Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"So it has come to this." The hero’s voice was resonant, and the speaker fell into a combat stance.

His opponent smiled ferally, bouncing back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Bring it on."

Seconds ticked by, and then came the rush as the fighters threw themselves at each other. The dark skinned woman in off white ducked under a branching jab that extended far past her opponent's arm, then leapt into the air as he tried the same trick with a kick. She gave him no time to counter, her foot slamming into his head, sending him flying as she used his body as a springboard.

Even as he landed she was charging at him again, and his kip up only put him in position to be kicked into the air, his body rising from the hammering kick to his chin. She leapt after him, grabbing him as he tried to recover, swung him down into the concrete and then drove her knees into his back as she landed for good measure.

He managed a groan, but couldn't react as she rolled off him and grabbed his shoulders in the same fluid motion. He went flying again, but this time she followed him with a series of vicious kicks that stunned him and sent him sprawling.

Kamui Woods did not rise again.

"Mirko wins!" A voice announced, and she made a pose. "Flawless victory!"

Kirishima put his controller down and shook his head and then looked at his opponent, "Man, how do you do that?"

Midoriya’s iron concentration relaxed a fraction, his smile fading in confusion, "Huh? What do you mean?"

"You've beat everyone we've thrown at you. You never said you were a pro at Pro Hero Fighter! You're unbeatable!" There was a chorus of agreement from the Bakusquad (sans Bakugo himself who had sneered at playing when Kirishima brought his console to the common room).

"How are you so good?" Kaminari asked, not quite concealing his frown.

"Oh, that's easy. I let you pick first." The words came out as if they were the most natural thing in the world.

"What?" The word, spoken in unison, was flat.

"Well, after you choose, haven't you noticed I picked someone to counter your choice?"

Ashido pouted, "Actually you start muttering and then pick someone."

Izuku laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, "I-I guess."

Kirishima had ignored the exchange, falling into a thinking pose, "So you figure out who would be the best fighter to counter ours." He frowned thoughtfully, "But how did you figure it out?"

"Well, Kamui Woods is a dexterity ranged specialist, right?" There was an exchange of looks and then a hesitant nod, "To fight someone like that I try for someone who can counter it. Someone faster, who gets in close, but can deal with his aerial fighting style. Mirko was the obvious choice."

"What about Ingenium?" The question nearly floored the group; as Iida hadn't said a word since he sat down to monitor the game.

Izuku rested his head on his hand for a few seconds, mumbling under his breath before looking up and shaking his head. "Ingenium has the speed to keep up with Kamui, and he's stronger than Woods, but his aerial abilities are far more limited. I could probably do it, but it would have been a lot harder."

Iidal looked like he swallowed a lemon, but didn't try to disagree.

"So who would you choose to fight Mirko?" Sero asked, intrigued.

"Against Mirko? A ranged specialist with some grappling. Gunhead would be a good choice, maybe Fourth Kind would be able to pin her? It still wouldn't be an easy fight. She’s ranked number five for a reason."

"What was that about Gunhead? Uraraka asked from the kitchen.

"Deku thinks he can beat Mirko." Kaminari replied with a smile.

"In Pro Hero Fighter." Izuku added hastily.

Uraraka grinned and pumped a fist, "Yeah!"

Tsuyu popped out alongside Uraraka, finger to her cheek, "So who would you choose if your opponent chose All Might?"

All eyes were on Izuku as he laughed, "Well we all agreed not to play All Might since he's so powerful," The Bakusquad nodded in agreement, "but if my opponent did choose All Might the solution is obvious." Izuku smiled widely, "I’d pick All Might."

The questions continued for some time after. Details were slowly drawn out of Izuku, as was their source: his almost obsessive observation of pro heroes. It wasn't until dinner that Izuku eventually saw a reprieve.

Iida watched his friend retreat to his room, but the conversation stuck with him. His thoughts on Ingenium were at the forefront of his mind that night. The details that came out when he asked about other fighters versus Ingenium were enlightening. Izuku had put far more thought into his brother than he had previously had any reason to believe. Learning that Izuku spent almost as much time studying heroes as he studied in general was an eye opener.

He resolved to talk to his friend the following morning. He did not expect being beaten to the punch though. Seeing Izuku sitting across from Satou in quiet conversation gave him pause. But Izuku spotted him and waved him over with his trademark smile. Satou gave him a not unfriendly look, but wasn't quite happy.

"So, what have you two been talking about?"

"Satou was asking me about what he could do to improve how he fights." His muscle bound classmate flushed, but Izuku seemed to miss it in his enthusiasm, "And I want to help, but there's something we need to do first, and I wanted to ask you to come too."

Iida blinked, wondering what he could have in common with Satou, their fighting styles couldn’t be more different, "O-of course."

Izuku positively beamed, "I won't be able to set it up until next week, but I was hoping you could help me get the forms I'll need to fill out. We'll need a training area and some testing equipment, and maybe a small stipend for supplies."

Iida raised an eyebrow, and exchanged a glance with Satou. They shrugged, not quite in unison and Iida went to look up the necessary forms.

*~~~*

A week went by. Midoriya was tight lipped, taking the forms from Iida and turning them in to Aizawa without showing it to the class rep (which left Iida scandalized), and even being asked to stay after class by Aizawa on Thursday. Even more disturbing was that he hadn't been reduced to a stuttering wreck when Aizawa asked.

It wasn't until Friday when he came into the common room with a satisfied smirk that he even tipped his hand, tapping Satou on the shoulder and giving Iida a pointed look before walking away. Neither of them cared that their exit was made in a less than dignified rush. By that time the suspense was killing them.

Izuku was looking around, checking to make sure they were alone when they found him. He smiled when he saw them. "I hope neither of you have plans for tomorrow," he said without preamble, "because starting at nine AM we need to be in testing room C-10 in the quirk research building."

"Nine AM?" Satou said at the same time Iida said, "Quirk research building?" Satou glanced at the class rep, "Uh, maybe you should go first?"

Iida nodded, "Midoriya, I don't mean to complain and I'm sure you have something in mind, but weren't you offering to help us with how we fight?"

Izuku's smile remained fixed, "You'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out." His smile dropped for a moment, and he looked serious, "Please don't be late, I don't think Aizawa-sensei or Recovery Girl would appreciate coming in on days off only to find you coming in late."

"Aizawa will be there?" Satou asked, vaguely horrified.

Iida, looked concerned, at the mention of Recovery Girl, "Is whatever it is you're asking us to do dangerous?"

Izuku's eyes widened and he waved his hands frantically, "No, no! Everything should be fine, I swear!"

Satou frowned. What passed for 'fine' in Midoriya's book didn't meet his definition by any means. Iida would have agreed if he had voiced that opinion, but both remained silent. Grudgingly the strongman sighed, "Fine. I'll be there."

Iida nodded in agreement and Izuku sighed in relief, "See you then." He said, and headed back to his room, passing by Jirou on his way.

*~~~*

The next morning came all too quickly for Satou Rikido. He wouldn’t necessarily consider himself a night owl or an early bird, but the sheer amount of sugar he consumed often lead to longer nights than early mornings. He wasn’t a zombie on the weekend mornings like Kaminari or Ashido tended to be, but he liked to sleep in a bit. Midoriya had put paid to that for this weekend, so he ambled down to the kitchen to make himself a pick-me-up.

Apparently he wasn’t alone since Iida was in the kitchen as well, but to his surprise he was arguing with Midoriya who was standing stolidly in front of the fridge for some reason. “Will you please move?” Iida wasn’t even attempting to mask the irritation in his voice, “This obstinacy isn’t endearing.”

“Sorry Iida.” Midoriya said with a shrug, arms barred in front of his chest, “But you can’t have any orange juice right now.”

Satou watched with vague interest, mechanically getting coffee ready. His hand groped in the cupboard, but missed what he was going for. He blinked, looking up, his face scrunching in confusion. Where had the sugar gone?

“Sorry about that Satou, but you’ll have to take your coffee black and sour.” He paused, “Wait, bitter, it’s bitter right? Sorry, I don’t really drink it myself.”

Satou blinked at Midoriya owlishly, “Why?”

“Well, I’d give you the milk, but then Iida might be able to get his orange juice.” The green haired hero shrugged sympathetically.

Iida shot him a confused look, and then returned to Midoriya eyes wide, “Are you trying to starve both of us of what we need to activate our quirks?”

“Wait, you need orange juice for your quirk?” Satou scratched his head, “I didn’t know that.”

Iida almost ignored him, not quite looking his way as he responded, “I didn’t think anyone knew,” he offered, eyes fixed on Midoriya who kept the smile fixed on his lips, “How did you know?”

“Your brother mentioned it in an interview a few years ago. And you have at least one cup every morning.” Midoriya checked his wrist, which lacked any sort of watch, “Wow, look at the time, we better get going if we’re going to get there before Aizawa and Recovery Girl.” He grabbed Iida’s wrist, not unkindly, and marched over to Satou, dragging his larger friend behind him with seeming ease, and seized his wrist as well.

“Midoriya,” Iida stumbled, his center of gravity thrown off by Midoriya’s hold on him, “we have half an hour!”

“Don’t you usually like being at least half an hour early?”

“Well, yes, but…”

“Then we’re almost late by your standards.”

Satou wondered if he would survive the day.

*~~~*

“Midoriya, was that really necessary?” Aizawa’s voice was dry as usual as his student dragged the other two in behind him.

“Sorry,” He looked shamefaced, “Couldn’t let them sabotage the experiment. They would have gotten what they needed if I didn’t stop them.”

Aizawa rolled his eyes as Recovery Girl approached, checking their wrists and proceeded to give Izuku a lecture. Iida rubbed his wrist, his expression no more pleased than hers, but Satou couldn’t help but look at Midoriya with renewed fascination. He hadn’t resisted like Iida apparently had, but Midoriya hadn’t shown any difficulty in leading him along. Just what was up with his quirk?

After the browbeating was finished Recovery Girl huffed, “Both of you please sit down behind the curtain. Despite how you got here,” She shot Izuku a frown, “this could prove quite beneficial to both of you. Please remove your shirts.” Izuku, still red faced from the healer’s screed Izuku gave them a hasty wave before they moved behind the private changing area Recovery Girl had set up. She had them sit and wheeled over a tray of electrode monitors, which she proceeded to place on their chests and heads. They were cold and sticky, but the sensation faded in seconds, after which the patches practically disappeared from their senses. Thankfully Satou didn’t need anything attacked below the waist, but Iida was relieved to learn all he had to do was roll up his pants legs to have some attached to his calf.

“There.” Recovery Girl leaned back and smiled, “All ready to go. Put your shirts back on.” She wasted not a minute more, heading out from behind the blinds.
Iida slipped his shirt back on carefully, unwilling to knock off any of the glued on monitors, “I just wish I knew what we were doing.”

“Well, they can’t keep it secret for much longer.” Satou commiserated, and then walked around the curtain. The room was stuffed with all the normal training equipment, but modified for testing. The sheer number of weights on display was staggering and there was a machine to register punches. For Iida there was a treadmill almost ten meters long. And off to the side Izuku was fussing with the contents of two tables, one he couldn’t tear his eyes away from.

It was loaded to the brim with sugar, mounds of the stuff. The regular white mound had caught his eyes at first, but there was more than just that. He blinked and approached, vaguely aware that Iida was following, but drifting off to Izuku’s other side. Absently he spotted different types of orange juice sitting on the table.

“What is all that?” He asked, causing Izuku to jump a little. He reached out for a grainy blond colored sugar.

“Ah,” Izuku was practically beaming, “That’s Turbinado sugar. But we should really start with what you usually use. That’s regular sugar right?” He picked up a notepad and pen expectantly.

Satou nodded distractedly, reading labels, “Yeah. That or confectioner sugar.”

“For dusting? Or inside your recipes?” Izuku was already scribbling down notes.

“Depends on the recipe.” Satou looked at him, “What is all this?”

“I have to ask the same question.” Iida murmured from the other side.

“Today we’re going to be analyzing different methods of powering your quirks. I want to see if different sugars have different effects on you. Will increased sweetness increase your power? Will sugar substitutes give you any power? Or are they something you should avoid? Does the glycemic index pay a role?” His head whipped to Iida, and he seemed almost giddy, “Will pulp affect your engines? Do juices from different oranges affect to horsepower? Does fresh squeezed orange juice give you better performance? Will other citruses have an effect?”

“Uh…” Iida blinked, “I just drink what my mother bought me and my brother.” He admitted, rather lamely.

Izuku’s eyes widened sharply and his pencil was back in his notebook, “Did she run any analysis?” Iida’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, and he shook his head. Izuku ducked his head, “Sorry. First we need to test base load. Find the minimum you need to get your quirk working.”

*~~~*

The tests lasted most of the day. Izuku carefully measured out dosages while Recovery Girl monitored vital statistics with Aizawa. Discussions started as Recovery Girl began pointing things out. Neither Satou nor Iida could hear it though. Izuku was as much a taskmaster as Aizawa, urging them to their maximum potential. But at least he cheered them on as they went.

By noon they were both sweating so much that Recovery Girl called a halt so they could eat and then re-secure the electrodes. The lunch was carefully neutral to their quirks, rice noticeably absent from Satou’s plate just in case, and Izuku went over the test results so far. “It looks like you should avoid orange juice with pulp Iida. I’ve noticed you start flagging a bit quicker when there’s pulp in juice you’re testing. You also move a little slower.”

Iida’s eyes widened, “I guess it’s a good thing I don’t like pulp.”

Izuku nodded, tapping his pencil on the notepad, “That might be a natural mechanism, like how people are turned off by the smell of food that has gone bad.” He glanced up, “Are there any citruses you dislike?”

“Grapefruit.” Iida responded instantly.

“We should test that, just to see.” Izuku murmured, missing Iida’s wince. “But on the bright side the orange juice you usually drink is within the top five best performing juices so far.”

“Anything about me?” Satou asked tentatively.

Izuku smiled, “So it does seem that different sugars are having different effects. It’s obvious that the artificial sugars don’t work at all.” Satou nodded at that. His quirk hadn’t even activated when testing them, “But the good news is that they don’t seem to have any detrimental effect, so you can have them if you want something sweet and don’t want to affect your state of mind.”

“Good to know.” Satou said, and resumed eating.

“I’ve also noticed that the glycemic index does seem to have some effect. The lower the score, the less power you can draw from it, but at the same time it has less effect on your mental state and they last longer. Something like agave nectar or lactose might be a better idea for extended rescue work.”

“That’s a good idea.” He may be super strong when having those, but he was still stronger than he normally was, and that was nothing to sneeze at. He would still be useful, and it barely hindered him mentally, which could mean a lot for rescue work.

Izuku flipped a page on his notepad, “You were strongest when you took high glucose foods, but they have had a drawback on your thought process. It might be a good idea to make some sort of special liquid drink, something you can take before or maybe even in combat. Something like invert sugar, a mix of different sugars, something to give you a quick rush of strength, but one that won’t hinder your reasoning. Add in one of the middle glycemic index sugars in case you can’t end the fight immediately, something to keep you in the game.” He descended into muttering of potential ratios while Satou sat in silence, taking in the briar thicket of reasoning. It never seemed to end, going on and on, his lunch sitting untouched.

“Uh… hey Midoriya?”

Satou finally broke through the wall of words, and Izuku looked up shamefaced, “Sorry, I was rambling.” He scratched the back of his head and gave a weak smile.

“I just wanted to say thanks for this.” Satou gave a little shrug, “I don’t think I would have thought of any of it.”

Izuku’s face colored and he tried to play it down, frantically waving his hands, “Oh, it’s nothing.”

Iida was having none of it, “It is, actually. I don’t think I would have even considered the questions you’ve been asking. This could be a great help for both of us. Thank you.”

Satou took the torch back, “You’ve spent more time thinking about my quirk than my quirk councilor did. He didn’t ask half the questions you have.”

It was Izuku’s turn to open and close his mouth like a fish for a few seconds before turning his beet red face towards the table.

Recovery Girl shook her head. If only Izuku had someone like himself guiding him through the difficult adjustment to One for All, she wouldn’t have been quite so busy with him.

*~~~*

“So who’s next?” Aizawa’s question made Izuku start. They had only just finished testing, Iida and Satou were having the monitoring equipment removed as Izuku went over the data and analyzed.

“W-what?”

Aizawa didn’t roll his eyes, but it was implied by his look, “Midoriya, please don't act like you've only been thinking about Iida and Satou’s quirks. You’ve been in my class for months; do you think I haven’t learned anything about how you think?”

Izuku chuckled nervously, “Whoever asks next, I guess?”

Chapter Text

It started with subtle things. The brand of orange juice in the 1-A dorm changed. New ingredients, sweeteners to be specific, entered the cupboard. Sato started sitting next to Iida, effectively joining the Dekusquad, during lunch. Then things became noticeable. Sato started dodging attacks rather than trying to just power through them. Iida started adding more punches and feints to his repertoire.

Jirou was sure she wasn’t the only one who noticed the change. Momo hadn’t mentioned it, but she had been visibly surprised when Iida caught Shoji with a punch to the gut. And Uraraka had looked a bit surprised when Sato offered suggestions during a rescue exercise. But Jirou was sure that she was the only one who had noticed Midoriya’s reactions each time. He was practically beaming, and he was watching things with even more intensity than normal whenever either of them was on screen.

It wasn’t until a rescue training exercise at the USJ where she was teamed up with the three of them that she saw it all coming together though. Jirou watched as Izuku fell into a ramble, but neither Iida nor Sato looked inclined to fish him out. "Are we just going to leave him like that?" She asked, and both boys shook their heads.

"He gets like that." Sato said, as if he was now an authority.

Iida frowned thoughtfully, "We've been working with Midoriya recently. He gets like this when parsing things out. Let him gather his thoughts and he can be very insightful."

"Can he be insightful quickly?” Jirou asked skeptically, “We're going to be rescuing people from a landslide." She barely finished when Izuku surfaced from his verbal rabbit hole.

"Sorry about that," Izuku said with a blush, "but I think I have an idea. Jirou, I know you can use your earjacks to sense sounds, will you be able to do that with the loose rubble?"

She shrugged noncommittally, “Hopefully.” She’d been expecting as much, but was used to more dense materials.

“You should do an initial check at the base. If she doesn’t spot anyone you two should start search patterns for anyone partially submerged. If you find someone but don’t think you can get them out shout and one of us will come to you to help.” He turned back to her, and she was honestly impressed that he seemed so confident. Maybe interrupting his mumbling had thrown him off in the past? “You should check periodically as we go up the slope. I’ll stick with you unless they need help. If you find anyone, tell me and either I’ll get them or I’ll call one of them for support.”

Jirou’s eyes narrowed, “You don’t think I’m capable of helping?”

Izuku flushed, shaking his head, “N-no. Nothing like that.”

“Then why don’t you want me to help?”

“Because you need to keep searching for people.” That took the angry wind out of her sails, and Izuku continued, “You have a better chance than us of finding people with your quirk. We can only find people on the surface or in the partially submerged building if we trip over them. If you find anyone, call one of us over, but then keep looking. We need to get people out quickly, in case of aftershocks.”

Jirou couldn’t help but smirk, “That makes it sound like you’re putting me in command.”

Izuku blinked a few times, and then nodded, “Yeah. Sort of.” Then it was Jirou’s turn to blink, opening her mouth as she glanced to Iida and Sato who nodded in agreement. Crap. This wasn’t turning out as expected at all.

Iida broke the silence that developed, “We should really watch the other teams, see if we can learn anything from them.”

“Right.” Izuku nodded quickly and headed to the edge of the observation area. Jirou was left nibbling at her lip as he left, catching Iida and Sato exchanging a glance before they followed, Jirou trailing after them.

*~~~*

It was going relatively well, all things considered. Her initial scan had turned up a few civilians and Iida and Sato had gone running. It was difficult to find places to stick her earphone jacks that would allow her a solid read, but Midoriya stuck with her while Iida and Sato brought the civilians to safety and then fanned out, racing up and down the hill in parallel trying to search for more survivors. They were clearly working in tandem, even if they weren’t near each other, when did they get so used to working together?

“Earphone Jack?” Izuku dragged her back to the task at hand and she gave him a quick shake of her head.

