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Despite however many disputes the students of Class 1-A have over food, movies, music, whose quirk is the best, and questionable wardrobe choices for hero costumes, they can all find themselves agreeing on at least one thing.
And that thing is that Izuku spends way too much damn time in the shower.
In fact—he's in there right now, his muttering muffled out by a veil of showerhead spray, Hanta and Denki both pounding interchangably on the door, Yuuga pressing his trembling thighs against each other and complaining about how his bladder needs "timely remediation," and Katsuki glaring oblivious daggers at him and responding with an eloquent, "Shut the fuck up, pretty boy."
It's a normal evening, really.
That is, until an explosion that can rival even the worst of Katsuki's temper tantrums sends the bathroom door outwards into several jagged, wooden fragments that elicits several screams from the crowd of 1-A boys around seated across the room, several who have sunk facefirst into the couch and nodded off in defeat after waiting a good half an hour for their lavatory privileges jolting awake as Hanta binds Denki, Yuuga, and Katsuki out of harm's way with a an elbow shot of tape and all four of them land on the floor in a splayed heap of limbs.
(They all notice Hanta allows Mineta to be knocked out cold by the worst of the damage. They all silently thank him).
"MIDORIYA-KUN!"
Tenya's the first to recover from the shock, launching himself upwards with a foot pressed against the now-upturned couch Sato, Koji, and Eijirou are peering behind from in their pajamas. They rub the sleep from their eyes as he bolts for the now wide-open entrance to the bathroom while Izuku nearly slips in the tub and shrieks in horror, "NOWAITSTOPSTOPSTOPSTOPI'MNAKED!"
Tenya screeches to a halt and dutifully covers his eyes as Denki, now free from his bindings between Katsuki and Yuuga, yet still not quite free from his own trappings, hops over a piece of door shrapnel now floating in a puddle with his two ankles squeezed together with duct tape and grumbles, "Jeez, Midoriya, couldn'tcha have broken the plumbing after I had a chance to clean up? I mean—mbnfhhfmnhffhm."
Shouto's hand drowns out the rest of the complaint while Izuku lets out small, embarrassed, incoherent mumbles as he desperately yanks his towel off the now-severely-slanting shower rod and ties it around his waist before miserably inching out of the bathroom, sopping wet and adorned with the red, blue, white, and yellow motifs from All Might's costume, with a giant, sizzling chunk taken out right where "SYMBOL OF PEACE" should have been, so that now the towel just reads "SYMBO P." Shouto stops him with a hand on his shoulder while Tenya's own hands go flying—"What were you doing in there?! We have to escort you to Recovery Girl's office immediately—to think you were right in the middle of the explosion as well—"
"I'm...fine," Izuku manages. It comes out strangely raspy.
"You really don't sound like it," Shouto counters.
Izuku simply stares at his fingers, now curled into fists on either side of him, in response. "I—behind. Carried away," he explains incoherently.
"LOOK AT HIM!" Tenya argues. "He can't even string sentences together now! He's obviously suffering from the aftereffects of—"
"Morbid embarrassment," Shouto finishes. "Really, Iida-kun, we shouldn't be bothering him about it like this in public." Tenya promptly shuts up. He narrows his eyes as he takes his glasses off, wipes the water from the lenses with a handkerchief he produces from his breast pocket that's miraculously dry (oh, that's right—pocket protector), and observes Izuku, his hair so wet it looks black instead of green, strands stuck to his nose and plastered to his puffed-out cheeks, his mouth a crooked broken up into a hundred different fragments with his fists still clenched at his sides. SYMBO P sways ominously in the night breeze from an open window.
"You're right," Tenya decides, pushing his glasses back up his nose. "We should be bothering him about it in private."
"Iida-kun that's not what I—"
"MIDORIYA! CAN YOU PLEASE GO DRY OFF BEFORE YOU CATCH A COLD SO OUR DISCUSSION CAN COMMENCE?"
"I..." Izuku winces a bit at the sudden influx of volume before pushing a sheet of hair out of his eyes and sighing. "Do I have a choice?"
Shouto's grip on Izuku's shoulder tightens just a little. "I don't think you do."
"Uh, yo! Mister President Sir!" Denki jabs a thumb vaguely over to the direction of the wreckage as Tenya turns his attention to him and crosses his arms. "We're...gonna tell Sensei about this, right?"
"You kidding?! Of course we will!" Eijirou launches himself from the upturned couch so vigorously that it turns right-side-up again. "That was the manliest thing I've seen all day! The plumbing got RIPPED IN HALF! And Midoriya's like, completely unscathed!"
"Hmmph. You never know about internal damage," Tenya counters back.
Fumikage frowns. "Iida, it's like you want him to be injured."
"I—What—?! That's ridiculous," Tenya sputters back, turning pink. "I'm simply looking out for him the same way he does for—"
"President. Dude. The door?"
Tenya shifts uncomfortably. "Well, er...obviously, we have to adhere to Yuuei protocol and inform a staff member as soon as possible, but given that it seems no one here caused the explosion—"
"I did."
All eyes are on Izuku now as he turns back to stare at the broken glass, metal, and wood, a resolute frown on his face. Tenya stares at him in disbelief as Shouto softly queries, "Midoriya—?"
"It's my fault. I..." He sighs. "I used my quirk in there and I—" He's cut off by Tenya's hand, placed on the shoulder Shouto isn't occupying, and all he can read from Tenya's face is, MIDORIYA. DRY OFF. TALK. NOW. Even Shouto's hand begins to squeeze in on him even more, thumb pressing in firmly against his wet collarbone, and he really has no choice now but to give in and make an even bigger fool of himself.
