Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“If you wanna be a hero that badly, there's a quick way to do it. Believe that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!” Bakugo Katsuki, mockingly sneered, leaving the pathetic shivering mess that was his quirkless classmate in the classroom by himself. 

Midoriya Izuku’s beloved notebook long thrown out the window, soaked in a fountain down below. There was nothing he could bring himself to say. Only quivering until he was left behind where he regained his bearings.

...Dive off … the roof..?

“Idiot! If I really jumped, that would mean you instigated a suicide! Think before you speak!” Midoriya had made his way down to outside their junior high school, searching for his notebook, filled with nothing but elaborate and impressive notes and analyses of the greatest heroes. It was all he could do. What he lacked in power and natural talent that Bakugo had been blessed with, he could at least make up in devotion and studying. He only stared at his hard work soaking in the fish pond, becoming more ruined from the water and burns the blond student had caused. His work, his passion, was confined to a simple book. His purpose, in a notebook. His self-worth, in a notebook. And here it was, drowning, torn, burned, treated so worthlessly by his classmates. 

“That’s not fish food, stupid.” He snatched it back from three koi beginning to nibble on it. “That’s my notebook, stupid.” Stupid.

“Thief! Someone!”

“Catch me if you can!”

Downtown in the same very city, a disgusting, slimy villain fled down the city with stolen cash leaving a trail behind. An eager grin spread wide across his green face, feeling like no hero would bother to go after him after the villain suppression with Mount Lady and the cleanup afterward.

“Huh? There’s no hero around?”

“Normally someone would come right away.”

“This guy’s taking advantage of the chaos from this morning.”

“There are a ton of people around who don’t know what to do with their quirks.”

“There’s no end to them.”

Passerbys only watched as the villain made his getaway. They did nothing, just watch. No heroes in the making. No courage to be seen. Not even someone checking on the victims of the robbery. They just simply waited for a hero to come; the heroes fix everything. And thus, only the greatest of them all appeared behind the small cluster of citizens on the sidewalk. Buff, tall, strong, smiling brightly, entering the conversation with hearty words.

“There is an end. Why?” he stepped forward, stepping up to the challenge. His powerful voice carried to the nonexistent ears of the villain of slime causing a small twinge of panic. “Because I am here!” All Might said calmly with all his glowing pride as the Symbol of Peace.

The small freckled boy, deep in his thoughts of his past was dragging his feet home. Quirkless? It doesn’t matter. U.A. takes kids without quirks now. He has a chance! The nice man with the weird head even believed in him! He wasn’t strong, but he was smart. He had the passion, right? He could still be a hero. He could be just like his idol. He could be just like All Might! Midoriya decided back then, didn’t he? Back then, in the arms of his crying mother. It doesn’t matter what Bakugo and his followers said. That’s right. Don’t worry about what other people think!

Midoriya clenched his fist to his chest and looked up at the sunny blue sky, watching the cherry blossoms drift by so peacefully. There was hope for him, surely. Hold your head up high and plunge forward! His dragging pace had turned into a childish stomping march as he held his fist up above his head, mimicking All Might’s trademark hardy laugh. 

He began passing under a bridge-tunnel, going towards the light of the other side. And yet, in his naive burst of hope, he could not ignore the looming sound behind him, growing louder. He stopped his laughter and turned around to see a massive accumulation of slime appearing before him, twice, no, three or four times his size. All that bravado was gone in a single instant when faced with such a frightening sight.

“A villain!?” he cried out loud.

“A medium-sized invisibility cloak…” a deep, scraggly voice muttered, rising from the ground. He quickly made eye contact with this shivering child standing in his path.

Before more than a scream could leave Midoriya’s lips, he tried to turn and run away only to be engulfed from behind, brought to the ground in an instant. His notebook was dropped and sent to the side. Any attempt at a cry for help was muffled by the awful slime being forced down his throat, unable to fight it as his body was restrained by even more slime. Face to face with this villain, he was only reminded by how powerless he was.

“Don’t worry. I’m just going to take over your body. Calm down. It’ll only hurt for about 45 seconds. You’ll feel better soon.” the villain almost tried to soothe the freckled child as he got closer and closer to suffocating him. 

Midoriya began to tear up, crying again as he had done so often. It was all he could do. He desperately tried to grab at the villain to pry him away but to no avail. 

“You can’t grab me. I’m fluid!” The slime mocked and even held the boy a bit closer, shutting his own eyes. “Thanks for your help. You’re my hero.” He then opened them again to gaze at the crying child he had lifted off his feet, choke and struggle in his grasp. He could feel his struggling growing weaker. His movements were slowing down.

Dying… was he dying? Midoriya’s gaze, blurred with tears and the lack of oxygen could only be traced to his open notebook. The page he had started with his dream costume was open. What he wanted to be, his future, it was right there in front of him. Was he going to die before he could even try to achieve what he’s always wanted? Somebody… he just wanted somebody to save him before he could have his future. His consciousness was fading. Was he going to be abandoned by his own fate? It was then he blacked out.

Alas, he was not dead. Midoriya’s eyes twitched, feeling nothing around him suddenly. He could breathe fully. He could move. His big green eyes only open halfway finding himself in midair and seeing a silhouette of the one that inspired him the most. It was a dream, wasn’t it? The number one hero in front of him, grocery bag in hand and yet posed in a punching motion with remains of slime floating around him.

 “All...Migh…” he couldn’t bring himself to even say the full name, missing just the last sound before he fell unconscious just one more time.

But this time Midoriya felt a succession of light slapping against his freckled cheek. 

“Hey! He-” he heard a deep voice calling out to him when he blinked a few times, adjusting to the bright light. He made it outside the tunnel. By himself? No… that’s not right. 

“Oh, good!” the deep voice said again, the owner holding his fingers up to his brow in relief, standing over him. 

All Might himself! In the flesh! Right in front of him! His first reaction was to only scream and scoot back a few feet out of sheer panic. 

“I’m glad you’re okay!” his hero said, standing up tall with a hand on his hip. “Sorry ‘bout getting you caught up in my villain fighting. I don’t usually make mistakes like this, but I was in high spirits on my day off in a new place. But you were a big help. Thanks!” He let out another one of his trademarks laughs with his signature smile on his face. He was nothing short of simply being bright. A bright shining light of hope, his hero, his idol right in front of him.

All Might then held up a bottle filled to the brim with green slime. “I captured him safely!” His smile shined so brightly to the boy that was infatuated with all his work.

“Oh, right! An a-autograph! Where should I--?” Midoriya began to frantically feel at his school uniform, desperately searching for the notebook he remembered holding before being attacked. He quickly found it on the ground and reached for it. “In that notebook--” he flipped to a pair that used to be blank pages, now filled with a giant signature. “He already did!!” he nearly screeched, standing up and then rapidly bowing over and over, kind of scaring the number one hero. “Th-Thank you very much! It’ll be an heirloom! A family treasure!” the child said with all the gratefulness in his heart. 

Midoriya received a thumbs-up with a small sparkle and a solid ‘okay!’ by the hero. 

“Well, I need to take this guy to the police. See you again on the other side of the screen!” All Might strapped the trapped villain to his leg as tightly as he could before giving the young Midoriya a small wave and preparing to leap off. But… there was something Midoriya needed to know. Something he had to ask.

“Wait, already?” Midoriya questioned softly, disappointed almost. 

“Pros are constantly fighting enemies and time.” his hero answered, stretching and flexing, needing to prepare for a massive takeoff.

But he couldn’t leave yet. There were so many questions. There was something…

“Well then, I’m counting on your continued support!” The pro hero leapt off with expected grace and extreme power. But he quickly noticed something was very wrong. Very very wrong. “Wait.” He looked back at his leg to see the malformed face of Midoriya Izuku clinging to him desperately, unwilling to let him go without an answer to a question he’s always wanted to ask his idol. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey! Let go of me! Your fanaticism is too much!” He began trying to shove off the pathetic child with one hand in mid-air.

“If I… let go now… I’ll… I’ll die…!” He cried trying to speak through the winds that made the blowing skin on his face look goofily terrifying. And he did have a point.

“That’s true.” The hero suddenly realized and stopped shoving him.

“I… have… a lot of things… I want to ask you directly!”

“Okay, okay! I get it, so close your eyes and mouth!” Midoriya obliged to All Might’s suggestion and even put his face down against his leg to brace himself.

 Perhaps feeling a little sympathetic, the hero held on to the back collar of his school uniform to keep him secure. It was then he turned his head and coughed quietly into his fist, a drop of blood escaping through his smiling teeth. He was running out of time. His facade was almost up. He made a quick landing on a skyscraper so he at least wouldn’t be seen when his time was up.

“Th-That was scary…” Midoriya whimpered, his body quivering once again from the aftershock of such speed and power.

“Good grief. If you talk to the people downstairs, I’m sure they’ll let you down. I seriously am outta time, so I really must go.” He had to go. He had to leave now. He couldn’t let a kid see who he really was. It was still a secret. He wasn’t ready to stop being a hero yet. There was so much he still had to do!

“Wait! Um…” Midoriya tried to get him to spare just a few moments.

“No, I will not wait!”

“But!”

No, he couldn’t leave yet! He wouldn’t give up! It didn’t matter what his mother said. It didn’t matter what that doctor said. It didn’t matter what Bakugo said. It only matters…

“Can someone without a quirk be like you?” The question made All Might stop in his tracks, smile still strong on his face as he looked back at the boy. The student was blushing, standing tall but timidly, eyes closed, but with a tone so hopeful. So… so hopeful.

“Without a quirk…?” The pro muttered before a spark of pain shot through his whole body and steam erupted from his skin. He hunched over, mumbling a slew of profanities. 

Midoriya could only look down, oblivious to what was happening in front of him. He spoke softly and rubbed his thumb nervously sounding ready to tear up at any moment.

“It might have been because I don’t have a quirk, but I’m always made fun of… Maybe that’s why… I don’t know… But I think saving people is super cool. Saving people with a fearless smile. I want to be the greatest hero, like you…!” He looked up to his hero with an innocent smile only to see a cloud of steam dispersing to reveal a shrivelled up skeleton of a man with similar features to the great hero that was just standing before him. 

Midoriya, once again, screamed in complete fear, shock, and disbelief. “Y-Y-You’re deflating…! Wait, up until now… Huh?! Fake? A fake?! You’re so skinny!” There was no way. There was no possible way that this was his hero. The strong, powerful, smiling man that was his hero could not possibly be this skinny man.

“I am All Might.” the man grumbled only to have blood leak from his mouth causing the child to only scream louder. It was truly a terrifying sight for him.

“No way!” He couldn't believe this. This couldn't be his hero.

It was then that the weak man took a seat on the ground. He began explaining so much about himself. Maybe not everything, but enough to make this boy understand the severity of the situation. The fight that was kept out of the public. But with who? The deflation of his body was just a means of flexing. But what was the source? His quirk was kept a secret from the public. But why? He did indeed have fear, as all heroes do. But why did he never tell anyone? Why did it suddenly feel like this hero was a lie? Were his dreams a lie too? No, maybe even someone as strong as he still had faith in quirkless people!

“Pros are always risking their lives. I cannot simply say ‘You can become a hero even without power.’” 

There was a snap in the air. Realization. Crushing. Hopelessness. It hit Midoriya Izuku in a single moment. Doctors, his mother, his classmates, and now… his hero.

No, not his hero. Not anymore…

There was no hope for him to be a hero. There was nothing at all for him to hold on to. There was no future. What was he even thinking? It all seemed so pointless now. Pointless. Was there a point to anything he was doing? A point to anything he was learning? His notebook… all his notes, analyses, his passion, what was the point? The merch collection, the studying, the focus on heroes, the understanding of quirks, there was no point to it. There was no matter in anything he had been doing his entire life. There was no purpose. There was no point to his purpose.

“Dive off the roof”

Out of politeness alone, Midoriya Izuku smiled shakily with a dull look in his eyes. No longer shining with innocence, no more laughter to be had. No more light to be seen in now Brunswick green irises. “I see…” It’s all he said. It’s all he could say. He didn’t see. He saw nothing. There was nothing to see ahead or to look forward at.

“If you want to help others, then you could become a police officer. They’re often teased because they get villains delivered to their doorstep, but that is also a fine occupation. It’s not a bad dream. But you also have to consider what’s realistic, young man.” All Might parted with those as his final words, walking off the roof through a door to lower floors. He patted his leg and felt the villain in the soda bottle still attached to his leg. He still had to deliver him to the police too. How incredible that he never dropped it during that whole ordeal.

“Dive off the roof”

Midoriya stood silently on the top of that building for quite a long time. Not this roof. Not now. He held his notebook close as he waited until he was certain that that imposter of a hero was gone. 

He made his way down as discreetly as he could be he was eventually caught by a security guard and led to the main exit where he was lectured about being on the roof and how dangerous it was. He stood there, an empty stare was all that prevalent on his freckled face as this nobody went on and on. He did not defend himself. He didn’t even mention anything to do with All Might.

“Yes, sir. Never again, sir. It was an accident, sir.” Empty words were all he had left. 

“Shouldn’t you be in school? Or shouldn’t you be at home with your parents? You kids are getting so rebellious these days.” The security guard grumbled before walking away back into the building.

Midoriya’s feet dragged so slowly down the streets, All Might’s words echoing in his head. There was no hidden meaning to be found. He meant every word that he said. There was no heroism in his future. So what was left for his future? Saving people? People expected nothing of him now. The most normal people expected nothing and the greatest people expected nothing. What should he expect now? 

As he walked and walked, he wasn’t finding his way home. He found himself trudging back to school. The skies began to get cloudy despite it being a clear day almost all day. Maybe in a place not so far away, a hero so strong was able to change the weather. The gloomy clouds were so low, bringing only darkness and then rain. How fitting for his mood.

Dive off the roof

How did he get here? On the roof of his very own middle school, he looked over the edge that was several stories up. Plenty high enough. He never noticed where he had walked. Perhaps he didn’t even care enough. He didn’t have much to care about honestly. 

“In my next life…” he mumbled. Hope for a quirk in his next life, that’s all he could do now, wasn’t it? “I wish… for the strongest quirk of them all.” He was so ready. 

The emptiness he felt was reflected in his darkened eyes. It was all he felt. It only took a little lean forward and one little step. There must have been at least a single tear on his cheek but it was hard to tell from the rain. There was no somebody this time. There was no hero, no All Might to come save the day. He was going to fall, the wind rushed past his fluffy hair when a sudden two arms hugged on tightly to his waist from behind and caught him before he could even drop an inch.

“Shouto!! Get back- Don’t you da-!!” A loud, booming, voice erupted from inside a luxurious mansion on that gloomy, rainy evening. 

Todoroki Shouto quickly snatched a hoodie and slid on shoes without tying the laces before racing out the front door just as he was being yelled at. Just get away. It’s all he wanted. He slammed the front door shut and before his father could open it, he froze it shut and then left many layers of ice on his side to keep number 2 hero Endeavor from melting it right away. He didn’t have goal location in mind. He just needed to get out and as far away as he could.

An argument got out of control, sparring that had gone too far, training that had gotten too much, it all piled up that one afternoon and he needed to leave. Blood staining the inside of his right sleeve, his skin blistered at his hands. With the hoodie zipped up to his neck and hood over his head, there were likely many more wounds hidden that he did not want attention for. 

Shoving past people on crowded sidewalks, he obeyed his body desire to just run and keep running. He was no coward. But enough was enough and knowing his opponent was too strong for him, he didn’t have a choice. He was not safe in that mansion, no matter how pampering it must seem.

It seems everything in his life had gone so wrong. Where did his family go? Where was the nurturing mother he loved, where was his sister at a time like this, where was Natuso? There was someone else too. Someone he couldn’t remember clearly. There was another brother… Who was he? Where did he go? … What was his name…?

He would never know how long he ran that evening. But he found himself safely able to rest on a bench near a middle school he’s never seen before. With his hood up, he leaned back and looked exhaustedly at the raining sky.

 “Tired…” he mumbled quietly. His eyes blinked slowly from exhaustion. Frost was lightly coating the bottom of his right cheek and a burn wound was revealed at the left side of his neck. His quirk was tired, his legs were tired, he was tired. He had half a mind to take a nap right where he sat. 

“All this… to be just like him,” he muttered. To be like his father, absolutely not. To be like All Might. To be strong and skilled enough to save hundreds of people. That’s all he wanted out of his godforsaken quirk. There was no pride and no joy in being strong. He didn’t need power to want to save people like his mother or anyone else in his family. He wanted to be strong with just his ice anyhow. Surely that was enough to surpass Endeavor and All Might.

“I fucking hate you…” Todoroki whispered, holding his left hand up and palm open to the rain, blocking the rain from his face. Blood dripped down his hand and wrist with the cool water soothing all the burns that were hidden under that sleeve. “I’ll save more people than you ever did. I’ll save more than you’ve hurt.”

He certainly was determined with a future to fight for. But it was then he noticed something as he sat up. He rubbed the scar on his left eye and noticed something on top of the school. Someone was up there and even though it was a bit hard to see, he could recognize an empty gaze like that anywhere. Surely he’s had it himself before too.

 “Somebody…” Somebody was up there. Somebody needed help. And somebody needed to help. He slowly got up from his seat, giving himself a moment to be sure. It was someone his age, shorter. So it wasn’t maintenance or a custodian and it was past after school hours by now. 

They were so close to the edge, he knew he had to be fast.

Using his ice, he neglected using any stairs and instead used his ice to shoot himself up the side of the building and land cleanly on the roof.

Wait.

He ran even though he was still so tired from all the running he had done before.

Save you. Let me save you.

He watched the boy before him lean forward and take a step off the roof.

Let me be a hero.

He couldn’t reach the boy’s hands. He wouldn’t be able to get a good grip on his shoulders or ankles. The only thing he could think to do was wrap his arms around his waist and pull him back just a foot or two.

Chapter Text

Midoriya stared at his feet and the ground that was now below them. He took notice of the two arms wrapped tightly around his waist, holding him back in case he would try again. But he did not resist. He stayed limply in the strong arms around him with the empty gaze on his face, although silent tears fell from his eyes. It was then he was carefully let down by the stranger behind him. 

He was going to be lectured again, right? He was going to be made fun of now, wasn’t he? He was expecting it. But instead, this young wannabe hero stepped around him to try and stand a little bit in front of him. His eyes were narrow and hateful, although that hate was not for him. And somehow he knew that.

“Hey… what was that?” the taller boy asked quietly. His tone was calm and soft, yet it was deep and mature even though they were about the same age. 

Midoriya was older than him, shockingly. He didn’t receive an answer. Midoriya didn’t even glance up at him as he continued to stare blankly at his bright red shoes. 

Todoroki, however, was not one to push. Instead, he reached for Midoriya’s wrist and gave him a little tug to get him to follow. As they walked, Todoroki found his grip slip into the smaller boy’s hand but he thought nothing of it. He led him to the door to a lower floor only to find it was locked from the inside. 

“Inefficient…” he grumbled. He looked around for possibly another door but there was none to be found and it was only beginning to rain harder. So instead he led the suicidal boy to a different ledge of the roof. “Think you can hold on to me?” he asked. 

Once again, he didn’t receive an answer. But with his right hand, he placed it on the ledge to create a slide made completely of ice that would provide a safe departure to the ground. He took his hand back from Midoriya and instead put an arm around his waist to hold him close to make sure he didn’t fall on accident of all things. Though he was a bit relieved to feel the freckled boy hold on his hoodie. In doing so, he noticed his hero flinched at the light grasp on his left shoulder. He’s hurt.

Making it down safely to the grass, Todoroki melted the ice to erase the trace of quirk use in public without a license. The taller boy did notice that the smaller didn’t let go of him right away. He didn’t let go of him at all. The rain was rather cold so it was likely the subtle warmth of his left side that he was clinging to.

“Hey, you can-” Todoroki began to say before the freckled boy finally said something with a very quiet voice.

“You’re hurt…” he said so softly, almost too soft to even hear. “Don’t leave yet.” he pleaded while slowly letting go and going back into the school, though he was followed just in case he tried to jump out a window or something. 

Midoriya lifelessly wandered towards the school’s infirmary. The doors were locked and that frustrated him, to the point where he kicked the door as hard as he could. This aggression, he wasn’t usually like this. Taking a moment to regain slight composure, he took his yellow bag off his shoulders and put it on the ground. Going through it he found a safety pin and took off an All Might pin from his pencil bag, and with those, he got on one knee to try and pick the lock.

When did he learn how to pick locks? He’s seen it done in movies and cartoons, but how did he know how to? What was compelling enough to make him break into the school infirmary? This boy that prevented him from killing himself that has barely spoken to him was somehow motivating him to do this. Todoroki watched him curiously and then saw the door open. He followed the student inside and watched him start picking through drawers and cabinets looking for tools and basic medical things.

“Why were you up there?” Todoroki attempted to ask again, but still kept his tone distant.

“I finally saw reality. That everything I believed in was a lie…” Midoriya opened up at last. He stopped rummaging through the nurses’ things and just leaned against the cabinets while on his knees, his freckled cheek pressed against the cold wood. “The guy I looked up to more than anyone told me I could never be a hero without power. But he was a lie too. He’s not a real hero either… And I know that things from a fake shouldn’t matter but it’s more complicated than that. I mean, how could a lie like him make such an impact on people?

“ How can someone feel good lying to everyone who looks up to you? But he’s not stupid so what he said is realistic. He didn’t even hesitate to answer. It’s like he didn’t think about the answer at all. I mean, you don’t need a quirk to be great, right? Quirkless people are just as good as people with quirks. But people with quirks seem to always forget how good they have it. And-” he caught himself amidst his typical muttering though instead of detailed analysis, it was desperation to understand and accept what had happened this afternoon. But he was realizing that he was projecting a lot of anger and hatred all of a sudden.

Midoriya wasn’t used to being like this. And yet it didn’t feel unnatural. However, he realized that he was talking to someone who used their quirk to help him off the roof of the building. Out of all people, he didn’t want to offend the one who was listening to him right now.

 “I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-” he suddenly realized his rudeness and tried to apologize but Todoroki didn’t seem all that mad. If anything, he took the hood off over his head so his face and hair could be seen better. All the hatred he projected was also cracking with sadness. He could see it.

“No… I get it. Heroes… aren’t really that great. And they can take their powers for granted. And ‘power’ as in, not just their quirks.” He said in a low tone, glaring at his left arm. 

Midoriya didn’t quite understand what he was thinking, but he found his very presence to be soothing. Both of them were angry, but so sad at the same time. Midoriya took a closer look at the boy that had sat down in one of the chairs to watch him. It was only a few seconds longer when he at last found bandages and antibacterial creams. 

“I mean, what kind of hero does this to someone who’s supposed to be their son,” Todoroki said bitterly with a dark look and unzipped his white hoodie to reveal his left hand, wrist, arm, shoulder, and part of his neck burned, blistered, and bloodied. He glared at the wounds, angry that he ‘let’ this happen, but also that his father did it in the first place. “And for the sake of their public image, it’s not like the others are going to challenge him and call him out,” he growled. “Sometimes I think it would just be better if I was quirkless. I hate that I have one that’s like his...”

Midoriya listened and shuffled over to try and clean up the blood and soothe the blisters and burns with ointments he found around and read the labels. “I guess… heroes kinda suck, huh?” He mumbled as a smile began to tug at his lips. 

Suddenly, he didn’t feel as sad anymore. Talking with this red and white-haired boy was therapeutic as someone who was quirkless and someone who hated their quirk both had similar distastes towards hero society.

“Yeah. But…” Todoroki wanted to be a hero but… why again? Was it to surpass All Might and his father. Why did he save this boy even though no one was watching? “I want to be a hero. But the kind that just makes people feel better, at ease. And… you don’t need to rely on power for that all the time.” To make people feel at ease. Protecting people from villains is important, but also saving people like Midoriya was just as important to him.

Midoriya had begun to wrap up Todoroki’s wrist and work his way up to his shoulder carefully. “You’ll make a great hero,” he said softly, without even thinking. Everything about this person he just met felt so genuine to him. There was no smile or blatant muscle. There was no monologue of morals or false promises of protection. He had human emotions. He found himself gazing at his scarred face for a few moments, maybe even a few moments too long. He looked so soft but so strong, blemished with a scar but still beautiful. Beautiful? He found himself blushing when he saw the bi-colored eyes make eye contact with him and went back to focusing on his arm.

“I think… even without a quirk…” Todoroki began, looking down at this freckled boy. “I think you can still make a big impact on people. On heroes too.”

It was then that there was another spark in a single moment. An impact. Impact. He could still make an impact. On heroes. Go past analyses. Go past studying. Go past note-taking. He glanced at his notebook that was on the tile floor. All those notes. All that work. Why… Why would that information need to stay on paper? He knows a ton about any public hero from news, from observations, from forums, wikis, logical analysis. Those notes… the heroes' strengths that make them inspirational and cool? No, weaknesses. Weaknesses.

Midoriya’s lips trembled but not from withheld sobs, it was laughter. So much light had come to his eyes. But not a light of innocent hope and cheer. The green in his irises nearly glowed with a minty light as a smile began twitching on his face. “Y-You… think so? Someone as strong as you?” he asked, getting the bandages up to his shoulder.

Todoroki simply nodded. “Yeah. I do think so.” his voice was so cool and collected. 

Did Midoriya love it? Maybe a little. But an impact. He wanted to make an impact on this boy too. He subtly wrapped his arms around Todoroki’s neck and hugged him tightly and rested his chin on his shoulder. This boy, this hero, he saved him from killing himself. But he saved his future too.

“Thank you… Thank you so much,” he said with a big crooked smile and brightly glowing eyes. Todoroki was taken aback by the hug, surprised by it as he had not had one in such a long time. Never by someone his age either. It felt so foreign but it would be a lie to say that he disliked it.

 He would have hugged back, but by the time he got one hand on Midoriya’s back, the freckled boy had pulled away and put his hands on his shoulders. 

“Hey, the hero who hurt you like this. You said it was your parent, your father?”  asked the freckled boy, tilting his head to the side just a little bit. The hero that hurt his hero…

Someone like that deserves to die, not me…

Todoroki only nodded, a bit baffled by Midoriya’s new expression. The boy who had nothing but an empty gaze now looked at him with a kind of enthusiasm, curiosity, and mischief he had never seen before. It didn’t frighten him; he was just too unsocialized to understand. 

“Who is he?” Midoriya demanded. He’ll get all the notes he can on him. He’ll find every weakness. He’ll make sure they get to an enemy and he’ll make sure to repay the beautiful boy in front of him for his kindness and for giving him a new reason to live.

“Endeavor…” Todoroki answered, almost as if in a trance, allured by the glowing shade of the eyes in front of them. Such a cute, freckled face but with such hypnotizing eyes, he had caught every fiber of his attention.

Midoriya quickly let go and began to put away the things he had borrowed to patch up his hero and washed his hands. Before Todoroki could grab his hoodie, the smaller boy began rubbing detergent that he found on the fabric where the blood was stained. With a little bit of bleach and rubbing, the stain was hardly noticeable, even when inside out.

“Thank you for all of this.” the taller boy was sure to say as they began to walk out together, but not without Midoriya stealing two books and shoving them into his bag while the other’s back was turned.

“Thank you too for...everything,” he said with a small smile and his head lowered a bit. “I should get home. My mom must be freaking out by now.” he giggled a bit too. As the two walked out, they saw it was still raining. And before Midoriya took a step forward, he felt something being draped over his head.

“Here, you can have this.” Todoroki gave his hoodie to Midoriya to at least keep him dry in the rain.

“But your bandages-” Todoroki shook his head at even the beginning of a protest.

“No, don’t worry. You can keep it. You’ve had a pretty shit day.”

And thus Midoriya would be seen walking back home, even going through the tunnel he had been attacked in earlier again. Todoroki’s hoodie was a bit big on him from how much taller he was but it was keeping him dry. But it was also so warm. 

“The power to create ice and melt it… number two hero Endeavor’s son. Ice and fire…” He nuzzled his nose near the zipper that was up as high as it could go. “An amazing quirk…” he mumbled. He wasn’t made fun of or looked down on for being quirkless for once in his life. How lucky he had been to meet someone so kind. On a day as depressing and crushing as this, he was walking like a new person all thanks to one boy who still wanted to be a hero. If only he knew that he just inspired one of the worst villains…

“Wait,” Midoriya said to himself, stopping halfway through the tunnel. “I don’t even know his name!!” he cried out, gripping his hood and gritting his teeth in childish rage. "I can't believe I never asked his name! I-I mean… I'll see him again, right?" He looked down at his hands with a quivering smile. "I have to see him again. I have to save him." He'll get his name eventually, surely!

On coming back home, Midoriya was greeted with a tight hug from his mother sobbing waterfalls and bombarded with questions as to why he was home so late, where the hoodie came from, why he was covered in bruises, and even more. Midoriya told only half-truths to let the events of that go under the rug and be left unknown to her. 

As far as she knew, he had a run-in with a villain while with some others and got a bit dirty but someone lent him a hoodie to get through the rain and got distracted at a comic bookstore on his way home. There was no All Might or red and white-haired boy mentioned and there was no mention of even getting close to a roof. He was still her quirkless little boy with innocent hopes and dreams.

As school had taken a break for the semester it left all the teenagers with plenty of free time. While many were training their quirks to apply and get into U.A., others had to utilize other skills to be successful in the ever-changing society, and some were slacking around enjoying the leisure time they had. 

Midoriya would spend his afternoons and evenings at home, stuck on his computer scrounging every forum for information on any heroes. His notebooks had all been redone. What had been a fanboy’s cherished series of encyclopedias was now a collection of hit lists. Of course, he could never use these notes personally. But it would only motivate him to go out and make connections with those who could. 

He would pretend to go to sleep at sundown, snuggling close to the white hoodie given to him by his only hero. But once it passed midnight, he threw on a black hoodie and pants with his favorite red shoes and went out in the city. Truly, it was not the safest idea for a quirkless teenager to go out at night to the sketchiest parts of the city but he felt almost comforted by it. Purchasing some spray paint at an art store also provided him with plenty of entertainment.

The atmosphere was altering what had been such a sweet boy into a small-time rule breaker, alienating himself from normal teenage society. Going out to the arcade or karaoke with friends was nowhere in his life; he had no friends. Striving to impress a girl he had a crush on; there was no girl in his life to admire. The only person his age he truly had positive relationships with was the boy that saved his life and he didn’t even know his name. 

He had no desire to partake in a part-time job. Just using his notes and getting revenge on the heroes that lied and hurt him was all he had to care about now. But sometimes focusing on one thing could get a bit boring so he resulted in mild vandalism and sometimes even arson. Setting garbage or abandoned buildings on fire was a weekly thing and spray painting anti-hero phrases on walls or even making amateur art was becoming a hobby. His notetaking was a top priority, however. Getting any dirt or information on All Might and Endeavor was his main focus above all else. 

His mother had found out about his sneaking out but it appeared that he never came back hurt. And he always did come back so maybe he just liked going for nightly walks. She never confronted him about it.

One night, deep in the autumn season, brisk yet clear, Midoriya sat near a dumpster writing in a notebook and watching the phrase ‘Heroes Lie’ with All Might’s hair shape dry on the wall in front of him. He was drinking a soda casually and enjoying a typical night out. 

The page he was working on was that of Mount Lady. What had been complimenting notes were either erased or crossed out and re-written with potential weak spots and personality flaws that could be used against her at any point. In the corner of each page was also a list of potential blackmail that could ever be used.

 He tapped his lip with his pen before flipping pages to find his sketch of Endeavor. He glared at it and darkened words he had already written. The characters of ‘Child Abuse’ was bolded darkly again and again in the sections he kept for blackmail.

 “I’ll save him…” he whispered to himself. It’s been weeks since he’s tried to kill himself, but Todoroki was still fresh on his mind.

“That’s some pretty nice work you got there.” Another voice said from above Midoriya. 

The surprise viewer spooked the freckled boy and even made him jump as he looked up at the scrawny figure that stood over him. Bright red eyes stared down at him with a mess of blue hair barely framing the top half of his face. But he couldn’t see his face because there was a severed hand over it. Was it real? Was it fake? He couldn’t tell by how stiff and discolored it looked. This stranger, too, wore all black and red shoes, but they weren’t high tops. And this man was older than him, but not by too much.

“U-Um… thanks?” Midoriya stuttered. Something felt very odd about this new stranger, nothing like Todoroki.

This new stranger sat down right next to Midoriya and looked over his shoulder, getting uncomfortably close for comfort. Was personal space just not a thing for him. Then Midoriya noticed the red eyes glance up at his tag work on the wall in front of them.

“Not a big hero fan, huh?” he asked with a cheery tone. He tilted his head to get an even better view of the notebook as the freckled boy flipped to a page that was more filled out than Endeavor’s. Such aggressive penmanship, scratched out compliments and entire pages had been ripped out only to be remade. “Looks like a hit list.” The stranger commented before giggling and pointing at Midoriya mockingly. “Someone like you couldn’t possibly take heroes like that on.”

Midoriya’s face blushed with anger and embarrassment. Someone else making fun of him for being quirkless already? “Yeah, and what can a twig like you-” he was ready to snap back and stand up for himself for once when the stranger wrapped his arm around his shoulders and hugged him close to his shoulder.

“Not yet. And not by yourself.” the red-eyed stranger added with a promising tone, but it only made the boy freeze. “But is someone like you really serious about this kind of thing? You really wanna see these guys die?” The stranger then reached with his other hand to find the pages that were All Might’s. Midoriya could see by just the shape of his eyes that he was smiling. “Can a little schoolboy like you stomach something like that?”

Watching heroes die. It was this edgy teenager’s new goal, wasn’t it? To end Endeavor and All Might and other heroes that brag and boast blessed talent, is that what he really wanted? This wasn’t a game anymore and it was becoming more than a dream. People were going to die and people were going to get killed. Midoriya could tell by the aura the man holding on to him was giving off. Has he killed people before? Will he kill him if he gives the wrong answer? He couldn’t read his actions at all. His thoughts were but a mystery because he couldn’t tell if this was a lie too.

“You don’t have to answer right away.” The stranger then said, having recognized the long silence between the two. He could tell he was making this boy think and that was enough for him. “I’m around. And you seem to be around too.” The man then reached for the soda can that was on the ground beside Midoriya on the opposite side. He held it with his pinkie finger up for some reason. “Whatever you’re thinking about and whatever those notes are about, we could make that happen.” He waved the can around a bit in a circular motion, it was catching the attention of the silent freckled child. “I hate lots of things, you know? I want to make everything I hate disappear. And I can make the things you hate disappear too.” he then snickered as the can in hand turned to dust when his fifth finger touched it. He was casual to stand back up and stretch a bit. “See ya around, little schoolboy.” He half waved, putting his hands in his hoodie pocket and walking off deeper down the alleyway.

Midoriya was left quivering, wide-eyed, and at a loss of words. That man was so close. He was sitting right next to him, arm around him, he could have killed him right there if he wanted to. 

“D-Decay…” he stuttered quietly, gripping his neck just to feel that it was still there after being so close to death. His heart raced, beating out of his chest. His blood was pumping from the anxiety of the threat that was just there and now casually walking away. 

A man so scrawny, creepy looking, and yet shamelessly evil was right there in front of him. An enemy of heroes. He could only think of the pretty boy he met on that school roof, the only hero he wanted to save from a terrible pro hero. It was his chance. It was his chance to save him!

This little schoolboy began to smile.

“Wait!” he called out, reaching out for the red-eyed stranger who stopped at his words. “I’m quirkless. I-I don’t have any power. I’m not strong or fast or flexible or anything like that. B-But…” But what… Midoriya frantically flipped through a page in his notebook. The very last page that was sketched with the anatomy of a human that he had copied out of the books he stole from the school infirmary. It was labeled in detail with questions written all over the page about the human body and how quirks affect it. He held it up to this villainous stranger with a twitching smile on his freckled face. “I want to learn. I want to know these heroes… inside and out. If I learn anything, I’ll always let you know. I’ll let you know any physical or social weakness. I-I can be useful somehow, right!?” Give him this chance. It’s all he could ask for. And the stranger turned halfway to him, looking at the page from a distance and looking at the face of the trembling teenager. He merely scoffed and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll see if I can figure something out for you eventually.” And that’s all he had left to say before leaving completely.

Night after night, Midoriya went back to that specific spot hoping for the red-eyed stranger. But after the first week, it came to his attention that maybe he wanted to meet somewhere different in case he was being watched or followed. Someone like that has to have lots of enemies, right? That’s the only explanation as to why he hadn’t come back. Or maybe he was just busy, but surely he would have made the time to come back. That man didn’t give up on him too, did he? Maybe he shouldn’t have told him that he was quirkless. No, he definitely had to. Anything that came off as a lie or hiding something, someone like that would kill him in an instant.

So the little schoolboy began tagging different walls around the city’s underbelly with more of that same phrase he wrote that night. Heroes Lie. It can at least be a sign that the teenager was still out and about. He wasn’t hiding or running away from this opportunity. His desperation became so intense that he even began asking people in the alleys if they’ve seen someone in a black hoodie with a hand on his face. It was unwanted attention and unsafe but he just had to find him again if he wanted to save Todoroki.

It was just past the first week when he was leaving another signature tag on a small hero agency. “Come on… how many of these do you need to find,” he grumbled, getting annoyed at this point. He shook the can a bit, getting more pressure to build up when he felt someone grab the hood of his hoodie and lift him off his feet. He dropped the can in surprise and began kicking his feet.

“So you’re the little brat that’s been leaving those all over the place!” it wasn’t the one he was looking for. But even still, he was caught red-handed. If his mother found out about this, or if the schools he’s applied to, or if the stranger figures out how pathetic he is at being a mild delinquent.

“Let me down!” it was all he could say even though it would do nothing. He was found out, deer in the headlights.

“Heroes lie, huh? That’s a lot of disrespect from someone like you.” The hero began to lecture and Midoariya just covered his ears and kept flailing to get out of this basic pro’s grip. He wasn’t as big as All Might or Endeavor and his costume wasn’t flashy at all, there was no way he was even in his entire collection of notebooks. He wasn’t about to listen to anything this guy had to say. No more lectures. No more being told what he can’t or shouldn’t do.

“Shut up!” he cried out, just not wanting to hear anything heroes had to say. “Shut up! Shut up!” He kicked back and nailed the heel of his shoe into his groin making the hero flinch and grit his teeth. His grip loosened and Midoriya was on his feet once again. But it only took the second he landed for the hero to tackle him to the ground and forced his face into the dirt below them.

“Little kids like you try so hard to be different and say things just for attention. Slandering heroes like this, do you realize how hard they work to protect people like you and your friends?!” The hero continued.

Midoriya still struggled, looking for any way to escape. His arms flailed but he had no flexibility to try and hit the man on top of his back. But it was then that something shimmering caught his eye. A broken glass bottle in the shadow of a trash can was just an inch or two from his reach. 

“Are you listening to me?! Think about how immature you’re being. Don’t you think that we deserve a little respect for our hard work protecting you? Have we earned that much!?” This hero seemed personally offended by this freckled teenager’s tagged words. But that meant nothing to him now.

“You...You people haven’t earned jack from me. You don’t even know me!” The green-haired boy said through gritted teeth as his face was pressed further into the dirt. He just kept reaching for the light of that glass bottle. It seemed like such excessive force to be used against someone so small and quirkless. “Having a flashy costume and a title doesn’t mean anything!”

Being a hero doesn’t mean you’re the good guy.

Midoriya tapped the top of the bottle to make it shift just a little bit until he could get the skinny end in his entire hand. “People that think they deserve good things just because they’re born with power need to disappear!” with nothing but luck, the teenager closed his eyes and swung the bottle back and prayed that it would hit the hero. And it did. It hit the man on the forehead where he at least wore a helmet, but the shattered glass still was able to cut up and stab his face.

“What the hell!?” the hero once again had to back off and cover his face as a shard had gotten into one of his eyes. Midoriya scurried out from under him and picked up another chunk of glass that was on the ground and held it up in defense. Now he’s done it. There’s no getting out of this without trouble. The hero was on his knees holding his eye with blood dripping all over his face from smaller cuts. “You… Look what you did!” the man cried out, showing the freckled teenager his eye that had been slit by the glass with the piece still lodged inside of it. It made the teen flinch at the painful sight and fluids were dripping out of it.

“I…” didn’t mean to? Not a chance. Instead, the corner of Midoriya’s lips began to twitch up in a smirk. Look what this little quirkless boy did. The hero underestimated him and now he was half-blind! He snuck up on him thinking he could take him on just because he was some hero! He began to giggle because the thought of it was hilarious! How terribly, horrifyingly ironic! Who needed a quirk to feel powerful? He brought a hero to his knees with the use of nothing but glass garbage! His giggle grew to a laugh as he just pointed at the bleeding hero with a bright glow in his green eyes.

“Look what I did!? You can barely see!” he mocked, finally being the one able to do that. His body was shaking with euphoria. This feeling was so new, so intoxicating. The hero was paralyzed by his shock of how this young teenager was so pleased by his suffering. How cruel someone was at such a young age. He reached forward with his arm quickly growing and extending, trying to grab the freckled boy yards away from him. It was his quirk. He just had to restrain this young lunatic in the making.

Midoriya flinched and was about to turn to run before the hero’s extended hand grabbed the back of his throat. It suddenly let go. He looked back to see a scrawny figure in black behind the hero, or at least, where the hero used to be. 

The man that had just been half-blinded had suddenly turned to nothing but dust on the ground. Dead. The hero was dead. Gone in just a single moment. Midoriya hadn’t even seen the man himself disappear, just the dust remains and a pool of blood from where he once knelt. He couldn’t say anything, unable to find the words to say even though the one he’s been looking for was right in front of him.

The red-eyed stranger with the hand on his face walked right on through the puddle of blood to Midoriya while the boy was frozen before him. He strolled over to him, hunched over a bit to get to eye level, and got a little too close to his face again. “You good?” he asked vaguely. He only received a gulp and a nod as an answer.

“Is… he dead?” Midoriya asked very quietly, not breaking the little eye contact he had with the hues between the finger gaps. He just wanted to be sure.

“Yeah.” was all the hooded man said. After that, Midoriya broke eye contact to look at the blood again. So this guy was a murderer after all. Considering how easily and quickly he got rid of that hero, he’s done this plenty of times before. It was difficult to fully process because of how quick the hero was gone but Midoriya had such a sick pleasure of watching him be in pain.

The man’s eyes changed shape to represent he was smiling under that hand. “You still wanna do what you said?” he asked cheekily. “Learn heroes inside and out?” 

Midoriya nodded twice. The first time was slow and shaky, but after he shut his eyes tight his motion was more confident. 

“Then come on.” 

Midoriya was lightly nudged on the shoulder to follow this random guy he met in an alley in the middle of the night and just killed someone. And as they walked, Midoriya was next to this man but a pace behind him. Where were they going? Was it going to be safe? Was anyone else going to be there? He had spent all time looking for this killer and now that he was with him, he felt himself getting nervous like the night they met.

“Shigaraki Tomura. That’s what you can call me. How about you little schoolboy?” the hooded figure called Shigaraki finally revealed himself.

“Midoriya u-um… I-Izuku.” Did he forget his own name? He stuttered saying his own name. How embarrassing! He must look like a timid idiot!

Shigaraki had been looking directly ahead until he asked for his new little acquaintance. He quickly noticed how nervous he was getting all of a sudden. He was a teenager growing up, he could tell that much. But this boy was clearly coming out of typical citizen life. He was walking into a life he’s never seen or been a part of before. Did he feel bad for him? Maybe. Not pity or sympathy, but he felt… something. This kid just looked pathetic to him. But he was willing to give this pathetic, stuttering boy a chance. This wasn’t a mistake, right? Was he wrong to put faith in this random kid he met on the streets? He lightly scratched at his neck without thinking about it.

Shigaraki took Midoriya to a building in the backmost streets of the most compressed part of the city. It was about three stories tall and looked pretty average on the outside. “Do you live here?” Midoriya asked as they were coming around to a side door. It was a bit hard to see with the lack of light in the area.

“Kinda.” Kinda? What could that possibly mean? Did he, or did he not live in this weird place in the middle of the city. Maybe he was just squatting here. He looked shaggy enough to live in a sketchy place like this. 

But in going through the door and having it shut lightly behind him, he found himself inside a bar with no one else except a man made of dark fog standing behind a counter. “I’m back, Kurogiri. It’s the kid I was telling you about.” Shigaraki grumbled, stretching his neck from side to side without cracking it.

Midoriya looked around curiously trying to get a feel for the place. It was very neat with bottles behind the bar very neatly aligned, a big TV on a brick wall, lots of swivel stools to sit on, and a single red sofa against the wall. Not some big torture dungeon or decked out armery as he may have expected for a little bit. It just looked like a typical bar. The dark fog guy, named Kurogiri, was even dressed like a bartender, so he must just be the owner. What was up with this Shigaraki guy? What was he hoping to accomplish?

Shigaraki took a seat at one of the stools at the bar. “Get comfortable,” he said casually, taking out his phone and just scrolling through it for a few seconds while Midoriya sat on the sofa in a stiff posture. What was he thinking? What was he planning? Was this a trap? There was so much he didn’t know yet. This suddenly seemed like a bad idea.

“I’m trying to set something up here. I want to create a powerful team.” Shigaraki began, glancing up at the freckled boy and then going back to look at his phone, his foot resting on his knee and his elbow on the counter. “A League of Villains kind of thing. I want power. I want numbers too. But even then, a tight, well-crafted party would make for the greatest chance of success against our final boss.” he showed his phone screen the boy who was listening intently. He showed him a picture of All Might in his fake form in a news article. “I want to destroy hero society. But I want to destroy All Might more than anything. And you’re going to help me do that. That’s what you want too, right?”

Too destroy hero society? What was that even supposed to mean? Shigaraki was so vague, it just left Midoriya with even more questions. And yet he felt that they were things that could be answered with time. It was only a matter of whether he was going to give Shigaraki and this Kurogiri guy his time and limited skills. 

He didn’t have that much to offer them, right? But it seemed he was the first to be invited to this ‘well-crafted party’. This was a whole new world he was jumping into. He wouldn’t be able to live like the rest of the kids he went to school with anymore if he was going to team up with this murderer. And yet… all he could think about was All Might’s lies and then Todoroki. The thought of seeing that beautifully kind boy, ensnared and trapped by his father’s shadow and getting caught up in a world of liars and arrogance, it filled him with a sense of rage.

“I do want that,” he said as his posture loosened and his head lowered to look up, yet straight at Shigaraki. “I want to destroy someone other than All Might, but I want him gone too. Don’t get me wrong.” He wanted that monster of a liar out of the public eye so people don’t get their hopes up like fools as he did. “But there’s someone I want dead. The number two hero below him. I’ll do anything if you can promise me they’ll both disappear.” He’ll save Todoroki. He’ll save him no matter what. He owes him nothing short of his own life and his future.

Shigaraki smiled at Midoriya’s conditions. “Of course.” he hummed, standing up again and going to an elevator door. “Let me show you what you’ll be doing now, little schoolboy.” Midoriya went ahead and followed Shigaraki once more with much more pride in his step.

 He’ll become something now. He’ll be more than just that quirkless kid. He felt the elevator descend quite a bit, understanding that this building was far bigger than he thought. There were many more basement floors than upper ones. And when those doors opened again, Shigaraki stepped out first and turned on a light switch to show him his new purpose.

Midoriya stepped through the threshold and beheld the sight that no one his age should be offered. A laboratory, supplied with surgical tools, drugs, books, torturous equipment, cages big enough to fit people in, workbenches, and three tables to fit and restrain people. This was a set up for human experimentation. “Learning heroes inside and out. Quirkless or not, whatever you can learn and study will be of use to me.” Shigaraki said, walking further in, going through a drawer, and placing a scalpel in Midoriya’s hand that he grabbed and brought outward to hold it. Still holding on to his hand, he bent over to get to his eye level. “Midoriya Izuku… Will you truly become a villain?” he asked with the most twisted smirk underneath that hand. He was completely still but his mind was ravaged with enthusiasm. 

A doctor. A healer. But also a killer. It’s exactly what he needed. And with a bright green glow in his big mischievous eyes, Midoriya tilted his head up to look down at the man before him.

“Absolutely, Shigaraki Tomura.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya would later move his nightly adventures from random alleyways to spending it in the laboratory in Kurogiri’s bar. It seemed like Shigaraki was always there waiting for him but he never said much. And during the first few nights, there wasn’t anything for the villain in the making to do. There was nobody to practice with and he debated if that was a good or bad thing. It gave him more time to look over all the tools and drugs and study them. With books to read and the internet at his fingertips, it was good preparation to figure out what he was going to be doing soon enough. And while he never interacted with Shigaraki, Kurogiri made many appearances. The first time gave Midoriya quite a fright as the dark fog man had teleported beside him, looking over his shoulder while he was at a desk reading a book.

“Is everything… useful?” the man had asked calmly but it had scared the freckled teenager, causing him to jump and grab a syringe, holding it defensively with quivering hands. 

Kurogiri was shockingly polite. “Apologies for scaring you. You must have been focused.” he apologized. Midoriya put the needle down with an embarrassed expression and quietly looked back at the book.

“I’ve only dabbled in this kind of stuff. It’s a bit...overwhelming, I guess,” he mumbled. Maybe he was way in over his head. He was just a teenager. He couldn’t become a pro doctor for a single break and finals season. There was so much to learn, memorize, and understand, this was nothing like hero notes because now it was up to his own actions instead of gushing over others’. But he suddenly panicked. 

“Th-That doesn’t mean that I’m going to ditch it all! Not after Shigaraki gave this all to me!” he said, waving his hands at the man in the suit. 

He couldn’t even risk looking like he was going to back out of this villain work now. They would probably kill him because of what he knew already! Don’t let them get the wrong idea. He could do this. He told Shigaraki he would. And though he was expecting a threat from this man shrouded in darkness, he received a foggy hand on his shoulder instead. The gesture caused him to flinch but then look up with less anxiety in his system.

“I don’t know much about this work either. I’ve never considered a medical field.” he began, turning his head to look at the page the boy had opened on his desk. “It already looks very complicated. But if you truly need help, I wouldn’t mind assisting you or finding someone who can.” 

Midoriya could only blink a few times as Kurogiri began looking more closely at the book. 

“Shigaraki was telling me how he wanted to give you a subject right away. But I convinced him to let you build your confidence first. And in hindsight, I believe I made the correct decision.” There were so many words even this grown adult couldn’t understand. All these medical terms and body parts he’s never heard of; it came off as intimidating to him. He found it a bit admirable that a child was stepping up to the challenge of comprehending it all. “Would you like anything to help you focus? You’ve been down here for quite some time.” He then offered before removing his hand from Midoriya’s shoulder. Midoriya scratched the back of his head.

“Maybe some water…?” he asked shyly. It was then he watched Kurogiri disappear within himself as a portal for just a few moments. “Dark fog teleportation,” he muttered out loud, still being his little habit. And before even a minute had passed, Kurogiri had returned with a glass of water and set it down on the desk. For villains… this guy didn’t seem all that bad or scary now. It made the new villain smile. “Thank you.”

It became a ritual for a while for Kurogiri to come by the laboratory and offer food or a drink for the boy hard at work. And that boy’s requests became more casual as he asked for sugary and salty snacks, fruit juices and sodas, finally getting comfortable in this new setting. At some points in the night, Midoriya would ask Kurogiri to stay for some company. There would be no talking or requests. The man would just stand there, sit at a different desk, or sometimes pick up a different book and try getting a few peeks at what the child was learning. And that child has never had a figure like this in his life before. An adult male figure that wouldn’t tell him what he could or couldn’t do, someone that was supporting him even if it was quiet, and someone that was letting him learn at his own pace.

Interactions with Shigaraki were always brief if they weren’t nonexistent. He saw him when he arrived near midnight, and when he left around six am. He was always at the bar, in the same seat every time. Sometimes the counter would be covered in scattered papers, other times he was playing video games on a little tv, or be on a laptop going through odd-looking web pages, or watching the news, or on his phone, or sometimes he would just sit there with his palm on his cheek. It seemed like he never slept or he was nocturnal. He was really skinny too so he didn’t seem all that threatening until he used his quirk. But he always had that severed hand on his face. Something about that hand just seemed so strange.

“Does he ever take it off? Is it real? Does it do anything?” Midoriya asked Kurogiri as they stood in the elevator going back up to the hub of the bar. He hugged two books in his arms, prepared to just take them home to continue studying diligently. Now he was more than comfortable with this dark fog man, it was the one who brought him into this villain world that seemed more the stranger.

“You could always ask him yourself,” Kurogiri suggested, making Midoriya shake his head vigorously. If it was real, those would be very rude questions to ask. He didn’t know Shigaraki well and it felt out of place to ask someone that he was working for something along those lines.

“Not a chance. I don’t know him like that. I think he might kill me.”

“If he’s your boss, wouldn’t you think it would be easier for you to get to know him? Avoiding him won’t get either of you anywhere.” Kurogiri suggested. 

Midoriya hid his nose behind the books and looked at his feet. Get to know his boss? Have his boss get to know him? What would they tell each other? Their goals seemed so vague and their inspirations were unclear to each other. Midoriya hasn’t told anyone about his dreams in full. But when it came down to it, he wanted revenge on All Might, to prove himself, and to save Todoroki. But would that be enough for Shigaraki? 

“I would also like to know you more. I could provide more helpful assistance.” Kurogiri then added having not received an answer in over a minute. It made Midoriya’s head perk up slightly. Maybe… just maybe they would help him save that beautiful boy at the middle school.

The elevator doors opened and Shigaraki was sitting right where he always was. On this particular morning, he was playing a videogame on a little tv that sat on the counter. It looked like a single-player game. That fact alone was enough to ruin any source of courage to approach him. He didn’t seem like the social type even though he was the one that approached Midoriya in the first place. But Kurogiri gave Midoriya the slightest nudge forward as he himself went behind the bar counter to start cleaning behind it. He liked to keep things tidy.

Out of all the stools to choose from, Midoriya sat on the one on Shigaraki’s right side. But he awkwardly sat there in silence, not knowing what to say, what to do, or even what to think. He had many questions to ask him and wanted to know so many things, and yet it felt inappropriate to ask. What was the hand? What were his motivations? What were his plans? How many people has he killed? How did he and Kurogiri meet? Did he live here? How old was he? Did he have a family? Did he have friends? Did he have other people working for him? Why did he give him a chance?

“Do you feel confident enough to have your first subject?” Shigaraki asked out of nowhere, but ever so casually. The question made all of Midoriya’s anxious questioning thoughts disperse and focus on how to answer. Was it worth lying? He looked to Kurogiri and internally told himself it wasn’t worth lying. Honesty was the best way to build a positive relationship.

“I… don’t know. I’ve never done this kind of stuff before.” He answered honestly and began playing with his fingers. “I promise that I’m not chickening out. I just want to do it right.” He had yet to kill someone. He wasn’t as used to this as Shigaraki must have been by now. He killed that hero without a second glance. “I’ve never killed someone…” He admitted, almost afraid of what his boss’s response would be. Why wasn’t he saying anything?

“But you want to, right?” Shigaraki then said after about a minute of painful silence. Midoriya stiffened even though the red-eyed man didn’t seem all that angry or offended.

“Y-Yeah! Of course, I do.” Please don’t get the wrong idea. He wasn’t running away from this. He wasn’t a coward.

“That Endeavor guy, I remember you had a grudge…why?” Shigaraki then asked, keeping his eyes on the game he was playing. This conversation started with Midoriya wanting to know more about his boss but somehow it seemed like it was only going the other way around! And Midoriya knew Shigaraki was getting him to spill more details about himself. However, he was not opposed to it. This was a give-and-take and he was taking a lot of resources from the guy sitting next to him when considering the lab and study material. He could at least return it with information now. He lowered his head and stared at his feet, remembering how, at one point, there wasn’t a floor in front of them.

“Someone… Someone is suffering because of him. And that person did so much for me. I want to give back.” he mumbled.

“So you’re doing this for someone else?” Shigaraki asked quickly. Not good.

“Not necessarily. I have my own issues with All Might and all his lies. He’s not a real hero. He’s just like everyone else. Someone like that shouldn’t have that much influence.” There was more than one motivation. He would be loyal, that is for certain.

“Figured out that heroes don’t always come, huh?” Shigaraki mumbled, lightly scratching at his neck while the screen on the game cut to a loading scene. 

It made Midoriya take notice and finally look at him. His eyes were calm but his body language expressed stress and intensity.

 “Don’t you think people are weaker when they rely on heroes? And they’re so picky… I hate them.” So much hate. The red hues of his eyes screamed nothing but hatred. So, so much hate. “They get so lazy thinking heroes will take care of the world’s problems. So it’s not their problem anymore. They get so weak and stupid… and they don’t know or care what happens when a hero doesn’t come. Not until it’s too late.”

 Midoriya listened as he watched the neck scratching become more intense. 

There were wounds there that weren’t done healing yet. He was beginning to bleed a little bit as the skin was ripping. “And yet violence is only okay when heroes use it. That’s not fair, wouldn’t you agree? It’s annoying. I hate it.” Shigaraki slowly began to stop the scratching as the game continued and both his hands were drawn to the controller again. 

Midoriya only stared at him for another minute full of silence, trying to piece together all that he’s heard. Heroes don’t always come… No hero came when he was being bullied. No hero came to tell him that he could succeed. No hero came to take him off the roof, some random kid his age did. That kid was a different kind of hero. And all that hate. He felt it too. He hated All Might, he hated Endeavor, he hated all the heroes that would never give him a chance. He hated that hero society made him destined to be weaker than everyone born with a quirk. Then the bit about violence. A hero has tackled him to the dirt but the moment he fought back, he was in the wrong. The thought of all these things filled him with a kind of fire that made his fists clench up tightly.

“That person you owe. Who are they?” Shigaraki then asked, seeming to have suddenly calmed down. He had a short temper but also a short cool down. How scary, he could snap in a moment’s notice.

“I never got his name. But he’s around my age. He saved me from-” Maybe he shouldn’t tell that much. “He saved me.” He didn’t finish his initial statement and yet Shigaraki did not question him about it. Instead, a little smirk peeked out from under the hand on his face.

“A crush~?” He suddenly teased. Just the mention of that sent Midoriya into a full blush and he slammed his hands on the table hastily.

“N-No! I-I barely know him!” He talked to him for like, an hour! It couldn’t be something as juvenile as a crush!

“But you’re willing to kill the number two hero for him~” Shigaraki turned his head to place his chin in his palm and just got on all of Midoriya’s nerves, even pointing at him casually. He was so immature! “He must be a pretty big deal to you. Look at you, you’re all embarrassed, little schoolboy.” Shigaraki just ended up laughing at the poor teenager who just sat there and took it. He couldn’t escape any form of bullying. But this kind didn’t feel so bad. It felt fake. It was a tease, but just a tease. Whether he meant it or not, Midoriya didn’t feel degraded.

“It… It’s not like that.” he childishly bit the inside of his cheek in a pout. “It’s like… like… When you feel like everything is ruined and have nowhere to go and it couldn’t possibly get better. But someone gives that one little thing to keep you going. Does that make sense?” he did his best to explain while clutching the fabric of his pants at his knees. 

When he finally looked at Shigaraki again, he would find him almost completely still and the game paused. The controller was still in his hands as he was staring down at it with narrowed eyes. He was quiet again. Midoriya tilted his head at him attempting to see more of his face behind the hand to no avail.

“Yeah… It makes a lot of sense.” he breathed at last.

Midoriya listened carefully to Shigaraki’s tone. It was the sound of someone that knew exactly what he was talking about. There was much more to this scrawny gamer than he could imagine. And so the two sat in silence for about a minute before Midoriya yawned and rubbed his eyes with the balls of his palms. Being busy all afternoon, evening, and night studying only gave him mornings to sleep and it was just barely daybreak now. He got off the stool with his things and put his hood over his head.

 “See you tomorrow,” he mumbled before going out the door back home.

The next night involved more studying, as did the night after, and the night after that. And after every night, he made it a habit to sit next to Shigaraki and talk with him a bit now with Kurogiri always being close by. It reached a point where Shigaraki had once offered Midoriya a second game controller to play with him instead of just watching. Conversations would dwell away from work and villain stuff and shift more towards gaming and more normal conversations. Whether it be getting into a subtle rant about difficulty spikes, glitches, or inconvenient mechanics, or going on about how society sucked, heroes sucked, teenagers sucked, or people in general sucked, the two easily formed a kind of chemistry. 

Midoriya still worked for Shigaraki but it was starting to feel less and less like a boss and minion relationship. And yet it didn’t feel like a teacher and mentor connection either.

“All Might is going to be teaching at U.A. this year.” Shigaraki began to say as he played an adventure game with Midoriya who had gotten a hold of the gameplay and controls by now. “You start high school in a little while, don’t you?” His attention shifted from the screen to the green-haired teenager beside him, and yet he was playing masterfully without looking at what he was doing. And beside him, Midoriya sat in all black clothing, as usual, but now with little dark circles beginning to form under and around his eyes. He looked to be in a constant state of tiredness these days.

“Yeah. I applied to a few places. The results are supposed to come in later this week. And I…” it was too late to take an application back. “I did apply for U.A.” he looked annoyed and frustrated with himself. Going to such a school seemed sickening to him now. Being surrounded by arrogant kids with crazy quirks and selfish drives just sounded like an actual nightmare now. He grumbled and scratched at his head. “I was so stupid. I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Well if you do get in, it would be pretty helpful actually,” Shigaraki said and then reached over to pull Midoriya’s wrist away from his head. He was picking up on his bad habits. He’s also lost some weight since coming to the bar every night to study, ignoring his nutrition for knowledge. The teenager blinked when he heard Shigaraki speak again. “Having someone on the inside of a massive school like that would save me a lot of trouble. Just think a little.” Shigaraki tapped Midoriya’s forehead with one finger. Having someone on the inside of All Might’s place of work. A school with high-tech security not knowing that a villain was walking inside its very walls. He could take notes on all the pro hero teachers. He could get information on all the students. He could map out the school more accurately.

“I’d be right under our enemy’s noses.” He mumbled with a finger curled to his chin. “The paranoia of an intruder… no one would suspect me.” A small smirk was tugging at the corner of his lips. “The heroes and the students would be in the palm of my hand.” How amazing that sounded. To have the heroes scrambling because of him.

“However, you would still need to be careful. You can’t give yourself away. You’ll have to play nice with all the other kids and play along with their little games.” Shigaraki reminded him. That did not sound amazing. It sounded agonizing. Getting along with pompous heroes on a daily basis was something he had no desire to do. “You’ll have to bite your tongue, put on a smile, and use that face of yours to make them all think you’re just a little fanboy.” 

Midoriya got physically paler as he put his face on the counter a bit harshly and made a small bang. He’d rather bash his head into the wall. Multiple times. But was it truly worth it? He’d be like a little rat amongst giant monsters. And yet the idea of the massive All Might dying at his feet, realizing it was the kid he underestimated that brought him to his demise filled him with nothing but joy. Could he pretend to be the person he used to be?

“I don’t know if I-” Midoriya began to lift his head up off the counter when he saw the severed hand on the counter beside him. His eyes flickered when he noticed it and his focus quickly trailed up to Shigaraki’s face. The skin around his eyes was wrinkled, dried, chipped, and cut. His lips were beyond being just chapped, and yet he had a scar on his right eye and at the corner of his mouth. No regular lotion or chapstick was going to make his face look normal. A condition maybe? Or maybe something with his quirk caused him to look so terrifyingly strange. And yet it was something about his eyes that Midoriya found alluring. They had looked so narrow and angry all the time when they were behind the severed hand’s fingers. But now they seemed just a little bit softer, a little bit bigger, and a little bit brighter.

“Think you can do it?” Shigaraki asked, looking down at him. 

Midoriya could only bring himself to nod. Was this his way of showing trust? He had this overwhelming feeling well up in his chest when they made eye contact. The expression in those red eyes was telling him so many things that he couldn’t begin to understand. “I think you can too.”

Shigaraki didn’t put the hand back on after their short conversation. Perhaps he just felt more comfortable without it now. At least with Midoriya. And so they played a video game for a little bit longer like this. “Hey, do you think the son of the number two hero would go to the U.A.?” Midoriya asked, the thought suddenly coming to his mind. Would he see that boy again? Would he be there as a hero in training? Would they… become enemies?

“I would assume so. I bet that wouldn’t even have to take the tests to get in.” Shigaraki answered honestly. 

The answer made Midoriya hold the controller close to his chest and lower his head a bit. A villain and a hero… it wouldn’t possibly work. Todoroki wanted to be a hero. Granted, a hero that had pure motivations. But there’s no way he would approve of the work Midoriya was planning to do. Would they fight? What would he do if they did meet again? Would he have to fake his personality to him? He wanted to save him. He was doing this for himself but also for the boy that saved him.

“Do you think he’d be willing to join us?” Shigaraki asked, watching Midoriya from the corner of his eye. 

The question made Midoriya raise his head a bit with wide eyes. Join them? Turning that beautiful, pure boy into a villain? But… they could fight the world together. He could save him and do it honestly. He could show him how he changed him with his words.

“Maybe he would. You would love to have him. He’s got an amazing quirk! He holds a small grudge against heroes too! He’s got to be super strong and-” But would it be that easy? Midoriya paused when he saw Shigaraki lean over the counter with his fingers to his lips, thinking intensely.

“You’ll need help persuading someone like that. He still wants to be a hero, doesn’t he?” It can’t be that easy. It won’t be that easy. Someone as pure-hearted as that can’t be so willing to join people like them. “If you have faith that he can come to us, then let me know if I can get something as a means of persuasion.”

“L-Like blackmail?!”

“Not necessarily. Like if there’s something he wants more than anything that he couldn’t get by being who he is now. Something that the heroes would never be able to give him. Though I suppose blackmail could work too if-”

“I don’t wanna do that!”

Midoriya was not going to let Todoroki be blackmailed. But bribed… maybe he would succumb to that although deep down he hoped he wasn’t that shallow. He’d have to learn more about him. He’d have to learn his deepest desires, his most far off dreams, his most desperate wishes. Someone like Todoroki, that beautiful boy that gave him hope and purpose again, wouldn’t be so easily moved by material goods. But the fact that Shigaraki was willing to help him, even if it was for selfish reasons or not, he was grateful.

Midoriya soon yawned and rubbed his tired eyes. It wasn’t the usual time for him to leave yet, but he still felt so exhausted. He wanted to stay here just a little bit longer… He wanted to spend more time with Shigaraki. He wanted to enjoy Kurogiri’s company more. He wanted to tell them all about Todoroki. His dreams felt real when he was here with these two villains. He didn’t notice himself starting to doze off as his fantasized dreams and actual dreams were beginning to blend together. Going in and out of sleep while sitting up on the stool was something he began to struggle with all of a sudden.

Shigaraki felt a weight leaning against his arm only to notice a teenager was fast asleep against him, the controller still in his grip. He couldn’t help but freeze up a bit and maybe even mentally panic because now he was stuck. But it was then he felt a strange feeling in his chest and it was terribly painful, although the pain wasn’t physical. His own hands began to tremble slightly as when he looked from the corner of his eyes, he only saw black hair in pigtails on the person against him. But when actually turned to look, it was a green fluffy mess of hair instead. He must have been getting tired too, seeing such strange things.

“You like him, don’t you?” Kurogiri broke the silence as he reached over to take the controller out of Midoriya’s hands and set it on the counter so he wouldn’t drop it and wake himself up. Though he was sure to keep his voice quiet to not wake the sleeping boy. 

Shigaraki only stared at the freckled face that was squished against his arm. This boy was looking so tired lately, studying so hard so that he could be of the utmost use when he was ready to take the next step. He was working so hard. And he was working so hard for him, for this boy he kept telling him about, and for himself. Shigaraki hated so many things, hated so many people. But there was no hatred towards this little sleeping boy.

“Maybe…” he answered at last. Maybe the exact opposite of hatred.

“Well, I like him,” Kurogiri said bluntly.

“Well, that’s a bit odd for you. Last I remember, you hated kids.” Shigaraki grumbled with a hint of salt behind his words. It made the dark fog man’s eyes narrow but not in anger or spite. A simple expression of thought was all he was portraying.

“That was a while ago. But I almost pity this one. But with how determined he is, I find myself wanting to watch him grow. I’m curious about what will become of him.” Kurogiri turned his back to Shigaraki as he began organizing bottles that were already neatly placed on shelves against the wall. The skinny villain could only scoff at how much of a neat freak he was.

 “I’m also curious about what he can do to this boy he thinks so highly of. The son of Endeavor would be a powerful asset to you. However, his morals and philosophies are but a mystery to us all.” Kurogiri continued. By now, Shigaraki was no longer paying any mind to his game, but simply watching Midoriya sleep so soundly against his arm. What was this boy truly capable of? What would happen if something went wrong? Was he willing to leave Midoriya behind?

“Above all, I look forward to seeing you work with him and his motivations. He looks up to you now. I’m aware that something like this is very new for you.” Kurogiri’s eyes angled in a way that represented a smirk on his mouthless face. “Clearly you trust him, taking your dear father off like so. I admit you’ve surprised me with that. And now I have to wonder, Shigaraki Tomura, are you getting attach--” The man turned around to see Shigaraki had put an arm around Midoriya to keep him up against his side and to prevent him from falling over. 

He was almost hypnotized by his own actions; simply feeling the need to keep the sleeping boy like this. Safe. Comfortable. Trusted. 

Kurogiri made a short chuckle at the sight he was beholding and merely shrugged it off. “Dear friend… what were you thinking with this one?” he said softly to himself.

When Midoriya woke up just before noon, he found himself in a bed that was not his own, though he was very comfortable. He sat up and rubbed his dark eyes, looking around to figure out where he had been taken to. An empty, undecorated, and slightly dusty bedroom was where he found himself. There was an open door that gave him the view of a type of apartment-like place. Out the window, he could see he was still in the same location as the bar, but higher up. So the second floor was living spaces?

“You can stay here if you want, you know.” Shigaraki’s voice came from the corner of the room where a single table was placed. There wasn’t even a chair. He was sitting on top of it with no hand blocking his face. “You take pretty long walks going from home to here every night. You don’t have to do that if you don’t want to.” 

Midoriya rubbed his face to attempt to wake himself up more and comprehend what Shigaraki was telling him. He just woke up and now he was being told he could live here. He needed a second to process things.

“Are you sure that’s okay?” he groaned. He’s supposed to be working for Shigaraki and he felt like he was being spoiled with the laboratory, the time to study, and now a new living space.

“It’ll make you more efficient, wouldn’t it?” Shigaraki asked back. “You get your first corpse tonight. So I need you in the best condition to focus on what you can learn.” He got up from the table and went to the doorway and leaned against the frame, folding his arms casually. “It’s empty right now, but you can have this be your little apartment. I can give you some cash or Kurogiri could snag anything you want for it. So like…” he paused and scratched at his neck slightly. “Make yourself at home… I guess.”

Midoriya stared at Shigaraki as the latter avoided eye contact by staring off at a wall and in general emitting an awkward vibe. Despite how creepy and friendly he was in their first meeting, it turns out that his boss was a socially awkward hermit after all. Midoriya almost found it funny but he didn’t want to make fun of him. And the taller young man began to walk out and leave when the freckled villain raised his hand out straight.

“Wait a second,” he called out when the other’s back was turned. “I forgot. I never got to thank you for saving me from that hero that night. And now you gave me all of this so…” With sleepy eyes and a sleepy smile, Midoriya scratched his cheek with one finger awkwardly. “Thank you, Tomu.”

Hearing this, Shigaraki lost all color to his skin and his eyes seemed to lose all life as his soul completely left his body. He looked like a standing corpse. That stupid little nickname killed him. It was so stupid! It was cripplingly embarrassing! Why the hell did he feel the need to call him that?! 

“U-Uh… uh…” he was left completely speechless as all his weight pressed against the doorframe. He died. Temporarily. He wanted to be the worst villain in the world and take down the strongest hero, but he was the embodiment of social anxiety. 

Midoriya watched Shigaraki slowly drag his feet out of the room and silently left like a zombie. The teenager couldn’t help but snicker at the fact Shigaraki got so embarrassed that he broke with just a nickname. Bakugo didn’t react like that at all when he was given the nickname Kacchan. Bakugo was just pissed. He just unintentionally traumatized a murderer.

Midoriya found out very quickly that Kurogiri was a god of a cook when he came down to the bar for breakfast/lunch. Whether it was a snack or a full meal, he could make anything taste amazing. Though when he came to eat a full meal, Shigaraki was in his usual seat eating a single bag of chips. He sparked a bit of curiosity within him.

“Tomu, are you skinny because you don’t eat, or is it your quirk?” he asked. Shigaraki flinched with death as his soul peaced-out for a good few seconds before he regained half of his composure. It made Kurogiri chuckle quietly to himself as this child has learned how to mentally kill this blue-haired young man.

“Both… Healthy food is gross and my body breaks stuff down really fast.” He answered casually only for Midoriya to whip out a notepad from his pocket and rapidly take quick notes. “Don’t take notes on me!” He felt like he was being added to the hit list!

“But I have to! If something happens to you, I have to know the best way to fix you. So I need to know how you work.” Midoriya answered and it made the older villain blush for a moment before looking away and going on his phone.

“Whatever.” His reaction made the teenager giggle to himself. How was he ever scared of this guy in the first place? He was so easy to tease. “At least I’m not head over heels for someone I don’t even know their name to.” he sneered, making Midoriya go bright red instantly. He was so petty!

“I told you I don’t have a crush on him!” Midoriya whined.

Kurogiri watched the two go back and forth childishly and could only sigh at their foolish teases. “Like siblings…”

Chapter Text

Midoriya stood at the side of his working table and was frozen in his place. He held a scalpel in gloved hands, his black hoodie on his favorite desk chair, black flu mask over his mouth and nose. He was supposed to be ready. He trembled as he stared down at the corpse laying on his experimentation table. 

There was a deep and jagged gash at the center of its face that likely led to a rather painful death. The blade in the little villain’s hand was held close to his own chest, too shaken to begin the work he told himself he had been looking forward to. He wasn’t even the one that killed this man and yet his anxiety was going out of control.

“If it makes you feel better, these things weren’t good people when they were alive,” Shigaraki said as he sat on Midoriya’s desk behind him. His right leg was over the left and he had his arms folded, no hand covering his face. Seeing his complexion was becoming very normal by now. “I hate normal people. But I hate some more than others,” he said casually. He slowly got up and stretched. “I can see you shaking. What are you so scared of?” He walked up beside him and bent down a bit to look at this freckled villain at more eye level. He kept his tone calm and almost uncharacteristically soft. He wasn’t pressuring him to rush or hounding him for not being ready even though he’s been studying nonstop for more than a month. Was he always this patient?

“I...don’t know,” Midoriya mumbled. He stabbed a hero in the eye but that was technically an accident. But he started laughing about it. Was it out of hysteria? Was he worried about what that beautiful boy would think of him if he went through with this? What his mother would think? He’s been sneaking out so much, he hardly saw her anymore. Was he nervous about disappointing Shigaraki and Kurogiri? Was he that afraid of messing up? What was there to mess up? He wasn’t the one that killed the corpse in front of him. He hasn’t even committed murder yet. Why… Why did he feel so pathetic? His free hand began to lightly scratch at his wrist but Shigaraki took his wrist and lightly pulled it away. A hypocrite.

“Don’t think about it.” He told him, standing up a bit straighter again and leaned back in his place. He was just gazing up at the ceiling looking rather bored but that was his usual expression. The boy next to him could tell he was just thinking of the right thing to say. “Be curious. Give yourself a chance.” Then Shigaraki put his hand in the fluffy green mess that was the freckled boy’s hair and ruffled it up with a finger raised. He could never be too careful. 

Midoriya shut his eyes tight from the pressure being pushed down on his head. It wasn’t too harsh. It was rather playful actually. But the boy did listen and when the brotherly assault ended, he pushed his hair out of his face to look at the scalpel in his hand. Give himself a chance…

Shigaraki patted his shoulder before walking past him to the other side of the laboratory and lightly kicked a large furnace. “Burn it when you’re done. You wouldn’t like the smell if we just left it here. And we can’t just toss them out.” They would be very likely to get caught if they just tossed them around the city. And with those last instructions, Shigaraki walked past the little villain one more time, lightly nudging his freckled cheeks with his thumb and index finger on the way, and returning to the elevator to go back up to the central area of Kurogiri’s bar. Thus, leaving Midoriya all by himself with a dead body on his table.

Midoriya would remain still for at least a few minutes more. The room was completely silent. What was he waiting for? There was no messing up. Be curious. And with a twisted curiosity, he began examining the corpse before doing anything more. It was stone cold, the color was drained from the skin, and there were no broken bones or fractures to be found. He began poking and feeling at it carefully. It was an adult male with faint remnants of fish scales on his neck.

 “Hybrid Transformation quirk, a type of scaley defense.” He muttered to himself, going to his desk to retrieve a different notebook as he began to sketch the corpse out on paper and take notes beside the drawing. Then he tried stabbing the scales on the neck with a knife only to see that it would not penetrate. So instead he took out a different knife and sliced off a large chunk of flesh from the corpse’s bicep with a motion that can only be compared to a butcher carving meat.

The teenager held the bloodied piece of skin, muscle, and tissue in his hands and began to lightly peel at the top layer of flesh to find scales hiding underneath. Curious. Curious. He wanted to know so much more. Would scales appear as an instinctive reaction to conflict, or were they summoned voluntarily? How were they summoned? What parts of the body controlled them? What were they made of? How did the body produce them? What would happen if they broke? 

Many questions he had could only be answered if this corpse was alive. So he could only work with what he had. And yet he wouldn’t complain. His thirst for knowledge was taking over once again. He was no longer a fanboy gushing over the mysteries and limits of quirks. Now he was dissecting them and taking notes on his own work. This was his own work. His impact would be grounded in his intelligence and knowledge of quirks.

There was no fear anymore. There was not a hint of hesitation. Though he was extremely delicate and careful, using a steady hand to poke and slice without a quiver. His eyes seemed to have that ominous glow as they narrowed in complete focus, constantly switching from investigating to note-taking naturally. This is what Shigaraki was letting him become. Shigaraki and Kurogiri did so much for him to finally reach this step of actually being useful. He wanted to make them proud.

After many hours of nonstop work, the furnace door was slammed shut after the corpse was moved from the experimenting table to a table on wheels and then slid into the flames to burn up into ash. Once the corpse itself was taken care of, Midoriya responsibly cleaned and sterilized all of his tools. He returned all chemicals to their proper cabinets. He scrubbed the floors of any fluids or remains that may have fallen. 

It felt so casual now. His energy had skyrocketed from the sheer excitement of taking what he had learned from studying and using it himself and then making his own discoveries. Behind his mask, he had a childish grin filled with pride as he cleaned up his laboratory. Being productive. Making an impact. This feeling was amazing.

Once all had been tidied up to his satisfaction, Midoriya had cleaned himself off to the best of his ability. His hands were mostly clean thanks to his gloves. But the same could not be said to his hoodie that was excessively stained after hours of sifting through a human body. There wasn’t much he could do about it but it was best not to wear it home for his mother to see.

His mother. She has been so silent all this time. She would greet him every late morning, cook breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. She was fully aware that he had been sneaking out at night and coming back at the break of dawn. And yet she has done nothing because he never returned hurt, suspicious, or with anyone. When he came back, he simply looked tired but not miserable. Surely she could ask. She likely would at some point. Perhaps she’s been keeping a distance due to all the intense studying he’s been doing at home. How much of a blessing she has been this whole time. It would break her heart if she ever found out what he’s been up to; especially now that he’s gone this far for Shigaraki. How disappointed she’d be…

But Midoriya shook his head furiously at the thought, even slapping the water flowing out of the sink in a small fit. How disappointed she’d be. It wasn’t her fault that he didn’t have a quirk. He would never blame her. But she, too, had no faith in his ability to be something big, a great and shining hero. But that beautiful boy at the school did. This was for him. This was to save him from his father. This was to bring him closer. To bring him here with Kurogiri and Shigaraki. They’d take good care of that boy here just like they’ve done for this green-haired mess Shigaraki found on the street in the middle of the night. And to have someone like that here all the time with him… 

Midoriya found himself blushing and splashed water into his face, scrubbing aggressively hard into his skin.

“That guy…” he looked down at the water pooling in the sink and shifting between dark shades of red and then fading into pink. He never put much thought into it and denied all of Shigaraki’s childish teasing and yet he couldn’t help but question a part of himself. He’s never really thought of boys to be beautiful before. But he’s also never had any friends to think of as beautiful either. The closest thing he had to a friend… 

“Believe that you'll be born with a Quirk in your next life and take a last chance dive off the roof!” that wretched voice echoed in his head, his eyes scrunched tightly. 

No, Bakugo could not compare to someone like that red and white-haired boy he met. Even if it was just for an hour or two, it was all he needed to make his chest start to feel fuzzy. This was something he’s never felt before.

His arms holding him at his waist. Saving him. The arm around him to hold him close. Bringing him down safely even though he was hurting too. Empathizing with him even though his pain probably couldn’t compare to that of those burns on his arms. And that burn on his face… he must have been through more than he could have told him that day. But the tone of his voice, the cold bitterness with the burning hatred in his eyes and the softness yet the toned shape of his face. That guy… 

“He was so pretty…” he mumbled to himself as he then found himself holding his own waist, reminiscing over that feeling of almost falling off the roof. He wanted to be held like that one more time. Two more times, no, dozens of times. 

Midoriya’s cheeks blushed as he held himself, his knees turning inwards as his head tilted. His eyes had that familiar glow as a terrible smile grew on his freckled face. Splotches of blood littered his clothes and a single strand of spatter remained on the skin next to his lips. “I think… I-I think I really want him.” he nearly giggled in the dim light of his laboratory.

The elevator doors would eventually open to the main hub of Kurogiri’s bar with Midoriya coming through to take a seat in his usual seat next to Shigaraki. 

“Well someone looks happy,” Kurogiri commented as the boy had that same smile plastered on his face and shoved his notebook forward to the dark fog man. 

“It was incredible! I was able to learn more from that than I have all week!” he said ecstatically. Letting Kurogiri take the notebook, Midoriya watched him turn quite a few pages to look over the information he had taken from one subject. The freckled villain kicked his feet, leaning forward, and gripping the fabric on his knees with a kind of cute excitement. But he still never got all the blood off his face and hoodie. It was some twisted version of a child showing his dad what he drew in class today.

Noticing the few spots of blood on Midoriya’s face, Shigaraki was on his phone and eventually licked his thumb to smear away the spots. Couldn’t have him going outside looking like that and getting caught. But the action made the boy lean back in protest and turn his face to try and get away without too much effort.

“Gross,” he whined. But Shigaraki poked his forehead instead just enough to almost make him fall off, but didn’t of course.

“You’re gross.” he retorted monotoned.

“Well, you’re gross,” Midoriya said right back but couldn’t keep a straight face about it and started snickering. Seeing how happy he was now compared to when he was left with a corpse, Shigaraki was able to take a calm deep breath. He’s been adjusting so well so far.

“These are very impressive.” Kurogiri eventually said, handing the notes to Shigaraki to look over. 

The scrawny villain took them and silently looked over them with a frozen expression. He looked focused but he was taking this very seriously. Reading each word carefully, looking over each drawing, each label, one could only wonder if he comprehended what was written. There were lots of medical terms only someone like Midoriya would know at this point. Though the killer next to him was childish, he was nowhere near stupid. But anxiety began to well up in the young villain’s chest because he couldn’t tell what the older one was thinking. He was completely stone-faced. At least until he smirked with a slight scoff and lowered the notebook.

“Give me a day to get you the computer stuff to type these out with the drawings. Then you can send it to me,” he said, sliding the notebook to the little villain. 

Was that it? The fact he was willing to set him up with access to a neater setup was an honor but… his face was about to look mildly disappointed when he felt a hand with only four fingers on his head and lightly pet him side to side. “You’re going to be one of the greatest villains at this rate.” He praised Midoriya.

Those words made the teenager freeze as his head was lightly being swayed left to right. Shigaraki paid him no mind and let him have his little moment, even ignoring the single tear that escaped his eye. He could just tell that this little villain hasn’t had genuine praise in quite a long time. Between emotional manipulation and genuine affection, Midoriya couldn’t tell what he was receiving at this very moment. It wasn’t like he cared, however. 

When Shigaraki stopped his petting, he hunched over the counter to go through his phone and settings to find his phone number. Midoriya leaned to the side to get a nosey peek at what he was doing and got the hint as to what he was going for. He took his own phone out and went into his contacts. And though he didn’t necessarily have to do this to see, he leaned further to the side to press himself into the older villain’s arm and shoulder. Just to be against him and put some weight against him as he entered in the phone number. 

Shigaraki stayed still and let him press against him without a word. He even watched the little villain enter the contact name. For obvious reasons, he wouldn’t put “Shigaraki Tomura”, what if someone saw? He had a better idea. “Big Brother.”

Seeing this made Shigaraki blink a few times and then look away like he never saw it. Embarrassed? Absolutely. But was he going to say anything against it? Absolutely not. Typing that contact name down made Midoriya’s smile soften. This name felt just right.

“Could I see your coat Midoriya?” Kurogiri asked, coming around to the same side of the bar. Without much thought, the teenager did as asked and unzipped his bloody black hoodie and had the man take it. “Let me wash it for you before someone catches you outside.” And thus he warped off with it, but not without Shigaraki snatching something from his back pocket. When Kurogiri left, he put in his password that he must have learned at some point and went digging to find his number and set it on the counter.

“He had to get a new number so I need it too,” he said casually. That was not a lie as he put the man’s number into his own contacts. But he did peer over at the little villain’s screen and saw him name the number “Dad” and had to cover his mouth to keep from laughing.

As dawn drew closer, Midoriya was sent on his way to go back to his mother’s home. He waved goodbye and went on his way with a sleepy smile. Tonight was a big step into becoming a villain with Shigaraki as his guide. Never had his heart been filled with so much pride and joy. He was becoming something! He was going to prove everyone wrong. And he was going to make the beautiful boy his.

“I never took you as the supportive type,” Kurogiri commented as he was shining a glass cup. Shigaraki was playing on his phone on his favorite stool and just smirked with a shrug.

“Never took you as the fatherly type. You’re not so tough anymore in your old age, are you?” He instigated with his smirk growing to a mischievous grin. The taunt made the man in the suit’s glowing yellow eyes narrow. The scrawny troublemaker could be such a brat sometimes. But deep down, he knew he had every right to be.

“What’s that supposed to mean Shigaraki Tomura?” he challenged as he slowly put the glass down on the counter. He wasn’t going to fight this young man. There would be no point and he honestly did not want to. But he was willing to put on a show to remind him that he was not some kind of servant. His dark fog body mass began to expand slightly in a small form of intimidation.

“He put you as ‘Dad’ on his phone.” Shigaraki lightly snickered.

“What?” Kurogiri’s body immediately compressed into its normal size and his eyes slightly expanded.

“His phone.”

“Yes?”

“I gave him your number.”

“I understand.”

“Your contact name is ‘Dad’.”

And thus the Dark Fog Dad’s foggy head went from being a compressed cloud of matter into a misty mess as it expanded unevenly and thinly as a reaction of embarrassment but also something else.

 “HA!” Shigaraki said and pointed at him as a tease.

“I-I-I-Izuku!!” Midoriya’s dearest mother cried out from across the house. It wasn’t noon yet but with Midoriya going to bed between six and seven in the morning, the morning was too early to wake up. But his mother’s cries were enough to make him groan. She wasn’t sobbing, just probably in a normal panic. He rolled over in bed and covered his head with his favorite white hoodie that was a bit too big for him. He always slept with it. It was difficult to sleep without it by now.

“I-Izuku wake up!” Inko cried out, having come into his room and began frantically shaking him. “U.A. sent you a letter! Your entrance exam is this week!” How hopeless she was, still believing that he had dreams for that school. Perhaps he did, but not with the same intentions as before. 

He couldn’t help but feel overwhelming anger at the sound of her tearful excitement but quickly remembered that this was his mother. She meant no harm. And yet when he hid his face in the hoodie, he immediately remembered. He’ll be there. Surely he’ll be there.

Midoriya sat up and took the letter from his mother’s hands as she clung to his shoulders and tried to read it with him. The anticipation was going to give her a heart attack. Her eyes were too full of tears to read it. 

“It’s a reminder that the entrance exam is this week… I completely forgot,” he mumbled, still sounding beyond exhausted. It wasn’t like he dissected a whole human body last night. But he fought the tiredness to read on further. “Because I’m quirkless, they’re giving me a special test. All but…” he gritted his teeth and his grip on the paper tightened. He was still bitter against this society. “I won’t be able to apply to the hero course. But there are others to choose from. So I won’t be taking the hero exam.” Not fair. Not fair at all. Even if the school just started allowing quirkless people in, they still banned them from even trying to be heroes. He’ll show them…

“Oh, that sounds wonderful sweetie.” Inko smiled as she wiped her eyes. 

Had anyone else said that Midoriya would be more than just furious. But he knew his mother was just scared that he was going to get hurt and was just happy that this school was giving her son some kind of a chance. She meant well. If only she knew.

 “So what are they offering? What’s on there?” she leaned in a bit to try and get a closer look. “Business, investigation, costume support, costume equipment, mass media, agency buil-”

“Medical.” Midoriya cut her off, staring at another faction of the school. His eyes were locked on the medical support course. “I want to do medicine,” he repeated. How much more he could learn. How much more he could impress Shigaraki and Kurogiri. The school would be teaching him how to more properly rip people apart. The irony was almost enough to make him burst out laughing. But he had to control himself. Bite his tongue. Play nice with the other kids. That control started at home. He forced a sweet innocent smile to his mother that looked as natural as could be, almost as if his face was glittering with joy. “I want to be a doctor.”

The pure smile of her dearest son was enough to make Inko tear up again and hug on to him tightly. She was beginning to believe that he finally let go of the hero dream to pursue something just as admirable. His hopes didn’t have to be crushed by reality any longer. At least, that’s what she was being led to believe. “My baby’s going to be a doctor. That sounds wonderful Izuku. I’m so happy.” she said so lovingly as Izuku used on hand to keep her embrace close.

“Yeah. I’m going to save so many people,” he said dreamily with his eyes peacefully closed. Going to save him.

Over the next couple of days, Midoriya would start leaving just before sundown to go out instead of sneaking out late at night. Without a subject to practice on and to give himself a break from all-day studying, he would go out shopping instead. But only kind of. He would casually take pictures of things in department and furniture stores around the city that he liked and send them to Kurogiri. He would also wander into a few electronic stores and take pictures of things to send them to Shigaraki. When school started once again, he imagined that he wouldn’t be returning to his mother too often. It would be much more convenient to start living in his new home, with his new family.

Now he got to choose anything he wanted without a budget. How easy it was to steal with a teleportation quirk. Midoriya had also found out one night that Shigaraki was incredibly tech-savvy. He watched him one night, with just a laptop at the bar with tons of wires attached to it, he was able to hack into any store the little villain had gone into and temporarily turn off security cameras. Long enough to let Kurogiri steal things from inventory rooms, but short enough to make it look like a glitch or malfunction. It impressed the boy and made him look up to Shigaraki even more. Of course, the latter let it fill his ego just a little bit more.

By the end of the week, Midoriya was able to decorate his apartment space in any way he wanted. No longer was his room forced to remain tainted with All Might merchandise. Instead, the walls were clean and more mature. His color preference had changed as much of his furniture was black and decorations were kept monochrome colors except for the occasional dash of red. On the night before the exam, much of his personal things have been moved in too. Clothes filled the drawers. Books filled his shelves. His bathroom was set for his own needs. This was going to be home very soon.

Shigaraki would find Midoriya sitting on his bed and holding the special white hoodie close to himself. He’s even brought something as important as that with him. As of that moment, he appeared to be daydreaming while staring out the window at the twinkling city lights outside. With the lights off, they made the room more colorful and provided the perfect atmosphere to stop thinking for once. To keep from rudely disturbing him, Shigaraki sat down at the foot of the bed and would stay there silently for at least a few minutes. He would look around at the newly decorated space and just enjoy a silent moment with the younger villain, letting him have a moment to think to himself.

“Do you really think he’ll be there?” Midoriya asked quietly. He had acknowledged the other presence in the room by now but did not make eye contact with him, too focused on the lights coming from outside.

“Yeah, it would make sense.” the other responded with a shrug. Was it something he was really worried about? This guy he only met for a fraction of a day seemed to be on his mind quite often. He teased him about having a crush on him dozens of times by now, but was the denial out of embarrassment or confusion?

“Tomu…” Midoriya began to say something but paused as he hugged the white hoodie closer to his nose. The sound of that terrible nickname made the killer at the foot of the bed blush and show a grumpy expression. How degrading… some big bad villain he was for letting this teenager call him something as demeaning as that. “If… If I did like him, would that be okay?”

“What do you mean? You talk about him all the time so clearly, you don’t hate him.”

“No, not like that.”

The question made Shigaraki think for a moment. Was Midoriya admitting to having a crush on this mysterious boy after all? Or was he trying to figure that part out still? Something that he had to keep in mind was that this little villain was still growing up. Still learning about the world, but also himself. Still figuring things out.

“So you’re asking me that, if you actually did have a crush on him, would I allow it?” Shigaraki tried to clarify. Allow it as a leader for his underling to have romantic feelings? Or allow him to have romantic feelings for a boy, period?

“Like… I’m just confused. I’ve never really had friends or anything like that. So I don’t know what I’m feeling.” Feelings. Such terribly confusing things. “I don’t know if it’s a crush, or looking forward to having a real friend. I get so nervous when I think about seeing him again. But maybe it’s just because I tried to do something stupid the first second he met me. He probably thinks I’m so weird. Maybe he’ll never want to talk to me again. Or maybe he’s changed over the summer. What if he’s not the same person? What if his father got to him and completely changed his personality? What if I’m just getting my hopes up just to be destroyed agai-” Midoriya would find himself amid an anxious ramble, not noticing that he had begun to scratch at his wrists subconsciously. It wasn’t until Shigaraki grabbed his wrist with a pinkie up and pulled it away.

“What are you really worried about Izuku?”

Midoriya froze when he felt his wrist be pulled away and suddenly realized the subtle burning sensation from his nails digging into his skin. He had picked up such horrible habits. Shigaraki’s hand easily gripped his wrist firmly from how skinny he was. His anxiety was branching into self-harming habits just like the one he looked up to. But he would never blame the one as he saw as a big brother for it. Right now, that person was trying to understand what was giving him all this anxiety. What was he truly scared of?

“If these are romantic feelings for another boy… are you going to be angry?” Would Shigaraki approve of such a relationship? It would seem odd but not odd for a villain such as him, filled with hatred and bitterness, to disapprove of things like that. But even as a villain, a killer, maybe a monster, he was not without heart. Here he was at that moment, keeping his new little brother from falling too deep into self-harm.

“I don’t really get that stuff. If you’re asking me if I’m going to kill you for liking some guy, the answer is no. I’m not like that… That stuff is already,” he paused for second and his face nearly cringed thinking about it. “It’s so gross.” He had the mentality of a child. Anything romantic was just disgusting to him. People’s lips touching, how revolting!

The answer was enough to make Midoriya get a tiny bit emotional as he bit his lower lip and, with the hoodie still in his grasp, hugged Shigaraki’s skinny torso. The reaction made the older villain lose all color once again as his soul yeeted out of existence for a short time frame. The little teenager smiled as he hugged on tight to the limp body of his makeshift big brother. 

“Thanks, Tomu, for everything,” he said sappily.

“Kill me.” was all the other could wheeze out. This kid was going to be the death of him.

Chapter Text

He just wanted to rip his ears out, gouge out his eyes, bash his head into a wall. A letter had come in through the mail with video to watch with it from U.A.. Watching and listening to All Might congratulate him on the written tests he aced was a whole new form of torture. It was sickening to receive praise from someone like him. A man full of lies could only tell lies. How dare he stand in front of that camera with that plastered smile and even try to support him. Midoriya had the coldest glare as he watched the video play, letting his hand go to his wrist and subconsciously scratched at it. All the lies he was spreading to all these students who passed their tests. Was that beautiful boy watching something like this too?

When Midoriya walked out of his room to find Inko waiting right outside the door with her hands clasped together at her chest. Her eyes were just shimmering with worry but hopefulness for him. She desperately wanted to know what the letter said. And thus her son put on a fake, but very believable, soft smile of assurance. That smile alone sent his mother into dramatic tears of joy as she clung to him in a hug full of pride and happiness. Midoriya faked that smile through the hug and continued afterwards to let her be happy in bliss.

That smile would change to a focused gaze that was void of all that false joy and childish excitement. He was no longer having a lovely home-cooked dinner with his beloved mother with the tv on in the background. Now there was the sound of a bone snapping as he was in his laboratory, clothes stained with blood spatter, face spotted in red amongst his freckles, and his eyes darkened with intense focus and precision. For right now, he wanted to test how far in which directions it would take to dislocate bones in a body, although the body on his table had been sliced and sewn up again in many places. It wasn’t like he could get a fresh body every day; he needed to make them last at least a few nights.

“So when’s your first day?” Shigaraki asked from sitting on top of a workbench behind Midoriya. He was just observing him with his arms folded, curious how this little schoolboy worked and seeing how much he had changed since their first encounter. He looked so comfortable in his skin now. 

“After this weekend,” he answered in a monotone voice. Two more free days was all he had before becoming a full-time student once again. “What class are you in?”

“General course of class 1-C.”

“What happened to the medical course?”

“Not enough people passed. It was supposed to be their hardest test aside from the hero course.”

“Are you still in the program?”

“I’ll be training with medical professionals while everyone else does quirk training.”

Midoriya dislocated another bone with an angle measure next to it and proceeded to take more notes while answering Shigaraki’s slew of questions. It did not feel like an interrogation, just mild curiosity which he didn’t mind. If anything, Shigaraki could pick up the hint that his little brother was very angry, although he didn’t show it with blunt rage. It came out in how intensely serious he was treating the corpse on his table. He could tell that he was anticipating feeling lonely and left out at school all over again. Being the only kid without a quirk and being excluded from specific activities. His jealousy of people with quirks was reaching new levels and made him hate them even more.

Shigaraki sat on the desk table top in silence for a while longer, listening to bones snapping for quite a long time. He would just casually play on his phone and kick his feet a few times, peek at some notes that were around him, and just generally leave Midoriya to his work. 

“Think you could kill someone before you begin?” he would suddenly ask after at least an hour of silence. 

The question made Midoriya casually freeze in his notetaking as he thought it over. The bodies on his table had all been killed for him and delivered here to make for easy examinations and testing. To kill his own subject would be the last step to being a fully-fledged villain doctor. The blood would truly be on his hands, there would be no going back to living the life of a normal schoolboy even though what he was doing already was nowhere near normal. Was he ready to take a life for himself?

“You said my subjects weren’t exactly good people, right?” Midoriya asked. “I don’t know if I’m ready to kill someone who doesn’t deserve to die.” No one was perfect, but some people were worse than others. He wasn’t ready to take the life of some random person who’s only made a few hurtful mistakes, though Shigaraki probably didn’t care about that anymore. And of course, heroes didn’t count because they were going out of their way to show off their quirks and make society weaker and more dependent. But Shigaraki has also been the kind of person to respect Midoriya’s requests and morals.

Shigaraki got off the desk and walked over to his little brother and pulled up a chair to sit beside him. But he did not sit normally, he chose to sit on it with the back of it against his chest. With his chin on the top of the backing, he tilted his head slightly to be more comfortable. 

“We can start with that. That’s what you’ve been starting with.” He offered as he pulled out his phone and scrolled through a few things before showing the screen. 

It was a news article with the subject’s mugshot on it. The corpse was an escaped criminal and the article listed all his crimes that included things that made Midoriya’s blood boil.

 “I wouldn’t trick you with stuff like this.” Shigaraki wanted to make that clear. “I’ll get you a pretty bad guy before your last free day. When you start doing this yourself, you can ask questions to avoid making guesses about quirk functions, and you could probably do psychological testing at some point. It’ll be a good starting point to get you into combat too.”

“Combat? You’ll let me do combat?” Midoriya had stopped his work by now as all his focus was on his big brother. His back was to the subject as he looked to Shigaraki with curious and hopeful eyes. Once again, he was given the chance to prove himself on something everyone doubted him in. Even without genetic power, surely he could still be of use somehow.

“I’ll have to find you a teacher, probably. But you want a part in that little hitlist you made, right?” Shigaraki had likely been thinking about this for quite some time. There was no way that Midoriya would be satisfied with just being a doctor.

“You could teach me, couldn’t you?” The older villain looked at his hand when he was asked. It wouldn’t be safe. And he wasn’t even the type to use weapons because they would just turn to dust if he tried having a firm grasp on them. But Midoriya would love it if his big brother was his teacher.

“Maybe… maybe with defense. You’ll need someone else for offense.” Instead of leaving him out, he was willing to accommodate his needs. It made the little villain’s heart flutter as he smiled softly to himself. The idea of killing and learning how to kill was filling him with anticipation.

Shigaraki had returned to the bar for that night to let Midoriya continue his work in peace until the little villain felt he had done enough. He took the elevator to the floor with his room and quickly got changed and washed up before going to the bar to join Shigaraki and Kurogiri. As it was becoming tradition, Kurogiri took the little villain’s stained clothes and would wash them for him. The dark fog dad figure would meanwhile fix a snack for him to make sure he was at least getting baseline nutrition.

Midoriya rested his head on his arms that were on the counter as he munched on some food, watching Shigaraki scroll through his phone. The little villain looked exhausted from working all night and his mother kept him up in the day time to gush over his success of getting into U.A.. The circles and bags around his eyes have gotten a bit more intense this past week and now his body was physically acting on the exhaustion. And Shigaraki took notice with just a glance at him. “Take the day off tomorrow.” he casually demanded out of nowhere, not looking away from his phone now. The sound of that command made the tired boy twitch and gazed up at him from his arms.

“Wh...What? No, it’s-” he started to subtly panic. He wasn’t being lazy or disloyal or giving up. Shigaraki didn’t think he was any of those things, right? Was he pitying him? Or was this a test? No… Tomu wouldn’t do this. He’s not like that.

“You’re starting to exhaust yourself. You’re not as accurate or productive if you’re like that. It’s basic stats. Your stamina is way low.” The older villain didn’t look away from his phone and tapped the side of his own head with one finger. “You’re smart. How do you replenish stamina?”

“A potion,” Midoriya said sarcastically which earned a hand, minus a pinkie finger, to his head that was smothering his face into the counter. But it was not painful. Just a bit of brotherly tough love.

“No, idiot,” Shigaraki grumbled as Midoriya pathetically whined about being squished into the wood counter.

“Ow, ow, fine!” The whines made the scrawny villain weaken his push and let the little villain raise his head again. “Coffee.” And that comment ended up with his face being smothered once again.

“Sleep!” Shigaraki corrected.

Midoriya grumbled after Shigaraki released him from his counter smothering but kept his head in his arms. His eyes were closed but he would keep himself from falling asleep at the bar again. He had his own room here now so the least he could do was keep himself awake long enough to drag himself there. However, for now, he just wanted to spend just a little more time with his big brother. Spend more time with him…

“Tomu, if I take the day off tomorrow, can you take it off with me? Maybe go out?” he asked, averting his eyes towards the bottles against the wall with his face tinted a light shade of pink. He was embarrassed to ask but he wanted to spend more time with this murderous villain. Go out and do something that wasn’t work-related for once. And it looked like that villain was ignoring him as he never took his eyes off his phone and stayed quiet for about a minute. 

Shigaraki had to think it over.“I haven’t stepped foot outside for leisure since that night I picked you up,” he admitted. 

His hermit status: severe. Of course, he hadn’t been outside. Why would he have to if Kurogiri could just pick anything up that he asked for? And Kurogiri appeared to obey his every command so there was no reason for him to go outside. Shigaraki couldn’t promise Midoriya that he would be very fun to be around outside amongst the public. He rested his chin on his palm and subtly sunk his mouth into it, turning away to avoid eye contact.

“I don’t think it’ll be all that fun if I go with you,” he said honestly, secretly biting at the skin on his lips. Sure this little villain was clingy to him, which he didn’t mind mostly; but he should not be getting his hopes up. But this little villain was stubborn.

“We can go to an arcade or something. You can show off.” Midoriya tried to coax him into it with one of his hobbies. But he was still hesitant.

“It’s not really my thing, Izuku. Just drop i-” The freckled villain reached over to grab the top of Shigaraki’s closest hand, careful not to touch his fingers.

“Please?”

No one would believe that a simple “please” was all it took for Shigaraki to cave into Midoriya’s wishes. And that very next day, after a long night’s rest, the two were out together among the people of the outside world. 

Though they both shared a similar fashion sense of wearing a lot of black. Shigaraki wore just a black hoodie but Midoriya would wear a red flannel, unbuttoned to show just a black t-shirt. It was his first day away from the books and the experimentation table since his journey began. 

The exhaustion was visible around his eyes but now that he was able to sleep into his desired time without the pressure to work, he seemed much more awake and aware. His walking pace was confident yet casual as Shigaraki dragged his feet slightly just because he dreaded being outside and human interaction. 

His lack of social ability was exemplified when it was Midoriya that had to go to a cafe cashier and order a coffee and a sugary concoction because he didn’t want to talk to anyone, but he did give his little brother the money to pay.

“I never thought you’d have a sweet tooth,” Midoriya commented as Shigaraki drank something filled with chocolate, coffee, candies, and cookie bits. It made him snicker seeing this murderer have such childish traits.

“Try not to turn into a coffee addict,” Shigaraki said back as he poked the side of his little brother’s head with mild force.

Their casual day together sent them walking around the city and poking into a few arcades. In the afternoon, they passed an alley where a mangled man was passed out against the wall. Purple burns scattered his body and his face, a glass bottle sat in a limp hand, his white belt unbuckled, and the faint aroma of smoke surrounded him. But he was blissfully ignored by the villainous duo. And yet the two also passed a blonde girl with the brightest smile, skipping with shopping bags in each hand, going about her merry way without a care in her mind. 

Later they would also pass a lizard man with a very tall friend who appeared masculine yet feminine at the same time. It appears they were looking at women’s clothes however, so the lizard man’s friend was, respectively, a woman. The brothers would also pass a man in a long cold season coat, a top hat, a scarf, and sunglasses, twirling two marbles in his fingers.

They were faces all lost in the crowd by the end of the day. Nothing more than a passing stranger, passing nobodies. By the tail end of the evening, Shigaraki and Midoriya shared a small box of fried food while they strolled the city streets continuing their way home. Just as Midoriya was about to eat a piece, Shigaraki snatched it away with chopsticks that he held incredibly awkwardly, to eat it himself, smirking evilly. To which Midoriya half glared but also returned the grin by stealing the whole box. This playful game of stealing was interrupted, however.

“G-Get back…! I’m gonna split! Shut up!” They both were faintly able to hear a man crying out from the depths of an alley. Midoriya knew this area well. And the two looked at each other, exchanging looks of annoyance and curiosity.

“Criminal! I’ve seen you on the news!” another voice called out, echoing off the walls. Shigaraki sighed and rolled his eyes as he felt Midoriya grab his wrist and pulled him along. Even his big brother wouldn’t resist the possibility of a new member of his little group. A new villain to recruit? A criminal? What was his quirk? Could he see what was inside of him too? The little villain had to know!

Following the voices and the sounds of conflict, the makeshift brothers would come across two heroes in flashy costumes holding a man against the wall who looked to be in the middle of an anxiety attack. He was sweating profusely and appeared to be in great pain, the stitches at the center of his forehead looked strained and irritated. But the heroes showed no mercy as they ground his head into the brick wall and attempted to restrain him. He was pathetically helpless. It didn’t appear that a crime was even committed. There was just a single cigarette on the ground that was still burning faintly. This grown man was in tears and these two heroes were ignoring his cries of pain. 

“Stop it! Stop it! I’ll rip apart!”

Shigaraki reached into his pocket to retrieve the severed hand that he called father. He placed it over his face before pushing Midoriya behind him lightly to make sure he was a safe distance away from the conflict.

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit rough on him?” he said just loud enough to get the heroes’ attention. Even the crying man hushed his voice slightly to acknowledge this new presence. “Always ignoring people. You’ll walk away from this without a second thought, won’t you?” Shigaraki egged on a bit, yet he sounded frustrated.

“Are you with this guy?” One hero in a purple mask asked the criminal in his custody.

“I just want t-to stay… o-one.” the criminal sobbed out. So apathetic… but he was in a panic. Something was mentally wrong with him. And here he was being ignored so cruelly.

The second hero in an orange mask began to take a few steps closer to Shigaraki and Midoriya, to which Shigaraki pushed his little brother back a bit more. 

“I don’t like the look of you. Why do you have a kid with you?” he interrogated with his hand twitching a bit. When he was just inches from the decaying villain, the nails on his fingers grew at least a meter long and turned pitch black. “Are we going to have a problem with you…?” he snarled, but the villain did not react and just kept a stable glare. His lack of fear must have angered the hero because it earned him a hand to his throat, preparing to choke him.

“To-” Midoriya went to reach out for his big brother when a hand with only four fingers grasped the hero’s wrist. Knowing how the older villain’s quirk worked, the teenager kept quiet and watched this play out instead.

“How stuck up,” Shigaraki grumbled before placing his fifth finger down on the hero’s wrist. Within just an instant, the hero’s hand was completely severed and soon turned to ash as blood rushed out of the wound.

 In a panic, the orange masked man cried out and tried to slash Shigaraki with his other clawed hand only for the villain to disappear from his sight with pure speed, though the claws cut right through the solid brick wall behind him. Before the hero could look for where the villain had gone, there was already a hand on his throat from behind which quickly severed his head and left the corpse’s bleeding neck behind. 

The corpse fell to the dirt ground without resistance as Shigaraki then turned to the purple masked hero restraining the stranger. That hero was nearly paralyzed by how quickly his ally was murdered by this scrawny villain. But he gritted his teeth and pulled the stranger back just to slam him back into the wall. No, he was not about to flee from this villain. He could fight him. Heroes always win, right?

“Why is it when you get violent it’s fine? But when I try to defend myself-” Shigaraki began to grumble.

“That was no self-defense, you freak!” There was no philosophical talk to be had here. The hero in the purple mask raised his hands forward to shoot large lumps of purple sludge at Shigaraki to which he easily avoided with speed alone. The blobs landed on the ground and brick walls, festering and bubbling, burning away at the area around them slowly. 

