. You certainly wouldn’t have fit in the little air bubble the way you were standing.”

”I would’ve just blasted the rubble,” Bakugou argues.

”Too risky, the obnoxious amount of debris would severely hinder you, the smoke and dust would enter your lungs, the falling cement could easily crush you...” Danny bites back while counting with his fingers.

”Yeah? And what gives you the right to act all high and mighty? Think you’re better than me?”

”Considering I’m the one who got the two of you out, I believe I have some standing here,” Danny replies.

”You—What? You mean All Might…”

”Didn’t do shit and put a bunch of teenagers in danger?” Danny asks innocently, “Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. While I expended my own power and effort on getting you all out, he was too busy being confronted by the fact that he sabotaged team A.”

”You’re fucking lying,” Bakugou argues.

”Quite the contrary,” Recovery Girl approaches Bakugou to check him over, “If anything, he’s downplaying what happened. All Might put you all into some serious danger, and you would’ve been far more injured if not for Midoriya and Nightingale.”

”For the last goddamn time, I didn’t need Deku’s fucking he—“

Bakugou is cut off when Danny smacks him over the back of his head.

”Danny!” Izuku gasps.

”What? He was talking stupid!”

”You could’ve aggravated his head wound!” Izuku argues.

”Well, according to him, he would’ve been fine,” Danny retorts.

”That’s it, I’m out of here,” Bakugou huffs as he struggles to remove himself from under the blanket, “I don’t need to spend anymore time here with a bunch of lunatic extras.”

Danny floats over to a chair, picks up a U.A. uniform, and turns back to Bakugou who was now sitting upright, “Get changed first, at least,” He tosses the clothes over, “As…lovely… as I’m sure it is, I don’t think anyone wants to see your bare ass.” He jokes.

”I—You—“ Bakugou blushes angrily, “Shut the fuck up, Slimer!” But, he takes the clothes anyways and stomps off, thankfully he was still wearing underwear. Or else that would’ve been very awkward.

Izuku slowly starts to crack up and giggle, causing Danny to turn back around to him with his hands on his hips, while Recovery Girl and Himi-Chan use the distraction to leave.

”And what’s so funny?” Danny asks.

”I just, I’ve never seen Kacchan so speechless before,” Izuku continues to giggle, “You—you caught him so off guard, it was beautiful.”

”I meant what I said,” Danny nods his head, “If I’m going to be looking at a guy’s ass, I don’t plan on it being Bakugou’s.”

…

”…You’re expecting to be watching a guy’s ass?” 

Danny’s face turns three shades darker and he releases a sound similar to that of a heated kettle, “No!! I just—ugh…That’s not what I meant!”

”It’s alright Danny, I support you,” Izuku nods sagely, but Danny can see his smirk trying to crack through.

Danny grabs the second U.A. uniform and chucks it at Izuku’s face before stomping away from his friend’s laughter.

Chapter Text

April 10, 2XX3

”I so sad,” Danny pouts while lounging across a couch on the first floor of Veiled Residences.

”Oh boy, what’s wrong now?” Hitoshi asks jokingly.

Danny sighs and turns over, “I wanted to help Yaoyorozu and Hagakure with their costumes yesterday, but when I confronted them about it after school, they said they’re both busy until the 12th. :(“

Hitoshi stares at Danny in shock after he finishes talking, “How the hell did you do that?”

”Do what?” Danny asks, confused.

”That—thing you did after pouting!” Hitoshi explains.

”This?” Danny questions, “:(“

”Yes! That was not a word!” Hitoshi shouts, “I just, how!?”

”A man never emotes and tells,” Danny replies.

”Okay, first of all, that’s not even how that quote goes,” Hitoshi argues, “And second of all, even if it was, you still totally used it wrong.”

”Shows what you know,” Danny retorts, and Hitoshi just deadpan stares at him.

”…I just can’t with you.”

”You know you love me,” Danny singsongs.

Hitoshi, in retaliation, grabs the nearest item (a muffin) and throws it at Danny’s face. Danny opens his mouth and catches it, causing Hitoshi to groan in frustration.

Just then, the front doors to the apartment building swing open, and in walks Mina. She skips over to the two boys and asks aloud, “What’s ruffled your feathers this time, Hitoshi?”

”Just Danny being annoying,” He grumbles.

”Oh,” Mina giggles, “So the usual?” Hitoshi just sighs dejectedly.

Danny floats off the couch and closer to the two, “>:D”

Mina pauses in her giggling and slowly turns her head to Danny, “Why did I just get the feeling of an evil smiley face?”

”You too!?” Hitoshi exclaims.

“How did you do that, Danny!?” Mina asks.

”Yeesh, it’s like you guys have never seen someone emote before,” Danny floats lazily on his back, arms crossed behind his head, “=^=“

”I…am so confused right now,” Mina comments.

The elevator then proceeds to sing and open up, allowing Izuku to exit joyfully. He shows no evidence that he had even been almost crushed just the day before, “Hi guys!” Izuku cheers.

”Hey Izuku,” Hitoshi and Mina greet in synch.

”Hi, Izuku!” Danny cheers, “ヾ(≧∇≦*)ヾ”

”(•̀’◡’•̀)ﾉ” Izuku automatically responds before stopping in his tracks and pausing. Both Hitoshi and Mina look at him in surprise and slight annoyance, while Danny just looks delighted, “What was that? How did I do that?”

”You were just emoting in response to mine,” Danny explains unhelpfully.

”Didn’t know I could do that…” Izuku mutters.

”It’s a liminal thing,” Danny explains.

”It’s linked to your quirks?” Mina asks.

“Sure,” Danny responds suspiciously.

”Then how come we can hear it?” Hitoshi asks.

”Do you have to speak Spanish to hear someone speak it?” Danny asks in response.

”Well, no…”

”It's basically the same premise. You know someone’s speaking a different language, you understand somewhat what they’re trying to get across, you just don’t speak the language yourself.” Danny explains.

”Are you ever going to stop dumping new surprises on us?” Hitoshi dares to ask.

”Probably not,” Danny shrugs, “And can someone go get Kirishima and Himi-Chan? We’re gonna be late.”

“ᓫ(°⌑°)ǃ” Izuku emotes and runs back to the staircase next to the elevator he had come through.

”That’s gonna be so hard to get used to…” Hitoshi sighs.

———✧

Opening up a portal—while on the sidewalk outside of the apartment building—to U.A., Danny steps through and immediately backtracks before slamming it shut and emoting, “(·'╻'·)!!”

”…What the hell was that all about?” Hitoshi dares to ask.

Danny turns to him with a haunted look in his eyes, “There were, like, 50 million strangers outside of U.A.”

”Σ(っ°Д°;)っ” Izuku exclaims, “Is it a villain attack?”

”Worse,” Danny says with a 100-yard stare.

”Worse??” Mina asks.

”It’s a vulture attack,” Danny shivers, “Reporters.” 

”Oh, that’s not too bad, right?” Kirishima wonders aloud, and Danny walks up to him to grab him by the shoulders.

”You don’t understand. They’re like evil sharks, they can smell blood in the water from a mile away,” Danny shakes him slightly, “They can even smell fear!!”

”…Why not just portal into the school building then?” Himi-Chan asks, swinging back and forth on her feet.

”Wait. Himi-Chan, you’re a genius!!” Danny exclaims and releases Kirishima. He spins wildly around to his original spot and rips open a new tear in reality.

