Chapter Text
The Midoriyas aren't your average family.
In fact, if you didn't know better, you probably wouldn't even think they're a family at all. How can a family be just one woman? After all, the husband is overseas and the only son died years ago of leukemia, right?
Wrong.
Turns out, that son has a hidden quirk. One that isn't activated until his death.
Izuku Midoriya
Quirk: Ghost
"Izuku!" Inko Midoriya calls, hanging up the phone. "Were you haunting Katsuki again?"
Izuku, currently in a semi-transparent state, floats into the kitchen, a devious smile on his ghosty face. "Maaaaybe." Inko gives him a Mom Look. He pouts. "How'd you find out?"
"Mitsuki just phoned. 2010 pop music just started playing out no where. Eventually they tracked down the source to Katsuki's phone, which was hidden in the pantry." Inko gives her son a Look of Disapproval. "I told you to give them a break. You've been haunting them for the past two years."
"At least I didn't play All Star on loop for ten hours this time."
This time. That meant he had done it before. Inko sighs. "You really need to find something else to do."
"But I'm bored," Izuku complains. "There's nothing to do when you're dead!" Inko's only son has been an undead ghost for two years, yet the words still feel like a stab in the chest. She doubts she'll ever get used to it. "Everyone else goes to school and actually gets to interact with people, but I just sorta float around doing nothing."
There's really nothing stopping Izuku from interacting with people. He can make himself visible and tangible at will. But he's not quite sure how they'll react to having a conversation with a ghost. Chances are they'll run away, and Izuku's already dealt with enough rejection back when he was alive and thought he was quirkless.
Only the Bakugos know about Izuku's... condition. It gets lonely when there's only 4 people on earth who know you exist.
"So what'll I do if I can't haunt the Bakugos?"
Inko sighs again. She thought she knew what she was expecting when decided to have a child, but a bored, mischievous ghost child was something different altogether.
"You can always watch the heroes," she suggests. "I heard All Might's in town."
Izuku's transparent form glows. "Oh yeah! All Might's in town! How could I forget?" The one track mind of a 12 year old and the lack of worries that comes with being dead don't help with Izuku's memory much. He abruptly vanishes from sight.
"Wait!" Inko calls.
Izuku reappears. "Yeah?"
"How did you get Katsuki's passcode?"
Izuku grins. "It's very easy when you can turn invisible," he says, the vanishes again.
"Be home before dark!" Inko yells after him.
She waits ten minutes to make sure he's actually gone, then changes all of her online banking passwords.
All Might's in town! All Might's in town! Izuku doesn't think he's ever been this excited, beside when he first realized that he isn't actually dead. Well, he is, but he isn't. He's dead, but not DEAD dead, if that makes any sense.
Anyways, ALL MIGHT!
Izuku, still invisible, floats down the street. He can only float about as fast as an average person can run, and he finds himself wishing he could go faster.
He makes it to the train station and phases into the first train to downtown.
The good thing about being dead is that you don't have to pay train fare. The bad thing is that when the train is very crowded, people will constantly be passing through you and standing inside you, which is very uncomfortable.
Luckily, it's rush hour, which means that most people are heading away from downtown, not towards it. Izuku's train is relaxingly empty, so he settles down on an empty seat and people watches all the way downtown.
There's an old man with a newspaper, a college student typing furiously on his laptop, a young woman with a bag of groceries, a group of high school girls-
Huh. High school girls. Izuku's smile becomes unsettlingly wide.
He floats over to where they're chatting. One of them is on her phone, pulling up a funny video. Izuku waves his hand through the phone and the screen goes black for a moment. The girl frowns, but says nothing. Izuku does it again.
"Hey guys, I think there's something wrong with my phone."
They all crowd around and stare at it. Izuku floats away so that he doesn't accidentally affect the electronics. Once they decide it's just a fluke, Izuku returns and swipes his hand through the phone again.
"What the heck? It did it again!"
This time Izuku floats up to the overhead light and sticks both his hands into it. It flickers and turns off. The train is still brightly lit from the rest of the lights, but the girls still jump and look up at it. "I think this train is haunted," one of them breathes.
Izuku grins, having completed his mission, and returns to his seat. He could make himself visible and really scare them, but... Well, they probably take this train home from school. He doesn't want to make them fear a part of their daily routine just so he can have a little fun.
(And he doesn't actually want them to be scared of him)
Finally, the train arrives at Izuku's stop. The doors open and more passengers get on. Izuku phases through all of them and out of the station.
He floats around downtown for a few hours, searching for All Might. There're only a few villain attacks, none of which are flashy enough to draw in the Number One Hero, although he did catch Eraserhead taking down some drug dealer, which was cool. Eraserhead is hard to find, which is probably a good thing for Izuku. He's not too sure what'll happen to him if his quirk gets erased and he doesn't want to find out.
With the sun getting low in the sky and still no sign of All Might, Izuku returns home.
The next day is a Monday. Mom's at work and Kacchan's at school. Izuku is alone and bored. Usually his solution is to go to Kacchan's house and set up elaborate pranks, but Mom told him not to. There isn't anything she can physically do to stop him, but the possibility of an Inko Scolding is enough to keep him in line.
He turns visible and tangible and tests if any of Mom's hair products work on him. They do, but the moment he turns intangible, it falls to the ground in a splatter of goop and gel. Disappointing. Izuku gets a cloth and cleans it up.
He's about to resign himself to yet another day of Netflix when he remembers that ALL MIGHT IS IN TOWN!
The cloth falls through his hand and he flies through the wall as fast as he possibly can.
Nope. Still no All Might. He saw Hawks and Kamui Woods, though, which was pretty cool.
He should start doing those hero journals again. He has ten of them already. He started as soon as he learnt how to write and kept it up even while he was in the hospital. After he died, though, it took him a while to figure out how to touch and hold and interact with the physical world as a ghost, so he kinda stopped journaling and never bothered to pick it back up.
Izuku is so lost in thought on the train ride home that he doesn't notice the student approaching until he sits on him- or rather, through him.
Izuku muffles his yelp and scootches to the side. The student looks around in confusion before putting his earbud back in. Izuku shudders. That was close.
He notices that the next stop is pretty close to Kacchan's school. Inspiration strikes. His mom just said don't haunt their house, right? (She didn't. She said don't the haunt the Bakugos in general, but Izuku conveniently ignores that.) The school day is almost over. He can probably find Kacchan on his way home.
Izuku gets off the train and floats over to Kacchan's school.
When Katsuki's worksheet moves on its own for the 5th time in the past minute, he knows that something's up.
"Deku," he hisses under his breath. "Cut it out."
A muffled laugh comes from the empty air beside him.
"This isn't funny. Screw off." He glances around to see if any of his classmates have caught him talking to himself. He isn't getting any weird looks yet, thankfully.
"Aw, Kacchan, that's mean!" Deku whines quietly.
"Screw off, I said!" It's getting harder for Katsuki to keep his voice low. "I can't have these extras thinking I'm crazy!"
"Aw, fine."
There's no way to prove that Deku actually left, but seeing as Katsuki's paper stays where he left it for the rest of the class, he figures it's a safe bet.
Izuku floats home, disappointed. He didn't see All Might, he couldn't mess with Kacchan...
He really wishes there's more he could do. But everyone he knows is in school, and he's actually glad that he doesn't have to be with them every single day. They hated his guts while he was alive, just for appearing quirkless. He really doesn't want to know what they have to say about his new undead form.
Watching heroes is fun and all, but it lost some of its thrill after he died. He used to watch them and imagine himself in there, fighting the villains, saving people. He wanted to be just like them in the future. Now, he doesn't have a future, besides aimlessly floating around looking for something to do.
Lost in thought, he passes under a bridge. A manhole cover shudders and blasts open, clunking on the pavement. Green slime oozes out.
"An invisibility cloak... an invisibility cloak... why are there no invisibility cloaks in sight? He's after me... he's gonna catch me..."
The hissing, watery voice snaps Izuku out of his head. He turns around to see a big blob of... slime? Weird. Whatever it is, he doesn't seem like a nice guy.
In a possibly regrettable split-second decision, Izuku makes himself visible. The advancing slime creature stops in his tracks. "Wh-wh... what?"
Izuku waves. "Hello! You were talking about invisibility cloaks. If you explain what that is, maybe I can help."
The slime creature narrows his eyes. "Actually, you'd be perfect." He lunges. Well, he tries to lunge. It's kinda tough when you're made of slime.
Nonetheless, he attacks Izuku. Izuku doesn't move. Instead, he just grins his ghostly, mischevious grin as the slime villain passes right through him.
"Stupid kid," he growls. "What type of quirk is that?!"
Izuku floats out of reach. "Nothing," he chirps. "I'm just dead."
"I don't have time for your games, kid. Now give me your body!"
"Hmm, don't exactly have it with me right now. If you really want it that bad, though, you can find it at Musutafu Park Cemetery."
Oh, man, Izuku wishes that the slime creature had a real face, just so he could see his reaction. His grin only growing, he continues, "First row on the right, over by the nice stone bench. It'll be kinda weak, though. Last I saw, it was infested with leukaemia, not to mention how it's been stuck in a coffin for the last 2 years."
The slime creature seems lost for words. Luckily, it doesn't matter, because before he can even say anything, the manhole cover blasts out of the ground.
"I AM HERE!"
Izuku isn't capable of fainting, but he swears he sees stars.
Turns out Izuku had instinctively turned invisible again when All Might arrived, because he doesn't seem to notice him.
That doesn't matter though, because ALL MIGHT IS RIGHT IN FRONT OF HIM.
Izuku stares, frozen in fanboyish shock. ALL MIGHT. RIGHT HERE. IN THE FLESH.
He wishes he had something for him to sign. He briefly considers turning tangible and getting All Might to sign his arm, but he knows that the moment he tries to phase through something, the ink'll slide off.
All Might finishes collecting the slime into a convenient pop bottle. Izuku watches, slightly confused, as he looks around cautiously and starts to emit steam.
This is weird. Izuku prides himself on his obscure knowledge of All Might, but he's never heard anything about steam. It clouds his vision and he tries to swat it away, realizing belatedly that his hand is just passing right through it.
When the steam clears, a skeletal man stands where All Might was, wearing the same clothes and holding the same plastic bottle. With a jolt, Izuku realizes that this IS All Might.
"WHAT THE HECK?!"
Toshinori freezes. Someone saw him?! He was certain to make sure the coast was clear before releasing his muscle form. He turns towards the voice.
A semi-transparent boy, no older than 13, floats underneath the bridge, his eyes wide in disbelief. "Y- you- yo- you're ALL MIGHT?!"
Toshinori sighs. There won't be any talking around it this time. The boy has seen his secret. "You can't tell anyone about this, young man," he warns.
The boy nods furiously. "I won't, I promise!" he declares. "Actually, it makes sense. No one's ever seen All Might outside of hero work, which is kinda fishy seeing as how noticeable you are. I've always just assumed that you had a secret hideout or something and you hired people to buy you food and stuff but this makes a lot more sense. It gets really lonely when you're confined to one spot, but it's not like you can go out in public to buy groceries or something in hero form because you'd get trampled by fans. Like this, you can go wherever you want and no one knows who you are! It's like a secret identity!"
Toshinori blinks. He just... accepted it right away? He's not scared or disappointed that the Symbol of Peace is actually a scrawny old man?
"How does it work, though?" the boy continues, not giving Toshinori any time to actually answer him. "Is it part if your quirk? No one knows for sure how your quirk works, but I guess you know that. I always assumed it's just plain old amazing strength, but is it actually a transformation-type?"
The boy's speech gets less and less clear as he mutters on. Toshinori chuckles. He's quite the fanboy, this one. "I'm afraid I can't tell you everything about my quirk, young man. After all, I still have a mysterious image to maintain! But I appreciate your enthusiasm."
The boy's face turns bright red, contrasting against the transparent, muted colours of the rest of his body. "I- I- I- Thank you!!!"
Toshinori smiles and pulls a Sharpie out of his pocket. "Would you like an autograph?"
Pain flashes across the boy's face. "Oh, man, an autograph from All Might himself..." he breathes, then shakes his head. "I'm sorry! I can't!"
Toshinori tilts his head in confusion. Something's up. Do the boy's parents not like heroes? Having parents smother his interests is hardly a healthy way to grow up. "Why not, young man?" His voice comes out harder than he meant to.
"N-n-n-n-no, it's not anything bad!" he protests, waving his hands shakily. His face is even redder than before. "I just, uh... I don't have anything for you to sign! I mean, I'd love an autograph, but I actually physically can't!"
"What do you mean?"
"I'd let you sign my arm, but it'll just pass right through me," the boy explains, floating closer. He swats his arm. The hand passes right through. "See? I can make myself tangible if I try, but the moment I try to phase through something or lose my concentration, the ink'll just fall through me."
Toshinori reaches out, almost in awe. He tries to grab the boy's hand, but as expected, he passes right through it.
"Yeah," the boy says. "Wait... ok now try." He holds out his hand.
Toshinori takes it, surprised when he actually grips something solid. It's colder than he expected, frighteningly cold, in fact. Dead cold. "You, my boy, have a very strange quirk."
The boy laughs awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Yeah, well, uh... It'snotmyquirk."
Toshinori blinks. The boy looks at him with nervous anticipation. "What?" There's no way it couldn't be a quirk. That's... just not how humans work.
"I'm a ghost," he says simply.
Toshinori looks at him again. The transparent, floating boy who can pass through anything and whose skin feels deathly cold. Yeah, ok, that makes sense.
"You're a ghost," he repeats anyways, just to make sure.
The boy's smile seems a little more forced now. He nods. "Yup. Died two years ago of leukemia. I, uh, it's ok if you if you leave now. If you think I'm crazy. If you think I'm making things up for attention..."
Toshinori's heart twists. Who put these thoughts in the boy's head? "I believe you, my boy," he says softly.
The boy stares at him, eyes shining, a wobbly smile finding its way onto his face. Then he disappears.
He's back a moment later, sobbing. His form flickers in and out of sight. "I-I'm sorry," he stammers through the tears, "it's just, I've never told anyone but my mom and my best friend. I thought everyone would be scared of me. That they'd think I'm a freak. But but but you don't! I'm just, so, so happy!"
Toshinori's still not entirely sure what's going on, but he understands that there's a crying boy who needs comforting, and that's all that matters. He reaches out to put his hand on the boy's shoulder, then remembers that it's not likely to work. He settles with giving him a warm, gentle smile.
"My boy. I'm All Might. I've seen many horrible, terrifying, things, and you are nothing like those. You're just a kid. Sure, you may be different from all the others, but that doesn't mean anything. Everyone is different. Everyone has their own quirks. If yours lets you exist in this world even after death, that's no different than someone who can, say, control water. You have no more reason to fear judgement than anyone else on this planet."
He isn't sure how much the boy actually heard, but his form becomes steadier and the sobs soften. "My boy, do you want a hug?" Toshinori isn't sure if the boy will be able to maintain the semi-physical form well enough to be able to hug, but there's no harm in asking.
The boy nods almost desperately, and rushes over to Toshinori, burying his face in his chest. The unsettling coldness of the boy almost makes Toshinori instinctively pull away, but he stops himself. Instead, he rubs the boy's back in soothing circles, surprised at how solid he feels, for a ghost.
The boy suddenly gasps and pulls away. Toshinori searches his face for anything that may have upset him, but there's only pure amazement.
"IjusthuggedAllMight," he whispers, eyes shining. Toshinori laughs. Yep, he's a fanboy.
Right. He's All Might. It's not that he forgot or anything, but he was so caught up in the strange ghost child that it slipped his mind. There's still something he needs to do.
He pats his pocket. The bottle with the slime villain is still there. Good. "It was wonderful meeting you, young man, but I must be going now. I have a villain with me that I need to take to the police station."
"Oh, uh, right," the boy looks to the side, disappointment clouding his voice. "Sorry for keeping you so long..."
"Don't apologize, young man. If you would like, and if it's okay with your parents, you can accompany me."
The boy literally glows. "Really?!" Toshinori nods. "Aw man this is so cool! I get to help All Might!" Toshinori watches in amusment as he rambles on about how exciting and cool it is to actually go somewhere with All Might. It's a shame he had to die so young, Toshinori thinks. There's something special about this kid.
Izuku Midoriya. That's his name. He also has a friend named Kacchan, he wanted to be a hero, and his favourite food was katsudon. He lives with his mother, Inko, and there's only four- five, now- people who know that he still exists.
Toshinori knows all this and more because young Midoriya would not stop talking during the entire walk to the police station. He seemed a little uncertain about staying visible the whole time, until Toshinori made a joke about them being a ghost and a skeleton. He had visibly brightened, and has been in a good mood since.
"Young Midoriya?" Toshinori asks after the boy finishes telling a story about the time he put clear sticky tape across the door to Kacchan's bedroom.
"Mmhm?"
"Why do you glow?"
Midoriya looks down at his hands, realising for the first time that he is, indeed, glowing. He looks back at Toshinori and shrugs. "I dunno. I think my appearance has a lot to do with my emotions. Most of the time, I stay invisible, but when I decide to appear, I don't always look the same. When I'm feeling kinda down, I look dimmer. More... transparent, I guess. When I'm kinda... overwhelmed, well, you saw it, I flicker. Sometimes if I'm extra sad or lonely, I find myself wearing a hospital gown again. And apparently, when I'm happy, I glow!" he finishes with a blinding smile.
