Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fumikage isn’t sure what to expect when he enters class 1-A for the first time, but he had definitely assumed that future heroes would be more…organized. There are thirteen other students in the room, and only three of them are actually sitting in their seats. The day hasn’t even started, and it’s as rowdy as his class from middle school…

He determines which desk is his and stifles a sigh as he recognizes the hot-tempered asshole from the entrance exam, who is unfortunately seated near him. Some other kid stands intrusively in the aisle, looking over the blond boy’s shoulder to watch whatever he’s doing on his phone. Fumikage is surprised he hasn’t been blown to pieces.  “Excuse me,” he says politely as he approaches. The kid turns to look at him with startled wide eyes, but doesn’t say a word. Becoming irritated, Fumikage tries again. “Can I get past you, please?” 

He realizes the room has gone dead silent. Uh oh. Suddenly, he feels very stupid. He examines the boy’s appearance, which he had initially brushed off since some students have altered uniforms to accommodate their Quirks. But this kid is too different. He’s wearing a slightly tattered black gakuran, and there’s no indication of a shadow under his bare feet. The rest of the class is watching him with odd expressions. 

“What the hell’s wrong with you, nutcase?!” barks the blond he had been planning on avoiding. “The coast is clear, or should I roll out a carpet for you?” 

Fumikage tears his gaze away from the student that nobody else can see. “Sorry,” he mutters quickly, opting to take a different path to get to his seat. The chatter resumes normally after a few uncomfortable moments of silence, but he catches weird looks being thrown his way. Fumikage spares a glance back at the boy, who stares back at him. A cold chill runs through his body and he shudders. A ghost, then. He should have known the moment he recognized how out of place he looked, but it’s just so hard to tell. Fumikage hasn't even knowingly encountered one in a while, because they're extremely and inconveniently hard to differentiate from normal people. He used to think he was completely out of his mind until he looked up some names and found perfect matches. He doesn't know why he has this ability, but he suspects it has something to do with his Quirk. Supposedly animals can sense the supernatural, and although Shadow isn't exactly an animal, it isn't human, either.

Well, he has not made a great first impression on his class so far, and the spirit is now gone. What a relief. He can only pray to make it through the rest of the day without embarrassing himself further. Thankfully, the ghost doesn’t make an appearance again. 

Until the following Monday. Fumikage has just made it past the U.A. gates when a freezing finger taps his shoulder, making him jump. “Hey…”

Fumikage whirls around to face the person, only to see the same boy from that first day at school. Fumikage takes note of his large green eyes and freckled cheeks.  “You can see me, right? I’m sorry for embarrassing you in front of everyone. I didn’t know you’d be able to see me. Is that your Quirk? Seeing ghosts? You already know that’s what I am, right? Or am I wrong?”

Fumikage huffs, suddenly aware of the number of students surrounding him as they too begin to make their ways home. He keeps his head lowered, and his voice soft, trying not to draw too much attention to himself. “Would you mind if we continued walking?”

“Oh, y-yeah, of course! You’ve got to get home! Sorry!”

“Nothing to apologize for. To answer your question, I’m not sure why I can see spirits, but it isn’t my Quirk. Perhaps just a side effect of it.”

“So what is your Quirk?” The boy bounces on his toes, looking excited. “Is it something to do with your face? I didn’t see you during the entrance exam. Wait, I never even asked! What’s your name?”

“Tokoyami,” Fumikage responds. “Would you mind sharing yours?” 

“Oh, I’m Quirkless!”

“I meant your name.”

“Oh…of course. Sorry, I just get excited when I’m thinking about Quirks. I really like them. Um, my name’s Midoriya.” The green-haired boy is looking anywhere but Fumikage’s eyes, despite how thrilled he sounds to be talking. 

“It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya. Formally, anyway.”

“Yeah, I got a little spooked after I first saw you. I mean, not because of you , but it was just startling that you looked at me, you know? I haven’t talked to anyone in so long. It’s been like, months since I died. I haven’t even met any other ghosts. Are there other ghosts even around? I have no idea! Maybe you’d know?”

“It is difficult to tell the difference between the living and the dead. You have likely passed by other spirits without realizing it.” 

“I guess that makes sense. Since you tried talking to me like I was a normal student.” Midoriya stops walking suddenly, tapping his fingers together. Fumikage pauses to glance back at him. They’re pretty much alone now, since other students have gone separate ways. “I can’t go further than this.”

“Hm?”

“I can’t go too far from my…um, the place I died. I don’t know why.”

“I see.” Fumikage shuffles awkwardly. “I suppose I will see you tomorrow, then.”

Midoriya’s face lights up once more. “Yeah!”

