Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Inko started to notice that something was unusual when her son was two.

Well, first of all, her Izuku had always been cute - like, really, rather, absolutely cute. Of course, he was cute just like most of the babies were. Even Kacchan, who was beginning to show some rather… angry expressions for a kid of his size, was still cute. To be honest, she had just always assumed that her opinion about her son was something manipulated by her mind; she was just a mother, after all, and, for her, her son would be the cutest one forever, even if he had 6 eyes or had eternal puke dropping from his mouth every 2 seconds.

So, to sum up, she would never have expected what happened that day.

It was just your average, sunny saturday. Perfect for spending time with your family, which was exactly what they were doing at the moment. Inko knew how much her Izuku liked that park and the playground there so, instead of waiting at home for Mitsuki to finish her appointment so that they could take their children to the cinema and watch some new cartoon, they went there.

It was just one moment - one single second - that she looked to other side and, when her gaze returned to the kid, he wasn't there. Simple like that. Suddenly gone.

Desperately, the woman got to her feet and looked everywhere in a hurry, when she saw a giant villain with some kind of octopus quirk grabbing randomly things from people who were close - among those things, a green haired toddler. She couldn't believe that.

"Help!" Inko screamed with the rest of those scaried people. "My baby! He got my baby boy!"

As usual, it didn't take long to the nearest hero in patrol jump in their rescue as they called backup. They followed the villain and the civilians, more slowly, followed them. Inko couldn't help but cry all the way long as she walked with difficulty. Her Izuku should be so scaried! What if he got hurt? Or worse, what if he died in that gross tentacle? Inko gulped. She shouldn't think like that. Everything would turn out alright, she would see.

In the end, it turns to be more than alright.

When Inko arrived in the local all the heroes had stopped, she only had strength enough to get close before the woman also had to stop in her tracks to process the scene in front of her.

The octopus villain was between two buildings, sit down peacefully as he cuddled her baby, all the things he stole forgotten on the ground. Inko blinked once. Twice. How did it happen again!?

"Izuku!" She shouted when she snapped out of it. "It's my baby there! Help!" Inko pushed one of the heroes' clothes, making she come back to reality too.

"Octopus!" The hero started flying towards the tentacle with Izuku. "Let the kid out of it and fight with us."

The action made the two heroes left notice that they were just watching, paralyzed. They got prepared to use their quirks just as the villain growled, like he was about to act, when a very familiar, precious giggle cut the tension. Everybody looked at the baby with awestruck eyes, with the exception of Inko, who looked terrified with all of that.

"It won't be necessary." The villain finally proclaimed after a while. "With a smile like this in the world, villainy becomes senseless."

And, just like that, Octopus delivered little Izuku to the flying hero, who took it to Inko. The villain also offered no resistance while the other two, amazed heroes, arrested him.

"Izuku!" The mother extended her arms to catch her kid.

"Mommy!" The little toddler called back as he was handed to her. His eyes were shining, like his smile. "Did you see that?"

"It looks like your son is a force to be recognised, lady." Inko looks up as the hero tells her. "I've never seen anything like that. Maybe it is a sign that he will become a great hero some day?"

"Yes, yes! I want to be the bestest hero!" Izuku said with an impossible bigger smile.

It was because of things like that that Inko couldn't believe it when two years later that doctor told them that Izuku had no quirk at all. Okay, she had an attraction quirk while his father had a fire quirk - none of them seemed to fit in what her son had been presenting, but it's not something entirely unheard of happening. Sometimes mutations happened or a quirk skipped generations. It was normal and she was hoping for that, especially with Izuku's dream of becoming a hero.

Deep down, she knew that that doctor was wrong. Because of that she didn't found it worrying when almost 10 years after that he came home with some kind of strength quirk, even though she still thought that that wasn't his true quirk at all. And, like every mother's intuition, it was right.

Midoriya Izuku's quirk was Cuteness Supreme and he was unbeatable at that.

Chapter Text

"Taking notes?! I guess you wanna be a hero yourself. Good luck!!"

Izuku looked up from his notes of Mount Lady to the man by his side. Blushing, he couldn't help but smile at him with shining eyes. After all, it wasn't every day that the green haired boy received those kind of well wishes. Honestly, he just didn't receive them at all.

"Thanks! I'll try!!" He exclaimed, not ashamed of displaying his surprise.

He noticed his mistake just a bit too late.

"O-o-oh…" The man stuttered, blushing as red as a tomato. "A-are you s-su-sure you want to be a hero? Isn't it too violent for a little boy like you? B-but, if yo-you truly wants it, I know someone who works in a hero agency, maybe they could…"

Oh, no. Izuku knew very well that kind of reaction. While the unknown man rambled, he lift his hands to feel his face. As he suspected, in the hurry to watch that fight he forgot to wear his mask. 'Shit' he swore in his head.

Only in his head, though, since his body didn't seem to think that having a dirty mouth was 'cute'.

"Sorry, sir. I'm late for school." Izuku dropped the first execuse he could think of (which so happened to be the truth) and ran back to where he came from. Even from a good distance he could still hear the man saying something about giving him a lift or paying a cab for him.

Through almost all the way, Izuku could feel eyes directed at him, even though he couldn't tell if they were true or just his imagination. The first moment he got all for himself, the green haired man hid in a corner and took his time to breath, just coming back to reality when his school's signal rang in the background.

Even with hurry, he picked the mask in his backpack carefully. That could hardly be called a mask, though. It was just one simple thin piece of a special transparent, permeable material he bought many years ago in a hero convention at a support class stall. He honestly had no idea why that object was created for but as long as it served his purpose it didn't matter. It glued pretty well on his face in a way that almost felt comfortable. Besides, there were holes for his eyes, eyebrows, nostrils and mouth and it went unnoticed by people in general so it was safe to say that that thing was one of the best ways he found to spend his money. He's thanked its inventor every night before sleeping ever since he got that, whoever they were.

Ever since Izuku could remember, people have acted weird around him. He would always make them blush or be offered things for free because, apparently, he 'deserved it for making the world a brighter place.' Once it went so far as a baker refusing to sell him a cinnamon roll because, if he ate it, that would be considered 'cannibalism', as they claimed. Although that mask didn't block everything, at least it reduced the effects since people wouldn't look directly at him. His mouth and eyes couldn't be protected, though, so he should be careful not to make them be 'too much'.

As opposed to what it seems, all that situation wasn't pleasurable at all. The only thing that Izuku truly wanted was to get into UA for his own merit. However, every time he tried to go to some martial arts class the sensei and even some students would tell him that such a 'fragile, precious boy' like him shouldn't be involved in any kind of violence, like it hadn't been already hard enough to convince his mother to let him take those damn classes. Maybe his quirk prevented bad guys from beating him but what was the point in that if it also prevented him from learning how to beat them?

It was just easier to say that he was quirkless. First of all, it would be embarrassing and really pretentious if he claimed that he had 'cuteness' as a quirk. Second, Kacchan and his friends simply wouldn't let him hear the end of it for the rest of his life, and third, he had a feeling that nobody would truly believe him. He had that damn extra joint, after all. It seemed just Izuku's luck. Being diagnosed quirkless just to end up with a quirk, but one that only messed with his life and was useless for his aim.

With a sigh, Izuku left his hidden place with his mask on and walked the rest of his way to school.

For some reason, he had a feeling that that day would be longer than normal.

…

"We ain't done here, Deku."

"What's that, Katsuki?"

"'For my future'? Seriously!? This guy, Midoriya…"

Katsuki held that old notebook with a grip strong enough to make the paper wrinkle. He had already given up on counting how many times he had tried to make Deku forget that stupid dream of becoming a pro hero. Like a fucking quirkless cry baby such as him would stand being in a fight. Why couldn't he see that? Why did he just have to make Katsuki's work be so damn hard!?

That was it. That day, Katsuki would show that boy why he shouldn't get in the fucking way. Deku's mom would thank him for getting that shitty idea out of his mind and Deku would thank him too for making him realise that that life just wasn't for him. Yeah, he would do that.

Katsuki's grip on that thing hardened, like it was even possible, and sparks started to appear in his hands. He was about to direct them on the green haired boy when the sign in front of him made him stand still.

Deku's eyes were naturally big but it was ridiculous how they managed to grow to adapt to his emotions. Even when sad, his green pupils brightened and the water of those tears reflected the light and glued to his also huge eyelashes, making all of that so damn difficult not to look at. That, going along with the red spreading through his freckles and the little pout his full lips instantly formed, made him look like a little angel sucker.

As if that wasn't enough, his low but ethereal desperate voice left his mouth. "C-cmon, Kacchan. Give it back."

Katsuki also had long ago given up on counting how many times cute stupid Deku had used that… that… that damn gross trick on him! Katsuki honestly had no idea what that fucker did but he would always do something that would make the blonde boy incapable of beating him! That almost looked like…

Katsuki's line of thought suddenly was interrupted as a burnt smell came all the way from his hands to his nose. Deku's gaze on his notebook seemed to be taken from a loving one's funeral. Well, exploding Deku's idiotic notebook wasn't in his plans but it was that guy's fault! Who told him to look like that in front of Katsuki!? Now it would have to do.

With no ceremony at all, he just threw that burnt, useless thing through one of the windows and turned back to Deku with a fake smile on. "In other words, don't you dare get into U.A, nerd!".

...

"If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life… Go take a swan dive off the roof!!"

Izuku took his notebook out of the water as he thought back about what Kacchan had told him. He had no idea if his mask made the explosive boy unaffected by his cuteness or if it really prevented him from going too far and hit him. It wasn't easy to endure a friend doing it to him but it's not like there was something he could do about it. He fought back his tears.

'Idiot! If I really jumped, you'd be charged with bullying me into suicide!! Think before you speak!!' Izuku though, even though he knew that the odds of him dying if he in fact did that were very small.

Many years before, Izuku had found out that his cuteness not only made people see him as 'cute' but also prevented him from doing 'non-cute' things. Despite the influence of Kacchan in his life, his mouth didn't allow him to pronounce swearing words. His vomit was a rainbow. If he bleed, instead of blood what came out was chocolate. And, although he really could get sick or hurt or break something, it just happened if there were conscious people around (Izuku came to the conclusion that being taken care was cute enough for his quirk to allow it.). In a nutshell, probably his quirk wouldn't let him succeed in a suicide attempt. Instead, he would land like he just had been jumping on a trampoline or something like that.

As said before, too embarrassing to tell around about it. He was satisfied enough that he's managed to hide everything from people's eyes so far.

And that was the last thing he thought about before that sludge guy attacked him.

…

All Might sighed tiredly as he trapped that villain inside a bottle, one hand on his surgery spot. He didn't have much more time but he had to make sure that the boy was fine. He looked over his shoulder to the green haired child in question.

Each day that passed, All might questioned his hole as 'symbol of peace' if even at his presence things like that happened. Not even an elementary student was safe from a villain's attack nowadays, as it's just been proved. That poor, freckled, apple-cheeked, small thing. Probably he hadn't even been taught how to properly use his quirk yet and had already been a victim of that violent society. The world was really a lost place at this point.

Well, if things progressed like that, there was still work to do there. Carefully, All Might kneeled and went through the boy's backpack - all the kids had cellphones these days, right? - so that he could contact his parents. How could they let such an adorable young child like him walk alone? Maybe he also should scold them about that…

However, it didn't take long for the number one hero to find something touching his foot. He grabbed it just to see that was a notebook filled with notes about heroes and their quirks.

'Oh, this boy wants to become a pro, then. So lovely.' All Might thought as he passed through the pages. 'His writing skills are good for an elementary student and his analysis are surprisingly accurate and creative. Depending on his quirk, he really could make a good hero.'

The blonde man looked up to the boy.

'Well, also depending if he will grow more mature than this. But for now I think that an autograph will do.'

Just as All Might finished writing his name in the notebook, he could sense that the kid was waking up. He would never know what hit him.

The boy looked like a little toddler waking up. His mouth opened in a lazy yawn, the more he opened, the more prominent his cheek bones and freckles became. His tiny nose would also compact like he was going to sneeze and a light pink tone spread from there. However, nothing could compare to his eyes. Two big green pupils stared sleepily, and yet so brightly, at him as the boy stretched his arms, slowly coming back to the real world.

For some reason, All Might was invaded by a sudden need to adopt that kid as his son. He blinked that thought away, though, when the boy seemed to recognise him.

"All Might!" He squealed. That didn't seem to be a voice from an elementary student but it was cute nonetheless. "H-how…!?"

"Apologies for getting up caught in my hunt, boy. Mistakes like that aren't my style, but this is a strange land to me and, besides, I'm off camera. But my success here is all thanks to you!!" The hero showed the boy that bottle. "I've contained the villain!"

"Oh! A-an autograph! Where's…? Ah, my notebook…" The green haired kid grabbed the notebook just to almost let it hit the floor again. "HE ALREADY DID IT!"

All Might giggled at the boy's happiness. He looked just like a kid at christmas's night. 'Lovely' He couldn't help but think again. The kid just stared at him with wonder in his eyes, what didn't help him let go of that thought at all.

"No worries now, young boy. I am here!" He said his catch phrase. "What's your name, little one? It's getting late, a baby boy like you shouldn't be out of home at this time."

The boy blinked at him, confusion clearly on his expression. 'Oh, no, what did I do wrong…?'

"M-my name is Mi-Midoryia Izuku, b-but…" He trailed off, like he was thinking how to put his thoughts in words. "I-I'm no baby boy. I'm fourteen."

If he could make any other expression in his All Might form other than smiling, Yagi Toshinori would. What the fuck!? Had been sometime since he last got to be around kids but he'd never guessed that he had got so bad at this. He should have known better than make assumptions.

"Oh, apologies. I thought you were just a really tall elementary student."

"A-ah!?" Midoriya stuttered a bit before engaging in a non-stop low rambling. "Even All Might could not resist the force of this and I even have my mask on! Just how much really is the powerfulness of this? I've been told that I made villains give up on being bad but not all of them are equally affected by me. So, what is it that makes people's reaction that different and yet so similar…"

"You speak too much, young man." All Might said as he turned his back to the kid and prepared himself to fly. "Now I must bring this fellow to the authorities. You can catch me again on TV!"

However, young Midoriya had caught him again right then and there. In a hurry, All Might looked for the nearest building to leave him at and landed there, already getting prepared to fly again. Although it would be more prudent if he checked if the kid was fine, he could feel his time in this form coming to its limit so he had to be fast. On the other hand, it seemed that the boy had other plans.

"Can someone without a quirk become a hero like you?"

It made All Might stop dead in his tracks. Had that boy's analysis come to the conclusion that he was born quirkless!? No, he must mean that he himself doesn't have a quirk. There was no way such an adorable face could survive in a villain's hand, and not having a quirk just made it all worse! Oh, shit. Why did it have to be him the one to destroy that boy's dreams?

Young Midoriya was still rambling about something when smoke started to break through All Might's skin and, before he noticed, he was back to be just Yagi Toshinori again.

The boy's squeak must have been heard by anybody in a 5 miles radius.

…

"Fuck, Deku! Why so damn adorable!?"

Katsuki punched the nearest wall when he and his friends were far enough from school for anyone known hear that. Those guys would never dare to tell people about his outbursts, they were too afraid of him for that, so there was nothing to worry about. He just couldn't hold those words in him anymore.

"Hey, haven't you known him since you were kids?"

"Yeah, you went a bit too far today."

"It's his fault for messing with me! So full of stupid dreams even as a third year! Can't he face reality already and free me from having to protect that shitty ass!?"

"Yeah, I think you are right if you see things this way." One of them gave in. "When I first saw him I thought he was a girl, you know? So little and soft and cute…"

"Oh, man, I thought that was just me! I'm so relieved." The other indulged too. "I mean, have you seen those damn thighs!? How come someone can be both hot and adorable!? If only he wasn't a boy…"

"Oh, yeah! Talking about his ass, bless be our P.E shorts…"

The guy didn't get to finish his sentence, as an explosion sounded between him and the other one. Startled, they stared at the source of the burn just to catch a rather furious Bakugou Katsuki.

"What do you have in those shitty heads of yours to talk about Deku like that!? Next time I won't wrong it, fuckers!"

Katsuki didn't notice the fluid villain until it was too late.

…

Izuku couldn't help but cry while he slowly walked back home, hoping to get into bed soon and stay hidden over there forever. He couldn't say that that wasn't more or less what he was expecting, but to hear that kind of thing from his childhood hero/idol/inspiration for life? If All Might had ended like that…

Thinking better into everything that's happened so far, Izuku should consider himself lucky - both for being saved by All Might and receiving his autograph and for still having his mask intact. With that villain's attack and the flight with All Might, it was a surprise that there was no piece ripped or that it was kept on his face all the time. He really should find that thing's inventor and give them a good donation because he or she was rather talented and definitely deserved that.

Since Izuku was walking at automatic, he just saw that he was getting close to a crowd when he spot the sludge villain from earlier from where he stood. What!? Hadn't All Might just caught him?

'Oh, no…' Realisation hit him hard. 'This is my fault...'

Listening to all that people's commotion just made Izuku feel worse. A middle schooler was in that monster's sludge, enduring the same pain he did, and it was all his fault… And that middle schooler was Kacchan!!!!!????

Izuku couldn't feel his legs moving on their own accord but when he came back to reality, he was already a few meters from Kacchan and the villain, all the heroes and people behind him. He could hear them calling him to come back, but he didn't. Instead, he just ran faster, even with no clue of what to do.

It didn't stay like that for much time, though. When he got close enough, a note he once wrote in his notebook popped up in his head and he threw his backpack at the villain's general direction. It came out well, as some objects hit the guy's eyes and gave Izuku time to get to Kacchan.

"You! Why!?" The blonde boy screamed consciously, despite his obvious pain.

"My legs just started moving! Why? I dunno!" Izuku told him with difficulty as he tried to rip that monster off his friend with no success at all. He was crying even more than just a few moments ago after his meeting with All Might. "You looked like you needed saving."

"Stop getting in my way!" The villain interrupted, getting more and more aggressive.

'He looks apprehensive about hitting me.' Izuku noticed as the sludge got slowly away from him instead of ending the distance. 'Maybe… I could save Kacchan… if I take my mask off only this once…

Izuku was about to do just that when a strong big hand stopped him. That was…

"The lesson I left you with… I should practice what I preach!! A pro should always be ready to risk his life!!"

'All Might!'

And, just as fast as he appeared, he finished with the villain. Soon enough, the guy was arrested, reporters arrived from nowhere to talk to the number one hero and the other heroes were both scolding Izuku for his stupidity and congratulating Kacchan for his resistance. Even though Izuku was not able to notice that, anyone could see that the pros who were talking to him were too worried for their own good, almost cuddling with the green haired boy and babysitting him back home.

It all just made Bakugou Katsuki more furious than it seemed to be possible. Was that nerd risking his life just to get all pampered by those pros? Was like that that he wanted to get into U.A!? Winning their hearts!? Katsuki took his time to scold stupid Deku himself before making his way back home. If things were starting to get at that point, he had to find a more proper way to deal with that. Beating him was out of question, since sometimes it went as far as Katsuki only being barely able to bear the though of using his quirk on him, goddamnit! No, he would have to find another way of making Deku giving up before UA's exams started...

While Katsuki tried to come up with some plan, Izuku just walked calmly back home when he was interrupted again.

"I am here!"

"All Might!?" He squealed as the hero made a dab at him. "You were surrounded by reporters…"

"Shaking them off is nothing to me!! After all, I'm All Might…" He couldn't finish the sentence because of the blood he spat when he returned to his normal form. He recomposed himself fastly, though. "I've come here to revise what I said earlier and make you a proposal."

"Thank you for telling me your history and for spurring into action earlier. Without you, I'd be only fake muscles and insincerity. I'd only keep watching in the shadows but when you, a quirkless, cute little boy was the only one who had the courage to do something, I knew that if I just let everything happen by itself I couldn't be considered a hero."

Izuku blushed at All Might's statement. 'From all times and all people to call me cute…?' "That was nothing… I mean, it was all my fault from the start. I got in your way…"

"Exactly!! Can't you see? Of all the people there, it was only you who put the other's life over yours and acted! Most of the top heroes show signs of greatness even as children. Many of them claim that their bodies simply moved before they could think!!"

At this point, Izuku was trembling more than he ever thought was possible. He was also trying to fight back his tears but they were clearly going to drop sooner than later.

"That's what happened to you back there, yes!?" Izuku couldn't hold himself anymore and kneeled on the floor. Before his knees hit the surface, the tears were already falling. "You can be a hero. I believe you're worthy of inheriting my power."

"Uhn?" Izuku looked up at him. Did he hear that right?

"It's a proposal! The real work begins here!" He spat as more blood came out of his mouth. "Listen, my boy, I'm asking you if you want to try accepting my power!"

"Uhn?" Izuku repeated, more confused than before.

'All Might, you can't just say things like that with no prior context!' Izuku though later, when the hero ended his explanation.

With a determined expression, the boy looked at the hero in the eyes.

"Yes, I accept."

"A quick answer." All Might grinned, satisfied. "I expected nothing less."

"But there's just one thing I feel I need to tell you before... Before all of this begins."

The blonde man arched one eyebrow, a bit surprised. "Go on, boy. Spill it."

Izuku breathed deeply. That was it. If they were doing that, All Might needed to know about his secret. The boy had kept that for himself for all his life, but it was time to tell to someone, even if it was only All Might.

"What I told you before wasn't the truth at all. All Might;…"

"I do have a quirk."

Chapter Text

“I didn't expect this.”

“You’re the one who asked for someplace private.”

“Still, I didn't expect your private place to be a dirty beach in the middle of nowhere.”

Nobody could say that it wasn't a secluded location where they’ll be away from prying eyes, though. Old furniture and home appliances filled the beach’s sand like it was supposed to be a dumping ground, despite its clear potential to be popular for any families, romantic dates, and friends. So, unless there was a garbage person around here or someone looking for a big trash can, the odds of them being caught were really slim.

“The place doesn't matter, Young Midoriya. What we do here is what’s most important! Besides, I have some plans for your training here.” All Might said as he turned around to see his pupil. “Now, there's no reason for you to be secretive about your quirk anymore, right? You can show me.”

Izuku took a deep breath and closed his eyes. Right. This would be the first time he's ever told anyone about it. The beach was a safe place and he was sure All Might wouldn't make fun of it.

When he opened his eyes again, they were full of determination.

“I'm cute.”

A beat of silence. When it was clear that the boy had nothing else to speak, All Might did.

“Yes, I can see that, but I asked about your quirk.”

A really deep blush spread throughout Izuku's cheeks when he noticed what he did. Of course it wasn't obvious - he had never seen any description of a quirk like his before so, for all he knew, he could be the only person in the world with something like it.

“O-oh… I mean… cuteness is my quirk.”

Another beat of silence. All Might blinked once. Twice. Soon enough, all Izuku could hear was the hero's boisterous laugh while he also spat some blood, since he was in his real form. Izuku got even more red.

“Midoriya, just because you are really cute, it doesn't mean that it's a quirk.”

“Yes, it is! And I can prove it.” The boy insisted. “I'm wearing a mask.”

All Might arched one of his eyebrows, a disbelieving tone in his voice. “Really? It seems like your real face to me.”

“It's transparent. I wear it so that people won't be so affected by my quirk.”

All Might smiles, “You must be very powerful, then.”

Tired of not being taken seriously again, Izuku didn't hesitate anymore and just took his mask off all at once. Just as it left his face, the material turned from transparent to green in his hands. A bit afraid of what he would find, Izuku looked up and locked his gaze with All Might's, the hero's smile gone.

For a moment, nothing happened as they simply stared at each other. Izuku got really worried at some point. ‘What if I really don't have a quirk and it was just my imagination all along? Will All Might mock me for it? Will he give up on me? Will…’

However, Izuku couldn't finish that line of thought since his body suddenly was crushed by a very strong hug, despite the other's thin body shape.

“Oh my goodness! I’m sorry for doubting you! You’re totally right, you’re always right! No way this powerfully warm wave of cuteness coming from you isn't generated by a quirk!” Not satisfied with that overwhelming display of affection, the man lifted Izuku and turned around with him like they were a spinner. Izuku got really afraid he might end up showing All Might his rainbow vomit right then and there.

“Y-y-yeah.” The boy had difficulty talking with how fast they were spinning. “C-coul-could y-you put me ba-bak on the gro-ground, plea-please?”

Abruptly, All Might stopped and lowered him down. While Izuku took his time to make sure that he wouldn't throw up, Toshinori also took his time to look him up in search of any bruises. This didn't last much time, though, as the hero distanced himself from the boy and saw something else.

“Y-young Midoriya! You're shining!” He stated with a little blush on his face.

Embarrassed, Izuku looked over his shoulder. “It's because the sun is right behind me…”

“Nonsense! It clearly comes from you! It…”

Before the situation could get worse, Izuku put his mask back on his face. Fortunately, it seemed to be enough to make All Might come back to reality. He blinked and the red on his face intensified once he noted what he was doing. Both hero and fan averted each other's eyes.

“S-so…” All Might coughed. “You do have a cuteness quirk. Apologies for doubting you.”

“It's alright. I wouldn't have believed me either.” Izuku answered as he scratched the back of his neck.

“Is there anything else about it besides, you know…” Toshinori finally looked at him again. “Looking cute.”

“Yes, there is. This quirk doesn't let me do things considered... 'not cute.’”

“What do you mean?”

“I…” Izuku trailed off as he hid his face on his hands. “S-sorry, it's really embarrassing! I've never told anyone about this.”

All Might didn't know what to do. Now that the quirk was revealed, he could see that, in fact, this boy’s quirk couldn’t be anything other than this. It was so evident that the mere fact that he didn't notice before or that he even dared to doubt it was laughable. Just looking at Izuku gave him an intense urge to comfort the boy and assure him that he would never have to worry about anything else again in his life.

That wasn't why they were in a secluded beach at six in the morning of a Thursday, though.

“You can tell me anything, Young Midoriya. I promise I won't make fun of you.”

Izuku nodded in a signal that he understood. However, it took some more seconds for him to ease himself enough to speak up.

“I can't bleed.”

“Can't bleed?”

“Yes… Instead of blood, chocolate comes out of my cuts. The consistency is just like real blood but it's brown and it doesn't hurt when the cut is done. I think it prevents me from starving. The type of chocolate also changes depending on what part of my body the cut is.”

All Might held back his laugh the best he could. He had to make sure his words stayed true.

“How do you know about that? Did you drink your own bloo… chocolate to know?”

Izuku lowered his head like he had just remembered something bad. “It was an accident.”

“That’s… impressive.” He let the weird reaction pass for now. “What else?”

“I also can only get sick, hurt or break something if there are people around me. When I'm alone or have no one awake close to me, none of that happens.”

All Might was surprised. “Hey, this one is really useful for rescue operations. Do you know why it’s that way?”

“I think that being taken care of is considered cute so my quirk lets me get ill only if there are people around to do that for me.”

“Huh… fair enough, I guess. Anything else?”

“Well…” Izuku played with his fingers, like he was trying to come up with some way to say what he wanted. “Once, when I was really young, I went swimming in a place where the water was really deep and I drowned. Just when I felt I was about to die, the water… uh, I really don't know how to say this, the water kind of curled around me and lifted me back to land even though there were people there…?”

“Wait.” All Might, thinking about everything Izuku has said so far, raised both his hands as he felt the boy was about to ramble. “Are you saying... that your quirk would rather bend reality in front of people than to let you pass away unnaturally or do anything considered ‘not cute’?”

“I… I'm not sure? That sort of situation has never happened again but I guess that's it.”

“All right…”

When silence filled the space, All Might was ready to give the boy the schedule he had made the night before for his training but the signal in front of him made him stop. Izuku was staring at the ground, shifting his feet in synch with the fingers he was playing with in a rather anxious manner.

“There's something else, isn’t there?”

“I… it's nothing!” He squeaked before answering. “I-it has nothing to do with being a hero.”

Izuku tried the most he could to avoid the question but the hero simply wouldn't leave that as easily as he did with his anxious behaviour. With a sigh, he spoke up.

“You know those… uh, those gross things the body produces, like vomit and such? My body makes it all look like a rainbow and ...smell like vanilla. Also, my quirk creates… uh, some kind of physical barrier or something like that so that I can't swear.”

“Really?” All Might took Izuku's blush as a 'yes’. The poor boy looked like he would faint if that conversation kept on but the blonde man couldn't resist that. “Could you show me?”

Izuku had a puzzled look on his face. “Do you want me to throw up now?”

“No, no! Please, don't. I was talking about the swearing part.”

“Oh…” He tried to say ‘fuck’, but little hearts in variants of pink and red came out of his mouth instead.

