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Izuku wasn’t nervous. Not at all. He was downright terrified.
After their talk, neither Aizawa or Toshinori had given any indication that it had happened, instead going about like normal. Which, to say it had fed Izuku anxieties would have been an understatement.
So, here he was, 30 minutes after school had let out, dressed up in what the girls of class 1-A had deemed ‘appropriately casual’, and waiting for his soulmates/teachers to arrive. He was regretting telling Uraraka about having found his soulmates and going on a date with them, wondering if the clothes she had picked were to much.
It was just some black pants with a black shirt and a green hoodie on top, an outfit he hadn’t worn it what felt like years. His shoes, at least, were the same red as usual, which gave him a bit of comfort. He had also managed to sneak out one of his hero notebooks and a pencil. Just because he was on a date didn’t mean he should pass up an opportunity to analyze more, should it arrive.
So, there he stood, debating internally between waiting it out and deciding ‘fuck it’ and moving to America to live out his life as part of the anonymous masses. They were late, which was not helping his anxiety at all, and he couldn’t help but wonder if they were just pulling a mean prank. But, no, he didn’t think All Might, Toshinori, would do that in a million years, and Aizawa didn’t seem like the type either.
“Midoriya.” Aizawa’s voice was right next to his ear, and he jumped, spinning around and falling backwards.
“A-Aizawa-sensei!” he yelped, hearing a surprised grunt from behind him.
“Easy kid, Nedzu dropped a surprise faculty meeting on us right after school let out, sorry we’re late,” Toshinori spoke behind him, and he jumped again, twisting around and ending up falling on his ass. ‘Nice going,’ He thought to himself, awkwardly accepting Toshinori’s hand and standing up.
“I-It’s fine, I wasn’t waiting long anyways,” he said, brushing the dirt off his pants. He really had only been waiting about ten minutes, but it had felt like a million years. “I-I’m already signed out, so, l-lead the way?” He said awkwardly, and Aizawa started walking, Toshinori following close behind. They fell into step beside each other, and Izuku abruptly realized he was third wheeling.
It took about two minutes of walking before Toshinori started up a conversation, and it flowed easily between the two. Izuku fell back a bit, listening in but not chiming in, content to be a bystander. Anyone could tell how well the two complimented each other, Aizawa’s cold and calculating ideas counteracting Toshinori’s lofty and emotional ones.
Izuku wondered how he fit into all of this.
He listened in with half an ear as they walked, somehow getting onto the topic of teachers gossip. Apparently there were a lot of theories on who was soulmates with who. (There was apparently an ongoing bet between if Uraraka was soulmates with Iida or with Asui. He laughed quietly to himself, because he had asked about it once, after the sports festival. She admitted she and Asui were soulmates, and he congratulated her. (He wondered if he should tell Mic to withdraw his bet. (Nah.)))
He fell a bit farther behind them, glancing around the area. They were passing through a small shopping center close to the school, one he had never been to before. He was looking around, only half paying attention to where he was going when he heard it.
“Out of my way, flightless.” It was a girl’s voice, snooty. Probably a middle schooler. He tensed up, turning until he saw where the voice came from. Three girls, all in a nearby middle schools uniform, were surrounding another girl in the same uniform. The girl being singled out was cowering slightly, something Izuku knew far to well.
“S-Sorry…” she said, and the ringleader snorted.
“Don’t talk to me, flightless. I don’t want to get infected with your disability,” she said, and the other girls laughed. He slipped away from Aizawa and Toshinori, heading directly towards the girls.
“Hey, leave her alone,” he spoke out, striding up to the group. He tried to channel some of Kacchan’s swagger, or the way his classmates walked. Like they were powerful, they knew it, and they weren’t afraid to use it.
“Oh? Looks like our little flightless bird got a friend. How sweet.” The ringleader sneered, and he drew himself up. He had spent years dealing with bullying, and like hell was he going to sit by and watch someone else suffer the same thing.
“I said back off,” he snapped, letting a bit of his ire color his voice. The girls exchanged glances before the ringleader scowled at him.
“Fine. She’s not worth our time anyway,” she said, striding off, the other two following in tow. Sighing, he relaxed, turning to the first girl. She was a bit shorter than him, with shoulder length black hair in a braid and gray-brown eyes.
