Chapter Text
Izuku is six years old. He is the youngest temporary crew mate of the Hero’s Voyage. Before daylight hits he will have to be back on the ship, but for now he walks on a cobblestone street in search of something to loot. Some thing and definitely not some one .
He remembers how upset Captain Toshinori had gotten when last time (his first time on a pirate voyage) he had stolen a girl. A “very rich and important figure” apparently. But to Izuku it had just been a girl who wanted to play.
Now, during his second official voyage as a PIT (Pirate in Training) Izuku decided that the big stone house with the burn marks across the yard was easy pickings.
He walked over to the side of the house and was met with a fence twice his size. Izuku puffed his cheeks and spread out his arms. He took a few steps back and looked straight towards the fence. “One, twooo, thre-”
“Meow”
Izuku looked down at the animal as it crawled from a hole near the bottom of the fence. A very fat cat had come through a hold that looked no bigger than the size Izuku’s fists put together. He walked over to where the cat had crawled out from and noticed the hole had a huge opening in the ground. Almost as if it had been dug out.
Izuku crawled through this hole and crashed into the bush that had been waiting from on the other side.
When he finally got up he was hit by the thick and deep scent of fruit. Passion fruits and lettuce and…. strawberries!
Izuku followed his nose and rounded a corner. Bingo he thought as a smile grew in his face. He found a bush of strawberries and nestled in between a tiny figure clutching a green yellow and pink object. He walked closer but try as he might he couldn’t figure out what the person in front of him was holding so tightly. “Whatcha got there?” he asked.
______________
It wasn’t until Izuku got back to the ship, into the cabin that he shared with Kacchan and Momo (favoritism for young’uns is what everyone on board called it) that realized a few things about the Strawberry Bush Boy.
- He never got his actual name.
- The strawberry boy had distracted him from getting actual strawberries
- When the strawberry boy pinky promised him that he would wait for him to come back he had far too many bandages on his arm
“Kacchan? Momo?” he called up from his bottom bunk.
“What Deku”
“Hmm?”
“What does it mean when someone our size has cuts like the captain?”
There’s a moment of silence before Izuku hears one of the beds squeak. “It means they’re clumsy as shi-”
“No,” Momo cuts in, “it means someone is training them and pushing them too much”
“But,” Izuku said, frustratedly sitting up “training is how you get strong! You can’t ever train too much!”
“Yes, you can” Momo countered flipping over so that Izuku could see her upside down. “And if you train way way too much you can get all sick and gross” She even wiggled her finger to show the distaste.
“Hmph,” Izukuku pouted, crossing his arms, “Well I think as Heros we should stop people from way way too much training”
“And I think” Kacchan growled. “You too dumasses should go to sleep”
Izuku turned back over in his blankets and watched as Momo flipped back all that way in her bed.
He thought about the boy tucked into the strawberry bush. About the boy who wanted to come with him. About the boy who believed in fairies.
And he decided right then and there that he would be a Hero and stop the strawberry boy from training way way too much.
And then he fell asleep.
___________________
Fifteen years later Izuku sits across from Shouto in a room covered in ice and scorch marks. The memories of the strawberry boy are neither gone nor faded. They were on a wall with a red pushpin holding them there. A reminder.
Izuku gave Shouto a very odd look. “No?” he answered and then decided to try something out. “My mom says real fairies don’t exist.”
Shouto’s eyes danced with joy and his hand quietly yet violently tapped when he asked his next question. “And what does your aunt say?”
“Auntie Mitsukni used to say adults are stupid!” Eric yelled, making Izuku turn his attention on her. Shouto released his hold on Izuku. It seems both of them had completely forgotten she was there.
But Shouto hadn’t shifted his focus. “No!” he whisper-shouted a smile grin creeping across his features.
“Yes!” Izuku said right back, matching his energy.
“You’re The Boy Who Doesn’t Believe in Fairies!”
“And you’re The Strawber- the what?”
Shouto flushed a deep color “F- Fifteen years ago” he sputtered. “Did a boy in a fruit garden give you a book about fairies?”
“No, I looted a book about fairies from a boy in a strawberry brush”
At that Shouto flicked his forehead “That's the exact same thing”
“No beca-”
“Deku-kun is he the reason you would never give me the book from your quarters?” Eri interrupted, pointing an accusatory finger at Shouto.
“You still have it?”
Izuku blushed deeply “That's not the point! I promised I would come back and find you and I did! That’s all that matters I can rest now.”
“You can wh-”
A loud bell rang throughout the ship. Izuku smiled to himself and popped up. “Food Time!” he said, “We have to pick up Mahoro and Katsuma-kun first, so let’s hurry.”
He stood up, adjusted Eri to his back and helped Shout get up. And then they left the half scorched half icy room.