"You, my boy, have a very odd quirk."
Midoriya nods and dims a bit. "Yeah. I'm really grateful, though. While I was alive, I thought I was quirkless, and it made me really sad to think that I would die as a quirkless nobody who never actually accomplished anything. I really wanted to be a hero and, you know, help people! Save them with a smile, like you, All Might!" His brief enthusiasm fades as he stares down at his hands. "I don't really know how I can do that now, but at least I still exist. And that's better than being gone forever. It means that maybe I'll find a way to help people, even if I can't be a hero anymore."
They fall into a contemplative silence. It really is too bad Midoryia is only a ghost now. Toshinori can only imagine the amazing things a boy with his spirit and heart could accomplish with One for All.
"You'll figure it out, my boy," he finds himself saying. "Don't give up hope. You'll find your place one way or another."
Midoriya's eyes shine and he smiles softly. "Thanks, All Might."
Notes:
Edit: messed around with formatting bc I have no idea how to use this site. I hope it doesn't look too awkward anymore
Chapter 2
Notes:
HOLY MACARONI GUYS I WAS NOT EXPECTING SUCH AN AMAZING REACTION TO THIS!! THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR ALL THE COMMENTS AND KUDOS AND BOOKMARKS AND READS AND AFDHGSKGFDASYUKIFDSJBCYIR
YOU GUYS ARE WHAT MOTIVATED ME TO GET THIS DONE SO QUICKLY (I could've been even faster but life happens so....)
ANYWAYS THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I LOVE YOU!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku ends up spending the rest of the evening with All Might, gripping onto his shirt when he did his long-distance jumps and floating a safe distance away as he watched him fight villains.
It's really, really nice to be able to talk to and interact with someone other than Inko and the Bakugos, and the fact that this person is All Might only adds to Izuku's joy. In fact, he's pretty glad he can't faint, otherwise he would've been unconscious from pure amazement a long a time ago.
All Might doesn't seem to mind, either. The fact that Izuku is virtually unharmable sure helps. He doubts All Might would let him stick around if there was any chance of Izuku getting hurt.
It's getting late. The streets and trains are filled with commuters, heading home after a long day of work. Izuku knows that his mom will be home soon, but he really doesn't want to leave. When else will he ever get the chance to be with his childhood idol?
They're in the subway tunnel, right next to the platform. The civilians are watching from a safe distance as All Might finishes taking out a terrorist who tried to plant a bomb and blow up the rush hour train. Enclosed spaces aren't All Might's specialty, but this is All Might we're talking about. He can do anything!
Izuku, invisible, floats over to the still-live bomb as All Might ties up the villain. He's read all about defusing bombs online, as part of his hero research. Maybe he could- without touching it, he didn't want to set it off- figure out how to defuse it and he could tell All Might who could tell the police and then finally he'd-
Beep.
The flashing red light catches Izuku's eye.
Beep.
Izuku's eyes widen in horror. The countdown is still going.
Beep.
Five.
Beep.
Four.
"ALL MIGHT!"
Beep.
Three.
"One second, Young Midoriya!"
Beep.
Two.
"THE BOMB!"
Beep.
One.
There's no other choice. Izuku focuses all his energy into making himself as solid as possible and jumps on the bomb.
Pain tears through his stomach in a way he hasn't felt in two years. He grits his teeth and doubles his efforts. He can't lose focus now. Not when there's an entire subway station of people at stake!
Light and heat escapes from under him. His eyes water, even though it shouldn't be possible. Feeling close to nothing for two years really took a toll on his pain tolerance. He fears the bomb will tear right through him, and he has to remind himself that it can't possibly harm him.
He's already dead.
It might feel like he's being blasted apart but it can't physically do anything to him.
He has nothing to fear.
All he has to do is hold himself together until the blast is over.
Just... a little... longer...
And then it's over.
Izuku gasps for air, more out of habit than anything. He feels himself slipping back into intangibility. He peels himself away from the remains of the bomb and stares down at his chest, trying to see if it tore a hole in him or not. It's hard to tell, seeing as he's flickering in and out of view, but he seems to be whole.
Heavy footsteps rush over to him. "Young Midoriya!"
Izuku tries to blink the tears away. "A-All Might..." His voice shakes. He never wants to feel anything like that ever again.
All Might reaches out an arm, as if to pat him on the shoulder, then awkwardly pulls it back. Izuku understands. He's not quite sure himself what his form is doing right now.
"Young Midoriya, that was..." Stupid? Reckless? Heroic? Izuku watches the conflict in All Might's shadowed eyes. "Are you okay?" is what he settles on.
Izuku nods shakily, hoping All Might can see the gesture. The memory of the pain is still in stark contrast with the nothingness he feels right now, but it's over. It's just a memory now. And most importantly, nobody was harmed.
"That was reckless of you," All Might says, but it sounds less like a scolding and more like a script. His voice softens. "But it was also very brave. Your actions saved a lot of people today, and I'm sorry I couldn't do more." His expression darkens near the end. Guilt. It's only natural that a hero would feel bad about getting a civilian, even a dead one, caught up in an attack.
But that only makes Izuku admire All Might more. He really genuinely cares about him. Even though Izuku already died years ago and by all means shouldn't exist, All Might is still worried about him.
With no throbbing injuries to remind him of it, the memory of the pain from the bomb is fading fast.
"It's okay," Izuku says. "I was right there. I couldn't not step in. Besides-" he grins shakily- "what would it do, kill me?"
All Might sighs, a what-did-I-get-myself-into-type sigh. It doesn't quite fit the vibrant persona of his muscle form. "I'm going to have to deal with the press now. There's only one way out of this tunnel and that's through the station."
Izuku is suddenly aware of the chatter of the crowd up on the platform. Oh. Right. The people. The many many people all watching the fight, just like he did and still does. The people, all with cell phones and cameras. People who would see him with All Might and put his picture online and start conspiracy theories. He gulps. "I think I'm gonna stay invisible for this."
All Might nods. "That's probably a good idea, my boy. Actually, it's probably best for you to return to your mother. She's probably home by now and wondering where you are."
Izuku's shoulders sag. It's over? Already? It had only been a few hours... But All Might makes a good point. His mom probably thinks he's bugging the Bakugos again. But he isn't! He's being good! He jumped on a bomb!
...how is she going to react to that?
Oh well. He has to go back sooner than later. And now is as good a time as any. He manages to find a little remaining energy and throws himself at All Might in a hug.
"Thank you for letting me stay with you and watch you and for actually acknowledging me and talking to me I had a really really good time and if I ever find you again can I join you again?"
All Might takes a few seconds to process the rush of words. Then he smiles his signature smile and gives a hearty laugh. "Anytime, Young Midoriya. You were a great help. Wether you believe it or not, you were a hero today."
Izuku lights up the entire subway tunnel.
"Tone it down, boy! You're going to get noticed!"
Surprisingly, his mom isn't as annoyed or worried as Izuku thought she'd be. In fact, she seems almost proud that Izuku finally found something to do.
And when he tells her that he got to talk to All Might, she positively lights up. Not only is she happy for her son- he got to meet All Might, she knows how much that means to him- but she's proud that he finally worked up the courage to reveal himself to another person. Maybe this is what he needs. Maybe now he'll be less scared of going out and making friends.
Izuku can see this. He sees the hope and pride on his mom's face, so he decides not to tell her about the bomb. She's so happy right now and he selfishly wants to enjoy it, not get a scolding. He doesn't want to worry her, or worse, make her mad at All Might for something that wasn't even his fault.
Anyways, Izuku feels strangely tired and he doesn't feel like defending himself. He just wants to sleep, which he didn't even know he can do. Then again, he had never spent so much time interacting with the physical world before today. Maybe the more time he spends visible and/or tangible, the more tired he gets.
He should really start doing those journals again, he thinks as he heads down the hall to his room.
Katsuki cannot believe it.
Deku- stupid wimpy Deku who's scared of everything, including himself- is on the news. With All Might.
He jumped on a freaking bomb to help All Might take out a terrorist.
Katsuki is furious. Why does Deku get to meet All Might? How did even work up the nerve to show himself?
Why is it that the stupid wimpy nerd gets to stop villain attacks with the Number One Hero while Katsuki's stuck in middle school with a bunch of extras? Deku shouldn't even exist anymore. Why does a quirkless freak who was lame enough to die in a hospital get to be a hero?
If Deku doesn't have to wait to go to a hero school and a proper license, then neither does Katsuki. He won't be surpassed by someone who's already dead.
When Izuku wakes, the sun is shining. He checks the clock. 6:30am. He slept all through the night! Woah. That's never happened before.
"So when I interact with the physical world, it drains my energy," he mutters to himself, floating down the hallway. His mom is usually up by now and he hopes it's not too late to help her cook her breakfast. "I wonder if there's a limit where I'm suddenly unable to do anything more. I feel like I was pretty close to that yesterday. Maybe it can be lengthened by prolonged use, like muscle endurance training?"
"Good morning Izuku!" His mom's voice snaps him out of his thoughts.
He looks up in alarm to find her already standing at the stove. "Oh hi mom! Here, let me do that." He rushes over and takes the mixing spoon from her.
She chuckles. "It's fine, Izuku. I can cook my own breakfast every once in a while."
Izuku shakes his head and stirs the scrambled eggs in the pan. "Nope. That's my job. Your job is to go to work and pay for the apartment."
Inko sighs. She knows exactly why Izuku is so stubbornly helpful, but refuses to take responsibility. "You sure slept for a while," she says, changing the subject. "I haven't seen you sleep that much since you were first figuring out how to pick things up."
Izuku nods. "I've never actually stayed visible for that long before." He tells his mom the theory that he came up with.
"What exactly were you doing that took that much energy?" Izuku hears the tinge of worry in her voice and immediately panics. She doesn't know that he jumped on a bomb. There's no way.
"I met All Might, mom!" He tries to keep his voice as steady as possible. "I wanted to make the most of the day, so when he jumped from incident to incident, I grabbed onto his costume and tagged along. He moves very fast, though. There's lots of wind resistance. I had to hold on tight so I wouldn't go flying off." Once he starts talking, the half-truth comes out easily.
Inko frowns. "And All Might was ok with that?"
Izuku nods. "Yup! I think it helped that he didn't have to worry about me getting hurt." He stirs the eggs again. They look cooked enough. "Here, mom." Inko passes him a plate and he scrapes the eggs onto it.
Izuku pours her a glass of orange juice and they sit down at the table. They talk a little more about Izuku's adventure yesterday, and Inko talks a bit about the gossip at work- Kaminari's son is applying for U.A.- which leads to talking about Kacchan and his high chances of getting in.
Soon enough, Inko has to go, leaving Izuku by himself again. Today, however, instead of waiting around and trying to figure out how long he can sit on the ceiling for before he gets bored, Izuku has a mission. Two missions, actually. One- buy a new notebook, and two- find All Might again.
Before he leaves, he checks his computer like any good fanboy. There's not much news that he hasn't already seen, other than the subway incident. (If he actually bothered to read the article, he would find that he's featured in it, but he didn't, so he stays oblivious.)
However, there's a new message in his chatroom:
CrimsonRiotFan1016: lowkey almost died yesterday but im fine :)
Izuku's eyes widen. His hands fly across the keyboard.
ActuallyDead: DUDE ARE YOU OKAY
He stares at the screen for a few anxious minutes until the response comes.
CrimsonRiotFan1016: some terrorist tried to blow up my train but it's okay!!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: All Might came!!!!!
Izuku's shock took on a different meaning. He was there? Crim was there?
He is so, so glad that he did what he did. Forget about worrying his mom, saving his friend's life is waaaay more important.
ActuallyDead: OH MY GOD YOU WERE THERE???!!!,!?!?!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: haha yeah
CrimsonRiotFan1016: i was on the train
CrimsonRiotFan1016: i didn't even know what was happening until later
CrimsonRiotFan1016: the train just stopped right before the platform and there was an announcement saying to stay where you are and not to panic
CrimsonRiotFan1016: so of course i panicked lol
ActuallyDead: THAT MUSTVE BEEN SO FREAKY WHAT THE HECK
CrimsonRiotFan1016: *sweatdrop emoji* yup
Izuku isn't lying, it really must've been scary to have been on the train. He's just conveniently leaving out the fact that he was there too.
itsyaboy: don't you guys have school rn
CrimsonRiotFan1016: hahahahahahaha
CrimsonRiotFan1016: .....yeah
itsyaboy: shame on you
itsyaboy: wby, dead?
ActuallyDead: nope im dead
itsyaboy: *tears of joy emoji* that joke never gets old
ActuallyDead: I'm telling u it's not a joke
CrimsonRiotFan1016: ok man if u say so
itsyaboy: go to school crim
CrimsonRiotFan1016: only if you do
itsyaboy: nope
CrimsonRiotFan1016: well then we have a problem
ActuallyDead: I think the real problem here is that crim almost got blown up
itsyaboy: WAIT WHAT
ActuallyDead: read the convo ^^^
MILKY: guyssssss stop it aren't you in class rn?
CrimsonRiotFan1016: aren't you?
MILKY: .........maybe.......
ActuallyDead: how bout yall stop texting and go to class
ActuallyDead: or else
MILKY: or else what
ActuallyDead: ill haunt you
MILKY: ok go ahead
MILKY: i need friends
itsyaboy: I READ THE CONVO CRIM MY MAN ARE YOU OK????!!!!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: shhh I'm at school
CrimsonRiotFan1016: and yeah I'm fine :D
ActuallyDead: FINALLY someone's being responsible
MILKY: wby?
ActuallyDead: i told u i don't go to school
MILKY: ooh a dropout
MILKY: saucy
ActuallyDead: uhhhh not really but ok
itsyaboy: ok im starting a math test soon so SHHHHHHHHHHH EVERYONE
MILKY: ok good luck
ActuallyDead: *thumbs up emoji* you can do it!
itsyaboy: eheheh
itsyaboy: i want blue flowers at my funeral
MILKY: kk sounds good
ActuallyDead: ill help i have experience
itsyaboy: *thumbs up emoji*
itsyaboy: ok imma go meet my fate
itsyaboy: au revoir
MILKY: cya
ActuallyDead: good luck!!!!!!!!!!
The chat goes quiet. Izuku minimizes the window and takes in the new information. Crim was there. He couldn't see Izuku because he was on the train, but he was there.
They were so close and they didn't even know. Izuku supposes that that's the nature of Internet friendships. When everyone's too paranoid to show a picture of themselves, you could walk past them every day and not notice.
He's been part of the chatroom for a while, nearing a year. He's been part of hero forums for much longer, since he was around 10. They're a good source of information and have tons of people willing to discuss quirks. His chatroom started out as a sort of hero fan club, but quickly descended into general nonsense conversation as they got to know each other better. Their lowest point was when Milky spammed them with the entire Bee Movie script.
But back to his missions, now that he knows Crim's all right. (itsyaboy is a different story. Izuku has heard all about his troubles with math.)
He pulls up another window and checks the news for All Might sightings.
When the lunch bell rings, Katsuki is the first one out of the class. He has one hour. One hour to find All Might and do something more meaningful than Deku. He'll make All Might wish he had Katsuki instead of Deku with him yesterday during that attack. Katsuki would've been so much more useful than stupid Deku. He wouldn't have even let the bomb go off. He would've destroyed it long before it even had the chance. (He ignores the fact that destroying a bomb with an explosion is probably not a good idea.)
Deku is nothing but a wimpy ghost who should stick to rustling papers and hijacking Katsuki's phone. He has no business doing hero work!
He fumes all the way to the train station and onto the train. His Baku Rage Aura prevents anyone from sitting next to him. He checks his phone for the most recent villain attacks and tries to decide which one is most likely to attract All Might.
Robbery at a flower shop? Lame. Not very likely.
Some villain burying a shopping mall in snow? Eh. Maybe.
NEW 20XX FORD F150! $0 DOWN PAYMENT! 0% INTEREST FOR 65.8 MONTHS! Stupid ad. Why is the Internet so insistent that Katsuki should buy a truck? He can't even drive!
Someone's burning down the local pet shelter? Aha! That's totally something All Might would rush to help with. He loves saving people just as much as he likes winning fights, and even though Katsuki admittedly only cares about the latter, he knows that All Might wouldn't turn a blind eye to suffering animals.
The pet shelter isn't too far from where he is right now. It won't take him too long to swing by, rescue a bunch of dogs, get All Might's attention, then make it back to school in time for his afternoon classes.
Katsuki smirks. Not a bad plan.
By the time he gets there, the fire department is already fighting the fire. Civilians and workers from the shelter wait anxiously behind a barricade as more firefighters appear from the building one at a time with a caged dog in each hand.
They really seem to have things under control. Doubt flickers in Katsuki's mind for a moment before he can squash it down. Of course he can sneak past them! All he has to do is let All Might see him rescue some stupid dogs, then get the hell out. No need to worry about any effect that illegally entering a burning building might do for his track record, because he won't let himself be seen by anyone except All Might. If All Might's even here.