“This building is empty. We should check the next.” And just like that he nodded, accepting her answer as gospel and headed to the next building. She struggled to follow, rocks slipping beneath her boots. Midoriya was practically a machine, even as she felt her heart beat faster he looked like he was on a light stroll rather than climbing over a steep hill of crumbling rubble. She reached the next crumpled building and checked it. Her eyes widened, “There are four in there.”

In a second Izuku was shouting the information out. Iida was pulling a civilian out and couldn’t help, but Sato had just left his last one at the bottom of the hill and was now charging towards them. Izuku turned to her, “Where?”

“They’re split up, but close to each other. They’re down a hall in two separate rooms.” Jirou tried to make a mental map, “I should be able to lead you to them.” Izuku gave her a brief nod then reached into a pocket, pulling out a pair of mini flashlights, one of which he offered to her. Jirou blinked realization that she should have one on her for these sorts of missions dawning on her, and then accepted, “Thanks.”

Izuku smiled, but said nothing, looking back and motioning for Sato to follow. Jirou took that as her cue to enter, flicking the flashlight on and heading for a broken door. Izuku was at her heels, and she could hear Sato’s hard breathing as he finally reached them seconds later. “The first one is in the second room on the right, the other three are in the third room on the left, but there’s rubble in front of the door.

“Sugarman, you get the civilian on the right.” He said and tossed another flashlight to the sugar hero, “I’ll work on the rubble if we need to. We’ll meet outside. Lead the way Earphone Jack.”

He really fell into second in command didn’t he? She couldn’t help but wonder if he ever played bass. She led them down the hall at a jog, pointing out the room with the lonely civilian and then continuing on as Sato rescued them. Seconds later she stepped out of Izuku’s way as he lifted a broken piece of the roof off the floor, pushing it out of their way. Jirou opened the door and froze as the room trembled. An aftershock? Either part of the simulation that they hadn’t witnessed while watching the others go through it or they were doing so well that Thirteen had decided to ramp it up. She braced herself against the door, her light illuminating the ceiling and plunging her into relative darkness.

As soon as it passed she was inside, moving on wobbly legs, Izuku practically scrambling past her, flashlight in his mouth. By unspoken agreement she moved to the civilian furthest from the others, dumping the light and pulling the limp form into a fireman’s carry. By the time she got back up Izuku already had both in his arms. It wasn’t exactly elegant, but she couldn’t complain, especially since he had retained the sense to keep his flashlight in his mouth. She followed him on the way out, escaping back into the light to see Sato waiting for them. Izuku spat out his flashlight, “Sugarman, take the civilian from her, she needs to check the remaining building.”

Sato pocketed the light he’d been given and easily lifted the body off her shoulder and started heading down the hill. Izuku hesitated, but only for a second. “You should take my light, sorry about the spit.”

“If I find anything I’ll call.” She said, and then he gave her a brilliant smile before taking off, bounding down the hill, passing Sato seconds later. Jirou shook her head, snatching the light from the ground and took off towards the next building, stones skittering under her boots. She reached the next building and checked it, only to find that the building had been destroyed and packed with rubble.

She retracted her earphone jack and dashed up the hill, breathing hard and struggling to maintain her footing. There was another small shake and pebbles began to cascade down around her. She stumbled and practically fell onto the last building, her earphones slamming into it just before she did. The echo of the room came back and her stomach dropped, there was someone trapped inside, “Ingenium!” She shouted, “I need someone to lift something heavy! Get Deku and tell him to hurry! The ground is shifting!”

She heard a distant reply as she clambered through the empty window frame. The flashlight illuminated the room framing the trapped civilian easily. A giant support beam had pinned his legs, but hadn’t crushed them. Their teachers apparently didn’t want them wondering whether or not amputation was the right move in this exercise she thought in a bout of macabre humor as she moved smaller pieces or rubble from around the civilian. There was no way she’d be able to move the actual pillar though, and with the steel rods reinforcing it, it would be hell to blast through. She wondered if she should have asked for Sato as well when then Izuku was stumbling in after her, eyes wild, “We have to hurry. Part of the hill is collapsing.”

Jirou’s heart dropped, but then he was there, a foot away from her, lifting up the fallen support beam. She couldn’t help but gawk at him for a second. How many kilograms was that beam? The civilian bot made a feeble movement and she snapped out of her reverie, grabbing the struggling form and dragging it away. The support beam slammed back on the floor behind her and dust filled the room.

“Deku-” She turned, and he was there at her side, an arm sweeping around her waist, the other around the civilian. Jirou had time to squawk and then he shot out of the building, a renewed landslide nipping at their heels. Iida and Sato were at the base of the hill shouting, and dragging the civilians further back, but all Jirou could watch was the building she had just been inside being buried by a renewed rockslide.

*~~~*

“That was close.” All Might said, “But you got all the civilians out. Good job.” Even though he was diminished, the hero’s praise drew blushes out of his students. All Might turned to the rest of the class, “Can anyone explain how they succeeded?”

Yaoyorozu raised her hand, “Even though they didn’t stick together they worked together as a team.”

All Might nodded, “They did. But there’s more.” He looked around, “Anyone else?”

It was several seconds before anyone else raised their hand. One of Shoji’s limbs rose into the air and then formed a mouth, “Jirou focused on finding people.” He shifted slightly, glancing at Uraraka, possibly wary of betraying his partner for the exam, “We spent more time with each civilian. I carried a few back myself.” Kirishima’s waffling between them and chasing after Bakugo who had gone to do his own thing hadn’t helped matters. “I should have kept looking for more civilians instead.”

All Might nodded, “Correct. In rescue situations such as these the priority has to be finding and rescuing people. You may have noticed that each team had someone with sensory quirks or something that could help with finding others. Jirou, Shoji, Koda, Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu were able to more directly find wounded civilians, but Jirou was the only one who found all of the civilians inside the buildings within the time limit.” He glanced at the heavily blushing heroine in training, “In these situations you have to evaluate how you can help best. Congratulations, all of you.”

*~~~*

Lunch the next day started off normal. She had just sat down to eat when another platter was set down beside her. “Can I sit here?” Sato asked as a formality, and Jirou shrugged. “Thanks.”

“I thought you were sitting with Deku?” She asked idly, picking at her food.

“I have been, yeah.” He shrugged, “But after yesterday, I thought we should talk.”

“Is this about the training you, Midoriya and Iida have been doing?” She asked, and smiled as he gawped at her. She chuckled, and tapped her earlobe, “I have good hearing too.”

He nodded, “Yeah. We’ve been training with Deku. I came over here to say you should do the same. I thought I had been lagging, especially after the exam, but he really thought things through.” Jirou arched an eyebrow and said nothing. Sato shrugged and looked at the table, “He helped a lot, but it wasn’t just training. I have a food based power, but he thought about it differently. He had me test out a ton of different sugars, and it turns out my quirk isn’t as simple as I thought. He put a lot more thought into it than my quirk councilor did.”

Jirou blinked, “All that new stuff in the kitchen?” Sato nodded, and she couldn’t help but glance over to where Izuku was currently looking abashed as Uraraka punched the air.

“He did the same with Iida.”

Jirou blinked again, “Wait, Iida?”

Sato nodded, “He knew that Iida needed orange juice to power his engines.” Jirou just stared, “When he had me testing different sweeteners, he had Iida test different orange juices. I don’t think I remember seeing you drink any before, but there’s a new brand in the fridge.”

“Yeah, but my quirk isn’t food based. How is he going to help?” She asked.

Sato shrugged, “Don’t know. But he’s smart and he likes figuring out quirks.”

*~~~*

It wasn’t difficult to find a time to find Izuku alone, or alone-ish at least. Sato was kind enough to provide her with the opportunity. Jirou entered the gym and was treated to the sight of the Sato and Iida sparring. She was tempted to whistle at the speed and intensity they were going at it. It was little wonder why they had changed their fighting styles if this was what they were doing. She also saw Izuku, his back to her, watching the fight intently, and called a halt when Sato got his feet kicked out from under him and slammed into the floor as gravity came to collect its dues.

She decided that was a good enough cue. She wasn’t sure how long these bouts usually lasted, but she’d been standing around watching and waiting for a good opportunity to interject without interrupting and she didn’t want to miss her chance. “Hey guys.” The green haired boy practically jumped at the sound of her voice, whirling to see her with wide eyes.

“Jirou? What are you doing here?”

“Came to give you a new flashlight.” It wasn’t exactly a lie either, as she pulled out the replacement she’d bought and offered it to him.

“Oh,” He blinked and accepted it, “Thanks. You didn’t need to do that. I bought a bunch really cheap.” He suddenly looked mortified, “You didn’t spend much on it, did you?”

“Nah.” Jirou shook her head, and Izuku relaxed a fraction. “Actually, that wasn’t the only reason I came.” And just like that Izuku wound right back up like a spring, “I heard you started training Iida and Sato, and they’ve really been improving.” She realized she was twirling her earphone jack and stopped herself, “I was wondering if you had any ideas for me?”

Izuku blinked a few times and slipped into an easy smile, “Sure.” He glanced at Iida and Sato, “Guys, think we can end early today?” They nodded and started heading for the gym’s shower while Midoriya lifted up his journal and flipped a few pages, “I’d like to start by asking you more about your quirk. Let’s sit on the benches.”

She shrugged and followed him. It was a good decision because she had no clue exactly how long she was sitting there answering questions for her soon to be councilor. After a while she began to wonder if this was how people felt like when they were being interrogated. It wasn’t as intense as the real thing, but she felt it as it dragged on. Midoriya was pumping her for every piece of information he could, weaving between asking about her quirk and fights she had been in, asking about what martial arts training she had and even questions about her hero costume.

In the end Iida bought her a reprieve. He’d long since showered, dressed and left, but he returned with forms in hand for Midoriya and politely but firmly informed them that they should head back before curfew.

*~~~*

The next day, as class let out, Midoriya headed her way with a wide grin. Jirou smiled, but secretly her stomach dropped, she should have asked Iida or Sato how many question and answer sessions they’d gone through with him. He stopped short of her, moving out of his passing classmates way and fumbled with his bag. A few sheets of paper were put down on the desk in front of hers, already vacated by Shoji. “We’re good for Saturday.” He said sotto voce and Jirou blinked, she’d barely heard him. He glanced at her and his smile widened, “Sorry, just testing.”

She nodded slowly, well, it was Midoriya… “So what’s with the sheets?”

“Ah.” He handed them to her, “Well, I was sort of hoping you would sign this before I headed out?”

She took the sheets, helpfully marked for where she was expected to sign. They were not helpfully marked to explain what they were for. She narrowed her eyes slightly and flipped them over, looking for the heading. Her father had told her all about people who wanted him to sign things before reading them. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Midoriya begin to sweat bullets.

Then she saw why.

She placed the papers down and looked at him. For someone she knew for a fact was brave in the face of life and death situations he was all but panicking under her glare. “Why are you having me sign orders for changes to my costume?” She nearly kept the venom out of her question. Nearly.

“I asked for help from support but they said they needed this!” He was sweating bullets, shifting under her stare, “They needed this form filled out before they would even see if what I suggested can even be done since it’s someone else’s costume being changed.” Her eyes narrowed a fraction and he went white, frantically waving his hands in a placating gesture, “I’m not trying to change your style! Your costume will look almost exactly the same!”

She relented, which at least let the boy take a breath of air, “Then why didn’t you just ask?”

“Because I thought we would have this exact conversation?” He replied in a nervous whine.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, “So what changes are you planning to make?”

He looked positively shamefaced, “I don’t want to get your hopes up. They wouldn’t even look at my suggestion until I got your signature.”

She narrowed her eyes again, even holding her gaze on him for a few seconds which got him to squirm but didn’t pull any other answers out of him. She sighed and relented again, “Fine. I’ll find out on Saturday.” She started writing her name but stopped, jabbing her pen at him, “But I get final approval.” He nodded frantically, accepted the signed papers and fled the room.

*~~~*

“Well, at least he’s not dragging her.” Aizawa drawled as they entered room C-10 of the quirk research building. Jirou arched an eyebrow, but Midoriya still managed to look more pleased than embarrassed which was a surprising feat for him. She glanced around, spotting Recovery Girl, Power Loader and a girl with pink hair she swore she recognized from the sports festival. She’d been the only girl from support to get through, right? The one who’d embarrassed Iida. Mei Hatsume? She remembered only because of all the times the girl had said it, but that was probably the point.

Speaking of, the girl, who had been fiddling with some creation, had turned around and made a beeline for her. “Hi! Let me see your hands!” Jirou blinked once before the pink haired girl reached out and seized her arm, pulling it in front of her face where she turned it over taking in every detail.

“Hatsume.” Power Loader said in a warning tone and Hatsume turned, but hadn’t let go of her arm. Jirou staggered, wondering just how the hell the girl was so strong. She could hear Power Loader give a little exasperated sigh, “What did we say about touching people without their express permission?”

“Don’t.” Hatsume responded, in rote fashion, but Jirou did not feel her letting go of her arm.

“Let her go Mei.” He said, exasperated.

The girl looked at her, then her arm, blinked and let go. “Sorry, I just wanted to get your size so I could fit it properly.” Jirou leaned back as Hatsume leaned in, a manic expression on her face, “It should be a snug fit.” Jirou nodded very slowly, taking a step back. There was no hint of sanity in those crosshair shaped eyes.

“Ah, Jirou, Recovery Girl wants to take some measurements before we start testing.” He eased in between her and Mei for which Jirou was willing to forgive his costume change contract shenanigans. He walked her towards a curtained off area, “I’ll keep her busy for now.” He murmured, barely above a whisper.

“Midoriya, what is she even doing here?” Jirou whispered back, casting a glance over her shoulder, watching the girl working on something with a hammer.

Midoriya’s smile faltered, “Ah. She was the one who altered your costume.” Jirou’s eyes widened and she opened her mouth to protest but he pulled the curtain back and beat a hasty retreat.

“Follow me please.” Recovery Girl said as she walked right past her, “This shouldn’t take long.” Jirou was torn between chasing after Izuku and obeying the nurse. Recovery Girl won only by dint of giving her a look when she didn’t immediately follow and the fact she could only do so much to Izuku in front of everyone here. She huffed and marched in.

“I just need to apply some monitoring equipment before we begin.” She shook her head, “Apparently that boy cares more about your bones than his own.” Jirou snorted, and then let out a laugh, her frustration crumbling. The nurse didn’t follow, merely waiting until she was still again before beginning to place electrode monitors on her charge. Something told Jirou that the nurse would have found her joke funnier if it hadn’t been true.

Jirou tried to stay still, the humor fading back into frustration with her classmate’s secretiveness. “Do you know what he has planned?” She asked, looking down at Recovery Girl, “He hasn’t told me anything.”

“I do.” She admitted, “Part of him getting approval was to show me his plans so I could make sure they were safe.” The pro heroine continued with her work, “He was secretive with Iida and Sato too.” She paused and leaned back, “He’s trying to help, but he can’t be sure anything will work out as he hopes. I think he’s worried about building up your hopes and then disappointing you.”

That… fit. In fact it fit Midoriya to a T. Jirou sighed and gave up, she’d be finding out soon anyway, hopefully at least. “There you go.” The nurse interrupted her train of thought, “All finished. Your costume is in bin on the cart right there.” Recovery Girl pointed it out and left Jirou to change in privacy.

Jirou barely waited for her to leave before pulling out her costume and studying it. It didn’t look different at all. Same shirt, skirt, leggings and jacket… no, the jacket was just slightly different. She took it off and looked inside, seeing a few furrows on the inside of the collar, leading down her back. She flipped it around, but it looked the same from the outside. She tried to puzzle it out, but couldn’t think of anything, so just put it on. Her boots, on the other hand, she immediately spotted a small difference. The boot itself was virtually the same, but her stereo boots had an additional plug in the back. “Huh.” She murmured, and slipped it on, wondering at the change and then realized another. The soles of her boots were a lot more comfortable.

She looked herself over for a moment. No real change at all, not that anyone could see. She wanted answers about why there were grooves on the inside of her jacket and an extra plug in the back of her stereo boots, but she was irritated that he’d gotten her angry at him for nothing.

Stepping out she saw Power Loader and Mei looming over a bench, Aizawa watching them with a bored expression and Midoriya watching with evident relief. Recovery Girl was sitting in front of a computer, probably keyed to the diagnostics. “Are we doing anything?” Jirou asked, and Midoriya and Mei whirled to face her, the latter was only stopped from racing to her when her teacher told her to pay attention.

Midoriya, on the other hand, was feet away from her in seconds, quickly guiding her to a testing area. “The first thing we’re going to do is test your baseline.” He led her to a line in front of a wall of sensors, “Just give a regular blast from your stereo boots and we’ll measure the force.” He backed away, “Fire when ready.”

Her earphone jacks plugged in and she unleashed a burst of sound, lasting all of a few seconds, but still devastating for all that. The wall of sensors remained in place, but if anyone had been unfortunate enough to be standing in front of her they’d have been sent flying. Izuku was hovering over a console, looking over the data, mumbling to himself before standing up. “About what you expected?” She asked, cutting him off before he could even speak, then pointed to her ears.

He looked chagrined for a second, but brushed it off. “Yes. Before we can test anything else I need to know if a change in your heartrate will affect your output. It shouldn’t,” He clarified quickly, “but we need to be sure before moving on.”

Jirou nodded slowly, “So how are we going to do that?”

Midoriya shrugged, “Treadmill.” He pointed out the machine and Jirou gave him a withering look, but he didn’t back down, “It will also help test the new soles that Mei gave you.” The pink haired girl perked up at the sound of her name, grinning like a madwoman, before being quickly drawn back to whatever she’d been working on. Jirou sighed and walked over to the machine.

What followed was an intense workout by her standards. He had her go at a low jog, fire off a burst of sound at the sensors, then run, then fire off another burst, then sprint (no mean feat in her boots) before firing off her sonic attack a final time. Jirou nearly collapsed after firing off the last burst, sucking wind and holding her knees to prop herself up.

“Good news!” Midoriya said eagerly, and she turned to look at him, unable to muster the energy to stare an appropriate number of daggers at him as he approached with a smile, completely oblivious to her feelings towards him at that moment, “The output was consistent. That means-”

“You get to try out one of my babies!” How Mei reached her before Midoriya did was beyond her understanding. She’d noticed the girl looking her way after each test, well, until the last one where she’d been bent over double breathing hard. Mei was crouched down beside her oblivious to the concept of personal space, a pair of gloves jangling around in her hand, “Come on, try them on, I can’t wait to see what you can do with them!”

Jirou, finally recovering her breath, stared at them, “What are they?”

“They’re-” Izuku began and Mei immediately cut him off.

“These are my Sonic Disruptors, patent pending.”

Jirou frowned, “Are these supposed to replace my amplifier jacks?”

Midoriya shook his head, “This is a test model, they’d likely be integrated in.”
Jirou took them from Mei, looking them over for a second before pulling one on. They were considerably smaller than her normal amplifier jacks, honestly they looked more like her normal speakers. “So what do they do?”

Mei pushed in front of Midoriya, reaching out and tugging at her hand, “When you plug in and fire off a burst, these carefully modulated speakers will emit a wave of sound that will resonate with the inner ear to induce dizziness and vertigo.”

Jirou blinked at the girl and looked up at Midoriya who shrugged, “It’d be like giving someone a really bad ear infection, throw off their balance, and potentially stopping them cold for a few second.”

Jirou stared at the new sonic disruptors as he talked, not quite tuning him out, “Can I test them now? Do we have something that will stand in for a person?” The words came out in a rush, but she couldn’t help it. If she could stun people, it would be so much easier to line up follow-up shots with her stereo boots.

Midoriya pointed at the wall again, retreating to the console with Mei, and was joined by Power Loader and Aizawa. “Fire when ready.” She was all too eager, putting as much as she could into a solid burst. She braced her arm, expecting kickback, but found none of it. The sound was certainly coming out, but she could only barely hear it.

From her side she heard a whoop and Mei began to dance around the console, dragging Izuku with her for a second. The bedraggled hero gave her a thumbs up as the support student dashed back to her side, “Aren’t they great? They’re perfect! My babies will keep you safe and take villains out of commission!”