________
When they finally got to the kitchen Izuku took a second to cherish the look on Shouto’s face once he saw it. Izuku doesn’t wanna brag but, the kitchen on the Hero's Revenge was kinda awesome. It had a large stove that had been specifically crafted for the ship and knives, forks, and spoons that could be easily used as both an eating utensil and a weapon. This was all of course due to the work of their amazing engineer.
Who come to think of it, he didn’t see her here and hadn't seen her all day. Great.
“Uhm Shouto-kun d’you think you can handle yourself here?”
Shouto looks absolutely bewildered “What?”
Izuku shoots him a smile “Don’t worry Iida-kun is right there and all you have to do make sure no one outside of those you saw at the meeting takes the kids”
“What-”
“Don’t worry you’ll be fine” he let Eri down and waved over to Iida who was very seriously chopping up an onion. “I’ll be right back I promise, if I don’t go get her right now then she won’t eat and will be all confused hours later as to why she’s hungry and then they’ll get either crazy unproductive or-” he stops when he notices Shouto’s slaked jaw, his mouth slightly open showing very white two front teeth and his eyes that are very much not comprehending a word he is saying. Izuku flushed. “Two minutes, wait no- ten i promise”
He walked out of the kitchen and down three flights of straits all the way to the bottom of the boat. He knocked on a door and slowly pushed inside “Hatsumei-chan?”
He walks in and sees the mess that is their work shop. Wooden planks are spread out across the floor, a pile of various shiny sharp things is to the right and something large round black and orange sits to the right. Hatsumei is absolutely nowhere to be seen.
When the contraption to the right starts to make a low rumbling sound Izuku moves closer and just as he gets close enough to touch it steam erupts from the sides making him jump ten feet in the air, hitting his head on the very low ceiling.
“My baby! Oh did he hurt you?? No? It’s okay we just gotta try One More Time okayy~”
He rubs his head as his vision comes back to him. He clears his throat and when Hatsumei fails and noticing his presence, speaks up. “Hatsumei-chan it's time for lunch”
“Actually Captain I have a plan-”
“No you don’t, it’s time for lunch, let’s go ” he props his hands on his hips.
“Yes, I do” she says still not looking directly at him, favors her baby “I’ll just work on my babies for a solid 32 hours and then six hours of-”
“Hatsume-chan. No.” he says, going to tug on her arm.
“Don’t touch me” she replies, still not looking at him and slapping away his arm.
“Okay but I’m not leaving unless you come with me”. Silence is what he gets from her as she still hovers and moves around her baby. “I'll start messing with your tools” he sing-songs. All they did was move over to the pile of shiny sharp things and to look for something.
A light bulb goes off in Izuku’s head “Ya know,” he draws, trying to sound as enticing as possible, “Shouto-kun just got their quirk”
They glanced over “Shouto-kun?”
“Our newest recruit?” He says smiling “You met him at the meeting this morning”
“Bold of you to assume I went to the meeting this morning”
“Hatsume-chan!”
“Like you didn’t know”
“I di- ya know what? It doesn’t matter back to Shouto-kun.” he corrects, his face now red with irritation, not that the other notices or cares. “Ya know Shouto with his really amazing and really powerful quirks could definitely use some beginning support items”
She freezes. Her back is still turned against him “Support items? Quirks?”
Hook.
“Yeah” Izuku nods. “And his face is completely bare no piercings no tats anywhere and i know you’ve been dying for-”
Line.
hatsume is visibly vibrating now. “I get a blank canvas?” she asks, all sense of calm gone from her voice and replaced with a loud excitement.
“You do” he replies and not a second after she’s jumping in. the air and crushing him in a hug.
Sinker.
“WELL THEM LET'S GO IZUKU YOU KNOW HOW IIDA WILL BE IF WE’RE LATE LET'S GOO LUNCH TIME”
_________________
When Izuku and Hatsume finally get back to the kitchen he sees that the lunch rush is in full swing. Members of both His Crewmates and his hired crewmates are packed into the too-large-to-be-real-but-also-too-small-to-fit-everyone room and the smell is A Lot. He pulls the bandana wrapped around his neck to nose. It was definitely time to dock soon.
Still holding on to Hatsumes hand he grabs the least stale bread he can find and a few slices of salted meat. Then he spots Shouto who, although devoid of the children, is sitting next to Aoyama, in a corner, staring very animatedly at a diamond and the way it sparkles near a torch. “Shouto-kun!” he waves over, “Bring Yuga-kun too” he calls knowing good and well neither one of them have probably eaten.
Grabbing a brick of cheese and beckoning his group of four he led them outside. He passed out the rations after they sat in a loose circle near the starboard of the ship.
It takes hatsume all of two seconds to start an animated conversation with shouto about his quirk, how it works, what they did, how they could help and-
“I don’t know'' Shouto answers, stopping Hatsume in her tracks. She blinks once, twice and then turns to Izuku looking for an explanation.
“Uhmm well on his right side these huge ice spikes grew out of him but then his right made flames and it was super destructive and I think- wait actually Shouto-kun can you..”
