Chapter Text
"Oh, of course! Look at 1A hogging all the camera footage again! I swear they make everything a crisis just for the chance of showing off!"
"Monoma, shut up! Look at them! They're thrashed and there were casualties! Try growing a heart and show some actual compassion!"
"Yeah, man! My bro, Kirishima's not like…HOLY CRAP, KIRISHIMA!"
Monoma opened his mouth to retort, but no one paid him any mind after that, more than one of them stiffening or pale as more and more heroes were shown in serious conditions. Including Red Riot.
The footage was old at this point. It was mostly on repeat as more information was disclosed to the public.
A joint effort of Hero agencies came down on a Yakuza clan and, clearly, it went well out of control. Most of it was handled underground, so the media had little information to give out before the climax began, and in all the chaos and debris, the results and fates of many people, hero and criminal alike, were completely unknown. The fact that students were involved and injured didn't exactly help matters either, both in acquiring the rights to disclosure and in the general reputation of heroes, so everyone was more or less left in the dark over the full results of the attack.
That being said, far too much had been all too clear for Yosetsu. By the time the report first made it to the airwaves, the monstrous villain, Overhaul, was already in a major, highly destructive, one on one battle with Deku! The boy had a small girl on his back and was moving with speed, skill and power that was beyond anything Yosetsu could have imagined of him. He was absolutely amazing. But even then, the mortal peril he'd found himself in was all too clear. All it would take was one mistake, one misstep, and he'd be killed. No other heroes were coming to help either. As far the media could tell, they were all already incapacitated. That meant that Deku…that Izuku was stuck fighting a foe he should never have gone near, all on his own.
He'd been shaking and hyperventilating the whole way through. His blood ran cold with every massive first thrown Deku's way. It was only Kaibara and Tsuburaba's hands on his shoulders that were keeping him upright, both of them looking just as afraid as they watched on. Even when the fight ended, he didn't get a reprieve, for Izuku was screaming as energy from the very little girl he was trying to save ripped at his body mercilessly. Thank God Eraserhead had been there. If the latest reports on the girl's quirk were anything to go by, they could very easily have lost Deku right there. Yosetsu hadn't thought anything could rattle him the way the boot camp attack had, not even the Kamino incident, but that almost did it.
Sleep that night had been a struggle. It was only when Midoriya sent a quick text in response to his five, saying that he'd be alright, that he calmed down enough to even try. Even so, he didn't get much and quickly narrowed his attention to all media formats the next morning, finding out all he could for more reassurance of his friend's words. It'd be just like Izuku to say he's fine right before slipping into a coma, after all.
Fortunately, the casualties were low. Unfortunately, they seemed to focus on people from Izuku's internship agency. One of their big three lost his quirk and Nighteye lost his life. That had to be hitting him hard.
"I gotta find him." He muttered, pulling himself to his feet as the story came to an end. He barely heard as his friends wished him good luck as he headed out the door. Sadly, Izuku still wasn't answering his phone and, naturally, the news was being less than forthcoming on the current whereabouts of minors from the battlefield and so, Yosetsu headed straight for the 1A dorms. Multiple members of their class were involved, so surely they'd know something, right?"
….
It turned out that they'd known about as much as Yosetsu did and were huge wrecks themselves. He'd surprisingly gotten a lot of hugs from the girls when they'd seen just how distressed he was, much to Mineta's jealous misery, and plenty of understanding and shaky reassurances from most others, but all they really had was a single text of their own from Uraraka and Tsuyu assuring them that they'd all be fine. That was something, Yosetsu supposed, but he really wanted so much more.
Which, unfortunately, turned out to be little more than texts over the next few days. Midoriya did come back to UA pretty quickly, with thankfully, minimal injuries, but Yosetsu still couldn't pin him down. His time away with the Hero Agency meant that he had make up classes to attend and then UA dove straight into preparing for the festival. Yosetsu gave their phones a good workout, texting and calling whenever he could, but that happened mostly before bed, as preparations for their performances began. For reasons Yosetsu couldn't figure out, Izuku was really throwing himself into it and what little time he had for himself conflicted with Yosetsu's own schedule. Learning lines to a REALLY overfilled play took a lot of time and effort, even if Monoma was hogging the spotlight for most of his scenes. Personally, Yosetsu was happy to let him have it. He and Kendo were rolling their eyes at the script, but what could he do?