Jirou could only nod along until Power Loader approached with Midoriya, dragging her away with the expedient of asking her to work on the next iteration with him. Seconds later she was left alone with Midoriya as she happily skipped to the work bench with her instructor. Jirou hesitated, “Are we sure these will actually work?”

He shrugged, “I’d offer to test them, but Recovery Girl already said no even though these aren’t designed to inflict lasting injury. The computer said it was within the range-”

“Try them on me.” Aizawa said, sweeping past his students and standing in front of wall of sensors. Recovery Girl glowered in protest, but the pro brushed it off, “Midoriya already said they aren’t designed to inflict lasting damage, and I won’t have one of my students wasting their time with experimental equipment that may or may not work. Better to find out now.”

Jirou blinked, looking at Recovery Girl who fumed silently for a moment before giving the tiniest of grudging nods. “Fire off a three second burst.” Aizawa ordered, “If it doesn’t affect me in that time it either needs refinement or it won’t be effective in the combat.”

“I’ll time it.” Midoriya murmured, stepping back. Mei broke from Power Loader, rushing to stand with Midoriya, watching with baited breath. Midoriya took a breath, “Ready.” He turned away from her and locked his eyes onto the computer clock, “Go!”

She fired, the wave reaching Aizawa in a fraction of a second. Immediately her teacher was wincing, taking a step back. “TIME!” She joined Midoriya in running to their teacher, steadying him before he could fall over while Mei whooped behind them. Aizawa grimaced and held up a hand, “I’m fine.” He looked far from it, but nodded sharply and immediately regretted it, “It’s effective.” He said tersely, “I’m going to speak to Recovery Girl.”

There was a break as Recovery Girl both tended to and admonished their teacher, but Jirou couldn’t help but stare at her new weapons. Midoriya sat down beside her, smiling wanly, “Mei does good work.” Jirou had to nod in agreement. For all the touchiness the girl showed, these sonic disruptors had immense potential. Midoriya chuckled, “The biggest change will be the range of attack you open up. You need your stereo on your boots because of the backlash, but that always limited what you could fire at. With these you’ll have a greater range you can attack from.”

Jirou nodded, remembering the sports festival. Mei and Uraraka’s combined effort had put Midoriya’s entire team out of her range. Even if she hadn’t been helping hold up Hagakure she would have been hard pressed to get a good shot in at them while they were in the air. Of course now Midoriya was looking almost smug, and she couldn’t let that happen so easily, “So the sonic disruptor works. What’s with the other changes to my costume?”

“Well,” He rested his chin on his hand, “from what I’ve seen, you need to work on keeping your attacks more unpredictable. You can use your earjacks as whips, but they can be blocked, and until now it wouldn’t have been too difficult to dodge out of the way of your stereo boots’s range. The grove in your jacket will let you slip your earjacks into your coat so your opponents can’t predict what you’re going to do. Your final gloves will have plugs on your forearm so they won’t be able to tell what you’re about to hit them with.”

Kyoko blinked, “Travel inside my jacket. That’s… that’s a really good idea. I guess I never really tried to hide where my earjacks were going.” She nodded, “Do you have any other advice?”

Midoriya beamed.

Chapter Text

“Why am I always the one playing babysitter?” Izuku didn’t answer Jirou, letting her vent as they guided Kaminari out of the training ground. She tsked, “This wasn’t supposed to happen anymore. He said that thing on his arm was supposed to help him direct his charge without,” She waved at him rather than speaking, her point evident enough. “Now I have to watch him for an hour.”

Izuku nodded lapsing into thought, “He’s been doing better with the sharpshooter gear, but Bakugo had the right idea by destroying the disks before he could use them.”

“Bakugo needs to learn some restraint.” Jirou groused.

“I’m not sure I agree…” Midoriya began, and quieted himself when she glowered at him. She dropped it after a few seconds though, so he resumed, much to her consternation, “If Bakugo can figure out a weakness in his gear, then a villain can as well.”

“You would take his side.” She grumbled, and then felt bad when he winced. Bakugo was a sore spot for Midoriya, one that she doubted she’d ever understand. But there were more pressing matters at the moment, mostly the dummy she had guiding to safety. Still, Midoriya had a point, as much as she hated to admit it. Kaminari couldn’t afford to do this anymore, as fleetingly amusing as it was.

“You said this happened during the USJ, didn’t you?” Midoriya asked, in much the same tone he had when he first questioned her, “When you were telling me about your quirk.”

“Yeah.” She gnawed on her lip, her own questions forming as she glanced sidelong at Kaminari.

Midoriya hesitated for a second, “Did you ever tell Aizawa that?”

Jirou winced, “No.” She quickly looked away from Midoriya when she saw the questioning look on his face, “He disabled almost all the villains. It didn’t feel right to rat him out. Yaomomo felt the same way, I think.”

“That makes sense.” He murmured, “But if his solution can be destroyed as easily as Bakugo did, it really isn’t a good solution. And if the League of Villains tries anything…” He trailed off into a quiet mutter that she pretended not to hear. The longer it went on, the more her stomach sank. She was coming to the same conclusions.

“Hey Midoriya?” She said, snapping him back to reality, “Do you think you could help him? With his quirk.”

Midoriya stiffened, looking caught out. Jirou swallowed a knot in her throat, “You helped me, and Iida and Sato. If his sharpshooter isn’t good enough…” She shook her head, “He’s helpless right now. If this were a real battlefield, if we were up against the league of villains again… they’d kill him.”

Midoriya winced, “Power Loader and Mei spent months trying to figure out a fix, they thought his sharpshooter would be the solution.” But it was clear to both of them that it wasn’t, otherwise they wouldn’t be here. And she was right. Kaminari couldn’t continue this way, not after the USJ, not after their ill-fated camping trip. Midoriya gripped his chin, adopting what Jirou had come to think of as his thinking pose rather than his mumbling pose, “I’m not sure the school’s equipment will be able to handle his output. I’ll have to talk to Power Loader, he will probably have to make whole new systems to compensate. Of course I’ll have Iida get the forms ready and let Aizawa sensei know.”

Jirou let out a breath and nearly sagged, “Go talk to Power Loader, I’ll talk to Kaminari when he wakes up.” Midoriya nodded stiffly, and Jirou gave him a small smile, “Thanks Midoriya.”

*~~~*

Kaminari blinked and the world came back into focus. He shook his head and moved to smack his head to knock the cobwebs free, but it resisted. He glanced at it and then at Jirou as she let her earphone jack slip from his wrist. He couldn’t help but smile. It wasn’t a happy smile, but he was trying, wasn’t he? He offered a little laugh when she turned to look at him, “S-so… what happened?”

“Bakugo destroyed your sharpshooter discs before you could target him. He was about to reach the objective so you let out a full burst.”

Oh. It started coming back to him. It usually took him a few minutes. His brain wasn’t thinking right. Or was it straight? He was still a bit confused. “Did I get him?” He asked, hopefully, and gave a whoop as Jirou offered a nod. “Heck yeah! I managed to stop Bakugo. That’s awesome!”

Jirou’s lips quirked into a little smile, “Yeah, I guess it kinda was.”

“So we won?” He asked, eagerly. Actually he wasn’t sure if we was the right word. He couldn’t remember if Jirou was on his team or not. He was on a team, right? It would have been pretty dumb to shock himself stupid to stop Bakugo if Bakugo would recover first.

Jirou’s smile faltered, “Not quite. Shoji wasn’t far behind. He got to it while you were…” She trailed off and motioned at him.

“Oh.” Well, that wasn’t so bad, he guessed. It was just… disappointing. He offered another little laugh to clear the air. “How’d you do?”

Jirou nibbled on her lip and looked at the ground, “Can we talk about you for now?”

“O-okay?”

“I’m worried.” Jirou didn’t look at him, “About you, about these short circuits. Do you remember the USJ?”

Kaminari hesitated, “K-kinda?”

“You took out more than a dozen villains by yourself, but then someone grabbed you while you were helpless.” Her face scrunched, her hands balling into fists on her knees, “If All Might and the rest of the heroes hadn’t shown up, the villains you’d disabled, they were waking up. And we couldn’t act because a villain was threatening your life. It was going to be you or us.”

“Jirou…”

“I was so happy when you got your sharpshooter. I thought I wouldn’t have to worry anymore.” She shook her head, a few quick twists, her bangs bouncing against her brow, “But it’s not working. If Bakugo can break it then that means villains can too.” Finally she looked at him, with puffy eyes and tears, “You need to fix this Denki. You can’t short-circuit yourself, you can’t. We’re working with real heroes now, in the field. You can’t do that with them, you can’t do it at all anymore. Please.”

Kaminari’s mouth moved for a moment as she stared at him, “I-I… I don’t know how.” He swallowed, his mouth feeling full of cotton, “I’ll talk to Power Loader again. I’m sure he can figure something out.”

Jirou stared at him for a moment more, “I want you to talk to Midoriya too.”

“Midoriya?” He couldn’t help but sound confused, “Why?”

“He’s smart. He said he’d try to help. He, he helped me.” She lifted her hands, “He’s the one who came up with the concept for my Sonic Disruptors. He’s the reason Iida changed orange juices and Sato has been buying different sweeteners.”

“He’s the one who came up with your Sonic Disruptors?” Kaminari eyes widened and then he blinked in bafflement, “Wait, what does orange juice have to do with Iida?”

“They power his engines.”

“He’s powered by orange juice?” Kaminari stared, “I didn’t know that.”

“But Midoriya did.” Jirou said firmly, “If anyone in our class can help you figure out how to fix your quirk, it’s him.” She gave him a weak smile, “He fixed his own, didn’t he?”

Kaminari nodded slowly, “I guess I’ll talk to both of them then.”

She leaned into him and closed her eyes, “Thank you.”

*~~~*

Kaminari glanced back at the kitchen before knocking on Midoriya’s door. Iida had told him that he’d given paperwork to Midoriya already and that he’d need to sign it, but Midoriya hadn’t come out of his room for dinner. There had been an exchanging of glances by his friends as well as Sato and Jirou, and once he’d finished eating another plate had been set down in front of him.

“Midoriya probably just lost track of the time.” Iida had offered as he set the plate down in front of him.

“Uh, sure.” Kaminari agreed, “But why are you giving me a second portion?”

Iida opened his mouth and closed it staring at him, but Jirou just sighed, “He wants you to take that to Midoriya.”

“Oh! Oh. Yeah, sure.”

“Don’t forget chopsticks.” Uraraka added helpfully.

And now he was here, waiting. “Hey Midoriya, I brought you dinner.” He hoped Midoriya was actually inside. Standing here knocking on the door of an empty room would have made him feel even dumber, and he wasn’t sure he was ready to feel that way today.

And then the door swung open and Midoriya blinked at the plate owlishly, “I missed dinner again?” He sounded surprised, and a bit disappointed, “Sorry Iida-” and then he blinked and looked up, then almost jumped, “Oh, Kaminari! Come in. I need to talk to you about your quirk.”

“Don’t forget to eat.” Jirou shouted from the common room.

“Right.” Midoriya answered like he was the one who said it, but Jirou had really good ears. “Anyway, come in.” He seized the plate and headed for his desk, which was as comically covered in books as his walls were covered in All Might merch. Kaminari followed him and closed the door behind him.

“Whatcha readin?” He asked, trying to play it all off. It was one of his better skills, actually.

“About electricity.” Midoriya answered, and set about devouring the contents of the plate.

Kaminari looked at the stack, the open book Midoriya had set his food down on, and the much smaller stack next to that, “Wait, you didn’t read all of those today, did you?” He couldn’t quite keep the horror from his voice. Could anyone read that fast?

“Hmm?” Midoriya shook his head, and swallowed before speaking actual words, “No, not the whole things. I checked those out because they had sections on the biology of electric eels.”

“Electric eels,” Kaminari stared at the books for a moment, “hey Midoriya, you know I’m not an eel right?”

Midoriya jolted and coughed, then turned around, “I know, but I thought that maybe knowing how they keep themselves from being affected by their own attack that maybe it could give me some idea of how to help you.”

Kaminari blinked, and then his eyes widened, “That’s pretty smart.”

Midoriya almost blushed, ducking his head, “Thank you. Uh, usually I start by asking people about their quirk.”

“Sure, what do you want to know?”

Everything. It turned out that Midoriya had wanted to know everything, and then some. The questions continued long past the point that Kaminari had answers, so Midoriya changed the questions. They went from questions about his quirk to questions about what happened when he used it. When was the first time he remembered short circuiting? What had his quirk councilor advised? Kaminari struggled to remember that far back, and the memories he had weren’t happy ones, which didn’t help him form coherent answers. Before he had control of his quirk, he’d other shocked people as well as himself. He wasn’t supposed to hug his parents, or play with other kids. He’d burned holes through his shoes. His quirk councilor suggested he avoid using his quirk altogether at the start. It had taken him a while before he could control it, if he could really say he controlled it now.

Finally there weren’t any more questions, but he felt totally wrung out. Without even really thinking about it, his gaze had drifted to the floor. When he looked up, Midoriya was looking at him intently, an uncertain look on his face. “Do you… want a hug?”

At least Midoriya’s last question was easy to answer.

*~~~*

Power Loader sighed as Midoriya and Kaminari walked in. He’d had high hopes that the sharpshooter would have been enough to help the boy, but it seemed that wasn’t the case. Mei had been bitterly disappointed to find out her baby hadn’t worked quite as well as planned, which he couldn’t really blame her for. The design had been almost as much hers as it had been his, and, frankly, the girl couldn’t abide failure. Which was why he’d brought her along today, even though they weren’t doing anything beyond testing, she’d practically thrown herself at upgrading and safeguarding the monitoring equipment. Well, upgrading at least.

Midoriya padded over as Recovery Girl went about putting monitoring equipment on, “I’m sorry, but today’s probably going to be pretty dull.” He scratched the back of his head, “I’m not sure how fine his control is, so he’ll probably short-circuit himself. It could take an hour between tests.” He gave Mei an apologetic look.

“That’ll just give me an hour to work on my newest baby!” Mei trilled, practically salivating at the challenge.

“R-right.” Midoriya murmured, and backed away towards Aizawa, who was looking at Mei with as much as exasperation as Midoriya was with worry.

Kaminari followed Recovery Girl out of the changing booth, a sour look on his face. Power Loader wasn’t quite sure he could blame the boy, considering the sheer number of pieces of monitoring equipment attached to his head. Trying to identify the actual effect the electricity was having on his brain was Midoriya and Recovery Girl’s highest priority. Unbeknownst to either Heroic student, Aizawa had begun surreptitiously writing up paperwork in case they found the boy was causing permanent brain damage. Power Loader wasn’t sure if Midoriya would ever be able to forgive himself if Kaminari was booted from the heroics course because of tests he set up, but he tried to push it out of his mind.

Midoriya gave Kaminari instructions on where to stand, and they collectively moved behind glass shielding, just in case. The young green haired boy took a breath, “Kaminari, fire off the strongest attack you can.”

The blonde haired boy’s shoulders sagged for a second, already resigned to short-circuiting his brain for an hour, “You want the strongest I can do?” Midoriya nodded rather than speak, and Kaminari sighed, “Fine. Just give me a second.” There was a pause as Kaminari knelt down and began untying his shoelaces.

Aizawa was the first to react, “Kaminari, what are you doing?”

Kaminari hesitated, “W-well, Midoriya asked me to fire off my most powerful blast.”

“I heard.” Aizawa deadpanned, “Why are you untying your shoelaces?”

“Um…” Kaminari shrugged, “so I can take off my shoes?”

It was subtle, but Power Loader could see Aizawa bite back his first response. “Why?”

Kaminari shrugged, “I don’t know. It always seems to work better when I don’t have my shoes on.”

It… it couldn’t be that simple, could it? Power Loader turned, taking in the reaction of the others. Aizawa was suppressing a number of emotions; Midoriya was focused on his mumbling, and Mei was looking positively incredulous, neatly mirroring his own expression beneath his mask. It was Midoriya who broke the spell though, straightening up and looking at his classmate, “Kaminari, are you grounded?”

“What?” Kaminari eyes widened, “I’m not in trouble with my parents.”

“No, not… not that kind of grounded.” Midoriya murmured.

“Oh.” Kaminari knelt in place, still holding his shoelaces, confusion crossing his face, “Then what kind of grounded do you mean?”

Power Loader found Midoriya looking over him and took over, “Midoriya was referring to electrical grounding. It’s when a circuit has a wire leading into the ground so that any resulting discharge will go into there.” Power Loader tactfully ignored Mei as she quietly asked how he didn’t know that. It was a damn good question though.

Kaminari shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe?”

Power Loader shook his head, “Mei, grab his costume design sheet.”

*~~~*

Aizawa watched as Power Loader put down the diagram of Kaminari’s outfit, “So what you’re telling me is that all of his problems with short-circuiting have been because of his shoes?”

“It’s entirely possible.” Power Loader answered in a low voice.

“And how is it that none of us figured this out?” Aizawa deadpanned.

Midoriya raised his hand, “I-I think I can answer that.” Suddenly all eyes were on him and he felt incredibly small, “Well, when I talked to him about his quirk earlier, he told me that when he was little he burned through his shoes. His parents must have gotten him shoes with thicker rubber soles,” He looked at Kaminari who looked both abashed and frustrated, “a-and his quirk councilor told him not to use his quirk very much until he got control of it, so he probably didn’t realize there was a change at first. And after that it just kind of… continued.”

“I kinda burnt a few of the floorboards when I was little... and set fire to a rug.” Kaminari added sheepishly, “My quirk councilor told my mom to get me special sneakers so it wouldn’t happen again.”

Aizawa turned to Power Loader, “Then why didn’t the costuming company spot it?”

“Kaminari’s order form was filled out requesting the shoes be designed with electric proof soles.” Power Loader shook his head, “They just did what they were requested to do.”

Kaminari laughed nervously and scratched the back of his head, “My mom helped me fill out the paperwork.”

“That explains you parents, the costuming company, and Power Loader,” The homeroom teacher looked utterly exasperated, which wasn’t really all that much different from his normal expression, “but that doesn’t explain why you didn’t tell anyone you did better with your electricity quirk with your shoes off.” Kaminari looked like a trapped animal for a second, and Aizawa fixed him with a stare, “Kaminari.”

“W-w… uh…” Kaminari stammered, “I can’t just run around as a hero with no shoes on.”

Even though he couldn’t touch his brow with his helmet on Power Loader still mimicked the motion. “Mei,” He said, dragging her back from her look of wide-eyed surprise, “get me a hammer, a few nails and a bolt cutter.”

Five minutes later, and with one nail in the heel of each shoe Kaminari bristled with electricity, his face lighting up just as much as the room itself did. “This is great! I never would have been able to use this much charge before without shorting out!”

Midoriya glanced back at the two aluminum batons he’d had them make, “I guess he won’t need those after all.”

Power Loader shook his head, “It couldn’t hurt. A bit of range extension without the extreme output could be beneficial, at this point he may need to work more on control so he doesn’t fry anyone.”

“I can help with that.” Midoriya volunteered instantly, and Power Loader couldn’t help but smirk. Of course he couldn’t. The boy was as insatiable about quirks as Mei was her babies. And with the rest of the equipment they’d cooked up he was sure Midoriya would be leading him through a lot of practice.

*~~~*

“Midoriya, could you stay behind for a moment.” Aizawa said as they finished for the day. Kaminari was over the moon, and rightfully so and Midoriya was right there with him. Of course being called aside took some of the wind over his sails, but he told Kaminari and Mei he’d catch up and came back.

“Yes Aizawa-sensei?”

“I wanted to tell you that you did a good job.” Midoriya drew in a breath, and managed a smile, “You mentioned earlier that Kaminari’s quirk councilor gave him some bad advice. It’s possible he’s not alone in that respect. Tomorrow, I’m going to start looking for professional quirk councilors to sit with everyone from the class, just in case.”

Midoriya’s mouth opened and closed and he ducked his head, “That makes sense.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m excluding you Midoriya.” He watched the green haired boy’s head shoot up and his student stared at him mouth agape, “While I want the professional quirk councilors to check in with everyone, you’ve put even more thought into how your classmate’s quirks can be applied. Is there anyone else in class whose quirk you think needs special attention, or may have received bad advice?”