Midoriya wanted to cry out to warn his beloved big brother of the dangers of the quirk. But before he could even make a sound, Shigaraki seemingly disappeared. The hero looked around in a panic, firing sludge at trash cans he may be hiding behind. But there was no one to be found. He couldn’t have fled and left this defenseless child behind.

Just as the hero was about to look up, Shigaraki dropped down from pipes he was dangling on by his feet and reached to place just one hand on the hero’s face. By the time his feet were on the ground, there was nothing but ash and blood in front of him. He scratched the side of his head with a sigh and stretched his neck from side to side a bit. 

Midoriya could only stand in his place as he watched what his big brother had done. And he was amazed. His eyes sparkled with fascination and awe, looking at him like he used to look at All Might. Except for the guy in front of him it was not a lie. There was no exaggerated muscle, no flashy costume, no news media filling his ego with compliments. He may be spotted with blood spatter, but he looked like someone that he wanted to be just like.

“Ow, ow, ow, o-ow… k-keep me together. I’ll come apart!” The stranger cried as he curled on his knees, gripping his head so tightly. Shigaraki tilted his head at the sight beside him and looked confused as to what his problem was.

“The hell is up with you?” he asked. But it didn’t look like this guy was even listening to him. 

Even Midoriya was baffled by this man’s words and actions but was at least able to notice how his eyes were shut tight and he was trying to keep his head contained as if it was about to split. So in a moment of quick thinking, he noticed a dirty brown grocery bag on the ground near him. Poking two holes in it with his thumb, he walked over and brought it down over the stranger’s head. 

Shigaraki raised a brow to this action but just let his little brother be smart. The stranger tugged the bag down tightly over his head as he dramatically cried and his quivering calmed. His voice became much quieter as his anxiety began to pass. Looking at the two villains before him, he did not feel fear.

“Th-Thanks…” he said much more calmly. “You were so cool! You took those guys out like nothing!” he then said again but with a much different tone, and maybe even a different personality. 

The sudden enthusiasm caught them both off guard as they backed off a bit simultaneously. Too much personality for them.

“Yeah… who are you? They called you a criminal.” Shigaraki had no desire for small talk as he tried to question this man who was now wearing a paper bag as a mask.

“I shouldn’t tell people that. It’s dangerous.” He said, rubbing his neck but then twitching and putting his fists to his sides proudly. “I’m Twice! Bubaigawara Jin! The clone criminal! Have ya heard of me?!” 

Two personalities… a more level headed one and one that was not very smart. 

“But I don’t clone myself anymore. I just wanna lay low now but… it’s hard.” The two brothers listened to this man with two personalities. 

Midoriya looked to Shigaraki to see what he would do about this. Would he offer him to join? Bring this man in as he did for him?

“Yeah, life’s hard like that,” Shigaraki said quietly, reaching into a pocket inside his hoodie. “If the laying low thing doesn’t work out for you, try getting a hold of this guy.” he handed Twice a card with just a phone number written. 

Was that a good idea? He just killed two people and he was giving out someone he’s close to’s number to a stranger. Midoriya just watched the older man take the card and look at it angrily, grumbling to himself as he turned it every which way suspiciously. But then he was just beaming.

“Booty call, right!?” Twice blurted out. 

Shigaraki just glared and used every ounce of self-control not to kill the guy in front of him.“You’re very annoying.”

“What was that about?” Midoriya asked as the two had long begun walking back to Kurogiri’s bar, though they had to take back roads because of the blood being very visible on Shigaraki’s clothes.

“Once he told me his name, I kinda knew who he was. He’s pretty infamous. He would make clones of himself and do some pretty crazy stuff. But he disappeared for a while recently.” He explained. “I guess he went a bit crazy.” 

Having multiple personalities was something the media never reported. Something must have happened if he didn’t want to clone himself anymore. But that doesn’t mean he was completely useless to him. 

“I’ve got a guy, he’s kinda an info broker slash business guy. If I need anything from the black market or to get in contact with someone specifically, he’s there. You’ll probably see him around eventually.” Shigaraki did have operations underworks at the moment. He was building connections and using the ones he had very skillfully. 

Midoriya’s eyes sparkled slightly as he peeked up at him from the corner of his eye. His face wasn’t all that pretty, he didn’t fake a smile, he wasn’t physically strong, but he was clever. He was his big brother now. And knowing that made Midoriya feel all fuzzy inside as his face blushed slightly. How lucky he was to have someone like him in his life. He wanted to make him proud tomorrow.

That very next afternoon, Midoriya would be standing in his laboratory in front of one of the cages that were kept against the walls. Up until now, they had always been empty. But in one sat a man in tattered clothes, shaggy hair, and had a horrendous odor. His hands were confined in a metal box to render whatever quirk he had useless. It didn’t stop him from staring straight at the young villain with deranged eyes and occasionally giggling to himself.

“Heroes prefer flashy villains to fight to get them more screen time. They leave weirdos like this to roam like rats.” Shigaraki said, sitting on the desk which had become his usual sitting place. The crazed man had the biggest smile with his tongue hanging out, giving even Midoriya chills because he was looking directly at him.

“Why… does he keep looking at me like that?” he asked, holding a knife close to himself but pointed at the cage. This weirdo’s presence was making his skin crawl.

“I don’t think you want to know what this guy’s done,” Shigaraki said quietly, almost like even he didn't even want to talk about it.

“I want to know.”

Shigaraki pulled out his phone and went scrolling a bit before showing Midoriya the screen which had some pictures of boys his age and some a little older that were heroes in compromising pictures together. But they were not inappropriate enough to keep the media from spreading them. 

“His quirk is getting things he’s touched to stick together. He’s infamous for ruining heroes’ careers as an anonymous photographer.” 

There had to be more than that. Shigaraki wouldn’t be killing a guy who was a pain for heroes. And Midoriya knew this and narrowed his eyes. 

“It’s the stuff that’s on the darknet that you don’t want to know about.” The older villain took his phone back and went scrolling again and handed it to the other. 

It was a series of pictures taken on the phone of a computer screen in a very dark room. It was likely Shigaraki’s computer in his room. The images were low quality but what he saw on the screen made the little villain’s stomach churn in every wrong way. He didn’t want to know anymore. He didn’t want to see things like that with people his age and younger. But he knew now why Shigaraki picked this kind of person. There was no one worse than someone like this. This disgusting, perverted, hideous monster. He gripped the knife in his hands tighter than before and gritted his teeth.

“I got some reports of stalking. But with the lack of proof, the cops never took action on it.” Shigaraki wasn’t done yet. What else was there to know? This creature deserved to die. This creature deserved the most painful death. But before he could go through with it, the scrawny villain showed him a very expensive camera with lots of pictures stored on it still. There were lots of teenagers his age, all boys, but none of them were the settings of the children from the computer. These looked to be potential targets for torturous humiliation he witnessed. But they were not yet harmed. Most were hero students and he could tell from the costumes that their schools likely provided them. But some were middle school age in those all-black uniforms. Amongst the many faces, he recognized one that beheld bright red eyes and a face of permanent anger.

 “Ka...Kacchan…?” Why was he on here? But his curiosity stopped there as he kept scrolling and found another familiar face. One that he could never forget. One with the softest bi-colored eyes and hair. One with the most hurtful scar. One with the most beautiful face.

Midoriya dropped the camera. He stomped on it. He heard it shatter. His face was hidden in the shadow of his fluffy hair. There was no expression to be seen. It didn’t need to be seen. He walked past his work table and swiped the ring of keys that sat at the end of it. Each one was labeled with a letter that corresponded with the letters engraved on the cages. 

As he got closer, the creature inside the cage appeared to become more excited by his attention and presence. It began laughing and making noises of anticipation when he was just inches away. With zero hesitation the tongue hanging out of its mouth would be cut off with one movement.

The laboratory echoed with screams and chokes of agony. Blood began to flow quickly out of its mouth as it tried to feel desperately for the severed body part. It began to cry as it looked up at Midoriya, eyes begging for mercy from this child. But it only made eye contact with one demonic red hue peeking out from under his hair. It tried to crawl to the far end of the cage when the door was unlocked and opened. Not being physically strong enough to drag the monster out, Midoriya went ahead and crawled in on his hands and knees. He sat tall on his knees, holding his knife above his head, glaring down with a small yet illuminating red glow from one eye. 

“Gho… G-Gho…” There was no tongue to make the sound of an N. “I’m… sow-” it sobbed before the blade came down once into its chest. Then out. Then in its shoulder. Then out. Then in its chest again. Then out. Then in. Out and in repeatedly, over and over. The sound only being comparable to carving raw meat.

Shigaraki watched Midoriya mutilate the creature in the cage with just one knife. He watched him mutilate a corpse beyond recognition. There was no patience or mercy to even use the body for experimentation. A pool of crimson flooded the tiny cage and dripped through the bars to the laboratory floor. The metal bars had all become splattered and spotted. But Midoriya was drenched. His black hoodie was beyond ruined. Kurogiri would not be able to wash it. It was all over his face, dripping off his cheek. His hair was wet with it all.

He soon carefully crawled out of the cage and dropped the knife on the floor, letting it clang a few times. He’d get it later. He’d clean it all later. But in the meantime he just staggered towards the elevator, wanting nothing more than to go to bed. Tired. So tired. He had his first day of school tomorrow. He had to be ready for tomorrow.

However, he didn’t quite make it before his legs nearly gave out on him all of a sudden. He had felt so powerful just moments ago but then quickly changed to feeling weak. He felt sick, exhausted, and disgusted. 

It was Shigaraki who caught him before he fell and instead of making the new killer walk, he put him on his back and held him up from under his knees. Of course, he didn’t mind all of the blood or even the smell. He only glanced at his little brother’s face from the corner of his eye and only saw the faintest smile. Behind his glowing green eyes, there was a hint of satisfaction and pride.

“Are you… proud?” Midoriya asked softly, getting a slight grip on his shoulder.

“I am.”

In returning the teenager to his apartment space, he was laid down in his bed without bathing or even changing clothes. The stains would be dealt with later. The corpse would be burned away later. These things could wait until later. For now, this villain needed rest to be prepared for school the next day.

Dawn of the next morning began with running water from the showerhead with blood and soap mixing before being sucked down a drain. Midoriya soothingly took a shower in silence with his eyes clothes, letting the red wash away and off his freckled skin. In this moment of privacy and peace, he could only anticipate what U.A. would have in store for him. But all he wanted to know was if he would see that beautiful boy again. He’s waited months to see him again. 

The excitement was morphing with the anxiety of the unknown. Would he be the same? If they were to meet, what would they say to each other? He couldn’t help but clutch his chest as it started to subtly hurt. 

“Please… let this be okay,” he said quietly to himself.

Midoriya made his way down to the hub of the bar in his brand new school uniform, a boring shade of grey jacket and a red tie, poorly tied in a cute yet incorrect knot. 

“You can’t possibly be going to school like that,” Kurogiri said the moment he saw him come down the stairs. Not wasting a moment, he teleported across the room to the teenager and undid whatever horrific knot he made only to redo it properly. “When you come back this afternoon, I’ll teach you how to do it right,” he said, making the new and proper knot snug at the boy’s neck. It made him smile as he loosened it just a bit to make it more comfortable.

Shigaraki played on his phone and ate a very unhealthy pack of pastries while his little brother relished in a more nutritious and home-cooked meal for his breakfast. There were no instructions for today. Just get through the first day and settle into the facade of being a giddy first year, eager to help the heroes. He wasn’t about to add more pressure yet. Instead, he would trust the little villain to make the proper choices for now. And thus that little villain went to the door with his yellow backpack over his shoulders and looked back at the two at the bar counter. He waved goodbye for Shigaraki to raise his hand for a moment and for Kurogiri to nod his head.

Midoriya would sneak back to Inko’s house to pretend that he woke up in his room and got dressed and ready before she had woken up. He was sent off the second time with tears and a series of “I love you”s that he was not against receiving. 

The gaze he had was that of faked bliss and joy as he watched his mother ramble on and on about how proud she was and how much she believed in him with his hands clasped in hers. But all he could see was his hands covered in blood and it getting all over her. In reality, there was nothing there. He couldn’t help but keep from seeing it. There was blood on his hands now as a true villain. The smile was key as he just smiled his way through his mother’s innocent tears, smiled his way to the train, to the campus front gate.

He looked up at the massive entrance and took a deep breath before walking through with a bunch of to-be heroes. Walking towards the main entrance of the building, he had to look around at every hallway and corner. Mapping for later but for now, where was he? Was he here? He had to be here. He just had to be somewhere. He had to be at this very school. He’s been thinking and waiting for him all this time.

Though it wasn’t the red and white hair he was searching for, from down the hall he was able to get a glimpse of an angrily walking blonde, stomping to class. The falsified smile of awe broke immediately when he saw him. The mask of emotion shattered on his face for a moment as his chest welled up with hatred and bitterness. 

“ Dive off the roof .” 

No, he didn’t dive off the roof. He didn’t kill himself that day. The look of anger on his face began to shift as he reminded himself that he needed to look happy. Thus what came upon his expression was a chaotic smirk and eyes burning with the lust to kill him now. He lightly clutched both his cheeks like he was trying to force his appearance to change. 

“One day… One day you’ll beg me to kill you,” he said near silently to himself.

“You’re in my way!” a raspy voice growled as Midoriya felt a hand grab on to his hair and painfully shoved him aside. He shut his eyes tight and gritted teeth from the pain of getting his hair pulled in such a way. He was only able to get a peek at this new addition to his hit-list notebook. It was a student he did not recognize but he had yellow eyes but black spikey hair like Bakugo. The student was on his way to the class 1-A room. Someone like that didn’t deserve to be a hero. Someone like that had to die before he could get that far.

Being shoved aside, Midoriya was forced into someone a bit taller than him but didn’t make them stumble. If anything, they were just pushed a bit against the wall but put their hands on his shoulders to cushion his motion. He had to stop his glaring. He had to smile. Smile and bite his tongue and play nice with the other kids.

“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to run into you like-” He smiled brightly yet cutely awkwardly when he looked up at the person he had lightly pushed up against the wall and had their hands on his shoulders gently. The smile instantly dropped, but his eyes began to shimmer in infatuation.

He would recognize that beautiful face anywhere. His hero was here. “It’s you…”

Chapter Text

Midoriya had his hands against the wall behind his hero. His chin was up against his chest, trying to look up at his face politely initially. The fake smile he had was wiped away by his true expression of awe. He was surprised but so pleasantly surprised. Enthusiastically surprised. This beautiful boy was looking down at him, his hands were on his shoulders to keep him from falling or from having a more forceful shove. He looked nearly the same as he did that fateful day. Midoriya’s expression of awe slowly changed as he noticed something a little different about him. How much colder his eyes had become. His soft face had become sterner. And though he could not see wounds on his arms like he had their first meeting, he could see bandages peeking out from under the collar of his shirt. Whatever was going on at home never got better.

“It’s you…” Midoriya said quietly, unable to break their eye contact. Which eye should he focus on more, they were both so beautiful in their mismatched colorization. Beautiful. How beautiful he was reminded that this boy was. He hoped his beating heart couldn’t be felt through their physical contact at that very moment. “The one from the roof…” His name. He wanted to know his name so badly. All these months, swooning and gushing, but he never even knew his name. Nevermind their current position, the name of his hero was the only thing on his mind. “Wh-What’s your-” he tried to ask before it was too late. But it was too late.

A girl with black hair in a big, poofy ponytail had been walking past them when she noticed the two. She stopped and held her hand delicately under her chin. At least she didn’t look mean. “Oh, you’re in my class, aren’t you? We were both recommended. You better hurry up before you’re late on the first day.” she said with a wonderfully pleasant smile. No, don’t take this moment away. Don’t pull him away yet! This stupid, stupid girl! Midoriya looked back and gritted his teeth but had to pull back away because it would look too embarrassing to continue this position.

“Y...Yeah.” was all the beautiful hero student said, taking a few steps towards the girl but turning his head to look back at the little villain. “We can talk later.” Later. They’ll see each other later. How much later? Did it matter? There was going to be a later.

“L-Later then…” Midoriya stuttered, holding his hand up in an awkward wave goodbye. But he didn’t want to say goodbye again. How much longer would he be forced to wait?

Midoriya had his hands clasped together at his chest as he tried to navigate the halls to his class. Feeling his heart pound so fast under his skin in this manner was so new. He wasn’t killing like he was the night before or studying the insides of a corpse. This came from someone alive and beautiful. He was so close to him just now. They had been right up against each other just like that time he helped him down from the roof. He never noticed how strong he physically felt.

Finding his way to class just before the bell, he sat down in a seat closest to the window and tried to ignore most of his classmates. They looked just as plain as he did. He would bet that most of their quirks weren’t anything to brag about. He found their giddy faces obnoxious and their enthusiastic voices annoying. Was this how Shigarki felt around people? For now, he would just want to keep to himself.

Soon Midoriya would hear the voices of some of his classmates become more hushed. It was a sudden shift in noise and it sparked the little villain’s curiosity. Glancing away from the window, from the corner of his eye, he watched a student with tired eyes and purple hair walk in and sit down in silence. A small gaggle of students was looking at him and whispering to each other just close enough for Midoriya to hear.

“That’s Shinsou, don’t talk to him.”

“What? Why not?”

“He’s pretty scary looking first off.”

“Yeah but, his quirk is super sketchy. If you talk to him, he can control your mind.”

“Creepy…”

“Super creepy..”

Midoriya peeked at the student that was the subject of this gossip and at least acknowledged him. A quirk that could let him control minds, how useful a quirk like that would be of use to Shigaraki. But this was a hero school. Convincing the students to switch sides is a challenge and he had to focus all his efforts right now on that beautiful boy. However, someone like this kid, Shinsou, should be kept in mind.

At least their homeroom teacher was a familiar face with a familiar voice. Though their teacher had a very obnoxiously loud and ecstatic voice. Midoriya remembered how he’d listen to that voice in his favorite podcast when he still liked heroes. He was so much louder and brighter in person. “Gooooooood morning!!” The pro hero Present Mic practically screamed, signaling all the talkative students to sit down and go silent. Midoriya covered his ears and grumbled quietly to himself. So noisy. This semester was going to be a nightmare at this rate. He wanted to go home and play videogames with Shigaraki and experiment on another test subject, not be surrounded by annoying kids his age and a loud teacher. He didn’t want to play little schoolboy anymore but… this was for Shigaraki. This was for that beautiful boy. This was to kill all the heroes that raise expectations and then destroy dreams so carelessly. He would have to suffer for now if he ever wanted to get anywhere.

“Congrats on getting into U.A. guys! YeAh!” Present Mic greeted and held a hand to his ear, expecting a response but got silence instead. But that was not about to ruin his mood or his personality. He was probably used to it. “So I’m your homeroom teacher, Yamada Hizashi! I’ll also be your English teacher and quirk trainer!” He made finger guns and proceeded to position himself in odd poses after every other sentence. Midoriya envied his energy. “You guys may be in general studies, but that just means you can get a taste of every possible course! So we’ll spend most of the day observing different classes based on your interest!” Observing? Midoriya looked towards Present Mic with a side glance but he had his curious attention now. The other students looked around at each other, also curious about what this ‘observing’ would entail. This school was not like others due to the variety of hero-related classes in addition to the typical high school education. “The morning will consist of your typical high school things like math, social studies, English, literature, etcetera! Once all of those are covered, you will observe a different course of your choosing and take notes! Then the late afternoon will have you try to enhance your abilities and see if the course you observe is what truly aspire to do!” Midoriya made a face as he sunk his chin into his palm. That last part is where he would be left out, wasn’t it? He didn’t have a quirk to train. He would be placed with the school nurse for private lessons instead but…

Midoriya watched as the student named Shinsou slowly raised his hand. “Will we be able to observe the hero classes?” he asked with a monotone voice. All of the students became tense at the sound of his voice. Would their homeroom teacher respond and be mind-controlled? Would a scary looking person like that pull that stunt on the first day? Like some villain?

“Of course! Class 1-A and 1-B are the kids your age, but I would also recommend watching the older students as well!” No. Class 1-A was fine. Midoriya’s eyes slowly widened and shimmered with hope. He would see that beautiful boy. Every. Day. No one would question him. He would watch students get hurt and try to think on the spot what would heal them quickest. He could watch the class being taught by All Might, study their quirks and let Shigaraki know how to get closer to the Symbol of Peace. Suddenly this was all so perfect.

And thus that was how the day commenced. Shinsou never brainwashed anyone that morning although many students kept their distance from him. Typical classes were run through and completed with note taking and focus. Midoriya knew he had far more anatomy than any student in this school. But he still had to study and understand basic academics if he wanted to proceed to be in the school successfully and blend in with the other kids. However, he did not pass up the opportunity to take out his personal notebook and take notes on the teachers themselves. Midnight, Present Mic, Ectoplasm, Snipe, Hound Dog, Thirteen, Cementoss, Power Loader, the staff were all pro heroes with impressive knowledge and power. Midoriya would have to let Shigaraki know that All Might is well protected with incredible allies.

But then came time for the mandated observing. The class was taken to a dark room with dozens of computer monitors hanging up on the walls. All of them were currently turned off until Present Mic went to the main control panel. “Because it’s the first day, I won’t make you take notes just yet. Look around! Pick a screen, pick a topic, pick a subject! Explore all of the possibilities!” One by one, all the screens turned on and many showed live camera footage from different classes. There were smaller screens below the big ones that showed quirks and names of all the students that were in the class being shown. Midoriya was immediately drawn to monitor of class 1-A where they were outside near the athletic fields doing quirk testing. Many of them looked stressed like someone just threatened to expel them if they failed.

He watched intensely as they were showing off basic athletic skills like throwing, running, leaping, balance, grip strength, and other fitness exercises. Midoriya watched them, his hands clasped tightly at his chest. He was nearly shaking with anxiety as one finger began scratching at the top of his wrist. Where was he? Where was he? He was in that class, wasn’t he? He had to be! He was the only hero that deserved to be in it!

“Well, you look tense.” Present Mic said cheekily from behind the little villain. The closeness of his voice made Midoriya flinch and turn towards him, a bit frazzled.

“I-I uh…” he blushed and lowered his head awkwardly. There was no excuse for his behavior.

“Midoriya Izuku, right?” Present Mic lowered the volume of his voice for once that day and had a less extreme smile on his face. This man was suddenly much softer. He remembered his name, so quickly too. “I was surprised to see someone without a quirk in this school. They sure made it tough on you guys to get in. I’m impressed.” the teacher praised with a grin. He had a nice grin. Midoriya liked it. “And you got into the medical course too. That got me. You were one of the only ones that passed so I didn’t worry so much about you when I heard that.” he rubbed the back of his head. “I would hate for you to feel left out of this school when we have kids with these insane powers. I hope you can find your place here.”

Midoriya felt his chest beat a bit harder than normal. This teacher was so obnoxious, loud, and childish, but also very sweet and considerate. He was left speechless for a few moments because it had been so long since a pro hero had been so kind. So real. So comforting. So bright. Would it be wrong to tell Shigaraki not to kill this one in particular?

“So what’s up?” Present Mic asked, looking at the screen the villain had been so fixated on up until now. He was smart enough to notice the general source of his student’s anxiety.

“Well uh… I’m looking for someone.” Midoriya admitted. And it was when he looked back, he saw that beautiful boy once again. He was using his ice to slide across a track of dirt instead of running a race with three other classmates. One was that black spiky-haired kid that grabbed him by the hair earlier. When that student lost that race, he breathed out a blast of fire to melt the ice left behind out of anger. A fire breathing quirk. The sight of it made a nasty glare appear on Midoriya’s face. But that wasn’t the boy he was focused on.

“Him. The one with the white and red hair.” he pointed at his hero. Present Mic took a look at the student on the screen, held his hand to his chin, and leaned in close to the smaller, lower screen to look for a name.

“Todoroki Shouto. Half Cold - Half Hot. You know him?” Todoroki Shouto. Midoriya felt his face blush once more as he subtly hugged himself. At last… his name. His eyes became hazy and a blissful grin spread across his face. Even if he couldn’t talk to him like this, he could watch that beautiful boy, Todoroki Shouto, every day.

“Todoroki…” he hummed quietly. The perfect name for his hero. He was perfect. Midoriya quickly snapped out of his moment long trance and shut his eyes tight to help bring him back to reality. “I um… I know him. I just haven’t seen him in a while.” He said timidly to his teacher. Present Mic paid no attention to the villain’s little episode and just shrugged with a smile.

“You’ll talk to him soon, I’m sure.” Midoriya was far too busy watching the screen and just adoring every second Todoroki was in view.

“Yeah…”

Midoriya did not realize until it was too late that the lunch period would involve all the classes at the same time so it was a mad rush of impatience to get to the cafeteria first. The little villain was squished between students of all sizes and all different quirks. He didn’t want to be part of the crowd like this but he was consumed when he was peacefully on his way. With everyone bumping and pushing up against each other, he just wanted to scream and pull a knife on the other students just to get some breathing room. How bothersome. How humiliating to feel this small. And it was soon enough that he was pushed back and left behind the whole crowd of sheepish students. He fell on his backside and left a disorganized mess on the floor. His blazer was half off one shoulder, his hair was messier than usual, his tie had become slightly loosened, and he was disoriented. He wanted to go home again. “All these stupid, lazy, greedy-” he started muttering when he heard footsteps from in front of him. Looking up, his heart fluttered once again. His hero was holding out a hand to him.

“Another shit day, huh?” Todoroki asked. How was it that this was the boy was the one that kept appearing before him when he needed someone? Was this the time? Could he finally speak with him again? Could he learn more about him? Could he spend more time with him? Could he be held by him again? To be held by him again. The owner of those strong arms that were once around his waist was here now. The voice of those kind words that gave him a new dream was no longer just in his dreams.

In complete silence, Midoriya took his hand to pull himself up with Todoroki’s help. But he couldn’t contain himself. Just this once, could he not bite his tongue? Could he be true around this boy? He used the inertia of the pull to hug on tightly to Todoroki and press his cheek into his chest. How much he wanted to cry. All this villain work was to save his beloved hero. He gave him his dreams and a purpose. His eyes began to well up with tears but he couldn’t bring himself to cry now. “I-It’s you again…” he only whispered.

Todoroki was once again shocked by the sudden hug and held his arms up slightly to avoid being restrained. He wasn’t quite sure how to react to this action again. All he could think to do was place his hands on Midoriya’s shoulders gently and hold him there as long as he wanted. He looked down softly, yet with that constant cold demeanor, and just observed the freckled teenager holding on to him for dear life, feel fingers clinging into his back desperately. Has this green-haired boy recovered at all since that summer? Was he able to save him, even a little bit?

“Todoroki Shouto. That’s your name, right? I-I’m Midoriya Izuku.” How did he know that? “My class is all about observing other courses work. I… looked for you.”Midoriya soon pulled back and rubbed his face with the balls of his palms to hide any tears that may have escaped his eyes. “S-Sorry…” he apologized, realizing how uncalled for the hug was. But then he remembered what he had seen earlier that morning. “Oh, your… neck,” he remembered the bandages he saw. He reached up to try and move the collar of Todoroki’s shirt to get a better look. But Todoroki took a step back and covered the left half of his neck out of pure reaction.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly. He hoped that he didn’t offend him because it was merely his instincts at this point.

“After school, could you let me look?” Midoriya pressed just a little bit. “It was your father again. I remember.” his freckled face subtly sparkled. “If you ever want a place to stay, you come with me sometime.” His mother would be happy to have him. Kurogiri could warp him wherever he desired. “I could-” the sparkle began to change as a small glow appeared in his irises and his mischievous smile tugged at his lips. He reached up much slower this time with both hands to cup Todoroki’s cheeks gently. “-take you away, you know?” Take him away from everything that was hurting him.

Unaware that he was staring in the eyes of a killer, Todoroki was once more fascinated by that freckled face. How he was entranced by it. Midoriya’s sweet words were nearly cooed as he held him so gently. His entire presence was shrouded in a dark and poisonous aura but it was alluring and bewitching. The offerings of kindness were a great temptation, Todoroki was finding it difficult to pass them up and let them slip away. This killer’s cheeky smile and illuminating eyes were simply sinister but so sincere.

“I-” Todoroki nearly answered when they both were shaken by an obnoxiously loud voice just around the corner.

“Deku! What the hell are you doing here, huh?!” Bakugo screamed as he oddly stomped closer to the two. Midoriya dropped his hold on Todoroki’s cheeks and broke the eye contact they had. He looked to his old childhood friend with a tired glare and didn’t flinch when he was picked up by the collar of his shirt. There was no fear to be seen on his face, no tears, nor quivering. “How does a quirkless wannabe get into a place for pros? You’re just a damn extra!” Those words meant nothing. They were just nothing compared to all the support and faith Shigaraki had given him. And thus, the reaction Bakugo would receive was just that: nothing. His comedic, over-the-top rage began to morph as he raised a brow and had his grip tightened on the villain’s shirt. “Why the hell aren’t you saying anything, huh?” he growled. The silence was bothering him. It was teasing him. Why wasn’t there a reaction? This little nobody would always cry and shake like a baby when confronted like this. But now he was just looking down at him with a sharp, cold stare. It was making Bakugo’s hand shake with rage as he pulled one hand back and made it spark. “You looking down on me now?! Is that it?! Don’t get so cocky because they let you in!” There was one more spark but a cold hand grabbed his wrist before there could be a bigger one. “Huh?” Todoroki held Bakugo back from trying to hurt Midoriya and it earned him a narrowed glare. “What the hell are you doing? You’re not part of this.” Bakugo sneered but the scarred boy was not deterred at all. He’s dealt with a worse temper.

“We were about to go to the cafeteria together. You’re holding us up,” he said calmly, gaining the freckled boy’s attention and causing the most subtle blush. Going to lunch together? It was such a childish thing but the thought of it made him feel warm inside. He’s never eaten lunch with someone genuinely before.

“How do you losers even know each other?” Bakugo narrowed his eyes at Todoroki. They’ve never met before today and yet he knew that these two knew each other by how they were interacting just now. Todoroki looked to Midoriya and then to Bakugo, making his own theories and assumptions on the spot.

“We just met over the summer,” he said honestly yet vaguely.

Bakugo snarled at his classmate, then glanced back at Midoriya to flinch at a single glimpse of his eyes. There was a subtle red glow and he would be ashamed to admit that it spooked him. The moment he made eye contact, he swore that he felt the air being cut off in his throat. Like a knife slicing through his neck. There was a chill like his blood was running cold. Why was he looking at him like that? Why was he the one feeling afraid all of a sudden?He dropped him. Midoriya landed a bit sloppily. He didn’t land cleanly on his feet but didn’t collapse to the floor as he used the wall to hold himself up. He stood up straight and fixed the collar of his shirt back in place and adjusted his tie that Kurogiri was nice enough to tie for him.

“We should get going.” Midoriya walked up beside Todoroki with a bright smile that showed nothing more than honest joy, ignoring Bakugo completely. Bakugo would usually never take that kind of behavior sitting down but the look he just received from that killer was enough to keep him quiet this time. That was not the same Deku from middle school.

Todoroki and Midoriya were both keen on the idea of not sitting in the crowded portion of the cafeteria and decided to instead take a quiet corner near a window wall. Midoriya took notice that Todoroki’s first choice of food was soba of all things. He liked traditional Japanese things. Was it because he lived a traditional Japanese setting? Or was it a kind of comfort food? Midoriya wanted to know every little detail about him. Obsessed with him. He wanted to give his hero the world. He wanted to know his favorite food, favorite color, his traumas, his darkest fears, his biggest dreams, his deepest desires. He kept his face normal and cheery but his chest felt ready to explode with the satisfaction of being able to spend this much time with this beautiful boy.

“That guy really has it out for you.” Todoroki started the conversation. He had been so quiet all the times they’ve interacted. He came off as a good listener, but it was nice to have him engage in conversation now. It made Midoriya happy.

“I’ve known him for a long time. We used to be friends.” Used to. Were they ever friends? Or did he just cling to Bakugo out of loneliness and stay because he was in awe of his awesome quirk? Bakugo never wanted any part of him as far as he could remember. “But now… I can’t say that I’d care to ever see him again.” he then said quietly, slowly chewing on a piece of meat from his lunch of katsudon.

“Was he also the reason I found you that day?” Todoroki then asked casually but softly, tilting his head down to eat but looking up with intensity in his eyes. And yet that intensity was just focus. He cared. The idea of this beautiful boy caring so much about him made another blush rise on Midoriya’s face. But he looked away with an awkward smile. Their first real conversation couldn’t be about something else? But perhaps that was on him considering their first meeting.

“I’d be lying if I said no. He did kinda give me the idea in the first place.” He made a fake giggle to try and laugh it off, waving his chopsticks up and down. “But I haven’t done anything since then, honest. I’m a lot better.” He assured. Was he all better though? His eating wasn’t doing so well lately, and his wrists were always so red these days. No, he was better. He had new dreams to look forward to and work towards. “And it’s because of you, you know?” Todoroki paused for just a moment as his eyes averted to the side. Did the air around them feel a bit hotter all of a sudden? Midoriya waved his shirt a bit because he felt a physical rise in temperature but it soon subsided.

“I just wanted to help. You looked… so lost.” Todoroki mumbled. He always seemed so quiet when he spoke, always so calm. Midoriya found himself being enchanted by his tone and aura, feeling cool and relaxed now that he was speaking to him normally. He hoped that he could become closer to him.

“I was lost. But you found me, right?” Midoriya smiled sweetly with closed eyes and his chopsticks near his face but pointing away. “Even if we’re not in the same class, I’m really happy that I get to see you.” He was here. And he was there. A villain in a general studies class and a hero in a hero course. A human experimenting doctor was at the testing table and big-hearted boy practicing to save lies. A killer with a loving, warm family and a prisoner was trapped in his own home.

“Hey, Todoroki,” Midoriya began after a few moments of silence. Todoroki appeared to be deep in silent thought when he looked up, giving his attention. “If you could have anything in the world, what would it be?” he then asked before adding more. “I’m not talking about a wish, really. It’s something that you would selfishly want. Something that you want in your life.” He wanted to take him over. Let the villains cajole their way to his heart by giving him something he deeply desired. “Something you want more than anything.”

Todoroki poked at his noodles and thought carefully about what he wanted to say. He has something in mind the moment that he was asked. It was how he wanted to word it that he wanted to think about. And so he spoke softly and looked out the window to the outside at nothing in particular. “I would want my family back,” he answered with a bit of delay. Though the answer was vague and made Midoriya tilt his head, it showed that he was listening intently. “My mother was sent away a very long time ago. My older sister moved out a while ago but came back recently, which I guess is nice. But my older brothers…” He was the youngest, Midoriya took note of every detail in his head. “My brother Natsuo is like a stranger. He went to college but I don’t think he wants much to do with me.” Natsuo never called, never sent a letter, and never stopped by to see him. It sounded like everyone left him at once. “But my oldest one… he’s supposed to be dead.”

Midoriya flinched at the mention of the oldest brother’s fate. “I’m-” he wanted to apologize but Todoroki continued to speak.

“I don’t think he’s dead. There’s a shrine in the house. But I’m not allowed to see it. His name is forbidden to say around the house.” The villain raised a brow at what he was being told. He wasn’t allowed to see his brother’s shrine or hear his name. It didn’t make sense, especially if Endeavor was traditional. But did something else surpass the importance of tradition? “I’m being forced to forget him. He’s only referred to as a ‘failure’. But he’s not…” he couldn’t be. There was no way he was gone. “I would just want everyone to come back to me.” And with that answer , Midoriya could only smirk. He’d do anything to make this dream so.

Chapter Text

“Oh my.” The little old lady, hero named Recovery Girl said, looking at a practice quiz she handed out on the first day of her mini-course training. She was the best healer hero around so it was no surprise that she was the main teacher for the medical class. Yet she handed out a practice test to get a feel for how much her three students knew. Only three students passed the entrance exam. It already had the reputation of being a painfully difficult focus but Midoriya felt more than qualified. And his test scores proved it. He was the first to hand in her practice test and as she looked over his answers, she was impressed. “Midoriya Izuku, dear, are your parents doctors? I wouldn’t expect many students to know some of these answers,” she said with a smile. If only she knew of all the blood that he could still feel on his hands. But he just made an innocent toothy grin.

“My family doesn’t have a history in the medical field. I’m the first to try,” he replied sweetly. The only thing on his mind was the number of bodies that had been burned over the past few months.

Midoriya didn’t care to make friends with the other two students in his training. Instead, he focused much more on his studies and memorizing the chemicals and drugs the school provided the nurse. One word echoed in his head as his eyes scanned every cabinet. Burns.

What was under Todoroki's bandages this time? Second-degree burns? Or maybe even a third degree? It was on his neck. What nerves were there? Would there be nerve damage? How bad was the pain? Was his quirk able to null it? How long would it take for the wounds to heal? How much would he need? If this kept happening, should he be prepared to use something stronger?

While the other students were still taking the practice test, Recovery Girl was peeking at their work to see if they were getting stumped on anything. There wasn’t too much pressure on this test since it was just her trying to get a foundation on where to start. But everyone in U.A. was a try-hard. The veins on the students’ foreheads were beginning to swell with stress. Neither one wanted to be the last one finished. So while all attention was on them and their test, Midoriya walked around the office like he was just curious. But he was eyeing one cabinet up on the wall with a few medicinal creams in it that he recognized.

The afternoon bell rang and Midoriya left with a false aura of shinning purity as the two other students seemed lifeless and worn out from their own stress behind him. Recovery Girl waved goodbye to them and began to pack up her things when she took notice of one of the cabinets on the wall. “Hm. I thought I had more of those,” she commented to herself, taking out a sticky note to leave on the door that was a reminder to buy more burn creams.

Midoriya stood near the front entrance of the school, swaying forward and back on his feet in anticipation. Staying after school to go somewhere with another student, he has never had the chance to do this before. And now he was able to go somewhere with Todoroki. His chest was beating but it was with so much excitement. He would heal his wounds and they could talk more. They could talk all night. He could stay out with him as long as he could. There were no more days of dreaming to even see him again; he could spend hours with him now.

“You didn’t have to wait,” Todoroki said quietly, coming up beside him.

“I told you I would see you after school. I didn’t mind waiting.” Midoriya said, hoping to let Todoroki know that he could never inconvenience him. He wanted to take his hands and take him to Shigaraki and Kurogiri so he could be certain that he was safe. But there was no way a hero in the making would approve of the things they’ve done. This would take time.

“Was there somewhere that you wanted to go?” Todoroki asked. Midoriya couldn’t picture his new friend knowing much about ‘going out’ either. He seemed like the type to locked inside the house all day, so he wouldn’t know any places of interest.

“Yeah, I have an idea.”

Midoriya walked beside Todoroki as they went about the city together. Conversation was kept at small talk with Midoriya doing most of the talking, explaining his course and talking about his class and the specifics of his course. He didn’t catch himself going on a few tangents and even started muttering to himself about quirks he had seen that afternoon. Though he did not mention the fact that he would love to see the insides of the people with amazing quirks. He couldn’t let that part of his life slip out on accident under any circumstance. Through all the rambling and the muttering, Todoroki listened to it all. There were points where he couldn’t quite understand what he was saying, but he was learning how to. He liked listening to him talk. He liked watching his face express different emotions of excitement and happiness, annoyance and pettiness, he found himself comforted by his demeanor.

They would eventually get on a bullet train where Midoriya would stop talking out of politeness for the setting. But the train was very crowded considering it was the time that students were getting out of school and adults were getting out of work. All the seats were taken and most of the train was crowded. But the two got on anyway and stood close to the wall rather than being squished by people.

“So many people....” Midoriya mumbled quietly. And yet Todoroki didn’t seem all that bothered as he was much more focused on looking out the window. Midoriya got a bit of enjoyment watching his face and the look in his eyes. He was so fascinated by the view and the world passing by so quickly. He never left the house much, did he?

The train stopped a few times and more people squeezed their way inside because people need to get where they’re going and everyone had somewhere to be. At least no one was rude about it. But as more people got inside, Midoriya found himself becoming a bit anxious. Like all eyes were on him. Like someone was on this train that new of all the deeds he had committed. Everyone except Todoroki here was a stranger, so the chance of that being true was slim to none. Yet the anxiety was creeping upon him and the pressure of so many people in one place was making him nervous. Everyone around him felt like they were too close. His hands became jittery as his fingers crept up his sleeve and scratched at his wrists to calm himself down. He felt so hot all of a sudden. But the heat from his nails digging into his skin focused it all to his wrists and he could feel himself cool down. The small pain was barely enough to distract him from this random spike of anxiety.

Todoroki hadn’t noticed the freckled villain’s little episode until he saw him bring his arms closer to himself to scratch at them. The scratching was constant, showing him that it was not a simple itch that was causing this reaction. Just as the train stopped one more time, Midoriya would be lightly guided closer to the wall and would have arms on either side of him to keep anyone else from getting much closer to him. Looking forward, all the smaller teenager would see was the shirt, blazer, and tie of that beautiful boy. He was using himself as a shield from people getting any closer and to keep Midoriya from feeling any more squished by strangers. Midoriya, who had stopped scratching now, looked up at Todoroki’s face just to see him looking back at the people compressing them a bit more but he didn’t seem angry or annoyed. He simply appeared curious. All these different people in this train and he still seemed intrigued by the world outside the window. Constantly looking around. Constantly observing. Constantly thinking. They were so physically close now. Midoriya could feel his heart beating against his cheek. Such a calm rhythm to listen to. He wanted to know all of his thoughts, hear all his feelings. Watching the reflection of the outside world in his bi-colored eyes, he could just tell there was a whole other world behind them too. He really was beautiful.

When the two were finally freed from the train, Midoriya walked a small way past a familiar middle school and to a park that was just down the street. There was a playground at the entrance, but towards the back of it, there was much more open space with trees and walking cobble paths. On this particularly sunny late afternoon, it seemed so peaceful. Midoriya nudged Todoroki as he took him to the back area and sat down beneath one of the trees in the grass.

“I thought you’d appreciate being away from the city for a little bit,” he said, putting the bottom of his shoes together and placing his backpack down beside himself. He patted the ground beside him to which Todoroki also placed down his things and sat down next to him. After sitting together in silence for just a few moments, Midoriya leaned forward to get a little closer to Todoroki.

“Will you let me see your injury now?” The little villain asked as he started digging through his bag for a few things he had taken from Recovery Girl’s office. “I grabbed these before I left. I wasn’t sure what you would need, but something is better than nothing.” He was very insistent on helping. Todoroki watched him and merely sighed at his persistence. How could he say ‘no’ when this villain had gone out of his way to bring all these medicinal things out here for him. So he simply lowered his head and unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt and lowered his blazer. Unwrapping the poorly done bandages, a burn wrapped around his neck and slightly down his left shoulder. The shape of the burn was odd as Midoriya leaned closer to examine it. It was more serious on the left side of his neck than the right. And there were small spots on the right side that were without wounds. Was it because of his ice? Likely. But it couldn’t just be the ice. Suddenly it clicked and his green eyes widened and a finger touched the front center of Todoroki’s neck. “You were choked…” He said quietly. The left side took the brunt of the damage because Endeavor was right-handed. He would only need one hand to get around his throat. The ice was able to protect the flames from his fingers, but the left side to the focus of the palm and wrist where the flames were probably stronger.

“Todoroki, why don’t you tell anyone about this?” the little villain asked worriedly. It was a second-degree but it could have been much more severe had he been anyone else. Midoriya looked terribly upset as he examined the wound further and tried to see the size of a few blisters. He was on his knees and trying to get the best look he could at this point. Todoroki tilted his head to let him get the best view and watched him from the corners of his eyes.

“There’d be an uproar…” he said quietly with an ice-cold expression. “There’s no way anyone would believe anything I said. Heroes don’t hurt their kids or their mothers. The number two hero couldn’t get to where he was by being a shit father.” He looked straight ahead when he felt a stinging sensation at the center of the burn when Midoriya started applying a type of liquid. He tried not to flinch but he gritted his teeth. “The media would eat that up, though. They’d be the ones to use that stuff for their headlines and then there’d be people all over the house and my mother. She doesn’t need that stress. And besides… if he did manage to fool everyone and solidify his reputation as a good dad, I’d never get to be a hero.” He’d be permanently labeled as a liar or a teenager looking for attention. In this competitive hero world, he’d be kicked out and left behind instantly.

“What about…” Midoriya tried to think of some way to get him out of this situation sooner. He would need solid proof of intentional harm. But it was difficult considering Todoroki and Endeavor likely sparred although that sparring was probably very one-sided. The only form of proof he could think of… he gently placed a finger on Todoroki’s left cheek at the very bottom of the scar.

“This… was an accident.” Todoroki commented. Midoriya took his finger back and continued to lightly dab cream on the burn at his neck. “He pushed my mom to her limit… He just wanted a kid that could surpass All Might because he couldn’t do it himself. So he needed someone with the perfect quirk to have this so-called ‘masterpiece’. Have you heard of quirk marriages?” Midoriya nodded. He remembered studying the genetics of quirks and the term was very familiar. “He bribed my mom’s family and she was forced into and pressured by everyone around her. I can only remember her crying while everyone was so envious of her.” he sounded very angry as the air around him became physically colder. “He put her through so much… and she tried to protect me. She tried so hard…I don’t blame her for what she did. She was at her limit and saw my left half to be so unsightly, she poured boiling water on my face. But it was all his fault for pushing her too far.”

Midoriya covered the wound with bandages gently so Todoroki wouldn’t feel as much pain. He had listened to every word and could only think of his own mother. Where would he be without her? She cared about him so much and tried to support him whenever she could. Todoroki didn’t have any of that. “Have you talked to her lately?” Midoriya asked. He recalled that she was sent away, but had they spoken?

“She’s in a hospital in a psychiatric ward. But… I don’t think she would want to see me. I don’t wanna see me either.” Todoroki answered, buttoning up his shirt again and afterward keeping a palm over his left eye. He didn’t like that half of himself either it seemed. And seeing him like this made the villain beside him sad, but so very angry as well. What he would give to cut Endeavor into pieces on his table. To rip him apart, but leaving him alive to feel all the pain. Watching him feel so humiliated that such a small boy could defeat him and whisk his son away. He wanted more than his blood. He wanted his head. He wanted to steal his son away. He wanted to take away everything that the hero had gained to make him aware of how worthless to the world he was.

“I looked forward to seeing you for months,” Midoriya said, putting everything back in his bag, holding back all of his inner murderous thoughts. Instead, he smiled softly and shuffled a bit closer to Todoroki. “You could ask my um… my big brother and my dad.” Shigaraki would have a heart attack knowing that he was how Midoriya was going to refer to him outside of his villain life. “I told them all about how great you are.” He wanted to tell him so badly how beautiful he was to him. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. That would be too embarrassing! “Even today, I was looking all over for you. And I like seeing you now.” He kept smiling at Todoroki until he finally uncovered his scar and looked at him, to which he smiled even bigger with a small giggle. And then suddenly the air temperature spiked up again when Todoroki made an expression that could only be compared to a big-eyed cat.

Midoriya screamed into Todoroki’s old white hoodie at the bar with Shigaraki right beside him, looking over a few papers in a folder and Kurogiri had just set a bowl of chopped fruits on the counter. Shigaraki paid no mind as he calmly looked through papers and seemed bored by all the printed words. “Rough day?” he asked, blissfully ignoring the muffled screaming. Midoriya unburied his face from the hoodie and ate an apple slice from the bowl.

“It was great but terrible. I hate heroes but…” he pressed his face back into the fabric and kicked his feet childishly quickly. “My teacher and Todoroki are too nice!”

“Oh, so we have a name now.”

“Todoroki Shouto. His quirk is Half Cold Half Hot, in class 1-A with his teachers being Eraserhead and All Might.”

“Is that so?”Shigaraki peeked over at his screaming little brother who was overwhelmed with emotions. The little villain was happy to meet Todoroki, but he had a soft spot for his pro hero teacher which was a risky thing to have. Shigaraki could work around it. For his little brother, he’d figure something out. “So what else do we know about your little prince charming?” he asked with a sly smirk.

“It’s not like that!” Midoriya retorted but this argument has come up before and he was never the winner. His face was flushed as he fiddled with the sleeves of the hoodie. “He’s pretty quiet. And he’s still getting hurt at home. He won’t tell anyone because of how skewed everything would get because of the media and he thinks if he loses, it’ll ruin his chances of being a hero because he’ll be branded a liar.” He then gritted his teeth and his nails dug into the wood of the counter. Hero society will rip Todoroki apart. He’s tip-toeing around everything in silence so he could be something the world saw as honorable. He was living a terrible life because of the heroes. Endeavor could only get away with this because he was so popular and powerful. “I want him to come here. He’ll be safe here.”

Shigaraki listened carefully and put the folder and papers down. He rested his elbow on the counter and put his cheek on his palm. “If he’s got that heart of gold, how will you get him here?” he asked. It wasn’t a rude question, but a realistic one.

“He wants to see his brother who um… may or may not be dead.” Midoriya answered but squinted one eye and averted his focus from side to side because that wish would be impossible if this big brother was dead. “He thinks he’s alive. But um… he doesn’t remember his name. So I doubt he remembers what he looks like.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes at what he was being told. Couldn’t this kid just want money or something?

“Where the hell am I supposed to start with that?” he muttered quietly to himself.

Midoriya went on to explain the details of what his academic life would consist of between basic education, course observations, and medical training. Shigaraki and Kurogiri listened and they both used that information to understand how they would need to be working from now on. Midoriya wouldn’t need to practice much anymore because he’d be doing that at school. But he was losing a ton of work time on subjects because his academics were still a priority because he needed to stay in school. Then there was the problem of how much time he could get away with being at the bar instead of being at home with his mother. She hadn’t bothered him much, yet. Surely she would get suspicious or worried as to where her son was going overnight.

“So is there anyone in the lab right now?” Midoriya asked, eating a few more pieces of fruit. He was eager to get back to his usual villain work. School, in general, had left him in a foul mood and he wanted to take his mind off of most of it with work.

“There’s a sidekick down there. She’s alive so be careful.” Kurogiri answered as he took off Midoriya’s blazer. “And don’t wear your school clothes because they’ll get soiled.” Can’t have the little boy going to school covered in bloodstains.

“And I want your notes by tomorrow night. I need them for something important.” Shigaraki added.

“What kind of something?” Midoriya’s heart sped up a bit. His work was finally going to produce results. But what were these results?

“My master’s doctor would like them. In return, he’s going to make us something very powerful with your research.”

“You don’t talk about your master much. And I’ve never heard of this doctor person.” Midoriya was quick to respond because this was an opportunity to learn a bit more about Shigaraki.

“He’s often referred to as All for One, in contrast to All Might’s One for All. He has power beyond any other human.” Kurogiri answered instead, but he got the little villain’s attention. “My dear friend is believed to be immortal. But immortality is cruel on a man’s body, so he needs a doctor to tend to him in his latest years. That doctor is of use to us, however…” The dark fog man’s clouded body began to form sharper clouds in anger.

“That doctor and Kurogiri don’t get along that great,” Shigaraki said before Kurogiri even began to lose his temper. “He’s a sketchy bastard. But he can do some crazy things. As soon as I saw you, I knew you and he would be able to create something powerful together. I’ve been sending him your research and he’s pretty impressed by it.” Midoriya began to turn red from prideful embarrassment. Shigaraki’s master’s doctor was impressed with him. His work. His research. His passion. So this was all going towards something big. He suddenly felt so much pride that he toned down his flushed face and smirked confidently.

“Then I’ll get back to it right away.” the little doctor smiled.

Midoriya stayed the night at the bar and would likely be staying there much more often. If his mother had any questions, she could always call. He returned to the bar with black clothing stained in red and tired look in his eyes. He had gone from the lab to his room and back to the bar with a neat stack of papers that were typed and printed out with sketches intact. He dragged his feet to the stool next to Shigaraki and sat down beside him, placing the papers down in front of him before leaning against him with his full weight. Shigaraki didn’t get put off balance by the weight and didn’t fight the subtle form of affection. He took the papers and flipped through them one by one in silence. This would go on for at least a few minutes, where the two sat in silence except for the quiet buzzing of a light and the flipping of papers.

“You’ve done good work.” Shigaraki would finally say, slowly reaching up to pat Midoriya’s head. “And I’ll see what I can get on that older brother…” Midoriya smiled with his eyes resting at Shigaraki’s words. He was going to try everything he could to get Todoroki here, even with such limited resources. But he couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. Was this just going to be a waste of time? A waste of effort? “People trust in heroes too much.” Shigaraki began, getting the freckled villain’s attention. “They want them to do everything for them, so they don’t do anything themselves. Getting the number two’s son on our side will make them doubt their beloved protectors. His transition would not be quiet. We’d make it flashy. We’d have everyone’s eyes on us. They’ll see what a threat we are and how weak their society is. But if we had two sons of a famous hero, it’ll be that much more impactful.” No, this wasn’t a waste of time. Shigaraki was resourceful and clever. No act or decision would be wasted; he was never wasteful. Did his master teach him to be that way? Midoriya could only wonder, too careful to ask. But at least now he felt reassured that he wasn’t being a hindrance. However… more than anything…

“I just want to save him and give him somewhere safe… Like you did me.” Midoriya whispered exhausted. Saving Todoroki was his first priority; and giving him anything he wanted to feel safe, just like Shigaraki had done for him.

“Todoroki…” Midoriya mumbled, slowly waking up just before his alarm the next morning. He was in his hideout bed, snuggled up closely with the beloved white hoodie that had been given to him months ago. It was difficult to sleep without it. All the All Might merch he had in the past could not compare to the pricelessness of a piece of fabric in his arms. Sitting up to look at the time on his phone, he still held it. Scrolling through daily notifications and news, he kept it close until the alarm to get ready for school went off.

“Pull up, then through there, down, and then tug.” At the bar, Kurogiri stood in front of Midoriya where the little villain mirrored his movements of tying a tie. Shigaraki sat at the counter just smirking to himself, finding their interaction very funny. It was yet another reminder that Kurogiri was molding into a pathetic fatherly role and Midoriya was still an inexperienced child. He just watched them from the corner of his eyes with a question swirling in his mind.

“Your parents didn’t teach you how to do that?” he asked. He didn’t remember learning about the freckled villain’s family life.

“My mom wouldn’t know stuff like that, though she’d probably try if I asked. But my dad…” Midoriya began to answer and just shrugged with a half-smile and looking towards the ceiling. “Never knew him.” Shigaraki blinked a few times at the casualness of the answer. It suddenly made a lot of sense as to why he had grown so attached to Kurogiri. And that little villain walked past the counter, snatching a piece of toast off a plate that had been set for him and headed to the door.

“What about you? You never talk about yours.” Midoriya asked back but was still keeping it casual. It was too early for deep trauma stories, but it was never a bad time to try and learn more about each other.

“I don’t… really remember.” Midoriya stopped at the door, having it cracked open and ready to leave. He stayed there for a few moments to watch Shigaraki scratch at his neck lightly when he answered.

“You call that hand ‘father’, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Are your memories more prominent with your master?”

“Yeah…”

The little villain remained there for a couple of seconds longer before shrugging again. “I’ll see you later,” he said before going off on his way. He had quite a few things to think about on his way to school. Things about Shigaraki were suddenly starting to make a little more sense. Shigaraki had someone in his life similar to what Todoroki was to Midoriya; someone gave him a purpose and a reason to live. It must have been his master. His master must have trained him and brought him to the world of villains and now he was guiding him in the background to grow. His master could afford a powerful and sophisticated doctor, and his master likely provided him with the laboratory in the bar basement. His master must have given him Kurogiri to give him more personal guidance due to how much Kurogiri seemed to respect him as a close friend. And if his master was in declining health, Kurogiri was a constant figure that was there for him.

But that severed hand. Although Shigaraki never wore it around Midoriya anymore due to how comfortable he had become around him, he’s called it ‘father’ and he always kept it at arm’s reach. He never went anywhere without it. He always wore it around strangers or when he was fighting. Without memories of his family, perhaps that hand is all he had.

Midoriya was walking on the sidewalk when he stopped at that thought. He had an odd thought. A curious thought. A sad, but very real thought. Does Shigaraki ever feel lonely? So much hatred was welled inside of him, there was no family in his recollection, all he had was a dying master and Kurogiri and their relationship seemed formal when they first met. He couldn’t help but wonder what his big brother could be thinking about. What kind of things would go through his head every day? Midoriya took out his phone and looked at Shigaraki’s contact number. Maybe he should text him more often.

“Look out!” A random voice called out amongst the crowd of people walking the morning city sidewalks. And it was suddenly that a giant villain grew to the size of a small house and ran out of a common bank. The entrance to the building was destroyed and there was a blast of smoke and debris that covered a portion of the street Midoriya was on. The boy held his forearm up to his mouth so he wouldn’t breathe in anything dangerous as many people began to run away from the commotion. It wasn’t long at all for heroes to arrive on the scene. And just as the heroes arrived, more villains and common criminals began to creep in and take advantage of the chaos, sneaking in to loot nearby stores and picking up dropped belongings that people had dropped in a panic.

“It’s too early for this,” Midoriya grumbled, turning to jog away from the nonsense that was taking place. The villains were going to lose, there were too many heroes and that was obvious. Shigaraki wasn’t stupid to do something like this, he had much more tact. Rather than being worried about the situation at hand, Midoriya was trying to think of the quickest detour to school because he would likely be late at this point. How troublesome. Amid his mental mapping and debating, the initial villain was thrown against a wall of buildings right beside him by a hero. The giant hero’s ankle just nicked a lamp post and made it wobble then fall. Midoriya looked up and tried to move his feet quick enough to get out of the way of the metal pole. He wasn’t fit enough. He was reminded of how weak he was and incompetent he physically was. When the lamp post fell, he was lucky that the top of it hit a car that was able to cushion its fall so it only knocked the little villain down and kept him trapped underneath. He was stuck on his stomach with the pole weighing down on his back, giving him barely any room to wriggle out from underneath. But he didn’t have the upper body strength to pull himself out. “H-Hey…!” This was such a terrible morning.

Midoriya looked up at the giant villain that knocked the pole over with a glare as the hero that hit him there in the first place tried to attack him again. The villain moved out of the way of the hero’s quirk which consisted of a massive venus fly trap arm. That hero made eye contact with Midoriya for just a moment when their attempt to hit the villain failed. Midoriya looked at that hero intensely before their eye contact was broken. The hero turned their attention to the giant villain and chased after him instead.

Figured out that heroes don’t always come, huh?

Shigaraki’s words echoed in his head.

Heroes prefer flashy villains to fight to get them more screen time.

Heroes rather fight for the credit of apprehending a villain than saving a plain-looking schoolboy. Ignored. He was completely ignored. A few citizens ran past him, looking out for their own safety. None of them stopped to help him. They didn’t even look at him.

They want them to do everything for them, so they don’t do anything themselves.

“You damn-” Midoriya growled bitterly as he struggled to free himself from under the pole. He gritted his teeth as he pathetically kicked the ground to try and push himself out. And it was then that another villain was thrown against the wall of buildings with a car. The amount of force caused the windows to shatter and broken glass began to rain down. Midoriya could only look up in horror and quickly lower his head, covering it with his hands. He felt so pathetic. So helpless. All the confidence he had when in the laboratory was gone in the outside world. He was still weak. He was so weak. “Tomu…”

Behind him, he felt an intense heat out of nowhere. But in front, above, and below, it suddenly became bitterly cold. He heard glass start to hit the ground and shatter on impact, and yet none of the shatterings were remotely close to him. He slowly lifted his head and saw the back of a grey blazer and a certain someone with red and white hair in front of him, with ice surrounding him like a shield while shards of glass were scattered on the ground. Of course. That beautiful boy was always there; he was always there when he needed saving. “T-Todoroki?” He must have also taken this route to school. This area was pretty close to the train station now that he thought about it.

Todoroki put his right hand on the pole to freeze a large section of it and then give it a solid kick with the bottom of his heel to make it shatter, freeing the freckled villain at last. He reached down to grab both his hands and help him back up to his feet. “I didn’t know you came this way,” Midoriya said, shaking his head a bit to make his senses a bit clearer. Looking at this beautiful boy once again, he got a good view of his face. There was so much worry. His eyes were a bit bigger and his hands still held on tightly to Midoriya’s. “I usually don’t…” he answered quietly.

It was very shortly, merely a few minutes, for all the villains to be apprehended by heroes. The media appeared out of nowhere and people gathered to celebrate and cheer on their beloved heroes. All the villains walked in a line with heroes smiling and waving at the cameras, signing autographs, and taking pictures with their fans. Midoriya watched all of their faces with bitter hatred burning up inside of him. He hated them. He hated all of them so much. Todoroki stood beside him, looking around at the destruction that remained behind them. There was so much damage to the city. It appeared so reckless.

“Todoroki, if you don’t usually come this way, then how did you-” Midoriya let his anger subside because he didn’t want to deal with it now. He just wanted to focus on the beautiful boy that saved him yet again. But he was cut off when a booming voice shouted over his.

“Shouto!!” It was a deeper voice and one that belonged to an older man. The little villain watched Todoroki’s eyes narrow darkly as he turned to look at the source. That heat wasn’t from Todoroki Shouto just minutes ago. “I told you not to wander off too far. You couldn’t even follow those instructions?” Endeavor came up behind the two teenagers and towered over them with just natural height and broadness. Midoriya took a step back but Todoroki did not waver, not even his flaming face frightened him. The villain had yet to see the number two hero in person. He was just a little shorter than All Might but the aura around him did not resonate with one of a heroic persona. He could only feel rage and intimidation coming from this man. This was him. This was the one that kept hurting his beautiful hero. Those burns on his arm when they had first met, and the burned choke marks on his neck just the day before came from the pro hero standing before him.

“Someone could have gotten hurt if I didn’t.” Todoroki retorted lowly but his focus averted elsewhere, rudely avoiding eye contact with his father.

“You know you aren’t allowed to use your quirk in public. Are you ruining your reputation already?” Endeavor scolded. Todoroki gritted his teeth, biting his tongue and doing everything in his power not to snap back. “As a masterpiece, you shouldn’t be messing up your future so recklessly. You know better than that, Shouto.” Endeavor kept pressing, glaring at his youngest son. But that word triggered a very angry reaction.

“Don’t you call me that…” Todoroki growled, raising his arms slightly only for Endeavor to grab it harshly. Midoriya flinched and took a step forward. He had to intervene. He was supposed to save him. He couldn’t let him get hurt right in front of him. But his beautiful hero nudged him back with his shoulder. He wasn’t going to let him get involved here.

“Take pride in what you are. Stop with this childish teenage rebellion already.” Endeavor tugged him forward, making Todoroki walk with him. “We need to go before you’re late.”

Todoroki looked back at Midoriya with an uninterpretable expression. He wasn’t begging for help, but he didn’t look fine at all. He was practically being dragged but played it off as if he was keeping pace with his father. Midoriya looked back with his head lowered and a little green glow peeking out from under his hair. “I'll take you away…” he mumbled. He couldn’t do it now. Not with how weak and pathetic he was. He couldn’t fight a pro hero like that. But one day, for sure… “I’ll kill him. I’ll save you… Todoroki Shouto.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya had to speed walk to school and arrived to class more tired than he was when he left the hideout. He slumped over his desk and sighed heavily at his terrible morning. It was almost made better when Todoroki showed up, but to see him taken away by Endeavor so forcefully while he was so helpless to do anything; he felt terrible. He didn’t even say anything. He should have said something. He should have said anything. But there was always the chance that Todoroki’s situation could have gotten worse if he did.

The thoughts of what he could have done bothered him all of his classes. He took his school notes and personal notes but all of his second thoughts still lingered. Even when Present Mic began teaching his English lessons, giving everyone a chance and being more than helpful with any questions, not even his personality and kindness was enough to distract him. He hated school, but he could always be comforted by the fact that he had a home to go back to where a big brother and a father figure were there to make him feel better. But Todoroki, he didn’t have that. It was recently that his sister came back but, he must have spent most of his life with just his father. Todoroki must look forward to coming back to school. How miserable he must be knowing he couldn’t be happy in his own home.

When it came to the observation period, Midoriya was drawn to the class 1-A monitor again to watch their latest lesson. At the moment, they had all changed into their hero costumes for the first time. He remembered the little green suit his mother had made for him so long ago. He remembered the page he ripped out of his notebook that had a design for his impossible future. It wasn’t the time to think about dreams that never had a chance to be. Instead of lingering on that, he scanned the line of students to find Todoroki in all white with ice covering his entire left half. It made him frown, knowing Todoroki didn’t like that half of himself. It was to the point where he didn’t want anyone to see it. But someone looked very angry at his costume.

Some kid with black spikey hair and golden eyes had strutted up to him with a costume that resembled armor made of dragon scales with clawed gauntlets. It was that fire breather kid that gave him a hard time on the first day. Why was he looking at Todoroki that way? Why was he getting that close to him? He had a toothy smirk like Bakugo but there was a lot more determination and cockiness in his face. Midoriya scanned the list of names on the lower screen to try and figure out who this guy was. A fire breathing quirk, he remembered. “Kosuke Hiro…”

What Midoriya was feeling was not jealousy. The emotion he was reading on Kosuke’s face was not flirtatious. It was a sense of mockery and cruel attitude. All the students had mics on their costumes so the students observing could hear their conversations through headphones and alternate on who to listen to. And thus Midoriya grabbed a headset and shifted a knob on it to listen to the mics of students 15 and 18.

“Why are you covering the fire half of you, huh? I know you.” Kosuke sneered, keeping his hands in the pockets of his black scaley costume. “I didn’t think there’d be another fire user in my class. Don’t think I’m going to let some rich son of a famous hero show me up.” Todoroki kept usually quiet, standing his ground but not letting any emotion show on his face. He was so quiet so often. He had a sharp tongue when he got pushed, but he usually tried to keep it back.

“I plan on being a hero without it. It’s pointless making a competition out of something I’ll never use,” he said calmly, turning his body to try and show that he didn’t care for this conversation. But Kosuke was not satisfied with that answer as small flames came out of his nose in a huff.

“So you think you’re better than me? Is that what that is? Think you can show everyone up with only half your power?”

“I never said that. But I plan on it.”

“Then show me your fire if you think you’re that much better than me.”

“I don’t have to show you anything.”

Midoriya gritted his teeth the moment he saw Kosuke grab the collar of Todoroki’s shirt but he let go when All Might appeared before them. He could see where the relationship between the two was going to end up. It was going to be some petty rivalry but it was a rivalry that Todoroki did not want any part of.

Midoriya would watch the first training period for the hero course where the students were in groups of two, pinned against each other to either apprehend the other group or having one tag a fake bomb in a skyscraper. The school must have had a massive budget to create these fake cities just to have them destroyed. He watched the first be between the little brother of Ingenium and Bakugo against some girl in pink and Kosuke. He at least got his dose of entertainment watching Bakugo and Kosuke fight each other mindlessly out of their own arrogant personalities while the girl in pink confronted the guy in glasses. Observing two hot heads yelling at each other and call each other a weakling was very funny. It was like they shared a single brain cell that could only understand pettiness. They were both angry, mindless fools.

A few fights later, Midoriya found himself in nothing but awe watching the bare minimum of Todoroki’s power. He froze an entire building with one touch and was able to complete the assignment by himself without hurting anyone. Such a pure heart. He was so talented. He was so calm. He was smart to know exactly what to do with an invisible opponent. There was minimal damage to the building. Midoriya quickly turned the knob on his headset to listen to mics numbers 17 and 18. He smirked hearing them. They were both silent for a couple of moments, stunned by how quickly and effortlessly Todoroki won while the two of them were roughed up and burned from each other.

“I… How do I… I-I can’t beat that…” Bakugo’s voice stuttered, making Midoriya’s face blush. How terrified he sounded. How weak. Pathetic. Hopeless. His eyes sparkled at the sound of his former bully stuttering and trembling.

“That bastard…” Kosuke growled.

The lunch period afterward, Midoriya eagerly sat at the table where he and Todoroki were the day before. He looked around for him with anticipation, ready to shower him with praise the moment he sat down. He had such an amazing quirk after all. He knew exactly how to control it to an impressive extent. It was a beautiful display. He deserved to know how impressive he was. However, when Midoriya did spot his beautiful hero, he glared at a student next to him that was pestering him. Kosuke walked beside Todoroki and kept bumping him with his arm while they both held trays.

“Use your fire next time, damn it. It’s like you’re mocking me.” Kosuke said bitterly, flames slipping through the cracks of his teeth. But Todoroki remained collected and walked as steadily as he could while being bumped.

“I won’t. I don’t need to.” This bratty student didn’t deserve an explanation, nor should he expect one.

“You really piss me off. You’re just a spoiled rich kid.”

Midoriya stood up from his chair, quick enough to knock it back when he saw Kosuke lose his temper at Todoroki’s unwillingness to use his fire. He felt mocked and degraded from being unrecognized by the number two hero’s son. But his temper was just as nasty, if not worse than Bakugo’s. Midoriya and many other students watched as the fire-breather took his tray and swung it to hit Todoroki in the side of his head. All the food on the tray fell to the floor as Todoroki dropped his on impact. The sound of clanging metal drew a few students’ attention and they went completely silent. Would a fight break out between the two? Would Kosuke get his wish? He was smirking cockily, expecting the half and half hero to challenge him. However, his expectations were not met. Midoriya ran up to the two students and put a hand on Todoroki’s shoulder and looked at him with panic in his eyes.

“T-Todoroki-” he began to say, wondering if he had gotten badly hurt. Todoroki had his hand up against the side of his head where he was hit. Pulling it back, he checked to see if he was bleeding. He wasn’t. And Midoriya noticed the lack of blood too. But he was still furious, turning to look back at Kosuke with a narrowed glare. He’ll die. If a student had to go, this one will die. Midoriya’s tired eyes locked on Kosuke’s as he kept both his hands protectively on his beautiful hero. “Just leave him alone.” the freckled villain demanded. His heart shattered when he felt Todoroki get to the ground and pick up the food that had been soiled from falling on the floor. He piled it all on to the tray in a mess before getting back up in silence. Why wouldn’t he say anything? Why wouldn’t he defend himself? Midoriya watched him throw out the food he had just gotten, only salvaging a single milk carton, painfully. Why was he acting… just like Midoriya used to?

“None of your business, shorty.” Kosuke lightly shoved past Midoriya and went off elsewhere in the cafeteria but was hastily chased after by the tall guy with glasses. He looked like the type to give annoying lectures to his classmates, even though he was the same rank and age as them. Ignoring that scene, Midoriya returned to the table that Todoroki sat at, across from the fallen over chair. He just sipped his drink quietly while everyone slowly started to go back to their previous conversations.

“T...Todoroki…?” Midoriya picked his chair up and sat down, leaning a bit closer to try and get a better look at his beautiful hero even though his head was lowered so his hair was blocking his face. He watched frost climb up his right cheek and up to his head where he was hit. The tips of his white hair froze. The sparkle of the ice made him look even prettier but Midoriya chose not to say anything. “Do you want to hang out after school again today?” he asked softly with a small smile to try to give him the opportunity to feel better. “We could go somewhere closer. Like a cafe or-” Todoroki rubbed the side of his head with his palm and cut the freckled teenager off.

“I got scolded yesterday. I don’t feel like dealing with him again today so… another time.” he said so quietly with a deeper tone. Midoriya’s forced smile fell at his answer. It sounded like he would have liked to spend time together again, but his father would be troublesome because of how late he would get home. Endeavor was clearly the no-nonsense kind of parent in addition to his strictness and abusive parenting. He didn’t want Todoroki to get any more injuries, so he wouldn’t try to persuade him to go out again soon.

“Y-You must be hungry still. Here.” Midoriya took a napkin and folded it on his tray to start taking pieces of meat out of his katsudon, as well as some noodles and placing them on the napkin. “I just stand around all day. You need your strength for training this afternoon. And I don’t eat a lot anyway.” He pushed his tray forward to offer half his meal to Todoroki with a desperate look on his face. He didn’t eat much already, having lost weight since entering his villain lifestyle. Work overtook his focus on nutrition but Todoroki had muscle and needed to eat to function. So the little villain was more than willing to share more than half of his meal.

Todoroki looked at the food he was offered so generously. He made just the smallest, shortest exhale through his nose that could be mistaken for a scoff. But Midoriya knew it was something else. Todoroki didn’t communicate like other people. He didn’t know how to. And the little villain picked up on this very quickly because he felt the air around him heating up again. It wasn’t a coincidence that this happened every time he said or did something nice for him. “You’re too kind.” the hero said softly, taking chopsticks from the table to eat off the napkin.

“You’re too kind.” Midoriya said back, emphasizing the ‘you’re’. Todoroki didn’t fight Kosuke back despite being stronger than him. He could have annihilated him. But he held back.

“Different chemicals produce different flowers that produce different effects of the spores…” Midoriya muttered writting in his notes in his laboratory. There was a female sidekick restrained to his table, her body scattered with lines of stitches and her arms were swollen with needle puncture wounds. Her hair was green and damp with sweat, her face shiny with tears. She was kept alive from the day before and now the afternoon Midoriya returned from school. In Midoriya’s notebook, her quirk was labeled as Variety Spores. In the palms of her hands, flowers with mangled vines were sprouting and beginning to wilt and her veins were bulging for the intensity.

“Try not to die from this one.” Midoriya bent under his table to pick up a gas mask and put it on. He filled a syringe with a chemical from a bottle with giant warnings on it. It was lethal. The subject on his table screamed through a gag as she tried to pull her restrained arm away from this emotionless villain. But there was emotion in his face when he giggled at her fear. He still felt a twisted pleasure when heroes feared him. How scary a little quirkless boy was. He poked his masked cheeks and his eyes angled in a cute smile. “Your quirk is so fascinating! Thank you so much for letting me study it! Maybe I could get your autograph if you can get through this~” he teased, having a fake fanboy-ish tone.

He could only see quirks in action when his subjects were alive. It was the perks of stepping up from corpses. He could ask questions, force quirks to work with drugs Shigaraki provided him, study them at his own pace and will. The power he held with needles and a scalpel was incredible when his victims were restrained.

While the poor sidekick struggled, Midoriya stabbed her wrist with the syringe and injected her with a fast-acting poison. He watched flowers start to sprout all over her body and release hundreds of spores, her veins turning black and bulging intensely. He lifted a small electronic device in his hand that measured the quality of air and appeared fascinated by it, taking more notes. "Quirks almost mutate when in life-threatening situations." He mumbled quietly before taking more specific notes. He let the sidekick woman spasm, scream, and cry without a second glance.

By the time he finished writing a few pages of notes, his laboratory had become silent. His eyes slowly trailed to his table where the sidekick was still and lifeless, her eyes wide opened and the flowers on her body began to wilt. "So you did die." He shrugged, turning to the front pages of his notebook where he had a picture of her and a small family tree. "Pollenina…" he crossed out her picture and looked at the one he had next to it; a sibling. He couldn't help but smirk at the picture of the venus flytrap hero he saw this morning, the one that left him under a light pole and apprehended the giant villain instead. “Hope you didn’t like your little sister too much.” he giggled.

Midoriya cleaned up his laboratory like he always did after work. Shigaraki spent a lot of resources providing all of this for him so he would not treat it poorly; washing all his tools, sterilizing the floor and tables, organizing notes, labeling on a piece of paper near the elevator door which chemicals he used and would need to be restocked. There was so much pride in his work. Yet he did not burn the corpse yet. Not being wasteful, he would save it for more research later. How many corpses he had gone through outnumbered his two living subjects. He needed to take advantage of all his resources.

He turned on an air vent before going up the elevator to his apartment floor, going to his room to instantly take a shower and clean himself of any poisonous spores and chemicals. He would not even consider the risk of accidentally hurting Shigaraki. After doing so, he went to the bar in Todoroki’s white hoodie that was very baggy on him now, a pair of shorts, and a towel over his head to dry his wet hair. He came down the stairs to see his big brother watching the news on the small tv with Kurogiri and some stranger he hadn’t seen before. It was an older man with glasses and a missing tooth. Midoriya quietly walked up behind Shigaraki with the hand on his face and the stranger, peeking at the tv and listening closely.

“For several months, mysterious disappearances have been occurring all over the city and nearby, very populated, cities. It has come to our attention that the sudden increase in the disappearances of civilians and heroes may be linked. The police have been overwhelmed with reports and information due to the sheer number of people affected. And so the police and detective agencies are asking for help for pro heroes to join their search for the one behind the missing claims of over thirty people and to put an end to the villains behind these crimes.” The screen began showing images of crime scenes that were taken over the past months that showed signs of minor struggle with some looking more concerning than others. “The most recent disappearance, according to detectives, may involve the sidekick Pollenina. She went missing two days ago on-” Shigaraki muted the tv and looked to the stranger and then Midoriya, noticing the little villain coming to join them.

“So they’re finally on to us,” Shigaraki commented.

“But it looks like they’re having a hard time tracking you down. They’re getting desperate and asking heroes for help now.” The stranger said, folding his arms with a smirk. He then noticed Midoriya a bit behind him from the corner of his eye and smiled. “So this is that kid you’ve been telling me about. He’s uh…” Midoriya’s eyes narrowed in a petty glare knowing exactly what this old man was about to say. He’s not as intimidating as he thought. He’s smaller than he expected. He’s cuter than one would imagine. He knew he didn’t look intimidating like this.

“Izuku, this is Giran. The guy that’s gonna learn everything he can about Endeavor’s first son.” Shigaraki stopped Giran from finding the words he wanted to say and instead moved straight to business.

“Well, I’m going to try. Not much I can do without a face or name. But with a celebrity dad, I’m sure I can find some people to work with. And I also came to drop this off for ya.” Giran patted a cardboard box that was on the bar counter with a grin. “Shigaraki ordered it so if you don’t like it, talk to him.” Midoriya looked up at the box curiously and watched Kurogiri cut it open with a small knife and leaning over the counter to hand it to him. The little villain took the box and went to the sofa to open and pick through it while the older villains talked and Kurogiri even gave them mild shots.

“So what are you planning?” Giran asked, sitting down and taking a small sip.

“After the doctor gives me that thing, we’re going to sneak into U.A. and kill All Might with it. We’ll plan in advance and I’ll get grunts to cause irresistible trouble during his commute to wear him out.” Shigaraki began telling his info broker his fairly simple plan to get into the school using the media and mentioned Midoriya notes that he’s been receiving and looking over. And meanwhile, the little villain began pulling out pieces of clothing out of the box. There were classy clothes with a vest and tie and yet the button up and pants didn’t seem to feel like they were supposed to. They were stiffer and the fabric appeared to be very sturdy. A villain costume? At the bottom of the box was a metal mouth mask with air ventilation holes, and it was decorated with a terrifying tooth design. The design resembled a smiling shark mouth. He put the piece over his mouth and made a noise to have it mix his voice into a lower octave; a piece to help hide his identity. No one would be able to recognize his voice with the mask on. Another piece at the bottom of the box was a mask for the upper half of his face that was completely white except for the holes for the eyes that were enlarged with black tint over them.

Midoriya held his masks in his hands and had the clothes in his lap, looking to Shigaraki who was still conversing with Giran and Kurogiri. He suddenly felt like crying. He wanted to run up to him and thank him. But not while Giran was here. If Shigaraki had his hand on his face, it meant he didn’t trust Giran fully or that he was trying to keep his presence intimidating to be taken seriously. If Shigaraki ordered this costume, he must have designed it too. Midoriya kept feeling the shirt and pants to feel how strong they were. It wasn’t armor, but it was not something a knife would be able to cut. He was so grateful for it.

Giran left after about an hour and Shigaraki slumped over the counter, taking the hand off his face and instead put it on the top of his head as he mixed a groan with a sigh. His social stamina power had run completely dry. Midoriya put his costume back in the box and got up on to the stool next to tired big brother. Before bothering him, he looked at the some of the liquid left in Giran’s cup and subtly tried reaching for it to have Kurogiri take it away casually. Midoriya made a small pout but let it pass when he put his cheek on the counter to look at the half-drunk adult next to him.

“Hate people that much, huh?” he asked just to get a grunt as an answer. “Have you like, ever had a crush on someone?” Use this opportunity to get more ammunition to tease his big brother. “You get so tired after talking to people for a few minutes that you need to drink to keep going. Have you ever liked someone so much that you don’t have to do that?” Shigaraki lifted his face and just glared at his little brother but it was annoyed rather than hateful.

“Never. I hate people,” he grumbled. “No way in hell I’m gonna end up chasing after a pretty prince charming like you…” he poked the freckled boy’s chest pathetically. Midoriya was not bothered by the weak poke and instead just cared more to watch his big brother. He’s never had feelings for someone. Ever. No friends. Doesn’t remember his family. He and Kurogiri didn’t seem that close. What made this little freckled boy he found on the street so special?

Midoriya sat in class the next morning, doodling in his school notebook. He smiled peacefully to himself as he drew himself in the villain costume Shigaraki designed for him. His heart was so giddy for it. He destroyed the sketches of his dream hero costume long ago when he realized how pointless it was to have a goal like that. But now he had this. He longed for the day he could wear it out.

“I totally saw him messing with someone yesterday.”

“I bet he has girls lift their skirts for him and they won’t remember what happened.”

“That’s so gross.”

“He has to use it on his parents all the time.”

The little villain found himself distracted by his classmates’ gossip once again and knew that they were talking about Shinsou. His eyes trailed away from his drawing and glared at the students and then checked to see the purple-haired boy was doing. Did he ever hear what people were saying about him? And surely he was sitting at his desk and covering his ears with his elbows on the tabletop. He had his eyes shut. Was he trying to block them out? Midoriya wouldn’t doubt that he was accustomed to this kind of gossip bullying but he couldn’t help but pity him. He had always been so focused and devoted to studying class 1-A and B whenever it was observation period. He was the one who asked Present Mic about them. Midoriya felt a small twinge in his chest. He knew exactly what he was feeling.

“He’s always-” one female student started to say when Midoriya slammed his pen on the desk to make just a loud enough noise to stop her from talking.

“Could you guys shut up about him for once? It’s so annoying, like a bunch of elementary schoolers. And none of it’s true and you know it. You don’t even know him.” he growled with a dark glare and went back to his doodling. He wasn’t going to start a fight over it because he would surely lose. Everyone knew he was quirkless. Luckily, the students became too flustered to say anything back and slowly scattered awkwardly. Some people can’t handle being called out so bluntly. That call out got Shinsou to look back at Midoriya and blink a few times at him, uncovering his ears gradually.

In a different homeroom class, Todoroki sat down at his desk, receiving a simple ‘good morning’ from Yaoyorozu Momo and returning it monotoned. He tried to keep his eyes on his phone but couldn’t help himself and glance a few times at Kosuke at his desk, having a glare off with Bakugo. At least he was distracted. But he felt someone bump into his desk and looked up at the Iida Tenya standing beside him with a glint in his glasses. He was standing there in absolute silence like he was trying to think of something to say, and it was taking him way longer than he anticipated.

“I don’t believe that we have officially talked before. But I am Iida Tenya, your classmate.” Todoroki nodded at this, not being one of many words with strangers. “It has come to my attention that you and Kosuke haven’t been getting along. And I thought I would ask you if your head still hurts from yesterday.” Todoroki shook his head.

“No, it’s okay now.” Then he went back to scrolling at nothing but news articles on his phone and not reading any of them.

“W-Well I would like to invite you to sit with your other classmates and myself this afternoon to build a stronger relationship.” Iida started waving his arm in a very strange fashion to get his attention again.

“I’m okay sitting with Midoriya.” He was getting pretty close to the freckled villain.

“Then I would like to invite you both! I would hate for Kosuke to ruin the reputation of the rest of the class for you. I also believe it would help us all become friends.” Todoroki focused his eyes elsewhere at the offer.

“I’m not really here to make friends…” he admitted. “But I’ll ask if Midoriya would like that.”

“I guess it’s okay…” Midoriya said begrudgingly as the two walked to the lunchroom together. Todoroki now had a bandage on his right cheek from a small burn from Kosuke during combat training that afternoon. It was more than clear that the fire breathing student had it out for him now. Midoriya and Todoroki had split up to get their meals and even while the hero student was in line, Kosuke purposely kept stepping on his heel to make it bleed by the time he was out of line. And yet there was no reaction from him, being passive and unwilling to start a fight.

Sitting down with all these familiar yet new faces made him quieter than average and Midoriya noticed. Like usual, he was a good listener, watching and paying attention to all the colorful students around him. But he never cared to add to the conversation. How Midoriya longed to hear his voice. They were just wasting their precious time together. He didn’t want to watch and think about his beautiful hero anymore, he wanted to interact with him. But surrounded by all these people, they were both rendered silent by awkwardness and introverted nature.

“Bakugo sure has a flashy quirk, huh? Too bad his personality isn’t as bright.” Uraraka giggled, casually making fun of the student that was further down the table and keeping to a small group of boys who were also teasing him. The spiky red-head sitting next to him looked the most comfortable.

“But Todoroki’s power is incredible. With just one half, you’ve made quite an impression on everyone.” Iida added, shifting the conversation and looking to Todoroki to include himself.

Midoriya subtly gritted his teeth. Who did this jock nerd think he was? He thinks he can just waltz into Todoroki’s life and try to be best friends with him? Inviting him to sit with him at lunch, approaching him in homeroom, making small talk during combat training earlier that afternoon, what was he trying to do? If this was jealousy, he hated it. He hated how Todoroki was avoiding eye contact with everyone until Iida mentioned him. And now that blue-haired loser got his attention. Midoriya wanted that attention.

“Your quirk is amazing Todoroki and you control it so well. How do you do it?” Iida pressed.

“Lots of focus and hard work, I guess.” Abuse.

“Your skills are very impressive, you should take pride in your perseverance.” Iida smiled as he complimented him which made the little villain’s blood run hot. Thinking he could just flatter him like that and suddenly get on his good side. What the villain and hero had couldn’t be compared to this nobody they just met.

“It probably just means he worthless with the other half of himself.” Kosuke walked by and elbowed Todoroki in the back of his head, to which he still refused to react. Midoriya took hold of his hero and tried to protect him from any other attempted attacks. And just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, Iida stood up out of his seat and slammed his hand on the table.

“Your attitude and attacks towards Todoroki are not appropriate nor are they called for. I think I speak for everyone when I politely ask you to stop harassing our classmate. If this continues any longer, I would have no other option than to report you to Mr. Aizawa.” he barked but stood tall and firm. Kosuke only scoffed and shrugged the threat off.

“Rich kids stick together, I guess. You’re part of that Ingenium family, right? Chip on your shoulder and stick up your ass, mind your own damn business.” he sneered, walking off without another issue. But Midoriya became even angrier when he felt the air around him become warm all of a sudden. He glanced at Todoroki’s face to see a slight red tint to his cheeks.

It wasn’t fair. Midoriya had been dying to see Todoroki since he was saved by him. He was doing everything he could to give him his brother back and coming up with a way to take him away from Endeavor. Why was this four-eyed bastard able to make him so happy so quickly? But he couldn’t be mad at his beloved, beautiful hero. For days, Midoriya would watch him during the observation period. Kosuke continued to be subtle but relentless in his insults. He selfishly kept challenging him to use his left half. It was then he began doing it when Iida wasn’t around, any chance he got. Stepping on his heels, hitting him, shoving him, trying to trip him, stealing or vandalizing his things, Midoriya was noticing all these little actions at lunch. Todoroki continued to sit with his class to be left in peace, and the little villain always sat with him. He wasn’t going to let Iida take him away. But more than anything, he didn’t want Todoroki to be just like him.

Home was miserable with his father and then his only safe place was school. But that had been ruined by Kosuke’s bullying. It was predatory. He only went after Todoroki, thinking he as selfish and arrogant as the son of Endeavor. He was too inconsiderate to even think that there may be a reason he didn’t use his fire. There was a scar on his face, it was impossible to miss. How could he not care to even assume that there was a personal reason involved in his actions? Midoriya was watching Todoroki become more reserved and silent. Talks at lunch were minimal until Iida and Yaoyorozu tried including him. But even then, he spent most of the time scrolling through nothing on his phone. At one point, Midoriya tapped his arm and held up his own phone with a blush. His screen was opened to a new contact tab.

Things became a bit better after that. Todoroki texted much more than he talked, although his texts were often one sentence or one word.

Midoriya: You look tired

Todoroki: Endeavor has been inviting lots of people over late

Midoriya: Why’s that?

Todoroki: He’s trying to make his agency the head of the Sudden Disappearance case investigation

They were sitting next to each other at the lunch table. Midoriya stared at his phone and was caught off guard by the text. Endeavor was going to be leading the search for all the corpses and live subjects he’s worked on. The police weren’t messing around anymore.

Midoriya: Endeavor doesn’t seem like a great deductive thinker

Todoroki: His agency has smart people. He has an advantage in numbers. And he’s a threat to scare the v

Midoriya looked over at Todoroki to see his eyes closing for a few seconds at a time. He seemed so exhausted. Home sucked. School sucked. There was no in-between to be had because his father would prevent him from staying after. He must not have been sleeping well with stress and feeling overwhelmed.

Midoriya: You should come over sometime. My mom would be happy to have you. She’s really nice.

Midoriya: Do you wanna go somewhere quiet? I’ll wake you up when lunch is over.

Todoroki then turned to look at Midoriya and nodded slowly. His eyes were as cold as ever, but there was so much more sadness in them these days. The little villain was able to recognize that sadness from himself back in middle school. At least right now, Todoroki didn’t have to be alone with his repressed emotions.

And so the two started to get up out of their seats, though Todoroki was a little quicker. He must have been eager for a nap, even if it would only be for a few minutes. Midoriya also stayed at the table a couple of moments longer to gather the remains of his lunch and there was a lot because he never had an appetite. And it was while his back was turned when there was a loud clatter. It was the sound of a tray and everything on it falling, but also a whole person hitting the ground.

When Midoriya looked back, his eyes appeared to glow once again. His anger reached a new level in what he saw. He began to tremble and his hands gripped his tray so tightly that he made a dent. Todoroki was soaked and on the ground, water steaming on his clothes and skin with Kosuke holding a large steaming cup in his hand, looking more annoyed and frustrated than normal. "Tea too hot for you, rich kid? Your flames must be weak as hell if that hurts! I’m so tired of you being a coward!" He snapped, not realizing the severity of what he had done. He knelt down and grabbed Todoroki by his shirt to try and force him to face him. But the soaked hero was covering his left eye instinctively with his right side frosting over. The bandage had fallen off and blood began to drip from his cheek. “You think you can just ignore me forever?!” He refused to look at him. He wouldn’t start a fight, not when it was common knowledge that his father would find out and it would be placed on his record.

It was then that Kosuke would be hit in the side of the head by a metal tray with full force. Of course, Midoriya’s full force was pathetic due to his small stature and petiteness. But that didn’t mean he could give someone a bruise or two. Kosuke’s head turned on impact but his body remained still. The hero course was on a whole different level of strength and durability. By now, the little interaction in the back of the cafeteria had everyone’s attention. Including someone with purple hair, all the way in the back by himself. “Kosuke! This is not-” Iida began to take the initiative of breaking up the tension that was rising quickly. But his reaction was not quick enough to stop Kosuke from smirking with sharp teeth as he threw Todoroki a few feet to the side on the ground and puffed a small flame at Midoriya.

“You’re the quirkless kid that hangs out with him… shouldn’t you hate him more than anyone?” Kosuke breathed, flexing his hands and cracking his wrists in the process. His nails were sharp, like his gauntlets for his costume.

“He deserves to be called a hero more than anyone in this room…” Midoriya growled, with a glow still bright in his eyes. He wanted to kill him. He wanted to kill him so bad. He wanted him on his table, screaming and begging for mercy. He wanted him to apologize and pray for Todoroki’s forgiveness. He didn’t deserve to breathe the same air as his hero. He didn’t deserve to live.

Kosuke scoffed at Midoriya, feeling no intimidation from him. Instead, he walked over to Todoroki and went to step on his shoulder while he just laid on his side. Todoroki was just so tired. He didn’t want to make trouble. He just wanted a nap. His eyes were nearly closed when he heard a small tussle above him. He looked up sleepily to see Midoriya grabbing on to Kosuke’s shoulders to pull him back from stepping on him. “Midoriya… don’t get-” Todoroki mumbled, trying to keep his closest friend from getting in trouble now.

“You little nobody!” Kosuke flailed to try and get the little villain to release him before he turned his head to breathe a hot flame directly at him and one of his nails swiped across his face, directly over his right eye.

Chapter Text

“He’s been coming to class with bandages. I was going to ask him about it after the bell today. Something just doesn’t feel right.” Aizawa said, sitting in the teachers’ lounge eating just a cup of noodles. All Might in his true form and Yamada sat near him at their desks, also enjoying their lunch breaks.

“Their training here is very demanding, do you think that maybe he’s been roughed up here? Hero work is very hard on all our bodies.” All Might suggested, taking a small sip of tea. He looked down at the water and stared into his reflection. Hero work was very hard on his body in particular, and he knew it all too well.

“He excels in training. I haven’t seen him wounded in class where he ends up getting more than mildly hurt. On the first day of class... “ Aizawa pulled on his scarf slightly and gestured to his neck. “There were some on his neck,”

Yamada, who was oddly quiet just listened and put his bento box down on the table in front of him and began typing on the computer, signing in and logging into a database. He wasn’t subtle and it received the attention of both teachers. “Youngest of four, one deceased, mother and father separated, mother lives in a psych ward. He’s just with Endeavor, isn’t he? Does he have friends or do any dumb teenager things?” he put a hand to his chin and scratched at the hair above his lip. “I’ve been told he’s close to one of my students but I don’t know about anyone else.” He remembered Midoriya looking for a certain someone on the first day. The quirkless boy has been watching him every day since.

“I’ve noticed Iida and Yayorozu making an effort to talk to him but he’s still very isolated.” All Might answered and his eyes averted to the side, putting the pieces of this conversation together. “But I wouldn’t think Todo-”

“Endeavor.” Aizawa glanced at the number one hero with his arms folded. “You went to high school with him, didn’t you?” he leaned over to eat a few more noodles. “You think he’d be the type to have a bad temper or anything?” Yamada took off his glasses, taking in what Aizawa was suggesting. He would never want to assume such a thing from the number two hero. But even the thought of a student being hurt in their own home…

“Well… he was never really-” All Might rubbed the back of his neck when he began to answer but the sound of the teachers’ lounge door slamming open silenced him. The three teachers looked to the entrance to see Uraraka Ochako at the threshold, leaning on the doorframe, out of breath, and her face red with rising blood pressure. “Mr. Aizawa! There’s a fight in the cafeteria!”

Midoriya took a few steps back as he made a cry of pain, holding his eye as blood began dripping from his face. His hand was red with slightly burnt skin. In his motion of taking steps back, he sat down quickly and curled up to protect his face from further attacks. “Ow...fuck... dammit…!” he growled, quivering from the shock of his wounds. He didn’t want to uncover his face, choosing to remain in darkness and squeezing his eyes tightly shut. Kosuke watched the villain recoil with a smirk until he sat down quivering. He noticed the blood starting to make a small puddle on the tile floor. His smirk dropped and his expression changed to that of mild panic.

“H..Hey. Y-You’re good right?” The cafeteria began to heat up all of a sudden. And it became very hot incredibly fast. It was burning hot. Kosuke felt that his back may actually be on fire.

“Todoroki don’t!” Iida’s voice shouted out only for the fire breathing student to turn around find Todoroki on his feet and his left fist on fire, shooting up under his jaw. Kosuke felt his bottom teeth slam into his upper ones and the flames on his fist burning away the skin underneath his chin. Before he could react or make a comment, Todoroki grabbed his spikey-black hair and elbowed the back of his head to send his nose into the brunt of his knee. Kosuke backed up with a bleeding nose and a forced smirk.

“Bet my fire’s stronger-” he took a deep inhale but in the time it took to inhale, he finally got a good look at the boy he had been bullying for all this time.

Todoroki stood in between Kosuke and Midoriya with his left half completely incinerated. The flames reached the ceiling and many students had to flee to further tables because the heat was so intense. It was difficult to look at him from the flames brightness and the insane temperature pulsing from his power. Yet he stood silently, slightly hunched over with a single blue, glowing dot seen at the center of the inferno. Kosuke pathetically tried to breathe fire but it was only engulfed by a small wave of fire that was summoned by a single swipe of Todoroki’s finger. Todoroki’s flames were stronger.

Kosuke put his arm over his eyes as he was now feeling the effects of the heat emitting from his classmate. In doing so, he blocked Todoroki out of his vision, giving the half and half student an opportunity to get close and personal to him. Though as he got closer, the temperature was becoming less intense but flames were still prevalent. He kicked Kosuke in the gut, making him recoil further and putting him off balance. So he took the chance to kick him in the side and knock him to the ground to which he got on top of him and wrapped his hands around his throat.

“You can’t breathe fire if you can’t breathe…” Todoroki said in a hushed voice, gripping Kosuke’s neck tighter and tighter. Kosuke began clawing at his wrists, doing everything he can to try and pry him off. “You hurt him… I’ll hurt you far worse.” He was so quiet, no one would be able to hear him except the one below him. He stared at him without blinking, eyes wide and hypnotized by anger and something else. Something far more intense than just hatred and rage. He was so tired. He was so mad. He just wanted all these things he hated to go away. “Far worse… I’ll fucking ki-” His nails were digging into his throat and drawing blood when he felt his flames suddenly go out with a voice shouting at him from across the cafeteria.

“Todoroki that’s enough!” Aizawa yelled the loudest he ever had, causing many students to shiver in fear. His quirk was activated, causing all the heat to disappear and the flames to die in mere seconds. And it was like his voice snapped Todoroki out of his fit as the grip he had on Kosuke’s neck loosened completely and he found himself paralyzed by confusion. What had he just done? That was the left half of him. He looked down at the student underneath him, coughing and gasping for breath again, finding that he too could not make any flames. He looked at his throat that was bruised, burned, and bleeding. He did that. He attacked him. He completely lost himself in his temper. He could only look at his hands as they shook from the sudden exertion of power. The left half of his uniform was black with char and severely singed.

“You… you fucking asshole!” Kosuke screamed, taking the opportunity of confusion to try and tackle Todoroki, unwilling to accept this as a loss. He wasn’t done yet. Todoroki held his forearms up in front of himself in defense and braced for another round. However, an attack never came. He felt himself be pulled from behind by Aizawa and watched Kosuke be pulled in the opposite direction by Iida and Kirishima who had his arms hardened. “That bastard almost killed me! Think you could get away with that rich kid?!” He shouted, still flailing and trying to escape the grasp of his two strong classmates.

“It’s over! You’ll get expelled at this rate!” Iida tried to bring logic to the angry student.

“Why you gotta do that, man? Heroes don’t fight like that!” Kirishima added as he hardened his cheek before Kosuke tried to claw at it. Todoroki only sat still on the floor in Aizawa’s hold, not trying to continue this fight any further. He was going to be in so much trouble now.

“I’m...sorry…” he mumbled softly, looking down at the singed marks on his left hand.

It was only a few moments before Kosuke was able to wriggle out of the grasp of his two classmates and made an attempt to charge at Todoroki again. “You’re clearly weaker than him. You’re acting like a moron.” a voice said tiredly but it was close enough and loud enough to get the raging teenager’s attention.

“What the hell did you-” and then Kosuke froze midsentence. His eyes became foggy. His movements stopped fully.

“Sit down and shut up.” Kosuke obediently sat down and shut up. Shinsou stood in front of a small gaggle of students that had kept their distance from the recent fight but stayed close enough to watch. He sighed heavily when the rabid student was finally calmed by his quirk. He then turned his focus to Midoriya. Yamada had come with Aizawa and ran to Midoriya while Todoroki and Kosuke were being restrained. He knelt beside the teenager who was laying on the ground, holding his right eye with blood leaking from between his fingers and dripping onto the floor.

“Midoriya, Midoriya, hey, can you look at me?” the teacher asked. He leaned over to try wrapping his arms around Midoriya’s top half to get him off the floor. It was when Shinsou finally calmed Kosuke that the purple-haired teenager, too, went over to the villain and got on his knees next to him appearing to be very concerned for him. There was a lot of blood.

“Do you need anything?” he asked, hoping that there was something more that he could do to help.

“Midoriya,” Todoroki shook off Aizawa’s grip that was nearly non-existent and finally went to his wounded friend then looked to his right hand. He glanced at his teacher and then let his skin frost over and held Midoriya’s right hand, hearing a quiet sizzling sound from his skin that made him whine in pain. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Todoroki apologized as he watched the freckled teenager still hide both his eyes, but could see his teeth gritting tight from the stinging pain of his burns being cooled. He put the top if Midoriya's hand against his forehead as he just held it and cooled it. It was all he could do. But hearing him in pain made him so upset. “I’m sorry…”

Yamada kept Midoriya sitting up and kept his hands on his shoulders, watching Todoroki desperately try to ease the burns. He turned to Aizawa and hoped that both were thinking the same thing. “I’ll take him to Recovery Girl. I’ll stay there while you speak to Principal Nezu…” Todoroki said quietly, not breaking focus on his frost. Both teachers could already tell that Todoroki did not start this fight.

“I’ll go with ya, kid. Shinsou, think you could bring the other one?” Yamada smiled kindly, keeping a calm demeanor for the students around him. His usual loud personality only made the soft side of him that much more comforting. Shinsou nodded and got up, going to Kosuke and giving him brainwashed commands. All while Todoroki lifted Midoriya from the ground in a bridal style fashion. He was a lot lighter this time than he was the first time he held him. But it was when he was lifted that Midoriya began to uncover his face, revealing the right side of his face to be bloody from a deep cut coming down his eye as it struggled to stay open.

“You okay, Todoroki?” he asked softly with a worried expression. His hero could only bring himself to lightly nudge his forehead against his friend’s and carried him to the nurse’s office beside Yamada with Shinsou and Kosuke trailing behind. He didn’t want to answer.

As they walked, Midoriya rested his head against Todoroki’s chest while the pain was setting in from the adrenaline coming down. Yamada watched the two interact. The freckled teenager would occasionally reach up to hold his hero’s cheek with one hand. In Recovery Girl’s office, Todoroki would not leave his bedside while she cleaned him up and kissed away as much of the wound as she could. He cringed at every smooch but took it without a fuss. But he watched her face show a bit of worry. “It’s not going away, dear.” she reached up, rubbed her thumb against the skin above his eye. “I can take away the pain and bleeding but I’m afraid that this will leave a nasty mark.”

Todoroki’s heart shattered, looking to his friend on the bed who appeared to be sitting like a puppy. He tilted his head and tried to feel for the scar and felt a crooked line coming down his brow to just meeting some of his freckles. He didn’t seem all that concerned but his hero seemed to be heartbroken. His face had never shown so much hurt. And Midoriya noticed it and turned to him. In any other case, he would be angry and raging to get Kosuke expelled. Instead, he giggled and put his fingertip on the scar on his friend’s face and giggled cutely. “That’s okay. Now we match.” And it was then a small flame appeared on the red half of Todoroki’s hair as well as a blush on his cheeks. Yamada watched from the doorway and couldn’t help but smile watching them. It was then that his cell phone began to vibrate in his back pocket.

Yamada walked out of the room to pick up the call with Recovery Girl following right behind, leaving the two students by themselves. Todoroki rested his head on Midoriya’s bedside but proceeded to keep eye contact with him. “I’m sorry this happened,” he mumbled. He couldn’t help but feel so guilty about his friend getting hurt. But there was no way that Midoriya would blame him for anything. He was still sitting up with his legs angled towards each other, and he turned himself to put his hands on the bed in front of Todoroki’s face.

“It wasn’t your fault! I acted on my own!” he said desperately. “If anything, I’m sorry I escalated everything. Now you’re bound to get in trouble and they’re gonna tell your dad.” he lowered his head, realizing what he just said was inevitable now. The school would have to call Endeavor. Todoroki would be in so much trouble. The color drained from his face, coming to terms of what he accidentally caused, “Your dad… T-Todoroki I’m so sorry-” Todoroki shook his head slowly before blissfully shutting his eyes, tilting his head to get a better angle in his crossed armed pillow.

“Don’t worry about it.” It was inevitable. It was going to happen. He accepted it and simply wasn’t going to worry about it yet.

“I-If you feel like something really bad is going to happen, please call me. I’ll get you out of there, just trust me on that.” Midoriya tried to salvage anything he could. He’d get Kurogiri to bring him somewhere safe and just have Todoroki close his eyes so he didn’t see him.

Following the conversation, there were a few moments of anxious silence. They were both thinking about what was going to happen when Todoroki got home. The possibilities were terrifying and making them both on edge. Midoriya didn’t want to think about how much pain his hero would be put through. So he wanted to talk and think about something different. “H-Hey… do you want to go somewhere this weekend?” he suddenly asked, trying to shift the atmosphere. Todoroki looked up at him, appearing to be slightly confused but still intrigued. “Like, just going somewhere fun. Just the two of us. Like uh…” he thought for a couple of seconds before balling his fists in front of him like a child. “Maybe an aquarium. There’s one at the coast.” He wanted him to say yes so badly. He basically just asked him on a date. Having realized that, his cheeks began to blush and his heart sped up exponentially.

“I’d like that,” Todoroki answered, looking up at his friend with a small glimmer in his eyes.

It wasn’t much later when Yamada and Aizawa would come into Recovery Girl’s office followed by Principal Nezu. Though, it was more of Principal Nezu sitting on Aizawa’s shoulder. The two students were silent when the adults came in and leaned against the wall. “Iida told me what happened.” Aizawa began, making both the teenagers look to each other and then they both looked down at their feet. How much trouble were they going to be in? If they got expelled… Shigaraki would be so angry and Endeavor would be furious.

“Midoriya, I understand that you wanted to protect Todoroki, but you should not have hit Kosuke with your tray.” Yamada lectured, rubbing the back of his neck. “But from what I’ve been told, Todoroki’s been getting harassed by him in silence for a while now. So…” It was clear he was holding back a smile as he turned away from Aizawa and made the smallest chuckle. “I can’t bring myself to scold you! I would have probably done the same thing! You’re in a hero school and you just wanted to protect your friend! And you were frustrated because clearly you-” he glanced at the two students and just had this feeling in his chest. He sighed softly and shrugged. “You care about him.”

Aizawa looked very annoyed at Yamada but just sighed with a shrug. “You’re too soft. Bet you’d let your students get away with murder.” Yamada looked dramatically offended and hurt but it was obviously all an act.

“They’re kids! They’re impulsive and full of passion and life!” Midoriya smiled in relief watching his teacher stick up for him. Present Mic or Yamada Hizashi, he was someone that deserved to live a long life. If only he had met him sooner. Todoroki glanced at Midoriya and was relieved to know that he wouldn’t get punished. But Aizawa was right; Yamada was very soft-hearted and a rule bender. His teacher may not be so easy-going.

“Todoroki,” Aizawa grumbled, closing his eyes and tilting his head. He looked annoyed. “All of this could have been avoided if you told me or All Might. Why didn’t you?” Todoroki was so used to it. He was so accustomed to suffering in silence. Why didn’t he ask for help?

“I guess I didn’t want to make it worse.” He wasn’t sure. Maybe it would have gotten worse, maybe his classmates would think he was weak, or maybe he didn’t want his father to find out that he was being pushed around by some nobody. Maybe he didn’t want to trouble his teachers.

“Kosuke had a broken nose, a concussion, second-degree burns, and a dislocated wrist. Recovery Girl was able to heal all of them, but you should not rely on her to make up for your outburst.” Todoroki was sitting up straight in his chair but he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with Aizawa. Everything he was saying made sense to him, someone trying to be a hero. He felt ashamed. But Midoriya wouldn’t stand for it.

“He was protecting me and Kosuke instigated it! You can’t just-” Aizawa raised his hand to silence Midoriya. The little villain just glared and gritted his teeth. You can’t just blame Todoroki for everything. You don’t know him like I do.

“Kosuke has been suspended until faculty decides whether he deserves to come back to a different class or to be expelled. Bullying and starting fights with students will not be tolerated.” Principal Nezu finally spoke up, raising his two paws in the air. “I hope you understand Todoroki that giving in to his taunts has put you in a sticky situation now. Use this as a learning experience. Ask for help next time something like this arises.” The little mouse, dog, bear, thing, hopped off of Aizawa’s shoulder and waddled up to the half and half hero, giving his knee a small pat. “You’re a very talented and smart young man. But I still need to run a school properly. So you’ll be suspended for only the rest of the afternoon. Your father has been called to take you home.”

Even with Principal Nezu’s cheery, supportive tone, his words made Todoroki’s heart plummet to the bottom of his stomach. Much of the color drained from his face but he tried to hide it. Midoriya saw right through it. They knew this was going to happen, but it was happening at this very moment which made their anxiety worse. Why didn’t they call his sister? He would have asked for Fuyumi instead of Endeavor. Todoroki rubbed the side of his head and lowered it so his eyes were covered by his hair from the teacher’s perspective.

“Do you have any objections to that, Todoroki?” Aizawa asked, gaining a glance from Yamada.

“No sir,” Todoroki answered quickly but his voice had become so quiet all of a sudden. Then Principal Nezu looked to the tired teacher, stepping back and letting him come closer to the student.

“Is there something wrong?” he asked, folding his hands in front of him. Ask for help. Ask him for help. Every part of him wanted to ask his teacher for help. That’s what he was supposed to gain from this experience, wasn’t he?

“No, it’s fine.” It’s not fine. Nothing about this was fine and Aizawa could tell. He wasn’t going to give up, even if it meant putting him on the spot.

“Todoroki, why were there bandages on your neck on the first day of classes?” Everyone’s eyes except Principal Nezu’s twitched wider at the blunt question. There was no avoiding the answer because Kosuke didn’t know about Todoroki on the first day. Midoriya had hated Aizawa at the start of this talk but now he could see exactly what he was doing; pushing Todoroki into a corner to try and get him to call out what was going on at home. He came off as harsh but he couldn’t tiptoe around an issue like this. Todoroki lifted his head quickly and finally looked at his teacher with little emotion to be deciphered but behind his eyes, there was desperation. Tell him the truth.

All he could suddenly think of was his mother’s screams and crying. She had tried so hard to stop the abuse too. She threw herself in front of him, she tried telling her own family, she was only ridiculed and called a liar, forced to keep her sufferings internalized while no one believed her. She hurt so much because of him. Aizawa was stronger but… he still had things to lose. He couldn’t let his reputation be stripped away because of him.

“A training accident at home. It was my fault.” Todoroki answered quietly. Midoriya got hurt from trying to protect him from Kosuke. Anyone who’s ever tried to help him has suffered at least a little bit. What if that was how his big brother died? It wasn’t worth it. He wasn’t worth the trouble.