”Me am?” Himi-Chan asks, and everyone slowly turns their heads to her.

”You is,” Danny nods and replies in as equally broken grammar as Himi-Chan's comment.

Danny pulls the portal open more and sticks his head through, delighted to see the hallways of U.A. and an absence of human vultures. He pulls his head back out and smiles wildly.

”All clear!” Danny cheers and marches into the portal, listening to the sound of the others following him through.

The six of them make it through smoothly, and Danny closes the portal like blinds once Kirishima exits. Looking around for a moment, Danny realizes the horrible news.

”I don’t recognize this hallway.” Danny spins to the others, “…D:…”

“What!? But you portaled us here!” Hitoshi argues.

”I was just thinking U.A.! Not a specific hallway!”

”Guys, calm down,” Izuku says placatingly, “I’ll just ask GAIA.”

”Ooh! Ooh!” Himi-Chan jumps in place and waves her hand rapidly, “Can I ask?!”

Izuku gives her a quizzical look but relents, “I…sure?” And he holds his watch-covered fist out to her.

”Yes!” She pumps her fist and loudly exclaims to the watch, “GAIA, where are we?”

The robotic voice of GAIA speaks up in response, “Hello, [Himiko Toga], you are currently on the third level of U.A. High School, in the second corridor near the gender neutral bathrooms. Would you like me to pull up a map?”

”Sure!” She chirps and then pouts, “And I wanna be called Himi-Chan.”

”Of course, [Himi-Chan],” GAIA replies and projects a U.A. Map with a blinking dot. A glowing arrow appears on the map. “Just follow the arrow to get to class.”

” Every day I am prouder and prouder for making you,” Danny says and wipes an imaginary tear from his eye.

”Thank you, [Dadiel].”

”Oh dear Ancients, please never call me that again.”

———✧

”BONZAI!!” Danny yells as he kicks the door to 1-A open and somersaults inside.

”What the he—“

”MADE IT!!” Izuku exclaims and punches the air in victory as he, Hitoshi, Mina, and Kirishima all flood in behind Danny, who had now popped back up.

Immediately after saying this, the bell signaling the start of class goes off and the group attempts to rush off to their seats, but are stopped by Aizawa-Sensei appearing behind them like a sleep-deprived ninja and clearing his throat. Loudly.

”You’re late.”

”Are not!” Danny argues, “You heard the bell, we totally made it!”

”By, like, 3 seconds…” A nasally voice refutes from the desks.

Danny whirls around and points at him, “Nobody asked you, Blue Balls!”

”I—Wha—They’re purple!!”

Aizawa-Sensei brings a hand to the bridge of his nose and rubs it exasperatedly. “And just why were you all—“

”Almost, remember the almost—“

”Almost late,” Aizawa-Sensei amends his demand.

Mina sucks in a huge breath, looking alarmingly similar to Kirby and suddenly spews a waterfall of words, “So, like, first we were just gonna all portal into the front of U.A., but the place was, like, full of reporters! And Danny has some kind of one-sided, possibly two-sided, beef with reporters, so he was all “Nuh-uh! Not going in!” Then Himi-Chan suggested we portal straight into the hallway, so Danny did! But then we realized we didn’t know where we were in the hallway, so we had to ask Danny and Izuku’s AI love child—“

”OUR WHAT!?”

”Hell yeah!!”

”—For directions, and she totally did! But even then, we were kinda confused as to where to go, and so we got lost a couple of times. We even ended up in the vents at one point, and Danny sobbed while befriending a really ugly rat that he named Ratticus. And then we finally found our hallway, but we had to drop Himi-Chan off first. Then finally, finally we showed up and weren’t late, cause we, y’know, beat the bell by 3 seconds.” She huffs out and takes in another deep breath to restore her air.

”…” Aizawa-Sensei stares at Mina and the rest of the group for a few moments before sighing and waving noncommittally in the direction of the desks, “Just…go sit down.”

With a chorus of “Yes, Sensei!”’s, and Ratticus squeaking three times, they all made their way to their desks. 

He didn’t comment on Hitoshi obviously stomping on Blue Balls’ foot, though. Or the annoying cry of said midget. Sweet.

Aizawa-Sensei walked to the front of the classroom and stood behind the desk, preparing to say something. Not that Danny was paying attention, of course, he was marveling at Ratticus. Duh. He’s pretty sure the little guy may just be sapient…

Aizawa-Sensei lets out a deep sigh, “As you all are probably aware, All Might’s hero training classes with you yesterday went to shit.”

Now that got Danny’s attention. And Ratticus’s.

”You weren’t even supposed to be doing battle training. You were supposed to be trying out your costumes. And even if that weren’t the case, battle training is at the very least a two-teacher job. All Might fucked up, and you all had to suffer for it.” Aizawa-Sensei hesitates for a moment, “He will be taking courses with Nedzu, and will have his teaching privileges revoked for a couple of days. If I had my way, he’d be fired.”

Aizawa-Sensei paused to allow the class to process this. Iida, assuming it was to allow for questions, raises his hand.

”Nope, I am not answering any questions,” Iida sadly lowers his hand, and Aizawa-Sensei continues, “Now onto homeroom business, sorry for the sudden announcement, but today…”

Please don’t be a pop quiz, please don’t be a pop quiz!!

“You’ll pick a class president.” Aizawa-Sensei finishes.

Such a normal school-like thing!!

The class erupts into chatter, people getting out of their seats to volunteer and try to take the spot.

”I WANNA BE PRESIDENT!! LEMME DO IT!!”

“I’d like to do it.”

“The position was made for me.☆”

“I wanna be a leader!”

“In my administration, girls will have to show 30cm of thigh!!” Danny contemplates sending Ratticus, who looks absolutely murderous, after Blue Balls for that one… But he just drops a chunk of ice over him instead. Everyone ignores it.

Danny leans forward, looks past the frog girl, and asks Izuku, who he spots hesitantly holding up his hand, “What’s with all the hype..?”

Izuku turns around and tilts into the aisle as well, “In normal schools, the position just entails mundane tasks, so nobody really wants to do it,” He continues, “But in the Hero Course, it would mean leading the group…a position suited a top hero in the making.” 

“Eesh, no thank you.” Danny leans back into his seat.

A voice then breaks through the chatter, gathering attention.

”Leading the many is a task of heavy responsibility!” Iida exclaims, “But ambition does not equate to ability!”

”Hah??”

“This sacred office demands the trust of the constituents,” Iida trudges on, “If this is to be a democracy, then I put forward the motion…

That our true leader must be chosen by election!!”

“This is just a classroom, not Congress!!!”

“But Iida, we haven’t known each other long enough to build trust…” Froggy argues.

“And everyone’ll just vote for themselves!” Kirishima adds.

“…Tha-That’s precisely why anyone who manages to get multiple votes will be the best suited individual for the job!” He turns stiffly to Aizawa-Sensei, “Will you allow this, Sensei!?”

“I don’t care, just make it quick.”

“How are we voting?” Uraraka asks.

”Heads down, hands up?” Danny suggests. 

“Ah, excuse me?” The polite voice of Yaoyorozu breaks through, and continues when she has everyone’s attention, “We could all write down our vote and put it in a box?” To make a point, she uses her quirk to create a stack of small paper squares and a thin cardboard box.

”I’m down!”