The conversation drifts to Shouto’s showing his flames and ice which are much smaller than before and Hatsume definitely taking her time with her words and not speaking while she’s eating. (She did not). Once or twice Aoyama cuts in to give sparkly advice but more or less sticks to his cheese and diamonds. At one point my Iida comes over to discuss their next docking and they agree on a place for the hires and on when they would dock at Kamino. Apparently they had been summoned.
When they finish eating the conversation drifts into piercing and tattoos until Hatsume stands up abruptly and proclaims she knows exactly what Shouto needs before dashing away, presumably to her workshop.
“She's fun,” Shouto commented after she left.
“Be nice” izuku chided.
“I was”
Izuku got up and held his hand out to Shouto who in turn grabbed. “Now” he huffed, surprised at shoutos weight and stature, “We get to train”
“Train?”
“Yep, your quirk is powerful but we need to test the limits and get the full scope”
“But this isn’t my po-“
“It your power not Eri-chan’s, not mine, and not anyone else’s, now here look,” he moved back a few paces “I want you to shoot either your ice or your fire at me and see how it works”
Shouto concentrated on his hand and slowly a burst of flame came to life. He looked to Izuku and carefully brought his hand back before slinging it forward. A small burst of fare flew out but died before it even hit the captain.
“Breathe Shouto” Izuku called. “Try your ice this time”
Shouto inhaled deeply before raising his other hand observing how the ice glistened in the sun and shooting a dagger out. It soared before stopping just inches away from Izuku. He clapped his hands and then called out again “Okay try that again but this time don't breathe”
“Don't what?”
“Using different breathing techniques might make for different out comes and they could potentially-”
Izuku never finished his statement. Shouto raised his right arm and again and held his breath as he shot out for consecutive snowballs. “That was perfect!!” Izuku said, throwing his arms in the air. He jogged back to right behind Shouto and tentatively put his hands on the other’s stomach “Is this okay?” he asked.
“Um yeah” he stifled out, his face now a light shade of pink. Does he really tan this easily, Izuku thought.
“Okay this time when you breathe in, get your air from right here” he said pressing in the other his diaphragm. “Not from up here” he moved his hands so that they were on Shoutos chest and shoulders.
Shouto nodded stiffly and inhaled deeply from his chest but ended up coughing out his exhalation. Izuuku stifled out a laugh. “I did that a lot too on my first try lemme go get- i’ll be right back i promise, i feel like i’ve been saying that a lot to you i’m sorry-”
“Izuku just go, I'll be fine” Shouto said, his normally pale face red.
Maybe we could get some aloe at the next port Izuku briefly thought. Or maybe it was the coughing hmm . “Kay”
____________
He found Jirou in the hull strumming her lute and composing a new sea shanty with Denki. “Kyoka-san I know you're really ultra busy but I need your help!”
“Deku I’m really not that busy it’s okay”
“Good because I need you to come with me and show Shouto that breathing thing you taught me because I think it'll really help with his quirk you see-”
“Please tell me it’s a candy cane type of quirk!” Denki cut it, completely serious.
“Uhh actually,” Izuku blanched, “Half of him shoots fire the other ice, soooo close but no cigar”
“They weren’t close at all Deku, don’t give him false hope” Jirou teased.
“I was trying to be nice anyways let’s go, we're losing sunlight” Izuku said, stopping the argument that was sure to ensue.
“Actually no we’re not” he heard one on then whisper behind his back as they clambered back up to the deck.
___________
Four hours later after a copious amount of breathing practice, input from other crew mates and three and a half arms with the hair scorched off; Izuku decided that practice was over.
“What? but I can go on more-“
Izuuu felt a flash of anger that reminded him of the sign he had stuck in the back of his mind with a pushpin. He opened his mouth to…. combat/scold/explain/tell off he didn’t really know, but Kacchan beat him to it.
“That doesn’t mean you should half n half” he growled. “There’s a time for training and there a time for rest and now,” he reached and grabbed Kirishimas shoulder to himself, “Me and him are gonna go watch the fucking sunset” and then the sauntered off, his boyfriend in tow.
Izuku looked over to Shouto who had a confused look on his face watching where the two had walked off.“C’mon” Izuku said “I gotta write this all down before it’s time”
“Time for what?” Shouto asked, following closely behind Izuku.
Izuku led them to his quarters “Uhh sorta like a party….” he chewed the inside of his lip. It’s sorta like a party he thought. But then again it’s also more of a performance but then again its not like we’re sitting down watching them perform but then again there was a performance part so would it be jamboree or like frolic? Maybe a soirée? No that’s too-
“A soirée?” Shouto questioned, knocking him out of his thoughts.
Izuku scratched the back of his head and went to open the door with his other “Uhhh no?” he said, swinging the door open.