Aizawa could only stand there and take that answer. He didn’t want to in the slightest. He knew something was wrong, but he could do something if Todoroki just opened up to him. He sighed and went back to lean against the wall and folded his arms. He wasn’t going to let one failure stop him from getting to the bottom of this. “Ahem, speaking of home.” Yamada cleared his throat to gain some attention. “Hey Midoriya, your mother called the school a little while ago. She says you haven’t been home since school started. What’s up with that?” Now it was Midoriya’s turn to have his heart stop. He loved his mother but she was going to rat him out at this rate. She was just worried, of course, he understood that. But why didn’t she call him instead?!

“W-Well I uh…” even Todoroki was looking at him confused. He was in for it later. “I’ve been staying with some really really close friends. One is like a big brother to me, and he’s been providing for me and everything. He lives closer to the school too so I don’t need to take the train every day.” It was all true. It just wasn’t the whole truth. “I didn’t realize I haven’t been home in so long. I’ll stop by soon to tell her!”

Once again, Yamada had let Midoriya off the hook so easily. He only shrugged with a grin, accepting his answer even though Aizawa shot him a dirty look. He was far too soft on his students sometimes. But before he could protest, there was a knock on the door. It was then opened by All Might in his fake form with Endeavor beside him looking to be very aggravated. Todoroki narrowed his eyes in a defensive glare at his father while Midoriya gave a very dark look to All Might. He hadn’t seen his former idol in person in such a long time and here he was, as fake as ever. Not only that, but he was leading Todoroki’s greatest threat right to him without a second thought. He awaited the day Shigaraki would get his hands around his throat. All Might noticed the looks he and the other hero were receiving and it put him off guard immediately. Such hateful, scarred faces in teenagers so young.

“Your father has arrived Young Todoroki. I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow!” he said with a smile plastered on his face; he wanted to let his student know that he would be fully welcomed back the next day despite being in trouble now. Perhaps it was meant to be a small hint for Endeavor to understand that his son had not done anything unforgivable wrong. “Just learn from this next time, young man.” All Might added which made Midoriya grip the bedding tightly. How dare he speak to his hero in such a way. He would just learn to not trust or believe in adults any more than he already did. And it was then that Todoroki left with Endeavor in silence with Midoriya and Aizawa staring at them until they were out of view.

“Yamada, who was the student with purple hair from earlier? The one who calmed Kosuke down?” Aizawa then asked, leaving afterward with his fellow teachers and Principal Nezu.

“What the hell happened to your face?” Shigaraki asked when Midoriya sat down at the bar next to him as soon as he returned from school. “Is it gonna scar?” Midoriya went ahead and explained all that had happened that afternoon to Kurogiri and Shigaraki while ignoring the afternoon snack that was prepared on the counter for him. He didn’t feel like eating after such a stressful day. There were too many things running through his mind.

“I heard him say, or at least almost say that he wanted to kill him. He was so angry… and I got a peek at his face.” Midoriya soon held his own cheeks and sighed thinking about the look Todoroki had on his face while he was choking Kosuke on the floor. His face blushed and eyes sparkled thinking about how strong and beautiful he looked. It had been like watching a demon in hellfire. It truly was beautiful. “He bottles up so much hatred. He holds it back because the world wants him to. But at that moment he let it slip… He was so beautiful, Tomu. You don’t understand. His passion to nearly kill someone was something else.” He swayed lightly just thinking back on it. But he soon stopped when he banged his fists on the counter. “But Endeavor had to come and take him away. I need to get him out of there soon.” But how on Earth was he going to do that? If he disappeared for more than a day, the number two hero would certainly go to the school to take him back again. He definitely wouldn’t go without punishment.

“Just a question Izuku, what kind of things does Todoroki like?” Kurogiri asked, sliding a glass of water to the little villain. He wasn’t eating but he should at least stay hydrated.

“Traditional Japanese things.”

Shigaraki’s eyes trailed from Midoriya to Kurogiri slowly before going back to Midoriya, watching him drink the water that he was just passed. It was like he was waiting for something, waiting for someone to say something. He saw Kurogiri was casually cleaning everything behind the counter again without adding any more to the conversation. “Kurogiri is going to go away for a little while,” Shigaraki said with an exhale, resting his cheek in his hand. Midoriya flinched, swallowed the water, and looked back and forth between the two. “He’s going to sneak into U.A. next week so we can get in and ambush All Might from the inside. Not too dangerous. He just won’t be around to take care of you.”

“So we’re going in already? Is that a good idea?” Midoriya asked. This all seemed a bit too soon, He hadn’t studied the other students or Aizawa that much yet. His notes were vague on them. But Shigaraki seemed to be a bit eager and impatient to destroy the symbol of peace he hated so much. That’s when the older villain stood up and gestured with his fingers for the younger to follow, which he did. Then the two of them would go into the elevator, leaving the dark fog father figure behind looking very suspicious to where they were going. It was then that Shigaraki would take Midoriya to a floor lower than his laboratory. “What’s down there?” the little villain asked curiously. Shigaraki just smirked with a glint in his eye.

“The fruits of your hard work.”

The room revealed was smaller than the laboratory and a lot darker. The floors and walls were metal and there were chains all around the room linking together to something in the center underneath the only white light. The sound of heavy deep breathing echoed off the walls but it didn’t sound like human breathing. It was something else. “I-It’s… massive.” Midoriya gazed up to the face of a monster sitting at the center of the room. Its neck, wrists, and ankles were chained to every corner to restrict any movement although it was completely still. It was giant, twice the size of All Might and appeared to have painfully bulging muscle. Its skin was a dark purple, stressed and bruised beyond healing. It had a beak rather than a mouth, eyes practically popping out of its head, brain exposed out of the skull for those around to see.

“An artificial human. A nomu.” Shigaraki said, walking closer to it with his hands in his pockets. “Your research helped my master’s doctor perfect the design and method for making the perfect killing machine. It’s a subject injected with several different quirks, making it powerful beyond compare. He was having a problem for a while where the original body would just die from the intensity and become useless, making him start all over.” Midoriya stared in awe of the beast that was sitting on the floor before him.

“I… helped make that?” a crooked smile twitched on his lips. He helped make this monster. Its body was stable in containing so much visible power. The delicate process of easing quirks into a person without killing them sounded very difficult indeed. From the looks of it, the brain being exposed gave him the assumption that the strain of being pumped full of quirks blew its mental power out. “It’s braindead. But the doctor was able to make it only obey specific voices.” Shigaraki smiled at his little brother.

“Mine and yours.” It was a slave to them. It would listen to their voices and their voices alone. Any command would be followed suit if within the range of possibility. “I also requested an extra component.” Shigaraki strolled over towards the elevator where a small security code box sat on the wall. He did it slow enough for the little villain to catch the code 5651. Once it was inserted, all the chains released the nomu but it still sat still. Midoriya watched the chains fall, hearing the loud clanging of the heavy metal fall to the floor. Then Shigaraki pulled a small vile out of his pocket and inside was a simple mosquito. He released it and let it fly around for a few seconds, letting it buzz over to the little villain. Just before it landed on his hand, the nomu had blasted right past him, sending a gust of wind behind so powerful that he dropped to his knee to keep from falling backward. Behind him, he saw the monster with its fist denting the wall with it cracked and cratering it from the strength in its punch. It punched the mosquito so hard that it broke the wall. “It’ll protect you without hesitation.”

Midoriya was stunned with amazement over the creature. “Come here,” he said, testing out what he had been told. He was thrilled when he slowly stood back up and saw the nomu pull its fist back and then stomp over to him, towering him in height. “Sit.” he watched it sit. Just as obedient as a dog, if not more so. “Give me your head.” Midoriya reached up and watched the nomu lower its head to be held by the little villain. It was then that he began to gently stroke its beak with a smile. The perfect killing machine, but also the perfect pet. No wonder Shigaraki wanted to attack All Might so soon. He had something that had to be more powerful than that hero was and, of course, he wanted to use it right away. It was perfect.

Chapter Text

Midoriya left the bar earlier than normal and rushing more than usual, only grabbing a piece of toast from a plate on the counter before running out the door. “Leaving early! Bye!” he waved quickly to Shigaraki who was going through a few folders worth of papers when he watched his little brother practically sprint out the door. He didn’t question it. Somehow his backpack looked more stuffed than usual but he didn’t seem concerned about it.

Midoriya tried to get to school before most of the other students that next day, not caring what anyone would say about the red jagged line down his eye. If Todoroki and Shigaraki could live with scars, then he could too. When he got to the campus, he would just pace around the classroom and lockers of class 1-A waiting anxiously for his friend to come around. Endeavor did not look happy yesterday and he didn’t even want to imagine what hell Todoroki was put through for getting involved in a fight. Would he even show up at all? What if something really bad happened to him? How bad would his burns be? Was he prepared to put a splint on a broken bone? He began scratching at his wrists as he paced around. Todoroki only got angry because of him, he was the reason he fought Kosuke. He was the reason for any injuries he would come back with this morning. How much pain did he face because of him?

It wasn’t much longer when Todoroki would be found at his locker, looking even more exhausted than he had the day before. Under his eyes were dark and his eyelids seemed to hang lower than usual. His hair was a bit messier with red and white strands poking out and mixing with the other color. He didn’t sleep last night. But there were no bandages to be seen upon being discovered. Midoriya stood a small distance beside him and breathed a sigh of relief seeing that he wasn’t hurt. His friend just looked desperate for a nap.

“Todoroki, are you okay?” he asked, walking a bit closer. Todoroki blinked slowly and rubbed one eye with the back of his hand.

“Tired…” he mumbled before opening his eyes again and looked down at his friend, remembering the scar he had on his face now. He suddenly looked so sad about it. “Are you feeling okay?” he asked back, looking directly at the red line coming down his friend’s face with a soft tone. But Midoriya just smiled brightly for him trying to wash away any of the guilt he felt.

“I feel so much better seeing that you’re not hurt.” he would have been devastated otherwise. He gave his backpack a tug to pull it up on his back more, feeling it weighing him down a little bit because of how heavy it was. Packing extra medical supplies made it weigh a ton. “So what happened last night? You can’t tell me that it was nothing.” he then asked. Todoroki closed his locker and began to walk beside his friend, dragging his feet slightly. At one point, he closed his eyes and shook his head rapidly for a moment.

“We argued. A lot. But he couldn’t do anything because he had company over later. Lots of detectives have been coming over and relaying information on the Sudden Disappearance case and dropping off files for him and his agency to look over.” Todoroki explained. Endeavor was really taking over the investigation of finding Midoriya’s subjects and bringing him to justice. He felt so powerful hiding right under the flame hero’s nose like this. “I was surprised that he let that stop him. But he knows I don’t take his shit without a fight. It doesn’t matter if he’s stronger than me. So it’s tonight that I’m more concerned about because it’ll be just us until my sister, Fuyumi, gets home. She’ll usually help calm him down.” he then fell silent, letting his head drop and lift slightly with exhaustion. They must have argued all night and then he must have sat there in the paranoia of something happening while he was asleep.

“Let’s hang out after school. We should go to the park again until your sister gets home so you don’t need to think about it as much.” Midoriya offered. To which he received the answer of a nod a small ‘mhm’.

The school began to fill up with more students as it got closer to homeroom period. Midoriya wanted to stay with his hero until the last possible moment, especially while he was so tired like this. While they walked, he occasionally tugged at Todoroki’s arm to keep him from bumping into people and the corners of walls. It was within this bit of free time that Todoroki felt the presence much larger than him come around the corner in a fast manner. Their footsteps were heavy and the figure he saw from the corner of his eye was massive.

“Young Todo-!” All Might’s voice was as loud as ever but it must have triggered something. Todoroki yanked Midoriya behind him as he raised his right arm suddenly and made a small, jagged ice wall between them and the pro hero in sheer panic and on instinct. The move of self-defense stunned the pro hero as he took a step back and looked at the frost that made its way onto his clothes. He frightened his own student? He was just trying to greet him. But upon taking another look at his student’s face, he saw anger but also strained fear as he kept his pose from using his quirk, breathing heavily but steadily. This little stunt of his also gained the attention of many surrounding students, including a multitude of his classmates. Todoroki glanced around at them, realizing that he looked ridiculous for almost attacking his teacher.

Midoriya held Todoroki’s other arm gently, realizing the mental toll of the arguing with his father last night. He was left paranoid and exhausted enough to have his senses skewed. He melted the wall that was no taller than All Might quickly before walking away at a faster pace than before, his friend still holding on to him being more than aware that he was embarrassed and ashamed. It hurt to see his friend like this, living so miserably. How did he keep living like this?

Midoriya walked Todoroki to class that morning and then went to class himself. He sat down at his desk and took out his school notebook when he just felt that he was being watched. When he looked up, he saw Shinsou looking at him from halfway across the room and when they finally made eye contact, the purple-haired student made a small wave with his cheek resting on his other fist. The villain waved back, remembering how his classmate was able to apprehend Kosuke and did his best to help him. Mutual respect was nice.

Watching Todoroki during the observation period was painful. He was still one of the best in class, but his focus was nonexistent. Midoriya felt his skin crawl when Iida tried talking to him any chance he had. There was a point towards the end where he almost tripped over a piece of debris from the results of their training, being too tired to focus on where he was walking. And Midoriya felt his nails digging into his wrists as he saw Iida dare put his hands around Todoroki’s waist to catch him from behind. He listened to their mics over his headset begrudgingly.

“Todoroki, please be a bit more careful. You’ve been uncharacteristically careless today.” Iida said, carefully pulling him closer and upright so he wouldn’t fall over. The taller student’s eyes squinted when he let go but saw that Todoroki looked very pale with red around his cheeks. “Drink something too. You’re getting dehydrated and it isn’t safe to-” he warned before going to grab him again because he was swaying a lot from dizziness.

Midoriya wanted to claw at the skin on his face when he saw Iida hold Todoroki so close. He brought Todoroki up against him so the shorter student could rest his head on his chest as he reached into a pouch. From his armored costume, he took out a small flask of orange juice. “Here, try this. Apologies that I drank half of it already.” Iida held it up to him but didn’t let go when Todoroki put his hand over his to put it to his lips and drink. With his face resting so delicately on his chest, drinking from the same flask as him, and holding his hand in this way, Midoriya was fuming. He was ready to call Shigaraki to kill Iida right where he stood when he took the flask back and wiped a drop of juice off of Todoroki’s chin. Watching his hero stand there so tired and disoriented, eyes half-lidded and hardly able to stand up straight, and that four-eyed bastard being so willing to help him this way made him beyond furious. “I can see the stress is getting to you although I doubt you’re willing to talk about it.” Between Kosuke, the scene with All Might that morning, and being suspended yesterday afternoon, Todoroki’s mental and physical state was not unwarranted.

Out of spite, during the lunch period, Midoriya refused to leave Todoroki’s side. The moment Iida tried to make conversation with him, the little villain would talk over him just loud enough so only he could be heard. His tone would be overly sweet to make Todoroki feel more comforted. But in all honesty, the half and half hero was too tired to pay either of them and preferred just to eat peacefully for the first time in a while at U.A. Kosuke was no longer here to harass him and he could at least get peace of mind from that fact.

“I should go see him…” All Might sat at his desk when school was shutting down for the day with Aizawa and Yamada. The two heroes walked in together when they saw the number one pro having a small crisis at his desk.

“What?” Aizawa asked, not quite understanding what All Might was talking about. He had his hands together at the bridge of his nose, eyes closed, and looked very conflicted.

“Todor- Endeavor. I think I should go see him.” What Todoroki did that morning had not left him. The fear on his face, the exhaustion, his first instinct, his isolated nature, the bandages that had been mentioned just the day before, these all led up to a conclusion he didn’t want to be true. “I want to check on young Todoroki. I’ve suddenly become worried about him so I think I’ll try to pay the family a visit tomorrow.” Aizawa and Yamada looked at each other for a moment.

“Let us and Nezu know if something is wrong the second something feels off,” Aizawa instructed.

It was then that Yamada looked out the window and smiled a little bit seeing Midoriya leave school with Todoroki, side by side. “You know, I think my student just may have a crush on him.” he nearly giggled. “What do you think? You’d know about that kind of stuff, right?” he smirked at Aizawa who lowered his face into his scarf, looking more irritated all of a sudden. But the tired teacher staggered over to the window to see the two students talking, though it was mostly Midoriya trying to keep a bright and cheery mood to keep his friend awake. Now that Yamada was mentioning it, the two seemed to spend every moment they could together. However…

“I can’t imagine Endeavor being happy about that.” Aizawa grumbled.

When at the park, at last, Midoriya sat down with Todoroki in the same spot as last time, underneath a tree in a subtle quiet bliss. Midoriya had been the one making conversation the whole way there and now he felt his friend deserved some silence. If anything, this was an opportunity to get a little closer to him. But he couldn’t keep himself from blushing madly and fidgeting with his hands as they sat there together. Just ask him. Just make the offer. It’s not that hard. He was barely even conscious. “T...Todoroki? If you just want to sleep, it’s okay.” he started. “Y-You can uh… you can… there’s probably bugs on the ground so like-” maybe this wasn’t a good way to start. Todoroki was looking at him now with his eyes looking ready to close any moment. “I really like you and I hate to see you suffering like this. You’re so tired, a-and you need to rest. So if you want um…” he had his back against the tree and put his hands on his legs that were together in front of him. “You can like, take a nap on me if you want.”

Todoroki tilted his head slightly but nodded his head slowly. “If you offer… I’d like that a lot,” he mumbled.

“I-I want you to!” Midoriya admitted but it came out louder than he wanted and made him blush more. He held his own cheek and turned to look away, unable to bear making eye contact now. He probably seemed so strange now and Todoroki would never want to talk to him ever again and he probably just ruined any opportunity of normal conversation and- He felt a weight on his thighs. He looked down and saw Todoroki resting his head on his lap, shifting around to find the perfect position to get comfortable. Midoriya stayed stiff, letting him turn and move around on his legs. When he finally stopped moving, the little villain looked down to find him instantly asleep. To watch him fall unconscious so quickly surprised him but he now felt that he held a powerful force right on his lap.

A murderer, someone who has experimented on someone alive, someone who had dissected corpses without flinching, someone who had become so ruthless in these past months now had the most precious thing in his life blissfully sleeping in his lap. His hand had been soaked with blood that was not his own and now they caressed the silky, soft hair of someone so beautiful, running his fingers through white strands of purity. He’s heard the cries of pain and screams of agony, and now he was blessed with the sounds of soft perfect breathing. He’s seen the most gruesome sights, organs and bones, corpses and carcasses, and here was, watching the most beautiful person cry the most delicate and gentle tears. He could see teardrops escape Todoroki’s eye, twinkling at the perfect angle of the sun’s rays of light through the leaves in the tree above them. The person he loved most was suffering so much, in so much pain all the time. All he could do now was stroke his hair and wipe his tears away, caring for him in his vulnerable state. The purest soul, a living angel, resting in the arms of a monster and being petted by a demon. He’d do anything for him. He’d do everything for him, to take all his pain away. As a doctor, he should be able to do that and yet this was a pain he could not heal with bandages and medicines. “Todoroki…” he whispered softly, stroking his white hair to the side and exposing his pale cheek. There was no flinch or response from his hero that was completely submerged into exhaustion. “I wish I could just tell you…” he brushed his thumb against Todorki’s parted lips. “... how much I really love you.” he could only bring himself to kiss his cheek and return to petting his hair soothingly.

Both of Midoriya’s legs had long gone numb by the time Todoroki began to shift again. The sun was setting with the sky a mix of oranges, reds, yellows, pinks, and purples. But nothing was as beautiful as the red and white mess on his lap. He watched his eyes tighten and then slowly pry themselves open, looking straight ahead at the playground before them, then moving to focus on the smiling freckled face above him. “Sleep well?” Midoriya asked, running his hand through his beloved’s hair to move it out of his face to see his cutely sleepy complexion.

“Yeah, it was nice.” Todoroki breathed quietly. He went to try and sit up but gave up after he could barely lift his head an inch. Instead, he turned himself on his side to face the villain’s stomach. He wasn’t ready to get up yet. “Every time I’m with you it’s nice,” he added shamelessly. “It’s easy to forget everything else with you.” Hearing that made Midoriya’s heart grow wings and fly far beyond the atmosphere.

“We should go to that aquarium tomorrow then. We can go early and stay out almost all day so you don’t have to be home. That sounds good, right?” A date. Let this be a date. Midoriya wanted this to be a date more than anything.

“I’d like that. We should do that.” Todoroki agreed and finally lifted his head to get on his hands and knees, facing the little villain. “We should come here every day after school too. I don’t care what the old man says anymore…” Endeavor would be too busy with the investigation from now on anyway. Wouldn’t it be nice for him to be so busy that he forgot that he even had a son?

“Then we should.” Midoriya was more than happy to agree and raised his hands to start organizing Todoroki’s hair to be parted properly. He watched his hero close his eyes while he did so. If only he had the courage to tell him how pretty he thought he was.

The two of them sat together, side by side underneath the tree in the park. Midoriya would talk about class and eventually his big brother and father. Yamada had broken his secret that he hasn’t been to his mother’s house in a very long time, so he may as well take the time to explain where he has been to not make anything suspicious. “My big brother is really introverted. He like, never goes out. But he’s the one that introduced me into medical stuff and gave me a headstart on it. It’s thanks to him that I got into U.A. in the first place. But he’s not really mature and boring or anything like that, he’s really fun and we like to tease each other. And my dad, well he’s not really my dad.” he held up a finger with a smile and shrugged. “I never knew my real dad. But this guy is seriously awesome. He helped settle down at their place and gave me a space of my own to live in. He cooks and cleans and helps me study, you’d really like him.” Midoriya would go on being bubbly and talkative about his makeshift family while Todoroki just listened. He loved to listen to him. Hearing about his family made him start to imagine what it would be like if he had something like that.

This would continue until the sun had gone down completely to which the two would part ways to go home. Midoriya did take a second to stop and look back at his hero for a few moments. They’d see each other tomorrow morning but it still hurt to be away from him. He wanted to do something for him, and he wanted to do it now… and he knew just what he wanted to do. He began to run home with his phone in his hand, texting Kurogiri and Shigaraki quickly with a glow that began to reappear in his eyes. He couldn’t kill someone as powerful as Endeavor. But there was someone else he could take away. He couldn’t help but smile thinking about it. Meanwhile, while Todoroki was walking back, he heard a strange sound from an alleyway along his path.

Upon Midoriya arriving back at the hideout, Kurogiri and Shigaraki were both at the bar as usual. Though Shigaraki wore a hoodie which he didn’t usually wear indoors. He must have just gotten back from somewhere. “Did you get him already?” Midoriya asked, placing his bag down at his usual stool.

“Your notebook has the most details on him. And with his name, it was easy to get in and out of the school database without getting caught.” Shigaraki took a small bite of a cookie in his hand and was scrolling through his phone. For a hermit who was always on some electronic, he was quite the computer wiz. “He’s from the poorest side of the city so no one will notice that he’s gone for a while. Did you have something in mind with him either?” the older villain asked, though it seems that he didn’t mind what the answer may be. He was just curious. But Midoriya just shrugged. There was no solid plan besides kill him. “I wouldn’t mind displaying his body as a warning to the school. Have the media get a hold of the news and let the whole world know.” Shigaraki snickered. Kurogiri shook his head with his arms folded.

“Anything for attention with you. Although the idea would coincide with our plans already in place.”

Midoriya thought about his villain costume that he had received. He hasn’t had a chance to wear it yet. But he also has never had a villain name to show off yet either. Would this be an opportunity to get his name out into the world? “Hey… if call myself Fallen, could we let them know that I did it?” he asked, looking to his big brother.

“Fallen? Is that what you want your villain name to be? Why something like that?”

“Because I almost fell off a roof when Todoroki found me and stopped me. Even though I didn’t fall from the roof, I did fall from the rest of society.” He stopped worshipping heroes and fell out of the norm. He fell off All Might’s radar. His hopes fell. His dreams fell. He wanted to fall off the roof. But now he was more of a fallen angel that turned into the devil if the red glow he had in his eyes was any indication of that.

“Go for it then.” Shigaraki waved him off but had a wide grin on his face. Let his doctor make a name for himself. So with his permission and approval, Midoriya took the stairs straight to his room and got changed.

“Eat something first Izuku!” Kurogiri called out but the boy was long gone and too motivated to turn around. Usually, he would get into all black clothing but now he wanted to wear something else. Something he hasn’t been able to try on yet. And then he went to the elevator to go down to his laboratory.

The ride down felt longer than normal but Midoriya blamed it on his nerves. He was twitching with anticipation. Why hadn’t he done this earlier? It would have been too suspicious if a student didn’t show up to class, but now that his new plaything was suspended he could be kept down here for the whole weekend and longer. As soon as the elevator doors opened, he was reminded by how dark his laboratory was without the lights on. But the light from the elevator was enough to make someone stir. “Who is that? Get me out of here!” shouted a familiar voice, one that Midoriya would love to never hear again. He heard chains rattling and metal banging as his subject thrashed about the cage he was in.

Kosuke sat in a cage with hands and feet chained to the bars to restrict his movements and a specifically made mask was around his mouth to prevent him from breathing flames. And yet he still struggled to break free. Though he froze when he heard footsteps begin to approach the cage. “Who the hell…” he growled at the short teenager in a dress vest and tie, dress shoes and pants, with black gloves on his hands and a terrifying smiling mask over his mouth. But the little villain didn’t wear the face mask to hide his nose, cheeks, and eyes. With just glowing red eyes alone, anyone could tell that he was smiling with a tilt of his head.

“You have no idea how long I’ve waited to see you like this…” he giggled.

Kosuke stared up at the villain outside and standing over the cage. “You’re that…” he began, watching Midoriya tilt his head in the opposite direction. His scarred eye seemed brighter than the other. He was ecstatic to see the fire-breather for once. “You’re that guy that hangs around Todoroki, aren’t you?” He appeared frightened at first but then became very angry. “What the hell is this?! Some prank?! Get your ass in here and fight me fair and square!” he began thrashing again and tried to breathe a flame. But the mask contained it and he winced at the pain of burning his own mouth. This childish tantrum destroyed the little villain’s cheery attitude and he suddenly appeared annoyed and frustrated.

“You’re so noisy…” he grumbled kneeling down to the cage’s level, pulling his mask down. “I’ll make you regret every time you even looked at Todoroki.”

The thrashing stopped but Kosuke still tugged his hand to try and pull it out of the chain. “What the hell is this… don’t tell me this is about him.” he had so many questions. Where was he? Was this even real? This had to be a complicated joke. A prank of revenge for getting into that fight. There’s no way that someone in U.A. would chain him up and put him in a cage like an animal.

“Everything is about him.” Midoriya breathed, his smile slowly coming back in a crooked grin as he lowered the voice mixing mask. “Of course this is all for him.” Finally. Finally, he would get to kill this brat that made Todoroki so miserable. His eyes were wide with anticipation. He wanted to be covered in his blood. He wanted to hear his screams. He wanted to see his insides and study his corpse as nothing more than a corpse.

“What the hell…” it was all Kosuke could say. He was staring in the eyes of a monster. He watched that monster get up and go to his desk to pick up a notebook and pen. He took the cap off with his teeth and held it there. “Your parents have quirks?”

“What?”

“Do mommy and daddy have quirks?” Midoriya narrowed his eyes at Kosuke waiting for an answer. He kicked the cage after the silence lasted a few seconds too long. In an attempt to be smart, the fire-breather decided to play along to try and live a little longer, long enough for help to come.

“My dad has a dragon quirk. Scales, fire breathing, big claws, he has a tail too. My mom…” he clicked his teeth. “Lame. She’s quirkless.” Midoriya wrote down his answers and then began taking more notes.

“Feel like her being quirkless kept you from having a flashy quirk like your father?”

“Yeah, so what?”

“Sucks to suck.”

“Fuck you.”

Midoriya kicked the cage again. “What happens when you overuse your quirk?”

“It gets hard to breathe. One time I burnt my lungs.”

“What happened that one time?”

“Burned down a bunch of rich people’s homes in one night when I was little. Some fuckers that fucked over my dad. I stopped breathing and everything tasted like smoke.” Midoriya continued to write. It sounded like a poor kid with a grudge against the rich. Todoroki being a part of a wealthy family must have pissed him off. But he seemed to have a healthy family relationship except for some rebellion against his mom. What Todoroki would probably give to switch lives.

“What about-” Midoriya was about to ask another question when his phone in his back pocket vibrated. He put his notebook and pen down and saw that it was his beloved that texted him, a picture too. He was home in a fancy bathroom covered in spots of mud with a small dog in front of him.

Todoroki: I found a dog.

Midoriya: You “found” a dog?

Todoroki: She was hurt and I found her on the way home. Her presence would piss the old man off.

Midoriya: So you brought her home?

Todoroki: Yes.

“He’s so perfect. In every way.” Midoriya swooned. His subtle pettiness against his father was something he was finding cute and his undying kindness for anyone in pain was beyond gorgeous. “I love him… I love him.” he hummed, hugging his phone and swaying side to side.

“You’re crazy,” Kosuke commented from inside the cage. “Have you killed people?” He then asked, trying to see through some of the remaining darkness in the laboratory.

“A couple.” the villain answered which caused the hero student to scoff.

“You give people like you a bad name.” Giving homosexual individuals a bad name by being a villain, driven mad with romantic desires for a hero and revenge against others.

“You don’t know anything about me. And don’t act like you know Todoroki either.”

“So are you going to kill me or what?” Midoriya looked at Kosuke when he asked that question. He was just being glared at, but Kosuke was holding his ground and putting on a fearless front despite his position. Suddenly…

“I don’t feel like it. I’ll do it later.” Midoriya put his notebook and pen back on his desk and closed it, going back to the elevator instead. He didn’t feel like killing him. But he was here. He could save him for at least a little while and get as much out of him as he could. “I’m going to bed instead. I have something important tomorrow.” Todoroki was the only thing on his mind. He couldn’t risk being tired for their little date tomorrow. Kosuke’s fate would simply be put on hold until he had found a good time to get to work.

Midoriya spent a solid thirty minutes looking through all his clothes for a decent outfit that did not consist of all black. He was really taking after Shigaraki in the fashion department and was grumbling to himself as he kept digging. He eventually settled on a green jacket with a white and green checkered shirt and jeans. It’s the lightest outfit he had. He couldn’t have Todoroki see him try to be edgy in all black, he’d look ridiculous! Once he was dressed and washed up, he ran down the stairs and grabbed a single doughnut that was on the counter and went right past Shigaraki.

“And where are you going on the weekend?” His big brother asked, playing video games without looking at the screen.

“Todoroki and I are going out. I’ll be back before dark, promise.”

“Is this a date with your little prince charming?” Shigaraki smirked and Midoriya went red. There was no denying it now. But he didn’t know if this was considered a date himself. He bit the inside of his cheek and looked away all flustered thinking about how to answer.

“M...Maybe,” he muttered.

“Then go have fun.” The older villain replied back instantly. No teasing, no subtle meaning, no sarcasm, no joking. His big brother just wanted him to have a fun time.

“I-I will!” and the smaller villain was out the door in a heartbeat, racing to the aquarium to meet his beautiful hero there. He had the best big brother and he hoped Todoroki did too.

Standing on a cobblestone walkway just outside the aquarium, Midoriya spotted his beloved checking his phone, likely checking to see if he missed any messages. He appeared to be by himself until he noticed a white leash stemming from messenger bag that he had, with a small to medium-sized dog attached to it. Midoriya was nearly stunned with a smile and sheer shock. He kept it. He kept the dog he found on the streets and he probably did it out of pure spite. He would have been more concerned but then he saw him crouch down to pet it and it earned him a puppy kiss to his scarred cheek that made him make a half-smile. He deserved an emotional support animal, so what was the harm?

“Good morning.” Midoriya greeted with a warm smile. Todoroki looked up from his new friend and stood up straight, appearing to be much more well-rested and awake today than he was yesterday.

“Good morning to you, too,” he said back and then turned his head down to the dog standing between them. “This is Zuzu.” Midoriya froze and blanked out for a moment, having a pretty strong theory as to where that name came from. Midoriya Izuku. Izuku. Zuku. Zuzu. He wanted to cry from it being very adorable but also very embarrassing.

“Good morning Zuzu…” he exhaled, not sure how to feel about this name. But he’ll just have to live with it. “Did Endeavor find her?” Todoroki nodded.

“He heard me giving her a bath. But Fuyumi insisted that he let me keep her.” She won the argument for him. Todoroki had a dog. Midoriya had a nomu.

Walking up to the ticket counter, Midoriya began to dig through his wallet when Todoroki put his hand over it and held up a piece of plastic instead. He was too young for a credit card that credit card most definitely said Todoroki Enji. “You stole that, didn’t you?” Midoriya smirked.

“I at least remember one thing from my eldest brother,” Todoroki commented, preparing to hand the card over to the lady behind the counter. He noticed on the glass that there was a kind of discount day where couples were getting in half off. He didn’t pay it much mind, however. He received a receipt and was about to throw it away when Midoriya grabbed it, curious to see how much it costs to get in.

“It’s a lot cheaper than I thought. You sure this was for two tickets?” The paper said two tickets and they were holding two tickets, and yet the price seemed like a steal. And that’s when he noticed that there were a bunch of couples around holding hands and being romantic and cute together. That’s when the little villain noticed some of the advertisements and went bright red. The ticket lady gave them the discount because she thought that they were dating. How embarrassing.

“I don’t know. I’ve never been to one of these before.” Todoroki shrugged.

Midoriya looked to Todoroki who seemed very confused by his surroundings when they finally went inside to see the tanks. He’s never been to an aquarium before? “Never?” Midoriya had to clarify. But if the expression he saw was any indication, his hero was not exaggerating. He watched him become nearly hypnotized by the sea creatures in tanks around him. The villain was falling in love with that side of him. The part of him where he becomes so interested in something that he just stares at it and disassociates. He found it almost cute, but more childishly innocent. He had come to realize that his hero knew very little about the pleasures of the world around himself but he was more than willing to learn about it all. He was just… curious.

“Here, I really like looking at the sharks.” Midoriya strolled up beside Todoroki, giving Zuzu a quick pet on the head and then subtly took hold of his hero’s hand and pointed to the direction that he wanted to go. No one questioned the dog that was following beside them on the leash. And this was how their trip would go for quite some time. Midoriya would guide his hero around the things he liked, letting him stare at them for as long as he wanted to. There was one area where it was a tunnel and all that surrounded them except the floor were tanks with animals in them. The light from the tanks, moving from the water and evening out through the glass made it all feel otherworldly to him. The villain preferred looking at his hero, loving nothing more than seeing him be so fascinated and so at peace. He wanted to see him like this all the time. He just seemed so happy. And when he wasn’t paying attention to any of his surroundings, Midoriya just barely squeezed his hand with his cheeks lightly dusted pink. He liked how soft his hands were, likely having his quirk burn away any dry or dead skin. Was the rest of him like that?

Midoriya’s face became blood-red when that question surfaced and tried to keep himself cool. But now that he was telling himself to stop thinking about it, now he couldn’t stop thinking about it. His hands were so soft, and his cheek was too. He kissed him while he was asleep yesterday but it was because he was too shy to do anything more. But was the rest of him that soft? He was so strong, he knew that. His refined muscle was impressive for someone his age but that was likely due to how grueling and abusive hero training was. Midoriya didn’t even notice himself looking him up and down now. His face was always beautiful to him, from the day they first met he’s believed that. But seeing him dressed casually in a dark blue jacket and a white shirt, as plain as it was, he never noticed how attractive he was altogether. But he had to stop thinking about that. That wasn’t right. That kind of stuff was too old for him. But he couldn’t stop. Now he was curious too. How did he get so lucky to be so close to such a beautiful person such as this?

At one point, the two teenagers sat down on a bench with Zuzu getting comfortable on Todoroki’s lap, happily receiving pets from both of them. “So what other kinds of places have you never been to? Now I want to take you everywhere to see you like this.” Midoriya giggled.

“Like what?” Todoroki tilted his head.

“Like that. You loosen up a lot when we’re not at school. You’re calmer and you’re really observant of everything around you. You don’t look so stressed out.” The villain smiled cheerfully, watching his hero think about what he said. He seemed pretty confused at first but just accepted it.

“Between Kosuke and Endeavor, you’re the only one I like being with.” Between school and home, the freckled teenager was the only he took comfort from. “You always make me feel a little better.” he was like a medicine. “You make all my wounds less painful.” a painkiller. “I feel comfortable talking to you.” an antidepressant. “I also… it just feels safer.” he was a drug. Todoroki turned to look at him with a look in his bi-colored eyes that had never been seen before. They were struck with intensity but also a kind of affection that was innocent but much more powerful. “Just you…” Just him alone.

“Just me, huh?” Midoriya asked, scratching his cheek with one finger. Not Iida? Not Aizawa? Not even his own sister? He felt so honored and so special, smiling to himself. Was the hero that he was obsessed with now obsessed with him too? “Well, I’m glad.” he made a toothy grin disguising the biggest smile he would make. How he would love to say that all you need is me.

They would spend the remainder of their afternoon in the aquarium, Midoriya taking Todoroki to touch tanks to be able to pet sharks and rays, taking him to little shows for seals and penguins, and showing him everything there was to show. He wanted to show him the world he’s never gotten to see, being locked in his house for so long and seeing very little of life’s pleasures. Midoriya almost took all of this away from himself all those months ago. He would never be able to have the joy of playing games with Shigaraki, going out with Todoroki, living a new dream, and making a new family. He was given the chance to live a new best life, and he wanted to give it all to his hero that gave him that chance. Watching him be in such a calm state of fascination and curiosity made him feel a satisfaction like no other.

But eventually, they would leave the aquarium, seeing everything there was to see. It had to be late afternoon by now but the sun was still high and there was still so much time left in the day. “We should go to the mall. Have you been there before?” Midoriya suggested, taking Todoroki’s hand and giving him a small tug to direct him a different way on the sidewalk they were on. The hero student followed suit.

“Not in a long time. Sometimes the housemaid would take me to one store for new clothes, but I’ve never been to the rest of it.” A second date on the same day, the little villain couldn’t ask for anything more.

“We should go now then and…” he was so excited to go but then his voice started to trail off.

Todoroki saw it coming. Midoriya’s eyes lost a lot of color and brightness to them suddenly and the grip on his hand became much weaker. “And…” he still wanted to speak. He began to take a few steps but they appeared to be heavy and wobbly. His body began to tremble as he forced himself to walk, appearing to be exhausted all of a sudden. It was only a few moments when he began to collapse but was caught by his beloved who held him carefully upright. He felt so much lighter, so much skinnier than he had all those months ago.

“Did you eat anything today? Or yesterday?” Todoroki asked quietly but with a strong intensity in his tone, Zuzu taking a few steps back to give him room to keep the freckled villain on his feet.

“I think… I missed dinner on accident... and I ate half a doughnut this morning.” Not enough. That was not enough to keep a growing teenage boy functioning. Todoroki’s eyes narrowed but swiftly maneuvered him to rest on his back with his hands holding him up from under his knees.

“Where’s the nearest place to get something to eat?” Todoroki turned his head slightly to look to his friend who was halfway to falling asleep on his back. Exhaustion from lack of sleep and starvation exhaustion were two different kinds of exhaustion. But with those dark circles around his eyes, Midoriya had both and his body was not happy about it.

“Todo… you don’t need to carry me,” he mumbled, placing his hands on his shoulders. Strong. He was very strong.

“Don’t worry about that.” He loved him like this. So caring, concerned, responsible. It made him smile and nuzzle his cheek into the back of his neck.

“You’re such a kind person Todoroki…” he smiled peacefully. “Too kind, you know?” he felt his left shoulder get much warmer than the other. He thought it was cute.

Without an answer, Todoroki began to walk around the city carrying Midoriya on his back, searching for a place that could give a decent sized meal with lots of protein in a timely manner. He eventually realized something. “Oh, I know this area,” he said out loud and turned a corner sharply, now having a sense of direction. It confused the villain on his back. Why did he know this area all of a sudden? It didn’t look like anything special. Midoriya tried glancing around tiredly to see if he could get any clues from the surrounding area, it didn’t seem all that different from other parts of the city. There was a skyscraper that looked a bit fancier than the others in the district that caught his eye. He was a rich kid so maybe that had something to do… and that’s when Midoriya’s eyes widened in adrenaline based panic.

“Todoroki maybe we shouldn’t be here-”

“Shouto?” Todoroki suddenly stopped and took a few steps back. Zuzu stopped and her fur began to stand on the back of her neck as her tail began to straighten out, raising her lips slightly. Endeavor stood before them, towering over the two teenagers and blocking their path completely. That building was Endeavor’s agency, this was his patrolling sector. They got caught in his territory and it looked like Todoroki was going to be in trouble. “Why are you out? You were instructed to stay home to study.” the pro growled, narrowing his eyes at him. Todoroki wasn’t supposed to go out? He snuck out. He snuck out of the house and disobeyed his father just to go out with his friend. He was in trouble and Midoriya was powerless, being too weak to even stand. Todoroki wouldn’t be able to outrun him with him on his back. All the villain could think to do was take out his phone and send a short text to the only person he could think of.

“Fuck… Fuck… I’m so sorry Todoroki…” he whispered quietly for only his hero to hear. This was all his fault.

Endeavor tried to take a step forward but Todoroki took a step back, glaring directly at him and not breaking eye contact. Were they going to fight in public? “My friend needed my help. Can’t you see that? I’m trying to help him, so get out of my way.” Todoroki said with a sharp tone. Let him be a hero. That’s what he wanted to be.

“That’s nonsense. You don’t have time for friends, are you trying to lose sight of your destiny, Shouto? You mustn’t be wasting your time like this. I’ll take him-” Endeavor went to reach forward to try and offer his hand to Midoriya but the little villain hugged on to Todoroki’s neck tightly. There was no way that he was going to be helped by Endeavor. “Shouto…” Endeavor became more irritated at Midoriya’s reaction. Any kid would love to be saved by a pro as popular as him. What had he told him? Todoroki took a few more steps back as Zuzu’s growling got louder feeling the tension get heavier and hotter. “We’re going to have a long talk at home if you don’t-” Todoroki’s right side began to frost over in self-defense as Endeavor tried to close the distance between them. He wasn’t going to play this game. Midoriya shut his eyes tightly, just wanting to get away from this and take his beloved back to the aquarium, back to the park, back anywhere but here.

“Woah, hey, there you are.” Midoriya’s eyes widened at the sound of a very familiar voice. Shigaraki casually walked up to the three with a hoodie on and without the hand on his face. He had a big fake smile plastered on and held his hands up like he was trying to keep the peace. “Hope my little brother wasn’t causing too much trouble. I’ve been looking for him all day!” Midoriya looked terrified to see him out like this. His identity, his face was right in front of the pro that was in charge of finding them and arresting them! Why did he come out like this and not Kurogiri?!

Todoroki looked confused when the older villain approached him, turning to Midoriya to get some kind of approval from him. “B...Big brother…” the little villain mumbled. Shigaraki got up close to Todoroki, wrapping his arms around his little villain’s torso to pull him off his back and then take him on his own. With a small toss-up, Midoriya was safely transitioned on to the older villain’s back.

“Call him later…” Shigaraki was just able to whisper into Todoroki’s ear before backing away and grinning widely. “Please forgive him, he’s very adventurous. He gets lost easily but his stamina can’t keep up, isn’t that right?” he bounced the freckled boy on his back making him grumble and bury his face into the back of his hoodie. He was getting so dizzy now and it was hard to keep his eyes opened. He needed to get away from here quickly.

“Try to keep a better eye on him. Kids these days are always getting into trouble.” Endeavor told Shigaraki before reaching over and grabbing Todoroki’s wrist while he was too busy watching Midoriya. He yanked his son over to him and Midoriya was able to see his hand getting stressed from the strength of his grip. He struggled to grab his father’s wrist to try making him loosen his hold but Endeavor’s power far outmatched him in terms of just physical ability. Zuzu noticed his struggling and began to whine seeing her owner in pain.

“They are, huh? I think they can learn more by being a bit adventurous.” Shigaraki hummed, still smiling and then knocking his head back to lightly bonk Midoriya. “Like not going out without eating or drinking anything.” The size of his smile and the extended time he was smiling was starting to scare the little villain. His smile was so big that his eyes were closed. Did he not want to even look at Endeavor?

“You trust too easily. You make it easy for them to disrespect you.” Endeavor was about to go on a full debate with a mass killer about parenting while his son tried to frost his arm but his father’s heat prevented it from doing anything.

And Shigaraki was too stubborn to walk away just yet. “They disrespect you when you disrespect them. You should try being a bit more supportive because they’ll listen better.” Midoriya could see his smile twitching. He was breaking. But he wasn’t opening his eyes.

“They don’t understand what’s best for them. It’s a parents’ job to tell them and guide them to what’s best.” Endeavor stated. Midoriya began to tug on Shigaraki’s sleeve. He was going to snap at this rate and ruin all the plans they’ve come up with about surprise attacks. And there’s no way he could beat someone twice his body mass like this.

“I don’t think anyone should be forcing anyone to do something they don’t want to do. Things are done best when they’re done willingly.” His red eyes peeked opened and there was only hatred and a lust for homicide staring straight at Endeavor, although it felt like he was looking at someone else. Someone familiar, but he couldn’t make out a face. “The people who want the most control tend to lose the most control in the end.” Then he giggled and lowered his head, placing his own hand on his face except for his pinkie finger. “But what do I know. I’m not a parent. Later, stranger.” And he turned around and began to walk away with his little brother looking back at Todoroki longingly. Todoroki stared right back at him for a moment before glaring up at his father and being dragged elsewhere.

“That bastard is going to die,” Shigaraki said quietly, turning into an alleyway where a portal was awaiting him and sent them back to Kuorgiri’s bar. He placed Midoriya on the sofa where the boy would soon fall over on his side and lay silently in a daze.

“Todoroki…” Midoriya mumbled sadly. “I left him…” he had to go back. He had to go get him. He couldn’t leave him with Endeavor after what just happened.

Kurogiri came over and lifted Midoriya's head to help him drink a kind of fruit juice and then gave him a full plate of meat and vegetables to eat. “Eat at least half of this and then we’ll talk,” he ordered. Without a complaint, the little villain began to eat slowly with chopsticks, thinking hard about what just took place. It was all his fault. Shigaraki had to show his face. Todoroki got in serious trouble. Endeavor knows who he was now. So much had been put at risk just now because he was stupid enough to succumb to exhaustion like this. The morning had gone so well. Todoroki was so happy earlier. Now all of that was ruined.

“Tomura I…” he wanted to apologize for causing so much trouble, looking to Shigaraki who sat at the bar, angrily going through folders and scattering papers everywhere.

“Save it,” he replied sharply. He must have been so mad at him. And yet… “I hate people like him! Especially people like him! He makes me so mad! I should have turned him to ash right there!” Midoriya listened and was nearly stunned by where his anger was being directed. “That bastard. That piece of shit. I’ll fucking kill him myself! And I’ll find his fucking son and show him how much he’s messed up!” He was more determined than ever to take down the number two hero now. “He’ll regret the day he decided to be a damned father!” He threw a folder across the room and slammed a single piece of paper on the counter with his fist. “I’ll find him…” on the paper was a picture of a picture sitting on a shrine of a boy in a middle school uniform with white spikey hair and bright blue eyes. He had a soft face like Todoroki. He was more motivated than ever to find his missing Todoroki.

For a little while, Kurogiri would gather the papers Shigaraki had thrown in his temper tantrum while Shigaraki put them in an order that he preferred. Midoriya sat on the sofa pacing his eating on the full meal in front of him. Most of his energy had returned but Kurogiri was determined to have him finish at least half before he was allowed to get up. It would take some time, but he would eat a little more than half before his phone went off. It was a phone call. He never got phone calls from anyone other than his mother so his anxiety spiked as he was looking at the caller ID. Shigaraki turned back to see what his little brother was doing. “Who is it?” he asked.

“It’s Todoroki…” Midoriya was about to answer it when Shigaraki gestured him to come to the bar.

“Put it on the counter and put it on speaker.” and the little killer did just that.

“Hello? Todoroki? Hello?” he answered but there was no response. “Todo-” Shigaraki held a finger to his lips, signaling him to be quiet. That’s when he took his own phone out and place it beside the other, recording all the audio it was about to pick up. It was between Endeavor and Todoroki’s voices. Todoroki must have called but did it in secret, just as Shigaraki told him. The little debate he had with his father must have gained a bit of his trust. Did he plan for that?

“Where did you go today?”

“You don’t need to know, it’s not important.”

“Answer me Shouto. This rebellious phase is getting out of hand if you’re starting to sneak out like this.”

“I just wanted to get out. You never let me go anywhere.”

“I keep you here to keep you focused! I won’t let you get distracted at such a significant point in your growth.”

“Stop talking to me like I’m some thing. I’m not your masterpiece, why can’t you just drop that stupid ideology?”

“Can’t you see I’m just trying to give you the best future?!” There was the sound of a fist slamming down on a table. Their voices were beginning to get louder. “I won’t let you be a failure like your siblings!” There was a bit of shuffling. Todoroki probably stood up.

“They’re not failures! Stop calling them that and say their names!” There was a sound of something falling over and it made Midoriya’s heart begin to race. Is this how Todoroki gets hurt at home, trying to defend himself from an overbearing parent? He tries to argue to defend his siblings’ honor and try to remind Endeavor that he’s a human and not a machine to build to perfection.

“Todoroki…” Midoriya whispered, scratching at his wrists. This was his fault.

“Why is it so hard for you to just listen Shouto?!” There were sounds of struggling.

“Why can’t you just be a good parent like mo-” Todoroki was cut off and that’s when Midoriya had to cover his ears. He shut his eyes and held back tears as he listened to the one he loved more than anyone be beaten. They kept yelling at each other the whole time. He could tell Todoroki was trying to fight back as he could hear the effects of objects in the room freezing. But the ice was no match for a pro’s fire and his flames were nowhere near powerful enough to overtake the other’s. And yet he still tried. He never gave in. There was crashing, banging, ripping, burning, but what hurt more than anything was to hear Todoroki make grunts and groans of pain. This went on for minutes. Minutes longer than Midoriya would have liked. Why did his hero, so kind and beautiful, have to go through such pain like this? He didn’t deserve any of it.

“Tell me where you went Shouto and tell me who that boy was.” Endeavor growled quietly. The room had gone silent now. There was deep breathing coming from the pro but nothing could be heard from the other for at least a few seconds.

“None… of your b-busine-” Todoroki’s voice sounded so strained when he finally spoke, but he immediately got cut off. He didn’t make another sound. All was quiet until there was a door opening and closing. Endeavor must have walked out.

“Todoroki?! Todoroki?!” Midoriya took his phone in his hands and began shouting, praying that he would get an answer. There was none. “Todoroki please answer! Tell me you’re okay, please!” His hands were shaking as he brought his phone to the bridge of his nose and gritted his teeth. “Shouto are you there?!” There was no way he was dead. There was no possible way that his own father killed him. But didn’t he supposedly kill his oldest brother? No. That couldn’t be true. Even the number two hero wouldn’t be able to get away with that! “Say something for fuck’s sake!” His hero couldn’t be dead!

It was then that he heard something shift. There was some fumbling that the mic was picking up. There was the sound of a door slowly being pushed open just a little bit. There was the sound of a dog whining, a small bark, and then a long cry. Then there was a disgusting sound of liquid being spilled on the ground suddenly. “T-Todoroki?” Midoriya called out one more time. He silently begged him to answer. There was a thud.

“I think… I passed out.” Todoroki whispered. He sounded like he was in a lot of pain and dazed. The little villain covered his mouth, unable to verbalize his relief and his guilt. “I… threw up…” There was the sound of a jingling collar. He must have been petting Zuzu. “Thanks for waking me up.” Midoriya approved of the dog now.

“I-I’m coming to get you! Put your location on! You’re staying here tonight!” Midoriya jumped off the stool and was about to go to the door when Shigaraki grabbed his wrist to stop him. He pointed to Kurogiri who was standing right beside the door. “My uh, dad and I are going to come get you. Do you think you can make it outside?” He could hear Todoroki struggling to get up. “Yeah… there’s a wall surrounding the mansion. I can use my-” he fell. “...my ice to get over it.” Midoriya cringed hearing him struggle so much. “O-Okay. When you get on top, close your eyes, can you do that? My dad’s quirk works when you don’t look.” He lied. He had to. “I’m coming to get you…”

Chapter Text

Darkness felt so soothing like this. There was no pain to be felt when drifting around in the nothingness that takes over. It was so peaceful. It was so quiet. There was no yelling or shouting, no roaring that bounced off the walls. There was no quaking in the floor from heavy, angry footsteps. There was no light, no fire to burn and claw at the skin. In a world of emptiness, there were no expectations to be met, no pressures to bear, no feelings to be felt. The numbness was soothing. This place was lovely. It felt wonderful. Could things feel like this forever? It would be nice, wouldn’t it?

“...Shouto are you there?!” a voice rippled through the darkness, the emptiness. It sounded so far away, miles away, an unreachable distance. Ignore it. Let it fade into the nothingness it came from and stay in this world a little longer. Forever would be a blessing. To blend one’s very existence into this world and never feel pain again.

But then there was something wet and soft. It repeatedly touched his face. Something cold and moist dabbing and pressing into his cheek. Though the source was not causing pain, it was beginning to rise in his stomach, his neck, his head, his leg. There was a body to feel all this discomfort. There was no nothingness. The darkness was fading, becoming lighter with colors that blurred together like watercolor. He wanted to go back. He wanted to stay there forever. But something was pushing at his head and a deeper sickness rising in his gut.

“Say something for fuck’s sake!” It wasn’t all bad here, was it? There was a light. There was a medicine to take away most of the pain, wasn’t there? It’s been calling for him for a while now. And there’s been something soft nuzzling him for quite some time. He could feel and hear these things. He tried to move, flexing his fingers and feet to ground himself in reality. He felt stuck to the floor, being held hostage by gravity and weakness. He tried to push himself and heard the excited pants and whines of the dog next to him, backing up to give him space. However, the moment he rose to his hands and knees the sickness in his gut rose up so suddenly he couldn’t hold it back. He vomited on the wood floor as silently as he could. It was such a disgusting sound nonetheless. “T-Todoroki?”

Todoroki stayed on his knees sitting up and leaned his side against the wall, vomit dripping from the corner of his mouth. His eyes were glossy with exhaustion, blood trailing from his forehead, breathing unevenly in a panting manner. It was Zuzu that picked up the phone that was hidden under the low table in the center of the room and brought it over to her new owner. Once he took it, she felt her licking the blood from his head. “I think… I passed out.” his voice could only make a whisper, his lungs felt so sore somehow. His eyes trailed to the mess he made on the floor. “I… threw up…” then his hand rose to lightly scratch the side of Zuzu’s neck by her new collar. His frown weakly rose but it did not make it to a smile. “Thanks for waking me up.”

Todoroki would listen to Midoriya frantically speak to him, there were words to be heard but they weren’t being comprehended well. He tightened his eyes and held his head doing his best to answer the light on the other side of the phone. He coming to get him, take him away from this place, and bring him somewhere safer. The anticipation of leaving gave him the strength to rise up to his feet and take a few steps to the door. But he became dizzy and the room spun in his head. He fell, making Zuzu yelp and run to his side, nudging his head once again. “I’m coming to get you…” He heard Midoriya say one more time before hanging up. He did as he was told and put his location on to be found. But there was no way his dearest friend was going to be allowed inside. He would have to meet him at the wall. He had to get up.

Zuzu stayed close to Todoroki’s leg as he kept one hand on the wall and walked. He had to get some of his things if he was going to stay the night somewhere else. Maybe even his school things if Midoriya was going to keep him there the whole weekend. Thankfully, his head was beginning to clear as he walked and regained a slightly better sense of balance. But Zuzu still stayed against him to guide him whenever he became shaky. She’d escort him to his room on the second floor and the moment he shut the door she ran to retrieve his messenger bag. He got on his knees and watched as the dog ran around the room and continued to fetch clothes, his uniform, notebooks, textbooks, and eventually a black hoodie. He put the last item on instead of packing it, wiping his head and face with his sleeve to clear it of blood and vomit. “Get your leash too,” he said quietly. Who knows where Endeavor was now, waiting to find him awake.

With his bag over his shoulder and Zuzu on a leash attached to it, Todoroki was quietly making his way down a staircase. Quiet. It was all about being quiet and staying unseen to the very end of his escape. He had to keep his father thinking that he was unconscious in the room with the low table until he would find out that he left without a trace. He stayed close to the walls and was careful when peering around the corners. The chance that he would run into his father would terminate his whole escape. His goal was to go to the front door and get his shoes and make a run for the wall because the gate would be too loud and noticeable.

“So is Shouto here?” There was a deep, familiar voice in the house that did not belong to Endeavor. He heard it through a door he was about to pass to get to the front of the mansion. Zuzu’s fur stood up as she heard footsteps approaching the nearby door. They were caught.

“Surely, he’s hiding somewh-” Endeavor’s voice calmly said as the door opened before the two could get around another corner. They became paralyzed in their path as the door opened in front of them revealing Endeavor with All Might right beside him dressed in a more casual suit rather than his hero costume. The two adults froze when they noticed them, making eye contact with Todoroki, deer in the headlights. But maybe this was also a chance…

Endeavor’s face went from mildly frustrated to more intense anger when making eye contact with his son while All Might was oblivious to it. The number one hero had his back to the number two, smiling down at the teenager that was practically frozen against the wall. The student soon straightened up and moved to the center of the hall to appear less suspicious but he still seemed stiff.

“Good to see you, young man.” All Might greeted, though he didn’t add anything to it. He stood silently and just stared Todoroki. Perhaps waiting for a response? Or maybe looking for an expression to read. His face was clear of vomit and blood, though there were traces of it underneath his hair. If only he could see the burns on his neck that the hoodie was hiding.

“Good even-” Todoroki went to respond with his voice still strained when Endeavor cut him off.

“What is your business here All Might, really?” Endeavor never broke glaring eye contact with his son, like a warning to be careful with his words. All Might glanced back and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Well I… uh…” he then peered back and forth at the father and son that were both staring at him now. “Is there something wrong with visiting an old friend and seeing his family?”

Old friend? Todoroki took half a step back with Zuzu following his motion. They were fellow heroes, but they were also acquainted enough for All Might to call Endeavor friend? But still… could this be his chance to let someone know what’s been going on for too long? He drove his whole family away and has practically kept him captive here all of his childhood. If there was anything the media would believe about this, it was Japan’s Symbol of Peace. But if he said anything that would give it away too bluntly, who knows what the hero behind him would do. Would he have the same fate as his brother?

“Is everything going well?” All Might asked. The question was so vague and Todoroki wasn’t sure how to answer. Almost everything was horrible at the moment. But with Endeavor glaring, he couldn’t just say the truth.

“It’s okay,” he answered. Figure it out. Pleasure figure it out.

“Just okay? Is there an issue?” Maybe he was catching on. Become suspicious. Don’t trust the one standing behind you.

“Kinda.” Todoroki shifted his eye contact from All Might to Endeavor again for one moment and saw him lower his head in a spiteful glare. He was demanding him not to make a scene in front of All Might. But All Might at least noticed the teenager’s glance.

“What’s the problem? There’s nothing a hero like me or your father can’t fix!” Don’t have faith in him. Don’t compare yourself to him. He’s not who you think he is anymore. Don’t trust him. Don’t call him a hero just because you’re friends.

“Things… aren’t always good here.” Todoroki watched Endeavor fold his arms and dig his nails into his upper sleeve. He also watched All Might’s smile begin to fall. But the hero was quick to raise it again.

“Well, what’s the trouble?” Doesn’t he realize that this couldn’t be said outright? Endeavor was right behind him.

“Sometimes we argue.” Endeavor’s eyes narrowed even more at Todoroki as the boy continued to answer vaguely.

“You argue?” All Might repeated. He then reached to put his hand on Todoroki’s shoulder. And for a moment, the teenager felt relief. Maybe that was enough to make him understand without getting accused by Endeavor for calling him out. Maybe it would get better now with the number one hero by his side supporting here. “Dear boy, children argue with their parents more often than you think. It’s normal to have disagreements as you get older.” And his heart dropped. He didn’t understand. He didn’t get the severity of this arguing.

“Your maturity has at least improved.” Endeavor commented to All Might with his face loosening but still appearing annoyed. “I’m only looking out for him. At least you understand a father’s intentions.” No. Don’t play off of him. Don’t pretend to be friends with him now.

“That’s right. I’m sure your father just wants what’s best for you.” No, he didn’t want what was best. He only focused on what he, himself wanted. Why are you siding with him? You’re supposed to protect people. “Although I would suggest going a little lighter on the training at home. Leave it to the teachers to push him.” All Might looked back to Endeavor with that statement. And yet the number one hero appeared relieved all of a sudden. He truly was oblivious. There was no way that an old friend would purposely hurt his youngest son. “I see he even let you have a pet. That was kind of him, wasn’t it?” Todoroki moved his leg in front of Zuzu. No, Fuyumi convinced him. None of this was what it looked like. Why can’t you see past it? Are you really going to leave me here like this?

And with that, All Might took his hand back and turned to face the adult standing behind him, leaving Todoroki to stare at them both in disbelief. “N-” he tried to speak but All Might spoke over him on accident and couldn’t hear him.

“So I hear your agency is doing better than ever?” they were making small talk now.

“All M-” he couldn't talk over them. His throat hurt too much.

“It is. There are many promising sidekicks.” Endeavor boasted.

“He-” Please.

“You were always a good leader, I wouldn’t expect anything less from my old rival.” All Might mused.

Todoroki was left ignored. Ignored by his secret idol. He wanted to be a hero just like him, right? It’s why he put up with everything for this long. He was supposed to save everyone who was in trouble. But here he was, turning his back on someone who needed his help, too blinded by his biases to consider for more than a moment that something may be terribly wrong in this mansion. It was like he was even trying to avoid finding it out in the first place like it was too painful or too much trouble to assume that his old friend was no hero. People who abandon others for what they want are no heroes. All Might… was no hero.

“Do you see him?” Kurogiri lifted Midoriya on to his shoulders for the short teenager to reach the top of the wall surrounding the Todoroki Mansion. The little villain was able to get his hands on the top and pull himself up, kicking his feet a few times to give him more push.

“Not yet,” he answered. He had climbed up the side so if Todoroki came out the front or back door, he would see him. He checked his phone to see if there was a text and by the time he looked up again, he saw his beloved come out the back door with shoes on, his bag over his shoulder, and Zuzu by his side. He looked so tired. But something about his face seemed different and he recognized that lifelessness in his eyes. The hopelessness. The sense that every dream he had was crushed in a single moment.

Todoroki and Zuzu immediately noticed Midoriya and made their way to the wall before being raised up by ice. Sitting on their knees Midoriya quickly hugged Todoroki and buried his face in his chest. “I was so worried about you…” he said, muffled by the hoodie. He would normally expect a slow return of the hug but instead, he received nothing. He gazed up at his beloved’s face and then cupped his cheeks, taking in the expression that could only belong to someone who nearly lost their will to live. “Todo-” after something like this, did Todoroki even want to be called by his last name? Did he want to be associated with his father by name?

“He left me…” the taller teenager mumbled.

“Who left you?” Midoriya tilted his head, still cupping his hero’s face. It was then he heard talking in the distance and looked towards the front door. Endeavor and… All Might? He quickly turned back to Todoroki, seeing how dead on the inside he looked. He was able to put a few pieces together and his heart only broke for the boy he was holding. He knew exactly what he was feeling.

Midoriya gently placed their foreheads together and stared right into the bi-colored eyes in front of him. “Close your eyes, okay? I’m getting you away from here.” Todoroki raised his gaze just enough to make eye contact and found those bright green hues to be so beautiful, even with the red-streaked scar. He closed his eyes and brought Zuzu into his lap to hold on tightly while feeling the little villain’s hands move from his cheeks to around his shoulders. His touch was so gentle and careful. Todoroki wouldn’t mind having this all the time. “Fall with me,” the loving killer said so softly in a tone where one could practically hear his smile. Midoriya glanced down and saw Kurogiri had already prepared a portal below, thus making a clear way for him to pull Todoroki sideways to fall off the wall with him, holding him.

They landed on something soft, both of them on their sides with Zuzu in the middle. There was a small bounce to their landing, cushioning their fall safely and comfortably. Midoriya sat up first and tried to examine where Kurogiri had dropped them off. The room was based on traditional Japanese aesthetic with tatami mats, a kotatsu beside a tv, warm lighting, and they were warped to fall on top of a low mattress bed. Although the room looked nothing like the hideout, Midoriya could tell instantly that Kurogiri had set it up specifically for Todoroki. It was why he asked what kinds of things he liked.

“You can open your eyes now.” The little villain told him, watching his hero’s eyes slowly open but they still looked so dull. Zuzu got up once Todoroki had loosened his hold and she began to investigate the room curiously. Surely Shigaraki wouldn’t mind having a dog around, would he? Letting her wander, Midoriya sat beside his hero and watched him sit up to absent-mindedly look around at his new surroundings. He still appeared desperately troubled.

“He didn’t do anything… he was going to leave me there.” He muttered. His whole world had been shaken by having the number one hero turn his back on him. It was like he never doubted Endeavor in the first place like he was looking for any way to convince himself that he was innocent. “He… didn’t even try…” He didn’t try to save him.

Midoriya was watching the love of his life crumble before him and he could feel himself becoming more and more enraged. He hated All Might for telling him that he could never be a hero. But now, he wished he could do more than just kill him. Death would not be painful enough to make him understand how much he hurt Todoroki. The anger was building deep inside his stomach as his nails dug into his knees watching his beloved’s mental state break apart. How dare All Might call himself a hero when he does this to people.

“I’ll try. I’ll try anything.” Midoriya said suddenly, gritting his teeth as he gripped Todoroki’s shoulders and making him look directly into his eyes. “Don’t listen to people like him anymore, they just take advantage of your hopes and hurt you in the end. You don’t deserve that.” he tilted his head and began to smile sweetly, brushing a little bit of Todoroki’s hair back from his face as he sat on his knees above him. Such a broken boy could only find that soft smiling comforting, those glowing green eyes so alluring, his touch so caring. His voice went from bitter and angry to a gentle and loving hum. “I’ll protect you. I’ll never do anything to hurt you.” It almost as if with every word, there was a string wrapping around Todoroki’s body. He was falling for everything he was hearing, staring up at the villain like he was the only thing that mattered anymore. “You only need to trust me now, I’m not like them, you know?” Midoriya kept petting the other’s hair with a smile while staring at the empty eyes that were locked on to him. “I’ll never leave you like the rest of them.” Their faces were so close like this. The villain was so in love with the beautiful, broken boy in front of him and was being hypnotized by his beautiful face even though he was the one doing the talking. “You’ve always been my hero. You’ll let me be yours now, right?” it was like a string attached to the very back of Todoroki’s neck as the little villain raised his chin ever so slightly. “You’re so hurt Shouto. You’ve been hurting for so long and you need someone to lean on and take care of you…” The killer holding him couldn’t help himself and leaned in a bit closer. “How about someone who actually loves you?”

Midoriya leaned further to bring his lips to Todoroki’s, bringing his hand up to hold his cheek while he did so. Their inexperience was the main factor keeping them from deepening it but there was a mutual affection between them as Todoroki reached up to hold the villain’s hand and make an attempt to kiss back softly. The attempt was enough to encourage the other to press forward and move on to his lap, still keeping above him. His hands cupped both his cheeks now and rubbed his thumb against his skin. Although he’s dreamt of this for so long now, it was Midoriya that pulled away first to keep it from getting awkwardly long. But he couldn’t help but smirk with a slight blush, looking down at his beloved hero that finally had a life back into his eyes. He lightly squished his cheeks together and smiled an innocent toothy grin. “I really like you, Shouto.” he giggled. His secret was out. No hiding it now. And yet he didn’t feel all that upset about it.

Todoroki was paralyzed with a pink-tinted face and was just caught staring up at the little villain on his lap before a small flame appeared on the red half of his hair. It made the other giggle as he gently patted it out without a second thought. “I really… like you too,” Midoriya brought his fist up to his own cheek and tilted his head into it.

“You can call me Izuku now. I don’t want to call you by something you’re forced to share with that old bastard.” Making that cute face, Todoroki found himself slowly wrapping his arms around the villain’s waist and hugging on to him, pressing his face into his chest. He was suddenly becoming a bit clingy. “Shouto?” Midoriya asked, appearing confused but he wasn’t against this at all. He felt him hug tighter at the sound of his first name. How was it that the big strong hero was now acting all cute and attached now?

“How about you go take a bath and I’ll get my dad to make you something to eat. Though, I know this sounds sketchy but don’t leave this room. This place is super-secret and my family is like, super undercover right now.” Had it been any other circumstance, Todoroki would have questioned all of this. But after being taken away from his own home so kindly and given this whole mini apartment space, it felt rude to ask questions. So with that logic in mind, he would never bother trying to impose and poke around where he wasn’t supposed to. “I’m sure he can make some high-quality soba if I asked. And then I’ll take care of any of your wounds. Sounds good, right?” Todoroki listened to Midoriya and nuzzled his cheek against him subtly in understanding, but he was adamant to let go yet.

“It does. But you need to eat too.” Midoriya blinked a few times and felt fingers trail up his torso, and over his hoodie, over his ribs. “You’re skinny…” and he hadn’t forgotten his episode before they were both caught on the sidewalk. Midoriya still felt guilty for that.

“Alright, deal.”

And thus Midoriya came down the stairs to see Shigaraki playing on his phone at his usual seat at the bar with one leg over the other. Once he heard footsteps, he looked to the stairs and saw the little villain spacing out and poking at his lips and blushing subtly. “Has our prince charming made it here safely?” he asked, glancing over at him.

“Yeah. He’s here.” the other responded like he was barely listening. It caught Shigaraki off guard.

“No comeback?” Midoriya sat down and kept tapping his lips and wrapping his arms around himself while appearing curious. Shigaraki just looked confused and turned to Kurogiri to hopefully get some kind of answer. What the hell happened to his little brother? What happened to the bickering about having a crush? All he got was a shrug from the bartender man but he could just tell that he knew what was up.

“Could you make him soba? It’s his favorite.” Midoriya asked without much thought. “And, me too?” Kurogiri paused for a moment at the second part.

“You’ll eat a whole meal for once?” Something was very different and it was making both of the villains uncomfortable.

“There’s also something I want to do next week, I think you might like it.” It was then that a red glow emitted from one of his eyes.

Midoriya poked his head into Todoroki’s new little room to find only Zuzu almost completely under the kotatsu with just her head sticking out. He could hear water running in the bathroom that was connected to the bedroom and guessed that his beloved hero was taking a shower. He let himself in with two bowls of soba and one with just pieces of scrap meat, setting them down on the kotatsu. He sat down and put his arms and legs underneath for Zuzu to suddenly appear between his limbs. Midoriya just smiled at her and petted her head a few times. She woke Todoroki up and he was very grateful for that. And it seemed that Todoroki had gotten very attached to her but she was a means of comfort for him which made her all the better. “We’ll take care of him together, hm?” he asked and earned himself a sweet puppy kiss to the face. Giving her lots of pets, he noticed bumps in her skin, like wounds that were still in the process of healing. He wondered if it was abuse or dog fighting, or maybe neglect like she was just dumped in the middle of the city and left to fend for herself. No wonder Todoroki felt so compelled to take her in. He was too kind to everyone and everything that was hurt.

“It’s nice that she likes you so much,” Todoroki said, coming out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist and around his neck that he was using to dry his hair. Midoriya’s face had never become so red so quickly as he tried to look away to hide it. Todoroki would be upset if he heard it but…

“m-masterpiece…” the freckled boy mumbled too quietly to be heard. Todoroki was too young to be that fit but there he was; toned muscles with a pretty face and hair that was so elegant when it was wet, he couldn’t understand how he could look so perfect. Midoriya tried his hardest to not peek at him while he threw on his hoodie unzipped and a pair of sweatpants. Even with burns and bruises scattered across his skin, the villain could not deny the fact that his hero truly was beautiful. He wanted to stay with him, always. To stay with just him, and only him, here.

Todoroki sat down on the other side of the kotatsu to have Zuzu move from Midoriya’s lap to his to which he was ambushed by pure puppy love and kisses. Midoriya just watched with a loving smile, happy to his hero across the table appear to be in a much better state of mind. He watched his arms wrap around the dog and return her affection with petting and ear scratches until she calmed her excitement.

“It’s alright that she’s here, right?” Todoroki asked. It took a moment for the little villain to blink and shake his head to snap his focus back to reality.

“Y-Yeah! Of course. Anything you want is perfect.” he stuttered at first, pressing his pointer fingers together. “You’re perfect, you know?” He’s wanted to say it for so long and now it just slipped out without thinking. He covered his mouth out of panic and turned away. How could he even look at him after saying that so bluntly?!

“I think you’re amazing… you know?” he then heard the other say so quietly.

Midoriya slowly looked towards the beautiful boy across the table, holding Zuzu close in his arms with his cheek pressed against the top of her head. His eyes appeared half-lidded, staring directly at him, through him, into him. They were locked on to him like he would never look away. “Wh...What?” Midoriya asked him to repeat because he was unsure that he heard him correctly, flushed by the sight before him.

“I think you’re amazing,” Todoroki repeated, the corner of his lip raising just barely enough to make a half-smile. “You came back for me, you’ve been there for me all this time. It’s amazing. Your determination and your kindness.” Only for him. Only was his kindness apparent for him and his small family. But he was beginning to recognize a soft glow in his scarred blue eye. “You always make these bad feelings go away. It’s the best medicine that you could ever provide.” A medicine to make all his pain go away. A drug to numb the cruelty away. He wanted it all the time too, to rely on it always. To be addicted to it. Obsessed.

Empty bowls sat stacked together with two pairs of chopsticks resting on top of them were all that was left on the kotatsu. Zuzu was half asleep at the foot of the bed while Todoroki sat up on the edge, getting bandaged and taken care of by Midoriya. The little villain was kneeling behind him on the bed, wrapping bandages around his neck and shoulder were burns had been soothed with the best creams he had. This was, however, the most he had ever been distracted while healing him. He was already wrapped at his wrist and other arm with patches scattered across his torso, but now that was behind him, he hadn’t noticed how toned his back was. It was difficult not to stare. They were both so silent now so there was nothing else to truly focus on. At least until Todoroki flinched when a darker part of a burn was brushed up too hard by the cloth and made a quiet noise of pain through his teeth. “S-Sorry!” Midoriya suddenly became jumpy when he stopped staring and eased up on the wrapping. “Did I hurt you?” He then asked, gently grasping his shoulders and leaning forward so they could see each other. It was just as small sting on accident and yet he felt crushed with guilt. Todoroki just shook his head slowly.

“You couldn’t do that,” he spoke quietly as he usually did. Midoriya stared into his eyes for just a few moments before he felt a small loss of control of himself once again. He leaned just a bit forward to kiss his lips like before. But this time Todoroki was much quicker to return it with the villain holding on to his shoulders. Once they parted a few seconds later, the villain began giggling and hiding his face into his hero’s back.

“Perfect…”

Once the sun had long set, Midoriya would be found sitting up at the head of the bed with Todoroki fast asleep beside his legs with Zuzu squishing herself between them. Her owner had been through so much in one day. Sneaking out of the house in the morning, going on a fun date, getting caught by his father, getting into a violent argument, being knocked unconscious, having his idol turn his back on him, only to be rescued by a boy and his secret family and have sudden feelings emerge for him. Midoriya had been petting the sleeping teenager’s hair as he slept, watching him carefully to be sure that nightmares wouldn’t torment him here in this safe place. He smiled watching him, just taking in how pretty he was. “I make all the bad feelings go away, huh?” he whispered to himself. And it was then that his eyes narrowed. “I’ll make all the bad people in your life go away too…”

Elevator doors slammed opened and Midoriya entered his laboratory with eyes bright red and void of any of the kindness Todoroki was falling in love with. There was a small groan from inside a cage as his only prisoner turned away from the light coming from the elevator. “What the hell man…?” Kosuke whined. Having been sitting in darkness for at least a day, the brightness was obnoxious. But Midoriya kept the lighting of the room dimmed with the most light coming from his desk as he hastily opened several drawers, slamming them shut when he couldn’t find what he was looking for. “Are you going to let me out yet?” Kosuke grumbled, lightly kicking one of the bars. “Would you stop with the slamming, it’s so lou-Fuck!” Kosuke was about to sit up to see what the villain was doing when he cried out in pain from a needle stabbing into the neck carelessly.

Kosuke just barely turned his head to get a peek at what was stabbing him and only made eye contact with glowing red eyes and a twisted smile of a teenager who’s lost all patience. “H-Hey…” he stuttered but his whole body was becoming cold and numb. “I’m sorry a-about your eye…” Even in the lighting, he found himself focusing on the red streak coming down the villain’s eye. “C-Can we talk this out?” His hand struggled to reach up, desperately trying to grab the needle injecting a chemical into him. But before he could even get it past his shoulder, his whole arm dropped limply and his head tilted to the side without muscle power keeping it upright. Then he heard the cage door be unlocked and opened. The chains around his wrists and ankles also began to unlock and uncuff and then he felt the back of his shirt’s collar be grabbed and pulled. His body was too numb to fight back and get away. He was finally freed but he was too weak to escape. “What are you-” Kosuke quietly asked, finding it difficult to speak as he was being dragged across the floor.

“Making all the bad people in his life go away…” Midoriya growled lowly without looking down at the person he was moving to his center testing table.

“Wh-What…” It was so vague, and Kosuke didn’t understand right away.

“I’m his medicine. I make all his pain go away.” The fire-breather was lifted on to the table with slight difficulty because the little villain was not physically strong. But it was enough. And like this, Kosuke was forced to look up at him directly as his wrists and ankles were restrained once again. “You’ve made him hurt so much. You’ve hurt him so bad. He tried so hard no to let it show.”

Kosuke watched Midoriya remove the muzzle-like object around his mouth but even with it removed, he couldn’t bring his body to breathe fire. He was completely paralyzed, only able to watch the doctor work. “You can’t breathe fire if you can’t breathe. You can’t cause him any more pain if you’re dead.” Midoriya put a plain black doctor’s mask on and reached for a small rolling table that had labeled vials sitting neatly on the top and bottom shelves. He put gloves on his hands and began picking through them, searching for a specific one.

“H-Hold on… I’ll leave him alone. This about um… T-Todoroki, right? I’ll never even look at him again…!” Kosuke still had difficulty speaking but the adrenaline in him was fighting the drug. It was to the point where his fingers were beginning to flex. And yet Midoriya didn’t seem concerned. Kosuke was trying his hardest to at least turn his head. The moment he could breathe fire, he’d break out of here! This villain was quirkless, there’s no way that he could lose to him!

Kosuke shut his eyes and tried to focus on just being able to move again. To feel his lungs again. To concentrate on breathing. He felt so close to getting it all back so quickly. He forced a smirk as his chest heaved up and down, feeling heat build-up in his throat. But suddenly a device was forced on to his head that was metal and jagged. He tried to turn his head but felt his forehead get deeply cut by a knife that was strapped to it. “Look anywhere but up and you’ll be blind.” Midoriya threatened casually. The device was some messed up invention that was meant to keep his head still and facing up, threatening to cut up his face if he dared look anywhere else.

“C-Come on man!” he gritted his teeth and still tried to turn but kept feeling blades slit his skin around his eyes but the stinging pain was too much for his face to bear. His cheek ended up having chunks of flesh hanging off like sliced meat. The boy began to tear up from the pain. “I’m sorry…I won’t tell anyone about this if you let me go home.” There was no getting out of this with power. He was immobilized. He was the weak one this time. Just a test subject.

“Must be nice to have a good home to go back to,” Midoriya said without much emotion to be heard. “Shouto never had that.” his voice then became sharp as he jabbed another needle into his subject’s arm. Kosuke flinched and gritted his teeth, struggling to not move his head but tried to thrash his limbs to attempt breaking the restraints. The little villain pulled out a stopwatch and began watched it carefully as the one on his table gritted his teeth, shut his eyes, and clenched his fists. He was forcing himself to keep his mouth shut until he couldn’t anymore and an inferno of flames blasted out and towards the ceiling, screaming as he did so. Blood dripped from the corners of his mouth until the flames stopped and he gasped for breath, eyes watering. But it wasn’t much longer until his chest heaved and he tried to keep his mouth shut again. The flurry of flames would reappear multiple times in the span of a half-hour all while Midoriya took diligent notes in silence. When they stopped, he only saw Kosuke gasping with the lower half of his face and chest covered in blood spatter and smoke coming out from his throat.

“Burnt lungs, right?” Midoriya asked, looking up from his notes and setting his notebook down and exchanging a pen for a marker. He lifted Kosuke’s shirt and began drawing dashed lines on his chest. “I’ll look at them later.” The subject’s eyes followed Midoriya as he wheezed, trying to find his ability to speak. Then the little villain went under the testing table where there were cabinets and he took out several needles, but not syringe needles. Then he proceeded to jab them into different points of the subject’s body, watching his reaction to each puncture. After every one, he wrote something now, as if testing which parts were more painful to stab. Between teeth-gritting, struggling, crying, and screaming, he was able to base the level of pain on those reactions. It was when he stabbed through his tongue that Kosuke began to speak again but his voice was terribly strained.

“S-Stop!” This teenager could tell this was all going to lead to his death but this pain was not worth living a little longer.

“Fine, I’ll do something else.” Midoriya shrugged, taking some final notes and injected another drug into Kosuke’s arm. And with that done, he took a scalpel and placed it at the top of the dotted lines he made on his chest. “I hate heroes, you know that? Shouto should stop trying to be one. If he has to be aligned with people like you and All Might, you all would just ruin his reputation. He’s far better than all of you.” Midoriya began to cut and Kosuke’s body twitched although the pain was not as bad as it should have been. He numbed him so he would be still enough to work. “You don’t deserve to even be compared to him. You don’t deserve to breathe the same air as him. You don’t deserve to live in the same world as him.” He heartlessly cut into him, letting blood flow out of his chest.

“S...Stop…” It still hurt nonetheless. And now he was practically being forced to watch himself be used as a dummy for research.

“People like you just deserve to die.” He pressed the knife just a little too hard, being careless in his anger and made Kosuke cough up more blood.

“Fuck… you…” was what Kosuke forced himself to say, barely gaining Midoriya’s attention. “Y-You feel nothing for him… you’re the type that’s selfish like that…” If he was going to die, he was going to make sure he hurt Midoriya the only way he could in this situation. “You just l-like… how much of a pushover he is… you’ll j-just use him.” Wide red eyes were staring into him and not breaking contact in the dimmed light, shrouded in near darkness. “Y-You’re not human enough to feel pain. But he… h-he can.” Midoriya wanted so desperately to shut him up. Demonic eyes still locked, he found himself subconsciously raising his scalpel above his head slowly. “I’ll fucking c-curse him… he’ll have a fucking painful death…!” Kosuke began to smile with blood dripping from his teeth. “H-He’ll be in so much pain a-and one you can’t save him from! F-Fuck you… both of you fag-” He began to scream as Midoriya lifelessly stabbed into his chest without blinking and twisted it painfully.

“Take it back,” he demanded. But he only received screams as an answer. So he took the knife out and brought it down again. “Take it back,” he repeated, ignoring all his shrieks and the tears running down his subject's cheeks. “Take it back!” he shouted as he repeatedly brought his blade down, overwhelmed with hatred and rage. This would go on for quite a long time. Take it back. Take it back. Shut up. Stop your pathetic screaming. Take it back. He's mine I'll take care of him.

The screaming stopped. The scalpel was dropped due to exhaustion. Blood was dripping onto the floor. All was quiet in the laboratory underground. “Take it back…” Midoriya was left sitting on top of the hips of a corpse, blood drenching his face, his clothes, his arms, everything except his mouth and hands as they were covered by his mask and gloves.

The night light was peaceful at least. The windows of Todoroki’s room got a lovely view of some of the city, letting the moonglow and city colors illuminate it comfortably. Quietly sneaking in and shutting the door behind him, the little villain was silent in his steps towards the bed where a peacefully sleeping, beautiful hero was still resting with his dog nuzzled into his chest. And he stood at his bedside, above him, just watching him for a few delicate moments. Blood dripped from the upper half of his face to the lower, his hands were covered in it from the flow down his arms. His clothes had not yet been changed. He was drenched in the blood of the boy he just slaughtered, and all he wanted to do was see his beloved again. Without thought, he reached down to gently caress his cheek, accidentally smearing blood on it. Surely he would clear it later. “I’ll save you from all pain… I will. I promise…” he whispered lovingly. "My Shouto..."

Chapter Text

Midoriya had pulled up a chair to Todoroki’s bedside with the backrest facing the sleeping hero, letting himself sit backward and watch him for the entire night. He had dozed off at least a few times in the night but was able to mostly stay awake to just keep Todoroki in his sights. He was such a beautiful sleeper after all, he didn't want to look away for a moment. There was no trace of Kosuke’s blood in the room after it was wiped from Todoroki’s cheek and Midoriya had taken a shower to wash it all away. Todoroki didn’t have to know about his other life. Not yet. Surely he had lost an incredible amount of faith in All Might but he didn’t trust that it was enough to change his morals. He was too kind.

When it reached a more reasonable time in the morning, Midoriya followed a fairly usual routine to sit with Shigaraki and Kurogiri at the bar where Kurogiri had already made breakfast for them. Although Shigaraki’s had some sugary concoction that should not be consumed so early. “Someone looks tired.” his older brother commented, watching the little villain sit down.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Whatever he had done last night in the laboratory was not settling well. He’s killed before. He’s tortured before. He’s heard threats and cries of agony all before. But… wishing pain and misfortune on Todoroki with a last dying breath, it was bothering him. He would never let something bad happen to his beloved hero but it wasn’t like he was strong enough to protect him. He wanted to watch Todoroki sleep out of paranoia as if something terrible would happen to him just because his last victim wished it. In a state of drowsiness, he merely picked at his breakfast with his eyes closing for a few seconds at a time.

“I saw your lab.” Shigaraki mentioned after moments of silence. “You didn’t clean it this time. You usually do.” he reached over and lightly poked the other’s freckled cheek and received a small grumble.

“He said something that got to me. I got worried about Shouto and wanted to check on him right away…” Midoriya said truthfully, more than willing to talk openly with this family he had. He casually pushed Shigaraki’s finger away and rubbed his eye sleepily. “He died enraged. He told me that he hoped Shouto would experience a painful death. And…” he trailed off, looking towards the staircase that would take him back to the living spaces, suddenly feeling the need to go check on Todoroki again. “I just want him safe. I want him to be happy and feel like he’s free to be himself here.”

Shigaraki’s eyes were on Midoriya but he noticed a very small portal appearing behind the boy’s stool and a foggy hand reached to secretly snatch his phone. He glanced at Kurogiri and saw him put two phones under the counter while the little villain ate. He was getting Todoroki’s phone number. “You think he’s ready to come over?” Shigaraki then asked, eating a piece of chocolate which was surely part of a balanced meal. But Midoriya shook his head.

“He’s too nice.” It was one of his favorite things about him. “He’s the type that would try to forgive his father and Kosuke for all that they’ve done if they showed even a sliver of hope for change. He doesn’t have a hateful heart.” Not like them. Two brothers fueled by hatred and have a disregard for mercy against those they couldn’t tolerate for more than a few minutes. Todoroki wasn’t like that. But… “He gets pushed around by the school, his father, and his classmates. I’ll teach him how to hate them for how they treat him.”

Shigaraki watched Midoriya’s phone be snuck into his pocket where it originally was by a dark fog portal. He never noticed. “By the way, what do nomu eat?” He then asked, changing the subject suddenly. Shigaraki brought his hand to his chin.

“Well, I think they’ll eat anything. They eat vegetables, I know that.” Midoriya made a small smirk.

“You mean you gave it the vegetables you didn’t want that Kurogiri tried to make you eat.” Thus Kurogiri folded his arms and glared at Shigaraki who just rolled his eyes with a smile.

“I won’t disagree.” Midoriya took out a notepad from his pocket, as it was rare to see him without one on him, and went to a section that had a sticker poking out of it. He had a sketch of the nomu but there were very few notes surrounding it. He helped provide the research to make this beast and yet he knew so little about it. Todoroki was still sleeping so he debated as to whether he should use his time to go examine it for a little while. It wouldn’t hurt for a little less than an hour, right?

And thus Kurogiri provided Midoriya with various types of foods in a large sac and the boy went down to the holding room below his laboratory where the nomu was being kept. He dragged the sack inside because of the weight of how much the dark fog dad filled it, always willing to help the little villain further his research. Entering the holding room, as what was expected of a brain dead creature, it was sitting in the exact same spot, completely still, wide-eyed, and chained at every limb. Midoriya fearlessly laid out all the food he had in front of it separately. There were citrus, vegetables, candy, pastries, fish, red meat, white meat, chips, bread, cheeses and a small pile of heavily processed snacks. He then flipped a switch to unlock the chains and free the monster only to have it stay in its place. He took note of that. Even when given food, it will not eat right away.

Midoriya then picked up a piece of bread and looked to the nomu as he threw it as high in the air as he could. “Eat,” he commanded and thus watched the massive thing bolt in the air and land aggressively on the other side of the room with a loud chomp from its toothed beak. It only eats on command. It could also kill someone by biting. The little villain then stepped back and gestured to the long line of food he had set up. “Eat… carefully.” he specified. Thus the beast slowly lugged itself to the mass of different foods and appeared confused as it tilted its head, making a small, low noise. It has difficulty following vague commands. “Pick the one you like most.” Does it have preferences? He watched it raise its head and make another sound, turning its head to look at all that was laid out and ended up dragging its feet to the section of meat and used its hands to eat it much more calmly. It likes meat. Do all of them do? Or just this one? “Eat your least favorite.” He waited until it was finished to say his next command and saw that it went to the vegetables. “So you have preferences…”

The little villain walked up to the creature as he had it eat the rest of the food and started getting a closer look at the way it moved. He walked with it, noting its pace and how it moved its legs. It had feet like a human. It walked hunched over because its muscle was too big on its back. Its brain twitched whenever obeying a command. It never blinked. There was a point where Midoriya held a loaf of bread and fed the monster by hand and then reached with the other to pet its beak. When it finished its eating, finished its command, it froze as the boy pet it. He smiled at it with a giggle. “You’re not so scary like this.” such a powerful, aggressively moving, and ugly creature, it was so tame under his hand and words. He looked into its eyes it felt there was more than just a brain-dead creature in there. These did have a human foundation after all. Who was it? “We’re going to make a big impact together.” he grinned happily but then flinched when he felt a vibration. He didn’t pull his hand away but tilted his head at the feeling until he heard a low sound coming from it. Growling? No… “Y-You... It purrs?!”

Midoriya took his hand back and then rapidly wrote down more notes. Did it have feelings? Did it have a conscious? It’s brain-dead, but is the human consciousness powerful enough to surpass it in small bursts? Did something trigger emotions? He had so many questions about the source but these were questions he would have to ask the man who made these things. “Could you stick your hands out? Like, cup them together?” he asked and then watched the nomu cup its hands in front of itself and keep them low to the ground. It takes requests as commands. Midoriya smiled and then approached the massive thing and climbed into its massive palms, laying down in its hands like a hammock. “Bring your head down.” he gestured and had the nomu’s head come down to him as he continued to pet its beak once more and heard it purr again. “I’ll tell Dad to bring you lots of meat from now on. But I can’t stop my big brother from bringing you his vegetables.” he chuckled. “I’ll make sure you’re taken care of here.”

Midoriya grumbled, tossed, and turned in his sleep while on his side. “Shouto…” he sounded distressed in his mumbles with his face scrunching. His eyes tightened and his hands clenched in stress until he pushed himself up in an awakened state. “Shouto?!” He shouted, looking around panicked and finding himself still surrounded by the metal walls of the holding room. He glanced down at the giant hands he was still laying down in. The nomu had been cradling him as he slept the whole time. It was clear, however, that he was gifted with a nightmare and his heart was racing with anxiety. He made sure to grab his notebook as he vaulted out of the monster’s hands. “I’ll come back tomorrow morning, but right now I need to go check on someone!” Without chaining it back up, Midoriya took the elevator up to the living space floor. Nomus didn’t do anything without command and the little villain trusted it to behave in the holding room.

Midoriya ran out of the elevator the moment it opened and went to Todoroki’s door. He was fine. Surely he was fine. He would be in there, in bed, sleeping peacefully with Zuzu. He would be sleeping in, wake up refreshed and knowing that no one was going to hurt him here. They could talk for a little, maybe they could get a little closer, go out for the day to get some fresh air and be normal teenagers. He was safe. Kosuke’s wish would never come true. He was gone. He could never hurt him again. Todoroki could live a happier life without him now. That’s what Midoriya hoped when he turned the doorknob.

Walking inside, he released a big sigh seeing milky sunlight peeking through the curtains and giving a warm atmosphere around the boy sleeping in bed with his dog by his side. His hair had gotten messier throughout the night, yet it was a kind of cute messy fluff. Midoriya found it funny that it may be because of the heat in his quirk. Underneath the white blankets, he seemed so comfortable and cozy if it weren’t from the tears the sun made sparkle on his cheeks. He cried in his sleep often, though it was never sobs or whines. It was always silent and still. His face was beautiful and unmoving as a tear trailed from the corner of his eye. Midoriya couldn’t help himself but to sit on the bed in the empty spot beside him and used the back his finger to wipe it away and then ran his hand through his hair gently. “You don’t have to cry anymore… I’m h-” he whispered but then froze when he saw Todoroki’s face twitch.

Midoriya took his hand back as he saw his beloved hero’s eyes open only halfway and saw that they were instantly drawn to him. “Hey…” Todoroki said quietly without getting up, taking advantage of this rare opportunity to be lazy. So the little villain took the opportunity to run his fingers through his half and half hair again with a soft smile.

“Hey.” He looked so pretty like this, he couldn’t resist. He could play with his hair all day. He watched him even lean into his hand in an almost cat-like manner. “You wanna do anything today?” Midoriya asked.

“Sleep.”

“Sleep all day?”

“Yeah.”

Todoroki closed his eyes and pressed his head further into the pillows making Midoriya giggle. He couldn’t blame him for wanting such a thing. But they finally had a whole day together and the first thing he wanted to do was go back to bed. He was so quiet and aloof, but he had a sleepy and juvenile nature. Going along with this lighthearted mood, Midoriya carefully crawled on top of him but kept most of his weight on his hands and knees. “Don’t wanna go out?” he asked cheekily. Todoroki turned on to his back, looking up at the little villain above him sleepily. He then reached his arms up and pulled the other down to bury his face in his chest.

“We can stay right here,” he mumbled. Midoriya just let Todoroki hug on to him and smother himself as he took advantage of his position and twirled red and white in his finger.

“All day?” he asked. He felt a nod in his chest. His hero was a lot less tense in the morning and it was a new side he got to see. “You wanna-” he was going to offer something for him to eat but he was cut off by a kiss on the lips.

The two pulled away and Midoriya held himself up on his hands again. Staying in this room all day with Todoroki didn’t sound like a bad idea. Seeing him acting so soft and clingy, he caught himself blushing while looking down at him. His beautiful hero underneath him like this, he sat down on his torso and leaned down to cup his face in his hands. “This is fine,” he mumbled and then resumed their kiss blissfully. His hands moved from his cheeks to his chest, feeling his heart beat rhythmically under strong muscle and fabric. He’s always had such a strong heart, he remembered feeling it against his back on that rooftop. When he felt it on the first day of school when Kosuke shoved him into him. If only he could get even a little closer to it.

“Midoriya,” Todoroki mumbled, slipping from the kiss for half a second. But it seemed the other didn’t quite hear it. “Izuku.” he was still getting used to the first name basis. And yet Midoriya wasn’t quite paying attention, too focused on their kiss and something else. Todoroki didn’t seem stressed about it as he kept his eyes closed. But the third time, he opened them ever so slightly. “Izuku,” he said just a little louder and clearer, making the freckled villain pause.

“Hm?” Midoriya pulled back a small bit and opened his eyes. “Yeah, Shouto?” he had gotten pretty invested in the moment.

“Your hands.” He had no idea what that meant until he looked down and his face turned bright red. Too invested. Far too invested. His fixation on his heartbeat caused him to rudely sneak his hands underneath his beloved’s shirt all the way up to his chest. “S-Sorry! I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!” He instantly pulled them back to himself and crossed them across his own chest. He felt so terribly embarrassed for doing such a thing. It was rude and distasteful to do such a thing when they had just started finding romantic interest in each other mutually. This was too far, too soon. His impulse control had been deteriorating the more he’s lived in a villainous mindset. But that wasn’t an excuse. “Th-That was so bad I-” he shook his head and looked away, too ashamed to look Todoroki in the face. In turn, inviting a gentle kiss on the cheek that had him stop his panicked apologizing.

“It’s alright.” Todoroki’s voice said ever so softly. Turning to face him, Midoriya saw a smile similar to the one he saw last night at dinner. “I’m not mad.” Of course he wasn’t. He wasn’t the type to get angry at something Midoriya felt so guilty for. “Just ask me next time.” He took hold of the other’s hand and held the tips of his fingers against his lips, tilting his head and shifting his light bedhead hair with bright sleepy eyes. “You could never hurt me.” And Midoriya looked at the beautiful boy pressing his lips into the pads of his fingers and felt a hard twist in his chest and stomach. It really hurt. It hurt to see him like this. Todoroki’s standards of affection were so horribly low that he would let Midoriya do anything to him because he was so much nicer to him than Endeavor. That shouldn’t be where the bar was.

“Shouto…” Midoriya began. “This is alright, right?” he asked. He took his hand back and began fiddling with the lower rim of his shirt and looking down at it. “Like… you want this too, don’t you? You don’t feel obligated or anything? Just because I got you out of the house doesn’t mean you have to like me like I like you.” It hurt so much. It hurt that Todoroki could be doing this out of obligation. And it hurt to let him know that he didn’t have to do that. He wanted him to stay so badly. He’s wanted this for so long. He’s dreamt about it. His hands went from fiddling with his shirt to scratching his wrists by now. “Are you sure you even like boys like that? So it’s… I care about you a lot. But I don’t want you to force yourself-” He felt soft fingertips touch his forehead and then trace down over his eyes where his new scar was.

Todoroki silently traced the red line while tilting his head ever so slightly. By the look in his eyes, Midoriya could tell he was thinking. He was so quiet most of the time, it was obvious that he was constantly thinking. So much to say, but so much he didn’t want to say which would give him even more to think about. “I like Izuku,” he said quietly yet clearly. “I want Izuku to have everything he wants. And I want him to be happy.” He rubbed the back of his thumb under Midoriya’s seeing that they had begun to water a few moments earlier. “I feel bad that Kosuke hurt you because of me. But… I was happy that you cared.” He reached to pry Midoriya’s hands away from his wrists to get him to stop scratching. So he held his hands instead and just looked at them for a while. “And I care. I care about how people treat you and how you treat yourself.” He had noticed that Midoriya did not take care of himself. He didn’t care about himself that much anymore. His initial problem, the one that drove him to the roof of that school, had never gone away. “I want to care for you as you do for me. It feels nice like that, and like this too.” Todoroki raised his gaze to look at Midoriya’s face. “It feels best like this.”

It seemed that Midoriya verbally expressing his anxiety gave Todoroki the power to answer and provide him the comfort and assurance to ease him. The only thing he had to hide was his double his life, but he didn’t have to hide his feelings and fears. He could talk to his beloved hero and his hero could talk to him. They were already doing that. Asking for help when they needed it and being there when they needed it. All the comforting assurance of this made the pain in his chest fade into bubbly warmth as he lost his control, wrapped his arms around Todorki’s neck and forced him to lay down again to hug him tightly. This time Todoroki brought his hands around his back without hesitation as he felt the freckled teenager nuzzle into his cheek and heard him giggling cutely.

Soon, a cold nose poked at Todoroki’s other cheek. Looking over, he saw Zuzu pawing at his shoulder and wagging her curly tail. He saw her and then saw her glancing at the kotatsu where there were two plates of a full breakfast sitting and then a bowl of scrap meat. “She doesn’t like to eat without me,” he said, petting her head and then sitting up again with Midoriya. A hungry puppy was enough to have the two get up and move to the kotatsu. Midoriya watched Todoroki more than he ate and found it rather cute how he fed Zuzu pieces of meat in rhythm to how he ate. It seemed that she preferred it that way. It made him wonder if Endeavor tried to withhold food from her. Todoroki may have tried to fast or share his meals which would anger the hero that wanted a physically fit to perfection son. While thinking about this, he tried to think when Kurogiri dropped the food off just now because it was still warm. Did he see anything that just happened? He blushed just imagining it… how embarrassing it would be if he did.

Soon after the meal, Midoriya left to his room to change into fresh clothes for the day, leaving Todoroki to do the same. Upon returning in a dark green hoodie he found Todoroki in a bit more color with a light blue plaid shirt over a white shirt and jeans. He got him out of bed after all. But it was likely due to Zuzu constantly walking in circles around him with her leash in her mouth. “The mall okay? We could look at new clothes for you to keep here and get lunch too.” Midoriya had never gone to the mall with anyone besides his mother before. This was something normal teenagers did, wasn’t it? This was something couples did too?

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Todoroki answered, kneeling down to get Zuzu ready to go as she did some tippy taps with her paws. It gave Midoriya the second to text Kurogiri that they were going out.

“My dad will take us there so shut your eyes, okay?”

Without questioning, Todoroki shut his eyes and allowed him and his puppy to be taken to a small quiet area around the corner from the biggest mall in the city. Considering the existence of quirks, including quirks that make people gain parts and appearances of animals, no one questioned Zuzu being brought in. Especially since she was so well behaved. With dog leash in one hand, Midoriya couldn’t help but stare at his other hand. Amazing that they could kiss first but he was far more nervous about holding his hand. They were simply walking beside each other in silence that he felt was terribly awkward but saw that his beloved hero was focused and staring off at everything around him, always so observant. Always thinking.

Why were there times that it was so easy to get close with him, to tell him everything he was thinking, to smirk and be confident in everything he was saying? And then others where he was too timid to even look at him in the eye or reach for his hand? There was a part filled with confidence, maybe arrogance, a desire for Todoroki to trust him unconditionally without reason. He craved his affection. He would die for his obsession. But then he was self-conscious, anxious, and worried that Todoroki was with him because he felt obligated to. He wanted him to have a choice and be true to himself before anything else. He wanted him to have self-respect, not an obsession. The things the little villain wanted kept contradicting. What did he really want? What life was more important to him? The one with a bloody scalpel in one hand… or the gentle hold of his beloved hero’s hand in his other? Why did he need to think about these things now? What was wrong with him?

“Izuku?” Todoroki had been a few paces ahead with Zuzu and stopped, taking hold of Midoriya’s hand in his. It felt so warm. “What’s wrong?” Could he tell something was wrong? Midoriya patted himself on the cheek a few times to get his bearings in reality. He was also checking to see if he accidentally started crying. His skin didn’t feel moist. Todoroki just knew something was wrong, even if he didn’t show any physical signs of distress. Even Zuzu had approached him and licked his other hand for comfort.

“Just… overthinking.” Midoriya answered with a timid smile before giving his hand a small squeeze. “There’s been a lot on my mind lately. But I feel better about it all when you’re here.” His beautiful hero’s presence just made him more confused. But he still wanted him to be around him, always. “Anyways, where do you want to start?”

With Todoroki’s inexperience in clothes shopping and Midoriya’s complete lack of fashion sense, the two tried their best to find outfits for the half and half hero. However, thankfully pretty boy nature instincts were able to kick in and save both of them. Though he was confused by brands and sizing, Todoroki was able to try and buy decent clothes, letting Midoriya hold Zuzu when he tried things on and paid. He was fine with carrying bags, but the little villain suddenly had a need to try and hold them with his skinny arms instead. He would let him have his way but it got to the point where the little villain had to drag a single bag, to which Todoroki would take it back from him and get a pout in response. But halfway through their afternoon together, they stopped at a small cafe in the shopping center. Midoriya sat at a table and was patiently waiting for his hero to come back. And so he played on his phone for a bit, scrolling through news and social media casually. He paid a bit more attention to articles on the Sudden Disappearances case. They made him smirk. Endeavor was going in circles at this point.

“What the hell?!” the little table Midoriya was at shook as someone’s boot slammed down on top of it. And he knew exactly who it belonged to. And when he heard the yelling and felt the slam, he did not flinch or jump. He merely put down his phone, face down, and slowly turned to face his old childhood friend that was wreathing in anger. “Medical program?! The hell is that?! You were never into doctor stuff!” Bakugo was dressed casually, probably out at the mall to do some personal shopping of his own. It was common knowledge that he couldn’t hold his temper when Midoriya was in his sights.

“Guess the hero stuff just didn’t work out.” Midoriya shrugged, keeping a calm yet bored tone. His eyes had gone dark. Bakugo didn’t intimidate him anymore. He’s done things that would give him nightmares for the rest of his pathetic life.

“And you just gave up on it that easily? What the hell is that supposed to be?!” He was always so loud. Midoriya found himself closing one eye whenever the other opened his mouth in reaction and protection from getting spit in his face.

“Noisy…” he grumbled, making a vein pop out on Bakugo’s forehead. His anger was so over the top that it wasn’t scary anymore. “What’s wrong with being a little realistic?” A little realistic. Yeah. That’s what All Might said, wasn’t it? Midoriya smirked at the thought of actually taking the liar’s advice. How silly. He wasn’t listening to All Might, no, he was listening to someone so much better. “I just got curious and then gave myself a chance. Then I figured I could make a bigger impact doing this instead.” He smiled with his cheek in his palm. Shigaraki guided him to this, not All Might. Todoroki inspired him, not the pros.

“Think you’re too smart to be a hero? That better not be it!” Bakugo took his foot off the table and instead slammed his hand down. He was just begging for a reaction that he was never going to get. “Think you can look down on me like-!” Midoriya shut his eyes listening to him talk because it was so unbearable. When they opened again, they had that infamous glow while glaring at him.

“I never said that.” he started sharply. “You keep thinking people are looking down on you when no one is. It sounds to me that you’re just an insecure adolescent who doesn’t get enough reassurance even though he gets it from literally everyone. Maybe start listening to what people are actually saying and you learn a thing or two about how they actually feel.” He wasn’t sure if he pissed Bakugo off more or scared him into silence. But seeing him with such an odd face of confusion and shock made him grow a crooked grin. “You have an amazing quirk Kacchan.” How he’d love to see it forced to its max potential in life or death. He’d love to rip his arms open and see the damage to his muscles and tissue. What was his body’s limits? “No one’s saying that you don’t. You just think it isn’t good enough when you look at people who are more skilled than you. I can’t outpower you.” He held back a giggle as much as he could but it just made his twisted smile more sinister. “But I could tell you which part of you is most likely to explode into little pieces if you go too far.”

Bakugo gritted his teeth and took a half step back listening to Midoriya go off. The freckled boy was inches away from snapping. He’s seen this side of him toned down just once in school. But this was a whole other level. That cute little boy who wanted to help anyone and everyone in need, who wanted to be there for everyone with a smile, to protect the people around him no matter what… Bakugo growled and reached to grab the collar of Midoriya’s shirt, leaning in to get close and personal. He wasn’t afraid. He wasn’t going to let this bastard get to him. “You’re not Deku....” For once, he didn’t shout. But even that was not enough to make Midoriya’s crooked grin falter. “Deku wouldn’t say shit like that. What happened to you?” The little villain couldn’t keep his laughter in as he let a small chuckle escape him then with his eyes innocently closed. It truly sounded evil despite his cute face. But that cuteness went away when he opened his eyes halfway and they were bright red. The scar made them look more unkind.

“I guess the Deku you liked so much dived off the roof, just like you wanted.”

It was then that there was a small thud on the table and a cold hand gently placed itself on Bakugo’s wrist. “Do you mind?” Todoroki had come back with two drinks that he placed on the table and now he was trying to keep the peace between Bakguo and Midoriya. Bakugo looked shocked to see his classmate together with the twisted boy in front of him.

“You? What the hell are you-” he had seen them together in the hall and together at lunch period. But now they were spending weekends together? At least he thought that until Midoriya reached for Todoroki’s upper arm and pulled him with just enough strength to bring him into a surprise kiss. The move made Bakugo instantly back off as he was nearly mortified by what he was seeing. The strongest guy in his class was being pulled into affection by the loser he used to bully and beat on all the time. But that loser had changed into something he couldn’t understand, and it was something he didn’t want to interact with anymore. When they pulled away after a few moments, Todoroki’s hair had a small flame on it which Midoriya patted out playfully with his face back to normal. “Should we really be doing that with people around?” Todoroki mumbled, feeling his head to make sure the fire was out. The little villain just chuckled and blushed happily.

“Couldn’t help myself! You were gone for so long, Shouto.”

Shouto? Bakugo’s hand twitched hearing the first name referral. And seeing Todoroki become so awkward and soft-spoken despite having a cold and stern exterior in class made him even more confused. Why did he let Deku do that? How did he let Deku do that? That fire-breathing nobody battered him a lot but that was probably to stay out of trouble and to keep from making a scene, even though that backfired in the end. This guy was a terrifyingly powerful quirk was letting this quirkless nerd pull him around like this. “If they stare then they’re the rude ones. So do you mind?” Midoriya said to Todoroki lightly but then turned to Bakugo with a darkened glare. Bakugo didn’t know what to say. He didn’t know how to talk to either of the teenagers in front of him. He watched Todoroki lift Zuzu on to his lap and then push the smaller of the two drinks on the table to Midoriya. “I said you didn’t have to get me anything, I’m not hungry. But thank you though.” the freckled boy said but took it anyway. They looked like a normal couple, they were happy to be with each other. But Bakugo was just sensing that something was terribly wrong here.

“I don’t know what you see in him, but something’s not right with him. Be careful, yeah?” The most he could do was give Todoroki a warning before walking off with his hands shoved in his pockets. But Todoroki only shrugged as he fed a small ice cream to his puppy that he had kept in his pocket. Why would he ever listen to someone that bullied the light of his life?