”It does seem most efficient, non? ☆”

”Uhm, great! I’ll just…” Yaoyorozu goes around the room handing out the slips. Hitoshi takes two, so that Yaoyorozu doesn’t have to deal with Blue Balls. Finished, she finds her seat behind Danny.

Danny, meanwhile, looks at the slip for but a moment before writing down ‘Midoriya’ and folding the slip. Soon enough, everyone is finished, and Yaoyorozu collects the strips. Clearly, Aizawa-Sensei isn’t going to, so she heads to the front and begins to count them. 

The end results are as follows:

Danny Nightingale — 5

Izuku Midoriya — 4

Momo Yaoyorozu — 3

Tsuyu Asui — 2

Ratticus — 2

Bakugou Katsuki — 1

Denki Kaminari — 1

Hanta Sero — 1

Minoru Mineta — 1

“I got 4 votes!?”

”Who the hell voted for the rat!?”

“What the…who the hell voted for Deku..!?”

“Zero votes…I thought as much! This is the harsh reality of this office…”

”Fine, so your President’s Nightingale and your Vice President's Midoriya.”

The two boys in question stand at the front of the classroom, shell-shocked, before Danny snaps.

”What!?” Danny exclaims with Ratticus on his shoulder, “I can’t be Class President!! I refuse!! I revoke it in the name of Clockwork!”

“Too late now,” Aizawa-Sensei smirks, and Ratticus faints.

———✧

“And…Yoink!!”

Danny barely had a moment to leave behind his ‘newly-appointed-vice-president’ daze for the cafeteria when he was suddenly yanked to the right by a calloused hand.

”Danny!” Izuku squeaks and turns to where Danny had been yoinked.

”Haha! Gotcha now!” The familiar voice of none other than Mei Hatsume rings out.

”Oh no…” Hitoshi groans in response.

”I’m not letting you get away this time, Ghostie!” Mei declares, “You’re gonna sit with me and you’re gonna like it, Mister!”

Danny and Ratticus just stare blankly at her before shrugging in synch, “Yeah, okay.” Danny agrees easily.

”Haha, yes!” She spins around, hand on Danny’s wrist as she marches off it with her hand to the sky, er, ceiling, “Onward!”

Mei drags Danny, who is followed by Izuku and Hitoshi, to a decently sized table in a corner of the cafeteria. It’s adequately spaced off from the rest of the room, and the chairs look surprisingly comfortable. She takes a deep breath in and plops herself down before grabbing a lunchbox from out of nowhere.

“I’d ask where that came from, but I’ve begun to realize that such questions are useless to ask at this point,” Hitoshi sighs as he finds a seat next to the now-seated Danny, “I’m half convinced I’ve been ‘friend-abducted’ by several chaos-demon overlords.”

”Close!” Danny chirps in response.

”Exhibit A.”

”Oh, they’re not that bad,” Izuku says from the other side of Danny.

”That’s because they’ve already corrupted you, Izuku,” Hitoshi mourns dramatically.

“It’s the ectoplasm!” Danny decides, snapping his fingers.

”Danny…Mei isn’t liminal,” Izuku says gently.

”Oh shit, you’re right,” Danny slumps before perking up again, “It’s the smoke inhalation!!”

”I’m just gonna stick with the demon overlord theory,” Hitoshi decides.

Hitoshi looks down at his lunchbox, hoping to grab one of the cat-shaped onigiri he had specifically requested from Lunch Lady, when he notices a significant lack of feline charm.

He slowly lifts his head with his eyes slanted and glares at every possible offender when he makes contact with Himi-Chan. He’s not gonna question when she showed up.

”Hi!!!” She waves happily from across the table, and then proceeds to lift a circle of Black Pudding and shove it into her mouth. Definitely not…

He turns his head to Izuku and immediately turns away from the sheer innocence radiating off of him. Danny hasn’t infected him enough for him to be that much of a goblin yet….

He looks to Danny and is met with the sight of him skewering two baby carrots with his fangs and just looking like an overall idiot…

He looks at Mei lastly, but…She clearly didn’t take it either, so then who—

“What’s up with Shinsou?” Mina asks as she sets her box down on the table and sits.

”Yeah, bro?” Kirishima asks, as well, while he takes a seat, “Why do you look, like, all suspicious?”

”Somebody ate my onigiri, but I don’t know who,” He explains, “Or how…”

”Wasn’t me! I just sat down!” Mina defends herself

“I also just got here…”

“I can’t eat that stuff! Blegh!”

“I prefer Mama Hatsume's food!!”

”I waf a wifle preoccuphied…ptoo!”

”I would never steal your food, Hitoshi!”

”Then who did!?” He cried out. And then he heard it. A burp… The tiniest burp.

There, in the middle of the table, was Ratticus. Sitting with the fullest belly he’s ever seen on a rat, and a very self-satisfied face.

Danny notices as well and gasps, “Ratticus! How could you?”

”Oh, you little—“ Hitoshi is cut off by a siren suddenly blaring overhead.

Danny immediately straightens up and snatches Ratticus before jumping out of his chair and attempting to asses the situation. It’s chaos all around, students running to the exits in a worried frenzy. Danny spins around with a hiss and turns to his friends.

”Izuku, to me,” He commands, “Everyone else under the table!”

Izuku nods an affirmation and rises to join Danny. Mei and Himi-Chan are quick to slide under the table and drag Mina and Kirishima along with them. Hitoshi hesitates for a few seconds before getting under as well. The table dwellers huddle in close, Kirishima closest to the easiest exit.

”GAIA, what alarm is this!?” Izuku asks and lifts his wrist up. A small icon appears and vibrates for a moment before GAIA speaks up.

”Tier 3 alarm, break in. U.A. policy asks that students don’t panic and find a safe place, preferably with a staff member.”

”Well, that’s obviously not gonna happen…” Danny hisses and points to the crowd. He’s shoulder-checked by a random and pulls Izuku with him closer to the table. “Izuku, can you access U.A.’s cams to see who, or what, broke in?”

”Yeah!” When Izuku says this, a holographic display appears above the watch, and he begins to press separate buttons, “You gonna check the window?”

”I should try,” Danny responds and secures Ratticus before turning intangible and flying through the crowd.

He speeds through the students easily and is disturbed by the jam-packed hallway, thankful for his intangibility. He peers outside the window and sees the gates to U.A.’s inner courtyard as dust. The, ugh, reporters are attempting to rush in, but are all trying to force themselves through a bottleneck at the same time, while a few staff members hold them back. Taking stock of this, Danny nods once and backtracks to their table in the cafeteria. There’s still students freaking out, but the number has diminished some, with the hallway filling out. 

“Reporters broke in,” Danny supplies.

”Hostile?” Izuku asks.

”Always,” Danny scoffs, “But the school is fine. No villains or anything.” Danny says the lady part louder, inspiring the rest of the group to exit from under the table.

”What now, bro?” Kirishima asks, “Everybody’s still freaking out!”

Danny sighs and turns to the boy, “We’re doing this Disney channel style.”

”What do you—“

The question is cut off by Danny spinning around and floating onto a table. He cups his hands around his mouth and forces his voice out, “STOP!”

The loud noise, louder than even the sirens, attracts a large amount of attention.

”There is nothing to be worried about!!” Danny yells, “There is no intruder, there is no threat, and there is no war in Ba Sing Se.”

Hitoshi makes a noise of flabbergasted confusion as Danny continues.

