Chapter Text
The battle at Deika, as destructive as it was, is relatively quietly glossed over by the media. Partially because of the commission’s influence, but also because the media is a lot more interested in the fact that a number of pro heroes, led by Endeavor, had raided a hospital and arrested the doctor who’d been creating the Nomus. The heroes ran into half a dozen high-level Nomus in the process, and apparently it’d been quite a spectacular fight.
So the aftermath of Deika focuses a lot on the arrests of the League and the Army, and not much on the destruction both sides caused in their war against each other. There’s no coverage on Hawks’s role in any of it, nor any news reports about how both villainous groups had been lured out deliberately by the heroes. Fumikage is not a fan of lying to the public, but he thinks that some stories are better off untold. No good will come of informing civilians the details of Hawks’s double agent status or the risky plan they’d concocted.
But some things, Fumikage knows, must come into the light. Aoyama told the truth to his classmates, and now it is Fumikage’s turn to tell Aoyama the truth.
“You knew all along,” Aoyama says in a trembling voice when Fumikage is finished explaining how they’d interrogated Aoyama and wiped his memories afterwards with Sahara’s quirk many months ago.
“Yes, we knew,” Fumikage says. It’s just him and Aoyama and Hawks. The three of them sitting in Aoyama’s bedroom in his parents’ mansion. The Aoyama family is on house arrest pending trial, and Fumikage fully intends to tell the rest of the world just how brave Aoyama had been, to trust them with the horrible truth even when All For One had Aoyama at his mercy. But before he does that, he needs to tell Aoyama first. “We knew and we pretended we didn’t.”
Aoyama stares at him. His wide, shining eyes fill with tears and an emotion Fumikage can’t quite read, and Fumikage wonders if Aoyama feels used, like he’s been deceived and manipulated, because he was. It was for Aoyama’s own safety, but still, Fumikage wouldn’t blame Aoyama for having conflicted feelings about it all.
But then Aoyama chokes out, “I thought I was alone.”
Hawks stretches a wing out, curving it protectively around Fumikage and Aoyama. Hawks’s feathers are still growing in, but there’s enough of them to brush lightly over Aoyama’s hair and shield his two interns. “Sorry we didn’t tell you.”
Aoyama shakes his head, tears running down his cheeks as he looks up at them both with gratitude. “Non, you saved me. I thought I was alone, but you were protecting me all along. I wasn’t alone. Merci. Thank you.”
Clasping Aoyama’s hand in both of his own, Fumikage says, “Thank you, for giving us the chance to help you.”
Finally, unburdened and safe, Aoyama holds onto Fumikage and sobs with relief.
-
Both Fumikage and Sahara are ordered by Thirteen to get more in-depth medical examinations to confirm that there wasn’t any permanent damage in the aftermath of all the injuries they’d accumulated in Deika, so they spend a good three hours getting poked at by doctors while Dark Shadow inwardly grumbles about the bright lights shone on them during medical exams.
“Nothing permanent,” Fumikage concludes. “It helped that Sahara healed my remaining injuries on the scene.”
“Good.” Thirteen turns to Sahara with a huff. “And you weren’t supposed to come back into the field after that injury. That was a very risky move.”
Sahara had also received a clean bill of health; the only permanent damage to her was the scarring on her side where Shigaraki had injured her, but in the grand scheme of things, she’d been lucky to not lose any inner organs. “Sorry, sensei. But I was going to teleport out of there if things looked bad, so the risk was pretty low.”
Eraserhead, who had joined Thirteen on their venture to the hospital because he’d wanted a few of his own students to get checked out for lasting injuries, snorts. “Looks like you have a handful of problem children.”
“I sure do,” Thirteen says with a sigh.
“I believe I didn’t do anything to warrant such a title,” Fumikage argues, albeit weakly.
Both teachers stare at him. Inside Fumikage’s chest, Dark Shadow wilts.
“Breaking curfew because you went all the way to Kyushu without telling anybody,” Thirteen starts.
“Hatching a high-risk plan to pit two very dangerous organizations against each other,” Eraserhead adds.
“Flying into the center of the battlefield on your own,” Thirteen continues.
“Deciding to take down Shigaraki and Yotsubashi by yourself instead of getting the hell out of there or waiting for backup,” Eraserhead finishes.
Fumikage clicks his beak. “I had Hawks with me.”
“He’s just as bad as you, if not worse,” Eraserhead deadpans.