Midoriya nodded and answered without missing a beat, “Uraraka.”

Aizawa gave him a measured look, “Any reason why?”

Midoriya gave a shrug, “Her quirk isn’t what she thinks it is.”

The usually unflappable homeroom teacher stared at him for a moment before he could formulate a response. “What?”

Chapter Text

“The things she affected by her quirk on aren’t acting like things that have no gravity should act.” Not that that made any sense what with gravity being a fundamental element of the universe, but Midoriya shook his head to try and brush it off, “They just begin floating.” Aizawa simply watched his student, and Midoriya groaned. He hadn’t prepared for this, he had been preparing to help Kaminari, who had barely needed anything once they figured out what was wrong, which was actually great since he was going to be so much better off, but he hadn’t had time to organize his thoughts or theories about Uraraka at all.

Aizawa sighed, “Midoriya, just tell me why you don’t think her quirk is what she thinks it is.” Midoriya cursed his traitorous mouth, whether aloud or not he couldn’t be sure because looking at Aizawa was like looking at a slightly exasperated wall.

Midoriya let out a breath and focused as best he could, “Because if she really did remove gravity then whatever she touched wouldn’t just start to hover, they would ascend into the sky very quickly.” He glanced around for a whiteboard to help at least sketch it out, but there was no such luck, disappointed he turned back to Aizawa, “It’s sort of difficult to explain because the current buoyancy equation doesn’t really work when you put a zero in for gravity, since multiplying numbers by zero makes them zero, but imagine if her quirk effectively made whatever she touched into a balloon. Balloons still have a weight, which is mass times gravity, but they weigh less than the air around them, well, at least helium and hydrogen balloons do, as do a couple of other gases, but the ones you blow up by yourself don’t which is why they sink-”

“Get to the point Midoriya.” Aizawa cut in, dragging his student back to the topic at hand.

Midoriya’s shoulders tensed and then slumped, “Sorry.” He took a breath, “If she removed gravity from someone they would weigh less than the air around them, like a balloon does, but even less than the lightest balloon would, so a better comparison would be to the lightest gasses in terms of how quickly they should rise.”

Aizawa bit back a sigh, for all of his student’s genius he wished he was less long winded, “And how quickly do these gasses rise?”

Midoriya forced a wan smile, “Well, hydrogen, which is the lightest element that we know of, rises at twenty meters a second, or about five stories. And if she removed gravity from something it would weigh even less than that and move even faster.”

Aizawa grimaced, “So you’re saying that if her quirk really removed gravity from you, you’d immediately go flying.”

“Again, the math really doesn’t work, but yes.” He said, and gave a helpless little shrug, “Physics really hasn’t been the same since quirks started appearing.”

Aizawa felt a Midoriya sized headache coming on, “Fine. She doesn’t negate gravity. So what is her quirk?”

Midoriya opened his mouth and then closed it, “I don’t know. I’ve been trying to figure it out from evidence, but I don’t have enough information.”

Aizawa let out a breath and rubbed his forehead, “Is that why you haven’t told her?”

“Partially?” Midoriya frowned and vacillated as he tried to organize his thoughts, “I’m not even sure what to start measuring to figure out the effects of her quirk. How do you weigh something weightless? We can test different objects to see if the acceleration away from the ground is variable, but if it is, and I’m pretty sure it is, then we have to figure out why and how. The sports festival doesn’t have proper footage of the rocks Bakugo kicked up because the dust obscured it all and I only got to see them in the air for a second before they started to fall, but it looked like they hit some form of ceiling, but during the quirk assessment that ball never landed, so either it went out of range or went into orbit, if not out of our atmosphere entirely.”

Aizawa held a hand up, “Enough. You’ve made your point. But if you’ve been trying to figure out her quirk, why wasn’t she the first person you asked?” The blood drained from Midoriya’s face and Aizawa had his answer. Teenagers. He resisted rolling his eyes, but only just, and Midoriya bowed his head.

“What if I can’t figure out what her quirk is? She thinks she knows her quirk. I don’t want to take that confidence away from her if I can’t replace it.”

“You wouldn’t be.” Aizawa said, “Even if you can’t figure out what her quirk actually is you’d still be helping her gain a better understanding of her quirk.” Midoriya looked up and swallowed. “I’ll see if I can get you access to footage of other times she’s used her quirk and I’ll ask if anyone on staff has a degree that could help you figure this out. I’m sure Power Loader and that apprentice of his will figure out something to help you test… whatever it is you need to test.”

Midoriya nodded, “Thank you sensei.”

Aizawa nodded, “Head back to the dorms, enjoy the rest of your afternoon. And let me know if you figure anything out.”

*~~~*

Professional quirk councilors. Midoriya let out a little sigh. His little experiment was coming to an end, he just knew it. Aizawa had assured him that he’d be able to sit in while his classmates were analyzed, but they were trained professionals. What would he be able to offer that they couldn’t? Not that he’d actually been to a quirk councilor, outside of the cursory examination he’d received after the entrance exam, and he hadn’t exactly been very open with them at the time. He’d never been called when everyone else was during grade school, but they were professionals. Anyone Aizawa would pull in would be a lot more experienced than he was. At least he’d be able to watch how professionals went about it, assuming his classmates didn’t mind.

He’d have to let them know when he got in. It wouldn’t feel right just waiting until Aizawa sprang it on them like one of his logical ruses. Of course then he’d have to explain what he’d been doing that lead to all of this coming about. He dreaded to think how they would react. It had been a surprise when Iida and Sato had come to him and an even bigger surprise when Jirou asked for help. Kaminari had been more or less pushed on him, but he wasn’t sure how much the rest of the class would appreciate knowing that he’d been more or less studying them all year.

And then there was Uraraka. He dreaded talking to her most of all. He couldn’t not tell her though, not at this point. He just had to figure out how to test a quirk he wasn’t sure the properties of and had already been misdiagnosed by a professional. No pressure. But he couldn’t bear to think about how she’d respond to learning her quirk wasn’t actually her quirk without him being able to tell her what it actually was. She was so happy and confident with it, and he’d be taking that away from her. He had to figure out something.

He opened the room to the dorm and was blasted out of his reverie by a party atmosphere. Music was pumping, courtesy of Jirou as their impromptu DJ, and the common room was bustling, it looked like all of 1-A, and Mei who had likely invited herself, was standing or dancing in the common room. He stood openmouthed for a moment before Sero spotted him, “Hey, it’s Midoriya! Come on in, you’re the hero of the hour!”

Midoriya blinked twice before stepping inside to see almost all of 1-A turn and begin clapping for him. Kaminari was in the center, clapping harder than anyone, he even got a whistle from someone. Mei stood beside Kaminari, leering forward and motioned him to come inside. He didn’t even realize he was walking until he was in the middle of it all, and it was all too overwhelming. Kirishima slapped him on the back, and even Bakugo had dialed his irritation back to a frown so mild Midoriya associated it with a smile.

“We were waiting on you!” Kaminari announced able to speak as Jirou dialed down the music, “I let everyone know how you fixed my problem and they were so happy they wanted to throw us a party.”

“Oh.” Midoriya found himself laughing, before Kaminari took his hand and pulled him into a bro hug, patting him on the back.

“Man, I can’t thank you enough. Oh, and Mei was already talking about having new shoes made for me.” He turned to the gadgeteer who was all smiles.

“I’ve also been having him show off my new babies.” She preened, “Jirou too!”

“Cake’ll be done in a thirty minutes!” Sato announced as he walked out of the kitchen, then promptly walked over and put a hand on Midoriya’s shoulder, “You get first dibs. I told everyone about how much you helped me too. I know you were keeping it quiet, but after this I couldn’t hide it anymore.”

Midoriya’s mouth opened and he gave another little laugh. “That’s okay Sato. Thank you.”

“I too should be thanking you.” Iida announced formally, his hands moving in precise chopping motions, “You’ve been a great help not only in figuring nuances in my quirk, but you’re training on the side has been enlightening.”

“Bro, you’ve been doing training on the side? Like physical training?” Kirishima looked shellshocked as he turned to Midoriya, “Can I get in on that?”

“U-uh sure.” Midoriya answered, blushing, and then Uraraka came in from the other side.

“Can I join too?”

“O-oh of course!” He stammered out.

“Good job Midoriya.” Asui said from Uraraka’s side.

It was getting to be too much. He wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. Kaminari stepped in, grinning from ear to ear, “I think we’re overloading him. Why don’t you sit down before you short-circuit?” Midoriya was sure he heard Jirou groan before she turned the music back up, but he let Kaminari lead him to an empty seat on the couch, thankfully far away from Bakugo.

“Hey, get him something to drink, will ya?” Kaminari said to no one in particular, though Shoji decided to heed the call. “Mei wanted me to do a little demonstration of the new gear she made me before she brings it back to costume storage.” He held up his arm, the gauntlet glowing from the electricity he fed it, “Can’t wait to show you.”

“Not inside,” Iida cut in sharply, chopping one hand into the palm of the other, “you could damage school property.”

Of course Mei couldn’t accept that, and she leapt to defend, and show off, her babies, dragging Kaminari in to support her while Iida looked increasingly like a trapped rat. Midoriya relaxed and rested against the couch, accepting the cup of soda Shoji brought him, just glad that he wasn’t the center of attention for a moment. He wasn’t used to it, having people being happy that he was around, not as a group, not people he hadn’t helped.

“Is this seat taken?” Yaoyorozu asked, and he shook his head. She smiled at him and sat down beside him, forming a coaster for her drink before she put it down on the coffee table. He watched, just as fascinated as he always was when she used her quirk. The sheer versatility of it still boggled his mind from time to time. Then he saw her blushing. He’d been speaking hadn’t he? He groaned internally. He really needed to work on that.

“I wanted to say thank you for helping Kaminari and Jirou.” The demure heroine said, “Jirou has really taken to her new gear, but I suppose I’m more relieved that Kaminari won’t short himself out again.”

“I’m just glad I was able to help Power Loader figure it out,” Midoriya nodded, “Jirou told me what happened in the USJ.”

Yaoyorozu looked caught for a second, but then looked into her cup wistfully, “I should have thought of something like this. You’ve already helped out four members of our class.” She glanced at their class rep, “I know Iida is happy to have the job, but maybe you should have remained class president after all.”

Midoriya shook his head, tuning out Mei and Iida’s haggling, “No, it’s Iida’s job, he’s really dedicated to it.” He opened his mouth to continue but paused as he remembered his last moment as class rep, “But you were right about being skipped over though. I was just so uncomfortable with the role and Iida helped calm that riot,” He shrugged, “it seemed right at the time. Sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Yaoyorozu picked up her cup and took a sip, then tipped it towards their class rep, “I’d rather be here than where Iida is right now.”

Midoriya looked up to see Mei latch onto Iida like a lamprey eel, squeezing against him in a way that made Mineta weep with envy. Midoriya couldn’t help it, he laughed, “Thanks Yaoyorozu, I needed that.”

She shrugged, smiling, “Well, as your class vice rep I am here to help.”

He opened his mouth, but then shut it and turned to stare at her, drowning out the antics of his classmates. She was there to help. Yaoyorozu. The smartest girl in class 1-A, heck, maybe the smartest person he knew. “Can you?”

Yaoyorozu blinked, turning away from Iida’s increasingly desperate pleas for help, “Is there something you need?”

Midoriya stared at his cup, “There’s something I’ve been trying to figure out, I just… I’ve been drawing a blank, and I didn’t want to tip my hand until I had something.” He cringed, “But I haven’t been able to get enough information without asking, and if I asked there would be questions.”

Yaoyorozu set her drink down on her coaster, “Are you saying someone else needs help with their quirk?”

Midoriya dithered for a second, but then nodded, “It’s not that they’re having trouble with their quirk, it’s that it isn’t what they think it is, and I still haven’t figured what it is.”

Yaoyorozu surreptitiously looked around the class trying to pinpoint who he could be talking about, but came up short. After a moment she gave it up and turned back to her green haired classmate, “It’s not me, is it?”

“N-no.” Midoriya stammered looking positively mortified, “You understand your quirk better than anyone else in the class.”

Yaoyorozu offered him a soft smile, “Thank you, but I wasn’t able to figure out who else would fit your description, and you’re being very secretive.”

Midoriya gave a little shrug, “I don’t want them to worry about their quirk. How would you have felt if I had said it was you?”

Yaoyorozu lips pulled into a tight little frown. She had asked if it was her due to lack of other discernable choices, but she was relieved when he confirmed it wasn’t her. “You have a point.”

“It’s probably pointless anyway.” Midoriya sighed wistfully, “After I explained that part of Kaminari’s problem was because his quirk councilor gave him bad advice Aizawa said he was going to bring in new quirk councilors for everyone.”

Yaoyorozu’s brow knit together, “Midoriya, even if that’s true that might take some time.” She smiled down at him, “You should still have time to help, and if you need my help, you’ll have it.”

He looked up at her, eyes shimmering, “Thanks Yaoyorozu.”

Yaoyorozu found herself blushing, “Think nothing of it. I just hope I’ll be able to help.” She looked away and paused as her eyes came to rest on their class rep, who had apparently been pushed over the arm of the couch, and was now lying on top of Tokoyami and Sero while Hatsume straddled Iida’s waist. Yaoyorozu’s eyes fluttered as she processed the scene and she glanced back at Midoriya with a tense smile, “Speaking of, I think Iida needs some help right now. Please excuse me.”

*~~~*

“Tea, Aizawa?” Nedzu offered politely as the 1-A homeroom teacher entered his office. It was a Saturday, but that never seemed to matter for either of them. Normal teachers constantly worked outside of their normal hours, heroics teachers tended to work even more than them.

Sitting down Aizawa accepted the offered cup. He had long since gotten used to being expected by the principal. “I wanted to ask you for a few things to be added to the budget, and a request for records access to be granted to a student.”

Nedzu refilled his own cup of tea and took a sip, “Oh?” He said, feigning surprise.

The homeroom teacher sighed internally; Nedzu was far too fond of acting like he wasn’t actively aware of a situation. It was possible that he had been watching someone else, the rodent bear thing only had two eyes after all, but Aizawa doubted it, “Power Loader and Midoriya resolved Kaminari’s issue with his quirk today.”

“That’s excellent news.” The principal smiled, “What does it have to do with your request?”

“Part of Kaminari’s problem was that he received bad advice from his quirk councilor. That councilor’s mistake compounded over time, people relying on the information he gave them made mistakes and people who relied on those people made mistakes.”

“A vicious cycle.” Nedzu nodded, speaking during an ebb in Aizawa’s speech rather than cutting the man off.

“Midoriya figured it out.” The teacher frowned, “And he informed me that a similar situation is occurring with Uraraka.”

“Mmm.” Nedzu leaned back in his chair and took another sip of his tea, “Yes, I was wondering when someone would figure that out.”

If the principal’s admission fazed the teacher, he didn’t show it. “I want to bring in professional quirk councilors for everyone in the hero courses.”

“A wise precaution,” Nedzu smiled and took a sip of his tea, “I agree. I’ve already taken the liberty of preparing the necessary paperwork. I’ll speak with Recovery Girl about compiling a list of suitable professionals, she would have more connections than you would.”

Aizawa nodded, “Good.” It would also save him the trouble.

Nedzu took a sip of tea, and then put down the cup, “You also mentioned a request for records access for a student?”

“Midoriya pointed out that Uraraka’s understanding of her quirk is flawed. He said he needs more data to come up with a hypothesis as to what her quirk actually is.”

“He could just ask her.” Aizawa greeted the suggestion with stony faced silence. Nedzu retained a smile for a long moment, “He will need to get over his personal discomfort at some point.”

Privately Aizawa agreed with the principal, but this wasn’t a normal part of the curriculum, not something to be graded or tampered with. Nedzu understood humans and their emotions, mostly, but affection seemed to be one of his weak points, or he enjoyed teasing humans in what he likely saw as their most awkward state. Probably the latter. “He thought it would be easier, sir, if he had something to go on before he talked to her.”

“And what do you think?”

“It would make it easier for him.”

Nedzu was quiet for a moment, “How are the other students he counseled?”

“Iida is doing better, but he was already doing well. Sato has made significant strides, though he needs to take more initiative. Jirou is adapting to her new equipment well. It will help her avoid collateral damage which her normal equipment is prone to causing, but she still needs more practice with her targeting.”

“I believe Midoriya is already helping with that as well.” Nedzu smiled benignly. Watching Midoriya, Iida and Sato getting some ‘dodging’ training in while Jirou got some target practice had been a proverbial hoot. Aizawa said nothing, merely sitting and waiting for his response. “Very well, I suppose Midoriya has earned some leeway on the matter. I’ll have the information ready for him this afternoon.”

“Thank you sir.”

With that Aizawa rose to leave, but the principal stopped him. “Aizawa, before you go, there was something else I wanted to speak to you about.”

Chapter Text

“And that’s why I don’t think Uraraka’s quirk is what she thinks it is.” Midoriya put down the marker he’d been using and waited with baited breath as his presentation drew to a close. Explaining it to Aizawa had made it easier to organize it, and the whiteboard he had used had helped him explain it, but he was still nervous. He was sure his homeroom teacher was intelligent, but Yaoyorozu… if anyone could point out flaws with his argument it would likely be her.

His private anxiety was not being helped by how she was acting.

Yaoyorozu had been attentive from the moment he had started speaking, barring a flash of visible surprise when he began. She hadn’t interrupted his explanation to ask questions, but her brow was furrowed, her eyes focused and her mouth had pulled into a tight little frown. Midoriya’s stomach began to twist. He could practically hear her readying an explanation of why he was wrong. He had probably missed some simple explanation…

“I can’t believe we’ve all missed this.”

Her words nearly made him jump, but if she saw it she didn’t say anything. “S-so you think I’m right?”

Yaoyorozu nodded, “While I haven’t been there for all of the examples you provided, I remember the quirk assessment and sports festival. The contrast between them is undeniable in retrospect.” She let out a breath and shook her head, “I should have spotted this.”

Midoriya wasn’t sure what to say to that. He was acutely aware of his own anxieties, but Yaoyorozu seemed to beat herself down a lot. He watched her collect herself, the frown disappearing with a quiet huff only to be replaced by a smile. “How can I help?”

“Well, we know that her quirk isn’t what any of us thought, but that doesn’t help me figure out what it is. Unfortunately, I haven’t had the ability to review anything until now.”

Yaoyorozu arched an eyebrow, “Something changed?”

“Well, I got an email from Aizawa a little while ago. It has records of all the times she’s used her quirk on campus attached. Having someone watch the videos might help me piece things together,” A thought clicked in his head and he gave her a little smile, “Maybe you’ll spot something I miss?”

What followed was a multi-hour video session. Sadly Aizawa had noted that there hadn’t been any videos taken of the rocks above the stadium, so they started with the entrance exam. Almost immediately they could tell that the robots rose at different rates, but it wasn’t until they came across a video of her tagging several in rapid succession before they could freely compare. With a steady forward angle they could watch some of the robots faster than others, even passing others that had been touched before they had. Yaoyorozu asked to review it more thoroughly, doing comparative size analysis to judge how fast they were rising, something she could do with nothing more than a notepad, a piece of paper and breaking down the video frame by frame to measure the comparative distance. It was impressive to say the least, and the evidence was undeniable, though the exact cause was still up for debate.

He resumed the video when she finished her notes … and his stomach fell. Yaoyorozu gasped as Uraraka slapped him, but that was likely because he had almost fallen to his death with three broken limbs rather than the slap itself. She turned to him open mouth, clearly unsure what to say even though she clearly wanted to say something, but he pressed his lip into a line and clicked the next video. He reminded her that time was limited and he wanted to help Uraraka before the professionals came. Yaoyorozu nodded slowly, accepting the explanation and seemed to drop it, but she was clearly distracted as they watched the next video.

It was only reluctantly that he returned to the video when she asked. They had reviewed the rest of the videos in great detail, but that video was the one she wanted to watch again. He acquiesced and tried to put his memory of the incident behind him. He must have given himself tunnel vision as he fell because he couldn’t remember seeing her rising to meet him, but it was clear on video. The profile was at a perfect angle to catch her slapping him and preventing himself from smashing into the street. “She’s hovering.”