All Might couldn't help but smile at that, forgetting his promise not to make fun of it for a moment. “Adorable…”

“No, it's ridiculous! And you promised you wouldn't laugh!”

“Apologies, but you said you had a 'cuteness’ quirk, not a 'ridiculous’ quirk. And I'm not laughing, see?”

It was really hard to believe that with the big grin the hero made absolutely zero effort to contain, though. Izuku reflexively pouted, which only helped All Might prove his point. It earned him a ruffle at his green hair.

“If that's all, we should get going.” The man said as he assumed his ‘All Might’ form and jumped on an old fridge. “This beach won't get cleaned by itself, after all!”

“Hmm? What do you mean?”

“Cleaning the beach is part of your training!!”

Izuku didn't move. For a good time, he just stood there, waiting for All Might to give up and change the subject since it was very obviously a joke.

(It wasn't)

…

Bakugou Katsuki's Explosively Masterful Plan To Make Stupid Deku Snap Out Of It™ #1

There was a reason why Katsuki had always been at the top of the school ranks. Although most students just memorize things and somehow manage to pass the tests by just enough, Katsuki didn't need that. Unlike those brainless assholes, he was smart, truly smart, so it didn't take him long to make a plan that would have that idiot Deku realizing he wasn't meant to be a hero and that he should give up on it.

Now that he had stopped to think about it, the tactics he had adopted since they were four had never worked because he would always end up feeling fucking bad when it comes to hitting Deku (not that he would ever admit that out aloud). Therefore, the obvious conclusion was that he would never succeed if he continued to try and do it on purpose. He would have to either make it an accident instead or have someone else use their quirk on Deku. The true challenge was to come up with some way that allowed him to do it unintentionally while he consciously had all the intention of doing so (or how to convince somebody to do so at least).

A challenge Katsuki had no desire to lose, - he never, never, loses. - even though it took him a few more days to come up with the idea. Now, it was only a matter of time.

“Bakugou? Where are you going?”

“None of your business, dumbass.” He answered without looking back. He didn’t need those idiots for his plan, they’d just end up getting in the way.

There was no better time to put his plan into action than lunchtime. All the students were in the refectory and crowded places always held the best potential for mass hysteria, which was just what he was looking for.

Katsuki had noted how tired Deku has been lately, which was just perfect for his plan. He was probably trying to get stronger for UA's entrance exams or some shit like that. Well, it seemed like he would have something else to thank Katsuki for later, since he would have no need to tire himself out again after that day.

To be honest, he hadn't spent much time thinking about his scheme, but it was just so simple that Katsuki couldn't see how it could possibly go wrong. He would make a small explosion close to a fire alarm and the system would spread the message that there was a fire somewhere throughout the school. People would go crazy, run and use their quirks randomly, just like they had done in past real situations, simulating villains for the boy's purpose. Quirkless Deku would be easily suppressed by that dangerous crowd and definitely maybe, just maybe, Katsuki would step up for him. Just to make sure he could see who was the hero and who was the one who should always be protected the victim. Yeah, only for that.

Just like he planned, the instant the alarm rang, Katsuki could hear turmoil coming from the refectory. Grinning, he ran all the way back to there, averting other people's quirks and keeping a steady pace. However, just a few moments in that room was enough to make the smile fade from his face.

Katsuki expected to spot his freckles, his too small body, or at least that ever-so familiar curly green hair right away. Instead, all he could see was a mob of ambiguous, desperate, people and some teachers trying to contain them while checking where that hypothetical fire could be coming from.

'Maybe that idiot is just crouched somewhere under the tables.’ Katsuki thought as he lowered himself and looked worriedly furiously for him everywhere (‘Why does Deku always have to make things more difficult for me?’). His heart might have started to beat a little bit too fast to be healthy when he couldn't find Deku - not that there was any shitty doctor around there to check it so nobody could hold any evidence against him!

Katsuki had literally no idea what to do. Deku wasn't there! Had he managed to leave safe and sound, after all? Or maybe he found a good hiding place and was just waiting for the chaos to settle? Maybe he’d been swept away, crushed, and then left unconscious somewhere else? Katsuki was about to bolt on another search with renewed vigor when one of the guys he used to walk with came up to him with one arm over his nose, as if the room was filled with smoke.

“Bakugou!” He called out, nasally, as he got close. “What’re you still doing here? There's a fire in the building!”

“There's no fire, moron! Did you forget what I fucking told you?” Katsuki made sure to talk low so that the teachers wouldn't hear him but his disapproval was very obvious nonetheless.

“Oh, yeah! The plan.” The boy lowered his arm back to his side as both of them casually walked out of the school like they didn't know anything. “Sorry, man. I totally forgot.”

“Did you at least see Deku?”

The guy snorted. Katsuki arched one eyebrow, annoyed.

“Didn't you see him? Midoriya was carried out of there by his fanclub as soon as the alarm rang.”

“What!?”

True to his words, just outside the school, was Deku sitting on a bench while some girls were drooling, watching from a distance. Although he looked a bit unsettled by everything, there was no visible bruises or anything that would indicate that he had just been in the middle of a violent horde of confused people. He’d most likely been lifted up high or levitated, instead.

“People really like him, you know? They call themselves 'Izulovers’.”

If Katsuki wasn't so shocked, he might have laughed at that ridiculous name.

“Why didn't you tell me about that when I told you my fucking plan this morning?”

“I thought you knew…? They’re a really big group and it's not like they tried to hide their obsession… they think of Midoriya as some sort of 'cute lone wolf’.”

“A what!?”

“I guess it's like a solitary, mysterious boy? I dunno. They just see him alone all the time, spacing out and it makes them attracted to him and want to protect him, but Midoriya seems oblivious to it.” The guy seemed like he was about to turn around and walk away when he remembered something else and looked back to Katsuki. “Hey, I'm not sure if you'll find it useful, but they think that the reason why you and Midoriya are always fighting is that you expelled him from your criminal faction.”

“MY WHAT!?” If they weren't in front of their middle school and Katsuki didn't have to keep his record perfect for UA, he would have exploded right then and there. Just how much bullshit regarding Deku could people come up with? “I don't have a criminal faction!?”

“Try and tell them that, then.” The guy shrugged as he continued his walk towards another group of people.

Katsuki looked over the self proclaimed 'Izulovers’, who were looking back at him with a murderous gaze. Nope, he would never get anywhere near any of those crazy chicks, no fucking way!

Okay, maybe his first plan didn’t end the way he expected, and maybe he didn’t have a backup plan but it was those 'Izulovers’ fault! It would've been just perfect if it wasn't for their shit.

Katsuki would make sure that his comeback would be 'Izulovers’-proof’’

…

Izuku had never been more exhausted in his whole life. His forehead was dripping sweat like a waterfall, his cheeks seemed to have a never fading blush, and he must have smelled absolutely horrible. Every one of his muscles felt sore, even the ones he had no idea he had. Keeping himself awake past his training schedules bedtime to study more didn't make it any easier on him, but it was alright. If it was the price he had to pay to become a hero, so be it.

However, it wasn't as easy to remember that when he had to climb more than five floors everyday to get into his home.

Every now and then, Izuku entertained the idea of taking his mask off and convincing someone to carry him up all the stairs to his apartment. He soon discarded it though, since technically being able to fight his fatigue and arrive home just fine was part of his resistance development training. Besides, that wouldn't be a heroic thing to do. With a long, deep sigh, Izuku prepared himself for the rest of his daily torture.

He only truly noticed how exhausted he was when he got to his and his mother's apartment. It was only then that Izuku could distinguish a second voice, along with his mother’s, coming through the door. It was really strange, since they normally didn't have people visiting.

'Maybe mom invited Kacchan's parents and forgot to tell me.’ His mind supplied him as he unlocked the door and walked slowly through the aisle. Izuku only noticed his mistake when a (recently) very familiar boisterous laugh filled the living room.

“And this is from his fourth birthday. The party had yours theme. It was when he got his old All Might pajamas, he didn't want to take them off for a whole week - not even to take a bath!”

“He bathed with his pajamas on!? Such a blind fanboy!!”

“Mom!” Izuku shouted as he ran to the living room's entrance.

His mother and freaking All Might were sitting on their old couch with their family's album between their laps. They looked a lot closer than what was necessary, one of his arms over her shoulder and legs touching. Worse: they were looking over… over…

HIS (excessively embarrassing) BABY PHOTOS.

All Might was looking over photos of Izuku either naked or dressed as him .

'So it was because of this that he didn't go to the beach today!?’

“Oh, welcome home, sweetie.” Both his mother and All Might raised their heads. They had a mischievous grin on their face.

His mother had never looked mischievous before.

“I…” She had a hard time trying not to laugh as she talked. “I'd like you to meet your new dad.”

Just when she spoke that, All Might sat up and put his hands on his waist with a prideful expression as he said “I am here!”

The sentence didn't hold the same effect it had when said in his ‘hero form’ but Izuku didn't need a lot more to faint.

As he fell on an armchair, the boy could hear his mother's laugh and All Might's (his new dad's!?!?) gasp.

“You think I would be that terrible of a father? Young Midoriya, I thought you had more faith in me than that!!”

“H-h...how…?” Izuku muttered. How he could find strength to voice that, he didn't know.

“I noticed how tired you've been in our training so I came here to check whether or not you’re following our schedules. Your mother told me everything.” All Might stated as he got closer to Izuku so that he could straighten him up. After years of hard work, he knew more than anybody else how a good posture would make all the difference later for his back. “You can't tire yourself out like this, boy! Your mind is just as important as your body! If you follow my instructions you're going to be just fine!”

“Yagi…” Midoriya Inko raised up to touch the man's arm. 'Yagi!? Mom calls All Might by his name!?’ Izuku thought, each second more desperate. “I'm afraid my son won't survive tonight if you keep up like this.”

“Please, Inko. I told you Toshinori is fine.”

‘MY MOM AND ALL MIGHT ARE ON A FIRST NAME BASIS!?!?’ Izuku's mind was running like crazy. 'I really won't survive tonight…’

“Certainly! If I was to call both of you 'Midoriya’ things would be confusing; if I call Inko by her first name, it gives her all the right to call me by my first name as well.”

Oh, Izuku had said that out aloud…

“Mom, why did you show him those photos!? It's embarrassing!”

“Oh, dear, I'm sorry but mommy never has anybody to talk to about you! I just couldn't miss the opportunity.” The woman said as she grabbed the album back and closed it. “Also, he got curious when he entered your room.”

Izuku could swear he felt his heart stop beating. “All Might was in my room!?”

His posters, his plushies, his clothes, his magazines… ALL his All Might merchandise was on display and All Might himself saw everything…

Why don't they just call a funerary and end their plot against Izuku right then? “He must find me weird now…”

“Not at all! I think it is lovely how you have always looked up to me. Besides,” All Might turned around to face Inko as he spoke. “this way I could see where you got so much of your cuteness from.”

Good thing Izuku was still sitting on that armchair, because he fainted again.

“T-toshinori! You can't just say things like that.” Inko said completely red as she put the album back in the bookshelf. “And of course not. My son’s cuteness is a quirk. Even if you really find me cute you could never compare the two.”

That was enough to startle the green haired boy awake again. “Wait! You know about my quirk!?”

The woman turned her head to his direction, a confused look on her face. “Izuku, I was there when your two years old face made a scary giant villain give up on villainy. Of course I know about your quirk.”

“So why did you never tell me about it!?”

Her brow furrowed further. “You know you have a cuteness quirk, don't you?”

“Yes…?” The boy's brow also furrowed.

“Then why would I tell you something you already know?”

Izuku gaped, speechless. It would be too difficult to argue against that logic.

“I think I'll take a bath…” He decided to say instead.

When he got out of it, All Might just finished setting up the table while his mom carried the food for dinner. Izuku shriveled a bit when he noticed how much that really looked like a traditional family being domestic. He wasn't sure if it was either good or bad, though. Thinking of it, he shouldn't feel anything about it at all, since they surely were only teasing him when they told him that All Might would be his new dad.

(They were just teasing, right!?)

Even though Izuku had a bad habit of overthinking everything, it all stopped when he noticed what his mother had prepared.

Izuku gently smiled despite himself. “Katsudon? Thanks mom, I love you.”

However, just when he was about to get some for himself, his mom placed a bowl of miso soup with vegetables and tofu in front of him.

“I’m really sorry, Izuku, but katsudon isn't part of your diet. It's only for me and Toshinori.”

“She's absolutely right, Young Midoriya!! Aspiring Hero’s should always avoid carb’s and fat! Besides, light meals at night are much better for your digestion!”

Izuku took his bowl with a single tear on one of his eyes. After thanking for the food, conversation flowed easily among the three of them, to the boy's surprise. The topics were light and comfortable at first, until they returned to Izuku's childhood. Just as he thought that he had avoided the subject, Kacchan's name appeared.

“It’s been so long since I last saw Katsuki.” His mother had commented after talking about her son and her best friend's son's friendship. “You haven't talked about him lately, Izuku. Has something happened?”

'Damn.’ Izuku cursed in his head. Truth be told, it’d been a while since Kacchan last talked to him but the most recent event was still fresh in his mind (after all, it was also the day Izuku had met All Might for the first time). For some reason, he'd been found in some… strange situations since the 'fire alarm incident’ and, if the direct looks Kacchan would send him every time it happened were anything to go by, he might have something to do with them. Well, after he had gone as far as to tell Izuku to ‘go take a swan dive off the roof’, he wouldn't doubt…

“Katsuki told you what!?” Inko cut his monologue exasperatedly.

Izuku's eyes widened just as much as his mother's. Had he been rambling all this time?

“This Katsuki boy is the kid you tried to save from that sludge villain, isn't he?” All Might intervened. “I thought you were good friends.”

“We are! I mean… it's just the way he is, I guess?”

“It looks like a case of bullying, Izuku. A very serious one.”

“It's nothing, really. Kacchan never hits me or uses his quirk on me. It's just the way he speaks, just this.”

“Inko is right, Young Midoriya!” All Might said despite the boy's clear discomfort. “Sometimes words can hurt just as much if not more than being hit, even more so when they are spoken by a loved one.”

For a few deadly quiet seconds, all of them were silent, the food left untouched. Izuku fought the urge to tremble out of nervousness under the adults’ worried glances. He really didn't want to talk about this.

“Could we talk about something else, please?” He finally asked, staring directly at his soup.

Both Inko and Toshinori wanted to get to the end of the situation but it was simply impossible to deny anything to that adorable sad face the boy was making. Just one exchanged glance at each other made it obvious that none of them had the strength to resist it.

The man coughed, ready to change subjects for the boy's sake.

“So… your mother told me that you used to want your hero name to be All Might Junior.”

Was it too late to revisit the subject of Kacchan?

He really wouldn't survive that night.

Chapter Text

Bakugou Katsuki's Explosively Masterful Plan To Make Stupid Deku Snap Out Of It™ #58

I'm going to provoke that fucking P.E teacher when stupid Deku is pas KGXJGDJX FOYDD DJDGKUWHL KHDVVX KBC…

Katsuki didn’t even care to finish crossing the words off of his shitty piece of paper before crumbling it and tossing it blindly over his shoulder. Months had already passed since the 'fire alarm incident’ and he had yet to come up with a plan that actually went right. Instead, his last 57 plans just ended with Izuku being magically helped. He didn't know why, he didn't know how, but some dumb deity must really like that boy, because just HOW THE FUCK!?

Katsuki had already tried everything. He had tried making people get mad at Deku, had tried using his quirk 'accidentally’ on him during some idiotic sport in P.E; had tried literally anything and somehow all he had managed to do was to gather more people to join those 'izulovers’. He himself had joined that damned fan club! It was just to get more information for his plans, though! Like he had any interest of that kind in that useless idiot. If he, by any chance, had bought one or two (or more) photos those creeps take when oblivious Deku spaces out, the objective had been totally scientific! Katsuki had to examine his target very closely, after all (and it's not like there were any records or receipt so nobody could prove anything!).

(And, looking at one of the pictures, those guys were right about their P.E uniform being a blessing. Has Deku been working out…?)

Katsuki ripped another piece of paper when he noticed what he was thinking about - he must have been paying so much attention to Deku that he was going crazy. It was a matter of honor, then! Things had to come to an end soon for the sake of his own sanity, otherwise, he was screwed...

Just as the blonde boy finished writing his newest plan's title again, the door to his room opened to reveal his mother, who appeared to be far from content, with her brows furrowed and lips down.

“Katsuki, we need to talk.”

“What now!?” He growled back, which only made his mother’s expression darken. He fought not to show his nervousness through trembling. The woman could be really terrifying when she wanted but she didn’t need to be reminded of that, even more when she was obviously about to scold him.

For what, Katsuki had no idea. His mother gets angry over every little fucking thing anyway, so any guess is just as good as any other would be.

“Inko told me you’ve been mean to Izuku.”

Shit. Had Deku noticed what Katsuki has been doing, after all?

“So what!?” He decided to take a chance anyway. Maybe it wasn't really that…?

“You told him to take a swan dive off the roof, goddamnit!” Mitsuki clenched her teeth, with that declaration the very air in the room grew tenser. “How could you tell him something like that!? Have I been raising a brainless brat all this time!? And… why is this room a fucking mess!?”

It was only then that Mitsuki seemed to notice all the crumpled balls of paper thrown throughout the room. It looked like an entire camp was deforested just for her son to destroy it all over again. The more time she spent in that room, the more reasons to be angry she found. Katsuki, on the other hand, had no idea if he should be grateful for it not to be about his plans or if it actually would turn out to be worse.

“You know the money we use to buy this shit doesn't grow on trees, right!?”

“Whatever, it's all Deku's fault! Do you think I have fun doing all of this!?” The boy said as he opened his arms as if to include all the work he'd had thanks to Izuku. “Of course I wouldn't let him do that, it's not like he would even try it anyway. If that dumbass just listened to me, he'd know that taking a swan dive off the roof is the fucking same thing as trying to be a hero with no quirk! I'm just trying to protec…”

“Hey, I've just made some tea. Do either of you want…?”

Before he could finish, Masaru entered the room carrying a tray with cups and cookies but stopped mid-sentence when he noticed the tension. Later, Katsuki would mentally thank his father for cutting his embarrassing monologue off, even more so for not letting him complete that stupid phrase.

The man analyzed the situation for a couple of seconds before deciding to turn away as he spoke: “I have no idea what’s going on here but I agree with your mother.”

The door was closed just as Katsuki threw the closest object to him, which was his pencil holder. Fortunately, the only thing in there was a forgotten eraser.

“You could use that eraser instead of crumbling the paper...” The woman started but stopped as soon as she took a look at her kid. With a sigh, she sat on his bed in order to be at eye level with him. “It looks like you care a lot for Izuku. Why don't you just tell him that? I'm sure he would like it better than whatever you're doing now.”

If Mitsuki saw one of her son's eyes twitching, she ignored it.

“You didn't hear anything I've just fucking said!? That idiot Deku insists on being a hero when he's quirkless, he'll just kill himself out of stupidity like this! As his friend, I have to make him see that a fight with quirks isn't something someone like him should be getting into, goddamnit!” At this, Mitsuki arched one eyebrow in an expression that could be described both as aggressive and incredulous. Katsuki just turned away and stared at his desk.

“I'd just rather that he hates me, gets hurt by my hands, and wakes up to reality before it's too late than to have him die trying to be a freaking hero...”

After he mumbled the last line, the room went quiet for some time. Just as Katsuki thought his mother might have exited the room, she grabbed his chair and turned it so that he was facing her again.

“What the hell? Is that what you really think!?” Katsuki looked everywhere but at her, trying to hold back a snarl. “Even though Izuku still sees you as an important person in his life, you still bully and belittle him and his dreams! You'd better forget this bullshit and apologize to Izuku if you still want to be his friend.”

“No fucking way!” He said almost like a bark. “He’s the one who’s wrong! He’s so delusional that he’s practically forcing me to show it to him!”

“Okay, so! That's it! You asked for this.” Mitsuki abruptly sat up from the bed, making Katsuki's chair go back and hit the desk. “If I hear about you doing anything else that could, even remotely, be interpreted as bullying you won't be going to any entrance exam for any hero school.”

Katsuki's eyes widened and, for several moments, he was left speechless. Was she being serious?

“What!? No!” He finally found the strength to shout.

“Yes, you heard me.” She said looking down at her son with a rather scorching glare. “I hate doing this but if this little messed-up act of yours continues, Izuku will get to be a great hero while you'll be a common desk clerk watching his success from behind a counter.”

Katsuki turned his chair back to his desk so that he wouldn't have to face his mother again. “Like Deku would get accepted to a hero school even without me in his way!”

“If that’s what you think then why are you so worried about it?”

Katsuki's hands turned into fists gripping his pants while his teeth clenched. Mitsuki could sense from the other side of the room that she had hit a (very) sensitive nerve.

With a sigh, she ran her hands through her hair, exhausted. “Just... don't let the one tiny friendship you still have end like this, okay? It's hard to find something that’s as wonderful as what you two had, even more so taking into account this difficult personality of yours.”

After a moment with no verbal response, Mitsuki decided to just go back to the living room and have some of that tea her husband prepared. She was really in need of that after the argument.

When Katsuki heard his room's door opening and then closing again, he groaned as he kicked the air. Nervously, he finished crumbling the paper on his desk just to end up staring once again at the photos of Deku. Besides his new addictions, the boy still had one from when both of them were kids before the other one was diagnosed quirkless. They were holding their All Might toys and smiling at the camera while being the closest they had ever been in years since then. It brought him good but distant memories. With a groan, he raised from that chair and made his way outside for a walk so that he could think without his parents’ conversation clouding his thoughts.

After that day, Katsuki only dared to get near Deku at UA's entrance exams.

…

“Young Midoriya…” All Might started as the boy was tieing his shoes. “Have you considered not wearing your mask at UA?”

“Huh?” Izuku looked up at him. Hadn't they discussed this before? “I don't want them to stop me from doing the exam just because I'm ‘too cute’ to be in a violent…”

“Izuku!”  Inko almost fell down with how fast she ran to them with his All Might themed luggage. “Your backpack. Don't forget it!”

The boy smiled as he took it from her. After they had finished cleaning the beach, All Might promised he would meet him in his home before he went to UA to give him some last minute advice. Izuku was just glad that his mother didn't get to see him eating the hero's hair.

“I’ve already applied the special request for you to wear your mask as extra equipment but I really think you should go without it, at least only for the practical exam.”

“Yes, listen to All Might! You may have his quirk now, but it's your cuteness that you've been living with all this time. It's your power, Izuku, it’s a part of you and it’s not healthy to just ignore it!”

All Might buffed up with another of his trademark smiles. “A hero should always give everything they’ve got, no matter the odds! A hero saves those in need from all the unjust and unfairness in the world! To go beyond your limits! PLUS ULTRA! That is what it means to be a hero Young Midoriya and you will need to give everything you have to achieve it!”

Izuku's head was moving from one adult to another like he was watching a tennis match. When had they got so in sync again?

“O-okay. I’ll think about it…”

Even when he was at UA's front gate, Izuku couldn't help but blush as he remembered that conversation. As if being dominated by doubts and anxiety wasn't enough, he still got distracted at the station and almost missed his train. He was still thinking about it even now, it seemed just his luck that he would trip over his own feet as a result of it all and fall in front of the other applicants, embarrassing himself even before they could enter the building let alone start the exams.

It wasn't what happened, though.

Just as Izuku thought his face and the ground were going to be really well acquainted, he noticed he was floating instead. Slowly, his feet were put back on land safely.

“Are you okay?” A joyful, female voice sounded by his side. He turned to see a beautiful brunette girl with round cheeks. She was too happy for someone who was headed for such a monumental exam this early in the morning. “It’s my quirk. Sorry for using it on you without your permission, but…”

Brown big eyes stared right back into green ones as if she had only just noticed something about Izuku. Suddenly, a tinge of pink spread throughout her face as she tried to look everywhere but at the boy she had just saved.

“I… I mean… I-it-it's a ba-bad omen to t-trip and f-fall… uh…” She stuttered despite her extrovert demeanour. When Izuku, also flustered, was about to thank her, she just ran away with a muffled “Good luck to both of us!”

Izuku just stood there, astonished by her, for a couple of moments.

‘If with my mask on people are already reacting like this then how much worse would it get if I took it off!?’ The thought was simply too terrifying for him.

After that, Izuku, oblivious to the other people's awestruck glances at him, just moved mechanically towards his assigned seat, which so happened to be by Kacchan's side. At first, a heavy silence fell over them. Neither of the boys really had anything to say after so much time of no interaction between them, even more so with the angry face Kacchan was making. When Present Mic entered, however, Izuku’s fanboy tendencies took over as he started to mumble up a storm. When the hero started to speak, though, Kacchan also decided to add a few words here and there to Izuku's rambling, like they were four years old all over again. It was strangely nice, even though they were cut off as a tall boy with glasses raised to complain about some difference between what was being said and what was on UA's handout.

“And, you, with the curly hair!” Izuku froze when that guy turned around to look directly at him. “You've…”

He never got to complete that sentence, though, as he just stared at Izuku until he decided to turn himself to Present Mic again.

“If this is another error made by UA, then I highly mistrust its position at the Top of Japanese Ranking.” He continued, as if disgusted. “It is absolutely disrespectful for us, who worry about this country's future, how you would personally allow a child at such young age like him to take a violent practical exam like the one you've just described!”

‘Another person who thought I'm a child…’ Izuku hid his face in his hands shamefully while Kacchan just laughed out loud.

He was already so tired of it all and the exam hasn’t even started yet.

…

[Practical Exam]

“Bonjour, mon ami!”

All the students were at the gate to their assigned test location, waiting, for the signal so they can start. While most of the people were either admiring the realistic city scenario or just trying to concentrate and get last minute stretches, a blonde, (weirdly) shining guy waved to Izuku as he got closer to him.

Izuku was just trying to get to the girl who helped him later so he could thank her. He had absolutely no idea who that guy was and, to be honest, was a bit put off by his behavior. The fact that he was speaking French, a language Izuku knew nothing of, didn't help anything.

“S-sorry, but… do I know you?”

In lieu of giving Izuku a normal answer, the guy just snorted at the question and moved one open hand in front of him as if to show himself off.

“You haven't had the pleasure yet, but I can assure you that you'll hear of me a lot. After all, the ones who shine the brightest should always twinkle together.”

Izuku tilted his head in confusion. Was it a reaction to his cuteness? If so, this was the strangest one he had ever seen so far.

“I'm Aoyama Yuga! ~”

“Umm… I'm... Midoriya Izuku…” He said a bit uncertain of what to think.

The signal indicating the beginning of the exam rang. The gate opened as Present Mic's boisterous voice attacked the students’ hears. Aoyama winked at Izuku as he ran into the faux city, just like everyone else, leaving the green haired boy behind.

In a hurry, he also ran to the fake city, slower than the others. However, unlike the others, everytime a robot appeared in front of him, he would freeze. Fear consumed him in a way that his mind just stopped working when anything got near to him. When it was announced that there were only six minutes left, and almost all the enemies destroyed around him, Izuku started to panic.

'Ten months… everything All Might did for me... it would all be for nothing!’

That was when he remembered All Might and his mother's advice. Well, he couldn't really see how his quirk could help him in that scenario but he was already hopeless about getting out of that situation so he had nothing to lose, right?

When Izuku found a place with plenty of action, he closed his eyes and took his mask off, putting it in his sweatshirt's pocket. He really hoped it wouldn't fall from there. He could never have expected the sight that would greet him when he opened his eyes, though.

A couple of the remaining robots had bowed deeply, as if in respect, in front of Izuku. Behind them, he could see the other ones also coming to him while the people just stared at the scene, stunned. The cogs in Izuku’s head were turning with a newfound vigor at the sight.

'Is it…? No, it can't be…’

Whatever doubts he was having were quickly being proven false as the number of robots before him continued to increase. The fact that the people around them weren't taking advantage of the vulnerable villains was also a good indicator to confirm what Izuku thought unbelievable.

'Artificial intelligence is affected by my cuteness too...’ There were no words to describe how done he was with his quirk, but he could use this.

He couldn't waste any more of his time since he probably only had five minutes left at most. Quickly forming a plan, Izuku climbed onto the closest 3-Pointer robot and asked it to fight the other robots for him. He could only hope that it would count as villain points, since it wasn't really him who was destroying them, but it was the fastest way to get the needed points so Izuku would have to take the chance.

Still, he couldn't help but feel bad for his competitors as they were lost in his cuteness and weren't able to get more points to themselves since it would mean taking points away from him. On the other hand, they seemed to have already gathered a good score overall so hopefully he wasn't interfering more than necessary.