He walked in and immediately went towards his desk. “Ya know,” he called back “Hatsume actually- wait where’d you go” he looked behind him to see an empty room. He was just behind me how the fuck could he have gotten away? Suddenly very pissed off, Izuku grabbed his nearest sword and walked back towards his door. No way one of the hires could have lifted him off me that quickly. Or maybe-
Standing right outside his door was Shouto. The slightest bit of sadness hung on his face but it was still him.
“What are you doing out here?” Izuku said feeling the irritation leave his shoulders.
“On my fathers ship only the captain is allowed in the captain's quarters” Shouto said, straightening his back in a seemingly uncomfortable way.
Anger seized his heart once again. Izuku took the knuckle of his index finger and jabbed him in the stomach, making the other boy lean over in a cough. “This isn’t your fathers ship, Shouto-kun” he said and then pulled him in.
Izuku had seen the scars covering shouto’s chest and back when he had accidentally burned his shirt off. He had remembered the conversation he, Kacchan and Momo had fifteen years ago. He had also felt the way Shouto had flinched when Izuku first touched him during training earlier. “This is my ship,” Izuku said. “And on my ship any and all of my crew is allowed in my quarters, got it?”
“Okay”
Izuku smiled, that’s good enough for now. “Ya know, at least until we get to Tortuga you’ll be sleeping in here anyway” he said offhandedly moving again towards his desk.
He placed his sword back where it belonged and pulled out his notebook and pen.
He had written halfway down the page when he heard Shouto’s voice again sounding far away.
“I’m sleeping in here ?” he asked..
“Uhh yeah” Izuku said, still immersed in his writings. “We don’t have any extra hammocks with my crew and if i put you with the hired you’ll probably be killed. Oh and my bed is huge if you hadn't noticed.”
“I'll be what ” Shouto said now sounding serious.
Izuku clicked his pen and turned toget a look at Shouto. Did I forget to.. “Oh shit”
“ ’Oh shit’ What?” Shouto repeated.
“I never told you about the distinction between my crew and everyone else did I?”
Shout shook his head.
“Okay so, to run my ship you need an average of 90-100 people and of the people in my crew- that is those I trust and who have all gotten quirks from Eri-chan there are only fifty-two of us” he paused to make sure Shouto got all of that and then continued “because of that, we have to hire other pirates for each voyage Iida-kun can explain it better than me but those are the basics”
“But why would I be killed?” Shouto asked, still not getting the point.
Izuku pursed his lip “Well the hires…. let’s just say they don’t always mix well with my crew”
Shouto nodded his head and Izuku took that as confirmation he understood and went back to his writings.
_________________
When Shouto and Izuku got back out to deck they found the party/shanty/frolic/performance already geering up. The night sky was illuminated by thousands of stars and Camie had added a red/white solstice effect on the sky. Which reminds me “By the way all of this is all for you Shouto”
Shouto gave him a questioning look. Izuku flushed “When we get a new mate here a mandatory Starry Night” he beamed, ignoring his nagging brain. shouto’s here to be a Pirate Hero not for you to fall in love with no matter how intimidating he looks to you.
He looked around again. He looked up to the quarter deck where Jirou, Denki, Kacchan and a few others were standing around their instruments. Izuku led Shouto up there “Are we all set up?” he asked once they had made it.
“We’re all set don’t know what the fuck your doing tho” Kacchan said bringing a tight smile to izukua face.
“Great”
Five minutes later almost everyone on board stood in a crowd on the main deck. Izuku and Shouto stood together facing the crowd and behind the two was the troupe of bards (Bakugou would kill him for saying that).
Izuku most definitely didn’t stutter through the presentation of the band or the “and here is what you all are waiting for” part. Before (and with a great flourish of his arm) pouting to shouto who lit his left arm first, extinguished it and the brandished his right arm which shot out a handful of ice daggers. The show gained many ”Oos” and ”Ahhs” from the crowd only to being drowned out by the band starting up.
Yep, tonight was going to be a Good Night.
________________________
Izuku could have sworn he had his eyes on Shouto then entire time. Like, he was maybe 68 percent sure he had. Okay, maybe Mina had roped him into a conversation about different kinds of threads and he had to look away for a second. And then maybe Ochako had looped him into singing a song or two. And maybe..
The point is Shouto was gone and it was probably all Izuku’s fault, okay?
Ebbing and weaving his way in and out of people he thought and thought and thought. Out of the five people he had asked the last three people seemed to have no clue as to where Shouto had gone and two of them didn’t even seem to know who Shouto was.
“Really?” Izuku had said. “Red n’ white hair and like,,,, yea big?” he gestured.
“Uhhh OHH YOU MEAN CANDY CANE”
He sighed “Yeah that’s who I mean Tetsu-kun”
The aluminum boy smiled back brightly “I saw him go that way” he declared pointing near the aft of the ship.
Izuku thought he would cry “Thank you Tetsu-kun!” he squeezed the other boys shoulders and then ran in the direction he pointed.