By the evening, there were empty plates on the kotatsu in Todoroki’s little apartment, the tv was on the news, Midoriya was leaning back against the headboard of the bed with Todoroki resting his head on his chest and the Zuzu taking a nap on Todoroki’s abdomen. Todoroki looked half asleep but it was likely the lazy atmosphere that was getting to him and making him all the more cuddly. It did not help that the freckled teenager was petting his hair again; he reached for his wrist when he tried to stop. “Can you keep doing that?” he asked. The little villain blinked and then giggled, putting his fingers back in the red and white strands.

“You like it when I play with your hair?” Midoriya asked almost teasingly to which he got a nod in response. It made him chuckle so he proceeded to pet him with one hand and scroll through his phone with the other. This kind of silence didn’t feel awkward. It was nice.

“I swear that I will make these streets safe for everyone and their families. I will not allow these disappearances to keep happening. Finding the villain behind this is my top priority and they will be brought to justice by my agency. We know for certain that when these incidents occur, they are alone. There are never any witnesses. So it is highly recommended that you always accompanied by a friend or family member at night or in secluded areas until we have arrested the evildoer.” The two listened to the tv to hear an interview with Endeavor about the Sudden Disappearances case. How Midoriya would love to laugh in his face because the same person he was looking for had his son snuggling in his arms like an adorable cat.

“He makes it sounds like they’re going after anyone,” Todoroki mumbled sleepily. “So far, it’s only been heroes, criminals, or people who’ve had shady activity that disappear. He’s just trying to make himself look better by protecting innocent people.” he turned his head to nuzzle further into his little villain’s chest. “He’s not protecting anyone…”

Midoriya changed the channel knowing his hero would rather not listen to the previous one. And they continued the evening relaxing like this in blissful quietness until the freckled boy started looking outside. It had gotten dark after a while and he began to think of an idea and then leaned his cheek on his hero’s head. “You wanna do something?” he asked vaguely, causing Todoroki to shift. “I used to sneak out a lot at night and uh… I used to cause some trouble. Nothing dangerous, but it was still fun. And I was just thinking that it’s been a while.” Perhaps this would be an opportunity to get his gold-hearted hero more in touch with his dark side. He clearly had one. His temper being lost with Kosuke was no fluke, but rather pent up anger and pain that needed to be expressed. “I just spray painted a bunch of stuff and I got a lot of feelings out. You wanna try?” He looked down at Todoroki to see him looking right back at him.

“Sure.”

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"It's vandalism."

"S'okay." Todoroki shrugged and Midoriya was almost surprised by it. He had to remember that his pure-hearted hero was still the rebellious type. But was he this rebellious?

"No hero impulses want to stop me?" he asked, just checking to be sure.

"Not really." It appeared that Todoroki would get more from his time spent supporting Midoriya than trying to stop him. And if the little villain was able to get some feelings out by acting in delinquency, then maybe the hero could too.

“Let me tell my dad,” Midoriya said, going on his phone.

Deciding that Zuzu should stay home for this outing, only Midoriya and Todoroki were dropped off in a dark alleyway in the depths of the city in more darkly colored clothing. Todoroki opened his eyes to see where they had been sent to and appeared curious by his surroundings. Someone who was kept inside a mansion would usually be kept far away from places like these and yet this was where Midoriya said he hung out a lot. Stray animals were creeping around, garbage and glass scattered, graffiti at every turn, and rotten smells filling the air. He’s been sheltered from this part of the city for so long. Before he could become too curious, Midoriya took his hand and began walking with him, navigating the maze of alleys and backroads from memory. “My home life was fine, really. But I didn’t like being cooped up in my room all the time and I didn’t have any interests to work with in the day time. I spent a lot of nights out here blowing off steam.” he explained as they walked, passing multiple tags on the walls around them.

“Blow off steam?” Todoroki repeated.

“I was really mad at everything and I still kinda am sometimes. I was mad about being quirkless, and I was mad about how Kacchan treated me and how all my classmates would laugh at me. I wish my mom had more faith in me. I wish heroes were true to their personas. And sometimes I just wished-” he stopped himself and shook his head. He didn’t need to continue. “You shouldn’t keep things like that all bottled up. Sometimes you just gotta let the world know that it sucks. You’re supposed to walk around and act like everything’s fine but nothing really is… so coming here was a good way to stop pretending.” They both began to shimmy down a very narrow gap between buildings before popping out the other side where there were a few abandoned buildings and they would be able to see a few stragglers sleeping in one of them for the night. Midoriya led Todoroki to an empty building that was halfway towards falling apart by going through a small hole in the wall with poorly placed planks over it. There was a big enough gap between the wood for them to slip through. “You have lots to be angry about. Don’t you think you deserve to break? You can show me how unhappy you are, you know? You don’t have to hold back your real feelings from me.”

Todoroki took his hand back and held his wrist, suddenly appearing distant in the idea of vandalism now. Midoriya stopped to look back at him, baffled by his hesitation. “Maybe this wasn’t a good idea,” Todoroki said calmly. “The last time I snapped, I’m pretty sure I almost killed someone. I don't want to go too far again." If only he knew the one he almost killed had already been killed. Yet Midoriya was patient with him, knowing this was not going to be an easy change of darker heart. So he took both his hands with a smile and giggle.

"I wouldn't worry about stuff like that. He deserved it, didn't he?" Then he reached over to flip the hood on his beloved hero's jacket over his head. "And you deserve to be pissed off and have a little fun." He pulled a black flu mask out of his pocket and hooked the strings around the other’s ears to hide the lower half of his face. His eyes glowed bright green with a wide grin across his face. He was adorably alluring. “You hold yourself back from doing things that you want to do because of the consequences and what people will think of you. Well, you can let loose here. You can do what you want, the world is yours with me.”

“Are you sure that’s okay…?” Todoroki asked quietly, his eyes focused on a random piece of trash on the ground. “Is that really okay for me to do?” With only his eyes visible to show emotion, he expressed an extreme level of uncertainty. Midoriya let go of his hands and went to go rummage around the inside of the abandoned building until he pulled up a loose floorboard. Prying it up from the ground, there was a small hole underneath with a black bag hiding in it. Picking it up and going through it, he stacked at least a dozen different colored spray paint cans in a line and then inspected them to see if they were all still useable.

“It’s okay with me.” he then said after at least a minute of silence. “Do you need permission from anyone else?” He packed up the cans again and lugged the bag over his shoulder before making his way back towards the hole they came in through. He looked back at Todoroki before climbing through and saw that he was following him. The only one’s permission he needed was the killer he had fallen for.

Midoriya took him to an empty brick wall that belonged to a vacant building not far from the one they came from. He put the bag down and picked out a red can to start with before shaking it well and removing the cap. “Be careful not to breathe this stuff in, it’s poisonous,” he warned, putting a flu mask over his mouth and then beginning to paint. He left the bag opened on the ground for Todoroki to go through, but instead, the hero appeared content with just watching the little villain do his signature tag, ‘Heroes Lie’. He remembered seeing it around a few times and Endeavor pointing out how petty it was. There was one tag of it on the back of his agency once. But instead of being propaganda against heroes, however, he now realized it was more of a warning. A warning to not put all of your trust into such a flashy idol. For now, he just sat next to the bag and watched the other graffiti the wall in silence. Something about all of this felt wrong. He’s done things to spite his father, but this was a willingness to participate in illegal activity. And yet… watching the green-haired boy blissfully paint, watching him smile and hum to himself, his eyes bright with a mischievous and fun-loving glow, he wanted to feel that way too. To be at peace with his philosophies about how he felt about heroes.

Soon Todoroki stuck his hand in the bag and found himself a royal blue spray paint can and looked it over a few times, doing double takes between it and Midoriya. “Do you think… I should keep trying to be a hero?” he asked.

“You don’t have to try. You’re already a hero. You’re my hero.” the other answered back so quickly, so casually. His back was towards him, hiding the smirk he was making, “You’ve been my hero since the day I first met you. I felt like nothing. All Might and Kacchan made me feel like nothing like I should just give up on everything I worked for. But you made me feel like I could do anything. Heroes don’t need colorful costumes or big smiles or even big muscles… sometimes heroes can be a really pretty boy whose quiet most times, in a white hoodie who told me I could still make an impact.” But… “But I think you should stop trying to be what Endeavor and All Might are. Being a hero is just a career title to them. You’re not like that. You don’t need that title.”

Todoroki stood up with his head down and began to shake the can before taking the cap off. He began aggressively spraying in a zig-zag motion in the shape of a circle with royal blue and then grabbing black to spray around it aggressively. He moved his arm side to side quickly with his finger holding down the trigger as hard as he could. Inside the black, he added a red ring inside and watched the red drip down the wall from having too much sprayed at on the wall, and yet it appeared to be on purpose. And lastly, he took white and finally wrote words within his bubble of blue, black, and red. ‘Never My Hero.’ His left hand twitched afterward with a can still in his grasp. He felt like an idiot. Why had he been striving to be the same thing as two people he couldn’t stand anymore? All his suffering was birthed from a rivalry with All Might that was only one-sided by now. His family suffered because of it. And even when he was right there, All Might never stepped in to help or even tried to notice the problem. “So stupid…” he felt so stupid. He felt so played, brainwashed with childlike fantasies of being like the amazing man on tv. How was it that he was still clinging to an idiotic dream like that? Midoriya watched the red can in Todoroki’s left hand from the corner of his eye, he could warn him what would happen if he let it heat up too much. But he’d rather watch this play out as silently as possible and only speaking to fuel his inner emotions. It was cruel. But Todoroki needed to become more in touch with himself.

“No one came to help you, right? You think it was a secret that your family split up all at once?” Surely heroes that worked with Endeavor would be aware of some instability in the household. And yet no one had done anything. “There are exceptions, but they’re not the majority.” Like Aizawa and Yamada. They cared. But not everyone was like them. Midoriya was spray painting the wall around his signature tag, just destressing himself with art instead of violence. He didn’t flinch when he heard a small explosion and saw red paint splatter over a small portion of his work. While he was calmly doing his thing, Todoroki was next to him with gritted teeth, his mask pulled down, and twitching hands, covered in splotches of red. “Go on, don’t hold back.” the little villain encouraged with a calming voice. “You can use your fire how you want. Even destruction.” Endeavor used his fire to represent his heroism, using it for intimidation to bring his version of justice. Todoroki wanted to twist that. His fire would not be used for justice and saving, because that’s what his father would want. It should be used for what it truly represents. “It’s your power. So make it yours.”

And that was a trigger for Todoroki’s left arm to flare up and for him to focus a blast towards a small abandoned shack-like structure that was barely standing just behind them. Midoriya continued to peacefully paint with a tranquil smile under his mask with glowing green eyes as fire behind him illuminated behind him and made shadows against the wall. He heard banging of trash cans, smashing of abandoned items, smelt burning garbage, with the looming scent of smoke and exploded spray paint in the air. He let Todoroki blow up in a mental meltdown, keeping blissfully to himself while his hero cracked. He heard him quietly swear through his heavy breaths as he was wearing himself out. But it didn’t stop a moldy old chair from being thrown at the wall beside him and then while it was still up against it, blasted with fire to incinerate into ash in a moment. He didn’t even jump at the slam or the intense heat. He merely giggled at it. His quiet, reserved, mature beloved was finally letting it all out. He would be a killing machine with just the right motivations. But for now, he’d let him do his thing for about an hour.

Eventually, the loud crashing and banging became less frequent, the heat was less intense, the bright flashes making shadows stopped, and all that remained was a subtle heat, the popping of burning scattered garbage, and smoke. Midoriya turned around and found Todoroki on his knees with his arms shaking and his head lowered. His chest steadily rose and fell as he heavily breathed to catch his breath. He was still covered in red paint splatter. Midoriya playfully walked around, picking up their half-filled paint cans and hummed as he placed them back in the bag one by one. He swayed a bit in his step like a carefree child until he zipped the bag up and strolled over to his near exhausted partner, standing above him, in front of him. He pulled his own mask down before lifting Todoroki’s chin with a sweet smile. “Your power is so beautiful. Just like you.” He then leaned down to kiss him with his chin still resting on his pointer finger. His power was his. It represented him. His fiery passion, his hatred, his embarrassment, his anger. His cold exterior, his anxiety, his loneliness, his pain. All of him was beautiful. He loved all of him. He slowly pulled away from the kiss to find his hero with a single tear in his scarred eye as they were both half-lidded and tired. “I love you, Shouto.” He whispered, moving a bit of his red hair back. It looked like he had more to say but they both quickly turned to where they heard rummaging around the corner.

“There was a noise complaint in this area. It’s probably a stray cat or some damn kids.”

“So late at night? Such a pain.”

“We gotta check these areas out, remember? What if someone else goes missing on our watch?”

It sounded like three cops coming for a noise complaint and Todoroki was awfully loud in his breakdown. Midoriya quickly grabbed the black bag and took Todoroki’s hand, making a run for it. By the time the cops trudged through all the garbage, they were long gone with a few small fires left unattended on the ground, illuminating their artwork on the wall. ‘Heroes Lie’ and ‘Never My Hero’ had been slightly smeared in ash, but now a big black heart surrounded the two tags with one more written in white above them. ‘We Fell’

Chapter Text

The dawn of the next weekday morning began with Midoriya peeking into Todoroki’s apartment space and bedroom just before his alarm was supposed to go off. He found him sleeping completely still with an unnatural lump under his shirt, though he knew what it was when he saw a paw with delicate toe beans poking out from underneath. “Shouto…” he hummed, going closer to the bed and sitting down beside him. He placed his hand on the sleeping teenager’s forehead and tried to lightly shake him awake. “We have school today…” he reminded. Yet the only response was some tired grumbling. Perhaps hero school wasn’t so appealing to someone who didn’t believe in heroes that much anymore. Though the knowledge that he would likely have to return to the mansion that afternoon was not that appealing either.

As punishment for not awakening to Midoriya’s soft nudges, Todoroki was greeted with a blaring alarm from his phone that was much more annoying and displeasing. He growled as grumpy narrowed eyes opened and he hastily reached for his phone to shut off. He looked pissed to be alive. In an attempt to soothe that anger, the little villain leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Good morning, Shouto,” he smiled. And then Zuzu wiggled up his shirt and gave him a few kisses to his face too. At least he woke up surrounded by love.

Kurogiri delivered breakfast secretly once again and gave the two plenty of time to prepare themselves for the day. Midoriya had Todoroki close his eyes and step into a portal to take them just down the road from their school and as they walked together, Todoroki felt his phone vibrate. He received a text from an unidentified number.

Unknown: I will bring your dog home safely this afternoon as well as your things. Text this number if you ever require Izuku’s or my services again. -Izuku’s caretaker

He looked at his phone curiously, wondering if Midoriya gave his ‘dad’ his phone number or if had he gotten it secretly. He could ask, and yet he didn’t. Instead, he added the number to his contacts as ‘Izuku’s Dad’ and somehow he felt more secure with this number than he did with just his own father’s. He’d be sure to use it for emergencies only as he didn’t want to impose. Whoever was in this family had done so much for him, more than anyone has done in such a long time. “Your dad must be really nice,” he commented plainly, putting his phone back in his pocket. Midoriya smiled and scratched his cheek with his index finger.

“He totally is. He’s awesome.”

Upon entering, Midoriya could tell Todoroki was not happy to be at school. His eyes looked like they had on the first day: cold, distant, isolated, and bitter. Midoriya wanted him to get his feelings out the night before, letting him get a taste of emotional freedom; but he felt bad for bringing it out so much that it was lingering like this. So before they parted, he got on his toes to grant him a quick kiss on the cheek. “Have a good day today, okay? I’ll see you at lunch.” he smiled sweetly. “We could even sneak outside to eat instead. Does that sound good?” He could tell that Todoroki didn’t want to be near people, to be near heroes and hero wannabes.

“Yeah, that sounds nice.” he agreed. It was all perfect timing.

Midoriya sat down in his homeroom class to find a piece of paper on his desk to be filled out. Their newly elected class president was setting them down for everyone to fill out individually. They were sign-ups for the annual Sports Festival. Because they were in a General Studies course, those that were interested in the hero program would be able to sign up and give it a shot. Others could back out and watch with an extra assignment in hand. It only took one glance for the little villain to mark off the ‘not interested’ box. He didn’t want any part of this ‘festival’ when it was more like a dogfighting ring. Imagining Todoroki taking part in it pissed him off. All those people watching him and only appreciating him for his quirk, bidding on him to join their agencies, encouraging him to mindlessly fight his classmates for a chance at a better social status in hero society; it was disgusting to think about.

As he turned in his form to the class president, he peeked back at Shinsou sitting alone at his desk. He was hunched over the paper with his hand in his hair, seeming a bit stressed out in silence. Midoriya nearly pitied him. He could only wonder what his backstory was and how it brought him here, clawing desperately for acceptance. Trying so hard to be a hero even though nobody trusted him. Why not just give up?

After general classes, all the students were brought to the observation room as usual. Midoriya watched Todoroki struggle with his frustrations. His ice was more jagged than usual. There was more excess frost than normal. His breathing was not rhythmic and his precision was off. He had so much on his mind but he wasn’t allowed to let those feelings out at school. They would always hold him back if he went into the hero field. They would never let him express what he was really feeling and always tell him to hold his power back and hold his tongue. Shigaraki would never allow for such a thing. The path to villainy was neatly paving its way for him at this point. It would be tempting, irresistible even. His attention was pried away by the sight of Yamada and Shinsou conversing beside him. Shinsou still had his form in his hands and had almost filled it out to participate in the Sports Festival and the teacher was leaning over his shoulder with a kind smile, as supportive and caring as ever. “What if everyone just gets more scared of me…?” the tired boy asked quietly.

“You never know if you don’t try. Maybe a pro will see something, like I do, in you and ask to be your mentor. It could open up so many great possibilities for you.” He was just getting his hopes up naively. Midoriya could only pity him. “Quirks don’t define you as good or bad, it’s your choices and intentions. Watching you, I know you want nothing more than good for people. So?” Yamada shook him a bit with a hand on his shoulder, encouraging the boy to take a chance to be something he’s wanted to be. And yet he still seemed unsure, yet comforted.

“I think you should.” Midoriya wasn’t thinking when he spoke. Something just slipped out as he was staring down at his notebook that was opened to a page of Todoroki. What a world it would be if he had never succumbed to villainy. Would they have become heroes together? “You can be a hero.” he smiled but a tear fell from one eye on to the paper. If someone could have just told him that.

Both Yamada and Shinsou turned to Midoriya and didn’t see his tear from their angle but heard the smallest quake in his voice to know what he was really feeling. But hearing the little villain so pained, Shinsou nodded and finished filling out the paper much to Yamada’s pride in him. Midoriya watched the form get handed off, surely their teacher would just slip it in with the rest. “Try to smile a bit more. Confidence in yourself is key to strength.” Yamada said with a little nudge to the purple-haired student. “And there’s lots to smile for when people believe in you.” and with that bit of advice, a half-smile rose from the student, though it did look a bit scary. He was just doing his best. Midoriya also smiled softly hearing what was said, turning to the page in his notebook that had a sketch and a few notes on Shigaraki. His art skills have gotten much more impressive despite clear eraser marks around the face of his sketch. He was sure to have him drawn with a slight smile. When people believe in you, huh?

Midoriya was sure to greet Todoroki with a bright smile after they met near the cafeteria exit. Both of them had taken food and put them in little boxes with chopsticks and snuck out of the school to spend time in the field around the building. There was a line of trees and bushes that were planted for decoration and a gap in the center, so it was the center that they decided to sit down. It was much quieter there than it was inside and Todoroki appeared far more relaxed this way, comfortable with just them. He soon laid down with his head on Midoriya’s thigh as they peacefully ate. “Hey, Shouto…” Midoriya began after chewing and swallowing a piece of sushi. The other tilted his head to look directly up at him to show that he had his undivided attention. “We’re… boyfriends, right? That’s okay?” Could they call themselves yet? He was itching to know if he could officially be boyfriends, partners, lovers.

“Yeah, I think so,” Todoroki answered, appearing to be thinking about the question a bit more. Neither of them had a relationship like this before, so he was probably just as thoughtful on the matter. “Would that make you happy?” Todoroki asked back and received a kiss to his forehead.

“You make me happy.” Midoriya giggled. But then Todoroki placed his chopsticks in his box and reached for the other’s hand. He played with his fingers for a few moments before pinching his sleeve and pulling it back. He could see some skin that was scabbed and irritated for occasional scratching. Appearing displeased, he began to trace the scabs carefully with his fingertip.

“You don’t hurt yourself when you’re happy?” he questioned, poking at a part of his skin that wasn’t wounded. He wanted to make him happy regardless, but he would work extra hard to make sure he didn’t harm himself.

“Yeah… that’s right.” Midoriya took his hand back with a blush and used it to pet the silky two-colored hair, just as Todoroki liked, watching him close his eyes peacefully at the action.

Their peaceful time together was suddenly interrupted by a blaring alarm. Todoroki sat up instantly at the sound while Midoriya remained calm, even smirking at the sound as his eyes regained their subtle glow of mischief. Big brother was finally placing his cards. “That’s a security alarm,” Todoroki said, looking around for the source of a possible intrusion. “Is someone attacking-” he was about to stand up when the little villain gently wrapped his arms around his neck and placed his chin on his shoulder from behind.

“Relax… It’s probably nothing.” he slowly pulled him to have him lean his back into his chest as he held him lovingly. Although the taller boy was more than strong enough to deny his hold, he submitted to it, finding comfort in it that overpowered his anxiety. “You’re safe here. You’re safe with me.” he nearly cooed, stroking his cheek with the back of his fingers.

It was very soon, within minutes, that they would notice the main entrance was open with a small crowd of news reporters standing in its place. Aizawa and Yamada were there, holding the ground between them and the building. “They’re technically trespassing, so they’re kinda like villains. So why don’t we just beat them up?” Yamada said quietly with an annoyed expression. He could tell that the students must be stressed out inside trying to evacuate all at once from the same room.

“We just want to ask All Might a few questions! Is that so much to ask?” The press pressed, trying to coax the teachers into letting them in. Aizawa only glared in frustration. Journalists were always so obnoxious to him.

“I know how you people work. You get an inch and you expect a mile.” Aizawa said sternly with his eyes narrowed. “You’re disturbing my students. Leave now before we call for authorities. And besides, it’s his day off.”

Todoroki couldn’t hear the situation at the front gate but he could tell that there was no obvious danger. Then he turned to see one of the hallways, through a line of windows, that it was completely clogged with panicked students attempting to leave the cafeteria all at once. It was an even more intense stampede than the one that enters during lunch period. Someone was bound to get hurt, trampled, or worse. With that thought in mind, Todoroki escaped Midoriya’s hold thoughtlessly and stood up. “Iida,” he said to himself, running off towards the windows. Midoriya’s eyes went red hearing that name come from his beloved’s lips. Even after everything he’s done for him, that four-eyed bastard was still on his mind. Why couldn’t he just forget Iida? Why couldn’t he just see him and him alone? Why, after all this, did he still hold on to his worthless classmates? But Midoriya knew, even though he desperately wanted to, he could not bluntly pull Todoroki away from those he had desperately become attached to. Even though he wanted to scream at him, to demand from him to only give him his attention, it would be cruel to him. So reluctantly, he followed him to the windows.

Todoroki watched through the glass as Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were practically swept away trying to calm the panicking students down. He tried knocking on the glass to get anyone’s attention, to tell them that nothing was wrong, but no one heard. “Someone’s going to get hurt,” he mumbled, taking out his phone and going to an app to type something out. Who cares? They’re only trying to be popularized liars. Midoriya wanted to tell him to just forget them, to come to cuddle with him under the trees again. Instead, he watched him desperately search for someone through the glass. And it was soon that the very person he was worried about was squished up against a panel. “Iida.” Todoroki ran to his classmate that was being pressed against the glass and waved at him to be sure he got his attention. They couldn’t hear each other, but he saw the engine-legged hero mouth his name in confusion, to which he would show him his phone screen.

-There’s no one attacking. A bunch of media workers broke the gate. I think they just want to see All Might. Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada are taking care of it. Do you think you can tell everyone?-

Iida read the message and looked around, thinking of an idea. He gritted his teeth as he was further pushed against the wall. Then he pointed upward. He needed to get high in the air for everyone to see him, to get everyone’s attention. “Up? You need to get up?” Todoroki asked meaninglessly, trying to be certain that he was reading his gesture correctly. Hoping he had the right assumption, he placed his hands on the glass to begin to freeze it, freeze through it, freeze the ground under Iida’s feet, to make it rise and make him rise with it. He branched the ice to the ceiling, to create a bar that reached to the end of the hall and above the fire doors. He watched Iida grip the bar and use his engines to propel himself forward and get to the end. Although he did not break quickly enough and slammed into the wall a bit harshly. What Midoriya would give to have him hang like that and use him as a target for knife throwing.

“That was brilliant, Todoroki! I admire your quick wit and precision with your quirk. Allow me to thank you on behalf of the other students for helping me ease the chaos.” Iida shook Todoroki’s hand enthusiastically in the hallway after the evacuation was done and everyone was allowed back in.

“You were the one that told everyone. I didn’t do much.” Todoroki said modestly, Midoriya stood behind him, glaring daggers at the blue-haired student before them. He wanted to bite his hand off.

“Give yourself more credit! You’re amazing and you are incredibly kind.” The tallest of the three took the half and half teenager’s hand in both of his, clasping it warmly. “You’re modest too. You really are a great hero, Todoroki.” he smiled. Midoriya nearly snapped as he watched a blush grow on his beloved’s cheeks while he looked away shyly. How dare he. How dare he try pulling him away, coaxing him into a world of liars and false idols. His kindness was a fraud like the rest of them! How dare he try to take him back to the world he’s been trying to free him from!

“I don’t like the way he talks to you,” Midoriya grumbled as they stood outside the school entrance as the evening drew near. The end of the school day had come and nearly everyone had left except a few teachers and the two students. Todoroki was not eager to return home, but Midoriya was not eager to leave the campus with this jealousy festering inside of him. “That guy with the glasses. I don’t like how he talks to you. I-It’s like he’s trying to take you away from me.” Todoroki listened to the little villain and watched him begin to pry at his sleeves and quiver, “I-I know he’s nice to you. But how he looks at you, how he held your hand, how he talks to you… He’s not better than me, is he?” His hero wouldn’t abandon him too, right? This genuine hero. He wasn’t like the others, right? Maybe he liked taller guys. Maybe he preferred strong quirks. Maybe he liked constant confidence. Maybe… the little villain wasn’t good enough. But Todoroki took the little villain’s hands before leaning down to peck his lips softly.

“I love Izuku. Not Iida.” Midoriya looked up at his beloved, the sun behind his beautiful face. He felt his soft hand against his freckled cheek. “No one can make me happier than you.” Todoroki gently spoke, his calm aura cooling the tension and anxieties. “No one knows me like you.” he brought his hand up to kiss his palm. “There’s no one I trust like you.” Midoriya’s quivering eased slightly as he went forward to hug on to Todoroki, pressing his cheek into his shoulder. That’s right, Todoroki wasn’t like other heroes.

“If something happens again, you tell me right away. I’ll be there. I’ll get you out of there.” And he still needed saving too. The two parted ways to return home, Midoriya put earbuds in to listen to a recording of Present Mic’s latest podcasts. It was something he never stopped doing from when he was a kid to when he became a twisted doctor.

Midoriya tossed his bag on the red sofa in the bar before sitting down on the stool next to Shigaraki. It was odd to not see Kurogiri behind the counter this time. And instead of a home-cooked meal or a balanced snack, all that was there was a half-eaten bag of chips. Regardless, he took a few to munch on.

“Is this dinner too?” he asked. He had little doubt that his big brother knew the first thing about cooking. How were they going to survive a whole day without their fatherly figure?

“Yup,” Shigaraki said while going through his phone, looking through news articles on the Sudden Disappearances. He needed to stay updated on where Endeavor’s agency was going with the evidence that they had. The moment they would start to suspect Midoriya or get close to the bar would lead to a different course of action being taken.

“What are they doing these days?” Midoriya asked, trying to peek by leaning over and up against Shigaraki.

“They’ve got the teleportation quirk user down. They know someone like Kurogiri is with us.”

“Anything else?”

“They know we go after people walking alone in secluded areas. More people have been out with a second to prevent me from getting to them. But that’s alright, I have other means.”

“Has Kosuke Hiro been labeled as missing yet?”

“While you were at school. I don’t know why his parents waited so long or if the police were stalling. I think they were trying to prevent panic in the public by not telling them that we go after kids too.”

“Why does da- Kurogiri need to be gone all day? Couldn’t he just go in, do the thing, and leave?”

“Kurogiri can warp to places he’s been, not just to places that he wants to go. He’s wandering the whole campus to make sure we can be dropped off in the best spot. It takes a while to sneak around without getting caught in a place like that. Any more questions?”

Shigaraki turned to Midoriya to see him resting his face comfortably against his arm. He never expected them to get this close and comfortable with each other. A part of him even ached at the sight of the scar on his eye. “Are you doing okay?” Midoriya asked, his final question. It made Shigaraki blink a few times. That was such an odd question to ask.

“Just tired…” he admitted quietly.

“Not a good sleeper? Me neither.” Two tired boys. Two tired boys being tired together.

“How did you meet your master?” Midoriya then asked randomly. His eyes looked ready to close as he was leaning against his big brother. He hadn’t realized how exhausted he was until he sat down. And now his curious mind was wandering.

“I think I’ve repressed a lot or something’s been repressing things for me. I just remember being little, people walking past me, people ignoring me, being alone, I don’t remember what I was feeling. Maybe hatred, maybe not. But I remember being relieved when he found me, offered his hand, and took me in.” Midoriya nodded as he listened. Thinking about one of their first conversations, he remembered that Shigaraki was very understanding when he brought up why Todoroki meant so much to him. “How about your little prince charming?” the older villain asked. It made Midoriya scoff to himself and avert his eyes embarrassingly.

“I almost jumped off a building when All Might crushed my dreams. Someone told me I should kill myself and hope for a quirk in my next life and I was actually going to do it because no one believed in me. And I was really close too. But he came out of nowhere and stopped me. We talked and he inspired me to make an impact a different way. And ever since then I’ve been wanting to kill his bastard father because someone who saved me doesn’t deserve to suffer in that ass’s care.” Midoriya had avoided telling Shigaraki he attempted suicide because he feared it would make him appear weak and unreliable for being too fragile minded.  But now, after the time they’ve spent working and living together, that fear was nonexistent. Though he was caught a bit off guard when he felt an arm around his shoulders and someone’s hand in his hair.

“I’ll kill the guy that told you to kill yourself,” Shigaraki mumbled. Kill Bakugo? “Anything you hate, we’ll find a way to destroy it. And I’m going to teach you how to do the basics of that.” Midoriya looked to Shigaraki a bit confused and then felt him move. The taller villain got down from his stool and motioned for the little villain to follow him to the elevator.

The elevator did not go far down when it brought them to a brightly lit room with a wood floor and traditional Japanese wall panels. It almost looked like an at-home dojo. “What’s this about?” Midoriya asked, looking around and finding a closet in the wall filled with different blades of guards that could be attached to specific parts of the body as shields. “Ever since you came back with that scar on your face, I knew I had to find a teacher for you sooner rather than later. I’m still looking. But for now, I need to teach you how to protect yourself.” Shigaraki wasn’t about to bring Midoriya to a fight without any training or practice. This was a bit last second, but something was better than nothing. “I’m not the person to teach you how to hold a knife and stab someone efficiently.” He couldn’t even hold a knife correctly without destroying it. “So I’m going to teach you how to move and look.”

Midoriya appeared baffled but something in his heart fluttered. He was getting a chance like this, a chance to be stronger even without a quirk. He looked at Shigaraki who was across the room from him, but in a moment it was like he disappeared and reappeared closer but diagonally from where he was originally before disappearing again. And before the little villain knew it, he found himself on his back, looking up at the ceiling, on the floor. He forgot how fast his older brother was. It was scary. “We’ll start by training your eyes to keep up with me. You need to see things coming.”

Midoriya was allowed to change into a hoodie and sweatpants for this training so he could have more movement compared to when he was wearing his school uniform. But even with greater mobility, he was smacked around quite a bit. He would be tripped, flicked, tackled, punched but not too hard, kicked, and choked over and over again. He was spotted in bruises from the neck down. Shigaraki was simply too quick for his eyes to follow, too agile to avoid, and too flexible to be dodged. There was improvement made where the older villain was forced to change his methods, but only slightly. This was all trial and error, using reflexes and rapid eye movement training. It wasn’t much, but it was a start to get the little doctor on the battlefield without getting captured immediately.

Breaks were granted, of course. Shigaraki was not about to be the type to torture Midoriya until he got it right. Training would take time and at least a few days so he was going to stay patient and let the skills come and grow naturally and respectfully. All of this and a fair amount of praise would be enough to keep the little villain motivated. The idea of being believed in this much by his big brother had him beyond inspired. By the end of the evening, Midoriya was smiling cheerfully with confidence and eating a bunch of unhealthy snack foods for dinner because that’s all they had. While the two ate together, Midoriya had pulled out one of his notebooks and began asking Shigaraki questions about his quirk and physical prowess, taking notes on everything he said. “You better not think about using me as one of your subjects.” the older villain grumbled but the other just snickered teasingly.

“Never~”.

As night approached, Midoriya went down to his laboratory to clean it as he had left it a mess when Kosuke was tortured and killed on his table. However, he was surprised to see that it was cleaned for him. He sighed at the sight of his stainless tools and shining table and desk. “Thanks, Dad…” he mumbled. Kosuke’s body was not on the table. The cage he had been imprisoned in was empty. With a shrug, Midoriya returned to the elevator to go up to his room and retire for the night. Yet, the moment the doors closed, the boy swore he heard a loud bang from the other side of the metal. But he ignored it.

By the next morning, Kurogiri had returned to provide the two with a healthier meal in place of all the junk they consumed the evening before. He was also there to warp the boy to school where Todoroki would meet him near the entrance to the main building. Casual conversation would ensue and the taller boy would explain that nothing happened the other evening because Endeavor was called to a shady part of the city to help in the investigation of finding the missing Kosuke Hiro. Midoriya expected Todoroki to be relieved that he was left in peace, but found him to be rather anxious and bothered. “He went missing after he got suspended,” he said, looking at his hands, remembering how that had wrapped so tightly around his throat. “It’s my fault he got suspended…” Midoriya was quick to take his hands to reassure him that his disappearance was not his fault. He smiled sweetly and told him to not let it eat at him. Just telling him to focus on his boyfriend, just think about his boyfriend, just think how happy his boyfriend makes him. Don’t think about Kosuke. Think about me.

The two parted to go to their separate classes, letting Midoriya walk past the teachers’ lounge. Normally he would pay no mind to it, ignoring all the pros that would stay there to finish their teacher work although it was usually empty at this time. However, this time he noticed two people in there with the door barely cracked open. It was likely that it was supposed to be closed. “He’s missing… How could that even be? He’s just a kid.” Midoriya quietly went to the door to eavesdrop and watch through the little gap in the door. It was Aizawa and Yamada. Aizawa looked restless. “He was just supposed to be punished for starting a fight and bullying Todoroki. How could he go missing?” He was pacing back and forth as Yamada sat on one of the tables, just listening to him and appearing hurt and worried. “Were they targeting him? Were they just waiting for an opportunity like this? Someone has to be pulling strings-” Yamada stood up when he had heard enough, probably listening to him for a while now, and took him by the shoulders.

“It was the weekend. All of the kids were out, it was probably just a coincidence. You can’t be driving yourself crazy over this, not when you have other students that are just as anxious.” Midoriya watched Yamada pull Aizawa out of his view but he heard them both go silent for a few moments. “We’re just going to do what we can as teachers and as heroes to keep the students we have contact with safe. We’ll have to leave the search for him to Endeavor, as much you can’t stand the guy. He’s a hero too and I think he’s capable.”

Midoriya heard the bell, as did the two teachers, and he made a run for it before he was caught listening to them when that conversation was meant to be kept private. But as suspected, many, if not all the students were on edge. After the ‘false’ alarm of yesterday, and the declaration of Kosuke going missing, everyone was glancing out windows, peeking around corners, and refusing to go anywhere by themselves, to wander off campus alone. They all suspected an outside force, stalking and threatening them from higher ground. They were left helplessly oblivious to the snake that was sitting behind them in class, beside them in the hall, living amongst them and in their midst, camouflaged as an innocent student.

And for days Endeavor's agency would ponder the disappearance of Kosuke Hiro. Teachers would be paranoid to leave their students unattended, worrying about what would happen to them as they walked back home in the evening. Students were fearful to walk home alone, family and friends meeting them halfway to make sure there was someone there to be a witness to anything. In a sea of worried, frightful people and heroes, a smirking quirkless boy was giggling in his murderous mischief. And the little villain would let the city live in their own paranoia as he put down the scalpel for some time to train his physical capabilities with his big brother. All the energy he had, made of the anticipation for a surprise he had set up, needed to be worked off.

Almost to the end of the school week, much of the anxiety in the students did not fade away yet. Even in Todoroki. Though his anxiety was not made of fear, rather it was guilt and confusion. He and Kosuke had never gotten along, not even for a few minutes. Not once were they kind to each other. To have such a poor relationship with someone who had gone missing ate at his conscious, though Midoriya was always there to soothe him and tell him that it was not his fault that their friendship was non-existent. Midoriya could see the distraction in his training. His head was not focused on the tasks at hand. His ice was scattered and without a pattern, and his hand to hand combat was sloppier though still impressive. Though the same could be said to all of class 1-A. Even Bakugo's rage was more intense and thus making his movements more direct and predictable as well as destructive. Aizawa was bound to mark everyone down, but probably not as harshly as he usually would, thanks to All Might's suggestions to take it easy on the students.

It was lunch period. Everyone was walking to class. The stampede that had taken place at the start of the semester had filtered out due to other students timing themselves to not all leave at once. But everyone was walking slower than usual. Many were covering their noses. A rotten, disgusting odor was plaguing the hall to the cafeteria. Some had covered their mouths as the air even tasted revolting. Many complained and decided to just turn around and skip lunch as the smell ruined their appetite. It would make any weak-stomached person vomit. Yet Midoriya appeared undisturbed by it in the crowd echoing with complaints of the stench.

"What the actual hell? Can someone just open a window?" Bakugo growled, covering his nose and mouth. His eyes were darting all over to try and find a source, ready to show no mercy if it was just someone's body odor. That person wouldn't be alive any longer if it was, but this stench was far too strong for it to be something as basic as that.

"Maybe an animal crawled in a vent or something," Kirishima said, trying to think of a valid answer as he walked beside him. They weren’t particularly close; they’ve hardly even spoken to each other. But they were forced side by side by the crowd.

“Half-and-half, can you go any faster? I want to get in to get away from this smell. It reeks!” They were both behind a few students, but directly in front of Bakugo was Todoroki.

“Can only go as fast as everyone else, sor-” Todoroki was going to apologize but was cut off by surprise when a drop of liquid dripped onto his nose. He completely stopped, making the grumpy blond bump into him.

“Why the hell did you stop?! Keep-!” Bakugo shouted before he too stopped speaking when a drop fell on to his cheek. “What the…” he swiped his thumb over the drop and saw that it was dark red, almost black. He, Todoroki, and Kirishima all looked up at the ceiling to see the crevice between two tiles had a dark liquid dripping down below with a dark splotch staining the ceiling.

Bakugo narrowed his eyes and slowly backed up, raising his arms to the side to keep other students back from the stain that appeared to be growing ever so subtly. Todoroki backed up in the opposite direction to also clear the way from any students walking underneath the leak. Kirishima stepped out from underneath and looked around to see some students carrying on their way while others were noticing the dark spot above them. So many drops had fallen at this point, a small puddle was beginning to form on the ground. The wretched odor was strongest in the very spot they were standing in. It was then the angered look in Bakugo’s facial altered into something that made Midoriya smirk crookedly in the distance. “Guys… I think I should get Mr. Aizawa…” Kirishima said quietly, ready to make his way to the teacher’s lounge when there was a loud cracking in the ceiling that gained everyone’s attention.

A portion of the ceiling collapsed. Something had been weighing it down from the inside and ruining the material it was made of. A corpse. A corpse fell from the ceiling. The dead body of Kosuke Hiro had fallen from inside the ceiling above the three students. It reeked of decay. Magots had begun to infest it. Its chest and torso had been ripped open with its insides mangled from stabbing and cutting, and blackened with burns. The inside of its jaw had been burned and flesh weakened so it appeared to barely be dangling to the rest of its face. It landed on its back, its head lolled back as its eyes appeared to deadly stare at Todoroki, leaving the rest of its decayed, rotting self on display for the students around to bask in terror.

Todoroki, Kirishima, and Bakugo had all been splashed in reeking and darkened blood that flew out when the body hit the hard floor. The three were left silent and paralyzed at the sight of their slaughtered classmate while many of the other students screamed and ran from the scene. Pushing, shoving, crying, shrieking, nearly all that had happened in the last alarm from the unknown was now happening much more intensely from the known. The body of the missing boy had been hiding amongst them all this time had now shown itself in its horrific glory. But the little villain, standing still with a crooked grin was not finished with his surprise. With his hands behind his back, up against the wall, inside his shirt, he held a small device that consisted of a single button. He pressed it once. And somewhere in the building, there was a small explosion, but not one of gunpowder and fire. Students that had tried to flee by turning back were sprayed with a blast of preserved blood that had been set up to blow up in their faces. At the moment the blood packet exploded, the screams became louder to be followed by more intense and frantic crying. Make an impact. He would make an impact. He’d let these students and pros see something they’d never forget.

Todoroki had fallen back with his hands propping himself up, all he was able to do in his paralysis of fear. The corpse of his former bully was staring at him. Blood was all over its face, its ripped open torso clear for him to see. Its arms splayed out from the fall, skin pale and torn with death and decay. He couldn’t break eye contact with it. He couldn’t look away from it. Its jaw was left wide open to see into its mouth, to see its burnt tongue infested with maggots, its skull beginning to crawl out of its flesh. And yet its opened eyes were staring into him. The dulled golden eyes pierced him, locking him in his place on the floor. The disgusting death of his classmate, the cruel death of his former bully, the disrespectful placement of the body. What could have happened?

Bakugo and Kirishima’s legs had both given into the weight of the air, causing them both to collapse before the corpse of their former classmate, left to stare at the revolting entrails and revealed bones. They, too, were paralyzed by the sight. Bakugo shook in his mental struggle to move again, to move and run away, to get as far away from this thing as possible. “What… wh-what…” he could hardly bring himself to speak. The student who always had something to say, something to scream, and now he had such difficulty speaking a single sentence. “Wh-what… happened to y-you?” he asked in a voice barely above a whisper.

Amongst the chaos, it wasn't long for the teachers to sprint out of the lounge to be greeted with students running past them, covered in blood, only for another small explosion to go off and spray more on them as they tried to exit out of an emergency door. Many of the older students had taken the charge to guide the younger students out safely.

All Might appeared in his muscle form beside both Aizawa and Yamada the three nearly stunned by the scene at hand. There was blood everywhere from little explosions that were going off at random in almost every hall. At the moment, the teachers were mortified at the unknown fact of whether the blood drenching the kids was their own or someone else's. Were they hurt? Were they being attacked? What were they running from? There were so many of them fleeing, crying, some were even frozen in the corners being too frightened to move. What if there was an enemy outside waiting for them? Waiting to do what had been done to the missing boy. With haste and little time for hesitation, All Might improvised by punching a hole in the wall where a door was to make it bigger and more accessible to more students. With great speed, he bolted around, picking up students that were stuck in shock, collecting them in his arms and taking as many as he could find and carry. Yamada did what he could, guiding the newer students to closest exits while on his phone with other staff members. "Is it safe outside? Are there villains out there?" He asked, wanting to be sure that he wasn't leading the kids into more danger.

"We've surveyed the campus, we couldn't find anyone! What's going on in there?!" The one on the line was pro hero Thirteen.

"I don't know. Shouta went ahead to find out."

Yamada continued outside to guide as many students out as he could find. And then with his loud voice and flashy appearance, he began separating students by class to make sure everyone was accounted for. Thankfully, the kids knew better to stick with most of their class, letting those who've strayed away rejoin them instead. However, when it came to his own class, he nearly became frantic. "Where's Midoriya?" he asked, searching amongst his class. Boys and girls were covered in blood, huddling together for comfort while a few were standoffish. Half of Shinsou's face was blanketed in red, and yet he kept his distance from the rest and was also looking for his freckled classmate. "Shinsou, have you seen him?" Yamada took his shoulders and asked.

"I… think he was close to where the body fell." Yamada's grip tightened slightly.

"Body? What body?" He shook his head, he didn't want an answer from a kid.

"Stay here, make sure no one goes anywhere unless a teacher says so. I'm entrusting them to you, alright?" Surely this was not the time to put pressure on a new student. But he trusted him to be responsible and make the best choices he could. And with a hesitant nod as an answer, Yamada ran back into the building as fast as he could. "Midoriya?!"

Going back in, the building was practically silent, abandoned. The halls splattered with blood, loose papers scattered and drenched, neglected backpacks, and some uniform blazers left behind. He paused before going in further. He never thought teaching would bring him back to a near warzone-like sight. But he ignored his racing thoughts and ran further inside, following the footprints left behind in blood from students' shoes. He had to go to where they were running from.

And thus the three teachers were reunited in the hall leading to the main entrance of the cafeteria. Bakugo, Kirishima, and Todoroki were still stuck in shock were they had fallen back. Bakugo still shook violently, trying to bring his body to move away from the corpse that was still before them, its blood pooled around it and reaching the teenagers around it. Aizawa had also found himself frozen place at the sight of the corpse of his dead student at the same side of the hallway as Yamada. Yamada wrapped his arms around him from behind, hugging his chest tightly. "Don't look at it. Don't look at it. Focus on the kids we need to get out of here." He said quietly with his forehead against the back of his neck. All Might stood at the opposite end of the hall and was shocked by the sight of the mangled corpse. Surely he's seen worse elsewhere. But this was a child, his student. Kosuke had been a bully and a disruptive boy, but he couldn't bring himself to believe he deserved this kind of death.

All Might approached Kirishima and Bakugo from behind as they were closest to him. He knelt down and carefully took the blond in one arm and the redhead in the other, lifting them away from the fallen body. "I am here…" he said quietly. He was here for the two teenagers in his arms. But he couldn't be there for the one that had been stuffed in the ceiling for days. He looked to Todoroki who was still unable to break eye contact with the corpse, unmoving, and silent.

It was then Yamada and Aizawa got on either side of Todoroki, both taking hold of his arms to try and break him out of his trance. "Todoroki, we have to go." Aizawa shook him slightly but couldn't get a response from him. "Todoroki. Todoroki, can you hear me?" A few explosions had gone off. Aizawa wondered if one was ever close to his head that hurt his hearing.

"We need to get out of here. Can you stand?" Yamada tried getting his attention but it was no use. His focus was centered on the dead body, entranced by the revealed organs and bones, the lifeless wide eyes, the dangling jaw, and limpness of the whole body. He almost killed Kosuke one afternoon. And here was, dead in front of him. This is what he wanted… wasn't it?

"Shouto~" A sweet voice called from behind, coming closer at a calm pace, causing Todoroki to finally blink. Midoriya appeared from around a corner, soaked in blood as well with his blazer off and over his shoulder. He smiled so softly, too naturally given the situation. The freckled boy walked around to kneel down in front of Todoroki and cup his cheeks, having his raise his gaze from the corpse to his beloved with glowing green eyes. "We have to go, okay? We have to go outside with everyone else. You'll come with me, won't you?" he asked, attempting to wipe away some blood on the taller boy's face with his blazer, but it only smudged. Todoroki nodded slowly and let Midoriya take his hands to pull him up from the ground. Aizawa and Yamada were left in shock at the quirkless boy's calmness and smiling face. Yamada presumed it was a false face of courage he was putting on for the sake of someone he truly cares about. But in those glowing green hues, Aizawa swore he saw something different. Something that wasn't safe.

Authorities and people of Endeavor's agency rushed the building as soon as everyone was evacuated. Ambulances were lined up, tending to any injuries that may have occurred during the sudden stampede when the body fell. Every student that was present that day was officially accounted for in groups on campus. Todoroki and Midoriya, Bakugo and Kirishima were reunited with their classmates as the classes were placed right next to each other in the field. Kaminari and Sero hurried to Kirishima's side when they were set down by All Might, worried for their friend.

"Dude, are you alright? What happened in there?" Kaminari asked without thinking but then realized that Kirishima probably didn't want to talk about it. "N-Nevermind. Don't think about it." Instead, Sero and Kaminari found it better to just lightly hug on to his shoulders, just letting him know that they were there. And yet the redhead reached to take hold of Bakugo's sleeve in a death grip. Without a second thought, Bakugo did the same to him, finding just a minuscule amount of strength to move again.

Midoriya walked Todoroki to sit under a tree, the one where they had recently been sitting under at lunch. The freckled boy still smiled softly, sitting on his knees behind his beloved hero and gently petting his hair. "Todoroki!" As much as he hated that voice, he still kept up his smile. Iida ran away from a conversation at the sight of Todoroki being returned to the rest of the class but Midoriya held a hand up in front of them before he could come any closer.

"Give him space. He just needs space right now." He hummed, nuzzling into his neck, keeping up with the petting. He took his hand back and wrapped it around his hero's chest, to hold him closer. Todoroki's eyes were half-lidded in mental exhaustion and weakness, most of his body limp from the shock. He had nothing to say to anyone at the moment, stuck in his own head and only hearing Midoriya's words. Iida gulped and was hesitant to argue with the shorter boy. So he sat down and let them both be, though watchful eyes in the distance were much more suspicious than he was. Aizawa had been trying to comfort a few of his students but he looked over at Midoriya and narrowed his eyes in a glare. He watched the boy move his hand from Todoroki's hair to cover his eyes, still holding him at his chest and whispering into his ear, eyes glowing brightly and a smile crookedly wide on his face."You don't need to fear Shouto… I'm here…"

Chapter Text

Parents came. Mothers and fathers of all walks of life came in a hurry to take their children away from the school grounds. No one was going to be left to walk home alone this afternoon. One by one, students were collected by emergency care stations to have detectives and EMTs take samples of the blood that had been splattered on to any of the children. It was after that and a quick check-up were the families allowed to leave the campus. There were cries from both the adults and teenagers, the wave of relief in all of them that the corpse was not their son, and that the corpse was not them.

Midoriya sat back against a tree with Todoroki leaning the back of his head against his chest, limply exhausted and only finding comfort in the little villain’s petting and his occasional soft words. There was a point that the dual-haired student closed his eyes and drifted off into resting his eyes. No one would probably come for him. Endeavor was already on the campus grounds so his parent was already here to take him home when he was ready to leave. Half of him didn’t want to leave. Somehow sitting in the presence of a tortured corpse while in his beloved’s arms was more appealing than being home with his father. Someone would have to take care of Zuzu. Fuyumi would. He could rest in relief at the thought of her taking care of his newfound pet.

Some students would have to wait longer than others due to parent work schedules and how far away some of them were to the school. But when the news and the phone calls began, most came faster than they ever had before. The area where Yamada and Aizawa’s class sat, the few who remained were Shinsou, Uraraka, and a few strays from the General Studies course. Some of their families were likely not as fortunate in wealth and would not be allowed to leave their jobs in a timely manner or find an inexpensive way to travel as quickly as possible. Midoriya had seen Aizawa sit down next to Uraraka and occasionally make conversation. There wasn’t much else he could do but wait with her. Inko came. She had come to the front gates in panicked tears when she saw students covered in blood walking out with family to leave. What had become of her Izuku? Was he just as frightened as all the others? Was he by himself, waiting for her? She had sent him to this school with such high hopes and great expectations. Who would have imagined that he would be living with someone she’s never met and be coming to take him away after a terrible scene. She hasn’t seen him in so long. She’s missed him. When she was guided to where the two classes were, she was in shock to see him gently smiling, petting a boy’s hair she didn’t recognize, looking as calm as could be. She saw the scar on his eye. Where had that come from? Who had done that to her precious baby?

“Izuku?” she choked. Midoriya looked up at his mother, deer in the headlights expression. How would he explain any of this to her? He couldn’t tell her the whole truth. Todoroki slowly opened his eyes, looking to the woman that was standing in front of them, her hands balled near her chin with her face wet from tears. She looked like such a delicate woman. Pure and heartful. Midoriya was her spitting image.

“H-Hi mom.” Midoriya greeted a bit awkwardly with a smile and eyebrows curled inward. He stopped petting Todoroki, but he still held him close. How Inko would love to hug her son, but this mysterious boy covered in dark blood was between them, but she was not bitter to him. The two boys appeared to be close. Instead, she got on to her knees in front of them, her hands were fists on her thighs.

“Izuku, I need some answers, okay?” She pressed. Was this really the place or the time? Midoriya gulped but nodded. He had to explain himself at some point. “Are you… okay?” she asked. Before anything, she just had to know if he was okay. And he was immediately baffled by the question. “A-Are you okay? Is there anything you need to tell me?” I killed someone. I’ve killed a few people now. All after I almost killed myself.

“I’m okay mom, really. I’m not hurt or anything.” He felt so bad for her. She was being left in complete darkness like this.

“Do you want to go home with me? Can you please come home?” she sounded ready to beg him to come back. He would rather not. But he didn’t want to send Todoroki home like this, he didn’t want to leave him alone with his father, and yet he couldn’t have Kurogiri pick them up. Todoroki would see him.

“Can he come with us?” Midoriya asked, hugging his beloved hero a little tighter, making his eyes open up a bit more. Inko had never seen this boy before but she could tell that he was important to her son. Did he have anything to do with him turning out like this? “He can if they’ll let me sign for him.” She obliged.

Aizawa let Inko sign to take Todoroki home with her, all while glaring at Endeavor having a short meeting with a few police officers. He’d rather send his student to a woman he’s never met than the number two hero. And yet this felt almost as unsettling. While Inko signed the paperwork for two students and watched blood be swiped off of them for sampling, he couldn’t help making more than a few glances at Midoriya. The freckled boy was as calm as could be. He had been smiling nearly the whole time. He’s been by Todoroki’s side since they found him inside. The teacher remembered the day Todoroki snapped in the cafeteria when he got into a fight with Kosuke; Midoriya went after Kosuke even though he knew he couldn’t win. Was the boy so heartless to not be affected by his death? Or was he thankful for it? Hopeful? Or maybe he even expected it. Aizawa had to watch Inko hug the little villain with her whole heart displayed in her every notion, and yet the little villain hardly broke his half-smiling face, hugging her back out of pity and obligation. As soon as she let go he gravitated to Todoroki, taking his hand and leading him away from campus.

The car ride was completely silent. Midoriya wouldn’t even sit in the passenger seat as he preferred to stay in the back with Todoroki. The taller boy was still in a spaced-out state and thus blankly stared out the window for the whole few minutes he was in the car. Midoriya only smiled and nearly giggled when he noticed something, but he stayed quiet. He leaned up a bit and reached up to Todoroki’s hair, but instead of petting him he began picking tiny bits of things out from amongst the strands. He had noticed them while he was petting him earlier but didn’t want to stop because he knew he liked it. Inko looked in the rearview mirror to watch her son cheerfully pick out small red bits out of the other boy’s hair and was nearly horrified when she realized what they were. Kosuke decomposed quicker than the little villain expected, and he never expected him to be so clingy in death either. Little pieces of his insides had made their way into Todoroki’s hair when his corpse fell. Such filth had to be removed from his beautiful beloved. He was sure to toss the small handful out the window, into the road, probably to be crushed by other traffic into nothing but a stain on the pavement.

Taking the boys up to the apartment, Inko unlocked the door for them, removing her shoes and watching the two do the same. Hers were clean and dainty, and she saw shoes drenched in dark blood be set down, and another pair covered in red spatter. She saw Todoroki’s socks even had dark stains on them. He had practically been sitting in a puddle of the corpse’s blood.

“So um…” Inko didn’t know where to begin. She had so many questions for Midoriya, but it wasn’t right to ask them the moment they walked through the door. And now she had this stranger, covered in blood and clearly in a state of shock in her home. “What’s your name, sweetie?” Hopefully, they didn’t have to be strangers. “Are your parents alright with you staying here after all that?”

Todoroki nodded tiredly. “Todoroki Shouto. It’ll be fine. Endeavor will be more focused on the crime scene anyway.” Inko blinked. Endeavor? Endeavor, the Flame Hero Endeavor was his parent? She put her hands to her cheeks and nearly had a panic attack. The son of a pro hero, a celebrity, in her apartment?! How did her son become so close to someone like him?! She looked around to see if her living space was a mess because she couldn’t remember how she left it. She nearly shrieked at the remains of takeout she had last night still on the table, dishes in the sink, a few books and magazines were scattered on the couch. Such an important guest and this is what her home looked like?!

“O-Oh dear, this place is a mess! S-So sorry boys! I’ll clean up right-”  Inko cried. She watched Midoriya latch onto Todoroki’s arm and put his chin on his shoulder.

“Why don’t you take a shower, Shouto? You can take one first and get cleaned up. I’ll find something for you to wear too.” the freckled villain suggested. Midoriya showed Todoroki to the bathroom, showed him how the shower worked and left him to his privacy. He imagined he would be in there for a while, giving him time to find clothes that would fit him and have a conversation with his mother. Though that conversation came sooner than expected as Inko was standing right outside the bathroom door, eyes brimming with tears. It made the little villain’s heart ache.

“I know, I know... I have a lot of explaining to do.” I have a lot of lying to do.

The two began cleaning up the apartment together in the politeness of their guest who was locked away in the bathroom. Midoriya was picking up the leftovers that were on the table, noticing that there was one plate with crumbs and one with nothing on it, but still on the table nonetheless.

“Where have you been going? I know you’ve been sneaking out since your break in middle school. Izuku, I never questioned it because you always came home unscathed and I never heard of any trouble. Don’t tell me you’ve betrayed my trust.” Inko questioned him. She was angry, it was all too clear. But she wouldn’t understand. Someone who had so little faith in his potential would never understand.

“I used to just go out for walks. But one time I met someone. He was really cool… he’s nice. He’s smart and he’s really funny when you don’t take him seriously. We have lots in common, and he’s been really supportive of me and helped me study to be in the medical program. He lives with his dad across town and they let me sleep over all the time.” Midoriya smiled, placing all the garbage in the trash can. “It’s not that I don’t like being with you, mom.” I can’t stand being here with you. I can’t stand the lying I have to do. “But they help me with my studies, I’m the best in class. They’re closer to the school so I can sleep in. And his dad… his dad is…” Kurogiri. His smile was still on his face, but it wasn’t enough to hold a few tears back. “His dad is… always there. For me.”

Inko bit her bottom lip as she held a small stack of magazines in her hands. How could she compete with that? The company of a friend and a father figure. Midoriya had never brought friends over before, so of course, he would cling to the first person he got along with. And they’re helping him in his studies; she didn’t know the first thing about medical education. These people were giving him things that she could never provide.

“Okay… could you at least call me sometimes? A text even? Could you do that for me?” Contact. That’s all she could ask for. Just to know if he was okay.

“Yeah. I’ll try to do it more often.” He’ll probably ask Kurogiri to send letters. Letters couldn’t be tracked that way.

They began washing the dishes together, Inko washing and Midoriya drying and putting them in their proper places. “Where did that mark on your eye come from?” She asked. Midoriya knew that one was coming. He scratched his cheek with an awkward giggle. “I maaay have gotten into a fight at school.”
“Midoriya Izuku!”

Midoriya jumped at his full name being called like that and nearly dropped the glass he was holding, juggling it in his hands trying to get a good grasp on it again.

“I-I did it to protect Todoroki!” he tried to defend himself. “Todoroki had a bully at school and it was getting pretty bad. It was going on for weeks and… I couldn’t watch it happen anymore.” He reached up to put the glass on a shelf with the others before going to the strainer and picking up a few pieces of silverware. Inko appeared to have become nervous.

“Izuku... when you say ‘had’?” Inko asked nervously. Parents were at least vaguely informed as to what happened inside the school that day. They know the dead body of a missing student fell from the ceiling and harmless explosives filled with blood were set up everywhere. They knew someone died. Inko didn’t even want to consider the possibility. Her precious, adorable, little boy would never get into a fight. But the scar on his face, she had to believe that he did. But to think- She watched him open a drawer and put a few utensils away, and the last one in his hand was a kitchen knife that he was staring at. Please say that the student just changed schools. But the bright red glow in his eyes said something different.

“Yeah, it was the dead kid.” he turned to her with an innocent smile. “He tried to step on Todoroki’s head and then he scratched my face. He got me good, there was blood everywhere. But it’s alright now.” He put the knife down in the drawer and casually strolled over to take a plate. “Everything’s alright now.”

Midoriya began sweeping the floor and Inko was cleaning the windows. She could see that the city streets were a little emptier than normal. People were staying home. Staying home with their kids, no doubt. Reminding to tell their family they love them.

“Are you and Todoroki friends?” she asked.

“He’s my boyfriend,” he answered. Midoriya answered quickly, without hesitation. He wanted to say it.

“Oh… well, that’s wonderful dear.” Inko didn’t quite know how to respond, but she was happy for him at least though she never expected him to lean towards boys. She knew he had gotten flustered around pretty girls when he was younger so, perhaps he just liked both. But now it was only Todoroki.

“His dad doesn’t know. But my friend’s dad does, so he lets him stay over too.” Inko didn’t have the apartment space to house another child comfortably, she probably couldn’t afford it either. She couldn’t compete against these people her son was living with. “Do we have something he could wear? I doubt my stuff will fit him and I don’t want him putting those bloody clothes on again.” If they really couldn’t find anything, Midoriya would just text Kurogiri to drop them off outside the apartment complex at some point.

“I still have some of your father’s old shirts.” Inko answered. He wanted to snap the broomstick in half. Is that really all they had? Would he have to wear that nobody’s clothes? Just for tonight… but only that night. He was quick to text Kurogiri a message to drop off clothes the next morning. Midoriya was given an old white t-shirt that would probably be even too big for Todoroki. It would be enough for a nightshirt, but the little villain still wasn’t happy about it. His hero didn’t deserve to wear some deadbeat’s abandoned clothes. He left it in the bathroom for the other to grab when he was finished. The moment Todoroki came out, Midoriya stole a quick peck on the lips before going through the door behind him to take a quick shower as well. Though he planned to make it only a few minutes long, giving Inko only a few minutes to say what she needed to say.

Todoroki had gone to the sofa to sit down only to have Inko sit down beside him. She wasn’t angry at him and that wasn’t the aura he was getting from her. He was silent, but she had his attention. He had always been a good listener.

“I haven’t been able to speak to my son in a very long time. And I have no right to drag you into any of my dilemmas or troubles. I don’t know you that well. But Todoroki, can I just ask a favor of you?” Inko began. Deep in her gut, she knew that this was probably the last time she would see her son for a while. She couldn’t compare to his new friend and that father he spoke about. She couldn’t give Todoroki a place to stay every other night. She couldn’t provide for the son of the number two hero’s needs. She wasn’t who they wanted, she wasn’t the one they needed. “I hate to burden you like this, especially after such a terrible thing this afternoon. But please… take care of my little boy?” She began to softly cry. “I’m such a terrible mother. I can’t make him stay here with me, I know he wants nothing to do with me here. He has his eyes on his future and I just want what’s best for him and to give him what he wants. But if you really are his boyfriend, and you do care for him, could you please look out for him for me?” She took his hands, a sobbing mess. “He’s impulsive. He’s one-track-minded. Sometimes he forgets to take care of himself when he gets focused. He moves and speaks before he thinks. I just want to know that someone is taking care of him.”

Todoroki listened to Inko and even though he had only just met this woman, his heart hurt for her. She was trying so hard to make the best decision even though it was painful to come to the conclusion that she has. She was so loving. She had nothing but love to give. She took her hands back and began to wipe her tears away. “I-I’m sorry sweetie. I shouldn’t-”

“No. I promise I’ll do it.” Todoroki didn’t mean to cut her off, but he didn’t want her to apologize. “I think… you’re a great mother. You love him.” She made him miss his own mom. “I’ll do what I can, everything I can. I’ll take care of him, protect him, whatever he needs me to do.” His face was tired, his body was exhausted, who knew what his mind was. But there was a light in his left eye that was sharp and alive, contrasting his half-dead tone. “I’ll do anything for him.” He could promise her that.

A more peaceful evening was able to take place after their conversation. Todoroki laid on the sofa with Midoriya on top of him, his cheek resting on his shoulder with the tv on in the background playing a random cartoon. Inko was in the kitchen preparing a light meal for them all, occasionally looking back at the two and smiling to herself. Even if he was only here for a little while, she was enjoying it. And now she had someone to look out for him for her and that gave her peace of mind. However, it was soon that the phone began to ring, gaining all three’s attention. Inko picked it up and held it to her ear.

“Hello? … Speaking … Um,” she looked to both the boys. “Yes, they are.” She looked up at the ceiling. “What?” That was a very panicked ‘what’. She was quiet for a little bit, listening to the voice on the other line. “Is that really necessary? It was just this afternoon! … I-I understand but- … okay …” she sounded very defeated at the end. After a few more words she hung up and went over to the sofa with her hands folded together. “T-Try not to get too freaked out, but that was the police. They want you both at the city police station for questioning tomorrow morning.”

Was it because of the fight? Was it because Todoroki was closest to the fall? Were they questioning all the students or just them? Midoriya looked to his mother and then to his boyfriend who suddenly appeared even more tired than before. To be questioned on the incident so soon, Endeavor’s agency wasn’t messing around. The heroes were getting impatient for answers.

Dinner had been mostly silent with occasional small conversations between Midoriya and Inko. Although it was barely sundown, with darkness in the sky, still a flow of oranges and yellows, the little villain thought it would be best to put himself and Todoroki to bed. He couldn’t help but blush at the thought. There was only one room here. He wasn’t about to let his beloved hero sleep on the floor either. Going into his room, he forgot how empty it looked now. Most of his All Might posters were taken down, his figures were stashed away, his bedding set was inside out to hide the All Might designs. He tried to ignore it, preferring his room at the bar instead. He shut the door behind them and took Todoroki’s hand with a soft smile. “Come on,” he whispered, lightly pulling him and he followed.

Todoroki laid down at the edge of the bed but Midoriya wrapped his arms around his shoulders and pulled him closer to the middle and proceeded to hug him close to his chest. He reached over him to turn the lamp off at his bedside before sinking down a bit to put their foreheads together and close his eyes. “You wanna talk about it?” he asked softly. “You can tell me anything you’re thinking.” He wanted to hear everything he was thinking. He opened his eyes to reveal a soft glow, it was very pretty in the darkness of the room. It was mischievous, it was evil, but it was loving. He watched Todoroki avert his gaze; he was thinking something.

“He can’t hurt you anymore. I’m relieved.” Midoriya hummed with a smile, beginning to twirl white hair with his index finger. “You were so miserable at school. You tried very hard not to let it show, but I can tell when something’s wrong. Now you won’t have to pretend anymore, things can just be fine.” There were so many positives to this. Couldn’t he see them? “And imagine if he actually became a hero? He wouldn’t help a soul. And the others would probably just leave him be and do nothing to correct him.” Like your father. Look at what I’ve prevented, what I’ve done for you. Aren’t you happy?

Todoroki was looking down at their feet, but he was listening. Occasionally his focus would shift to Midoriya’s hands or his shirt, just anything but his face for the time. He looked unsure. “Is it really okay to say those things?” Was it okay to be happy about someone’s death? Good people don’t wish death onto others and good people don’t celebrate the deaths of others. Hearing Midoriya find all these positives amongst the tragedy, something felt off.

“You shouldn’t feel restricted saying anything. It hurts more to hold your thoughts back, doesn’t it?” Midoriya smiled softly, moving his hand to put it under Todoroki’s chin and raise his gaze. He made his hero look at his face, to make eye contact with glowing hues. “You’re really beautiful when you’re yourself.” Such alluring emerald eyes and a silver tongue that made every word sound so comforting. “I mean, you wanted him dead too, didn’t you?” The scar on his own face was but a reminder of the day Kosuke was almost killed. Midoriya loved to remember how enraged Todoroki was, an elegant fallen angel, a demon in hellfire. “Remember how angry you were…? Remember how he hurt me? I never knew I could have fallen more in love with you until I saw your fire…”

Praise. Midoriya’s soft words were sprinkled with kindness and love. He watched Todoroki’s eyes glimmer in response. He could feel his hero’s heart beat harder in his chest. Todoroki wasn’t sad about Kosuke’s death, he wouldn’t miss him, he didn’t feel bad for him, he didn’t care. He felt the pressure to care. But Midoriya stripped it all away.

“He…” Todoroki began but felt something catch his throat. It was physically hard to say, difficult to admit it and come to terms with how he truly felt. Midoriya leaned in closer, kissing his cheek gently.

“He what?” he cooed, tempting the words to come out. “What is it Shouto?” he held his chin with one hand, forbidding him to look away while twirling his hair a bit. Playfully guiding the truth.

“He… He deserved it…” Todoroki mumbled, looking up at the killer that was cheerfully smiling at him.

“Hm?” Midoriya hummed as if he didn’t hear his answer, teasing him to say it again. He felt Todoroki tightly cling to his shoulders and bury his face into his neck.

“H-He deserved it… every bit of it. For hurting you.” Todoroki said a bit louder, feeling the villain wrap his arms around him in a hug.

“What else did he do?” He wanted him to feel that hatred. Fester in it. Embrace it and not be afraid of it.

“He hurt me.” Midoriya nuzzled his nose into his hair.

“Tell me more.” Just let everything out.

“I hated him. I wanted him to die. Every day he toyed with me, I just wanted him dead. I wanted him to leave me alone and disappear forever. I hated him. I hated him so much. I wanted to kill him.”

Midoriya could feel his neck become a bit wet but said nothing of it. He simply hugged Todoroki closely and giggled ever so innocently. The taller boy had been shaking the entire time he spoke and it was then that he was feeling him ease his nerves. He had been gritting his teeth tightly in anger. But after his venting, his body was releasing the tension and falling into a restful state. Midoriya gently stroked his shoulder, lulling his beloved hero with tear-stained cheeks to sleep. “I wanted to kill him too.”

The two had gone to sleep mid-evening. But at the same time, the U.A. campus was not cleared just yet. A few detectives and heroes lingered, investigating the entire area to be sure that it would be safe to return to in a few days. Needless to say that classes would be canceled for a little while. Most of the students were gone almost all of them were taken home. All except one. With the night sky beginning to flow in, a lonely tired boy was sitting in the grass amongst the investigation teams, picking at the grass and simply waiting. Yamada and Aizawa were still there as well. They wanted to stay for the sake of receiving any information first hand, but also to have supervision on Shinsou. But it had eventually gotten to a point where it was obvious that no one was coming to pick him up.
Yamada had been standing with Aizawa but eventually, he sat down next to his remaining student.

“Hey, have you heard anything from your parents?” he asked. He didn’t want to pry into family matters, but neglecting a kid after such a tragedy was distasteful. Shinsou only shrugged and scratched the side of his head. He still had blood on him but it was all dried by now.

“They’re not coming. Could I just walk home? I’ll be careful.” Not coming? How could they? Yamada knew he had parents, his records said so. But neglectful…?

“You know I can’t let you do that. How about I give you a ride?” he offered with a smile. Pro heroes were famous for fighting villains and stopping flashy crimes. But sometimes, this kind of hero work was the most important. Shinsou looked to the teacher, surprised at the offer. “Come on, it’s getting late and I don’t think you want to be driven home in a police cruiser.” He patted his shoulder and gestured him along, Aizawa following behind.

Yamada signed the papers to let him leave, had Shinsou checked out to get a sample of blood off of him and then lead him to his car that was in the faculty parking lot. He opened the backseat door for him to in and shut it. Aizawa waited behind the car with his arms folded, his mind likely going a mile a minute. Yamada went up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a small nudge to ground him.

“The blood on the students… all the samples read back belonging to the people in the Sudden Disappearances case. Almost everyone was accounted for.” Aizawa mumbled. The two looked back on the campus to see a few heroes beside a female hero crying in the grass. They recognized her as Earthly Venus, the venus flytrap hero. Her younger sister had been added to the missing list quite some time ago. “These villains… they’re cruel.” Aizawa gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. They defiled his student’s corpse, putting it on display for all the other kids to see. They were teasing the heroes with the samples of blood. They had gotten into the school, maybe they were still there, or maybe they were waiting for another opportunity to nab a child. They were cruelly tormenting everyone.

“We’ll get them,” Yamada reassured. “We can talk about this later. Let’s take the kid home first.” Aizawa watched Yamada take off the megaphone neckpiece and place it inside the trunk of the car and flexed his neck a bit. The typically loud hero then ran his fingers through his hair that was standing tall on his head a few times, bringing it down to become flatter and more natural. A few dramatic shakes of the head made it come down and become silky and straight in its natural state. He gave Aizawa a big smile, trying to keep the mood up as best he could, trying to be the light in this tragedy. The tired hero just sighed and turned away, getting into the passenger seat of the car. Yamada didn’t hound him. Instead, he got into the driver’s seat and looked back at Shinsou with the same smile. “Where we goin’ Shinsou?”

The car ride was silent. Not even the radio was put on due to the risk of hearing any press on the incident. Shinsou occasionally pointed and gave direction through the area, directing his teacher on where to go, to which he would always receive a smile and assurance as a response. He was such a cheerful man, it was amazing he was still so lighthearted after what had happened. Perhaps that’s what made him so strong as a hero. His general presence brought relief. It made the purple-haired boy more comfortable in the car. Though the teenager sat in surprised silence when he saw his teacher’s hand be gently placed on Aizawa’s leg. He could be loud and passionate trying to hype up a room or a group of people. But he could do things quietly to bring out the best in people and bring them a different kind of solace. Shinsou watched Aizawa place his hand over the other’s and lower his head into his scarf. The two seemed close at school, like best friends. But like this, they looked like something more. And it made him think. Why was Aizawa even in the car?

Shinsou was dropped off in a neighborhood just outside the city, a middle-class area. It wasn’t too high end and it wasn’t in the slums either. But one didn’t have to be rich or poor to be having a hard time at home. Shinsou got out of the car and heard the window roll down on the driver’s side.

“If ya need a ride again, just let me know, ‘kay?” Yamada said loudly with a thumbs up. Shinsou glanced away awkwardly before nodding subtly. “Yeah…” and he walked up to the front door of his house and went inside.

“You’re too soft on your students…” Aizawa muttered through his scarf. It sounded forced like he was trying to insult him like he usually did. But Yamada knew full well that he meant something else. He didn’t drive away just yet, and instead leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead. “You are too sometimes.” he retorted softly.

They drove home together. They lived together. Yamada went to the trunk to take out the piece to his costume after handing Aizawa the keys to go inside. Something terrible happened, but life kept moving and things had to be done. They had to get out from their hero costumes, feed the several cats that they owned, Aizawa showered while Yamada was in the kitchen preparing a meal for the evening, the TV was turned on for background noise, it was like any other evening. They were both in lounge clothing by the end of the night, Yamada had his hair tied up in a half-assed bun and wore his normal glasses. This would normally be the time they used to grade any papers they didn’t get to during the afternoon, but their bags were still sitting in the teachers’ lounge where they left them. There was no going back for them until school was reinstated. So for this evening, Aizawa was laying down on the sofa with a calico on his chest and the tv on a news station, one arm draped over his eyes. But soon Yamada walked in and changed the channel to overly colorful gameshow and placed a bowl of pork tonkatsu on a coffee table for him.

“Sorry, I’m not that hungry,” Aizawa grumbled, mindlessly petting one of their cats.

“I know. But you know that you should still eat something.” Yamada responded, sitting down on the floor, but he did not press further.

Though they would stay like this for quite some time, eventually Yamada would pull out his phone, get up, and walk out of the room a few times. The last time he came back, he lifted Aizawa’s legs and sat underneath them, keeping them on his lap. It wouldn’t be long until another one of their cats found its way to his shoulder and began nipping at his glasses. This was fine.

“He didn’t deserve it…” Aizawa finally spoke on the matter. They had been home for a couple of hours now and now he was finally willing to talk about it. “He was a troublesome kid. Mean to a few of his classmates. But he didn’t deserve that.” His voice was hushed but Yamada heard him clearly and merely smiled peacefully while playing with the fabric of the pants on the legs on his lap.

“No one deserves that,” Yamada added. The tired teacher clenched the hand over his eyes into a fist.

“I’m starting to think that the ones that did this deserve it.” He was pissed. “The faces of all the students… did you see how frightened they were?” The students had run for their lives’ sake. They were only met with explosions of blood from people who were likely dead. There was panic from not knowing if someone was outside waiting to attack them. Some resulted in just sitting down, fear-struck, and paralyzed. So many students were aiming to be heroes, and sights like that were inevitable. But to have it be done on purpose, to have a corpse displayed so cruelly. No child needed to see that. “How do we convince them that they’re safe after something like that?” It was something they would never forget, surely.

“We just do what we can. We can’t control everything, but we’ll just have to protect what we have.” Yamada answered. It was a simple answer, but it was all they could do. Then they were silent for a few minutes, though it was not an awkward silence. But Yamada did speak again. “I’m joining Endeavor’s team.” Aizawa took his wrist off his eyes and looked to the other in shock.

“You’re what?” Endeavor was not trusted by either teacher. Ever since the suspicions around Todoroki and his home life emerged, the two had been very wary of him. Aizawa never appreciated the fame that he had and how the man was clawing to be number one. He wasn’t betrayed by Yamada’s action, but he was concerned.

“I don’t trust him either. But he’s the guy with all the information, all the records, all the investigations, and he has the police and a ton of other heroes at his fingertips. So I’m joining his team.” Aizawa saw a narrowed look on the other’s face. It was dark. And it was most certainly vengeful. “The ones responsible for this won’t be getting away with it.” Yamada moved the legs on his lap off so he could stand up while also letting the cat biting his glasses down. “I’ve gotta go to bed. They want me at the police station to question some people that may be related to Kosuke Hiro’s death tomorrow morning. I’m gonna be pretty busy from now on.” he said, walking back to the master bedroom that they shared. He only made it halfway before Aizawa got up from the sofa quickly and chased after him.

“Hizashi, you didn’t have to do that-” Was he doing it for his sake? It wasn’t his student that died. Why was he the one doing this?

“If you do it, it’ll be too painful. Having a teacher on the inside would give the faculty more information to work with on how to protect our students. And… the nerve of those villains really pisses me off.” Yamada began to explain

“Nezu would receive information-”

“If we’re judging Endeavor’s character correctly, do you really think he’ll tell Nezu everything? Nezu’s smart and would probably be a powerful asset to have. But…”

“But Endeavor wants all the credit… so he wants the guy with a ton of popularity on his team so he can get a bigger audience looking at him.” Aizawa understood his reasoning now. Yamada wasn’t stupid. Far from it. He may act like it, but he knew how to stay one step ahead of people sometimes. He wasn’t messing around with this. “Hizashi… he’s just going to use you.” The thought of that made Aizawa’s stomach turn and heart ache.

“I’ll be fine. I’m like, really freakin’ strong, dontcha know?! I’m Present Mic!” but the blond hero only smiled.

The next morning was different than most. What would be an early morning with Yamada annoyingly trying to get Aizawa to wake up for school was now the loud hero quietly getting up and trying not to wake the one sleeping next to him. He would usually put on his hero costume, stick up his hair, and hype himself up in the mirror to get his blood pumping for the day. But he walked past his costume, going into their closet and picked out a black suit and a bland colored tie, then combed his hair and tied front sections of it to the back in a bun. He went to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of coffee only to hear that he had been followed by the one he lived with. He looked back and saw Aizawa also in a suit with his hair tied back semi-formally.

“Shouta-”Yamada quietly gasped. The tired man walked past him and went into the fridge for an energy drink.

“If you think you’re doing this bit alone, you’re wrong.” he took a long chug of the bottle. “Just this once. I need answers too.” There was no argument to be had. Yamada just rolled his eyes and smirked. He walked past him to get to the door, but not without giving his butt a light slap because that was the true gay agenda of this household.

“You’re lucky you’re hot as hell in a suit.” he teased and made the tired hero’s face go red but also appear very annoyed. They shared a kiss before walking out the door together.

“Now is not the time for this!! Pick up!” The second they walked into the police station, it was like opening an oven that had been baking a cake for an hour. The heat was so intense that it made both men close their eyes and pause as a small wind forced their hair to blow slightly. The cake in the oven was just a man with a bad attitude. Endeavor was on the phone and looked more pissed off than usual, his fist on the desk in front of him with a few officers hiding down behind it to keep from getting their faces melted off. After a few seconds, the flame hero lit up again and slammed his phone down on the tabletop.

“Isn’t it too early to be this rageful…?” Aizawa grumbled. This is what Yamada was in for? It was literally going to be Hell with this room temperature. Endeavor turned to the two that walked in, one looking exhausted and the other smiling like a ray of sunshine.

“Mornin’ Fire Face!” Yamada was not going through this as easily as the flame hero would like. The bigger man scowled at both of them, frustrated at whoever he was trying to call. Everyone knew exactly who he was trying to get a hold of.

“I can’t get Shouto to pick up his phone. He left the campus yesterday evening with a woman named Midoriya Inko without telling me! And now he’s refusing to answer my texts and calls! He was supposed to be here an hour ago!” he looked down at his phone and saw another ‘read’ pop up under another one of his texts but there was no sign of a reply being written.

“He’s not gonna answer you with that attitude~” Yamada teased with some finger guns. He looked formal in a suit, but even that wasn’t enough to make him mature through all of this. He was gonna make this number two hero suffer every second with him. Seeing him like this brought a bit of relief to Aizawa. Hizashi’s Hizashi no matter what.

“What’s that supposed to mean? I’m his father!” Endeavor shouted. The tired hero sighed and held his hand out, gesturing for Endeavor’s phone. Begrudgingly, it was handed over and it felt like the device was overheating. 52 attempted calls and 24 texts. How obsessive. But Aizawa looked for Todoroki’s number in his contacts before taking out his own phone to call it and turning his back to Endeavor, making the bigger man feel incredibly offended. The phone rang a few times and then there was a faint “Hello?” heard. Endeavor was going to yell and snatch the phone when Yamada popped up beside him and covered his mouth fearlessly and held his wrist back as best he could. The cowering police officers were terrified for this daring man’s life.

Somewhere across town, Midoriya and Todoroki were taking their sweet time at a cafe, drinking black coffee and sweetened iced coffee and had Zuzu on a leash with a bit of ice cream remains on her nose. Todoroki would rather answer an unknown number than his father’s and Midoriya found it kind of funny. “Hello?”

“Todoroki. It’s Mr. Aizawa.”

“Mr. Aizawa?”

“Why aren’t you at the police station? Weren’t you supposed to be here a while ago?”

“We didn’t want to go. And I’d rather not see Endeavor, so we went to a cafe instead.”

Endeavor was fuming at the sound of their conversation. Yamada smiled softly when he heard Todoroki say ‘we’. He knew exactly who he was with. And he even heard that very voice faintly in the background as Midoriya clung on to Todoroki’s neck from behind and giggled.

“We should go do something fun~ like an arcade or something.” Aizawa put his hand over his face and sighed. Teenagers.

“Could you please come? We don’t want to send someone out to force you here. It’ll only be less than an hour. Present Mic and I could interview you both too.” There was no other way to convince them. If Endeavor was going to interrogate them, they’d never say a thing. When they were apart, they were diligent and well-behaved students. But together they seemed to become trouble makers. There was silence on the line for a few moments before an answer.

“As long as it’s not Endeavor… we’ll head there now.” Endeavor lit up again but swiped his own phone back from Aizawa before stomping off. He had such a dreadful temper. Todoroki was usually very calm and collected, it was hard to see any shared personality traits.

“And Todoroki, one more thing.” Now that he had a moment on the phone with him without being watched. “Save this number, okay? You can call it anytime you need to,” he said, looking back at the angry hero stomping off. There was such a long pause on the other end, he thought Todoroki had hung up. “Todo-” but he was still there.

“Yeah… Yeah sure. Thank you.” And then there was a sudden click. He hung up, but so abruptly? Maybe it was something else.

In the meantime, Aizawa and Yamada were taken to a room in the police station where several detectives and heroes were and they all went over the details of the Sudden Disappearances case and the Bloody Tragedy at U.A. Information on Kosuke Hiro’s death was given out, details of crime scenes, times of disappearances, areas of disappearances, potential subjects, potential victims and demographics, all that there was to know was explained. And yet… there wasn’t much. They had names and dates and trends. All the potential suspects were mostly those that were last to see victims alive or those that had personal vendettas. People had enemies. But there was not a single person that was connected to all the victims. Aizawa could hardly wrap his head around it all. Something that had been going on for months now and this was all they had? But Yamada listened carefully, even taking stacks of papers and looking through them during the briefing.

“I’ll find the commonality,” he muttered. Even though well-trained detectives were having difficulty, the scream hero was stepping up to the challenge to protect his students.

After the briefing, it became open-floor and discussion amongst the adults in the room. Aizawa had sat down and held his head in his palm with his elbow on the armrest of the chair. And here he hoped teaching would keep him out of tragedies like this. It felt like being stared at in every direction in complete darkness. Overwhelmed. His past mistakes coming to haunt him. Logically, he knew that the true one to blame was the killer themselves. But he couldn’t help but feel that maybe there was a way to prevent it. He was hard on his students. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so quick to kick Kosuke out. Maybe he should have stepped in sooner to stop his and Todoroki’s fight from ever happening. Were all his students in danger now? Were they being targeted? From where? Why them? They were only children. What could he do? Where could he find the threat? How could prevent something like this from happening again? Why did kids need to die this way? “Shirakumo… what do I do…?” What could he do?

It was soon that Yamada appeared in front of him and began tugging at his wrist. They weren’t summoned anywhere and nothing important was happening, it just seemed like he wanted to take him somewhere. And thus the blond hero pulled him out of the chair and then out the room. He pulled him around the corner to an empty hallway and carefully pushed him back against the wall. It was quiet. They were alone here.

“If this is going to mess with you so bad, you should go home,” Yamada said sternly, but not in a mean way. “I know this has you thinking of bad memories and it’s only going to get worse from here. It’s not that I don’t think you can handle it. But I know that this is going to tear you up the deeper you go.” He was worried and he was making that clear. There was nothing to hide, no secrets here. Aizawa just kept his head low enough for his eyes to be almost out of view. On the outside, he appeared merely calm and frustrated. But his mind was on the edge with paranoia, like someone was pulling the strings on his mental stability, making him dance in fear and wonder when the next innocent child would die. The villain was playing with him knowing he would never be quick enough to know where the blood trail was leading.

“I have to. I can’t just-” Yamada put his hand against the wall beside his head harshly to make a loud sound.

“You’re going to go insane. And you need to stay sane for the kids. I’m not stronger than you with this kind of stuff, but Kosuke was not my student. I didn’t know him and I didn’t see what was happening. You saw everything and now you’re over analyzing with all your witty logic. Don’t push yourself to do this.” Aizawa shook his head slowly.

“I can’t watch another one die… It’ll be more painful than all of this. If another one of my students go missing-” this conversation could have continued for a while but Aizawa’s phone vibrated. There were two messages. One that was just sent, and one that was sent a few minutes ago, both from Todoroki. -We’re here- and -Where are you?-. Aizawa must have been too deep in thought earlier and didn’t hear his phone go off the first time. He promised Todoroki that they’d interview him. But if Endeavor got word that he arrived, and it was very likely that he did- “We gotta run.”

The two teachers quit their private conversation, knowing full well where their priorities were and sprinted down the halls. It was almost like watching two teenagers running away from getting caught skipping class. In suits and all, they were able to bolt and turn corners, skidding to make the hard turns. There was a point that they accidentally bumped into a police officer that was holding a bunch of papers and made him drop nearly everything he was holding. “Shit! Sorry!”

Yamada called back but they didn’t stop and they weren’t going to. Endeavor was bound to be on his way to the interrogation rooms and they couldn’t let him get there first! And the flame hero was casually walking to the room that Midoriya and Todoroki were waiting in. He was in no hurry and taking his time, looking through a packet of paper in his hands carefully. And thus he was not expecting the two other heroes to be in such a chaotic rush. They turned a corner almost a little too quickly as Aizawa was able to stop himself but had to grab Yamada’s hand to stop him from sliding too far. He used the momentum of the sliding to swing him down the hall and give him a head start. Yamada ran ahead and reached the door to the waiting room just as Endeavor was turning the corner beside the door. He swung it open so hard and carelessly, he didn’t notice how hard he hit the larger hero in the face and focused more on his companion sprinting inside.

Todoroki and Midoriya were sitting beside each other, Zuzu in Todoroki’s lap as they were both looking at the little villain’s phone screen together. Aizawa grabbed Todoroki’s upper arm in a hurry and pulled him along. “You’re with me,” he said, looking back at Yamada shutting the door and joining him. Endeavor was stunned at the door having been hit so hard that it took him a moment to process what just hit him.

The blond hero walked beside the teacher and student and glanced back at Midoriya with a big smile and finger guns. “You’ll be next!”

The door was locked and all the lights were left on and bright. Yamada and Aizawa sat down on the same side of the singular table in the middle of the small room with deep exhales. They were exhausted from their childish run. Todoroki sat on the opposite side of the table with Zuzu sitting on his lap, looking dumbfounded by the teachers before him.

“You guys okay?” It took a few moments for them to catch their breath and Yamada just chuckled waving his hand.

“We just got your texts. We didn’t want to keep you waiting.” The loud hero said with a heavy breath. Endeavor was probably sitting in the waiting room with Midoriya this very second. How big of a problem was that? “So let’s start, shall we?”

Yamada tried to keep the mood positive and comfortable as long as he could, it was inevitable that it wouldn’t last. The atmosphere immediately became more delicate, quieter, the air felt heavier in pressure. There was no controlling it. Things just had to be talked about.

“For credibility sake, this is going to be recorded. Answer as best you can. We’re not asking for anything more.” Aizawa explained as he placed a small device with a microphone on the desk beside a few papers and a pen. Todoroki nodded as his puppy shifted to lay down on his lap and nuzzled into his shirt. “It’s okay to take your time answering.” Aizawa watched Todoroki look off and away at the floor. These weren’t going to be fun questions. Aizawa looked down at the papers and covered his eyes with his hand. The first question was just cruel. “Do you hold a grudge against Kosuke Hiro?” it sounded painful just to ask that. “I know you both had your differences. I was told he said some awful things to you and was a regular harasser. You both got into a fight just before he went missing…” It was a question that had every right to be answered, but it was cruel nonetheless.

“I do.” And Todoroki answered truthfully. “He hurt my-” they were recording. “-friend. He gave him a scar on his eye and burned him. I was angry and I still hate him for it.” Could he ever forgive him? Maybe if he had a better influence.

“Did you want something bad to happen to him?”

“Not death.”

“Do you know anyone who would want his death?”

“No.”

“What about your friend? Was he angry too?”

“He was. But he wouldn’t do that. There’s no way he could.” Midoriya was too kind from his perspective. There’s no way his beloved boyfriend would go so far as to kill someone. He was studying to be a doctor. Doctors save people.

“Kosuke’s parents called the police Saturday evening to report that he had not returned home… where were you Saturday?” Why wasn’t there a massive search for him right away? Were the police really that adamant in order to prevent panic?

“I was… with Midoriya.” Todoroki began petting Zuzu, remembering that weekend he spent with his boyfriend. “We went to an aquarium in the morning. I snuck out of the house because Endeavor wouldn’t let me go. But then Midoriya started feeling sick and I tried to take him somewhere to eat so he wouldn’t pass out. He caught us and got really mad… but Midoriya’s older brother came and picked him up before we both got in trouble.”

“Midoriya’s records say he’s an only child,” Yamada said, looking over a paper without his glasses. It was a profile on the little villain.

“He has an older brother figure that he lives with. When I was brought back home I left again and stayed the night with them. And then again the day after. We went to the biggest mall in the city together that day and we even saw Bakugo there.” There would be proof of them going everywhere Todoroki claimed they went to. There was no time in the timeline for Midoriya to kidnap and kill Kosuke in those two days… not without help. It was a team effort. But they didn’t know that. The people that he lived with sounded very hospitable and charitable coming from the half and half boy. “Am I allowed to ask how he died?” Todoroki questioned. A gruesome curiosity, but it was inevitable. The two teachers looked at each other, unsure. But Aizawa answered anyhow.

“He was stabbed several times and his lungs, throat, and mouth were severely burned.”

“So he struggled…”

“That is likely.

“How long was he in the ceiling?”

“We think a villain snuck in during the alarm at the beginning of the week and planted it there because there’s no cameras. The cafeteria would have masked the smell for a while until it became too overpowering.”

Todoroki was petting Zuzu until he moved his fingers in front of her nose to receive a few puppy kisses. He looked down at her and seemed a bit concerned. “Does anyone think we did it?” Was a single fight enough to make him and Midoriya main suspects? They snuck out a lot, they were living with people that weren’t real family, they lied to their parents often, were they suspicious enough to actually be blamed for this?

“No one in their right mind! Being a teenager and having a hard time with another student is not enough to label you two as possible killers. I find it hard to believe that any working here were perfect in high school and got along with everyone.” Yamada chimed in, trying to flip Todoroki’s frown around. “I heard even your father was a bit troublesome back in his day~” he giggled.

And that was when Aizawa reached on the table to shut off the recorder but when Todoroki went to stand up, he held his hand up to tell him to stay seated. He wasn’t done. But why did he shut off the mic? Even Yamada looked baffled.

“Todoroki why do you sneak out? Endeavor has complained that you’ve been running away from home very often ever since school started.” Yamada realized at that moment, Aizawa’s true intentions of coming to the police station and interviewing Todoroki. He was trying to prevent another tragedy. He had this private moment with his student. The recording and cameras were off, Endeavor was out the door, down a short hall, and in the waiting room. They had all the time they needed to talk. But Todoroki appeared to tense, Zuzu stood up on his lap, putting her paws on his chest and kissed his cheek.

“I… prefer being with my friend.” He preferred being with Midoriya. Was that all? It couldn’t be. Aizawa pried more.

“Endeavor has a bad temper, it’s not a secret. Does he get angry at you often?”

“Mr. Aizawa is this part of the inter-”

“It’s not. I’m asking as your teacher and nothing more.” Todoroki took Zuzu by her torso to pull her down but she continued to rub up against him. She wasn’t a certified therapy dog, just some stray he found on the street. But she was good at detecting anxiety in her owner. The room was becoming a bit cold.

“He does… but he’s been like that forever. I’m used to-” He shouldn’t be used to it.

“Does he yell at you?” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed. This semester… a dead student and an abused student… why was this semester that was going wrong? He couldn’t save the one that was killed, but maybe, just maybe he could save this one.

“We argue. It happens. Sometimes it’s worse than others.” His answers are so short and vague. He’s avoiding the obvious truth. Just tell me. Tell me so I can save you.

“So he yells at you… Todoroki, does he hit you?” Aizawa’s face, usually so tired, bored, annoyed, frustrated, was now so desperate to hear the truth. The truth was in his reach, he just needed the verbal evidence that it was there. But it was because of that, Todoroki didn’t see his teacher. He saw his mother, hurt and broken once again. He couldn’t do it. Aizawa needed to focus on finding Kosuke’s killer, not solving his family drama. It wasn’t his home. It wasn’t his business.

“No…” Todoroki didn’t look him in the eyes, only down at the puppy on his lap. “He… let me keep Zuzu. Everything’s fine.” Besides, someone else was already looking out for him. He didn’t need Aizawa. The look of disappointment in his teacher’s face was depressing to look at. He failed again…

The day had to move forward. It wouldn’t stop for this. Todoroki was escorted back to the waiting room where a few more people were sitting in now. It had been just Midoriya when they left, but now it included Endeavor and All Might in his fake form. All Might was also in a suit like everyone else, also being a player in the investigation now. But why was he here for the interrogations? The little villain had been sitting in silence as it was too awkward to start a conversation with either of the two men in the room. So he didn’t ask anything, though glaring was a different story. He looked relieved when Todoroki was brought back in with Zuzu. He smiled at him and patted the seat next to him cheerfully. How he wanted to kiss him, but wouldn’t with this audience. Though he watched the two teachers whisper to each other and then saw Yamada happily sit down on the other side of Todoroki. “Zuzu’s her name, right? She’s adorable! Is she a Shiba?”

Small talk? “Midoriya Izuku, you’ll be with just me,” Aizawa called out before Midoriya could question anything. Yamada was left behind to keep an eye on Todoroki, to make sure Endeavor didn’t become too aggressive around him. With this in mind, the little villain felt comfortable leaving with the eraser hero. When the two walked down the short hall together, the faint minty glow began to appear in the boy’s eyes again, ready to make amusement for himself in this. The very one this hero was searching for was standing right beside him with an innocent smile.

The door was locked, they sat down on opposite ends of the table and the recording device and mic were turned on. “Recordings? You guys aren’t playing around.” Midoriya said cheerfully like there wasn’t a problem in the world. Aizawa only glared. Both the boys’ personalities surrounding the Bloody Tragedy could not be any more different. “This is about the fight, right? Yeah, I was really pissed at the guy for bothering Todoroki every day, but I wouldn’t kill him.” Yes, he would. “I mean, he was so much stronger than me. His nails were enough to literally scar me.” He tied him down and used dangerous drugs to weaken him. “With all the people that went missing, do you really think Todoroki and I could do that?” He was coming up with alibis before the questions even began. He was prepared. He was confident. “Some of the people that went missing disappeared in the middle of the day while we’re at school.” He was smiling the whole time he was talking, making many gestures with his hands casually.

Aizawa looked down at the papers on the desk where questions had been written down, but from how this was starting, they would all be useless. He pushed them aside and folded his arms, leaning back in his chair. “What was your first reaction when Kosuke Hiro’s body fell from the ceiling? You were nearby, weren’t you?” There was a glimmer in the boy’s eyes. A challenge. A hero and a killer were face to face with just a desk in between. They both knew who they were talking to.

“Terrified. Did you see how messed up that thing looked? Its jaw was falling off and it was covered in bugs.” Midoriya smirked. His face didn’t match what he was saying. This was so much fun.

“Why didn’t you run away like everyone else?” Amongst the fleeing students, one was unafraid and fully aware of everything. That one didn’t run or fear.

“Todoroki was still there. I couldn’t just leave him.” He would never leave him while he was so broken. Not like All Might. He would never be like All Might.

“You say you were scared, but you were so relaxed when we found you. Explain that.” Midoriya rested his cheek in his palm and hummed.

“Todoroki was so out of it. I had to be strong for him. Last I remember, you and Mr.Yamada couldn’t even get him to blink. Was it because you both were frightened too? It was pretty easy to tell honestly.” The villain mocked the hero and lowered his head with a smug look as he leaned back in his chair with folded arms as well. “Aren’t heroes supposed to be brave? You were shaking in your boots when you first saw the body and no one tried to help Todoroki or even Kacchan and the redhead.” He saw that. He had been watching everyone the moment they entered and left the presence of the corpse. Not a single student tried to help Todoroki, Bakugo, or Kirishima.

“Heroes are people too. They feel fear just like everyone else.” Aizawa growled.

Midoriya tapped his cheek with his finger, smugly grinning. “It appears that you understand your place as a hero.” As a human. “But I don’t believe many are like you. They compare themselves too much to idols if you ask me.” he chuckled. “You have feelings and memories that are real, you just don’t let them show until they’re ripped out of you.” It was so funny to watch him mentally crumble, how Yamada had to cling on to him to keep him from breaking when the body fell. “Seeing Kosuke like that… You’ve seen something similar before, haven’t you?” Aizawa gritted his teeth as it took much of his strength not to harm the boy before him. Especially when Midoriya leaned forward with his arms stretched out straight, hand over hand with a two-faced smile. “Do you wanna talk about it Eraserhead?” I want to see you fall apart.

Aizawa slammed his hand on the desk, making Midoriya blink a few times and sit back normally in his chair. “That’s enough.” He breathed sharply. This boy was cruel. His adorable glowing eyes were mocking him. His smile was like needles in his back. His hand gestures were like puppeteering, playing with the emotions and the lives of everyone around him. With gritted teeth and so much hate in his eyes, Aizawa proceeded with rapid-fire questions. “Kosuke Hiro disappeared Saturday afternoon. Where were you?”

“With Todoroki at an aquarium and then my big brother had to pick me up because I felt sick.”

“What happened after?”

“I helped Todoroki sneak out of his house again and had him spend the night twice in a row.”

“What did you do the next day?”

“We spent most of the day at the mall. We bought him clothes to leave at my dad’s place.” Their stories matched up. Midoriya answered quickly and cleanly without hesitation.

“Who are these people that you live with?” Then the little villain paused. Why was Aizawa asking this? How suspicious was he? How much was he assuming?

“My big brother is a deadbeat hermit who plays video games all day, but he introduced me to the basics of medical education. My dad is a bartender at a backstreet bar.” That was as honest as he was going to get. He watched Aizawa reach over and turn the recording device off.

“Has Todoroki been staying with you often?”

“Yeah. He likes it there with me.”

“Is he hiding from Endeavor?”

“That’s none of your business.” With that statement, the tired teacher was able to put something together in his head. The sudden hang-up of his phone call with Todoroki earlier. “Why does he need a guy who can’t protect anyone when he has me?” Midoriya forced him to hang up. He was building walls around his beloved hero. Taking him away at lunch to be alone together. Blocking out his classmates. Taking him away from home. Giving a safe place to become attached to. He was tarnishing his faith in heroes. He was making him completely dependent. Undeniably loyal. Unquestionably obedient. A broken boy on strings wrapped around his fingertips.

Aizawa stood up from his seat with both his hands on the table. “We’re done here. But stay put for just a minute,” he said sternly. Midoriya never stopped smiling. He closed his eyes with a short giggle to show he understood. The eraser hero walked out of the interrogation room and was met by All Might in his weakened form just behind the door.

“You told me you knew him in middle school. Is he different or not?!” The walls to the interrogation room were soundproof thankfully, so Midoriya did not hear him snap at the number one hero. All Might had a drop of sweat come down the side of his head as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I… only met him for a few minutes. B-But he was nothing like this.” All Might had recognized the little villain since the first day he saw him at U.A. He chose to never speak to him openly on what happened that fateful day on the skyscraper rooftop and he trusted him with the secret of his fake form. But the boy he saved from the slime villain that afternoon was not the same as the one sitting at that desk. The window on the door of the interrogation room was tinted so that those inside could not see out, but those on the outside could see in. Both heroes looked to the window to see the little villain with glowing mischievous eyes looking in their direction with the sweetest of smiles. “He wasn’t like this at all…” All Might repeated quietly.

“Something’s not right about him. He’s nothing but bad news…” Aizawa said through gritted teeth.

Chapter Text

Midoriya was walked back to the waiting room by Aizawa with a big smile on his face. All Might stayed back in the hall watching them leave and received a look back by the little villain. His cold stare was nothing like the sparkling eyes back in middle school when he found him. A starstruck fanboy had become such a hateful and bitter thing. And yet when he was brought back to the waiting room, his face showed nothing but joy and sunshine as he jumped back in his seat beside Todoroki. He gripped the edge of his seat and leaned forward enthusiastically. “Let’s go do something fun now!” They did their part so they could leave now, right?

Endeavor glared at the two from across the room. This was the third time he had seen Midoriya. The first time being when Todoroki was suspended, and the second was when he was caught sneaking out. So this was the boy that was getting him into the trouble. The bad influence...

“Are we allowed to leave?” Todoroki asked, turning to Yamada. The students looked to the teacher and their faces could comically be compared to Zuzu’s with subtle puppy dog eyes. He was a sucker for them.

“Go have fun!” he dismissed them happily.

“That’s not your permission to gi-” Endeavor spoke up, but halfway through speaking Midoriya took Todoroki’s hand and rushed out the door with Zuzu bouncing behind. “Don’t ignore me!” he shouted when they stepped foot out the door. He earned a glance from them and they stopped. However, it was only for a moment so Midoriya could pull the skin down from his scarred eye and stick his tongue out mockingly. Endeavor’s face lit up with flames as the two made a run for it down the hall with the puppy and left Yamada covering his mouth to keep in laughter. Endeavor would chase after them but there was still work to do here at the police station.

Midoriya, Todoroki, and Zuzu hurried down the hall to get to the entrance, not even caring to notice the two characters they went past. And those two characters walked to the waiting room door and opened it. They both looked so tired with slight bags and darkness under their eyes. Bakugo and Kirishima were not as quick to recover from what they had seen that day.

School was canceled for days. Clean up and sterilization was done and redone and redone again to make extra sure that there was no trace of the Bloody Tragedy. The ceiling was repaired and sensors were implemented in all the ducts and vents to strengthen security. More cameras were set up around campus and the main gate was reinstated to be stronger than the last. Emergency exits were made more plentiful. U.A. was completely refortified for the safety of all the students. News stations were almost nothing but Principal Nezu speaking to the public on the incident in a conference where he strongly convinced the public that the school was still safe and would resume classes promptly and provide counseling for students that needed it. The city was buzzing with paranoia and distrust. Who was behind the murder? Surely it had to be someone on the inside. Was it a teacher? It couldn’t possibly be a student. Could a hero have gone rogue? The tragedy was an incident that made headlines and had everyone on edge. Endeavor’s agency and the heroes that joined his team were working hard, extended hours and under pressure. To the point where Endeavor did not have time to blow up Todoroki’s phone or hunt him down to bring him home. There would be no point because he didn’t have time to train with him. Though it bothered him whenever he thought about often he was sneaking out and how the periods he was gone were getting longer. It used to be just staying after school for an hour or two. Then it was on the weekends for a few hours. Then it was turning into staying overnight. It had become full days he’d be gone. How did he let this happen? While the area was on the borderline of panic, two teenagers still managed to have their fun. Coffee shops and sweet shops, parks and arcades, manga reading and binge-watching, and all the time together they could ask for. The time off the school gave for mental rehabilitation and coping, as well as grieving and investigation, two teenagers were using it as a little vacation. With a stolen piece of plastic from Endeavor’s wallet, they had the power to do whatever they wanted. And Todoroki was a very tired boy with very limited energy in his system. He would go to bed fairly early every night thus giving Midoriya time to train his physical capabilities with Shigaraki. It was a lovely time for preparation.

The first day returning to U.A. was far different than the schooldays that had come before. The air was heavy with grief and tension. A villain had penetrated their sanctuary of education and now it felt that nowhere was safe, nowhere was private. A killer walked amongst them. Some had their suspicions of a traitor but many pushed it aside to preserve peace of mind. If word got out of a traitor it would be a free-for-all. And yet Midoriya was able to walk through the newly reinforced gates without any care. Reporters were bordering the path as a few heroes and police officers held them back from troubling any of the students. Of course, they would want the latest on a murder that happened in relation to U.A. It was the story of the year, an unforgettable Bloody Tragedy.

Todoroki and Midoriya parted ways for class after short and sweet goodbyes. Class 1-A had been one of the most eager classes, full of potential, pride, and high hopes. And now that class sat mostly sullen at their desks in silence. There was no morning chatter or roaming around the room. Even Bakugo sat normally at his seat with his head resting on his arms on the tabletop. Everyone’s eyes had wandered to Kosuke’s desk behind him at least once or twice. There was a picture in a frame with a few flowers placed around it in respect. Perhaps time away was not long enough to grieve and to come to terms with an undealt with threat. The students would have rather stayed home to remind themselves that they and their families were safe. And yet Todoroki only wished the time away was longer so he could have done more with Midoriya. He sat down at his desk without an expression to be read.

“Good morning, Todoroki. Or… at least as good as it can be. Are you doing okay?” Yaoyorozu would always greet him kindly in the morning. She was nice like that. He always appreciated it. But he could see that her eyes were a bit shinier than usual. She was so empathetic.

“Are you okay?” Todoroki asked back, watching a small tear start to drip down her cheek. She turned away and was quick to wipe her face and waved her hand down.

“I-I’m fine, really. Just… everyone is so sad.” They spoke quietly to not disrupt the room’s near silence. “We were all worried about you,” she added, turning back to face him. Kosuke had been so mean to him and he was the closest to his corpse. He had become so limp and lifeless at the time of the incident and everyone saw that.

“I’m okay,” Todoroki assured with a small nod. He was okay. He was more than okay. Some of his pain had finally been taken away.

Midoriya made his way to his homeroom and found it to be quieter than normal, but nowhere near as silent as 1-A. He sat at his desk and merely took out his school notebook to doodle mindlessly while waiting for Yamada to show up. But he was suddenly snapped out of his hazy thoughts when someone sat at the desk in front of him but sat backwards with his arms on the backrest. “No one’s really talking about it,” Shinsou muttered, looking at the rest of their classmates, watching them pretend like nothing happened. This was the first time Midoriya would have a full conversation with Shinsou, face to scarred face.

“It’s probably out of respect. But there’ll be gossip soon enough.” The little villain sighed, looking up from his drawings.

“Yeah…” Shinsou agreed. Then they proceeded to sit in silence for a few awkward moments with Midoriya continuing to doodle. Neither of them were exactly experts on making friends and having a casual conversation with each other. They hardly knew anything about each other at all. And yet they had always been friendly with each other. “Do you think someone on the inside did it?” Shinsou asked, making Midoriya’s hand twitch.

“What?” Midoriya asked, looking up again. He looked afraid, but it was easily mistaken for a look of fear of a threat rather than the fear of being found out so soon. He knew Aizawa had his suspicions, but there was nothing a teacher could do against a student, especially one who was likely paranoid from trauma. He wasn’t credible. But another student on the other hand…

“Do you think someone here at this school did it?” Shinsou was stone-faced and it was difficult to read him. His tired eyes and monotone voice made him impossible to encrypt.

“Well I… what makes you think that?” Midoriya asked back with a nervous smile. “This is a hero school. We all want to save people.” There’s no one to suspect. We’re innocent teenagers. Victims. I’m innocent.

“I think I noticed it when the blood started blowing up everywhere.” Shinsou began casually, looking up at the ceiling. Was there anyone up there now? He could only wonder. “The body fell during the lunch rush and it fell almost naturally. But I think it was timed to fall during then, like something was placed underneath it in on the tiles to make the ceiling break faster but make it look like it was natural. And blood started going off as soon as people started running. Like someone was watching and waiting for the perfect moment to scare us.” Midoriya still smiled but behind that smile, he wanted to scream. How could he figure that out by himself?! He was sure this would make it look like an attack from the outside!

“Maybe there were secret cameras placed by the villains or something.” he tried to debate.

“There weren’t. The police didn’t say anything about that. I stayed so late that night that a lot of the authorities left. All I had to listen to were their reports.” He knew almost as much as the police did.