Midoriya blinked, “What?”

“She’s hovering.” Yaoyorozu repeated patiently and pointed to the piece of faux villain Uraraka was resting on, “She stopped ascending before she slapped you, and even after she slapped you she didn’t rise any higher.” Midoriya’s eyes widened and he rewound the video, watching it closely. There were minor fluctuations, but Yaoyorozu was right.

“I… I can’t believe I missed that.” He murmured, and Yaoyorozu gently patted him on the shoulder.

“It’s okay; I think you had a valid reason for missing it.” She gave him a comforting smile, “And there’s more.” She rewound the video to the moment Uraraka slapped him, “Not only did she prevent you from hitting the ground; she also stopped you from flying back up into the air afterwards. And she did that while keeping herself at a stable height.” Midoriya watched as he skirted just above the street and then hovered for a second before being dropped on the ground, Yaoyorozu turned to look at him, “So not only can she make things hover, she has independent control of each individual object affected by her quirk.”

Midoriya stared at the screen in silent wonder, “She already has control of it…” He murmured and a smile spread across his lips, “She’s incredible.”

Yaoyorozu’s eyes widened just a little at the look on his face for the instant it was there, and then he was looking her, opening his mouth to speak but holding his tongue when he actually looked at her, “Is something wrong?”

“Nothing.” She said quickly and he blinked at her, but she held a polite smile as he let the moment slip.

“O-okay?” He said, far from certain, but dismissed it with a small shake of his head and looked back at the screen, “Well, we have evidence we can show her now, but we still don’t know what her quirk is…” He propped his head up on his hand, a finger brushing against his chin.

Yaoyorozu watched as he tried to piece it together, lost in concentration and beginning to mutter. She glanced at the video and frowned, “Midoriya,” She interjected gently, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I’m not sure we’ll be able to figure it out for sure without having her test it. I think the next step is telling her.”

Midoriya’s face fell, and he looked away, “I was just hoping to have something for her.”

Her hand rubbed his shoulder a little, drawing him back to her again, “We can still do that.” She soothed and gave her most reassuring smile, “We can come up with a list of hypotheses we can test, we just won’t be certain about it.”

Midoriya brightened a little as she spoke, “Thanks Yaoyorozu.” He looked back at the video, eyes fixed on Uraraka as she slapped him, “Here are the options I came up with…”

*~~~*

“We’re getting quirk councilors?” Uraraka joined in on the Greek chorus that was Class 1-A. Aizawa brushed off the question and continued, explaining that they would be arriving in a week or two to speak with each student in case there were any other mistakes made in the diagnosis of their quirk. Kaminari went scarlet, which wasn’t too surprising given the number of classmates shooting glances at him.

At least Aizawa wasn’t singling him out as the reason. It wasn’t really Kaminari’s fault that his councilor had gotten it wrong. He was just lucky that Deku had figured it out. Of course Deku could probably use one himself. He wasn’t breaking his bones to use his quirk anymore, but it was like he wasn’t really used to his quirk. Maybe that was why he was always thinking about them? Wasn’t that kinda odd though? How could he know so much about other people’s quirks, but not his own?

She had to let the question drop as Aizawa moved on, but as the day wore on she found she hadn’t let go of it completely. It was like a puzzle. There were pieces, like how Bakugo treated him and how quickly he seemed to be getting his quirk under control, but there were so many other pieces missing. It was frustrating. She wondered if this was how Deku thought about things. If so, he was a lot more patient than she gave him credit for.

Come to think of it, maybe his mumbling was his way of working it out? He always came up with neat ideas or could start explaining things afterwards. She wondered how long he had muttered to figure out what was wrong with Kaminari’s shoes, or to come up with Jirou’s new gloves, or to decide to ask Iida and Satou to do the taste testing. It was amazing how he was able to figure these things out… but it still didn’t answer why he had trouble with his own quirk. She felt like she was onto something, but she just didn’t know what. She could probably ask Bakugo. She knew that he didn’t really like Deku, but over time he seemed to at least respect him. And he’d known Deku longer than anyone. He must know something. Yeah. That sounded like a good idea. Class was ending; she could probably get him in a little while, probably after dinner when he wasn’t quite so grumpy.

“Excuse me, Uraraka?” She blinked and looked up at Midoriya, who looked slightly more panicky than usual, and Yaoyorozu, who also looked just slightly uncomfortable. “Can we talk?” She blinked as comprehension dawned.

Oh. Oh wow. This was going to be so cool!

*~~~*

Oh. Oh wow. This wasn’t cool at all!

Midoriya felt himself die inside as Uraraka’s brilliant smile slipped away, “W-what?” She stammered, clearly rattled, “What do you mean my quirk isn’t what I think it is?”

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat to draw her attention, “What we mean is, after reviewing videos of you using your quirk… what you’re doing isn’t removing gravity.”

Uraraka stared at her like in a deer in headlights, “What?”

Midoriya and Yaoyorozu exchanged a glance and Midoriya let out a breath, “It’s like what happened with Kaminari-” He began and faltered as the blood drained out of her face, “N-no, it’s not like that. Not nearly that bad. You have control of your quirk, even better control than you think you do, it just isn’t what you were told it was.”

Uraraka hesitated, glancing between them, “How can you be sure?”

Yaoyorozu nodded and unveiled a white board with all of the math they’d done. Uraraka stared at it blankly Yayorozu started to explain it, and began to shake her head as it quickly went over her head. It only took the class vice president a few seconds to realize her approach wasn’t working. “We have a good recording that should help us explain.” Uraraka found herself nodding as Deku brought over a school laptop.

Midoriya shot Yaoyorozu a glance and she nodded, clearing her throat and sitting down on Uraraka’s other side, “This… may be a bad memory, but it’s the best example we have.” Uraraka furrowed her brow in confusion, but then Deku pressed play and she watched him plummeting towards the ground. It was frightening, seeing him falling again, but she’d gotten him, slapping him at the last second. He actually touched the ground with his good hand before starting to fly back up… until she released again and dumped him on the ground. She winced, that couldn’t have been pleasant with how injured he had been, and thankfully the video cut away before they got to watch her vomit again.

“Start it again, at half speed?” Yaoyorozu asked, “Keep an eye on yourself.” Uraraka found it difficult, but watched as best she could.

“Notice how you’re not floating up?” Deku murmured, “You’re just floating in place. That wouldn’t happen if you had removed gravity; the air around you would push you up like a cork that was underwater.”

“More importantly,” Yaoyorozu added, pointing at the screen, “we can also see that you were also able to reverse Midoriya’s fall without sending him flying back into the air.” She gave an encouraging little smile, “You may have more control over your quirk than you realize.”

“But then what is my quirk?” Uraraka asked plaintively. She guessed what they were saying made sense, but it still felt like a sucker punch. She had more control over her quirk than she realized, but she had no clue what her quirk was anymore. How? Why?

“We have some ideas.” Deku smiled nervously, “And we want to help you figure it out.” Yaoyorozu gave a decisive nod, and gave her a reassuring smile. “You still have an amazing quirk. We just have to figure out what it is. It might be even more awesome once we figure it out.”

His words were reassuring, but she still felt like her legs had been swept from under her, “Am I the reason we’re all getting new quirk councilors?”

Yaoyorozu’s eyes widened slightly and she looked to Deku, but he was already shaking his head, “No. He decided before I even mentioned this to him.”

“So Aizawa knows?” She cringed, oh she was so dead.

“Y-yeah…” Deku stammered apologetically, but Yaoyorozu took over smoothly.

“It’s okay. He isn’t angry about it.” She paused, “Or if he is then I’m sure he’s probably more angry that a professional got it wrong than you not knowing. After all, it isn’t like you don’t know how to use your quirk at all. If we can help you figure out what your quirk is you might even find new ways to use it.” Yaoyorozu gave her a winning smile that she would kill to have.

“Thanks Yaomomo…” She murmured, but she still felt like her world had been turned upside down. She looked to Deku, “You’re really sure I don’t negate gravity?”

Midoriya could hear the plea in her voice, a last grasp for normalcy, “I’m sorry.” He murmured and tried to cover his sorrow with a smile, “If all you could do was negate gravity, I’m not sure you would have been able to save me.”

Uraraka’s eyes widened as she stared at him, and when she blinked, she changed, fire returning to her eyes, determination etching itself across her face, “Alright. Let’s figure out what my quirk is.”

*~~~*

“Ready Ochako?” Tsuyu’s gravelly voice drew her back from the middling distance and she nodded with a forced smile.

She smiled, “Yep!” The smile wasn’t forced, not really. She still wasn’t sure how to feel about everything though. Deku and Yaomomo had practically fallen over themselves trying to make her more comfortable with their revelation, but if she were being honest, it still bothered her more than she’d like to admit. That’s why she had told Tsu in the first place.

It hadn’t been easy, she didn’t have the videos and she hadn’t wanted to get them from Deku. It had made explaining it to Tsu that much harder. In the end she’d had ask Tsu how she would feel if Deku told her that her quirk wasn’t frog, and had proof to back that up, but wasn’t sure what it actually was. Tsu had gone very still and then asked if she wanted her company during testing.

Deku scheduled the tests to begin early to ensure they had ample time for testing, so the dorms were mostly empty as they headed for the door; mostly, but not completely, as Kaminari and Iida were in the kitchen. Kaminari spotted them and lit up, tapping Iida who was buried in the fridge and then gave the four of them a bright smile and a thumbs up. Iida gave them a quick nod and wished them luck. A few minutes later, with Tsu at her side, she followed Deku and Yaomomo into the quirk research building.

*~~~*

Midoriya found Tsuyu facing him and Yaoyorozu the moment Uraraka slipped behind the curtain with Recovery Girl, “Do you think you’ll find out what her quirk is?”

“I hope so.” Midoriya offered honestly, and didn’t like the lack of certainty any more than Tsuyu did, “We came up with a half dozen different tests to figure out what her quirk actually does. We’re running those tests first.”

“And if you can’t?” Tsuyu pressed. Her expressions were hard to read, but there was a haste to her words that neither he nor, from the look of it, Yaoyorozu were used to.

The class vice president looked at Asui seriously, “Then we’ll continue coming up with things it could be and have her test them when we can.”

Tsuyu stared back at her for a long moment before letting her gaze slip, “Thank you.”

Any further commentary was cut off as Uraraka pulled the curtain aside and walked over. “So, how does this work?”

“Right.” Deku stepped forward, “We came up with a list of options for what we think it may be. We’re going to test them one at a time until we find out what your quirk is.” He guided her over to a number of weights and small blocks near a wall and pointed to a fifty pound dumbbell, “Touch that then step back.”

A moment later the dumbbell was hovering in the air and Deku was glancing at Recovery Girl. The aged nurse shook her head and Uraraka moved to release but Deku stopped her, “Turn around please?”

Her forehead scrunched, “Turn around?”

“To face the wall,” He clarified, “please?”

She shot a glance at Tsu, and received a shrug in answer, “Okay…” She murmured and turned to face the wall. She waited in silence, straining to hear what was going on, only hearing the muted sound of Deku walking behind her.

“Okay. You can turn back around now.” She turned to find Deku standing under the weight, not touching it, but as she watched he reached up and gently pushed the weight. It floated up a bit further and stayed there. Deku stepped away from it and nodded, “Alright, you can release now.”

The dumbbell crashed to the ground as she brought her fingerpads together, “So… what happened?” She glanced at Tsu who had her finger to her chin.

“We finished the first test.” Deku replied, both answering her first question and not answering it at all at the same time.

“Oh.” Uraraka blinked, feeling like she was missing something. Asui had turned slightly to look at Deku, but wasn’t saying anything.

Deku walked over to her, looking just a little nervous, “For this next test, I need you to wear a blindfold and put in earplugs.”

Uraraka knew she was missing something, “…why?”

“Don’t worry; it shouldn’t take long.” He deflected and fished out a band of black fabric and a plastic packet with two earplugs, “I’ll guide your hand to what I need you to touch. If I tap you on the shoulder release your quirk.”

Uraraka was tempted to frown, she wasn’t used to Deku being so secretive, and when she glance at Tsu she find Yaomomo whispering to her. She was sure she was missing something, but she trusted Deku. “Alright…” She put the earplugs in, and then pushed them in a bit when Deku started to speak to block him out. He gave her a smile and a thumbs up and she took the blindfold and pulled it on.

Deku gently grabbed her arm and slowly and steadily lead her somewhere. She wasn’t sure what this could possibly do for a test, but reminded herself that Deku had solved Kaminari’s problem and his own, so he must have some reasoning behind it, and then felt a little squeeze and push which she guessed meant he wanted her to stop. His hand slipped down her arm to her wrist, lifting it and placing her hand around a bumpy metal rod. She activated her quirk and he lifted her hand back off before letting go. For a moment she was alone in her own head, the slight pull of her quirk the only thing she could sense, questioning exactly what this could all be for.

And then Deku placed his hand on her shoulder and she released. She reached up for the blindfold, but he quickly grasped her arm and lowered it. She nearly pouted, but waited in silence and darkness as seconds ticked by. And then he was holding her wrist again, moving her hand back onto the same grooved metal. Seconds passed and then again his hand was on her shoulder. Another pause, and the process repeated itself three more times before a longer pause. She was sorely tempted to pull off the blindfold, but then he was guiding her wrist, but this time to something different, softer and spongier but still firm underneath. Again the process repeated five times in a row. She was pretty sure she was touching weights, but why all the secrecy?

Finally, Deku pulled the blindfold off nearly blinding her and she pulled out the earplugs, catching sight of a racked barbell in front of her without weights. “You’re doing great Uraraka,” He grinned, “we’re ready to move onto the next part of the test.”

“So, what did I just do?” She asked, glancing back to where Tsu and Yaomomo were standing only to do a double take when she spotted Aizawa standing behind them. Yaomomo had a standing desk with a laptop on it and was typing, Aizawa was reading over her shoulder. Tsu looked away from the screen and nodded at her.

“Yaoyorozu’s just taking some notes,” Deku said, dragging her attention back to him, “touch this please?” He motioned to the barbell.

She looked back to the barbell and grasped it, letting go and watching it float. Deku had to get onto the bench, to reach up and pull it back down. She released and watched as he put on a few small weights. “Again please?”

So this was what he’d had her doing? She touched it and sent it floating, and again, with more weights, and again twice more with more and more weights. And then he swapped the barbell with surprising speed with a padded barbell. This one already had weights on it, matching, or nearly matching, the highest weight that the other set had. Deku was trying very hard not to smile, and he still wasn’t saying much of anything. This set though, he was reducing the weights. As she finished he smiled, “I have to talk with Yaoyorozu. I’ll be right back”

He walked over to her, crossing paths with Tsu who was walking to her. She couldn’t help but notice that Deku was looking more animated as he and Yaomomo entered a hushed conversation, she also noticed that Aizawa was paying close attention as well. “How are you doing Ochako?” Tsu asked, not quite pulling her gaze away. “You’ve been using your quirk a lot. Do you need a break?”

“I’m fine. Just… frustrated.” Uraraka shrugged, “Deku’s being really secretive.” She admitted, “Can you tell me what’s going on?”

Tsu hesitated but then shook her head, “Yaoyorozu said they’d explain it all after.”

Uraraka pouted, “So you can’t tell me anything?”

Tsu just shook her head again, “Sorry Ochako.”

“Fine.” She gave a little huff, “Did it look like they were getting closer to an answer?”

“Yaoyorozu said they’re eliminating options, until they find the answer,” Tsu shrugged, “I think they’re going about it the right way.”

“Ready for the next test?” Deku asked brightly as he and Yaomomo walked her way.

Uraraka glanced at Tsu and heaved a sigh, “Sure thing.”

Deku smiled, “Follow me.” Together they walked to a box machine sitting against the wall, it’s only prominent feature was a door running from about her waist to slightly above her head, a long narrow window running from top to bottom at the center of it. He opened the door and pointed at a dumbbell sitting on the floor of the chamber, “Use your quirk on that please?”

“Okay…” She reached out and tapped it, watching it float to the top. Seemingly satisfied Deku reached forward and closed the door, then twisted a handle with a click and turned to the table Mei and Powerloader who Uraraka now noticed were both suddenly paying attention.

“We’re ready Powerloader.” The teacher nodded and pressed a button on a remote. All four of them turned back to the machine as it began to thrum. Uraraka was sure she could hear a hissing sound, but before she could ask her eyes widened. Inside the chamber, the dumbbell was sinking. She turned to Deku, but he was completely engrossed by the sight of it, lighting up in a way she usually only saw when he got to talk with All Might. He turned to her as the dumbbell touched down and must have seen the surprise on her face because he immediately clamped down on his expression.

“What happened?”

He seemed caught out for a second, but shook his head, “Just need to test one more thing before we can talk.” He glanced back at Powerloader once more, “Phase two please?”

The thrum stopped and was replaced by a hiss. Yaomomo placed a steadying hand on Deku’s shoulder and they both watched with bated breath. For several seconds nothing happened, but then, slowly, the dumbbell began to rise once more. Yaomomo pulled her hand from his shoulder, clasping them together and smiling, “I think we have it.”

Deku turned to her, grinning like a madman, “I think you’re right.”

“That’s great.” Tsu cut in, “Can you tell Ochako now?”

Deku winced and looked to Yaomomo but she shook her head, “You do the honors.”

He flushed and turned to look at her, letting out a breath, “Your quirk affects buoyancy.” There was a beat as Uraraka stared at him expectantly and he devolved into his more familiar panic, “Okay. So, what that means is… you can control how things rise in fluids.”

“Um…” Uraraka glanced at Tsu, resisting the urge to frown, “Deku… I make things float in the air.”

Yaomomo placed a hand on her shoulder, “He’s using the scientific meaning of the word. A fluid can be a liquid or a gas. It just means something that deforms or flows when force is applied to it.”

“Right.” Deku nodded quickly, “But you can’t make things float in a vacuum, that’s why the dumbbell sank when all the air was sucked out.” He motioned to the door, “That’s what this is. It’s a vacuum chamber. But there’s more.” He was practically shaking with enthusiasm, “That dumbbell is floating in Hydrogen. Pure Hydrogen. The lightest element there is. Nothing should be able to float in that.” He reached out and grasped her hands, “But you can make things float in that.”

Uraraka felt herself blushing, only catching herself as Deku began to float. Yaomomo grabbed him and pulled him down with ease and she released her quirk, the dumbbell immediately dropping inside the chamber. Deku was flush with embarrassment, but his smile remained, “But there’s more, just stay here for a second.” He practically ran to the laptop Momo had been using, and wheeled it back to them.

“I know I told you before, but you can control this.” Deku began, clicking through until a video came up, a video of herself and Deku from the first test he had run. Uraraka blinked, watching herself turning around and then Deku walked under the dumbbell that was floating and tapped it from above, watching it drift slightly before returning to where it was. He looked off screen, then tapped it from underneath letting it rise again before it settled where it had been. “This first test was to see if you had some form of telekinesis. It was the easiest to rule out. There wasn’t active resistance to pushing it down and Recovery Girl said you didn’t have any of the brainwave activities normally associated with it. Also, the dumbbell felt lighter than it would have if you were holding it from underneath with your mind.”

“But why did it return to where it was the first time?” Uraraka finally turned away from the screen, “It didn’t while I was watching it.”

“It’s like we told you earlier.” Deku replied with surprising calm, “You have better control than you think you do. That’s why I had to have you turn around for the first test and then put on a blindfold and earplugs for the second; I had to see how your quirk worked without you unintentionally altering the results.”

Uraraka felt herself begin to blush, “Oh.”

He caught her staring and flushed, “But there’s more.” He turned back to the computer and started playing the next video, “The uh, the second test was to see if you had some sort of proportional control over gravity. If you watch, you’ll see that I alternated the weights, higher and lower but since you weren’t aware they all rose to the same height at the same speed. But when you could see it, you clearly controlled how high and how fast they rose.” He gave a nervous little chuckle, his shoulders falling, “I-I think you’ve been doing it subconsciously all along, because you didn’t think you had control, but now that you know that you control your quirk, it’ll be easy for you to learn how. Your quirk is incredible.” The words seemed to spill out of his mouth, like when he mumbled, but understandable, “You’re incredible.” And then his mind caught up with what he said and he froze, face going beet red.