” It’s just the reporters! You are safe.”

What sounds like whispers, but is more likely to be normal speech, sounds out. The news that it’s just reporters travels fast and reaches those in the cramped hallway, stilling the wide panic and causing people to return to the cafeteria, sheepishly. Some students still look uncomfortable, though.

”If you don’t believe me, hang out here with Lunch Rush. Like we’re supposed to during a tier 3.”

That causes more people to become embarrassed by how they acted, and for the rest of the stragglers to return to their tables. Danny sighs, drops his hands, and hops off the table. Izuku absentmindedly raises a hand that Danny slaps in a high five. The watch is showing security camera footage of the front gates.

”Reporters are calming down too,” Izuku points out and gestures to the holographic screen, “We should be all good soon.”

”Thank the ancients,” Danny groans and sits back down, Ratticus running, leaving his shoulder. Hitoshi snatches the rat up and starts to lecture him about thievery and the sacredness of Lunch Lady’s food.

Mina looks at Danny with wide eyes, “…Are we sure you’re just a first year?”

Danny smirks, “As a hero student? Yeah.”

He doesn’t elaborate.

Chapter Text

April 12, 2XX3

Danny sat backwards on the leather couch, watching through the front windows of the Hatsume’s shop. He had a mission today.

Fix Yaoyorozu and Hagakure’s horrible hero costumes. Sure, some of the others had some pretty trashy ones, but theirs were just plain wrong. And Danny just knows the costume designers would just come up with some bullshit excuse about how, ‘It’s the only thing that’ll work with their quirks!’ Pah! Danny spent a whole day in his first week here researching hero costumes, cause he was so confused how ones like that mountain lady’s worked! He knows it’s possible!

So, there he sits. Waiting, festering, preparing for the perfect time to strike. He’s got ideas, lotsa them. And he’s got Mei to help him. The very Mei who is right next to him and mirroring him comedically. Ratticus is also mocking him.

”I’d be offended by you two right now,” Danny starts, “but I don’t have the time or crayons to care.”

Mei snorts, and Ratticus giggles in a high pitch. Everything stops when Danny sees the large, black ponytail that can only belong to one person.

Momo Yaoyorozu! Holding a phone and squinting at it! 

Danny flees the couch and runs out the door, ignoring the chime of it behind him, “Yaoyorozu! Yaoyorozu!” Danny waves her over, “ヾ(˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶)”

Yaoyorozu looks up and smiles, making her way over. Out from behind her comes a large, light yellow sweatshirt with the zipper barely being used, a shirt with the logo for a band that Danny didn’t recognize, a white skort, and some tall socks with the feet covered by clean tennis shoes. The area above the shirt was decorated with a pale yellow ribbon choker.

”Oh, and Hagakure too!!” Danny yells excitedly.

”Hi, Danny!” Hagakure greets when she and Yaoyorozu finally reach him.

”Yes, hello,” Yaoyorozu says gently.

”I am so glad you guys are here,” Danny starts and gestures for the two girls to follow, “Cause, like, there were actually a lot of, honestly, pathetic costumes. But your guys’? Those things are practically crimes,” He tilts his head back and smiles with his sharp teeth, “Literally!”

”Yeah… I was pretty uncomfortable being naked like that…” Hagakure mutters.

”Ugh, and don’t even get me started on the impracticality of it all!” Danny groans and opens the door to the Hatsumes’ shop. “Did you guys even design those?”

”My family hired a professional hero costume designer for mine,” Yaoyorozu supplies.

”Yeah, I think you guys got scammed,” Danny cringes and leads the two to the back.

”Oh…”

”I designed my own, but I didn’t know what else I could do!” Hagakure cries out, “I can’t just turn other things invisible!”

”I’m sure we can find a workaround,” Danny reassures her.

”Damn straight!” Mei exclaims while appearing from seemingly nowhere, startling the two girls.

”Hagakure, Yaoyorozu, meet Mei Hatsume,” Danny introduces the girls. “She’s a part of U.A.’s support course and basically a prodigy.”

”Aweee, thank you!” Mei coos, “Now who do I get??”

”I’ll leave Yaoyorozu’s disaster to you,” Danny decides. “Hagakure’s can be my problem.”

”Yes!” Mei excitedly cheers and grabs Yaoyorozu’s wrist, “Let’s go make babies!!”

”Pardon!?” Yaoyorozu exclaims with a flushed face.

”She means, like, engineer things. Not making literal babies,” Danny explains loudly before guiding Hagakure to his table.

It has a few old Fenton blueprints that were practically burned into his brain, pushed off it to the side. The dark black material is littered with a variety of tools and dirt. Danny takes Ratticus off and sets the little guy on the table; the rat scurries off to the side.

”Right then, I’d ask you for a sketch of your preexisting costume, but I don’t believe that will be necessary…”

Hagakure laughs a little awkwardly, “I mean, I could give you a drawing of two blue gloves?”

Danny snorts, “Yeah, I’ll pass.” Danny spins around on one heel and reaches his arm out. “Now for our first manner of business, I’d like to try something. If you’d take my hand, please.”

”…Why?” Hagakure asks, skeptically, and Danny drops his arm.

”It’s simple really,” he begins to explain excitedly. Danny reaches out and grabs a random object. “One of the abilities that comes with my quirk is the ability to make myself,” He turns invisible for a few seconds while keeping the metal piece he picked up visible. “Or others,” He transfers the invisibility to the metal, “Invisible.”

Danny sets down the metal piece and smiles, “Now you might be wondering, ‘But, Danny! What does that have to do with anything?! And the simple answer is math.”

”Awe man, I hate math…” Hagakure sighs.

”Bear with me! In the early stages of middle school, you learn that when you multiply a negative by a negative, you get a positive,” Danny explains. “My hypothesis is that your invisibility and my ability to make something invisible both count as the negative in the situation. So, if I attempt to turn you, or, like, your hair invisible, it will actually turn it visible!!”

Hagakure simply stands there in shock, watching Danny tell her that he could, hypothetically, make her visible for the first time in her life. This random classmate of hers could give her something she’s wanted her entire life. Hagakure reaches a hand out and grabs Danny’s.

”Do it,” she commands, and Danny looks at her gleefully.

Danny pulls on the feeling of his invisibility, but rather than allowing it to wash over him, he sends it over to Hagakure. The feeling of the invisibility starting from him and transferring to Hagakure reminds Danny of field days at Casper High when he was younger. Specifically linking hands with the other kids and racing against different grades to get each member through a hula hoop without letting go of each other.

Not wanting to do too much, Danny tests it by simply transferring the invisibility to the hand he’s holding. Slowly, but surely, a translucent hand appears. It’s not overly visible, but it’s there, and it’s real. Hagakure gasps in shock and retracts her hand, causing it to disappear once more.

”Was…was that really my…?” She asks speechlessly, and Danny nods his head excitedly. “I’ve never…”

”Do you wanna try again?” Danny asks.

”Yes, yes!” Hagakure quickly agrees and then pauses, “Wait, no.”

”What? Why?” Danny asks, confused by her answer.

”We’re going to need a mirror. I’ve never seen my own face before, Danny,” She explains, “You have to let me have this.”

Danny laughs lightly in response and goes to retrieve a mirror.

Momo Yaoyorozu

Momo had initially felt awkward coming here. Danny was nice, and his own costume looked great! But she’d only known him for a couple of days. He did have a point, though, when he brought up her costume. It made her uncomfortable, and the bookshelf was just…really impractical.