“But that doesn’t mean-”

“No one liked Kosuke Hiro. He was a bully and pretty much an asshole.” Shinsou cut him off unintentionally but he had a point to make. “His quirk wasn’t anything special and he lived in one of the poorest sections of the city. His family has a clean background. He may be a part of the Sudden Disappearances, but he’s the only one who’s been found and confirmed dead, the only minor, and the only one who didn’t have some sketchy underground life or a hero license. Someone went after him personally… I think.” Shinsou scratched the side of his head and looked out the window, not noticing how he was explaining his theory to the very killer he was trying to weed out. “It’s just an educated guess…” Logical reasoning. Midoriya was nearly stunned with his hand quivering as he held a pencil. Shinsou knew Kosuke was more than special. His corpse wasn’t just a sign to represent a looming terror. It was spite.

“D...Do you really think that someone here is capable of that?” Midoriya asked, still faking a smile but his tone of voice was betraying him.

“Not a teacher… there’s no one new here and I don’t think anyone besides All Might and Mr. Aizawa had ties to him.” And he saw for himself how broken up Aizawa was, despite it being very minimal signs.

“So you think it’s a student?” Shinsou nodded in confirmation. But then he half smirked.

“It can’t be you though. You’re too kind. That’s why I’m telling you all of this.” Trust. He had Shinsou’s trust. Midoriya’s slight quivering stopped as he closed his eyes in his smile. They opened slightly again when he spoke, letting a little mint light emit from them.

“It’s nice to know that someone so quick-witted trusts me.” he hummed and it made the purple-haired boy blush ever so subtly. Someone so smart with such a manipulative quirk, what a dream it would be to coax him over to Shigaraki’s side. He could play along like this and try to lure him closer, like persuading a cat to jump into his arms from a tree. “We could solve this together. Just you and me.” Midoriya giggled.

The remainder of the day proceeded almost as normally as it would any other. Training, note-taking, academics and all the works. There was no lunch rush that day, however. Classes were let out one at a time to walk to the cafeteria to avoid overcrowding and the period was extended so there would be plenty of time for everyone to enjoy their meals. The ceiling had been redone as had the flooring. Emergency exits were made bigger. A lesson had been learned. But that did not stop Midoriya and Todoroki from avoiding the cafeteria altogether and still going outside to sit under a tree in the courtyard. The same tree they sat under during the evacuation. They still preferred it that way. They talked and enjoyed each other’s company as they always had. It was like nothing even happened.

Midoriya had accidentally spent a little too long in Recovery Girl’s office that afternoon when the bell rang and was scrambling to put all of his things into his bag. How embarrassing, they were going to miss the train to the mall if he didn’t hurry. He sloppily shoved everything in and didn’t even zip his bag all the way when he bolted out of the room. He sprinted right past the teachers’ lounge where Aizawa was also packing his things and noticed him. He then turned to look out the window and expected to see Todoroki at the front gates waiting for the little villain. But his eyes narrowed at something else.

“Why did you come here?” Todoroki glared up at the man that was standing in front of him at the gate. Endeavor had come here to take him home personally. Any plans were canceled. “Nevermind. I don’t care. I have to get going-” Todoroki tried to walk past him but Endeavor sidestepped to block his path, making the boy narrow his eyes at him.

“Going where? Where have you been going Shouto? You’ve been gone almost an entire week.” The time the school gave for students to grieve included the day after the tragedy, the weekend, and a few more days after that. Todoroki had not been home with Zuzu in quite some time and Endeavor had had enough.

“That’s none of your busi-” he tried to walk past him again only to be pushed back.

“It is my business! You’ve been staying with that boy, haven't you?!” It was obvious to everyone where he’s been staying. He couldn’t hide it for much longer. Todoroki didn’t want to answer. His lie would easily be seen through, the truth would lead to even more questions, to stay silent made his guilt clear. Endeavor only scowled and took hold of his son’s arm. “Don’t make me do this again, Shouto. We’re going home. Just come with me this time.” His grip wasn’t tight, but it was strong and threatening to become stronger. They were on campus property. There were cameras.

It was suddenly that Todoroki’s other arm was latched on to by a whole bodyweight. Midoriya clung to him as tight as he could while trying to pull him away. He wasn’t going to let Endeavor just take him again. He could never take him away. “He’s mine now! You can’t take him away!” Midoriya cried out, holding as best he could. He could never win in a tug-of-war like this but he could at least try! “Shouto doesn’t want to go with you! Why can’t you see that?!” Everyone has been railroading Todoroki to stay away from his father. Even Aizawa and Yamada have gone out of their way to make sure that he wasn’t alone with him. If they lost him tonight, it would be the first time they’d have a one on one since the tragedy. It would not end well. Not with how poor Todoroki’s relationship was with Kosuke.

“Shouto, is that true?” Endeavor asked, his voice much lower than it had been before. Todoroki tried shaking Midoriya off, wanting him to just get away from this. It wouldn’t be safe for him.

“It is. And nothing you do is going to change that.” That wasn’t the answer the number two hero wanted to hear.

“You’d rather miss on all the valuable training that many would give anything to have, just to go slack off with this child? Are you hearing yourself? You’re far above him, he’s nothing compared to you, you’re going to rise above them all!” The arm Endeavor held started to get hot and it made the man smirk. He hadn’t seen his fire in years and it was starting to come out.

“Don’t call him that…” Todoroki snapped lowly. Those words meant nothing to Midoriya coming from Endeavor. But he knew Todoroki wouldn’t take insults thrown at him like that. The little villain clung tighter and tried to pull him back. There was no way he’d win this fight. There was no way they’d win this fight.

“He’ll never be anything like you! You’ll never control him either! Just leave-” Midoriya cried but then felt Todoroki be tugged forward but he still held on. It was then that the little villain felt himself be pried off by a massive hand and tossed back a few paces. The strength and size of the pro hero was formidable. And yet the little villain was about to latch on again when he blocked off by sheer heat coming from the hero’s free hand.

“Don’t touch him again-” Endeavor began when Todoroki’s ice rose up from the ground around Midoriya with frost coating part of the taller student’s cheek.

“Touch him and I’ll-” Todoroki was about to threaten him. But someone suddenly appeared between the two and Midoriya as a means of protecting the freckled boy from any harm with his arms folded. The freckled doctor first noticed the yellow striped dress pants that matched a blazer. All Might stood before them in his fake form and with a big smile on his face.

“Endeavor! Surely the firm hand of parenting is not needed to take Todoroki home. And Todoroki! Why not try to see these things from your father’s perspective. He’s only worried about you!” He advised as if it would be able to fix the situation he was trying to ease. It was likely his words did nothing. But his presence died down their flames and ice. Endeavor did not let go and Todoroki looked as pissed off as ever. Almost as much as Midoriya. Midoriya’s hands twitched at his sides as his jaw clenched tight. How dare he. How dare he butt in like this like he knew what was going on. How dare he feel like he was calming the situation. How dare he try to protect him. How dare he try to fix something that can’t be fixed. He was making it worse. He was letting Todoroki get taken away.

“Funny how you’re giving parental advice when you’re not even a parent,” Midoriya muttered darkly. All Might noticed the look on the boy’s face from over his shoulder but merely took it as childish pouting because he wasn’t letting him leave with Todoroki as he wanted.

“True. But sometimes these things just take understanding.” Sometimes these things just take murder. Kosuke was a great example of that.

“And he’s right. Perhaps I just lost my temper.” Endeavor admitted, but it was a lie to appease the number one hero. Using him to get his way.

“It’s more like your personality,” Todoroki said under his breath bitterly. A rebellious teenager, that’s all he was, wasn’t it? Just upset that he couldn’t go hang out with his friend.

“We should be going now. We have yet to talk about what happened here.” Endeavor said, lightly tugging his son to follow. How desperately Todoroki wanted to reach out to Midoriya and go with him instead. But to keep him from harm and getting in trouble, he reluctantly followed and looked back at him longingly. They couldn’t even pretend to love each other with either of the two pros around.

This left Midoriya and All Might alone at the front gates. And the freckled boy appeared as angry as ever. “That wasn’t your place you know. You don’t know anything about what happens at that house,” he growled. This was finally a chance to give him a piece of his mind since that day. Did All Might even remember him? Or was he just pretending to be on friendly terms with him?

“I know you have your suspicions. Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada do too. But I would bet that you’ve only heard it from Todoroki’s perspective and not from Endeavor’s.” All Might said, fists on his sides. Midoriya clenched his twitching hands into fists.

“So you think he was just lying or something?” How bad did he think he was? He was one of his best students, why was he doubting him like this?

“I wouldn’t say lying. But I believe the two just have many misunderstandings that need to be talked about. And they can’t talk about it if Young Todoroki keeps sneaking out. And imagine how worried his father must be having not seen him in nearly a week without a word.” Endeavor was never worried. He was just angry.

“Maybe you’re trying too hard to be the hero here to the wrong person..” I’ll be Shouto’s hero. I’ll be something you could never be to him. You’re too focused on your own friend. “Just because some people have powerful quirks doesn’t mean they’re suited to be a hero.” Endeavor didn’t deserve to be a hero, not with what Midoirya heard over the phone that one evening. Only being able to sit at the bar, helpless to do anything while the man angrily beat his youngest son. That wasn’t a hero.

“Well of course. That’s how villains exis-”

“Do you think villains are just people heroes never saved?” Midoriya’s anger had subsided into something more quiet and sinister as his eyes became a bit darker than usual. All Might noticed it but was still willing to have this conversation.

“I wouldn’t say that. Some just do what they do for greed.” The little villain shook his head.

“Those are just criminals. I think villains have more complicated goals and morals than people who just steal what they want.” Why were they talking about this? Where was this conversation coming from?

“Heroes can’t save everyone young man… hero work isn’t that easy. We would save everyone if we could.” Heroes did their best. They always did their best to save people… didn’t they? The freckled boy began to twitch at the corner of his lips. A crooked smile began to grow on his adorable face.

“Not once have you abandoned someone All Might? Not once?” His eyes had gone red as he used his thumbs to push up his smile as his eyes began to water subtly. “You never left someone alone to die on purpose? Not with that big smile of yours?” All Might felt some kind of chill travel through his body, his legs frozen and his smile dropping. Something felt very wrong here. This child was nowhere near the same as the one he saved from that slime villain. The boy in that interrogation room, this was him. “Always saying ‘I am here!’, were you really always there for everyone?” He wanted to say yes. He did his best to save everyone. He had many regrets and had made many mistakes, surely. But did he truly try his best for everyone?

“I… believe so. I’ve always done my best for everyone. These are very sensitive questions, my boy.” Midoriya dropped his hands and gave his backpack a small tug as he began to walk past him. The hero's heart dropped as the boy looked back at him with glaring red eyes.

“You’ve abandoned Shouto. But I won’t.”

Upon returning to the bar, Shigaraki was surprised to see Midoriya come through the door by himself. “No prince charming today?” he asked. He was sure Todoroki was just living there at this point. But it seemed that he was still getting dragged back home. The little villain put his bag on the floor and put his head facedown on the counter. “Endeavor?” The other asked. He got a nod in response. “You can steal him tomorrow.”

“I wanna steal him always.”

“I’m sure there’s something else you want to steal too.” Midoriya’s face turned bright red as he sat right up and began frantically trying to hit his older brother figure but was simply blocked by one hand every time, casually.

“I do not! Not not not not!” he cried but the older villain just smirked. Denial.

“He’s a little younger than you, right? He’s probably not feeling the same things you are yet.” It was a few months difference but Midoriya was beyond embarrassed by this conversation.

“Nope, shut up!” He tried covering Shigaraki’s mouth just to get him to stop talking.

“That’s quite enough Shigaraki,” Kurogiri said, warping himself behind the bar. It was easy to assume that he had to leave to drop Todoroki’s things and Zuzu at his house again. Sneaking in and out of the mansion was not always a quick task. Shigaraki just snickered evilly to himself as Midoriya backed off and folded his arms childishly. Both of them were children.

“Are we any closer to finding his brother by the way?” the little villain asked. He was soon handed a small glass of chocolate milk, the beverage of true villains. Shigaraki sighed and tilted his head limply to the side.

“I got his quirk, his name, and how old he is. But Giran said no one has seen him alive since he was barely a teenager. He’s at least 20 now if he’s out there.” People could do lots of things to change their appearances, especially when they achieve the freedoms of becoming an adult. Piercings, tattoos, and plastic surgeries were all fair game. “I have to bet on the Sports Festival later this month.” Midoriya tilted his head. What did the festival have to do with finding this missing Todoroki?

“Sports Festival?” he asked for elaboration.

“It’s not looking great considering why we’re looking for this guy. But I have to bet on him caring enough about his little brother to go watch him at the festival.”

“There’ll be at least a thousand people there. You’ll be looking for a needle in a haystack.”

“I have to bet on him sitting as close, or as far away from Endeavor as possible.”

“But even then-”

“It’s the best I got, okay? He might not even be there!” A lot of what Shigaraki was thinking about was based on chance. This guy barely had a trail, and that was probably what he wanted. The chances of him even being at the Sports Festival were not high. He had been away from his family for years, would he really care enough to go see his little brother fight like a hero in a stadium? Shigaraki looked to Midoriya who was looking down in thought. He could tell the boy was trying to think of another idea for him, but he was just as lost. But when Shigaraki was thinking of this idea, he could only think of it as being a valid plan. He wanted to watch Midoriya grow into something great and see him progress. That’s what big brothers are supposed to want, right? “I have a feeling he’ll be there,” he muttered.

It wasn’t long for the two to take advantage of the evening together. They continued to practice agility and dexterity in the underground training room for hours. Kurogiri stood and watched from against the elevator door. He saw Shigaraki still holding back his top speed but still not going easy on Midoriya at all. But the little villain had improved greatly since they had first started doing this. Sloppy side-stepping and frantic reactions had become more composed and fluid. There were points where Kurogiri would call for a timeout and then pull the little villain aside to give him pointers. For someone who warped everywhere, Midoriya was curious as to how he was so good at moving on his feet. Though it appeared that he wasn’t as agile as he used to be. He did well to explain how to perform dexterity skills, but could not show it. It made the little villain curious as to how that could be.

By sundown, the dark fog man watched the little villain swerve around Shigaraki and grab his arm, tugging him back to throw him slightly off balance but still standing, and then leaping up behind him. What would be an easy kill shot to the throat with a knife was the little villain jumping up to cling to his older brother’s back. He looked so happy as he hugged him, chuckling to himself. Finally. Finally, he was good enough.

Shigaraki had gone back to hide in his room, but it was likely that he was planning for their big ambush soon. It left Kurogiri and Midoriya in the training room where the suited man took the time to set up a few targets and gave the little villain a few knives to throw for the sake of target practice. It didn’t take a lot of energy so it gave the boy time to cool down from agility training. “Kurogiri, are you and Tomu close?” Midoriya asked randomly. Always the curious mind. As he kept throwing knives, the other continued to retrieve and return them.

“I’ve been taking care of him for many years now. It’s been my duty to.” And yet the two seemed to bicker a lot. It was like Kurogiri was doing this begrudgingly. Was that not the case?

“You guys seem a bit prickly sometimes. Do you like having him here?” He didn’t quite understand their relationship fully.

“Shigaraki Tomura is meant to be the successor to a powerful man who’s given me purpose. I was entrusted to take care of him. But I felt it was necessary to make sure that he never became emotionally attached to me, it would be a distraction to his development.” That explained a lot of their tense relationship. He wondered if Shigaraki was ever jealous of Midoriya for becoming closer with Kurogiri because there was less pressure to keep a distance. But Midoriya just smirked.

“Somehow, I feel you may have failed a little bit. But I wouldn’t feel too bad about it.” It was then that Midoriya’s phone would vibrate in his pocket. He knew exactly who it was which made him look at it instantly. It was just a text. Nothing dramatic and nothing terribly worrying. Just a simple -I miss you- from Todoroki. He replied with an -I miss you too- but there was no reply back. He must have gone to sleep.

Midoriya stood in the usual hallway he and Todoroki would usually part ways at before going to homeroom. He checked his phone multiple times to check the time to see that the bell would ring very soon. He was becoming worried as to where he beloved her could be. Was he hurt so badly that he couldn’t come to school? Was Endeavor holding him hostage at home? Todoroki was never late. He texted him a few times asking where he was but he never received a reply, not even a ‘read’ notification. The text from the night before seemed much more concerning now. What did he mean when he said he missed him? He began to pace in circles, looking down each hall in the area for him. What if he just skipped seeing him entirely? Todoroki wouldn’t do that. Midoriya wanted to see him more badly than before. But he had to go to homeroom without seeing him.

Todoroki was at school, but he had made it there at the last possible second. He wasn’t trying to be late, but he wasn’t rushing either. It was the opposite. His pace was much slower and he looked much more tired than he had in a while now. There were no bandages on him, no fresh burns or bruises. It would appear that Endeavor did not lay a finger on him the day before. But no one knows what they must have talked about, what was said to him. To keep being dragged home to be met with pain in every form only made him miserable. Being in a secret relationship was such a hassle. He only felt love from Midoriya these days, but it would appear that something was wrong with that now. Did he deserve that love? Was he being selfish by wanting it? Was he just a bother his beloved villain? Was he worth his time in the end?

Sitting down in homeroom, the class was still gloomy, though conversation was becoming the norm amongst the students again. It was small talk and it was more light-hearted, no one wanted to talk about Kosuke yet. But the one who was the most okay the day before now appeared to be the least okay as he placed his cheek on his upper arm on his desktop. “Good morning Todoroki.” Yayorozu greeted as usual but she knew something was wrong. But was it okay to bring it up? “Didn’t sleep well, huh? Yeah, me neither.” She couldn’t see his face with him laying his head down away from her, but she noticed an empty gaze when he walked in the room. And she wasn’t the only one. Iida was looking back at him, worried. Maybe it was all starting to get to him. He wanted to talk to him, but what could he say after such a tragedy?

Midoriya was relieved to see Todoroki on the screen in the observation room. He was at school and without a scratch on him. But he could tell that something was a bit off. A look in his eyes was not quite right. It was similar to the one he saw the night he snuck him out of his home. But this was a more intense emptiness, and there was a lot of hurt. He just looked so sad. They were going to talk about it at lunch, without a doubt. He was going to hunt him down if he had to. The focus of today’s hero training was teamwork. Allying with random heroes on the streets with inevitable so heroes needed to know how to make combinations work even if it appeared daunting. Midoriya scoffed because of course Todoroki was paired with Iida. Just his luck. In separate grounds, students were put in pairs, except for one group of three, to take on robots. This was also a stamina test. Which pair lasted the longest, destroying the most robots for the longest time would get the highest grade to how well their teamwork was.

“Those things are unfair. They discriminate people whose quirks only work on people.” Shinsou nearly pouted. Yamada heard and smiled.

“I’ll talk to the faculty about that for next semester!” he gave a quick thumbs up. He was proactive with feedback, that was nice.

Some pairs were knocked out quicker than others due to odd matchups and insane numbers of robots that were set out to attack them. Some pairs had to fight more than ten at a time. These things were not small either as they ranged from being the size of cars to the size of buildings. Groups that included Bakugo and Jirou, Ashido and Mineta, and Todoroki and Iida, would eventually rack up scores to 50 where they were faced with a robot the size of a skyscraper to prove that they were strong enough and had enough energy to proceed further. Jirou would angle her speakers towards the massive thing to try and stun in, even for a short moment so Bakugo could get close and release a powerful blast from his gauntlets. What looked like a successful hit caused Bakuog’s arm to throb and tense up from pain and overuse when he landed on the ground. But when he looked back up at the robot, there was only a dent. These things weren’t flimsy.

Mineta’s head was beginning to bleed do to the number of balls he had thrown to immobilize the robots and when he saw the big one, he fainted from fear alone, leaving Ashido with dead weight and only her acid to try and take it down. But the metal was too thick to burn quickly and they were captured by its hand before they could even try to defeat it.

Todoroki still chose to only use ice in his hero work training. To him, these robots were but straw dummies that weren’t worth his breath. Iida watched him barely even move his feet or arms while freezing the metal beasts to the point that their metal limbs would crack and break off from the temperature alone. Others received blasts that would stab straight through them. Iida did help in destroying a few with his legs, but he was very limited in what he could do with a close-range quirk. He wouldn’t let himself become dead weight. But Todoroki was the one pulling the team though there was not much teamwork involved in their strategy. “Todoroki, Iida, you both are just fighting without communicating. You need to show some coordination if you want a perfect score.” Aizawa told them through an earpiece that every student was asked to wear. It was a means of Aizawa and All Might giving pointers during practice without being by their sides.

“Right!” Iida affirmed. But Todoroki was silent for a few moments as he stopped moving.

“Sorry…” he mumbled. There was no confidence. There was no passion to fight. What was he even doing?

“Have some spirit young man! You’re still doing great!” All Might added hearing his dead tone. Perhaps he just needed a little praise. But somehow, it just made him feel worse.

“Yeah…” Something was very wrong with him. When the massive beast of a robot was sent out, Iida was quick to notice something about it.

“There’s a weak point on the back of its neck! Can you protect me and get me up there with your ice, Todoroki?” he asked, trying to scrounge any points of teamwork that he could. He got a silent nod as an answer which was the best he was going to get. A ramp of ice was made for him to shoot up into the air. The half and half boy then made a giant wave of ice to try and immobilize the robot only for it to heat itself up and begin to melt it. So he did it again and made it branch out to other buildings so Iida could leap on to paths he was making. Making paths of ice while making walls to defend him from rockets and rubber bullets. There was so much precision and speed that was required to do all of this, it was beyond impressive for a teenager. Iida was sent in a circle so the robot couldn’t keep up with him and by the time he got close to its neck, it didn’t have time to defend itself. One solid kick to its weak spot caused the head of it to explode into smoke. “That was perfect! You’re amazing Todoroki!” he cheered as he slid down a slide of ice back down to the ground. “Todoroki?”

Defeating such an obstacle should be celebrated and congratulated. Iida was heaving for breath with an accomplished smile on his face while also covered in sweat from all his intense running and leaping. He bet Todoroki didn’t even have adrenaline going through all of this. He expected to him being cool and collected as usual. Maybe he would even be impressed with their teamwork. However, he only saw him looking straight up at the robot he defeated as his ice holding it in place was still melting. Pieces of metal had begun to fall from it and leave craters in the pavement from the height they were falling at. It would be safe to back up. But he was standing so close. There was a loud creak from its body as it began to lean forward. It was going to fall. And Todoroki was just here. Staring up at it.

“Todoroki?” Iida asked again, a little louder. Why wasn’t he moving? He wasn’t frozen. But it took one look at his facial expression to get a terrible impression. “Todoroki what are you doing?!” Iida shouted. Midoriya dropped his school notebook and began frantically scratching at his wrists watching the screen and hearing Iida shout through his headset.

“No, no no, Shouto, what’s wrong?” He had to move. He was going to get crushed. The little villain wanted to scream so he would hear his voice but that was impossible.

“I’m so tired…” Todoroki’s voice was so soft in the mic, Midoriya turned the volume up on his headset to hear him. “I’m just tired of it…” So many people were watching him. And everyone that could hear him knew exactly what he was thinking about.

“Iida get him out of there!!” Aizawa shouted over the line, there was panic in his tone. Iida didn’t waste a moment to charge up what fuel remained in his legs to send himself running straight at Todoroki, grabbing him by his torso and taking him out of the impact of the robot’s fall. They fell as a dust cloud blew over them harshly from the robot’s landing.

Iida rose to his hands and knees over Todoroki, looking down at him and being taken aback by how lost and miserable he appeared. But it wouldn’t stop him from lecturing him. “What the hell was that?! You could have gotten killed!” he yelled. He was only met with silence and an unblinking face. “Do you understand that?! You could have died!” Midoriya listened and was shaking with emotions. Don’t yell at him. He doesn’t like getting yelled at. He’s just sad. Get off of him. You’re making him feel cornered. “What do you have to say for yourself?! Do you think we want to have another classmate die?!” Don’t guilt him into living. He has to want to live. Someone like you can never understand that.

“No…” Todoroki finally responded quietly but turned his head away. He wanted nothing more than to just disappear from this whole situation. But Iida was not going to let that happen as he knelt over him and pushed his cheek to make him face him harshly. It almost came off as a slap.

“I know this is hard for all of us… But you can’t just go do something like that!” He wanted him to shut up so badly. He wanted to get away and just go somewhere quiet. Everything felt too loud, his gear felt too heavy, everything was too bright.

“I know…” Surely he knew better than this. But why was he acting this way? It wasn’t like him at all.

“Then why? Don’t you understand what was at risk just now? Doesn’t that matter?” Iida looked so desperate and distraught, even tearing up from under his glasses. He was full of overwhelming emotions and felt so free to express them. It must have been nice.

“We’ll call it a day. Come back to the screening room, everyone.” Aizawa instructed over the line. Bakugo and Jirou were stuck in a stalemate against the robot, Ashido and Mineta lost, and Todoroki and Iida were not trusted enough to continue the training exercise. It was pointless and unsafe to continue. Iida slowly got off of Todoroki and tried to offer him a hand to get up. His gesture was denied and Todoroki stood up in silence, walking away at a more delayed step. The speedy hero tried to grab his shoulder.

“Todoro-” but his hand was gently but sternly slapped away without a word. Ice was lightly frosted over Todoroki's shoulder and back subtly. And upon returning to the training area’s lobby, he unstrapped the yellow heater harness and threw it against the wall in a sudden motion, making Iida jump.

“What are you doing-?!” He retrieved the heater and watched the half and half boy make a run towards the wrong direction from the screening room everyone was waiting in. He meant to charge up his legs but it only made them throb in soreness from their training. He was forced to chase after him at a regular human’s speed. Watching his classmate turn the corner, he did the same and saw him run into a bathroom that happened to be in that hall. As he was about to follow him inside, someone shoved him away with all their tiny strength.

“Stay away from him! He doesn’t want you!” Midoriya snapped at him. The little freckled villain had bolted out of the observation room without objection from Yamada. He knew where class 1-A was gathered. He knew how they entered and exited the training grounds. He knew every hall, every corner, every vent, every quiet spot. Iida was stunned by the shove and looked down at the smaller boy in shock. Midoriya only glared for a few moments and debated on yelling at him more, but turned the other cheek and ran into the bathroom after Todoroki. His first priority.

One of the lights above a stall had been broken with ice sheeting the ceiling, causing the room to become dimmer, but not pitch black. “Shouto?!” Midoriya called out upon entering, letting Todoroki recognize his voice before getting closer. The ice covering the ceiling had a trail leading from a section of the wall that helped the boy find which stall his beloved hero was hiding in. Sitting on the floor with his face in his upper arms, hands gripping the back of his shirt, Todoroki sat in silence and was unmoving. The little villain rushed to him, “Shou, Shou, Shou, Shouchan, Shouchan, it’s me.”; he had never called him by a nickname before. It just kind of came out. He got on his knees and placed his hands on his beloved’s shoulders. “Shouchan what happened?! What’s wrong?! Talk to me, please!” he cried, shaking him. It was then he swore he heard the bathroom door open but he chose to ignore it.

The most important thing to him was right in front of him. Midoriya slowly took his hands back and just sat on his knees, taking a deep breath. A long inhale to calm himself, and an exhale to release his own stress, his wrists stinging. But that wasn’t important. He just looked at him. His hero was so broken in this moment. It hurt to see him like this. And yet he understood what he was feeling, even if he didn’t understand the cause. He looked up at the broken light, he noticed the topmost buttons of his white costume were undone, his heater was missing, he wasn’t speaking. He’d become overstimulated with over sensory. It was best not to touch him.

“You don’t like it when people yell at you… yeah?” he kept his voice quiet. He kept his hands on his own knees, in a polite fashion. “I know you too well. You hide it, but you get anxious sometimes. Not like me, I’m not that good at being secret.” he smiled cutely even though he knew the other couldn’t see it. But he could hear it in his tone. “When you get like that, you usually don’t like to be touched, except by me for whatever reason. I wonder why that is~” he hummed. But he still knew his place, keeping his hands to himself. “I knew something was wrong the second I saw you spacing out. You disassociate when you’re upset. Or when you’re bored. It’s cute when you’re bored. I wish I saw you this morning, we could have talked about it.” They could talk about it now, but he wasn’t going to bother him with it. But it was soon that his tone dropped. He sounded sad, choked up even. “Something happened last night. When you texted me. I never should have let go, I messed up, just like last time. And now you’re hurt again…” It was all All Might’s fault. He let Endeavor take him away. He let him get hurt. But who was he kidding? Todoroki was always hurting. This wasn’t anything new. It was just showing. Midoriya began to tear up thinking about it. “You’re always in so much pain… you’re so tired. I get it… It’s just exhausting having every day be a fight to just be content. Not even happy. Just content.” Midoriya took his chance to slowly wrap his arms around Todoroki’s head and shoulders, beginning to pet his hair. Just how he liked. “You don’t have to tell me anything. You can take a break. It’s alright.” he rested his teary cheek on the top of his head. He didn’t mind that he wasn’t getting any responses. Sometimes the talking just needed to wait. Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait too long.

“You’re not mad…?” Todoroki asked quietly.

“Never.”

“Is this… inconvenient?”

“Never.”

“Am I weak now…?”

“Never.” Endeavor did not leave a scratch on him for this day. The injuries he left the little doctor to tend to this time could not be healed with bandages. These wounds were not as easily seen. It was cruel. What could he have possibly said to Todoroki to bring him to this? Midoriya felt Todoroki’s hands make their way to his back to bring him closer, finally being ready to be touched and the anxiety slowly passing.

“I want to go to bed…” he was tired. He was just tired.

“You can take a nap at lunch again. I’ll wake you up.” Midoriya hummed, bringing his tone up again for him. He felt his beloved hero’s hug tighten.

“Thank you,”  Todoroki whispered.

They would remain like this for at least a few minutes. But school was school and they were ditching class and they had to return. They left the bathroom together and saw that Iida was nowhere to be found. Todoroki’s heater was just outside the door for him to pick up and put back on. Before they parted ways, Midoriya was sure to reach up to his cheek and kiss his lips softly with his eyes closed. “Don’t tell them anything you don’t want to.” He pulled back with that beautiful minty glow in his eyes and the most innocent smile. “You only need me. They won’t understand you like I do. I’m here for you, always.” His last words before returning to his General Studies course. A reminder for Todoroki to keep up his walls against the heroes.

And when Todoroki returned to class, he received worried and estranged looks from all his classmates. He hated the staring, but he ignored it. Iida was the first to look away. It would have made sense for Aizawa to lecture Todoroki in front of everyone, and yet all he did was hand him a piece of paper with critiques and pointers, and a passing grade on it. However, there was a small note at the bottom of it that was circled. -See me after school.- How embarrassing.

“Todoroki, what happened back there?”

“Todoroki, man, what’s up?”

“We were all hecka worried about you.”

A class full of to-be heroes, of course they cared. Yaoyorozu was the first to catch up with him in the hallway to lunch period. She was soon followed by Kirishima and Kaminari. Todoroki acknowledged all of them with soft glances but only with silence. “There’s nothing wrong with talking about it. You can tell us. We… We get it, you know?” Kirishima seemed a bit more persistent. He had recovered well after the tragedy. He looked terrible during the incident, and not that much better at the police station. He seemed even a bit stronger now. But even with all these kind people reaching out to him, there was only one hand he trusted enough to hold. He turned away from them and picked up his walking pace.

“Hey-” Yaoyorozu was going to try to catch up when an arm was stretched in front of her. It was Iida. He appeared to be very upset but tried to keep a straight face.

“He just needs space.” The three of them looked to their class president… was that really what he needed?

A half-eaten bowl of rice sat next to Midoriya’s legs as he continued to eat ramen from his own bowl with his hero sleeping on his legs. He was petting his hair like he would any other time, occasionally wiping away tears from his cheeks when he noticed them. This was their peaceful place. Just for them. Only them. Even if they weren’t communicating, Midoriya felt a bit more ease coming from his beloved like this. Sometimes a snack and a nap were all one needed to calm down a bit. This was all fine. At least until he heard footsteps.

“Students are instructed to eat in the cafeteria with everyone else. You two shouldn’t be out here.” Such a nagging voice. Midoriya was sure to cover Todoroki’s ears to let him keep resting. Iida stood before them with his arms folded, still trying to keep a strong outward appearance as a class president and diligent student.

“Shouto doesn’t like the noise. We’re staying out here.” the little villain growled back, a bit of red making itself known in his eyes. He was on the defensive here. This time, he would protect Todoroki.

“After what happened, it’s best for-”

“Shouto wants nothing to do with you or anyone in your hero class. Can’t you see that? Or is your head too far up your ass in pride? Stop pretending that you want us to follow the rules when you really just want him for yourself.” Iida was just using the rules as a means of forcing Todoroki back with everyone. He was trying to take him away too. Midoriya wasn’t going to let him get taken away. Never again. He let Iida stand there in shock at such inappropriate words before he saw his folded arms drop to his side and his head hung low.

“That’s not…” The freckled boy raised a brow.

“What? Did you wuss out last second and came out here lecture us instead of something else?” Such a snappy brat. But he was right.

“I… I did want to apologize. I…” Iida got down on his knees before them with his hands balled into fists on his lap. “I overheard you talking to him… I had no idea about anything…” He had been ignorant of anything that upset Todoroki. The yelling, pinning him down, nearly slapping his face, and chasing him, he didn’t know that it would upset his classmate so much. He gritted his teeth in frustration with himself. “I had no idea I upset him so much. I came here hoping he would have it in his heart to forgive me.” His big heart. His beautiful heart. Midoriya merely scoffed as he looked down at his beloved still blissfully sleeping. He was nearly curled in a ball with his hand lightly clenched into a fist near his mouth. The villain wiped away one of his tears that had begun to stray away from his resting eyes.

“Knowing him… he will. He’s much kinder than I am, you know?” How he would love to kill Iida like he did Kosuke. No. Worse. Keep him alive longer. Make his suffering more rigid and cruel. Brag to him how Todoroki would never be his to hold, to kiss, to love. “But he’s busy right now, so you might as well get lost.” Iida appeared to be offended now. This boy was so terribly rude. He was protective, but his tongue was sharp and mean. “You might as well never talk to him again. You’re only going to hurt him more. All you do his nag and he hates that more than anything.”

“Forgive me, but I think this kind of talk from you is unwarranted. I only have good intentions, I swear to you.”

“He’s too good for some kiss-up like you. Some guy like you would never understand him.”

“This is unreasonable! You can’t just keep him to yourself. You’re blocking people out like this, that’s abusive-” Something snapped.

“Say that again and you may just end up like Kosuke,” Midoriya growled darkly, his head lowered but eyes glaring up at Iida, Todoroki still having his ears covered. Iida sat up a bit straighter as a drop of sweat dripped down the side of his head. The air had become so heavy all of a sudden. The air felt cold and yet it stung.

“Is...that a threat?” Iida questioned, narrowing his eyes back. Midoriya would not tolerate being called such a thing. He wasn’t like Endeavor. He would never be anything like him. Iida was wrong. He was wrong! The two students would have their tension interrupted by a small sound, very quiet, but loud enough to break the silence between them. A sound of subtle distress. Todoroki’s face had become a bit stressed as his hand began clutching repeatedly at nothing.

“Shouchan, Shouchan, I’m here. It’s me here, see?” Midoriya suddenly softly smiled and cooed as he gave his hero his hand and watched another tear fall.

“He’s…” Iida noticed the crying and his heart broke witnessing it. Had he caused that? Such an intense sadness.

“He always cries when he sleeps. But you don’t know why that is, do you?” the little villain sneered bitterly. “So why don’t you mind your own business?” This conversation was going nowhere. In front of Iida was an overprotective boy providing comfort for someone he loved. But all he saw was a snake wrapping its way around Todoroki’s neck and wrists, controlling who he spoke to and who to hold on to. There was nothing he could do for someone who didn’t want his help. If earlier was any indication of who his classmate preferred, of course it was the one with the silver tongue. Before their talk went on any further, the jet legged student saw no other proper option than to just walk away and leave them be. Though he did look back to see Todoroki awaken and reach up, almost playfully, to touch Midoriya’s cheeks and sleepily poke at his freckles. How could he be so comfortable with someone like that?

“Do you feel safe with Midoriya Izuku?”

“Yes.”

“Do you feel safe living with him?”

“Yes.”

“Are you being properly taken care of at his home?"

“Yes.”

“Have you ever felt unsafe or threatened in his care?”

“No.”

The day had ended and Aizawa stood in front of the door, blocking Todoroki’s only exit. All the other students had left leaving just the two of them behind. The boy was giving quick answers, short and simple answers, trying to get out of school as quickly as possible. His teacher was trying so hard to understand. He was determined to obtain the truth. “Was it a fight with Midoriya that lead to your stunt this afternoon?”

“No.”

“Was it Endeavor?”

“...No.” There was hesitation.

“What was it then?”

“The tragedy. Endeavor called it ‘survivor’s guilt’.” Liar. It was so obviously a lie.

“You went home with Endeavor last night, did you not?”

“I did.”

“And you were with Midoriya during the grieving period?”

“I was.” Aizawa did not trust Midoriya in the slightest. But the difference in personality that Todoroki portrayed compared to the first day back to the second was more than significant. Neither person in his student’s life was safe. But at least he was happier with the estranged freckled boy.

“Are you staying with Midoriya tonight?” Todoroki nodded in confirmation. No wonder he was so eager to leave, he had been eyeing the exit the whole time. Aizawa couldn’t help but sigh as he got out of the way of the door. “Next time you feel like pulling that again… talk to me beforehand, got it?” he grumbled. He sounded annoyed but anyone could tell that he was far from it. Out of all his students, this one had the most concerning future.

“Understood.” Todoroki went out the door without looking back in a light run, hurrying but not sprinting. He didn’t say a proper goodbye. He was ill-mannered. But in a teenage way. Todoroki met Midoriya at the front gate, letting the little villain take his hand. The freckled boy smiled brightly as he cheerfully began to walk with him.

“You have a big training session coming up in a few days, don’t you? At some building called the USJ?” he asked, starting the conversation. His beloved hero nodded.

“Yeah, how did you know?” he asked back. Midoriya just giggled and scratched his cheek with his index finger. "Mr. Yamada asked if any volunteers were willing to play a damsel in distress. Obviously everyone said no."

And those days passed. Midoriya worked hard with Shigaraki’s agility training and Kurogiri’s knife throwing sessions to improve his ability to defend himself. His blood was hot with excitement, anticipation. What a glorious sight it would be to see his precious nomu beat down the number one hero, the number one phony. Would his big brother finish the job, or would he get the honors? If he were to be given that chance, would he slit his throat, or go straight for the heart? Maybe cut out his tongue first just to get him to shut up for a few seconds. Every day he awaited the results of Shigaraki’s marvelous plan. The older villain had been working almost every time Midoriya saw him. He never quite understood what he was doing until he showed him the screen of his laptop at the bar one night. Hundreds of pictures, pictures of criminals he had accumulated to join him in his ambush. He was using sheer numbers to distract anyone that would try to help All Might. The nomu needed to battle without interference for a guaranteed victory. All this time Shigaraki had been bribing and blackmailing and convincing people to join his side for this one attack.

An early dawn awaited that day. Before his school alarm went off, before the sun had even risen, Midoriya was grinning ear to ear, buttoning up his new outfit, tying his tie like Kurogiri had taught him, lacing his shoes, and inspecting his metal mouth mask and white face mask. The day he could officially wear this for the world to see. He mentally apologized to Todoroki. But he would be sure to keep him out of serious danger. Kurogiri would warp him in and his classmates as far away from the nomu danger zone as possible. Anyone that got close would just be warped again. It was a shame that his hero liked his class despite not being close to any of them except Iida. He would never join them if anyone died… except for maybe one person. If Iida thought he was getting off easy with pinning Todoroki to the ground and screaming at him, he was unmistakably wrong. He looked in the mirror and fixed his tie neatly to the center and placed his metal mouth mask on his face. “The one you let fall is going to shoot you down All Might…” he mumbled with a voice much deeper and skewed than his own. It was to disguise him. It was then that he heard his bedroom door open and saw Shigaraki in the reflection of his mirror, leaning back against the door covered in about a dozen hands strung together with red rope-like material. He wore his precious father on his face. Were they all real…?

“Come down. Someone’s here to see you and bring your school uniform,” he said almost coldly before smirk could just barely be seen under his father’s palm. “That doesn’t look too bad on you.”

“Well, you two really do mean business.” Waiting for them sitting on a barstool with a shot glass in hand was a very familiar face. Blond hair and stitches on his forehead, a cigarette resting on an ashtray beside him, and a casual smile on his lips. He didn’t look as panicked as before, and he wasn’t switching between personalities either. He must have felt calmed here. Bubaigawara Jin. Villain: Twice. The last the man had seen the villainous brothers, they were just out in the city together in casual clothing. But here they were, covered in severed hands and wearing a metal mouth that had razor-sharp triangular teeth. Midoriya lowered his mouthpiece and raised a brow.

“Why…?” he was about to ask when he felt a hand, minus a pinkie, rest on his head.

“If you call out sick from school today, that’s gonna make you look really bad. Especially with how Eraserhead, All Might, and Endeavor are not fans of you.” Shigaraki answered. Midoriya had told him and Kurogiri during his training nights about what had been happening during the day. There was nothing to keep secret here anymore. Twice stood up and whipped out a roll of measuring tape from his back pocket as he began snappily measuring the freckled boy up. Midoriya froze up and tensed at the fabric being wrapped around his limbs, neck, head, and torso all of a sudden. It felt awkward and Shigaraki chuckling at him did not help as he began to blush. When he was backed away from, the little villain began weakly slapping the older one for making fun of him. And it was when he stopped that he noticed that there was now an extra person in the room.

It was him. Another him. It was a perfect replica, smirking at him. He tilted his head at the clone curiously, and it mirrored him teasingly. “That’s… really weird.” He reached out to touch it and it reached back and held his hand with a smile.

“I’ll take good care of Shouchan, I promise,” it said happily. Midoriya’s face went bright red. How did it know?!

“My clones can last a few hours without damage. But they’re pretty fragile. One hit and it melts away depending on the stature of the original. And if they’re out and about for too long, they’ll start acting a little… funny.” Twice explained.

“Funny how? How long is too long?” Midoriya asked, circling his clone curiously. It just stood there with its arms folded, looking proud of having such attention.

“A school day should be its limit during this case. But boss man here told me that it will only have to last half that. And by funny um… they get a bit twitchy and having a bit too much fun causing trouble.” So they start acting more like Twice’s other personality.

It felt almost rude to let Todoroki leave with a clone. Midoriya was sure to only give it one command before letting it go to his hero’s living space. “Don’t you dare kiss him.” To which his clone groaned and whined.

“But that’s not fair! But fine… I guess.” it huffed. Midoriya handed it his school uniform to change into and would let it go about its day with his boyfriend. Was it bad that he felt a bit of jealousy towards it? He trusted it to not say anything stupid to anyone but would it have any less self-control than he did? Around Todoroki in particular? He didn’t want to think about it… it was too humiliating.

Being warped to U.A. once again, Todoroki walked inside oblivious to the fake that was walking in with him, holding his hand with a big smile. Instead of a kiss goodbye when parting ways, it jumped up to hug his neck tightly. “Have a good day Shouchan, we can have lunch under the tree again today!” it assured, letting go and landing playfully on its feet. Todoroki was not one to express too much emotion, but he did appear curious by the cheerfulness of the clone.

“Izuku… why did you start calling me Shouchan all of a sudden?” he asked. The clone stuck its tongue out with a wink.

“I’ll tell you later~” it hummed before taking hold of its backpack and giving it a good tug and running off. He was acting way cuter than normal… Todoroki wasn’t complaining.

Sitting in homeroom, Yaoyorozu was relieved to see him much more aware and active even though it had been a few days. But this morning felt brighter. “Good morning, Todoroki. How are you feeling?” she asked politely and casually like she would any other day.

“I’m doing well,” he answered honestly. It made her smile gleefully.

“That’s wonderful. Oh, and did you hear about a tea shop that opened around the corner this week?” A casual conversation ensued, he seemed back to his usual self after just a few days. He still didn’t talk much, but he was still a good listener, nodding in understanding and occasionally making small comments. Iida looked back at the two, appearing guilty still. He had not spoken to him since that day. They had not been paired up together in any training. He never attempted to apologize to him again. Haunting red eyes tormented him with cruel words continuously in his head. He would never know Todoroki enough to understand him. He couldn’t give him what Midoriya could. He wasn’t needed… He could only wonder if his classmate was mad at him.

Normal academics would take place in the morning as they always had. The clone was diligent in its note-taking and also interacted with Shinsou a few times throughout its time in the classroom. Shinsou had come up with a list of students between class 1-A and acquaintances of Kosuke. He may not be social or popular, but the tired boy was also a very good listener when it came to school gossip. The clone was sure to write down what was spoken about in between academic notes. Midoriya would want to know what had been discussed so he wouldn’t gain suspicion.

“Are they there yet?” Midoriya was impatiently tapping his foot in the bar, hugging on the nomu’s neck as it sat completely still in the bar, hunched over so it wouldn’t hit the ceiling. Twice had left the bar by now.

“Kurogiri said they’re on the bus. Chill out.” Shigaraki sighed, checking his phone. “Oh yeah, get your ass over here.” he gestured for his little brother to come closer as then leaned over the counter to dig for something underneath it. “And hold your breath.” Midoriya raised a brow before suddenly shutting his eyes and felt something be sprayed at him. Specifically, in his hair. It smelt awful. Shigaraki began ruffling his hair up messily and when the spraying stopped, the little villain took a peek at a few strands of his hair from the corner of his eye. It was black. “It’ll come out with a good wash. But we can’t take any risks of you being found out yet.” If there was even the slightest chance of this all failing, all this preparation being for nothing, it would be a disaster if his little spy was discovered. Especially with Todoroki not being on their side yet. It was something Shigaraki didn’t want to think about, but something he had to consider. Master would be very upset if this failed… and suddenly he felt his phone go off again. “They’re there.”

“You will all be taken to the different zones to practice different search and rescue efforts. Not every disaster is the same and some of you are more efficient in some areas than others. You all must practice teamwork and adapting to these different environments.” Pro hero Thirteen stood before class 1-A, giving them the rundown of how their training was supposed to go for the day. They seemed enthusiastic to be given their attention for the day, eager to get their eyes set on honorable futures of being heroes. Aizawa nodded and lowered his chin into his scarf.

“I will separate you all into groups. Remember when you’re doing this, this shouldn’t be treated as practice. Treat it like the real thing.” There would be no leisure or joking around with this kind of work. Many of the students looked eager to begin, smirking and smiling, ready to challenge themselves.

“Then let’s get-!” Hagakure was about to cheer out when something dark appeared just down the hill from where they stood. Noticing the students’ attention being taken away, both Thirteen and Aizawa turned around to see a black foggy mass in the short distance.

“That’s not mine…” Thirteen muttered before more portals began to appear. Aizawa’s eyes widened slightly as he began to slowly raise his arms to his sides, keeping his students back.

“Is this part of the training?” Shoji asked with a tone that hinted that he already knew it wasn’t. They all knew it wasn’t. Not when scary-looking criminals and villains started emerging from the dark fog.

“What is that?” Jirou asked, watching tens, dozens of dangerous people just walking into building uninvited.

“How they got in the first time,” Aizawa growled. He watched one of the portals expand and saw Shigaraki come out first with the massive nomu behind him. And sitting on top of its shoulder was the little villain that had been causing their paranoia all this time. They were here.

Chapter Text

“Mr. Yamada, how come the class 1-A monitor is down?” the imposter Midoriya asked. All the screens for the General Studies course were assigned to watch were working perfectly fine except for the ones that were meant to be broadcasting the activity in the USJ. Yamada began fiddling with the volume and wires behind him the monitor. Perhaps it was just something with the screen. So he tried to turn on the USJ footage on a different one only to see a blank image. He began trying to switch for different camera views and every single one was turning up black or static.

“Maybe there’s no good signal out there,” Yamada muttered to himself. “Sorry Midoriya, guess you’ll just have to take notes on something else. Why not class 1-B?! They got some rockin’ quirks too!” He smiled enthusiastically. But he continued to keep pressing at the blank monitor. How odd that it wasn’t working.

The fighting displayed at the USJ by pro hero Eraserhead had amazed all the students watching. A tired teacher, always annoyed by the children he was forced to be with, was beyond an impressive fighter when it came to protecting them. Aizawa’s binding scarf paired with impressive athletic agility and quick wit was showing how he had become a pro hero in the first place. Glowing eyes with hair pushing up and back on his head, his ability to keep himself from blinking underneath yellow goggles made him a threat that even Midoriya did not take into account. Shigaraki had gone to so much trouble to recruit so many grunt-level criminals and he was already watching a fraction of them being taken down by a singular hero.

Aizawa was as competent as he was skilled. Leaping and running head-on but also evading attacks ranging from fists and feet, but vines and bullets as well. His eyes darted left and right, above and below, it would only take a moment to erase then restrain before immobilizing. He didn’t need a flashy costume, he didn’t need armor, his speed and reaction time was all the power he needed for this fight. But for now, this fight wasn’t about defeating and arresting. This was about protecting the students he still had. While being targeted from every direction, he defended himself well and made his presence known as a threat to the villains. He was aware of the king of the chessboard in the back, behind these pawns that only posed as fodder. Were the grunts’ only purpose to wear him down? Why were there so many? Was the real mastermind amongst them? He thought not. Not with the monster with a child sitting gleefully on its shoulder. But which one was in charge? Which one stole Kosuke’s life? Who were they after this time?

Teenagers were so troublesome. Noisy and immature, they could be such a pain. But their lives were precious. They had big hearts and bright souls that were full of the potential to make the world a better place. Teachers were meant to guide them through their phases and changes, leading down the path that was best for them and help them accustom themselves to the difficulty of the future. But in a world of villains and heroes, with a merciless killer hidden amongst those around him, Aizawa was going to protect those teenagers with his life. He knew full well that Thirteen understood the same. What happened to Kosuke would never happen again within these walls. While using his scarf to grapple a villain and use him as a meat shield, he took a moment to look back up the cliff where Thirteen was still with his class. They’d protect them. He trusted them.

Shigaraki had his arms folded and was looking around curiously, almost annoyed. Midoriya also looked around but his vision must have been skewed from the mask. “Do you see him?” Shigaraki asked. Where was All Might? He was nowhere to be found. That’s what they were here for, that’s what the Nomu was here for.

“That’s not right. This can’t be right, this is his class. You don’t think he’s still being held up from our detours?” Midoriya answered. Maybe he should have never displayed Kosuke’s body for the school to see. Perhaps they were paranoid and told All Might not to come to the USJ. Whatever the cause, the fact was that their target was not in the vicinity.

“How annoying… we might as well just leave.” Shigaraki grumbled.

“We’ll just have to lure him out. We can’t just turn back so soon!” Midoriya cried out, hugging Nomu's beak. They brought the nomu and did so much work to get to this point. They couldn’t abandon the mission. All Might had to die. But… Midoriya looked up the cliff where the students and Thirteen watched Aizawa. “But we can’t let them interfere.” If any of the other students were to be killed in the process, they could kiss the plan of getting Todoroki to their side goodbye. Though the chance that Iida could die by Midoriya’s command, it filled the little villain with excitement. “We can try to lure him out by-” Midoriya was going to suggest but it appeared that Shigaraki had another idea.

“Or we can make our presence known even more than before. They’ll know we were the ones that destroyed their precious sense of fake security.”

Kurogiri looked between the two and then up at the cluster of students. “They’re becoming restless. It’ll be troublesome if they get close to our Fallen one.” The nomu would attack anyone that was a threat to Midoriya. It would likely kill a student in a single motion.

“You should take care of that then. Scare them. Make sure they won’t want to get close.” Shigaraki answered as he flexed his hand a bit. “How frustrating…” It would be so much simpler if All Might was present. But they would just have to do what they could.

“Isn’t there something we can do?” Kirishima asked Thirteen as they were all just standing there, watching Aizawa doing all of the work. There were more villains in the building than they could count. Surely their teacher shouldn’t be taking on this fight all by himself.

“No, absolutely not.” Thirteen was very quick to deny them permission to fight. However, they were thinking about other options as well. They assured Aizawa that they would keep the students out of harm’s way. And thus they were forced to only watch their teacher fight as a one-man army. It was impressive, to say the least. How could he go so long without blinking? Those goggles did well to keep his eyes protected. But nature’s reaction to blink was a terrible weakness. The moment he lost his focus on the three and the monster in the back of the hoard, one was gone. Where did the one in the classy clothes go?

It was then that a looming aura became too powerful to ignore appeared behind the students. A thin cloud of dark fog rose above them, blocking the main exit of the building. Thirteen was quick to turn around and stand in front of the class protectively, keeping an arm up to keep them back. “We’re only here to steal All Might’s last breath. Please do not interfere or we will be forced to put you through unimaginable pain.” Kurogiri warned. Although a threat, it would be a greater risk in the future if one of the students died. He looked directly at Todoroki, seeing him stand defensively and a frost growing on his cheek. The one he’s been taking care of with Midoriya standing before him like this, he hoped that he would forgive him. But the ones who appeared to be the angriest were Bakugo and Kirishima, glaring darkly and staring at each other from the corner of their eyes.

“Which one of you was it…?” Aizawa asked, stepping on the back of one of the criminals that he had restrained in his scarf beneath his feet. His eyes glowed red with his power, staring at Shigaraki and Midoriya on the nomu. “Which one of you three killed him? It was one of you, wasn’t it?” His voice had never sounded so cold and hateful. Which one? Which one killed his student? Midoriya and Shigaraki looked at each other and Midoriya only let out a childish giggle, making Aizawa’s face twitch and snarl.

“It was you bastards that killed Kosuke, huh?!” Bakugo cried out, leaping forward with Kirishima, palms open and sparking up. They saw it before anyone. They were right in front of it. They smelt that corpse, they sat in its blood, paralyzed. They saw every maggot. They saw the dullness of the golden eyes. All the burns, the burnt insides, the melted jaw, they saw what pain Kosuke must have been through. The ones that caused that pain, the ones that displayed it so teasingly, the ones that had the nerve to come back and show their faces were here before them now. “I’ll fucking kill you for that!!” Bakugo let off a massive explosion directly at Kurogiri’s eyes and Kirishima hardened his skin to be sharp and blade-like, swiping at what he thought would be the villain’s torso. Both of them caused a cloud of dust and smoke to cover the area from their respected quirks.

They missed. They attacked dead on and yet they missed. When the dust settled, the group of students and Thirteen found themselves surrounded in a bubble of darkness. Thirteen still kept their arms up, seeing little that they could do in this situation. But they would still use themselves as a shield if need be. It would only prove to be pointless. While the darkness grew thick, only those that thought quickly could take a few out of the range of impact. When the darkness dispersed it appeared that most of the students, except a few exceptions, were gone. Iida, Shoji, Sero, Sato, Ashido, Uraraka, and Thirteen had all escaped Kurogiri’s warp, leaving the others to fend for themselves in the various areas inside the building.

Aizawa could only look back and witness the uncertain fate of his students. So many had vanished in mere moments but he had to trust that Thirteen would protect those who remained and that the others were strong enough to protect themselves. They were a promising bunch; powerful with bright futures ahead that only needed some guidance. Hopefully, he had given them enough to survive this attack. And it was a villain that almost hoped the same. Midoriya had also watched Kurogiri’s work and saw that Todoroki was no longer on the cliff. He was the strongest of them all, surely he would be fine. Surely Kuogiri warped him to a safer area than the others. The little doctor only hoped that he could walk away from this without a scratch.

At first, it appeared his wish would come true. Dropped in the landslide zone, Todoroki safely landed atop another hill, mud splashing underneath crisp white boots. He assumed himself to be alone and isolated from his classmates. He didn’t see anyone else with him of a familiar face, though he was surrounded by some burly fellows with nasty facial expressions. Many of them were bigger than him, glaring sinisterly. “To kill All Might we’re gonna have to bash a bunch of kids? What kind of job is this?” he heard one of them grumble. All eyes were on him and there were a lot of eyes. “We’ll just have to make this quick then.” One of them cracked their knuckles and neck with a wide grin. Todoroki’s face remained stoic without an expression to be read. Rather, he appeared a bit more focused on the limp cameras that were partially hidden in the muddy zone behind rubble and rocks. They were shut down, but were they broken? “This ain’t the time to be spacing out, kid!” A villain twice his size rushed him head-on. The moment his eyes focused off the camera and on to this violent stranger, the air became frigid. The soggy, muddy ground quickly froze over in moments. Before the villain could even land a punch, his feet were frozen solid to the ground. All of the villains were trapped in the ground as the mud had sunk them all in and made their feet too heavy to lift in time. But the ice did not stop at their ankles or their knees. “Wh-What?” One of them stuttered, shivering as his body was being engulfed.

“Aren’t you embarrassed to lose to a child?” Annoying. This was all simply annoying. His faith in heroes was depleting day by day. The hero training was becoming repetitive and he was losing interest. Now when true villains were before him, attacking him, they couldn’t last even a few seconds in his presence. They were all bravado and intimidation with nothing to back it up. It was pathetic. People like this couldn’t kill All Might even if they wanted to. It sucked to think that All Might didn’t deserve to meet his end by such grunts, even after his heartless neglect of him. But everyone around him had become so annoying, almost unbearable to be around. All Might’s false heroism, his friend’s ignorant reaction to his emotions, his beloved’s bully being loud and obnoxious, people mourning the death of a student who was nothing but cruel to him. And now these villains were underestimating him, mocking the power he had worked so hard to achieve. If only he could just make them all go away.

“For God’s sake, you’re adults. Put up a real fight.” A stoic expression had slightly tensed in a suppressed anger. How frustrating. All of them. Everyone around him. Frost coated his cheek as ice crept up the bodies of every villain surrounding him, leaving them all paralyzed as it began to close in around their faces. A villain suddenly tried to ambush him from behind only for him to simply sidestep and grab the spear that was meant to hit him. He clutched it tightly, glaring at the one that made such a foolish attempt and froze the grunt while he was still in the air. He tore the spear from the nobody’s frozen hands, making him fall pathetically to the ground as he tossed it away without a care. They were frustrating. If they could just go away; forever. They were just pawns anyway. “At this rate, your cells will die slowly.” There was a growing pain visible in the faces around them. He could tell that their bodies were growing numb. Hearing that they could die from the cold made their lips and eyes quiver. Todoroki’s face showed no such mercy or care. He could kill them all where they stood frozen. A hero would never do something so cruel. But did he even want to be a hero anymore?

The villain closest to him’s eyes began to tear up. His fear became more intense as Todoroki raised his hand in front of his face with a threatening frosted air emitting from his palm. “What’s stopping me from killing you is a very thin whim. Tell me on what basis you plan to kill All Might.” If he was caught killing on campus, there would be an outrage. But how tempting it was. To just make his frustrations disappear in a moment.

The pawn easily revealed everything. They were being paid and bribed to be there with the promise of All Might’s head, giving them unimaginable notoriety and infamy. Attention, money, a reputation. They were being promised worthless things and they were so easily swayed by them. Todoroki only shook his head as the other spoke, crying and wailing by the end of his explanation, begging not to die. “The cameras are dead. Who’s quirk is doing that?” They were stuck in this building without a means of calling for help. But from what Midoriya had told him, he observes him every training period via cameras that were secretly placed everywhere. Maybe it would be possible to fix just one and send a message to Yamada for help.

“Th-There’s someone with an electric quirk! I-I don’t know him o-or anything but I think he has a pulse that cuts out a signal in the vicinity!” Todoroki wandered away halfway into the man’s conversation, causing him to raise the volume in his voice in a panic. If the ice wasn’t melted soon, surely he would die or have serious damage done to his body. His life depended on a child’s patience that was growing thinner and thinner. That child wandered to a bit of rubble nearby to two other villains that were also crying and quivering. He merely ignored them and picked up a camera that was completely limp. He inspected it, not knowing too much about electronics. The battery was fine, but it was flashing ‘no signal’ on the back.

“Do you know where the guy is?” he asked, returning to his main interrogation subject.

“The m-m-mountain zone!” the villain’s lips were turning blue and shivering. There wasn’t much time to lose. He had more questions to ask, but anyone could see how hard Aizawa was fighting in the center of the USJ. Help needed to come quickly. So he melted the ice down to the villains’ knees, refusing to let them run free as he ran off to the mountain zone.

Meanwhile, in a darkened building inside the USJ, two students were fighting side by side with fists and explosions alone, holding their ground impressively against villains at every corner. Blasting them against walls, Bakugo held back to the most refined extent to keep the building from collapsing. Kirishima was able to knock their attackers unconscious without much issue. But their exhaustion became more prevalent as their battle had gone on so long because of sheer numbers. When all had quieted down, they stopped for a breather back to back. “Is that all of them? They’re so weak.” Bakugo commented, looking around at the array of unconscious grunts and craters in the walls and floor.

“All right, let's hurry up and save the others.” Kirishima was not about to waste time. He kept the calmest demeanor that he could, but many things were revolving around in his mind at that moment. “If we’re here, then everyone else should be inside the USJ, too. I’m worried about the guys with less offensive ability.” Kosuke had great offensive ability. There was almost a cringe in his voice. “Besides, because we ran off ahead, we slowed Thirteen down. If Thirteen had been able to suck up that fog, then this wouldn’t have happened! As men, we have to take responsibility for what we did!” Kirishima had turned to Bakugo, looking to him for agreement. He couldn’t be the only one thinking this way. But the blond turned away, eyes narrowed and dark.

“If you want to go, then go by yourself. I’m gonna kill that warp gate.” A returned favor for their fallen classmate. Someone on the other side should die.

“What? You’re gonna act childish at a time like this? Besides, that guy’s attacks are-” Be rational with these villains. The grunts were weak, but the ones at the center during the break-in were clearly the real threat. They could kill. They will kill. But Bakugo would not let that fear paralyze him again.

“Shut up! That gate bastard is the enemy’s way in and out. I’m gonna cut off their gateway route for when the time comes. It’s not like we don’t have a way to fight the fog.” They couldn’t let them in again. They won’t escape again. No one’s being taken away ever again.

Their conversation was almost cut off by a chameleon villain pouncing down from the ceiling in camouflage but Bakugo acted far too quickly. Taking the villain’s face in his palm and pinning him to the floor before letting off an explosion calmly. Kirishima was surprised to see such composure coming from him. “Anyway, if these small fry are the ones assigned to us, pretty much everyone’ll be fine, right?” the chameleon twitch in his hand, unable to fight him back. These grunts were utterly pathetic. Despite all the confidence and wit, Kirishima noticed something odd in Bakugo. He appeared to be spacing out at that moment, looking down at the villain under his grasp and then glancing outside. The redhead had little doubt that he was acting this way as a means of payback for being caught paralyzed in fear the day of the Bloody Tragedy. He never wanted to be frozen like that again. The embarrassment he felt and the pride that he lost were so important to him. But this was also a day to try and get vengeance and justice for Kosuke.

“Hey…” Kirishima began. “We’ll win this. Kosuke… was alone that day. They took advantage of that. But here, they’re in our territory. We can fight them off together.” He put his fist in his palm in front of his chest with a smirk. And then he chuckled. “Anyway, were you always so calm and rational? I thought you were more like-” a monster with no sense in social standards and endless desire to kill.

“I’m always calm and rational, you spiky-haired punk!” Bakugo snapped back. But then he began to make his way out. “Go if you want to.” He wasn’t going to force Kirishima to change his mind. Thankfully, he didn’t have to.

“Hey. Believing in our friends! That’s really manly Bakugo! I’ll follow you!”

In the mountain zone, there was screaming, though it came from a teenage boy running for his life. “I just saw the River Styx!” Kaminari cried out, fleeing from villains much bigger than him. He ran to a rock wall and stood beside Jirou and Yaoyorozu. There was only so much he could do with his electric power being too uncontrollable around allies. But with one strong kick from Jirou sending him head-on into an enemy, she turned him into a human stun gun. “Huh, that actually worked! I’m pretty strong!” Kaminari said, sounding impressed with himself. The villain completely collapsed from the shock making him chuckle to himself.

“You two should take this more seriously,” Yaoyorozu suggested, holding a staff in front of herself. After that, the three were forced to defend themselves by using netting and weapons from Yaoyorozu, Jirou deafening the enemy with her speakers, and Kaminari pushing himself as far as he could go with his voltage. Eventually, as a last-ditch effort, Yaoyorozu made a 100mm thick sheet to cover both her and Jirou although she lost a crucial piece of clothing in the process, leaving the smaller of the two with a massive blush of embarrassment. Using her quick thinking as an opportunity, with a bloody nose Kaminari charged his body up as much as he could before letting out a wave of electricity in every direction. When all was said and done, all had become quiet outside the blanket except for a few stumbling footsteps. The two girls peeked out with Jirou clinging on tight to the other for the sake of decency.

“Kaminari don’t you dare look!” she demanded. But she and her words were being completely ignored as the blond was walking around aimlessly with his thumbs up and drool coming from his mouth and blood from his nose. He shorted himself out. “He really is an idiot…” Jirou sighed.

While the ear jack student tried to wrangle Kaminari, Yaoyorozu took the time to repair her costume. Unbeknownst to them all, not all the villains had been taken down. It was almost unfair with how many were in the mountain zone compared to everywhere else. From behind them, a hand shot up from below the ground. Many laid below the surface for protection. But one was down there to hide for as long as possible. But the students had proven that they were not forces that could be taken lightly and reinforcements were needed. It was then that there was a second ambush. So many came out of the ground in mere moments. Jirou lost her hold on Kaminari from the quaking. She almost fell backward when Yaoyorozu caught her from behind. “You’ve got to be kidding…” the shorter grumbled. She plugged her earphones into her legs once again in an attempt to deafen those climbing out before they could attack. Some fell victim, but many others were able to move out of the way from the directional blast. Yaoyorozu tried to create more darts and nets to immobilize as many as she could but the nets were set aflame by a quirk and darts deflected with others. The second wave was much more capable of defending themselves and the group of three students had lost a useful power.

The loss of Kaminari’s usefulness had become a problem. He was a walking target. He walked right up to a villain in a skull mask and spikey hair. He practically let himself be taken hostage. “Kaminari!” Jirou tried to at least get his attention but the single brain cell he had working was not responsive. All she got was a slurred giggle as a hand was placed on his head by the villain. The two girls readied themselves for another battle despite already showing signs of exhaustion of their quirks. But as they prepared themselves, they found they had been surrounded and the villains were prepared to make a move quicker than they were.

“I wouldn’t try anything now. You three have done more than enough. And if you’re really that stubborn, I hope that you’re prepared to see your classmate die.” The villain threatened with sparks coming out of his hand with Kaminari still in his grasp.

“Kill him? Isn’t that a bit extreme even for guys like you?” Jirou growled. Maybe she could just try to distract them all by talking. “Isn’t one dead classmate enough? We didn’t want any of this!” She slowly tried to sneak her earphones to her legs. She had to do it just slowly enough to not be suspicious. But so many eyes were on them.

Yaoyorozu noticed her plan. They both raised their hands to show that they truly were defenseless. “Why are you all here? If you’re here for All Might, he’s not here,” she added to the plan. “Or are you really after all of us?” What was their real target? Were they with the mastermind or just mercenaries?

“It doesn’t matter when you’re just a bunch of kids in our way. And you,” Jirou suddenly cried out in pain as one of her ears began bleeding from something shooting just close enough to knick her. “Don’t think I can’t see what you’re doing!” Caught. The quickly planned idea failed. Now, what could they possibly do?

“S-Sorry… Kaminari…” He couldn’t have the same fate as Kosuke. Not here. Not when he wasn’t alone. “Please… don’t-” None of them were close with the fire-breather, but just the thought of another death… they couldn’t bear it.

The thought was overwhelming. Yayorozu shut her eyes and looked away gritting her teeth. If they moved then he would die. She couldn’t bear that pressure. But to feel so helpless as a hero was shameful. But they had to protect each other. Staying together and strong together was all they could do. Kosuke died alone. But even though Kaminari wasn’t alone, both of them weren’t strong enough to protect him in his time of vulnerability. Pathetic. They felt so pathetic. So weak. How Midoriya would love to see them this way.

But it was out of nowhere that a villain furthest to the back was frozen solid in an orb of ice and went flying towards the center, his body becoming a cannonball and knocking out a few in his path. A dust cloud rose from the landing, fogging up the area in moments. “Ice?!” The one holding Kaminari shouted. Suddenly the air became thin and frigid, almost too cold to breathe in without one’s throat hurting. The ground had frozen completely, though not as solidly as the landslide zone. But it was quick enough to immobilize the second wave of criminals that had surrounded the students. The one holding Kaminari jumped up with him still in his grasp, refusing to fall victim to such a simple attack. He leaped from the ground to the icy rock of an ally, and then to higher ground to watch the reinforcements being taken captive by ice. “Where is this coming from?” he questioned before he was hit in the back with a battering ram of ice. The force made him drop Kaminari who simply made a little “whey” as he began to fall from the small cliff. Thankfully he was caught by a small safety net that was held by both Yaotorozu and Jirou. The villain fell sloppily to the ground but began to spark up as he got to his feet again.

“You’re the one blocking signals.” A voice muttered from behind him. A blast of electricity shot out from the villain but it was blocked by a wall of ice that shot up from the ground. Todoroki glared at him from behind it and let ice quickly take its hold on him. Though he did not freeze him in a thick layer. Rather, he coated all of his body except for his head and physically took hold of his hand that was flexed for an attack. The ice trembled from an attempted attack, but the coating and the chill were too powerful.

“A-Another one, huh?” The villain spat. “I’m not telling you or helping you with anything so get lost!” He was stubborn. But Todoroki’s face did not express patience. He was beyond frustrated. With the villain’s wrist in his grasp, he began to force it to move despite being as stiff as stone. But like stone, it would be breakable. Amputateable.

“I’m not going to wait for answers if that’s what you mean.” Todoroki’s expressionless face was unmoving as he made the threat to snap the villain’s arm off.

“Ow ow ow! Stop! Are you trying to kill me?!” Was he trying to kill him? He almost killed his classmate. Surely he didn’t expect mercy now. Todoroki made no effort to stop his force, even while the enemy began to cry for mercy.

“Todoroki stop that!” Yaoyorozu, on the other hand, was far more patient. She took hold of Todoroki’s wrist and pulled off his grasp before he could snap the other’s arm off. “I know you’re angry, but we can’t do stuff like that.” He blinked a few times, noticing that he had been grabbed and pried off. He was angry. He was willing to severely hurt someone due to this anger. But the people around him were always holding him back.

“After what he did… he almost killed Kaminari.” He deserved it. He deserved it just like Kosuke did.

“We know, but he didn’t. Calm down.” his classmate shook his shoulder a little bit. He was slow to anger. But he was terribly violent deep down. “What signal are you talking about?” Yaoyorozu asked. Behind her, Jirou sat Kaminari down, tying up his wrists and ankles to keep him from wandering off and getting into more trouble. But the knots were loose so he could easily escape when his senses returned. Todoroki gestured to a camera that he had placed on the ground that was still flashing ‘no signal’ on it.

“We can’t contact backup without a signal. I was told someone was over here blocking it. It must have been this guy.” They needed to get the camera working again. In the not so distant distance, there was a loud roar that echoed through the USJ. It was loud enough to pause the conversation completely and caused everyone to look up and try to see over the rocky barricades. It was a horrifying roar with the undertone of a shriek. Something was let loose. “Stay here. Recover your strength and see if you can get that working. I’m going on ahead.” Todoroki wasn’t about to waste any time as he ran off without unfreezing anyone.

“Wait! Don’t go by yourself!” Yaoyorozu tried to stop him but her words weren’t enough. But he was right, they needed to get the camera working. This battle couldn’t be fought alone.

Before the screech, there was still another fight taking place by the entrance. Kurogiri stood his ground by the door, forbidding anyone to escape and call for backup, unaware of an attempt being made elsewhere. “It feels wrong for the class rep to run away while my friends are left behind fighting.” A plan had been made but it did not have Iida’s approval yet. He had the fastest legs, he could make it back to the main building quicker than anyone and he would be everyone’s best bet.

“Quirks are meant to be used to help people. Even if you can’t help directly, you have the ability to save everyone here.” Thirteen did their best to explain to him that the act of getting reinforcements was not an act of cowardice.

“Trust us, we can hold our own.” Ashido clenched her fists alongside Uraraka with a quivering smirk. Fearlessness was something fools had. Courage was something heroes had. Sero, Sato, and Shoji all stood defensively, preparing to make an opening for Iida to flee. Thirteen raised their hand and glared directly at Kurogiri.

“You’re just a bunch of fog. This is a bad quirk match up, villain.” They said rather confidently, opening up a portal in an attempt to suck him away. However, it was not that simple. Numbers had been on their side as well as firepower, but sheer technique was not so. With the use of a simple portal, Kurogiri was indeed partially sucked in by the black hole quirk, but it was merely a scratch to have it directed back at Thirteen. “Huh?” The suction was powerful as ever, but it began to intake parts of them rather than the enemy.

“Thirteen!” Uraraka cried out, seeing their body be ripped apart by the pressure and power. Their own quirk being used against them with all its power, it was painful. Thirteen tried to close the black hole as quickly as possible but the damage was done as half their body was ripped to shreds, leaving them to collapse on the ground and be tended to by Sato and Uraraka in a panic.

“It would be wise to simply stay put without a fuss,” Kurogiri warned with eyes narrowed. The students stood paralyzed, unable to think of another way for Iida to escape. They were trapped. And soon a roaring shriek filled the area, piercing everyone’s ears causing Iida to look back at where their teacher was last seen fighting. Suddenly, escaping didn’t seem like a priority.

Aizawa had fought exhaustingly hard against the pawns that were set up in front of Shigaraki and Midoriya. His eyes were nearly bloodshot from how long he was going without blinking. His quirk was being pushed to his limit and he wasn’t sure how long he could make it past that limit. His control over the binding cloth was his saving attribute as he was able to restrain and manipulate the playing field by making his opponents jump pads and meat shields against each other. But he was able to make his way to the center, to the king of the chessboard he had worked so hard to reach. He was breathing heavily from the energy spent just trying to reach him, but he had more to spare when it came to his student’s lives. “Which one of you three killed him? It was one of you, wasn’t it?” he asked coldly, only receiving a giggle from Midoriya from behind a voice mixer and mask. He watched the littlest villain raise his black-gloved hands to his cheeks and stretched his fingers out with a tilt of his head.

“Talking about that fire-breather and everyone else? Why… that was me~” he hummed, cupping the cheeks of his mask and giggling to himself. “The most satisfying kill I’ve had yet! You should have heard him begging!” He wished he hadn’t.

The stone-faced teacher broke into a hateful glare with teeth gritted and eyes brightly glowing redder than before. A nerve had been touched. It had been violated. These villains break down the door to his school, killing someone from his classroom, and then having the nerve to come here and laugh about it in front of his face. The binding cloth around his neck unwrapped from a grunt as he stared directly at the doctor sitting playfully on the nomu’s shoulder. “Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh at what you did like it was a joke,” he growled. But before he could leap at the boy, Shigaraki had vanished and reappeared before him in a moment, attempting to lay a hand on him.

“How cool! Fighting the famous Eraserhead up close!” he teased.

The two engaged in simple hand-to-hand combat that was not so simple. Both flexible, both fast, both with undying motivations to take down the other. What would make the biggest headline? Would killing a student get more attention or the teacher? What would lure All Might faster? They wouldn’t let anyone escape and call for help, but Kurogiri could warp inside the school to find him and bring him here personally out of anger and irrationality.

Who was the bigger threat? This scrawny man-child covered in severed hands or the masked boy on the monster’s shoulder? Was there someone more powerful in hiding? Which one was calling the shots? Who was the mastermind of this plot? Who was the mastermind behind Kosuke’s death? Were the two close or were they just allying for this occasion? He wouldn’t let either take another life or hurt another child. That’s at least what Aizawa was fighting his heart out for. But having a heart wasn’t enough.

Shigaraki was able to get a hand on Aizawa’s shoulder as he slipped beside him, evading a kick and avoiding the scarf. The tired teacher was shocked seeing that the grab was not just a grab, but an attack. His shirt tore instantly and his skin began to chip away, revealing tissue and muscle that lied beneath. He kicked him away quickly and powerfully as an instinctive reaction, finally landing a solid hit on the villain.

“Tomura!” Midoriya cried out, holding on tight to the nomu. Aizawa took immediate notice of the reaction. They were close. That made them more dangerous. Shigaraki raised a hand to keep Midoriya back and took keep the nomu back still.

“That kinda hurt Eraserhead. But I’m not your final boss here and you’re not mine.” he hummed, getting his footing back. “You’re a lot stronger than I thought though. You’re so annoying…” he looked around at the area and could hear battles going around all over the building. He could feel a chill in the air from a distance. Todoroki sure was powerful. If only he had that power now instead of fishing for it like they were. He began to scratch his neck thinking about how he may be taking down all the mercenaries he worked so hard to acquire. But that power just made him a more attractive party member. “So annoying… All Might’s not here and I have to deal with you and all your brats.” Shigaraki grumbled. But he didn’t want to waste the nomu’s energy on such a grungy man. It would need all its strength for the symbol of peace. So the scrawny villain made another attempt at taking him on himself. He was faster than him, but not by much. And yet he was not stronger than him. The best he could do was graze him a few times with his hands but it could only do so much until he was wrapped in cloth and pinned to the ground by Aizawa’s foot on his chest. The man had never looked so pissed.

“I better be more than annoying. I’d rather be your biggest threat.” Aizawa pressed down hard on his chest. Midoriya tensed up and gritted his teeth behind the toothed mask. Shigaraki couldn’t win like this as much as he would want to. His big brother was not strong in fights like this.

“Tomura…” the boy mumbled. To see him be treated like this, to be looked down on and taken down so easily, it frustrated him. No one should look at his big brother like that, no one was allowed to humiliate him. And yet Shigaraki was still smirking.

“You made him mad. Looks like you don’t have a choice Eraserhead… You’ll meet your final boss today and your end.”

Midoriya stood up on the nomu’s shoulder and pointed directly at Aizawa, hate filling his eyes behind that mask. Aizawa could never do anything for Todoroki. Todoroki wouldn’t be mad… would he? “Kill him nomu! Don’t let anyone stop you! Rip him apart!” he demanded, filled with rage. The monster raised its hand to its shoulder, palm upwards. It let Midoriya on to its hand and lowered him down to the ground safely before raising its head, beak at a 90-degree angle. It let out a roar that shook the ground and had an undertone shriek that severed the ears of everyone who was out in the open. The grunts that stood frozen twitched in fear, the students paused to look in the direction it came from. The real threat was awake and out for the blood of pro hero Eraserhead.

Aizawa glared at the noisy beast, taking his foot off Shigaraki but still keeping him restrained. He wasn’t going to let him get away. But that wasn’t his choice to make. Before he saw it move after its battle cry, it disappeared. Without a moment to think, he felt something slam into his back. It had been stronger than any quirk he had faced that day. It was stronger than all of them combined; he swore he heard his spine snap. He was sent like a ragdoll forwards just to see the monster reappear in front of him and bash him down into the ground, making a crater. His arms didn’t feel right suddenly. Like both shoulders had been knocked out of joints. Before he could push himself up, he was grabbed by the hair and had his face smashed into the ground once. Twice. And a third time. His face and forehead were bleeding, blood coating parts of his face. This thing was barely trying. His head was too small for its palm to grasp properly.

Shigaraki had gotten up, being freed from the cloth and being met with a hug from the little villain suddenly. “You’re impatient.” the taller one grumbled, patting Midoriya's head. But he had a wide smirk that breached the width of the hand on his face. Watching the man that landed a few hits on him be beat to a pulp. The sounds were disgustingly appalling. Bones were snapping with every hit, the sounds of a body being twisted in directions it was not meant to go in; it was something vile. But both villains took pleasure from it. This power belonged to them and their every command.

“H-Hey! I think I got it!” Elsewhere, Jirou was fidgeting with the camera while Kaminari was on his side, still tied up and making weird little noises to himself. “Hello? Anyone there? Can you hear me?” She waved in front of the camera, flipping it back and forth to see if a signal was there. The villain that was frozen seemed dazed with his ears bleeding and some of his hair had been ripped out forcibly with some on the ground. It took some convincing for him to release his interference. And back on the main campus, students from the General Studies course noticed that the monitor reserved for class 1-A had turned on.  Yamada turned to it thinking that the technical difficulties were finally resolved. But he was greeted with a more pressing matter. “I hope this is working because we’re in some deep trouble right now. My name’s Jirou Kyoka of class 1-A. We’re at the USJ and villains broke in! It’s getting pretty bad and a few people are hurt and-” Yamada watched as the camera shook a bit in her hands and Yaoyorozu came into view with her. She looked panicked.

“We need to get going! Mr. Aizawa’s in big trouble!” She tugged her and led her up a small hill where they could see a distant scene of the nomu beating their defenseless teacher. Todoroki was just a short way down the hill, nearly paralyzed by the brutality in front of him. “Oh… oh shit. Wh...What is that thing?” Jirou stuttered, placing the camera down. A creature bulging with muscle was let on a rampage. Its bloodlust could be felt just by watching it. “We gotta… help? Can we even fight that thing?” Should they get close? If it was this dangerous against Aizawa then it could kill one of them with even less effort.

“Huh? Todoroki! Don’t go down there!” Yaoyorozu shouted and reached a hand out as the camera showed their classmate sliding on his ice down to the scene as fast as possible.

“Shouchan!” The clone of Midoriya cried out to the screen seeing him run towards the nomu. Many of the students in the General Studies course were stunned by the scene and Jirou’s message. Even the fake knew that Todoroki rushing down to the front lines was dangerous. Thankfully, it only took moments for Yamada to take hold of the closest phone in the room and make a call. The teacher was scared for the kids, but now someone even closer to him was dancing with death. This was no time to play things calm and formal.

“We have a breach! It’s them!”

An invisible clock was ticking. The nomu continued its brutal torture, taking hold of Aizawa’s arm and twisting to a painful degree and causing a gross snapping sound to fill the air. The teacher had done well to keep the sounds of pain internalized in grunts and groans. But it was then that he couldn’t hold it back anymore. The scream of pain from such a reserved teacher sent shivers to those that could hear. However… even if he wasn’t as strong, even if he was young and no match for this beast, Todoroki froze the ground around him, making a silent trail behind the nomu and froze it to its shoulders and torso.

“What?” Shigaraki commented, his smirk vanishing when he noticed the half and half teenager at the scene. Of course, the one they had to be the most careful of made it here.

“Shouchan…” Midoriya said quietly, fear in his tone. Don’t get close. Don’t see that’s it’s me. Don’t get close to the nomu.

It was then Todoroki shot out another wall of ice, but not at the villains. Rather, making an odd shape, like a ramped wall to control a rollercoaster or skateboard. “Iida!” he shouted, watching his classmate sprint down the cliff from where he had been standing with his classmates and Thirteen. This was no longer an escape mission. It was a rescue mission.

“You think we’re going to let you kill our teacher?!” the speedy hero shouted, using Todoroki’s ice curve to build speed and make a turn too quick for Kurogiri to catch him. The dark fog villain had tried to warp him, but could not catch up and keep him from interfering. Though, just as he got close, there was an explosion in the distance and one on the ground in front of him, making a blinding dust cloud. Next thing he knew, he felt someone grab on to his neck, his weak point, and pin him to the ground with sparking hands.

“Don’t move! Or I’ll blast up your ass so bad that they’ll be piecing you back together for weeks!” Bakugo snarled with a chaotic grin on his face. Finally, he had gotten a hold on this villain.

“Oh, that doesn’t sound very heroic!” Kirishima commented, having risen from the ground after causing just the smallest distraction to allow the blond to grab the villain.

“Dad!” Midoriya was about to make a run for Kurogiri when Shigaraki held him back.

Iida had zoomed right past them while the nomu shook trying to break free from the ice. It wasn’t strong enough to hold it for longer than a few seconds. But it was just long enough for Iida to swipe Aizawa from underneath it and haul him on to his back. The man laid limply over him, barely able to keep his eyes open. “Get…away from it,” he muttered. It wasn’t long after when the ice shattered from its body and it let out another roaring cry. The command was ‘don’t let anyone stop you’. The target had changed. Aizawa had to die. But so did Iida.

Iida tried to make a quick getaway but the nomu was quicker. The class president turned a quick corner only to see the nomu appear directly in front of him. It tried to take a swipe at him, making the hero skid trying to break and crouch down as low as possible. Another trail of ice formed at his feet to help him turn out of the way while also making an ice wall to take most of the impact of the nomu’s attack. Unfortunately, the pressure from it sent Iida off balance and sent him back, tumbling a few meters but he made it so Aizawa never hit the ground. “Pass him!” Todoroki himself then slid by on his ice, nearly skating on it as he passed by his classmate and teacher quickly. He took Aizawa on to his back instead and tried to use agility against the beast, trying to get it to change its target. “We need to keep it away from Mr. Aizawa long enough for help to arrive! We got a call out to the General Studies course!”

Midoriya’s heart dropped. His beloved hero was ultimately their biggest threat here. Quick-witted, courageous, agile, and strong, he had sent for heroic backup and was going toe-to-toe with his monstrous nomu. And yet he was not angry. He wanted him to get away from it. Pass Aizawa off again. Let Iida take the damage. He couldn’t just call off the command because then it would be obvious who he was. He just hoped Todoroki was quick enough.

Todoroki turned on his ice in very jagged and unpredictable motions. The nomu could catch up, but it wouldn’t be able to angle and attack well enough to hit him. He continued these motions while passing Aizawa to Iida so he could regain stamina and keep the creature on a wild goose chase. But, of course, this could only last about a minute. Shigaraki and Midoriya only watched the students’ desperate attempt to protect their teacher when an explosion went off from the cliffside. Kirishima was left with Kurogiri as Bakugo was too eager to be left out of the fray. “I dare you to try it. Try fighting it Kacchan.” Midoriya growled with a smile under his mask. If there was anyone he dreamed of getting beaten to bits by his monster, it was Bakugo. But the blond didn’t go towards the monster. He flew right past it with the force from his hands. “What?” Why did he go past it? It was because he wasn’t going after the nomu. Shigaraki went to try and pull Midoriya out of the way, seeing that Bakugo’s target was him.

“You bastards need to get the hell outta here before I blast you all the way to Hell!” he screamed. His hand extended outward, sparking up for an attack against his old childhood friend behind the mask. He wasn’t smiling. This wasn’t fun. These villains deserved death.

A massive dark hand wrapped around Bakugo’s throat midair. The sparks were covered by its other hand to prevent an explosion. Above all commands… The nomu’s main purpose is to protect Midoriya. The little villain had recoiled in a flinching motion when he suddenly realized that he was not going to be hurt by Bakugo. Todoroki and Iida had frozen watching the monster suddenly change targets so quickly. It held Bakugo in its hand, its beak inches from his face, tongue, and teeth exposed. The boy struggled in its grasp, wriggling and trying to create explosions to fend it off. It didn’t flinch. The explosions didn’t scratch it. He was powerless against this monster. “I’ll… I’ll fucking kill you… for what you did...you bastards.” he choked, kicking his feet and pointlessly biting down on the nomu’s hand. The nomu looked to Midoriya from the corner of its eye.

“Toss him. Like the garbage he is,” he commanded, swiping his arm to the side. Bakugo was thrown with the force of a cannon. Through tree trunks, through forged buildings, through stone, his body left a crater in the wall of the mountain zone. He fell within a distance of Kaminari who was just coming out of his idiotic trance. When Kaminari awoke, he found Bakugo bloodied and completely unconscious.

“Bakugo!” Iida shouted, watching the dust settle from the path he was thrown. Midoriya did not have the chance to give another command before the nomu was back to its original mission. A shadow loomed over Iida as he was suddenly kicked to the side against another rock wall where he too left a small crater from the force. The wind was completely knocked out of him and left him paralyzed for a short time as he tried to regain his awareness and strength to move. Todoroki watched this creature take down his classmates one by one before he tried to make a run for it with Aizawa still limply over his back and shoulders.

“Todoroki… you gotta-” Aizawa tried to tell his student to flee for himself, but his lungs wouldn’t let him talk as he was cut off from his own coughing.

“Save your strength or you’ll die.” Even though his life was on the line now, saving Aizawa was still his priority. Bakugo and Iida did not just get hurt for nothing. Bakugo may even be dead after such a hit. He didn’t want to even consider that.

However, Todoroki couldn’t keep his strategy up by himself for much longer. He was growing tired. His muscles on his right side were becoming strained and exhausted. But he had to keep going. Even if it was just a minute more. But he was slowing down. And that was his fatal mistake. “No!” Midoriya tried to shout but it wasn’t loud enough to be heard through the sound of the Nomu swiping at Todoroki so hard against a lone tree in the area. The wind was knocked out of him as he sat back against the tree that had broken in half from the force. Aizawa was dropped. The beast slowly stomped over to the teacher now that the three distracting it were out of the way. But one was just a little too stubborn and too rebellious to give up. Todoroki created a shell around Aizawa completely made of ice. The nomu broke it with a punch. He remade another when it tried to grab the man. It broke it again. He made another.

“I’m… not letting you kill anyone else…” Todoroki muttered, glaring darkly at the monster. Don’t let anyone get in your way. This boy was definitely in its way. Midoriya began to tremble as he watched his creature make its way over to his beloved.

“Nomu do-!” Midoriya couldn’t bear to watch. He was going to call off the command, even if he was risking his cover. But a blast of sound overpowered him and made his head pound. Jiro stopped down the hill but blasted her speakers directly at Shigaraki and Midoriya, making them both cover their ears and recoil. “You idiots! I’m trying to save him!” he cried out but he couldn’t be heard of Jirou’s quirk.

“Todoroki! Hang on!” Yaoyorozu sprinted down the hill and tried to fire a cannon she made at the beast. It hardly made a scratch as it shielded itself with its arms and was knocked back a few feet. Given this distraction, Todoroki struggled to get himself to move and get away. But he wasn’t quick enough. Suddenly everything seemed so quiet when the nomu bashed its fist into his ribs. The breaking of bones had been so quiet, yet so deafening. The wind was knocked out of his lungs as his mouth opened to scream, but not a sound came out. Aizawa watched in silent horror at the pained face on his student, seeing the nomu’s fist press pass every rib keeping Todoroki’s body together. Iida raised his hand, crawling away from his wall in desperation.

“T-Todoroki…!” he gasped. The monster was going to kill him. Midoriya’s heart shattered as he struggled to scream over Jirou’s soundwaves.

“Shouchaan!!”

Midoriya’s body couldn’t move against the pressure of the soundwaves, he was too weak. His voice wasn’t loud enough to reach his beast. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t loud enough. He wasn’t enough. Tears streamed from his eyes underneath his mask as he watched his beloved endure so much pain as every rib cracked and broke. “Todoroki!!” But someone was quick enough. Kirishima came sprinting from behind the nomu. It was a pointless attack. There was no way he could even dent the nomu, and yet he put all his heart into his fist to punch the nomu in the face. He leaped up to reach it and clung on to its back afterward. It took its fist back, covered in blood, and tried to grab the redhead that was just a bug on its back. But its arms were too bulged with muscle to reach. It struggled to grab him as Kirishima hardened his hair and face to keep headbutting it between its back shoulder blades. “Get up dude! You gotta run!” He shouted. Todoroki still sat awake with his white shirt drenched in red and eyes half-closed. In this state, he still tried to move. His legs twitched as he tried to rise to his feet, but there was another snap from his torso when he tried to move his abdomen. His mouth opened to scream but once again, there was no sound. He couldn't even stand.

“Todoroki you have to move!” Kirishima cried out again before he felt his foot get grabbed. The nomu took him and tossed him aside without the level of force it had been using, seeing more as an annoyance than a threat. Yaoyorozu fired a cannonball at it again to keep it from going back to Todoroki and pushing it back once again.

“Out of my way!” And it was Kaminari that came running up behind her, lugging Bakugo over his back when he dropped him off on the ground beside her and kept going himself. He fearlessly leaped at the nomu’s shin to cling on and zap with the most electricity he could manage without becoming dead weight. “Someone grab them!” He shouted out, stunning the nomu for only a few moments. Tape wrapped around Aizawa from a distance as the ice around him had melted from the source of it being out of commission. Sero bounded Aizawa up and retracted him back to place him on Shoji’s back in case they needed another quick getaway.

Kirishima shot back up and made a dash towards Todoroki when he noticed something appearing behind his classmate. “No! Wait!” Kurogiri had been left unattended. Kirishima couldn’t stay put and Bakugo couldn’t keep his cool. A dark portal had begun to appear behind Todoroki just as Kaminari’s electricity was running out. “Get out of there, he’s behind you!” The redhead tried to warn, but he had become just a blur and a mesh of sound to the half and half boy. But he still tried to reach for him as he was being engulfed from behind. “Take my hand!” He called out for him. Todoroki raised his hand weakly as he was being pulled back into darkness. Kirishima was only able to graze his fingertips as the other student was pulled back into the portal and it closed up before he could reach further. His heart fell to the pit of his stomach as he watched him get taken away. But he still had to move. He snatched Kaminari’s hand and made a mad dash to get away before the nomu could react. The entrance door blew out just as they did, causing a loud boom to get everyone’s attention. Jirou even stopped her attack to see who had finally made an appearance. Shigaraki smiled.

“He’s here~”

“I’ll take good care of you, yeah? Just count on me!” a cheery voice rang in the darkness. In a world of blurring purple and black, Todoroki was just barely able to see a mesh of light blue and tan. A person maybe. He couldn’t tell. He couldn’t breathe. He coughed up blood before he couldn’t see anything anymore.

When his eyes opened, things were quiet. He was under some trees, laying on the dirt, there were some bushes nearby. A forest zone maybe. He couldn’t move, his breathing was hoarse. His torso ached and his chest felt like he was being stabbed. There was a piercing pain in his lower chest. Everything was still blurry and sound was still muffled in his ears. But he could still hear a voice. A different one than before. A deeper one. “Don’t move. My apologies but this is going to hurt.” The voice sounded familiar, however. The same one that had threatened them at the beginning of the attack. He would try to make a motion to defend himself, but he suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his abdomen and heard shifting and cracking of bones from within him. He was able to gasp out choked cries, but they were still so quiet. He felt hands shifting his insides from the outside. “My son is kinda like a doctor. I used to help him study when he first started and I learned a thing or two. Your ribs are puncturing your lungs and air isn’t passing to your brain.” He was suffocating. This man, this villain, was shifting his bones away from his lungs. But it was painful. “I can’t apologize enough for this unfortunate event. This was not supposed to turn out the way it did. We were only here for All Might. None of you were meant to be hurt, just kept at a distance from the nomu. Truly, we are sorry.”

Todoroki felt his head be turned to the side as he began coughing up blood and gasping for air desperately. His hand gripped the grass tightly as Kurogiri stopped moving his bones around. “Please do not move or they may be shifted out of place again. Be extra careful.” He then felt an oddly shaped hand be placed under his bangs on his forehead. It was cold. “Do you think you’ll be alright here until your backup comes?” The boy didn’t understand. This villain was being so kind and so gentle to him. He mentioned a son. He must have been a father. He felt like one. He talked like one. “Would you like me to stay?” Endeavor had never been like this. These villains almost killed him, but it sounded like an accident. This one was taking care of him now. It wasn’t an easily forgivable mistake, but a feeling arose in his chest that was more painful than his lungs and ribs.

“Just… a little while?” he quietly breathed.

“Of course.”

All Might was not smiling when he arrived. Never had he looked so angry. He had outrun all of the teachers to make it to the USJ first. He looked to Thirteen who was being tended to by Ashido and Uraraka. Then he turned to Aizawa who was beaten and bloodied on Shoji’s back with Sero close beside him checking his breathing. “You two had done more than enough.” the pro sighed, lowering his head. He could see Bakugo in the dirt, Iida immobilized, and the others down there struggling to keep fighting although they had all paused with the nomu to see him. “Leave this to me now… I am here.” he nearly spat, leaping down to the center where many of his students were around the nomu. With the beast’s attention on the symbol of peace, the students scattered, helping one another get as far away as possible, Yaoyorozu and Jirou helping Iida, and Kaminari and Kirishima helping Bakugo.

“Took you long enough. I was wondering if anyone was going to have to die before you showed up.” Shigaraki said, folding his arms. All Might did not break a smile. There was nothing to smile about here.

“We’ve been waiting for you. And I thought you would never come.” Midoriya growled darkly. Todoroki got hurt because it took him so long. How long ago had they called for backup and it still took him that long?

“I’ll always be there for my students. I won’t let you take another away from me. Justice will be brought to all of you… especially the one who had committed such a cruel act.” Midoriya raised his hand.

“That would be me. But it appears you’re already too late, big guy. Todoroki Shouto is already in our possession. Face it, you can’t protect anyone. You’re just lying to everyone and yourself.” The little villain noticed All Might’s expression twitch and fists clench tighter.

“Young Todoroki?” he snarled. He could see Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, Jirou, Kaminari, and Iida turn away with a look of hopelessness in their eyes. They lost another one…

“No. Never again. I won’t let you escape with him!” All Might’s body flared up with steam, causing the nomu to prepare a stance and roar a shriek at him in return.

“Kill him nomu! Destroy him!” Midoriya shouted, making the nomu scream louder. The superhuman and the monster fought hard, fist to fist. Had it been another world, another timeline with a successor to the quirk, All Might would be much weaker. But One For All was still his quirk, all of it. His body was growing weaker, but all his power still remained. The fight was one of brute strength and it first appeared to be an even match until the hero backup arrived at last.

Yamada rushed to Aizawa without a second thought, guiding Shoji immediately to an ambulance where the beaten man could be tended to. “We’re here now. We’re gonna get them.” Yamada said to him on the stretcher, holding his hand while first responders did what they could to stabilize him right away.

“The kids… are they all there…?” Of course, he only had one thing on his mind. Yamada smiled just hearing ask such a selfless thing. He looked to Shoji with a quivering smile. Surely all the students were fine, right?

“I heard… Todoroki was taken,” Shoji answered honestly and the loud teacher’s heart stopped. Endeavor’s son. His student’s beloved. Had he really been taken?

“They’re still here. They haven't taken him yet!”  Yamada claimed confidently. He wasn’t going to let one be taken. Not after Aizawa had fought so hard! Yamada wasted no time bolting back inside to assist the other pros.

Grunts were taken down and apprehended with ease. Even with a handful of pros, they were no match for the strategy, experience, and power that they possessed. “There’s a missing student! Fan out and make sure they’re all accounted for!” Yamada shouted as loudly as he could without his quirk to make sure search parties were set up during their offensive. Students were retrieved from the squall zone and fire zone as others were inspected for criminals and students. Students that could manage stayed with large teams to stay accounted for but to also aid in their search.

In a quiet corner of the USJ in a forest zone, Kurogiri still sat with Todoroki. Occasionally he would check his pulse and breathing patterns to see if his bones were shifting and if he wasn’t internally bleeding, though he likely was. Oddly enough, he kept touching his head and face. He was just trying to keep him awake and calm. They were silent with the only sound being the occasional breeze. Todoroki had weak eyes lazily locked on Kurogiri, unable to risk the strength to look away, though closed his eyes peacefully when his face was touched to show he was alive. It was blissful like this. He felt safe. But soon enough there was the sound of rustling and voices a small way away.

“I can hear that your backup has arrived. Let them come to you, alright? Tell them I fled the moment they arrived and you covered yourself in ice to keep me away. They do not need to know our intentions.” Kurogiri explained, slowly removing his hand from Todoroki’s cheek. However, as he went to stand up, his hand was weakly grabbed.

“You’re kind…” Todoroki wheezed quietly. “Th...Thanks…” and he let him go, letting the villain warp off. He was almost upset to see him go.

“I think I saw something!” Hagakure’s voice cried out from a short distance away. Todoroki carefully rolled on his side and tried to raise his hand as high as he could.

“I see someone!” Iida’s voice followed the gesture. Todoroki shut his eyes and lowered his hand, knowing that he had been found.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself to be fairly tall even though he was laying down. No, he was being carried. His head was up, resting against someone’s chest, he could hear a strong heartbeat. “I’m sorry I yelled at you. I’m so sorry Todoroki. I’m so sorry I yelled.” Someone was repeatedly apologizing to him. He could feel that his cheeks were a bit wet, but he wasn’t the one who was crying. A dark blue mess was in front of him. Iida had picked him up bridal style and was leaning over him, quietly weeping. “I thought they took you away like Kosuke… But they didn’t. To think that the last conversation we had was just me yelling at you. I’m so sorry.” Todoroki tilted his head ever so slightly. He didn’t get many apologies. He forced his bloodied sleeve down over his knuckles and used it to wipe Iida’s glasses.

“It’s okay…” he wheeezed quietly. It hurt to talk. The class president raised his head and stared at him, taking full attention to the blood dripping out of his mouth.

“We’re gonna get you help, o-okay? Just hold on!” Todoroki was still in bad shape, and Iida quickly raced to the front entrance without wasting another moment crying over a past mistake.

Midoriya looked up at the ceiling in pure defeat, watching his precious pet be punched into oblivion by the number one hero. He was so certain that it was strong enough to take All Might on. He was sure it could win. But… it lost. They lost. This all had gone so horribly wrong… Todoroki was hurt, the nomu was gone, Shigaraki was humiliated, and All Might still stood… a failure. This was all a complete failure. They could not have done a worse job here.

“We need to get out of here.” Shigaraki nudged Midoriya as heroes began running out of grunts to take down. All Might was on one knee, exhausted from his battle. They could escape at the very least. They could make another plan someday. They could make a better plan. Kurogiri appeared beside the two of them as just an essence of fog.

“We must leave now. We have to hurry before Twice’s quirk run’s out.” Midoriya had to get back to class. How could he hope to pretend that none of this ever happened? But more than anything-

“What about Shou-”

“Todoroki will be okay. You must worry about him later.” Kurogiri began to open a portal to return to the hideout. Suddenly, gunshots rang out and Midoriya felt himself be shoved. “Shigaraki-!” Kurogiri’s voice raised, causing the little villain to look back and see his big brother had been shot multiple times.

“You need to hurry up and change. And you need to warp him back. Get going before I get more pissed off!” Shigaraki spat, as Midoriya turned to tug him back into the portal, his eyes brimming with tears behind his mask.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” he repeated, dragging him inside while they were still being shot at. Looking back, he saw Iida holding a bloody and weak Todoroki to a group of pros. He hated how he was holding him so close. But much closer and in focus, All Might was glaring at them and weakly reaching out to them. “We’ll get you… You can’t run forever you cowards…!” Midoriya turned away and heaved his brother back for the portal to close behind them.

Fast. He had to be fast. But Shigraki was hurt badly. “Tomu-” he insisted on helping him. They had both fallen on the floor, Shigaraki on his stomach and Midoriya on his knees beside him, prepared to try and drag him somewhere to tend to him. But the older villain slapped his hands away.

“You need to go back before you get caught! Just listen to me, damn it! I’m the boss here!” His tone was so sharp. He hadn’t spoken to him like that before. He was mad. Of course, he was mad. Midoriya was too. But… the little villain listened. He shut his eyes tight as he sprinted up the stairs to his room. He stripped, put on his school uniform, threw his masks against the wall and screamed in frustration. His face was damp with angry tears. He went to the bathroom to wash out the temporary black dye in his hair, clawing at his head aggressively, ripping some strands out. He stomped into his shoes and tied them tightly. His tears fell to the floors as he cried tying the knots.

“Shouchan…” He had to go see Todoroki. He needed to see that he was safe, at least.

Kurogiri had brought Shigaraki to the sofa and laid him on his back. Midoriya wiped his eyes as he came down the stairs, trying to compose himself for his return to school. Surely he’d be forgiven for being worked considering what had happened to Todoroki. “I’ll take care of him until you get back.” the oldest villain assured. He calmly approached Midoriya to retie his tie. The little villain had done it so tightly and aggressively. He fixed it for him. “It will be alright. You did your best.” No, he didn’t. He didn’t do anything. He just stood there the whole time. He gritted his teeth and tried not to cry as a portal opened up.

Midoriya found himself in a school bathroom with his clone standing right in front of him. “Tough luck, huh?” The fake asked. “Shouchan got really hurt. I heard they’re taking him to Recovery Girl right away. You should go see him.” Midoriya didn’t say anything, just looking solemnly and emptily at his copy. “You feel bad. But could you at least go see him for me?” Midoriya scoffed at the request and folded his arms, looking away with a forced smile.

“What does he need us for? He has big strong four-eyes.” he was choked up as more tears slipped from his eyes. “After all… I… I almost killed him.” he was the one that hurt him. It was his fault. The nomu was his. He hurt him like Endeavor did. He gripped his head and cried a bit harder thinking about it. “I hurt him so bad…! How can he ever forgive me?!”

“Because he loves you.” the clone merely smiled at his original sobbing. “You forget that a lot. So I’ll remind you. You’re the best he has and you love him better than anyone else. So go see him so you can keep being the best.” The clone giggled and saluted him with two fingers and a smile. “I’m trusting him to you again. Kiss him for me, will ya?” Midoriya wiped his tears with his fists and nodded hastily. He turned on his heels, unable to watch his clone melt away. He burst through the door just as Shinsou was about to walk in on him. He sprinted past him, not stopping to talk to him. He nearly slipped turning a corner in the hall because of how fast he was running. He ran and tripped up a flight of stairs, slamming his hands on the floor before getting up to run to Recovery Girl’s office.

Midoriya opened the door so hard it slammed back against the wall. He heaved and gasped for breath as he stood there, messy hair, damp and red-faced, hands shaking from adrenaline. In one bed was Bakugo wide awake and glaring at his hands as Kirishima sat next to him smiling. In another bed, Todoroki laid with his eyes resting and chest slowly rising and falling. Both boys in the beds were bandaged heavily, but Todoroki was more intensely wrapped at his abdomen and chest. Hearing the door open, one of his eyes peeked to see who had come in.

“Midoriya Izuku, you know better than to enter my office like that.” Recovery Girl scolded her pupil. But he didn’t care to listen to her. He stared at his beautiful wounded hero with his eyes still glistening from crying so much.

“Sh-Sh…” saying his name was so hard. He did that to him. His body was broken and in pain because of him. And yet, his beautiful boyfriend made just the slightest smile to him.

“I’m alright…” he said quietly.

The little villain broke one more time. He shut his eyes and ran right to Todoroki. He climbed on to his bedside and wrapped his arms around his neck and sobbed into the nook of his shoulder. Bakugo merely glanced over with narrowed eyes while Kirishima smiled with uptilted brows. Todoroki placed a hand on the back of his little villain’s head and leaned into him sleepily, running his fingers through his curls. That attack of the USJ… it was a terrible mistake.

Chapter Text

Bakugo’s eyes appeared to flicker watching Midoriya break down into Todoroki. Watching him cry was normal, he cried all the time. But he watched something new appear in the eyes of his former childhood friend. How much darker they’ve become compared the mischievous glow they’ve been exposing more these days. Now they had gone darker than pine and evergreen, nearly black. And it was like they were almost swirling.

“I’m alright…” Todoroki mumbled sleepily, his hand in Midoriya’s hair slowly falling. He was exhausted and breathing must have been so painful. Bakugo saw how his chest struggled to rise smoothly, the pain subtly being expressed by furrowed brows and gritted teeth. The nomu had destroyed his chest and wrecked his lungs. Who knows how close it got to injuring his heart.

“No… no, you’re not alright.” Midoriya brought his head up, cupping Todoroki’s face carefully, leaning over him from beside him on the bed. “You’re in pain. You’re in a lot of pain.” He was shaking. He had a trembling smile. He still had tears in his eyes. “Don’t lie like that. You’re not alright.” He did this to his hero.

Bakugo wanted Todoroki to open his tired eyes at that moment, wanting him to see the madness that had become obsessed with him and leave it in the dust. With how Midoriya was now, something about him didn’t seem safe. Something in his gut told him to say something. He had been staring for so long with narrow eyes, would it be more awkward to say something or nothing? “Don’t lie to me… Don’t pretend that it’s okay.” Midoriya’s hands were becoming stressed, gripping his face tighter. Although it was subtle, the blond bystander suddenly noticed Todoroki’s face express a bit more pain.

“Stop that! Can’t you see that you’re hurting him, you idiot?!” Midoriya immediately let go with a silent gasp. His hands moved to his head and clutched it tight. He did it again. Without even thinking. “Give him some space, will ya? The guy just had his ribs crushed and he’s hardly breathing! The hell’s wrong with you?” Bakugo fearlessly scolded him.

“Hey, I’m sure it was just an accident.” Kirishima raised his hands slightly and spoke softly to relieve some of the tension and anger in the air. Surely, Midoriya didn’t mean to be so rough.

“Accident or not, someone like him should know better to be more careful.” the blond growled, not breaking his gaze away from the little villain who glared right back.

“And what do you know about being careful around people?” Midoriya snapped back, hands clutching the sheets and nearly baring his teeth. Bakugo knew nothing. He never understood anything about anyone. He only cared about himself!

Sparks flickered in Bakugo’s flexed hand as he forced a chaotic smile. “I know you’re not safe to be around people, you freak.” he sat up a bit more despite it clearly causing him a bit of pain. One eye closed and his body trembled from the exertion, but his attitude and morale were nowhere near as defeated. Midoriya, in turn, turned around on the bed and glanced at a rolling table with a few medicines, creams, and bandages on it. There was a pair of scissors that he grabbed with a shaking hand and quivering smile, eyes dark and swirling.

“A trigger happy narcissist like you shouldn’t be around people either.”

Midoriya was about to leap off the thin mattress and Bakguo would have done the same if it were not for interference. Todoroki weakly took hold of the lower rim of his little villain’s shirt and Kirishima grabbed both of Bakugo’s shoulders to hold him back. The two boys, overtaken by bitterness at the moment paused and looked back at both of their impulse controls. Todoroki opened his scarless eye halfway as he breathed heavily, struggling to get a word out. He opened his mouth to talk but only managed to cough once and have a small amount of blood come up. “Not in here, man. And don’t go picking fights while you’re like this. We just got done fighting a bunch of bad guys.” Kirishima held Bakugo back easily thanks to the blond’s weakened state.

“Yeah, but we fucking missed one!” But he still tried to fight back, ultimately being unable to overpower rock in his state. He struggled only for a few seconds when he saw Midoriya drop the scissors and take a cloth to wipe Todoroki’s chin and have him tilt his head forward, cloth to his mouth.