At the same time, the teachers watching were going crazy. Since they were looking at Izuku through the cameras and not directly at him, they weren’t being fully affected like the student, just like what happens when he wears his mask, so they had no idea what was going on.

“Just what is that boy's quirk!? Some kind of Technopath, Brainwashing hybrid!?"

“Why aren't the others attacking the weakened bots and why wait half of the exam to pass before hypnotizing his competitors?"

“Who cares about the details! I like him! Kid makes me wanna scream 'YEAH’!”

Aizawa rolled his eyes at Yamada, it was as if they, in their almost ten years of work, hadn't seen any quirk more impressive than that. When the 'gimmick’ gets out, hat boy would show them his true colors and only then they'd see if he actually has above zero potential.

In fact, the mere glimpse of that giant robot was absolutely terrifying. Izuku couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. He looked up and up and up at the robot who towered above even the tallest of buildings, its very body blocking out the sun and casting a shadow over all of them as if to say, ‘It’s too late’. Trembling, he turned to his own robot and told it to run as fast as it could. It wasn’t until he looked back around to see how far away the robot was that he noticed the lack of urgency with the others. They were just standing there frozen where he had left them after first using his quirk.

Telling his robot to stop; he looked back and yelled. “What are you doing!? That thing's gonna crush you! Run!”

Izuku, the usually quiet and secluded boy, screamed the loudest he ever had so that the others would hear him over the carnage around them and move but the effect wasn't what he was expecting if the stupid smile on their faces was anything to go by.

“Oh my God! He talked to me!”

“No, he was talking to me! I’m the one he was worried about!”

“That precious boy knows I exist!”

“Oh my god, I can die happy now!”

“My heart! Please, take me now!”

Izuku blushed at there words only to pale just as quickly. His quirk must be overpowering all sense of self preservation in them, and the gimmick was fast approaching. ‘Even if I put my mask back on now none of us would have enough time to escape!’ He turned his attention back to the robot. ‘If it’s going to bow just like the others than it’s going to make a beeline straight to us!’ Izuku felt like he was going to throw up. ‘If somebody gets hurt, it would be all my fault.’

Suddenly, Izuku was overwhelmed by the same feeling that made him move when Kacchan was caught in that 'sludge incident’ all those months ago. His mind was blank, he didn’t know what he was going to do but he had to do something, anything! Before he knew it, he was standing, then he was soaring through the air leaving the shattered remains of his 3 pointer behind. In a matter of seconds, Izuku was in the air right in front of the gimmicks face, All Might's words came back to him as loud and as clear as if All Might was there with him the whole time. Power that could only be 'One For All’ burned through him enhancing his arm's strength. He didn't even notice when the ever familiar ‘smaaash’ left his mouth while the robot was sent flying back, its head caved in.

Izuku didn't have time to celebrate his success, though. The use of One For All was making his arm drip a bitter dark chocolate as it flopped in the air clearly having been broken, his legs not faring any better.

Back on the ground, people were freaking out. The adorable boy was going to fall and get hurt! They had to save him but how!? Although some of them were trying to use their quirks to work in their favor, the lack of collaboration among them was only making it all more confusing.

Fortunately, though, the bubbly girl from earlier ran from the rest of the group to get to one of the robots Izuku had destroyed. This way, she made the bigger pieces float with her to where the boy was quickly falling just in time to slap him.

When they were back on the ground, all the students hurried to see Izuku but before they could get there they were detained by Recovery Girl. She was warned personally by All Might about the boy beforehand and was prepared for a situation like this. She made her way through the masses as she put a pair of glasses on that were designed to help those with quirks that had to do with their eyes better control them so that she wouldn't be affected by his cuteness. Though they weren’t designed for this they should work in reverse just as well. After quickly assessing the damage, she kissed Izuku on the cheek to help him heal (which earned her plenty of envious gazes) and searched his pockets until she found his mask, miraculously safe.

With that out of the way, Izuku easily managed to be taken to the infirmary without anyone trying to get to him. In fact, people seemed to have started to snap out of that 'cuteness driven’ state, looking around wondering what exactly happened in the last five minutes. It's not like they would ever have stopped to fight the robots just because they had seen a (really) cute boy, after all, so something must have happened.

Unfortunately, most of them would never know what it was. Others, when they entered the hero course, would get to actually know what hit them and would willingly let it happen again.

…

[Written Exam]

Mineta was tapping his pencil on his desk rather anxiously. Before that day, he wasn’t really worried about the written exam. As opposed to what people normally think, he was smart and - yes - he could do an exam like this and pass just fine, thank you very much. What had him truly afraid was his practical exam. He had managed to stick some robots on the ground with his Popoff quirk, which he could only hope counted for ‘villain points’, but he could see that everybody around him had done so much better! If Mineta really wanted to get into UA’s heroic course, he’ll have to do the best he can in order to pass both of the exams with grades high enough to get in there.

‘Focus, Minoru! Focus!’ He repeated in his head over and over again, like a mantra. If he wasn’t able to practically ace this, he would never get a better opportunity to get near such beautiful girls in his life! Oh, he could already imagine himself in the future, surrounded by gorgeous women in tight clothes and covered in sweat after fighting villains, everyday for the rest of his life, and the fans! They would throw themselves at him! If he did really well at school, he could even date Miss. Universe because, c’mon, what girl wouldn’t want to have a top hero by her side? However, for all of that to happen, he had to concentrate, goddamnit!

It was proving to be the hardest task he’d ever had in his life, though, especially when just at the corner of his eyes he caught a glimpse of something that looked very, very, promising. Oh, well, thinking better of it, Mineta was only a human, after all. No, worse, he was just a horny, hormonal teenager, after all. Just a look wouldn’t be that bad, right?

Oh, it wasn’t bad at all. You see, Mineta was short; awfully short. As a result of that, he gets to see lots of legs every single day of his life so he knows what he’s talking about when he says that that pair was unquestionably the best pair of legs he has ever seen. The vision of those damn thighs sent chills throughout the boy’s body and the pants that she wore didn’t leave much to his imagination. ‘Please, crush my head with everything you have!’ He couldn’t help but think as the girl moved her lower body to better adjust to her chair. That movement ended up making Mineta’s eyes travel to a part more behind, which only made both his eyes widen and his mouth gape. As stated before, Mineta was incredibly short so he also got to see a great number of butts everyday but that one was clearly a gift from heaven itself to humanity. What did they, mere mortals, do to receive such a blessing?

Suddenly, though, a high squeal sounds in the front of the class. The thin line of drool that was slowly dropping from Mineta’s mouth was cut off as he and the rest of the students looked to the source of the noise. A rather tall boy with glasses and a serious demeanour had raised and was bowing to the teacher responsible for watching the class while he spoke. “Sorry, sir, but I’m afraid that I’ve just committed an unforgivable mistake. In the English part of this exam there is a phrase for us to translate that includes the word ‘eraser’. However, the word both in English and Japanese is written on my own eraser as a part of its design. Please, I request this accidental case of cheating to be taken to the principal for he to decide whether I have the right to finish my exam or not.”

Lots of cursing sounded throughout the class because of the unnecessary interruption as the teacher had to practically beg for the boy just to sit down because there was nothing wrong in that. Mineta rolled his eyes at the guy’s antics and didn’t lose any more time to go back to admiring the girl who was sitting beside him. If the entrance exam was already this good regarding girls, he could only imagine how it would be when attending to the real course. Not wanting to wait for it any longer, the boy just skipped over the rest of visage to her upper body. Surely it would be…

All Mineta’s thoughts came to a screeching halt and it was not thanks to the reason he was hoping to. He blinked once. Twice. Rubbed his eyes for good measure. ‘That… that’s a guy!?’

Mineta grew pale as he made an absolutely shocked expression. No guy had the right to look as fine as that green haired, freckled, emerald eyes guy did. His hair was a stylish mess, making Mineta want to pass his hands through it to test if it was really as soft as it seemed. His features - small nose, expressive big eyes, full lips, all of them deep in concentration, also had the purple haired boy feeling something warm in his chest, while his strong arms, on the other hand, had him feeling warm deep down…

Wait…

WHAT!?

Mineta turned right back to his test. What was he thinking about!? That guy was not the mesmerising girl he thought he was, so why was his heart pounding like that? Sweat started to drip from the top of his forehead as his eyes found his test once again. ‘Focus, Minoru, focus! You have to do well if you want to see him again see the hero course’s hot girls.’

Some hours later, Mineta gave his exam to the teacher there and exited the room with a last glance at the guy’s desk, doing something he had never thought he would ever do since his sexual awakening.

He went back home questioning his whole life.

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn’t quite believe what his eyes were seeing.

“T-this… can't be real…”

“Such little faith in yourself, Young Midoriya!” All Might patted Izuku's shoulder. The boy didn't even flinch. “The teachers were very impressed when you punched the gimmick to save all your adversaries. Very Plus Ultra!”

“Yes, and I’m so very proud of you! I'm still a little scared of what could have happened if that girl wasn't there, but you did so wonderful, Izuku.”

Inko beamed at him by his other side, his eyes never leaving the score table in UA's hologram. Inko and Toshinori locked eyes with each other, showing their mutual worry about Izuku's unresponsiveness.

“Besides Recovery Girl, I haven't told anyone from UA about our relationship. I also wasn't a judge. You seem like the type that would worry about favoritism afterall.”

Even with All Might's assurance, all Izuku did was stare at his placement. It took some more time for him to actually mumble something.

“I’m higher than Kacchan…”

“You're higher than everybody…”

“Still… I'm higher than Kacchan… even when my body broke after a single punch…”

“Oh, so that’s what you're worried about!? Of course you still can't control One For All, you’ve had it for only one day before your exam!”

Izuku finally turned around to look up at the hero with an exasperated expression. “So you knew this would happen!?”

“Apologies, but there wasn't enough time! It's just how it is; if someone suddenly grew a tail, it's not like they would be able to do tricks with it right away.”

Before anyone could add something else to the conversation, the doorbell rang as some miraculously muffled curses could be heard coming from behind it.

“I didn't know you had people coming over.”

Inko snorted at that, much to Toshinori's confusion and Izuku's fear. “We don't, but I know exactly who's there.”

“No! Wait…”

Izuku's unfinished protest was interrupted as Inko slowly opened the door for the Bakugous.

“Mitsuki, Masaru! It's so good to see you.” The woman smiled at the couple before looking directly at the teenager being held by them. “It's good to see you too, Katsuki. I'm happy you and Izuku haven't had any more problems this year”

“That dumbass is going to have one right now!”

Mitsuki snarled at her son's words as she tightened her hold on him. “I told you you'd only come here if you didn't behave like a spoiled brat!”

“I haven't exploded this building yet, what more do you expect from me!?”

Both Masaru and Inko rolled their eyes while the family was formally invited into the apartment. They were so used to that kind of thing coming from them that most of the times they wouldn't even bat an eye. Unlike them, Toshinori just stood awkwardly in a corner of the room while he watched Izuku trying to sneak out of there and hide in his own bedroom. Katsuki was faster than him, though.

“Stop there, nerd!”

Izuku stopped dead in his tracks and turned around slowly until his eyes met Kacchan's. Well, both their parents and All Might were in the same room so he wouldn't be able to do anything, right? He also hadn't been mean to him (at least not meaner than he was with his other friends) for a long time, then there really wasn't anything to be truly afraid of, Izuku reasoned.

“H-hi, Kacchan…”

For some time, they just looked at other - Katsuki frowning deeply and Izuku trembling a little bit. The adults couldn't help but watch the silent exchange too. Their sons being quiet wasn't an ‘everyday’ kind of event.

“That!” Katsuki suddenly said as he pointed to the hologram with the score table, making Izuku flinch. “How the fuck did you do that!?”

“U-uh… well…” The green haired boy stuttered, nervous. “I… don't know…?”

“You don't know!? Is that all you have to say to me!? That you don't know!?” Katsuki barked, completely ignoring his mother's threatening presence. “I’m not even gonna ask how the hell you got 100 freaking points in rescue! How did you even get to destroy any of those shitty robots when you're fucking quirkless!?”

“Katsuki!” Mitsuki hissed while her husband lowered his head. “Sorry, his ego’s too big for his own fucking good. Don't listen to him, Izuku.”

Katsuki was about to snarl back a retort again when Inko's confused voice sounded. “What are you talking about? Izuku has a quirk.”

All the eyes in the room turned to the woman - the Bakugous shocked, Izuku's betrayed and Toshinori's clearly begging for help while looking for any way to escape the awkward situation (What am I still doing here!? What do I do!?).

“Oh…” She shrank in herself a bit with all the sudden attention to her. “Was it a secret?”

“Mom!” Izuku murmured in despair, which made Katsuki's furious eyes land back on him. He flinched, taking a few steps back for good measure.

“You’re saying that you've had a quirk this whole fucking time and you’ve been lying to me!?” Katsuki took several steps towards the other boy to match his pace. The tension in the air only increasing by the second. “What the hell’s your problem!?”

“I-it's a ridiculous quirk. You're gonna laugh if I tell you.”

“It put me in second place, how can it be ridiculous!? Tell me right now you damn Deku or I’ll blow you the fuck up!”

“No the fuck you’re not!” Mitsuki glared at her son but at this point he couldn't care less.

“Boys, please, calm down.” Masaru and Inko at this moment we're already on their feet to separate their sons. In light of the rising conflict All Might finally decided to make himself known.

“Now, now, Young Midoriya. Haven't your mother and I told you that denying your quirk is unhealthy?” The man exited from the background and stood by Izuku's side, one hand on his shoulder. He didn’t know if the way his shoulders dropped meant that he felt relieved or even more cornered but he was here for him no matter what. He looked directly at Katsuki, who was looking at him with an indecipherable expression. “His quirk is a 'cuteness enhancer’, we could say. It makes him adorable to the point that nothing is able to hurt him.”

A deathly silence fell over all of them, making Toshinori feel even more awkward than before. Just when he thought about saying something else to break the silence, Masaru did.

“Sorry, but… who exactly are you?”

Inko, Izuku and Toshinori looked at each other as the three of them stuttered nervously. They didn't plan any pretext for his presence in case of being asked about him and it's not like they could say the truth - (“Oh, this is just All Might. He passed his power down to Izuku and now he frequents our home. Will you be staying for lunch?”). No, that obviously wouldn't do! Just when the Bakugous seemed to grow suspicious, Inko ended blurting out the first thing she could think of.

“He's my boyfriend!”

When the words left her mouth, her whole face bloomed red as the whole room looked at her with widened eyes and mouths gaped. Toshinori spat blood, but not even the liquid's redness could compare to his own face at the moment. Izuku in particular wouldn't need much more than that to faint. Unlike the other family in that room, he was totally aware of the fact that that thin, weak man was in fact All Freaking Might and, although he knew that what she said wasn't true (he assumes it's not, at least!), his mind was invaded by images of ‘his mother and All Might dating!’ - Yes, he definitely didn't need much more than that to faint.

Unfortunately, Mitsuki was willing to give him much more than that little he needed.

“Oh, you finally listened to me and got a Tinder, then.”

That was it. Izuku fainted on All Might. Katsuki exploded. Masaru was petrified with a blank smile. All Might spat even more blood. Inko wanted to literally vanish off the face of the Earth.

“Mi-Mitsuki!”

“What? How long's it been? Ten years? Eleven? You have to go out and have fun again, you hermit!” The clueless woman hugged her best friend tightly to whisper at her ear. “I'm damn happy you're trying but you should've asked for my help. That guy is weird as fuck.”

“Mitsuki, I don't have a Tinder! Please, stop!”

“Old hag, I'm in the middle of a fucking life-changing argument, can't you shut the fuck up?”

“No, Katsuki. Unlike you, I show my happiness and worry for my friend like a normal person.” She turned to glare back at her son. “Why don't you train for that while we get lunch?”

“Lunch!?” Toshinori finally finds the courage to look at Mitsuki after he makes Izuku sit on the sofa.

“Of course! Don't even think you'll get away without me seeing whether or not you’re a good match for Inko!”

“Dear, I don't think that’s necessary…”

“It's absolutely necessary, Masaru! We'll discuss it over lunch, I'm starving.”

While the couple talked with their son watching them with a 'not-so-happy’ expression on his face, a scene really similar happened closer to the coach.

“Why did you say that!?” All Might whisper-yelled when Inko approached.

“I don't know; that was the first thing I could think of.”

“Why was that the first thing you could think of!?”

“I don't know! I’m sorry!”

“It's not true, then, right?”

Inko and Toshinori looked surprised at Izuku, who seemed even more flustered than them. The boy couldn't even face the adults as he played with his fingers to distract himself.

“No, of course not. Why would you think that?”

Several flashbacks passed through Izuku's head at that moment. “It's just… you've spent a lot of time together since the beginning of my training and… a long time ago you said that he's 'my new dad’, so…”

It was only then that they finally understood how the boy felt when they first bantered with him so many months ago. Now seemed to be their time to suffer from their own evilness. However, before they could answer him, they were interrupted once again by Mitsuki.

“Well, at least he's already treating Izuku as his son so he's got one positive point against six negative so far.”

The trio blushed at the irony of such timing. Now Izuku wasn't the only one who had slim chances of survival during this meal. The boy would normally be happy for finally being understood with them being in a similar situation but the good side of that could never surpass the bad one. Inko and Toshinori hurried to the kitchen after that remark, leaving Izuku and Katsuki alone in the living room.

For some time, the two of them only sat at opposite sides of the couch, not even looking at each other. At some moment, though, Katsuki exhaled angrily, catching Izuku's attention.

“Cuteness then, huh?”

“Yeah…”

Another beat of silence passed with them deep in thought before Katsuki once again broke it, with his laugh this time.

“I said you'd laugh…”

“Everything makes so much fucking sense now!” Izuku's mumble was cut by the other's boisterous statement.

“Huh…?” He said, confused.

“Of course! Of course this damn trick of yours had to be a quirk! Of course…”

It did absolutely nothing to clarify things for Izuku. “Wha…”

“Lunch is ready, boys!”

Katsuki and Izuku turned around to find the dining table topped with plenty of food. Mitsuki and Masaru seemed very happy that they were about to eat while Inko and Toshinori seemed terrified of what was to come, even though they tried to remain in character and not to show it. Reluctantly, the two got up and made their way over to sit.

“Oh, before we start, I'd like to congratulate Katsuki and Izuku for being the top applicants. We're all really proud of both of you!”

Izuku smiled at Masaru’s words while Katsuki's demeanour got slightly less severe. For a few seconds, the table was peacefully quiet. That was until Mitsuki decided to finally speak up.

“So, back to the point; I heard you calling each other by your first names.” The woman scowled at Toshinori and the proximity of his seat to Inko's. “How long exactly have you been going out without my knowledge to be on a first name basis?”

“Mi-Mitsuki, please, stop!”

“When were you planning to tell me, Inko? Did you think that you could just skip that part until he’s asking for my blessing!?”

Only Mitsuki would survive this lunch.

...

“Deku, what the hell are you doing!? We're gonna get late!”

Izuku stopped admiring the view of UA's yard from inside the building and quickly ran to Kacchan's side so that they could finish walking to their new classroom together. Ever since he found out about his quirk, their relationship improved a bit for some reason. Izuku would go as far as to say that it was the closest they had been since he was diagnosed quirkless - not that it meant a lot, but it sure was a welcomed change.

“I didn't know you were so worried about the time you get to classes.”

“Whatever. I'm not a stupid fanboy that’ll get distracted with every little shit here.”

Izuku smiled quietly at that, deciding not to point out the sparkly eyes the other had made at the photos of 'notable past students’ in the entrance of the building when he thought nobody was looking. However, the boy's attention once again was caught by something else as they arrived at their classroom.

“What a giant door…”

“Just open it, goddamnit!”

Katsuki put himself in front of Izuku and opened the door all the way with the same rage he would use to make an explosion. It slammed against the wall making all the eyes in the class land on them. He didn't even seem fazed by it, only walking towards his seat, as opposed to Izuku, who was extremely uncomfortable under the weight of all those stares. Making it worse was that he recognized some of them from the exam as a few that was hit by his quirk. Awkwardly, he dropped his gaze to the floor and tried to get to his seat without making eye contact with anyone. Before he could make it a muscular chest in an overly neat uniform blocked his way, though.

“Hello, I'm Iida Tenya from Somei Private Academy.” It was the very same scary guy from the entrance exams that called him out!

“I-I’m Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet…”

Before he could finish his sentence, Iida bowed, leaving the already flustered boy speechless. “Midoriya, I'm terribly sorry for misjudging your age. The way how you imposed yourself over those robots and then attacked the 'gimmick’ to save all of us… you're definitely not a child but the superior candidate though I hate to admit it!”

“I-It’s alright! I should be the one to say sorry for using my quirk on you.”

Iida raised with a confused look on his eyes. However, before he could ask anything, Katsuki caught his attention. “Remove your foot from the desk! Such an action…”

Izuku didn't get to hear what happened after that, since his conversation with Iida apparently gave courage for other people to approach him.

“Ah! That curly hair… it's the cute boy.” He turned around just in time to see that joyful girl who saved him that day appearing a touch flustered. “I’m Uraraka Ochako. Sorry for running from you when we first met. You were really awesome in the practical exam! I'm so happy we're in the same class!”

“Oh… I should thank you for saving me twice, then. Your quirk is really cool!”

Uraraka blushed even more at his statement. “T-that was no-nothing! I mean… If it wasn't for the points I got for rescuing you, I wouldn't even be here.”

Izuku was startled by a hand suddenly holding one of his arms. He looked at his side to find that french guy, also from the entrance exams. “I told you we'd hear a lot about each other! Poor class, we'll have to be careful not to blind them with our combined natural brightness! ~”

Izuku was still trying to remember the boy's name when another girl came to them. She had dark green hair, large eyes and a mouth shaped in a wide smile. It all made her strangely resemble a frog. “Hi, I'm Asui Tsuyu but you can call me Tsuyu. Kero.” She approached even more, forcing Izuku to take a step back. Or, at least, he tried before she caught him by lightly pinching both his cheeks. Izuku tried to voice his displeasure but instead of words forming he more or less let out a strangled wheeze. “You remind me of my siblings; very cute. Kero.”

It was only then that Izuku noticed how most of the students were trying to get to him too. Discreetly, he raised one hand to feel if his mask was really there. His quirk had never reached so many people all at once, not when he was wearing that at least. Just what would that kind of reaction possibly mean? Before anyone else could talk to him, though, a voice sounded at the door.

“If you're here to socialize, then get out.”

To Izuku's great relief, everybody looked at the voice's source. It was a man that looked sleep deprived while standing in a sleeping bag, much in the same way as a  caterpillar in its cocoon. Was that… their teacher? While he got out of that thing and talked about time, his eyes never left Izuku. The boy gulped. Did All Might tell this Aizawa about their situation? Is this intense stare because of that?

Izuku's train of thought was cut when Aizawa grabbed one piece of clothing from inside his sleeping bag. “Quickly now. Change into your gym clothes and head out to the training grounds.”

One by one, people picked up a uniform and walked out of the classroom to change. It was only when Izuku arrived at the male's locker room door that he noticed a (very) relevant detail and stopped dead in his tracks, panic clearly on his face.

“Deku, you better stop fanboying over whatever you're fanboying right now and get out of my fucking way!”

“Kacchan!” Izuku turned around to face his childhood friend. He didn't have anybody else who knew about it for him to speak to. “We'll have to change in front of everyone!”

Katsuki rolled his eyes at him, annoyed. “Yeah, that's what 'changing room’ stands for, nerd.”

He tried to enter the room anyway but Izuku got in front of him again, making sure to show just how concerned he was. “Kacchan.” He mumbled. “My mask only covers my face...”

At first, Katsuki kept up his annoyed look but slowly comprehension hit him as he eyed him up and down. In the end, he locked eyes with Izuku in realization. “Shit.”

Normally, Izuku would only wait for everybody to change before he did himself but he really didn't want to challenge Aizawa's patience, especially so on the first day. He could also change in a bathroom stall but he still had no idea where the bathroom was and he was afraid that looking around for it would also take too much time. On the other hand, if just by standing in the middle of the classroom Izuku was already attracting that much attention, he could only imagine what revealing any more skin to more than half of the class would result in.

In other words, Izuku was screwed either way.

…

"Hey, don't you think something is off?"

Kaminari Denki stopped raising his uniforms pants to look down at the boy (his name is Mineta, right?) and then turn to the direction he was pointing to. Apparently, he was referring to the spiky blonde boy and another tall guy with glasses holding high a really big shower towel they had found forgotten there so that the (cute) green haired boy could change. Denki finished with his uniform as he calmly answered him.

"The guy’s probably just really shy. Changing in front of strangers can be very uncomfortable for some people."

Mineta's eyes hardened. “No, it's not that. I met him at the written exam and I'm pretty sure he's a girl.”

Denki almost tripped on his own two feet despite the fact that he wasn't moving at all. “What… what makes you think that!?”

The short boy looked up at him with a deadpan face. “C’mon, have you not seen him?”

Denki discreetly tried to peek over his shoulder at Midoriya, who was just coming out from the improvised changing stall with his gym clothes on. Just how the heck did that boy manage to make that awful uniform look so good on his body, and those arms… Denki had never really had any feelings about people's arms but damn he would be lying if he said he didn't want to feel Midoriya's arms wrapped around him. Just when he thought his mind was being weird enough, the boy smiled, making Denki's heart skip a beat because that scene was just too endearing! He wished he could go there, caress those slightly pink, freckled cheeks and take a photo to save that moment only for himself.

He turned away, completely flustered, before he could come up with more embarrassing thoughts. “O-okay… Maybe he's too adorable for a man but it doesn't mean he's a girl. I mean… UA accepts girls just fine, why would someone fake their gender here?”

“I don't know… maybe he's trans or she feels more comfortable acting like a guy… like Tsugumi Seishirou!”

“Who?”

“Never mind. My point is: Midoriya Izuku is a girl and I want to see it.”

Denki had to do a double take at Mineta. He couldn't be serious. “Hey, I'm also a big admirer of women but don't you think that what you're saying is going a bit too far?”

“I just want to be sure, won't do anything besides that! C'mon, aren't you curious too?”

Denki looked over at Midoriya again. He apparently was thanking the tall guy for comprehending his 'situation’ and doing that for him while Ida (that's what he called him, isn't it?) dismissed it, saying something about how it was heroic of him to be concerned about his classmates’ well-being over his own comfort. The other boy(?) flustered at that, insisting that it wasn't the case while the spiky hair boy just rolled his eyes and mumbled annoyingly. As his own cheeks reddened a bit, Denki couldn't help but agree with Mineta.

“How exactly do you intend to find out? Asking him?” He questioned as they exited the room, heading to the grounds with everybody else.

“What!? No, she wouldn't answer us.” Denki arched his eyebrows, a little surprised at Mineta's quickness. Was he really using feminine pronouns already? He hadn't even done anything to test his theory yet! “We'll have to use an indirect approach. Just watch me.”

Denki's attention varied between Aizawa's words about testing quirks and Mineta's worrisome, literal approach to Midoriya. He could swear that he stopped breathing when that idiot positioned himself right in front of Midoriya’s crotch. Since he had the exact height necessary to look without making it obvious, the chances of him getting caught were slim but Denki didn't even want to imagine what their weird new teacher would do to them if they were actually noticed. He tried not to show his internal breakdown as that spiky guy from before (whose name he then learnt was Bakugou) was called at the same time Mineta slowly went back to his side. Was that blood dripping from his nose!?

“Analysed the target from up-close. Her pants don't have any bulge so she’s obviously a girl!”

Denki blinked at his thumbs up. Was that guy serious…? “You realize that no boy's pants have any bulge too, right? These pants are kinda baggy for that reason…”

“Oh…” The boy blinked as well, like he had only just noticed that fact when it was stated to him. “I think I got too excited and rushed to the conclusion… still, we have all day to figure it out!”

Denki had the sudden wish to become that ball Bakugou had just thrown 705 meters from there. Why had he agreed to all of this again?

He knew his first day at UA would be a long day, he just wasn't aware how long it would be.

Chapter Text

People have been pissing Aizawa off for a while now about how he should visit a doctor to check why he was always so tired. He never really cared about it before now, but the vision that greeted him when he entered class 1-A made him question, for the first time, if this ‘state of eternal exhaustion’ of his was making him see things because that surely couldn’t be real. He ignored it for the moment, he had a class to teach, after all, and told them to get dressed and meet him at the training grounds. While he waited for them to arrive he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, took some eye drops, and made a mental nooooooh the kid’s still there. He’s still seeing the kid.