Thirteen shakes her head, but there’s a hint of a smile in her voice when she says, “But you were right. We can’t let heroes fight alone. You did well, Tokoyami.”
Fumikage thinks of how months ago, these two teachers had received grievous injuries at the hands of the League back in USJ. Now, the League is imprisoned and Kurogiri is receiving medical attention in the hopes of whatever modifications he’d undergone could be undone.
It’s not exactly revenge, but Fumikage feels satisfied anyway.
“I’d tell you to stop corrupting my students,” Eraserhead says, “but they’d be problem children regardless of your influence, so I guess there’s no point.”
“They’re excellent heroes,” Fumikage says, and he’s pretty sure he’s not imagining the flicker of warmth in Eraserhead’s eyes, there and gone in an instant. “You taught them well, sensei.”
Eraserhead huffs. A corner of his mouth might have quirked up behind his capture scarf. “I’m not the only one they’ve been learning from.”
-
Life is returning back to normal. As in, classes are resuming like Deika never happened, and Fumikage’s greatest hardship to overcome isn’t a villain but his upcoming final exams. Sahara and Sentoki take turns tutoring him during whatever free time they have, but one of their final exams requires a lot of research, so Fumikage is wandering the school library in search of specific historical texts when he bumps into Bakugou, of all people.
He didn’t take Bakugou for a library person, but he does recall something about Bakugou being one of the top students in the class, so maybe Fumikage shouldn’t be so surprised.
“Preparing for your finals?” Fumikage asks.
Bakugou just shrugs and scowls. He keeps his voice low when he grumbles, “Shitty hair needs some help.”
Fumikage has apparently spent too much time with Class 1-A, because he knows who Bakugou is talking about. It’s touching that Bakugou is actually making the time to help out Kirishima in his studies. “I’m sure you’ll be of great help.”
“Damn right I’ll be.” Bakugou scoffs.
It’s been less than a week since Deika, and everything has been such a whirlwind that Fumikage hasn’t managed to quite find the right moments to talk to certain people. This, he realizes, is his chance to talk to Bakugou.
“You saved me,” Fumikage says quietly.
Bakugou rolls his eyes. “I know. You already thanked me for that, bird brain.”
Yes, he had. In the immediate aftermath of the battle in Deika, while Shigaraki was being arrested and Fumikage was getting his breath back, he’d thanked Bakugou for his last minute intervention; Fumikage is quite certain he wouldn’t have survived that encounter otherwise.
“But you didn’t get to take Shigaraki down yourself.” Back in that moment, when Sahara had shown up to create the perfect environment for Fumikage to summon Dark Shadow, Bakugou hadn’t done anything. He could have joined in on the assault, but he hadn’t. “You chose not to follow me when I attacked him.”
Bakugou doesn’t reply for a moment. Then he shoves his hands into his pockets, glaring at the books on the shelf in front of him rather than meeting Fumikage’s eyes. “Light from my explosions would’ve weakened your quirk. I knew you could take him down anyway. No point in me getting in the way when you could already kick his ass on your own.”
Fumikage had suspected that was Bakugou’s reasoning, but it’s good to hear it confirmed aloud. To hear Bakugou admit that he chose victory for the heroes over victory for himself. “Well, I certainly would not have beaten him if you hadn’t saved me in the first place.”
“That’s one way how heroes win, right?” Bakugou glances sideways to briefly meet Fumikage’s eyes before he looks away again. “By saving people.”
Fumikage clicks his beak. “Yes, it is.”
Fumikage has only known Bakugou for about half a year, now. And in the span of that time, the boy has matured significantly. He probably still has a way to go, with that personality of his, but the fact that he’s learned that there’s more to being a hero than beating the enemy, to be willing to step aside to let somebody else take that victory for the sake of winning as a team—these are all things that Bakugou wouldn’t have been able to understand back in summer camp.
“Thank you,” Fumikage says after a moment of shared silence, “for telling me what to protect. Although I would have appreciated the heads up a little earlier.”
Bakugou shrugs. It feels a little less annoyed and a little more embarrassed. “Whatever. I knew you’d make it in time.”
It’s a little touching, to think that Bakugou has this much faith in him, and Fumikage resolves to become even stronger, so that he never lets Bakugou down.
But he has faith that if he ever falters or needs help, Bakugou won’t let him down, either.