“Cough it out. Don’t swallow it,” he said gently. And Todoroki did just that, coughing lightly into the fabric to stain it red. Afterward, the little villain pushed him to lay back before laying beside him, almost falling off over the edge, and petted his hair with his nose against his cheek. “Tell me when you need something. You can text. I’m not leaving. I have to help you get better. I’ll take care of you. I’m gonna take care of you.” he mindlessly began to mutter to himself, petting his hero’s hair consistently, not taking his mad swirling eyes off of him.

“He’s fucking lost it…” Bakugo grumbled, laying back and folding his arms, petty.

More kisses were in store for Todoroki and Bakugo from Recovery Girl, trying to give them as much paced healing as possible before they would be brought home. Midoriya and Kirishima chose to stay as other students went home immediately do to the break-in. Authorities and heroes were all over the school, checking to see if anyone was lingering in the main building or anywhere else on campus, unbeknownst that their main culprit was sitting next to their boss’s son. Bakugo’s father came first as a hot mess with panic and worry. He reminded Midoriya of his mother. “Katuski, Katsuki, my god, are you alright?” He stumbled in and put one hand on the bedframe and one on Bakugo’s shoulder who just looked annoyed and frustrated.

“I’m fine…” he grumbled. “What do they know? Who the hell were those guys? And that monster?” he still had his arms folded, his grip on his arm clenched tighter. “Do we have names? Because I’m gonna kill them when I find them.” Todoroki laid fast asleep but Midoriya was wide awake. Having been kicked off the bed by Recovery Girl, he was forced to sit beside him, resting only his head on the mattress. But he was staring at the father and son across the room.

“You can’t go after these people. But I talked to the hero Endeavor near the entrance.”

Endeavor had been very begrudging to give any details to the public because of how clever the villains have been lately. He knew he was being sent in circles. He knew each missing person was like a wild goose chase. Letting anyone know could send them even further from the truth. However… the desperation showed by Bakugo Masaru just minutes ago was enough to make him crack. The man had been a quaking mess, tearful and overwhelmed. He had gripped the pro’s costume and looked up at him. “Please. I need to know who are the people that are after my son’s class. They’ve hurt him! What if they go after him next!?” Endeavor merely closed his eyes and shook his head, pushing the other off with no effort. Their sizes were not the only extreme difference between the two.

“I cannot reveal that information. Go about your day normally, citizen. We’re doing what we can.” His presence was hot with fire but his aura was cold. Was there even passion left him? Masaru had gulped and took a few steps back, stunned for a moment. This man wasn’t scary. No one was scarier than his wife.

“You have a son too, don’t you!? You have that comfort of knowing how to protect him better than anyone! I’m begging to at least have a name or a face! Help me protect my only son!”

Bakguo’s blood-red eyes stared up at his father. He watched him take a deep breath. “I beg of you not to pursue these people on your own Katsuki… But the detectives were able to speak with your teacher for just a few moments.” Midoriya watched them both from the opposite side of Todoroki’s bed. He wondered if Aizawa would succumb to his wounds. “Based on some footage and interrogations done on the villains captured-” Bakugo snapped.

“I wanna know the name of the one that killed Kosuke!” he was getting impatient.

“It was the one with the mask. He’s been dubbed the name Fallen. It’s what the one with hands, Shigaraki, called him.” Behind Todoroki, Midoriya’s mouth went wide with a hidden grin, every tooth showing and his eyes brightly glowing green. His name was out there. He’s made a name for himself. He was acknowledged. “It’s...rather sickening. They believe he’s been doing human experimentation. Katsuki, your mother and I can’t let you go out alone for a while knowing someone like that is after you-”

“That’s lame! I can take care of myself!”

“This is serious, please don’t argue with me. Your mother thinks the same.”

“To hell with that! This ‘Fallen’ isn’t going to fall to Hell, I’m dragging him there!”

Bakugo’s father held his forehead as he didn’t know how to argue with his son over such a pressing matter. Surely, he believed that teenagers deserve their privacy and should be trusted to go out as they please. But this was a matter of safety. For his life. “Well, I wouldn’t mind going with him if it’ll make ya feel better, mister,” Kirishima spoke up with a smile. He flexed his arm and held his muscle proudly. “Bakugo’s super strong. He can do things himself, but class 1-A needs to keep an eye out for each other. It sucks but I wouldn’t mind doing a buddy system with him.” Midoriya’s smile had vanished as the conversation continued. But now he blinked, acknowledging Kirishima fully now. He had never really noticed him before but he did spend an awful amount of time with Bakugo. He was there with him during the Bloody Tragedy. There during the interviews the next day. They attacked Kurogiri together and were warped together. They tried fighting the nomu together. He should be treated as a true enemy. However… when Todoroki was being crushed...he released Kurogiri to save him. Todoroki would have died if it wasn’t for him. Even though Kurogiri wasn’t a threat to his beloved, Kirishima didn’t know that and tried to rescue him. He looked miserable that he failed. And that was worth more than any bitterness Midoriya had against him for being with Bakugo.

“Oh, like hell! I don’t need an escort!” And yet the blond was still stubborn.

“This is for me too, man! We gotta take care of each other now. Look what the monster did to you with one swing!” Kirishima did have a point. It made Mr. Bakugo smile.

I would greatly appreciate it, young man.” Perhaps his son could finally make a real friend this way too.

“This is-” Bakugo was about to protest one more time when he looked towards the redhead who wasn’t smiling anymore. He looked worried. It was a caring kind of worried. He wasn’t looking down on him or calling him weak. These villains killed heroes and were targetting their class, likely for All Might but maybe personal reasons now. Their strongest classmates and their teacher were put out of commission. Now was the time for cooperation, working together, and protecting each other. “Fine…” he gave in quietly.

“Great! Because I also totally need help studying for our next exam!” Kirishima beamed.

“You played me!?” the redheaded student only laughed, glad to see his ego didn’t take too much of a hit after all.

The three had long left by the evening. Endeavor still had not come by to take Todoroki home yet, probably taking all the time he wanted and needed to inspect the school and the USJ. Midoriya hated how that was his first priority. He had half a mind to just take him back to the hideout right away. But he needed to tend to Shigaraki and his gunshot wounds first. Hopefully, Kurogiri was keeping him stable. For now, he leaned his head against Todoroki’s and scrolled through mindless videos online. Todoroki was at least half-awake, watching with him in silence. They just needed each other’s company for their hearts to be at ease. Eventually, it wasn’t Endeavor that arrived, it was Fuyumi. She was still dressed like a teacher with her tote bag over her shoulder and still in loud heels. They heard her running down the hall before seeing her come through the door, gasping for breath. “Shouto…!”

Fuyumi rushed to her little brother’s side and put her hand on his forehead, watching his eyes focus on her rather than Midoriya’s phone screen, but his exhaustion was obvious. “I’m so so sorry I couldn’t come sooner. I-I-I got a phone call like, two hours ago a-and I was still in class and there were no subs on duty and th-the kids- and the police weren’t l-letting anyone through and Dad- are you alright?” she was rambling trying to find an excuse for herself but clearly she cared. Midoriya watched her carefully. She didn’t seem like a bad person, rather a bystander. Someone who never goes out of their way for nothing. Todoroki raised his hand to place over his chest, feeling his own ragged breathing.

“Hurts to talk…” he answered quietly. Fuyumi’s face softened with sympathy and carefully placed her hand over his.

“I understand… let’s get you home, yeah?” she took her hand back and began gathering his things that had been brought to his bedside a long time ago. While she did so, Midoriya leaned close to his ear.

“I’ll come get you as soon as I can,” he whispered. He then watched as Todoroki expressed so much pain from simply trying to get off the bed. It took both Midoriya and Fuyumi to help him and he was forced to leave with a crutch in an attempt to keep himself upright. Midoriya felt his insides twisting at every grunt and sharp inhale he heard coming from his beloved hero knowing full well that it was his fault he hurt. Would Endeavor be cruel enough to interact with him like this?

Midoriya sprinted back to the bar, not even texting Kurogiri to pick him up when he was likely tending to Shigaraki. He could run. He’s done nothing all day so maybe he could at least make it back on his own. Maybe he could just do something on his own for once. Even when his legs began to hurt, he just kept running. When his chest and throat felt like they were on fire, he kept going. Shigaraki wouldn’t have stopped to take a breath if the roles were reversed. Shigaraki deserved nothing but the best from him, and he was going to prove that his faith wasn’t going to be in vain.

Midoriya burst through the door and didn’t even take the moment to kick his shoes off and instead went into the elevator to get directly to his lab. He passed Kurogiri who was at the bar, fixing something to drink. “Izuku, hold a mome-” but the little villain didn’t want to stop. Was Shigaraki stable, asleep, in pain? He had to know. But he had to prepare first. Once the double doors opened again, he rushed to his desk and cabinets, opening drawers and doors without closing them. He had always been so neat and tidy, able to calmly and precisely pick out what he would need to fulfill his needs. But here he had become frantic, grabbing anything that appeared to be useful at first glance. So many vials and bottles he had knocked over. Some even shattered, getting the tile floor dirty.

“Where… Where…” he muttered to himself madly.

The little villain would suddenly feel two hands on his shoulders, making him jump and fumble a few things in his arms and a couple of things fell. Looking behind him, he saw Kurogiri. He should have known. He could warp anywhere he wanted in the building. “Hold on…” he said quietly and began reaching for things in Midoriya’s arms and placed them on the desk. He started separating them from things he needed and things that were unnecessary for him.

“I-I can do it myself…!” Midoriya tried to stop him, but his hands went right through the fog.

“He’s stable, the bleeding has stopped for now. He has a bullet lodged in the back of his left shoulder and right thigh that I can’t trust myself to retrieve. He’s a bit agitated so don’t feel hurt if he snaps at you.” Kurogiri explained, eventually taking a small box out of Midoriya’s desk to fill it with things he actually needed.

“He has a right to…” the little villain mumbled sullenly. Watching Kurogiri pack up his supplies like it was a bento box for school felt nice but so terrible at the same time. He lowered his head, not wanting to watch, and just stared down at his feet. “I… let him down.”

Midoriya tightened his eyes and gritted his teeth, letting the sadness and guilt overwhelm him. “He had such high hopes for me and us together. I was useless… I-”

He felt a pair of hollow arms wrap around him, a hand forcing his chin on to a shoulder. “Without you, the nomu would have been defeated much more quickly. It stood a chance thanks to your research. Shigaraki can have a secondary plan involving the Todoroki family because of you. He will be able to make a quicker recovery because of you. Do not forget the positives you’ve made. He would have failed with, or without you. It was not because of you.” Kurogiri reassured in a hushed and calming tone, making the little villain freeze up. The dark fog villain had got on one knee to embrace him in an attempt to restore his confidence that was desperately needed now more than ever. They needed to bounce back.

But there was so much more weighing on him. He began to tear up and hugged him back tightly, nails digging into the back of his shirt. “I hurt Shouto…! The nomu that was my responsibility hurt him so bad! How could he ever forgive me for that? Shigaraki doesn’t have plan B anymore either!” Kurogiri let him grip and cry if that’s what was needed. Clearly, his babysitting style with Shigaraki was complicated and confusing. He had a feeling he didn’t do what was best and failed the one that gave him a purpose now. Maybe he could do better with this freckled child.

“Todoroki will forgive you… For that, you must trust me.” Midoriya had seen Kurogiri warp Todoroki away from the nomu. But he hadn’t a clue that they interacted afterward.

“Did you… talk to him? Was that a good idea?” Midoriya asked quietly, still holding on.

“I did. You would know that he can be understanding when it comes to kindness.” The little villain nodded with a smile, suddenly feeling a little better. He wouldn’t ask what they talked about, using ignorance to keep himself from hinting himself away to Todoroki later. But his trust in Kurogiri was limitless.

“I think if you were just being yourself he would get attached to you too…” It only took a father figure. Kurogiri became more thoughtful about the moment Todoroki asked him to stay by his side until someone arrived even though he was supposed to be an enemy. It only took him being himself. But… what was ‘himself’?

Midoriya slowly let go and wiped his eyes with his sleeves before grabbing the box that had been packed on his desk. “I’m going to help Tomu now. Can we pick up Shouchan when I’m done? I don’t trust him like that with Endeavor.” Kurogiri slightly bowed his head.

“Of course.” With the confirmation, Midoriya went right to the elevator, leaving Kurogiri unintentionally to clean up the mess he made in his lab. He started by collecting shattered glass by a small puddle of a chemical when he swore he felt the temperature around him rise. In the corner of his eye, he believed that he saw a reflection of a person that wasn’t him. But upon focusing, there was no one. He thought it strange although he paid little mind due to other pressing matters.

“...Tomu?” Shigaraki’s bedroom door creaked open as Midoriya gently pushed it open. He’s never been in this room. It wasn’t like he avoided it, but this was Shigaraki’s private place and he hoped that he wasn’t ruining it. The room was so dark with the only light coming from the white screen of a giant computer monitor. Occasionally it would flash ‘no signal’ in a small black box. Midoriya tried to walk in further and nearly tripped over one of the many trash bags that were just lying around. Shigaraki was either a slob or just lazy with cleaning. No wonder he needed Kurogiri. Looking around a bit, he saw that his walls were cluttered with papers, newspaper cutouts, and pictures of heroes. Some words were highlighted and some pictures were X’ed out with markers. He had bookshelves that were cluttered with books and notebooks and even a few figurines of heroes and video game characters. His floor was hardly navigable with all the garbage above all else. There was only a thin clean trail, likely made from Kurogiri coming in and out a few times that day. It led to the door and Shigaraki’s twin size bed and in that twin size bed was Shigaraki himself, laying on his back with clothes carefully placed over each bullet wound. He had one in each leg, the back of his shoulder, one grazing his side, and one in his left bicep. And yet he laid so peacefully with his eyes closed, his father’s palm over his forehead, and breathing steadily. Midoriya felt his chest tighten and turn seeing him in this state. He caused this too. Shigaraki protected him from those bullets when they were escaping. He took every one of them. “Tomura… I’m so sorry.”

Dull red eyes slowly opened, looking towards the emotional little villain. “I’ve seen worse,” Shigaraki grumbled, forcing himself to sit up.

“No! Don’t move!” Midoriya tried to keep him down, but the older one kept his hand up to keep him from interfering. It looked like he was in some pain, but nowhere near as much as Todoroki. He just looked tired from the blood loss. His body didn’t have the nutrition to make this easier for him. He sat up and put his legs over the side of the bed and hunched over a bit.

“Kurogiri said most of them went straight through except two. You better be fucking careful ‘cause I’m not one of your dolls.” he sounded untrusting, but he said it with a smirk. Sarcasm at a moment like this. Midoriya tried to hold his smile back, but he couldn’t help but be happy that his big brother was still himself. He climbed up onto his bed and got on his knees behind him.

“Your room is so dark, it’s hard to see,” he said, using his phone as a flashlight to see the wound. “You live like a raccoon,” Shigaraki grumbled and rolled his eyes at the comment.

“Do not.”

“Bite the blanket if this gets too painful. Don’t clench your teeth.” Midoriya warned, going through his box. Pain killers were blood thinners and he couldn’t risk Shigaraki bleeding out any more than he already had. They’d have to do this manually and forcibly. The older villain merely closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He heard his shirt being cut into with scissors to keep the fabric out of the way. Midoriya knew him well enough that he wouldn’t want to take his shirt off despite it being completely ruined already. The sound of a sanitized tool going into his wound was more painful than the feeling for him. He closed one eye and his body tensed up with a small exhale escaping his teeth, but he hardly flinched more than that. The little doctor almost found it disturbing. He was so still. He was so quiet. He accepted the pain so willingly. Thankfully, it only took hardly any time to find the bullet lodged in the wound. Shigaraki didn’t have a lot of meat to poke through to find it. “I’m gonna stitch it now, okay? You doing alright?” the older villain scoffed at the question.

“Fucking Plus Ultra…”

Midoriya smirked and put his face into the back of Shigaraki’s good shoulder. He was so stupid sometimes. How was he like this after they just lost so much? His pride, his nomu, his looming secrecy. They never killed All Might. How was he like this? Why was he being like this? Wasn’t all this so painful? “You’re… really strong Tomu. I wish…” the little villain’s smile was quivering. “I wish I could be strong like you…” No fear. No regret. No moment of weakness. Midoriya could only dream of being like that. Shigaraki didn’t respond to him and closed his eyes peacefully, waiting for a needle to sting on his back. A minute later, his face scrunched from the sudden sharp pain of a needle flowing in and out of his skin. His movement was so limited, it was a mystery to how much pain he was actually taking in. When Midoriya finished his work on the first bullet wound, sanitizing and patching it accordingly, he moved to the floor and got on his knees beside his older brother’s legs. Shigaraki moved forward so he could get to the back of his thigh where he felt him dig a tool into him once again after a hole in his pants was cut. The little doctor did not let curiosity distract him from his work and focused on finding the bullet rather than examining the other’s face to see how he was reacting to the pain. A part of him was dreadfully curious. He examined others’ pain as a means of research. He wondered how much pain tolerance his big brother had. Was it the same everywhere? What was his true weak point? But he had self-control for him. He was just a doctor now and nothing more. It took him just a bit longer to find the one in Shigaraki’s leg before carefully removing it, the sounds of the muscle, tissue, and skin shifting didn’t phase either of them. The hole in his leg was stitched swiftly before any bandaging was to be done. That was when Midoriya took his time Shigaraki’s torso and limbs, wrapping them efficiently but not too heavily so he could still move more freely. He couldn’t help but glance at the other’s face and notice how tired he appeared. His silence was enough to show that he was upset. But what was he truly thinking about?

Suddenly, there was a quiet beep from across the room that took all of Shigaraki’s focus away. His head snapped up and his eyes displayed much more light, focus, and awareness. It made Midoriya jump and look to where he was facing. The screen on his computer was no longer white but it was very dark with a blurry masked man displayed through a camera. Tubes were going into his mask where not even his eyes could be seen through it. Midoriya could assume that his face was best left unseen. Those tubes were for medical purposes. He wasn’t healthy. “Tomura…” his voice was deep. But something about it sent a shiver up the little doctor’s spine. The aura his very voice projected was enough to make him freeze. His skin was crawling. What was this man’s power?

“Master I-” Master. His big brother’s master. In a different kind of way: his Todoroki. The look in his eye, the focus was intense. The affection. The intent behind his stare was not one of romantic obsession. But the desperate need to cling to him and all his words was there.

“Do not fret this failure Shigaraki Tomura. You can always try again, there is no reason to dwell on this.” He was forgiving of him. Was he kind? The masked man every so slightly tilted his head. “I see, presumably, the doctor you told me about. I nearly doubted him when you told me his age, but he appears to be skilled despite being so young. You’ve done well to find and train him.” he praised. Midoriya lightly held onto Shigaraki’s bandaged upper arm.

“We’ve lost the nomu. But it was not destroyed.” Shigaraki said honestly.

“We can not so easily recreate one of that type. Most people’s bodies could never handle that much power. But we can accommodate with others in the future if you need them. I trust they will be used effectively under your care.” He was trusting.

“I regret misusing the first one. I could get it back-” Midoriya regretted misusing the first one. But they both felt equally responsible.

“Don’t waste your time. This was but your first attempt. You will have as many as you desire. For now, I want you to recover. Those wounds are serious and you require that rest. It would put me at ease knowing you are taking the time to heal, and I trust you will use it wisely.” He was caring. “Perhaps you could build a stronger, solid team to support you. Maybe put your doctor to better use. He does appear to have potential. You can manage those things while recovering, can’t you?” Shigaraki lowered his head, but his eyes were locked on the screen. There was fire in those red irises.

“Of course I can.” There was a small scoff of approval from the masked man.

“Of course you can. I have the utmost faith in you. Now take care of yourself and prepare.” he nodded and the signal was cut, leaving the screen white again.

Shigaraki blinked slowly once the screen returned to its original state and looked up at the ceiling. Midoriya watched him react slowly but soon returned to bandaging him and taking special care of his side where a bullet grazed him rather deeply, but not enough for stitches. “That was your master, huh? He seems…” What was the best word to use?

“He knows best. He always seems to know what to do and what to say.” Shigaraki came up with a description for him. “And yes, that was him.” Midoriya nodded in understanding before smiling softly.

“He’s pretty special to you, huh?” Shigaraki lightly scoffed with a smirk before nodding as well.

“Yeah…” And the older villain would feel a head lean against his shoulder and someone clinging to his neck. He looked over at Midoriya to see what he was doing and turned out he was just hugging on to him. They were pretty special to each other too.

“I’m gonna go get Shouchan. But come get me if you need me.”

It wouldn’t take long at all for Kurogiri to transport Midoriya to the wall of the Todoroki mansion, but instead of climbing over, the little villain went near the front gate. Todoroki would be better off not using his ice or falling over the wall into a portal in his condition. Kurogiri held the freckled villain on his shoulders to see over the wall as a lookout. It would take much longer for Todoroki to exit his home as he used the front door this time. He didn’t pack a bag and had Zuzu on a short leash tied to his crutch as he staggered out the door, exhausted from just getting through the mansion. He seemed a bit wobbly with his single object of support while trying to keep as straight-backed as possible. Unfortunately, he only made it halfway down the path to the front gate when he became unstable and Zuzu jumped up against his leg. “I-Izuku…!” Kurogiri tried to yell but kept his voice at a whisper to not be heard by anyone that could be around despite the area being mostly empty except for a few wandering cats. He saw Midoriya claw at the wall and clumsily climb over and leap from the top of it carelessly. Todoroki had remained in one spot, his legs nearly spasming trying to keep himself up. Before he could collapse, he felt another support rise up under his other arm and up against his chest as the freckled boy rushed to hold him up.

“Just a little further. I’ll take care of you.” He looked up at him, eyes clouded in subtle darkness that seemed to swirl in an unhinged stare. “I’ll make all the pain go away.” Todoroki nodded tiredly, his breathing was heavy from what the little doctor could hear up close. His chest only hurt seeing him like this. He caused this, even if it was an accident. He helped him to the front gate with Zuzu slowly keeping pace to not take the crutch out from underneath her owner. Todoroki, meanwhile, closed his eyes and followed Midoriya’s lead to the front gate. The air was still for a moment before he heard his feet walking on hardwood.

“We’re back now,” Midoriya said to Todoroki quietly after they were warped to the room Kurogiri had for the hero student. The wounded boy hastily kicked his shoes off and dropped the crutch. Zuzu escaped with her leash slipping off the crutch and scampered to and up on the bed where Todoroki followed with Midoriya’s assistance. He laid down with a long sigh. Midoriya leaned down over him, placing his hand over the other’s abdomen, sliding it around carefully. He watched little Zuzu nuzzle herself in the nook of Todoroki’s neck as he appeared to be in exhausted distress. “Recovery Girl healed you, didn’t she? Did Endeavor-” why was he still in so much pain? By God, if Endeavor was the cause, Midoriya’s eyes had darkened swirls but flashed red at the thought.

“No...it’s only when I move,” Todoroki answered, raising his hand to rest in his dog’s fur. The little puppy was quietly whining at him.

“Okay…” Midoriya breathed. He felt himself shaking. He had become so anxious, out of control of his own movements. “Shouto I’m just gonna…” he pinched the lower rim of Todoroki’s shirt where he could get a peek at bandages underneath. He glanced back at his beloved’s face and saw him clenching his jaw. He was just going to look. Midoriya lifted Todoroki’s shirt to just above his chest and below his neck to expose his damaged torso. Bandages covered him so he couldn’t get a proper look at his wounds. “Give me a second.” the little villain raised his hands before backing up and then running to the door. He had not even opened the door when he noticed the box of supplies was at the threshold at his feet. Kurogiri was always one step ahead of him. He picked it up and went back, taking out a scalpel and gulping. Looking down at his beloved hero like this, laid down in pain, practically immobilized and helpless… he looked just like a subject. He was so wounded. He was in so much distress. He was at his mercy. The doctor felt his heart in his throat all of a sudden. Was Todoroki in the same amount of pain as those that were on his table before? This was all the little villain’s fault.

One of Zuzu’s whines came out a little louder than the rest, reclaiming Midoriya’s attention. Not now. He wasn’t a doctor at the testing table in the lab. He was his beloved’s healer now. He took the blade and only used it to cut the bandages in half and remove them. Nothing more. He didn’t even scratch him. There was a lot of discoloration. Deep purples, reds, and black were in small splotches around the center of Todoroki’s torso. Midoriya softly put his hands on Todoroki’s sides, gently applying pressure and watching him react with subtle twitches and silent small gasps. His skin was soft and smooth. He’s seen him half undressed before but never had he felt him like this. “It got you bad…” he whispered, eyes focused on every movement his beloved hero made. One little press of his thumb over a specific rib caused him to flinch with a muffled cry through his teeth. It was hurting him. Both of them. “It’s soreness. She’s healed your wounds, but she can’t push the healing process through an injury like this.” Midoriya looked at him sadly. “Shouto, did you ever see what happened to you?”

Todoroki had only watched Kurogiri’s face when he felt him shifting his bones. He only saw his face and the sky through the glass of the ceiling. When Iida came for him, he only saw Iida’s face and his tears. His blue hair blocked most of his view. Had he ever seen his own wounds? Midoriya was too far away when Iida carried him to safety and the nomu’s massive size blocked him from seeing the injury right as it happened. Was there a single moment where he may have peeked? He shut his eyes to try and remember.

“I…” Maybe for a second, he looked. He looked down at his exposed abdomen and tried to think back to the moment he saw Kurogiri. “There were bones… sticking out.” His costume was so bloody. But the nomu punched him. A brunt force couldn’t make him bleed, right? “Some of my ribs, I think… came out.” How awful he must have looked in front of Iida. No wonder he cried. How mangled he must have looked with bones jutting out of his body, blood-soaked and broken. Recovery Girl fixed them and put them back into place, but he was going to be sore from so much trauma.

The discoloration was not just bruising, they were puncture wounds but coming from the inside. “Yeah, you’re not gonna wanna move. Just stay right here.” Midoriya said softly, still keeping his hands on him. He hadn’t noticed. His dull eyes were locked on every splotch on him that the nomu caused. “Just stay here...with me.” His thumb gently ran over one of the discolorations. They would need some ice and some time. It would all go away. He could fix this. He looked to his beautiful hero’s face, turned away with closed eyes and slightly upward tilted brows. With his shirt rolled up to his neck like this and an expression like that Midoriya couldn’t catch himself smiling twistedly slightly. He was in pain but… so vulnerable to his hand. Almost like a subject. How cute...

Cute?

Midoriya took his hands back and pulled Todoroki’s shirt back down. Why was he thinking like that? He couldn’t be. Todoroki should never be looked at like he was on the testing table, nor should he be looked at so inappropriately. It wasn’t cute. It couldn’t be cute. He couldn’t think of him like that. He dropped the smile and moved his hands to his hero’s cheeks to angle his head up where he gently placed a kiss on his forehead. “I’ll take care of you now…” Midoriya stayed by his bedside for the days school was canceled after the incident. Yamada stayed at Aizawa’s. Shigaraki became glued to his computer.

Chapter Text

How long had he been working now? It was sometimes surreal that the laboratory didn’t have windows. It was difficult to tell what time it was. The lab seemed so dark, the walls shrouded in shadows to make them look like a void. The light over the testing table was dim and flickering. Kurogiri would have to replace it eventually. It was distracting. Annoying.

Midoriya worked quietly over a restrained subject, the darkness of the laboratory obscuring the face. Not like it mattered what they looked like. The little villain was focused on the insides where he had the stomach and lower chest split open. He was picking and poking around mindlessly, the skin around his eyes were darkened and bagged. Sleep wasn’t something he was good at anymore lately, not ever since he started this secret occupation. He took more notes absentmindedly, though it felt like empty scribbles. What was he even writing down? He spent a moment to squint at the paper. He couldn’t be so tired that he couldn’t read. “It’s too dark…” he grumbled. He got on his toes and reached up to brighten the light over the table. He saw that the subject below him twitched in the restraints at the neck, chest, wrists, and ankles. “Still alive down there?” Midoriya said with a hint of surprise but mostly boredness. “Must suck.” he shrugged when he turned the knob on the light. The light got brighter, but it never dispelled any of the darkness, strangely. Maybe he was just going a bit mad down here. He probably needed to see more sunlight.

The little doctor continued his work, leaning in close to the open incision to get the closest look he could with the naked eye. He used a gloved finger to move the skin, creating a liquidy squish sound. “You’ve got some funny looking veins,” he commented casually, watching the subject twitch more aggressively. “Stop moving. You’re making it hard to focus.” he stood back up straight to note more in his paperwork, though the words seemed even more blurry. He then took a small tool and leaned in close to the cut again with a scalpel in his other hand. The subject struggled once more. “I said stop…” So annoying. Why was he even down here? Didn’t he have other things to do? Midoriya shook his head slightly only for the subject to grunt and make a sudden twitch causing blood to lightly squirt into the doctor’s face. So annoying. “I said stop!” he snapped aggressively.

The scalpel stabbed into the chest of the subject as they began to spasm violently. His hand instinctively went for the heart. The light still flickered above them both. Blood leaked out the stab wound, dripping down the side and on to the table. The subject grunted and growled as they moved violently with darkness obscuring their facial identity. “Just die so you can stop moving! You’re such a pain!” Midoriya shouted, watching them fight hopelessly. The light turned on and off repeatedly, blanketing them both in darkness over and over again. But in a moment of light, the face of the subject became clear. A crookedly smirked face, teeth exposed stretching ear to ear in a smile. It was only a second. The red and white split hair was unmistakable. But the golden eyes weren’t his.

“He’s gonna die and it’s all your fault!” That voice wasn’t his either. Kosuke.

“Shouto!”

Midoriya’s head shot up from the mattress, instantly putting his hands to his face. There wasn’t blood on his face. He pulled them away to look at. There was no blood on his hands. He looked around at his surroundings. The Japanese style room was so bright in the morning sun. This wasn’t his room. He had fallen asleep on a stool at Todoroki’s bedside. His head had been resting beside Todoroki’s.

He had to check. Without thinking, he forced his beautiful hero’s shirt up below his neck and stared at his chest with sweat coming down beside his brow. There wasn’t a knife wound. Faded discoloration around his ribs, but no blood. He had to be sure. He placed his ear down against his heart. There was a heartbeat. There was the most beautiful heartbeat. “Shouto…” the little villain whispered, keeping his ear on his chest and looking at Todoroki’s teary restful face. Alive. Just fast asleep. Sleeping in. He deserved it. Midoriya reached for his hero’s arm and ran his hand down to his wrist to caress so gently. His other hand was placed at the center of his chest, feeling him breathe and feeling no restraints. He wasn’t on his table, not in the darkness. The little villain closed his eyes and took a deep breath, nearly matching his rhythm. They were in this lovely little room with the sunlight peeking in and its warmth cocooning them.

It had been a few days since the USJ accident and those that were injured were still recovering and school was still canceled so another investigation could be done thoroughly. Midoriya had been caring for Todoroki’s every need since he was brought to the hideout. His soreness had improved significantly to where breathing was no longer a concern and talking was less painful. Moving around was still kept limited and with assistance from his freckled healer. Midoriya had checked in on Shigaraki a few times to redress and check up on his wounds but it was clear that he was going to need much longer to recover. He probably wouldn’t be in fighting shape until after the sports festival in a few weeks.

For now, Midoriya spent this early morning with his head on the bare chest of his beloved hero. He had fallen half asleep like that. His eyes had closed and he had nearly forgotten his position. What was on his mind was the nightmare he had just woken from. Todoroki had been on his table. He cut him open, picked at his insides, his blood was on his face and said such awful things. He would never talk to him like that. He never wanted to see him like that. But why was it Kosuke’s voice and Kosuke’s golden eyes? Why was he smiling when he should have been dying? Why was Todoroki smiling like that with a knife in his heart? He must have hurt him so badly.

The freckled villain suddenly felt a hand on the side of his head, soothingly petting his hair side to side. He didn’t think much of it at first. Instead, he even nuzzled further into the chest he was laying on, curling his fist beside his face in relaxed comfort. He appreciated the littlest divet in the center and the softness of the skin. “Why’re you crying?” Midoriya hadn’t even noticed that he was crying. But he recognized Todoroki’s sleepy voice. Had he been more awake, he would have panicked in embarrassment. He had always felt ashamed looking, touching, and feeling at his hero’s body whether it was out of curiosity or a deeper desire that he had suppressed out of respect and decency. At this moment, he just wanted to hear his heart, feel his breathing, touch his near-flawless skin, and know that he was safe and alive. Knowing that Todoroki was awake, he slowly lifted his head and looked down at him with a soft, teary-eyed smile.

“I’m just… so happy to see you,” he said heartfully, to which his beautiful hero reached up to wipe away a few tears from under his cut scarred eye with his thumb and held his cheek.

“I’m happy to see you too.” he gently guided him forward to gently share a kiss. They parted only for the freckled villain to cup his hero’s face and bring him a touch closer and kissed his scar on his forehead.

Parting a second time, Midoriya’s smile turned to one of awkwardness as he turned his head away and squirmed a bit in his stool. “Eh- sorry for uh… just rolling up your shirt.” Couldn’t he just go one day without awkwardly looking or feeling at him? He made himself feel uncomfortable. Though Todoroki appeared unbothered as he rolled it back down without thinking much of it. Afterward, he did begin to look around curiously like he lost something. He propped himself up on his forearms carefully to not cause himself pain. Midoriya glanced about the room, wondering what he was searching for. Or who.

“Did Zuzu get out?” Todoroki asked, looking behind Midoriya, seeing the door to the hall cracked open enough for a puppy to sneak out. The freckled villain became stiff as he stared at the open door, dumbfounded.

“I-I may have gotten up in the middle of the night to get ice for your ribs-” he left the door open, like an idiot. “I-I’ll get her!” he instantly got to his feet and hurried out the door, embarrassed over his second screw up this morning. Did Shigaraki even know that Todoroki kept bringing a dog to the hideout?

Quickly wandering out into the hall and shutting the door behind him, Midoriya looked back and forth between each end of the hall. Hopefully, Zuzu didn’t get too far. The hideout wasn’t that big but it was run down. She would be small enough to find some kind of means of escape. She was usually so obedient, never leaving Todoroki’s side unless it was an emergency. To leave him while he was sleeping was so unlike her. He went to one end of the hall to peek down the stairs to see if she could have made it to the bar below but the door was closed at the bottom. He passed his own room and saw that the door to it was also closed. All of the doors were shut, except one. Shigaraki’s door had been opened ever so slightly, enough for a dog to nudge its nose through. “Uh oh.” Did Shigaraki even like dogs? What if she came up behind him and surprised him? He didn’t wear gloves.

Midoriya quietly approached his older brother’s room and saw not a single light was on, as usual. He lived like a true hermit. The little villain poked the door open a bit wider to see that Shigaraki was at his computer with his back to him. He appeared to be reading a wall of text in silence, occasionally munching on a salty snack. “T-Tomu?” Midoriya took a step in, squinting his eyes to try and peer through the darkness. Maybe Zuzu was hiding in the trash. Maybe she just smelt food coming from the bags.

“Need something?” Shigaraki asked back, not turning to look at him but lifting his head a bit from a slightly hunched over position. He had such bad posture.

“Well uh… I was looking for-.” The smaller villain was going to answer when the other turned around in his desk chair. He would have looked far more threatening if it weren’t for the dog belly up and cradled in his arms almost like a baby. Zuzu had her head lolled back and tongue out, goofily looking at Midoriya while residing in the most threatening and dangerous seat in the world. How long had she been there? “I didn’t take you for a dog person.” Midoriya stifled a giggle looking at his scary big brother holding a precious little puppy.

Shigaraki looked down at Zuzu for her to look directly back up at him before lunging up with a surprise puppy kiss to the face. He closed his eyes in reaction but just let it happen. “I wouldn’t take your prince charming for one either,” he muttered before looking up with a deadpan expression. “Could you make him switch sides any quicker?” Was he more focused on the dog or Todoroki now? Which one did he want more at this point? Midoriya snickered quietly to himself and folded his arms with a smirk.

“Depends what our next move is, boss.” With the sports festival coming up and Todoroki still recovering, it was up in the air on what they could do to either go after All Might, Endeavor, or get ahold of two Todoroki children.

“As soon as he’s healed, he needs to go home.”

“Huh?” Midoriya’s snarky expression dropped. He wasn’t expecting that answer. To send Todoroki away so bluntly was very unlike Shigaraki.

“I need you focused on your note-taking and you have exams coming up, don’t you?”

“W-Well yeah, but-”

“And when he leaves, you need to tell me. You have to meet someone so I want you in your costume right away. At least for the next month, you’re to be focused on quirk experiments and training. Your prince charming will need to fend for himself for a little while.”

“Is that a good idea? How am I supposed to bring him closer to us if I end up pushing him away?”

Midoriya became a bit nervous about this new plan. What was Shigaraki thinking? The key to getting the half and half boy to become a villain was his attachment to his freckled doctor. They’ve come so far that way. Why was he changing tactics now? “He needs to think on his own. He has to want to be here himself, even without you. He can’t be intellectually dependent on you.” Midoriya’s face twitched.

“Why not?!” he snapped for a moment before covering his mouth with his hand. He shouldn’t yell like that, especially at his big brother. He expected him to be angry at his sudden tone, but instead, the villain in bandages smirked.

“I have my reasons.”

It was then that Zuzu wiggled a bit to roll herself over and stand up, doing some dog shakes before jumping off of Shigaraki’s lap. She trotted towards Midoriya and went right past him. She didn’t get far before she was scooped up by the little villain. He seemed a bit upset, sad even. “You’re not changing your mind… are you?” he asked. Shigaraki wouldn’t do that to him. After all this work, after all he’s said, after all he’s done for this, he couldn’t be giving up on Todoroki.

“Quite the opposite. You’re going to have to trust my logic here because it’s not going to make a lot of sense to you. But know I’m doing you a favor.” He didn’t see how keeping Todoroki away was a favor to him. However…

“Alright.” he did trust him. “He can probably leave tonight…” he wasn’t looking forward to this.

Returning to Todoroki’s little apartment space, Midoriya brought Zuzu back to have her leap from his arms to her owner’s bed. The little villain would follow her, sitting beside his beautiful hero and smiling softly to him. “She must have heard my brother because she was with him. I guess he really likes dogs,” he said, rocking back and forth slightly.

“I hope she didn’t cause him trouble,” Todoroki responded, bringing her to his lap and staring into her dark eyes as if expecting to see into her soul and become enlightened on all the sins she had committed.

“I think he actually appreciated her company. Though…” the freckled boy looked away and out the window at some birds flying over the rooftops, riding the morning breeze. Outside looked so nice. “I don’t think he’s trying to be rude. But I don’t think he wants you coming over as often for a little while. I-It’s nothing you did, honest! And I’m sure emergencies are the exception! But… he wants me to focus on my studies and I bet he wants you to prepare for the sports festival.” Would it really be okay to kick him out? Todoroki turned his head to face his partner and simply nodded.

“I understand. He seems like the responsible type.” Midoriya mentally rolled his eyes. Sometimes he was responsible. But other times he was a bigger child than he was.

“You’re not upset?” he asked. Todoroki shook his head.

“No, I get it. I’ll still see you at school after all.”

Midoriya spent the rest of the daylight with Todoroki. He had been very attentive the past few days, perhaps even too attentive. It appeared he had driven himself insane with trying to be reliable and caring to the hero he accidentally injured. But now his hero could sit up and walk on his own. Every so often he would need help getting to his feet. His recovery had been remarkable thanks to Recovery Girl and the constant care of his boyfriend. They’d spend the free hours watching videos online and watching tv together, side by side in bed with a puppy in between. During the afternoon, Midoriya continued to watch tv as he felt Todoroki take a nap on his shoulder. He petted Zuzu on his lap, but couldn’t help himself to stare at his beautiful hero.

Unfortunately, he watched his sleep get interrupted by his cell phone ringing. Todoroki’s face scrunched in annoyed disturbance before opening his eyes and glaring at his phone that was beside the bed. He usually woke up sleepy and cute, but if he was disturbed, in his eyes was only homicide. He reached for the annoying device and saw that it was his sister’s contact. Suddenly he didn’t appear so angry. “Fuyumi… she must be worried,” he mumbled. Midoriya held Zuzu so he could talk without distraction when he put his phone to his ear. “Hello?”

“Shouto! Oh, thank goodness! W-Where are you?”

“I texted you… I’m with a friend. Don’t worry, he’s taking care of me.”

“Yes, yes, I understand but, where?”

Midoriya and Todoroki both looked at each other. They both knew that wasn’t something he was supposed to share or even know. “Why… do you need to kn-”

“Oh give me that-”

Another voice was on the other side that wasn’t Fuyumi’s. “No, Dad, don’t yell at-” She must have gotten her phone snatched from her hand. Todoroki instinctively held the phone away from his ear and closed his eyes. The sheer force behind Endeavor’s voice was so obnoxious.

“I did not approve of you leaving! It’s been days, Shouto! This is so childish, you know better than this!” Todoroki rolled his eyes and sighed. He didn’t want to reply. How dead would he be if he hung up right now? “Are you with that boy again? I swear if you are…”

“So what if I am?” Todoroki asked quietly, yet bitterly. Midoriya’s arms were wrapped around Zuzu, but his hands were itching for his wrists. Was his hero going to be in trouble because of him now?

“Are you?” Endeavor asked again, lowly.

“It’s better than being there. But I’m coming home tonight, alright? Happy?” He made the mistake of putting the phone to his ear again and immediately regretted it.

“No! This sneaking out has gone too far! Why is it so hard for you to stay put?!” he was hardly home anymore, of course, Endeavor was angry. This was the second incident at school where he had to leave early and he wasn’t home to recover. The pro was under the assumption that Midoriya was tempting him, distracting him, and stealing him. He wasn’t incorrect.

“Because you make the place feel like a prison! Of course, I don’t want to be there! I don’t want to be anywhere with you! Don’t you see that?!” Todoroki snapped at that moment, shouting back over the phone. He was not afraid of his father. He refused to be. To be strong, he had to fight him.

“Don’t you shout at your father like that, Shouto! Don’t YOU see that boy is just-” Todoroki hung up and tossed his phone across the room, not caring if it shattered or not. He watched his phone slide across the floor and stop, clenching his teeth in his anger. His blood was absolutely boiling.

Then he heard Zuzu make a small whine. He blinked, snapping out of his anger quickly and looked back behind him. Midoriya had his face buried in the back of Zuzu’s neck with his nails deep in both his wrists. She was frantically licking at his left wrist, in particular, whining. She was very keen on sensing people’s anxiety. “Izuku…” Todoroki mumbled, crawling over slowly to then start feeling for his face. One hand found his freckled cheek and felt it moist. He placed his forehead on the top of his head, putting his other arm around his shoulders. “Izuku I-”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” the little villain whimpered. Was this why? Was this why Shigaraki was trying to get him to stay home? Could he tell that it would get even worse between him and Endeavor even though that’s what he wanted? Maybe he could tell it could get very dangerous. Midoriya realized how selfish he must have looked, risking Todoroki’s safety by keeping him here so often when the threat wasn’t that bad. Now it was really bad.

“No...no sorry’s.” his hero whispered so soothingly. “It’s alright.” Midoriya shot his head up, looking directly at his beloved just inches from his face. Scarred face to scarred teary face.

“No, it’s not alright! S-Stop saying it’s alright when it’s not!” It was all his fault. “S-Stop… lying. I don’t like it when you lie.” He clenched his teeth. “Tell me when something’s wrong… please.” Did Todoroki not want to tell him when he was hurting anymore? That wasn’t how he was at the middle school on that rainy day.

“It’s not that something isn’t wrong,” Todoroki replied, moving his hand away from Midoriya’s cheek to his left wrist. “It’s more like… I’m alive. And you’re with me too. So it’s alright.” He guided the villain’s wrist upward to see what Zuzu was licking at. No blood, but a deep puncture from his nails.

“That shouldn’t be your standard…” Midoriya mumbled. He then felt his wrist being kissed softly, multiple times.

“A guy with a lot of baggage and a big ugly burn on his face shouldn’t be your standard.” Todoroki retorted quietly, pressing his wrist into his right cheek to cool it.

“Don’t say that, Shouto. You know I love everything about you… I just want you to be safe and happy.” They both were speaking so quietly and gently.

“And that’s why there should be no sorry’s.”

Todoroki was sent home that late evening with Kurogiri’s assistance. Midoriya held both his hands and shared a kiss before he was warped away. He forced a warm smile, but the sadness in his eyes overpowered it. As soon as he was alone in the Japanese style apartment, he took out his phone from his back pocket and texted Shigaraki. He let him know that Todoroki was gone. As he was told earlier, he went to his own apartment and began to change into his villain costume. Buttoning up his shirt, folding the collar, tying the tie, and slipping on his shoes, he looked at himself in the mirror. Last time he wore this, so many things went wrong. His tired face appeared so miserable in the reflection until he slapped his face with both hands. He was going to make sure that his next job would be a success. He smirked at the mirror and moved some hair covering his scarred eye behind his ear. The League of Villains was going to bounce back. He put both his masks on and went down to the bar.

Shigaraki was on the same stool as he always was with his precious father on his face. “So what’s this about?” Midoriya asked, coming through the door. His brother pointed to the sofa, wanting him to sit there rather than a barstool. The little villain obliged.

“I’ve found you a teacher. I want you to meet him.” A teacher? “I’ve been roaming around some underground forums about him, he kinda has the same feelings you do towards heroes. About them being fakers and liars and all.” Midoriya leaned forward in his seat. “He’s good with knives. Right up your alley, right?”

Before the freckled villain could ask any questions, Kurogiri’s portal appeared in the center of the room. He saw a bloodstained black boot step out first before a lanky man wrapped in white and red cloths and black clothing followed it. He had quite the long creepy face, mangled hair, and a hunched-over posture. He was splashed in blood and the sheaths on his back were dripping in blood near the top. He must have just killed someone. He looked around the room, glancing between Shigaraki and Midoriya and then examining the bar. Kurogiri’s portal vanished and the dark fog dad himself appeared behind the bar. “I didn’t need your help getting out of there. But it was appreciated.” the stranger grumbled. He had a bit of a scratchy deep voice.

“Hero Killer: Stain.” Shigaraki greeted, leaning back against the bar counter. It gained the man’s attention.

“So you’re the one that sent the bartender. Couldn’t get me yourself?” Shigaraki shrugged.

“You’re hard to keep track of. But I’m not asking for a fight here, just a deal.” Midoriya sat on the sofa with his hands between bent legs, childlike. Behind his mask was a look of awe seeing one of the most infamous serial killers standing before him. He could only wish for the same infamy, but he was rising fasts on priority lists. To have this man as his teacher, he’d be the most feared teenage boy in history. But he wasn’t very good at talking to adults so he’d let Shigaraki do it. But was he really that much better?

“A deal with someone like you? I’ve seen you on the news about ambushing U.A. high school. That was a pretty lowly thing to do to a child.” Stain said, speaking calmly but Midoriya could see his eyes occasionally glancing around. He wasn’t letting his guard down. They made eye contact at least once.

“There was far more to that. But I want to add you to my party.” Shigaraki tried to brush it off.

“Party?” Someone like Stain probably wasn’t one for video games. “What’s your conviction? Think I’ll team up with some random guy in a shady place like this?” Midoriya could see him begin to draw a sword. He had such jagged blades.

“It’s pretty simple. I hate heroes and I hate society. I want to destroy them all. But I’m not asking you to just kill them like a dog. I’ll give you something in return.” Shigaraki kept trying to negotiate, coming off as calm and simplistic. But his little doctor could see the serial killer’s hand twitch.

“Bribery?”

“A deal.” Shigaraki still wanted to do this as professionally as he could. “You’re a guy living on the edge, right? Have any close calls with the heroes? Maybe there’ll be a time where you can’t get away. So… how about an apprentice? Someone to keep your influence relevant.” Taken the wrong way, that could sound like an insult. It was like telling someone they were bound to fail.

“That sounds more like extra work. Your idea of a deal isn’t very convincing. It’s honestly getting on my nerves.” And the hero killer wasn’t pleased.

Midoriya did not expect someone to be so fast. Stain had a large stature, but his swiftness and agility were beyond an impressive level. Midoriya watched Kurogiri’s arm get sliced and bleed and his big brother pinned to the ground. It only took a moment. Such a terrifying speed. “No matter what you want to accomplish, it is necessary to have conviction and desire. Those without it and those who are weak will be weeded out.” He was about to stab his shoulder, the one that had already been shot. Seeing the blade gleam in the warm light of Kurogiri’s bar was enough to trigger a speedy reaction from the little doctor that had been watching in silence. He won’t let anyone talk down to his big brother like that again, not letting his pride get ruined once more. A little knife was no match for a serial killer’s sword, but he had to try!

“Don’t hurt my brother!” he cried through a voice mixer, his body just… moved on its own. He threw his tiny knife to knock Stain’s sword off-angle, making him stab the wooden floor rather than Shigaraki’s shoulder. The action made the killer glance to him with glowing red hues, but a pair of the same caliber glared right back. Midoriya rushed him with another knife he had tucked in his costume; he had at least a few.

“Brother, huh?” Stain muttered quietly to himself.

“Fallen, don’t you-” Shigaraki raised his hand to try and keep the little villain back. The blades clanged together when they met, and yet one force overpowered the other. Midoriya was pushed back and Stain got down to swipe him off his feet with a kick. The masked boy fell but rolled back before he could get stabbed. The sword went through one of the floorboards. This wasn’t a man who played around, even with teenagers. He was on the same level as them after all.

“You don’t get to talk to him like that. You don’t know what he’s been through!” The little villain had been astounded by him the moment he saw him in the bar. He had heard of him before and thought very highly of his deeds of crippling and killing heroes. It was admirable. He wished he could be as skilled as him instead of Shigaraki and Kurogiri doing most of the work.

Midoriya didn’t have a chance to make the time to attack. When he got his footing, the serial killer was face to face with him with a dark look. He only had the reaction time to sidestep out of the way of his sword. He didn’t expect his wrist to be grabbed. “Hey!” the little villain spat.

“Take that off.” Stain grumbled, using the hand he held his blade in to pull down the voice mixing mask so he could hear his real voice.

“I don’t want you as a teacher. You might as well leave if you don’t wanna help. We’ll kill those phony heroes without you!” The hand on his wrist moved to his throat as he was lifted and pinned to a wall. His face mask was then ripped off, revealing soft freckled cheeks with a furious glare. Stain got a good look at him for a few moments. He could have killed him so quickly and easily.

Shigaraki stood just inches behind Stain, a hand with four fingers placed on his shoulder. “We can have a talk about this… but cut him and you’re gonna get the bad ending. That’s my little brother you got there, you know?” he warned quietly.

“He’s just a kid.” Stain noted, looking the little doctor up and down. He wasn’t terribly short, but he was smaller than most boys his age. His face was less defined, giving him an almost baby-faced look. It caught the man off guard. “I may not have a grand conviction like you, but he does. But I don’t think I can trust someone as crazy as you. You paralyzed my bartender.” Shigaraki could have easily given up on the idea of working with Stain the hero killer. This man was a wild card, a risk to keep around. But he needed to give his little brother a teacher and this was the best one for the job.

“People show their true colors when they’re on the verge of death. This society is overgrown with fake heroes, where the word itself has lost its true meaning. And yet…” Stain lowered his blade ever so subtly. “This boy knew that he couldn’t compare to me. And yet he went to save you as a brother first, rather than a criminal ally.” he glanced between Midoriya and Shigaraki. “You two aren’t related.” he began to lower Midoriya to let his feet touch the ground. “Let’s talk about this deal.”

Midoriya sat on his stool next to Shigaraki, keeping his masks on the counter as he drank a glass of juice, watching Shigaraki talk with Stain on the other stool next to him. They both had small glasses of alcohol, fixed up Kurogiri. His wound was not as deep as it appeared, though he seemed annoyed by the bloodstain. Under Shigaraki’s word, he would not let his pettiness show. Occasionally Shigaraki would put his glass down without drinking all of it, gaining the mischievous attention of the little doctor. When he wasn’t looking, he tried to reach for it only for the older villain to glance at him from the corner of his eye, smirk, and pick it up again. This left Midoriya with a small childish pout. Kurogiri was probably smiling through all the fog.

Kurogiri thought back to how Midoriya blamed himself for the failure of USJ. If only he realized how much attention the League of Villains has received because of him. He’s allowed them to pursue allying with the children of the number two hero. And perhaps, had never engaged the hero killer when Shigaraki was in danger, a relationship between them would not have been formed. They weren’t on the friendliest terms, but enough to converse casually at his bar and to consider a type of teamwork. Midoriya had done far more than he had realized.

“It appears our goals diverge, but we do share an interest in destroying the present.” Stain said, placing an empty glass down and looking at the two villains. They had been talking for quite some time, explaining themselves and their actions. Shigaraki didn’t have much to share, but it was clear Midoriya had gained the serial killer’s attention. Phony heroes. Liars. Arrogance and greed. They both had many shared ideals, only respecting people who acted selflessly. People like Todoroki. “And you want me to teach the boy how to fight despite him being quirkless. His determinedness to prove himself is admirable.” Stain commented, moving his attention to the freckled boy.

“I’m not trying to prove myself. I’m trying to save someone first.” that freckled child corrected in a serious tone. “That kid I killed, he was trying to get a hero license even though he was hurting so many people. I couldn’t let someone like that live. Not when he was hurting a real hero… I’m not senseless, I promise.”

Shigaraki and Stain had both listened to Midoriya speak. Shigaraki looked to Stain for a response. But he wanted to add a little more temptation. “You’ve been doing your work for a long time. But if you ever need a place to lay low…” he offered. The hero killer looked to the wood counter to think in silence for a few moments. Of all the things he planned to do and accomplish in his life, was he planning on becoming a mentor for a child who does human experimentation? It would have disgusted anyone to learn what he’s done. But how much worse was it as someone who tortured heroes while crippling them? Maybe it was merciful that the little doctor killed them. He pitied the kid for being so involved in life like this. And yet he respected him.

“I’m not going easy on him. He’s gonna get cut up,” he smirked, resting his chin on his fist. “We can figure something out.”

Chapter Text

The sports festival was postponed. There was no way such a crucial event was going to be canceled, thus it pushed in order to take proper security measures as well as providing the students of class 1-A to recover. Most were left uninjured but the few who were had been badly wounded. The most notable was Aizawa, with major fractures and tissue damage, thankfully no harm was done to his head. And the others were Todoroki, with severely and critically broken ribs and torn skin, muscle, and tissue; and Bakugo who suffered quite a few broken bones. The public, the hero commission, and the school were all very understanding of the action of postponing the festival. Though it was only for a week and classes were in session only a few days after the USJ incident.

“You sure you’re good? Shouta, it’s nothing to be ashamed of to stay ho-”

“You really think All Might can teach them all day? He can only hold his form for two hours. Besides… it’s my job to help them through times of uncertainty like this.” Aizawa and Yamada sat in the car by the school, taking a few minutes to talk. Aizawa had been wrapped head to toe in bandages with his arm in a sling. He looked like a mummy.

“I get that. But we have staff that could sub in. Though…” Yamada tried to convince him to stay home as softly as possible despite his attempts being turned down. “... you’re too stubborn when things get like this. You must have been really worried for those kids, especially the ones who came to get you.” he looked down at the steering wheel with a smile, though it looked pained. “I know you feel guilty as hell that some of them got hurt-”

“One of them almost got taken,” Aizawa spoke sharply and coldly, but the bitterness was not being directed at his blond partner. They both knew that. “Todoroki could have died from those injuries…” his voice quieted and his head lowered. He had been in and out of consciousness multiple times while Iida and Todoroki traded him off to each other to get distance from the nomu. The memory was faint and dark, though he had a front-row seat to see the monster pull its fist back from his troubled student. He heard every bone that snapped. He saw the jagged ends of those bones stab through the skin to make little bumps underneath his white hero costume. He saw the pure white of his clothes stain dark red, watching and listening to him struggle to move and run away. “He would have been around the same age as Shirakumo, Zashi…” he whispered. “A little younger actually…”

Yamada turned to look at him as he spoke, seeing his thick shaggy hair cover most of his face. His wounds must have hurt him. But the thought of any more of his students dying hurt far more. “They probably would have taken him too if Iida and Hagakure didn’t find him as quickly as they did. And that thing would have finished Bakugo off if All Might didn’t come in time.” Aizawa continued. He was definitely pressed about the incident. Seeing him like that, Yamada couldn’t help himself but to lean over and pull one of the bandages down from his mouth and gently kiss him to get him to stop talking.

“They all made it.” he reminded him with a smile. “And someone’s gonna be Mr. Stubborn about it and go to work anyway. So I’m just gonna ask that you take care of yourself and don’t push it. You did the best you could and they’re all going to be in class as a reward, annoying the living hell out of you.” he smirked. It at least made the tired hero scoff.

“They can’t be worse than you.”

“Yeah, I love you too.”

Despite not being able to spend time with Todoroki after school, it gave Midoriya even more reason to cling to him during it. Before class, he stood at the gate waiting for him just to see him walking by himself and visually unharmed. He wanted to hug him but instead only hugged his arm to avoid hurting anything that wasn’t fully healed yet. “You’re walking like nothing happened. I’m so glad.” he mused.

“Fuyumi called Recovery Girl last night. I’ll be seeing her before training and she said she could clear away the bruising and the rest of the pain.” Todoroki added softly, making the freckled villain hug his arm a bit tighter. He was so relieved.

“You’ll be right back to normal.” One result of his mistake was finally fixed. Midoriya got on his toes to kiss Todoroki’s cheek, just down the hall from the class 1-A room. He didn’t want him leaning over. “Take it easy today.” the little villain hummed, putting his hands on his hero’s chest, resting his chin between them, looking up at him with loving green eyes. “Lunch together today, just like always, okay?” he asked. Todoroki nodded in confirmation. But Midoriya didn’t get off of him right away and instead tilted his head to press his cheek into him, listening to his heartbeat and feeling his breathing. Even and smooth. “Just like always…” he suddenly blushed to realize what he was doing and backed off. They were at school, people could see them. How embarrassing! “I, uh, so I’ll see you then!” he smiled awkwardly, tugging his backpack straps and speed-walked away, accidentally bumping his shoulder against someone as they were turning the corner.

“Oh, Todoroki.” Someone familiar quietly gasped. The little villain looked from the corner of his eye to see who he had bumped into and who had called for his beloved hero. They flashed red at the sight of blue hair. The four-eyed prick. Midoriya didn’t turn the corner and carry on his way, rather he turned the corner and peered back around it quietly to watch. He wasn’t confident that he would be able to control himself if Iida laid a hand on Todoroki, or even if he looked at him too kindly.

Iida approached Todoroki, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly and not making eye contact. He must have still felt bad about yelling at him still. They hadn’t spoken to each other since that training exercise and Todoroki had a near panic attack. And now he stood with his back against the wall, looking up at the taller student. Neither of them were speaking with one staring at the other, and the other staring off at the floor. Midoriya’s eyes narrowed watching them. This was some cliche set up for romantic confession and he couldn’t stand it. “T-Todoroki I-” Iida was about to finally talk when Todoroki accidentally cut him off.

“Thank you.” It stunned the engine legged student with a small silent gasp. “For helping me get Mr. Aizawa to safety. And for finding me when that villain took me away.” Todoroki subtly tilted his head to the side and took a deep breath, something he hadn’t been able to do for the past few days. “That could've have ended pretty badly. Just like that time with the robot… you saved me again so thank you.” Hearing Todoroki thanking him was a little overwhelming. Iida gritted his teeth and shut his eyes. Midoriya could see his eyes beginning to water.

“You thanked me before I could apologize.” He was a little upset that Todoroki had the heart to thank him before he had the courage and pride to say sorry.

“You don’t have to-” The half and half student heard him apologize while he was being carried and cradled. He hadn’t forgotten.

“No, I do have to. I wasn’t considerate of your feelings and boundaries during that training exercise. I reacted in anger and I felt that I triggered something that shouldn’t have been touched. I should have been more understanding, s-so I’m sincerely sorry.” Iida gritted teeth bit his lip as he lowered his head. “I never even checked on you afterward. I was too cowardly to talk to you again. And then you were the one that trusted me to assist you in retrieving our teacher. You worked with me even though you had every right to be angry or untrusting. And even after that… I wasn’t strong enough to help you.” If he had been able to dodge the nomu’s attack, he could have kept the pattern going long enough for All Might to arrive or to escape its range. Iida’s legs began to quiver as he slowly got to his knees, causing a bit of shock to appear on Todoroki’s face. “When I saw you, y-your chest, your bones, all the b-blood… I thought you were dead. You could have very well died from those injuries. I’m responsible as your partner in that fight.” He put his forehead to the floor and his palms on either side of himself. “For that I am sorry… so so sorry.”

Todoroki looked to both ends of the hall quickly, a bit nervously. He thought Iida was being a bit dramatic, though their class president was always a little extra. He got down on his knees calmly to get on a similar level to him, but he wouldn’t lean over knowing it would hurt. “I don’t think all this is necessary Iida, I’m not angry. Please get up.” he wasn’t used to this kind of apology and he was more awkward about it than anything. “Really, I’m not mad. But I’ll forgive you if that’ll get you to stop. This is weird.” There was a drop of sweat on the side of his head, but he was relieved when Iida raised his head.

“You are far too kind, Todoroki,” he said softly, looking up at him slowly. “Thank you. I see why Midoriya is very protective of you.” Todoroki blushed ever so slightly at the comment. He nodded as they both went to get up. However, he was lost in the sudden thought of Midoriya being protective in front of Iida and didn’t think about himself. He leaned over to put his hands on the ground and push himself up which was a mistake. He recoiled, gritting his teeth with a sharp inhale. He hugged his torso and nearly lost balance. “T-Todoroki…!”

A way down the hall, Midoriya’s nails dug into the wall, barely enough to make a small crack with his eyes glowing red with hate. Iida put his hand on Todoroki’s side and another on his shoulder to keep him steady. Then his grasp fell from his side to his hip, holding him to lift him back to his feet without him leaning over. “You haven’t recovered yet, have you?” Iida asked, holding him steady. He wasn’t sure if he would collapse if he let go, though it was likely he’d be fine. This made the peering villain around the corner furious.

“Recovery Girl and Izuku did the best they could. I’m fine as long as I’m careful. I’m just sore.” Todoroki slowly released himself with a sigh, but Iida wasn’t so sure. He appeared to be spacing out for a moment, even subtly flexing his grip on his classmate’s hip. He was more toned and curved than he thought. But Iida just looked so sad. “Iida?”

“O-Oh! Sorry!” Iida took his hands back and put them behind his back. Todoroki sighed and adjusted his bag over his shoulder before patting Iida’s shoulder once and walked to the classroom door. “Todoroki-” the class president said suddenly, turning to him before he could go through the threshold. The scarred student put his hand on the door frame and looked back, showing that he had his attention. “Uh… I just thought I should um,” Iida stumbled over his words a bit. “I… You… You should know that I… think Midoriya is incredibly lucky.” Todoroki blinked a few times before nodding, thinking he understood but in reality he was clueless. Midoriya was quirkless, that didn’t seem very lucky at all.

And the boy on his mind had begun to bite into the wall to keep himself from losing all self-control. When the two students went into the classroom, Midoriya was left unable to stalk them anymore. He went to turn around and make his way to his own class, but he stopped when he saw Yamada quickly kiss Aizawa’s lips by moving a bandage out of the way. “Don’t push it, kay?” he said cheerfully, letting the bandaged hero carry on his way. Though he noticed Midoriya and blushed to realize he was caught red-handed. Aizawa looked between the two. How he would love to interrogate the freckled boy, but the hallway and in front of Yamada was not the place nor the time. He trusted his happy-go-lucky teacher to handle it and know what to say. He had his own work to do and his own students to speak to.

“So are you and Eraserhead…” Midoriya began, walking beside his teacher, both on their way to homeroom.

“Well, kinda but not really,” Yamada answered. The freckled students had been picking up vibes between the two pros for a while now. He made it a point not to make assumptions but now it was becoming a little too obvious.

“You two live together, don’t you?” another voice asked from behind them. Someone else had seen them as well. Turning around, both Midoriya and Yamada saw a student with messy purple hair and tired eyes. Shinsou. The loud teacher looked up at the ceiling helplessly. Caught by two of his students now; at least they were his favorites. He could at least trust them to keep this on the down-low. It wasn’t against the rules to be in a relationship with another staff member. It was just something he wasn’t sure parents would be comfortable with. Kids were a bit more open-minded these days. So then Shinsou, Midoriya, and Yamada walked together with the little villain in the middle.

“How would you know, Shinsou?” Midoriya asked curiously.

“They drove me home once. They take the same car so I kinda thought they lived together or something.” Yamada ran his hand through his vertical hair and sighed.

“Well… yeah, very insightful Shinsou.” he complimented awkwardly, proud but also embarrassed.

“So are you married?” the two teenagers asked simultaneously. Such innocent eyes were on him, staring so curiously. He hated to burst their bubble.

“Not necessarily,” he answered.

“Engaged?” Midoriya leaned in a bit closer.

“Just dating?” Shinsou held a finger to his chin and looked off in intense thought.

“No and I don’t think so.” his next answer just made them more confused. They looked to each other, not quite sure what kind of relationship was left. “Relationships don’t really need labels, kiddos. Sometimes you feel best just being with someone at your own pace and for your own reasons. There’s a commitment, but it’s less stressful when there’s no solid label.” The purple and green-haired students listened carefully, nodding in unison to show their focus. Then they looked at each other again and then pointed at him.

“Friends with benefits?” They shared a single brain cell.

“No!” Yamada shouted in minor frustration, though it was more comical than serious. “Aren’t you two too young to know what that is?!” he then sighed and rubbed his temple with his thumb and index finger. “Anyway, we’re just us. And we like it like that. At least… he does.” His voice got abnormally quiet at the last sentence. Shinsou and Midoriya tilted their heads with sympathetic looks on their faces. They could tell something wasn’t completely perfect. “Ah, I shouldn’t have said that- it’s not a big deal!” he smiled and waved his hands in front of him, but his two students stepped closer to him as the three of them came to a halt. He was in too deep now. “Oh don’t look at me like that! Really, I’m just being dramatic! Yeah!” He shot them both finger guns with a big smile and dramatic pose, but they weren’t buying it for a second.

“Mr. Aizawa doesn’t want a serious relationship, but you do,” Midoriya stated, feeling a bit bad for him. Yamada twitched and stayed frozen in his pose for a few moments. Read like a book from a teenager. He dropped the act and rubbed the side of his neck.

“There was a bad accident a long time ago when we were in high school. I think it’s deterred him from ever wanting something serious so I don’t push it. Knowing where the boundaries are and understanding each other are the most important parts of a relationship besides communication. And if he’s happy, then I’m happy.” he sounded a bit saddened at the beginning of his explanation, but by the end, he was smiling again. “Now go on you two! Time for homeroom!” He got behind Shinsou and Midoriya and gave their backs a good shove into the classroom.

School had become a place of normality for the little villain. Todoroki was thankfully safe at home with Endeavor focused on the Sudden Disappearances case. They knew the aliases and the kind of people he was looking for, but their location and motives were still a mystery. There wasn’t a need for Todoroki to have an emergency overnight stay with the villains. Disappearances kept happening which kept the number two hero busy. The little villain he was desperately searching for and trying to understand was training every day tirelessly, balancing schoolwork, experiment work, and now combat training. It’s the busiest he’s ever been. But never had he felt more alive. And yet Endeavor’s staff had never felt so exhausted to death, having been worked to the bone for ridiculous hours.

“Hey, Midoriya.” Midoriya had been doodling in his notebook pictures of Iida’s face and then scribbling them out or crudely graffitied them when Shinsou sat in the desk in front of him and turned around to face him. “I’ve been keeping track of everything on the news, and poking around online everything about the Sudden Disappearances case.” he held up a journal. “I don’t want to give you more homework, but do you think we could hang out after school so I can get your opinion on it?” It had been almost three weeks since the USJ incident and the Sudden Disappearances case was still making headlines. A rookie hero had gone missing last week and people were just as nervous as ever. Shinsou was still betting on a traitor. He was persistent, but he was right. They’ve talked about it fairly often in homeroom and when going to the viewing room, but Midoriya spent most of his mornings with Todoroki rather than homeroom.

“Actually…” Midoriya hummed, holding his pen to his lip. He wasn’t supposed to spend time with Todoroki out of school under Shigaraki’s order. It almost felt like cheating on him to go out with Shinsou. But if this was a way to get closer and get another member for the League of Villains, it could be important. “My tutor is out on business today, so I think I actually have time. Sure.” he smiled sweetly. Stain had business in Hosu this week, so he had the free time to spare. So that late afternoon the two left school together with Midoriya sending a quick text to Shigaraki explaining that he’d be back late that night.

Shinsou took the little villain to the side of the entrance gate where he had his bike locked to a bike rack. “You bike to school?” Midoriya asked, watching him get on one knee to unlock his bike.

“Yeah, my parents don’t give me money for a train or a bus and I don’t have a job. And it's a bit far of a walk.” he rolled it back and began walking with it alongside his classmate.

“Why don’t they give you money? It’s not that expensive.” Midoriya didn’t take him for the impoverished type.

“They don’t like talking to me. So they just kinda… don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Anything.” Midoriya could put a few dots together. It was neglect out of fear, but also bitterness. His parents were likely paranoid of being controlled by the tired boy’s quirk. They didn’t trust him. They didn’t want to risk speaking to him by accident so they ignored him completely so they wouldn’t feel the need to converse with him. They probably pretended like they didn’t even have a son.

“Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada must have driven you home after the Tragedy then.” Midoriya deducted. Shinsou nodded.

“Sometimes Mr. Yamada will stop me on a rainy day and put my bike in the back of his car. He invited me to dinner once and was pretty insistent on it. The two of them really do have a strange relationship.” Midoriya tilted his head.

“How so?”

Shinsou recalled the time he was invited over for dinner on a rainy day, his bike in the trunk of the car with rope tying the trunk down to keep it from falling out. He never expected such a goofy and wild hero to be such a great cook. He had been doing homework at a kotatsu with a cat perched on his shoulder and one playing with the pages in his textbook when he saw Aizawa come out of the master bedroom without bandages. Parts of him were badly bruised and his arm was still in a sling. Most notably, he had a dark scar on his cheek. When he was home, it was probably a good idea to let his wounds breathe without the pressure of bandages.

“Careful, that one eats paper,” he warned, walking by with a small flask. What was in that flask was anyone’s guess. Could be water, could be vodka, could be vinegar. Shinsou had been busy trying to guess when he slightly jumped at the sound of a small tear and saw the cat trying to eat the corner of the textbook page.

“Ah, hey, no-” he reached to take it in his arms and away from the book. Aizawa just smirked at him and continued to the kitchen. Yamada had been chopping vegetables at a cutting board when the tired hero leaned back against the counter, taking a small sip from his flask.

“Feeling alright?” the blond one asked cheerfully. He got a nod and a quiet ‘mhm’. “Good.” he smiled. Always so positive. Always so hardworking. Putting his best into everything and doing his best for everyone. One could maybe see Aizawa blush while watching him cook happily, just satisfied with him being his cheery self. After about a minute of silence, Aizawa leaned his head on his shoulder with a tired, quiet grunt. He stayed like this until he heard the chopping stop.

“How come you didn’t come to bed last night?” he asked after a few minutes when Yamada moved to put the chopped vegetables in a pan on the stove. 

“Huh?” the blond looked back.

“I woke up in the middle of the night. You weren’t there.” Did Aizawa wake up from a nightmare or was he just having trouble sleeping? Either was a good assumption.

“Oh, I was just working late again. No big deal!” Yamada's face and mood were bright and shining. But Aizawa could see the slightest hints of tiredness under his eyes.

“Endeavor’s work?” he pressed. Yamada was stirring around vegetables in the pan so he didn’t make eye contact to answer. He wasn’t trying to be rude, he just didn’t want to burn their dinner, especially with Shinsou as a guest.

“Yeah.” Yamada answered. Aizawa looked down at the floor and to the side. He looked a bit angry. But Yamada was smiling with his back turned to him and his tone was still positive.“By the way, I forgot to mention. I’m putting my radio podcast on hold for a while.” He didn’t see Aizawa’s eyes snap open wide and quickly look at him.

“But-” He was cut off accidentally.

“After what happened to you and those kids, finding those villains is far more important than my silly show. I’ll start it up again as soon as this is all over. So it’s all good.” the bright hero turned back with a big cheesy smile. And yet his tired partner looked a bit upset.

“Hizashi… but you love your show.” He genuinely looked worried and even heartbroken for him. When Yamada went back to focusing on cooking, the eraser hero walked up behind him and wrapped his good arm around his waist and moved his sling to at least rest against the other’s chest. He pressed his unharmed cheek against the back of his lower neck. Endeavor was overwhelming his partner with work, forcing him to give up one of his hobbies just to be able to get enough time to sleep at night.

“Being a hero takes sacrifices. I’d rather drop the show and lose some ratings rather than risk almost losing you again…”

“You can definitely tell they’re close. And they’re really casual. But you can tell something’s holding Mr. Aizawa back.” Shinsou explained as he and Midoriya stood at a crosswalk waiting for traffic to pass. Midoriya couldn’t imagine himself living like that with Todoroki. He’d probably end up begging for unconditional romantic love. He felt bad for his teacher. The freckled boy would miss his podcasts.

Shinsou led Midoriya to a typical fast food joint that was definitely NOT copyrighted whatsoever with big gold arches and had an infamous work ethic history. Midoriya took the liberty to pay for food for Shinsou despite his protest. They sat down together and the freckled villain looked over the other’s journal. Shinsou had been taking notes and coming up with theories and questions for weeks. There was a ton to go through.

“Does your eye ever hurt?” Shinsou asked after eating for a couple of minutes. Midoriya was deep in thought when he looked up and blinked a few times. He pointed to his own scar that Kosuke left him.

“Oh, this little thing? Nah, not really.” he brushed it off.

“Must be kinda haunting…” to be scarred by a kid that was murdered. The little villain could never forget him every time he looked in a mirror.

“It’s a little weird, yeah.” It was sudden when Midoriya’s attention was taken away. He had been looking at Shinsou when he noticed a group of boys out the window behind him. Blond hair, red hair, black hair, and bleach blond hair; he recognized them immediately. Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero, and Bakugo. This was the closest fast food place to the school so it wasn’t too random to see them. But to see Bakugo with them… he was surprised. He saw the three others talking and then burst into laughter with Kirishima wrapping his arm around grumpy one’s shoulder.

“You know them?” Shinsou asked, looking back and noticing what the freckled villain was gazing at.

“One of them. I would rather forget him.” Midoriya huffed bitterly. He continued to look through the journal, leaving Shinsou to play on his phone. He had a flip phone. His parents must have never given him an updated one.

The squad of boys all sat down with their food and they were a little rowdy, but no more than a normal group. After a few minutes, the purple-haired boy just had the slightest feeling that he was being watched. He tried to ignore it for quite some time, but it was really bothering him. It was like people staring, making rumors about him, making fun of him. Calling him a villain or a creep or something. He couldn’t bear it any longer and looked back to immediately see the one with a lightning bolt in his hair look away awkwardly. Though it wasn’t shame or fear he was expressing. It was an embarrassed blush. Shinsou blinked once before going back to his phone and instead tried to listen carefully. He had learned to block voices out so he was afraid of what he could hear.

“Really dude? You’re such a creep sometimes.”

“Yeah, but you’re bad at it. You’re so obvious, man!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about!”

Did they think he was funny to watch? What kind of rumors had they heard about him?

“You know… I think I just learned Kaminari’s type!”

“You don’t know my type-”

“Purple.”

Two of them broke out in laughter while Bakugo ate silently and grumpily while Kaminari blushed bright red. In a nervous reaction, he snatched Sero’s fries and began eating them as quickly as possible.

“Hey! Those are mine, you jerk!” Sero tried stealing them back, making Kaminari whine.

“You don’t get to call me out like that without repercussions! You know Jirou’s got eyes for Yaomomo. I don’t stand a chance!”

Kirishima just pointed to him as the electric student kept wolfing down fries. “You’re just a raging bisexual, man.”

Shinsou’s face had turned red hearing what was going on a few feet away. Was he mishearing this? He had to be. He totally had the wrong idea. “Don’t you guys remember that one time, when Todoroki got into that fight with Kosuke? He calmed him down like it was nothing. That was like, so cool! And he did it looking all stoic and badass and-” Kaminari put his head on the table, having eaten all of Sero’s fries out of revenge and was just a mess of emotions. “Why people gotta be so pretty, guys? It ain’t fair!”

Midoriya looked up from the journal to see Shinsou covering his mouth and staring blankly at his phone, face red at the cheeks. He had been listening to the squad of boys too and could easily tell what was happening here. He only smirked. “Sounds like someone likes you.” he mused.

“I shouldn’t be making friends. I need to focus on rising higher than the General Studies Course.” Shinsou put his fists on the table, trying to get himself to focus. He had a goal. Respect and recognition before friends.

“Well… we’re friends, right?” Midoriya tilted his head with a smile. Between being saved by Kosuke, colluding to find the U.A. traitor, investigating their teacher’s private life, and giving each other moral support… that’s what friends do, right?

There was an explosion outside just as Shinsou tried to answer. It was big enough to shake the building and blanket the street in dust and smoke. It gained all of the teenagers’ attention as people began running from the opposite direction that it came from. Shinsou and Midoriya looked outside and then to each other. They were in hero school, or at least, one was pretending to be. Midoriya slid him the journal as the other put it in his bag. They put their bags together to leave inside the restaurant and made a run for it outside. The squad of hero students followed right after them. “Guys we shouldn’t! We can’t use our quirks in public! We don’t even have our costumes!” Sero shouted as a warning.

They weren’t supposed to do anything. But they could find a way to help somehow! The sound they all recognized was fireworks. Was it just an accident? People were running from the source, coughing from the smoke. In the distance, there was the sound of a woman laughing, car horns, and crashing. “That’s definitely a villain,” Shinsou stated. Some of the smoke had cleared just down the road where a woman with long dark grey hair and a mask stood proudly with a bulky man who had a growth and strength quirk that made him bigger and stronger than a normal person. His skin looked as hard as rock and the road had been cracked with fissures and sharp dikes stabbing out of the ground.

“That’s a terrain controlling quirk like Cementoss.” Midoriya pointed out. Both students noticed a small group of people being held in a cage of dikes, sharp rocks jutting out of the ground for the tips to meet at the top and being close enough together for people being unable to escape. A hostage situation.

“Let’s get as many people out of here as we can before a hero shows up to fix this!” Kirishima suggested to his little squad. The group nodded and strategically split up, including Bakugo despite looking pissed off. The second using his quirk would be considered self-defense, he was going to use it. Though he ran right past Midoriya, glaring at him darkly with bright red eyes. He wasn’t going to help that quirkless freak get away. He knew that the little villain wouldn’t stand a chance against villains.

A few people were hiding behind cars and rubble in fear. Many were covering their ears. “Let’s see how much money you’re all worth as hostages!” The woman announced proudly from atop a dike, her arms folded and then open dramatically. She ripped out a strand of hair, ripping it in half and having both halves turn stiff and straight. She tossed them like needles at a building only for them to light up like a fuse. When the fuse burnt the hairs out, they exploded into fireworks, creating more smoke and causing glass from the building to shatter. People screamed in fear of the attack. “So how much are the heroes willing to pay, huh?!” She whipped her arm to gesture to the buffer, bigger villain who then slammed his fists down and made the ground shake. Dike spiked up and stab through cars, revealing people hiding in fear and setting car alarms off.

“I can only control one person at a time. I might faint if I try both.” Shinsou said. He and Midoriya had hidden behind one of the dikes together.

“The big guy doesn’t look like a talker either. So I’ll take him.” Midoriya stated, reaching into his school blazer for something.

“What? Aren’t you-” Shinsou watched the freckled villain take out black gloves with little metal clawed fingertips.

“My tutor’s a pretty cool guy. Time to see if I’m a lost cause or not.”

“These were the hot thing back when I was in high school. But they were extremely difficult to control, so people with quirks just never used them.”

Midoriya had taken the pair of gloves from Stain during the start of their training together. He put them on and flexed his fingers in them. “Am I supposed to be a cat now?” He tapped the claws together and suddenly clear wire shot out of the metal finger pads and got all over him and quickly tangled up. He didn’t move to prevent getting immobilized and looking like an idiot. Stain picked up the end of one of the wires and held it between two fingers.

“People with quirks good enough to be heroes don’t typically use stuff like this. I can’t think of anyone who ever became a pro with them. Which makes them perfect for you.” Stain stated. Midoriya tried to examine the wire and realized how strong it was. He tried to snap it but it stayed strong. “Try focusing all your energy and attention to your fingertips.” The little villain nodded and closed his eyes. He wondered what someone quirkless like him could do with hero costume devices. Did he need a quirk for these to work? What were they made of? Where did Stain get them? What if they didn’t work for him like everyone else? By the time he opened his eyes, all the wires were standing straight up and touching the ceiling, defying all gravity. He looked up and became fascinated with science defying material and device he was using. “You’ve met Eraserhead at the USJ. Remember that scarf he uses? These are the same things, except there are ten and the fibers are thinner, so they’re harder to make more precise.”  The little villain’s eyes were sparkling with awe. “Heroes trained for months to use these kinds of weapons. We’re going to see how long it takes you, someone who doesn’t have a quirk taking on your priorities. That, and teaching you how to really move in battle.” The student glanced between his gloved hands and his teacher before getting a bright minty glow of mischief in his eyes.

“Understood, Master Akaguro.”

It was illegal to use quirks in public without a license. But there was nothing against abandoned support weapons. Midoriya put on his gloves, giving one a good tug with his teeth with a smirk and a wink at Shinsou. “Let’s show those hero course boys how it’s done.” His glowing eyes desired nothing more than a little bit of fun. He kicked off his first step by wall jumping from dike to dike, leaping off of them a rabbit or even a frog. He had gained quite the amount of muscle in his legs. Shinsou was shocked to see such speed and agility. The claws on his gloves gave him extra grip on the rock, being able to dig into them and keep his balance.

“A kid? Are you serious?!” the female villain shouted, annoyed. She ripped off pieces of her hair and hurled them at him, sending fireworks his way. The boy only smiled and broke off a piece of rock and tossed it at one hair to smother one firework, letting only one go off. He bounced off the dike he was on and went to land on another.

“Master Akaguro, huh?” Shigaraki had asked in the training room late at night. Most of the lights were turned off, giving it a low warm light. Midoriya had been at the center of the room, balancing on a thin pole with one foot with eyes closed and intense focus. He was in a black tank top and shorts, revealing more muscle than he’s ever had before. It wasn’t as much as Todoroki’s, but it was enough to be impressive for someone his age. He was no longer a starving villain. He had all the motivation to become stronger and healthier.

Stain and Shigaraki were standing together with the skinny villain leaning against the wall, watching him. “I knew you’d like him,” Shigaraki smirked under the hand on his face. Stain folded his arms and scoffed, looking away.

“He’s an impressive student. He improved more than anyone I’ve ever seen,” he grumbled. They watched the freckled boy continue to balance himself, practicing on focusing his energy and attention. Part of his agility training was in balance.

“I’m grateful he’ll be able to protect himself from now on. I wouldn’t be able to forever. It’s a lot of stress off my back.” Shigaraki sighed. “How relieving.” Stained looked at the skinny villain from the corner of his eye and then looked at his little student.

“His desire to save that boy is admirable and his conviction against fake heroes is as well. Had he not chosen this life… I imagine he would have the potential to become a truly amazing hero.” Shigaraki shrugged at Stain’s theory.

“Too bad that society turned its back on him. It’s all they’re good for.” The serial killer nodded in agreement with Shigaraki. Maybe they were a little more on the same page than he originally thought. He went to look at Shigaraki when he froze. When had he taken the hand off his face? He was shocked to see how his face really looked, scarred and dried out, but red eyes illuminated in the dim warm light staring soothingly at his little brother. “I’m glad he’s here,” he mumbled. “Even when you’ve taught him everything he needs to know, I wouldn’t mind letting you come around every once in a while to keep a low profile, hero killer.”

Stain quietly gulped and leaned back against the wall, relaxing a little. Putting his guard down at last. “Akaguro is fine.”

Leaping off the dike fastly, Midoriya gracefully landed on the tip of another with one foot. The buff villain let out a deep roar and slammed his fists into the ground, creating more dikes sharper than the others. “What the hell?” Bakugo watched from the ground with gritted teeth seeing that his enemy had become so swiftly agile. He only became angrier seeing wires spring out from the tips of his gloves as they whipped around, slicing off the fuses in the strands of hair being flung at him from the woman. Though one hair made it and exploded at the base of the dike making him bounce off again. He maneuvered himself upside down in the air with an innocent smile. With one hand, he reached for the buff villain and watched five strings whip around him and then suddenly ensnaring him. His legs were tied together and he fell on his side unbalanced. His arms were tangled to keep him from punching the ground. He was immobilized. Midoriya then used his other hand to have the wires wrap around a street lamp. He pulled himself over to it while still in the air, letting himself swing from it and land perfectly on top of it. He sat down with a mischievous smirk as the strings from the street lamp retracted back to the metal tips.

“Why you little brat!” The woman shrieked.

“You should be looking at me, lady!” Shinsou came out behind the dike and revealed himself in the open, getting the female villain’s attention.

“I don’t see much-” Before she could finish what she had to say, she became stunned and entranced. That was almost a little too easy for him. He would make one efficient hero.

Midoriya let his legs dangle and swing as he sat on the street lamp, patiently waiting for heroes to show up. He couldn’t exactly leave because he was using one hand to keep a villain secured. So he just played on his phone with one gloveless hand. And Bakugo’s blood was boiling just looking at him. A cocky little brat who’s never had a quirk or muscle in his life was able to restrain a villain at least five times his size without getting a scratch on him. All while he would have gotten in trouble for using his power. He had been the powerless one here.

“You guys were totally amazing!” Kaminari cheered with wide eyes full of awe. He ran up to Shinsou with balled fists. “You didn’t even hesitate! You guys are in the General Studies, right? You guys are really just hero-hopefuls like us!” Shinsou took a step back, taken aback by this bright enthusiasm.

“Dude, where did you get those?! They’re awesome!” Kirishima called up to Midoriya with an equal level of brightness. He seemed like a pretty sweet guy.

“They were a gift from my tutor. They are pretty awesome, huh?” It looked like he wanted to ask more but he suddenly started getting pulled away by his hand by Bakugo.

“Huh? You gotta tell me more sometime!” Kirishima looked at Bakugo, baffled, but shrugged it off as he was being dragged away; he waved to Midoriya with a big smile. The little villain waved back sweetly.

Soon enough, heroes did come to take the villains away and free the hostages. Midoriya came down from the lamp post by sliding down the pole ever so gracefully. He was praised by heroes after initially being scolded. They had thought he used a quirk but he technically broke no rule with the gloves. And thus he was praised. Though this annoyed him a great deal despite not showing any hint of it. They only praised him because they knew he wouldn’t get the credit for it. They would. He didn’t steal their kill. Their profit. Their fame. They would take the fruits of his labor and all the media attention. Shinsou just pretended that he never did anything and straight-up lied about using a quirk because there was no physical evidence.

“Hey… I heard you weren’t interested in making any friends back at the restaurant.” Kaminari went up to him afterward, playing with his hands a bit. “ A-And I've heard somethings about you that I don't think are true." He knew people didn't like or trust the purple-haired boy. But... "But for what it’s worth, I like you, dude. I think you’re pretty amazing. You should totally hang with us sometime!” With a big smile, he pulled out his phone. “Can I have your number?” he giggled cheekily. Shinsou didn’t notice the thumbs up Kirishima and Sero were giving Kaminari from behind. The tired boy was a bit stunned by the offer, blankly staring at the one in front of him.

“Uh… sure.”

Both the squad and the duo walked back to the restaurant together. Sero and Kaminari walked in the middle with Bakugo and Midoriya walking the farthest apart from each other. Kirishima, Sero, and Kaminari talked loudly and enthusiastically about what had just happened with Shinsou occasionally nodding and making minimalist comments awkwardly. The other two walked silently, refusing to look in each other’s direction. Though there was just a single moment, one tiny moment, where they made eye contact. Bakugo had silently reacted with a shiver as Midoriya smiled inhumanely wide with bloody red hues. But by the time the blond blinked, the freckled boy was calmly grinning at the talkative bunch with a curious, innocent gaze, even chuckling at one of Kaminari’s jokes. Kirishima blinked when he felt his hand be held and then saw Bakugo glaring in Midoriya’s direction.

In returning to the fast food place, Midoriya and Shinsou sat back down at their table with the squad going back to their own. And while the little villain finished reading the journal, Shinsou was receiving lots of texts all of a sudden. Who could guess from who? “I think you’re really on the right track. From what I’ve gathered, I think we should start looking into class 1-B since we know it can’t be from 1-A or our class. And even though the masked one sounded like a boy, they were wearing a voice mixer. They could have been wearing a wig or a binder.” Shinsou nodded, taking his journal back and making a few notes.

“I never thought about the binder part. But we’re also looking for someone with a quirk that doesn’t change their bodily appearance.” Midoriya folded his arms and nodded his head.

“You got it.”

Midoriya returned to the hideout later that evening with quite the giddy smile on his face. The improvement he had shown himself and the bitterness he caused Bakugo to feel had him elated. Shigaraki had been at the bar without the hand on his face and on his phone when the little villain sat beside him. “Someone’s in a good mood. You sure you didn’t sneak out with your prince charming?” he asked. Midoriya shook his head.

“I did not.” he hummed. It wasn’t long until Kurogiri came out of a backroom with a full meal for the smiling doctor. And he was confident that he’d eat all of it. He had been much better about eating since his more serious relationship with Todoroki and Stain’s guidance.

“Akaguro wants to take you to Hosu with him two days from now.” Shigaraki began. Midoriya nodded while he ate when he suddenly froze. He’d love to go with his master on a mission. He had been expecting it. But then there was a moment of panic. That was the same day as the sports festival. “I’m gonna call up Twice again. Don’t worry about missing out on watching over your prince charming.” Midoriya appeared visibly relieved as he hunched over and made an exhausted face with chopsticks in his mouth. Way to cause a heart attack. If he had to choose between Stain and Todoroki, he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it. “And Kurogiri will be on backup so he can take you back and to the school as soon as you’re done. And…” Shigaraki put his cheek in his hand, smirking at his little brother. “Afterward, you can go see your little prince again.”

Midoriya sat straight up and his face was beaming. It had been three weeks since being able to see Todoroki after school or on weekends. It was becoming torturous despite him being used to it. He had been craving him for more than usual. To hold his hand for more than a few minutes, to snuggle against each other, to let him take a nap on him, playing with Zuzu together, walking and shopping together… but just being near him. He couldn’t stop thinking about him. He had gotten more physically affectionate at school despite only having less than an hour to each other a day. He may lose himself when they could finally have the time and privacy. Midoriya slurped down the rest of the noodles on the plate, finishing his meal completely and wiping his face. “You’re gonna be pretty busy during the festival, aren’t you? You have to scan the massive crowd for someone we don’t know.” Their missing Todoroki. Shigaraki was betting on their person of interest being at the festival to watch his littlest brother compete. He didn’t know what he was really looking for. Someone’s appearance can change so drastically after adulthood. This one’s been missing since his first year in high school. And they were only running on Todoroki Shouto’s hunch that he was still alive. Someone who would have disappeared when he was between the ages of six and seven. Todoroki’s memory was not very credible when it was that far back with trauma that must have been repressed.

“I’m honestly going to have to count on Endeavor to make a move. People’s reactions to him are going to be my opening.” Midoriya nodded while hearing Shigaraki’s plan. Everything was going to be based on chance. Having discussed the game plan of the sports festival, Midoriya jumped off the stool and stretched.

“My subject’s body is starting to wear out. It’s decaying pretty fast so this’ll probably be my last night with it,” he said so casually. Shigaraki shrugged with a smirk. He was pretty proud of how productive his little brother had been lately.

“I’ll find you another one soon. You wanna go get it yourself?” It was the first time he’s offered something like that. Midoriya’s eyes gleamed, staring at his big brother in shock. Did he think he was ready? Did he trust him to do it himself?

“Y-Yeah… Yeah, I do.” a smile crept upon his face as he balled his fists. “I won’t let you down, Tomu! I promise!” Shigaraki twitched at the nickname. One would think he would be used to it by now. He wasn’t. Midoriya went right to the elevator, giddy as ever to go to work, leaving his big brother traumatized and lifeless.

“I’m not quite sure what your thought process is, but it looks like it's working,” Kurogiri commented, bringing Shigaraki a small strawberry shortcake. The most villainous food. Shigaraki slowly got a hold of himself and ate a forkful of cream.

“How so?” he asked.

“He’s happier. You pried him away from Todoroki and yet he’s been more enthusiastic and passionate. He’s gotten stronger and more capable. And from my perspective… you’ve matured very quickly since he’s improved.” Being a big brother and a boss took responsibility. Had he been alone with just his bartender babysitter, his maturity would not have risen so efficiently. He even formed a friendly relationship with a serial killer that tried to kill him within the first ten minutes of meeting him. Had he been his old self, they’d be at each other’s throats.

“The core of Izuku’s emotional problems was his sense of weakness. He clung to his beloved prince charming because he felt like he was finally making an impact. He correlates results with power.” If Midoriya wasn’t making positive results, then he wasn’t strong. Todoroki told him he could make an impact, even if he was quirkless. He was finally making an impact by himself, with power. With Stain. “I wanted him to only focus on making himself stronger. I knew it would make him feel better.” He starved himself slaving over a desk, desperate to make an impact. Punishing himself and pushing himself in order to make that impact Todoroki told him that he could make. “But I’m also counting on their separation for something else…” Shigaraki took another bite of cake and held up his fork, pointing it at an upward angle while he was hunched over with his chin in his hand, elbow resting on the counter. “I’m no expert in teenage romance. But people always say that annoying line, ‘distance makes the heart grow fonder’. I’m counting on that theory and Izuku’s inability to control himself around his prince.” Kurogiri had been shining a glass when he suddenly paused. He wanted to think about that statement very carefully.

“Shigaraki Tomura are you…” was he emotionally manipulating two teenagers like this? Two boys obsessed with each other were likely more madly in love and craving each other more than they ever had before.

“They’ll reunite closer than they ever knew. There's nothing little Izu hates more than feeling weak and small. It's why he likes to play with his dolls down there.” Kurogiri's yellow eyes narrowed. He wasn't sure how to feel about where Shigaraki was going with this. "He likes power. To dominate."

While this conversation was taking place, Midoriya was spinning in a desk chair that he had at his desk with something a bit bulky in his lap. “I get to see Shouchan~ I get to see Shouchan~” he sang, going in circles in his chair childishly before hugging on to himself and tilting his head to the side. His adorable eyes had a beautiful minty glow in the dimness of his laboratory, half-lidded as his mind drifted in a bit of deeper thought. “I get to see Shouchan…” his grip on his side and his opposite shoulder tightened at his fingertips. The chair stopped spinning as his thighs came together but his feet angled away from each other. “Shouchan... “ he giggled quietly, yet so lovingly. “My beautiful hero….” he hadn’t noticed the speck of drool escaping his lips, having been so far lost in his imagination.

He did all this with a severed head of a hero resting on his lap, its mouth gaping open as if it was screaming the moment they died. After his mind flowed out of his romantic and obsessive thoughts, he used his scalpel to then start cutting out the eyes of the head, taking notes at his desk with a stack of papers that had already been written, typed, printed, and organized for Shigaraki next to him.

The next morning came about so quickly. “No kissing, no hugging, don’t even get within a few feet of him. I can’t let the first time he sees me after school be with a clone, no offense. But I worry he may find out or get upset.” Midoriya lectured his clone. Shigaraki, Twice, and Kurogiri were at the bar while the little villain was laying down the rules while in his villain costume. The clone smirked and nodded.

“Yeah, I get it,” it answered without complaint.

“And maybe help Tomu find our person of interest while you’re there. You’re not participating, just taking notes for class with the crowds. Try to find anyone that looks like they have some serious trauma.” Midoriya suggested. The clone winked.

“Roger that.” They shared a high-five and the clone Midoriya in its grey uniform ran out the door, waving goodbye to everyone. Twice was dressed casually except for the mask over his head as Shigaraki sat next to him with his father on his face.

“Seems like you two got big plans. Kinda cute how you’re getting along with your clone. Disgustang!” Twice commented with his other self coming out for a moment.

“We appreciate the help. It’s because of you that I get to do stuff like this.” Midoriya thanked him with a sparkle in his eye. He couldn’t be more grateful. It made the older villain lean back and rub the back of his head, clearly blushing under that mask.

“Aw stop! It’s no biggie. Tell me more!” What Shigaraki found annoying in Twice’s personalities, Midoriya found it kind of funny. He snickered at him but not meanly. It wasn’t too soon after that Twice got off the barstool and gestured a wave to Shigaraki. “Call me anytime! I’ll tell Giran you said hi.” The little villain waved to him as he exited.

Shigaraki removed the hand from his face with a sigh. He wanted to make eye contact with Midoriya but only saw his little brother with his nose deep in his phone. The little villain wanted to send a quick text to Todoroki before the start of the sports festival. -You'll do great today. Look for me!- The little villain blushed and giggled as he held his phone close to his chest. Shigaraki only smirked and shook his head at the lovestruck teenager. By the time Midoriya lifted his head, he noticed the door to the bar was open with Stain leaning against the frame of it, one foot against it with him. His arms were folded and he appeared pretty serious until he made a smirk. "Are you ready, Fallen?" he asked. The little villain slipped his gloves on, flexing his fingers to make sure they were snug in his weapon. He then jogged over to his teacher, waving goodbye to Shigaraki happily. He couldn't be any more excited. Before they left together through Kurogiri's portal, Stain glanced back, sharing a nod with the villain sitting at the bar. Midoriya would be brought back safely.

This left the clone to whatever work there was to be done at the sports festival, that being: supporting the original's boyfriend all he can from the stands. Surrounded by scouting heroes and a public eager for entertaining, the fake sat amongst them with a notebook in hand with an earpiece in. His eyes scanned the face around him, looking for anyone interesting or suspicious. "Let me know if you find anyone. We're looking for someone who managed to either fake his death or cheat death entirely," Shigaraki said through the earpiece device. The clone nodded, making eye contact with a security camera that was pointed directly at him. Shigaraki was watching everything up close with his own personal view. They both would take notice of the flaming hero a few columns over standing behind everyone, glaring down at the arena down below. "It's like watching a dog fight," Shigaraki commented. Watching teenagers just beating the shit out of each other for recognition. The original Midoriya would probably lose his cool halfway in watching Todoroki participate.  The clone would show a little more composure, though it did grit its teeth seeing the first match being an obstacle race. Seeing all the students get squished together in the entrance, scrambling and shoving to be the first one out like a bunch of animals made its infatuated stomach turn. Todoroki was in that pile of students somewhere. But seeing how he was the first one out, freezing the path behind him, the clone clasped its hands together in pride and astonishment. 

"You show them, Shouchan," it swooned. Watching him take down a giant robot in one move, cross a ravine without issue, and make it to a landmine field before anyone else, the real Midoriya would be so proud. Though it gritted its teeth watching Bakugo catch up to him. They got into a bit of a tussle in the minefield, pulling hair and grabbing at each other to throw one another off balance. Todoroki eventually made a wall of ice in front of Bakugo when he was busy pulling his hair so he would crash into it and lose composure in the air. The blond shattered it but stumbled and lost his momentum, eventually landing him in second place. Watching a replay of him face planting in the dirt made the clone laugh and clap its hands, enjoying every bit of the student's failure.

Although that laughter quickly changed to anger as a cavalry battle was the next event. It would have been fine if Iida wasn't one of the three horses for Todoroki. Even if it wasn't the original, the clone knew the real Midoriya would be furious and it reflected all of his would-be emotions. The idea of Iida being a horse for Todoroki to ride, it made the fake cringe and blush. "Don't fuck this up for him, four-eyes. And don't think that this makes you better than the real me..." it growled. All of the students had targetted Todoroki for having the most points, but he did well to keep his distance and fend off all the other competitors. Thankfully, Bakugo was too busy going feral against a class 1-B student to pay attention to Todoroki for the majority of the event. By the time he had retrieved his stolen bands, he didn't have enough time to reach the half-and-half boy. The clone was sure to cheer loudly with the rest of the crowd as Todoroki and his team one first place. 

"Izu-clone, do you see anything?" Shigaraki asked through the earpiece. The clone snapped out of its cheering and took a moment to move its attention to the surrounding crowd. Boy, were they all going wild. A few heroes were being more analytical, silently judging all of the teenagers and their attempts to succeed. So it was best to search for someone who didn't look like a hero and someone who wasn't cheering. This person was likely trying to stay on the down-low. He was able to stay hidden for this long so he must have been good about not sticking out. Near Endeavor. Would the missing son be near his monstrous father? The clone turned to see the flaming hero standing sternly and seriously. Between everyone wearing costumes and everyone looking unique with body-altering quirks, it was having a difficult picking one person out. However, it would notice someone wearing all black, leaning back in their seat calmly, clapping their hands slowly. It squinted to get a closer look at the hands. Purple markings and... staples? They looked like burns. 

"Check the middle row, two columns to the left of Endeavor. There's someone in a black jacket with sunglasses and a black flu mask," it said, holding a button on the earpiece. It watched a security camera turn to where it directed. And back at the hideout, Shigaraki was in his room on his computer in the darkness. He had a picture of the missing Todoroki from middle school next to him has a reference. His screen consisted of the view of every security camera in the arena. 

"I can't see his face for shit," he grumbled, scratching at his neck. He couldn't be focusing on one person the whole time. What if it was the wrong person? The real one could slip out and he'd be lost forever.

"I'll keep an eye on him. Keep looking," the clone said. It peeked back at Endeavor. They would just have to wait for a big reaction from the pro to spark something. And that reaction would eventually come. Endeavor had left the seating area for a few minutes before Todoroki's first round. No one had really taken notice. And just as Todoroki went up to take on Sero Hanta. The round didn't last longer than a minute. Todoroki appeared so angry to the crowd, sending a massive spiked glacier right at the poor student, freezing him and half the stadium solid. Everyone had felt such pity for poor Sero. He didn't stand a chance. The whole arena began cheering 'Don't worry about it', in the hopes of lessening the mental toll of losing so quickly. To the clone, however, it saw not anger, but sadness. The real Midoriya was going to be very upset when he came back.

The student that was forced to face Todoroki after Sero met the same fate so quickly as well. Iida also fell to him as he underestimated his close-range skills. The clone evilly smirked at the sight. It hoped the four-eyed loser felt embarrassed and ashamed for doubting Todoroki. His ribs were healed and he could do more than fight from a distance.  But when it came to the fourth match, something was definitely wrong. No one could hear Todoroki and Bakugo, the two finalists, from where they were. The stadium was too large. The crowds were too noisy. But the two of them were talking, though it appeared to mostly be Bakugo just yelling at him. When the match started, they didn't fight right away. There was an argument to be had. Shigaraki took the time to get into a closer camera to see if he could hear anything.

"You used your fire against Kosuke all that time ago! You have it! You can fucking use it! Don't you dare come at me with only half force! I refuse to win to that because that's not really winning!" Todoroki had looked so saddened at that point. There must have been a lot on his mind. "Don't give me that depressed-ass look! Get pissed off! Come at me!" The night Todoroki became engulfed by anger, the night he and Midoriya vandalized and spray painted a back alley, Midoriya wanted him to do the same thing. Get angry. Let those emotions show.

"I... I won't" Todoroki growled, clenching both his fists. "Not when he's here..." 

Bakugo did not like that answer at all. Todoroki tried to freeze him with a giant glacier the moment he denied the blond's request. The two went at it, Todoroki's ice being melted and broken by the other's explosions and aggressive maneuvers. The clone reached for its wrists seeing Todoroki be tossed across the arena, skidding in the dirt but keeping himself in bounds with an ice wall. But Bakugo didn't want to give him the time to recover. He went for the throat, but Todoroki dived out of the way, shielding himself with more ice. It got to a point where he wasn't fighting anymore, just defending himself. Bakugo was too fast, too aggressive, unwilling to break for one second. There was no opportunity to fight back. He was just getting backed into a corner. Seeing the beautiful boy so helpless, so in denial to fight, the clone couldn't control itself. The real Midoriya in it couldn't control himself either. "Beat his ass Shouchan!! Do your best!!" it screamed at the top of its lungs, letting its voice ring out louder than any others. 

Its voice had gained everyone's attention. But the crowd's focus was soon pried away as the stadium began to heat up faster and faster, intensely. Bakugo had to back up to where he started, covering his face with his forearms from the wild temperature. The audience recoiled, ducking their heads and blocking their faces from the bright flames. Midoriya's influence had the power here. Endeavor couldn't convince him to use his fire. Bakugo couldn't berate him enough to make him use it. Todoroki would only listen to Midoriya. He would do anything he said. If he wanted him to slaughter Bakugo, the one that sent him to the roof of that middle school that rainy day, Todoroki would mutilate him. The love and support were more addicting. He was on strings wrapped around his fingers. 

However, the shame tied those strings into knots. The sense of failure made Todoroki feel like he was suffocating, drowning. The clone turned to Endeavor, hearing the most awful booming voice come from him. "SHOUTOOOO!! FINALLY!" his father's call was louder with a smile and pride. It was more powerful. As the pro's flames rose, his son's died. The pillar of swirling flames had disappeared with the wind without a spark left behind. Bakugo was left stunned with the rest of the crowd. Todoroki stood still in silence, his eyes suddenly appearing as dead as his fire. Midoriya's love wasn't enough. It wasn't strong enough. The fire was gone. The fire of his left half and the fire in his heart, his fire to fight had been extinguished. The clone looked hopelessly at the battlefield, gripping the safety railing in front of it. Its lips quivered as it watched Todoroki just stand there. He raised his right hand slowly, weakly. But the ice that came from him was sharp and fast, blasting right at Bakugo.

"Don't you fucking dare! Bring it back!!" Bakugo screamed, launching himself forward at full speed, sparking his hand up for max power. 

"Sh-Shouchan..." the clone whimpered, watching its beloved get blasted back in the frozen field. He was knocked completely unconscious. It shut its eyes, tears escaping them as it ran out of its seat and up the stairs. It had to go see him. As soon as the match was over, it had to go. Suddenly, it stopped at the top of the steps. Midoriya told it not to. Midoriya himself needed to see Shouto before anyone else. But... Todoroki needed him now! "Get the real one here! Now!" the clone screamed into the earpiece. "Shouchan needs him right now!"

Shigaraki watched all the cameras, looking for any reaction from a few suspicious people around the arena. Endeavor's blow-up of pride had been heard by everyone. "Come on... Come on..." he muttered to himself, anxiously scratching at his neck. This was the best opportunity. This was his only opportunity. "You have to be here... that's your little brother." And that was when his red eyes snapped open wide. The black jacket and sunglasses figure, he was gripping the back of his seat, turned back and aggressively bearing his fist close to his chest. It was just a second. It was only a second. But just the smallest blue ember flew out from the crevices of his fingers. That quirk... blue flames. The way he was looking at Endeavor. It had to be. "I got him." The widest grin rose on his face. Todoroki Shouto would be his now with his big brother alive and well. Then he recoiled hearing the clone scream in his ear from the earpiece. Too loud. "Ah... he's coming! I'll get Kurogiri-"

In an alleyway in the center of Hosu, the pro hero Ingenium had been slain. In the darkness, a pool of blood of was at Stain's feet as he had blood dripping from his tongue. A news real was displayed on a skyscraper in the distance, sequencing through news stories and the weather. A segment consisted of a crime scene left behind in another part of Hosu by the hero killer. The jet elbowed pro made the mistake of turning in the alley by himself. Even then, his sidekicks would have likely been slaughtered as well. They stood no chance against the two before him. He found himself, barely conscious and dangling in the air by thin wires restraining his every limb. He could not move regardless, paralyzed by Stain's quirk. Parts of his armor had been removed. Stain's blade was at his tongue. "Don't make a sound..." the man threatened. The villains didn't want to risk getting caught. But keeping silent proved to be very difficult for the pro as he briefly cried out as his arms were ripped open from a scalpel. Midoriya, armed with his beloved gloves and masks was digging through the engines in his elbows, doing research on the ground rather than in the lab.

"How interesting~ There's metal in your body!" the little villain mused. 

"S-Stop..." Ingenium growled only to have Stain further push his sword closer to his tongue. 

"Maybe just a little..." There was a disgusting sound of something inside his arm being cut. The little villain giggled to himself, digging around with his scalpel carelessly, taking far more joy in the hero's suffering than actually collecting data on him. Iida Teny'as poor, poor big brother. How he loved that Stain was targetting this man. What a way to torment his little brother. Ingenium choked on blood as Stain stabbed his stomach to force blood up his throat instead of screams of pain. 

"You'll make a good warning to this city..." Stain muttered. He then looked over to his student who proudly held all the engine parts in Ingenium's arms in his hands. He had cut them all out, leaving jagged and heavily bleeding wounds in his wake. Chunks of flesh and muscle were still attached to the parts, some falling off on to the pavement. He must have cut a few nerves. Stain had probably done the same as there were more wounds scattered about the hero's body. He wouldn't be a hero anymore. Not with these injuries. He was better off dead. "Now then..." Stain started to say when his attention was taken elsewhere.

"I saw him go this way!"

"I think I heard something!"

Backup was to come. And though the two villains could take them on, there wasn't much of a point to it. They left their mark and their warning so there was nothing left to do here. "Guess we gotta go, master," Midoriya mumbled sounding disappointed. He wanted to stay a little longer and finish the job. But Shigaraki probably wanted him back soon. More than anything, however, he longed to see Todoroki now that he was no longer restricted. So he stuffed the bloody engine parts in his shirt and retracted the wires from his gloves, letting Ingenium's mutilated body fall to the ground. Stain patted the boy's shoulder, receiving a nod from his student before they both fled the scene just as the hero's backup turned the corner.