Izuku checked all around the quarter deck and after numerous incorrect interactions. (A pissed and furiously flushing kirishima and kacchan here; a passed out hagakure there.) He deduced that instead of going up, maybe Shouto had gone down towards the Captain's Quarters.
He went to unlock the door and found it was already unlocked. Great, he probably asked IIda to open it for him. And then Izuku tried to actually open the door and found that it would not budge. It’s never been stuck like this before i wonder if- WHY THE FUCK IS THE DOOR SO FUCKING COLD
“Damn, Captain is everything okay? I’m sure a cold door can't be that bad” a voice scoffed from behind him.
Ahh I said that out loud . Izuku had pushed the side of his body against the door to try and force it open and was met with below freezing temperatures. “Its okay, MIna” he reassured “Actually, I need your help”
Ten minutes later after using the services of no less than three of three of his crew mates, Izuku got his door open.
“You mean to tell me he's just sleeping” Jirou grumbled, pissed that she had left whatever the hell they had been doing before coming to help. Izuku shushed them and quietly creeped into the room.
Shouto had bundled himself up in Izuku’s comforters. His face held none of the tenseness it had during the day. His brow was completely calm and pink lips were held slightly open to make way for the tiny breaths.
You could totally kiss him right now a tiny voice in his head whispered.
Fuck. Off. A louder and more dependable voice responded.
____________________
The next morning Izuku woke up -in his own bed- to a few different, very odd things. The first was that he was not alone in his bed.
Which isn't that weird all things considered.
Izuku, despite Iidas constant warnings about how bad and probably dangerous it was, had an open door policy (especially after shanties) on sleeping in his bed. About once or twice a week he would wake up to a person next to him who just craved a bit more warmth. And it made sense.
It being “The Captain's Quarters” it truly was a quarter built for a captain. It was by far the warmest room in the ship despite it also being the only room with windows, and his bed was topped with a large thick blanket and almost annoying comfortable pillows. Usual partakers of this were Denki, Ochako and Asui. Ochako liked to call it Captains Cuddles. Izuku liked to call it anything but that.
Last night when Izuku had crawled into bed he made the very safe decision of laying at least a hands width away from Shouto. If his body language had said anything during training earlier that day, it was that he either disliked touch or was very very unsure/new about it.
This morning, however, there was a weird sound coming from where his pillow should be and even louder snore coming from what was a silent Shouto last night. He peeked open his eyes and took an assessment of his surroundings. He lay on his side and blanket pulled up over his shoulder- which was weird because he usually kicked it off in his sleep. Directly in front of him was a thatch of red hair, Kacchan must've been on watch last night . The sun was just barley up and was slowly but surely rising and his pillow-
Well it was certainly lumpier and colder than usual than usual. Like when a pillow get too warm so you flip it over-that kinda cold.
But Izuku hadn't felt his pillow get too cold and he hadn't flipped it over. He had just woken up. His pillow should be half glued to his face with drool. And then his pillow hummed .
He snuck the hand not pinned to the bed around what should have been the base of the pillow and was met with something very hard and very not-pillow-esque. A pertifying realization was met with a sudden stillness of izuku which somehow roused Kirishima and not the body beneath him.
“Matee” Kiri half whispered with far too much excitement this early, “Peppermint-kun is so warm~, his chest is like the sun ”
Izuku gave him a very disbelieving look, “My side is cool”
“Cool?? Lemme see” and darted his hand out and spread it across the sleeping ones chest.
“Shhh Kiri-kun you'll wake him up”
“Huh? But bro-”
“I’m not sleeping”
“Gwah!”
Izuku has shot himself what felt like ten feet (it was only two) away from a very not sleeping Shouto. He sat on his knees and silently tried to stop the blood from rushing to his face. Kirishima was cackling from where he sat, having had to move positions due to Izuku’s….. overreaction. “Good Morning Shouto” he borderline screamed covering his eyes, not willing to deal the look Shouto would give him.
“Did you know you talk in your sleep?”
Izuku peeked through his fingers to see shouto looking up at him with an expression that that very much did not say ew-this-peasant-had-the-audacity-to-not-only-sleep-on-me-but-to-drool-on-me-as-well-oh-my-god-i-hate-him-ugh.
No instead his face looked puffy from sleep and far more innocent and curious than he would have thought capable from the tortured scowl he had not twenty four hours ago. Izuku opened his mouth to ask a question of his own but Kirishima beat him to it.
“oh the Cap’n definitely knows it I once held a half hour long conversation with him about the manliness of eating raw clam shells and how it affect the average pirates diet” he took a pause to show how important it was “Absolutely changed my life dude”
Izuku took that moment to intervene. “What time did you wake up? And….I’m sorry for sleeping on you”
The sun had gotten a bit higher in the sky so it shone across Shouto’s face and Izuku thought he could make out a faint shade of pink on his face but when he spoke his voice was flat. “Only a bit before you guys and I didn’t mind it” he moved to get out of the bed “The you sleeping on me, I mean.”