Uraraka’s cheeks burned and she ducked her head, “Thank you.”

*~~~*

“Do you think it was okay to leave them like that?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“I think they’ve needed this for a while.” Tsuyu replied.

“How long do we have to leave them like that?” Mei complained, trying to squirm free from their grasps, “I want to show her my babies!”

“At least until they can speak coherently again.” Tsuyu replied, not bothering to look at the pink haired inventor.

“But that could take hours.” Mei whined.

Aizawa just shook his head, “Teenagers.”

Chapter Text

He wanted to thank Yaoyorozu.

The thought resounded in Midoriya’s mind as he watched everyone training. Jirou was sparring with Kaminari, which amounted to dodging as she practiced using her earphone jacks as whips from her sleeves while Kaminari got used to wielding his shock batons. Iida and Satou were also sparring, something that had become a bit of a habit and one that he would have to break to make sure they didn’t become overly reliant on expecting each other’s patterns. He would have subbed in Kirishima if he weren’t the best choice to help Uraraka test her new weapon.

Well, it wasn’t exactly new, per se, as Mei had demoed the net gun at the sports festival, but it made perfect sense for Uraraka. Anyone without a flying quirk would be a sitting duck once they were in the air and if the netting could hold, she’d be able to subdue an enemy and keep moving. Kirishima was getting training out of it too; mostly the same strike resistance training he’d received during the aborted forest training camp, this time provided by gravity whenever Uraraka released her quirk. He’d still have to have her shoot one or two nets at Satou and probably himself to confirm the netting could stand up to enhanced strength quirks trying to pull it apart, but Kirishima hadn’t been able to fight his way out of them so far.

But the thought kept returning. He wanted to thank Yaoyorozu.

Her help had been invaluable in finding the evidence he needed to show Uraraka, build up his confidence enough to speak to her about it, and come up with the tests that lead to discovering the actual nature of her quirk. Her idea to fill the vacuum chamber with hydrogen had been an amazing final test and had eliminated a few variables like elemental replacement. How replacing some element with another, even temporarily, would affect the human body was not something he actually wanted to dwell on, but quirks broke all kinds of laws.

All of that had given him the confidence to talk with Uraraka… and not just about her quirk.

After watching Uraraka finish her current clip and Kirishima activating his quirk just before being planted into the ground again, Midoriya got up and suggested a switch. He’d spar with Iida and Satou would spar with Kirishima. Uraraka would test her other new piece of support gear, a grappling hook that would allow rapid movement and incredible mobility while under the effect of her quirk (at the risk of increasing her nausea), while Jirou, with her (newly rechristened) sonic shocker gloves, and Kaminari with the new taser line addition to his sharpshooter gauntlet, used her for target practice.

Uraraka looked a bit green at the prospect, even though they were staying at low intensity jolts only, but it was undoubtedly necessary. She’d need to be aware of threats while moving and learn to vary her altitude while in the air. And while Jirou had been getting better with her aim, Kaminari had barely been able to practice his taser line.

He moved to face off against the class president and the thought returned once more. He really wanted to thank Yaoyorozu.

Iida obviously needed a different challenge. Satou was good and getting better all the time, he was clearly watching the kickboxing videos that he’d been given, but Iida struggled to use his quirk in spars. The idea of using his engine while kicking was good and Izuku knew with practice that he’d be able to use it effectively, but right now it was leaving him open and vulnerable. It allowed him to plant his friend on his butt bare minutes into their sparring. Out of the corner of his eye he watched Kirishima reeling. He needed to improve how long he could keep his quirk up. Satou could simply outlast him by taking additional doses as necessary and had become adept at using his increased speed to dodge. Kirishima needed to learn to attack weak spots with his spiked hard form, not that he necessarily wanted Satou to be hurt or to lose, but he needed to be aware that his sugar supplies were targets as well.

And he really, really wanted to thank Yaoyorozu for helping him.

But what could he really offer? The quirk counselors would be arriving two days after whatever he could set up. Oh sure he had ideas for what she could make; her quirk provided options galore for equipment and tactics. Her tactical flexibility would make a contortionist green with envy, but they’d be going over that next week anyway.

Iida was frowning at him, throwing a punch which he dodged, but not quite well enough as it clipped his ear. He stepped back and acknowledged the point wondering if he was distracting himself into being sloppy. He needed to be the strong opponent Iida needed, and he was letting himself get distracted and that wasn’t fair. He just wanted to do something nice for Yaoyorozu, not run any tests, though he had some ideas for those and they might help in the long run but he really hadn’t been lying when he told her she had the best understanding of her quirk of anyone in their class. And besides that wouldn’t really be a thank you, not really, it would be more of him going over people’s quirks.

Iida pulled back for a punch, but hesitated and relaxed. “Midoriya, I think you underestimate how much this all means to us.”

Oh. He’d been talking. He felt his cheeks burning and the rest of the activities around him ceased. Satou helped Kirishima up while Jirou and Kaminari lowered their arms. Uraraka looked supremely relieved, though still very green, as she descended to the ground and finally released her quirk.

“So… how much of that did I actually say out loud?”

“Well, I’m glad the kickboxing lessons I’m taking are coming through,” Satou said.
“And I’ll make sure not to let him fuel his quirk mid battle without a fight next time,” Kirishima added, grinning widely.

Jirou just smirked and tapped her ear.

Izuku cringed. “I’m sorry, I should be more focused.”

Kaminari just shook his head. “Dude if that was you distracted, I don’t want to know what you being focused is.”

“Aside from that, Yaoyorozu did help you figure out tests that determined Uraraka’s quirk,” Iida announced, drawing them back to the point. “You both deserve recognition for that, though it is nice of you to think that she deserves something nice for it.”

“Yeah,” Uraraka added shakily, and then sat down with her hand clutching her stomach. Izuku winced, quickly heading to her, but she shook her head and patted the seat next to her, “So what do you have in mind?”

“Well, I mean, I wanted to find out if she can control where she draws the lipids she uses her quirks from. If she could do that with the fats in her arteries it would probably increase her lifespan dramatically. But that…” He shrugged. “I don’t know, that’s something we can do when the quirk councilors get here. And while it’s interesting, it isn’t really a thank you.”

“Perhaps something more general then?” Iida offered. “What could Yaoyorozu improve upon?”

Izuku took a breath and thought, thinking about Yaoyorozu, what he knew of her, what he’d seen of how she fought, what others had mentioned about her. He knew he was muttering, but none of them were stopping him. It was nice, since it gave him a moment to come to the conclusions. He let out a breath and looked at his classmates, all looking at him supportively, though Jirou had an eyebrow arched.

“There are a few things that I can think of,” he hesitated, “and I think some of you might be able to help me with this.”

Uraraka smiled and nudged his shoulder, “Go on, tell us.”

“Iida, I’m going to need paperwork again, including a permission letter for a costume alteration,” he cleared his throat, “Jirou, you’re close to her, can you ask her to sign that paperwork? I… I don’t think I could ask her.”

She frowned, “I’m guessing this is going to be more significant than mine?”

“You told me what happened at the USJ, and again during the licensing exam,” He shrugged, “There have to be better alternatives.”

Kaminari leaned over to Jirou, “What happened at the USJ?”

She rolled her eyes and ignored him, “I’ll talk to her. Do you know what’s going to change?”

Izuku winced, “I-I don’t think I’m going to be the one doing it. I’m going to contact some people. Actually, Iida, I’ll need a day pass for non-staff to come on campus.”

“What?” Uraraka looked at him in surprise, “For who?”

“Uh… let me make sure they’re even interested before I say. I might be able to talk them into it, especially for Yaoyorozu.” There was a general exchange of glances around him, but he didn’t elaborate.

“Satou, I’d like to talk with you about snack options for her. You have more experience with snack foods than me; maybe you can help me pick out things she would like? It probably doesn’t need to be nutritious, it’s more to replenish her calories and fat so she can produce more. But it has to be portable and shouldn’t need to be cooked.”

Satou folded his arms in front of his chest, “So, like candy bars?”

Izuku nodded, “I was thinking granola bars, but chocolate is actually very calorie dense. Nuts are also a good choice, probably some combination of the two. Something that she’ll like to snack on, we should probably get a few options.”

Uraraka nudged him again, “Do you want us to chip in? I’m sure whatever she likes will be a little… expensive.” She had a wan smile on her lips.

“Huh?” He blinked then shook his head, “Oh, no. Since this is technically support gear the school will be paying.”

Uraraka’s eyes widened and she shot a look at Jirou who smirked and nodded. Uraraka turned to Satou with a smile, “I think I can help too. Maybe Tsuyu can as well?”

“You like chocolate, don’t you Jirou?” Kaminari asked with a grin which earned him a look that screamed ‘What do you think?’

Kirishima pumped his arm, “Hey, yeah! Ashido likes chocolate too. Maybe she has some advice.”

Midoriya shrugged, “More advice can’t hurt I guess?”

Iida looked rather skeptical, but held his tongue before glancing at Izuku, “Is there anything else you need?”

He shrugged, “I don’t think so. Well. I have an idea for Mei to work on, but I can talk with her about it tomorrow.”

Uraraka’s smile became a little force, “I’ll go with you.”

*~~~*

“One moment,” Yaoyorozu said to the knock on her door and stood up from her bed. She’d given up on using the chair to sit at her desk as impractical; her room was so cramped compared to home. Squeezing through her narrow walkway she opened the door, to find her friend standing awkwardly before her, “Jirou? It’s almost curfew, is there something I can help you with?”

Jirou took a breath and held out a sheet of paper, “Sign this.”

Yaoyorozu blinked and took the sheet that Jirou was offering, “What is it?”

Jirous shoved her hands into her pockets, “It’s a form consenting to costume changes.”

Yaoyorozu’s eyes widened, “What?”

Jirou groaned, “I guess Midoriya hasn’t talked to you yet. You’re next, this coming Saturday.”

Yaoyorozu blinked, “No, he hasn’t.” Then her eyes widened, and she looked down at the form, “He wants me to change my costume?”

Jirou winced and shrugged her shoulders, “That’s probably my fault. I told him everything about the USJ, and about the first half of the licensing exam.” Yaoyorozu felt her cheeks burning in embarrassment, “I kinda have to agree with him.” She blushed and glanced away, “I’ve seen more of you outside of the showers than I probably should have.”

Yayorozu swallowed, “I see…”

Jirou still refused to look at her, sharing her embarrassment, “Just remember even if you sign that you don’t have to change your costume. You still have the final say.”

“Did he say how he wants to change it?” Yaoyorozu asked.

Jirou shook her head, “He said he was going to be calling someone in.”

*~~~*

Midoriya locked the door to his room and tested it before retreating to his bed. The smiles on the All Might figures looked almost mocking. Nervously he pulled out his phone and dialed. His stomach was twisting in knots. “Please pick up, please pick up…”

There was a click on the other end, “Izuku?”

He let out a sigh of relief, “Hi mom,” He sat down on his bed, “Can I ask you for a favor?”

“Of course honey, what do you need?”

He swallowed nervously, “Well, there’s this girl in class-”

“Oh?” she interrupted, “Is this about the Uraraka?”

Izuku began to rub his forehead, “Uh no, it’s actually about Yaoyorozu, she’s the class vice rep.”

“Oh, but I thought you said-”

“Mom, it isn’t about that, it isn’t even really about her, it’s about her costume.”

“What?”

“Well, I kind of told her that her costume needs to be redesigned,” There was a palpable silence from the other end of the phone, “well, actually, her friend is telling her.”

The silence lingered for a moment after he finished speaking, “Izuku… honey, I’m not sure that’s a wise thing to say to a girl.”

Izuku let his head fall into his hand, “Mom, her quirk keeps destroying her costume. It could happen during a fight. It has happened during a fight.”

“Oh.” The tentativeness dropped from his mother’s voice, “Oh dear, that would be bad.”

“Yeah, so I was wondering…” He trailed off hopefully.

“Don’t worry; I’ll see what I can do.”

He let out a sigh of relief, “Thanks mom.”

“You’re welcome, honey. Now did you want to talk about Uraraka?”
“Mooooom…”

*~~~*

Satou looked at the girls that had come to his room, “Um…” He hesitated; he hadn’t expected all of them except for Yaoyorozu to visit all at once. And he certainly hadn’t expected Hatsume to be with them, “C-can I help you?”

Ashido grinned at him, “We’re here to talk about the chocolate.”

“And to make sure you get enough samples to test.” Uraraka added, while the rest of the girls nodded.

“Uh… sure…” He retreated from the door, “You can come in…”

*~~~*

Aizawa reviewed the forms in front of him, stopping and lingering on the requisition form for a long moment. When Aizawa finally looked at him Midoriya could feel himself sweating, “This seems… excessive.”

Midoriya swallowed a hard knot in the back of his throat, “Uh, I think the rest of the girls in class wanted to help her decide and for her to have plenty of chocolate for training after she chooses.”

Aizawa’s gaze narrowed and Midoriya regretted not going to the selection meeting. Satou had been adamant that he’d done his best to offer input, but admitted that he had only added to a list far longer than Midoriya had anticipated. Similarly the quantities requested were suspiciously large, far more than Yaoyorozu alone could possibly need just to sample. “I think Satou is planning on using whatever is left over.”

After a long moment that Midoriya was certain had decreased his lifespan by a number of years Aizaw broke eye contact, “You won’t need me for this.” He paused, “However I know Eri would enjoy visiting. Recovery Girl will probably stop by as well, I’m sure she would like to review the nutritional value of whatever Yaoyorozu finally chooses. I’d also expect Midnight to come; she’s very well versed in the laws surrounding heroine costumes. Most of them were written because of her.” He handed the request form back, “Adjust your request accordingly.”

“Yes sensei.” Midoriya agreed readily, “And the day pass?”

Aizawa nodded, “As it’s for a parent there shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Yes sensei.” Izuku nodded, taking a moment to add three to everything and then beat a hasty retreat from the room.

*~~~*

Midoriya looked over his shoulder again as he led every girl from 1-A, plus Hatsume and Satou, to the quirk research lab. The girls were whispering among themselves about what was coming, though he was quietly relieved that Jirou and Uraraka had impressed upon them his desire for this to be a surprise.

For her part Yaoyorozu was held captivated by the new device Hatsume had given her. The red tinted visor which hooked behind her ears had a digital library of chemical formulas and schematics of just about anything she could desire, all able to be summoned up in front of her eyes upon verbal request. She wouldn’t necessarily have to give up her Yaoyorictionary of course, but the time she’d save alone could be a life saver.

Mei was at her side, happily babbling about the other benefits. They were EMP resistant, rated to protect her eyes from arc flashes, and were shatterproof, something she had demonstrated shortly before they had left by pulling out a wrench and whaling on them a few times before proudly showing that it hadn’t so much as left a scratch. Given time she might even be able to add some form of medical dictionary that could be used in rescue situations. Yaoyorozu nodded along, quietly saying different machines and chemicals then smiling. Mei had really outdone herself this time.

But even Mei’s enthusiasm for her baby and its reception couldn’t last forever, and finally entering the quirk research lab ended it abruptly. The girls slowed to a halt as the doors opened and the simply absurd piles of chocolate came into view.

Yaoyorozu blinked and stared as the girls around her barely avoided drooling in anticipation. “What is all this?”

“Well, since you need to use lipid cells for your quirk, I thought that there had to be a good way of refueling while in the field. Chocolate is naturally high in calories and antioxidants, it comes in convenient portable packages, it doesn’t need to be cooked-”

“And it’s delicious!” Ashido chimed in.

“And it’s delicious.” Midoriya agreed, “It can also have other things mixed in, like nuts which are even more calorie dense, or bacon, which has about the same amount of calories but adds a bit of savoriness, which, if you eat a lot of chocolate might be appreciated.”

Yaoyorozu looked thunderstruck, “So all of this is to help me choose a snack on the go?”

Midoriya gave a helpless little shrug, “You use up so many calories with your quirk, you have to eat two portions of dinner every night, I just thought it might be easier for your stomach if you have something you can bring with you and eat in the field…”

“Thank you! I…” She shook her head and slipped the visor up to wipe away a tear, “There’s so much, and you put so much thought into this.”

“A-actually, I didn’t get to select anything. I had to make some calls about your costume change, everyone else picked out the chocolates.”

Yaoyorozu smiled at him anyway before turning to the rest of her classmates pulling Uraraka, who was nearest to her, into a hug, “Thank you.” It quickly devolved into a group hug by all the girls, which Satou found himself awkwardly standing in the middle of.

Midoriya cleared his throat, “I made some scoring sheets, so you can keep track of what you liked and don’t like. Enough copies for all of you,” he clarified quickly, and shrugged nervously, “and, if none of them do appeal or you get tired of only chocolate, I did come up with a few savory options that you can sample as well.”

“I don’t see that happening.” Asui deadpanned.

“Right.” Midoriya murmured, and handed out both clipboards and pencils. “Yaoyorozu, why don’t you choose where to start?”

Yaoyorozu scanned the page and then lifted it to look at the next, “There are a lot of options…” Beside her Ashido giggled in anticipation.

“I think you have-” His phone interrupted him, “Just a second.” He pulled it out and looked at it, ignoring the daggers that were being stared at him for the delay, but the venom decreased dramatically as the color drained away from his face.

“Is something wrong?” Uraraka asked in alarm.

“N-nothing! Uh-Satou, can you lead them through? I need to get to the gate.” The words were said in a rush as he dashed from the room before even answering his phone.

Uraraka frowned, watching the door close behind him, “Should I follow him?”

“If it was important he would have asked us to follow him.” Ashido argued, and placed her hands on her hips, “He told Satou to lead us through, and I say we listen to him!” There was a cheer around her and they triumphantly marched to the table of heaping chocolate.

“So this is white chocolate.” Satou murmured, “It’s made from cocoa butter, sugar and milk solids. Technically it isn’t really a chocolate since it doesn’t have cocoa solids, but it’s still pretty good. They tend to be very sweet.”

The girls stared at him, and Hagakure broke the silence, “Are you really going to explain what each type of chocolate is?”

He blushed and scratched the back of his head, “I guess not.”

Yaoyorozu took pity on him and smiled, “Thank you Satou, I do appreciate it. And I don’t mind hearing.”

“R-right. Well, we have a few brands; each has a different concentration of cocoa butter to milk solids.” He began pointing them out, and Yaoyorozu took a bit of each, sampling them and then stepping back to allow the table to be ravaged by her classmates.

“They’re a bit… too sweet.” She admitted, taking notes on each.

“What?” Hagakure blustered, “They’re perfect!”

Asui shook her head, “Sorry Hagakure, I have to agree with Yaoyorozu.”

“I think they’re better baked.” Satou said, “I use them for white chocolate macadamia nut cookies.” The girls stared at him for a moment before all the girls but Hagakure returned what was left of their bars to the table and he realized he’d have to do a lot of chopping later.

“Uh, if we’re done with white chocolate, the next type is ruby chocolate.” He lead them to the next table where a selection of pink bars were sitting.

“It almost matches your skin color Ashido.” Jirou mused, and Ashido grinned.

“I’ve heard of these, but haven’t tried them before.” Yaoyorozu murmured, looking the odd looking selection over. “It doesn’t look very much like chocolate.”

Satou shrugged, “It actually is chocolate, but from a special type of cocoa bean. They said it was only recently rediscovered so it’s not super common yet. I haven’t tried it yet, but I heard that it’s fruity.”

“That’s interesting.” Yaoyorozu smiled and took a bar then politely stepped over to him and broke a piece off so they could sample it together.

“Oh my god I love it!” Ashido cheered after swallowing her first bite.

“Uh. Yeah.” Jirou handed her the bar she’d picked up, “You can have mine.”

“It’s kind of tart?” Mei murmured, her eyes zooming in to inspect it rather than sampling it further.

“It’s not bad,” Uraraka contemplated, “But it’s not like the chocolate I’m used to.”

“It is fruity though.” Yaoyorozu murmured, and lead them in note taking. Satou quietly pondered exactly how he could use this for baking or if he would leave whatever was left of it to Ashido, who had polished off the bar she’d picked up and what Jirou had given her. Maybe coat strawberries with it?