But when she showed up, she didn’t even get to work with Danny! She was whisked away by his friend, a pink-haired girl from the support course. Momo had felt even more uncertain when that had happened. She’d started regretting showing up, that is, until the Hatsume girl got started.

Which is how she ended up here, testing the durability and stretchiness of… Momo squints and looks down at the tag, reading (in sparkly glitter pen) ‘Silly Kevlar.’ Lord knows what that name means. All Momo knows is that she is very much interested in learning the composition of this material. She’s snapped out of her thoughts by the loud sound of Hatsume revving up a new tool.

”And now, we test the Silly Kevlar against this baby!!” She cheers happily and proceeds to lift up a comically large chainsaw, decorated with stickers and charms. And a menagerie of buttons.

”Are…you sure that’s safe?” Momo nervously asks.

”Nope!” She replies, “That’s what the safety goggles are for!” And before Momo can say anything else, Hatsume is slicing the chainsaw into the material. She methodically moves it back and forth, and, to Momo’s surprise, nothing happens.

Hatsume cackles like a deranged woman, “Yes…yes!!” The insane support student presses a button, and the chainsaw stops, allowing Momo a sigh of relief, before it begins to spit out flames, and Momo jumps back anxiously. Hatsume then proceeds to try everything in her power to destroy the Silly Kevlar: guns, knives, a backsaw, a taffy puller (???), Ratticus, fire, liquid nitrogen, and some stuff that not even Momo could recognize. In an insane display of genius, the Silly Kevlar comes out with only a few scratches and scorches.

“H…How...?” Momo dares to ask.

Hatsume chuckles and lifts her goggles back. Momo can’t tell if she has a tan line there or if the rest of her is just dirty. “Danny, Kenzō, and I got bored not too long ago. So, we did some experiments. This baby was one of em! It’s stronger than I expected, considering Danny accidentally tore it apart before. But that might’ve just been Danny being the outlier again.

”O-oh…”

Danny Nightingale

”Look, Hagakure, I can completely understand you wanting an entire outfit made,” Danny gestures to the whiteboard of ideas, “but it’s simply improbable. Especially with the time frame. To even make the smallest patch of fabric, we’ll need to sew the strands of your hair together while I’m holding it. If we’re lucky, we may be able to take the time to study how it works, and we could get Momo to create some more, but even then it would be hard to pack an entire intricate outfit,” Danny explains.

”What—but you were the one who said my previous costume didn’t protect anything!” Hagakure argued.

”Exactly! We can’t make anything too strong using your hair, anyway!” Danny replies and flips the whiteboard to reveal a diagram of his ideas; at the same time, he takes out a small booklet Izuku had written for this and holds it out to Hagakure.

”What is this?” She asks and takes it.

”It’s an analysis booklet that Izuku wrote about you. If you flip to page 8, you’ll see his notes on what happened whenever you drank or ate something—he says sorry if that’s creepy, by the way. He wasn’t trying to be. But, according to Izuku, whenever you ate or drank something, he was unable to see it enter your digestive system. This implies that anything within your body becomes invisible as well. Izuku thus hypothesized that this means that it isn’t just that you’re invisible, but that you reflect light. That anything within you could be visible but is blocked by your outsides working similarly to a mirror.”

”That’s a nice theory and all,” Hagakure says and then wraps her hand around a marker; the marker stays visible. “But, it doesn’t work.” 

“Izuku accounted for that too, which is why the page is marked inaccurate,” Danny smirks. “If you go to page 13, it will detail how Izuku believes that you may actually have some form of lining on your insides that reflects light, while your outside is simply, truly invisible. But that lighting can’t be affected because of the truly invisible mass outside of it.”

”That’s…actually really cool… But how is it going to help us? You can’t just…take something lining my innards.” Hagakure reasons.

Danny snorts in response, “Well, no duh, but, Mei, Izuku, Kenzō, Mrs. Hatsume, and I all worked together on this here baby.” Danny walks over to a machine that was previously covered with a sheet. It looks like something from a mad scientist’s lab. “This is a recreation of a machine that my, ugh, godfather, Vlad Masters, used when he was trying to clone me,”

”Your what did what?”

”It’s powered by ectoplasm, which allows it to bend the laws of reality, just the teensiest bit, in ways that normal X-rays or MRIs can’t. Typically with those machines, they send out waves and receive information back from the reflecting waves. But this here baby-that-I-haven’t-named-yet sends out ectoplasmic waves. They radiate through the skin and—“

”Uhm, Danny?” Hagakure butts in.

”Yeah?” Danny tilts back towards Hagakure, leaving one foot on the floor.

”I…don’t really feel comfortable going into that machine,” Hagakure explains.

This snaps Danny out of his craze. Taking a deep breath and looking around at the whiteboard, the machine, and himself.

He looks like… His parents The Drs. Fenton.

What is he doing?

Danny breathes deeply once more and puts his feet flat on the ground. He breathes out and turns to Hagakure.

”Sorry, I’m sorry,” Danny says. “I got carried away. I wanted to help, but I didn’t take into account how you felt about all this.”

”It’s, uhm, okay…” Hagakure says and then backtracks, “Well, not really. You kind of, sort of, made me uncomfortable. Like a mad scientist who’d found a new subject…”

The words hit Danny straight in the chest, a pang in both his heart and core. He’d just wanted to help, protect her… But, instead, he’d acted so much like the doctors and the GIW. 

“And that was wrong of me.” Danny rubs his arm sadly. “Would you like to see my older ideas? They’re a lot less…y’know.”

Danny can’t see it, but he can feel her smile when Hagakure responds, “Yeah, I’d like that.”

Danny beams, “Great! I had this really cool idea with reflective lenses. Did you know that they came up with hero-grade reflective lenses? They were made for heroes who need glasses, but I was thinking…”

Momo Yaoyorozu

Momo stands in front of a large floor-mounted mirror, wearing the final design that she and Hatsume had decided on. Now, she was meant to make sure it fit well and worked like they planned.

”Ok, let’s try pulling the neckline versus pulling down the zipper. It should only work when the zipper is pulled.” Hatsume says decisively.

Momo reaches her hands to the neckline of the top, she pulls both sides of the zipper apart, and, thankfully, nothing happens. She then grabs the zipper and pulls down; it moves smoothly and quickly—great for when she needs more skin mid-battle—and goes back up just as nicely.

”Zipper works!” Momo reports.

”Yes!!” Hatsume cheers, “Do the elbow and knee pad quick ejections work?”

Momo grabs an elbow pad and pushes the small lever; once it clicked, the pad fell off. She repeated this process three more times with the other pads, all with success. She puts them back on easily.

Hatsume scribbled on her clipboard and cheered, “Boot zippers?”

Momo grabs the zippers of her tall boots and yanks down, the zippers working great. And Hastume cheers happily once more.

The two continue like this over and over again, the costume working smoothly and efficiently. Once done, Momo takes the costume off and returns to her previous outfit. She meets back up with Hatsume, and the two go to check up on Hagakure and Danny.

Danny Nightingale

Hagakure is playing with the masking feature, again, when Mei and Yaoyorozu show up. Hagakure gasps happily when she sees them and runs over.

”Guys, guys,” She exclaims and makes different sections of her outfit disappear, “Look!!”