As if summoned by Katsuki's thoughts, All Might appears through the flames, holding a stack of cages filled with large dogs. He sets them down away from the building and heads back in. The workers unstack the cages and give the dogs bowls of water.
This is his chance. Katsuki walks around the distracted workers, trying his best not to look suspicious. Luckily, after two years of talking to an invisible ghost and trying not to look crazy, Katsuki's gotten very good at acting natural. Having one default expression also makes it easier.
He skirts the side of the building and finds a blown-out window. There're shards of glass sticking out of the frame. Katsuki knocks them off with his foot and climbs inside.
It's hot, very hot. Sweat drips down his face and he realizes that maybe he shouldn't be in a burning building while covered in nitroglycerin.
No one knows that he's here. There's no shame in leaving.
But Katsuki is nothing if not stubborn. Just grab a cage and leave. He can save the real heroics for a villain fight.
His mind set, he continues into the building.
The howls of the dogs guide him to the trapped animals. The fire is more concentrated in the middle of the shelter, where the firefighters haven't reached yet, so Katsuki makes his way to the nearest room without encountering much flame. However, the smoke is thick and he needs to duck down to avoid breathing it in. He considers taking off his shirt and wrapping it around his face, but he doesn't think it's necessary yet.
Soon enough, he reaches the room that all the howling is coming from. He peers through the small window in the door. There doesn't seem to be any fire in there yet, but he doesn't want to risk it.
He cracks the door open cautiously and quickly steps away. A jet of flame spurts out from the crack as new oxygen is introduced to the sweltering hallway. It dies down as quickly as it started, leaving scorch marks on the doorway.
Katsuki waits a little longer, just to make sure, then opens the door a bit more. No flame. Good. He enters the room and immediately realises his mistake.
This isn't a room with portable cages. This room has little cubbies lining the walls, made out of some sort of fake wood with a glass panel in the front. They're all attached- impossible to pick up and carry.
Oh, god, those dogs must be literally baking in there. What should he do? If he breaks the glass, he'll have to carry the dog, and trying to carry a strange, panicking dog is a surefire way to get attacked.
But he can't just leave them here. He had come to prove a point, but now he feels genuine pity for the dogs. They're suffering. He has to get them out.
There's a window in the room. That means it's an outside wall. Maybe, instead of carrying the dogs out one by one, he can blow up the walls and push the entire row of cubbies outside. Would that even be possible?
Pfft. Of course it is. He's freaking Katsuki Bakugo.
He strides over to the window and blasts it at full force. The entire wall around it cracks and crumbles. Fresh air rushes into the building. Katsuki takes a deep breath and heads back into the smoke to work on separating the cubbies from the wall.
It's easier than he expected. It turns out the glass cubbies are a completely separate unit that was bolted to the wall. All Katsuki needs to do is blow up the wall, go to the other side, and blow up each individual bolt.
If the fire doesn't get to him first.
He works on the right side first, blowing up the wall by the door frame. The room on the other side is just a storage closet, so he doesn't feel too bad about destroying it. He crosses over into it and uses smaller explosions to blow up where he thinks the bolts are. The drywall blackens and crumbles, sometimes exposing the now-loosened bolts and sometimes revealing nothing. The dogs bark and howl at the sounds.
He checks if the cubbies are loose enough by giving the unit a shove. It doesn't move yet, so he goes back and blows some more bolts loose. He ends up scorching the cubbies a little bit, but the dogs still can't escape, so he doesn't consider it a problem.
He tries again, and this time it budges. Huh? Katsuki's certain he destroyed all the bolts. Oh. It's actually just very heavy. That's understandable, seeing as there's like 10 dogs, never mind the weight of the cubbies themselves.
Katsuki scowls. He didn't come all this way and do all this work just to be stopped by some stupid heavy lump of fake wood.
He braces his back against the end of the unit and digs his feet into the ground. He puts all his weight into the side and pushes. There's a weird grinding sound and the unit starts moving.
Katsuki grits his teeth and keeps pushing. It's hard work, but it's moving. The dogs are freaking out but he ignores them. Luckily, the hole he blew in the outside wall is wide enough to push the cubbies through.
He's got the cubbies halfway outside when heavy footsteps approach. Suddenly the unit starts moving by itself. Katsuki stumbles and catches himself. This can only mean one thing.
All Might peeks around the cubbies and smiles at Katsuki. "Thank you for the help, young man, but you should really evacuate."
Katsuki can't help but stare in shock for a moment. All Might is here. His plan actually worked. Good. Then All Might's word catch up to him. Evacuate? What type of weakling does All Might think he is? He let freaking Deku help him but refuses Katsuki? "I don't need to," he snaps, and heads over to the remaining row of cubbies to loosen it.
His blast this time is stronger, fueled by frustration, and it blackens the side of the cubbies. On the other side of this wall is another hallway, and instead of destroying each individual bolt, he torches the entire wall with rapid-fire explosions.
"What are you doing, my boy?" If this wasn't All Might talking, Katsuki would've said he sounds panicked.
"I'm helping," Katsuki growls.
All Might follows him into the hallway. "It's not safe here. You're only a boy. You need to leave this to the Pros."
That's not what you said to Deku, Katsuki thinks.
He deems the wall destroyed enough and gives the cubbies an experimental push. It moves. He turns to All Might, his scowl deeper than usual. "If you move these dogs out of here, I'll leave."
"Of course, young man. That's why I'm here."
Katsuki gives a short nod. "Good. Now don't you forget me. Katsuki Bakugo helped you with this, and one day, I'll be telling you to leave it to me." It's not the smoothest declaration, but the spirit is there.
Katsuki stuffs his hands in his pockets and stalks away, out the hole he made in the wall and back to the street. He checks his phone. He had spent a good half-hour minutes in the animal shelter, along with 10 minutes on the train. It'll be close, but he shouldn't be late for school.
The train comes exactly when it should. Katsuki sits down, feeling conflicted. His plan was a success, but it's hard to feel proud when the only thing he can think of is how All Might called him weak. (All Might never actually said that. It just goes to show how twisted Katsuki's mind and ego are.)
He gets some weird looks when he enters the classroom, probably because his uniform is all messed up and he stinks like smoke, but one Baku-glare shuts them all up.
"Was that Kacchan?"
Toshinori almost drops the row of cubbies he's carrying. "Young Midoriya, a little warning next time!"
Midoriya pops into view. "Ah, sorry, All Might. Kacchan and my mom have gotten so used to it that I forgot that I might startle other people."
Toshinori sighs. Young Midoriya definitely will take some getting used to. "How long have you been here?"
"Just got here. Was that Kacchan just now?"
Toshinori has no idea who 'Kacchan' is. Instead, he has a better question: "Why are you here, my boy?"
Midoriya frowns. "To help out, why else?" he says, like it's the most obvious thing in the world.
Toshinori smiles and shakes his head. This generation sure is something else. First the Katsuki Bakugo, now Young Midoriya... They'd make amazing Pros.
Toshinori just wishes he'd be around to see it.
Notes:
The next chapter won't be as fast as this one bc I already had like 25% of this one done when I posted chapter 1 but I don't have any of the next one written yet. Also I have a history project that needs to get finished at some point, sooooooooooo
And again, THANK YOU FOR READING!! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 3
Notes:
heeeeeey look who's not dead
turns out I can finish a chapter in 4 days when I feel like it
the problem is I keep forgetting that I'm the author and I actually have to WRITE the chapters
anyways, enjoy :)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Izuku gets home that day with only one of his missions accomplished.
Even though he had brought 200¥ with him, he must've lost it sometime throughout the day. He isn't surprised. If he's not in the middle of doing something, staying tangible takes a conscious effort, which makes holding onto money pretty difficult. It probably fell through the pocket of his jeans somewhere in the middle of the sidewalk.
He still doesn't completely understand how his clothes work. They turn tangible and intangible with him, but other than that, he doesn't control them. He can't decide what they look like. He doesn't even notice them change. Sometimes he'll just look down at himself and realise that his t-shirt says something different. He's decided that it's some sort of subconscious choice. In any case, his subconscious fashion sense isn't any better than his own. At least he still gets those cool t-shirts that say t-shirt.
Anyways, Izuku floats in journal-less through the front door, only to find his mom glaring straight at him.
Crap.
"Care to explain why I saw you on the news?" Inko's voice is tight, the Mom Voice of Suppressed Anger and Worry.
"...I was on the news?" He knows that feigning ignorance won't work, but he tries it anyways. To be fair, he actually didn't know that he was on the news. It doesn't come as a surprise, but he hasn't seen it with his own two eyes. What exactly is he in trouble for, anyways? The bomb or the animal shelter?
Inko pulls out her phone, taps a few times, and shows it to Izuku. He leans in to get a better look.
"A terrorist attack yesterday that was stopped by All Might is revealed to have involved another hero," a news reporter's voiceover says.
A shaky phone camera films a front-row view of the scene: the train stopped halfway into the station, All Might tying up the terrorist in the middle of the tracks, the edge of the unfortunately large crowds.
Butterflies churn in Izuku's hypothetical stomach. This isn't going to end well. He starts thinking of escape plans. There's literally nothing stopping him from just turning invisible and flying away. He could start a new life in Canada...
"An unlicensed individual decided to risk his life to save the full subway station of people."
The bomb goes off. Izuku sees himself appear on top of it. The light flashes through his slightly transparent form. The video zooms in. "Do you see this?" yells the man recording it. "Who is this kid? Why did he do that? He's gonna die! What’s All Might even doing right now?!"
The bomb in the video lasts barely as long as Izuku remembers.
"Analysts claim that the young vigilante has saved over 100 lives and prevented around a million dollars worth of property damage to the subway station and train," the reporter continues.
It zooms out slightly to show All Might rushing over to him and the conversation that ensues, and stops shortly after Izuku turns invisible again.
"The true identity of the vigilante is still unknown, but he is a young, semi-transparent male with curly green hair. If you have any information, please contact the police."
The news clip stops and Inko puts the phone down. "Explain."
Izuku, who's barely visible at this point, wrings his hands together. "Well, uh, I was... uh, I was following All Might around and watching his fights and stuff, then this fight came, and I noticed the... The bomb was still live, and it was gonna blow up in 5 seconds, and I tried to tell All Might but there wasn't enough time and it..." He bites his lip and spreads his hands helplessly in front of him. "I didn't think about it. I just... did it."
His mom sighs, trying to steady her breathing. "You just... jumped on a bomb? What was All Might doing? What was he thinking, letting you so close to such a dangerous situation? I thought he was supposed to protect the people. You're-" Her voice catches. She wipes the threatening tears away from her eyes with her sleeve. "You're lucky you're you, otherwise I... I wouldn't have a son anymore." And the tears come.
Izuku knows exactly what she means. If Izuku was any normal living person, he would not be here right now. He would've been vaporized along with the rest of the subway station.
"That's why I did it, mom," Izuku explains gently, trying his best not to cry with her. "I knew it couldn't hurt me. Not physically, at least. But everyone else there-"
"You don't know that, Izuku!" Inko cries. "You didn't know what that amount of... of damage would do to you." She takes a deep, shuddering breath. "I already lost you once."
Her voice is so small, so vulnerable. Izuku breaks. "I'm sorry," he sobs, wrapping his mom in a bear hug. "I wasn't trying to worry you, I just... I didn't want anyone else to be hurt!"
It takes Inko a moment to respond, her voice muffled by Izuku's shoulder. "I know. You just wanted to help. But that doesn't make me any less worried. I'm still your mom, and worrying is what mothers do. I love you, Izuku. I didn't want to see you hurt."
Izuku can only respond with tears. He doesn't regret what he did, but he wishes that his mom didn't find out. He knew that she would react like this. But in the moment... Things are different in the moment.
They stand there, embracing each other, in front of the door for a while. Then the smoke alarm goes off.
Turns out Inko's casserole overflowed and burnt onto the bottom of the oven.
They have a quiet, somewhat tense supper (well, only Inko actually eats. Izuku had tried once and it wasn't pretty) before they part ways. Inko puts on a sitcom in the living room to de-stress from work and the new knowledge of what happened yesterday while Izuku disappears into his room to do... whatever a sorta-teenager does in his room.
The sitcom is entertaining, but it doesn't stir the deep-set feeling that Izuku's life will only get more dangerous from here.
"Everybody freeze! Backs against the wall!"
Tsuyu pulls her little sister Satsuki closer to her. "C'mon, Tsuki-chan," she whispers. "Let's do what the man says. It'll be safe that way."
Satsuki trembles and tears streak down her face, but she doesn't cry out. Instead, she lets Tsuyu lead her to the side of the store where the robbers had lined up all the hostages.
"Where's mama?" she whimpers, hugging Tsuyu's leg.
"Mama's at work. She can't come right now. But I'm here, Tsuki-chan," Tsuyu murmurs. "I'll protect you. Remember, kero? I'm going to be a hero. I'll keep you safe."
Satsuki nods and hugs Tsuyu's leg tighter. "Yeah! Tsu-chan will protect me!" She suddenly tenses. "Wait, what about Sami-kun?"
"Samidare went to get a smoothie, remember? He said, 'Clothes shopping is boring, kero. I'm getting a smoothie'." Tsuyu keeps her voice low and steady. She knows that little kids can sense panic, so she tries to stay as calm as possible in the hope of soothing her sister.
"Oh, yeah. And you gave him money, kero, and told him to come back soon!"
Tsuyu ruffles Satsuki's hair. "That's right, Tsuki-chan."
"But I don't want Sami-kun to come back. He won't be safe if he comes here!"
"He'll be okay, Tsuki-chan. Sami-kun is smart. He'll wait outside until we're allowed to leave."
"Good," Satsuki declares. "He's our only brother. If he doesn't stay safe, there won't be anybody for us to give his basketball too, kero."
Somehow Satsuki has deduced that the biggest problem of her only brother wandering into a hostage situation would be figuring out who to give his basketball to once he's dead. Tsuyu has a few concerns for her sister's generation.
None of that matters compared to situation they find themselves in at the moment, though.
For some reason, a villain has decided that it'd be a good idea to rob a department store in the middle of a mall in broad daylight on a Saturday. Either they're very strong, overconfident, or just stupid.
Either way, Tsuyu and Satsuki are in the unfortunate position of being one of many hostages lined up against the wall of store, being guarded by a man with a boar head and a black hood while one of his partners breaks open the cash register right in front of them. The other has the cashier in a one-armed headlock, the other hand pointing open-palmed at the poor woman's head. Tsuyu doesn't know what their quirk is, but they seem threatening.
"Why are they taking the money?" Satsuki whispers. "That's against the rules. They're gonna get in trouble."
Tsuyu nods discreetly. Drawing the villain’s attention is the last thing they want, but six-year olds aren't known for their critical thinking. "You're right, Tsuki-chan," she whispers back as quietly as possible. "These are bad guys. But it's okay. The heroes will come, and they'll get in trouble. But we need to stay-"
"Heroes?!" Satsuki interrupts. Tsuyu's heart sinks. That was the wrong thing to say. Satsuki can't contain her excitement. "Heroes are coming?!" she exclaims.
The boar-headed man's eyes snap to where the two sisters stand. Tsuyu gulps and clasps her hand over Satsuki's mouth, entirely too late. He advances towards them with long, menacing steps. Tsuyu pulls Satsuki behind her. "The heroes aren't coming," he growls, his face unnervingly close to Tsuyu's. "Not as long as you're here." His eyes sweep the whole row of hostages. "You guys are the only thing stopping the heroes from storming in here right now. They're too scared of hurting the worthless little hostages. Thanks to you, we can get away with-"
He's cut off by a flying kick to the face.
Everyone in the room, including the villains at the cash register, stares. The newcomer crash lands, rolls away, and ungracefully gets back to his feet. A bit of blond hair pokes past his dark hood and sunglasses.
"A hero!" Satsuki cries.
"WHO'RE YOU CALLING SCARED!" the newcomer yells, charging at the boar-headed man. Snapping out of it, the boar-headed man does what's natural for a boar-headed man- charge back. The two rush towards each other on a death collision course.
Tsuyu covers Satsuki's eyes. The boar-headed man is the obvious winner in this situation and she doesn't want Satsuki to see the 'hero' get schmuckered.
Moments before collision, the 'hero' thrusts both arms in front of him and lets loose a huge explosion. The boar-headed man flies backwards and crashes into a rack of jeans. The 'hero' smirks. "One down."
He goes after the villain who's threatening the cashier next, leaping into the air and propelling himself towards them with his explosions. The villain's eyes narrow. Their hand, still pointed at the cashier's head, glows red. The cashier screams.
The 'hero' only rockets faster, closing the gap in a matter of seconds and socking the villain in the jaw with and explosion-powered right hook, shouting, "DIE!" The villain falls backwards and looses their grip on the cashier. The glow fades from their hand. The cashier drops to the ground, clutching her head and gasping for breath.
"Two down." The 'hero' gets up from his second crash-landing of the day and lunges for the third villain. The villain rips out the drawer from the cash register and swings it at the 'hero''s face. He takes a second too long to react, bringing arm up to block. The drawer collides with his forehead anyways. He curses and stumbles backwards, grabbing the bruising spot.