Now, it’s not that he expected one of his students to completely vanish once he had properly woken up, but he remembered this boy from the entrance exam and the teachers’ debate right after that and Aizawa was pretty sure he didn’t look like that. Neither through the exam footage nor the photos they had of him did he look like that. After all, Aizawa Shouta would never easily forget a student who reminded him so much of a kitten, with those freckles that resembled whiskers and that messy hair where cat ears seemed to poke out in the middle of such soft fur. His large, circular green eyes that were so common in felines, just like his tiny nose and, if he had heard well, his voice sounded strangely like a purr too; it all made him wonder if the boy wouldn’t have a fluffy tail hidden somewhere.

However, Aizawa rationally knew that his mind must have been playing tricks on him because Midoriya Izuku didn’t have any kind of animal or cat quirk - or, at least, it wasn’t what he had shown when he fought against the robots. On the other hand, it would also make the teacher’s desire to throw a blanket over the boy’s shoulders, pet and protect him from the evilness in their world absolutely illogical if he had nothing to do with a kitten at all. It has to be something with his quirk that made everyone, including the robots, at the exam stop.

Aizawa closed his eyes and took a long, deep breath. It was too early in the morning to think about adoption - even more so if it was a human teenager adoption. This is all too troublesome for him to cope with.

While Aizawa took notes of the 50-meter dash (all while trying to avoid looking at a certain student), Katsuki and Izuku were preparing for their turn to run. The green haired boy was rambling to himself as he stretched when he felt a hand on his back. He flinched and looked over his shoulder to see a blonde guy that gave off a faint semblance of a Pikachu, probably because of the black lightning-bolt-shape in his hair and his electric quirk. What was his name again…?

“Hey, I'm Kaminari Denki. I just wanted to wish you good luck.” He said without taking his hand off the other's back.

A little put-off that he was singled out among everyone, Izuku smiled back anyway before answering. “Thanks! I'm Midoriya Izuku. You were amazing running against that rock guy! Charging the muscles in your own legs to gain a little more speed was really smart!”

“Oh, th-thanks, thank you, thank you very much. I'm positive that you're going to have a great race as well.” Denki retorted with a blush on his cheeks (he wasn't prepared for such a precious smile directed at him, even more so combined with a compliment!). Actually, during his race, he was just trying to use his quirk randomly and hadn't noticed he had done what Izuku said. Well, if the cute boy believed that he did it on purpose, who was he to correct him?

Yes, the cute boy , because Denki was now practically stroking all his back and there wasn’t any sign of a bra! In the end, he and Mineta had placed a bet: if Denki could discover that Midoriya was, in fact, a boy Mineta would have to pay for his lunch for one week while if Midoriya was a girl, then Denki would be the one to pay for the other's lunch.

'Such a smooth approach without sacrificing any efficiency or giving myself away! Mineta could learn a thing or two from me.' Denki's self-appraisal could’ve even been considered true if only Bakugou wasn’t sending an intense glare in his direction. However, he was so distracted looking for the purple haired boy in order to inform him of his own accomplishment that he didn't notice it.

“Mineta!” He called out when he caught sight of him standing a bit from the group.

In fact, he was in the last duo to run and was distracting himself by drooling at the girl who he was going to run with (Denki could never blame him, though. Yaoyorozu is practically a goddess.) in lieu of getting prepared for it.  

“I felt Midoriya's back.” Denki said when he got close enough, catching Mineta's attention. “He isn't wearing a bra.”

The beginning of students 17 and 18’s race could be heard in the background as both of them just stared at each other. When it was obvious that the blonde boy wouldn't say anything else, Mineta did. “And…?”

Denki's face fell. “And what?”

“Did it feel any good?”

A tinge of red spread through the other's cheeks as he answered. “I-it doesn't matter how it felt! What’s important here is that Midoriya Izuku has proven not to be a girl due to his lack of feminine underwear.”

To Denki's surprise, Mineta just laughed at his face. What now!?

“Kaminari, my friend, you're unversed in the women's universe and it shows.”

“What!? Why!?”

Mineta snorted once more before answering. “Obviously Midoriya is just a late bloomer.”

Denki blinked. This guy couldn't be serious. “Are you saying that he's a girl who doesn't wear a bra because they haven’t hit puberty yet!? You do realize that we are in high school, right!?”

Mineta patted his leg (he'll never be able to reach his shoulders) before moving to his starting point at the race. “You're still years and years of feminine knowledge behind me, Kaminari. I'll show you even more evidence before our next event is over.”

“If you don't have money to pay for my lunch today you could just tell me, you know? It's absolutely not necessary for you to keep humiliating yourself with these kinds of arguments.”

The purple haired boy didn't get to hear his reasoning, though, since he was already drooling over Momo again. While that was happening, Izuku was engaged in a conversation with some of the people who tried to speak to him earlier, almost fully recovered from his run, when Katsuki stomped up to him with the usual scowl on his face.

“Are you really that dumb, nerd?”

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“Why didn't you make that stupid pleading face of yours to that stuck-up elitist, huh? He'd have carried you all the fucking way.”

“Sorry, but are you seriously referring to me as a 'stuck-up elitist’?” Iida asked and was completely ignored as everybody's eyes were moving from Katsuki to Izuku, without understanding what was going on.

“I couldn't do that, Kacchan! We're supposed to use our quirks, not to take advantage of others!”

“Deku, your quirk is literally about making people unable to resist to you. You'd just be fucking using it! You know, like how the rules fucking say!”

Izuku blinked as question marks seemed to pop up on people's heads. “Well… when you put it like that…”

Katsuki rolled his eyes and groaned, annoyed. “Stupid Deku… If we're supposed to be rivals, at least do it right.”

“Midoriya.” Izuku turned back to the group to find Asui looking directly at him. “I’ve been wondering… what exactly is your quirk? Kero.”

“Yeah! You were really strong at the practical exam so I assumed that you had a strength quirk but it also looked like you were controlling the robots and now you didn't use anything for your race.” Uraraka also stated all at once while she excitedly moved her hands as if imitating Izuku's movements at the exam. “Just what is it anyways!?”

“Uh… well…” Izuku trailed off before he even started talking. He knew that at some point he would have to reveal what his quirk or quirks consisted of but he'd hoped that he’d at least be given time to formulate the best way to say it. Instead, not even one class block had passed and he already had to tell Iida about part of it and was asked about it by two other potential friends (he hoped, at least).

Although the boy was oblivious to it, seeing Izuku's discomfort was enough to make those 'potential friends’ give up on their curiosity. His cuteness wouldn't allow people to make him uneasy unless it was absolutely necessary, after all.

“I… I mean… it's alright if you don't want to tell us right now! Just whenever you feel up to it! Y-yeah!.”

While Uraraka talked, Izuku's expression went from surprised to glad in a matter of seconds. His cheeks reddened a little as his smile widened, making Ochako a blushing mess unable to find words for her thoughts, something that had never happened to her before. Not before she met Izuku for the first time at UA, at least. She didn't mind that one of her soon-to-be friends was the cutest boy she had ever seen (how could she ever complain about getting to see him smile like that every day!?) but why did her knees have to be so weak for just one little smile!?

'Oh, God, he must think I'm weird!’ She panicked internally as she tried to make her heartbeat go back to normal.

“Yes, and if you need to utilize your quirk on me to pass as Bakugou said, you have my permission. It's very kind of you to worry about our consent but I can assure you that you won't be taking advantage of me.” Uraraka's effort was completely crushed by Iida’s words. How was he able to say such things with that serious face!?

Izuku also stuttered a bit before answering. “I-it's alright. Thank you very much! Still, I think I'll try not to make you do things for me anyway.”

Asui also seemed to be about to say something herself, but the conversation was interrupted by Aizawa, who was calling them for the second event.

Thus, the events passed quickly. While Kaminari and Mineta looked for evidence to support their arguments, Izuku was still trying to go through the tests with only his own abilities instead of convincing someone else to do the tasks for him. It was proving to be the hardest ‘gym tests’ he had ever gone through so far. Not that he was doing bad, per se (in fact, he was doing better than in middle school) but people around him were doing so much better due to their awesome quirks! If things kept on like this, Izuku was afraid that he would be the one going home.

Almost failing the entrance exam was still haunting him. All Might was still counting on him! He couldn't just throw away what was practically a whole year of hard work and training for nothing! Still oblivious to how his worry was affecting the people around him, making them offer their help time and time again, he continued to refuse their aid.

'I need to use One For All for this event.’ Izuku thought as Aizawa showed the infinity symbol on his cellphone after Uraraka threw her ball. He really didn’t want to test his luck since he could end up with broken limbs again, but maybe he could save his position at UA if his toss was good enough. In the end, that’s all that really mattered, wasn’t it?.

Before he knew it, he was already standing in the middle of the circle with the ball in his hand. After taking a moment to work himself up, Izuku reels back his arm and gives it everything he has. Only for the ball to land pitifully 46 meters away. Had he just failed again?

“Dammit…” He said without thinking, just to cover his own mouth afterwards, as he listened to his own voice pronouncing that word for the first time. Izuku locked eyes with Kacchan. If the surprise on his face was anything to go by (just like everybody else's), he wasn't imagining things.

Izuku was able to curse for the very first time on his life.

“What…”

“I 'erased’ your quirk.”

Izuku turned around to see Aizawa staring into his soul with red eyes, not even blinking. His scarf was somehow floating around him, displaying a strange pair of goggles around his neck. A spark of both understanding and awe passed through Izuku's eyes.

“Eraserhead!”

People muttered around them. Eraser head wasn't a popular hero due to his hate for media appearances but it wasn't necessary to recognize him to understand what he was doing. The teacher just ignored the students.

“That entrance exam… you caused quite the turmoil among the teachers. Nobody could point out what your quirk is.”

Izuku's eyes widened while his cheeks turned into a faint shade of pink. 'So it’s all about that.’ he lamented in his head. It looked like he would have to talk about his quirk at the first day anyway - and in front of the entire class, nonetheless! Strangely, despite not being fazed by his quirk (since his cuteness was erased), people still seemed ready to step in if the situation got any worse for Izuku.

“I've been watching you. Even though you managed to place first, you still haven't done anything a quirkless kid couldn't do. Are you just fooling around? Is this test a joke for you?”

“N-no, it's not like that…!”

Before he could come up with some answer, Izuku was surrounded by Aizawa's capture weapon, making him come closer and closer to the teacher. “Whatever you're planning, just stop it. UA is a school for aspiring heroes who know what they are doing. If you don't do as asked, there's no place for you here.”

If Aizawa wanted to speak anything else, he never got the chance. Suddenly, student and teacher were separated as a mix of people's quirks got in their way. Between them, an ice barrier was raised, explosions sounded, acid fell on the scarf still surrounding him, and much more that Izuku wasn't able to identify as he was carried away to a safe distance by Iida.

Aizawa blinked, reaching for his eye drops. Was that right? Had his class just rebelled against him!?

“I… I don't understand…” Izuku raised his hands to check if his mask was still on for the second time that day. What kind of overprotection was that!? Was this class crazy!?

“What the fuck, Deku!? Stop the bullshit!” Kacchan shouted at him before addressing the class. “His quirk is called 'absolute cuteness’, alright!? It makes him so adorable that nobody can lay one fucking finger on him. No people, no animal, no robot, no shit! He even wears a damn mask so that people's brains don't stop fucking working. It stops him from doing anything that isn't cute; that's it!”

Silence fell on the group after that even as Izuku was shyly nodding his head in confirmation. Aizawa, on the other hand, was relieved. 'So that's why he looks like a lost kitten. Good thing I'm not going insane.’

“I just don't understand one thing.” Izuku muttered so quietly that people almost couldn't hear him. “If Aizawa erased my quirk, then why did all of you still step in for me?”

“Dude, I think that you must naturally be this cute… and then your quirk just potentializes it.” The red haired boy with the hardening quirk, Kirishima if Izuku remembered right, suggested with his arms still hardened from his 'protective stance’. “So manly…”

While Izuku groaned in annoyance (there are no words to describe just how done he is with his quirk), most of the class seemed to easily agree with Kirishima's theory as they all slowly backed off their teacher. That is until a high pitched scratchy voice sounded in the middle of the group.

“Wait! Does that mean you're not a girl!? ”

A purple haired, incredibly short guy walked towards Izuku with a shocked expression while Izuku was puzzled.

“Yes…? Why would you think that?”

“B-b-but…” Mineta stuttered like he had forgotten how to speak his own language. “You didn't want to change in front of the other boys… and your face lines are so delicate a-and… you look so hot!”

Once again, Izuku's eyes widened and a blush spread quickly over him. People also moved like they were getting prepared to protect Izuku again. “W-well… probably my quirk makes your brain read my image like that to fit in your ideal of cuteness.”

“No! It can't be! You…” Before Mineta could get any closer, Aizawa's capture weapon surrounded him, also blocking his mouth. Weird enough, what he seemed to be trying to say was something in the line of ‘you had pads in your backpack’. Izuku had bought some at his mother's request along with some groceries for tonight but that boy wouldn't have pried into his backpack to find that out, would he?

“Now, Midoriya, this will be your last throw.” The teacher said without freeing Mineta and tossing him a new ball, seemingly from nowhere. “Let's get this over with.”

Izuku took a deep breath as he caught the ball and turned around. Thinking better of it, maybe getting interrupted was a good thing, actually. He would have thrown the ball at his maximum but when they still had two other events to go through, having an entire arm broken was a terrible idea. Instead, this time Izuku concentrated One For All only on one of his fingers, which was enough to send the ball flying.

“705.3 meters.” Aizawa registered.

Izuku smiled doing his best to hold back the tears in the corner of his eyes. “Still higher than Kacchan…”

“Shut up, Deku! 10 centimetres is nothing!”

“Is that blood!?”

Immediately, everybody's attention was on his purple finger and its dripping liquid with an unnecessarily great concern. Izuku raised his fingers, smiling again to try to calm people down.

“There’s no need to worry! It's just chocolate, see?” To make his point clear, the boy licked the bittersweet substance off of his finger, earning him plenty of confused looks, though he was oblivious to it. “My finger is still broken, though.”

“Have Recovery girl fix you.” Aizawa gave him a paper he wrote quickly so that Izuku could go to the infirmary. “Make sure you come back before the next event is over.”

“I'll walk you there!” The pink girl, Ashido Mina, said as she took his arm and pulled him along, much to his embarrassment.

“I-I can take him there si-since I'm his friend…” Uraraka went for Izuku's other arm, making him considerably more flustered when she called herself his friend.

“My ‘shining soul brother’!” Aoyama went to Izuku's side as well, almost making everyone fall down. “Please, let me stay by your side for the recovery of this unfortunate injury.”

“Everyone, we should get Aizawa's permission before just leaving his class!” Yaoyorozu also appeared as a volunteer to escort Izuku. 'Just why are they so worried all of a sudden!?’ The boy couldn't help but wonder.

“Guys, I can find my way to the infirmary myself.” He tried to reassure them but Aizawa ignored him.

“You can take him there. It's not really my problem.”

With a sigh, Izuku ended up accepting his fate as Asui also joined the group. For some reason, he had the feeling that this show of over protection was just the beginning.

“Is his quirk making all the girls practically throw themselves at him!?” Mineta screamed once Aizawa left him go. “That's so unfair!”

“He doesn't attract only girls.” Kaminari stated while the other boys watched carefully Midoriya go from where they stood. “Told you, Mineta. Just a cute boy that costed you my lunch.”

Mineta pouted as he could still hear Asui asking Midoriya what that force had to do with his quirk while the boy stuttered an answer about how it probably was to defeat bad people before they could get the chance to hurt him. Despite his anxious demeanour, Midoriya's eyes still sparkled beautifully as he talked about quirks while his unsure smile only gave Mineta a strange urge to hug him in spite of everything he had just discovered. It was obvious how the girls (and Aoyama) were drawn in his lovely personality - either with or without his cuteness quirk.

'Just how am I supposed to compete against that!?’ By then, Mineta was even afraid to admit that maybe it wasn't against Midoriya he wanted to compete.

He didn't get much time to think about that, though, as an explosion sounded behind him, with Kaminari nowhere in sight.

“Care to repeat what bullshit you said about Deku?!” Bakugou growled angrily at the same time he made little explosions in his hands to scare the boy off, like he wasn't frightened enough already.

“I-I-I… I-it's just…” Mineta mumbled to earn time while he looked around for their teacher. Using their quirks like that, even at UA, wasn't allowed, right?

Right!?

It didn't matter, though, since neither Aizawa or any of their classmates were there anymore. All the way from the sixth event's place, Aizawa pretended he couldn't hear neither the screams nor the explosions.

After all, it wasn't his problem.

…

Izuku breathed deeply as he walked out of the classroom with his, self proclaimed, new friends. His first day at UA was more stressful than he expected and for reasons he would have never even thought of.

First, the thing about expelling the student with the lowest score was just a bluff to make all of them do their best. There were no words to describe how Izuku's heart stopped when he read his own name in the bottom. Once again, most of class immediately went to his rescue, only making Izuku more flustered and anxious than necessary.

Second, just like what happened with Aizawa, every single teacher who they had classes with that day kept glancing at Izuku all the time, like they simply couldn't believe what they were seeing. It was only Katsuki's shouts that were able to snap them out of it and damn - Izuku would be lying if being sat right behind that guy hadn't given him a headache for the day.

Third, it seemed that it was not just class 1-A that was crazy about him but for some reason it was the whole of UA . If the fuss made when he entered the cafeteria for lunch was anything to go by, this was going to be a long school year. The moment he entered there was more loud chattering and people coming over their table just to see Izuku up-close. To think that he was under the impression that what was going to wear him out at UA was the monstrous studying and physical preparation for hero training. How naive…

Despite this tough first day, Izuku still wasn't prepared to add a fourth item on his mental list, though.

He was climbing down the stairs with Uraraka and Iida just after explaining to them how Katsuki came up with the 'nickname Deku’ when he heard the first squeal: “That's him!”

Izuku only had time to turn his head before a huge group of teenagers, composed mostly for girls, attacked him with… hugs?

“We're so sorry for not being here for you when you arrived, Midoriya!”

“We couldn't get into UA to study with you again!”

“Still, we'll come over everyday to see you, okay?”

Izuku had the feeling he knew those people from somewhere, but he just couldn’t put a name to any of their faces. Before he could do anything, a very familiar swearing came to their ears.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! Not these damn creeps again!”

“Do you know these people, Bakugou?” Iida asked, head quickly switching from the angry boy to the excited girls. Uraraka, on the other hand, seemed too shocked by their forward behavior to do much else than stare.

“Oh, no, he's here too.” One of the girls said in disgust as she looked at Katsuki as if sizing him up.

“If we hear that you so much as looked at Midoriya the wrong way, we'll kill you!”

“Sorry, but I don't think I understand…” Everyone's eyes landed back on Izuku, who only became more nervous under the combined weight of their stares. “Are you sure you aren't confusing me with someone else?”

All the group's eyebrows raised in hurt simultaneously, while Kacchan grinned and people from 1-A little by little gathered around them, watching the scene in confusion.

“You don't remember us?”

“It's us, Izulovers, your fanclub.”

Izuku's eyes widened. Had he heard that right? “W-what…!?”

“Oh, Midoriya was so popular in middle school that he had his own fan club!?” Hagakure exclaimed from somewhere in the crowd.

Izuku was shaking. He must be dreaming, this couldn't be real!

“N-no… I remember now. You didn't like me!”

“What!? What made you think that?”

“You would always laugh when I said I wanted to be a hero. And you never even talked to me!”

“What?! How could anyone make light of such an inspiring and pure dream as that!?”

Iida's incredulous query was accompanied by the class's laugh, making both Izuku and the 'izulovers’ curl in on themselves. “Such disbelief in someone you claim to care so much for…”

“I-it's not like that!” One of them tried. “It's not that we didn't believe he could, it was just so cute that a baby boy like him wanted to become a hero… Too cute to be true!”

“Sorry Midoriya, we never meant it to sound like that.”

“Well, it looks like Deku has friends who really support him now.”

Surprising everyone (even herself), Uraraka held Izuku's arm and lightly pulled him closer to the class. Izulovers gaped at her boldness. Izuku wanted to die on the spot.

“Oh please, you've known him for only one day. We've known him for years.”

“Yeah, we've only known him for one day but if anything happened to him, we'd kill everyone here and then ourselves.” Kirishima stepped in to help Uraraka hold an extremely mortified Izuku.

“The meme doesn’t even work like that!” One Izulover also went to Izuku, practically making him the center of a tug of war.

“Guys, please, this really isn't necessary!”

Izuku's plea was ignored again as his old fan club kept the fight going. “We have his entire schedule memorized so that we'll always know where he is and what he's doing. We have all his favorite things listed down so the one he chooses to be his wife will know exactly how to make him happy. We created our own social media to post only Midoriya-related things and follow his life religiously. We know everything that there is to know about Midoriya Izuku, you don't stand even the slightest chance!”

It was obvious that her statement didn't have the desired effect, since Class 1-A openly stared at them wide eyed and made sure to stand closer to Izuku. Even Katsuki walked to his side. For once, the boy didn't mind their over protection.

Uraraka was the first to find her voice. “Do you have any idea how creepy all that is!?”

“You say that now but you haven’t even seen the girl with a camera for eyes.” Bakugou helpfully mentioned.

Just when he pointed that out, a flash came from a rather short girl, who had one eye closed while a photo of Izuku's shocked face came out of her mouth, like she was an old Polaroid. She smiled at her brand new creation. “I always get the best angles when Midoriya doesn't notice me.”

“A photography quirk…” Izuku's hands trembled as his mind wandered back to his old notes about quirks.

“More like a fucking ‘stalker quirk’!”

“Hey, this fan club needs to have a source of income in order to work!”

Another girl walked to the front of the group; her bag open, holding a calculator and notebook as she stoically replied. “Why are you talking like that now Bakugou, when you yourself purchased exactly 34 photos of Midoriya from us?”

Everybody turned to Katsuki with a mix of shock and betrayal on their faces. Curiously, Katsuki was sending a very similar expression to the group. Izuku was still muttering about quirks capable of surveillance and how the many uses could greatly benefit hero work.

“That's a shitty lie, your fuckers! Like I would waste my money on you or stupid Deku! You don't even have any way to prove it!”

“Actually, we do.” The same girl as before replied as she flipped her notebook around to face them. 'Record Book’ was written on the cover. “As Izulovers, it's our duty to keep track of the kind of people who are interested in our little boy, you know?”

When she opened it, there were some pictures of Katsuki looking over Izuku's photos at their selling stalls. Like it wasn't enough, she started reading the notes as well.

“October 17, Bakugou Katsuki bought the photo named 'Izuku lovingly studying math under a tree’. October 21, Bakugou Katsuki bought the photo named 'Izuku about to adorably sneeze because of the garden's flowers’. October 24, this day he bought two: 'Izuku drinking water but letting the glass fall when someone mentions All Might’ and 'Izuku charmingly sweating after P.E'. Should I continue…!?”

The girl screamed as Katsuki exploded her book. However, that was already more than enough to turn the class against the blonde boy.

“Is what they’re saying true, Bakugou!? Do you condone the enemy's behavior!?”

“Whose side are you on!?”

“Shut up, glasses, tape arms! I had a damn good reason to do that!”

“That's it! I'm creating the UA fanclub for Midoriya right now!” Ashido excitedly raised her voice so that everybody could hear her. “From now on we are…”

“Where's Midoriya?”

Todoroki's question had both Izulovers and Class 1-A stop their argument to look at where Izuku was standing before just to find that the boy had disappeared during their speech. His absence only served to increase their rivalry.

“See!? You made Midoriya run away!”

“What are you talking about!? He was just fine with us until you appeared!”

While their fight was still going on, Izuku was just walking through the front door to his home.

“Oh, welcome back, Izuku!” His mother was quick to hug him when he got to the living room. “How was your first day at UA?”

When the boy took too much time to answer, Inko let him go from her embrace to see his face, which somehow just made her more confused. What kind of expression was that!?

“It was the first time I told people about my cuteness and I'm just so done with this quirk, mom…”

Inko gaped at her son as he left the groceries on the dining table and slowly walked to his room. That didn't answer anything at all! Was that a bad day then!? What happened?

The woman sighed as she looked over the products her son bought. Maybe if they had katsudon for dinner she would make his day a little better?

Deciding on that, she picked up her phone to let All Might know her plans. The hero surely would want to hear of Izuku's first day personally from him as soon as possible, but it was always good to make sure just how much she would have to cook.

Smiling, Inko made the groceries float by her side to the kitchen and hurried to finish her other chores. After all, she still had a lot to do until Izuku was ready to share his first adventures as a student in UA’s hero course.

Chapter Text

“How much longer will it take? I have somewhere else I need to be in half an hour…”

“All the other students are at Ground Beta already! The kid should be coming out any moment now!”

“You have to see him, Vlad King! Midoriya Izuku is just too cute for a student! Our cameras didn't do him any justice!”

Kan Sekijirou rolled his eyes at Present Mic and Midnight's antics. For the entirety of last week, they had talked nonstop about ‘Class 1-A’s cutest student ever’ and how lucky they were to be the ones to teach such an angel. Normally, he would just dismiss it as his colleagues’ tendencies to be easily over excited but if even Aizawa Shouta had his own comments about the boy, it must be serious. However, Sekijirou had begun to regret his display of curiosity, since whatever gifts Midoriya seemed to have of cuteness, he also had of slowness.

Vlad King was thinking about how to tell them he was giving up on waiting there when Present Mic grabbed his arm, forcing him to turn back. “He's coming out!”

All the other students had already changed into their brand new hero costumes so the boy who was walking out of there surely could only be Midoriya Izuku. Vlad King, Present Mic, and Midnight approached so they could see him better and maybe talk to him. Sekijirou couldn't help but feel curious once more. By then, he was one of the few teachers who still hadn't met the famous Midoriya personally and he could say that they were slowly being left aside by the ones who had seen him. He would officially pass to the privileged group and understand why everyone was always gushing about the boy and...

He was wearing a mask.

Midoriya Izuku's costume was mostly green, a bit large on his body and a big mask that resembled a smiling bunny covered all his head. Not even a strand of hair could be seen. There was nothing cute about that at all!

“You two are kidding me.” Vlad King accused as he turned around, almost missing his colleagues’ similar deception expressions.

“No!” Midnight was the first one to raise from their hiding spot and follow the other teacher. “His fashion tastes may be very bad, I see it, but you have to see him without that hideous thing!”

“Yeah! Midoriya isn't playing his cards right, but there's a baby boy inside that costume, I swear!”

Izuku stopped running to look around when he heard someone calling his name, just to find the aisle as empty as when he walked through it seconds before. Dismissing it as his own nervousness playing tricks on him, the boy continued his way to the grounds. It would be their first class with All Might at UA! There were no words to describe just how excited Izuku was.

That excitement was crushed as soon as he arrived there, though.

“Deku!?” Uraraka exclaimed, almost speechless, making people around look at him with similar reactions. “What are you wearing!?”

“O-oh…” Izuku blushed, but no one could tell since the mask blocked almost everything. “It’s a costume my mother designed based on an old drawing of mine. Why? Is there anything wrong?”

“Yes, so much wrong!” The girl bluntly agreed before noticing what she was saying. “I-I mean… n-no, the clothes are fine. I was actually talking about the mask…”

“The clothes also don't do my shining soul brother any good but this mask is the worst.” Aoyama came out of absolutely nowhere before positioning himself by Izuku's side. “How are we going to be partners like this? ~”

“Fuck off, bug eyes! Deku's my sidekick!” Katsuki declared rudely before stepping in front of Aoyama and blocking the other boy's muffled protests. “What the hell, Deku!? Are you so scared of those creeps that you'd hide inside all this shit!?

“Uh… Firstly, I don't remember agreeing on any hero partnership.” Izuku started, still a bit confused. ‘What’s all this fuss about exactly?’ “Secondly, I'm wearing this mask because of my cuteness.”

“Eh!? Don't you have a mask already?”

“Yeah, but even with it, people still treat me like a baby! At least as a hero, I wanna be seen seriously.”

“That's bullshit! What's the point in having a quirk when you don't use it!?”

Izuku looked from Uraraka to Katsuki, finally understanding the situation. “You don't want me to wear this mask because of my cuteness, right?”

“Oh, if we don't have a fucking genius here.” Izuku rolled his eyes but was caught by Kacchan. “Stop that, Deku! I can still see your eyes!”

“You shouldn't be ashamed of something as honorable as your cuteness, Midoriya.” Iida and Asui also joined the conversation when they saw the opportunity. Izuku definitely wasn't used to receive that much attention, even more so with his face hidden. “I assure you that such an outstanding, powerful quirk would be as useful in battle as your extraordinary force.”