Yaoyorozu gasps in shock, and Mei starts clapping in excitement and joy.

”Danny says he and, like, Hatsume and some others will use my hair to make clothing pieces!” Hagakure says to explain why only her ‘armor’ pieces and footwear are made of the hard material.

”That sounds great, Hagakure!” Yaoyorozu says, “But, how will they do that if they can’t, well, see it?”

”Like this,” Danny says and walks over to Hagakure, turning her visible (well, as visible as a translucent girl can be). The other girls gasp once more.

”Woah,” Mei says, “You look awesome.”

”How did you…?” Yaoyorozu questions.

”Negative times a negative equals a positive,” Danny shrugs, “Turning an invisible thing invisible makes it visible.”

”Remarkable…”

The four of them continue to chat about the costumes. Mei and Danny come together to critique each other’s work, while Yaoyorozu and Hagakure each gush over their outfits and each other’s.

Eventually, an incessant squeaking overcomes their conversations. They all turn to find Ratticus squeaking at them and standing on two feet, gesticulating wildly with his front feet.

”Ratticus?” Danny asks, “What’s wrong?”

Ratticus huffs and gestures to a nearby clock. It’s 7 PM!!

Hagakure gasps and takes out her phone, checking it and groaning, “My mom’s probably called the police at this point!”

”I missed my etiquette class…” Yaoyorozu remarks.

”Oops…?” Danny laughs nervously.

Chapter Text

April 14, 2XX3

“Chu!!”

Danny pauses on the couch in his apartment, where he and Izuku had been playing Doomed. (He’s still surprised that Doomed, of all things, survived the uprising of quirks.) His controller hangs limply in his hands as his head slowly turns to the boy next to him. Izuku had seemed a little out of it, which is why they skipped out on training to play games. 

Danny’s shellshocked face slowly breaks out into a large grin, and he leans over to Izuku while tilting his head, “Oh my ancients, was that a sneeze!?”

”U-uhm,” Izuku’s face starts to turn red, which Danny delights in. It’s too bad literally anything makes him blush; the reaction would be so much more satisfying if it were only Danny who caused it.

Still, though, Danny abandons his controller and turns his torso fully towards Izuku. He places his hands on the couch seat between them, steadying himself, “It was!” He exclaims, “That was the cutest fucking noise I’ve ever heard!”

Izuku’s face turns impossibly red, “W-what!? No, it wa—Chu!!” His words are cut off by another sneeze, and he whines sadly, covering his face with his hands.

”I can’t believe you just, just casually sneeze like a little baby animal,” Danny remarks, “That’s so adorable!”

”Shut up, no, it’s not!” Izuku groans and scrunched his legs up onto the couch, turning himself into a full-on pretzel ball of a human.

”Seriously? Your sneeze sounds like animals flock to you when you go outside!”

”What the heck does that even mean??” Izuku cries.

”It means that—“

Izuku removes his hands from his face to sneeze, cutting off Danny’s explanation. Rather than him simply sneezing, though, a plume of flames comes out of his mouth, shutting Danny up completely. The two boys stare in shock for a few seconds before looking at each other.

”I’m gonna take a wild guess and say that sneezing up flames isn’t normal for you,” Danny states.

”Of course—“ Izuku sneezes again, a few sparks flying, “—Not!”

”How would you feel about meeting a ghost doctor?”

”Hah?”

———✧

Keeping Izuku in his bed while simultaneously trying to convince Frostbite to come check him over was harder than Danny wanted to admit. Especially that first part, Izuku just wouldn’t sit still.

Thankfully, though, Frostbite agreed to come check out Izuku, proclaiming something about ‘being delighted to meet the Great One’s courting recipient.’ Clearly, Karisma’s been gossiping with the yetis of the Far Frozen in their free time, damnit.

———✧

Danny strays from Izuku's bedside when he hears noise from his living room. Given that Frostbite is in charge of the Infimap, Danny saw no reason to retrieve him himself when he could stay here watching over Izuku. 

"I'm gonna go check that out, okay?" Danny asks.

"Yeah," Izuku sniffs, "Although I still think it's unnecessary to be keeping me in here. I'm sneezing fire!! Not vomiting."

Danny gives the best stern look he can and rests his hand on Izuku's forehead, and brings it back quickly when it practically burns him, "Yeah, well, you've got a fever. That's for sure."

"Ughhhh," Izuku groans and turns away.

Danny snorts and walks over to the door, closing it behind him. He makes his way into the living room to find Frostbite leaning down and holding his portable medical gear. He looks so out of place in the apartment that Danny can't help but release a little laugh, drawing the yeti's attention to him. Almost instantaneously, Frostbite's face breaks out into a large grin.

"Great One," He cheers and comes forward, lifting Danny into a bone-crushing hug.

Danny's bones aren't easily crushed, though, and he reciprocates the hug, "Hey, Frostbite."

Frostbite drops his king and backs up, looking around, "Now, you said you had a sick liminal?"

"Yeah, I tucked him into my bed," Danny says as he begins to lead Frostbite to Izuku, "We'd just been playing some Doomed when he suddenly sneezed. I was making fun of him for how cute it sounded at first," Danny glances to the side at Frostbite, who he sees is smirking at him, "Shut up."

"What? I didn't say anything," Frostbite acts innocent.

"Ugh, anyway," Danny continues, "He suddenly sneezed again, and that time fire came out of his mouth. I think I saw some shoot out of his nose, too. Izuku doesn't have a fire quirk or whatever, though, so it was clear that this was a liminal thing. He's also really hot to the touch."

Frostbite hums, acknowledging Danny's words.

"It honestly reminds me of when I developed my ice powers, just, like, if it was fire instead." Danny suddenly stops walking and groans, dragging a hand down his face. "It's exactly like that, actually. Fuck"

"You think he's developed a core type?" Frostbite asks, astonished, "I thought you said he was merely liminal."

"Well, I thought he was," Danny sighs, "But he certainly has more powers than your average Amity Parker."

"You'd be able to tell if he was a halfa, though," Frostbite says when he and Danny stop outside the bedroom door.

"Yeah, I know," Danny argues, "He might be one of those quarterlings or whatever they're called. Last I checked, the Darkhorse cluster has a lot of them. Cause that crazy fruitloop kept dipping people in his pools."

"Well, it's certainly possible if he came in contact with large amounts of ectoplasm before or after a fatal injury," Frostbite explains and asks, "Did he?"

"Weeeeellll, I may or may not have made him a sculpture out of ecto-ice, and then he got brutally beaten up in an alleyway," Danny says sheepishly.

"You mean to tell me you gave a random human an ice sculpture made of your ectoplasm?" Frostbite asks.

"...And I might have put in some welcoming intent..." Danny mutters.

Frostbite stares at Danny, "Sorry, you mean to tell me that you gave a human the ectoplasm of not only the High King of the Infinite Realms, Ancient of Space, Prince of the Far Frozen, Deafeater of the Mad King, Apprentice of Pandora, Godson of The Master of Time--"

"I get it!!"

"--but you also gave it a welcoming intent!? I'm surprised he didn't immediately become liminal the second he came into contact with it!!"

"...He also said he sleeps with it next to him, on his nightstand," Danny adds on.

Frostbite then says, in practically wonder, "How do you not figure out he was most likely not purely liminal, until now?"

"I'm dumb, you know this!" Danny exclaims.

"You're not dumb," Frostbite refutes, "Just a bit clueless at times."