Growling, he lunges forwards again, hands sparking and outstretched. Explosions burst from them, torching the villain. She shields her face with the metal drawer, but the rest of her body isn't so lucky. Her hoodie goes up in flames. She shrieks and starts trying to pat it out by repeatedly smacking herself.
The 'hero' watches with a satisfied smirk. "Three dow-" He buckles over, clenching his stomach. He yells, an absolute roar of agony. Tsuyu searches, eyes wide, for the cause of the sudden pain. There. The second villain is standing again, glowing palm pointed straight at the 'hero'. That must be their quirk.
The boar-headed man is down. The cash register robber has bigger things to deal with. Only the pain-quirk villain is a threat right now and if the 'hero' is free of the quirk, he stands a chance of defeating them. If they have to point their palm at the target for the quirk to work, then maybe...
Satsuki is first priority, but she'll be fine. Tsuyu can always block the quirk if she's targeted. The roars of pain echo in Tsuyu's ears.
She reaches out as far as she can with her tongue and wraps it around the pain-quirk villain's outstretched wrist. The villain helps at the unexpected wetness and thrashes, trying to free themself. Tsuyu pulls. The villain only stumbles, but it's enough to move their hand away from the 'hero'.
Now free from the pain, he twists around and punches the villain in the jaw. The villain falls. Lights out. Tsuyu retracts her tongue, which is a bit sore from the strain. She really needs to practice that if she wants to get into U.A.
The other villain, the one on fire, doesn't last too long either. The 'hero' knocks her out with another punch to the jaw and grabs a returned sweater from under the counter to smother the flames.
Having dealt with all the villains, he turns to the hostages. "Go on, get out of here," he snaps, making shooing motions with his hand. A few stunned people get up and shuffle out, still in a state of shock and fear. The 'hero' mutters to himself, "Can't believe the heroes were too scared to deal with this. That was ridiculously easy."
Satsuki squirms under Tsuyu's hand. "Are the scary parts over? Can I see? Did the hero win?"
Tsuyu, who had forgotten she was covering her sister's eyes, removes her hand. "Yes, he did. We're safe now, kero. We can go."
"Yay!" Satsuki cheers. "The hero saved us!"
Tsuyu thinks she sees the hero's expression of perpetual annoyance soften a bit.
"Can we get his autograph?" Satsuki stares up at Tsuyu with puppy eyes. "Pleeeeaaaase?"
Tsuyu hesitates. She doesn't think that this 'hero' is a real Pro Hero. What type of Pro Hero's costume is a dark hoodie, jeans, and sunglasses? If she had to call him something, she'd probably go with 'vigilante'. And do vigilantes even give out autographs?
She looks down at Satsuki's pleading face and sighs. The poor kid has been through a lot today. Might as well make her happy. "Of course, Tsuki-chan."
"Woah, Kacchan, someone wanted your autograph!"
Katsuki almost jumps out of his seat on the train. "What the hell, Deku! When did you get here?!" And how does he know about that?
"I've been following you since the incident in the mall."
Katsuki really wishes Deku would reveal himself so he could strangle him. "How much of that did you see?" he growls under his breath, trying to be menacing without looking crazy.
"I just got there in the end, when you were smothering that lady who was on fire. Er, smothering's the wrong word. Putting out the fire, I mean. You weren't-"
"I GET it, Deku. What were you doing there?"
"Same as you, probably. I heard on the news that the mall was on lockdown and figured I'd check it out. By the way, nice disguise."
Katsuki's hand moves to his sunglasses. He's beyond pissed. Deku was there and he didn't know. It's not all that surprising, but he really can't go anywhere without worrying about being watched, can he? No matter what he does, there's always the possibility that Deku's there. He can never truly have privacy. It's exhausting.
And now Deku knows about his... activities.
(He doesn't call it vigilantism because vigilantism is a crime, and Katsuki Bakugo is no criminal.)
"By the way, Kacchan, you really should've waited for the heroes to show up." Aaaaand here's the lecture. Deku's voice drops to a serious tone that just feels wrong with his young, high-pitched voice. "The girls were scared, but they weren't being harmed at all. Nobody would've been injured if you didn't jump in. Everything would've turned out okay, and you'd be at less risk."
As much as Katsuki wants to deny it, Deku has a point. If he got injured or caught, he could get arrested for vigilantism and not be able to get into UA. But Katsuki has to defend his actions no matter what. He can't second-guess himself. He realizes that being wrong is a fact of life, but he still has an image to maintain.
"How do you know that, Deku?" Katsuki spits back. "Heroes don't do anything when there're hostages. They're too scared about hurting the civilians. And I was already there. They tried to make ME a hostage. They got what they deserved. Besides, if I was caught, I could've just called it self-defence."
Deku hmms. Katsuki can't see his expression, but he can tell he's doubtful. "You're dressed like a vigilante," he states, as if that one sentence wins the argument. "Who wears sunglasses on a train? Anyways-" he continues before Katsuki can yell in defence of his sunglasses- "you have to stop doing this. All Might told me you were at the pet shelter four days ago. That was during school hours! What were you doing there? You could've gotten in big trouble! And that incident downtown after school yesterday..."
"That was in an alley. No one recorded it," Katsuki mutters.
"I still found it on a forum." Stupid fanboy Deku. Sticking his nose where he shouldn't. "You have to stop doing this! You can't risk it! I know how much getting into U.A. means to you. I can't let you throw away your dreams for some... I don't even KNOW why you suddenly decided to be a vigilante, but it's not worth it. You have your whole future to save people. You don't need to risk it now."
Deku is sounding annoyingly like a mom. Not Katsuki's mom, but just a mom in general. What right does he have to be lecturing him? Does Deku even realise what a hypocrite he's being right now? The person who literally jumped on a bomb in front of like 100 people with cell phones is lecturing him for saving 30 some-odd hostages. Katsuki'll get caught? At least he's not on the news like stupid Deku was. Besides...
"What do you know about planning for the future? You don't even have one."
Deku doesn't bother him for the rest of the ride home.
Izuku doesn't know what to do. He can't let Kacchan keep putting himself in danger. He could get caught and get a criminal record, or worse, get severely injured!
He realises the irony of what he's saying, as he now spends all of his free time trying to follow All Might and help him take out villains. It's not like All Might needs his help or anything, but if he can distract or confuse the villain even a little bit, it helps. No matter how little he's doing, he's still butting into villain attacks.
But he's a ghost. Kacchan is right. Izuku doesn't have a future. He may be technically immortal now, but he's still legally dead and stuck looking like a 12-year-old forever. No one will ever take him seriously. He'll never be able to get a job or even finish going to school.
Izuku can't ruin his future by fighting villains, but Kacchan can.
He knows what's going on here. Kacchan's stupid pride issue is saying that if Izuku can do something, then Kacchan can too. It frustrates him to no end. Why can't Kacchan see that his entire future is more important than proving himself to someone who DOESN'T CARE?
His computer dings. The chatroom is active again. Oh, good, something to distract him from his problems.
MILKY: i know this is random but whos applying to ua?
Hmm, nope. Not gonna distract him. U.A. only makes him think of Kacchan at this point.
ActuallyDead: ahhhhhhhh I would but I cant
MILKY: aw why?
ActuallyDead: they dont accept ghosts
MILKY: *laughing crying emoji* ok bud
ActuallyDead: uuugggghhhhhh
ActuallyDead: ANYWAYS i have a bigger problem
He types it in a moment of impulse. Izuku hates to bring the mood down, but he really needs advice. Advice from someone who isn't likely to get Kacchan in trouble.
MILKY: oh no what is it
ActuallyDead: my friend wants to go to UA but he keeps doing vigilante stuff and I'm scared he'll get a criminal record if he keeps it up and then he won't get in
MILKY: ...huh
MILKY: yeah thats a problem
MILKY: i have two ideas
MILKY: 1) physically restrain him
MILKY: 2) emotionally manipulate him
ActuallyDead: ...
ActuallyDead: .....the second one might work
itsyaboy: ooh were manipulating people??
MILKY: probably
itsyaboy: i can help
ActuallyDead: how
itsyaboy: ive got so much experience you dont even know
itsyaboy: "why are you so upset over bad grades its not like im doing drugs"
itsyaboy: you gotta figure out their motivations
ActuallyDead: spite pride and competitiveness
itsyaboy: well that was easy
itsyaboy: ok now find a way to make them feel like theyre still getting what they want
itsyaboy: for example
itsyaboy: my parents want me to do well in life. Thats why they care about my grades
itsyaboy: when I remind them I dont do drugs theyre like oh yeah this kid still has a chance
ActuallyDead: so i have to make him feel like hes better than me in some other way
MILKY: wait im confused why is he doing this again
ActuallyDead: i got caught up in a villain attack and ended up saving some people and now he thinks that he has to go vigilante to be a better hero than me
ActuallyDead: its stupid
ActuallyDead: im not even a hero
MILKY: so he wants to be a hero
MILKY: hes going to ua right?
ActuallyDead: yea
MILKY: ok then maybe help him prepare for it?
MILKY: you can say that if he stops now itll make him a better hero in the future
itsyaboy: yes youre getting it
itsyaboy: plus it uses up his time and he has less chances to go villain hunting
Izuku wilts a little at the though of training with Kacchan. They had done that a lot when they were little and Izuku had always come away with burns and bruises. But...
Things are different now. Izuku doesn't really feel much in general, except for that big explosion. Testing his limits would probably be a good idea, even just to satisfy his curiosity.
ActuallyDead: that seems like a good plan
ActuallyDead: if i can convince him to do it
ActuallyDead: hes pretty stubborn
MILKY: YOU CAN DO IT GHOSTIE
MILKY: YOURE NOT THE BEST AT CONVINCING BUT I BELIEVE IN YOU
ActuallyDead: wow thanks
itsyaboy: milkys only saying that cause they dont believe ur a ghost
MILKY: i mean youre not wrong
ActuallyDead: im gonna try it even tho you just destroyed my confidence
MILKY: aw cmon bud i was kidding
ActuallyDead: ik me too
MILKY: ok good
itsyaboy: good luck, dead!!!
itsyaboy: i grant you my powers of manipulation
ActuallyDead: wait wait wait is manipulation your quirk??!!
itsyaboy: haha no im quirkless
Oh.
Izuku feels for him, after 12 years of thinking he was quirkless. He types 'aw that sucks' before stopping and thinking. Izuku has never liked pity. He had never liked being treated as lesser than anyone else. itsyaboy is probably the same way. He erases the unsent message. He's at a bit of a loss now. Izuku can't make some comment about quirkless solidarity because he isn't quirkless anymore, but he really wants to show support. Luckily, he’s saved by Milky.
MILKY: how do we know this isn't more manipulation
Joking is easier than being serious, so Izuku jumps on the opportunity.
ActuallyDead: how do we know our whole life isnt just more manipulation
MILKY: what if were in the matrix
ActuallyDead: oh god no
MILKY: OUR LIVES ARE A LIE
ActuallyDead: AHHHHHHHH NOTHING IS REAL AHHHHHHHHH
itsyaboy: ...
itsyaboy: yall need help
Izuku grins. This is good. Thanks to his friends, he now has a plan (and a mild existential crisis). Hopefully he can stop Kacchan from acting illegally. If not, he can always count on his friends.
Notes:
For some reason I think that a vigilante Bakugo would act kinda like Edward Elric
Ooh I gotta draw that
Hey and I've got a tumblr under the same name if you wanna scream at me
Idk how to do links though
See ya
Chapter 4
Summary:
Training: a smart idea or a painful mistake?
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Holy All Might. It worked. Milky's idea worked.
After a few days of arguing, pleading, negotiating, and phasing through explosions, Izuku finally got Kacchan to stop looking for fights and concentrate on training for the U.A. entrance exam. It was quite a challenge to twist his words into making it seem like Kacchan's idea, but he managed it.
Now the only problem is that Izuku promised to train with him. As his test subject. He's not too sure how to feel about this. He shouldn’t feel any pain, but the memory of the subway bomb sticks in his mind. He's excited to test his limits, but he's terrified of what will happen when he hits them.
No matter. Kacchan won't be putting himself in danger any more. (And if Kacchan gets into U.A. that gives Izuku an excuse to lurk around.)
Izuku really needs a new notebook.
"You really think this is a good idea?" Worry lines Toshinori's voice and pulls his face into a frown. The pair is walking down the street, on the lookout for crime. Toshinori is in his true form. As much as he loves his fans, the crowds sure make it tough to get around sometimes. Even more, it's easier on his body and lets him save his strength for when he really needs it.
It also lets him have these casual conversations with Young Midoriya without the media swarming them. The shy boy would not appreciate that. So he stays in his true form and they don't get any more strange looks than expected of a towering skeleton man and a floating ghost boy.
Midoriya talks the whole time. About his latest shenanigans (almost everyone in his old school is convinced it's haunted by now), about his internet friends (someone by the name of Crim is applying to U.A.), and about his newest plan.
His newest plan has more than a few flaws.
Toshinori has a pretty good idea of Young Bakugou's personality from Young Midoriya's stories and their brief encounter at the pet shelter. He seems rather... violent. Toshinori doesn't know how Young Midoriya's quirk will affect the situation, but combat training with a partner who doesn't know how to hold back is never safe.
Midoriya, oblivious to his impending doom, nods earnestly. "Yup! I get to learn new things and Kacchan gets a better chance to get into U.A."
Toshinori isn't convinced. But he knows that once this ghost child puts his mind to something, he'll always see it through. After all, he's managed to track down Toshinori almost every day since their first encounter. He sighs. "Just stay safe. Don't take too many risks.
Midoriya nods again. "Of course!"
Toshinori isn't convinced, but before he can say anything, Midoriya disappears. A few seconds later, a boy across the street trips and falls into his friends. While he's flustered and apologizing, Toshinori notices his backpack open by itself. A few notebooks and random objects float out into his friend's bag and the backpack closes.
Midoriya blinks back into view beside Toshinori, a mischievous grin on his face. "He went to my school," the boy explains.
"And that gives you permission to mess with them?"
"Of course! I almost have everyone there convinced that they're being haunted. I need to keep it up until the last day, where I’ll reveal it's me and then never see any of them ever again!"
"And if Young Bakugo gets into U.A, will you do the same there?"
"Yup! What's the point of being a ghost if I'm not going to take advantage of it?"
Toshinori is going to have an interesting year. And he hasn't even found a successor yet.
"Alright, Deku," Katsuki growls. "Let's get this started. Remember that the only reason I'm doing this is to get into U.A. and become the best hero ever. I'll make your little hero games seem like nothing compared to me!"
The two boys are in a park, not too far from Katsuki's school. It's wooded and is threaded with dirt trails. Far back, away from the road, they've found a small clearing, big enough for them to spar and deep enough into the park that they won't be interrupted by casual dog-walkers.
"For the last time, Kacchan, our situations are completely different." Deku's voice is heavy with exasperation.
Logically, Katsuki knows that Deku is right. But the simple truths that he's heard since birth- Katsuki can do everything and Deku can't do anything- scream at him to prove him wrong. To prove to Deku, even if Deku doesn't care, that Katsuki can do everything that Deku can do and more. It's how he's always been and it's so hard to try to change it. It's barely worth the effort.
"I know that, nerd. It's simple. I'm getting into U.A. and you aren't. Actually, I'm pretty much guaranteed to get in. Why am I wasting my time with you?"
"Because you don't just want to get in, you want to be the best. Some students, like Endeavour’s son, have probably been training since they were tiny kids. If you're gonna be the best, you gotta catch up."
Katsuki hates it when Deku makes so much sense.
"Then what are we just standing here for? Let's start!"
Deku grins. "Yeah!"
Katsuki charges at Deku, propelled by his explosions. It's the same new speed boost that he tried at the department store and it's getting easier. He blasts himself into air, his fist perfectly at Deku's eye level, and swings. Deku ducks and the momentum of the punch throws Katsuki off balance. He hits the ground feet first and rolls.
Gotta work on those landings.
He's back up in an instant, running at Deku, not giving him time to think. He uses the same move again, launching himself slightly to Deku's left. Deku turns to counter. Katsuki braces himself. This is his chance.
Inches away from Deku, Katsuki fires off a powerful explosion, not at Deku, but directly to his left. It blasts him over to Deku's right. Before Deku can react, Katsuki gives him an explosion-powered punch in the back of his head.
Deku yelps and stumbles forwards. Katsuki lands on his feet and skids away. He sways but doesn't fall.
Deku rubs his head and turns to Katsuki, eyes shining. "That's a really cool move, Kacchan! I've never seen it before! There's so much you can do with that type of maneuverability. If you work on it enough, you might even be able to have a battle entirely in the sky!"
Katsuki frowns. Of course he knows that he can use his quirk for mobility. The technique is the same as the one that that old American hero Iron Man used. But why is Deku rubbing his head? He's not supposed to be able to feel anything.
Enough of that. Katsuki's here for a reason and it's not to worry about some dead kid. Deku's guard is down. It's the perfect opportunity to practice his flying-kick-ambush-thing. "You want manoeuvrability, Deku? How about this!" He runs at Deku, launches himself into the air, sticks his arms straight out behind him, and blasts himself feet first into Deku's chest.