Izuku's smile mixed with his mask's smile during the boy's speech. He truly knew how to motivate his friends. “Iida…”

“Still, this mask is kinda cute too, isn't it?” Asui jumped to Izuku's side and touched the accessory like she was squeezing his cheeks just like she did on the first day. “It makes Midoriya look like a bunny. Kero.”

Oh, no. Had his plan backfired? The others also seemed to agree with Asui's opinion in their own way. Crap…

When Izuku realized he had indeed said that out out loud, it was too late. Little flowers went out of his mouth and surpassed the mask's barrier, managing to get out of it before dissipating into the air. The chorus of 'awww’ was weirdly repeated not only in their conversation group but by the people around them as well (with the exception of Katsuki, who only turns his head while his cheeks microscopically flushed).

“Okay, that's it!” Izuku suddenly said, snapping everyone out of it. “Two masks don't seem enough so I'm getting a third mask. ”

“Young Midoriya, before the battle trials start, please, come here!”

Before anyone could properly react to Izuku's statement, All Might appeared out of nowhere. Izuku gulped, trying to imagine what he did wrong as he followed the hero, who walked a bit away from the other students, probably for them not to listen in on their conversation. Maybe he was getting scolded about distracting his classmates and delaying the class's beginning? Or maybe All Might just wanted to tell him something about One For All or even ask something about his mother? He hoped it would be one of the last options.

“Yes?”

“Be honest, Midoriya. Do you actually hear anything I say at all?”

“Huh?” Izuku tilted his head, puzzled. The teacher's eternal smile didn't help him understand what he meant by that.

“Just how many times has your mother and I told you that it’s unhealthy to deny your original quirk? How many times have we advised you to take your mask off to show your true power in combat?”

Oh, no. Even All Might was going for that!? Izuku clenched his own hands and took a deep breath to try and calm himself down. Was his cuteness somehow manipulating people to convince him to take his new mask off?! Why couldn't they comprehend what he was telling them?

“We tell you to take your mask off and then you get a second one!? As if that wasn’t enough you’re talking about getting a third!? None of this was in your uniform when you showed it to me last weekend, and I'm sure Inko doesn't know about it too. No, please, don't look at me with that face. Just what are you thinking? That's all I want to know.”

“All Might, I'm sorry but I don't need people in the battlefield to see me as some baby boy that has no reason to be there. That’s all.”

All Might looked in his eyes searching for any sign of a lie; the students watching them could feel the tension in the air even from far away. All Might wasn't really fine with letting this go. Although it was clear as crystal what (or who) was the boy's inspiration for that mask, as endearing as it was, as his mentor he could never simply accept this. Izuku's reasons were understandable but he had to get over it soon if he ever wants to be a hero and it would be better now than later.

With a sigh, All Might tried again. “I can see why you're doing this but you have to get something straight. One For All is just an extra; you can only just barely hold it together as is. It's still too new for you and when I passed it down to you my intention wasn't to have you use it all the time. Not yet, anyway.”

Izuku's eyes widened a bit at the other's declaration, surprised. “Huh? T-then, why…?”

“Midoriya, UA is a hero school; the best of the best our country has to offer. Here, we're expected to teach you, aspiring heroes, how to convert your quirks and abilities into useful tools for both saving and fighting. As far as I'm concerned, your quirk is Absolute Cuteness so you're supposed to learn, here, how to make it work in your favor. Unlike the lovely mess it is now. However, to accomplish it all, the first step is to be acceptive of it.”

“All Might…” Izuku murmured, taken aback and letting the 'lovely mess’ part go for now. When it was put like that, he looked so childish! “I-I see. Maybe… I'll try to go without this mask for now… but I'll be keeping my usual mask, okay?”

Toshinori took a deep breath. Well, at least that was progress. In fact, keeping the first mask would be safer than having a bunch of crazy students crawling all over the boy, if only at the moment. Aizawa would probably be the one to help them with their control over their quirks anyway. 'Inko will be so proud of what I've just managed here, though!’

“Alright, for now, I think it will do.”

Izuku was smiling awkwardly as he took off his mask. Everybody's heart skipped a bit at the sight, some people even loudly gasped or blushed. Seeing Izuku with that odd thing on was an experience so horrible that they forgot just how adorable the boy truly was. The return of such precious looks was very much welcomed but they definitely weren't prepared for that out of the blue! Izuku couldn't understand how he still got surprised by his classmates’ reaction.

As Izuku went back to his spot beside his new friends, All Might followed close behind, explaining how the battle trials would go. Ochako was really nervous - not exactly because of the activity, per se, but because of the envious glares, she got when she ended up being paired with Midoriya.

Another person who was nervous with the circumstances (although tried not to show) was Katsuki. It was just a few seconds but, a flashback of all the moments the blonde boy tried to beat him just to be unable to do that in the end because of some unexplainable force passed through his mind. If he failed, here again, everyone would think that he was as fazed by Deku's cuteness as they are and Katsuki simply couldn't have that! He had lived by the green haired boy’s side for their whole lives, surely he had developed a better resistance to it!

As if to prove this point to himself, Katsuki turned to look intensely at Deku. However, he regretted his actions just as quick, turning back to Iida and trying to hide the expression he had unconsciously made. 'Shit! Why did stupid Deku have to take off that idiotic mask in the end!?’. He would never say that out loud, though. It would be like admitting he was affected by that moron's cuteness and it couldn't be! Not that he was affected by it, he just didn't want those people to get any stupid ideas.

He walked inside the building angrily mumbling something under his breath with Iida, while the hero team waited outside for their turn to enter. Ochako was analyzing the building blueprints calmly. Unlike Aizawa's trials, this one had no promise of expelling so she wasn't really worried about it. However, it would be really hard to ignore Midoriya's rather nervous rambling by her side. Concerned about her new friend's well being, she tapped his shoulder to attract his attention. The boy jumped when she touched him, making both of them flinch away from each other.

“D-Deku!” Ochako blurted out before going back to what she wanted to say first. “Uh… You look really worried… did you noticed something we should be careful of?”

“N-no, it's just…”

Izuku took a deep breath and tried to calm down his trembling. Without thinking, Ochako immediately approached and held one of his arms rather protectively. Just watching the boy cope with whatever he was thinking about caused so much pain to her heart that it was almost physical. She had no idea whether it was his quirk or not that was making her react like that but it didn’t matter. They were friends, he was feeling bad, she'd comfort him - it is how this kind of relationship should be, no matter what. He looked grateful and that was enough.

When Izuku found his words, he returned to the topic. “Well, I mean… we're up against Kacchan… Iida too. We'd just better be on guard… right?”

Firstly, Ochako could only nod, trying to make sense of those words, until the meaning behind them hit her. “Oh… Bakugou's the one who used to bully you, isn't he? He was also with those Izulovers of all people...”

For a time, Izuku was silent, looking down. It was obviously a delicate matter to him and Ochako was almost regretful about bringing it back up again. She was afraid that their time to prepare themselves would be over before their conversation ended when Izuku talked again.

“Even before our friendship got complicated, Kacchan was already aggressive. He's always been like that, so it's not like he really changed after he got his quirk, you know? Still, he would just say mean things about me, never hit me or anything like that. He's told me why he used to do that; I didn't really understand but he said it wasn’t easy for him either.”

Ochako tilted her head, puzzled. “Sorry, but I don't think I understand…”

“Kacchan wants to prove himself first and foremost. Even if he was friends with everybody here, he wouldn't take it any easier, no matter what. He may be crude but he’s also amazing…” The girl blinked. She wasn't expecting this kind of declaration after his discourse. “His goals, confidence, strength, quirk… Kacchan's stronger than most of us in every way but… I just really don't want to lose to him, even if it’s silly to be nervous because of that.”

When he finished speaking, Izuku turned around to find Uraraka attentively looking at him. His cheeks flushed when he noticed what he said. “Ah, sorry. I'm sure I'm boring you with all of this…”

To his surprise, though, the girl hugged him tightly and, before he could do anything, she declared, “Maybe Bakugou is stronger than most of the people here, but he won't be strong enough if it’s the two of us in this. You're not alone, Deku, you've never been. We're gonna do this, together!”

“Uraraka…” Izuku mumbled, astonished, before hugging her back with a dumb smile on his face. “Thank you…”

With that, Ochako was blushing more than ever. She was supposed to only say those things to reassure Izuku but she ended up hugging him in the heat of the moment. She could practically feel the death glares her classmates were sending her through the cameras. Well, people were talking earlier about doing hero partnership with Deku but she was the first one who would get to work as his hero partner. If only for that instant, she let the moment prolong. Just why did she have to like this situation so much though!? The hug should be about making Izuku feel better, not her! As good as it felt, it also looked like she was taking advantage of him while he was stressed and she would never allow something like that.

With that in mind, Ochako separated them suddenly, almost scaring the boy once again. “Ah… Look. T-time's up! We s-should be getting in. C'mon!” She stuttered as she walked to the building with her back turned to Izuku so that he wouldn't see her own flustered face. He just shrugged and jogged for a moment to catch up.

Sneaking in was easier than they thought, so they were able to look for the bomb calmer than expected while Izuku took mental notes about possible scenarios in their test. It wasn’t until they were approaching the third-floor staircase that they were met with their first obstacle in the form of a flaming fireball of an explosion that they were barely able to dive away from.

“You okay, Uraraka?” Izuku spoke loudly so that the girl could hear him over the noise.

“Yeah! You…?” This time, he only nodded his head as they saw their opponent finally emerge from the smoke.

“Nice dodging, dumbasses.” Katsuki slowly walked towards them. His smile was close to maniacal and his eyes seemed to stare right into their souls. “Maybe you'll earn some damn points before I crush you!”

Just after he said that Katsuki lunged in Ochako's direction but was intercepted when Izuku grabbed one of his arms and surprisingly raised him until his back hit the ground on the other side. Both Katsuki and Ochako were astonished by the fast movement, the girl being the first to recover.

“Nice!! What a pro move!!”

It didn't take long for Katsuki to snap back to reality, though. He quickly righted himself, stood on his feet, and directed his attack at Uraraka once more. This pattern repeated again and again with little to no changes. Katsuki would go for Uraraka who, with zero combat training, always seemed at a disadvantage against the demolitionist, as Izuku provided support from the sidelines. When one of them tried to pass the blonde boy, he would block their way and everything would restart.

At first, Izuku thought he was pushing him to the sidelines and focusing on Uraraka because her quirk wasn't really good for combat though is an amazing utility, making her easier to defeat and the smart choice, but soon enough the true reason sank in. Katsuki knew he couldn't hurt Izuku physically because of his quirk so he went for Uraraka instead at the same time he prevented Izuku from moving forward since he would never let his partner get hurt if he could help it. Before the hero team could think of doing anything else, he blocked the way with an explosion from one hand while he propelled himself forward with the other and attacked again, completing the action cycle. At this rate, their time would end and the villains would win!

With that in mind, Izuku quickly made a plan and put himself in front of Uraraka before Katsuki could go for his next attack.

“I'm here now, Kacchan! I made it to UA! I’m in the hero course! Why won't you face me too!?”

“Deku!? What are you doing?” Ochako weakly mumbled behind him. She was tired and a bit hurt from the other boy's advances. She couldn’t keep this back-and-forth up much longer..

“Go away, Deku!” Katsuki screamed, being the only one who was fully aware of what was about to happen as he grabbed the pin on his gauntlet. Izuku didn’t know what would happen when he pulled it but he could guess and from the way All Might was shouting in his earpiece he was on the right track.

He had pulled the pin, despite All Might's warning.

The explosion was intense, making the building shake as a huge hole appeared by its side left in the wake of its destructive aftermath. From the surveillance room, it looked like the structure was bound to fall at any moment.

Ochako was on the floor, coughing due to the smoke harshly grating at her lungs and throat. Slowly, as to not aggravate her injuries, she gathered herself up and looked around. The first thing she registered was Midoriya, still in front of her, blocking the attack's full intensity. The arm he used to protect himself had the sleeve all torn and his hair was blown back. The rest of his uniform was in bad condition too but not nearly as destroyed as his sleeve. Then, her eyes found Bakugou.

If Ochako didn't know that the boy was Bakugou, she would never have guessed it was him. His face showed no signs of either his usual overconfidence or his anger. Instead, he seemed to be looking at Izuku in… Disbelief? Shock? Bafflement? Horror? They only knew each other for more or less one week but the girl was sure that if someday something made Bakugou freeze up and grow pale, that would be the day they'd have to fight against something scaringly unbeatable. Yet, there they were, facing that impossible situation.

Silence prevailed for several moments before Ochako raised, being careful not to strain herself. She tried to suppress a whine with no success, which attracted Midoriya's attention back to her. When he turned around to look at her, a flash from the entrance exam passed through her mind and she finally understood why Bakugou froze.

“Deku…” She said in awe. “Why is half of your face brighter than the other?”

Izuku sighed. That was one of the reasons why he had got the second mask for his hero uniform. Kacchan's explosion ripped off half of his mask. At least, since it wasn't full power, Ochako seemed only partially affected by it as well. He still had no idea how he'd go without the other half of it for the rest of the day, though. Damn, since it had never been damaged, he didn't even know if it could be repaired!

It would do him no good to keep thinking about that, though, so for the trial's duration he would focus on their objective, instead. However, when he turned back to Kacchan, the boy was sitting on the floor, facing the wall while mumbling lowly. Confused, Izuku walked to him.

“Ihurtstupiddekuhewontforgivemehe’llneverlookatmeanymorewhathaveIdonewhathaveIdonehowdoIfixthis…”

“Kacchan?” Izuku's voice didn't stop the senseless ramble. He couldn't understand anything Katsuki was saying but the other seemed worse than ever. Izuku put one hand of his shoulder to try and calm him down. “You alright?”

Katsuki flinched at Izuku's touch as he crawled closer to the wall. His mumbling also didn't stop as he stared at the cracked wall like it was the most interesting thing in the world. Izuku would insist on talking to him but Uraraka was faster and tied the capture-tape around Katsuki, who presented absolutely no resistance.

“What are you doing?”

“Tying Bakugou.” She stated the obvious while getting closer to Midoriya. Oh, Gosh, just how much Ochako wanted to hug him again! For some reason, she had wished to do that before but now that desire was almost consuming the whole of her, making the girl blush hard. Maybe she could even kiss that adorable, unmasked cheek too! Still, now wasn’t the time for that; they still had to complete their task. She could do that later. “If we manage to tie Iida too, our victory is certain.”

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief with Uraraka's last sentence. She was still using 'we’ and 'our’ rather than 'I’ and 'your' - that was a good sign. He looked over at Katsuki again, feeling a  wave of sadness consuming him. Though it hurt, there was nothing they could do for him. “Okay. I hope the transport robots take Kacchan to a safe place soon but for now, I suppose that the only thing we can do is to proceed with the trial, right?”

Ochako smiled widely, nodding her head. Of course, it was right; Midoriya was always right!

Looking for the bomb was more difficult than expected since the aftermath of Katsuki’s explosion left much of the building in disrepair. There were no words to describe Izuku's happiness when they found the right room. It was all empty, except for the bomb and Iida, who seemed to be giving a valiant effort at ignoring the catastrophe that happened some floors below despite his nervous pacing. Uraraka was about to enter the room when Izuku held her arm, forcing her to stop and look at him.

“Uraraka, what are you doing?”

“I'm going to win the trial for us.” She said it so determinedly that the boy almost choked on his own spit.

“N-no! You can't just go like that, it's too risky. We need a plan first.”

If Izuku thought she was determined before, that was nothing compared to her face now and how much she tried to escape his grip. “I can't let you go there! You could get hurt!”

Izuku felt like rolling his eyes at that but, at the same time, he was too scared by her behavior to do that. “It's just a test, Uraraka. Even if Iida wasn't affected by my cuteness, he wouldn't hurt me. Also, I don't think we have much time left, so the faster we resolve this the better.”

At that, Ochako gave up on going there by herself and listened to Izuku's idea, of which she only approved when all the possible danger for him was removed. While she prepared herself for her part of the plan, Izuku walked into the room, which attracted Iida's attention almost immediately.

“Hi, Iida.” He greeted, faking innocence the best he could. It didn't seem really believable but if the other had noticed, he didn't comment on it.

“Mi-Midoriya…!?” The other stuttered, having difficulties understanding the image in front of him.

Iida couldn't remember Midoriya being that adorable before he entered the building, so he quickly came to the obvious conclusion that the boy must be using his quirk intentionally. However, he simply couldn't bring himself to feel attacked (they were in a simulated battle, so he was supposed to at least pretend he felt like that!). Instead, he felt blessed to be considered worthy of witnessing such a precious sight a second time! He was lucky that his helmet covered all his face so Iida still had the advantage that Midoriya had no idea how much he was being affected by his quirk.

Izuku took a step forward, Iida took a step back. “Why are you going away?” The green haired boy asked, cursing himself mentally because of how fake his sentences sounded. It didn't seem to matter to his target, though.

“I… It is my mission to protect the bomb!” Iida tried not to look at his face, concentrating on his feet instead. Maybe the effect could be reduced if he did that. “I’m sorry, Midoriya, but I can't allow you to come any closer.”

“Oh…” Despite Iida's warning, Izuku walked towards him. The taller boy hurriedly tried to block the way to there however humanly possible. He knew he would never be able to do something directly against the other, at least not under these conditions, so it would have to do. Izuku spoke again only when they were mere centimeters apart. “Still, that won't be necessary.”

Iida was so drowned in his sweet voice and now unavoidable cute face looking up at him from so close that the words took a long time to sink in. “W-wha… what do you mean by that?”

Before he could process the small smile the other boy was making, Iida heard a high-pitched, female voice shout behind him. “Secured!! The weapon!!”

“Uraraka!” Iida turned around so quickly that Izuku could feel the whiplash, understanding slowly dawned on him. Midoriya was there as a distraction so that Uraraka could float unnoticed and touch the bomb! When Iida turned back to him, he noticed that the boy was in the middle of tying him with the capture-tape. The hero team had planned it so that they'd have the victory either way!

Midoriya Izuku was the superior competitor. Again!

While that, the students in the monitor room were going crazy.

“Oh my gosh! Did you see that!?”

“Just what was Bakugou thinking!? He could've destroyed the building with all of them inside it!”

“Who cares? We all know Bakugou is crazy. More importantly, HAVE YOU SEEN MIDORIYA!?”

“Yeah, we'll get to see him without the mask on!”

“I'm so excited!”

When they heard All Might and the three students getting close (Bakugou was already taken to the infirmary), the conversation slowed down. Everybody was curious to see Izuku without his cover, even if it was only without part of it. The ones who weren't with him at the entrance exams could only imagine how angelic he would be as their imagination was running higher than ever at the moment.

However, all their hope was crushed when the hero and his students entered the room. Izuku had Iida's helmet on.

“You gotta be kidding me!”

“Not manly, bro.”

“My shining soul brother!” Once more Aoyama gripped Izuku's arm looking worriedly at his eyes. “Are you alright? That Bakugou didn't mess up your bright face, did he!?”

“Oh, if he did…”

“Please, everyone, calm down.” Izuku said. Even though his voice was muffled by the helmet, they still heard him and did as told. “It was me who asked for Iida's helmet. It would be too much if I appeared here with only my ripped mask.”

“Young Midoriya is right!” All eyes went to All Might, who placed his hands on Izuku's shoulders. “He still doesn't know how to control his quirk so it is safer to everyone if he has his head covered by something else until our support department fixes his mask!”

“I wouldn't mind being hit by Midoriya's quirk... Kero.” Tsuyu spoke more to herself than anything else but earned a few agreements from the class.

“No, believe me, you wouldn’t want it.” Izuku tried to say but was immediately followed by Uraraka and Iida’s:

“Yes, we would.”

For a moment, everybody just looked at each other, confused. In the end, Midoriya sighed, almost making the helmet fall when he raised his hands. “Why do I feel like I'm the only one that doesn't like my quirk?”

“That's because it's true. We love your quirk.”

Again, Izuku didn't say anything until he turned to the exit. “Alright, I'm really getting a third mask now.”

Class 1-A didn't let him. Instead, they held him in the monitor room the whole time until the trial's ended and they had to head back to class. There, they got a paper bag so that Izuku could take Iida's helmet off. When they also ended what they had to do there, they accompanied Izuku to the infirmary to check on Kacchan and then a smaller group was formed to go with him to his home, the only time they left him.

Izuku sighed for what felt like the millionth time today before opening the front door. He felt he'd better get used to all of it soon since there was no indication of anything changing any time soon.

Chapter Text

“Midoriya has just entered his home. Repeat: Midoriya has just entered his home.”

“Alright. You may come to the base.”

The radio conversation made Miru Rikugou stop rewriting the record book destroyed by Bakugou to observe the movement. The Izulovers base was pretty small for a Fanclub but, at the same time, fairly big. That’s of course, taking into consideration that it was located on a tree at the yard of Midoriya's building. The privileged place made the stress of being inside a wooden box, meters above the ground with objects and people being forced to stay too close to each other from lack of space, worth it. Who wouldn't want to see Midoriya stretching after waking up through the club's telescope first thing in the morning after all? Besides, only the Izulover's council was allowed to go up there, so Rikugou should feel blessed for being part of such a select group.

However, as Goei Daisuke, the council's only boy, arrived at the rendezvous point (which was actually their only location), the girl was reminded of the source of her headache far too soon for her liking.

“Goei, you were late to see Midoriya all the way home! Again!” Shuryou Midori, Izulover's founder, and leader, screamed right by her side, making Rikugou flinch and almost scratch through an entire page. “How are we supposed to earn his trust when you fail to protect him like this!?”

“Oh, hello. How are you? Yes, I'm fine, thank you very much for your worry. I had a great day today taking Midoriya here, thank you for asking.” He answered cynically as he took his seat. Before their leader could restart her speech, he opened his backpack. “I bought 4 KitKat packs. You girls want some?”

Immediately, their official photographer, Shashin Mitsuko, jumped on the chocolate like she hadn't eaten in ages, only stopping to take some photos of them with her polaroid quirk. Rikugou also picked one for herself, only more carefully. She would never not want to mess up with Shuryou, even if just indirectly. Goei also did his best to keep the room as noisy as possible. None of them really liked the leader (just as much as the leader didn't like them), but they all shared their love for the very same boy and were chosen to be there from a large group of followers, so they tried to keep up with each other the best they could. Normally, their patience didn't last long, though.

“Are you crazy!? Do you want our secret base to be discovered!? Stop screaming!”

“Shuryou, you're the only one screaming here.”

As the furious girl turned around, mumbling some unbearable curse, the other members giggled quietly. Shashin, being shorter than everyone else, had to move closer so that Goei could listen to her. “Don't mind her. She's only jealous that we're the only ones who can be near Midoriya every day.”

Rikugou also felt constantly jealous and threatened by that but she didn't say anything.

“I'd just like to know why when something happens to Midoriya, Goei is never there when it is literally his job to be!”

“Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's because I only can't protect him when I'm not there? I'm so damn good at what I do that when I'm there no one dares to approach him.” He said before putting half a piece of the chocolate inside his mouth, chewing as he completed the idea. “You know the boy is gorgeous - of course he'll attract people. Most of it is harmless and, even if it wasn't, I'm sure he would take care of them easily. I mean, you have seen his muscles, right? I thought that he was cute when I first saw him but after he started working out, man…”

“The point is -” Rikugou finally spoke up, all the eyes looking at her then. “Goei studies practically 800 meters away from UA. It's no surprise that he can't escort Midoriya home every day. It's not humanly possible, even if his quirk had something to do with moving faster. It's already a miracle he ever gets the time to do that when their classes finish almost at the same time.”

Almost as soon as Rikugou finished her defense, she regretted ever speaking, since Shuryou's senseless rage started to target her instead.

“Oh, yeah. It's very good to remember, people, that we actually don't have anyone studying there at UA. After all, the reason we have to send Goei there is because he's the closest one when we could have one of us there to take care of Midoriya. Isn't that right, Miru?”

Rikugou, just like the other two, froze at her spot. Their leader's voice, although it was terribly out of character, could be so cold and frightening sometimes that it almost seemed like a quirk. Whether or not that was the case, it wasn't the sound of the voice what truly hurt her, but the words pronounced with it.

“I… I did my best…”

“Well, it seems your best is not enough even for a simple support department exam.”

“Hey, stop that. UA's exams are known to be one of the hardest in our country, hero course or not. It's not like Miru was the only Izulover applying for UA. She's also always doing a great job as our treasurer, there’s no reason to be so harsh on her.” Goei tried to help her, with Shashin nodding her head by his side as well, but Shuryou wouldn't have any of it.

“Right, I don't know if any of you’ve noticed, since I'm the only one who really does any of the hard work around here, but we are at a true disadvantage here. Midoriya's class has clearly declared war on the Izulovers while they pass most of their days with him in their class and have his trust. As stated before, we don’t have the privilege of studying at the same school anymore and apparently he didn’t even know we existed before that day! Worse, he thought that we’ve always been mocking him!”

“Oh, senpai didn’t notice you,” Goei said ironically, Shashin trying to suppress her giggle by his side. “what a shame.”

“Stop that! I’m deadly serious right now. My name is Midori, I’m clearly destined to be with Midoriya and you’re messing with our fate.”

“Yeah, you and all the others, how many could it be? Ten thousand girls named Midori in this country?”

Before the boy could keep on with his sarcasm about the insane reasoning of Izulover’s creator, Rikugou intervened once again, despite being scolded by her less than one minute ago. “Don’t put all the fault on us. All the Izulovers do their best to keep up with your crazy ‘Izulover worship schedule’ every day - taking into consideration all our members and rules, we’re almost a religion. It also didn’t help when you basically told everybody about our social media like that, it made us look like stalkers.” Shuryou was biting her own lips in anger but before she could say anything, the other girl continued. “If you want to know what I think, as the club’s treasurer and strategist, we should make peace with Midoriya’s new friends. They are important in his life now and we’ll benefit a lot more from it if they sympathize with us than hate us.”

The president snorted loudly. “Yeah, good thing it’s not you who decides things here then.”

Everybody else tried not to roll their eyes. ‘There she goes again again’ A common thought among them.

“Miru, I see you really don’t understand what’s happening right now.” Shuryou slowly approached her, one hand on the table and the other on the back of her chair, as if to hold her in place. “You are in your place right now because the club recognized you as one of the most intelligent and determined members out of all of us. If you couldn’t pass one test that would earn you both your dream school and Midoriya, then the opinions of people will change. Maybe not at this exact moment, but the president’s words hold a lot of weight. By chance, that president is me.”

Rikugou stilled under the combined weight of her words near breath. Was… was she threatening her?

“Sorry, but… what are you trying to say?”

Shuryou’s creepy smile widened. Both Shashin and Goei were paralyzed, scared by that definitely not subtle threat. “Unless you put that brain of yours to work for once and invent some way for us to overcome UA’s barriers and be at the same level as Midoriya again, I’ll not only force you out from the Izulovers, but also make sure you’ll not be able to see him again. Ever.”

“No!” Rikugou screamed without thinking. “You can’t keep me from seeing Midoriya, even if I’m not here!”

“I am rich, I have my own contacts, dear. I can do something like that easily if I try, you know?” Finally, she let her go to stretch her arms, obviously annoyed by the situation. For a few seconds, Rikugou’s eyes locked with Goei’s and then Shashin’s, all of them at least a bit scared, as Shuryou kept rambling. “If only I had contacts in UA too…”

“Uh… look!” Shashin called suddenly in a nervous voice. “Isn’t that Midoriya working out at his balcony?”

“Where!?” The president practically threw herself over the table so that she could get to the telescope first.

“At his balcony, do you have hearing problems by any chance?” Goei asked with his usual irony but also excitedly as he saw that Midoriya was indeed working out on his balcony. Even from this far, he was being reduced to a blushing mess.

“I always get the best angles when Midoriya doesn’t notice me. Even when he has an ugly paper bag on, he’s so beautiful.” Shashin repeated as she took photos with her quirk.

While that happened, Rikugou watched everything from her chair. As much as looking at Midoriya seemed appealing, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. Her hands clenched the record book, not completely rewritten yet. At that moment, she only knew one thing.

The Izulovers needed to have their great comeback and she would have to make sure it would happen soon

...

“What’s it like learning from All Might?”

Izuku jolted, snapped his head around and looked at the journalist, resigning himself to his fate. He tried anyway possible to take another path to avoid the multitude of people from the several media groups, all trying desperately to get some words about All Might while the hero himself didn’t show up. Apparently, even with his cuteness covered by a paper bag, people were inexplicably attracted to him somehow.