They leaped up off the walls of the alleys and balconies, ran across rooftops and billboard ledges, Stain taking refuge on a tall telephone pole downtown looking over the city while Midoriya hung upside by his legs on a nearby balcony ledge. The little villain took out his phone and took a quick peek at the live stream of the sports festival, smiling under his mask and expecting all good things. His smile dropped when he saw the medals being handed out... second place? And what was that look on Todoroki's face? He looked miserable. "Oh no..." he mumbled. "Master," he called out, gaining Stain's attention. "I need to go see Shouto. Can I be dismissed?" he asked. The hero killer nodded silently, granting him permission to leave. He would choose to stay in Hosu for a little longer, wanting to linger for more time. Midoriya was about to call Kurogiri when the villain's portal appeared next to him.

"The clone is requesting you right away." the dark fog man explained. The freckled boy removed his upper facial mask, revealing an expression of panic. He would ask what happened, but he felt that there was no time to ask. He knew where he needed to be. "Please get changed. I will bring you to the mansion as soon as you're prepared." he nodded and swung himself forward and back to launch himself into the portal and reappear at the bar where he left all of Ingenium's stolen body parts on the counter. He trusted Kurogiri to clean it up later, knowing how excessively tidy he liked to keep his bar.

Going to his room, Midoriya began to strip and redress as quick as possible. "What's going on?" he asked. The clone was standing in the corner of his bedroom, watching him shamelessly, appearing to be panicked and stressed, scratching the sides of its head with both hands. "E-Endeavor freaked him out. Kacchan tried getting him to use his fire against him in the final match but he didn't want to."

"Did you tell him to beat his ass?"

"I did! But then Endeavor said something louder than me. I can tell it upset him. He completely gave up mid-fight. And he got second place which means his old man is going to be pissed! You have to get him!" The clone explained, taking the stripped-off villain costume off the floor and hanging it up for him. The quicker he changed and cleaned up, the quicker he could get to the boyfriend. 

"The fucking..." Midoriya growled to himself, throwing on the grey blazer and not even bothering with the tie. "Did we find his brother?" Was there at least a positive in all of this? The clone balled its fists to its chest and smiled at last. With a smile and a nod, it beamed. 

"We did." 

"Great work then." the freckled doctor complimented. The clone grinned softly and clasped its hands together.

"Go get him." it hummed before it started melting away to the floor.

Midoriya was warped to the front gate by Kurogiri. Looking down at his phone, the little villain looked over the several texts he had sent Todoroki asking where was and if he could come out. There was no answer. He sat against the outside of the wall around his mansion waiting for a response. -Where are you?- -Are you okay?- -What happened?- -Shouchan?- -I'm worried- -I'm here- There was no response to any of them. None of them read. But the sun was starting to set; he had to be home by now. He gulped as he rubbed the side of his head, peeking around the corner of the gate to see the front door of the mansion. His beloved was in there. He knew it. But was he willing to actually break into Endeavor's property to go see Todoroki? They'd be home. The door would be unlocked. Endeavor was inside. If he got caught, he would be as good as dead. 

Midoriya left his shoes under a bush in the front garden right next to the gate. He hopped the gate and landed gracefully on his feet, smirking. He wasn't able to do that last time he came here. He approached the front door and slowly opened it without a sound coming from it. Spying inside, there was no one in the entrance hall, just three pairs of shoes. He recognized Todoroki's were sloppily near the door having been kicked off in a rush. Endeavor's were too. They must have gotten into an argument. Taking a deep breath, the little killer carefully tip-toed in and shut the door behind him. He was extra careful to shut the door silently when he jumped at the sound of a dog whine. 

Looking down at his feet, Zuzu was sitting on a rug, wagging her tail and panting. "Shh...!" Midoriya held a finger to his lips hoping this dog was smart enough to keep quiet. He was going to get skinned alive if he was caught doing this. This was beyond trespassing. He'd be kicked out of U.A. for sure. But seeing Todoroki was worth every risk! However, now that he thought about it... this was a mansion and a giant one at that. He had no idea where Todoroki's room was supposed to be! This was such a stupid idea. "H-Hey... Shouto, where's Shouto...?" he couldn't believe he was asking a dog for directions. Zuzu just tilted her head at him. "Shouto... " he covered his left eye with his hand. "Shouto...?" He felt so stupid. And yet the little puppy walked around him, gave a lick on the hand, and then began to trot down the hall. Was he about to follow a dog and pray he didn't get caught by Fuyumi or Endeavor? Yes, he was. 

The little puppy took him upstairs first, making a lot of noise as she did so because she decided to run. Midoriya quivered at the noise. But it was the dog that made the noise. She's been in this house for more than a month so the family must have been used to hearing her wander. They wouldn't suspect him. He was safe. this was fine. He followed her silently up the stairs, careful with every step avoid making a creak. She would then take him down another hall as she stopped at every door, turning her head to look inside every room they passed. Did she also avoid Endeavor? It made the villain wonder if the pro had ever hit her. Todoroki would have gotten very upset. And as they turned down another hall, Zuzu continued to stop at every door before her fur rose up. "What are you doing?!" Endeavor's voice boomed.

Midoriya froze against the wall, his heart falling into his stomach. He closed his eyes and stayed as still as possible. "You idiot! Why didn't you keep looking for them?! The hero killer and the League of Villains have teamed up and you ditched your search?!" On the phone... Endeavor was on the phone. Midoriya slowly slid down the wall to sit down and held his chest with one hand and covered his mouth with the other. Peeking around the corner, he saw Endeavor in a massive office, pacing back and forth looking pissed off. His hand was flexed with a flame rising from it and the fire on his face brighter than ever. "I don't care about that! Do you realize how many people are in danger with those people working together?!" His whole body lit up at that moment. Midoriya took the chance to dash past the threshold, taking Zuzu in his arms. He was grateful Endeavor was so enraged that he was too distracted to notice the boy sneaking around his house. Having passed that obstacle, Zuzu was put down and allowed to guide the little villain the rest of the way to a closed-door in a quiet part of the mansion. She scratched at the Japanese style sliding door, but couldn't let herself in. She whined and bit at the wood to no avail. 

Midoriya pressed his forehead against the door and then turned his ear to it. He heard nothing. Was Todoroki hurt, was that why he wasn't answering his phone? He checked his texts again and saw that none of them had been read still. But Zuzu didn't seem panicked, just desperate to see him. "I'm coming in..." he said quietly, sliding the door open. The puppy wandered right into the darkened room where not a single light was on. The only reason Midoriya could see inside was that the evening light was able to poke through his curtains, but it was still so dim. He wasn't sure what he was expecting to see, though he was surprised to see the little dog go up to a small pile of blankets in the middle of the floor. She used her nose to poke at the blankets, sneezed once, and then burrowed underneath making a few yips. It was followed by a soft groan.

"Zuzu... not now please," Todoroki whispered. "Leave me alone..." the little puppy was gently pushed out of the blankets, but she turned right back around to stick just her head underneath leaving her wagging tail high in the air. She whined at him again before biting the blanket and giving it a good tug. "Zuzu-" she managed to pull a blanket away from Todoroki's face where he looked annoyed and tired like he was just trying to sleep. He had ice lightly coating his neck. When he tried to take the blanket back, he paused when he saw the freckled villain sitting on his knees beside him looking heartbroken. "Izuku...?" There was immediate shock as he started to sit up. "How did you get in here? My fa-"

Midoriya wrapped his arms around his neck and shifted his weight to keep Todoroki from sitting up. "I snuck in, so we have to be quiet. But I just... really needed to see you. You didn't answer your phone and after the festival... you looked a wreck." He felt how cold his neck and shoulders were, in pulling back he noticed the ice. This was a familiar wound. "You both fought again..." Todoroki looked away. "He grabbed you by the neck again, didn't he?" Midoriya lightly brushed his fingers against the solid ice covering his skin.

"He was mad. He didn't want me speaking to you ever again so he took my phone," Todoroki explained. No wonder he never answered. 

"Well... I'm here now." Midoriya said gently with a smile. "He can't take you away from me, you know that." He leaned down to kiss his lips softly. He kept it short as he placed their foreheads together. "Your fire was beautiful, just like you. But I don't blame you for shutting down. I know it's hard." He moved from his knees to sit down properly, his legs bent behind him and propping himself up with one hand. Todoroki stayed half laying down on his side. He was looking away at the floor when Zuzu approached him and nuzzled herself inside his shirt, her favorite place. He placed his hand over his shirt where she curled up.

"I couldn't even beat Bakugo for you," Todoroki mumbled sadly. Midoriya shook his head with closed eyes.

"I don't care about that," the little villain hummed. "I was just worried about you." When he opened his eyes again, there was an intense minty glow in his irises as the sun was blocked by the back of his head. He placed a hand on his beloved's cheek and tilted his head. "I got what I needed just by coming here to see you." Zuzu poked her head out the bottom of Todoroki's shirt making eye contact with the little killer. She made a small huff before crawling out of his shirt and wandering back to the door where she nudged the crack of it open to get up. She scratched it a few times to shut it behind her. "So Shouchan... do you need anything?" Todoroki took a deep breath, his eyes becoming a bit hazy while looking at the glowing hues above him. He reached up to place his hand on the other's shoulder.

"Just you," he said quietly. His medicine always made him feel better. This boy always made the pain go away. They haven't had a moment to each other in privacy for almost a month and now his beloved had snuck all the way into his house, into his room just to see him. He wanted to bring him closer. They had been separated for far too long. "Could you come closer?" he asked. He adored the little twinkle in the other's eye upon his request.

"Of course," his precious killer cooed, leaning in closer to him and sharing a kiss once again. Their kisses had been so short in passing time, rushing to get to class and making the affection short. There was no rush here. There was nothing but time. Time stood still for them in this room. A boy was at a hospital, watching his older brother drift in and out of life as his legs had been ripped to shreds. 

A villain and a hero kissed.

 An older brother, hiding from his past, was retreating to a dark alleyway with a bottle in one hand and a cigarette in another.

A villain crawled into the blankets.

 A restless killer attached to the remains of the dead, was passing screenshots of a mysterious man to an info broker.

A hero pulled a villain closer down.

 Two teachers ate dinner together with a tired boy joining them for the evening, happily while two parents, a dragon-man and a normal woman dined in silence with an extra chair at the table.

A villain couldn’t keep his hands to himself.

 A serial killer stood on a rooftop, observing the city he had yet to leave a mark on.

A hero didn’t mind.

 A ghostly bartender stood at his bar, shining a bottle and saw the reflection on a blue haired boy with a bandage on his nose that he did not recognize. 

“Izuku…”

A black spiky-haired boy with golden eyes sitting on a table in a lab far underground, where he didn’t belong.

“Izuku… what about the old ma-” the villain covered his beautiful hero’s mouth and held a finger to his own smiling lips. He sat on top of him, legs on either side of him with his head tilted so innocently.

 “You’ll just have to be quiet, Shouchan.” he giggled, placing his hand down at the center of Todoroki’s chest. “But don’t think about him. I’m the only one you should be thinking about.” His index finger forced the collar of his white shirt down. “I haven’t spent time with you in so long… and that’s all we have now. I’m here now.”

Chapter Text

Delicate like porcelain glass. Warm like a spring. Soft and smooth like silk. Beautiful like the loving angel on a rooftop on a rainy day. A killer held his resting hero, careful and quiet to not wake him. He watched him in silence. They both laid on their sides with one in the other’s arms, illuminating minty hues peacefully gazed down through the dim lighting twilight provided through the window. Both were nearly encased in a nest of blankets in the center of the floor. Their clothes had been lost somewhere amongst them. They laid in near silence, only the sounds of a light wind that would rustle tree leaves and bushes, and the sweet even breathing of the sleeping hero.

Midoriya had his head resting on the side of Todoroki’s head, occasionally shifting his fingers through his hair, smiling softly at him as he did so. “No tears this time,” he quietly giggled, peeking through the strands over his hero’s eyes. Every time Todoroki had fallen asleep, without fail, his nightmares and his sadness would overwhelm his unconscious state. This was the first time Midoriya had seen him in such a serene bliss. “Just sweet dreams.” the killer hummed. “My Shouchan deserves the sweetest of dreams.” He kissed his forehead and then brought Todoroki’s head closer into his chest. He let out a long, deep sigh in comfort, having waited for a moment like this for months. He then blushed at the feeling of his beloved nuzzling in closer. He giggled hushedly in a type of accomplishment. 

How long had he been in this house? Longer than an hour. Maybe two. To have this kind of time with two ignorant people still in the mansion was a blessing. It wouldn’t last. Midoriya heard scratching at the door and very quiet whines, muffled by the wall. It wasn’t the kind of whines of a lonely dog, but rather a worried one. Someone was coming. The little villain sat up quickly, yet carefully enough to keep Todoroki undisturbed. He dug around for their clothes in the messy nest of blankets, finding his own as well as the other’s. He draped the U.A. gym uniform jacket over Todoroki's back before getting up and getting dressed in a timely manner. He then heard a whined bark from behind the door. “Yeah, Yeah…” Endeavor’s voice mumbled, yet he was loud enough to hear.

“Shouto-?” Endeavor opened the door to Todoroki’s room, letting Zuzu trot inside. The man looked side to side, examining the room, not expecting the lights to be off or for his son to be on the floor in blankets. The gym uniform poking out near his neck gave the impression that he was still dressed. He would never check the closet for a hiding infamous killer peeking through a crack. Protective eyes would watch the pro’s every move, desiring nothing more than to kill the man and steal his son away forever. He was his now. The bruised bite at the back of his shoulder blade was proof of it. He expected Endeavor to shout, to wake him, to argue with him. However, he became baffled by his gestures.

Awkwardly and politely, Endeavor placed a bowl of soba on a desk in the corner of the room by the window. “Fuyumi said you didn’t come down for dinner.” Did he not understand that Todoroki was asleep? Midoriya hoped he wouldn’t wake him. “I don’t want you trying to fast again. And we can work on your fire during your internships.” Couldn’t be friendly for too long, could he? Endeavor barely spared Todoroki a glance when he went back to the entrance of his room and just stood there. It looked like he wanted to say something, but became frustrated by not being able to come up with the words. “I get why you may not want to talk to me. But you need to keep away from that boy. The sneaking out and being gone for days at a time isn’t good. You…” he wasn’t even looking at him while talking, but his eyes narrowed as he looked off at the floor. “I can see your brother in you. I can’t have you turning out like him. You need to stay focused on your future, and you can’t progress if you’re afraid of your fire.” He wasn’t afraid of it. He hated it. “It all started with the sneaking out, with your brother. God knows what he started doing out there unsupervised. You’re better than that, Shouto. And I know you’re better than what you displayed today.” 

Endeavor left after that, shutting the door behind him without trying to be all that quiet. It was Midoriya’s cue to leave the closet and sigh. Had Todoroki been awake, an argument would have definitely taken place. The little villain scoffed at the thought of the pro trying to defend his actions. “Don’t listen to him Shouchan,” he whispered, kneeling down beside his hero and leaning down to kiss his lips softly goodbye. He expected him to sleep through the kiss, unaware that he had actually woken him up, his eyes cutely blinking open as the villain was walking to the door.

“Izuku…” Todoroki mumbled, realizing quickly that his beloved had to go. He wished he could stay forever. Yet his sleepy self felt the need to reach out to him with one hand, laying on his side and exposing a bruised mark on the back of his shoulder. Midoriya looked back from the door, appearing awestruck by the boy behind him. Such a beautiful hero reaching for him, a twinkling glow in the twilight light in his blue eye, and a loving smile on his face. No half-smile or smirk. A loving, infatuated smile. “I love you,” Todoroki said so softly, making the little villain blush and then grin sweetly back.

 “I love you,” Midoriya said back, waving shyly goodbye to his boyfriend and the little puppy that was snuggling up to his chest. When he left the room as silently as he could, he would escape out the nearest window as stealthily possible and retrieved his shoes from under the bushes in the front garden. He left the property, thus leaving Endeavor completely ignorant of the intrusion of his home.

“I’m home,” Midoriya called out when he entered Kurogiri’s bar, opening the door and taking off his shoes before taking more than a step inside.

“You did good today, allow me to do the same for you.” A man walked past him, lightly patting his shoulder once before walking out the door. Midoriya recognized the man from once before. Giran, Shigaraki’s info broker. He noticed him leaving with a photograph in his hand and a confident snarky grin on his face. The door was shut behind him.

“I take it things went well?” Shigaraki had come down the stairs with father in hand and turned at the doorframe. Midoriya poked his pointer fingers together and blushed trying to think of a way to explain what he had done that day. His older brother scoffed before smirking. “Don’t worry, I know exactly what you just did.” It was like watching the boy’s head exude steam while glowing red with wide panicked eyes.

“H-How would you know?! You were here all day!” There was no way Shigaraki would know! There was no way he saw anything… right? He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have. And yet he seemed so confident. The little villain watched him run his hand through shaggy blue locks on the side of his head and go to sit down at the bar in his usual seat. He patted the seat next to him where Midoriya would always sit. Always at his right side.

Midoriya gulped and sat next to him, tapping his fingers on the wood countertop awkwardly. “How was the mission with Akaguro?” Shigaraki asked, taking out his phone to scroll through the news. He was specifically looking at Hosu City, Tokyo news and smirking at one of the headlines. Media crews were annoying, but boy did they work fast. “Have fun?” Somehow it felt like he was asking about something else with that second question.

“The mission w-was uh…” Midoriya began to answer before shaking his head, letting the embarrassment leave him. This was his big brother he was talking to. He could talk to him. His green eyes sparkled as he looked at him enthusiastically, proud of the work he had done that afternoon. “It was amazing. Master Akaguro’s quirk is incredible.” The moment Ingenium turned the corner to the alleyway, his life as a hero was over. Stain had cut his cheek, a harmless little scratch. The pro stood frozen after his blood had been licked, allowing the masked doctor make his move. He had taken a step forward, keeping one foot in front of the other as he brought his hand over hand in front of himself, and then raised them both above his head, allowing the wires from his metal-tipped gloves to flurry above. They came down, wrapping tight around Ingeniums neck, his wrists, his ankles, and his torso, making him appear as a lifeless doll on display. Stain went ahead, completing the job he had wanted to complete, stabbing his blades deep into his legs, twisting and pulling them out and taking blood and tissue out with him. He immobilized him as a hero. Paralyzed him as a simple man. And then Stain had gone in front of him, sticking his bloodied sword in his mouth, but cutting nothing in a threat to keep him still as Midoriya did his work on his quirk. It had been a lovely learning experience for him.

“And afterward?” Shigaraki smirked, listening to Midoriya recall his experience. He made the little killer blush again, though he placed a hand on his head with a pinkie up. “I know you went to go see your prince charming.”

Midoriya nodded slowly, staring down at the countertop. “I snuck into his house and uh… we…” he couldn’t bring himself to say it out loud.

“Did you moan?” Shigaraki snickered as his little brother made an ungodly shrieking cry as he was then attacked with a flurry of weak punches to his side. He did know exactly what they did after all.

“I did not! Not not not! You jerk!” Midoriya continued to hit the older villain with rage and embarrassment taking over him all over again. Even if the question was horribly humiliating, he knew he was just teasing. Shigaraki was just a brat who thought romance was gross! No one that immature would ever understand! 

“You totally did.” Shigaraki pointed at him with a mocking, keeping his tone calm and playful. He was fully aware of how much of an asshole he was being. 

“Did not!”

“Did to,”

“Did not!”

This would continue for two full minutes. 

Kurogiri would eventually come out of a backroom to place food on the counter for both the arguing children. “Could you both save this for later, please?” he asked, cutting their argument off as Midoriya had stood up on his stool and was holding the collar of Shigaraki’s shirt with both hands. All while the other just kept his fist to his own cheek, smirking at the little villain evilly, one leg resting over the other. Midoriya looked to Kurogiri, biting the inside of his cheek in a pout before sitting down to eat.

“Not like someone who’s never kissed anyone would know.” The little villain mumbled under his breath as he took his first bite. The comment made Shigaraki flinch. Their argument was not over.

“Kissing’s fucking gross. And I would still know.” the older villain huffed, but something in the younger one sensed otherwise. The way he answered was a bit strange. He was never really one to boast how smart he was, rather he would just wait for the time to arise to prove himself and show off. 

“You don’t know the first thing about love, do you?” Midoriya smiled as he drank from a cup. The look on Shigaraki’s face was all he needed, though it was more like, he looked the other way. “You only know what you do from subplots in videogames, you freaking shut-in.” he watched him shiver, like his words stabbed him in the back with embarrassment. He knew just as much as a thirteen-year-old, if not less. 

“That’s enough Izuku.” Kurogiri interrupted. The sudden words from the dark fog villain made Midoriya blink. He wasn’t stern or sharp, it was a rather polite request for him to stop. It didn’t seem fair with how much Shigaraki had teased him. But perhaps there was a reason behind it if Kurogiri was the one to stop him. “Shigaraki, how long do you predict it will take Giran to find Endeavor’s first son?” he then turned his attention to the older brother. Strange how he called Midoriya by his first name and Shigaraki by his last. Was he still trying to keep a distance between them? 

“He’s in the area and there are cameras around the stadium to see where he was headed. I don’t think it’ll take him longer than a week.” Shigaraki answered. He took out his phone again to look at coverage from the sports festival. “I’m going to go find him myself when he’s been tracked. I need you here in case our prince charming needs an emergency place to stay. And one of us needs to be here to take care of this little know-it-all.” he lightly bonked Midoriya on the head, receiving an annoyed grumble in response. “I don’t know how long it’ll take to get on this guy’s good side though…” he imagined that it wouldn’t be that simple. 

“I recommend refraining yourself from threatening to kill him,” Kurogiri suggested.

The next school day proceeded most peacefully with afternoon training being canceled for the hero course students to come up with hero names. And thus the general studies course would write evaluations from their experience at the sports festival. Midoriya was pleased to find that his notebook was neatly written in by the clone and what it had observed. The real one was able to write a very well-written paper of his observations of everyone’s quirks. Though, he noticed at the bottom over every page that there were little notes of how the stadium just looked like a dogfighting ring where people were watching teenagers beat each other senseless for entertainment and to be judged by heroes. Midoriya was grateful that he didn’t have to be there to watch. Looking further into his notes, he was impressed to see that Shinsou had made it to the third event, but didn’t make it past the second round. 

“A few heroes requested me to intern at their agencies. I’m… really surprised.” Shinsou said, walking beside Midoriya on their way to the cafeteria for the lunch period, looking at a sheet of paper that consisted of lists of hero agencies. The little villain tried not to roll his eyes. But seeing the tired boy so pleasantly honored by the positive attention, he almost felt bad for him. Heroes just wanted him to make their hero agencies look better. 

“Do you know which one you’re going to pick?” Midoriya asked, at least curious as to what his classmate was thinking about. 

“I was going to talk to Mr. Yamada to get a second opinion. He said he really wanted us to think about it over the next two days.” They were being given two days off to thoroughly research and choose where to intern. Midoriya only saw it as more time to spend with Todoroki and more time to work with Stain. 

The two students separated into different lines for food once they reached the cafeteria. While the little villain was still in line, he noticed Shinsou go to sit by himself by the windows. He noticed that he had always been sitting there since the first day of school. Though, this time on his way there, someone lightly tugged the back his blazer. Even though he had such a gloomy resting face, a boy that emitted sunshine was beaming to see him. He watched the boy with a lightning bolt in his hair stay behind Shinsou as he kept turning around. Whenever he turned, Kaminari would stay right behind, going in circles a few times before jumping out in front of him playfully. It was harmless fun rather than a tease. 

Midoriya couldn’t hear what Kaminari was saying, but he saw him pointing with his thumb to a table where Bakugo, Kirishima, Sero, and Ashido sat. There were two empty spaces right next to each other. He watched Shinsou follow the blond to the table, looking awkwardly at the floor like he was too anxious to make eye contact with anyone. Midoriya made a small shrug with a smile seeing the misunderstood student be invited to sit with a group. It gave him a few thoughts. Though, they would have to be stored away for later as he was more looking forward to meeting his beloved hero outside under the tree.

Todoroki was there first, sitting back against the tree with his food in the grass beside him. It appeared that he had been spacing out while staring at his left hand. But he would quickly be interrupted from his thoughts when a freckled killer leaped into his lap, his face taking the place of his left hand. A face of confusion and anxiety quickly vanished at the sight of the adorable smiling face of his significant other. The smaller boy was giggling and hugging on to his torso as he playfully kicked his legs in the air like a child. He was just so happy to see him, to be with him, and to hold him again. Midoriya would feel two arms wrap around him and hug on to his back, bringing him all the more closer. 

“Shouchan~” Midoriya sang cutely, kicking his feet in rhythm of tilting his head side to side. How he wanted to tell him that he was so close to finding his big brother. It was the last thing they needed at this point. The two students had never been closer romantically, Todoroki was on good terms with both Kurogiri and Shigaraki without even having their proper identities, and his relationship with his father and the heroes was only getting worse. The little villain was undeniably eager for him. “I wanna take a peek~” he mused, leaning up a bit and using both hands to shift the collar of Todoroki’s shirt and blazer. 

“You’re lucky we didn’t have training today,” Todoroki mumbled, looking off yet tilting his head to let the killer on his lap get a look at the bruise on his shoulder. “Someone could have seen.” How embarrassing that would be. Though Midoriya stole a quick peck on the lips and put his clothes back in place. 

“The old bastard would probably kill me.” the little killer hummed. He didn’t seem all that worried about it. He soon got off of Todoroki’s lap and would pick his food up from the grass to start eating it, as they would then eat together. “We got two days off, right? Then an internship?” he asked, curious about what his schedule was going to look like for the next week or so. He watched Todoroki nod slowly as his eyes became a bit spacious once again. He could tell he’s had quite a bit on his mind.

“I have little doubt Endeavor has already sent in a fake acceptance letter to the school. He wants me interning at home no matter what.” he started. Midoriya’s cheery mood appeared to drop. Would Todoroki be restricted from seeing him right after they were allowed to spend time together from Shigaraki? That wasn’t fair… “He can’t keep me locked in the house. But I’ll need an excuse that Fuyumi would approve of.” Why couldn’t she just cover for him regardless? What was she so worried about him doing? “And at the festival… when my fire came out…” he spoke slowly and softly. “I was only thinking about my mom. And… When I think about the time your mother took me into her apartment and,” he looked down at himself, placing his hand over the center of his chest. His ribs. “A man who kept me alive long enough to be rescued, he was talking about his son and… when I think of all that, I just wonder if I could maybe have that for myself again. At least one person.”

“You want to see your mom,” Midoriya concluded. Todoroki didn’t say it outright, but he didn’t have to. His beloved knew exactly what he wanted. What he probably needed. Midoriya watched Todoroki nod, but the hero student looked so anxious. He just looked to the killer sitting next to him, silently waiting for him to say something. He was unsure. “I think it’d be good for you. How about I go with you? I don’t have to go into her room, but I can just stand outside. We could go on a date right after, yeah?” Midoriya told him sweetly. And suddenly Todoroki didn’t seem so nervous anymore. 

“I’d like that a lot,” Todoroki mumbled before eating a piece of meat with chopsticks. If the meeting went well, Midoriya was sure that Kurogiri and Shigaraki could give him access to his mother, even as a criminal. If it went poorly, he would have more of a reason to cling to the villains, whether it be his older brother or Kurogiri. The little villain was sure to make any outcome work in, not just his favor, but his hero’s as well. He just had to trust Shigaraki to do his part wisely. 

When Midoriya returned home that evening, he was a bit surprised to see Shigaraki dressed a bit differently than normal. He wore a black hoodie with a red undershirt with grey pants and his usual red shoes. Instead of his father, he wore a black flu mask that was under his chin at the moment; and over his shoulder was a red messenger bag. At first glance, he looked like a normal college student. Midoriya took his shoes off at the door and looked to Shigaraki a bit curiously. “You’re leaving sooner than I thought,” he commented. 

“Giran found him sooner than I thought,” Shigaraki said back, scrolling through his phone and then putting an earbud in. “I’m traveling there myself so Kurogiri is going to stay with you.” It would have been quicker for Kurogiri to warp him, but there was probably something he could learn by walking there himself. He could see where this guy likes to linger, see what places he probably visited, find a motive for being where he is, but he would come across as less threatening going alone. “I’ll be gone for a few days. Don’t miss me too much,” he smirked and shrugged.

“I won’t,” Midoriya snarked, walking past him to grab a snack from the bar counter. Shigaraki didn’t think much of the little villain’s response. He flipped his hood up and adjusted his bag to start heading to the door. “Be careful, Tomu.”  he then heard his little brother say. It made him twitch with cringe at the nickname, as he glanced back to see Midoriya watching him from the corner of his eye. He looked a little worried. He would miss him. 

And the next morning, Midoriya would realize how much he did miss his older brother figure. He had grown so accustomed to eating breakfast with him in the morning. Teasing and making fun of each other. The bar felt so much emptier without him there. He liked to peek at the papers he was always going over, or sneak over his shoulder to see what was on his phone screen. He liked to lean against him when he felt sleepy, but not tired enough to go to his room. The villain he had met by chance in the alley one night, the one he had feared for a moment after discovering his quirk and his desensitization to killing, had become one of the closest people in his life. He was able to give this little schoolboy a purpose, skills, a teacher, a place to stay, and the opportunity to become close to a hero he had admired since a fateful day. He had little doubt that he could convince anyone lost out there to join his party.

With that in mind, Midoriya readied himself for a day away from school. He met Todoroki around the corner from his mansion so he didn’t have to go far alone, though he wasn’t all that alone with Zuzu by his side. They shared a kiss and would hold hands as they traveled across the city, taking a train. The train was quiet for the middle of the afternoon on a workday.  Zuzu stood by Todoroki, her paws up on the back of the seat, her tail wagging watching the outside world move by so fast. Her owner had watched her for a few minutes before leaning his head on Midoriya’s. “You nervous?” the little villain asked. He felt the other nod, so he reached up to run his fingers through his hair. No matter how this turned out, he would be there for him.

“Iida’s brother got really hurt during the festival…” Todoroki breathed. The sound of Iida’s name was enough to make the little villain’s eyes go bright red. But he would not snap. He proceeded to keep brushing the other side of his head with his fingers. “He’s really upset about it, but he’s not telling anyone. I’m worried about him.” Stop talking about him. Forget about him. You’re with me now. You’re mine. “I heard my father talking about Ingenium, about his condition. He said he’ll probably be out of hero work forever. It must be hard on his family.” Who cares about them? They were just mooching off of him anyway. They don’t care about him, just how much money he was making and how popular he was. “It got me thinking about mine too…” No wonder he was thinking about his mom. There were so many triggers for it.

“You said you didn’t remember much about your oldest brother. Do you have the same problem with your mom?” Midoriya asked, trying to change the subject at the first chance he had. He felt another nod.

“I remember her crying a lot. And recently some things have been coming back…” he and Shigaraki appeared to have a similar problem with memory. They had repressed so much to the point where they hardly remember anything. “She was supportive but… afraid. I don’t want her to be afraid of me.” That was what he feared most. 

The hospital staff was shocked to see Todoroki signing in to see his mother. He had never visited her before, it was a surprise to see him now. It was even more shocking that it was after something as massive as the sports festival. Midoriya took the liberty of taking Zuzu in his arms and carrying her to keep her off the floor and from anyone tripping over her. The two teenagers took the elevator to the third floor after signing in, there wasn’t any talking between them. The hallway seemed so long when looking for the room number. 315. Todoroki stood at the door, only staring at it for a few moments while Midoriya held Zuzu almost like a child. “We’ll be right here when you’re done, okay? We passed a cafe on the way here, we can go there on our way back.” the little killer smiled with his eyes shut, looking as pure as he ever had with a puppy in his arms. Todoroki looked back to them and nodded with a very subtle gulp. He turned to hug Midoriya and put a hand on Zuzu’s head. He had never been the one to initiate hugs.

Midoriya sat with his back against the door, holding Zuzu in his arms. It had been a while, an hour at least. Things were quiet, so it must have been going well. There was no screaming, no shouting, no sobbing to be heard from the outside. Zuzu, who had been very keen on sensing anxiety and distress, was relaxed as her chin rested on his shoulder with her nose pressed against the door. “Think they’re doing alright in there?” Midoriya asked, patting her back. She was so calm compared to how she appeared at the mansion. Paranoid, fur up, being skittish at every corner, panting from stress, constantly clinging to Todoroki’s side. Even at the hideout, she paced a lot. She was always wandering, sniffing, trying to investigate every corner. He wondered if she could sense how many people had died in the underground lab. Could she ever smell the blood on him? Did it bother her? But here, she seemed so calm in his hold, closing her eyes and her ears dropping. “His mom must be very gentle if you’re like this.” Zuzu was a stressed-out puppy, probably having gone through a lot. No wonder Todoroki wanted to keep her so badly. 

After quite a bit more time, Zuzu’s ears perked up and Midoriya could feel the door rumble a bit. He stood up to see Todoroki coming back out, taking a moment to look back and wave. “Goodbye,” he said softly, coming out and shutting the door behind him. When it was closed, he just stood there, staring at the floor. But he appeared to have the smallest smile on his face. It made the little villain beam.

“You’re smiling.” Midoriya giggled, approaching him and using one hand to hold the other’s cheek and raise his gaze. “I love it when you do.” he gestured his head for them to start walking back. “So how was she?”

They both walked side by side, a lot less tension was between them now that the stressful part was over. “She was… great. She cried but she was happy. And I was too.” Todoroki answered. Midoriya wondered if he had cried too. He could be quite emotional when he really wanted to be. “My brother and sister have been seeing her for a long time. It was like she was just waiting for me. I feel bad that it took me this long.”

“But you did it. And you had your reasons.” The last thing Midoriya wanted him to feel was guilt. He had done so well to work up the courage to do this.  “I’m proud of you, not anyone would have the strength to do that- oops.” the moment he said he was proud, he watched a flame appear on his hero’s red hair to which he began to pat out with his hand lightly. The blush on his face was pretty cute to see. This usually happened when he was embarrassed, but it was more intense when he was angry. It made the little doctor curious the more he thought about as they walked. He had let Zuzu down outside for Todoroki to take her leash, but Midoriya didn’t catch himself staring. 

Quirks were physical abilities, but were some linked to other things? Like emotions? He’d have to see how the quirk functioned. Probably veins. Maybe a type of fuel or energy the body produced that was separated down the middle. Maybe the source was the heart rate. But the heart reacts to all emotions in a similar way. It was probably the brain then. What chemicals would be in the body to produce ice and fire? It could control the whole body temperature, so how would it be able to spread the power to the other side? He’d have to look inside. 

“Izuku?” Todoroki said, blinking once at Midoriya in wonder. 

“Huh?” the little doctor snapped out of his thoughts.

“You were staring. Is something wrong?” He was looking at him like that again.

“N-No, just overthinking. It’s alright.” He was looking at him like a subject on his table. His eyes had been darting to different parts of his hero’s body. His hands, his chest, his neck, his head, and his stomach. He wanted to deny it. But he was starting to fantasize about the inner workings of his beautiful quirk.

The little villain only watched the ground as a drop of sweat made its way down the side of his head. He didn’t want to think about it. He just wanted to forget everything he was just thinking about. Even as they stood in line together at a cafe, he couldn’t bear to look at him again. The risk of that thought process making its way through his head again was too disgusting to tolerate. He felt gross. Appalling. He began to scratch at his wrists, wanting to rip through his terrible skin. Zuzu put her front paws on his leg but turned her head to see someone else.

“Well aren’t you two enjoying your day off! Didn’t think I’d find you both all the way across town though!” Such a loud peppy voice. Midoriya instinctively put his hands in his pockets but was stunned to see his homeroom and English teacher right behind him and Todoroki. Yamada had his arms folded with a toothy grin on his face. His hair was down with the front ends tied in a bun, he wore regular rectangle glasses, casual clothes with a leather jacket, and had a pair of headphones around his neck. Seeing him out of costume, but also out of formal clothes was a bit off-putting to the students. It was a little awkward seeing their teacher out of school at a cafe. “What’re you two getting? It’s on me!” but his heart was always in the right place, as big as ever. Both the teenagers looked to each other and shared a look of soft approval. However, just as they were ordering, Midoriya smirked to Todoroki. He knew his boyfriend well enough to know he didn’t sneak out on planned dates without Endeavor’s credit card. They lived to make his pockets hurt. The moment Yamada was about to pay with his own card, Midoriya clapped his hands together.

“Oh wait- actually! I changed my mind!” The clap was enough to take Yamada’s attention away for just a moment. Todoroki lightly tapped the side of Zuzu’s hind leg with his foot as he pointed to the card in the teacher’s hand. They must have played this game before with Endeavor. She scampered up to the blond and got on her hind legs and snatched the card from his hand.

“No, no, that’s not a toy!” she didn’t really steal it as she just sat down next to Midoriya, letting Yamada turn his back to Todoroki for a brief moment.

“Add a large vanilla ice cream, triple what he was getting, and a dozen cake pops.” Todoroki told the cashier quietly and swiped Endeavor’s card just as Yamada got his back. The poor girl behind the register looked terribly confused but got the scheme the two teenagers were trying to pull. She repeated the initial price and didn’t ready the card machine when the pro hero went to pay. It left Midoriya snickering to himself and Todoroki holding his puppy, petting her head in pride. 

Sitting down at the table together, Yamada was hopelessly confused by how much they had. He didn’t remember ordering four coffees and a set of cake pops. But he refused the receipt at the counter so he couldn’t check. And he wasn’t about to cause a fast-food employee the trouble because he wasn’t about that life. “Does uh… she always steal things like that? It’s the puppy energy, right?” he asked Todoroki as Zuzu sat in his lap, enjoying her little puppy life with an ice cream all to herself. He didn’t remember ordering that. 

“All the time.” Todoroki shrugged. Midoriya then suddenly giggled and pressed himself against his hero’s side with a cute smile, both of them enjoying their coffee drinks. The two and Zuzu looked so innocent. They could be troublesome, one being full of energy around the other, and the other emitting a sense of serenity and peace when the other was around. They thrived off of each other. Yamada put his cheek in his hand, watching them with a heartfelt grin.

“I won’t tell anyone. But you’re both more than friends, aren’t you?” he asked outright. He could tell. He didn’t have to ask. But he did find it funny when Midoriya had to lean up on Todoroki’s shoulder to pat out the flame that sprung up on his red hair again as his face blushed. 

“Shouchan- your hair, you’re doing it again,” the little villain warned in an attempt to not set off fire alarms. He then turned to his teacher with a pure chuckle. “You caught us. We’ve been together since before that interrogation, but Endeavor would kill both of us if he found out.” He was sure Yamada understood that. He soon sat down and leaned against Todoroki, taking a sip of his coffee. He thought back for a second, remembering that the two of them had become a couple the night Kosuke was killed.

“Yeah, Shouta and I had a feeling. He was a bit worried that the lying would trip up the investigation. But things have only gotten more complicated…” Yamada had smirked, but his mood slowly dropped as he took another sip of coffee. He had ordered it black. Both the teenagers could see a bit of darkness under his eyes although it was slight. “Todoroki, you would know. You’ve probably been hearing ol’ fire face yelling on the phone all the time.” Midoriya looked to Todoroki to see him nod. Should Yamada be telling them this? He probably felt comfortable around Todoroki considering he was the son of the lead hero of the investigation. But Midoriya… he was his favorite.

“Is it… not going well, Mr. Yamada?” The little killer asked. The man looked so tired all of sudden. Maybe even a little defeated. What kind of hours had he been working? His student heard in his last podcast that he was taking a hiatus to help in solving the crime, so he knew it was becoming a heavy task. 

“Keep this between us… okay? It does involve you two because you’re students and all. But especially you, Todoroki.” Yamada’s voice had become very quiet. He was definitely not supposed to be telling them any of this. But Midoriya was on the edge of his seat. He was going to hear how close his trackers were to his tail. “Midoriya, you were pretty high on Endeavor’s potential culprit list. But you’ve been removed completely since the USJ incident. You were in the observation room with me when that happened, so that masked guy couldn’t have been you.” It was. “Shouta was stuck on how you acted during the Tragedy. He was paranoid of how calm you were, but I knew you were just doing it for Todoroki.” It was both. “But Todoroki… Endeavor’s looking at you now.” 

“What?” Midoriya’s hand tightly clutched the cup in his hand. He almost cracked the plastic. He could see a look of anxious shock in Todoroki’s face from the corner of his eye. 

“Our biggest lead is Kosuke. The detectives were already looking at you from the fight, you were front in the center during the Tragedy, you didn’t go home with your father that day, you avoided the interrogation, you’ve been away from home unsupervised consistently, and at the USJ… you were almost taken. And yet they spared you. You couldn’t have been the one in the mask, but some suspect you’re colluding with them.” Yamada looked very upset when listing all of the evidence piled up against Todoroki. Midoriya’s heart had fallen deep in his stomach. He thought he was going to be sick. To see his hero arrested for crimes that his boyfriend committed for him… he’d rather dive off a roof.

“B-But he was paralyzed with shock! You saw him yourself! A-And he almost died at the USJ!” Midoriya raised his voice as he stood up but then realized he shouldn’t be being loud. Todoroki sat still and quietly.

“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell them all. At this point, it was your heroic action of saving Shouta that is saving you here, Todoroki. It would have made no sense for a villain to want to protect him. It was also the severity of your injury that came with protecting him that’s protecting you.” Who would have thought that Midoriya’s mistake was actually saving Todoroki from the police. “The only way to keep their eyes off of how it could be you, I’m focusing on what you couldn’t or wouldn’t have done.” Yamada rubbed the side of his head with a sigh, then looked to Todoroki for any kind of response.

“I… see why Fuyumi wanted to know where I was going today,” he spoke in his typical tone of indifference and calmness. But all Midoriya heard was heartbreak. 

“Shouchan…” his heart was breaking for him too.

“Do you think… Endeavor was trying to keep me home… to protect me?” It couldn’t be. He would do it to protect his image and to keep him away from his boyfriend. He wanted to keep him imprisoned to force his fire out of him. There was no fatherly love in that man. There was no way.

“I don’t know, kiddo…” Yamada said sadly. “I know you’re a good kid. Shouta thinks so too. I can’t even describe how worried he was about you, even though he would never admit it. But the people on the case are getting frustrated and impatient so they want to point to someone."

“So what’s the evidence protecting him?” Midoriya asked. What could he do to lead Endeavor’s team somewhere else? How could he fix this?

“Like I said, Kosuke is our lead.” The little villain noticed a very empty look on the ever so expressive Present Mic’s face. That was the face of a man who’s been looking at a dead body for too long. “We suspect human experimentation. A lot of the team thinks Kosuke’s lungs were burned in a fight for survival like he was fighting right as he died.” Yamada shook his head. “I think someone’s testing the extent of how far his quirk would go. Like testing the body’s limits. We took DNA after we extracted and detained that thing the villains called a ‘nomu’. That thing is a person… someone’s body pumped with quirks to strengthen the human body beyond its limits.” Midoriya stared in shocked. He didn’t take Yamada to be an idiot. But he didn’t expect his deduction skills to be this impressive. “Out of all the villains at the USJ, one never tried to fight. The one in the mask. He was either trying to hide his quirk to keep from being identified through quirk registration records or…”

“He was quirkless.” Midoriya finished the sentence for him. Yamada was right on his trail, a step behind, but he was close. Too close. “You’re focusing on finding the one in the mask, rather than focusing on the evidence against Todoroki.”

“That’s right. I think the identity of the one in the mask would fill in a gap as to why Kosuke was such a special kill. Because now he’s been spotted working with the serial killer Stain.” The mention of Stain made Todoroki’s eyes flicker. “Todoroki, you are close with Iida; Shouta and All Might have vouched for that. I can’t imagine you taking any part in, or aligning yourself with people who would cripple his older brother.” Yamada then cracked a peaceful smile. “It’s really your kindness that’s prevailing for you.” 

A short while after their conversation was over that evening, Yamada waved goodbye to Todoroki and Midoriya happily, carrying the fourth coffee in his other hand. He probably needed it. But despite his exhaustion and depressing line of work, he kept a bright smile as his students brought him so much joy. Both the teenagers waved back to him with Zuzu standing between them. Though the smaller freckled boy had red in his eyes that were not from the sunset.

Midoriya walked Todoroki and Zuzu home when their date had come to an end. They were just around the corner from the mansion when they shared a kiss that lasted a bit longer than most. Midoriya had even reached up to cup both of his hero’s cheeks to bring him closer, to which the other would place his hands on his waist. “I know it’s bothering you. But remember what Mr. Yamada said. You’re too kind to have done any of that. And he’s looking out for you.” Midoriya told him once they parted. He slowly let go of his face. “Your kiss was sad just now…”

“I wonder if Fuyumi told my mother anything about this…” Todoroki took his hands back and looked down. “And I worry if Fuyumi is afraid of me now. She probably wants me to intern at Endeavor’s agency so he can keep an eye on me. I’d like to see my mother more often, but I don’t know if they’ll trust me to go alone.” Midoriya brought him in by his precious face for another kiss. He hated seeing him so self-conscious. 

“I know it seems like everyone was so quick to turn on you. But I’m always here for you, no matter what. You don’t need them when I’m here.” he purred between several kisses. He wanted to tell him that he could fix this. It didn’t matter the cost. The moment Todoroki and Zuzu returned to the mansion, Midoriya quickly turned on his heel and took out his phone as he speed-walked down the city sidewalk. He tapped a contact and held the phone to his ear, waiting for the ringing to stop and for someone to answer.

“Dad, can you get a hold of Giran? I need him to find someone for me.”

Shigaraki had been gone for two days. He left Kurogiri’s bar prepared with minimal necessities in his bag. It was evening and he was looking around, debating on whether it was worth crashing in a motel again for the night. Looking at his phone, he was getting a few texts a day on updates of where his person of interest had been spotted. It seemed like every time he reached the latest location, the one he was looking for had already moved. Every single place he was led to was a bar. He kept his earbuds in, walking by himself at his own moderate pace with his hands in his pockets. Maybe a little slower than most people. Walking past side shops and restaurants, he watched people from the corner of his eye. Teenagers on dates, families shopping together, groups of tweens causing a bit of mischief together, people smiling and enjoying themselves. “How annoying…” he grumbled to himself. 

He eventually found himself walking through a college campus in trying to take a short cut to the next location. Maybe he would be able to catch his target by taking a shorter route. But he likely wouldn’t be questioned as he was a similar age to everyone else who was there and he even had a messenger bag to complete the look. He kept to the side of the paved pathway, occasionally glancing at students that walked past him at the odd chance that one of them might be the person of interest. But he soon became annoyed at the sound of a rowdy group of boys his age as they walked in the opposite direction as him. They were taking up the whole path but he wasn’t about to move for them. If they were halfway decent people, they would stay out of his way. 

“C’mon my guy, you gotta lighten up! Just one drink? A few girls?”

“You’re so uptight! You worried your parents are gonna find out?”

“There ain’t nothing like partying all night with the boys!” 

There was someone in the middle being peer pressured by the rest of the group. Though it seemed he wasn’t interested in what they were asking him to do. He shut his eyes when one of the others ruffled his white hair and pushed his head down. “Come on guys… I got a girlfriend. And I gotta study for a test tomorrow.”

“You’re like, super-smart Natsuo! Take a break!”

As they walked past, not all of them made room for Shigaraki. One bumped shoulders with him a bit roughly. “Hey, fucking rud-” the student looked ready to start something over it. How immature. How annoying. Shigaraki stopped and flexed his hand as he looked back darkly, terribly frustrated. 

“Hey, hey, don’t. We’re taking up the whole road here. Don’t start shit over nothing.” The one called Natsuo reached out of the group to grab the other by the shoulders from behind and pulled him back. He smiled awkwardly at Shigaraki, but he appeared genuine. “Sorry for him. We should have been more aware of our surroundings,” he apologized for him. Shigaraki lowered his hand slowly, returning it to his hoodie pocket. He closed his eyes and turned away, continuing down the path without saying a word. Natsuo watched him for a moment and sighed. “Looks like he just had a rough day…” Or maybe that was just his face.

Continuing on his way, it had gotten dark. Street lights were on and the city colors were brightly illuminating the streets. Yet his upcoming location was away from where the public roamed the city nightlife. Shigaraki turned a corner into a small side street, finding a neon sign for a discreet bar. He was about to go through the entrance when he noticed an alley right next to the door. He only spared a glance. But he swore he saw someone down there with a small cloud of smoke coming from them. Curiously, he took a step back and took a closer look. It was terribly dark and littered, tight, with a few trash cans and small balconies above and fire escapes. “Hey,” he called out not too loudly, but loud enough to be heard. He saw the figure of the person in the alley turn, noticing him. “Is your name Touya?”

Such a bright blue. It was such a beautiful shade. It was the most dangerous hue of fire. In the darkness of the alley, Shigaraki saw a flash of bright blue in the eyes of the person down the alley. Following the sight came a flurry of blistering flames. He quickly moved behind the corner of the alley, taking cover to not get burned. “Blue flames, I’ve found you~” he hummed, going into his bag and quickly removing the flu mask and replacing it with his father. 

When the flames stopped, Shigaraki peeked his head around the corner. “I’m not here for a fight Todor-” he immediately took his head back at another wave of fire being sent his way. He watched the inferno singe the brick at the corner and at the wall that was taking the brunt. Such a violently intense quirk. How wonderful. He couldn’t help but smile widely underneath the hand. When the attack stopped, he whipped himself around the corner, planning to take this head-on. “I just wanna talk! But you’re making that pretty fucking difficult!” He saw a blue spark before another blast was sent his way. He bent his knees before jumping up against the wall and then hopping to the other, grabbing the railing of a balcony to pull himself up and over. There wasn’t much time to break as bright blue hues locked on him from below, sending more fire his way up above. “Long-range combat is such a pain…” he grumbled, leaping to cling to the railing of another balcony.

He reached to destroy sections keeping it to the wall and the stairs that connected it to platforms above. This let it fall to the ground with a loud and thunderous thud, causing a small dust cloud and forcing the fire user to dive out of the way. Just as he was regaining his footing, Shigaraki dropped down and landed almost cat-like before lunging up at him for the throat. In return, his target raised his hand to angle at his stalker’s throat. By the time the dust cleared, they were face to face with their necks in each other’s hands, left staring at each other with bright red and blue hues locked on to one another. Shigaraki was sure to keep a pinkie finger up while the other kept a small flame to the back of his hand. “It’s Dabi.”

Some litter that was on the ground had become kindling for Dabi’s flames, creating just a few dots of light as beautiful little embers rose above them for just a moment. It gave Shigaraki just enough light to get a look at the one in his grasp. Such a fucked up face. Three piercings on his nose, almost looking like nail studs. Staples lined his jaw, formed a separate line down his chin, circled under his eyes, and many layered on his ears. He couldn’t help but notice how much of his skin was purple, dead and burned as staples kept it from falling off. He had no earlobes. The burnt skin stretched down his neck and who knew how much further it went as he could see the staples and burns on the back of his hands and going all the way down his forearms. Shigaraki found it strange how his clothes were so tattered, but also came off as being a bit too small, like they had been stretched, cut, and restitched poorly to adjust to his size despite being so lanky. His childhood picture showed white hair, and yet now it was jet black. 

“You always try to kill people on sight? That was pretty fucking rude,” Shigaraki grumbled, loosening his grip, but not letting go. One wrong move and he’d be ashes.

“Only if someone is a big enough prick to go out of his way to find me. I should kill you, you fucking creep. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t.” Touchy. Defensive. Shigaraki sensed paranoia as Dabi’s grip only got tighter. But this villain was not afraid in the slightest, smiling widely under that hand.

“I’ve got a little brother at home waiting for me to get back.” Breathing suddenly became a bit easier, though it was subtle. There was a small narrowing of Dabi’s eyes as he didn’t respond. Got him. “How about we get a drink? I got cash.” Shigaraki began to pull his hand back and felt the other following his lead, though he noticed a bit of smoke coming from the ground. It was just a cigarette. 

They found themselves sitting next to each other in a dimly lit bar with some other suspicious characters lounging about. Some talked quietly amongst themselves, but everyone seemed to mind their own business. Shigaraki placed his bag beside him on the counter and paid up for a few drinks. He let the silence have its way with them for at least fifteen minutes, watching Dabi gaze emptily at his large shot glass. He watched him down a few while he, himself, only got through one. He knew his limits as a lightweight. “So you bought me a drink, are we going to fuck now or something?” Dabi grumbled. 

“Is that how you’ve been going about the last eight-ish years?” Shigaraki asked snarkily. They both had such negative attitudes. Not surprising as they almost just killed each other.

“You don’t fucking know me.” The scrawny villain watched him down another shot before reaching into a back pocket for a box of cigarettes, lighting one with his finger after slipping it in his mouth.

“Smoking inside? You really don’t have any manners.” How troublesome. Todoroki’s brother was going to be harder to negotiate with than he thought. He was just a stubborn brat in an adult’s body. 

“Well someone interrupted me while I was outside. So you’re gonna deal with it.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes as he went digging his bag for his phone. It was buried somewhere under black spare clothes. “You didn’t come here to lecture me. So what do you want? How much do you fucking know about me?” Such a foul mouth. How annoying.

“Not much. But enough. I’m just here to make an offer.” The red-eyed villain placed his phone face up on the counter. He could see Dabi raise a brow to him as he took the cigarette out his mouth to tilt his head up and breathe out the smoke. It smelt terrible. “I know your old man is a piece of flaming garbage. So I’m not about to turn you into him if that’s what you’re thinking.” He saw his eyes narrow again. 

“What’re you-” Dabi was about to ask something when Shigarki tapped his phone for an audio to start playing. 

Answer me Shouto. This rebellious phase is getting out of hand if you’re starting to sneak out like this.

I just wanted to get out. You never let me go out anywhere.

I keep you here to keep you focused! I won’t let you get distracted at such a significant point in your growth.

Stop talking to me like I’m some thing. I’m not your masterpiece, why can’t you just drop that stupid ideology?

Can’t you see I’m just trying to give you the best future?! There was a slam. I won’t let you be a failure like your siblings! There was shuffling.

They’re not failures! Stop calling them that and say their names!

Todoroki…

Why is it so hard for you to listen, Shouto?!

Why can’t you be a good parent like mo-?! There was fighting. A lot of it. 

Dabi was only able to listen to half of that fighting as it was meant to go on for at least a few minutes. His hand was resting on the table only to clench into a quivering fist. He couldn’t tolerate one minute of this. “Turn it off.” Shigaraki obliged and paused the audio. Dabi got a glimpse at how much longer the audio had left to run. “Where the hell did you get that?” he asked lowly, downing another shot. Then another. 

“It’s not fabricated if that’s what you’re-”

“Let me see your face.” It was slight, but his words were beginning to slur together. The bright blues of his eyes were becoming a little hazy. A little empty. Shigaraki only sighed as he leaned back, slowly removing the hand from his face. This was for Midoriya and his little prince charming. If this is what it took to gain this Todoroki’s trust, then it was easy enough. He placed his father on the counter and turned to Dabi.

“It’s not fabricated if that’s what you’re implying. You heard him for a second, but that was my little brother that called your’s name. They’ve become close and he wants to get him out of Endeavor’s hands. He wants him-”

“I recognized that creepy hand from the news… that USJ attack. You want him to join your little team of criminals.” Shigaraki was becoming annoyed with being interrupted. But he had to keep his composure for this to work out. He had more than just attention now. But he was halfway towards wasted, his head lolling to the side as he continued to stare at the phone with a shot glass still in his hand. “So why come after me, huh? I’m not the son you’re looking for. You're looking for Mr. Perfect.” Bitterness? Maybe jealousy. Maybe it was a front. 

“My brother asked him if he could have anything realistic in the world, what would it be. He said he wanted his family back. He specifically mentioned that he wanted to see his oldest brother again, thinking that there was no way he could have died.” 

“Well, he did die. He’s shit out of luck.” Another shot downed.

“He didn’t die. He’s a homeless alcoholic, stalking his dear old dad hoping to see him fail while he does nothing.” The shot glass shattered as Dabi crushed it in his hand, shards of glass grazing his palm to make it bleed. A flame rose up on his cheek as he turned to Shigaraki who was just glaring at him. But it wasn’t a glare of anger or disappointment. It wasn’t pity either. It was a challenge. “I’m going to offer you the opportunity to make him fail yourself rather than sitting on your ass and watching from the stands.” Dabi’s nails dug into the counter listening to him. “I won’t out you to your little brother if that’s what you want. You seem pretty sensitive to your real name. But I can give you a place to stay.” A place to hide. “You’ve kept a low profile with no known criminal activity. You can do whatever you want to make some money. My little brother has a knack for stealing cash and atm cards from his subjects.” A means of getting some new clothes. “I’m building a team that will be strong enough to destroy everything I hate. I’m welcoming you to be a part of it.”

Even if Shigaraki couldn’t get him to do it for Todoroki, maybe he could at least convince him to do it for himself. “I could just tell little Todoroki that I’ll do anything in my power to find his big brother. He never has to know. But you both could take down Endeavor together…” he continued. What else could he offer? Shelter, money, food, safety, power... What else… “I could let you visit your mother undetected-”

“Forget it,” Dabi answered, slowly getting to his feet. He was a bit wobbly. “I’ve had enough of your bullshit. Enough of you and those fucking eyes of yours.” His eyes? Shigaraki took his phone and put it in his bag, trading it out for a pen and notepad. He didn’t walk around a city for two days to be told no. He didn’t go through all the effort, all the snooping, all the records, Giran, looking through crowds at the sports festival for nothing. Before Dabi could even begin to walk away, Shigarki shoved a piece of paper into his hands. 

“At least consider it when you’re fucking sober. My place has something set up for you if you change your mind.” Shigaraki snapped at him. And yet he was careful not to raise his voice to a shout. He watched Dabi take the paper and drunkenly look at it. It was a phone number. To which he then took out a severely cracked up smartphone and typed in his number, sending a text to it right away.

Unknown: I hate your eyes. Go fuck yourself.

Then he burned the paper and let the ashes fall to the ground. He lightly shoved Shigaraki aside and went out the door with a slight hobble to his step. The red-eyed villain was left fuming, seeing the text on his phone and processing the conversation he just had to tolerate. But then he thought about it for a few moments silently, gazing down at the words sent to him. Why did Dabi bother sending a text at all?

The two days of choosing an internship had passed. The internships were meant to last a week as hero students would reside at their hero agencies instead of attending school. General studies students had been spread out across multiple fields to study. Midoriya had chosen to work at a hospital that wasn’t too far away from Kurogiri’s bar, allowing himself to observe surgeries and professional doctors firsthand. However, thanks to Twice, the little villain could sneak away at any point to return to the hideout if he needed to. This was only necessary on the third day so far. 

Despite almost all the students being gone, just as the Bloody Tragedy, one remained. The same purple-haired boy as last time. But he was no longer picking at grass in the field waiting for parents who would never come to arrive. Rather, he was in that field, getting lightly kicked in the stomach and knocked down on his backside, only to get right back up again. He wore a gym uniform as he wore a metal, almost threatening looking, mask over his mouth and a grey binding cloth. A replica of Eraserhead’s. “You’re too direct. You don’t give yourself the mobility to change your footwork. Try again until you get it right and we’ll be here until dark if we have to.” Aizawa instructed sternly. Anyone would have been disheartened or think that he was far too tough and strict. But Shinsou only saw it as a challenge, just an obstacle to overcome to become the person he wanted to be. He was on his feet with a determined smirk that only made his tired face look a bit scary.

“Do you ever chill?” Yamada had come outside that afternoon with three little boxes in his hands. He wasn’t dressed in his hero outfit as there wasn’t really a need to. Though he was in a kind of casual business attire with a red shirt and black cardigan, hair tied in a messy bun.  “You two have been out here for hours, how about we give the kid a break?” he said with a big cheesy smile. Aizawa only sighed as he had Shinsou on his back in the grass with his foot on his chest.

“We’re not stopping until he gets it right,” he said so coldly. Yet he raised his foot so Shinsou could get back up and try again.

“Oh hush, I made your favorite this morning!” Yamada sat down in the grass, placing two of the three little boxes down. They were bento boxes he had prepared that morning. He had also brought along an energy drink and a juice box as he kept a coffee for himself. “You know as well as I do that you need to eat to keep up your strength. You’re trying to beef him up, aren’t ya?” Aizawa eyed everything his companion had brought and narrowed his eyes.

“Time for a break,” he muttered, removing his scarf casually and going to sit down with Yamada. Shinsou only scoffed seeing how easily he gave in. He rolled his eyes before sitting down with both of them to eat what the pro hero, who apparently was also a pro cook, had prepared for them. Though he became silently flustered at what was in his.

“Really? Bunny shaped apples? I’m not a kid, you know.” It wasn’t just bunny-shaped apples. The rice was shaped as a cute kitty with other fruits cut like flowers. He almost didn’t want to eat it because a lot of work had been put into it. But it was also so embarrassing…

“Quit being such hardasses! You can’t tell me you’re both all rough and tough when you both go heart-eyed over any cat you find!” Yamada whined, but he wasn’t being all that serious about it. Yet he got some kind of enjoyment watching Shinsou try not to make eye contact with him as he ate with a blushing face. If his parents weren't going to embarrass him with these kinds of things, then Yamada was going to do it himself. But he didn’t watch for too long as he shifted his focus to a packet of papers he had brought with him.

“Working while you eat. Seriously?” Aizawa grumbled. He was getting really sick and tired of Yamada working at all hours of the day. Couldn’t he enjoy a meal without having to look at all that stuff? 

“Yeah, I know you hate it. But I think I’m catching on to something here, you know? And I know you’re going to yell at me, but can you and Shinsou go home without me tonight? I have a lot of papers to grade from the sports festival. You two can get takeout and I’ll get something on my way back.” Yamada went to hand Aizawa the keys to the car when they were taken hastily. It was easy to tell that Aizawa was not happy. 

“You better be back by eleven or I’m coming here and dragging you to bed. By your hair if I have to,” he said bitterly.

“That’s so mean!”

And it was around nine o’clock that night when Shinsou and Aizawa were sitting a kotatsu together, Aizawa pointing at parts of an open book that was on the tabletop. The two of them had been going over some techniques and mechanics involving the voice changer mask and the binding scarf he was given. Shinsou diligently took notes while he spoke, taking in as much as he could. He was dressed in loungewear with his hair clipped back to keep it from getting in his face while Aizawa hadn’t changed yet. He was still keeping his word on the threat towards Yamada. He wasn’t getting changed until he got home. 

When ten o’clock had come about, Aizawa shut the book having noticed Shinsou’s eyes were closing on him. He looked ready to fall asleep right where he sat. “I think it’s time you got some sleep for tonight,” Aizawa suggested, standing up and stretching. “We start early tomorrow, so I want you awake and ready.” Shinsou looked up at him and blinked sleepily, rubbing an eye with the ball of his palm. 

“Okay but… you think Mr. Yamada will be back by eleven like you wanted?” he asked before yawning and scratching the side of his head. He was having his doubts that the other teacher would make it back in time.

“He better be…” the tired teacher folded his arms and looked out a window. Yamada better be back soon or he was going to be pissed. While he was watching for him, Shinsou stood up and began dragging his feet to a guest room that he had been offered. Most the student interns were staying with their heroes or at their agency, he was no exception. “And Shinsou,” Aizawa called before the boy got too far. It caused the tired teenager to look back with a sleepy expression. “You did well today.” Shinsou’s eyes widened a bit as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, nodding slowly.

“Th...Thanks.”

While Shinsou went to bed, falling asleep faster than he ever had before, a teacher worked restlessly at his desk in the teachers’ lounge. Yamada found that he was beginning to nod off while grading papers, shaking his head a few times to keep himself going. He was about to reach for another paper out of a stack when he glanced at his phone screen. It had gotten so late and he would have to skip dinner if he wanted to make it back home in time. He didn’t want to upset Aizawa anymore than he had already by working so much. He leaned back in his chair with a loud sigh and a stretch. How exhausting this all was. “Maybe I can treat myself to sleeping in tomorrow…” he groaned to himself. The whole school was empty. “But someone’s gonna have to make them breakfast.” No such thing as a day off.

Yamada packed up the remaining papers, his documents, and his belongings into his bag. He put it over his shoulder and left the lounge, locking the door behind him. He would walk the abandoned halls and out the front entrance before taking a deep breath of the cool night air. Pulling out his phone, he checked the time. Making it home in a half-hour was going to be tough, but he could totally make it. He would just have to hurry and not get distracted.

The pro walked at a brisk pace, speed walking to try and beat the clock. With such low traffic, he didn’t have to waste precious minutes waiting for cars to drive by as he could just cross at his leisure. “Lookin’ good. We’re lookin’ good.” He was happy with himself for making some pretty impressive time. Humming to himself, he was just a bit more than halfway home when he stopped on the sidewalk. 

“Stop! I don’t want to disappear! I don’t want to disappear!” he heard a woman cry out down a thin side road. He felt a sudden chill, his body tensing, and his skin itching. Disappear. At night. Alone. With panicked eyes, he turned to look down the empty side road. “Help me! Someone!” This was a chance. It had to be. But even without that, someone was crying for help. Even without his hero costume, he was still a hero. He wouldn’t let another person disappear! Not another one. No more. And thus Yamada quickly turned down the side road, following the cries that bounced off the walls. It crossed his mind that it could be a trap, but he was strong enough for this. His voice was loud enough to signal anyone in a wide radius and his phone was in his pocket. “Stay away!”

He turned a corner into an alleyway, “I’m coming!” he called out, revealing his presence, but also posing as a warning to the cowardly villains that attacked people alone at night. He hoped they would become skittish and flee at the sound of a person that could be a witness. When he skidded to a halt, he saw a woman  on her knees, crying into her hands as she was bleeding from a few wounds on her arms. It had looked like something had cut her repeatedly at her wrists all the way to her shoulder. “Hey, hey, hey, hey, you alright?” he asked, quickly running up to her and putting his hands on the top of her shoulders where she wasn’t cut. “You’re hurt, let’s get you some help. Who attacked you? What did they look like?” He had to know. He absolutely had to know!

“They.... they took my little sister.” the woman sobbed into her hands, muffling herself, but she was still able to be heard. 

“Your sister? Just now?!” Yamada looked around frantically for a trace of anyone being back this way. “Did you see where they went? Maybe they’re still close!” Then something clicked in his head. Why did this woman’s voice sound familiar? “Wait a second,” he took another look at her. He couldn’t see her face, and she was dressed in regular street clothes. “Have I seen you befo-” It was only an instant when the woman’s arm turned into a venus fly trap, her skin turning green and her hand morphing into the plant but to a much larger scale. 

“They took my Pollenina-” Yamada didn’t have a chance to react as he tried to take a step back. He wasn’t quick enough. The woman’s venus fly trap arm opened its mouth as the bristles, that were sharper than normal bristles, sliced his throat. “I-I’m sorry…!” she cried, jumping back to create distance between the two. Yamada tried to scream in pain but no sound left him as blood was leaking from his throat at a rapid pace. Keeping his hand over the wound, he struggled to speak. 

“E-Earthly... Venus…” his voice wheezed. She had been a pro hero. Her little sister, the sidekick Pollenina, had disappeared over a month ago. She had been one of the driving leaders of the Sudden Disappearances case as soon as she went missing. He remembered seeing her crying when her sister’s blood was identified in one of the explosions during the Bloody Tragedy. 

“I-I just have to kill him, right?! And you’ll give her back?!” Venus shouted upward, looking around frantically. There was no sign of anyone around. Was the League of Villains watching? With the few seconds he had while she was yelling, Yamada took out his phone. “I just have to kill you, I-I think. Please don’t take it personally…!” He didn’t have time to send a text. There was no time. She charged at him and he had to move quickly to doge her arm. She kept wildly swinging at him as he desperately held his bleeding throat. How he wanted to tell her they were tricking her. Surely, she had to know that her sister was long dead. She had to give up. These villains… they were so cruel. 

Yamada tried to speak but the words wouldn’t come out; it only made him bleed more. There was an attempt made to remove his cardigan and wrap it around the cut, but Venus’s flytrap arm ate it while it was still in his hand. She took the moment of vulnerability to have her arm bite him, causing his body to become stunned as she spun around to build momentum and throw him against a brick wall. The force of the impact left a crack as he fell to the ground and the slits in his throats opened wider. Panicked, he watched more and more blood drench his hand, but also pour on to the dirt. He was going to die. He felt he was going to die here. He wasn’t going to disappear like the others. He was a different kind of target. A threat.

Back in a peaceful home, Aizawa stood in the kitchen drinking a cup of tea that he had made himself. He had been leaning back against the counter, checking the time on the stove every once in a while. It was past eleven. He told himself that the moment he finished his tea, he would go out and retrieve his companion. Maybe he was just around the corner, making a run for it realizing he was late. There was no way that he would actually be on campus grading papers for that long. But it was out of nowhere that he heard his phone go off at the counter. He went over to it to see what the notification was, expecting it to be a kind of excuse from Yamada explaining why he was late. Needless to say, he was baffled by seeing that it was just his location that was sent. He was close. But when Aizawa squinted, he saw that his companion had actually gone a little bit out of his way. A detour? There was no reason to take one on foot. There was no text. No explanation. A butt dial? Smartphones don’t really do that anymore. 

Aizawa put his tea down to zoom in on the location that had been sent. Looking more closely, he saw that it was an alleyway. The realization caused his eyes to twitch open a bit wider. “No…” he muttered. There was no way he’d be in an alley. Not by himself. Not at night. He went to reach for his tea when he carelessly knocked over his cup. He watched the liquid spill on to the counter and then on to the floor, soaking one of his slippers, staining it. Something wasn’t right. Yamada wouldn’t do this. Hizashi wouldn’t do this.

The tea was not wiped up at all as Aizawa quickly slipped on his boots and his scarf. He would get it later. Even if this was a false alarm for panic, he couldn’t be too safe. Before long, he was out the door, abandoning the tea to drip on to the floor, making the puddle on the tile grow a little bit more. 

He ran. He wanted to sleep. But he wanted to run even more. He wasn’t going to sleep tonight without Yamada. He refused to. He followed the location sent to his phone without context, sprinting through crosswalks, turning corners carelessly, skidding to a stop when he found the right side street. He went further in, deeper into a maze of alleyways until he froze at one that led to a dead end. He froze. “Hi...zashi?” 

A near shattered phone was at his feet, broken glasses laid just a few feet away. “Shh… I’ll make it peaceful for you. I-I know you tried so hard Present Mic. But you’re really h-helping me now. So thank you so very much…” Aizawa witnessed Earthly Venus holding Yamada in the leaf jaws of her giant venus flytrap arm, his head, arm, and feet sticking out through the bristles. His eyes had become dull and half-lidded as blood poured from his mouth, down to his neck where he was already bleeding from three massive slits, and turning his red shirt a darker red. He looked dead. He had to be. But Aizawa saw his body twitch in the plant. It was trying to digest him with some kind of chemical, paralyzing him, but Yamada refused to die. 

“Drop him!” Aizawa raised his voice to a loud snarl. His eyes glowed red as his hair stood up. “Drop him now!!” the venus flytrap retracted back, shrinking and dropping Yamada to the dirt limply. 

“A-Ah! No! You can’t- Get me out of here!!” Venus frantically whipped her arm forward repeatedly, trying so desperately to summon her plant quirk again. But Aizawa was keeping her from doing it. His scarf was starting to rise up when she turned tail to make a run for it. She climbed a dumpster and jumped to a fire escape, clumsily climbing it up to flee. Aizawa tried to get his scarf to nab her, but she was getting too far up. It couldn’t reach. He could have chased her down. He should have chased her down. She could be the key to stopping all the disappearances and yet… he ran to Yamada’s aid.

There was an app on his phone that would send first responders to his location. Never had he logged in his hero identification so quickly. There was not a second to waste. They didn’t have time. “Zashi, Zashi, look at me.” he slid to his knees, taking Yamada in his arms, keeping the neck wound off and away from the dirt. He was loudly wheezing, his body limp with parts of his clothes being burned in patches, the skin revealed showing bruises and light burns. But his throat… his throat was so severely slit. Aizawa tried to cover it to control the bleeding, getting blood all over himself in the process. Yamada was just bleeding everywhere. So much blood. Such a terrible mess. Aizawa tried to keep the blond’s head tilted to the side for the blood to spill out of his mouth rather than have him choke on it. “You’ll be okay… You hear me? I know you can!” he wasn’t blinking, he wasn’t moving anywhere except his chest, painfully struggling to rise. 

“I…was... l...l-late…” Late. He didn’t make it home in time. He was late to join him in bed for the night.

“Hizashi, for once in your life you need to shut up!” Such a noisy man. Such an over-energetic hero. A cringe-worthy hyped up teacher. An obnoxious radio show host.  He could never stop talking. “I was the one that was late! You need to shut your goddamn mouth!” he shouldn’t be yelling at him. Not now. He shut his eyes tightly as he leaned down to kiss his forehead in an apology. “Please shut up, Zashi… I can’t let you die…” he held him so tightly, putting their foreheads together. “Shirakumo’s gonna be pissed. You’re supposed to stay with me longer than this.” He could feel his arms become so warm as they had become so soaked in blood. “We’re supposed to be heroes together, Zashi.” What about his students? All those bright minds and faces that filled him with passion. He had done the same for them. What would they do without him? What about Shinsou? "I'm not letting you die... just focus on me. Keep listening to me like you always do." He always listened. Never had he ignored him for a second. So considerate. Such a big and beautiful heart. "Zashi... please don't go."

While a hero was broken in sadness, a villain was shattered with rage.

“YOU DID WHAT?!”

“I-I thought you wanted-” Venus was cut off by her own screams. Midoriya and Venus were down in the basement laboratory with the little villain dressed in a black hoodie and pants with just his upper mask on, letting his voice be clear as he yelled. He wore his wired gloves as he held her in the air with the wire wrapped painfully tight at her upper arms.

“I DIDN’T SAY KILL HIM!” he spread his arms wide to force the wire to travel down her arms. The wire was wrapped so tightly, and the material was too powerful for her skin. The force and speed of Midoriya’s pull ripped her already cut skin nearly clean off. Her upper arms to her wrists had been completely skinned, causing the woman to shriek as slabs of skin dangled from her wrists. “I wanted you to just attack him, you fucking idiot!!” tears brimmed in his eyes. Attacking his teacher was supposed to shake the trail from Todoroki. If Todoroki was the main suspect, it would make no sense for him to hurt his only ally on the investigation team. Todoroki would never allow that, not when he risked his life for a teacher already. But it wasn’t supposed to go this far. “I killed your sister a long time ago!! Go say hi to her why don’t you?!” 

Midoriya was beyond angry. Shigaraki had only been gone a few days and his little brother had royally messed up. This was so severely bad. Embarrassing and shameful. But so painful to his heart. “I-I’m so sorry Mr. Yamada.” He slammed the wires down to the floor, forcing her to be bashed into the tile. Her cries of pain and regretful agony were only silent to him as they would deafen anyone. He quickly went over to the furnace and kicked the door open to it. “He didn’t deserve that!! But if you wanna see your sister so bad, go look for her!!” with his gloves he raised her up again, taking one hand’s worth of wires off one of her wrists while he used the other to fling her inside like a tattered doll. Just as she was tossed in, the blood from her arms had splattered  a thin trail on to him. He didn’t react to the shrieks of someone being burned alive in the furnace. He slammed the door shut. The pain she felt couldn’t possibly compare to his own or Yamada’s. She deserved every bit of it. She deserved more! What kind of hero was so prepared to kill another?!

The little villain fell to his knees on the floor, holding his shoulders as he trembled. He felt so sick. So ashamed. This was a disaster. How could he ever go back to school at this rate? This was all his fault. “I-I swear… it was an acci-” he felt his phone ring. His hand was quivering violently, reaching for his phone but then dropping it. He took hold of it with both hands. No caller ID, but he knew the number was the hospital from his internship. “Y-Ye-” he heard his own voice on the other side: the clone’s.

“You need to get back here, now! I don’t know what happened, but Mr. Yamada just got here and he’s hurt real bad! But he’s breathing! They’re gonna want the real you for this-” Midoriya hung up instantly and threw his mask across the room. 

Never had he jumped into the elevator so fast, rapidly pressing the first-floor button. The ride had never felt so agonizingly long. The doors didn’t even open all the way when he slipped through them the moment they were wide enough. “Dad! I need to go back, right now!!” his voice cried with panic. Teary-eyed and spotted with blood, the little killer was stunned to see Kurogiri at the bar, but also Shigaraki standing before him, frozen in the motion of putting his messenger bag down. His face expressed nothing but anxious confusion.

“What the hell did you do?”

Chapter Text

“I… I t-tried to...” Midoriya couldn’t admit the mistake he just made so clearly to Shigaraki. He tried making a massive move against the heroes without his permission. He completely overstepped his boundaries. Present Mic was not just a pro hero, but a teacher at U.A, his teacher. Not only had he endangered the pro’s life, but he deeply jeopardized his position as a spy inside the school. It had only been a few days since they met at the cafe. That would be terribly suspicious. What was he thinking? Why did he make such an impulsive and unthoughtful move? Why couldn’t he have just waited for Shigaraki to come back?

“Tell me later. I don’t know what’s up, but if you gotta be somewhere, get going quick.” Shigaraki only shrugged and waved him off, putting his bag on the counter. “We’ll talk when you get back. I gotta make a call anyway,” He didn’t seem all that worried at all. Was it because he was so oblivious to the situation, or did he simply trust his little doctor to fix what had been done? Midoriya only held his breath and held back his tears as he turned to Kurogiri. He had to get going. Now. 

Midoriya was warped right back to the hospital where he found the clone hiding in a supply closet that was in the small break room. As soon as he approached it, he was met with getting scrubs clothes thrown at his face. “Get changed right now. Mic’s going into the emergency room as we speak,” it said in a demanding whisper. Midoriya nodded guiltily as he took off his bloodied clothes. He hid them in the closet with the clone. He would be returning to the bar when this was over anyhow. “What the hell happened?”

“Earthly Venus probably thought I’d be happier if Mic was dead when I just wanted him to get threatened. I should have never trusted a hero like that.” He should have just done it himself. Or he should have asked Shigaraki for the best course of action. Things didn’t have to turn out this way. “Tomura’s going to be pissed for sure…” he said before shaking his head rapidly. He couldn’t think about that yet. One thing at a time. He put a mask on and gloves before making a run for the emergency room. 

It was so late at night that there wasn’t a lot of staff to spare. They would just have to work with the people they had. When Midoriya came to the open door, he could see multiple machines being pulled up and started up with IVs and blood transfusions being prepared quickly, but all orderly. Nurses and a single doctor were all moving swiftly, communicating loudly with their nerves taking over their volume but not their actions. They weren’t shaking, or fumbling, or tripping over each other. For a little villain doctor who had worked alone for months, he suddenly felt out of place. Not only that… he could tend to wounds here and there, but to save a life… he had never done such a thing. His tools had only been used to learn, torture, and kill. His skills were only meant to take lives, not save them. 

“What these hell are these burns? It’s like acid but-” A nurse touched one of the burns on Yamada’s leg. He had fallen completely unconscious and there was blood all over the floor from moving him in the room. The gashes in his neck had opened far more than they had at the initial swipe at him, but small patches of burns littered his skin, revealing the tissue underneath and even bleeding at points. It looked like the skin around the burns were still sizzling and even melting away to deepen the wounds.

“What was he attacked by?” another nurse asked.

“Eraserhead said it was Earthly Venus, the Flytrap Hero. But I don’t think that plant is normal.” another answered, finishing setting up an air pump for Yamada to breathe. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?!” a different one asked.

 Midoriya approached the bed, getting a quick glimpse at his teacher, teetering on the border of living and dying. The heart rate monitor was providing a weak signal. The little villain hurried to a table on wheels, frantically searching for something. “It means that that plant didn’t have a normal chemical makeup as a regular one. It would use a jasmonic acid and enzymes to break down bugs to a liquid while sucking the life out of it. But that acid is used for anti-aging on human skin.” the nurses turned to Midoriya, impressively shocked by his stockpiled knowledge. 

“So what was it?” the doctor asked, making quick work of the neck wound that was the biggest concern at the moment. He was keeping a steady hand with an assistant to repair anything that had been torn on the inside and out with a healing quirk. Though it appeared they were having a difficult time repairing something past the slabs of dangling skin.

“I don’t know.” Midoriya never looked further into Venus’s quirk. He killed her without thinking. “But it’s probably gastric acid because that’s what a human body would use to break food down. This means baking soda should keep it from getting worse.” he found a yellow box at the bottom-most shelf of the table and quickly handed it to a nurse to have the others to keep the burns from worsening. But if any of that acid got into Yamada’s neck… “Is there anything I can do, doctor?” There had to be something he could do to salvage this. 

“Fuck.” The doctor pulled back. “There’s something in there. I can’t get it!” Midoriya came up beside him, getting so close to his teacher’s face. He had seen so much blood on his subjects before but this was something far different from all of them. He bit his lip under his mask looking at him. 

“M-Maybe I could. Let me see-” he offered.

“I think it’s glass, but it’s so damn tiny. If we’re not careful, that’s it.” the doctor held tweezers in his hand that were soaked in blood from a previous attempt. “You’ve got small, young hands and eyes, don’t you? Are you sure you want this responsibility?”  Midoriya wasn’t the only one who would be able to do it, but he’d have the highest chance of succeeding. The doctor cleaned and sanitized the tweezers fastly before looking to the little villain to make a choice.

Aizawa sat in the waiting room at the entrance, his leg bouncing and holding his forehead with his elbow on his steady leg. His black clothes were darkly stained with blood, his hands were dirtied with it and there were dried spots on his cheek. He hadn’t bothered to wash it off yet. His phone was face down on the seat next to him with a bloody handprint on it. The room was empty except for him and a few staff members, all of them residing in silence. The only notable sound for nearly an hour was just a janitor mopping the floor. 

“Mr. Aizawa-” Shinsou’s voice was the first thing to break the near silence. He was in lounge pants still, but he had thrown on a hoodie and didn’t bother tying his shoes. He came in a rush. He was out of breath. “I got your text. Where’s Mr. Yamada? Is he alright?”  A look of fear spread across Shinsou’s face when Aizawa raised his head to see him. He could see all the blood. “Is that-”

“It’s not mine…” Aizawa cut him off, appearing more tired than he ever had before. “He’s in bad shape… I don’t know what’s going to happen.” Shinsou felt his breath and his heart get stuck in his throat. He had just seen Yamada that afternoon. They had lunch together; the three of them did. He was going to be home at eleven because that’s what he promised. He was fine. He was just here. But more than anything, he was always there. Always there when someone needed him, whether it was a boy sitting alone in a field after everyone had left, or a man stricken with grief. 

“You… You know he’ll be okay, don’t you? You know him better than anyone.” Shinsou had his hands out in front of him, subtly moving them as he spoke. “He doesn’t leave people like this. And you know damn well he would never leave you covered in blood!”

“Shinsou-” Aizawa could tell he was getting heated. But he knew from experience that you can’t get your hopes up after an accident like this. People die. Whether you’re ready for it or not, people die. He was around Shinsou’s age when he learned this.

“You can’t be giving up on him already! He’s strong!” Something Shinsou said caused Aizawa to turn away and bite his lip. The day Kosuke’s body was found, the day he was grieving on the couch, Yamada had told him he was going to work for Endeavor. He tried to change his mind. But he remembered he had the dumbest smile on his face.

I’ll be fine. I’m like, really freakin’ strong, dontcha know?! I’m Present Mic!

“Shinsou-” Aizawa tried to interrupt him again. But the boy that was usually so quiet wasn’t done yet.

“Whatever happened, you know he’ll pull through. You would know how stubborn he is!” Always so loud and obnoxious, irritating at times. But he was stubbornly affectionate and caring, unwilling to let people struggle alone. “There’s still so much he has to tell you. He wouldn’t die without telling you how long he’s waited for you, for you to finally want to get into a relationship with him!” Aizawa gritted his teeth and lowered his head. Something struck him hard in the chest, and yet there was no wound. 

“Mr. Aizawa?” Aizawa and Shinsou both moved their focus to the little freckled boy that had walked up to the both of them, flu mask under his chin and blood on his scrubs. “And Shinsou?” Midoriya seemed a bit confused to see his classmate as well. But he remembered that he stayed with Yamada and Aizawa every once in a while, it wouldn’t be too much of a stretch to assume he was interning there. Both the tried teacher and the tired student looked so stressed and anxious to see the little villain standing before them. Even if it was just for a moment, Aizawa had forgotten all about his suspicions revolving around Midoriya in place of his worry for Yamada.

“Is he…” Shinsou was the only one of the two to have the courage to ask. But he couldn’t bear to get all the words out. Though, they both leaned back a bit when they saw Midoriya smile heartfully. 

“He’s going to be fine,” he said softly, yet so happily, raising his head high with a closed eye grin. The relief that washed over Shinsou and Aizawa was overwhelming as Shinsou even had to sit down and take a long breath. The other was left frozen, staring at the freckled boy in shock. “His burns were pretty bad, but one of the nurse’s quirks was able to keep any of them from scarring. There was a bit of heavy bruising on his back and abdomen so he’ll be in a little pain when he goes to sit down.”

“What about his neck?” Aizawa asked. Shinsou glanced at him, afraid as to why he asked about Yamada’s neck specifically. 

Midoriya tilted his head with an awkward smile. “That’s gonna scar. And his voice is gonna be sore for at least a few days. I wouldn’t recommend he use his quirk at all for two weeks.” he tilted his head up and gestured to his own neck. “His trachea was almost severed when the blades of Venu’s flytrap got him. She went through two rings of hyaline cartilage and managed to lodge a tiny piece of glass between them. Had it been any bigger, it could have ripped the trachea from the inside. We’re lucky she missed the thyroid gland and got the sternothyroid and sternohyoid instead, too. Someone’s quirk was able to heal those real quick.” Shinsou appeared slightly confused by the terms Midoriya was using. Medical course students didn’t mess around. Midoriya noticed his confusion and shortened his explanation a bit. “She almost cut through his windpipe and got glass in the gash. Had she gotten any closer, he would have died almost instantly. But the glass would have done it if we didn’t get to him quick enough.” 

“It was from his phone…” Aizawa mumbled. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Yamada’s phone where the screen had been shattered to pieces. “He tried to get help… he was only able to send his location.” he placed it down on his knee. Had they not gotten to him time…  had he just been a little slower… surely Yamada would have died. “Can we see him?” 

Midoriya walked alongside Shinsou with Aizawa following behind them through the halls of the hospital. Aizawa couldn't help but glance at the rooms they were passing. The three of them had been mostly quiet on their walk through the maze of halls. “You’re a real hero doing this kind of stuff. It sounds a lot harder than what I’m doing.” Shinsou said, breaking the silence. His words made Midoriya flinch. A part of him wanted to blush at the statement. But the majority of himself felt enraged.

“I wouldn’t say that. I guess I’m just… passionate about this kind of stuff.” Midoriya shrugged with a smile, trying to be modest. “It just takes a lot of studying and,” a lot of bodies “a lot of practice.” The two students smiled at each other. But Aizawa’s eyes narrowed at the slightest red glint in the little killer’s eyes. “It was my first time really working with machines, too. I’ve never seen them used up close, so interning here has been useful.” The three had reached the door to a hospital room and Midoriya put his hand on the doorknob. “If he’s awake he’s gonna be a bit… out of it. And try not to have him talk,”

Opening the door, there was the low quiet sound of a few machines running, their fans rumbling subtly. Aizawa and Shinsou entered together as Midoriya held the door open for them. He watched their faces express painful sympathy and sheer sadness. A man that had always been bouncing with energy, smiling, encouraging, loving, hyper, passionate, yet determined more than anything; he appeared to be clinging to consciousness. Lime colored eyes that were usually so bright were so dull, half-lidded in exhaustion. His hair down and messy from the fight and being moved around so much. A tracheostomy tube was connected to his neck, letting air pass through to his lungs cleanly with more tubes in his nose. IVs and bloodletters were connected to his arms, one hand resting limply on his chest and the other by his side. Bandages were scattered to tend to the acid burns. A monitor was at his bedside, recording all his vitals which had become more stable over the hours. 

“Oh, Zashi…” Aizawa breathed quietly, frozen in his place at the sight of his partner in such a sorry state. Shinsou unhesitantly approached Yamada’s bedside, looking down at him worriedly. He couldn’t imagine how much pain he was in, or maybe he was too numb to feel anything at all. Looking down at him, he noticed that weak, dulled eyes that had been staring at the ceiling subtly shifted to look at him. It made the boy flinch. Yamada was still aware, but it appeared that he couldn’t move all that well. Though it wouldn’t stop the stubborn man from trying as he turned his head only a small bit with a weak smile. He then slowly reached up to place his hand, with a pulse oximeter on it, on Shinsou’s head.

Aizawa followed behind Shinsou after a few moments, standing beside him and looking down at him so sadly. Though it was hard to see his face behind such shaggy messy hair. Yamada shifted his gaze to him, smiling sympathetically as he took his hand away from Shinsou’s head to try and raise it a little higher. He didn’t have the strength to do it, however. Before it fell, Aizawa took hold of it, bending down to get to a more even level. He stayed there in silence. He didn’t know what to say. He just wanted to hold his hand, placing his thumb over the other’s wrist to feel his pulse, to feel that he was still alive and there. “I…” Yamada’s voice sounded dreadful, even worse than before with the tube going through his throat. Aizawa was sure to cut him off to keep him from talking.

“-Don’t... say anything,” he said sharply before softening his tone. “I don’t want to hear you apologize. You shouldn’t be talking at all. So…” he lowered his head a little bit more. They hated seeing each other like this. “As much as I want to listen to you… you need to stay quiet.” He wanted to listen to everything he had to say for hours. He missed his podcasts. He missed eating dinner with him without paperwork distracting him. He missed looking up and seeing light green eyes being on him all the time, the only attention he ever wanted. He had been so selfish to want all those things, too afraid to make anything out of it all. It was never fair for Yamada. 

“How long until he can be discharged?” Shinsou asked, watching Yamada stare so tiredly at Aizawa. Aizawa had begun to shake very subtly with his face still obscured by his hair. But Yamada could see him, and whatever expression he saw, it made a tear escape the corner of his eye, his weak smile persisted.

Midoriya had been checking the functionality of the machines at work and going over some paperwork that had been left behind, checking the status of his teacher in silence. He looked up from a few papers and looked back. His gaze shifted to the ceiling in thought. “You’d have to talk to one of the doctors. But my guess is the next day or so with the quirks they have on standby here,” he answered. Both boys glanced at the teachers, both seeming to have the world on their minds. Midoriya and Shinsou then looked at each other before Midoriya gestured his head to the door. “I’m going to get a snack from the vending machine near the front. You wanna come with me, Shinsou?” 

“Y...Yeah. I could use one too.” they both lied and exited the room together. They shut the door and only walked halfway down the hall before sharing another glance. At the corner, they turned right around and put their ears against the door to eavesdrop. They couldn’t hear anything through it so Midoriya just cracked the door open an inch so they could listen and peek in as well.

“Hizashi I…” Aizawa seemed to be at a loss for words, as he had been the entire evening. “I wish I… I shouldn’t have…” he wanted to apologize but he knew none of this was his fault. He didn’t want to upset Yamada by placing blame or guilt on himself. But how could he express to him how bad he felt? How scared he was?  How lonely he would have been? 

“I’m glad you came…” Yamada’s voice was terribly hoarse and barely above a whisper. He knew very well that he shouldn’t be talking. But he was too stubborn and too talkative to stay quiet for too long. It tore Aizawa up inside that Yamada always knew the best things to say, while he could never find the words for these things. When it came to the students, he knew what to tell them almost all the time. But when it came to himself… there was a painful struggle. Yamada was forced to talk to ease his pain because he couldn’t do it himself. 

“I… really thought you were going to die. I really thought you were going to die in my arms in some trashed alley. I was… scared.” Aizawa held Yamada’s hand to his forehead, keeping his head down. He couldn’t look at him. He didn’t want to see him smiling through the pain, through the exhaustion. “You’ve been working past your limits lately… I should’ve convinced you to come with me and Shinsou. I should’ve been harder on you, but I’ve already been so cruel to you.” He smirked, but it was forced. “I’ve been such an ass to you for years…” Yamada immediately frowned and pulled his hand back weakly before shoving his palm over the other’s mouth. He didn’t want to hear him talk like that.

“Never…” Never had Aizawa come off as cruel. Never had he felt like he was an ass. He never wanted him to talk like that about himself. He never wanted him to feel that pressure. He also never wanted him to force a smirk on his face when he knew he wanted to cry. 

Aizawa pulled Yamada’s hand away from his mouth to hold it with both of his hands again. “No, I have been. I’ve been so selfish. You and I both know the house is yours, I’m not a good cook, and I’ve…” he bit his tongue. It hurt to even think about it.

“Oboro… I know…” Yamada smiled so weakly once again. He appeared saddened and grief-stricken, but his smile wasn’t forced. It was one of understanding. “You… never got over him...” he closed his eyes and tilted his head subtly. The rate of his heart was changing at the sound coming from the monitor. “I understand… But-” he took his hand back quickly and held the tube and bandages around his neck as he took a painful wheeze for breath. Midoriya warned them both that he shouldn’t be talking. Shinsou almost raced through the door when Midoriya grabbed his arm to keep him still. The tubes in Yamada’s neck and nose weren’t going to fail him.

Aizawa stood up straighter in a reaction of panic, holding on to the bed frame. Yamada kept one hand on his neck and used his other to hold Aizawa's wrists weakly, a subtle way of telling him he was okay as he closed his eyes and steadied his breathing with calmed breaths. “Hizashi, you really-” he needed to stop talking. He really needed to spare his throat the pain. But Yamada just gritted his teeth.

“I-I know… you never finished grieving…” There were still things he needed to say. Things Aizawa had to hear. “You were… never good at taking care of yourself.” Through small tears and the pain in his neck, his smile was so loving. “But being with you everyday… It made me so happy. It didn’t matter… what we were…” He cared so much. “I just wanted to help you… maybe save you… because I love you.” His chest heaved rapidly, trying to catch his breath as he wheezed. But he looked satisfied, having said everything he wanted to. Though his smile disappeared after a few moments when blood began to seep through the bandages around his neck. A wound was likely reopening from how hard he was forcing himself to speak. It took him a minute to control himself, his heart rate slowly returning to a calmed state. Aizawa leaned over him, holding his hand tightly as he was helpless to do anything but watch Yamada suffer. Yamada suddenly seemed so tired, his grip becoming completely limp. 

Aizawa caressed the other’s cheek carefully, cautious not to cause him any more pain. He could tell Yamada was losing consciousness and slipping away slowly now. The talking put him at his limit. He could never take it easy on himself, even in a state like this. “When you come home let’s…” Aizawa began, but paused. He was ready for this. He’s wanted this. He always has. He had been the only one holding himself back. “Let’s be something.” He hated how it took a moment like this, for Yamada to be sitting at death’s door, for him to have the courage to move forward. It was so terribly selfish. Yet, he leaned over to carefully kiss his lips despite not feeling the gesture be returned. He knew it would have been if Yamada had stayed awake long enough.

After a decent amount of time had passed since Yamada fell asleep, Shinsou and Midoriya walked back into the room like they hadn’t been listening the whole time. Midoriya had gone over to a counter where he had looked over paperwork previously. Then he proceeded to go over small routines Aizawa and Yamada would need to do in order to have a safe, quick, and proper recovery while at home. Another doctor would go over all the requirements and suggestions again with Yamada when he woke up. As for that night, Aizawa and Shinsou were left to go home together without him. However, before Aizawa walked out the door, he looked back to Midoriya. “Thank you.” he would mutter before placing a hand on Shinsou’s shoulder for a moment to guide him away. Midoriya could sense gratitude from the teacher’s words, but he could still hear distrust.

“So you almost killed your teacher without consulting me or Kurogiri?” Shigaraki asked, sitting at the bar and eating a sandwich in an awkward grip. It was past midnight and this was when he decided to eat like the gremlin he was. “I know I’m not about breathing down your neck and making you ask for permission for everything you do… but attacking a U.A. teacher sounds like something I should know about. Especially when you bring a hero here to do it for you.” 

“I… I know. I don’t know what I was thinking…” Midoriya said quietly, ashamed of his actions. He sat right beside Shigaraki, his fingers digging into the wood of the counter. “I guess I got a little worked up when I heard Shouchan was a prime suspect. I didn’t want him to be kept away from me just when we could see each other again. And…” he bit his lower lip.

“Not trying to say you don’t need me anymore, right?” Shigaraki tried to finish Midoriya’s thought. The little villain then looked at him in a panic.

“O-Of course not! I-”

“I’m kidding,” Shigaraki said casually, unapologetic about nearly giving his little brother a heart attack. That was as far as any punishment was going to go. “Tried to impress me by showing that you could do things on your own?” he asked with a subtle smirk. He could see Midoriya nod from the corner of his eye. Trying to impress him almost seemed to completely backfire. How humiliating… “You fixed your mistake by saving him. And you probably lowered the suspicion around your prince charming by attacking his only ally in the investigation while also making yourself look good for the heroes.” he patted the little killer’s head. “So nothing to worry about, don’t you think?” Midoriya nodded again, looking down at the counter. He was relieved that Shigaraki wasn’t mad.

“So… Did you find his older brother?” Midoriya asked quietly. He was curious but he didn’t want to look like he was trying to change the subject. He jumped at the sound of Shigaraki’s fist slamming down against the counter.

“He’s such a jackass!” Guess he did end up finding him. Though, it didn’t seem like it went well. “He wants almost nothing to do with his little brother and seems perfectly content with just drinking himself away in filthy backstreets!” Running away from home and trauma could cause such behavior. “He wants nothing to do with his family. He doesn’t even go by his real name, he wants to be called Dabi.” Was it even a good idea for Dabi to meet Todoroki? 

“I wouldn’t be so hard on him. He’s been missing for quite some time, out there on the streets alone. I trust you were polite?” Kurogiri said, coming out of a backroom with a small bowl of noodles for Midoriya who’s face lit up at the sight of food. Dark fog dad’s home-cooked meals were always something to look forward to after work. 

“It was hard when he tried to kill me on sight. I didn’t even say anything to him.” Shigaraki took out his phone and glared at his text history where Dabi’s message was stored. “I treated the alcoholic to drinks and he got drunk by the time he left. He kept saying he hated my eyes.” Midoriya couldn’t tell if he was annoyed, or petty at the insult to his eyes. 

“Maybe he just doesn’t like the color red.” the little villain commented. Todoroki didn’t like his scar, hot drinks, or his fire half at all. It wouldn’t be too odd for Dabi to dislike the color red. 

“Maybe…” Shigaraki grumbled. He put his cheek in his hand and began tapping his fingers on the counter. He appeared to be thinking about something, his phone down in front of him. Why did he bother texting him? When they fought, why did the little brother reference make him loosen the grip on his throat? Why didn’t he want to listen to the full recording? Why did he really go to the sports festival? Why did he want Todoroki to believe he was dead? Shigaraki eventually found himself peering at Midoriya from the corner of his eye again, watching him eat before he put his arms on the counter to rest his head on them. He must have been tired. “Are the new nomus here yet?” Shigaraki asked Kurogiri.

“They just arrived this morning,” Kurogiri answered. It made Midoriya, with both eyes closed, suddenly open one at the sound of nomus. “Stain also left a message that he is prepared for an attack on Hosu at Izuku’s convenience.”

Shigaraki stood up from his seat and stretched. “I’ll send for Twice in two days then.” he cracked his neck by tilting it side to side. “And let me get a look at these guys.” He was about to approach the elevator when Midoriya got up suddenly and followed after him. 

“I wanna see them too.” the little villain stood beside his older brother at the entrance to the elevator. Shigaraki smirked before ruffling the green fluffy mess next to him, causing Midoriya to grumble in annoyance. Though a part of him found it more endearing than annoying. 

“Both of you,” Kurogiri called to them just as the elevator door opened. Both of them turned back, curious what the suited villain had to say. They saw him gaze at the glass in his foggy hands, yellow fog eyes narrowed as he stared at his reflection. “I don’t think the three of them are like the first one. Something seems… different. Please be cautious.” Shigaraki waved him off in acknowledgment but didn’t really take him seriously. The two boys went into the elevator to be brought down to the nomu holding room.

“We’ve talked about this before, but Kurogiri doesn’t trust the doctor that makes these things. He’s always a bit paranoid.” Shigaraki explained, leaning back against the wall of the elevator. “I was never really sure why.” It sounded like he had asked Kurogiri about it before. He must not have received an answer. Midoriya would have to remind himself to ask about their relationship some other time.

In going down to the nomu holding room, Midoriya and Shigaraki would find three nomus chained up in place where the giant one had been so long ago. One was pitch black in color with intense muscle and metal protectors on its legs. Another was blueish grey with long limbs and two pairs of eyes on the brain poking out of its skull. And the last one was a tannish yellow color with metal over its mouth, having clawed and muscular hands, as well as bird-like feet with very sharp taloned toes. They were all sitting still in silence. Though Midoriya noticed the tan winged one twitch and made eye contact with him. These three were not like the first one as they were smaller with more varying quirks and body types. The first one had always been so still until commanded to move or react. Yet the tan one was staring at the little villain. 

“They should be under our control again. I want them to cause as much destruction and get us as much attention as possible to lure more people to the League. I’m counting on you and Akaguro to also leave a mark. I know you two won’t disappoint.” Shigaraki explained, getting on one knee to lift the wrist of the blue nomu. He appeared to just be examining it. 

“You say you want a team, just like your master suggested. How big are we talking here?” Midoriya asked, approaching the black nomu. It was the one that most closely resembled the first nomu. “Will they live with us?” He knew there were more rooms to spare on the second floor. He imagined one had been prepared for Dabi already, just in case. But how many people would be here? Would he not be as relevant anymore?

“Just a few. Not as many that I used as pawns at the USJ. But enough. And I’m not sure if I want to deal with living with more than a few people.” Shigaraki answered, giving the face of the blue nomu a few pats to the side of the face to see if it would react. It didn’t. That seemed fairly normal to him. “I won’t be tolerating dead weight or people who don’t listen. I’m not wasting my time.” He was going to go about recruiting pretty seriously. But he also wasn’t going to drive himself crazy catering to everyone who would need a place to stay at the bar.

Midoriya nodded in understanding before taking out his phone. He went to the photos app and began scrolling through some pictures. “Shouchan and I have been texting. Endeavor’s been taking him to Hosu for patrol, looking for master Akaguro and me. Ingenium’s younger brother has been interning there as well and I bet he’s looking for us too. He and Shouchan are close…” closer than he was comfortable with. He held up his phone to the tan nomu, showing it a picture Midoriya had taken of Todoroki when he was dissociating and spacing out while looking at the sky at school. “No matter what, don’t hurt Todoroki Shouto.” It would be his first command to all the nomus. He wasn’t going to allow a repeat of what happened last time. He was fully aware of the possibility of running into his hero, or for a nomu to find him first. He wasn’t going to let him get that severely hurt because of a mistake like that ever again. 

Shigaraki watched him give the three nomus the command, making sure they were focusing on the picture. However, the black nomu did not have eyes to see. He would let it smell the sheets in Todoroki’s private room later. “If your prince charming is going to be in the district, is it safe for you to go with Akaguro?” Shigaraki asked, poking at the wings of the tan nomu. “If things get bad, it could be the two of you against him and other heroes. What would you do?” The chances of them crossing paths in the attack were not slim. Especially with Iida and Endeavor on a hunt for the villainous duo. 

“I’m not sure… I’ve thought about it but,” Stain wouldn’t run away from a fight. There’d be no backing down. “I wouldn’t be able to fight him. I couldn’t. I couldn’t bear to hurt him… not again.” Midoriya appeared somber at the thought. He would usually be so ecstatic for another attack against the heroes. But the risk involved with this one had made him anxious. “The wire in my gloves is fireproof. And if they froze, they wouldn’t break. The only thing I could do is restrain him. But I’d imagine he’d be very upset with me if we killed anyone important to him,” If Iida was there, there would be a lot of trouble. Iida always made things so frustrating, so complicated. He got in the way so many times… 

It was such a cool, clear night. The flame hero was walking the streets with a small squad traveling separately, yet close by. He kept his head high and walked at a steady pace, occasionally glancing up at the building rooftops to see members of his team jumping roof to roof, all of them with earpieces and reporting sightings to each other. 

“Eastside high ground, all clear.”

“No scent on the ground.”

Endeavor listened to every report. “No suspicious persons on main. But don’t let your guard down.” Not many people were out this late at night. And with the recent attack on Ingenium, no one wanted to be out. With word of the League of Villains and serial killer Stain working together, being alone at night was incredibly dangerous. And yet the one following Endeavor did not seem all that focused on his surroundings, rather his phone was more important. Scrolling through the news, there wasn’t a single report on Present Mic’s attack. It was being covered up. “Shouto, how many times do I have to tell you to put that damn phone away? You should have left it at home.” Endeavor growled. Todoroki glanced up from his phone with only his eyes but did not put it away.  

“Ingenium’s attack was downtown. Why don’t we look there?” Todoroki asked, checking reports. “You may think they wouldn’t attack the same place twice. But that’s exactly why they would. That’s how it works with robberies.” 

“Because robberies and murders don’t work the same. Now take your eyes off of that thing and pay attention.” Endeavor huffed. Todoroki rolled his eyes and begrudgingly put his phone back in his pocket. He did not look thrilled to be out, let alone so late at night. Yet he kept quiet and occasionally looked down alleyways that were just empty except for the occasional rat.

“Oh! Endeavor! Fancy seeing you out.” His attention was pried away at the sound of an unfamiliar, enthusiastic voice. He couldn’t recognize the hero, but he looked so normal compared to most. Normal Hero: Manual. Many heroes stationed in Hosu must have been patrolling nightly since the attack on Ingenium, the two pros’ paths just happened to meet at a corner. Though it wasn’t the hero that stole most of Todoroki’s attention, it was Iida that was standing right beside the man. They only made eye contact for a moment before Iida looked away. He appeared frustrated, tense. He could tell even though he had a helmet on.

On a water tower, a little killer with masks resting on his head and under his chin was eating a few candies. He sat on the edge with his feet dangling off, examining the cityscape. It was all so quiet now, not even a lot of colorful city lights to be seen. Streets were becoming more and more barren at night. Beside him, Stain was kneeling, checking the city terrain as well. He could see a bright hero jumping from rooftop to rooftop, using fire to give herself more airtime. It didn’t seem like she could see them. “They’re looking for us.” Stain commented. Midoriya nodded before holding a candy out to him. 

“That’s one of Endeavor’s sidekicks, Burnin’. If she’s here, then Endeavor is too. Which means Shouto’s here.” Midoriya deducted, seeming disappointed. He was at least hoping for a slim chance that Todoroki wouldn’t be here. But that was hoping for too much. He watched Stain take the offered candy and eat it shamelessly.

“We may run into him, you know that. We may have to rough him up a bit because we can’t let him get in our way. I’ll try to be careful if it comes to that, but I can promise nothing.” It was a hard truth. Stain couldn’t just go easy on people. “You said he was a perfect example of a hero. That’ll give me reason enough to spare him. He needs to keep a distance.” Midoriya nodded again, still appearing anxious. Something didn’t feel right about tonight. But then he felt a hand on his shoulder. “No matter what happens, we’ll leave a mark for everyone to understand. We’ll reform this city and kill all the fake heroes.” They were only after the fakes. Todoroki would certainly be spared.

Then there was the sound of footsteps on the other side of Midoriya. Both killers glanced over to see Shigaraki having been warped to the same water tower by Kurogiri.  With the hand on his face, he stood beside them with his arms folded looking out over the quiet city. It wouldn’t be quiet for very much longer. “Hosu City looks nicer than I expected,” he commented. Hearing a bit of shuffling from behind, the three of them looked back to see Kurogiri bringing the three nomus through portals. Kurogiri then joined them on the water tower, hands behind his back as he waited patiently. 

“You really never go out, huh?” Midoriya slighted out of a brotherly tease. He appeared to loosen up at the arrival of his big brother. But it was only a little.

“Irrelevant.” Shigaraki huffed, then hunched over slightly to point to the city. “It’s not going to look nice for long. Nomus… go wild.” There was a choir of loud shrieked roars from the three nomus. It only took that one command for them to leap off the water tower and make their attack with an explosion of a small building. An explosion bright enough to light up the whole city, loud enough for all the heroes to hear, big enough to start a raging fire. The tan nomu flew out, picking up cars and launching them at buildings, bullet trains, and tossing them into fires to cause more destructive explosions with the two on the ground proceeding to wreak havoc. It didn’t take long for the screams of common folk to replace the silence of the disturbed city.

Midoriya watched in awe, finding the flames to be so beautiful and the distress of the people to be so fascinating. It was all so alluring, the destruction and the fear. Stain looked at him, focusing on the hypnotized expression on the little villain’s face. “All the people and heroes that believe weak quirks and quirkless people were useless… to see them like that…” he watched as people were fleeing for their lives as they were crying and shouting. At the start of his villainous journey, he would have felt such pity and guilt for them. But it had become a sick pleasure. “You’d think they deserve it…” he mumbled.   

“They’ve become brainwashed by capitalized heroes. They feed into their false idols' greed. Sacrifices must be made for reformation, and we’ll make sure those sacrifices are not worthless.” Stain began to stand up with Midoriya. The little killer pushed up his mouth mask and was about to pull down his face mask when he stopped for a moment to get one last clear look at the chaotic burning city. The lives lost here would not be put to waste; they would support them in taking down heroes that have become too powerful and too influential. They let Endeavor and All Might become too powerful. Take them away, they take their idols and the faith the public had with them. 

“Mr. Akaguro, could you spare just a moment?” Kurogiri tapped Stain’s shoulder, gaining his attention. Shigaraki and Midoriya both looked at them but did not think much of it. Probably just Kurogiri being a dad and asking him to protect Midoriya. This gave the two others a minute to enjoy the view. Shigaraki was ecstatic. 

“This is good. Let’s make this flashy! It’s so cool, I’m almost speechless!” he craved destruction. He loved it. He cherished the attention, but he needed it now more than ever. They needed this attention to draw curious eyes and blood lustful minds. This is what All For One suggested. “I’ll have Kurogiri on standby if things get bad for you two. However…” Shigaraki glanced back at Kurogiri speaking formally with Stain. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but Stain looked serious. “I imagine Akaguro’s going to be too prideful to ever run away during an opportunity like this. Even if it feels wrong, I can’t risk you getting captured. Understand how precious you are.” he knew Midoriya had become close to his teacher and that he also had a lot of shame when it came to retreat. Sometimes his little brother needed a reminder on how crucial he was to everything, as well as reminding him that Todoroki can’t be his if he’s in prison. “Don’t be stupid.” he placed a hand, minus the pinkie, on the freckled boy’s head. “Be careful.” 