He's about to crash land again, but he thrusts his hands towards the ground and blasts himself back to his feet. He hits the ground and he uses the leftover momentum to swing a charged punch at Deku.
Deku, who would currently be on the ground gasping for air if he had lungs, sees it coming and dodges.
It goes like this for a while, Katsuki finding new ways to use his explosions for attacks and mobility and Deku dodging, taking hits, and pointing out tips that Katsuki doesn't need. He isn't fighting back, but that's expected of a nerd like him. At least he's not phasing through Katsuki's attacks. They had agreed on that at the start. Phasing quirks are rare, so it wouldn't be practical for Katsuki's purpose.
Deku still doesn't seem to be taking any damage, so Katsuki decides that now is the time to test his limits. He always holds back against normal people, since severely burning someone would put an ugly mark on his record. But now he has an excuse to go all out and someone who can take it.
He plants his feet, throws his arms out, and braces himself. "DIE!"
The blast is so huge it scorches the trees above them. Katsuki has to squint to protect his eyes from the intense light and heat.
"Oh god not again!" Deku yells from the other side of the flames.
Katsuki grins. The rush of power, the thought that he’s capable of something so big, is intoxicating.
He finally runs out of fuel and his arms drop limply. He winces. His shoulders hurt like never before and they don't seem to be moving properly. Are they dislocated?
"Woah, Kacchan, are you okay?" Deku floats over, not a single mark on him... or so Katsuki thinks. It's hard to tell. Deku flickers in and out of view, more transparent than he was before. From what Katsuki can see, he's got that stupid concerned look on his face again. Concern that Katsuki doesn't want, never mind needs.
"None of your business Deku!"
"Your shoulder doesn't look right... here, let me see." Deku floats beside Katsuki and stares at him with that stupid concerned expression.
"STAY BACK! I don't need your help!"
"Wait, I think I can fix this." Deku reaches towards Katsuki's shoulder. Katsuki all but jumps away.
"I told you I don't need your help, Deku!"
"Both your shoulders are dislocated! I've seen it enough on the internet to know. I can put them back in place."
"You get any closer and I'll blast you all the way to America."
Deku narrows his eyes, 'try me' written all over his face. Then, he disappears.
"YOU'VE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME STUPID DEKU!"
Katsuki sidesteps, because surely Deku would lunge at him the first chance he gets. A cold wind by his side tells him he guessed correctly.
"Kacchan I am not letting you mess up your arms over some ego thing." Deku's voice is final. (In another universe, Deku frowns at the hypocrisy.)
The game of dodging and cold drafts doesn't last long before something icy cold grabs Katsuki's shoulder. He swallows a hiss of pain- he can't have Deku thinking he's actually hurt or he'll never hear the end of it. "Get off me!" He desperately wants to shake the cold hands off, but that would just mess up his shoulders more.
Another cold spot touches his chest. It seeps into his core and makes him shiver. "This'll hurt," Deku warns.
There's a 'pop' and Katsuki yells. The cold is gone and his shoulder actually feels much better now but holy All Might that hurt. Katsuki spits out a rainbow of curses.
"Ohmygod Kacchan are you okay?!" Deku cries, doing that weird flickering thing again. "I'msosorry I thought I did it right! That's exactly how the article on first aid said to do it. Ohmygod I'm sorry are you oka-"
"I'm fine, Deku!" Katsuki grits his teeth. "Do the next one." 'The sooner this is over with, the sooner we can forget it happened.'
Katsuki hears Deku take a deep breath (he didn't even think ghosts could do that) and the same cold spots appear on the opposite side of his body.
"Three, two-" POP!
Katsuki curses. He was expecting it, yet it still hurt. He ignores Deku's endless whiny apologies and swings his arms, making sure they're moving properly. This feels so much better already, even if there're still sore. He lifts them over his head and across his body. Everything moves the way it should. He's vaguely impressed. He wasn't expecting Deku to actually do it properly, especially if he learnt it online.
He gives a few small test explosions. Deku jumps instinctively at the popping and crackling. Katsuki smirks. He still has some form of power over Deku, even if the ghost boy is physically unstoppable. "All right, let's keep going!" he declares.
"K-Kacchan that's not a good idea! You still need to see a doctor and anyways, I don't th-"
Deku's whiny stammering is cut off by an explosion to the face. "You dragged me all the way here. I'm not quitting half-way!" With a battle cry of, "DIE, DEKU!" Katsuki thrusts himself into the air and rains fire down on Deku's head.
"Been there, done that," mutters Deku, rolling his eyes.
Katsuki lands behind him and fires off the strongest explosions he dares. It's nowhere near his full force but it should be enough to knock Deku a few feet back.
Deku doesn't even react. The blast goes right through his still-flickering form. Katsuki, expecting more of a recoil, loses his balance and stumbles to the side. "DEKU YOU CHEAT YOU WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DO THAT!" he yells, whirling around to give Deku his signature glare.
His eyes fall on the empty space where Deku was. Anger bubbles up (they had agreed that Deku wouldn't use his ghosty powers!) and is about to burst out when Katsuki notices him. He's barely a wisp, an illusion that'll disappear if he stares at it for too long. A voice cuts in and out.
"I... -sorry... can't... -have to sleep- ...cchan..."
Deku flickers once more, then disappears. Katsuki blinks. "Deku? Don't mess around like this you stupid nerd." When there's no answer, Katsuki grows more frantic, his voice raising to pitch he's not proud of. "Listen up you good-for-nothing Deku, this isn’t funny. Get back here RIGHT NOW OR I'LL BLAST INTO THE GROUND SO HARD THAT YOU'LL HIT LAVA!"
Deku doesn't come back.
Katsuki waits in the clearing for an hour and a half before heading home. The twist in his gut and the gloom in the air sure is annoying. He really shouldn't be feeling like this.
He knows it's impossible to kill someone who's already dead but his mind keeps wandering to dark places.
What if Deku never comes back?
What will Auntie Inko think?
Inko will be so mad. Then Mom will get mad because Inko is mad and then Katsuki won't be able to go to U.A. because Mom is getting much better at punishing him. Katsuki used to be able to get away with everything, hell, get praised for everything, but recently his parents have started being rougher with the consequences. The thought of what his mom might do when she finds out what he's done almost makes Katsuki sick.
He remembers just how broken Inko was in the few weeks between Deku's death and his... reappearance. If he's the one who makes her return to that state...
Forget anything his mom could do to him. The guilt will be enough of a punishment itself.
The feeling in his gut worsens.
He's not worried about Deku, he reminds himself. That'd be ridiculous! It's Auntie Inko that he's worried about. The fact that Deku has been a constant presence in his life since they were tiny kids and that his death affected Katsuki even more than the rest of the Bakugos doesn't matter. Nope. This stupid twist of anxiety is for Inko.
(Katsuki has never been good at lying.)
He would bury himself in the ground if it means not having to tell Inko that Deku just... evaporated. Probably from overexertion. Caused by Katsuki's training.
His phone buzzes, pulling him back to reality. The dark thoughts cling to him like spider webs. He doesn't bother to shake them off. He pulls the phone from his pocket and checks the screen. It's from Inko.
Inko ^-^: Please tell Izuku to come back home. It's getting late and I'm sure Mitsuki doesn't want you out much longer either. If you haven't eaten yet you're welcome to come over. I hope you boys had a good time :)
Katsuki throws his phone to the ground. It bounces off the dirt trail with a thump. The screen's probably cracked now but he doesn't care.
Come back, you stupid Deku.
When Izuku wakes up, it's dark out. He's lying on his side, floating a few inches above the grass. Immediately something feels wrong. He was... in the park, right? Yeah, in the park with Kacchan, training for him to get into U.A. The clearing in the park is flat and smooth. So why does he see a bunch of rocks?
He rubs his eyes and gets up. He takes in his surroundings. The realisation freezes him in place. Those aren't rocks. Those are...
He turns around, cold fear seeping through his soul and weighing him down like lead. Why here? He'd rather be anywhere but here. It's a slippery place, this one. Everything feels unreal, like the world is smoke that could evaporate at any moment. Izuku feels that if he makes one wrong move, he'll get dragged back to the darkness that he finds in front of him.
His gravestone.
The physical reminder of just how fragile life is and just how close he came to losing it all. And under that...
Well, Izuku doesn't like to think about that, but simply being here makes it impossible not to. The thought is always accompanied with a deep feeling of wrong. What's down there is him, but it's not him, not anymore. Everything that he once was, the unchanging form that he's stuck in for eternity, the quirkless and diseased body that defined who he was... He has no use for it now. It shouldn't matter anymore. The body is now nothing more than a pile of meat and bones sitting in a wooden box. But it's still his, and the unmoving wrongness of the fact twists in his non-existent gut, telling him to turn back, to get away, to run, because this is unnatural and shouldn’t be happening.
Izuku jolts free of the paralyzing cold. He tears his eyes from the stone and flees. Dark figures hover in the corner of his eye, disappearing when he tries to get a better look. Shadows reach for him, begging him to stay. He shakes them off and flies faster. He can see the entrance up ahead. Beyond that brightly lit gate is the real world. Once he reaches it, he's safe. He knows that that world won't try to take him back.
He reaches the entrance and keeps going, across the street, down the alleys, through fences and yards, until eventually he stops in a bright shopping district. Is he safe? Is he far enough away? The lights and people seem real enough to soothe his nerves a bit.
Yeah. He's okay. He's fine. The area is bustling with people, each one of them with their own lives and purposes, just like Izuku sees every day. The coloured lights fend away the darkness. Izuku stays there for a while, watching the people, basking in the neon lights the way one might huddle by a fire for warmth.
The pull of the graveyard is gone now. It’s been buried once more, forced to retreat by the solid realness of everyday life.
Time to go home. His mom just be wondering where he is. As far as she knows, he's with Kacchan at the park, not all the way-
Kacchan.
Kacchan must be freaking out.
Izuku doesn't know exactly what happened. He remembers feeling really really tired, the way he felt when he was sick and dying. He was deathly tired and then he woke up in the graveyard. He doesn’t know what it must’ve looked like from Kacchan’s point of view. He was there, then… he wasn’t.
Kacchan probably thinks that Izuku died.
Which means...
I need to get home before he tells Mom!
Panic sets in. The phrase bounces around in his head, over and over.
I have to get home before he tells Mom. I have to get home and comfort Kacchan. I have to get home and explain what happened.
Izuku flies though the streets to the nearest subway station. It's a good thing he knows his city well, a result of exploring endlessly during the boring days all alone while Inko works. The shopping district further from home than the park is, but the subway should take him home pretty fast.
He waits a painfully long three minutes before the right train comes. Before it even comes to a full stop, he phases through the side, not wanting to waste any more time. (The train still takes just as long to load the rest of the passengers.)
After what seems like forever, the train takes off down the dark tunnel.
It's pointless and he knows it, but Izuku wishes the train was faster.
Katsuki takes a long time to get home. It's deliberate. The longer he takes, the longer he puts off having to tell everyone that Deku's gone.
He's only a block away when his phone buzzes again. He assumes it's Inko, still wondering where Katsuki and Deku are, so Katsuki ignores it. He doesn't want to deal with her.
The phone buzzes again. Katsuki rolls his eyes and pulls it out.
Inko ^-^: KACCHAN ITS ME IZUKU! MOM LENT ME HER PHONE! DONT WORRY IM STILL HERE! I THINK THAT WHAT HAPPENED WAS MY VERSION OF FAINTING. IM SAFE THO! IM AT HOME RN.
Inko ^-^: oh yeah btw mom's inviting you over for supper! It's spicy curry!
Katsuki is flooded with relief and he tells himself once more that it's for Inko’s sake, not Deku’s.
(Thank God he didn't kill Deku.)
Kacchan didn't find the spicy curry all that hot, even though Izuku's mom added twice as much spice as usual. Inko herself downed three glasses of water that meal. Kacchan even offered her his, since he didn't need it, even after adding more pepper.
After Kacchan went back home, Izuku pulls out a few loose leaf papers to write down what he learnt today. He plans on gluing or taping them to his notebook once he gets one.
He starts with his own quirk, first writing down all the basics, he’s a ghost, he can float, he can turn invisible, all that jazz. He keeps it brief, eager to get to the new information. He now knows that he only has a certain amount of energy and he needs to sleep to replenish it, or else he'll disappear and 'respawn' at the graveyard. If he takes damage or interacts with the physical world for an extended period of time, it'll drain his energy.
Next is Kacchan's. He keeps the style the same- a brief overview of his quirk in general before getting into the new stuff. He makes a list of techniques that he noticed Kacchan use during their training, including the speed boost, that feint to the side, the flying kick thing, and various aerial manoeuvres. He stays up all night thinking up new moves that Kacchan could work on.
Even though today's training didn't go all that well, Izuku has hope for the future.
For the first time in a while, Izuku has a routine. Weekends and evenings are spent with his mom. Izuku has more confidence in going out in public since meeting All Might, so sometimes they go out shopping or visit a public garden together.
Weekdays are spent with All Might or hero-watching. Izuku makes sure to look for moves that Kacchan can use or adapt. Sometimes he stays home and spends the day online, chatting with his friends or researching for the training with Kacchan. He has a tab open at all times called Dealing With Angry People.
Then, from after school until supper time is training with Kacchan. It's going much better. Now that they both know their limits, they're able to avoid dislocated shoulders and sudden disappearances. Kacchan has gotten better at his landings and at precision movements in the air, not to mention the increased force in his explosions. Izuku can't really do much for his quirk without phasing, but he has gotten better at noticing when he's near his limit.
Amazingly, the routine stays intact for the next 9 months. Sure, there might've been a few more times where Izuku tried to help out during villain attacks and ended up on the news, but either Kacchan didn't notice or he's realised that he has more important things to focus on than one-upping the dead kid. Either way, he hasn't started up the vigilantism again, so that's good.
They're right on track for the entrance exam.
Izuku can't wait for Kacchan to get in so that he can spend time at the top hero school in the country without feeling like a stalker.
Only one month to go!
Notes:
Entrance exam is next chapter! Idk when it'll get published but it's happenin'!
Chapter 5
Summary:
Entrance exam, reveals, and Izuku's muttering
Chapter Text
CrimsonRiotFan1016: AFJJGGKDHGKHSKFAADUATHV
itsyaboy: uhhh dude you ok
CrimsonRiotFan1016: UA ENTRANCE EXAM. TODAY.
CrimsonRiotFan1016: NERVES. HELP.
MILKY: OMG SAAAAAAAME
MILKY: MAYBE I'LL SEE YOU THERE!!!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: WOOOOO HOPEFULLY
itsyaboy: ahhhhhhh you guys are so lucky!!!
itsyaboy: ik i wont get into that foncy place so I'm applying somewhere closer to home
CrimsonRiotFan1016: cmon man I thought that too but I'm trying anyways
itsyaboy: eh it's too late now
itsyaboy: i live super far anyways
MILKY: awww too bad man it'd be so cool to go to school w you
itsyaboy: same but ive resigned myself to my fate
itsyaboy: ANYWAYS
itsyaboy: *clears throat*
itsyaboy: GOOD LUCK GUYS!!!! BREAK A LEG!!!!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: YEAH! THANKS!
ActuallyDead: HEEEEEY YOU GUYS ARE GOING TO UA??!
MILKY: WELL I SURE HOPE SO
CrimsonRiotFan1016: *crossed fingers emoji*
ActuallyDead: IM WALKING MY FRIEND THERE!! MAYBE ILL SEE YOU!!!!!!
MILKY: OMG YESSSSSSSSS
CrimsonRiotFan1016: THATS GREAT MAN
CrimsonRiotFan1016: hope I get to see ya
ActuallyDead: just look for the ghost
MILKY: if ur actually a ghost I stg
itsyaboy: vlog it for me
itsyaboy: i gotta see the Big Reveal(tm)
CrimsonRiotFan1016: will do!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: look for the manly guy with the black hair and a camera
MILKY: I've got really long white hair
MILKY: in a braid
ActuallyDead: my friend's really.... loud. And explodey. You'll notice him
CrimsonRiotFan1016: haha ok
ActuallyDead: if you hear someone yell "STUPID DEKU" that's him
MILKY: ...
MILKY: he doesn't seem too nice
ActuallyDead: .....can't argue with that
itsyaboy: your name isn't actually deku right?
itsyaboy: if it is im sorry man that's gotta suck
ActuallyDead: nah it's actually izuku
ActuallyDead: he just calls me that
itsyaboy: *what a wonderful friend*
CrimsonRiotFan1016 has sent a picture
CrimsonRiotFan1016: so y'all can recognise me
MILKY: DUDE YOUR TEETH ARE SO COOL
CrimsonRiotFan1016: uhhhhhhh thanks
MILKY has sent a picture
ActuallyDead: ok ik you said your hair is long but that's crazy
itsyaboy: that's a freakin scarf
CrimsonRiotFan1016: your hair must be wrapped around your shoulders like 6 times
MILKY: :DDD
itsyaboy has sent a picture
itsyaboy: tis me
MILKY: you-
MILKY: are completely-
MILKY: *average*
itsyaboy: i am aware
CrimsonRiotFan1016: *applause emoji*
itsyaboy: wAIT NO YOURE WRONG IM A MINORITY
itsyaboy: AT LEAST I HAVE THAT
CrimsonRiotFan1016: also you're a meme
itsyaboy: am i am i really
MILKY: yes
ActuallyDead: yes
MILKY: hey ghostie send a pic
ActuallyDead: can't
ActuallyDead: i don't show up in pictures
MILKY: suuuuuuuuuure
ActuallyDead: ahhhhhhh gotta go my friends here!!