He'd finally managed to get a few minutes with the guy when they were putting their props together, but Monoma caught him first and went on one of his spiels. Yosetsu had to admit, he took way too much pleasure in taking the jerk down, a high he had to focus on because he was not getting the reunion with Izuku that he wanted right now. Not when the little girl from the news and the guy who lost his quirk were right there. He refused to risk unsettling any bad memories or feelings from any of them.
That said, seeing the light in Izuku's eyes and the warmth he directed at Eri really did do Yosetsu wonders. He was a lot more mellowed and clearly had a new weight on his mind, but he really did look like he was doing fine. It was enough, at least, to finally put Yosetsu's worries to rest and left him with a relieved grin on his face for the rest of the day.
Well, along with a moody Monoma, but honestly, that just gave him a sense of satisfaction.
After all that, Yosetsu honestly wasn't expecting to see the guy again until their next game night after the festival. That wasn't so bad. It was the night right after it and the festival was only a few days away. You really could tell just by looking around. Even as he sat down in the cafeteria with a big bowl of ramen, there were signs of it everywhere you looked. Students of all courses were talking excitedly at every table, many of them showing each other finalised designs or gossiping over what they were most excited for. The support course students were all focusing very heavily on their displays, but the other students' responses were a lot more varied. Though, if he heard right, most were either gushing about the beauty contest or criticising the plans of the hero course classes. Outside the windows, booths, streamers and flags were all shooting up like crazy, creating quite the colourful sight.
'If you ignore the smoke and fire.' He thought dryly, completely unphased as a flash went off. A few explosions frequently decorated the landscape too, much to the surprise of half of the student body. Apparently Hatsume was to blame for that, which was more than enough of a reason to steer clear of the area. He didn't know her personally, but Hatsume's reputation definitely preceded her. "I do not envy her classmates."
"Yeah, she can be a bit much." A voice agreed, its tone sheepish, but amused. Unprepared for it, Yosetsu whipped around, only to grin at the bright, green eyes staring down at him.
"Well, imagine seeing you here." He said, waving an arm to the chair in front of him. "I was starting to think you'd driven Recovery Girl to locking you away during breaks."
"Please don't give her any ideas. She's already too close for coming up with that one herself." Midoriya begged, placing his hands together before his bowed head as he took the offered seat.
"I don't know, it sounds like a pretty good idea to me." Yosetsu smirked. "At least then you wouldn't be giving us all heart attacks every other week."
"But I need my freedom!"
"And we need those extra years you shave off our lives." Yosetsu retorted, his teasing smirk never leaving his face. "So, how's your practices been going anyway? With all that time and effort being put into it, I'm assuming you're either now a master or a total dunce at shaking a leg."
"It's actually going really well. Though I did have some trouble early on." Midoriya laughed as he quickly dug into his food, encouraging Yosetsu to do the same. "And then they told me my dance time was being halved so I can help Aoyama fly around as a human disco ball, which is a bit of a shame, but at least I do still get to dance. I actually really like it."
"Because it helps you with your kicks and mobility?" Yosetsu asked, staring at him knowingly between bites.
"Well, it does, but mostly because it's fun." Midoriya replied, offering a big, toothy smile, much to Yosetsu's surprise. "Ashido was teaching me and Aoyama before we even decided to do a performance for the festival and we've already asked her to keep teaching us after it. Aoyama thought it was a great way for him and I to unwind and Ashido's thrilled to have people to dance with."
"I knew I liked Frenchie and the pink girl." Yosetsu exclaimed, a large smile spreading across his face as he scanned the room for the two in question and offering both of them a thumbs up. Neither of them had a clue what was going on and Ashido looked a noticeably unsure as to why she was getting such pointed attention, but both gave him smiles and waves in return.