“I think I’m ready to move on.” Yaoyorozu said, and slid her pencil under the clip.

The next table was far more densely packed, with dozens upon dozens of different brands on display, “These are all milk chocolates. They’re made from cocoa butter, cocoa solids, sugar and milk solids. Different countries have different requirements of cocoa solids to be considered milk chocolate, so we ordered some imported ones.”

Yaoyorozu nodded sagely at the explanation while the rest of the girls waited impatiently. When she began heaping the bars on top of her clipboard, the rest of the girls eagerly followed like they were queued up in the lunchroom, but with far more eagerness than Lunch Rush’s meals could ever inspire. Yaoyorozu fell into her Class Vice Rep role, making sure they all got their share.

“We should really sit down for this; they’ll fall all over otherwise.”

Ashido, who was gamely trying to balance opening a bar one handed while leaning the rest against her chest, proved her point by spilling her entire pile.

The rest sat down, while Satou helped Ashido gather them, and began to peel open their first bar when the door opened and Midoriya staggered in, two adults in tow.

“Uh, I-I’m back…” He swallowed, motioning to the people behind him, “Yaoyorozu, these are-”

The tall blond haired woman refused to wait for her stilted introduction, patting Midoriya on the shoulder before stepping around him, “Bakugo Mitsuki,” she motioned over her shoulder to a brown haired man still standing behind Midoriya, “and my husband, Bakugo Masaru” She grinned impishly, “I heard you needed some help with your costume.”

Yaoyorozu blinked, “I’m sorry… did you say your name was Bakugo?” She smiled uncertainly, “You’re not related to a Bakugo Katsuki are you?”

The woman smirked indulgently, “He’s my son.”

The chocolate bar Jirou was holding slipped from her fingers and landed on her clipboard with a thud. Uraraka’s eyes widened and she looked to Midoriya, who had somehow attained a new shade of pale. Asui spoke for all of them.

“What?”

The woman let out a barking laugh and approached, pulling out a chair and sitting down, “Midoriya’s mother contacted me, asking if Masaru could help. He’s a fashion designer.”

“Bakugo’s dad… is a fashion designer.” Jirou repeated.

“Yup.” She grinned, “Technically Midoriya only asked for Masaru’s help, but I couldn’t resist the urge to visit. And…” Her grin slipped, “I believe that you were one of the students who went to rescue my son.” Yaoyorozu nodded slowly and a tense smile spread across Mitsuki’s lips, “He may be a pain in the ass, but he’s still my son. I wanted to thank you for that, for helping to save him.”

Yaoyorozu faltered, “I didn’t really-”

Mitsuki shook her head, “I got enough of that from Midoriya. You went. That mattered, to me and my husband. So thank you.”

Yaoyorozu blushed, “You’re welcome.”

Mitsuki slapped her hands together, “Well then! We should get down to business.” She glanced around and a more natural smile reasserted itself, “But before that, can I get some of this chocolate?” She asked, snatching a bar off the top of Hagakure’s pile only for it to be snatched back.

“Uh-sure,” Midoriya said before a fight could start. “There’s more over there. Just grab a bar of whatever you want, but only one of each, there are still people coming.”

“Sure.” Mitsuki smirked and got up to serve herself and the girls suddenly realized that Midoriya was going to have his hands full, which he seemed to realize as well since he quickly followed her.

Masaru walked over to them, offering them a kind smile, “I hope you don’t mind if I sit.” The softness of his voice compared to his wife and son’s sharpness was almost startling, but Yaoyorozu pointed to an empty chair. “Midoriya let me know about the difficulties you were experiencing with your costume and how your quirk operates. I’m not used to the rules of heroic costumes, but I did come up with some ideas. Don’t let me stop you from eating though.”

He pulled out a sketchbook and placed it on the table while the girls finally began to dig into their chocolate. “I received this from the support department.” He spoke softly, and flipped to the first page, “This is your current design. Midoriya told me about the trouble you’ve been having with it, but he wasn’t sure how much you wanted to change it, so my first idea is very similar.”

He flipped the page revealing the same design, but with a zipper running from the clasp over her collarbone to beneath her belly button. “This design is a modification of your current costume. First I split it into two pieces. Then, rather than having a large vertical split down the center of your costume, I added a horizontal break beneath the bust line. It’s a little hard to see, but it runs across the entire front and sides of your costume. This break allows for two separate zippers, one running from your clasp to the break, and a second that runs from the break to the top of your pants. I kept the band from your original costume so if you do need to open the top zipper for some reason then it should fall back in place.” He shifted, looking slightly uncomfortably, “But it can still be detached if you truly need to. At least that’s my understanding of your current costume?”

“Currently, yes,” Yaoyorozu looked the costume over, the happy chatter of her classmates washing over her. It was undoubtedly more practical but zippers could get stuck, one of the reasons she didn’t have one right now, and unless she zipped it back up it would easily be grabbed. Her brow furrowed, “While I do like my current costume, and this is an interesting alteration I would like to hear any other ideas you have.”

He smiled and took back the pad, “Well I was looking over your costume. It’s not necessarily bad, but I think it covers the wrong spots.” He flipped to another page, which was a bare body save for a bra and panties, “These locations have to be covered of course, but from here we can work on giving you as much access to form new materials with your quirk.”

“And even if the rules didn’t require it, I would really like to wear more than that.” Yaoyorozu admitted.

He nodded, “Of course. So, the designs I thought of took that into consideration.” He flipped to the next page to something that looked like a one piece bikini with four slices, one down the center starting just under her bust, one on either side, and one down the center of her back, “This is the second design I came up with.” He pointed down to the strips of fabric on her chest, “It may be a little hard to tell, but this isn’t one piece of fabric. These are panels of fabric hanging from your top that run down to your pants.”

Yaoyorozu frowned slightly, “Panels?”

“Think of them like a dress with four cuts for ease of movement. They’d be held to the bottom with a weak Velcro or perhaps a weak magnet depending on your preference. If you create something from your stomach it would simply push the strip up without tearing.” Yaoyorozu sat up straighter, the chocolate in front of her forgotten, “And once whatever you create is out of the way, the strip of fabric should fall back down to rest on against the whatever is holding it.”

“I’d be able to use my entire stomach instantly.” She murmured.

“Or your back, or sides for that matter.” Masaru confirmed.

“If you go for that idea, you should really make sure those panels can easily tear-away,” Midoriya said as he led Mitsuki and a heaping pile of chocolate bars back to the table, “otherwise a villain could grab it and use it against you.” At least her cape was tear-away, he’d made sure to verify that with support when he first saw it.

Yaoyorozu nodded absently, still looking at the design, “That was my worry for his first design.”

Masaru smiled, “Now, I also have a few backless designs.” He flipped to the next page of the pad, “They’re halter top designs so they’ll hang a bit more loosely, with strips of fabric on your sides to connect the top to the bottom to keep it in place with a smaller gap over your stomach.” He said, and glanced at her sympathetically, “I understand that your back might not be as most convenient as your chest, but it does give you the most skin access.”

Asui looked at it and put a finger to her chin, “You wouldn’t get much support from it though.”

“That’s true.” Yaoyorozu agreed with a wince, “Also, I’m not sure if I’m allowed a completely backless costume.”

“Sadly you’re not.” Midnight called out, and the room turned to see her at the door, smirking at them. “The hero commission is too full of prudes to allow a heroine to be seen in the field without a bra.”

“Your first costume was a belt and two ammo sacks strapped to your chest.” Aizawa countered as he led Eri in. Midoriya, Ashido and Hagakure abandoned their seats to greet the child, eagerly guiding her to the tables of chocolate.

“I had a jacket.” Midnight countered and ignored his eye roll. She returned her attention to the table ahead of her and smiled at Yaoyorozu, “I heard you needed some advice on costume design restrictions.” She strode over and sat down next to Masaru, “And this gentleman was so kind as to offer to help.” He smiled nervously, while the smile on Mitsuki’s face faded and her eyes narrowed. “Can I see?” She asked, already reaching for his sketchpad, leaning into him and brushing her arm against his. Masaru dropped it like it was a hot iron, mouth moving wordlessly as he looked to his wife.

Abruptly Mitsuki rose from her seat and took the one on his other side. “I’m sorry, we haven’t met before. My name is Bakugo Mitsuki and this is my husband Masaru.” She smiled, leaning into him and placing her hands on his shoulders possessively, “And you are?”
The smile didn’t leave Midnight’s lips, “I’m the R-rated heroine, Midnight.”

Mitsuki forced herself to smile, “Ah yes, I think I saw too much of you during the sports festival.”

Midnight locked eyes with Mitsuki and chuckled, “Oh, I doubt that.”

Aizawa sighed, “Midnight, this is supposed to be about my student.”

“Of course,” Midnight maintained her gaze for a moment longer as she flipped open the sketchpad and finally began to review the designs.

Satou cleared his throat, “I’m going to help Eri choose what to try.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Asui agreed readily, and pulled Uraraka and Mei along with her.

“I think we could use this time to get the rest of our chocolates, right Jirou?” Yaoyorozu glanced at her friend meaningfully, but Jirou just shook her head. Reluctantly Yaoyorozu abandoned her and retreated to the relative safety of the group surrounding Eri.

When Yaoyorozu reached them she found Satou explaining the different types of chocolates to the young girl. Eri was absolutely adorable as she patiently listened to him, taking his words as gospel as she pointed out the different chocolates and what made them different while Ashido, Hagakure and Uraraka pointed out the bars they had liked. Midoriya seemed to have finally relaxed, breaking off a piece of the first thing Eri decided to try and handing it to her. Yaoyorozu noticed Aizawa inching closer as she took her first bite.

Her eyes widened as she began to chew, and she let out a little gasp of surprise before her lips curled into a still unfamiliar smile. Midoriya knelt down in front of her grinning, “Do you like it?”

“I do.” She nodded quickly, “It’s sweet. Thank you.”

Midoriya smiled, “Do you want more of this one or would you like to try one of the other bars?”

The child looked from the bar he was holding the table, her smile fading as she thought on it, “One of the others,” she spoke softly, and Yaoyorozu felt her heart melting a little as Eri was brought back and the others helped her pick something else.

Uraraka, Ashido and Hagakure stepped in, gathering bars that they had liked the most and breaking off small bits for her to try, with Asui keeping them from overwhelming Eri in their eagerness. Satou sat down beside her and told her a bit more about what was being offered, informing her who made it and where it was made. Even Mei helped, bringing over one of Midoriya’s sheets and scribbling down Eri’s thoughts on each bar. Aizawa tapped Midoriya on the shoulder, requesting the rest of whatever she liked but didn’t finish so he could give them to her later. Midoriya nodded, and dutifully set aside the bars she had already tried.

Eventually though, Eri began to hesitate on what to try next and Aizawa decided it was time for them to go. Yaoyorozu created a small sack for all of the bars Aizawa was being given, including a bar of everything she hadn’t been able to try, and Mei handed Eri’s preference sheet over to Aizawa. Taking her hand he led her out, stopping at the door for a final wave goodbye, and they were gifted a little smile as they waved back before she followed Aizawa out of sight.
Midoriya let out a contented sigh, “Ready to continue?”

Yaoyorozu nodded, “Lets.”

Satou began to dole out the baking chocolates, admitting that he wasn’t sure if they’d like them and that he had really planned to use them for, well, baking, but that they should still try them just in case, before finally moving onto the dark chocolates. Collectively they returned to the table where Mitsuki and Midnight seemed to have reached an uneasy détente. Apparently Midnight had explained that a few of the costume ideas that Yaoyorozu hadn’t even gotten to see didn’t quite fit within the costume laws, and Masaru was making hasty modifications, mostly in the form of additions. Jirou was leaning back in her seat, smirking.

Watching the students return Midnight grinned, “I almost forgot to claim my reward.” She patted Masaru on the shoulder, making the man freeze and earning a dirty look from Mitsuki before she stood and walked over to the chocolate tables quickly followed by a frantic Midoriya who desperately tried to prevent her from just taking everything she wanted. Yaoyorozu handed a stack to Jirou and resumed sampling, but kept a close eye on the modifications Masaru was making.

The baking chocolates were sampled perfunctorily and then handed over to a relieved Satou. Uraraka took the opportunity to bow out after tasting the first bar and went to rescue Midoriya from Midnight. Yaoyorozu wondered if she imagined the smile that flickered across Mitsuki’s face when she left.

They were wrapping up when Midnight returned, a large pile of dark chocolate sitting on top of milk chocolate and the ruby chocolates. Masaru froze as she sat back down, right next to him again, but then forced himself to continue working on alterations... at least until Midnight bit into a bar and let out a small moan.

“Oh my, this is evil,” she spoke gleefully, “rich and dark and decadent.” She leaned in towards Masaru, “Would you like a piece?”

Masaru, with his wife’s fingers digging into his shoulders like talons, looked at it for a moment, “Sure.” The table froze. A smile swept over Midnight’s face as Mitsuki’s face grew thunderous, but her husband turned to her, “You grabbed one of those bars, right? Can I try a bite of yours?” The rage slipped off her face in an instant while Midnight’s smile faltered.

“Of course honey,” Mitsuki rose triumphantly and grabbed her entire pile, bringing it back with her, “we can share whatever you’d like.”

Masaru gave her a wide smile, “That’s okay. I’d prefer you enjoy them, just break off a piece of anything you want me to try.”

Mitsuki’s smile was radiant, and she ruffled her husband’s hair affectionately as Midnight rolled her eyes.

Ashido snorted, “Wow, Bakugo should take lessons from his dad.” Yaoyorozu found herself nodding along in agreement with the rest of the girls and Masaru smiled as Mitsuki kissed his cheek. Midnight looked away and bit into a dark chocolate.

Yaoyorozu had to admit a certain eagerness as they finally delved into the dark chocolates. Her parents often brought dark chocolates home after visiting foreign countries. Neither her mother nor her father seemed to enjoy them as much as her, so while the white and milk chocolates were picked out of any sampler, she was allowed to indulge herself. Satou had taken things very seriously, which she’d have to thank him for, with the purity of the chocolates going all the way to one hundred percent.

She mostly ignored the commentary from her classmates. Hagakure and Ashido didn’t find them to their tastes and were quite vocal about it. Asui dropped off when they reached eighty percent, but Uraraka, Mei, and Jirou stayed with her to the ‘bitter’ end, Jirou for solidarity, Uraraka for the experience, and Mei because… Mei? None of them enjoyed it nearly as much as she did though, and she found the remaining bars passed her way after Satou glanced at her and declined to make anything with them. She had narrowed it down to three different bars when Recovery Girl walked in.

The nurse looked at the tables with the piled up bars and whistled, “I was afraid I was going to be too late.”

“Midoriya made sure nobody took more than their share,” and her classmates’ little conspiracy had ensured more than enough regardless.

“Well isn’t that nice of you, making sure there’s still enough for me.” She grinned at him and marched over to the tables which were noticeably taller than her. Midoriya jumped to his feet again and moved to grab them for her, “Thank you dearie. Oh my, there’s quite a variety, I hope you’re able to find something you like, I don’t know what you’ll do if you can’t.”

“I’m close to deciding. Did you want to look at them for the nutritional…”

She trailed off as Recovery Girl chuckled, “Did Aizawa say that? I guess he needed an excuse to invite me. I’m really just here for the chocolate,” She glanced up at Midoriya, “One of everything please.”

He looked chagrined by her admission, but said nothing, merely piling them up in three large stacks. Recovery Girl watched the pile grow with amusement, “I should have brought something to carry them in.” Then she paused and Yaoyorozu found the nurse looking at her pointedly.

“R-right.” She stood up and formed a little cart for her, earning a smile from the diminutive healer.

“Thank you dear, and while I’m sure whatever you choose will be fine; if you really do want me to look over that sort of thing later, I’ll do so.” She took the cart and started to walk away, “Coming Midnight?”

The teacher twitched, “What?”

“Well, it just looks like you’re not having as much fun as you expected.” She gave a broad grin, “Won’t you be a hero and walk an old lady home?”

Midnight turned back just in time for a newly created bag to flutter down on top of her collection, but found Yaoyorozu had begun eagerly discussing the finer points of her selection with the girls sitting next to her. It seemed like the entire table was very suddenly engrossed in conversation, or, in Mitsuki and Masaru’s case, kissing. The R-rated heroine found a sour taste in her mouth as Mitsuki locked eyes with her, “I guess I’ve already explained the laws around costumes sufficiently.”

“Well then, come along, don’t forget your chocolates.” She pushed her cart out of the room and Midnight followed, quietly grumbling.

“Well maybe you shouldn’t try to tease a married man?” Jirou snorted, “I didn’t expect Recovery Girl to be sassy.”

“You haven’t had to spend much time with her.” Midoriya said and explained Jirou’s enhanced hearing to Mitsuki and Masaru.

Masaru turned back to Yaoyorozu, “I’ve had a chance to make a few revisions.” He flipped the pad around and opened it for her to see. The first costume hadn’t been altered much, though her pants had been extended a bit beneath her belt, as had the second. She looked through the others carefully, making mental notes about which ones she liked.

“I think I should try them on.” She said distractedly, flipping between the pages.

“Well, just give me a few days and I’ll have some ready for you.” Masaru said, and then looked slightly abashed, “I will need your measurements though.”

Yaoyorozu blinked, “Oh,” she chuckled weakly and held up the two outfits, “I just figured it would be quicker this way.”

Masaru blinked a few times, “I guess your quirk really speeds up the process.” Then he laughed and scratched the back of his head, “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to do some fabrication work on the side?”

*~~~*

Things were going so well that it was inevitable that something would go wrong. And of course it would all go wrong at the end. Yaoyorozu put on a short fashion show, displaying Masaru’s designs and how they would work, and seemed inordinately pleased with the results. She still hadn’t made a final decision on the costume, but she had chosen a chocolate bar (which turned out to be the most expensive type they’d ‘purchased’) and had received the remainder of those. The rest, along with the other snacks that had gone untouched, were going to be brought back to the dorms in a wheelbarrow Yaoyorozu had helpfully provided. And that’s where it all went wrong.

“Satou, can you take this back to the dorm while I bring the Bakugo’s back to the gate?”
His friend barely had time to agree when Mitsuki snorted, “We’re not leaving yet.”

Midoriya felt the rug getting pulled out from beneath him, “W-what?”

Mitsuki folded her arms across her chest, “I came because I wanted to see the dorms. And I haven’t even seen my son yet.”

“That makes sense.” Uraraka mused over Midoriya’s sputtering.

“I can give you a tour.” Yaoyorozu offered helpfully, “It’s the least I can do after the help you gave me.”

“Ooo, can I come too?” Mei asked, practically throwing herself at Yaoyorozu, “I never got a tour.”

“Of course,” Yaoyorozu agreed and took a step back to regain her personal space, “follow me.”

It wasn’t a long trip, and Yaoyorozu acted as a tour guide telling the Bakugo’s about UA’s history, the facilities, and how things had changed recently. Midoriya followed along, trailing slightly behind the others. Uraraka was keeping pace with him, shooting him furtive glances while still trying to pay attention to the conversation. He couldn’t help it; he knew this was going to quite literally explode in his face. They were halfway there when he heard the eruption.

“DEKU!” Katsuki roared, “WHAT THE HELL ARE MY PARENTS DOING HERE?!”

Midoriya felt a cold sweat forming on his brow, and spotted Bakugo running towards him, leaving Kirishima in the dust. He turned to Uraraka and took her hands, “Uraraka, if he kills me, I just want to know that I really like you and I wish we had more time together.” He felt oddly detached saying it, and he watched, for what he hoped wasn’t the last time, her cheeks color and a small smile play across her lips before she listened to the words again and opened her mouth to speak.

But before she could respond a hand fell on his shoulder and spun him around. Bakugo face was frozen in a rictus of hate, “ANSWER ME!”

A fist connected with the top of Bakugo’s head, “What have I told you about being mean to Midoriya’s boy?” Mitsuki grabbed him by his ear and yanked him away, “How many times do I have to tell you to stop bullying him?”

“Get off me you hag!” Bakugo growled, but Mitsuki was having precisely none of it, letting go of him only to slap him in the back of his head.