“Hey, you okay?” he asked, and he can see her relax her guard.
“Yeah. I’m fine. Thank you for stepping in,” she replied, reaching up to tug on her braid. “They’ll probably be back at it on Monday, but I think I might get a weekend of peace now, at least.”
“Does this happen often?” He asks, and she nods again.
“Yep. They want to be heroes, and see me as competition, even though everyone says I have a villains Quirk. The fact that I can’t use my wings doesn’t help much,” she said, and he frowned. That sounded awfully familiar in ways that hit far too close to home.
“So what if you can’t use your wings? U.A. doesn’t do wing examinations, and neither do a lot of schools. And no quirk is inherently a villains quirk, it just depends on how you use it,” he said, and she glanced up at him.
“Really? You think so?” she said, and he smiled.
“I know so. If you don’t mind me asking, what is your quirk?” he said, and she looked away again.
“Shadow manipulation. I can make shadows solidify and liquify,” she said, and he can already feel his eyes sparkling.
“Really? That’s so cool! Can you dictate what shape the shadows take?” he asked excitedly, and she looks surprised.
“Not entirely, but I can give them a general shape,” she said, and he grins.
“That would be so useful! Just think, you could trap the villains in solid shadows, or stop bullets or fire or electricity or any number of harmful materials with it. You could use it as platforms for added mobility too!” he exclaimed, and she was looking at him now, smiling.
“Yeah! I was thinking of becoming an underground hero because I don’t care all that much about the fame, and working under darkness would work best for me! I’ve been working on it, and I can also make blunted weapons out of the shadows, which I can use to fight off attacks without hurting anyone.” She said, and he was pulling out his hero journal, scribbling down notes.
“Do the shadows have a set durability or are they basically indestructible? Do they get weaker with light and if so have you figured out a way to counteract it? How much control do you have over it right now?” he asked in rapid succession, and she seemed a bit lost.
“Well, I haven’t seen one break yet, although I haven’t had a chance to test it fully. It gets more difficult to control the lighter it is out, but as long as I have some shadows I can manipulate them a bit. Usually I can counteract light by using my own shadow, and I have control enough to use it from about 10 meters away, but the closer it is to me the easier it is,” she explained, and he hurried to jot down notes.
“That’s amazing, you’ll be a great hero, I just know it,” he said, and she smiles brightly.
“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” she said, and he grins.
“Here,” he said, turning to a new page. He scribbled out the address to the beach, and his phone number, tearing it off and handing it to her. “This is where I went to train. You can’t depend too much on your quirk, so I’d recommend working on physical strength and learning strategies as well. If you want any tips, I’m always happy to help a new hero in the making.”
“Thank you so much!” she said, taking the paper. She pulled out her phone, typing in his number and then the address to the beach. “I’m applying to U.A. at the end of this year, so hopefully it will go well! Your tips are amazing by the way, I can see why you got so far in the Sports Festival.” She said, and he smiled sheepishly.
“It wasn’t that great…” he said, and she looked shocked.
“You launched yourself, violently, into first place with a bunch of bombs. If that isn’t the most badass thing, I don’t know what is,” she deadpanned, and he laughed.
“Fair enough. I wish you the best of luck though!” he said, his wings twitching beneath his shirt. She grinned happily before freezing up, glancing behind her. He felt it too, the unmistakable instinct of ‘something is about to go wrong.’
“Uh-oh. Look,” she said, pointing at the shop behind them. A man stood there, decked out in all black. He was holding a gun, shouting something at a terrified cashier.
“Do you think you could use the shadows to block his gun? Nothing flashy, just solidify them in the barrel. He… doesn’t look stable, and I don’t want to take any chances,” Izuku said, glancing around. Aizawa and Toshinori had completely disappeared, and no one else had noticed what was taking place within the store.
“I think so, but we need to get closer,” she said, biting her lip. He grabbed her hand walking towards the store.
“Alright, then let's pretend. Walk like you're not scared, and don’t see what’s happening. We can get right outside the doors but behind the criminal so he doesn’t see us,” Izuku said, thinking quickly. Determination steeled across the girls face, and she played along, transforming easily from a scared middle schooler to someone bored and uncaring. They stopped behind a pillar, just out of the criminals line of sight.