“Eh… ah… sorry, I’m due at the nurse’s office…” Izuku mumbled the first excuse he could think of before running inside UA, ignoring the reporters’ comments behind him: ‘Was that a paper bag on his head?’, ‘Why did he sound so adorable?’, ‘Is it just me or was he pretty cute despite the bag?’ and many others he couldn’t catch from the distance he was now at. He sighed when he finally passed through the front doors. It looks like his cuteness was really finding some strange new ways to affect people when just his face wasn’t doing the job. Just his luck.

He had walked his way to class 1-A without any other major problem after that. However, before he could open the door, a hand blocked him. Startled, Izuku anxiously looked at the unknown person. She had pink hair and a very strange pair of goggles over her head, which only made sense when the boy noticed she was wearing a support department uniform. Her yellow eyes seemed to stare right into his soul as she for no apparent reason approached him with an ever growing wicked smile. Izuku gulped.

“Power Loader has told me everything about you!” She said rather enthusiastically, what didn't do anything to help Izuku. “Mr. Cuteness, be my guinea pig!”

“What!?” Izuku tried not to scream as he walked back, only to have her closing their distance again. Fortunately, the paper bag covered his blush. 'Mr. Cuteness? Just what…’ “Who are you!?”

“I'm Hatsume Mei, from the support course!” The girl spoke with a prideful posture. “Last Tuesday you left your mask here to be rebuilt and Power Loader finally let me work with him on it!”

Hatsume pulled his ripped mask from nowhere, Izuku only more puzzled by the second.

“Uh… are you here because it is ready?”

As opposed to her overbearing excitement, Hatsume sighed tiredly for a moment before going back to her previous state, as if nothing had happened. “Unfortunately, we still haven't managed to do much. Its material is really rare, it is such a blast to have the opportunity to work with it! We contacted its creator this morning so the feedback will take some time to come in.”

Izuku blinked. Was that how people felt when he rambled too fast? “Then… why are you here?”

“I was trying to talk to the kid with the grenades! It’s absolutely amazing that he was able to rip the material at all! His quirk must be strong, I can already see the babies I could make out of it!”

The girl had sparkles in her eyes. The way she talked about it, so passionately, was moving, even though Izuku couldn't really understand half of what she was saying. Well, at least he could understand her awe about a quirk so he stuck to that.

“Oh, sure! Kacchan's quirk is amazing! He probably won't talk to you about it but I have some notes about his explosions. If you want to read them, I can bring my notebook tomorrow.”

In lieu of agreeing, like Izuku expected her to do, Hatsume just leaned in even closer, like it was possible, and kept on with her overwhelming rambling. “Still, you’re pretty interesting too, Mr. Cuteness! You see, your mask’s material has become really expensive over the years because of its resistance, so for your quirk to be suppressed by it and work on people anyway, even if not at full potential, it’s really something! I wonder how powerful it is, how I could improve your equipment so that you can have real control over your cuteness, how I could make so many new babies for it! Maybe a ‘light-absorbing setting’ that would change how much of your face will be lightened so that people would only see the part of your cuteness you want them to see? Or maybe a ‘voice potentiator’ so that your angelic voice could reach more people, like a sirens song!?” Hatsume giggled after what appeared to be several minutes without breathing. “So many possibilities!”

Again, Izuku couldn’t get much of what she said, but one thing stood out. He raised his hands to touch his face inside the paper bag as if contemplating his options. “Real control… over my cuteness?”

Hatsume nodded eagerly but before either of them could do anything else, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero interrupted the scene.

“Hey, Midoriya. What’s up?”

“We’re talking about the babies I could make for him!” Hatsume answered instead, Izuku could only look from the group to her. “Midoriya, you should go to UA’s workshop sometime! I’m always there, we can work on something for your cuteness anytime!”

Izuku smiled under his paper bag, eager to exchange numbers with her (‘wait, would this be the first time I’ll have a girl’s number outside of my classroom or family!?’), while the other boys just stared at them, petrified.

“Make babies?”

“For Midoriya?”

“At the workshop?”

The five of them just kept looking at each other for a moment until realization hit Izuku, making him flinch and blush hard. If Hatsume had noticed the double meaning of her own words, she wasn’t fazed by it.

“N-n-no, d-don’t think like that!” The boy stuttered. “She’s talking about creating equipment for me!”

“Yeah, the most adorable babies to help him with his quirk!”

“Okay…” Sero was the first to speak up again, looking directly at Izuku. “The class will start anytime now, we should get in there.”

With that, the three boys managed to get Izuku to enter in the room and leave Hatsume behind, oblivious to their silent conversation. It seemed that even at UA Midoriya wasn’t completely safe if that girl’s overbearing behavior was anything to go by. They would surely discuss that later in their chat group ‘Midoriya’s UA Fanclub’, which already had almost 50 participants. They even suspected that some of them were actually teachers. They also had to come up with a better name to stand against ‘Izulovers.’ Ashido’s outburst couldn’t be their name forever.

It didn’t take long for Aizawa to enter 1-A’s room with his usual sleepy state, making everyone go to their assigned seats.

“Good work with yesterday’s battle training. I’ve looked over your grades and evaluations.” He said tediously as he put some papers on his desk and sat. He looked in Katsuki’s direction, gaining the boy’s attention. “Bakugou, why did you refuse UA’s offer for therapy?”

The boy also, as usual, looked angry with the teacher’s remark. “I don’t need some moronic old man talking about stupid bullshit feelings with me! I’m fine!”

Aizawa arched one eyebrow so subtly that it would be necessary to stand centimeters from his face to notice it. “Just don’t get traumatized about touching Midoriya again, then.”

“I’m not traumatized! That was just his dumb quirk!” He tried to defend himself rather furiously, only making his classmates giggle more.

‘Kacchan being bullied… I guess that’s UA for you.’ Izuku couldn’t help but think.

“Talking about Midoriya, it seems he did the trial without part of his mask.” Izuku jolted as his name was called and the class’s laugh died. Aizawa was looking at him deadly serious, making the boy tremble in his seat. “Although it proved that your quirk is useful even without your strength, you should still learn how to control it. If it was a real situation with civilians around or a partner who couldn’t cope well with it, everything could’ve gotten out of hand. You would be making an already bad situation worse. Also, just covering your face with another mask isn’t going to solve your problem.”

“Yes, sir!” Izuku responded with a terrified expression. Maybe he should take note of that on one of his notebooks.

“Now, on to homeroom business. Sorry for the sudden announcement, but today you’ll pick a class president.”

“Such a normal, school-like thing!”

While Aizawa picked his sleeping bag up to get into it again, the students were going crazy with the prospect of being the class president. Normally, it’s not a very cherished position, but in a hero course, it meant leading the group, something suited for a top pro hero in the making. ‘This is another opportunity to prove myself! I can’t just let it slip past me!’ Silence fell over the room when they noticed that Izuku had a raised hand as well, though.

“Midoriya wants to be the president!” A pair of floating clothes shouted.

“The role can be his, then.” A student with a tail said as he tilted his head in confirmation.

Izuku grabbed the paper bag and pulled it down in embarrassment as almost everybody seemed to agree. Maybe he should look into a more opaque mask like this bag if only to hide his constantly recurring blush.

“You can't just give it to me if you want it too! It's not right!”

“Yeah, it's stupid to let Deku be the president like this!” For the first time, Izuku couldn't help but agree with Kacchan.

That statement was followed by heated arguments about why the green haired boy was perfect for the job. He was running out of ideas to stop it when Iida came to his aid, suggesting a fair election. Izuku thought about hugging him on the spot but decided on just bowing a 'thank you’ instead. It made Iida redden anyway.

To Izuku’s disgruntlement, half of the class voted on him nonetheless.

“Why are you so worried about it, Deku?” Uraraka would ask him later at lunch. “I’m sure you'll do it just fine, and the rest of the class agrees. Well, everybody but Bakugou, but deep down he believes in you too... I guess.”

“I’m just a little worried that people just did that because they're affected by my quirk,” Izuku confessed as he very carefully raised a bite to his mouth in a way that his food wouldn't touch the paper bag. “If I end up being the president only due to appearance, they'll be disappointed in me.”

“Worry not, Midoriya. From the little we know of each other, it is evident to me that you have the determination and hard work necessary to be a great leader.” Iida declared between spoonfuls. Both Ochako and Izuku looked at him with surprise. “Your grit and fast decisiveness are what made me vote for you in the first place.”

“Yes, Iida is right!” Uraraka took advantage of the other's speech to voice her own opinion. “Even if people thought about your cuteness when they did it, you shouldn't think bad of it. I myself guessed that your quirk would be good when you need to gather everyone's attention! Also, you’d just need to go to the principal's office with a smile on your face and we'd have everything we asked.”

“Iida, Uraraka… w-well… when you say it like that…” Izuku tried to lower his head a bit, getting shy with their words as he purposefully chose to ignore he last comment. “Thank you very much for your trust, you're amazing friends.”

“It's alright, Deku! We're here for you…”

Ochako stopped talking when she felt a finger on her cheek. It took her several seconds to process that it was Izuku running his thumb with delicacy, dangerously near her mouth's side. Her whole face blushed heavily in a matter of seconds, both because of the boy's action and because of the attention it attracted to their table.

“Oh, sorry!” Izuku said when he noticed what he had just done. “I just saw this rice glued on your cheek and wiped it off without thinking.”

“I-it's f-f-f-f-fffine…” The flustered girl mumbled as she saw that there was indeed a rice grain on his thumb. For a moment, she thought that he would even eat it but he just left it on a corner of his tray.

'Why's my heart beating so fast!?’ Deku would be the death of her, Ochako decided then.

“S-so… Iida, didn't you wanna be president too?” She asked, to an also rather flustered Iida, trying to bring the light atmosphere back. “You've got glasses and everything…”

Thankfully, their conversation went back to normal for the few minutes they had before a terribly loud alarm went off. Someone had managed to infiltrate the building it seemed, if what the third year told them was right. Izuku was trying to decide on the best plan of action to follow in that situation but before he could pick one he felt himself being raised high. When he looked down, he saw Satou, Kouda, Shouji, and Yaoyorozu carrying him while Bakugou made sure their way was free to pass through the panicked crowd.

Izuku shook his head in embarrassment again. His middle school's false fire alarm episode flashed in his head. The resemblance was scary.

Luckily, Iida noticed that it was just the press and, with Uraraka's help, floated over the exit door to yell as much at everyone, making them stop. Shouji, Kouda, Satou, and Yaoyorozu put Izuku on the ground while apologizing for their bold attitude. The boy was more worried about holding his paper bag, since it almost fell several times during their run.

Later that day, however, Izuku would acknowledge Iida's feat.

“W-we'd like to choose the other council members but before that… I believe that Iida is better suited to be class president.” Everyone looked surprised at Izuku, Iida being the most shocked of them. The freckled boy smiled anyway. “You all saw how well he lead everyone in that crisis. If I am to be the president, people would worry about me first because of my cuteness and, as we saw a few minutes ago, it wouldn’t be a good situation at all. If you need my quirk for any reason, you can just ask me to use it, but I don't need to be president to act for 1-A.”

“I think Iida is the correct choice for this job.” Izuku concluded.

People were fast to agree with Izuku’s point of view and, before that day was over, Iida conducted the election of all the other council's members. Despite his classmates’ asking, the boy didn't agree to occupy another position again.

It was only when he was on his train to home that Izuku wondered how someone was able to break into UA's secure campus.

…

“When I told you to come up with some plan to break into UA, I didn't think you would do it so fast!”

It was the first time Shuryou Midori called one of her club council members and she had to say - she would never have expected that the reason for that would be good. Well, sometimes she liked to daydream about doing that to show off that Midoriya had proposed to her but she would never announce such an important occurrence through a phone call. Anyway, Miru Rikugou was lucky to plan something that quickly and Midori was lucky to have some way to meet her dream boy again. His stuck up classmates wouldn't see what hit them!

Miru's deep sigh told her the opposite, though. “Shuryou… you are referring to the media incident at UA today, right?”

“What else would I be talking about!?” She wondered out loud while doodling some hearts with 'Midoriya Izuku + Shuryou Midori’ and 'Mrs. Midoriya Midori’ on her chemistry homework. “A simple journalist wouldn't be able to do that. Only a true Izulover like you would! See? It's not that difficult to put your brain to work...”

“President, that wasn't me or any other Izulover.”

Midori's pencil broke when she suddenly clenched her hands, truly surprised. She didn't even bother correcting her club treasurer’s behavior (Midori would never let someone interrupting her get away with it!), only spilling the fearful question.

“So… who was it? Was Shashin there to register it?”

“No, none of us was there. The vibrations I felt, though…” A pause. Miru was probably using her quirk to reconfirm it, like not even she could believe what happened. Miru had never doubted her quirk before.

“What!? What is it!?”

“There's something there, Shuryou. Something - someone - bigger than us. They're… they don't let me see any deeper than this...”

Midori's phone slipped through her hand and fell on her bed. The mumbled voice calling for her name wasn't even registered by her ears anymore. When she picked the device up again, she didn't bother confirming if the call was still on before ordering. “Call all the Izulovers! Emergency reunion at my house! Now!”

To be honest, Midori had never really minded searching how quirks exactly worked but from all she had seen over the years, Miru's was quite powerful. If this entity had managed to block it, it could only mean that something seriously dangerous was going on. The girl had absolutely no idea how or what they would do, but the Izulovers would do something. Worshipping and protecting Midoriya Izuku were the sole reasons why the club was created in the first place, after all.

Midori would be damned if she allowed something to happen to the one who saved her, the one who spared such kind words for her sake.

Her hero.

Chapter Text

“Deku, what the fuck!?”

Even before Katsuki drew everyone's attention to him, Izuku was already trying to make himself smaller and hide his face. He had taken his paper bag off for less than five minutes and he was regretting it already.

“Isn't he magnifique?” Aoyama admired the work he had done to his 'shining soul brother’ with a wide smile on his face.

“I-I-It’s nothing! It’s just that… both my mask and my hero uniform are still being repaired so Aoyama offered me his spare costume…”

Izuku was rambling unconsciously, trying to find the right words to explain why exactly he showed up wearing what looked like a 'Wild, wild pussycats’ cosplay. Why Aoyama owned that would forever stay an eternal mystery since 1-A’s students were too busy studying Izuku up and down to ask the real questions. Even if they weren't, nobody would ever think of complaining about the blonde boy's extravagant tastes again, anyway.

Just like the hero group's original outfit, his had a (fake) communication device designed as cat ears on his head, cat gloves, a tail and a belt with a buckle resembling a cat paw, skirt and a collared top with straps and a bell around his neck. However, some modifications were made for Izuku, such as leggings under the skirt to hide his legs (but left nothing to the imagination), a coat to protect his arms, and Pixie-Bob's tinted visor look-alike, which was much bigger than normal for some reason, being perfect to act as Izuku's mask.

“It looks very cute on you. Kero.” Tsuyu stated. Besides her, Yuuga, Mina and Tooru were the only ones who dared to get closer to Izuku. Everyone else was either a blushing mess or trying with all their will not to so boldly stare at the boy.

“This costume fits you so well, Midoriya! I didn't know how much I missed your cute face until now.” The invisible girl moved her gloves and shoes just as excited as her voice sounded.

“Yeah, you should use it as your hero uniform instead! It's so you!” Mina jumped cheerfully to his side, not caring to hide just how much she liked it.

“What!? N-no!” Izuku almost screamed in agony as he noticed how his quirk was once again acting on people. Why couldn't they see just how ridiculous that is!? “I'm not gonna work in this thing!”

“Oui, he's right! He can't work in this!”

Everybody looked shocked at Aoyama. Izuku normally would thank him for saying that, but he was the one to suggest the costume at first place. The green haired boy knew that nothing good could come out of that in the end. As the other seemed to manifest glitter from nowhere and threw it on Izuku's clothes, he knew he was right.

“Voilà! He's fabulous now!”

Izuku tried to hide his embarrassed face behind his hands while the noise around him just seemed to intensify. If anybody was still giving attention to Iida and his attempt to make the class board the bus in order, they weren't anymore. Iida himself had to stop and admire the unfair, absolutely bright cuteness Izuku was then. It was impossible to look away! Izuku alone was too cute already, but when some actual effort was put into it, it looked like he could dominate the world with no need to ever take his mask off!

“Nice…” Even Mineta at this point had surrendered to the boy's charms. He was about to reach for the one small space of skin between the skirt and the shirt that was teasing him when three hands grabbed his arm tightly before he could. His nosebleed suddenly stopped as he squealed, frightened.

“No!” Uraraka, Bakugou, and Todoroki told the debauchee at the same time. The first two looked at Shouto, puzzled by his hurry to protect Izuku, given that they hadn't spent too much time together. The boy only shrugged, staying true to his aloof nature.

“Really, guys, this uniform is nothing…”

“Why are you taking so long…?” Izuku was interrupted by Aizawa, who stopped dead in his tracks once he took note of his student. His face didn't change a bit or showed any kind of emotion, but his lack of response was worrisome in itself.

“Aizawa-sensei, are you okay?”

Their teacher took several seconds to answer that as he turned his face from the teenagers. Midoriya alone looked so much like a kitten already and that outfit just made it all the worse on him! If he kept looking at him too much Aizawa was afraid that he wouldn't be able to resist anymore and would adopt the boy and take him home right then and there. If they ever met the real 'Wild Wild Pussycats’, they'd surely have a big problem. Hopefully, if that ever happened, Midoriya wouldn't be in that cat costume at least.

“Just stop wasting time and get on the bus already.” The teacher finally said as he entered the vehicle himself. Iida quickly took the opportunity and walked to the doors as well.

“You heard Aizawa-sensei! Line up according to your I.D. numbers…”

Izuku rolled his eyes as Iida's instructions were ignored since many of their classmates wanted to sit by his side (or make sure that Mineta was as far away as possible) instead. He couldn't help but feel a bit amused by the situation. All of that could be really comical if only he wasn't the one with the ridiculous clothes or quirk. Sometimes, he wished he only had One For All in the end. Having a strong quirk and not receiving unwanted attention? That would be the most perfect scenario ever!

“I generally say what's on my mind, Midoriya.”

The girl's sudden statement startled Izuku, who was too deep in thought to really pay attention to his surroundings. He turned to her, a little embarrassed by his reaction. “Oh?! What is it, Asui?”

“Call me Tsuyu.” She asked as she moved a bit closer to him and looked into his eyes with her usual smiling expression. “The strength enhancement part of your quirk reminds me a lot of All Might's.”

Izuku trembled and squealed under his classmates’ curious glances. Okay, maybe One For All was an inconvenience too, sometimes…

Izuku could only hope that their training site wouldn't be that far.

…

Daisuke was panting hard and sweating too much by the time the bus had stopped in front of an unknown building. He couldn't wait to turn 18 and be legally able to have his own driving license - that old, basic bike of his could barely do the job. If things continued like that, he was afraid that Shuryou would try to force him out of his role in the Izulovers’ council as the leader of Izuku's official protection squad or something like that.

Since the media incident at UA some days ago, Daisuke and some other members were taking turns missing classes to follow Midoriya and make sure he wouldn't be attacked by whatever evil force Miru had felt. It had been an exhaustive week so far and the most dangerous thing that had happened was Midoriya's brutal pop quiz on Monday. Even with the apparent calmness, Shuryou had forbidden him and his team to return to their normal activities just yet. She had even given them direct orders to update their social media every half an hour with news about their boy.

Daisuke sighed as he found a good place to leave his bike. All of this was killing him - what was the use of a bodyguard if he was too tired to do his job!? The boy was almost falling asleep on his feet, how was he supposed to act when the time comes? He was so distracted with his thoughts that he didn't even feel that there was an old acquaintance approaching him from behind until it was too late.

“What are you doing here, creep?”

Bakugou grabbed Daisuke's shoulder with a strong grip and turned him around, too fast for his ‘sleep deprived’ mind's good.

“Bakugou…?” He asked groggily, which just seemed to raise the other's rage. “You recognize me…?”

“Of course, I can recognize you fuckers anywhere!”

Daisuke clearly had a death wish, since he snorted at Bakugou's face. “You’d better fix your Izulovers radar then; you don't know how to recognize one of us even when looking in a mirror.”

“I'm not a fucking creep for stupid Deku!”

“Deep down you all are, you just can't admit it. I mean, who wouldn't be? Midoriya’s so-”

“Shut up!” Bakugou was doing his best to hold himself back and not shout (he didn't want people to see him there with this guy) but it was difficult. “I know that it's you who broke UA's gates! Keep the fuck away from us. I'm gonna be the best hero this country has ever seen; I can't have you mess up with UA when I'm still here!”

Daisuke arched one eyebrow at that. “Is that what you think? That we were the ones who destroyed that?” He snorted once more, making Bakugou give a low growl and tighten his grip on his shoulder. “We’re not morons, we wouldn't do anything to expose Midoriya or block our access to him indefinitely.”

“I'm not an idiot! I know it was you, who else would be stupid to such a point as to do that!?”

The boy sighed. He was too tired for this. “Look, it doesn't matter if you believe me or not, it still wasn't us. There's someone really dangerous here looking for something at UA. Whether it is about Midoriya or not, you should keep an eye out for anything weird.”

It was Bakugou's turn to snort. “Sure, now you creeps are creating some kind of conspiracy theory too. UA is one of the safest places in Japan. It’s built like a fucking fortress. Besides you weirdos, no one would dare mess with it!”

“People used to talk like that about Hogwarts too and it was invaded seven years in a row.”

“Bullshit!” Bakugou, who had never read any Harry Potter book, said. “How'd you know if there's some crazy guy coming after UA anyway?”

“The same way I know your class has climbed down all those stairs and is looking for you near the bus right now.”

Bakugou laughed at that statement before looking over the other's head and verifying that, indeed, people had gone back to the bus and were looking around the vehicle. “What the fuck!? How'd you know that!? You haven't looked away from me!”

“There's a lot about me you don't remember, Bakugou. The Izulovers are everywhere, never forget that.”

“Kacchan?” A familiar voice called out very near them. “Where are you?”

Katsuki turned to see Deku but when he looked back to the other guy, he had completely vanished. As the green haired boy approached, Katsuki tried looking around but there was no sight of him.

“That fucking creep!”

“Are you alright, Kacchan?” Katsuki had to put one hand over his eyes so that he wouldn't get blinded by the glitter on his clothes. It wasn't because Deku was so cute in that costume that his 'traumatized mind’ would remember when he hurt the boy and be terrified of doing that again, like that idiot Jirou had suggested. Damn, why did Aizawa-sensei have to make things sound like that? “We're all waiting for you.”

“You didn't need to do that, you morons! I was already going.”

Then, the class could finally enter the facility, only one of them aware of the eyes following their every move.

…

"All Might, the symbol of peace, isn’t he here!? I wonder if some dead kids will bring him here…?"

Tomura was interrupted in the middle of his evil speech as a brutal force slammed him on the floor. What the hell was that!? He hadn't seen All Might there so it couldn't be him… Another stupid pro was attacking him already? He thought that these morons at least had a bit more class…

When he raised his head, though, the villain could never have imagined the sight that was waiting for him there.

Tomura has had a miserable life so far, everything considered. When he was young, his parents had died in a traumatizing situation and since then he was raised by Sensei. Ever since he could remember, Tomura had only been taught hatred and villainy. No real time to be a kid or to see the beautiful, happy things in life. He had no idea what something worthy of loving or holding on to looked like but if he had to guess, the kid actually glowing in funny clothes fallen on the ground had great potential for that. Nomu also seemed to agree as it licked their face excitedly. Probably, it was him running to the kid what had made Tomura hit his face on the floor, in the first place.

Not comprehending very well what was happening from that distance but having a deep feeling that it was something rather important, he quickly communicated his thoughts to the other villains “New plan: We'll hold the kid Nomu is attacking as hostage until All Might comes.”

“Oh? Are you sure, Young Master? Isn't it better if we stick to the original plan?” Kurogiri's opinion was ignored as Tomura just walked closer to the hero group, being followed by other villains.

All the while, 1-A had absolutely no idea of what was happening. Having a strange creature on top of Izuku, licking him like a dog does with their owner, also didn't help in anything.

“What the hell is this!?”

“Villains?! No way!”

“Sensei, aren't there intruder sensors?” Yaoyorozu asked Thirteen while trying to help her classmates get the monster off Izuku. The boy bellowed out a groan as it didn't move one single millimeter away.

“Yes, of course, there are…” Thirteen answered, being interrupted by Aoyama's dramatic complaints (“My fancy costume, my shining soul brother… ruined! All of it ruined!”)

“Guys, I'm alright…” Izuku managed to say as the creature over him slowly calmed down. “It’d be better if we found out what they want instead, this guy here doesn't look like he'll do anything anyway…”

Izuku's voice died as his eyes locked on the horizon. People turned around in time to see the villains approaching them like they owned the place, lead by a strange man with hands all over his body. Unconsciously, they started forming a human barrier as if to protect Izuku from them. The boy took note of that while doing a facepalm and having one side of his body all cuddled up by the undefinable being.

“Thirteen, begin evacuation and try calling the school…” Aizawa tried to establish some order but the main villain interrupted him.

“Nomu, bring the kid here.”

Nomu didn't hesitate. The second the order was given, he pulled the boy over his back and carried him in his master's direction. Before he could get far, though, Uraraka managed to touch him and make him float aimlessly in the air.

“You won't touch one finger on Deku!” She claimed while helping Izuku back to the ground.

“Thank you…”

“Greetings.” A strong, slightly fierce voice sounded on their ears. Izuku trembled at that. “We are the league of villains. Forgive our audacity, but today we've come here to end the life of All Might, symbol of...”

Kurogiri couldn't complete his sentence since both Kirishima and Bakugou went to attack him.

“Not if we end you first! Betcha didn't see that coming!”

“No! Get back, both of you!”

Thirteen tried to warn the students but it was too late. Kurogiri's dark fog engulfed most of them, sending them to different points within the facility.

The only one who appeared right at Shigaraki's side (besides Nomu) was Izuku. The villain seemed already prepared for that since he got a rope from nowhere to tie him in place the instant he got out of the portal.

“No!” The boy tried to protest and fight to get out of there but it was all in vain when the villain ordered Nomu to hold him still for a moment.

“Now, I see this boy seems really precious to all of you.” Tomura stated as he leaned closer to the hostage. “You’d better bring All Might to us if you want to have him back again, because if you don't…”

All five of his fingers held the fake communication device, destroying it almost immediately. Izuku gulped as he felt the ashes fall over his hair. He had never felt more afraid before in all his life.

All around them, most of the students and Aizawa were trying their best in a fight with the villains. The people left at the entry with Kurogiri were the only ones who weren't moving to attack.

“He wouldn't do that!” Mina tried to whisper to Sero so that the villain wouldn't hear them. “Midoriya's cuteness wouldn't let it happen, even with that visor, right?”

“Yeah, but that guy is a total psycho! Maybe he'll have a different reaction to his quirk.”

“So, basically, we're in unpredictable territory.” Shoji completed the train of thought at Sero's other side.

Ochako visibly gulped besides Mina. She couldn't see any way out of this.

“Class President!” Iida straightened up when Thirteen called out for him. “Your job is to run back to school and report on what's happening.”

It took some time to convince Iida that him running to call the pros at UA was their best option. When he saw the reasoning, though, no one could ever manage to stop him as he accelerated through the facility's doors and sped up towards their school. When he passed through the doors, however, he ended up leaving it open for enough time to someone to hold it in place and let more unauthorized people sneak in, something that would never have been possible with USJ's security system working normally.

Izuku's official protection squad had arrived.

…

Tomura had absolutely no idea what that warm feeling burning inside of his chest was but one thing was certain: he was screwed. It had nothing to do with that pro fighting his mobs or the other NPCs around them doing miraculously fine on their own.

Holding the shining kid (who from this close he could finally see that was a boy) as a hostage seemed a good idea since people had looked rather eager to save him and act according to his conditions. On the other hand, though, Tomura seemed just as much affected by the cute boy as them for some reason. Damn , his intention earlier was to threaten the pros by disintegrating part of the kid's hair but somehow he found himself physically unable to touch him and had to go for the thing on his head instead. Not because there was something blocking him, but because simply thinking about doing that had hurt so freaking bad that for a moment Tomura doubted his status as a high-rank villain if he couldn't do as much as using his quirk to achieve his objective.

He turned his head a bit to check on the object of his bafflement. The boy was trying to get away with the rope in vain as Nomu sat too close to him, sometimes sniffing at his face before licking the place like he was some silly gigantic dog. He had a determined look as he watched everything that was happening in their surroundings, with his eyebrows twisted down and lips slightly pouted while his eyes analyzed the situation, seeming to brighten a bit every now and then. Tomura didn't even know he had a functional heart, but the loud beating in his chest couldn’t be anything else, even if he would never admit it.