"Whatever, let's just get this over with," Danny groans and pushes open the door to find Izuku sitting up in bed, staring at them. 

Frostbite enters, enacting essentially no reaction from Izuku, who is still staring wide-eyed at them.

"...Danny... Did you forget I have enhanced hearing now?" Izuku asks hesitantly and hiccups out a few sparks.

"Fuck."

Chapter Text

"Izuku, let's just...calm down..." Danny tries to placate him, tired from answering all of Izuku's questions. He had decided to have Frostbite make himself at home in the living room.

"Are you kidding me!?" Izuku asks excitedly, practically jumping out of the bed. Which is...not what Danny thought he was feeling, "I just found out the multiverse is real, my landlord is some kind of god, and that interdimensional travel is rea--"

Izuku suddenly cuts himself off and turns to Danny, a spark slipping out of his lips. Danny can't help but want to be there to take the fire inside of himself.

...

What?

Danny blushes, but keeps his attention on Izuku.

"Uhm, Danny?" Izuku hesitantly asks, "Are you from this universe? Or even this cluster?"

Danny pales, and his heart drops. Izuku had been so accepting of him all this time. An unconditional acceptance, an inviting presence, an anchor. If he loses him... No. He has to tell him the truth; Izuku will hate him if he doesn't.

"I..." Danny turns his head; he can't look at Izuku, not now, "...No."

The room is completely silent, save for the fan spinning above them. It's dark, and Danny hadn't wanted Izuku to strain his eyes. But this is it. This is the moment where Izuku leaves him forever, blames him for turning him into a freak, like the freaky little ghost boy with freaky little powers. This is when he loses him, all the time he spent here, because of Izuku. The one he had first latched onto, a lighthouse in the dark times. He can't even hear the fan anymore; it's all silent. There's noise, but Danny doesn't process it. He can't. Izuku isn't from Amity Park; he isn't used to Ghosts. Danny took him from the realm of normalcy and has forced him into this...this...Monstrosity of a 'life' he 'lives.' He took an innocent boy and uprooted him. Izuku would have been fine without him. Danny needs to--He has to--

"--Danny!" Izuku's cries finally break through to him, and the boy grabs Danny's hands. He'd shifted to the end of the bed where Danny had been spiraling. "It's okay, I'm okay with that."

Danny faces Izuku's flushed face with wide eyes, "You...You are?"

Izuku grips Danny's hands as well as he can, clasping them in his own, and lifting them between the two. "You could be from the deepest layer of hell, and I wouldn't care. I care that you're here, now, with me. I care that you're here for me. I care that you saved me, I care that you stay with me, I care that you help me, I care that you've done so much for me. I-I care about all of it. I love everything you've done for me."

Danny watches as Izuku's eyes tear up, feeling his tears rolling down his face. Izuku takes Danny's hands, still in his own, and brings them to his face. He allows Danny to numbly grasp his face with his shockingly smooth hands. Izuku smiles softly at Danny. But Danny drops his hands and turns away, curling up into a ball.

"You can't. I'm a monster, I'm a freak." Danny cries, wiping away his tears.

"Danny..." Izuku trails off.

"I died in a stupid portal, became a stupid halfa, and lost everything to stupid ghost hunters," Danny whines, "If you care too much about me, I'll lose you too. You can't care for me. It's too hard. It's an Ancient's damned challenge."

The two boys sit in silence for a few moments, and Danny feels the bed move. Izuku crawls towards him and sits right next to where Danny had gone and scrunched up, away from him. Danny starts to move once more when a hand lands on his shoulder.

"Izuku, please, I said--" Danny's argument is cut off.

It's cut off by Izuku pulling him close, into a hug. He's still radiating heat, his core is still growing inside him, and he's still spewing sparks. But Izuku pushes through his pain to reach Danny. Izuku wraps his arms around Danny as the ghost boy continues to cry. Izuku's shirt begins to get wet from the tears.

"I-I'm s-sorry, I'm s-so sorry," Danny cries, "Y-y-you're s-suffering, and I'm m-making this ab-bout me..."

"It's okay," Izuku soothes, "You need this more than I need some check-up from a random yeti."

Danny snorts and giggles wetly, "He's not r-random," Danny says into Izuku's shoulder.

"Well, he is to me!" Izuku retorts, "Imagine how confused you would be if you got sick and I brought in a sasquatch!"

"That'd be silly," Danny says, sitting up from the hug, still giggling, "Sasquatches aren't doctors, they're accountants."

"Please tell me you're joking," Izuku lifts his hand to his mouth, trying to stifle his laughter.

"No?" Danny tilts his head, confused.

"Oh my god," Izuku says with a thousand-yard stare, dropping his hand, "Sasquatches are accountants."

"Speaking of yetis and sasquatches, you have an appointment you need to do," Danny says, rising from the bed.

"Noooo," Izuku whines, "I'm too tired."

A knock reverberates through the room, and the two boys stop.

"Come in," Danny slowly calls.

Frostbite walks into the room, ducking and turning to fit through the door.

"Sorry, Great One, but I couldn't help but hear that the young quarterling didn't wish to partake in an appointment anymore?" Frostbite starts.

"Yeah, he's tired," Danny explains, "Crying does that to us humans."

"Yetis as well," Frosbite says sympathetically, "But I don't believe that an appointment is necessary anymore."

"What?" Danny stands up from the bed, and Izuku sits up straight, both confused and caught off guard.

"It seems you still have much to learn, Great One," Frostbite smiles, "Or should I say Young One?"

"Oh, shaddup," Danny groans, "What are you getting at?"

"What I'm saying is that ghosts are beings of emotion," Frostbite explains, "I could feel the swirling energies of both of you from the living room. I could feel the vastness of space, the familiarity of ice, and, to truthfully, no one's surprise, the heat of the hearth. I do believe it is safe to say your 'friend' has a fire core. And not even a pseudo core either."

"Damn..." Danny remarks.

Frostbite chuckles, "Couldn't have said it better myself!" He then turns to Izuku, "You are going to make a very powerful ghost when you fully pass on. Perfect for the Great One!"

Danny turns a never-before-seen color of red and starts smacking Frostbite's shoulder, having flown up there, "Frostbite!!!"

The Chief simply continues to laugh, and Izuku turns red as well.

"My apologies," Frostbite falsely apologizes, but neither boy realizes. Danny floats to the ground with a harrumph and crosses his arms.

"What about all of the other health check-ups?" Danny asks with a glance to the left at Frostbite.

"I must say, they shouldn't be necessary," Frostbite answers, "No sick ghost could possibly project their true feelings that well."

"Then what do we do about the fire?" Danny asks and points to Izuku, who then sneezes out a flame.

"Why, the same thing you did," Frostbite says.

Danny smiles widely and evilly, "Let loose?" He asks excitedly.

"Let loose." Frostbite nods.

"Oh, hell yes!!" Danny cheers.

Izuku cuts it off by clearing his throat, "Uhm, I'm still sleepy."

"Oh, sorry," Danny floats down, "Let me help."

"Hm?" Izuku tilts his head, "What do you mean help?"

"I mean this!" Danny exclaims and reaches his arms under Izuku's legs, as Izuku had begun to dangle them off the edge of the bed.

"Wha!?" Izuku yelps, "Danny!"

Danny just laughs, carrying Izuku to the top of the bed and laying him down, "What? I'm just tucking you in!"