“Okay, now try and block his gun. Don’t make it obvious though,” Izuku said, and the girl nodded determinedly.She closed her eyes, frown creasing her face. He didn’t see anything happening, but then again, she was working with shadows.
“I think I’ve got it,” she whispered, and he nodded to himself. His phone buzzed, and he looked down at it, seeing a text from Toshinori.
‘Where did you go?’
He frowned, sending the name of the store to Toshinori. He paused for a second, before adding.
‘Robbery on-going, trying to damage control w/o getting shot. Little help?’
“Okay, just hold on. A couple of pros should be on their way now.” ‘ Hopefully.’ He added to himself. She nodded jerkily, hands clenching at her uniform. “You doing okay?”
“Yeah. Juusssttt Peachy,” she replied through gritted teeth. “Shadows are hard to control.”
He offered her a gentle pat, watching the store front carefully. The cashier was handing the man the money, but exceptionally slowly. She must be waiting for help. The man was getting impatient, he could see, and the gun was jerking around wildly.
“Just a little bit longer…” he told her quietly, spotting Toshinori and Aizawa making their way through the crowd. They went directly for the storefront, Aizawa already pulling his scarves out. Toshinori hung back, neither of them seeing Izuku hidden in the shadows.
The villain turned when Aizawa entered the store, already aiming the gun at the new intruder. He couldn’t hear what the man said, but he saw him pull the trigger. Aizawa leaped backwards, scarves flashing out, but the bullet never came. Instead, dark black shadow exploded outwards, stretching like taffy. He heard the girl give a wheeze, before the bullet stopped completely. The shadow liquified, dropping the bullet on the ground. Aizawa wasted no time in tying up the criminal, headless of his angered screaming.
The girl slumped, releasing control, and he smiled brightly at her.
“That was awesome!!” he said, offering her a high five. She laughed, high fiving him back.
“Yeah. yeah it was,” she replied. “Whoo, left me tired though, think I should probably head home. Thanks for everything dude.” she said, wheezing a bit.
“Of course, sure you don’t need any help?” he said, and she nodded.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine. The name’s Mai, by the way. It was nice to meet you,” she said, and he grinned.
“Izuku. Nice to meet you too, get home safe!” He told her, watching as she headed off. He turned back to the store, where a police officer had arrived, taking the villain. Aizawa and Toshinori were both looking around worriedly, and he jogged up to them.
“Hey, thanks for the help!” he said, both looking at him as he ran up.
“How is it that you always manage to find trouble,” Aizawa said, looking over him worriedly. He waved off the concern.
“No idea, but I’m not hurt, so don’t worry. Sorry for wandering off,” he said, and Aizawa sighed.
“It’s fine, Midoriya,” he replied, turning back to the officer. Toshinori fluttered his hands awkwardly, and Izuku giggled.
“I swear I’m fine, Toshinori. Didn’t even enter the store,” he said, and Toshinori seemed to finally relax.
“Alright, if you’re sure. Call us next time before you go running off into trouble though,” Toshinori said, and Izuku leaned over, gently bumping his shoulder against the older man.
“I would have, but you two were having a nice time. I didn’t want to interrupt. Besides, originally I was just stopping some middle schoolers from picking on a girl.” He said, and Toshinori shook his head, looking exasperated.
“Izuku, please, just tell us next time. You scared us when we realized you were gone,” Toshinori said, and he bit his lip.
“Alright. I’m sorry,” he apologized, and Toshinori gave him a small smile.
“Just don’t be afraid to speak up next time, alright?” he said, and Izuku nodded. Aizawa had finished giving his report to the police officer, joining them once again.
“As much fun as that was, we do have reservations. Come on,” Aizawa said, Toshinori nodding. He expected them to walk in front of him again, and was surprised when they both flanked him, squishing him between the two.
“Uh…” he said, looking between them. They shared a look before both reaching down, grabbing his hands.
Izuku.exe has stopped working.
“Come on, we’ll be late,” Aizawa said, moving off. He walked with them, entirely uncertain as to what was happening. How did one talk to their crushes while on a date and hold hands with them? You didn’t, that's how. At least, not if you were Izuku Midoriya, Mumbler Extraordinaire.