"I'll be back," he murmurs weakly, Tenya and Shouto walking along with him to wait outside of his dorm room; the last things the three of them hear from the 1-A boys at the scene of the explosion as they advance down the hall is, "Hmm, Ojiro-kun, could you sweep up those pieces of wood for me or something? I could tape the door back together," and "DAMN IT YOU FUCKING BASTARD WHY DONT YOU GET YOUR SHITTY-ASS TAPE OFF MY BODY FIRST BEFORE YOU TRY TO COVER FOR THAT DAMN FUCKING NERD I'M GOING TO FUCKING KILL Y—HBNDBHNNDFFBNDNN."
(Apparently, said shitty-ass tape works surprisingly well on binding lips together, too).
Izuku's hair is back to its former green, nestlike glory as his dorm room creaks open, and Shouto breathes, barely audibly in relief, "finally," as Tenya simply blocks the entryway, crosses his arms, and demands, "explain."
"The future," Izuku croaks back simply.
Tenya frowns. "The future?"
Izuku leans against the door frame, as if he's going to fall down without any support. His face flushes. "Todoroki-kun, Iida-kun—I'm just—worried. Maybe right now I'm up to par with all of you guys, but I had to give it everything I had to even come to this level—er—" he suddenly straightens, hands waving in front of his face nervously like a malfunctioning car windshield, "n—not that you two haven't given your all or anything—just—you're all so amazing and I don't think I could ever amount to that, you know—? You work hard, I never said you didn't, I just don't think that you have to work as hard as me—NONONONONO WAIT THAT CAME OUT REALLY WRONG I DIDN'T MEAN THAT I—"
Shouto sighs. "Midoriya-kun."
"Y—yeah," Izuku says, lowering his voice and rubbing the back of his neck. "Rambling. Sorry."
"It can be cute, actually."
Izuku blinks at Shouto. "What?"
"Nothing."
"I..." Izuku blinks again. "Okay." He shakes off the confusion and starts channeling his nervous energy through hand wringing. "I was just worried about how I'll measure up in the future—your quirks are...they come so easily to you, and meanwhile I have to stay up all night busting my skull open trying to better myself. So I need to work on my power and hone it every second of the day just so I won't fall behind, because before you know it—I'll be out of time. I feel like I'm already out of time, just seeing you two every day. And when we're Third Years...I'll just be in the back eating your dust all over again."
Tenya's expression softens considerably. "Midoriya-kun, I didn't know—"
"Midoriya-kun. We're worried for the future, too, you know," Shouto finishes softly. "I worry about how I'll ever be able to get over the shadow my father's created for me. If people will ever see me as more than that. Than his son. If I'll ever be able to balance out both of my sides more and have a legacy of my own instead of one that's haunted by...him."
Tenya nods. "And I...I worry if I really do live up to the ideals of a true hero. Am I pursuing this line of duty because I fit the unspoken morals of it, or do I simply think I do? I don't even know if I belong here sometimes, much less as a Third Year."
"Ah—!" Izuku's shoulders tense up as he does the malfunctioning windshield again. "I'm so sorry, I should have thought of you two as well—that's so selfish of me—"
"No!" Shouto's unusual increase in volume makes both of them stare at him in wonder until he clears his throat and blushes slightly. "No. You're...Midoriya-kun, you're anything but selfish."
"Selflessness, innovation, dedication..." Tenya shoves his glasses up his nose. "You embody all aspects of a true hero."
"And you can snap a showerhead in half, break the plumbing system, and shatter a mirror all under a second and come out unscathed."
"Ah. That too. Even if it isn't the wisest course of action."
"Mmm."
"Midoriya—?"
Izuku ends up slumping into Tenya's arms before jolting awake and shaking his head violently. "Ah! Sorry, I—"
Tenya's face reddens as he sets Izuku upright. "It's fine."
"I think the wisest of course of action right now would be to sleep," Shouto advises them as he takes his phone out, unlocks it, and slips it back into his pocket. "It's almost one."
That certainly wakes Izuku up.
"I—REALLY?! Oh, man—and Aizawa-sensei said we had a test tomorrow, too—I mean, he didn't tell us what it was about so there's no way I can really study for it, but still—"
"But still," Tenya agrees. "Get some rest while you still can, Midoriya. But—ah—brush your teeth first, of course!"
Izuku smiles. "Of course. But not before I say goodnight."
"Ah, of course! Goodnight, Midoriya-ku—"
He stops abruptly as Izuku leans up and plants his lips on Tenya's forehead, then does the same for Shouto. They're now both burning considerably, and Midoriya promptly joins in, flushing deep pink.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to that..." he mumbles sleepily through a yawn. "But I like i..." he slumps again, this time into Shouto's arms, and leaves them both wondering just how many hours "staying up all night busting my skull open" comprises of. Shouto looks over to Tenya as Izuku unconsciously buries his face into Shouto's nightshirt and snores lightly.
"Tuck him in?" he asks Tenya.
"I'd actually feel much more at ease if we simply stayed the night," Tenya replies, eyeing him back.
Shouto frowns. "Iida-kun, don't you hate breaking school protocol?"
"I do," Tenya admits as he follows Shouto into Izuku's All-Might-Regalia-adorned room and turns off the light, "But someone once told me that butting one's nose in places where it shouldn't belong is what makes a true hero."