"I don't- I don't need tucked in!" Izuku squeaks, but Danny continues to pull the lightweight blanket up.

"Sleep tight, don't let the ghost blobs bite!" Danny laughs as he flies away, out of the room, followed by Frostbite.

"Jerk..." Izuku whines, but gets comfortable after Frostbite closes the door.

Chapter Text

April 15, 2XX3

Danny sits on one of the remaining Dagobah beach trash mountains. Technically speaking, he's sitting on a fridge surrounded by piles of trash, but those are just semantics. The beach is certainly much cleaner than it was when Izuku's training started, but it would have taken practically a year to clean the whole place up, and they hadn't had that much time. Especially considering people still like to, just…casually litter at the beach.

Danny’s very thankful that Undergrowth isn’t here. They’d gotten over their fight when Danny had confronted Undergrowth about Sam having far too strong of a connection to Nature even without him possessing her. Lo and behold, Undergrowth had left her with a little gift. They were…friendlier with each other after that.

When Sam and the others had passed, Danny often found himself hiding away in Undergrowth’s haunt. The flora was comforting, and reminded him of Sam. She had practically dug out a place for herself in Undergrowth’s haunt, and Danny found comfort in it.

Danny and Undergrowth had bonded, sure, but that doesn’t mean the ‘jolly’ green giant wouldn’t throw a fit and make things harder for Danny if they saw Dagobah.

He grabs a dirty, dusty newspaper and throws it at Izuku, who's on the sand in front of Danny's trash mountain. Izuku opens his mouth and puffs his cheeks out, blowing fire at the newspaper, and scorching it into ashes.

"I can't believe you're skipping so early in the year," Izuku scolds after burning the paper, placing his hands on his hips and looking up at Danny, "Just because I developed some fire powers!"

Danny snorts, "Last I checked, you were still sick before we got you out here to expel the fire," he retorts, "So, technically speaking, I'm simply taking care of my poor, sickly friend."

Izuku groans and Danny smiles while throwing a cheap, plastic, anthropomorphic orca toy at Izuku. Izuku grabs it out of the air and sets it in his hands, huffing onto it and watching it melt.

"New powers always find a way to act up, and are confusing at first," Danny adds on, "So, it's important that I watch over you. You don't have any ghosties to test your fire out on." He takes a scarf from the pile and bunches it up before chucking it at Izuku.

Izuku grumbles about how he guesses Danny might have a point. The scarf takes much longer than the newspaper, but it singes faster than the orca toy melted. He tilts his head back up to Danny and asks, "Why am I just burning random trash? Shouldn't we be more focused on figuring out how I could incorporate this into a fight?"

"We're seeing what it does—and doesn't—have enough power to do. And if you can change the output," Danny answers and throws another newspaper. "The ones you don't catch are, like, target practice."

Izuku burns the paper and watches the ashes fly to the ground.

"If you're lucky, you might actually have pyrokinesis," Danny keeps chattering, "I've got an ice breath aspect to my ice, but it's not all of it."

"Ancients, I hope so, that would be awesome," Izuku sighs, "I always thought I'd get some kind of pyrokinesis quirk when I was younger. My dad had fire breath, and dragon mutations ran in his family. My mom had a, sort of...telekinesis." Izuku pauses and sighs, dejectedly this time, "Never happened until now. It's not the same of course, but it's similar."

Danny hums and kicks his legs back and forth before throwing a soda can at Izuku, "I was a bit surprised at first by how early you manifested a core type, once we found out you had a core. I didn't realize we've known each other for over 6 months now."

"Wow," Izuku comments absentmindedly, "This is the fastest that time has ever flown for me since I was diagnosed."

"That comment is much sadder than you realize," Danny responds, "Considering the whole 'time flies when you're having fun' schtick."

Izuku shrugs, "My life was pretty trashy before you showed up."

"Awe~" Danny coos, "I love you too, Izuku!"

Izuku's face blushes so deeply and so quickly that the boy looks like a color-changing strawberry, his green hair’s too bushy for him to be a tomato. Danny is almost certain he's about to combust when he speaks up, "That's- I- You- T-that's not what I meant!"

"Ah, darn," Danny smirks and leans back, "That's too bad." He ignores the sound of Izuku imitating an overheating tea kettle.

”Y-you—“

”Careful Izuku,” Danny drawls while gazing down at Izuku with a sharp grin, “You might just catch on fire at this rate!”

That shocks Izuku and he starts patting his hair down to make sure he hadn’t accidentally lit himself on fire. His scramble to check causes Danny to snort and back off, sitting upright again.

“Calm down, you’re not on fire,” Danny says placatingly and checks his phone. Izuku sighs while Danny hops off of the fridge. “School’s out.”

Izuku groans, “I’m gonna end up hiccuping flames right in someone’s face at this rate.”

Danny barks out a laugh and beams at Izuku as he approaches, “Well then, my fiery friend, shall we?” He dramatically bows forward with a flourish of his arm and holds out his other hand to Izuku.

Izuku sighs at Danny’s antics, he’d call him a dork but Danny’s practically immune to any and all dork jokes at this point. He knocks Danny on the head with his fist instead.

It doesn’t hurt, but Danny still jumps back with a cry and pats his head, “Owww…you’re so mean to me,” Danny whines.

Izuku shrugs, “With you?” He playfully asks, “It’s always warranted.”

Izuku turns away from Danny and his poor, pitiful, totally real cries. Danny, used to doing such things with Sam and Tucker when they were still alive, sneaks up behind him and drapes himself over the boy. He may have, like, three inches on Izuku—but it works and that’s all that matters. He rests his chin on Izuku’s shoulder and sighs dramatically, unaware of the boy stiffening under him.

Danny turns his head into Izuku’s neck and continues his act, “I guess I’ll just die then…” Danny pauses, “Wait, no. Crap, that won’t work.”

Izuku, despite being practically frozen in place, lets out a small laugh. Danny perks up like a puppy and stands back, before spinning Izuku around and lifting him into the air.

”Aha!” Danny remarks, “I made you la~augh!”

Izuku glares at Danny, but it’s terribly ineffective considering his face is all pink and he’s being held under his armpits like a toddler…or a cat.

Danny tilts his head and squints his eyes before shaking his head.

Hitoshi’s obviously the cat out of their whole group. Izuku was declared a bunny the second day of their friendship.

Izuku speaks up, “I thought we were supposed to be going home?”

Danny snaps his attention back to Izuku with a bright smile, “Right! Home!” The word fills him with a warm feeling.

Without even letting go of Izuku, Danny drags his leg across the ground under them and rips open a portal. Izuku lets out a small yelp when they both fall through.

On the other side of the portal, Danny lands gracefully on a couch in the lounge of the apartment building.

Izuku lands next to him in a chaotic lump.

”Seriously, Danny?” He groans, his words muffled, having fallen face first into the couch.

”Did I do thaaat?” Danny quotes despite knowing his references always have a, like, 40/60 chance of hitting or missing in this dimension.

Izuku’s sprawls out from his lump and spins around to look up at the ceiling and then over at Danny.

He opens his mouth to say something in response to the grinning ghost boy, but instead, Izuku hiccups and a flame comes straight out and at Danny’s face.

The two boys stare in shock at each other. Danny’s face is gray from the flames.

…

They immediately break into laughter and giggles. Who knew Izuku’s hiccups were so comedically inclined?