Fumikage sends a small nod his way, before continuing his journey home alone. Or, as alone as someone with a sentient Quirk can be. Dark Shadow decides to manifest, then, looking back in the direction they’d come from. Midoriya is gone, either heading back to his limited sphere of inhabitance or perhaps just obscured by the trees. Fumikage sighs. 

What a bizarre life he lives. 

Chapter Text

Fumikage was a fool to think that his disastrous first day impression would wear off. Perhaps it would have, if he had ceased all odd behavior from that point forward. But stupidly, he had failed to predict that his classmates would become curious and begin to keep a watchful eye on him. Glancing back twice when they pass him by outside, wondering: “ What was up with that?” It certainly doesn’t help that he looks the way he does. Heteromorphs tend to draw people’s attention. Often implicit, but definitely a real phenomenon. 

He knows he is doomed when on just the third day of school, he notices two girls in his class, who he has not yet learned the names of, exchanging a quiet glance when he walks into the room. A purple-haired girl with long cords dangling from her ears not-so-subtly whispers something into her invisible friend’s ear, cupping a hand over her mouth. What a shame. That girl has a skull keychain on her school bag. He figured they could have been allies. 

Fumikage does not speak to Midoriya during class, so perhaps someone has witnessed him engaging in a “one-sided” conversation after school, when he assumes to go unnoticed within the safety of the noisy crowd.  Or maybe it is the unconscious glances in the ghost’s direction when he moves about the classroom that are giving him away. How tragic. He had hoped his high school social life would be a step up from his nonexistent middle school one. 

He does not fault Midoriya for this, though. Normally he tends to avoid noisy people, but surprisingly, he does not mind the green-haired boy’s presence. Maybe it is his overwhelmingly kind spirit that compels Fumikage to like him, chattiness and all. Despite Midoriya’s invisibility and immunity to social consequence, he does not speak ill of anybody. He only has nice things to say—even about people with…less than lovely qualities. People like Bakugou. He notices that Midoriya hovers around Bakugou quite frequently. He is not here right now, though. He has not seen the green-haired boy all morning. 

“If any of you care to know,” Mr. Aizawa says loudly, and his eyes snap up to meet his teacher’s gaze, “today we’ll be doing disaster rescue training.”  The class exchanges excited and nervous glances. They’ve never done anything like this before, and nobody has a clue what exactly to expect.  “We’ll be going to the USJ building. Go change into your costumes. Hurry up.”

Fumikage obediently follows his orders and heads into the locker room, pulling off his school shirt and substituting it with a black one. Sudden movement catches his eye, and he turns around to see Midoriya right there behind him. He yelps, startled, elbow clanging against his locker loudly. Most of his classmates turn around at the outburst. “You okay, dude?” Kirishima asks him.  

“My apologies. An insect surprised me with its unexpected presence,” he lies, a bit panicked. Please, no… everyone already thinks he’s strange enough as is. 

“Damn. Didya kill it?”

“I haven’t an inkling where it went.”

Bakugou is staring at him quietly, and his gaze is unnerving. It is different from his normal glare, and Fumikage can't help but be a little disturbed by it. 

“Sorry!” Midoriya squeaks. “I didn’t mean to scare you! I tried to make my footsteps loud!”

Fumikage gives a tiny nod of acknowledgment and turns back around and pulls his cloak over himself, thus completing his costume. He is the first to be done. “You don’t have footsteps,” he says under his breath, finally able to respond once he’s outside. “But it is quite alright. I was able to make a decent excuse.”

“I feel so bad,” Midoriya mumbles. “This is like, the millionth time I’ve done something like this!”

“It was an accident,” Fumikage reassures him. He is in the presence of his teacher now. Aizawa looks dead on his feet, like always. Fumikage almost feels pity for him. But relief, also. His teacher is definitely not the type to care if he is talking to himself.

“Next time, I’ll give you a warning. Like, ‘I am here,’ or something.”

“You are a fan of All Might, aren’t you.”

Midoriya squeaks, covering his eyes. “Sorry!’

“Who’s a fan?”

Once again, Fumikage startles. He glances to his right, but nobody is to be seen. Until he spots the gloves. It’s that invisible classmate again. Her costume is so minimal–of course she would be finished quickly. Has she been here the entire time? His feathers puff out with deep embarrassment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were there.”

“Who are you talking to?” she asks, gloves bouncing slightly as if her body is turning. 

“My Quirk,” Fumikage lies. This statement could sometimes be true–when Dark Shadow is being especially annoying, he will occasionally reprimand it aloud for a greater effect. But that is not the case today.

“You can talk to your Quirk?”

“Yes. It speaks for itself.”

“Oh, so you don’t control him or anything? But why’s it an ‘it,’ then?”

“It prefers to be addressed as such. It is not human like us.”  A dark fist pops out from his chest, offering a thumbs up. 

The invisible girl’s gloves reach up, probably to her face, as she giggles. “Aww! So are you a fan of All Might, Shadow?”