Kirishima howled.
Nope. Absolutely not. Not right now, not this early in the morning. Izuku was not doing it. He ushered Kirishima out of the room and then threw some fresh clothes to Shouto. “Breakfast and then we get to have fun”
____________
And they did. For the next two and a half weeks Izuku trained with Shouto for at least two hours everyday. When he wasn’t working with him Izuku was usually doing some self training or strategizing for their upcoming raid that would take place after getting rid of the hires but before they got to Kamino.
When Izuku was busy he usually got another seasoned member of his crew to help Shouto with his training. He made the mistake of telling Kacchan to helpSshouto once and didn’t even get a chance to start his own training before hearing a loud “Damn candy cane, ’are makin fun of me??”
Apparently Shout had incorrectly stated that he and Bakugo were friends because this was the second time they had trained together. “Momo said we were friends even though we’ve spoken to each other like twice at most” Shouto had reasoned. “although she does feel vaguely familiar”.
On the day the ship docked on Tortuga (where they would drop the hires) Izuku called a crew wide meeting to address roles and what would be needed for the next week or two.
Standing in front of the room stood him, Iida, Kacchan, Momo, and Monoma. “I know you guys hate this,” he started off “but for the next week will not have any hires”
There were a couple shouts of ignidation and one “At least I don’t have to look behind my back everytime I go through a dark hallway”
Iida shushed the crowd and this time Kacchan continued “Today we need you all to replenish our food stocks and Mei- come one up here Mei- has a list of all the shit she needs y’all to get if you want any quirk support shit”
“Moving on,” Monoma picked up “about the raid next week, due to our limited crew only about a fourth of us will actually be doing the raiding” Several pound groans erupted after that . “Yes I know it's not ideal but it’s what we will do.”
“Finally,” Momo continued, “Remember to buy the food and everything else you can steal but please keep in mind that this is Tortuga . We are not the only pirates here and we are certainly not well liked.”
“I have the lists for everyone here about everything we talked about. Please grab on your way out. Meeting adjourned” Iida finished.
Izuku left the room and on his way down the gangway he fell into step with Shouto. After ten minutes of walking in complete silence cursing himself for walking in complete boring silence he spoke up “Shouto-kun why are you following me?”
“Oh I’ve never paid for anything for anything my entire life and the only expertise I have with looting is when you stole my book fifteen years ago”
Izuku froze in his place “You’ve never bought anything in your entire life ”
He shrugged. “When you’re the son of a lord people just give you shit”
“Well I guess I get to teach you one more thing” he said smiling up at him. This was one thing Izuku absolutely adored about getting new recruits. Teaching them new things. Seeing the way they experienced things Izuku’s know his whole life. The almost drunken light they got after gaveling their quirk awoken. It was all..
It all felt like magic . Like real magic not just dormant powers awoken by a seven year old
Izuku took Shouto all through the town, mostly avoiding the more vicious pirates that Izuku knew. They bought fruits and breads that were most definitely not going to last long and alcohol that could last for ages. If there was one thing Izuku would never forget it’s the look on Shouto’s face when he said the clean water they had had for the past two weeks was a rare occurrence and that most of it was undoubtedly filled with gross bacteria.
The day was going perfectly well. The sun had fallen so that half the sky still looked blue while the other was bathed in pink and purples. Izuku paid their surroundings no mind favoring the small smile Shouto had given the haggard looking merchant woman. A decision he would
soon regret.
A tall figure had descended upon them. He wore a doctor's face mask and a long (probably) stolen petticoat that was dripped in rings of gold.
“Ohh” the figure purred, bringing one hand up to rest on his chin and leaning over them “The baby pirate’s found a new toy”
Izuku instinctively shoved Shouto behind him. “Chisaki”
“Was playing the father as stressful as I told you it would be so you’ve found yourself a bed mate? How pathetic”
“Shut up” Izuku hissed. His hand now on the hilt of his sword “You don’t get to speak of Eri-chan or any of my crew”
“Ohhh, is he this savage-like in bed too?” he chuckled looking above Izuku’s head. “Must be tough for you, Todoroki Shouto”
Behind him he heard Shouto make a strangled noise somewhere between a yelp and a growl. “How do you know my name?” he asked.
At that Chisaki actually paused for a moment. “Are you joking?” he looked to Izuku “You’ve made yourself a doxy out of a lord's heir and have yet to realize the gravity of the situation? I thought you were ballsy yet it seems all you are is stupid” he looked back up at shouto “Your pampered little face is on every wanted board from here to Hosu”
Izuku paled from here to hosu??? I mean I guess it is possible for Enjiro to achieve that but?? in two weeks? And with the scars on Shouto’s back i assume he was hated by him…. but if he’s gone through these measures….. “We have to get out of here” he mumbled. Tortuga might be a safe haven to pirates but i was not to those of the Heros Revenge.