MILKY: awfully convenient........
ActuallyDead: see you there!!!
itsyaboy: i can't believe I won't be there for the great reveal :C
MILKY: don't worry I'm sure he's just messing with us
CrimsonRiotFan1016: guess we'll find out
Izuku had severely underestimed the amount of people there'd be at the exam.
The crowd outside the campus is insane, buzzing with hero hopefuls from all over the country. For them, this is the biggest day of their life. This is the day that decides their entire future. Nerves and high hopes fill the air. Even though Izuku isn't even taking the exam, the atmosphere is enough to make him jittery. It's an amazing sight, all these people. Any one of them could be the next Number One Hero. But there's a problem.
"I'll never be able to find anyone like this!" Izuku complains, scanning the crowd, trying to find someone he recognises.
"Shut it, nerd. That's not why we're here." Kacchan grabs Izuku by the shirt and pulls him along, striding purposefully to the written exam room. People sense his Baku Determination Aura and move out of the way. Izuku floats behind him like a balloon.
"It's why I'M here, Kacchan! I gotta wish my friends good luck!" Izuku continues scanning the crowd, still being dragged through the air. He can't find Crim or Milky anywhere! Crim is understandable, his black hair doesn't stand out much, but Milky and her legitimate scarf of bright white hair should be more noticeable.
Kacchan only shakes his head. "You probably won't even notice if I leave you behind," he mutters. "You're sure they're both trying out for Hero Course?"
"Yeah, it's the only exam being held today. The Hero Course has so many examinees every year that they decided to hold it on a different day than the Gen Ed, Business, and Support Courses."
Eventually, they get to a booth run by the U.A. staff where Kacchan gets his examinee number and badge. They point him towards the building where he'll be taking his written exam. Izuku wishes Kacchan good luck and pretends to leave. When he's certain that no one is paying attention, he goes full ghost, invisible and intangible, and floats above the crowd to continue his search.
Holy cheese sticks there's a lot of people. White hair... White hair... White hair... wait! There's a guy with a camera! Izuku beelines towards the guy with the camera and the black hair. 'That'd better be Crim!'
Yesssss! It is! Crim follows the crowd, watching the hordes of people in amazement, just like Izuku had been doing. He seems nervous, chewing his lip and fiddling with the camera, but there's a determination about him that vaguely reminds Izuku of Kacchan, if Kacchan was less explodey and more... dependable.
Izuku follows Crim from the air until he notices a big enough opening for him to join the crowd again without having be phased halfway through someone. He shoulders past a few people, still invisible.
"Crim! Hey, Crim!"
He doesn't respond. Izuku starts to second guess himself. Maybe this is a bad idea. Crim probably doesn't believe that he's a ghost. How will he react when he learns the truth? He's one of Izuku's best friends. If he rejects him, the loneliness will be unbearable. This is his last chance to turn back before he does something he regrets.
Izuku frowns. What is he thinking? Crim's his friend. He won't judge. Anyways, Izuku had tried to tell them many times. If they still don't believe, that's their problem. He had promised he'd wish them luck, so that's what he'll do.
"Hey, Crim!"
This time, Crim glances around in confusion, trying to figure out where the voice is coming from. Good.
"You might want to turn on the camera," Izuku calls. Crim frowns. "Yes, you, Crim You're the only one with a camera." By now Izuku is right behind him. Crim fumbles with the camera. The red light blinks on and he points it in Izuku's direction.
"Ghostie... is that you?" Crim asks hesitantly.
Izuku appears with a forced grin and finger guns. "Heeey, Crim!"
Crim jumps. "Holy-! You..." Crim stares at the floating, transparent boy in front of him. "You actually are a ghost."
"What, you didn't believe me?" Izuku teases, trying his best to stay casual and hide the storm of anxiety.
Crim tentively pokes him. Izuku lets himself go intangible and laughs at Crim's face when his hand passes right through. "This... isn't just your quirk? You're actually a ghost?"
"Being a ghost is my quirk," Izuku explains. "I died a few years ago."
Izuku watches in anticipation as Crim blinks a few times, processing the information, then bursts into a blinding grin and yells, "That's so cool, man!"
Izuku glows with relief. "Ohthankgodhelikesme," he mutters.
"Mood," says a nearby student.
"So you're, like, legally dead, right? That's why you can't apply to U.A?" Crim continues. Izuku nods. "Huh. So Milky was wrong."
Izuku grins. There's a bit of a devious twist to it this time. "Yup! Can't wait to see her face."
Crim laughs. "Hold on, lemme text her."
Izuku watches over his shoulder as he types.
CrimsonRiotFan1016: MILKY
CrimsonRiotFan1016: WHERE YOU AT
CrimsonRiotFan1016: I FOUND GHOSTIE
MILKY: OMG NICE
MILKY: IM STILL AT THE ENTRANCE
Crim glances over his shoulder at Izuku. "You okay with fighting crowds, Ghostie?"
"Oh, no problem. That's easy for me. Are you fine with fighting against the crowd all the way back to the entrance?"
Crim shrugs. "Easier than trying to find her in this mess. Besides, I still have like half an hour before my written exam." Crim turns back to his phone.
CrimsonRiotFan1016: OK STAY THERE WE'LL COME TO YOU
MILKY: AYE AYE CAPTAIN
"Ooh, Crim, I have an idea!" Crim turns to find Izuku floating above his shoulder and glowing. "I never got to try this with Kacchan because he kept hitting me with explosions every time I got close, but I think it could work now." Before Crim has the chance to say anything, Izuku grabs him from under the arms and lifts him into the air.
"Ghostie, what are you doing?" Crim cries. Izuku can't see his face so he pretends that Crim is less distressed than he sounds.
"Flying!" Izuku carries Crim higher and they fly above the crowd.
"Ghostie, be careful! I'm gonna kick someone in the face!" Crim yells, tucking in his legs to dodge an exceptionally tall student.
"NYOOOOOOM!"
"He actually said that out loud," Crim mutters incredulously.
"I see Milky!"
"Good for you! I'm busy TRYING. NOT. TO KICK. PEOPLE."
"That's good! It's be bad if you kicked people! Milky! Hello!"
Milky, who's leaning against the entrance gate, arms crossed, looks up at the sound. Izuku flies over and drops Crim in front of her, then floats down to a few inches above the ground.
Crim rolls his shoulders and gives Izuku a Look. "C'mon, man, be a little more careful next time! I coulda kicked someone!"
Izuku grins sheepishly. "Sorry, I was too caught up in it actually working. I can carry people! I never knew that! I gotta wrote it down when I get home. I wonder how much energy that used. How far can I carry someone? Can I carry more than one person at a time? Do I have a strength limit, too? I don't actually have muscles so how would-"
"A-hem." Milky clears her throat in a very obvious way.
Izuku feels his face go red (how does that work?). "I- uh, sorry. Hi, Milky!"
Milky gives Crim deadpan stare. "He really is just as nerdy in real life, isn't he?" Crim just gives a tired smile in response. "And is that a camera?"
Crim shrugs and zooms in on Milky's face. "Well, I did promise I'd vlog it."
"Ohmygod, nerds," Milky mutters in exasperation. "Well, nice to meet y'all. I'm gonna assume that you're Crim and you're Ghostie, er, Izuku?" Milky frowns. "Is that your given name or family name? What should I call you?"
"Uh, Izuku's my given name. I'm Izuku Midoriya. You can call me whatever."
Milky smirks. "Okay, Whatever."
"That's not what I meant."
"Yeah, yeah." Milky waves it off. "Anyways, the big question:" -she leans in closer to Izuku, eyes narrowed- "Are you actually a ghost?"
"Can you not see him?" Crim exclaims. "He's totally a ghost! What else could-"
"Could be his quirk," Milky interrupts.
"It is my quirk," Izuku explains once more. "My quirk is that I turned into a ghost after I died."
Milky remains unconvinced. "How do you know that you actually died?"
"I saw my own dead body being put into a coffin."
The pure bluntness of the statement shuts her up. After a few beats, Crim, desperate to shake off the tense and awkward mood, says, "So, anyways, I'm Eijirou Kirishima! You can just call me Kirishima. Nice to finally meet you!"
Kirishima definitely needs to work on changing the subject, Izuku thinks.
Milky gives her head a little shake and smirks at Kirishima's fail. "Yeah, I hope we get into the same class. You can call me Asari. Should we go get our badges?"
Kirishima nods. "Good idea!"
"I can hel-"
"We are NOT pulling that trick again, Izuku!"
Izuku hovers nervously over All Might's shoulder, up in the control room. He's watching the feed of the practical exam. There's Kirishima on one screen, and Kacchan on another, and... Oh! There she is!
Asari's long hair is now free of its braid and floats around her like a cloud. A robot charges at her. Her hair forms a wall in front of her. Energy crackles between the strands. The robot hits the force field and crumples.
So that's why she keeps it so long. Izuku had heard about how her quirk works from the chat room, but obviously has never seen it in person. It's very strong defensively, but lacks the offensive destructive power needed to destroy enough robots to pass. Her current strategy is working well, but revolves around letting the robots come to her. With the other contestants actively seeking them out, there'll be less and less robots for her to lure in. Without a way to bring the fight to them, her destruction rate will fall as everyone else's remains fairly stable.
But how to do the force fields work, exactly? Would she be able to form one inside a robot, or are they entirely dependant on where her hair is? If she could-
"Young Midoriya?" All Might whispers.
Izuku clamps his hands over his mouth. "Was I talking out loud again?" he whispers through his fingers.
All Might nods. "What are you doing here? How long have you been here?" He's speaking quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the other teachers. Neither of them want to have to explain why there's an invisible ghost child in a teachers only area.
"I've been here since the exam started. I- woah, Kacchan just took two robots out at once! And he didn't even fall! He's using the techniques we worked on!"
"Shh!" All Might shushes him a little too loud. Eraserhead looks at him and frowns. They both freeze. "I, ah, just talking to myself," All Might stutters. Izuku silently fanboys over embarassed All Might. Eraserhead holds his stare for a little longer before deeming it unimportant and turning back to his screens.
"That was close." Izuku can barely hear All Might at this point. "How about we keep quiet for now?"
Izuku nods pointlessly. "Good idea."
Izuku goes back to watching the exam. He spots Kirishima busting through robots with hardened fists. Kacchan is using his new aerial moves to destroy robot after robot after robot. Asari's falling behind but keeps up the intensity. A girl with an antigravity quirk is dropping robots from the sky in a rather creative way. There's a girl with vines, a boy liquifying the ground and trapping robots, a boy shooting lasers from his stomach, a girl melting robots with acid...
So many quirks! So much potential! Izuku really really wishes he had brought his notebook.
That's okay. Kacchan has without a doubt the highest score out of everyone. Izuku will definitely be following him to U.A.. He'll be able to take as many notes as he wants!
He grins. The next three years are gonna be hella fun.
Then his good mood is broken when Nedzu pulls a switch and enormous zero-pointers rampage through the fake cities. Izuku stares in shock and horror as he watches students run for their lives. Those things will trample them!
He notices a small screen off to the side. The gravity girl is trapped on the ground, legs pinned by a fallen robot. She's too panicked by the incoming zero-pointer to twist around and free herself. Nobody else notices. "All Might," Izuku hisses. "That girl-!" He taps the screen. The sound draws All Might's attention.
"She'll be fine," All Might says, but there's a hesitation, a slow uncertainty that doesn't reassure Izuku at all. "The principal won't let anyone get severely hurt during the exam."
"BUT NEDZU DOESN'T KNOW SHE'S THERE." Izuku's not sure why his voice is distorting like this but he couldn't care less. The temperature in the room drops. The other teachers tense up, suddenly aware that something is wrong, but they can't tell what.
All Might doesn't move. He wastes precious seconds watching the screen as the zero-pointer closes in on the girl.
Screw this, thinks Izuku, and plunges his hands into the control console.
Like a wave, starting from his hands and spreading outwards, the screens and lights and switches all shut down, All except the one showing the gravity girl. With the command center- the brain of the robots- down, the robots are nothing more than complicated hunks of metal. They freeze in place.
The zero-pointer stops one step away from the girl.
"The robots have all... frozen?" Present Mic exclaims over the intercom, which is connected to a different console. "An unexpected turn of events! Who could be responsible for this?!"
Izuku sags with relief. The room temperature returns to normal. The teachers press buttons and flip switches and discuss and try to figure out what the HELL just happened. Only All Might doesn't share their confusion. To most people, it simply looks like the Symbol of Piece isn't surprised by anything, but Izuku knows better. All Might is eyeing Izuku's general area with his now-familiar 'Midoriya Why' look.
"She was in trouble," he says with an (invisible) shrug. "I couldn't think of anything else."
"Do you know how to start it back up?" All Might hisses.
"If I take my hands out of the console it should start up again, but I'm not going to do it until I'm sure she's safe."
All Might glances back at the other teachers. Present Mic had suggested a power failure until Eraserhead pointed out that the lights were still on. Midnight suggests hitting it until it turns back on. Blood King says that that's a horrible idea and wonders how did they even become heroes with such a lack of critical thinking skills? Nedzu looks calm. Then again, he always looks calm. Izuku wouldn't be surprised if Nedzu knew exactly what happened.
Nedzu meets his eyes and winks. Okay. Yep. He knows. Izuku gets an inexplicable chill. How did he know? Izuku's still invisible. Maybe because Nedzu's part animal? There are rumours that some animals can see ghosts but Izuku has never been able to prove it. Either way, the Principal gives him the creeps. Izuku knows with sudden certainty that he'll never be able to hide anything from him, ever. He hopes he can stay on Nedzu's good side.
On the lone functioning screen, the gravity girl had managed to calm down and free herself from the heavy debris. Izuku watches her stumble away. He looks away when she throws up, wanting to give her as much privacy as possible for someone on a surveillance camera. He waits until she's out of the path of the giant death-bot, then he takes his hands out of the console.
The screens and lights whir back to life. Present Mic wastes no time in grabbing the mic and yelling, "Aaand the bots are back! Let's hope y'all took advantage of that glitch, because there's only ten seconds left to get your points!"
The teachers seem to come to a silent agreement to deal with the "weird glitch" later and focus on the examinees. They watch the screens as the students make a final mad scramble to destroy as many robots as possible.
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"Aaaaaand time's UP!!"
Nearly everyone on the screens collapses with exhaustion, showing a mix of uncertainty, regret, and anticipation. Some look pained, like they could've gotten a higher score had there been more time. Some are nervous, knowing that they did their best but not knowing if it was enough. Some are even grinning in weary happiness because it's finally over.
Izuku picks out his friends amongst the many examinees. He's not surprised to find Kacchan grinning smugly and laughing at some poor kid with a twisted ankle. Kacchan is confident, his shoulders are squared and his head is high. He obviously thinks that he got in, and he's not wrong. Izuku doesn't know the exact numbers, but he's destroyed waaay more robots than the majority of the students. There's no way Kacchan would NOT get into U.A.
Asari and Kirishima are much more nervous. Kirishima's head is down as he makes his way out of the fake city. From what Izuku's seen, he should be at least in the top 50, but Kirishima doesn't seem to know that.
Izuku is honestly surprised by how well he did. He feels as mean as Kacchan, judging his friend like that, but Kirishima had really downplayed his quirk in the group chat, making it sound like it makes him slightly tougher, but ultimately kinda useless. Izuku now knows that this is a lie, after watching Kirishima take a charging robot head-on. The robot didn't last long.
Asari didn't do as well as the others. Just as Izuku had predicted, she started running out of robots to lure in near the end. As much as he hates to say it, he doesn't think she can stand up against the offensive powerhouses like Kacchan and that guy with the belly button laser. He doesn't want to dismiss her like that, but if he's being brutally honest, her score wasn't high enough.
"It's too bad, too," Izuku mutters. "A shield would be great for a supporting hero." He frowns. "The U.A. exam is really only geared towards students with offensive physical quirks. Anything other than that, like Milky's quirk, healing or regenerative quirks, psychological quirks... even Eraserhead wouldn't have gotten in. Wait... didn't-"
"Young Midoriya! You're muttering again!" All Might hisses.
"Eep!" Izuku looks around frantically. Nobody seems to have noticed. The teachers are all chatting on their way out of the control room.
"We need to go review the exam and calculate rescue points," All Might explains under his breath. "Your friends are probably out if the exam grounds by now."
Izuku takes that as code for 'You won't enjoy all the adulty talk' and nods. All Might stares in Izuku's general direction for a few awkward seconds until Izuku remembers that he's still invisible. "Oh! Yeah, I'll go see them. Bye, All Might! Thanks for inviting me! It was fun to watch!"