Dark Shadow’s head emerges, its form small. “No.” It disappears back into Fumikage’s body.

“Please, don’t mind its bluntness. It was not properly socialized when I was a child.”

“You don’t like All Might? ” Midoriya exclaims next to him. Fumikage resists the urge to turn his head and look. “How could you, Dark Shadow? How could you…”

The rest of the class begins to arrive, and the floating gloves make a beeline for her fellow female peers. Fumikage breathes out in relief. What a good excuse. He’ll make sure to start reusing that one. Anyhow, he wonders where Midoriya had been all that time. 

The day’s training  at USJ goes by as smoothly as Fumikage imagines it can—Aizawa sticks him in the Conflagration Zone for the brunt of their time there, always keen to exploit his students’ weaknesses. Dark Shadow moans in pain in Fumikage’s head, begging him to take them somewhere dark. I’m sorry. We must walk home first. But I’ll be sure to stay in the shade. His Quirk goes silent after that, and if Fumikage didn’t know better, he’d think it might have died right then and there. 

Just before he can head off campus, Midoriya makes another appearance, this time announcing himself. “Tokoyami!” 

Fumikage pauses, but not for long, still feeling the need to walk briskly for his Quirk’s sake. “Hello, Midoriya.”

“How do you think you did? Sorry I wasn’t there to watch much.”

“I fear another five minutes in that building would have turned Dark Shadow into a memory,” Fumikage says gravely. “And yes, I noticed. Were you with Bakugou again?”

Midoriya smiles. “Mm-hm. He used to be my best friend.”

Fumikage hums curiously.  “You two are very different.”

The cheerful look somewhat slips from Midoriya’s face. “Yeah. He stopped liking me once he got his Quirk. He…he kind of said some nasty stuff to me. Him and his friends.”

A bully, huh? A blind man could have seen that coming. Fumikage is not surprised in the least. “He bullied you?”

“Well, I guess.” Midoriya twiddles his thumbs. “But I like to think that deep down, he still cared about me. He just had a big ego. I know he was really upset when I died. I watched him at my funeral.”

The idea of this dead child spectating his own funeral service puts a small crack in Fumikage’s heart. He feels angry, too. Of course Bakugou would be upset that Midoriya died—he felt guilty . Remorse for his own actions. Especially considering the likely cause of Midoriya’s death. He’s awfully young, and he wears no shoes… 

Besides, if Fumikage has learned anything from his own experience in middle school, it’s the brightest flames that burn out the quickest. 

But he will not tell Midoriya any of this. He is confident in his assumptions, but at the end of the day they are still just that. Assumptions. Fumikage was not there to witness Midoriya and Bakugou’s relationship, and he is certainly not going to attempt to dictate it. “Would you like me to pass on a message to him?” he offers. 

Midoriya considers this thoughtfully, before shaking his head with a grimace. “I think he’d just get mad at you and call you a liar. Besides…I don’t know if he’d appreciate knowing I’m still around. I think…that would make it difficult to move on.”

Fumikage dips his head in respect for the boy’s decision. 

“But, um…” Midoriya continues, eyes darting around anxiously. “Maybe you could…talk to him. Not about me. Just…for me, you know? I want…” he trails off, eyes glistening with grief. “I miss talking to everyone.”

“I can try,” Fumikage agrees, silently regretful. Bakugou is likely one of the least tolerable people at this school. “Though I’m not sure he’s very interested in speaking to me. Our first interaction did not go smoothly.”

“I know.” Midoriya sinks in on himself, looking more miserable by the second. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize on his behalf,” Fumikage says, slightly indignant. “Please.”

“Sorry. I mean, uh, okay.” Midoriya rubs his neck sheepishly. “Don’t talk to him without an excuse, though. Kacchan’s not really interested in making friends. But maybe he’ll like you, since you’re quiet.”

“Noted,” Fumikage replies, though he certainly didn’t need Midoriya’s advice to figure that much out. 

“You’re really nice, Tokoyami.” Midoriya smiles at him sadly. “Out of everyone that might have been able to see me, I’m glad it’s you.” Fumikage doesn’t know how to answer that. But luckily, the boy keeps talking.  “I wonder if there’s more people with Quirks like yours. You can’t be the only one who can see the dead.”

“If there are other mediums here, I do not know them.”

“It’d be easier for me to find one than you. I guess I’ll just have to start waving at people until I find someone!” 

As always, the boy’s optimism is impressive. Fumikage smiles, as much as his unconventional face allows. “I wish you luck on your quest.”

Cornball, Dark Shadow says in his head. Fumikage sighs. The shade from the trees above them has awoken the beast sleeping within him. He chooses to ignore the comment. 

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Tokoyami!”

“Until we meet again.”

Hurry up already…I’m dying…