He grabbed Shouto’s hand and pulled them in the opposite direction. “Let’s go!” he shouted. keeping his mind on track.
He ran and top speed he knew Shouto was capable of before he became impatient and wrapping his arm around Shouto's middle. “Hold on to me” he said as he charged up One for All. He dashed from rooftop to rooftop, pushing harder with each step, forcing himself to go even faster.
At one point they passed by Ochako and Momo and Mina and Izuku prayed they heard his hurried “Get everyone back on the ship!”
If only he saw how he looked, electricity cracklings over his entire body and the terrible expression on his face; he would know they had understood him perfectly.
Once they had gotten back to the ship Izuku let Shouto down gently and immediately turned his attention to the mainmast of the ship. He climbed up to the crows nest and hopped in, scaring the two up there. “Tokoyami I need you”
“Yes Cap’n” they said standing at attention immediately.
“Fly out and tell everyone to get back to the ship now ”
Once he flew off Izuku turned to Jirou with a hard look “I need you too and I know you can do this”
“Yeah sure I can run out a tell people but I wo-”
He stopped them in her tracks “No, I don’t need that, your speakers in your legs. I know you’ve been practicing, you can amplify more than just your heartbeat now, yes?”
She flushed “I can only achieve the occasional flub I haven’t been able to do it reliably, Cap’n”
“Well i need you to be able to do it now , Jirou-san. will you do it?”
They looked back up at izuku and bit their lip “Got it, Cap’n’” she whispered and then swung down to the deck.
Izuku followed after he but did not stand next to her. He grabbed Shouto again by his forearm and shut them into his quarters. He threw a pillow at Shouto face and took one for himself “You may want to cover your ears”
Moments later a booming voice shook the ship. “Hero's Revenge back to the ship NOWWWWW ”
Izuku and Shouto stayed still waiting for a few moments until they heard the tell-tale bounds of heaven foot steps thundering on board. “Stay here” Izuku said before slamming the door behind him
Izuku immediately spotted Iida. “We needed to be out of here yesterday.” he ordered.
________________
Half an hour later Tortuga is in their rear and Izuku is allowed to breathe. Everyone had made it aboard.
An hour later he sat in an emergency meeting with his strategizing team about food supply and ship repairs that needed to be done. The raid they had planned for would not happen.
Three and a half days later Izuku found himself feeling as if he had been doused with an incredibly putrid smell called “Shouto repellent”.
The other man had definitely been avoiding him. it shouldn't have been possible considering that they slept together, but it was certainly happening.
Why else would Shouto ask everyone one else, including kacchan at one point. His convenient absences at meal time hadn’t gone missed either. “I ate an hour earlier with Sato” my ass , Izuku thought. No one, especially not on the Hero's Revenge just changes up their meal times that easily.
The day after Shouto said that Izuku made the plan to corner Shouto when they turned in for the night and figure out what the problem was. “That's a shitty idea” Kacchan had told him. But Izuku didn’t care, he had to figure it out.
He didn’t, however, expect the solution to be so simple and straightforward.
“This ship requires at least 75 people to keep it running at top shape and we have less than sixty on board, I’ve just been doing my part”
“Oh” Izuku felt like an idiot.
“And also you made a weird face when that guy said I was your slut”
“HAH?” Okay maybe izuku wasn’t that much of an idiot.
Shouto looked at him with slight pink confusion adorning his usually calm features “You don’t remember? Chisaki you called him. He had-”
“I know who your talking about” he stopped him, furiously waving his hands in front of his face “What did you mean by my face”
“Do you remember when he said I was a bedmate?”
“Heah”
“The look you made…. it was one that I’ve never seen before, your lips had turned upward but you weren’t smiling and the look in you eye was fierce even though I was could not fully comprehend it”
To say Izuku was a little bit confused would be a gross oversimplification “What does that have to do with you avoiding me”
“I deduced that you were disgusted to think others thought we were together in that way so I kept my distance” he said, looking almost annoyed that Izuku hadn't figured it out himself. Izuku briefly remembered the subject of education from two weeks ago and giggled to himself.
Hehad to punch his lips together to stop the laughter that threaded to protrude. “Shouto-kun” he says, thankfully keeping voice somewhat decent. “I don’t know what look you’re talking about but I promise you that you don’t disgust me”
“But-”
“Have you forgotten your aboard the Hero’s Revenge ? We’re know across the seas as a ‘wild band of perverts and thrives’ if the world believes my crew is ruled by youth and lust, it means nothing to me”
“So you’re not disgusted by me then”
“No I am not”
“Even though I'm the reason we have just barely enough resources for six days at most?”