"Nobody invited you, Young Midoriya."
"Kirishima!"
Eijirou jumps at the sudden bright voice in his ear. He looks beside him. There's nobody. "Wh-"
"It's just me, Kirishima!" Midoriya materializes out of nowhere, slightly glowing.
Eijirou jumps again. "Oh, Ghostie, it's you!"
Midoriya frowns. "Yes, I just said that."
Eijirou sighs.
"Anyways!" Midoriya glows brighter. Eijirou squints. "You did awesome! Top 40 for sure!"
"You sure?" Eijirou frowns, a bit disbelieving. "I don't think I took out that many. I wasn't nearly as quick as the others."
"You might not've been outrageously fast, but you didn't need any recovery time like some of those faster people did. You're able to take out a robot and move on to the next one right away, one after another, because you don't need to worry about getting hurt. That guy with engines in his legs, for example, has to waste energy thinking about where to kick the robot so that his leg won't shatter on impact. You don't have that kind of limitation. So even though it seems like you weren't moving as fast, when you take into account the hesitations and recovery time the other guys need to make, you were taking out robots at around the same rate."
Eijirou blinks. "...Did you come up with all that just now?" Honestly, he should've expected a commentary like that from the guy who spams the group chat with in-depth analysis about whatever hero they're into at the time.
"Of course not! I snuck into the control room and watched you on the monitors with the teachers. I was making mental notes about you the whole time," Midoriya explains with an innocent grin.
Eijirou's not sure if he should be impressed or creeped out. "That's... cool?"
Midoriya glows brighter. "I know, right! I got to see all the Pro Heroes AND watch all the examinees! There were so many cool quirks!"
One of the greatest design flaws in the human body, Eijirou thinks, is that you can talk faster than you can type. He had always known that once Midoriya gets started on something, he won't stop until he's pulled apart and analysed every last bit of it. But it's completely different in real life. Without the having to stop and think about which keys he's pressing, Midoriya's words flow as fast and errant as his thoughts.
And after watching hundreds of promising students with interesting quirks, Midoriya has a lot of thoughts. Eijirou's pretty sure that if he tried to actually understand what his friend is saying, his mind would explode from the effort.
"Hey, Ghostie, Crim, it's you!" Midoriya cuts off mid-ramble. Eijirou turns around to see Asari, her cloud of hair wrangled back into a messy braid.
"Asari!" Midoriya cries. "I was looking everywhere for you but I found Kirishima first, so..."
"Hey Asari!" Eijirou claps her on the shoulder. "How'd ya do?"
Asari does a sort of grimace thing. "Eh... I was doing good at first, but when the robots started running out, I'm pretty sure I fell behind. I don't think it'll be enough to get in."
Midoriya nods and Eijirou braces himself. "That's what it looked like. Your quirk is way better for defence than destruction, and with the way this exam is set up, it's pretty tough for people like you to get a lot of points. Your strategy was very good, but it was too dependant on robots actually deciding to charge at you."
Asari gives Eijirou a tired Look. "Is he always like this?" Eijirou smiles and nods. Asari sighs, long and exaggerated. "I can't believe he's even worse in real life."
Midoriya hears this and blushes. "I-I'm not THAT bad, am I?"
Asari laughs. "I'm kiddin', Ghostie! Yeah, you talk a lot, but it's good stuff. You should find a way to use that strategy to help out actual heroes. Maybe be a coach of sorts."
Midoriya blushes even more and stammers something unintelligible. "Thanks," he manages to spit out.
Eijirou laughs and goes to put his arm around his friend, stumbling when he falls right through him. Midoriya starts apologizing immediately. Asari just cackles.
Man. It's really too bad they won't all be in a class together. Eijirou can only imagine what that would be like.
Oh well. If he does get into U.A., even if it's just Gen Ed, he's certain his classmates will be pretty manly.
The anticipation is almost enough to make him die and join Midoriya.
Notes:
Thoughts on Milky? Yay or Nay? I wasn't planning on her being so big in this chapter and I know that not everyone likes OCs, so lmk what you think. I'm putting her in Gen Ed but I don't know if she should fade to the background and only show up in the chats or actually be in the story by talking to kiri at lunch or Izuku haunting her class n stuff
U.A. stuff next chapter! More fanboying Izuku and most likely some pranks :D
Chapter 6
Summary:
The first day of U.A.!
Odd things seem to be happening... and we all know why
Notes:
This was a really fun chapter to write :D
It's only half the size of the others but I didn't want to force in pointless filler just to reach a word count.
Enjoy!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
CrimsonRiotFan1016: I GOT IN YALL
ActuallyDead: YESSSSSS I KNEW IT!!!!!!!
ActuallyDead: HOW MANY POINTS
CrimsonRiotFan1016: 39 villain and 35 rescue!!
CrimsonRiotFan1016: IM IN SECKND HECKIN PLACE
itsyaboy: DUDE
itsyaboy: THAT'S EPIC
itsyaboy: GOOD JOB MAN
CrimsonRiotFan1016: THANKS MAN
MILKY: WOAH KIRI GOOD JOB
MILKY: I only got 22 villain points and 11 rescue points
MILKY: I made it to Gen Ed tho! I've got a chance in the Sports Festival!!!
itsyaboy: im so proud of y'all
ActuallyDead: ^^^^^^^^
CrimsonRiotFan1016: :DDDDDD
MILKY: thank
itsyaboy: y'all are gonna have an EPIC year!
MILKY: word
ActuallyDead: oh they will
ActuallyDead: heheheh >:)
CrimsonRiotFan1016: ...
itsyaboy: fear.png
There's so many people! So many cool quirks! Izuku is truly among the elite of the elite and he's loving it. There's Kacchan, being scolded of course, and Kirishima, and belly button laser guy, and engine legs guy (who's the one scolding Kacchan), and that bird guy, and gravity girl, and HOLY ALL MIGHT THAT'S ENDEAVOR'S SON!
If any of Class 1A notices the flickering, fanboying ghost in the back corner of the class, they aren't showing it. They're too busy chatting and talking about the entrance exam and- oh, wait, they're settling down. The teacher must be coming-
ERASERHEAD IS THEIR TEACHER?! A HIGH-LEVEL UNDERGROUND HERO IS THEIR TEACHER?! U.A. REALLY IS A DREAM SCHOOL! Izuku is both intensely jealous of the twenty hero course students in front of him and crazy excited that he's here to experience everything.
What? They're doing a quirk apprehension test? Izuku gets to see all their quirks in action? Niiiiiiiice.
He really really needs to find a way to bring notebooks to school with him.
Hmmmm.....
Shouto is being watched.
It's not unexpected, seeing as he's surrounded by twenty other people, but something just feels... off.
He looks around for the tenth time. They're at the 50m dash now. The event is two at a time, so the rest of the students are hanging around the starting point.
Most of them are watching the event or chatting in small groups, with the exception of that disgusting purple child, who's staring at the girls, and the obnoxious blond, who's glaring at nothing. Shouto doesn't think he's ever seen anyone space out so angrily before.
But the point is that none of them are looking at Shouto. Even Aizawa-sensei is busy timing the event.
And yet the feeling of being watched is still there.
It unnerves him. He knows that it's stupid, if he can't find anyone watching him, then there's probably nobody watching him. But the feeling persists, and his gut is screaming, wrong wrong bad shouldn’t be happening something’s going to happe-
Shouto huffs in defeat and shoves the feeling back into its little drawer along with all the other emotions he's had enough of.
It's his turn soon anyways, and he can't be distracted by pointless paranoia.
"Um, excuse me, kero."
The hoarse voice takes Ochako by surprise. She turns to find the small frog girl behind her. As- Asua- no, Asuuuu-
"Asui!" Ochako exclaims, snapping her fingers, proud that she remembered the name. The two girls are standing in a group with most of their other classmates, waiting their turns for the grip strength tester machine thing.
"You can call me Tsuyu," she says automatically. "You're the one with the gravity quirk, right?" Ochako nods, not quite sure where this is going. "Is there a reason why you made that notebook float over there?" As- Tsuyu points at a spot a few metres away from the rest of their classmates. Sure enough, a notebook and pen are floating a metre and a half above the ground.
Ochako frowns. "That... wasn't me."
Tsuyu puts a finger to her mouth as they both watch the pen jot down notes. "That's very strange."
"Maybe I touched it by accident?" Ochako offers, but she strongly doubts it. Nobody even BROUGHT a notebook onto the training ground, as far as she knows.
"It could be Hagakure," says Tsuyu, but she doesn't sound too convinced either.
"Haga-who?"
"The invisible girl. But I'm pretty sure I saw her talking to Ashido."
Ochako glances over at the bright pink girl talking to a floating gym uniform, then back to the floating notebook. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's not her."
"Hmm."
"Hmm."
"Uraraka! Asui! You're up next!" the loud boy with the glasses calls, breaking their attention away from the notebook with big dramatic hand gestures.
By the time they finished the grip test, the notebook is gone.
Denki can't focus. He's trying his best to keep up the intensity of his sidesteps- he only has a minute to do as many as he can! -but he feels himself slipping. Metaphorically, not literally. Literally slipping would be really really really bad right now.
Dang it he's slowing down again!
C'mon Denki, faster! Faster!
As soon he gets back up to the speed he wants, he hears it again. A constant muttering, just far enough out of earshot that he can tell it's there but can't pick up any of the words. Again, he strains to hear it.
No! Bad Denki! If you focus on the voice you'll slow down again!
It's only after he finishes the event that he wonders who was muttering.
For the 4th time, Tenya shivers. It shouldn't be happening, it's a beautiful sunny day and they are all exercising. He can't know for sure about his other classmates, but Tenya himself has worked up quite a sweat.
Yet every so often, despite the warm sun, despite his high body temperature, Tenya gets an inexplicable chill, as if he had brushed up against a cold metal pole in the middle of winter.
2 times it had happened while he was walking. He would reach an oddly cold spot and get chilled to the bone, only for the feeling to suddenly vanish two paces away.
The other time, the coldness brushed up against him, raising the hair on his arm and making him feel like someone had just opened a freezer beside him.
This time was no different. Tenya can't write it off as part of Todoroki's quirk like he did last time, as it's currently Todoroki's turn for the ball throw. This waft of cold came from right beside him, not 15m away.
It's inexplicable, and for the life of him, Tenya can't figure it out.
Stupid Deku is here.
Bad enough Katsuki had to put up with him on the train ride to U.A, but the stupid nerd followed him into his class too.
He's trying to be discreet by staying invisible and all that, but he's failing horribly. Just like the Deku he is.
He brought his freaking notebook. Unbelievable. Katsuki thought that a nerd like him would at least be smart enough to realize that notebooks don't turn invisible, but NOPE. And he can hear the muttering. The constant, incessant, muttering about quirks and technique and blah blah blah.
Oh, Deku's sure gonna get an earful on the train ride home.
Eijirou's watching his classmates complete the events- that Bakugo guy might have a temper but damn he's manly- when he feels the cold presence again.
"Hey, Midoriya," he whispers.
There's a small "Eep!" from beside him.
"How did you know?" The response is muffled and Eijirou can imagine that Midoriya's whispering through cupped fingers.
"You're very cold," Eijirou explains, eyes still fixed on the event. He hopes that Midoriya doesn't think he's ignoring him. He just doesn't want to be seen talking at nothing. "I feel a draft when you're near."
"Oh." A pause. "Do you think the others have noticed?"
"Nah. They don't really have any reason to think there's a ghost here."
"Mm. I- woah! That’s Tokoyami's quirk? That’s so cool! I wonder-"
"Ghostie! Shh! They'll definitely notice you if you keep that up!"
Midoriya laughs sheepishly. "Oops." Shortly after, the cold presence leaves.
This class has potential. It's refreshing to see after the catastrophe of last year. Shouta thinks he might have to go back on his word after all. There isn't anybody here who's hopeless enough to warrant expulsion.
Of course, he's only seen a snippet of their personalities, but from a physical standpoint, the students definitely have what it takes. They're sloppy and amateur, but that's expected. After 3 years of "hell training", as some previous students called it, they'll shape up into real heroes.
Despite their satisfactory performance, the students seem distracted. Kirishima and Bakugo have been caught talking to themselves a few times, and a handful of other students have been scanning their surroundings in suspicion, even though there's nothing there. Shouta hopes it doesn't continue. He doesn't want to deal with a class of paranoid and/or delusional students.
A draft of cold air hits his shoulders. Shouta glances in the direction it came from and spots a floating notebook. He rolls his eyes and plucks it out of the air. It comes with slight resistance and bends oddly, like the air is trying to hold onto it.
The next time Uraraka leaves her stuff floating around, it'll be up to her to remember it.
From his seat beside the window in his third-floor classroom, Hitoshi watches the hero course file back into the building below him. They're done whatever evaluations they were doing. Again, completely quirk-based.
Hitoshi huffs, the resentment in the back of his mind crawling back to the forefront. He knows he should be grateful that he even made it into U.A. at all, but he just can't find it in him. After all, the prestigious name doesn't change the fact that he's taking mind-numbingly average courses.
It doesn't help that the (lucky undeserving) hero course students were flaunting their flashy quirks right outside his window while he's supposed to be listening to the fifth teacher this day ramble about the syllabus. At least they're done now. Maybe now he'll be able to focus.
15 minutes later, Hitoshi still can't focus.
He's tried, but his mind's in such a funk, still salty about the (unfair biased) hero course, that listening to a teacher talk about how they'll be studying perfect and continuous tenses is impossible. He gets permission to go to the washroom, the all-purpose excuse to get out of class.
He wanders aimlessly for a while until he finds himself down on the first floor. He curses himself. This is the hero course floor.
Why, subconscious? he wonders. Why are you trying to torture me like this?
The hall is oddly quiet, much quieter than the Gen Ed area. It takes Hitoshi a moment to realise that the students are probably still getting changed.
It takes him another moment to realise he's not alone.
Out of the corner of his eye, he spots a boy, a few years younger that Hitoshi. He's sitting on the ground, leaning up against the wall, writing in a notebook. Hitoshi turns to get a closer look at him, maybe ask him what he's doing there, because there's no way a 12-year-old is in the hero course.
The boy isn't there. Hitoshi frowns. "Hello?" he calls softly, trying not to let his voice echo around the (empty?) hallway.
Nobody answers. Hitoshi supposes he should've expected it, but he still has the unnerving feeling that he's being watched.
He gives the spot where he saw the boy one last check, confirms that there's no one there, and heads back to class. He's starting to get into Suspiciously Long Bathroom Trip territory, and he doesn't to want to be branded a slacker on his first day.
The day is over. Katsuki leaves the class the moment the bell rings, having no desire to wait around and deal with the extras.
He walks alone to the train station, his pace quick. Wait. No. Forget that. He's not alone. Katsuki rolls his eyes. "Come out, Deku. We're basically alone."
Deku flickers into view beside him and immediately launches into a ramble about how Katsuki used the techniques they worked on and how well he did and how cool his classmates quirks are and-
"I take it back, go away." Should've figured the nerd was there to stalk his classmates and fanboy over their quirks.
"Aw, c'mon Kacchan! I live just down the street from you! We take the same train."
"You don't live anywhere," Katsuki says flatly.
Deku freezes. Katsuki hopes he managed in upsetting him enough that he won't follow. His hopes sink when Deku slowly grins.
"Kacchan..." oh god no why did he take it like that "...was that a pun?"
Katsuki assumes his default scowl.
"...I see." The teasing tone to Deku's voice puts Katsuki over the edge.
"I DIDN'T MEAN IT LIKE THAT, YOU F-"
"Now, Kacchan, that's not a very nice word, is it?"
"You sound like a condescending kindergarten teacher. Now screw off."
"But you asked me to come."
Katsuki throws his head back in exasperation. "Oh my god."
"I thought you were an atheist?"
Katsuki charges Deku, who just turns intangible and laughs when Katsuki stumbles.
"SCREW. OFF." Katsuki's face heats up. He wouldn't be surprised if it was bright red.
Deku snickers. "If you say so." Then he's gone.
Katsuki punches a nearby streetlight.
It's a good thing the nerd doesn’t show his face at school. Deku’s ridiculous fear of judgement is the only thing protecting Katsuki from constant trolling.
As long as Deku stays quiet, Katsuki’ll be fine.
For some reason he doubts that’ll hlast long.
Notes:
Izuku? A troll? More likely than you think.
Jeeza Bakugo's hard to write. He's super FUN to write, but it's really tough to do it without swears... Guess I just gotta get a little more creative >:)
Also, @ whoever suggested replacing nasty grape with milky, I don't think that'll happen, but I WILL have a chapter dedicated to exposing + expelling nasty grape ^_^bEDIT: *chants* death to formatting! death to formatting! death to formatting!