"Then why don't you join us?" Midoriya offered, giving him a hopeful grin of his own. "They wouldn't mind the extra person, trust me. It'll be fun."
"Sure, why not?" Yosetsu nodded, eliciting a cheer of joy, before simply watching the chowing boy with a proud smile.
After the death of his mentor and everything else that went down with Overhaul, Yosetsu really had been worried that Midoriya might have a relapse. It would be so easy to experience just how wrong an ordeal like that could go, to see everything fall apart and those around you falling so close to death, and falling into the trap of guilt. Midoriya already had such a drive to overdo everything, a tendency to believe that he was falling behind, even when he was doing fine, to tax himself way too much. It would have been so easy for him to revert to his overworking tendencies, to decide any chance to relax simply meant that he should be breaking his body training and yet…
There was a more weathered looked to him now. His eyes held a bit more steel and always bore the look of far greater wisdom. Adversity had definitely dulled some of his edges. And yet, here he was, smiling, finding joy and still making time for fun. That was wonderful. It was healthy, both in comparison to his old habits and with dealing with what he'd been through. It was all Yosetsu could ask for for his friend.
'Well, what do you know, my boy really has grown up.'
"Hey, Awase? How soon can you finish your lunch?" Midoriya asked, pulling Yosetsu out of his thoughts as he looked up from his own food. "There's something I want to show you, but I don't want to risk staining it."
"Give me five minutes." Well, that practically had Yosetsu inhaling the rest of his meal. Normally, he preferred not to rush and savour his food, but this simply had him too intrigued.
Midoriya dived into his own with gusto and it certainly wasn't long before they were both sighing contently with full bellies. The two of them did opt to just sit there and enjoy the feeling for a moment, but Midoriya was quick to let it pass, setting both their trays aside and taking a few handtowels to the table, making sure it was spotless, as Yosetsu watched on with growing curiosity.
"Wow, this quite the clean freak response. Just what exactly are you about to show me?" He asked, taking a handtowel from the other boy and finishing the job as Midoriya reached for his bag.
"The kind of thing a stain would irreparably ruin." Was his only response as he riffled through his stuff. Pulling out a large folder, he let bag fall to the floor and practically leaped around the table to sit beside the bandana boy and eagerly placed it in front of him.
Chuckling at his antics, Yosetsu wasted no time opening the folder and audibly gasped. When he saw the boy pulling out something full of papers, he was expecting notes on quirks or strategies to come pouring out. A few printed interviews were good possibility too. The last thing he expected to see was his own confident grin staring back at him.
Yosetsu could only stare in awe as Midoriya spread the pages out, revealing sketch after sketch. Some were landscapes, like the entrance to UA or the arena, but most were of people. The was one of Uraraka pumping a fist into the air with such a well-defined look of joy and enthusiasm on her face that you'd almost swear that it was a mirror image. There was one of Tsuburaba grinning proudly as he held up one of his trophies. Kaibara was there too, a lazy look covering his face and his camera held loftily in his hand, the edges of a mirror surrounded the sides of the sketch. There was one of Iida doing the robot and another of Todoroki surrounded by a rising glacier. There were a few of Midoriya as well, either with one of his friends or depicting a scene from the sports festival. But the most amazing one was one right on the bottom.
All the sketches showed the great amount of effort Midoriya had put into them. They were carefully designed and filled with so much detail that they actually looked like they could come alive. All the others, clearly recreations of photos, were absolutely amazing, but the last one actually took Yosetsu's breath away.
It was still a work in progress, but the amount of time Izuku had put into really showed. Right in the middle of the page was Midoriya himself, sporting the brightest smile imaginable, while others were gathered around him. Yosetsu was depicted just behind him, that same smile and bright eyes decorating his face and his hand resting on Midoriya's shoulder, while Todoroki mirrored him on the other side, albeit with a softer grin. Uraraka stood a little in for of him, holding her hands out in peace signs and Iida stood dramatically behind them, his hands caught in one of his crazy motions, while Kirishima, Ashido, Aoyama, Tsuburaba, Kaibara and Tetsutesu surrounded them. Unlike the group dead center, the others clearly still in their first draft, and others were only beginning beyond them, but even so, the whole thing already looked amazing. The completed people truly did look like they could leap off the page, their features were so heavily and carefully detailed, and you could practically feel the emotions coming from them, particularly from the depiction of Izuku. The others showed pride or joy, but the Izuku depicted practically oozed with happiness, appreciation and affection. One look at the portrait could tell you more about how he felt than three hours of his word vomit. It almost brought tears to Yosetsu's eyes.