He felt unexpectedly dwarfed by both his mates, both of them towering over him. Both their hands are larger than his, and he feels halfway between protected and safe and extremely awkward and unsure.
It’s silent as they walked, Izuku unable to dispel his own nervousness by fidgeting like he usually would. The nervous energy had nowhere to go, so he kept it bottled up. Or, he tried at least. He was never particularly coordinated when nervous.
‘Whelp, guess I’ll die.’ He thought as he felt his foot catch on air. He couldn’t pull his hands free to catch himself, and ended up awkwardly suspended between the ground and his soulmates.
“We can’t take you anywhere, can we,” Toshinori said with a laugh, gently pulling him upright again. He blushed and stared at his feet, unsure how to respond to that. Aizawa simply sighed and gripped his hand tighter.
“Come on, we’re almost there,” he said, turning a corner. They stopped in front of a mildly fancy restaurant, which Izuku remembered was one of the few who catered especially to pro-hero’s, having back rooms where they could eat in peace. He felt slightly out of place in his hoodie and red shoes, but neither of his mates seemed inclined to let him go.
“Ah, Aizawa-san, right this way,” the waitress said, leading them to a back room. It was closed off, very private, and Izuku realized that he was going to be alone with his newly found mates for a long period of time. A thousand different emotions played through him at that thought, but anxiety won out. Izuku was hardly paying attention as he sat down, ending up squished between Aizawa and Toshinori.
‘ I didn’t think I could feel any more like a third wheel,’ He thought to himself as his mates sat across from each other. He felt like a overprotective mom trying to chaperone her kids first date. The waitress handed out menus and left, promising to come back in a few minutes. He shifted in his seat, the silence making him uncomfortable. So, instead he started debating the pros and cons of Mai’s Quirk.
‘ If she can use it properly, she could create handcuffs to stop criminals. The ability to stop bullets is also useful, and if she increased the distance at which she can manipulate shadows she could trip up or outright stop villains who try to flee. Working with a hero with a speed based quirk would be good, especially if they could get her in close enough to use her shadows. Otherwise, she'd need to depend on her own abilities, which, while they aren’t great at the moment, can easily be improved….’
“What are you talking about, Midoriya?” Aizawa said, a hint of amusement coloring his voice. Izuku stopped mid-sentence, realizing he was mumbling out loud again.
“S-Sorry,” He said, ducking his head to hide his blush. “Met someone with an interesting q-quirk today, and I was just analyzing it in my head. I didn’t mean to m-mumble.”
“It’s fine, I’m assuming she was the one who stopped the bullet then?” Aizawa said, and he nodded.
“Sh-shadow m-manipulation. She stopped up the gun just in case while we waited for you t-to arrive. We couldn’t e-enter the store, so we had to work from o-outside,” he explained, shrinking under his mates gazes.
“It’s an impressive quirk, she could be a good hero someday,” Toshinori said, and Izuku gave a shy smile.
“I hope so, she seemed like she would be a great hero,” he said, looking away.
“Do you analyse all quirks like that?” Aizawa asked, and he nodded.
“Mostly I stick with hero or villain quirks, b-but lately I’ve been neglecting it,” he explained, Aizawa looking at him with a glint in his eye.
“Alright, what about my quirk?” he asked, and Izuku looked up, startled.
“Your quirk?” he said and Aizawa nodded, deadpan.
“That is what I asked, yes,” he replied, and Izuku shrank into himself.
“Uh, okay…. Your quirk is Eraser, which allows you to erase the quirk of any of those you look at. It doesn’t work on mutation type quirks, and gives you dry eye, hence the reason you always carry around eye drops, though you seem to favor specific brands over others. After the USJ incident you have an increased cool down period between when you can erase others quirks, anywhere from 5-10 seconds instead of 2-3 like it used to be. You use your goggles to help hide whose quirk you’re erasing, helping in stopping enemies from effectively working together. You use speed and technique to your advantage, staying out of the way of more powerful enemies and creating counter-attacks to take them down. You work best at night, and as an underground hero, because your stealth allows you to sneak attack and take out enemies quickly and efficiently,” he started, thinking back to the new pages he had made on his teacher/mate.