-
Once exams pass by and winter break starts, training sessions resume at Fumikage’s underclassmen’s insistence. Aoyama can’t join, for obvious reasons, and Bakugou shows up sporadically when he’s in the mood for a sparring session. Sahara also shows up from time to time, depending on her quirk of the day, but today she isn’t joining them.
So it’s just Midoriya, Iida, and Todoroki with Fumikage in the training room today. Fumikage has spent most of their recent training sessions doing one-on-one sparring or going against each other in pairs, but he hasn’t had all the first years face off against him simultaneously in a while. The last time they did such a thing was a couple weeks before the battle in Deika, and that had ended with Midoriya completely knocked out, Iida significantly singed, and Todoroki reluctantly admitting defeat.
Fumikage remembers the seamless teamwork they displayed when they’d rescued him from the CEO of Detnerat: Midoriya stopping the villain, Iida carrying Fumikage to safety, and Todoroki using his ice to keep Yotsubashi in place. He wants to see them work in tandem one more time.
So Fumikage dims the lights—not entirely, but just enough to give him an edge—and says, “We’ll start with a spar, this time.”
Midoriya looks excited as he bounces a little on his feet, ready to fight. “So which one of us should go first?”
“All of you,” Fumikage says, and Dark Shadow erupts out of him with a screech.
All three boys react immediately. Todoroki’s fire blasts out in an instant; a great improvement from back when Todoroki had trouble using his fire side instinctively. Iida and Midoriya both dash sideways—Iiida to the left and Midoriya to the right—then forwards, bypassing Dark Shadow to come for Fumikage.
Dark Shadow rears back from Todoroki’s flames, opting to rush back to Fumikage and lift him up high before either either Iida or Midoriya can land an attack on them.
He doesn’t make it far, though. Midoriya’s Black Whip shoots out and coils around Fumikage’s leg, stopping him from making his escape, and Todoroki uses that moment to send a wall of jagged ice up towards Fumikage.
Fumikage’s leg might be bound, but the rest of him isn’t, so he yanks himself up harder and higher, very nearly lifting Midoriya up into the air—and then Iida comes running up the ice wall.
A ramp, Fumikage realizes. The ice had never been meant to hit Fumikage; it’d been a ramp to allow Iida to dash up into the air and tackle Fumikage down.
It’s a smart move, but Fumikage reacts by immediately ducking down instead, opting to dive-bomb Midoriya, who didn’t anticipate the move and jerks backwards. Above him, Iida swings and misses his target, flying off the ramp and crashing into the training room’s wall. Dark Shadow increases in size, enveloping Fumikage’s body as he swipes at Midoriya once more, but a blast of fire comes through, causing Dark Shadow to shrink back when Todoroki comes running.
Midoriya leaps, trying to catch Fumikage midair, but Fumikage dodges downwards easily—only to find Iida rushing him again, much faster than Fumikage anticipated. It’s when he glances down at the floor to realized that Todoroki has frozen the entirety of it, allowing for Iida’s Recipro Burst to move at a higher speed than normal, that Fumikage finds Iida colliding with him, sending Fumikage spinning and stumbling towards the far end of the room.
It’s impressive teamwork; much more refined than how they cooperated back during their first training session with Fumikage, and he can’t help but feel incredibly proud of them.
“That was close,” Fumikage admits aloud, and all three boys perk up a little. “Now let’s see if you can achieve a proper victory.”
Midoriya, Iida, and even Todoroki smile. Then they charge.
-
Fumikage wins that round, but it’s a close call. Soon enough, he’s going to have to resort to Ragnarok to hold them off.
Iida laments their loss, but as per usual, he thanks Fumikage for the training. Todoroki sighs and comments that they’ll win next time. Midoriya laughs sheepishly.
They all change back into their casual clothes, ready to head back to their dorms. Iida and Todoroki leave first, while Midoriya remains behind, scratching a few final notes in his notebook before he resumes changing out of his costume. Fumikage finishes changing and is about to leave but something nags at him. So he pauses.
“Shigaraki was after you,” Fumikage says quietly, and Midoriya whips around to give Fumikage a look not quite unlike a deer’s in headlights. “There was a specific reason.”
Midoriya opens his mouth, then closes it. He says, in a small voice, “I know some people have questions, but I don’t know how to answer them.”
“Then you don’t,” Fumikage says, and Midoriya blinks at him. “There’s nothing wrong with keeping secrets, Midoriya.”
“But…” Midoriya flounders. “Don’t you want to know? Shouldn’t I tell people?”