“What have I told you about calling me that?” She scowled, “We’re here because Midoriya asked your father to help redesign the costume of one of the students who went to rescue you.” The rage fled Bakugo’s face in an instant, replaced with horror, but Mitsuki still wasn’t having any of it. She grabbed his shoulder and spun him around then held him there, “Now apologize.”

Bakugo cast a scowl back at his mom, but she scowled back just as hard. He balled his hands into fists and reluctantly looked back at Deku… except he wasn’t there, or at least he wasn’t in front of him anymore. Some of the extras were blocking him in a defensive cordon, Ears and Big Lips out in front, glowering at him. Uraraka was partially visible behind Jirou, but was distractedly looking between Deku and himself. Frog Face was at her side, keeping a close eye on him. Ponytail was on Deku’s other side, rounding out the V-shape formation. She was clearly frowning at him, something he hadn’t thought her capable of.

“I’m not hearing an apology.” His mother snapped and he felt another sharp slap against the back of his head.

“How the hell am I supposed to do that if I can’t even see him?” He turned back to the extras and sneered, “Move.” None of them budged an inch and it was pissing him off, especially when his mom slapped him in the back of his head again.

“Damnit Katsuki, at least say please!”

Bakugo let a few small explosions off and looked back up at them, “Move.” He twitched, a sour taste filling his mouth, “Please.”

He could hear a hushed conversation between Uraraka, Ponytail and, he guessed, Deku. Ears and Big Lips looked increasingly irritated, but finally stepped aside just enough to reveal Deku. The bastard looked beside himself, and Bakugo couldn’t tell if it was from happiness or fear. “K-Kacchan?” The nerd was watching him with baited breath.

Bakugo folded his arms in front of his chest, “I’m sorry you invited my parents here.”

His mother smacked him in the back of his head, “That wasn’t an apology!”

Bakugo glared back at her defiantly, “Well it’s the only one he’s going to get!”

Masaru shook his head as his wife and son descended into a shouting match, punctuated by ear pulling and the racking of small explosions. He doubted either of them would relent any time soon so he turned to the green haired boy, “I’m sorry Midoriya, I but that may be the best apology you’re going to get.”

“That’s okay,” Midoriya smiled wistfully, “It’s more than I’m used to.”

Masaru offered a weak laugh scratched the back of his head, but caught the looks of the students surrounding the boy. They did not look happy…

Chapter Text

Izuku could feel the buzz of excitement as Aizawa entered the 1-A classroom, but for once their teacher didn’t command much attention. The unfamiliar, solemn-looking older man in a proper suit who was following along behind him held everyone’s undivided attention. Aizawa slouched over to his lectern and fixed them with a level gaze, which Izuku found lingering on him for long enough to cause him to sweat. “Class, I'd like to introduce you to your new quirk counselor, Mr. Hanji Akuji. He's a respected expert in his field. He will be meeting with each of you to review your quirk, its functions, and determine whether or not your quirk was misidentified by your previous counselor, and correct any misconceptions you’ve developed if you were misled.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Izuku saw Kaminari scratching the back of his head in embarrassment while Uraraka ducked behind her textbook, clearly feeling called out. Aizawa didn't look at either of them, though. If he was still angry, it was directed squarely at their former quirk counselors as Yaoyorozu had predicted. Mr. Hanji, on the other hand, did glance their way, stiffening and straightening himself with the edges of his lips curling into a small frown. Izuku hoped it was due to frustration with their former counselors throwing his profession into question rather than anything else.

“We’ve decided that counseling sessions will occur during normal morning class hours, and your time with Mr. Hanji will be excused. However, you will be expected to make up any coursework you miss. If your session runs into lunch, it is up to you whether to continue or resume the next day. If you miss lunch, it will be your own fault, so don't expect special treatment. Absences from heroics courses will not be excused.”

He glanced at the class representatives, “Iida, Yaoyorozu, please prepare copies of your notes for the classes your classmates miss.” Izuku didn't need to look at either to know they were already nodding in agreement.

Aizawa picked up a stack of papers and walked around the lectern to hand them out to the students in the front row. “These are consent forms.” Midoriya grabbed his and passed the rest back. “While we have already spoken to your parents on this matter, Principal Nezu wants it to be your choice on whether or not you wish to have Midoriya sit in on your session as an observer and advisor.”

“W-what?” Izuku stammered as his heart skipped a beat. His eyes dropped down to the sheet and he read it frantically… it honestly didn’t take long, but he had to reread it again after finishing. It was plainly written form, with blanks left for his classmates to fill in their names and again at the bottom to sign, explaining that if they signed they were consenting for Izuku Midoriya to sit in on their quirk counseling sessions while acknowledging that he wasn’t a proper, board-certified quirk counselor. Breath caught in his throat as he read it a third time. If any of them signed this, he'd be allowed to sit in on their session. “B-but...”

He looked up to find Aizawa looking down at him from the front of his row, “Something wrong, Problem Child? Or did you forget when I said I wasn't excluding you?”

Izuku's mouth felt impossibly dry, “N-no sensei it's just—”

A growl cut Izuku off from replying. Bakugo's hand rose into the air and a small explosion destroyed the sheet before he could finish, jarring him into silence. Around him, Izuku saw his classmates’ expressions hardening into frowns and scowls. His heart threatened to stop, but none of them were meeting his eye. He couldn’t help but glance over his shoulder to spot Kacchan sneering back at everyone, matching their derision with disdain.

And then he heard the scratching of pen on paper, as people began to sign. The dirty looks fell away as his classmates returned their eyes to their papers.

Izuku watched in awe as the rest of his classmates, everyone but Kacchan, wrote their names down. As they finished, some of them looked at him. Kirishima smiled at him. Tsuyu nodded at him. Kaminari gave him a big thumbs up. It was almost like back at the party. They... they really wanted him there. His chest ached a bit even thinking about it.

And then he caught Aoyama looking at him.

He was smiling like everyone else, but there was something fake about it. It didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa's voice rang out, “please escort Aoyama and Mr. Hanji to the quirk research building.”

Midoriya nodded quickly, “Right!” Mr. Hanji already looked ready to go, walking towards the door, “S-should I bring anything with me? I can get my notes...”

The quirk counselor glanced over his shoulder, “If you think they're necessary.”

“Oh, but I insist,” Aoyama said with a flourish as he rose from his seat, “Monsieur Midoriya is passionate about quirks, I'm sure he already has something interesting about me. Don't you Midoriya?”

“U-uh, well, I um...” Izuku stammered out, floundering until he saw the real smile cross Aoyama's lips. He swallowed, “I-I took notes on my observations. I hope they can prove useful.”

The quirk counselor gave him a thin smile, “Let's hope.”

*~~~* 

Opening the doors to the quirk research building, Izuku was slightly disappointed to see that it looked much the same as it usually did. The walls were lined with various sensors, pressure plates, and gym equipment that allowed for the various tests performed here. But everything was in its place, nothing special had been prepped, and no machines were set up specifically for Aoyama. Instead, Mr. Hanji passed him by and headed for a table, clearly expecting him and Aoyama to follow.

Aoyama gave him a reassuring smile as he passed, and Izuku let the door slip through his fingers. He wasn't sure what he expected. After all, it wasn't like he'd actually spent time with the quirk counselor at any of his previous schools. Being quirkless, he'd been exempt, skipped over as his classmates were taken out of the room one by one only to be returned an hour or so later. He... didn't even know what went on in a normal quirk counseling session.

Not that he hadn't researched the topic of course, but he hadn't been able to hammer out a firm picture. Many counselors had quirks that allowed them to identify the properties of others’ quirks, which meant that counselors and their sessions varied as much as the quirks belonging to the students. Izuku suddenly realized he should have asked Mr. Hanji what his quirk was, if he'd be using it to help Aoyama, and if he'd be able to follow along without that quirk.

A cough got his attention and he found Aoyama and Hanji staring at him. He felt his cheeks begin to burn and opened his mouth to apologize when Aoyama smiled and gently shook his head. Even more heat rushed to his cheeks, but he quickly walked over and took the seat between them. Mr. Hanji gave him a brief nod and opened the folder in front of him, “I'm going to begin by verifying your basic background information.” He returned his focus to Aoyama, “Please state your name, age, gender, and quirk.”

Aoyama adjusted himself, smiling—no—twinkling at the counselor, “My name is Yuga Aoyama, age sixteen, male, and my quirk is Navel Laser.”

Mr. Hanji nodded, reviewing the document in front of him, “And how would you describe your quirk?”

Aoyama shifted in his seat, motioning to his stomach, “My quirk creates a burst of radiant glittering energy, a dazzling pure light, from a focal point right above my navel.”

“Alright, that matches the description on record," Mr. Hanji confirmed and flipped the page. "Do try to be more concise and less florid in your descriptions moving forward.”

Midoriya blinked at the admonishment, catching Aoyama stiffen for an instant before nodding, “Of course sir.”

Mr. Hanji gave a small nod, looking over the file again and what looked to be an old picture of Aoyama as a child. An old grade school photo maybe? “I have records from your original quirk councilor, they wrote that your quirk was…” He glanced back up, looking Aoyama in the eye, “defective.”

Izuku’s mouth fell open, and he shot a glance at Aoyama. His friend winced but forced his smile to remain, a tight line with the ends curled up. Izuku found it unpleasant to look at. “It was… described as such.”

Izuku’s gut twisted, “They really said that?” Aoyama glanced at him and gave the barest of nods. “That’s not right.”

Mr. Hanji leaned back in his chair, “I’m sure your classmate appreciates your support, but I have many students to see, please remain silent unless you have some insight.”

Izuku couldn’t help but cringe, “Sorry.”

“Forgiven, but don’t make a habit of it.” He looked back at Aoyama, “This is, of course, a translation of the original file, but it explains that they called it defective because you couldn’t fully control your quirk.”

“At the time,” Aoyama countered smoothly.

A ghost of a smile flashed over Mr. Hanji’s face as he began taking notes, “So you would say you’ve gained full control over your quirk then?”

“Oui,” Aoyama said, sounding a bit more certain of himself, “as long as I have my belt I have full control over my quirk.”

Mr. Hanji’s pen stopped instantly, and he looked up in surprise, “Belt? You still require a support item?”

And just like that, Aoyama’s confidence once again began to crack, the fake smile remained plastered on his lips, “Yes.”

Mr. Hanji’s pen tapped against his pad, “Describe what your belt does.”

Aoyama cleared his throat, “Of course, it keeps my quirk from leaking.”

“Leaking?” Mr. Hanji repeated, looking at Aoyama questioningly, “Your quirk… leaks without your support belt.” He received a single curt nod of confirmation from Aoyama, “And you need to wear it constantly? You can’t delay or control it without the belt?”

Aoyama winced, “I have gotten better at holding bursts in, but it is much easier with my belt.”

Mr. Hanji hesitated for a moment, “Would you say that you are dangerous to be around without your support item?”

Aoyama opened his mouth to speak, but Izuku beat him to it, “Sir, there are numerous heroes that use support items to help them control potentially destructive quirks. Thirteen wears gloves to help focus and restrain their Black Hole quirk and she’s one of our teachers! A-and Wash uses their costume, which counts as a support item, to focus and direct their Clean Bubbler quirk and he’s one of the top ten! And–” He felt himself becoming more agitated as he spoke, his mind frantically racing as he tried to recall Heroes with similar issues.

“Enough.” Mr. Hanji said flatly, “What I was trying to get across is that as a potential hero in training, Aoyama would need to be aware that his belt could be damaged and he would need to restrain himself for the safety of others. Using it as a crutch will only hinder him from learning to use it.”

Izuku felt himself deflate briefly, and yet he couldn’t help but feel relieved. Aoyama was looking at him with a renewed twinkle in his eyes. If he could bring that back, then getting yelled at for interrupting was well worth it.

“I’m… sorry sir,” He bit out. He was a horrible liar and he knew it, but it was just about the easiest lie he could tell.

“Don’t interrupt again,” The man warned him, frowning for a long moment before sighing and returning to his records, “There were other limitations listed as well. The report claims you were only able to use your quirk for three seconds before suffering backlash. How long can you manage now?”

Aoyama rolled his shoulders and tried to sit up straighter, "About six to seven seconds."

"Six to seven seconds?” Mr. Hanji's brow knit together as he glanced up, “That seems very limited.” Izuku balled up his fists under the table, but the man continued, “Have you been trying to extend your usage time?”

“Only since arriving in UA.” Aoyama confirmed.

Mr. Hanji seemed to digest that for a moment, “And how long do you have to wait between usages to avoid backlash?”

“To fully recover?” Aoyama hesitated, “Une minute? Maybe-”

The counselor gave him a flat look, “I don’t understand French, Mr Aoyama, speak Japanese.”

Izuku bit his lip, even as Aoyama flushed and apologized, “I meant a minute, maybe a little bit less?”

“You’ve been able to fire off shots more quickly than that.” Izuku said quickly, “I haven’t kept track, but I know he’s improved.”

Mr. Hanji tapped at his pad with his pen before looking back at Aoyama, “Would you say that is an accurate assessment?”

Aoyama let out a breath, favoring Izuku with a smile, “If Midoriya believes he has a better grasp of my time, I am inclined to believe him.”

“I see…” Mr. Hanji seemed to mull over the observation for a moment longer, “I’ll keep that in mind for testing.” Izuku barely refrained from letting out a sigh of relief. Hopefully, testing would go better than this interview.

“Before we move on though, there was still one more piece of information we need. For some reason, the translator neglected to translate this section.” He lifted the file and placed it on the table in front of Aoyama, his pen quickly moving to a section on the lower half of the page, “Can you describe your quirk’s backlash and how it affects you?”

Izuku felt his stomach twist and quickly looked at Aoyama. His friend had gone stiff and pale at the same time. It was the one thing that Aoyama seemed truly embarrassed by, something he tried to downplay… and now he was being asked to talk about it. And Mr. Hanji was waiting impatiently, eyes boring into Aoyama. His friend swallowed thickly, “If I use it too frequently, or for too extended a time, I... my stomach bothers me and I begin to feel queasy.”

Mr. Hanji frowned, “That scarcely seems like a reason to restrict yourself. Is there a reason why you don’t attempt to use it more frequently or for longer periods?”

Izuku swallowed as Aoyama squirmed, “Sir, I’m not he’s comfortable talking about this–”

Mr. Hanji shot him a sour glance, “Mr. Midoriya, as a professional, I need to be aware of quirk backlashes, even ones that people don’t want to talk about.” With a shake of his head, he returned his gaze to Aoyama, “Now, if there’s more, I need to know.”

Aoyama took a breath, shifting uncomfortably, “If I use my quirk for too long... I can...” He hesitated for a moment, closing his eyes, “lose control of my bowels.”

There was a moment of silence, Izuku looking at his friend, reaching out from under the table to take his hand and offer all the sympathy he could.

And then Mr. Hanji… snorted.

Izuku whirled to stare at him, eyes widening in disbelief as he caught the faintest edge of an amused smirk leaving the counselor’s face. Izuku’s hands curled into fists as his blood began to boil, “Get out.”

It caught the man completely off guard. Confusion danced across his face, then consternation. “Excuse me—” He began, either to explain away what he’d done, or to remind Izuku not to interrupt again.

“No.” Izuku shook his head, “Leave, or we’ll leave. I don’t care which, but this is done. You’ve been extremely rude, and I’m not going to let you mock my friend.”

The counselor frowned mightily, “Now see here-”

Izuku ignored him, standing up so abruptly his chair clattered to the floor behind him, "Come on Aoyama," He turned, offering his hand to his friend, "let's get out of here." Aoyama, fresh tears still streaking down his cheeks, looked up at him and took it.

*~~~* 

“It’s okay.” Izuku offered gently. They’d found an out-of-the-way bench to sit down on so Aoyama could recover. Aoyama shivered, but nodded, his cheeks still flush.

“Merci, Midoriya, it’s alright-” Aoyama tried, but Izuku shook his head.

“No, it's not.” Izuku gave Aoyama’s shoulder a gentle squeeze, “He was supposed to be a professional here to help you, he shouldn’t have acted that way,” He shouldn’t have laughed. That little mocking snort galled Izuku more than anything else. He had never seen a quirk counselor in Aldera, but he had more than enough experience being mocked. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. It was like the man had been trying to provoke Aoyama the entire time. The words he’d used, the way he’d pressed for answers, there was no way the man could have missed how it was affecting Aoyama.

“When we get back, I’m going to find Aizawa sensei and let him know what happened.”

"Let me know what?" Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Aizawa’s voice, his head whipping around to see their homeroom teacher approaching with his usual hangdog expression. “What did I tell you about situational awareness, Problem Child?”

“Heroes need to be aware of their surroundings at all times,” Izuku repeated, wincing.

“That goes for you too Aoyama.” There was no heat in either admonishment though, and their teacher glossed over it, as he looked them over, “It seems a little early for the session to have ended already. " He let the unspoken question hang.

"I ended the session early, sensei." Izuku took a breath, "You need to find a replacement counselor, Mr. Hanji didn't act like a professional." Aizawa arched an eyebrow, silently prompting him to continue. Izuku grimaced, glancing at Aoyama, "He was rude and belittling, he completely dismissed Aoyama's control and support equipment," His hand balled into a fist and he met his teacher's eyes, "I ended it when he laughed at Aoyama's quirk backlash."

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, "I see." He turned slightly, “Do you have anything else to add?”

Aoyama brushed his eyes, "Izuku told him to leave after that, but when he didn't, we left instead."

Aizawa looked to Izuku, the smallest hint of a smile on his lips, “I’d say you made the right decision, Problem Child.” Izuku wasn’t sure what to say to that, but their teacher turned around, “I’ll bring you two back to class.”

Izuku hesitated, glancing at Aoyama, “Are you ready to go back?”

He received a hopeful smile, “I’ll be fine.”

Izuku nodded slowly and started after Aizawa, keeping an eye on his friend. Aoyama seemed to have finally regained his composure. He was thankful it all seemed to be blowing over, but as they made their second turn, now heading towards the exit, Izuku couldn’t help but sense something was wrong. “Sensei,” He asked, “how did you find us?”

Their teacher paused mid-step, “What do you mean?”

Izuku frowned thoughtfully, “When we left the quirk research room, we didn’t have a destination in mind. I wanted to get Aoyama away and then find a place to sit down. We weren't on the way to the quirk research room, and you know where that is…" He trailed off, looking at their teacher. No. It couldn't be. "A logical ruse?" He asked incredulously.

Aizawa turned around smiling, "Very good, Problem Child, I was beginning to wonder if you'd spot it–"

The words fell away as Izuku stared, stomach twisting, "How could you put Aoyama–"

He almost jumped when a hand fell on his shoulder. Aoyama stepped in front of him, a sad little smile on his lips, "It's okay."

"No, it's not!"

Aoyama shook his head, cutting him off, "No, it is. Aizawa asked me to help. I…" He faltered, just for a moment, "We just had Mr. Hanji repeat what I had been told in the past. And I got to test out my acting skills."

Izuku's stomach churned, even as Aoyama tried to downplay it. He looked over Aoyama's shoulder to stare at Aizawa, "Why?"

His teacher met his eye, "I wanted to make sure you'd speak up, Problem Child." His eyes shifted, "And not just in cases where people are rude. Even professionals make mistakes, and the real quirk counselor won't have months or years to familiarize themselves with your classmates' quirks. I needed to make sure you would speak up and correct them if they miss something or get something wrong."

"But…"

Aizawa shook his head, cutting him off, "Don't underestimate yourself, Problem Child, your little sessions have been more than successful. Jiro, Iida, and Sato's performances have noticeably improved, and Kaminari hasn't come close to short-circuiting since he got his new shoes." He paused, frowning, "You should know that if he hadn't shown improvement in controlling his quirk I would have had to consider removing him from class for his own safety."

Izuku's eyes widened in horror, and even Aoyama turned around in shock. Aizawa stared then down, "What do you think the League would do if they caught Kaminari while he was short-circuited? It's like I told you during your assessment, it doesn’t matter what his intentions are, he would have been nothing more than a liability in battle. And I won’t send my students out if they’re liabilities.”

Horrified silence lingered for a moment before Aizawa turned and continued towards the door, "The real quirk counselor will be here tomorrow."