“Yeah. By the way we’re docking again in four days. Be ready”
_______________
The morning before they docked in Kamino Izuku made his rounds through the ship. True to what Shouto had said, having less than 60 people do 75’s job made things hectic. He was sure most of his instruction went out the window along with lists he had given out.
Nonetheless he completed his rounds and finally descended upon Shouto who stood alone in the crows nest.
The day before this, Kacchan had commented on how odd it was that Izuku had stuck to Shouto like this and Momo had the audacity to agree with him saying that “He’s made friends within the crew and we have no potential enemies on board, so you sticking is rather odd”. The audacity of his first and second mate, honestly.
Izuku was the captain of a terrifying pirate ship. He was a symbol of strength to the respectable pirates (and the dirty lords or ladies) he knew. His head was not and will not ever be ruled by a boyish crush. Despite what his most trusted would say.
“Having fun up here all by yourself?” he said as a way of greeting.
Shouto gave an exhausted sigh “It's boring up here”
“Well it's about to get a lot less boring, look over there” he pointed to the speck of land slowly growing larger in the distance. “That is Kamino. When we dock there, good things will happen” What good things would happen there, Izuku didn’t know. He just knew that everytime he stepped on Kamino beaches he left there feeling a little lighter.
“Won’t I have to stay aboard the ship isn’t my-”
Izuku waved him off “Your father posted pictures of you everywhere, there’s no doubt the people of Kamino know of you. But they are different than those of Tortuga” he took a pause the gage shouto’s reaction then continued “Tortuga is that land home to all pirates but mine. For me and my crew- which included you - our homeland is that of Kamino Island”
“My father said that Kamino Island was a barren wasteland” Shouto said, chalking up his eyebrow.
“Kamino island is barren to all those but ones who have boarded the Hero’s Revenge or the Hero’s Voyage as it was called before or the Hero’s Flight as it was called before that” he shot Shouto another smile.
“You'll be safe in Kamino. By the way, when we dock I will leave you to Ochako-san. I have some ah pressing matters I have to attend to but I trust her you’ll be safe”
Shouto nodded at this and turned his attention back to the horizon. Izuku did the same and sat on the edge of the crows nest.
___________________
Once off the gang way he parts ways with Shouto and the rest of his crew and heads in the opposite direction. Moments later he is joined by Momo followed by Kacchan.
“Any idea of what Aizawa Sensei says is so important that we had to come here?” Momo said, breaking the silence.
“Damn old man probably just missed us and all our awesomeness”
“If he had missed us he would have been this forceful” Izuku reminds him.
“I think we’re getting a quest”
Izuku hummed to that “That would make sense. It's been... what two years since our last?”
“It’s been three,” Kacchan corrected, shoving his hands in his pockets.
They walked up the road and down a few streets before coming across a very familiar building. The tall, three story inn stood before them. A sign with the name of the place in gold letters and a silver chain holding it together. It was out of place against the shabby brown of the wooden door but nonetheless Izuku smiled when he saw it. Hatsume had made it and flat out refused when Aizawa sensei said they couldn’t take something so expensive. The Yueh
They walked up to the door and knocked three times before the door swung open and revealed a hunched over man dressed in all black save for a white scarf wrapped around his neck. “I see you all have made it” he gruffed.
“Yeah old man you got any news for us?” Kacchan said, his voice growing deeper than it had been moments ago.
Aizawa backed up to let them in “Yeah I got a job for you guys. Come in there’s some others here waiting for you”
Izuku spotted Momo whisper a small “hah” in Kacchan's ear as they followed their old teacher through the place. He led them up two flights of stairs and to a door labeled 杰. He pushed in the door open to reveal three others sitting around a table. “Takami,” Aizawa said “meet Yaoyarozu Momo, Bakugou Katsuki, and Captain Midoriya Izuku”
A man with golden curls on his head and a coat made of the hide of an animal not native to Kamino. “Hey” he said getting up from his seat “These guys say y’all can help me is that true?”
Izuku glanced behind the man to see the others that sat in the room. A map laid out on the table with several small knives stuck on certain islands. Around the table sat Nemuri Kayama, and Rumi Usagiyama.
“Sit down, kids.” Aizawa said, taking his place next to Nemuri. Kacchan made a sound of irritation at the word “kid” but sat down opposite of the blond man. Izuku and Momo followed suit so that Izuku sat in the middle of them both.
Once everyone is settled Aizawa starts them off “Takami Keigo lives in the forests of Furunoka”
Bakugou surged forward in his seat “No dipshit would be stupid enough to live in the forests of Furunoka it’s a -“
“Barren wasteland, unstable to support people?” Aizawa said, a single glare that silences Kacchan’s aggression making him slump back down with audible “tch” .
“As I was saying Takami lives in those forests and lately strange occurrences have been happening.”
Nemuri picks up from there “Blue flames illuminate the dark and sounds of a child’s cry ringing through out the night”
Izuku visibly tensed in his seat, he felt his mates do the same and then he spoke up “What do you need us for?”