(as you can see, I'm not very good at formatting)
Chapter 7
Notes:
Heeeeeeeey so this took a while oops
I shoulda had a lot of time to write bc of Christmas break and whatnot but I. Just didn't do it?????? ANYWAYS exams are coming up at the end of the month and I'm leaving for a 2-month exchange trip literally the day after exams finish so I'm gonna be pretty busy :/
I'll try to update at least once while I'm there but making the most of the trip and experiencing the culture is my first priorityI've got ideas n stuff tho so ik I'm gonna write SOMETHING. Ideas involving.... Mina? Ugh gotta change the tags again :P
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
itsyaboy: I SAW TGE VIDEO
itsyaboy: IM DYING
itsyaboy: MILKY TGE ETERNAL DISBELIEVER JUST GETS SHOT DOWN LIKE *BOOM*
MILKY: did you just unironically say boom
itsyaboy: *yes deal with it*
itsyaboy: AND CRIM JUST GETTING DRAGGED OVER TGE CROWD
itsyaboy: THR CAMERA IS JYST A BLUR AND SCREAMING IM DYING XD
CrimsonRiotFan1016: i was fearing for my life. And trying not to kick ppl.
itsyaboy: (>u<)
itsyaboy: BUT.
itsyaboy: MOST IMPIRTANYLY.
itsyaboy: GHOSTIE IS AN ACTYAL GHPST!!!!!
itsyaboy: THE ATARS HAVE ALOGNED
MILKY: watching that video vaporised his spelling ability
itsyaboy: (=｀ω´=)
The strange occurrences continue for the rest of the week. Floating notebooks are easy enough to pass as Uraraka being forgetful (even though she swears it isn't her), the flickering lights could be Kaminari being careless, and the random cold spots are blamed on Todoroki being moody again, but other things, such as the disembodied muttering and the feelings of being watched- or even touched- when nobody's around are trickier to explain.
However, this universe is full of things that are tricky to explain, such as a girl who can convert fat cells to metal with nothing more than a thought or a boy born with orange-juice-powered engines in his legs (not to mention that other girl who completely disregards the laws of gravity).
And so, the students of Class 1A observe these strange occurrences, note them, and then store them away in the backs of their minds with all the other impossibilities that they have no choice but to accept.
All the students except Mina Ashido.
Mina and a small band of classmates that she's branded as Her Friends, whether they like it or not, are gathered around a cafeteria table. It's lunch time. And Mina has news to share.
She's been thinking this through for three days. That's a lot of thinking! And she's come up with a pretty solid theory that the others have to hear.
"Guys, I have something very important to announce," Mina declares, leaning over her plate, 100% serious. "There's a ghost haunting our school!"
Kirishima chokes on his rice.
Bakugou side-eyes him, his scowl deeper than usual and maybe a little suspicious.
Sero, who's watching Vine compilations, frowns as his phone suddenly glitches black and green. "Kamiiiii," he complains.
Kaminari holds his hands up defensively. "Wasn't me."
Mina pounces on the convenient Strange Occurrence. "It was the ghost! It's proof!" she declares, jumping to her feet and pointing at the phone like she's accusing it of murder. The phone's glitching intensifies.
"Ashido, stop, you're scaring him!" Kaminari says, not because he believes there's a ghost, but because on the off chance that there IS a ghost, calming it would be the best way to make the glitches stop. And then he can go back to watching Vines over Sero's shoulder.
"It could be a her!" Mina shoots back, defensive of the unknown entity. She leans halfway across the table and waves her hand over Sero's phone. She gasps. "IT'S COLD! I'M TELLING YOU I'M RIGHT!"
Kirishima pulls his plate out from under Mina's outstretched torso and resumes eating his rice. Mina glances at him and frowns. Something about him isn't right. Only people who have something to hide keep their eyes lowered like that.
Huh. Well, that's odd. But Mina has more important things to deal with at the moment. Like talking to ghosts.
"Hello? Ghost? If you can hear me, can you write something on the phone screen?"
Everyone waits in silent anticipation for a solid eight seconds. Then Bakugou rolls his eyes and scoffs. "You idiots actually think something will happen? Pfft. There's no such thing as ghosts. That's just some glitch or virus."
"...But you were waiting for an answer with us."
"I was watching you gullible sods try to talk to a glitched-out phone."
Okay. Mina could buy that. The Bakugou-watching-them part, that is. As for the other part, well...
Mina crosses her arms and stares at Bakugou, her head tilted in a challenging manner. "How can you prove that's not a ghost?"
"I've seen that virus before." Bakugou is exasperated, like Mina is barely worth explaining to. Her Challenging Stare becomes a Disproving Challenging Stare.
"It's called the Midori virus," Bakugou continues with the same rough annoyance. "It's harmless and literally can't do anything except cause minor annoyances. Easy to get rid of, too." Bakugou reaches out for Sero's phone and yanks it out of his hands. He holds it far away from Sero, gives it a few shakes for good measure, and gives it back. The Vine compilation continues as if nothing happened. Sero gives an impressed 'thanks' and continues watching.
"So the ghost was holding the phone and Bakugou took it away from it," Mina concludes.
Bakugou leans in towards Mina and gives her a Death Scowl. "No. There is no ghost."
Mina leans in towards Bakugou and raises an eyebrow. "How can you prove it?"
"How can you prove that there is a ghost?"
Mina starts listing off her evidence on her fingers. "Cold spots, objects floating and moving on their own, that weird muttering everyone keeps hearing, the feeling of being watched, electronics getting all weird... Hagakure even says that she felt someone bump into her, but she turned around and no one was there! It all connects! It all leads back to one conclusion! There is a ghost at U.A! And what proof do you have?"
"The laws of physics," Bakugou deadpans.
"He's got a point," Kaminari stage-whispers.
"But so does Mina," Sero stage-whispers back.
"Oof you right."
Eventually they come to a stalemate, endlessly looping back to Amount of Proof vs. Laws of Physics. To be fair, the Laws of Physics is a weak argument. Those things have been broken so many times that they're more symbolic than useful. Mina presents a much better case, if she does say so herself.
The cycle is only broken by the bell. The discussion is over for today, but Mina has succeeded in planting the seeds of doubt in Kaminari and Sero's minds. She WILL convert them sooner or later!
As for Bakugou and Kirishima, well, she has no way to prove this, only a gut feeling, but...
She thinks she scared them.
The moment the thought crosses her mind she has to suppress a cackle. 'Bakugou's scared of ghosts!'
She has no way of knowing how wrong she is.
Toshinori isn't sure what he had expected when he walked into the teacher's lounge. Maybe, I don't know, teachers?
He wasn't expecting to find Young Midoriya making coffee.
To his credit, Midoriya disappears as soon as Toshinori opens the door, but he forgets that he's holding a pot of coffee. Toshinori scans the room to make sure there's nobody else here with him, then turns to the floating pot of coffee. "Young Midoriya, why are you making coffee?"
Midoriya appears, smiling his sunshine smile, and offers the pot to Toshinori. "It's for you! I thought you might like some after your class with 1B."
Toshinori takes the coffee from the young boy and sets it down on the counter. He goes about getting himself a mug and some sugar. "Thank you, my boy. When did you learn to make coffee?"
"I make it for my mom every morning. I don't really need to sleep unless I do a whole lotta physical stuff so most of the time I'm up all night. Even when I do 'sleep' it's just because I don't have the mental energy to keep myself existent. Do you want any cream?"
"Just sugar is fine." Toshinori stirs his coffee and takes a sip. "This is very good. Your mom is lucky to have a son like you," he says with a smile, skirting around the fact that Midoriya occasionally doesn’t exist.
Midoriya glows at the compliment. He follows Toshinori over to the sofa and perches himself on the armrest. Toshinori sinks into the seat beside him. "So how was your class?"
"With 2B?"
"Yeah!"
"I had assumed you would be there." With Young Midoriya's passion for quirk analysis, Toshinori is surprised that he didn't jump on the opportunity to see a hero class in action.
Midoriya laughs sheepishly and rubs the back of his head. "There was a really good debate in the third-year class about whether or not quirkless people could be arrested for vigilantism. I got so caught up in it that I kinda forgot about the time."
Ah. Of course. That has always been a sticky topic and he can see the appeal in such a debate. Toshinori ponders how to discuss it without leaning to one side or another. Vigilantism is illegal, but Toshinori's own morals could never let him condemn someone for wanting to help people.
"Taking the law into your own hands shouldn't be allowed for anyone, quirkless or not," he finally says. "Civilians don't have the proper training or understanding of the laws and they might end up just making things worse."
"Yes, but it's very hard for a quirkless person to get the right training and licensing. They might even feel like vigilantism is the only way for them to make a difference," Midoriya counters.
Oh, doesn't he know. If Toshinori hadn't received One for All, who knows where he would be now? "It's extemely hard for a quirkless person to get a hero license, that's true, but becoming a police officer would still let them stop villains without resorting to vigilantism."
Midoriya bites his lip. It's clear he wants to comment on how the most the police ever do is provide information to the hero agencies and clean up after the fights, but isn't confident enough to blatantly diss the authorities.
"But technically speaking," he says instead, "if a quirkless person did become a vigilante and they got caught, there wouldn't be as many consequences as there would be for a person with a quirk. They could get charged for assault, maybe destruction of property, but not unlicensed quirk use. That could be encouraging to some people."
Toshinori nods. "You make a good point, but you shouldn't do something just because there are no consequences."
"I know, but hypothetically speaking... the lesser consequences combined with the popular belief that quirkless people can't be heroes could easily lead to more quirkless vigilantes."
"Hypothetically, yes. But few quirkless people are confident enough in their physical abilities to try such a thing. That's why those who wish to be help others usually end up with more of a support role instead of fighting the villains themselves. I know a young American girl who makes wonderful support items for heroes."
Young Midoriya nods somewhat solemnly. The pair falls into a contemplative silence, both thinking about the unfairness of the hero system.
It's a good thing they stop talking, too. The clanking of a keychain unlocking the door draws Toshinori's attention. "Young Midoriya! Someone's coming," he warns. The boy doesn't respond. He must be lost in his thoughts again. "Young Midoriya!" Toshinori attempts to grab him by the shoulder. His hand passes right through.
Luckily the movement is enough to grab Midoriya's attention. He disappears just in time for Aizawa to enter the teacher's lounge.
"H-Hello, Aizawa," says Toshinori, desperately hoping the underground hero didn't catch a glimpse of Young Midoriya.
Aizawa notices his uneasiness and gives him a long stare. Toshinori tries his best not to break into a nervous sweat under his inquiring gaze. He has a sinking feeling that Aizawa sees right through him.
After a long moment, Aizawa breaks eye contact. Instead of questioning Toshinori about who he was talking to and what he's trying to hide, Aizawa simply picks up Midoriya's pot of coffee, chugs the whole thing, and climbs into his sleeping bag in the corner. Within moments, he's asleep.
Toshinori knows better. It's just an act, meant to trick Toshinori into letting his guard down and resuming his conversation.
A notebook lands on the coffee table in front of him with a smack. It flips to an empty page. Young Midoriya must've come to same conclusion as Toshinori. Still invisible, he writes in the notebook.
I thought that coffee prevented you from sleeping?????
Toshinori grins and takes the pen from the boy.
Aizawa makes his own rules, he writes underneath Midoriya's comment.
A muffled snort tells him that Midoriya's holding back laughter. He takes his pen back.
Eldritch Aizawa confirmed
Toshinori smiles and shakes his head. That's... not what he was going for, but it's an entertaining thought. Aizawa definitely is a cryptid of a man, between sleeping in the oddest of places, his unpredictable 'logical ruses', and his superhuman ability to balance hero work and teachi-
Toshinori still hasn't planned his class for tomorrow.
Cue the panic. It's a very specific type of panic, the type that a student feels when they remember that they have a presentation due the next day and they haven't even started it. Toshinori may be the Symbol of Peace who smiles in the face of danger, but even he cowers before the terror of deadlines.
His writing is frantic and messier than before as he scribbles a response in the notebook.
'It's been nice talking to you, but I should probably get started on planning my lesson tomorrow'
'You haven't even started?"
Toshinori's expression says all that needs to be said.
'Well. I'll stop distracting you. Good luck!!!!!!'
And suddenly Midoriya's presence vanishes. Toshinori sighs. He doesn't mind Midoriya's 'distractions'. In fact, he wishes he'd stay. Maybe his analytical mind could help Toshinori with the finer points of the exercise. (Also, talking to the boy is a wonderful way to procrastinate)
Oh well. He's gone now, probably off to haunt some more classes. Somewhat reluctantly, Toshinori pulls out his planner.
Izuku is off to haunt more classes.
Specifically, Milky's class. Gen Ed, 1C. Their classes aren't as interesting as the hero course classes, but it's still U.A. They might not cover things like battle strategy and quirk usage laws, but they still teach enough that if a Gen Ed student were to transfer to the hero course, they wouldn't be too far behind.
It's History class right now. History is always fairly linear, so the teacher decided to begin teaching at the very start. The start of what? Come on, this is U.A. They're learning about the history of quirks!
The boy is back. The 12-year-old boy who had appeared in Hitoshi's peripheral vision that time in the hallway. Now he's sitting in the empty desk in the corner, one row behind and two spots to the right from Hitoshi.
If Hitoshi doesn't focus too hard, he can see the boy out of the corner of his eye. But the moment he turns his head to look directly at him, he isn't there. It annoys him to no end. Kids don't just disappear like that.
Hitoshi really hopes he's not going insane.
A loud scraping sound from beside him snaps him out of his head. He turns to see a girl with insanely long hair pulling a chair up to his desk. She plops down a paper and a pencil case next to his. Hitoshi eyes her warily.
"What... are you doing here?"
"Sensei said to write down what we already know about the history of quirks so the he knows where to start. We're supposed to be in partners to get to know each other better."
"Oh." Well, it makes sense, Hitoshi supposes. He feels bad for the girl though. Out of all the people in the class, she managed to pick the worst partner. Hitoshi sucks at partner work. It involves actually talking to people.
The pair sits there in silence for a few awkward seconds.
"So, uh, I'm Asari. You?"
"Shinsou," Hitoshi mutters, staring down at his paper.
"Uh, ok..." Asari bites her lip, at a bit of a loss from Hitoshi's standoffishness. "Well then, how about we-"
"I'm really not good at group work," Hitoshi interrupts.
"That's okay!" she says immediately. "If you want, we can do it separately and just make it look like we're working together."
Hitoshi nods, relieved. "Good idea. Let's do it."
They work in silence, outliers from the rest of the chattering class. Hitoshi writes about quirk oppression, and the rise in crime and various powerful kingpins of the past. He writes about the vigilantes who rose to meet them, and the way those vigilantes inspired the modern hero system.
Halfway through, he notices his partner- Asari, right? - whispering. So she talks to herself, he thinks. Understandable. Probably a good way to get your thoughts in order
What's less understandable is that someone whispers back.
Hitoshi looks up from his paper, brow furrowed. Asari doesn't look like she's talking to anyone. And there's nobody close enough to Hitoshi for him to hear their whispers over the noise of teenagers working in groups. Strange.
Whatever.
Hitoshi goes back to his work.
"Did you mention the genetic testing and the quirk erasure experiments from the early 2050s?" There's that voice again. It's rather androgynous, and pretty young-sounding. Too young to belong to a classmate.
"Oh, no, I didn't even think of it. Thanks." Asari writes down the new bit of information. When she looks up from her paper next, Hitoshi is eyeing her suspiciously.
"Who are you talking to?" he demands.
Asari freezes. "I didn't know you could hear me!"
"I am literally right beside you."
"That's a good point. You know, we should really elaborate on that point! Why did I think that you wouldn't hear me when I'm right beside you?" Wow. Asari is reeeaaally bad at changing the subject.
Hitoshi is unimpressed and it shows.
Asari deflates. "Listen, man, I ca-"
A transparent figure flickers into existence beside her. "I'm the ghost that haunts this school and I'm Asari's friend!" it chirps before disappearing again.
Hitoshi looks at where the so-called ghost was, then at Asari, and then back again. "I'm hallucinating," he states, in a tone of dead acceptance.
"No, you're not," says Asari. "That's Izuku. I met him on a group chat."
"It's true!" says the air.
"You met a ghost... on a group chat," Hitoshi deadpans.
Asari nods earnestly.
Hitoshi slowly shakes his head and goes back to his work. "When the doctors said sleep deprivation can cause hallucinations, I didn't think this was what they meant."
The school day's over. Students are packing up their things and filing out of the classes. Mina speedwalks through the halls in search of one specific person.
There.
"Hey, Uraraka!" Mina chimes, throwing her arm around her classmate's shoulder. Uraraka jumps in surprise, then returns Mina's grin.
"Hey! Ashido, right?"
"That's me! Hey, you know all those times people blame you for leaving floating stuff everywhere even though it's not you who’s doing it?"
"Yeaah?"
"Well, I have a really really good theory about that and I think we could solve your problem."
Uraraka raises an eyebrow. "Shoot away."
Mina's grin is almost maniacal.
"How do you feel about ghost hunting?"
Notes:
My brother has requested that I say owo
But I have something better than an owo.
I present to you:
O̴̧̼̖͍̞̦̰̖̘͗̒̅̽̊̓͐̚͘͝͝ͅͅW̴̡̡̡̬̺̩̼̺̥̖̙̗̫͉̲̠̥̱͕͍̰̑̈́̏̄̃͂̐͐̉̀͐̌̂̂̄͒̚͜͝͝ͅO̴̗̯̤̺̺̫̯͛͊̽.
_
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