“Will it harm anybody if you keep it to yourself?” Fumikage asks, and Midoriya lapses into deep thought for a minute.
Eventually, he shakes his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
“Then it’s fine.” Fumikage is curious, to be honest, but he doesn’t want to push Midoriya into a corner. “I simply brought it up because I wanted to point out that other people might want answers. And you don’t owe them any.”
Fumikage grew up believing that honesty is the best policy, and he still abides by that belief for the most part. But Hawks taught him that sometimes, secrets are kept secret for a reason. Secrets that burden you are a different matter altogether. Like how Aoyama’s secret had been crushing him alive; some secrets need to be kept but shared with the right people. And Midoriya, for some reason, shares this secret with Bakugou. Midoriya is not alone, and that’s what matters.
“Whatever secret it may be,” Fumikage says, “you’re still going to be my friend.”
Midoriya stares at him, then he smiles. “Thank you, senpai.”
-
Fumikage is walking the boys back to their dorm—he has to pass by it to reach his own dorm anyway—when the other members of Class 1-A catch sight of him and call out to him, telling him to come inside.
“We’re having hot pot!” Ashido yells. “Senpai, come in and have some!”
“And we’ve got fruit tarts for dessert,” Kirishima adds, waving him over with his usual enthusiasm. “It’s gonna be awesome!”
Midoriya tugs at Fumikage’s sleeve. “Yeah, you should join us.”
Fumikage hesitates, then asks, “Are there any apple tarts?”
Satou pokes his head out the door. “You bet we do!”
It’s a temptation too great for Fumikage to resist. “…Alright. If you’re willing to have me…”
“Hell yeah, come on in, senpai!” Sero opens the door wider, and Fumikage is ushered inside.
It’s loud and bustling, full of first years setting the tables and rushing in and out of the kitchen. It smells incredibly good.
“Welcome in!” Uraraka beams at him. “Oh, how about we invite Sahara senpai and Sentoki senpai, too?”
“Oooh, can we?” Hagakure asks in an excited tone.
Fumikage is fairly certain his friends would be delighted—well, in Sentoki’s case, decently pleased—to join in on the feast. “Let me text them.”
Sure enough, it takes less than ten minutes for Sahara and Sentoki to show up.
“Do you need any help?” Sahara asks, bounding into the kitchen. Sentoki gravitates towards the TV, where some of the first years are playing a heated game of Mario Party. Fumikage is dragged to one of the couches to answer questions, starting from queries about what was happening in Deika while their communications were cut off to Komori jokingly asking for pictures of Hawks.
Soon enough, the tables are full of mouthwatering dishes of food, and everybody is crowded together as they eat. Fumikage finds himself squeezed between Shouji and Asui, who keep offering him more food whenever his bowl seems a little empty. Across from him, Sahara and Midoriya excitedly discuss something about hero statistics, and Sentoki gets into a surprisingly animated debate with Kaminari regarding how to better utilize his support gear for his hero costume.
It’s strange, how welcomed Fumikage feels right here. His own classmates are always happy to share space with him as well, but this feels different. Maybe it’s because this particular class is so eager and energetic, or maybe it’s because there’s a difference between being in a class where he’s designated to be a part of and being with a group that has welcomed him despite his status as an outsider.
Or maybe it’s because Fumikage has become a little attached too his underclassmen.
At any rate, he’s happy to be here.
-
“Congratulations, Tokoyami,” Sahara says with a wide grin as they walk back to their own dorm. “Those kids have collectively adopted you as their older brother.”
Fumikage feels his whole face heat up. “They like the both of you as well.”
“Not as much as they like you,” Sentoki points out.
“And hey, you totally deserve it,” Sahara says with a bright laugh. “You were the only one who didn’t avoid me like the plague back when I got a mind-reading quirk on our first day of class. Not that I blame the others; they’re great. You just happen to be the best of us.”
Sentoki shrugs. “They’re interesting. Just like you.”
Fumikage sighs, but he can’t help the bloom of fondness in his chest. “I guess there could be worse people to play older sibling to.”
Beside him, his friends start laughing, and soon enough, Fumikage joins in.
-
After winter break ends, Fumikage and Hawks sit on the couch in Hawks’s penthouse after a long patrol and eat a whole box of fried chicken together. It had been a relatively quiet day, with only one swift arrest, and Fumikage can’t help but feel a little bereft by Aoyama’s absence.
“Trial is in two days,” Hawks murmurs.