"Oh man, these are awesome! You drew all of these yourself?" He barely managed to get that out as he forced himself to look up, staring at the boy in amazement.
"Yeah. I got the idea when Tsuburaba mentioned updating the pictures in my notebook." Izuku nodded, beaming as he took in Yosetsu's reaction. "I thought it was a great idea and once I started, I couldn't put my pencil down. It was a bit of a struggle at first to get everything right, but the more details I managed to get into a picture, the more I loved it. Then I decided I really wanted to do this portrait of all my friends and started preparing for it right after I got some photos from Kaibara for visual references. He's been passing them over for weeks and I've used almost all of them to practice different faces, areas, positions and emotions in the evenings or between meetings or classes. I think I've gotten pretty good." Izuku grinned proudly.
"You said you were pressing Kaibara for quirk info!" Yosetsu raised an eyebrow.
"Because I wanted to surprise you with this. I couldn't tell you why I wanted photos. And I could get more types of shots to work with from Kaibara than I could asking you for selfies. Oh, including this one." He added, his grin turning mischievous as he raised his phone and leaving Yosetsu crying out in shock and embarrassment as he got a good look at his screensaver. Or more precisely, the picture of himself asleep on the couch, his mouth hanging wide open as he snored.
"Why do you have that? And why is it your screen saver?" What the heck, Midoriya?"
"Because Kaibara accurately thought I'd get a laugh out of it. But don't worry, it's just placeholding right now." Izuku shamelessly grinned.
"For what? For the shot of me covered in toothpaste?"
"No. I already got that one too." Izuku laughed, only made Yosetsu smack his forehead and groan even louder. He didn't even notice that Izuku had moved in until he pressed into his side, his smiling growing much more endearing before he turned it toward his rising phone. "For this."
It took a moment for him to register what was going on, but that didn't stop him from wrapping an arm around Izuku's shoulders, his smile quickly growing brighter as Izuku did the same and took the shot. It was a good picture, Yosetsu definitely wanted a copy and true to his word, much to Yosetsu's relief, it did immediately replace the snoring photo.
"I haven't seen the last of your former screensaver though, have I?" He asked forlornly, groaning at the thought.
"Nope. I even have a sketch of it in here somewhere." And that mischievous grin was right back in place. He had to remember to smack Kaibara around at the first opportunity.
"Oh, and by the way, you owe me a battle!" He added, his grin turning much more triumphant as fiddled with his phone a little more before proudly thrusting it in Yosetsu's face once again. "It's not Fourth Kind, but I'll bet this will suffice." Wow. Yosetsu had never seen that sharp smile anywhere other than the mirror. But what was he…
'Oh yeah.' It was showing him his My Hero Brawler account, or more accurately, the latest hero he'd unlocked. Yosetsu almost smiled again just seeing that the boy had apparently taken the game seriously. Wonders apparently never ceased, especially since he'd already managed to unlock…
"Holy Hell! You got HAWKS!" That was more than enough to leave Yosetsu dropping his jaw. That was one high level hero. Even he hadn't unlocked him yet! Just how much effort did Midoriya put into this game?
"Yeah, I didn't manage to get Fourth Kind. According to the game's community feeds, I took the wrong style path. But," That smile was only smugger by the second as he packed his sketches away. "it also said that Hawks is a good couple of classes higher and he suits my style pretty well. So, what do you say? Think you can still take me?"
"Oh, aren't you arrogant!" Yosetsu smirked right back as he snatched his own phone out of his pocket. "I was crushing this game when you were still breaking your arms against real life, zero pointer robots. It is ON, newb!"
"Bring it on, cocky know-it-all!"