“Your scarves work well in tandem with your quirk, although I still haven’t figured out how you make them float when you use your Quirk. Static electricity discharge maybe? Might be that your body can’t use your quirk to its entirety and so the extra energy has to go somewhere. It could be like the lightning I have, or the mist that used to come off All Might whenever he transformed back, expelling extra energy your body can’t handle. It would get more intense after the USJ though, and I didn’t notice much difference…. Hm,” he said, trailing off. He noticed that Toshinori was staring at him openly, and he hunched down further in his seat.
“S-Sorry, I got off topic…” he said, and Aizawa gave a gruff laugh.
“That was impressive, Midoriya. I’ve never actually thought about why my hair floats when I activate my quirk. I’ll have to look into that,” Aizawa said, sounding genuinely impressed. Izuku felt his wings puff up a bit with pride, and he looked up.
“Really? You didn’t think it was annoying or worthless?” he asked, and Aizawa shook his head.
“Not at all. Your analysis skills are exceptional, and you seem to be extremely intelligent when it come to quirks,” Aizawa said, and he felt a glow of pride.
The waitress came back, taking their drink orders, and they lapsed into a more comfortable silence as everyone looked over the menu.
“Young Midoriya...” Toshinori started, and he looked up at his mentor. “We talked with Recovery Girl, about your wings,” he said, and Izuku froze. Well, so much for that comfortable silence.
“She said you’d broken your wing, repeatedly. And that you might never be able to fly again, without significant help,” Aizawa continued. His head swiveled to look at his other teacher, uncomfortable under his intense gaze.
“She also said that the best way for you to fly again would be if you had your wings,” Toshinori said, placing a hand, palm up, on the table between them.
“We know you haven’t had a great history with people and your wings, and we understand if you don’t want us to switch yet, but…” Toshinori said, Aizawa putting his hand on the table as well. They had grasped each others hands, offering their free hands to him. He felt frozen, like a deer in the headlights.
“We won’t ever hurt you, Izuku. Not like everyone else did. We won’t ever, ever physically or emotionally hurt you.” Aizawa finished, both looking at him. He had no idea what to do. He wanted to trust them, wanted to take their hands and fall into something that felt so right but…
It felt like it was too early for this. He was already plunging into the deep, drowning in his own feelings. But, they didn’t feel the same. They had only recently found out, they had only recently began to acknowledge his existence outside of class. Toshinori still saw him as his successor, Aizawa still saw him as his student.
He looked away from their hands, uncertain on what to do. He wasn’t certain if he wanted to take this step, wanted to move this so quickly. He didn’t know if he was ready to trust them so easily.
The waitress came back, interrupting the moment. The heavy atmosphere was broken, and he sighed, relieved. They didn’t press the subject, and he didn’t offer any answers, although he could feel it swimming under his skin like a fish.
The lunch/dinner continued after that, and he stayed silent, letting the conversation ebb and flow around him. He chimed in when he thought it was relevant, but for the most part he stayed quiet.
‘Is this something I want? Is this something I’m willing to give?’ He asked himself, looking between his two mates. After they had eaten (Toshinori insisted on paying), they left. The sky was darkening, the sun painting the clouds a thousand shades of red.
‘Am I ready for this? Am I okay with this?’
They headed off, and he dropped back again, letting the two go in front of him. He watched them, Aizawa's slight smile, Toshinori’s bright one, outlined by a million colored sunset on the city skyline.
‘What do I want? What am I willing to give?’
He hurried a bit, catching up to Toshinori’s long stride. He paused, only a few inches behind him, looking up at the man.
‘Can I trust you?’
He hesitated.
‘Will you hurt me?’
‘Will you love me?’
He reached out.
‘Can I love you?’
He gently grabbed Toshinori’s hand, slipping his fingers between the others. He felt him pause, looking down, confused. He looked back, steady, unyielding.
‘This is my choice.’
Toshinori smiled at him, bright, blinding. Genuine.
‘This is my answer.’
He squeezed his hand.
‘This is what I want.’
Toshinori squeezed back.
‘I’m willing to trust you.’
Aizawa gave him a small smile.
‘This is what I’m willing to give.’
They walked back to U.A. hand in hand. Izuku thought nothing had ever felt so right.