“He was under duress,” Fumikage says, something he’s rehearsed a hundred times in his head. “And despite the risk imposed on him, he still contributed to rescuing Bakugou even when he easily could have stayed hidden.”
Hawks sighs. “He’s just a kid. They’ll take that into account.”
“And his classmates will testify on his behalf.” That had come as a surprise to Fumikage. The way that Class 1-A had forgiven their peer for what he’d done, how they’d extended a hand towards him even after the danger he’d put them through. But then again, Fumikage shouldn’t have expected any less from them. “Although I suppose he’ll be barred from joining UA again.”
“Mmm, public wouldn’t approve of it.” Hawks looks a little crestfallen. He’d grown fond of Aoyama as well, after all. “He won’t be working with us anymore.”
Fumikage hopes that Aoyama will find a way to become a hero nonetheless. That somehow, whether it be through proving himself in a rehabilitation program or going overseas, Aoyama becomes the hero he wanted to be. Then maybe some day, they’ll get to work side by side once more.
“Well, at least the media is too focused on the League and the Meta Liberation Army to really care about Aoyama. Silver linings and all that.” Hawks takes a long slurp of soda before he continues. “I mean, the shitshow going down about how Detnerat’s very own CEO was a big-time villain is one of the biggest media circuses I’ve seen since, well, Kamino. And even that was focused more on honoring All Might stepping down.”
“There’s plenty of coverage about that and the raid at the hospital where they arrested the doctor and destroyed the Nomu-creating facility, but there hasn’t been much coverage about the arrest of the League’s core members,” Fumikage ponders aloud, because he’d been quite curious about that. “You’d think they would make a bigger fuss about it.”
Hawks shrugs. “I mean, in the end, they didn’t do much. They were pretty big threats to you guys at UA, what with USJ and the summer camp, but all they did was injure some people. Sure, they took the quirk-cancelling bullets and maimed Overhaul, but the public doesn’t know about that. So all the League is known for is their association with All For One, which kinda became a moot point once he was arrested, and for constantly harassing UA students. They never were a big deal.”
Oh, how sweet ignorance must be. “They have no idea how close the League came to becoming a national threat.”
Hawks snorts. “It means we got the job done right.”
This had only been possible because the Hero Public Safety Commission had predicted the danger the League might impose and had ordered Hawks to infiltrate them. Fumikage has to begrudgingly accept that they were smart to do so, even if it annoys him greatly to admit it.
“So is the commission happy now?” Fumikage asks.
“As happy as they can be, which is just so-so.” Hawks rolls his eyes. “Always another threat on the horizon for them.”
If there is ever another occasion where the commission senses incoming danger, Fumikage hopes they find another way to deal with it that doesn’t involve throwing Hawks to the wolves and forcing him to make choices no hero should have to make.
Fumikage will become strong enough to be able to find a different option. He won’t stand at the sidelines and let Hawks march into danger alone again.
“Well, whatever threat comes, we’ll be ready for it.” Fumikage does not say this lightly. He is confident, not in just himself and the pro heroes, but of the upcoming generation as well. “The new generation of heroes is strong.”
Hawks laughs, small and sincere in the way he only does in private. “Yeah, you guys sure are. Especially those first years. Like, damn. Your ducklings aren’t anything to sneeze at.”
“They’re not my ducklings,” Fumikage says. He’s repeated the phrase too many times to even say it empathetically. If just comes out on auto-pilot. He has an ominous feeling that at some point he’s going to have to give up on protesting at all. “Please stop calling them that.”
“Sure thing, Mr. Senpai.” Hawks’s shit-eating grin softens into a brighter, softer smile. “They’re good kids.”
Fumikage can’t help but feel a little proud at the statement. “They are.”
Hawks chuckles and leans over to ruffles Fumikage’s feathers, and Fumikage huffs but doesn’t stop him. “I always knew you had it in you, Fumikage.”
“Have what, the ability to wrangle younger underclassmen?” Fumikage asks dryly.
Hawks flicks Fumikage on the forehead. “To be a good hero who could mentor someone else. To be someone worth looking up to.”
Fumikage blinks, then huffs with amusement as he crosses his arms and says, “I learned from the best.”
“Man, who would’ve guessed the two of us would turn out like this?” Hawks laughs. “After starting off on such a bad note, too.”
“We’ve come a long way.” Fumikage agrees.
And there’s a long road still ahead of them to go. Fumikage is looking forward to it.