Okay, maybe after they ended with All Might, he should still take the kid back with them. After all, Nomu looked really attached to him and they were always looking for new potential villains anyway. All For One might even be pleased by having both his biggest enemy's death and a brand new pupil on the very same day. Yeah, it would be only because of that.

While Shigaraki was deep in thought, Izuku was still struggling to find a way out of his situation. He was tied so tightly that there was no way he could move so untying himself was out of the question. If he used One For All to rip the rope, since he couldn't move his fingers, he'd have to use the power on his arms to have any real chance of escaping instead. This way, he probably would have the entire limbs broken for the rest of the day, that option being completely discarded then. He also thought about asking the creature by his side to either let him out or attack the main villain but he doubted that he'd know how to free him, and he also didn't know whether the creature would rather obey Izuku or his master so both options were bad.

Izuku groaned, frustrated. Although he could feel the solution was close, he couldn't pinpoint what he had to do just yet. His mind was running through his endless notes about battles, trying to find something that could fit the current situation. ‘Think, Izuku! What would All Might do…?’

Before Izuku's line of thought could be completed, though, a loud noise invaded the room as a crowd of people entered the place like an army. Teenagers were marching in a surprisingly organized line, being led by a group of apparently uniformed security staff. In front of them, someone 1-A’s class had quickly learned to dislike was running desperately in Izuku's direction.

“President, for Midoriya's sake! Don't mess with them!” Miru pleaded, at the same time she caught Shuryou's arm, preventing her from getting between Izuku and Shigaraki.

“I told you we shouldn't have let the mad girl get in.”

“You!?” The perplexity of the students at the entryway muffled Goei's speech. “What are you doing here!?”

“What am I doing? I'm documenting this historical moment for the Izulovers, of course!” Shashin informed unhelpfully, taking photos of a scandalized Izuku and an almost impressed Shigaraki. “Midoriya is so beautiful in those clothes, even when he's being held hostage with a monster drooling all over him...”

“Izuku, my love, you'll be okay!” Shuryou shouted, tears running down her face. Without looking back, she angrily gave orders to the fully armed adults. The other members of the club were acting boisterously, taking their leader's side. “What are you doing just standing here!? Are you dumb!? Be useful and do something! NOW!”

Despite the clear fear on the men's faces, all of them pointed their guns at the closest villains as soon as the words left the mouth of their bosses’ daughter. The one in the front grabbed his radio to speak. “There’s no need to make it difficult. In the name of Miss Shuryou, give us the boy.”

Kurogiri emitted a sound strangely similar to a snort. Thirteen was looking from one side to the other, having absolutely no idea how things got to that point. “Please, leave it to the pros! Step back…”

Before the hero could finish his warning however, Kurogiri started to expand his shadow near to the new group. Some of the Izulovers screamed in fear, making the guards shoot the villain. When they noticed that the bullets were doing nothing to him, it was already too late. The portal engulfed them easily, leaving only a few of the integrants there. All of them just stood there for a moment, puzzled by what they'd just gone through. Their council was nowhere in sight.

“You’ve done better than we expected. Students though you may be, you from UA still are the best of the best. Let's see if you hero students can manage the situation when you have some civilians to look after, though…”

Slowly, all around the facility, people who had come to help protect Izuku were forced to be protected instead as they fell into the middle of the fights. The boy was panicking, a new wave of worry and anxiety rushing through him while he watched his world be destroyed all around him. He couldn't help but think that it was his fault these people were in danger. 'I need to help them… what can I do? What would…?’

That's when Izuku stopped. With the corner of his eyes, he caught the strange villain's hands scratching his own neck. 'Destroy! Of course!’

In spite of what people had told him repeatedly, Izuku never thought he would ever say those words, but he needed to take his mask off and (literally) face the villain with all his cuteness. If he managed to make him destroy the visor like he did with the device in his head, Izuku could make him and his companions back down. Even though the boy despised it, that was the only thing he could think of that wouldn't damage either him or the others. Both his mother and All Might had told him that it was unhealthy to deny his cuteness, so he had to put it to work sometime anyway, right? After defeating the villains, he'd just need to scrub some of the mud on the ground on his face and nobody else would be affected.

It seemed like a good plan. Yes, that's what he'd do, Izuku decided.

He just had to figure out either how to take the visor off of him when he was tied too tightly in place, or how to convince the villain to destroy the thing himself when there was a big chance he would be hesitant to touch so close to his face due to his quirk.

Hopefully, it wouldn't be as complicated as it sounded to him, he tried to encourage himself.

(Izuku didn't believe himself for one second).

Chapter Text

Central Plaza - 1:56 p.m

Izuku had never thought he would hate the fact that it was practically impossible to take his mask off.

He tried hitting the ground with the visor an uncountable number of times and not even a crack was made. When he noticed that it was just getting dirty more than anything, he changed tactics and tried to go for Nomu instead. The creature didn't seem to understand what 'please, take this visor off’ meant, since he just kept staring at Izuku and licked the thing once in a while, making it all even worse.

The boy sighed in frustration, holding back the curses he wishes he could yell. Seeing his own mouth producing cute cartoons was the last thing he needed at the moment. Izuku couldn't help but feel useless. Two quirks and he still wasn't able to do anything but sit there like a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued. Not really very heroic.

Angry tears were threatening to spill when Izuku noticed that the villain was finally moving, motioning with one of his hands for Nomu to follow him. “That pro is taking our mobs down too easily. Maybe it's time to present him the Anti-Symbol of Peace.”

Izuku looked from him to the direction he was moving and saw Aizawa finishing a beatdown on some random villain. His blood ran cold as his eyes widened in realization. He didn't know what he was doing until he heard a voice screaming 'Nooo!’, noticing only when the villains turned back to him that the voice was actually his.

“N-no! I mean…” Izuku mumbled a bit, utterly nervous under their stares. 'Be cute.’ His mind supplied. ‘You only have to act cute and they'll do anything you ask’. “No… I feel… scared, and… lonely?”

Izuku should be happy he was tied since he wanted to punch himself so bad after that. Seriously!? Was that the best he could do!? Being cute was literally his thing and still, he couldn't do it right. He even had to say that in the form of a question, like just the attempt of formulating that sentence wasn't embarrassing enough by itself. His quirk must do miracles because if it depended only on him, it would just be pathetic.

While Izuku kept his self-deprecatory thoughts and thanks to the villains’ lack of response, he was oblivious to the effect that he was actually having on Shigaraki.

Tomura considered himself a big fan of video games. He may not have been able to play a lot due to his villain duties, but he liked to think that he knew the terms players used very well. After all, he was very familiar with the concept of things like 'headshot’. He himself had done things that could be considered headshots before. However, he had never heard about a 'heartshot’ and it felt like a huge failure on his part because there was no way that what he was feeling right then and there could be anything else! Such a powerful attack had to be quite popular, didn't it? No one in their right mind would let that move pass unnoticed when it was obviously millions of times more efficient than the other one.

The kid had fallen on the ground, a bit dirty because of the contact with the earth. He was unconsciously pouting while tears threatened to run down his slightly pink, embarrassed cheeks, making his emerald eyes brighter than they already were. For some reason, Tomura was feeling a desperate need to take the boy to a proper, comfortable place, throw a blanket over him as he hugged the kid and gave him some company for as long as he needed his presence, even though it wasn't a really villainous thing to do.

“Do you… want me to stay here?”

Tomura couldn't believe the words that left his mouth but there was no way he could leave the adorable child there after everything that had just gone through his head.

Izuku's train of thought was interrupted rather suddenly as the other's words really sunk in. Did…? Had that really worked!?

“Y-Yes! Please…” He tried to sound naive. It was a little better than his earlier attempt but some acting classes certainly wouldn't hurt.

Tomura felt impossibly out of character as he sat down beside the boy, Nomu going back to rest by their side. Well, it wasn't like he could leave his hostage alone so maybe it was for the best at the end of the day.

For the time being, hero student and villain just sat there, the creature at their laps, watching the homeroom teacher of the former fighting against the violent mobs of the latter, like it was the most casual thing ever.

Conflagration zone - 1:55 p.m

The girl was crying, all alone.

The last months had all gone the worst ways possible for the little five year old. The first ray of hope she had ever had in all her life didn’t take long to be crushed, destroyed by society’s beliefs, her brand new parent’s disappointment and a huge lack of luck regarding the dice roll that was genetics. Yes, she had an extra joint in her pinky toe - so what!? Some people had it too. What’s so important about it, anyway? Was she a freak just because of an almost non-existent bone!?

Apparently yes, if the malicious comments coming from both adults and children were anything to go by.

‘People are just stupid, then!’ She thought, venting. Kids were only like “Look how my quirk is more amazing than yours” or “What do you think my quirk will be?”. What was the problem in not having one at all? Why would her friends laugh at and make fun of her because of that? Why would the adults only look in pity but not do anything about it? They still scolded her when she tried to defend herself as if the fault was all hers? “Next time we go to the foster home, we’ll just make sure to ask for an x-ray before getting attached to the kid” - She’d hear her dad say to her crying mom a few days after her doctor’s appointment when they thought she had already fallen asleep.

‘If you don’t want me, why don’t you just give me back!?’ The girl thought angrily as she had an even harder time fighting back her tears. Well, if they’re unable to do that, they don’t need to worry anymore since she did all the work for them. They wouldn’t have anything to be worried about if it was she who decided to run away from home, right? It’s not even like they’d think about looking for her in that poorer neighborhood anyway. Yeah, that’d be better for all of them.

‘So why does it still hurt so much!?’

Her sobs were only increased when she heard someone approaching her. She didn’t raise her head. She didn’t need any more fake empathy, so the person could just go away for all she cared.

“Hey. Are you alright?”

“Do I look alright to you?” She asked harshly between hiccups. The warning was clear: Get lost! However, the other kid didn’t seem to understand, so she made sure to make it clearer. “Leave me alone.”

“I won’t leave you alone! That’s not what heroes do.” The boy gasped. “Are you sad because there’s no one to play with you? We could be friends if you want…”

“No! I don’t want more pity or fake friends!” The girl suddenly screamed, taking all her sorrows out on him. “I don’t have any stupid quirk, okay!? That’s why I’m crying! Even my parents hate me, so why would you want to be friends with me!?”

Some seconds passed. The girl was sure that the boy had finally left when she heard a mumble by her side. “I’m quirkless too…  Nobody wants to play heroes with me anymore because of it.”

That made her look up to the boy. When she did, her eyes widened. First, it was because of his revelation but upon her eyes landing on him, she had other reasons for them to widen even more. He seemed to be around her age, with fluffy, messy green hair, freckles all over his cheeks, and clothes too big for him. Strangely, despite their conversation, his mouth was lifted in a soft smile while his green eyes sparkled. The girl’s cheeks reddened a bit. Every boy she had met so far was noisy and disgusting, so why was that one so cute!? He looked so much like a prince from the cartoons, she wanted to hug and squeeze him so much right then.

“Yeah, that’s it! We can be All Might Junior and…” He stopped suddenly and looked more attentively at her. “Sorry! I forgot to ask your name. Mine is Midoriya Izuku.”

“Sh-Shuryou Midori…” The girl said, still a bit uncertain about her liking the boy so quickly. Should she really be trusting him like that? After all, she had noticed before that her parents’ name was a little famous, so he could just be using her to get to them!

However, her doubts promptly dashed when he smiled at her. For some reason, as long as Midoriya seemed that happy, she felt like all her worries would fly away. “We’ll be All Might Junior and Super Midori, the first quirkless heroes! I mean, you like heroes, right!? We could take turns saving each other.” He didn’t wait for her to answer, as he just grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the park’s playground instead. “Hey, our names look really alike! Midoriya, Midori… this must be destiny!”

Midori’s heart would beat uncontrollably the whole afternoon of their playdate. For the first time in such a long time, she could forget her problems and just play with another kid, like things used to be. It really did feel like the work of fate.

By then, even though he didn’t notice it, Midoriya Izuku already was a hero. Her hero.

Yet, there she was, curled up into a ball, hidden somewhere in the middle of a fire zone, hyperventilating, unable to save him like he’d done for her so many years ago. She had a security system connecting Izulovers from all the parts of the city, set up to protect him. This time, she had gone so far as to make the professional guards of her parents’ business go there and do the job. However, it seemed that nothing she had was good enough to keep her boy away from danger. She wasn’t able to be his hero.

“The hero saves the princess and everything ends fine. The hero saves the princess and everything ends fine…” Instead, she’d repeat that mantra, again and again, to calm herself down, as if the villains just a few paces away from her hiding place wouldn’t notice her if only she kept it up.

“... also saves the prince, the hero also saves the prince, the hero…” Midori suddenly caught a voice whispering with her by her side. When she got enough courage to raise her head, she found a blonde boy in armor in a position similar to hers, maybe even more afraid.

“A-Aren’t you Midoriya’s classmate?” She asked lowly. The guy obviously didn’t expect her to address him. “Shouldn’t you be out there fighting like a hero?”

The boy just stared at her, gaping slightly. “Shouldn’t you be helping Midoriya or your club?”

After that, Midori also found herself gaping at him. Touché. “I… I don’t know what to do…”

Before the dialogue could continue, a flying object landed near them, probably thrown in the middle of a fight. The sound made both Shuryou and Aoyama crawl further into their shelter, almost petrified, unconsciously hugging each other for any form of comfort. It also made some people around there scream in as much fear as the two of them felt, revealing the other’s locations. The girl then recognized some of her club members, waving at them to gather their attention.

“M-Maybe…” Aoyama gulped. “We should just stay in here…”

“Sounds like a plan…” Shuryou agreed, to her disliking, as some known faces carefully managed to get closer to them.

‘Sorry, Izuku.’ She’d whisper in the depths of her mind. ‘I can’t be like you.’

Central Plaza - 1:57 p.m

For some time, an awkward silence was everything that happened between Izuku and Shigaraki until the former could gather enough courage to follow his plan.

“Ow…” He mumbled as Aizawa punched another random villain. 'You can’t even make a groan sound convincing!?’ He cursed in his mind. “This is so uncomfortable! I feel like I can barely breathe! If only this rope wasn't so tight…”

The boy trailed off as he noticed the intense look Shigaraki was sending him. “You're my hostage, don't ask anything else from me.”

(Tomura didn't know what was happening to him but he had to show some kind of restraint! Just what was that kid doing that was making his quest so damn hard!?)

Izuku gulped. Things were going too good to be true.

Flood Zone - 1:55 p.m

“For a frog, she's got… pretty nice boobs… GAHH!”

Tsuyu ended up throwing Mineta on the boat a lot less carefully than she had intended at first. Maybe that was a bit cruel but she couldn't bring herself to be very guilty about it as the villains in the water were approaching too quickly for her liking, even more so after what the little pervert had said. Without looking back, she climbed the ship as fast as she could before looking at Mineta again.

“We seem to be in trouble here.” Tsuyu said as she started searching the few rooms of the ship. Unless people had managed to get on board before them, the two of them seemed to be the only ones there.

“Uhn…?” Mineta groaned as he slowly raised. “Why am I so wet…?”

“Finally, you arrived.”

He screamed a very unmanly shriek when the owner of the not so familiar voice opened one of the boat's doors and came out with someone else. It looked like Tsuyu had thought too soon…

The two figures were definitely not from UA. Tsuyu recognized the girl as the same who had informed her class that Bakugou used to buy Izulover's products. On the other hand, the boy didn’t ring a bell with her yet, although she'd bet that he’s another member of the infamous fan club.

“You're those Izulovers, right? What are you doing here? Kero.”

“Well, it's quite a long story that we don't really have time for right now.” The boy answered, turning to his friend. “I'm Goei Daisuke and this is Miru Rikugou. We were waiting for...”

“If you touch me, I'll throw you in the middle of the villains.”

“I didn't even get near you!”

Goei was interrupted as Miru had to push Mineta's hands away from her. Tsuyu sighed tiredly at that. She really very much liked all her new classmates, but from all the people in 1-A why was it Mineta who ended up there with her? Although she couldn't say that she approved of the Izulovers’ strange ways of demonstrating their affection for someone as sweet as Midoriya; it wasn't like everyone from 1-A was blameless either. There she was, with the most incriminating student they had. The 1-A and Izulovers’ rivalry would have to take a break, for their own good.

“Alright. There's really no time for this. If you're here too, we should be looking for more civilians. Kero.” Tsuyu spoke up before Mineta could make their situation worse. “Those villains said they've figured out a way to kill All Might, so I wouldn't put anything past them. Who says we can even hold out until All Might gets here?”

“But, but! There's no way they could ever kill All Might! He'll…”

“Actually, there's no need for that.” Goei ignored Mineta, looking directly at Tsuyu. “My quirk is called ‘Radar’. If there was anyone else in a 50 meters radius, I'd know. It's only us and the villains surrounding this ship.”

“Good… by the way, I'm Asui Tsuyu, and he's Mineta Minoru.” Mineta was looking desperately from the group to the water, repeating the process over and over again. He seemed about to add something but Miru was faster.

“Okay. Now, it'd be better if we didn't lose any more time and just discussed a plan to get out of here.” The girl said as she opened the door again and signaled for them to get in. “If we don't decide what we'll do soon, one of those villains is most likely going to split this boat in two.”

“How would you know that?”

“It's my quirk.” She said as everybody entered on what looked like the ship's captain cabin. “It's complicated, but to sum it up, I can feel any abnormality on the natural structures of the universe. Besides that, if I really concentrate, I'm able to feel the most probable outcomes for what's happening on the present time.”

“So… you see possible futures? Kero.”

Miru stopped, seeming to be taking what was asked in consideration for a second. “Sort of.”

“Nice power talking, but I'm afraid that we still need a plan.” Goei said as he sat at the captain's chair and slouched almost like he was at home and not in the middle of a life threatening villain attack. “Who wants to start?”

“I think that they don't know about our quirks. If they'd known about me having frog powers, they'd have dumped me into the fiery area instead of a watery one.” Tsuyu decided to take that as her chance to tell them what she was thinking since getting on board. “Besides, they probably don't know that only Mineta and I are students at UA. Our best chance is to take advantage of these things.”

“What!? You're talking about fighting!?” Mineta turned to his classmate, scandalized. “These guys might even be tough enough to kill All Might! Our only hope is to hide somewhere until the pros come to rescue us!”

“I agree with Asui.” Miru nodded her head, while Mineta mumbled almost crying something that sounded in the lines of 'Why does nobody care about my opinion? I'm the only sensible person here!’ “In fact, I may have been passing the last few minutes analyzing the less troublesome paths of action and the best one has about a 65% chance to work out alright for us.”

The girl was adjusting her glasses while she spoke. Even though she was trying to dismiss it as she looked into the eyes of each of them, it seemed that even she was a bit unnerved with such a low probability being their best option.

“Take your time, then.” Tsuyu ended up saying as soon as the other had finished her sentence.

“Okay… I saw that this zone's equipment is located near the waterslide.” Miru started as she aimlessly played with her fingers. “I think that maybe Asui could take me to the motor and then I'd be able to activate the water drainage systems. While we’re doing that, Mineta will be throwing his pop off spheres in the water at the same time Goei will be driving the lifeboat around the outer edges of the zone, in order to create a distraction and get any attention back and away from us. When I manage to drain the water, the villains would be stuck on each other and on the drain, thanks to Mineta's quirk. This would make it possible for us to escape without worrying about them.”

“How do you know about my Pop Off quirk!?” Mineta asked desperately for the nth time in the last 5 minutes.

“Your existence is very predictable.” She answered quickly, leaving the boy shocked.

“It sounds like a good plan to me. I can also identify where you are with my radar and pick you up when everything ends.” Goei half smiled in approvement. “By then I hope our backup will have arrived.”

“Backup?” Tsuyu asked, confused.

“Yeah. Our president may be too sassy for her own good but I'm not. I made sure of calling the police before letting her know villains were attacking Midoriya.” He told as if it would explain everything to her. She was just more confused, instead. “Now that the situation has escalated so much, I guess that they will be more like moral support for the heroes than any real help, though.”

“I see… kero.” Tsuyu ended up agreeing. She was still wondering why and how the Izulovers were at the USJ in the first place, but decided to leave it aside for now. They'd better act soon. “Miru, we should go outside if we're really doing this.”

After that, things between waiting for the boat to pass near the place where the equipment was and jumping with Miru held in her tongue passed quite fast. At the moment, the two girls fell in the water, Miru was already swimming clumsily to the motor.

“Do you really know how to make it drain the water?” Tsuyu found herself asking when she saw that the other was just staring at the mechanical device for longer than expected.

“Well, I trained hard to take UA's support course exams, so I know some tricks with these kinds of things.” Miru answered, not really paying much attention to the conversation, as she mumbled more to herself than anything. “I just need to feel the energy here…”

Tsuyu nodded her head, nonetheless. She was rather surprised by the Izulovers’ cooperation with them. The impression they had passed onto her was of an unorganized group but it didn't seem to be like that in the end. Although they still were a bit scary with their obsession of Midoriya, all of them had managed to work together normally so, at least for the time being, Tsuyu was willing to ignore the bad part of the club to concentrate on their mission.

“Oh, by the way, I think it would be better if you stayed on alert in the water.” Miru said suddenly, without looking away from her work. “I forgot to say but there is still a chance some villains will notice us and try something.”

Tsuyu gulped. So, this was the kind of thing pros had to go through every day…

The girl definitely couldn't deny that the feeling was frightening, but she could get used to it.

Central Plaza - 1:58 p.m

What felt like hours had passed before Izuku found enough strength to keep up with his act. Taking deep breaths to calm himself down a little, he mentally prepared himself for his next words.

“I-It’s so hot here…” At the same time he was saying that, he tried to blink more several times more than normal, like people in cartoons did on TV to look cute. His embarrassed blush was very much real, though. “Couldn't you at least take my visor off, please? I feel like I can't take it much longer…”

Izuku was trembling under Shigaraki's intense staring, wondering if his cuteness really had any effect on the villain at all, oblivious to the other's inner state.

‘Just what is this spell this boy is casting on me!?’ Tomura was wondering exasperatedly at the same time he scratched his neck. Why did he have to take him as a hostage, from all those dumb students, the only one who clearly was more important than just a normal NPC!? He couldn't even concentrate on the pro in front of him when the boy was displaying even the most subtle sign of distress. 'C’mon, it’s just a very cute boy. Why am I reacting like this!? What would sensei think?’

When Tomura was concentrated enough to tell him 'no', he turned and looked the boy deep in the eyes just to have his mouth shut once again. He was sweating and the villain had to admit that the red in his cheeks was kinda worrying. After another second of hesitation, he couldn't find it in him to deny him any longer. 'It's just a visor. What could go wrong?’

Izuku was almost jumping in relief when he noticed that the villain was approaching, most probably to do as he had asked. Considering all the time the man had only stayed quiet, Izuku thought that he had lost again. When the hands of the villain were centimeters from the visor, however, Shigaraki stopped once again. His eyes widened when he realized something and returned to where he was, for the boy's disappointment.

“That's it, right!? The visor!” Shigaraki spoke darkly as he pointed to said thing. “That's your trick.”

“Huh?” Izuku mumbled as he tilted his head, genuinely confused.

“This visor is projecting an image that makes me hesitate to hurt you, right? You were luring me into taking it off because you have another trap up your sleeve.”

The boy just gaped at him. If only he knew…

“That's it, isn't it?” The villain smiled, taking the silence as confirmation. “Well played, I must admit, but now…”

Shigaraki couldn't complete his sentence since Aizawa's scarf surrounded him and pulled him closer to the teacher. Apparently, the hero had defeated the mob of villains as planned. Izuku's disappointment was soon replaced by a smile as his homeroom teacher moved to challenge the main villain. For a moment, he thought that everything would really be alright in the end, that his teachers would take over the invasion easily from there. Maybe there would even be time for the rescue training and they'd finish the day with lots of experience earned.

It was until Shigaraki resolved to stick to his original plan that he realized just how wrong he was.

“Nomu!” He called in the middle of the fight. “Attack!”

Izuku's eyes widened in horror as the creature stopped being affectionate to him and ran towards the hero with all its monstrosity.

“No!” Izuku tried to shout again, just like he did the first time.

Surprisingly, Nomu stopped and looked back at Izuku, then back at his master. He seemed rather confused about what to do until he saw Shigaraki about to use his quirk and decided to hurry to the fight.

Izuku found that he couldn’t look away, frozen both mentally with fear and physically with is restraints as the massive horror's hand descended on his teacher. Izuku closed his eyes, unable to see what was about to happen.

It seemed that his cuteness wasn't enough for a real confrontation, after all.

Chapter Text

Entryway - 1:59 p.m

“How much longer do I need to keep up with this?” The girl whined as her butterfly wings slowed down “My back hurts so much…”

“Don’t!” The boy almost screamed. The pressure wasn't doing any good for him. “If you stop, I won't be able to heal Thirteen.”

“It's not like you're being able right now.”

“Just stop it!” The other girl, who was doing her best to hold the protection barrier made of vegetables she had created, said exasperatedly. “I need to concentrate!”

“And I need wind to work!”

“Just calm down, kids.” The pro tried to reassure them before things got out of hand. Well, at least not more than it already had. “You're doing good so far…”

After the civilians and the unknown teens were transported to other zones, Thirteen had tried to take the villain with the warp gate down, only to have his own black hole absorbing himself instead. Thankfully, the UA’s students were fast to action and could hold the man's attacks back, all while instructing the kids who had remained there to take him somewhere more secluded, where the four of them could be safe for the time being.

Surprisingly, the normal kids also weren't as helpless as one would think. After a few seconds of hesitation, one of the two girls had made some resistant giant carrots grow from the concrete ground to form some sort of protection barrier for them. It was visibly unstable, with her having to make physical and mental effort to keep it up, but it was a protection barrier nonetheless. It also took some time for the other two children to talk through it until a plan was settled. Apparently, the boy could transform the air into organic matter, but only if it was in a certain speed, which would be provided by the other girl, who had a butterfly quirk. This way, the girl used her wings so that the boy could fix his uniform and make the hero heal faster while the other girl prevented any attack from hitting them. Despite their lack of emotional balance, it was almost like they had some kind of training for similar situations.

Thirteen couldn't help but feel a bit useless with all of that. He was considered one of the best heroes in Japan, good enough to teach at UA, and yet he wasn't able to protect neither his students or the civilians. Instead, they were the ones who had to protect him! He honestly didn't know if he should be feeling pride for the kids or shame for himself.

That was when he arrived.

“Fear not!” All Might's voice reverberated in all its glory. 

“I am here!”

Central Plaza - 1:59 p.m

Izuku didn't know exactly what had happened, or how it had happened. He just knew that he had been tied too tightly in that rope, watching his homeroom teacher being smashed by a creature that was licking his face like an excited puppy only a few moments ago.

Then, somehow, he managed to regulate One For All, ripping said rope and getting free once again. 

For some time, all Izuku could do was stare at his own hands, astonished. Why did those kinds of things only happened to him when damage had already been done!?

However, before he could start thinking about a path of action, All Might himself came out of nowhere and took Aizawa away from the villains, and then Izuku himself and other people behind him he hadn't even noticed, all of them wet. The hero went back to the fight all too fast as well, leaving no room for conversation.

“Asui, Mineta…” Midoriya said relieved as he saw them, just to stop when his eyes fell on two not-really-unfamiliar faces, who blushed as they tried to look anywhere but him. They were from his self proclaimed official fanclub, obviously, but he had the feeling that it didn't stop there, for some reason. That wasn't really the time and place for checking that, though.

“Midoriya!” Mineta cried out. It was good to see someone who actually made some effort to listen to him after what he had just gone through.

“Call me Tsuyu.” The girl repeated for the nth time. She was kneeling to take a better look on her teacher, worry clear on her face. “It's good to see you're free again but what happened to Aizawa-sensei? Kero.”

“He was fighting with that Nomu guy and the villain full of hands.” He told as he also kneeled down. Although the man's face was rather damaged, just like the rest of his body, he didn't stop trying to contain the villain's attacks and did everything possible to protect them no matter what. His admiration for Eraserhead could only increase. “The handy's quirk seems something like disintegration, he used it on my clothes and on Aizawa's elbow. I'm not so sure about the other one's. He's really strong and there's also that 'anti-symbol of peace' thing…”

“We should take him somewhere safe.” Tsuyu interrupted Izuku's rambling before he went too deep into his analysis. She turned to the Izulovers duo, which made Izuku confused. “Can you see anything?”

“Goei, do you know where Hashimoto is?”

“He's at the entryway direction, just at my radar’s edge.” The boy nodded his head to the girl, as if he had understood her train of thought only by that question. “Maybe he can heal this hero if we take him there.”

“If you have someone with a healing quirk, we should go there fast.” Tsuyu stated at the same time she started to lift her teacher. However, the other girl stopped her and took him herself instead, with that guy's help.

“Midoriya may need you so you'll be better here. Mineta could come with us instead.”

“Huh!?” The little boy gasped. “Why always me?”

“Just shut up and help us.” Goei said as he struggled with his task. “This guy is heavier than he seems…”

“Unfortunately, I'm still conscious, kid.” Aizawa mumbled, startling the boy, who started to mumble apologies as they started to climb up the stairs.

Izuku kept staring at them for some moments. He knew that they were members of his fan club but he couldn't wave away the feeling that he had met them before that. Leaving it aside for then, he turned to Tsuyu. “Do you know them?”

“They helped me and Mineta at the flood zone. Kero.” She pointed at the place. Only them Izuku noticed how the water was gone and some villains were stuck together with Mineta's spheres.

“Oh…” He said, not really sure what to think of that. 

If they had anything else to talk about, it was left unsaid, since the sound of a groan of pain took their attention. Izuku watched with eyes full of horror as Nomu and All Might had a violent, equal fight. He couldn't help but wonder just how Aizawa had survived that guy, who was being able to make All Might sweat out of effort, something the boy had never seen happening in all his years of fanboy. Earlier that day, Izuku had heard Aizawa and Thirteen talking about how the hero had surpassed his limit during his way to UA - of course he was weaker than normal. He hated to think that, but if things kept that rhythm, All Might wouldn't get out of there fine. Damn, he might not even get out of there at all!

When one of the villains opened a gate in order to prevent All Might from slamming Nomu to the ground, Izuku seemed to get back to reality. He quickly grabbed the visor and pulled it out of him with all his force…

Only to it stay stuck in place, like in all his previous attempts.

Desperately, he tried to take it off different ways, every one of them in vain. Izuku didn't want to use One For All so close to his face, neither lose the mobility of any limb in such a crucial moment. He was already contemplating if he could maybe destroy that thing with a rock when Tsuyu's voice caught his attention again.

“What are you doing?” She held one of his arms, making him forgo his actions for the time being and look into her eyes.

“I need to take this thing off! My full cuteness may be able to stop the villains!”

For some seconds, Izuku went back to his failed attempts. 'Why won't it get off!?’ he mumbled as Tsuyu slowly got closer to him. 

“Midoriya, stop. The visor doesn't move because your hair is stuck in it. Kero.”

Izuku stared blankly at the ground as her words started to make sense. He brushed his hands over his temple until he found a great amount of his own hair stuck with a screw. 

The boy tried to mumble a 'crap’, only for cartoonish flowers to come out of his mouth instead. All this time he couldn't use his quirk just because his hair was in the wrong place!? What did he do for the universe to hate him this much!?

“Asu… Tsuyu, please, help me with this.” He asked hurriedly at the same time Kirishima, Todoroki and Katsuki arrived for the rescue of All Might. Izuku needed to go there himself, fast.

“Are you sure about it?” The girl's worried tone made him turn back to her, finding a bit of fear in her eyes. Tsuyu hadn't been anything but positive until them, he didn't expect her to hesitate like that. “Those guys are something else. If Uraraka and Bakugou acted weird around you, I'm afraid of what may happen between you and the villains. Kero.”

“Tsuyu…” Izuku didn't know how to respond to that. He was very surprised by that reaction, as well as a bit happy for the consideration (she had a pretty good point there, actually), but he felt like he really needed to go there anyway. All Might was getting weaker each day and that creature seemed to be projected for the sole purpose to destroy him. However, how could he make her understand it without telling the hero's secret?

“Tsuyu.” He started again, resting one of his hands on her shoulder and ignoring the light blush on her cheeks. “I see why you're saying this but we're training to be heroes. This kind of thing will happen every day in our lives, it'll be no good if we just stay back now. More pros must be coming and we already have our friends and All Might here so it's not like I'll be alone.”

Lastly, Izuku breathed deeply before telling her what he surprisingly had on mind. “I still can't believe I'm saying this but I need to overcome my hate for my quirk.”

Mountain zone - 2:12 p.m

If there is any advantage in being only 148 cm height, it is the fact that she is not easily caught. Mitsuko knew it very well and used it in her favor all the time. She just had never thought that it would be useful outside of her photographer life.

Neither did she think she'd have to fight against real villains with UA students in order to protect her favorite model. Yet, there they are.

Taking deep breaths, she counted down to 3 before raising from her hidden spot and throwing a heavy small rock right at her most recent target's head. She smiled to herself, thinking how lucky she was as the guy fell down. Taking everything into consideration, she could’ve done a lot worse than appearing at the mountain zone.

“Uh!? What the…!?” Mitsuko heard an unfamiliar voice coming from the other side of the fallen villain. Looking up, she found three of Midoriya Izuku’s classmates glancing both at the man and at her, astonished.

‘Uh oh…’ She thought. ‘Time to activate innocent cute little girl mode.’

“When I say I always get the best angles, I’m not talking about just photography.” The girl said with a wink and an exaggeratedly happy big smile on her face while she took the opportunity to take some photos of Yaoyorozoy, Kaminari, and Jiro’s faces. 

‘Maybe my parents can use this for their job.’ - She thought, a bit coldly. ‘I can already see the front pages: 'UA hero students baffled that an average high schooler can beat villains before them.’ - Mom and dad will be so proud!’

“Hey, aren’t you that stalker girl from Midoriya's fanclub!?”

“Sorry, you’ll have to be a lot more specific than this.” Mitsuko said as if the accusation was nothing while she made her way around them. “You’ve just described about 75% of us, this is a very cruel generalitasion.”

“Cruel? We? Wha...” The blonde boy tried to protest before the girl with headphones plugged them on his surface, making him shiver and stop talking immediately.

“What’s happened!?” Yayozoru’s surprised gasp took Jiro’s attention back to the USJ’s center. 

Amazingly, there was no sign of the villains or the fight All Might and a few of theirs classmates were having just a few minutes ago. Instead, the hurt heroes and students were being helped by the pros that had just arrived and some doctors they had called during their way. The izulovers who had gone there to give Izuku moral support were also slowly coming off the zones, looking just as tired from the battle as the heroes and students themselves. With the previous scenario in mind, all of that looked even more absurd than it already was.

“How…?” Jiro said without blinking, eyes fixed on the scene.

“How is it possible?” Mitsuko completed the unsaid question, the pair of eyes looking down at her then. “The are only two kinds of people who are able to keep up with that type of villain: The Izulovers, and Midoriya himself.” The girl stopped to turn around and raise her head at them. For just a moment, she seemed more serious than one would think possible of her. “And you were lucky to have both of us here.”

For some tense seconds, the four of them just stood there, staring at each other. Mitsuko somehow had a cold, murderous expression on her face, while the UA students couldn’t be more shocked than they already were. Suddenly, though, that creepy aura left the girl’s body and her cute cartoonish smile came back as she laughed lowly.

“That’s one of the reasons why we’re so dedicated to him, besides his cuteness and wonderful looks! Midoriya Izuku is really amazing.”

‘And the future main model of my agency if everything goes right in my 20-years-from-now plan path.’ - Mitsuko thought as she put her brand new photos in the secret pocket of her dress and pranced towards the front door, like she was in a beautiful garden instead of in the middle of what was a battle camp just a few seconds before.

Kaminari, Jiro, and Yayozoru locked eyes with each other, all of them coming to the same obvious conclusion:

‘The Izulovers are crazier than those villains.’ - and they had to thank all of the universe's divinities for them to apparently be on the same side as them.

…

Outside - 2:35 p.m

"As for my location, anyone have an idea?" The shining guy blunted out as he suddenly lifted his arms, almost hitting Midori's face in the process. He earned a very disgusted expression. "Where do you think I was?"

"Where?" The girl who oddly looked like a frog asked when she noticed nobody else would indulge him.

"It's a secret!"

At that, Midori had to do a double take. Aoyama was trembling even more than her back in their hidden spot while his classmate had to fight the villains all alone. Who did he think he was to say something like that when he actually didn't do anything!? Midori was about to speak her mind when their gazes met. The boy's eyes were clearly begging her to stay quiet. Her intention of denunciating him should have been as obvious as his love for glitter. 

She didn't know why, but she shutted her mouth immediately, only nodding her head in acknowledge. Maybe telling his colleagues the truth really was a bit too cruel, even for her.

Besides, Midori had a much more important priority. Aka making sure both her future husband and her club were fine after the incident.

She walked among the crowd, trying to spot Izuku's green hair, or even Shashin's pink or Miru's purple ones. Even though it wasn't anyone she was hoping to find in the middle of the multitude, it didn't take her much time to spot an old acquaintance, though.

"And this is UA for you. A hero school that depends on its students and innocent civilians to save their teachers from random villains. Now I'll have to ask: do you really believe that our future protectors are in fact going to learn their job with teachers such as those?" The reporter with pink hair and a recorder quirk said looking into her cameraman and husband's eyes, who, very conveniently, had a filming quirk much similar to their daughter's Polaroid. "We'll come back with more information after the commercial break."

Midori quickly walked to their side. Something inside her said that she, as Izuku's future wife, should be angrier about the fact that the journalist and the cameraman liked to spread sensationalist news about UA but, on the other hand, it was those people who taught her fanclub's official photographer everything she knows about stalking (and how to take such perfect photos of their cute boy without being noticed). Even Midori knew for a fact that you shall tolerate bad behavior sometimes if you want to keep alliances.

"Mrs. Shashin?" She called as the couple ended their transmission. The woman turned around and smiled when her gaze fell on the girl.

"Shuryou Midori, sweetie!" She smiled as she brushed her hand all over Midori's green hair, making it messier than the villains did. The girl held her utterly annoyed huff the better she could. "It's so good to see you're safe. Not thanks to those irresponsible teachers, though, I assume."

"It's good to see you're fine too." Her voice was stiff, cautious not to drop the fake smile. "I was wondering if you have seen any Izulovers around here?"

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot! Mitsuko asked me to deliver you a message."

Midori arched one eyebrow as Mrs. Shashin opened her mouth so that she could hear said message. Most of the quirks Midori has seen during her life had been disgusting to say the least, but nothing could overcome her friend's mother's recorder quirk.

'Hi, president Shuryou!' Mitsuko's loud voice chirped, making Midori flinch. 'If you're still alive after everything, you should come to Goei and Miru's home. Midoriya wants to talk to us, can you believe it!? I'll make the best of it and capture all of his best angles!'

"If I'm still alive…? What…!" Midori wondered out loud until the meaning of the little girl's shouts finally made some sense in her head. "Midoriya Izuku wanna talk to me!?"

Mrs. Shashin giggled at Midori's short circuit as she took a little piece of paper out of one of her jeans' pockets. "Here is the address, sweetheart. It looks like they've just moved from…"

"Miss Shuryou, we have arrived at your friends' house."

The voice of her personal motorist woke Midori from her daydreaming. Still blinking out of her stupor, she looked through the car’s window. In front of her, there was a very simple, standard suburban house. It didn’t look like much but just the thought that her dear Izuku was there inside, waiting for her, sent chills up her spine.

“Are you sure this is an appropriate place for a high class figure such as yourself, Miss Shuryou?” The man asked as he opened the vehicle’s door for her and she stepped out. “If someone spots you here, it’ll be the talk of the city and your parents would not appreciate…”

“What my parents would definitely not appreciate is that their employees left their oldest, quirkless child defenseless in the middle of a villain attack because they were too afraid to do their goddamn job .” Midori interrupted harshly, making sure to lock her eyes with the man’s nervous stare and straighten her posture in order to look more dangerous, as if her dark voice and aura were not frightening enough. “And then trying to tell me what to do, nonetheless! I’m sure that if I told them all of this, they wouldn’t mind reducing some costs with useless workers who just wanna talk about gossip and can’t do what they are literally paid for.”

The man visibly gulped at Midori’s last sentence and lowered his head. “I understand, Miss. Shuryou. Sorry for the inconvenience we have caused.”

“You’d better be.”

The girl didn’t care to take any other glance at the guy, just walked decisively towards the front door of that little house. Only after she rang the doorbell, she recalled that the address in the paper said ‘Miru and Goei’s home’, but she couldn’t remember why they would live together.

Before Midori could make anything more out of that new information, the door opened and a woman who resembled a lot Miru Rikugou, except that she was taller, in her forties and didn’t wear glasses, appeared. It happened so fast that it looked like she was already there, behind the door, just waiting for the girl to ring the bell so that she could open it without seeming that she was watching her all along. Midori didn’t have much time to think about that, though, since Ms. Miru’s mouth opened in a heart warming smile.

“Oh, another of Riku and Dai’s friends” Presumably Rikugou’s mother said, with fake surprise in her voice. “Come in, come in. We’re making cookies for your reunion.”

Midori hesitantly followed the woman inside the house. Although the sweet scent coming from the kitchen was absolutely tantalizing, Midori had a very important mission there and the treats could wait. The woman was faster, though, and started talking before she could ask where people were.

“We are so glad, you know? Neither Riku or Dai used to have lots of friends since they have uncommon interests, but since they joined this club’s council, they’ve been happier, closer. We don’t really understand what this is about, but we’re proud and thankful for all of you. And we also found out that the boy both of them like gushing over all the time is actually as cute as they say, at least when it comes to personality.” 

Midori blushed a little at the woman’s sudden confession. It’s not like she had to tell her all those embarrassing things about her council members. Now she would keep thinking of that when they finally meet! Wait… did she just mention Izuku?

“Where are they?” Midori asked as soon as she found a break in the woman’s monologue. “I’m the fanclub’s president.”

“Yes, I know who you are, Midori-chan. You’re a good kiddo, if only you just allowed you to be yourself instead of taking advantage of your conditions and blaming everyone that crosses your way...” She said at the same time she petted Midori’s hair, for the girl’s surprise. “Your friends are in the basement, by the way. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I feel that my darling will burn the cookies if I don’t go back to the kitchen…”

Well, now Midori knows where all of that ‘universe perception quirk’ comes from. Spooky.

Speaking of Rikugou, upon turning to the direction Ms. Miru had pointed, Midori found herself almost face to face with her. Since she probably felt that the president had arrived at her home, she already was waiting for her at the beginning of the stairs, much like what happened a few moments before at the front door. Like mother, like daughter.

“I see you’ve met our mom.” Rikugou stated in lieu of saying a proper greeting. “One would think that the president would just run straight to Midoryia instead of listening to some small talk. We’re all very impressed.”  

“Oh, please. I may be deeply, head over heels in love with him but I’m still a high class lady with some self control. I don’t care for what a bunch of extra, hormonal teenagers think of me, but you never know when an actual adult’s opinion on you could be useful.” The green haired girl rolled her eyes at the other’s irony. She sure was passing too much time with Goei… Wait! “Wait. You said ‘our mom’?”

“Yeah…?” Miru started, a bit nervous this time as they began climbing down the stairs. “Since mom and Ms. Goei started dating and we all moved together, they ask us to call them ‘mom’ and ‘mama’, but it still feels kind of awkward having your frien…”

“What!? You and Goei are siblings!?” Why wasn’t Midori warned of this fact!? It could’ve been useful for the Izulovers’ arrangements! 

“Sort of?” Miru’s voice sounded lower for just one moment before it came back to normal again. “I mean, they’re not married yet but seeing how they act around each other everyday, I don’t need to see the future to know that a proposal is probably going to happen anytime soon.” 

“And why did you hide it from me all this time!?”

Miru stopped just in front of the basement’s door and blinked up to Midori, who had stopped one step before her. She had one eyebrow arched. “We didn’t hide anything from you. We just don’t talk much about our personal lives at the club. We always are very busy going on the “Midoriya” topic anyway…”

Oh. Yeah... That seemed pretty much accurate, actually.

Miru rolled her eyes at Midori's lack of answer and just opened the basement's door. The place was well lit and clean, for a room that probably wasn't used on a regular basis. There were shelves at almost every wall, full of the most random objects; board games, mechanical equipment, garden tools, old baby things… Midori could even spot a telescope hidden in a corner! However, which really was worth of her attention was the big table at the centre of the room, where Shashin, Goei and some of UA students were sitting, and where a very familiar, adorable, voice was coming from.

Midori didn't wait for anyone to invite her inside this time. She just ran towards the table and put herself right in front of her lovely, cute, stunning … paper bag?

The girl blinked as some of her crush's friends (Bakugou, glasses guy and round cheeks, if she wasn't mistaken) looked with frowned brows at her. Izuku's precious features were hidden behind a hideous, dirty paper bag again!? Why!? Where do those people manage to get so many bags from anyway!? Preventing such a marvelous being from showing himself to the world should be considered a severe, unforgivable crime!

"Your quirk is amazing, Goei! Just imagine how many rescue missions we could do together once we graduate!" Her boy, apparently unfazed by her arrival, was rambling while he enthusiastically took notes on his notebook and Shashin took photos of the shining eyes that could be seen behind the two holes made on the surface of that ugly brown paper. "I can't believe you didn't try the hero exam! We could've been studying together again if you did and people would love you and your radar so much!"

Goei Daisuke, who was sitting like a well behaved person for once in his life, couldn't contain any of his happy tears. Miru pulled Midori to another seat by their side as the guy turned to them and told, fully emotional. "Midoriya Izuku remembers me from preschool. He recognised me!"

"What!?"

"Yeah! He was one of the first boys Kacchan started to bully besides me, so we used to play together a lot."

"Why don't you fucking stop telling it!? He's a weirdo, he sure deserved it!"

Both Midoriya and round face poked rather aggressively at Bakugou. He seemed even more annoyed by it but settled for just an irritated groan anyway. Ha! It seemed that not even explosion beast could keep going against precious boi for much time. 

"Shuryou Midori." The girl looked at the glasses guy, surprised by him calling her by her name. "I thought I had seen you before when the Izulovers tried to visit Midoriya at UA, but when your colleagues informed us that you really are this club's president, I refused to believe it! I could have never imagined that you would be the kind to, not only accept, but also encourage this sort of behavior."

For some seconds, they just stared at each other, until Midori decided to ask "And who are you, exactly?", said question being followed by visible water drops in the corner of people's foreheads.

"I'm Iida Tenya! Your parents are major investors of my family's hero agency. We have met sometimes before."

The stare competition was up for only another moment before Midori closed her eyes and concluded. "Sorry, all the boys have the same face for me. That is, except for Izuku, of course."

At that, a series of tired reactions passed through everyone's face (and one very angry reaction for Bakugou), until Izuku finally broke the awkward atmosphere with an embarrassed voice.

"Uhm, you must be the Izulovers' president, then. It's, uh… nice to meet you, Shuryou."

Once more, Midori didn't respond immediately. At first, she just blinked, eyes locked into the other's. Only after a few seconds, she opened her mouth again. "You… don't remember me?"

Even with a paper bag covering all of his face, it was obvious that the boy was blushing. "Well, I remember you from the attack, and from UA too… sorry for never acknowledging you at middle school."

Midori kept staring. Izuku could remember Goei but couldn't remember her!? How come someone who had marked her life so much don't have any marks of her in return?! That was so unfair!

"I called you to talk about… uh, about your fanclub." Izuku said, still a bit unsure.

"What about us?" Goei asked for Midori, seen that their leader was still having an internal breakdown due to her dreams of the perfect re-encounter being crashed. He didn't mind it, he was too happy that he himself finally had got to talk to Izuku again.

"Well, I suppose that it is something that I should get used to, since it'll be worse once I become a real hero, but still… Don't you think you're being a bit… excessive?"

"Excessive… how exactly?"

"You gotta be kidding me! Your piece of bu..." Bakugou started his usual rage attacks but was soon stopped by Uraraka and Iida while Izuku just flinched, clearly growing more and more uncomfortable by the second.

"Control yourself, Bakugou. We're here just as moral support. Midoriya says he needs to do this by himself."

"Yes. As his closest friends, we should honor his wishes and respect his noble initiatives!"

Ignoring Bakugou's angry groans, Izuku tried to continue the conversation as if nothing had happened.

"When I say excessive, I mean…" The boy had a hard time looking for something that meant 'literally everything you do' but didn't sound as indelicate. "I mean the times when you take photos of me and sell them without my permission, or when you fight other people because of me… Times like that, you see? I don't think it is good at all, neither for me nor for you."

"But that's what a fanclub does!" Shashin jumped up and down her chair. The girl was so short that she looked like a ten years old kid sitting at a place too big for her. "Take the best photos to admire the object of their adoration!"

Midori nodded her head exasperatedly. As the president, she should be the one talking there but she was still feeling quite dizzy from the revelation.

"Uhm." Izuku seemed contemplative for some time before speaking up again. "The way you feel about me, it is similar to the way I feel about All Might, right?"

"It depends." The tiny photographer answered once again. "Do you also want to either marry All Might and have kids with him or contract him as the official model of your future brand?"

A series of gasps could be heard around the table. Daisuke and Rikugou facepalmed. Why the hell were they allowing the one person that was the most similar to their president to take the lead!?

"N-n-n-nooo…!?" Was Izuku's very flustered answer.

Shashin just shrugged. "Then they're not similar." And took another photo.

"What Shashin is trying to say is" Miru started as she pulled her record book out of nowhere. "We care a lot about you, Midoriya. Even if you don't remember all of us, you have changed our lives one way or another at some point and we love you for that, just like any fanclub dedicated to an actor, a singer or a hero feels about them."

She opened the book, heavy with photos and hundreds of texts spread through the pages. Midoriya's eyes shone when he noticed the similarity to his own notebook.

"We don't just pass all day long discussing how beautiful you are and selling photos of you. With Goei's help, we have set up a voluntary protection squad for you all around the city and they have already beaten lots of psychos before they could become a real threat for you. Shashin takes care of our marketing and publicity, so that more people can get to know about us and you and your doings. I watch our financial needs and Shuryou coordinates not only the council but all the Izulovers. We're all like a confused big family."

While Miru was discoursing about the club, Midoriya, Bakugou, Uraraka and Iida were taking a look at the book. The entries would describe the club's activities each day, with notes listing how to improve themselves based on observations of Izuku himself. They truly were dedicated.

"All of you work rather hard for this." Midoriya stated at the end of Miru's speech, scratch the back of his neck. Anyone could see that he was at least a little embarrassed. "But, really, you don't need to go out of your way for this. After all, my quirk makes…"

"What!?" Shuryou, who was ashamed of not being able to add anything to the discussion, spoke up again for the first time since the beginning of the reunion, almost shouting. "You said 'your quirk'!?"

"Yes…? Uhm, here comes the most difficult part. Sorry for disappointing all of you but my cuteness is actually a quirk. You probably are doing this as a result of being exposed to it."

Shuryou didn't even notice when she had got out of her chair but after that confession she stumbled and fell back on it again. She was shocked. Unbelievable!

For all those years, her adoration was built around the fact that Midoriya didn't have a quirk and yet fought so hard to get whatever he wanted, the society's conceptions on quirkless people be damned. One of the reasons why the girl had found the fanclub and created the protection squad was because she knew in first hand how the world could be cruel with the ones who weren't born with a stupid quirk. She was happy that she could offer him security in exchange for the willing to live he gave her. And now, she finds out that that's never been real.

Midori needed some time to breath properly and sort things out. Desperately.

"That's bullshit!" Goei also sat up suddenly with an angry expression. "Miru just said that we don't like you just because of your cuteness! If we were here just because we're influenced by your quirk, then we'd have left you the moment you put this horrible thing over your head!"

Another pair of hands slammed the table and a very energetic Uraraka also sat up. "See! That's what we try to tell him all the time but Midoriya never listens to us!"

"We don't like Midoriya because he's cute. We like Midoriya because he's Midoriya."

At this point, Izuku's bag was getting wet because of his tears. He was practically a fountain by then. 

"Guys… I…"

"The cookies are ready!" The door was open and Ms. Goei, Ms. Miru and even Inko ('she must've been in the kitchen all the time!' - Midori supposed) walked in with a tray full of chocolate cookies. Some of them had a weird shape, as if the person who made those didn't really know how to do it. Upon noticing the scene, the brown haired woman looked at her son. "Are we getting in the middle of something?"

After that, the reunion was forgotten for a while as the people got up to eat the cookies. Midori also picked one but instead of putting it in her mouth like the others, she just stared at it for a few seconds, pensive. The chocolate chips reminded her of Izuku's freckles.

She couldn't bring herself to eat anything for the rest of the day.

...

Izuku couldn't help but walk with a big smile on his face while he went towards 1-A classroom. So far, that had been the best week of that school year. 

First: He had had the opportunity to fight real villains. Okay, at the time it was scary and horrible, but it was also an unquestionably useful, unique experience and everybody managed to get out of there just fine. Even though the villains had escaped through the warp gate in the end, Izuku considered that a successful experience.

Second: He had resolved the problem with his fanclub. Izuku hadn't asked them to stop their activities like the council was afraid he would. Instead, they made a deal so that the Izulovers would act more like a normal club rather than his personal protection squad/business agent. If Shashin wanted to use him as a model, she just needed to ask him.

Third: Both his mask and hero costume were finally fixed! He made sure to pass at UA's workshop before going to his first class in order to retrieve them as soon as possible. Now he could finally get rid of that paper bag and face the world like a normal person again. He'd never thought he'd say that, but he missed seeing his own face and showing it around.

As Izuku entered the class, he was surrounded by his classmates, begging for him to tell them how exactly he had managed to defeat the villains just by exposing his full cuteness to them. He couldn't say he wasn't expecting for that but it made him feel quite overwhelmed and uncomfortable anyway.

"Get out of my fucking way, your extras!" Kacchan snarled when he passed through the door, making people forget Midoriya for a moment and do as he said. 

Izuku took the opportunity and followed behind him to his own seat. However, as soon as he got to his usual place, people started to gather around him again.

"Midoriya, is it true that even All Might had to hold himself back not to react to your full power? Very Plus Ultra!"

"What was that villain's reaction? Did he cry when he saw that was doing bad to you? Or did he just kneeled and begged for your forgiveness?"

"My shining soul brother! Why did you do that to my costume!? Did you hate it that much!?

"Is it true that we can't remember what happened because your face is so ethereal that no mortal can understand its fullness?! So manly!"

While people didn't stop blurting random questions out, Izuku grabbed his notebook and opened it to the last used page. There, the only thing written was Hatsume Mei's contact number (Izuku still went red when he remembered the circumstances when she gave him that). From the corner of his eye, Midoriya also could see that teacher Aizawa was coming - totally cured thanks to that Izulover's quirk. The boy smiled, relieved.

Before Aizawa told everybody to go back to their sits, however, Izuku wrote with big handwriting on the top of the page ' Quirk #153 - Cuteness (me) ' and smiled at his classmates, who were left breathless by the sight. For a moment, he thought that yes, maybe he could get used to it. Not right then and there, but at some point in the future. Izuku started to note down every piece of information he could remember about his quirk, at the same time he spoke up, confidently:

"Let's just say that I've noticed it is better to fight with my cuteness than against it." 

"Fucking finally." He could hear Kaachan mumble the same thought that probably was also going through everyone's head.

Midoriya giggled. Seeing how far he'd improved regarding his quirk and aspiration, he really couldn't be happier with how things are now.

Chapter Text

The man was walking slowly while scrolling on his cellphone, not caring to look if he would bump into something. People stared at him as they crossed his way, some with fear, others with curiosity. He couldn't care less - he was pretty used to this kind of reaction to his abnormal appearance by this point. He was more interested in the little screen on his hands instead.

He'd been trying to find a person he had seen some weeks before in the train, when he had thought about attacking UA's entrance exam, but he couldn't get anything so far. Without a name, it shouldn't really be a surprise that he couldn't find him - However, with a face as memorable as that boy had, he had expected that some forum would be talking about him - teenagers these days were all for cute collegial students, weren't they?

The big TV on the building on his right only caught his attention when they mentioned a very specific piece of information.

"Urgent news! Today a group of villains that calls itself 'The Villain League' attacked UA's rescue training facility - USJ. Thanks to the hero student Midoriya Izuku, who has a cuteness quirk, though, the bad guys were unable to do much harm to the people there. As new information gets out, we'll come back to inform you."

At the same time the journalist spoke, images of the facility appeared, with the small photo of the heroic student on the bottom left corner of the screen. The man's stoic face didn't change a bit, but his eyes shone when he recognised the boy. After a deep breath, he went back to typing on his cellphone.

"Midoriya, uhn…" Dabi mumbled to himself as the results for his search started to appear.