“Understood.” Stain told Kurogiri with a slight nod. He then turned around and unsheathed his swords, walking towards his apprentice at the edge of the water tower. Midoriya put his face mask on and let a mint glow emit from the holes for the eyes. Under his masks, there was a wide grin of mischief. He wanted to have fun tonight. “Let’s get going.”

The first explosion a nomu caused the ground to shake underneath the heros’ feet. Endeavor looked towards the flames that shot up to the sky, seeing the smoke shoot in the air. He didn’t even have a moment to speak before more went off. “Burnin’, what do you see up there?!” he shouted into his earpiece knowing his sidekick would be able to have a greater perspective up above. 

“It’s nomu! And there’s more than one!”

Endeavor gritted his teeth as another explosion went off and heard a shrieking roar following it. Burnin’s voice was loud enough to be heard past the earpiece for Todoroki, Manual, and Iida to hear. Whatever frustration in Iida’s face had disappeared at the mention of the nomu. Both he and Todoroki shared a glance, Todoroki placing a hand over the center of his torso. Feeling his ribs, he visibly became tense at the memory of all the pain he felt, having nearly every bone in his chest snap and stab through his skin from the inside. A villain pulling him away to shift the bones away from his organs from the outside. To feel his insides being moved around, the blood, the helplessness. 

While Manual pulled out his phone to make a call to his agency, Iida approached Todoroki from the side, thoughtless as he took his hand from his chest to hold. The gesture came off as a surprise, making Todoroki flinch. “It won’t happen again this time… I promise.” Iida assured, holding his hand with both of his. He wouldn’t let it happen again, not when they were fighting together for a second time. Todoroki slowly took his hand back and nodded silently in understanding. He wasn’t sure what to make of the gesture all of sudden. Usually, he had been flattered and even embarrassed. But ever since Midoriya snuck into his house… he’d rather keep a friendly distance in the nicest way possible. 

“Both of you should focus on evacuating and protecting civilians, leave the nomus to the pros!” Manuel said to both of the boys. It was best to keep them out of combat as using quirks in public was still a fine line without a hero license. Especially if they were used to harm someone or something. Having the teenagers focus on protecting and evacuating would be safest for the law, but also safer for them as students. 

“Don’t try to fight these things. We want to keep the destruction to a minimum. Shouto, send out a signal if something goes wrong. I know you won’t be careless.” Endeavor instructed. Todoroki was surprised that his father was going to allow him to go off with just Iida. Wasn’t he suspected of working with the League of Villains? Didn’t Endeavor want to keep an eye on him? The suspicion around him must have gone down.

Todoroki and Iida would engage in search and rescue tactics. As more heroes arrived on the scene, a safe area was set up with a barrier guarded by pros. Todoroki would use his ice to make slides close to burning buildings for people to slide down from upper floors to safety. They would melt quickly, so he was forced to act fast. Iida rushed around, picking up people who had been injured and delivering them to the safe zone. People would report a missing person to him, to which he would race out and search as best he could. The two were efficient and heroic in their actions, saving many lives.

Just as his brother had done, Iida saw something that took all his attention away. He couldn’t turn away and ignore it. How many alleys had he passed and not noticed something? A few at least. Scattered around the city, in the crevices of big buildings, some burning and some not, corpses of heroes had been abandoned. They had been cut into and butchered like animals. Some of them had parts of their insides removed. Streams of blood had been left ignored as the people begging for help and protection took the priority. No one had yet noticed the two killers taking advantage of the chaos. Not until they were spotted in the act. 

On his way to another search, an explosion went off in the distance followed by more screams. They were too far to reach as they were in the center of the destruction where the nomus were. The pros would handle it. But the light from the explosion created a flash that lit up the darkness of an alleyway. He got a glimpse of a hero being held by the face against the wall by the hero killer. Rage overwhelmed him. There was so much hate. It was boiling, scalding. Remembering the sight of his brother, barely conscious in a hospital bed. To take the name Ingenium, he couldn’t. Not when the hero killer was still on the streets. “Stain!” 

How quickly he turned that corner. How fast he had been, jumping and kicking himself off the wall,  preparing to land a blow with his armored foot against Stain’s neck. How quickly he found himself on the ground. His helmet had been forced off. He was face down in the dirt. He nearly screamed when a blade went through his hand into the ground. “You’re just some kid…” Stain grumbled, looking down darkly. His body was littered in blood spatter. He had tossed the hero in his grip to the side of the wall, and yet that hero could not move despite being conscious. Paralysis. “You… I’ll kill you for-” Iida was about to threaten, his voice dreadfully hateful and angry. But a calmer voice through a mixer spoke over him.

“He’s Ingenium’s little brother. His quirk is jet legs.” Midoriya had been sitting against the wall, examining something in his hands. He, too, was covered in blood spatter. Yet his gloves were drenched in red, dripping from the object he was holding. Iida was mortified to see a pair of human lungs.

“Y-You… from the USJ. K-Kosuke-” Iida tried to move on instinct but found himself unable to even twitch. Stain put a boot on his head, pushing his face a little further into the dirt. “You hurt Todo-”

“Don’t even go there.” Midoriya snapped back quickly but kept a calm tone. “Funny how your first instinct was to kill my master instead of saving that hero right behind you. How noble, little Ingenium. A true hero.” he mocked. He then stood up and tossed the organ in his hands aside, shaking his gloved hands a bit to get rid of excess blood and splattered a bit on the walls. “I’d personally love to take a look at what’s in those legs of yours. You won’t have to die if you just play nice.” As much as he would love to kill him, he knew Todoroki wouldn’t approve. He’d have to tread carefully. 

“Do you know him?” Stain asked, backing off but only by a step. Iida’s body could only shake as he struggled to move.

“He’s a pain in the ass, I’ll tell you that. But he doesn’t have to die. He did me a favor once after  all…” If he hadn’t found Todoroki at the USJ when he did, his beloved may not have made it. But he still hated the feelings the four-eyed prick expressed for his beautiful hero. Midoriya knelt down and picked up Iida’s glasses that had fallen on the ground. He examined them briefly before tossing them aside. “When he walks away from this, my debt will have been repaid. Turn back little Ingenium… save your legs. Next time won’t be so nice.” If only Iida could see the most twisted smile that was hiding behind that mask. Or the bright red eyes, craving to cut him open like a doll. 

“Who… are you?” Iida asked, only glaring up at the boy kneeling above him. Those threats… the friendly way of talking like he was lying through his teeth… biting his tongue to play nice with all the other kids. It was too familiar. “I know you… don’t I?” He had to die. He had to die right now. Midoriya’s eyes widened in panic behind that mask as he reached for a blade strapped to his waist. He couldn’t be found out. Not when he was this close. Before he could grab the blade, a familiar sound echoed through the alley. 

Midoriya quickly leaped back with Stain as ice coated the walls of the alley, a trail spiking up from the ground surrounding Iida, as well as the hero paralyzed against the wall. “Iida!” The little villain’s heart dropped to his stomach. He knew this was going to happen. He knew out of all the heroes they were going to encounter that night, Todoroki would be one step behind Iida. “Are you alright? And-” Todoroki hurried to Iida, placing a hand on his back and looking to the other hero. “You’re… Native, aren’t you? Are you hurt?” His heart was for the wounded first. The little villain smiled under his mask, his eyes glowing with infatuation. Even if they were on opposite sides, seeing his kind heart on the battlefield made him swoon. “You went out on a search but never came back. I saw you head this way. I’m glad I came when I did.” 

“Y-You kids need to get away. One can paralyze you and the other… he’s got puppeteering wires in those gloves. G-Go get help! You can’t fight them!” the hero known as Native choked out. Todoroki looked between Native and Iida and then the villains standing before him. 

“You came here to help your friend. That’s very heroic of you. You’re not so bad, are you?” Stain took a step forward, making Todoroki’s eyes narrow. It didn’t take a genius to know who was standing before him. He recognized the masks too. “Not like the other heroes. You’re not in it for the attention. You actually want to help people, unlike these two here; rushing in to fight me for revenge and for attention.” Both Iida and Native shut their eyes tight hearing themselves be called out. “You have a heart. One that people take advantage of.” this lanky man covered in blood with a crooked face spoke such powerful words. “You just want to save people. It’s very kind.” sweet words. “You deserve better opportunities.” alluring words. “I know about you, boy. I know heroes have hurt you more than any villain ever has. I’ll let you know… villains aren’t always the bad gu-”

“Don’t listen to him, Todoroki!” Iida shouted. Todoroki blinked a few times, having become a bit distracted by the hero killer’s voice. “These people… they hurt others! Their reasoning shouldn’t mean anything after everyone they’ve killed. I know you didn’t like Kosuke, but did he deserve what happened to him?! What about my brother?!” Kosuke deserved it. Kosuke deserved every moment. But Ingenium… maybe not. Or maybe he did. Todoroki looked down at Iida, seeing him in such a pained and pathetic state. 

“Y...You’re right.” Todoroki mumbled. Midoriya’s eyes flickered at the hesitation. But then he watched his beautiful hero raise his left arm and fire a flame directly into the sky, one big enough to make a scene, but thin enough to keep another city fire from forming. A signal. He was calling for backup. And it was then that Iida’s hand flexed. 

“Master, we should-” Midoriya reached for Stain to try and convince him to retreat. They already killed a few heroes, they made a mark. It wasn’t too early to flee. But Stain pushed his hand away.

“I know how important you and your identity are to Shigaraki, Fallen. It is not shameful to run away.” Stain licked his lips, staring at the two teenagers and the hero before him. He looked frighteningly thrilled. “I will not kill the boy. But I will not run from this fight or any fight. My conviction is stronger than any fear of persecution.” He wore a wide grin, his body almost trembling with anticipation. “And this boy, he really is a hero. I can’t wait to see what he can do!”

Midoriya would not run from this fight. It was almost as painful as watching the nomu crush Todoroki against the tree, seeing him desperate to scream but unable to make a sound. And here he was forced to fight him face to face, getting within inches of each other, but not to love. The determination in Todoroki’s beautiful bi-colored eyes were infatuating to see up close. The determined frustration was nothing compared to the loving obsession he had seen in him not so long ago. The grunts in pain were nothing like the sounds that had come from him the day he snuck into Endeavor’s mansion. He hated it that things had to be this way. He hated that they had to be on opposite sides, that they had to fight. He wanted to be together with him already. He wanted him all to himself! 

“Todoroki!” Iida cried out as Todoroki cringed in pain. Stain went a little too far, but it wasn’t enough to be anywhere near deadly. His blade had gone cleanly through Todoroki’s left thigh before he twisted and pulled it out. The boy had been bruised with his right half becoming a bit frosted from excess use of his ice. But he soon became paralyzed as Stain licked the blood from his blade. At least he could stay out of the fight for a little while. Todoroki fell back in paralysis, unable to move or even use his quirk, like Stain froze the flow of power within him. This gave Midoriya the opportunity to raise his hands up and brought the wires up high. Before Iida could get to Todoroki, Midoriya entangled his beautiful hero in wires before bringing him close and keeping him out of the fight. “Don’t hurt him!” Iida begged, avoiding another flurry of rapid attacks from Stain.

Midoriya brought his hero to him, ensnared in wires before putting him on his side on the dirt to keep weight off his leg to keep it from bleeding more. He was sure to wrap the wound multiple times in wire to compress it and keep it covered. The little villain then got on his knees behind him and leaned over to rest his cheek against the top of Todoroki’s head, running bloodied gloved fingers through his hair as his hero was helpless to move. “Don’t worry… I won’t hurt you. I could never bring myself to.” he said softly through the voice mixer. “You’re safe with me. You always will be.” The sheer confusion in his hero’s eyes was almost enough to make him giggle. How precious. 

The air in the alleyway suddenly became hot. Like the air was boiling. “Little Todooo~” Midoriya looked up to see a feral looking woman on the rooftop, her hair appearing as a flame. Burnin’. 

“Iida!” a wave of water from a broken fire hydrant was given direction and forced into the alleyway just as Iida had his arm stabbed through multiple times with throwing knives. Manual. “I told you not to be rash!”

“Get off him you little punk!” In a moment of distraction, Midoriya found himself in a chokehold from Native who had finally regained the ability to move. His focus was gone. The wires around Todoroki detangled and unraveled. Iida took the chance to kick Stain in the back at full force into the wave of water that Burnin’ eventually blasted with a dangerously hot flame, making it scalding. He then rushed to Todoroki, taking him in his arms and running up the wall to dodge the rushing boiling water. Native pulled a leaf out of his back pocket, quickly letting Midoriya go and tossing the leaf like a needle behind the wave. He disappeared. Then reappeared in place of the leaf on the other side of the water.

The boiling water washed into Stain as Midoriya was just able to climb up a wall and hold on to an edge. “Master!” The little killer tried to reach for Stain with the wires of his gloves. But a wave of fire blocked his view. Looking back, he saw Native, Manuel, Burnin’, and Iida holding Todoroki standing before them. It was five against two. More were likely on the way. “Master we-” 

“Get out of here, Fallen! I’m not leaving!” Stain was dripping in boiling water, standing hunched with his tongue out and a wide grin. “I will bring about a reformation!” he wasn’t going to give in. But it was too risky for Midoriya to stay. If either of his masks came off, or if he was captured, or if he was hurt, he could be found out. Don’t be stupid. Be careful. 

Midoriya tightened his eyes and turned his head away. “Dad!!”

“Don’t let him get away!” Iida shouted, seeing a portal appear above the little killer. Todoroki’s head laid limply against Iida’s chest as he watched Midoriya climb into the portal with it closing behind him. He just watched him run. He couldn’t help but think about what he said. About never hurting him. He did human experimentation, a doctor. His dad could warp people… He killed Kosuke.

“All of you, the skies!” a new voice shouted out from behind. Endeavor’s. Midoriya had been warped to a nearby rooftop, behind the fight where the heroes wouldn’t think to look. He could watch, but he couldn’t intervene. He saw Endeavor arrive with five more sidekicks. It was eleven on one. Stain wouldn’t be able to fight them all, especially with his skin being boiled. His master would surely be defeated and captured. And with how hard Iida hit him, his spine was likely to be damaged, maybe a few ribs too. Todoroki had burned him plenty of times. By the end of the fight, he was flustered and running on adrenaline alone. 

Looking up to the sky, the flying nomu above screeched. Endeavor had been chasing it as it flew above the alleyway like it was on a mission before it was attacked. The other two nomu had been done away with. It was the only one to remain but it was already wounded, having been burned and missing one of its eyes. Midoriya was confused as to what it was doing. What was it after? And that’s when he saw it dive with its talons out. Was it going to grab Stain to help him escape? Was it going to hurt Iida for holding Todoroki? 

Stain’s eyes flinched at watching the nomu drive down snatch Todoroki out of Iida’s arms. Midoriya held his breath as he saw the nomu dig its talons into his hero’s side to keep him in its grip. But he expressed pain in his face. It hurt him. Why was it hurting him? He specifically demanded the nomu not to. Why was it disobeying? When the nomu flew back up towards the sky it screeched, flying away from Shigaraki who was watching from the water tower. “Wh-What? Where is it going?” Midoriya asked in a shaky tone. This wasn’t right. Something was wrong with it!

Kurogiri appeared beside Midoriya, holding him by the shoulders to keep him in place. The little villain was forced to watch the heroes try to reach for Todoroki as he was stolen away, unable to move from the paralysis yet. It was then he saw Stain rise up off the wall, wielding his blades to attack the monster. “The doctor has been asking Shigaraki an awful lot about Todoroki. He feared his recruitment was taking far too long… the doctor’s command overrides yours, Izuku.” Kurogiri explained. The little villain watched in horror as his master beheaded the nomu as its body glided down dropping Todoroki to the ground. “The doctor wanted to take Todoroki to his lab to perform the nomu experiments on him by force. I had warned Stain beforehand…” When they were talking on the water tower. “I asked him to protect him if the nomu ever strayed from your orders.” Stain stood over Todoroki, turning back to look at the heroes. “He said he would judge him as a real hero… he must have satisfied his expectations.” He saved the little villain’s beautiful hero.

“You fake…” Stain stared directly at Endeavor with his mask having fallen off. “I must make things right…” his eyes were wide with bloodlust. “Someone must be dyed in blood…” the world around appeared to be a dark shade of red, shrouded in an evil darkness creeping in everyone’s skin. “I must take back what it means to be a hero!” Todoroki watched from the ground from behind, his body struggling to move against the paralysis and yet appeared entranced by every word. “Come! Try and get me, you fakes!” Fakes… fake heroes. Todoroki looked back at his father and all his sidekicks. Fakes…? “The only one I’ll let kill me is a true hero…!” A hero has hurt you for more than any villain has. A “hero”. A fake. Heroes Lie. 

Never My Hero.  

At Stain’s last step forward, he froze. There was a silent snap. Something in his spine. Something in his ribs. It punctured an organ that caused his body to finally give in. On a distant rooftop, Midoriya’s eyes began to water at the sight of his master being restrained. He watched Iida hurry to Todoroki, only to be held back by Endeavor’s sidekicks. He wasn’t allowed to get close. Having been saved by a villain such as Stain, the suspicion around Todoroki became worse than it ever had before.

 The attack on Hosu was a success despite the loss. Perhaps it was the loss that made it such a grand success. The destruction had been done, the power of the League of Villains was put out on display. The reports of just under a dozen lives have been taken from the hero killer were pouring into the media. Viral videos were being posted left and right. News stations were reporting the story for hours back to back. Social media had been overrun with debates and gossip. Word was getting around. It was flowing. Traveling to the minds of civilians and criminals alike all over Japan. Shigaraki had looked at his phone just the afternoon after the attack.

Dabi: Stain was working with you, wasn’t he?

Todoroki and Iida had been placed in separate hospital rooms for just two days. Both had their injuries treated with Iida being brought into surgery. Though Iida was left in the privacy of his room, Todoroki’s had police officers standing on the outside as guards. Thankfully, he had been left with his phone for entertainment which included texting Midoriya every once in a while even though the little villain was still interning at a different hospital. He also was allowed to have Zuzu as she rested underneath his hospital patient shirt. She did well to keep him company. While he had been texting Midoriya, however, he received a few visitors. 

“Police chief Kenji Tsuragamae…” and a few police officers at his side. Todoroki stood up, placing his phone on the bed behind him. He helped Zuzu out from under his shirt and kept her on the bed. She sat on his phone to hide it. He hoped they wouldn’t take either one away

“Todoroki Shouto… so you helped take down the hero killer, woof?” With the head of a dog, he really was part dog. Todoroki only nodded his head as he noticed the door behind the police chief was open a crack. He could see Endeavor watching. “Regarding the hero killer we arrested, he had fairly serious injuries with burns and broken bones, and is receiving treatment under strict guard, woof. As you are a U.A. student, I’m sure that you are aware that when superpowers were still becoming the norm, the police attached high importance to leadership and standards and made sure quirks were not used as weapons. And then, the profession of ‘hero’ emerged to fill that gap, woof. For an individual’s use of force and power that can easily kill others- actions that normally would be appropriate to denounce - to be accepted officially is thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and rules of the profession, woof. Even up against the hero killer, for uncertified individuals to cause injury with their quirks without specific instruction from their guardians or supervisors is a clear violation of the rules. You, Iida, Manual, and Endeavor must receive strict punishment.” 

Todoroki flinched at the requirement of a punishment. That didn’t seem right. It didn’t seem fair. He tensed up. “Wait a min-” Just as he spoke with a sharp tone, police officers at the police chiefs side suddenly drew their guns and pointed them at him. Zuzu’s fur raised as she snarled at them, growling viciously even for a puppy. Todoroki put his hand in front of her protectively as he took a step back. “If Iida hadn’t done anything Native would’ve been killed,” he spoke calmly. But he was clearly angry. To be targeted like this… “If I hadn’t come, they’d both be dead. No one realized that the hero killer had appeared. Are you saying we should’ve followed the rules and watched people get killed?” Heroes didn’t work like that. Heroes saved people, didn’t they? Maybe... Heroes Lie. 

“Are you saying that as long as it turns out all right, it’s okay to bend the rules?” It should be. Not all rules were alright. Villains weren’t always bad guys. Heroes Lie.

“Isn’t it a hero’s job to save people?” Todoroki gritted his teeth, becoming more frustrated. Heroes were always so difficult to argue with. Always acting like they had better morals than everyone else. Heroes Lie.

“That is why you are not a full-fledged hero yet. And you won’t be if you keep up this behavior.” Todoroki took another glance at the guns that were being pointed at him. He was in trouble. The cops didn’t trust him.

“That was the official opinion of the police. And the punishment and such would only happen if this were all made public, woof. If this were made public, you would probably be applauded by the public, but you would not be able to escape punishment. If it is not made public, the burn scars would support Endeavor being the hero who saved the day, and it would end there, woof. Thankfully, there were very few witnesses. This violation could be crushed here, woof. But this would also mean no one would know about your good judgement or achievements.” Endeavor would get the credit. Just like always. He would always look good for the public while Todoroki’s pain was kept in the background. He lied. The cops lied. Heroes Lie.

“It’s not like I have much of a choice…” Todoroki muttered. “Can you stop pointing those things at me? It’s stressing my dog out.” he slowly sat down and let Zuzu on to his lap where she proceeded to snarl and bare her teeth at the police. The police chief raised his hand to signal the officers to put their weapons away. “Where’s Present Mic? Can I see him?” everyone was out to get him. He wanted to see someone he knew would be on his side. There was one hero that would support him. 

“So you don’t know?” The police chief asked. Todoroki narrowed his eyes. He hadn’t heard of Yamada’s attack. “You can’t see him. He’s been dismissed for health reasons and will be returning to work as soon as he’s recovered.” the boy was visibly disappointed as he looked down at Zuzu. He really was alone here. Surrounded by heroes and cops, people who were supposed to protect others, people to be trusted, and yet he felt terribly lonely. “I’m sure you are also aware by now the severity of your position.” he petted Zuzu as she cuddled up to him on his lap. “Stain rescued you from a nomu that wounded you. It sounds like an oddly familiar situation, doesn’t it?”

Todoroki’s hold on Zuzu became a bit stiffer. The USJ. He had been rescued by rogue nomus twice now by villains. “Yes…” he answered quietly.

“Did you have anything to do with the death of Kosuke Hiro?”

“I did not.”

“Are you working with the League of Villains?”

“I am not,” he answered clearly. They all suspected him. They were all staring at him. Such hate and distrust. He took no comfort in their presence. He didn’t feel safe. He didn’t want to be here. These weren’t his heroes.

“Even your father is beginning to lose faith in you Todoroki. Why would Stain try to protect you?”

“He stabbed me. You call that protecting?” 

“We call it a diversion to make it look like you’re enemies.” 

“Just get out,” Todoroki growled. “I didn’t get stabbed to be accused of a crime I never committed.”  He didn't want to listen anymore. “Just get out. And tell my father that he’s the only criminal here.” He knew Endeavor would hear that through the door. He wanted him to. “None of you are heroes…” He didn’t want to be anything like them.

“Who the hell are these guys?” Midoriya asked, coming down the stairs that very evening while wiping his face of blood splatter from another day of interning at the hospital. He found Shigaraki sitting at the bar with the hand on his face, but he was nowhere near alone. Kurogiri stood behind the counter as he usually did, preparing a glass of liquor. Or four. There were a number of unfamiliar faces at the bar. A lizard man. A showman in a mask. A buff woman. A blonde smiling schoolgirl. But he could recognize Twice and Giran among them.

“These are-” Shigaraki was about to answer when the blonde girl skipped right up to Midoriya with a knife in her hand.

“You worked with Mr. Stainy, didn’t you?!” her eyes became locked on to the blood he was cleaning from his face. They seemed to sparkle in awe. “The Fallen one, right? Tell me all about him! I wanna meet him! I wanna stab him!” She was batshit crazy, bouncing up and down with a knife. Midoriya held her wrist in place so that she wouldn’t stab him. He looked at Shigaraki questionably.

“These are our new comrades, brought to us by Giran. They appeared to be inspired by you and Akaguro’s actions and found us here.” Shigaraki answered, taking a small sip of a shot. He was going to need a lot of alcohol to keep him going to be social with all of these people. Twice, dressed in his bodysuit, sat down next to him and patted his back. 

“Don’t start partying yet. Let’s get fucking wasted!” he reached for one of the drinks Kurogiri made and lifted his mask just enough to take a drink. 

The masked showman calmly approached the counter, leaning against it to politely raise a glass to Kurogiri. “Thank you for inviting us all to meet face to face. We’re honored to be working with you.” At least someone seemed a little bit normal.

“I’m still not so sure about this… but if Stain worked with him, then I guess I can too.” the lizard man grumbled, folding his arms and sitting back on the red sofa. His eyes only narrowed at Midoriya. The little villain could sense a bit of jealousy coming from him.

“Now don’t be like that. Try to be a little optimistic.” the buff woman patted his shoulder, sitting down beside him. So many people had appeared here all at once. Midoriya watched Giran take a drink from Kurogiri and tapped it against the showman’s. All of them had likely been meeting with Shigaraki while the little doctor was away at the hospital. All of them having the slightest appeal to Stain. They likely had their own reasons, their own stories, their own traumas. He would have to connect with all of them for this to be the team Shigaraki wanted. The team that he needed. But it wasn’t complete. Not yet.

“Oh shit. Look at that.” Giran gestured to a tv Kurogiri had on in the bar. It was either stationed on a channel with ‘no signal’ or the news. And the screen was a news report of a hospital having been caught on fire in Hosu. It showed aerial footage of heroes and first responders surrounding the building, rapidly escorting patients and staff out. As reporters were frantically reporting the situation, a camera zoomed in on Endeavor entering the building.  Midoriya didn’t think much of it at first glance, busy trying to deal with the energetic girl before him. But then something clicked in his head. Something dropped in his stomach. Fear took over. Kurogiri’s phone began to ring.

Todoroki would not have left Hosu yet. He’s been texting him from the hospital for the past two days. His legs were dealt with heavy damage and he was having problems walking. But… the staff would have helped him. He could have been escorted out. What floor was he on? Was he high up? How many stairs would he have to take? He could make it, couldn’t he?

Midoriya lightly pushed Toga away to approach the bar beside Shigaraki. He had gone so pale with his eyes wide with anxiety. He knew why Kurogiri’s phone was ringing. But he didn’t want his thoughts to be true. He watched the man answer his phone. He didn’t say hello. “I know… you try to keep your identity a secret. But… I-I think I’m going to die.” Midoriya could hear Todoroki’s voice on the other side with an excessive amount of background noise. The room had gone mostly silent as Kurogiri looked at everyone in the room, staring at him. He put the phone on speaker. “I’m at the hospital in Hosu… It’s on fire. I’m trapped and I can’t move my legs anymore. I know you said to text for emergencies, but I don’t think anyone’s coming to get me. I-If you could… could you- Dad?-” It cut out suddenly.

“Hope you guys are ready for your first job, already. We’re getting ourselves another member.” Shigaraki said, placing his empty glass down. All the faces, new and old, glanced at him as he pulled out his phone. “Or two,” he added. With a few taps of the screen, he held the phone to his ear. He let it ring for just a few seconds before he heard it click. “You’re in Hosu, aren’t you?”  he smirked.

Todoroki had held his wounded leg as he stumbled down the stairs of the hospital, Zuzu followed right beside him, barking loudly as if trying to get the attention of any heroes that could be inside. “They’re not coming…” he growled in pain. Police officers had been outside his door when the fire started from the center floor. They left him there. They helped the other patients; he watched them. And they left him despite the injury done to him by Stain. “We’ll find a way out without them.” he went over to a staircase that would have led him to the first floor since the elevators were too dangerous to use. But the stairs had flaming rubble blocking the way for them to get down. The two only managed to get down one floor as Todoroki had to hop on foot to spare himself the pain. 

The whole building had caught on fire so quickly. He had only been taking a nap with Zuzu when an explosion went off. It felt like multiple had gone off as the flames spread quicker than they could have been contained. The building had been engulfed before the first responders even arrived. Many of the patients from the topmost floor were evacuated efficiently with those in critical condition being taken down first. But it was almost like the staff avoided retrieving him. Like the police prevented them. They kept him locked in his room and told him that he had to wait for authorities to escort him so he wouldn’t go off on his own and get lost. The window could be broken, but the flames from the lower floors made it too hot to freeze the side of the building to make an escape slide.

By the time he got the door opened, the police were gone. They had abandoned him. And now he roamed the Hellish hospital with just his dog. “You’d think they want me to die… It’d be easier than fighting the media about arresting me as a suspect for murder,” he muttered. His situation looked grim. But he kept his cool, traveling carefully and avoiding weak floors that could collapse underneath him. He did find a hole in the floor where the ceiling below had collapsed. A lot of the ceiling had turned to ash, making a safe place for him to land. So he picked Zuzu up and held her close as he slid down, landing on his side to not injure his legs any further. He was able to stand up again, though with a bit of trouble. Keeping the puppy in his arms, he continued to navigate his way out, keep her nose covered to keep her from breathing in too much smoke. 

Having walked for so long, his leg bleeding more and more with every step, he could tell he managed to reach the second floor eventually. The room numbers read in the 200s. “A little further… we’ll stay at Izuku’s tonight.” How much more suspicious could he get by now? All he wanted more than anything was to take a bath in that private room, to snuggle into bed with his dog and his boyfriend beside him. Maybe have a good dinner provided by his father. His father. He must have been a very kind man.  “Izuku… he’s going to be so worried.”  He imagined that his beloved must have already been panicking.

Todoroki had stumbled down a hall when he turned a corner, crying out in pain when his leg gave in. He knelt down, seeing it gushing blood through bandages and soiling his pants. Letting Zuzu down, he patted her head before coughing violently. The smoke was getting bad. “Go make it out yourself. Let someone know I’m still here, okay?” He nudged her but she only whined, biting his sleeve and trying to pull him along. “A little further… fine-” he went to rise up, preparing to suck up the pain when he felt the building rumble. Behind him, he saw the ceiling beginning to collapse into the hall. In a moment of haste, he grabbed Zuzu by her collar and yanked her off his sleeve, tossing her ahead. “Shit! Shit… shit…”

Todoroki used whatever ice he could manage in the intense heat to create only a small barrier around himself. He laid on his stomach. The ceiling had collapsed on top of him, but he managed to protect his top half as his lower half was completely buried with debris. He struggled to pull himself out, his puppy running back to him to bite his shirt and pull. It was a fruitless effort. It all seemed hopeless. He was going to die surrounded by the thing he hated most. “Go get help. I’ll… try to call someone.” Zuzu let go of his shirt and snuck her head under a small gap in the rubble, digging out debris just enough to fetch his phone from the ground. It had become severely cracked, but still turned on. The puppy walked in quick circles a small number of times, having a crisis on whether to leave her owner alone or not. She only gave his cheek a kiss before making a sprint away, barking wildly and loudly.

Somewhere more than a city away, Aizawa’s phone was ringing. But it had been abandoned on his nightstand. It would ring repeatedly. Receiving call after call. There were five, all from the same number. But the man was laying on the sofa with one leg bent, Yamada laying on his chest with his neck wrapped thickly in bandages. The blond had been fast asleep on top of him, snuggled safely in his arms as fingers ran through his long silky hair. On the floor beside the sofa, Shinsou rested his back against it, reading more about how to use a binding cloth. He would eventually feel a pat on his head from Aizawa, a gesture of silent praise. A peaceful family sat together blissfully in the living room, leaving the cellphone abandoned in the master bedroom.

“So much for saving your number…” Todoroki coughed, having tried multiple times and giving up. He rested his head on the floor, running out of energy to keep himself alert. He desperately tried another number. The exhaustion was overwhelming. The hopelessness. He was going to die. Alone. He caught himself smiling weakly when he heard someone answer his first attempt at a call. “I know… you try to keep your identity a secret. But… I-I think I’m going to die. I’m at the hospital in Hosu… It’s on fire.” He gazed around at the flames becoming more and more blurry around him. The smoke must have been making his eyes water. “I’m trapped and I can’t move my legs anymore. I know you said to text for emergencies, but I don’t think anyone’s coming to get me.” Abandoned. He would never have a hero. “I-If you could… could you- Dad?-” 

Todoroki’s eyes had begun to close when he dropped his phone and felt a thud close to him from the floor. Raising his tired gaze, he saw his father standing before him. Of all people… Zuzu wasn’t with him either. Did he really come to get him? “...Dad?” he almost never called him father. It was usually ‘old man’ or just his hero name. But could he have really come to save him? “I can’t… move. My leg’s fucked,” he coughed, digging his nails into the floor and attempting to pull himself out again. Endeavor only watched him in silence. “Help-” he was willing to ask for help but was cut off.

“You remind me so much of him…” his father spoke calmly, staring down at him. He just watched his son desperately claw at the ground to try and free himself, helpless to do so. Todoroki stopped trying when he heard him speak. “The potential was there. You could have been amazing, Shouto.” Could have. Could have? The words triggered a memory. Just a flash.

A heavily locked door had been left unlocked at home once. There was a shrine in that room.

“We could have worked past your rebellious tendencies. You had done so well for your ice. Your mother would have been proud to see you if she hadn’t become so sick. I was grateful to see you grew up stronger than him.” Todoroki weakly reached out, trying to at least grab Endeavor’s boot. If he could maybe just grab on to something… but his hand was stepped on. “I had so much faith… I really was proud of how far you came, Shouto.” 

“Dad…” Why was he talking like that? It was condescending. But he sounded solemn. But not for his son. “Aren’t you going to help me…?” When Todoroki looked up higher, he saw a hand directed toward him. It was not reaching out to him. It was an open palm, slowly building flame. The light from it reflected in his eyes more than the inferno of the burning hospital.

“He had been troublesome too. Getting into trouble, even illegal trouble. I let it be a phase… it was a terrible mistake. I didn’t want to believe you’d go down the same path.” Another memory flashed in his mind.

Natuso was leaving for college. Todoroki had watched him from peeking around a corner. He was screaming at Endeavor from the door. “You killed my older brother! Of course, I’m never coming back!”

Todoroki’s eyes flickered as he made eye contact with his father. “You wouldn’t… Dad…” This fire… it wasn’t affecting Endeavor. Why wasn’t it bothering him? “I want to go home…” he tried to pull his hand out from under his boot. There was too much weight. “I won’t leave again-” Why was he saying these things? He didn’t mean them. But he didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to die.

“You two were close even though I tried to keep him away from you. I didn’t want you to learn anything from him. I imagine he’ll be happy to see you again. You’ll be the same age…” Todoroki’s heart fell.

He remembered the day after receiving his scar, he went into an empty room as if he expected someone to be there. But there was no one. He was alone.

He watched a blue flame rise in his father’s hand, engulfing the man’s entire lower arm. Endeavor looked down, so disappointed and so sad at his son trapped halfway underneath the rubble. “Shouto, it’s-”

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry…” Endeavor watched tears drip down onto the floor. “Dad, I’m sorry… I want to go home.” Never once had Todoroki apologized to him. Never had he begged to go home. Never had he cried for his father’s love. He watched the flame glow brighter in Endeavor’s hand. “I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die yet. Dad…” And brighter. Endeavor closed his eyes and turned his head away. “I’m sorry…” And brighter yet. The brightest it could get. “Dad!!” It went out.

Endeavor clenched his fist, forcing the fire to go out. His arm shook in frustration. He couldn’t bring himself to kill his son. Not a second time. Not when he was begging with such a pathetic, teary face. Todoroki felt the foot leave the top of his hand. He heard footsteps get farther and farther away. He watched his father turn his back on him, walk away, leaving him to die from the smoke, from the building collapsing, or from the fire. He put his head down to the floor, quivering. Quivering. Clenching his fist and gritting his teeth. “I HATE YOU!!” he screamed, watching him disappear into the smoke and flames. The flames pro hero Endeavor started. “I hate you…” he choked. “I hate you…”

Endeavor had easily found an exit in the back of the building where fewer people had been gathered. Most had been in front of the main entrance because it was bigger and offered more people to escape at once. The back was quieter. There were fewer people to see him walk out empty-handed. 

There were fewer people to see someone jump inside, right past him.

Just as Endeavor walked out, he felt a wind go past him as someone else leaped inside with Zuzu running in first. Someone with black hair and ragged dark clothing, skinny and lanky, nearly flew in the opposite direction into the building. The shock of seeing someone hurry inside, he turned to glance back, but the person had already become lost inside. 

Todoroki laid face down on the floor, flames only becoming more intense around him. He had fallen unconscious with his cheeks stained with tears. His phone had caught on fire from being left on the ground and burning rubble fell on top of it. He had been left to die. It was eventually, however, that a puppy nose snuck up to him and nudged his face with a whine. There was no response from him. “I got him.” 

Dabi sat down in front of Todoroki, covering his nose and mouth with his forearm to keep from inhaling the smoke. He uncovered his face to place his arms under Todoroki’s and pulled him while his foot kicked harshly at the fallen debris. Zuzu barked with every kick, watching her owner’s body be pulled more and more out from the rubble until he was completely free. The inertia brought his limp body into the arms of a forgotten older brother, hugging on to him with his nose buried in his hair. He was held desperately tight. “I’m here… I’m here now, Shou. I’m here.” Dabi wouldn’t get a response. “Find me the way outta here.” He looked to Zuzu as she made a run for it. There wasn’t time to spare.

From the outside, Endeavor kept an eye on the building, watching first responders and heroes tend to patients and staff. Everyone had been working efficiently and impressively as it appeared every patient had made it out with needed equipment. Though, amongst the fire trucks, ambulances, and police cars, he was confused to see a small delivery truck on the premises. It should have been past delivery hours. “Endeavor! Have you seen your son this evening? He hasn’t been marked off the roster!” A nurse had rushed up to him in the midst of his thoughts to show him a paper. Every patient had been marked as present. All except one. 

“He was transported elsewhere upon evacuation. He made it out, take my word for it.” he lied. The nurse nodded and marked Todoroki off without a second thought. Heroes wouldn’t lie. Just as the nurse walked away, Endeavor heard glass shatter from the building. Things had been breaking all night, but it was the glass breaking and a loud thud that got his attention. He watched Dabi use his upper back to break the glass from a first-floor window, breaking his fall by rolling on his side with Todoroki in his arms. Had he not been so far away and had there been fewer people to see through, perhaps Endeavor would have seen him carrying his son. 

“That creep said a truck-” Dabi muttered, getting to his feet with Zuzu right on his tail. With a few rapid glances, he noticed a delivery truck amongst the first responder cars. “This way,” he made a run for it with the puppy following close behind. There was no stopping to talk to anyone or fill out paperwork. He was getting him far away from this place.

“That looks like our guy. More like Frankenstein's monster!” Twice appeared out from the back of the truck, raising the back of it to see Dabi on his way towards it.

“A puppy!” Toga poked her head out behind him and immediately noticed little Zuzu running with all her speed with her tiny legs. 

“Now, now, make way for them.” the masked showman lightly nudged them aside to make more room for Dabi to climb up. “Welcome aboard, young man.” Dabi stopped to see the three in the back of the truck, confused by such unique-looking people. He found himself being helped up by the showman while Zuzu was taken by Toga. Twice shut the back of the truck from the inside and banged on the wall. “The lizard’s a bit of a mad driv-” before anyone had time to brace, the driver went full speed and took a hard turn to leave the hospital grounds, sending everyone in the back against the wall. Toga used herself to protect Zuzu as the puppy yelped and the showman took hold of Dabi’s shoulders to keep him from slamming into the metal. 

After the initial acceleration, the driving became a bit more smooth, letting Dabi walk to the corner of the truck and sit down. He nearly cradled Todoroki in his arms with his cheek against the top of his head. Even in an unconscious state, he was quivering. He was covered in ash and soot, debris and rubble made his hair filthy. His hospital clothes looked like rags. His bare feet were bleeding and his left leg appeared mutilated at his thigh. Dabi only sat in silence, holding him close, rubbing his thumb underneath his scarred eye. The last time he held him… he was so much smaller. “I’m here…” he mumbled near silently.

“Here, I found this while we were waiting for you.” The showman came around after a few minutes, handing Dabi a black blanket. He said nothing as they both maneuvered Todoroki to have it wrapped around him protectively. “Mr. Compress, if you will. A pleasure to meet you.” the man greeted. It appeared the driver took a sudden hard turn and Mr. Compress put his hands against the wall on either side of Dabi to keep him from being shoved into a wall. The truck then came to a sudden halt. “Someone’s going to have to teach that lizard how to drive, honestly now.” He shook his head in annoyance. “Can you stand?”

Midoriya had been sitting at the bar with Shigaraki and Giran. The little villain had his nails digging into his wrists as his eyes were locked on the tv reporting the hospital fire. Shigaraki had his focus on the same thing, though he occasionally glanced at the door and at his phone. It had been quite some time now since he sent everyone out. It was a good first test of cooperation. It was also a chance for everyone to meet each other. They should all be returning soon. And soon enough, Kurogiri returned behind the counter, making Midoriya sit up straight and look to the door. 

“We got him~ and a puppy!” Toga kicked open the door, holding Zuzu high in the air like an extra collectible item she found along her quest. One by one, everyone returned to the bar. As they trailed in, Midoriya ran to the sofa where he had a large set of his medical supplies set up, including a supplemental oxygen mask and machine. He began unpacking and preparing, setting up the machine just as the hospital taught him how to. A panicking mess on the inside, a calm doctor on the outside, he was efficient and skillful in his actions. By the time he looked up, he was met with bright, piercing blue eyes. 

They were truly a beautiful color. Intense and motionless, Dabi was staring at Midoriya with little space between them as he paused in placing Todoroki on the sofa. The little villain didn’t break eye contact, but he could see the burnt skin, the staples, and the piercings. This was Todoroki’s big brother. The crystal-like eyes were unmistakable. The empty stare was one he had seen so often. There was a silence from them both as Todoroki was slowly handed off, from one's arms to another's. Midoriya gulped and started by putting a supplemental oxygen mask over his beautiful hero’s nose and mouth, turning on the machine to help him breathe after all the smoke inhalation. 

The room was silent as Midoriya worked, some curious eyes watched him, switching between the tv and the doctor. Todoroki’s left pant leg was cut off for him to carefully pick bits of charred debris from his wound with tweezers after he had removed the bandages. The lizard cringed at the sound of the bandages ripping off the wound, having become stuck to it despite being just cloth. The wound was cleaned and disinfected, leaving a sizzling sound to be heard. He redressed it cleanly with brand new bandages. Then he would proceed to wash the soot off his feet, tending to them with burn creams as the soles had been burned from walking on the burning floors of the hospital. He would dress those wounds cleanly. Afterward, he would work on washing away soot from his skin and hair, trying to clean him up for when he awoke. Dabi never took his eyes off them for a second. Not even to drink.

When Midoriya was left with nothing to do except wait, Zuzu had escaped Toga’s hold and joined him on the sofa. It would be just a few minutes before his beautiful sleeping hero would begin to stir. The little villain glanced at Shigaraki, taking a deep breath. This was the time. Everyone was here. Shigaraki’s master’s doctor had grown impatient. The heroes had abandoned Todoroki. Midoriya desired, more than anything, to be able to stop telling lies to his beloved. If there was a time to be honest, it was now. Shigaraki nodded to his little brother.

Todoroki’s eyes slowly began to open. It took a few blinks for his vision to clear. Breathing felt forced until he felt something be removed from his face. And then above him, he saw the most wonderful thing. He so weakly half smiled as Midoriya leaned over him so they could see each other. Todoroki reached his hand up to hold his freckled cheek. “Izuku…” he whispered lovingly. It made the little villain smile back as his eyes began to water. He had been so afraid for his life. And now he was afraid of his to-be reaction. 

“Hey, Shouchan…” he greeted back. He could feel Todoroki shift to sit up. He was going to see. He was going to see everything. Midoriya helped him up by taking hold of his shoulders and then his arm. His heart was beating harder than any drum and faster than any metronome. He brought his hero closer for him to lean against him slightly. He felt his right cheek frost over, as well as his right arm. “There’s no need for that Shouchan…” his ice was for defense and fear. The little villain had his eyes closed, too afraid to see his beloved’s reaction at the moment, seeing everyone standing before him. Surely he would recognize Shigaraki and Kurogiri on the spot. “You’re safe here. With me and my family…my dad and my big brother.”

A few eyes glanced between Todoroki and Shigaraki. All but Twice, Giran, and Dabi must have been left out of the loop on what was happening. But two and two could be put together. Dabi leaned back against the counter with his arms folded, watching the scene from the corner of his eye, head down.

 “Your… family…” Todorki repeated quietly. Midoriya nodded into the other’s arm, hugging him lightly. “Of villains.” Midoriya nodded again. “So Kosuke…”

“I did it.”

“The USJ…”

“Your injury was an accident. I tried to stop it, but I couldn’t be heard over that girl’s quirk.”

“The disappearances…”

“Heroes and corrupted underground criminals for quirk research. It was me.”

“Iida’s brother…”

“I took his engines out. Stain took his legs.”

“Hosu…”

“I didn’t want to hurt you. But another nomu went wild. Stain saved you from it before it could take you somewhere awful.”

“That rainy day… on the roof…”

“I decided that I wanted to become a villain to kill your father. To save you. Like you saved me. You... inspired me, Shouchan.”

Midoriya had buried his face into Todoroki’s arm, clinging to him desperately. It was such a weight off his back to tell him the truth about everything he had done. But in turn, a greater fear was digging its way into his skin. Todoroki had such a kind, big, wonderful heart. Was he ready to stop giving it out to people who didn’t deserve it? “I did it all for you. I’ve loved you since the day I met you… I didn’t do anything without thinking about you.” He wasn’t ready to look up yet. He didn’t want to see his face while he, himself, had begun to cry. 

It was then Midoriya heard someone get up from a barstool. He had no doubt that it was Shigaraki. “We met by chance one night. I can second that he’s done everything for you, his prince charming. We’ve been preparing for your arrival since day one.” With his back to his newly formed party, Shigaraki barely raised his father from his face to reveal his complexion once again. Todoroki had seen him before. He had watched him argue with Endeavor about the nature of free will, guidance, and passion. He then noticed behind Shigaraki, Kurogiri had been typing on his phone. The man warped the phone to Todoroki, showing him their message history with a new message at the bottom.

K: I hope my company was worthwhile to you at the USJ. I would welcome your company again at any time.

Kurogiri would take his phone back. “You can think about it if you like. I didn’t bring you here to fight when you’ve fought so hard most of your life.” Shigaraki continued to speak as he approached the two boys and the puppy on the sofa. “You don’t have to be afraid.” Midoriya heard a small pat. Finding the courage to look up, he saw his big brother place a hand on Todoroki’s head, minus his pinkie finger, while his other hand kept his father raised, keeping his face exposed to just the two of them. “We’ll take good care of you here.” 

Midoriya watched a tear fall from Todoroki’s scarred eye. He felt more weight press against him as Todoroki sunk down to rest his cheek against the freckled boy’s shoulder. Shigaraki’s hand still rested on his head.

Not all villains were bad guys.

Heroes Lie.

Heroes were never his heroes.

“I’d like to stay here. I'll... I’ll join you.”

Chapter Text

“So this is okay? Are you sure?” Midoriya asked softly. He laid on the red sofa at the bar with Todoroki resting on top of him, his hero’s cheek nuzzled against his chest. He would proceed to run his fingers through his hair, picking out small clumps of ash and debris. Zuzu was squished between Midoriya’s chin, Todoroki’s shoulder, and the back of the sofa, but she wouldn’t have it any other way. The three of them shared the black blanket Mr. Compress gave Dabi in the truck.

“This is okay,” Todoroki mumbled, having opened his tired eyes to gaze at all the villains sitting at the bar together. Toga appeared to be trying to steal a half-filled shot glass from Shigaraki. She too must have been a minor. Underage drinking is where Shigaraki apparently drew the line. “These people don’t seem so bad either…” Dabi and Shigaraki appeared to keep to themselves but the rest were talking amongst each other casually.  “Do you trust them?”

Midoriya nodded with a soft smile. “They saved you, so I do.” He kissed the top of his head. “Anyone that helps me take care of you is pretty trustworthy,” he quietly giggled.

“You don’t need to take care of me.” Todoroki tilted his head up to look up at his boyfriend to see his adorable freckled face with a teasing grin. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m not a baby.” He would feel insulted if it was anyone else. He just seemed to be comedically annoyed just because it was his boyfriend.

“You're a baby to me. Sometimes.” Midoriya corrected evilly and snickered. “Are you pouting? Because you’re totally pouting.” Todoroki bit the inside of his cheek and did not deny the accusations. But such an expression melted away when the two shared a kiss on the lips. It lasted just a few moments longer than most. The fear of never having this opportunity again was a real threat that evening. Sometimes they needed to take a couple of seconds to appreciate the affection that much more. “Do I wanna know what happened in there?” the little villain asked, slowly pulling back. Under the blanket, his hand snuck down from Todoroki’s back to his bandaged thigh, rubbing it carefully with his thumb.

Todoroki took the time to calmly retell what had taken place at the hospital. He simply appeared to be sleepy, just getting tired thinking about it all. It took a lot of effort trying to escape on his own and he couldn’t even do it by himself. It still felt a bit strange knowing someone must have retrieved him, but he wasn’t sure who. He could feel Midoriya growing furious as he could feel his hands gripping him more and more firmly. Like he never wanted to let go again.

Endeavor started the fire.

Endeavor told the police to keep him in his room till the last second.

Endeavor caused miscommunication between police and medical staff.

Endeavor tried to kill him with his own hand but left him to die instead.

It was unforgivable compared to all else he had done.

“Hey, you kids haven’t eaten anything yet.” The only woman of the party came around and sat on the floor beside the two on the sofa. She had a giant weapon with her at the counter but left it there to bring two bowls of yaki udon, something Kurogiri had clearly made. “It’s unladylike not to introduce myself, you two can call me Magne.” She handed both the bowls to them kindly. For being villains invited here by Shigarki, they didn’t seem that evil. They’d learn eventually that Magne is a B-ranked villain for robbery and murder. “You look so exhausted, sweetheart. Must have been a rough night,” she said specifically to Todoroki. It made him blush slightly, being called sweetheart. He nodded slowly in return before sitting up slowly with Midoriya and eventually completely slumping over to lean against the little villain, Zuzu resting on both their laps. Both he and the puppy were completely wiped. 

“I’ll admit, I was confused when the boss man had us go out to retrieve a U.A. student. I see he’s had eyes on you for quite some time. You must be important,” she continued. Though she suddenly put her hands to her face and swooned. “Seeing such a rugged man carry you out was quite the sight to see though. He looked ungodly. I was in the front seat to direct Spinner in the right direction; but what would I give to have been in the back of the truck!” The boys ate as they listened to her, Todoroki sharing pieces of his meal with Zuzu as she sleepily ate. She didn’t even raise her head to reach, she was so tired. 

“Um… who was it?” Todoroki asked.

“Why, it was-” Magne pointed to the side of the bar counter where someone had been standing. But they appeared to be gone. “He was just there, odd.” She looked around and noticed the door outside was open. Dabi stood at the entrance with his back to the inside, smoke leaving his mouth. It didn’t seem like he wanted anything to do with this little meeting. The moment he arrived, he appeared to be uncomfortable with just being in the same room as Todoroki. “Him, over there. I never got a name though. Probably something mysterious~” Magne said. Midoriya looked at Todoroki to see him staring at the man at the door. It was easy to see the soot and ash on him, a few pieces of debris in his black hair. But it was hard not to stare at the staples holding his skin together, keeping him from falling apart. 

“I’ll have to thank him-” 

“Later.” Todoroki was about to get up, even with his feet still bandaged when Midoriya clung to his arm to keep him seated. “Tomu probably needs to talk about a few things with him.” He was surprised when Shigaraki had dialed Dabi’s number the moment he saw the hospital on fire. He knew Dabi was in Hosu because he knew he was fascinated by Stain. It was smart. Dabi was the only one who could have made it inside first. Kurogiri would have been seen on cameras if he got too close to warp anyone. But it confused the little killer. Shigaraki had said Dabi wanted nothing to do with Todoroki. And yet, the intensity in Dabi’s eyes, he saw them so closely when trading off Todoroki. Dabi wanted him to be saved. And there he was, smoking outside, wanting nothing to do with his little brother. What did he really want? “We should get you to bed instead. It’s not like you’re doing anything tomorrow now.” 

As soon as they finished eating, Midoriya stood up and reached for Todoroki with both hands. Todoroki did not appear amused. “You’re not carrying me.”

“I’m carrying you.” Midoriya was no longer the skinny, exhausted, little doctor. Stain taught him and inspired him to be stronger. Although he was still a little on the short side and not as built, he was strong enough to lug Todoroki over his back, clutching his wrists. It wasn’t piggyback or bridal style, it was just to hold him without his feet touching the floor. “We can take the elevator too.” Midoriya walked, hunched over, taking Todoroki to the elevator who was too tired to protest. Zuzu followed behind, but not without a big stretch. “Thank you for the food, Miss Magne.” The little villain was sure to thank the woman.

“Just big sis Magne is fine boys,” she waved to them. Zuzu followed behind, her head and tail low with her paws moving slowly. She had done a lot of running and the stress of the night had worn her down. Midoriya held the elevator door open with his foot to give her all the time she needed to get inside. Once inside, they were brought to the second floor. Midoriya smiled as he walked past a room and casually opened it, letting Todoroki peek inside from his shoulder.

“Look familiar?” the little villain asked.

“I’ve been staying here the whole time, huh?” Todoroki saw the traditional Japanese-style room he had been staying in every once in a while for over a month. He sighed at the sight. The villains had been right under his nose the whole time. Just a door away. But he was too grateful to ever snoop into Midoriya’s family’s private affairs. He almost found it funny how all of their plans could have been foiled if he had simply left the room. It was such a risky move for them, to let him stay there. But it reaped the most benefit in the end. 

“You wanna stay here? Or do you wanna be with me?” Midoriya asked. He remembered Todoroki had said that he relaxed best on tatami mats. 

“With you.” But his boyfriend overruled them. It gave the little villain a small surge of pride. With that answer, he shut the door and walked past a few more in order to get to his room. Small, but big enough to house the two of them. Though not in a traditional style, the little apartment space was more modern with a monochrome color scheme with a few dashes of red decor. It would appear rather dull. But he never spent much time in his room, rather in the bar, the lab, with Stain, or other work. “We can move some of your stuff in here if you like. I’m no good at decoration. I want this to be our home.” he blushed. Living together. This felt like a pipe dream at the start of his journey. “But,” he shut the door behind him as soon as Zuzu caught up and made his way to his bedroom. “Someone needs some sleep,” he noticed when he got to his room, Zuzu plopped herself down on the floor beside his bed. She didn’t have the energy to jump up. “Maybe two someones.” he placed Todoroki on the bed and let him position himself to be more comfortable. Midoriya picked Zuzu up and placed her beside him. “You know, I never took you as a dog person. They seem too energetic for you.”

“I could never have a pet. I took what I found… but I think I would like cats too.” Todoroki whispered with his eyes closed. He looked ready to pass out already. He hugged Zuzu closer and heard her sigh, like hugging a balloon and hearing the air come out. “I’ve always liked foxes… and they’re kinda both combined.” His hands were slowly losing their grip as his consciousness was drifting away. “But I wouldn’t give her up for anything different.” He was about to go down in sleep, he noticed something on the nightstand. “Is that…?”

Midoriya blushed madly as he rubbed the side of his neck and began to sweat. How embarrassing. On the nightstand was a precious white hoodie, folded neatly without a stain on it. Though it did look a bit worn. It was the one Todoroki had given him that rainy day at the middle school. “Don’t make fun of me. I-It’s not like I sleep with it every night.” He totally did. Or at least slept next to it. It made Todoroki half-smile as he shut his eyes.

“That makes me happy…” And he was out like a light. Midoriya sighed as his embarrassment subsided. He went ahead and put the hoodie safely in a dresser drawer. He wouldn’t need to sleep with it anymore. It was after that when he leaned down over the bed to kiss Todoroki’s cheek gently. 

“Sleep well here, Shouchan.”

The new villains had left one by one, trickling out as the night progressed. It was past midnight when Giran was the last to leave, giving Shigaraki one pat on the back for good luck. This left three people remaining. “You said I could crash here, right? Because that’s what I’m doing.” Dabi had spent nearly the entire time being antisocial and smoking outside alone. As everyone left, he came back in and laid down on the red sofa. “Appreciate it.” His gratitude sounded half-assed. He rested the back of his head on the arm with also his hands as an extra cushion. He closed his eyes and looked ready to sleep right there.

“I feel like I should be offended. You think my standards are that low?” Shigaraki was still sitting on his barstool when he looked back at Dabi with his father still on his face. He soon got up and went behind the sofa, resting his head and arms on the back cushion. 

“I honestly wasn’t expecting much from you,” Dabi retorted. His answer made the other flinch in annoyance. It was becoming difficult to keep himself from killing him. “Besides, I don’t need much. A couch and a roof are good enough.”

“You’re a dumbass if you think I’m going to let you stay down here. There’s a room upstairs, idiot.” Despite the insults, Dabi opened one eye, peeking up at the annoyed villain staring down at him. It was a look of suspicion and distrust. “Follow me. I’m not letting you stink up that sofa with smoke.” Shigaraki then gestured for him to follow. With a moment’s hesitation, he did, going up the stairs and keeping a few paces behind. He kept looking around, paranoid but also curious. They didn’t talk much going up the second level. Not until they reached the top.

“How long have they been together?” Dabi asked randomly. Shigaraki glanced back, then up at the ceiling trying to remember when this all started.

“They met a long time ago… then they were friends. The day I recorded that phone call was the day they got closer.” That day Endeavor beat Todoroki for sneaking out to an aquarium felt like forever ago. “Not too long ago. But a while. Izuku has been very protective of him since they first met.” He only became a villain because of him. “I’m surprised you asked. You’ve been avoiding him since you arrived.” Dabi didn’t have anything in return to say or ask. Shigaraki didn’t bother to pry or interrogate him on his true intentions and feelings. For now, keeping him here as a member of the League was the first step. “Stay here as long as you need to. The only rent is doing what I say. But I like to think I don’t ask for much.”

Dabi shot a begrudging glare at him for just a moment. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy that liked being told what to do. But when Shigaraki opened a door down the hall for him, he appeared shocked. Pleasantly shocked, at least. It was just another small living space, a small kitchen, living room, bathroom, bedroom,  and a balcony. Like every other room. Kurogiri had likely taken the liberty to bring in a couch, bed and bedding, two TVs, and whatever the kitchen may need. “...How many roommates?” 

“None. Just yourself and your morbid thoughts.”

“No rent?”

“Just doing what I say. But I’m not going to really boss you around. People are more productive when you just let them do their thing.” Shigaraki shrugged. He didn’t think to give Dabi a whole living space was a big deal. It looked like he was about to say something else when Dabi wandered off. He followed him to the bedroom that was pretty barren except for dressers, a closet, a desk, and a bed with very plain sheets. The bare minimum to a home. He watched him place a stapled hand on the bed, pushing the mattress down to feel it. He watched him slowly crawl into bed, shoes on and all. He saw him bring the pillow closer to his head, close his eyes, and breathe in the scent of freshly washed sheets. Clearly, he hadn’t had a bed to himself in ages. “Don’t you think you should take a shower first? You’re going to get ash all over it.” Shigaraki scolded. Dabi was still covered in black dust from the fire, and he absolutely reeked. His eyes shot open as he looked at the other standing in the doorway. “I feel like I just took in a stray cat. A tomcat.” 

“I would have been satisfied with just the couch. This is...it’s just weird.” A ‘thank you’ should have been in order. Maybe an apology. But Shigaraki got neither. Dabi, instead, got up from the bed and walked past him to the bathroom, going through the sink cabinet and a closet curiously. “So I just… live here? There's no catch or anything?” He was still rather paranoid. But something about this scrawny villain seemed genuine. Probably because lying had never been his thing. Not even the moment they met.

“That’s the idea, genius. Your brother’s been staying here on and off for a while. Stop overthinking it,” Shigaraki scoffed. So little had been expected of him and really was annoyed by it. But watching Dabi poke through everything, taking out a towel and shifting his hands in the fabric like it was silk. Perhaps it wasn’t that Dabi’s expectations were low. He just had a hard time believing what he was being given. “You have all day tomorrow to yourself. Get accustomed to the area and all that.” Shigaraki shrugged. He let whatever frustration he had drift away for now. It wasn’t worth getting into a fit when Dabi was clearly just having a hard time accepting genuine hospitality. 

Being lost in his thoughts, feeling the towel, and continuously shifting the fabric in his grasp, Dabi quickly turned to Shigaraki just as the scrawny villain went to leave. “Oh, uh, okay.” He wanted to bash his head into the wall from how awkward he sounded. Having been left alone for the time being, he did a double-take outside the bathroom to be sure he had true privacy. Then he proceeded to strip away his clothes, kicking his boots off and stretching. Stepping into the shower, clear water washed over him and drained as black and brown from soot and dirt running off of him. He took a long sigh, tilting his head up and running his hands through his hair letting black run off of him to the floor. He stared up at the showerhead with tired eyes, not a spec of rust. The bathroom was so clean. The tub was spotless. The towels were soft and unused. The mirror was without a crack or chip. This all seemed too good. 

When the water finally ran clear into the drain, Dabi only threw on his pair of pants before dragging his feet to the bedroom. He collapsed into bed, letting himself sink into the mattress and comforter. His face was cushioned by a soft pillow, burying his nose in its fresh scent and plushness. He closed his tired, bright crystal eyes, clutching the pillow tightly in his arms. “His eyes really are pretty…” he mumbled to just himself. He opened his eyes for just a moment to get another look at the room when he noticed something on the nightstand. Looking forward to laying in bed must have taken his focus away from what was left in his room. Lifting himself up slightly and leaning over he would see a small stack of cash with a note. -Get some new clothes or something. Don’t spend it all on booze and cigarettes.- 

Dabi read the note before taking the cash, leafing through it slowly. It was a small stack. But those bills had big numbers on them. He expressed nothing but shock before a look of conflicted feelings crept upon his face. He had been so rude since the moment he met Shigaraki. And the scrawny villain was biting his tongue and putting up with him while gifting him with a small apartment and money to buy himself things. “You gotta be kidding me-” he grumbled. Maybe he should have been more outwardly grateful. Hiding his stapled face in the pillow, he lightly punched the mattress. Then he proceeded to put the money down and get to his feet to walk to the main door. But the moment he opened the door and peeked out to see if Shigaraki was still in the hall, a little villain had stolen the other’s attention first.

Dabi watched Midoriya cling to Shigaraki’s chest. Shigaraki was holding the severed hand with his back towards the stapled man as the little killer was giggling giddily, tears in his eyes. “He’s here… He’s finally here. We did it, Tomu!” Midoriya was practically bouncing as Shigaraki was completely frozen in awkwardness. It was a success that Todoroki and Dabi were finally at his command, but to be so outwardly excited like his little brother was not his forte. “He’ll be safe with us. I’ll take care of him and everything. Oh, Oh, and if you’re thinking of costume stuff, he just told me he liked foxes. Maybe try doing something with that! Make him look, super cool and tough and scary!” Shigaraki placed his hand, minus his pinkie, on Midoriya’s head. Too much bouncing and too much happiness for him.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll think of something. But no rushing, I know you’re excited,” Shigaraki said calmly with his little brother still clinging tightly to him. Dabi watched them and listened closely without fully stepping out of his room. It seemed that the two didn’t notice he was there. “Remember how you were like when you first started? You didn’t need that much convincing, but you needed time to adjust. And now we have two.” Midoriya grumbled as he listened to Shigaraki bring up how he started. He was so weak and cowardly. It was embarrassing to bring up and think about. “You know how I like to work.”

Midoriya nodded against Shigaraki’s chest. The scrawny villain was impatient at times, but he was patient with comrades. Emotions took time, but the results, in the end, were fruitful as well as the trust. “I’ll make sure he’s comfortable and safe and loved and fed-”

“He’s your prince charming, not your pet.” 

“Well, his favorite things are sleeping and eating.” Midoriya giggled. “I’ll go back to him now.”

The little villain waved to Shigaraki as he skipped back to his room. Dabi watched him. He remembered when he and Shigaraki had each other's throats, the other saying he had a little brother to go home to. He had a feeling that they weren’t related. But he could tell they were close. Shigaraki had his back to Dabi the whole time, though the hand was off his face. Dabi wished he turned around so he could see his face. Though he had seen it when they had gotten drinks, all he remembered was a blur but pretty glowing hues. He couldn’t recall what his face looked like because he had gotten drunk. If there was a time to thank him in private, he could have done it now that Midoriya returned to his room. And yet he didn’t. Suddenly losing his drive and retreating back to his own, he shut the door quietly. However, not quietly enough, causing Shigaraki to glance down the hall at the small click of the door shutting. He blinked once knowing exactly who had been spying, though he shrugged and smirked as he walked the other way. 

Midoriya and Todoroki hadn’t slept in the same bed since the Bloody Tragedy. They had rested fairly peacefully that night being in each other’s company. Yet this time, they both appeared to be struggling. Midoriya’s hands twitched with his face scrunching in irritation. He was being tormented by a nightmare after such a successful night, being forced to see a situation that he hoped would never come to be. All Might had taken Shigaraki away, dragging him into darkness as the villain struggled and thrashed. The little villain found himself being pinned down on his stomach with someone’s knee digging into his back.

“Could never make it as a hero, can never make it as a villain, Deku!” Bakugo, decked out in hero costume, was holding him down by his wrists while staying on top of his back. A feral, mocking smile was plastered on his face. “You’re all alone now, like all you’ve always been. You really think your little boyfriend would support you?” Midoriya tried to talk back, but it was like his voice was on mute. He was speaking and breathing, but no words were leaving his mouth. He couldn’t talk his way out, or snap back. He was forced to listen. “Should’ve taken my advice! You would’ve better off taking that jump. People would remember you better as the kid that killed himself in middle school like the weakling he was, ain’t that right?”

Midoriya closed his eyes tightly and shook his head. This was a dream. Just a horrible nightmare. He mentally begged for it to be over, to wake up. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Todoroki in front of him, but in his plain hero costume. The little villain still couldn’t move, feeling the weight of someone still on his back. “He doesn’t deserve someone like you. He deserves a hero, someone who wouldn’t steal him away from the world.” Glancing up and back, it was Iida holding him down. “Someone quirkless could never protect him. That’s a job for heroes, everyone knows that. He’s better off with me.” 

Watching Todoroki get on his knees, Midoriya was in stunned silence. Todoroki had placed his hands on top of his, looking at him without saying a word. His eyes were cold yet burning with hatred. Usually, that hatred was directed towards someone else, and yet in this nightmare, they were piercing through Midoriya. That hatred was for him. Midoriya desperately tried to cry his name, but not a coherent word left him. Looking behind his beautiful hero, he saw someone place their hands on his shoulders. “That’s my boy, Shouto. You make your father so proud.” Endeavor was right behind Todoroki, smiling widely and selfishly, encouraging him. Midoriya shook his head as Todoroki’s right hand began to frost over. His hand and fingers froze over, turning his whole arm into a sharpened icicle. He looked so angry. So bitter. He hadn’t a speck of love in his eyes when he went to bring the sharpened tip into the little villain’s hand.

Waking up, Midoriya could feel something sharp pressing against the top and palm of his hand. He shot up in a panic, using his other hand to hold his head. Such a terrible dream. Todoroki betrayed him, he never wanted to imagine it. Never wanted to think about it. Never wanted to consider it. He breathed quietly and unevenly, trying to regain his composure when he looked down to see what was sharply poking at his other hand, the one his nightmare wanted to stab. He saw a puppy nipping at him, quietly whining. 

Zuzu had tried to wake him up from his nightmare and it appeared that she succeeded. She was good at sensing anxiety and likely sensed it from him. Though that wasn’t her only goal. Now that he was awake, she began pawing at Todoroki next to him. The other had been laying on his side with his white hair facing up, but that half of him had also begun to frost over. The sheets under his face were dampened and his eyes were half open and tearful. Yet he wasn’t making a sound. He must have had a nightmare as well.

“Shouchan-” Midoriya unhesitantly reached for him, taking hold of him in both his arms and forcing him closer to his chest. He hugged him with his nose in his hair and his hands gripping him firmly. “It was just a bad dream. We’re together. We’re safe.” he whispered when he suddenly felt something moist at his cheek. Zuzu had begun to lick his cheek, licking away the salty tears that had soaked his face. He had been crying too and didn’t even notice. “We’re t-together... “ Even though he was being the strong one at this moment, he had been so scared and worked up too.

“What did I do wrong…” Todoroki mumbled, barely audible. Midoriya lifted his head with a small noise; he didn’t quite hear him. “What did I ever do wrong…” Todoroki didn’t blink, his voice didn’t crack. His right half was lightly coated in ice as he stilly cried. “Why does he hate me… was it my fault? Why did he leave me to die? Like nothing...” Midoriya hugged him tightly closer, bringing his head down to his again.

“You did nothing wrong, Shouto. Nothing. It wasn’t your fault. You didn’t deserve any of that. And he doesn’t deserve you either.” Those thoughts were bound to become overpowering at some point. Todoroki was too kind. He was too prone to guilt. Though he had hatred towards his father, half of it likely masked uncertain guilt. It didn’t make sense how people could be so cruel without a reason. Endeavor had no reason. “I was so scared when you called. I was so worried a-and scared and I didn’t know what I’d do if you died. I-I felt so sick that you were abandoned like that. You could never be nothing to me. Y-You’re…” Todoroki looked up at him, beautiful heterochromatic eyes locked on to him, never wanting to look away. He was listening to every word. “...everything to me.” Midoriya leaned down to share a tearful kiss. Todoroki brought his hand behind his beloved’s head to bring him even closer. He tilted his head to deepen their kiss.

“I’ll never leave you.” 

The two slept peacefully for the remainder of the night. Waking up the next morning was also blissful as it was the one day between the end of the internships and the start of school again that the students had off. Todoroki had rested his head on Midoriya’s chest while Midoriya was hugging him to keep him in place. He wouldn’t say it out loud, but sleeping with Todoroki was like sleeping with a heated blanket and it was the most wonderful thing. He didn’t want to let go. But he was also the first to wake up, being a bit of an early riser ever since he began work as a doctor. 

Taking a moment to clear the sleepiness, Midoriya blinked a few times and looked out the window next to his cluttered desk. It was still a bit early with the darkness of the night not entirely clear. Then he shifted his view down to the beautiful boyfriend’s sleeping face. He placed his hand on his head, petting his hair and shifting his finger amongst the dual-colored strands. In doing so, he felt Todoroki nuzzle closer and then sigh peacefully. It made the little villain quietly giggle. It was then he noticed a lump under Todoroki’s burnt up hospital shirt with a little tail poking out underneath. Zuzu had also made herself comfortable. Seeing her little tail wag from under the shirt from hearing Midoriya giggle only made the little villain giggle more.

It was then bicolored eyes opened to stare up at an adorable freckled face and blinked sleepily. “Did I wake you?” Midoriya asked with a smile. Todoroki shook his head and pressed his face further into the other’s chest. “Back to sleep?” He felt a nod. He gave him a few minutes. And after a few minutes, sleepy eyes looked up at him again. “Still here.” Todoroki leaned up to peck his lips. Midoriya took the opportunity to kiss him again and lengthen it by just a few moments. They both would pull away before the freckled villain grinned brightly and the other just made a half-smile. They could do without the nightmares, but they could get used to waking up like this.

Midoriya eventually showed Todoroki to his old spare room so he could get changed into his own clothes after a quick shower to wash away the remaining ash and debris that clung to him. Zuzu was more than happy to join him in that shower so she could get the dust out of her fur. The two had returned to Midoriya’s room with him being dressed and holding the puppy like a baby as she was wrapped snugly in a towel. The freckled villain couldn’t hold in a chuckle when he saw Zuzu and petted her head while sneaking a kiss to his beloved’s cheek. “I usually eat breakfast at the bar with Tomura and Kurogiri. You can finally join me,” he said cheerfully. Unwrapping Zuzu from her towel, she was let down to shake a few times and followed the teenagers downstairs.

“I take requests,” Kurogiri stated, putting two wonderful-looking plates of food on the bar counter for the two teenagers and then a bowl of scrap meat for Zuzu. She gladly moved from a stool to the counter to lay down and eat. Shigaraki was not at the bar just yet. “I hope you have an easy time adjusting here. Do ask me for anything you need.” Todoroki was taken aback by the food and Kurogiri’s politeness. This was Midoriya’s father figure, the man that kept him alive at the USJ, and the one that would take him away from that terrible mansion. And here he was, cooking breakfast for them and his dog as a daily routine. 

“Don’t be so surprised. I told you my dad was pretty awesome.” Midoriya’s been calling Kurogiri ‘dad’ in public to make him sound less suspicious and connected to the villains. But it was definitely sneaking into his habits at the hideout. “Tomura said we’d take good care of you here. And he really meant it.”

“I did,” Shigarki called out from the stairs, coming down from the second floor with a box under his arm. Midoriya’s face lit up at the sight of it and him. Todoroki watched him walk over to the bar and place the box next to the plate Kurogiri had given him. Typically, he would sit next to his little brother. For now, he sat next to Todoroki. “And there are some important things to discuss.” As he sat down, someone else had quietly come down the stairs and took a seat on the sofa. Dabi wasn’t much for socializing apparently. He merely took out his phone and began scrolling through the news.

“I’m not rushing you into anything. But I don’t think you’re the type to want to spend days or weeks cooped up in one spot.” Shigaraki started. Todoroki listened silently. It was hard not to feel intimidated by Shigaraki when he had the hand on his face and when he was deemed a threat just before last night. But this man was no longer his enemy. It would take time to get used to it. “I think Endeavor did that enough. But right now, Todoroki Shouto is dead.”

Midoriya froze. Dabi’s eyes narrowed at the headline on his phone: a picture of Todoroki and a picture of a burning hospital with the headline -Youngest Son of Pro Hero Endeavor: Dead in Tragic Accident- Todoroki gulped as he looked down at the counter. There would not have been evidence of his corpse at the hospital. It was a cover-up. Either something was planted or someone lied. He couldn’t be seen out in public now… even if he were to prove the world he was alive, he’d be that much more suspicious around the Sudden Disappearances case. Only now he did have something to do with it. It’d be suicide. 

“It only takes one bad day…” Shigaraki said quietly. It only takes one bad day to destroy a person’s morals and to lose themselves. “Things have changed fast. So we’re only here to help you make it a little easier. So I want to offer two options for you.” He held up one finger. “Tell the world you’re alive. Risk being taken into custody. You could make a deal with Endeavor saying you won’t tell anyone he tried to kill you and in return, make him drop all suspicions against you. You can go back to school, you can go back to the mansion, and live like none of this ever happened while still working with us.” Midoriya had relayed Todoroki’s story to Shigaraki in the hall last night. Shigaraki then held up a second finger. “Stay dead. You never have to go back to that mansion. You can kiss your exams goodbye. You can live as a shadow, disguising yourself whenever you go out and doing whatever you want.”

Shigaraki began to open the box he had brought with him. “This arrived just this morning,” he commented. “I’m not going to breathe down your neck, asking where you’re going. You can come and go when you please.” Todoroki when Shigaraki had met face to face with Endeavor when Midoriya had fallen very weak. 

They disrespect you when you disrespect them. You should try being a bit more supportive because they’ll listen better… I don’t think anyone should be forcing anyone to do something they don’t want to do. Things are done best when they’re done willingly.

It seemed that he held true to what he told Endeavor that afternoon. “Everyone… they’re going to be so upset,” Todoroki mumbled. Aizawa, Yamada, Iida, the rest of his class… the school will have suffered another tragedy. However… Aizawa never answered his phone. Iida never even reacted when the nomu stole him away the second time. Yamada had worked hard to protect him, but he was exhausting himself. He could release him from that burden. As a villain, he was betraying them all. But he could keep them safe on the opposite side, keep another accident from ever happening, like what happened to him at the USJ. The betrayal didn’t seem so bad with that mindset, as well as the freedoms he had in addition.

Todoroki reached for the open box on the counter and saw the bottom had a black cloak, but also a white one. There were a few things underneath that he could feel that were likely accessories. But on top was a mask. “So? Which would you like?” Shigaraki asked, Midoriya watching intensely as Todoroki took the mask in his hands. It was a kitsune mask, one of a fox with an elegant red design. On the back of it was a small device that resembled a voice mixer. 

“Yako,” Todoroki muttered. Shigaraki tilted his head at him. “A kitsune is a paranormal creature, said to possess and fool humans. There are the Zenko, which are the foxes that worship the god Inari. The Yako are the ones that are cruel and punish wicked people.” Underneath the hand on his face, Shigaraki was grinning crookedly. His first day and he’s already chosen a villain name. He watched him place the mask on his face to test out the voice mixer. “For now… I want Todoroki Shouto to be...”

“-dead. It appears that the fire at a hospital in Hosu city, the west side of Tokyo, had broken out around eleven o’clock last night. The cause of the fire is unknown but evidence suggests a boiler malfunction that ended up in an explosion. Flames could not be contained and spread rapidly.” The news played on a tv in a home miles and miles away from the hospital in Hosu. In that home, there was a loud thud of someone collapsing. A phone fell to the floor.

“Shouta?!” Yamada wheezed a shout as he had been making breakfast that morning while Shinsou was still in bed. In the living room, Aizawa had fallen to his knees before the tv, his phone on the floor showing five missed calls from Todoroki’s contact ID. Yamada dropped everything as he ran to him, getting on his knees beside him to hold him. The dark-haired man was staring despairingly at the screen in front of him, incapable of looking away as recordings of aerial views of the hospital replayed over a woman’s voice. 

“Heroes and first responders arrived quickly, evacuating staff and patients as fast as they could. Patients in critical condition were rushed to the most nearby hospital and can be contacted by the number below. Other patients were scattered to other hospitals in the area to not overwhelm a single facility. Many were wounded and only one death was reported. Number Two Pro Hero Endeavor’s son and U.A. student, Todoroki Shouto, has been found dead on the second floor, eight floors below where his room was located. It appears he was trying to escape on his own due to miscommunication, as he was marked off an attendance list as safe and evacuated.”

Yamada held Aizawa tightly as they sat on their knees on the floor, watched in horror and disbelief. It took only a glance for the blond to then see the phone on the floor with all the missed calls from that night. He reached for it and saw that the last attempt at a call left a voicemail less than a minute long. Aizawa snatched it from his hand the moment he saw it. He hit the play button with his hand shaking.

“I-I guess you must be busy or asleep right now. It’s okay…” There was a ton of background noise that made Todoroki’s tired voice barely audible. “I don’t even know why I called. I don’t think you live near Hosu. B-But you said to call if I ever needed help. So I just… did.” He took a moment to cough a few times. “I think… I’m going to die here. I can’t move. And it’s hard to breathe. I sent Zuzu out to go get help b-but I don’t think it’ll work. S-So I’m sorry if I miss class. You’re a pretty cool teacher and…” he coughed again. “... thanks for trying.” 

Aizawa gritted his teeth as he lowered his head more and more as the voicemail went on. There was likely nothing he could have done, even if he had picked up. He couldn’t have gone there himself. He could have tried to call the first responders, but word wouldn’t have traveled quickly enough. But it still hurt. His student’s last words were to him. Asking for help. And he didn’t even have the time to pick up the phone. Hearing Todoroki coughing, struggling to get a few words out from lack of breath. He must have suffered so much. All while his teacher was lounging on the couch, safe in his home. 

“There’s… nothing you could have done, Shouta.” Yamada whispered. His voice was so much quieter with his neck still bandaged from his wounds. But the dark circles around his eyes had only become more intense. He had gotten paler. He may have been sleeping at the time of the fire, but that nap had likely only lasted a few minutes. There was a blanket and at least a dozen coffee cups at his desk in the next room. “It’s not your fault…” 

“He was such a good kid…” Aizawa nearly choked. He struggled to keep his composure. He wasn’t one for crying. But this was the moment he was beginning to break. Todoroki had selflessly saved him from the nomu, studied hard, and fought through so many of his troubles in silence. “He thanked me for trying… I didn’t do shit!!” he slammed his fist on the floor. “I could have done so much more. I could have…” he covered his eyes with his hand. “He died. I could have at least been there to talk to him. He was alone in there.” All by himself. He knew what that was like. Too well. “He must have been so scared.”

“Shouta, don’t think like that.” Yamada urged him not to think so morbidly. To try and visualize a child’s death in a hospital fire, it was too painful. But even he had to consider it. Midoriya would be destroyed. The students would be more paranoid than ever, even if this was just an accident. “It was an accident. Don’t make it more painful for yourself…” Even he was hurt thinking about it. That afternoon at the cafe didn’t feel like the same memory anymore. Seeing his hair catch fire so innocently after being called out for dating another boy, it was silly and sweet at the time. But now… he just felt so sad. “He was strong.” A tear did escape his eye as his vision became a bit blurry. But not with tears.

The stress. The exhaustion. The heartache. The pain in his throat. This grief was his limit. Aizawa could feel Yamada hug loosen. Working night after night. When was the last time he slept in bed? How many coffees and energy drinks had he downed? He’s been working for Endeavor nonstop. Nonstop. When he ate. There were papers on the table. When he cooked. His phone was opened to a half-written email next to the stove. Graded papers and documents were all mixed up on his desk. The grief of another child’s death. A child that was clearly suffering, emotionally when he nearly let a robot fall on to him, hiding a homosexual relationship from his family, being bullied by a student who was murdered, being targetted as a suspect for his death, his death felt so tragic. So lonely. His life was abusive. Exhausting.

“Hizashi?!” In tears, Aizawa felt and heard Yamada collapse onto the floor. His face was so pale, yet his cheeks had become a bit red. Aizawa could feel a fever when he placed the back of his hand against his forehead. The exhaustion had become too powerful. Yamada had been fighting it since the Blood Tragedy and he had finally succumbed to it. “Zashi, Zashi- hey!” So soon after being released from the hospital, he was already unconscious. Aizawa shook his head in frustration as he took Yamada into his arms and carried him to the master bedroom. He woke up slowly within a few seconds, which was a good sign. This wouldn’t require a hospital visit. Just self-care.

“Whoops…” he mumbled hoarsely. “Shouta-”

Aizawa placed him down on the bed, forcing the sheets and blankets over him. He wasn’t going to talk about this. This was not going to turn into a debate. “I’m going to Endeavor. You’re done working for him,” he said sternly and very sharply. Yamada’s eyes flickered as he went to sit up. But Aizawa was already turning to leave. “I don’t care. He’s hurt too many people. And he’s done hurting you.” He couldn’t take it anymore. There was no more room to tiptoe around Endeavor’s deeds. He was going to march through shattered glass if he had to.

Just as he was about to walk out the bedroom door, he saw Shinsou standing before him with one cat cradled in his arms and another perched on his shoulders. It looked like he just woke up. “Look after him. I’ll be back later.” He walked past him and threw on a jacket that he had in a closet by the front door.

“What’s going on-” Shinsou tried to ask but the front door slammed shut before Aizawa could answer. What a terrible morning.

That afternoon, someone else had locked themselves in their room in mourning and grief. A pair of rectangular glasses sat on a nightstand, the lights had been turned off, the curtains were closed, and used tissues littered the floor. Iida sat on his bed with his legs over the edge with his phone opened to the news headline beside him. What a terrible morning it had been. He held his face in his hands, wanting to hide in darkness forever. He didn’t want this day to be real. If he could just turn back time, take back all he had done in Hosu. He’d rather Stain be out and free rather than someone so close to him be dead.

His parents stood outside his door, trying to hear anything from him. His door was locked and they thought it best not to intrude on him. They were eating breakfast when they saw the news on the tv and recognized Todoroki immediately. Iida must have woken up to a notification and texts on his phone. In the end, his parents believed it was best to let him have his time alone, leaving food outside his door whenever he was ready to come out. But someone wasn’t so sure that leaving him alone was the best approach. 

“Tenya…!” Someone called out very loudly from another room. He had to have been very loud to be heard through quiet sobs and the walls. But Iida recognized the voice as his older brother’s. “I need a little help…! Could you come here…!” He raised his head from his hands and wiped his eyes with his sleeve. He loved his brother too much to ignore him. So he blew his nose on a tissue one last time before putting on his glasses and walking out, past the food at his door.

Tensei would be found in bed with his wheelchair pushed to the other end of the room. He smiled awkwardly with his head tilted. “Could you be a good little brother and get that for me, please? I accidentally pushed it too far,” he asked. Iida stood in the doorway, eyes a bit red, and his cheeks damped. His eyes were still watery when he nodded, retrieving the wheelchair and bringing it to his brother’s bedside. He then walked around it to move the blankets and see Tensei’s legs heavily scarred and stitched up. Tensei used him to hold on to as he maneuvered himself into his chair. “Thank you. Knew I could count on you.” he smiled.

Iida nodded and went to say something only to break into tears, lowering his face into the back of his hand. Tensei’s smile slowly disappeared. He reached to take his hand to hold, letting him express these painful emotions. “You can cry… It’s alright Tenya.” Iida gritted his teeth as he kept his sobs quiet. “He was important to you. And it hurts.” His older brother rubbed his thumb on the back of his hand. “I didn’t want you to be alone. So could you stay here, for me?” He nodded again, taking off his glasses to rub his eyes with the ball of his palm. “Do you wanna talk about it?” 

“I… I think… I-I loved him.” Iida nearly whimpered. That was all he could bring himself to say as he continued to cry. Tensei led him to sit down on his bed, letting him relax a bit but also be more at eye level.

“Yeah… I’m so sorry, Tenya.” Tensei whispered, slowly bringing him into a hug. He let him cry into his shoulder, feeling him cling to him. “This is so hard for you. Losing people you know, it’s so painful. Especially someone like that.” He leaned his head against his. “Take all the time you need. I’m right here for you.” They would stay together for quite some time. At least an hour. Tensei let him sob on him and on his bed for as long as it would take to get all the emotions out of his system. There was no shame in being sad and letting the tears flow. He just wanted him to know that. There were so many reasons to cry.

After so long, Iida managed to sit back and wipe his face with his shirt. He was able to put his glasses back on and regain a bit of his composure one more time. “I… really liked him. He was… smart. So brave… so so brave. Clever. And kind…” he broke a pained smile. “The kindest person…” His eyes welled up again as he prepared for another breakdown. Tensei helped him wipe the tears away. “I don’t think I ever said goodbye… o-or even a thank you. Even after he did so much f-for me.” He cried just a little harder before pulling himself back together.

“Mom and Dad just told me what happened. I don’t know many details… can you tell me his name?” Tensei asked with a small smile. 

“T...Todoroki… Shouto.” Tensei twitched at the name.

“Todoroki? Like, as in Endeavor’s family?” Iida nodded, wiping his tears away as he felt Tensei pull back. Though most of his tears stopped when he saw the look on his brother’s face. It was a mix of confusion, anger, and realization. He watched him turn in his wheelchair and drive himself over to a bookcase. He wasn’t much of a reader, but he kept what was important. He placed his fingers on the spines of a few books, scanning them intensely as if looking for something. He looked up towards the topmost shelf. “Tenya, could you get that one?” he pointed up.

Iida stood up off the bed and made his way over, placing a hand over a number of books, asking “This one?” with every one until he found the right one. It was like a yearbook, but for the Ingenium hero agency.

“I used to show these to you when you were small. Every year at the agency is precious. Every sidekick, every intern, every comrade. I like to keep photos and news articles in these so we can remember all our accomplishments.” This was one of the oldest books he kept. He opened it up and began leafing through pages of photos and cut out news clippings. What did this have to do with Todoroki? And then he stopped at a certain page. He pointed to a photograph that had been taken around eight years ago when Tensei’s generation of Ingenium was making a big name for himself. He was standing next to a short boy in a black hero costume with white hair and bright blue eyes. His arms and neck were covered in bandages that could barely be seen from under the long sleeves. He had piercings in both his ear lobes. There were dark marks under his eyes. The boy looked so sad, despite Tensei smiling brightly with a thumbs up. 

“He… kinda looks like him? The hair and the eyes… Todoroki’s face was a bit softer. And he didn’t have piercings,” Iida commented, trying to compare the two.

“That’s Todoroki Touya,” Tensei stated. Iida’s eyes widened at that moment. “He interned at the agency in his freshman year of high school. Shortly after… he died under mysterious circumstances.” It suddenly felt like Iida couldn’t breathe. “He was a nice boy. But he had a knack for getting in trouble. But I… never forgot what he told me before he left. He said that...” Tensei looked down with narrowed eyes. "... he didn’t want to go home.” He ran his thumb over the picture of the small boy. “It was like he knew. Like he knew something bad was going to happen. I always thought I was looking too into things when I heard the news…” he looked at his little brother intensely. “They said it was a freak accident.”

Iida became frozen in place. His heart stopped. A freak accident. The fire at the hospital didn’t have a known certain cause. It was strange. Todoroki was left behind because of miscommunication. Possible, but even that sounded strange. “That’s… what the news said this morning.” He remembered Todoroki becoming triggered at being pinned down and yelled at. How clingy he was to Midoriya despite the boy not being completely sane. How he came into class with bandages more than once. “That’s…” Something like that doesn’t just happen. Not twice.

“Something’s not right with that family....” 

Dabi had been walking the streets that afternoon with a few bags in his hand, casually strolling through the city. Though a little puppy was right by his side, looking up at him with the happiest little face. “What? You want it now?” he asked Zuzu as if she actually understood what he was saying. But she was actually pretty good at that. He reached into a bag with a sigh. “Alright, alright. How did I get stuck with you again?”

He remembered that he left the bar that morning. He was going to go shopping while Shigaraki, Midoriya, and Todoroki were at the bar. “There are a few things at my house I wanted to get back. Mind if I go get them secretly?” Todoroki had asked.

“Hell if I care. Just don’t get caught. But you’re pretty skilled Mr. Prince Charming.” Shigaraki gave him permission without a second thought. Dabi was going to leave without even saying a word when Zuzu leaped off the counter and started barking at him. She ran up to him and started trotting in circles around his feet before jumping on her hind legs onto his leg, wagging her tail. “You’ve been caught, tomcat.” Shigaraki snarked. Dabi tried nudging Zuzu away, but she kept jumping on him.

“She wants to go with you. She must like you.” Todoroki commented, looking back at them. He had little doubt that she loved the stapled man. He was the one that rescued him after all.

“I’m not much of a dog person…” Dabi grumbled. But Zuzu was definitely stubborn.

“She doesn’t need a leash. She’ll just follow you around, and she’s a good listener. She’s no trouble.” Todoroki explained. Their first conversation, even if it wasn’t much. He looked down at the puppy on his leg and sighed. Zuzu tilted her head cutely in return. “Oh and… thank you for saving me last night,” Todoroki added while he had his attention. If only he knew how much that made the other’s heart ache. 

“It’s whatever. Don’t even think about it.” Dabi rubbed the back of his neck and looked away. How awkward… “Alright mutt, you can come. But I’m not picking up after you.” He made Shigaraki snicker at him. For such a rude hardass, he could be a softie apparently.

And that’s how Dabi got stuck with Zuzu. He was just walking back late that afternoon with her when she was eyeing him down. He reached into one of the bags and took out a small Endeavor plushie. She had grabbed it off a shelf and stared at him the entire time he was shopping, sitting down at his feet every time he was standing still. The puppy eyes got him. No mercy with the puppy pressure. He bought it for her. When he handed it to her, he watched her violently shake her head on the side of the sidewalk. She whipped it against the wall and snarled at it when it fell to the ground. She pounced on it and grabbed it by its neck, biting down over and over to get a stronger grip. Truly a rabid and vicious display. Dabi had been with this dog for only half a day and if anything were to happen to her, he would kill everyone within a mile radius and then himself. But there was another thing on his mind. “You were trying to get us to talk this morning… weren’t you?” A clever little mutt. 

On returning back to the bar that late afternoon, he found Shigaraki was there again, still watching the news on Todoroki’s death. Midoriya was on the sofa, looking over notes he had taken on machines while at the hospital. It was the first time he really had to use them and the information he learned was incredibly valuable. He wanted to refresh himself often and add to them with more research. Though he was temporarily interrupted by a puppy with an Endeavor plush jumping into his lap. He didn’t seem bothered as he gave her a hug and lots of love and snuggles that she deserved.

“Successful trip?” Shigaraki asked. Dabi was about to go up the stairs without making conversation but paused at Shigaraki’s voice. Guess now was a good time as ever. 

“Yeah…” He turned around with his bags and went to sit on the barstool on Shigaraki’s left side. Midoriya and Zuzu watched their interaction from the sofa curiously. “Thanks for the cash.”

“You didn’t get booze, did you?”

“I didn’t. You live at a bar. Why would I pay for it when you’re loaded here?”

“Because I don’t need you killing Kurogiri’s supply.” They’ve only talked for a few minutes and they were already starting an argument. But Dabi took a breath as he leaned over the counter with his arms resting across it. 

“I need to talk to you about Shou.” That caught the two villains in the room off guard. Midoriya blinked a few times and sat up straighter. Shigaraki didn’t flinch. “You got high hopes for him. He’s strong and he’s smart, so I get it. He’s got all the motivation in the world to want to destroy the world. But there’s a big problem… and I was honestly hoping he’d grow out of it. I can tell he didn’t though.” He definitely had the scrawny villain’s attention.

After a day of grieving, Fuyumi had worked up the composure to go see Rei Todoroki at the hospital. The frail woman was sitting at the window with it just a crack open. She held a few purple rindou flowers in her hands as she smiled peacefully, looking out at the cityscape. The breeze was blowing against the curtains ever so gently. Fuyumi opened the door slowly, peeking in to make sure she wasn’t intruding unexpectedly. “Mom… how are you doing?” she asked softly. Her voice already sounded ready to cry. 

“I’m doing just fine. Ever since Shouto started visiting, I couldn’t be better.” Rei smiled, brushing some hair behind her ear with a smile. Fuyumi’s heart was just a touch away from shattering. How could she tell her? How could anyone tell her? Just as Todoroki just started visiting again? 

“Mom… we need to talk about Shouto.” Fuyumi took a seat in front of her mother. She deeply inhaled, letting her heart beat faster and faster in the grief. Her eyes had begun to water but she held them back. She had to be strong at this moment. It was time to be there for her mother. “I… I don’t know how to say it.” she forced a small chuckle. It was so absurd. Two brothers. Dead. How could it be possible? How was their family’s luck so horrible? “I didn’t believe it. B-But… mom… Sh-Shouto-” she gritted her teeth. No crying. Not yet. She had been crying all day. She had to be strong here. “Shouto’s gone. He’s dead.” 

“Endeavor!” Aizawa knocked on the door harshly of Endeavor’s mansion. He knew he was here. He would have been forced to stay home to grieve his son’s death. But that man would never grieve. He didn’t have the compassion or the love to. “Endeavor! Open the door!” It took a few minutes as he was too stubborn and determined to leave when the door slid open. Endeavor stood tall at the entrance, dressed in his hero costume and not a tear stain on his face. There was not a hint of grief.

“Eraserhead, what could you possibly want?” he asked grumpily. Aizawa took a step inside despite not being invited and didn’t take his shoes off. Endeavor took steps back, letting him just come in as he pleased. His eyes narrowed when he saw him glancing around suspiciously. But then Eraserhead looked up at him in the eye. Their size difference didn’t intimidate him one bit.

“Present Mic is resigning from your investigation team. I want him off your roster now,” he demanded sharply. “He’s been attacked and had his throat ripped out, he’s had too many sleepless nights, he hasn’t been eating, and he just collapsed this morning!” he clenched his fists tightly. “You’ve pushed him too hard! He resigns!” Endeavor looked down at the shaggy man coldly in silence. He didn’t have any words to say; he just looked disappointed. Perhaps silently shaming the man for being too weak to withstand the workload this investigation required. Within a few moments of silence, Aizawa only became more frustrated as he grabbed the fabric of Endeavor’s costume. “Say something, damn you! You’re killing him!”

“Don’t you accuse me of that in my house!” Endeavor snapped back. “You dare come into my home and demand a cowardly thing after my son was found dead?” he growled. Aizawa slowly let go but didn’t take a step back. “If he wants to give up so badly, then he should have come here or called me himself. Why did you come?” He could have easily called and yelled at him over the phone. But he chose to come here himself. What was he expecting? What was he looking for? “Think I was just hiding Shouto here? You should be more logical, Eraserhead.”

“You don’t know how to give people a break. You make them work for you and push them to their limits only to build yourself up…” Aizawa said lowly, glaring at him darkly. He let this man slide with too much for too long. And the consequences of his inaction were in his face that morning. Someone was dead. And someone was dying. “You’re a selfish, greedy man, aren’t you? You just want the world’s attention. Think you’re too good for love.” He wanted to drag this man. This monster. “You wanted the attention Hizashi’s podcasts had. To steal what he worked so hard for. But you could never be better than him. Hizashi has more love for his listeners, his students, his friends, and me in one finger than you have in your whole being.”

“You honestly think I’m intimidated by a banana? By a cockatiel?” Endeavor took a step forward. He wasn’t about to let this homeless-looking man talk down to him. Especially not in his mansion. 

“No. You’re jealous.” Endeavor’s face had been keeping a steady flame of intimidation since he opened the door. But those flames suddenly grew bigger and brighter. Aizawa took a step back, but he didn’t show fear. 

“What would a nobody hero like you know about success and hard work? I remember when you were just a street rat, sleeping in a bag on the sidewalk like an animal. And you want to lecture me about success and love?!” Endeavor was angry, but his face had a twitching smile. “Oh, I get it. You’re the one that warped his mind. I bet you encouraged him to waste his time with that boy.” He took another step forward and Aizawa took another step back, going deeper into the mansion rather than closer to the door. “Present Mic collapsed this morning? You were with him. You live together? Did you tell Shouto about that disgusting behavior? Is that why he was always with that boy?!” This was exactly why Yamada had kept their relationship and feelings on the down low. The older generation wasn’t always so accepting. 

“That boy showed him more love in a day than you had his entire life. And what they had wasn’t disgusting! And don’t you dare call Hizashi disgusting!” Aizawa stopped stepping back. This man was twice his size, and even if he could erase his quirk for a short time, he wouldn’t be able to win against his brute strength. “Take him off your list, Endeavor! You’re going to kill him like you killed your son!” Endeavor’s flames flashed as red flickered in his eyes.

Meanwhile, Dabi spoke with Shigaraki at the bar in a calm setting with warm lighting. “I was with Shou when his quirk first appeared. We were watching a movie while Endeavor was somewhere else in the house. Something spooked him and ice shot out of him. He got embarrassed and then his head caught on fire.” He gestured as he spoke. “I told him to keep one quirk a secret… I didn’t want Endeavor to know he had two. He wanted fire… like me.” He held a small blue flame in his hand. He missed the awe and love that was in his baby brother’s eyes whenever he saw that beautiful fire.

“We couldn’t keep it a secret for long…” Dabi shut his eyes and sighed. “I forgot what me and the old man were arguing about. But it got pretty heated. Shouto was upstairs and…” he remembered when Endeavor was going to strike him. He had been on the floor with the man standing above him, ready to hit him despite looking so helpless. So weak. “He showed his ice… trying to protect me.” He remembered the wall of ice that Todoroki had shot down the stairs to defend his big brother and in turn, revealing his second quirk to their monstrous father. “You want him to be evil but… he really is too kind.”

And in a mental hospital room, Rei Todoroki held her tearful daughter’s cheek with the warmest smile despite her cold hands. “No dear, Shouto’s hasn’t left us. He’s very much alive. He’s a beautiful white fox.” she said so happily.

Fuyumi looked up as she had started crying again, yet she appeared so confused. “Huh?”

As Endeavor raised a fist to strike Aizawa, a giant painting was thrown down the stairs between them in a cartwheel-ish fashion. Aizawa held his forearms up, crisscrossed, as he ducked as a means to defend himself. But no blow came. Endeavor’s fist had gone through the painting and stopped the flow of motion in his punch. He shook his arm a bit, trying to shake it off. He eventually grabbed it with his other hand and yanked it off. Both men glared at each other for a moment before looking up the stairs. There was no one there. But someone was in the house. 

Endeavor took just half a moment to see the painting that had been thrown at him. In his traditional Japanese mansion, he owned many expensive copies of traditional Japanese art. He owned a painting of a nine-tailed fox spirit, a kitsune. He tossed the painting aside and sprinted upstairs. He could remember which hallway the painting was from and raced towards it with Aizawa behind him. They almost passed a room that held many of Endeavor’s awards, certificates, plaques, trophies, medals, and gifts. The room was trashed. Through their arguing on the other side of the mansion, they were too far and too loud to hear things being smashed and broken. Endeavor’s flames flared up in rage as he let out a monstrous yell in anger. Aizawa covered his ears and looked away because of the brightness. He’d be more concerned about the break-in if he hadn’t been protected.

“Take Hizashi off your list and I won’t tell anyone you almost swung at me.” He threatened as he began to leave out the front door. Endeavor watched him go and only huffed as he turned his nose up at him. He retreated into his home, more pissed off than ever. Aizawa took a deep breath when the door shut. He never thought he’d applaud a break-in, but he would have this time. Running both his hands through his shaggy hair, he made a noise of frustration to himself. Dealing with Endeavor was so infuriating… “I’m sorry Todoroki…” he whispered. He should have done something sooner to help him. As he walked down the path towards the gate, he passed a white petaled tree in the garden. A white and red mask was camouflaged amongst the petals, a white hooded cloak with a red-lined tail design in the back covered the one wearing that mask. Just as Aizawa swore he noticed it, he turned to look. But he saw no one there.

Todoroki returned to the bar to see Midoriya was the only one there. He was sitting on the sofa by himself. Zuzu must have wandered off to another room. Shigaraki, Dabi, and Kurogiri could probably just be found elsewhere. “I’m back,” Todoroki announced, holding a small bag. He wore a white hooded cloak with red trim around the hood and sleeves and had a red outline of a fox tail on the back. He had been wearing his mask until he took it off to speak. Midoriya jumped at his voice, having been caught up in his notes. But he appeared so anxious. 

“O-Oh… were you successful?” he asked, looking away awkwardly. Todoroki noticed his behavior right away. He sat down next to him and nodded.

“I was. I just grabbed some old photographs of my mom and a few personal things. I tried to go into that locked room, but the whole thing was burnt to a crisp.” he opened up his bag to show a few things he had taken back. Nothing suspicious or alarming. “Whatever was in that room isn’t there anymore.” he sounded disappointed. 

“Well, it doesn’t matter now. You’re here now.” Midoriya suddenly clung to his arm. Though it was a bit tighter than normal. “So you don’t need to go back there anymore.” Something didn’t feel quite right. The little villain could be clingy and protective. But he just seemed to be acting a bit strangely. “You don’t need anyone out there. Just us.”

“Izuku, is-”

“I-I need to talk to you.” He cut Todoroki off from asking his question in a panic. His face was red and his hands were shaking as he clung to him. Todoroki stared at him for a few moments before nodding with a subtle gulp. He let his boyfriend take his hand and guide him up the stairs. He could have easily navigated himself. But if Midoriya felt more comfortable holding him, he was going to let him. This was probably something he wanted to talk about in private. They took their shoes off at the door once inside, but the freckled villain did not let go of the other. He pulled him to the bedroom and sat him down in the center of the bed while he stayed standing. Todoroki placed his bag down on the floor beside him as well as the mask and put his hands on his knees.

“So what do-” He was cut off once again as Midoriya suddenly went up to him and nearly pounced on him. “Izuku-?” He found himself being pinned down by the wrists on either side of his head, Midoriya holding him down with his whole body shaking. He could overpower him if he really wanted to. They were both strong. But Todoroki was stronger. And yet he stayed down, he didn’t struggle, and he didn’t let himself panic. Midoriya was shaking above him. He was just scared.

“Shouto… you’re… with me, aren’t you?” he asked quietly. His dark green eyes looked so desperate. His scar looked so much deeper up close. “You’re not going to... betray me?”

“Betray you?” Suspected. Again. Untrusted.

“I-I know the heroes didn’t trust you. I don’t want to be like them. I-I want to trust you. Tomura does! B-But…” the little villain began to tear up. He knew Todoroi was so tired of not being trusted. Tired of being cornered. “I had a nightmare… a-a really bad one. And like… Shouto, you’re so kind. You’re so nice to everyone. It’s why I love you. I love you… so so much.” He felt like such a bad boyfriend doing this. But after what Dabi said, after his nightmare, he couldn’t let this eat him apart. He wanted to communicate his feelings, even if these feelings were hurtful. It was the only way to make them properly go away. “You switched sides so easily… you didn’t even ask Tomura anything. You didn’t fight. It’s like… too good to be true, you know?” He didn’t want Todoroki to feel bad. This wasn’t bitterness or scapegoating like the heroes. It was just disbelief of a good thing.

“So… you don’t feel I’m committed yet?” Todoroki asked quietly, looking up at him calmly. He just wanted to clarify. He expressed no sadness, or anger, or anxiety. He was always such a good listener. Midoriya nodded slowly. Shigaraki wanted to give him time to become a villain. But Midoriya wanted to know if he truly wanted to be a villain at all. “Okay…” Todoroki sighed. He turned his head to the side to look away and off out the window. In front of it was a cluttered desk. He could get a small glimpse of what was on those papers covering it. It was then that he shifted his wrists in the little villain’s grasp, silently asking him to get off. Midoriya gulped as he slowly got off the top of him. He moved to the foot of the bed as he watched Todoroki stand up and then kneel down to look at his fox mask.

Todoroki put the mask down before getting on his knees in front of Midoriya, placing his cheek on his boyfriend’s leg. He watched him sit up straighter, his hands were shaking from the stress still. So he took his shaky hand and forced him to hold his other cheek. He looked up at the freckled villain so innocently. “Why don’t you experiment on me then?”

Chapter Text

“Wh...What?” Midoriya looked down at Todoroki, his hand holding his beloved hero’s left cheek. It was so soothingly warm. All while his right cheek was pressed against his inner thigh. He felt Todoroki subtly nuzzle into it, looking up to him so innocently. There wasn’t a hint of fear. He was on his knees before the murderous doctor, letting his face be held by hands that had taken so many lives. For someone to be so willing to be experimented on, to willingly lay down on his table and let him pick through their insides like a doll… how could someone have so little self-respect? How could someone have so much trust? 

“Why not experiment on me then? That’s what you’ve been doing to people, haven’t you?” Todoroki nearly purred, closing his eyes soothingly as he took hold of both of Midoriya’s thighs on the outside while he continued nuzzling into his inner left one. He had seen the papers scattered on the little villain’s desk. He saw the sketches and the notes. Yamada had told them the villain responsible for Kosuke’s death was experimenting on people. Killing them and making them suffer up until their final moments. “I’ll let you do it. You can do anything you want to me if it means that you can trust me.” He had the utmost faith in his beloved. But his desperation to be trusted was evident. “It’ll make you feel better… It’ll make you happy, won’t it?” He opened his scarred eye with an alluring, bright crystal gaze.

Midoriya suddenly rose to his feet and let go of Todoroki’s face. He walked right past him, pacing back and forth while staring at his hands in front of him. They were shaking. It would seem that his eyes were flickering between a glowing minty hue and his natural deep green. He wore a smile but it was twitching away repeatedly. He wanted to. But he didn’t want to. He was horribly conflicted. “Sh-Shouto, do you realize what you’re asking of me? D-Do you know how d-dangerous that is?” he stuttered. “Th-That’s not something you suggest, d-don’t you know?” he giggled. Back and forth, back and forth he walked. He trembled. “Subjects a-are lucky to survive the first ten minutes of a session. Most don’t last a whole session.” he nearly cried. “They always scream, Shouto. I-It’s so painful for them, right up until they die,” he appeared so frightened when he turned to look at Todoroki.

Todoroki had moved from kneeling on the floor to sitting on the bed with his legs bent behind him while he was leaning forward. He was smiling so softly. “But you won’t kill me, Izuku.” he said quietly, unapologetically. The little villain’s eyes began to water. His hero had so much trust, so much faith. And yet this conversation was only happening because he doubted his hero. It wasn’t fair to Todoroki. How could he possibly be smiling at a moment like this? “You could never hurt me.” He had said that the night of their first kiss.

“I-I…” Midoriya took just a step closer before suddenly turning his head away. He couldn’t bear to even look at such a beautiful face. He didn’t deserve it now. “I… don’t want to.” he said through gritted teeth.

“Yes, you do.” He did. He absolutely did. He’s wanted to for quite some time now. To see the inner workings of his wonderful quirks. To see him completely under his control, at his will. He wanted to feel that pure ownership and the power of having such a superhuman tied down to his table. To have his prince charming be a sleeping beauty for just a few moments. “It’s how you make your impact for your big brother. You’ve been doing it all this time. For me too.” An impact. Was this the impact he wanted to make?

“N-No… not with you. I don’t want to…no...Why are you being like this, Shouto? This hurts…” Midoriya whined. He placed his hands on his own face, feeling his tears and feeling his scar. Kosuke died on that table, the one that scarred him. Todoroki didn’t belong on the same table as him. But his beautiful quirk… The ice they slid down on from the rooftop that rainy day… The hellfire that raged when he defended him from the bully… The body he touched, he had felt every curve and muscle, such soft and delicate skin… 

“Izuku…” Lost in his thoughts, deep in his memory and imagination, the little villain hadn’t noticed himself moving. He had moved to the bed. Once again, he was above his hero. Todoroki had laid down with his hands above his head, letting the villain climb over him with bright minty eyes locked on to him. Midoriya had crawled over him without a conscious thought. He placed his hand under the other’s shirt, keeping it at the center of his torso. His pointer finger pressed down between his ribcage. He would cut right there. “I’m okay. I wouldn’t lie to you.” Midoriya blinked once to let a couple tears drip onto Todoroki’s face. He lowered his head into his chest, ashamed. Crying.

“Don’t eat dinner or breakfast…” It would make the dissection dangerous and more difficult.

Upon waking up the next morning, Midoriya found himself being held from behind in bed. Usually, he had been the one to cuddle Todoroki, yet that morning it was the other way around. Glowing minty hues blinked open ever so slowly, taking a few moments to observe the silent room. Then the little villain could feel his body be hugged tighter by the one holding on from behind.  He found Todoroki’s hands against his chest and stomach, pulling him gently closer. He let it happen before taking hold of one of his beloved’s hands, bringing it up closer to his face to look at. Gazing absentmindedly at his hand, he held it for a second. Then he ran his grip down to his wrist to rub his thumb over the veins. He used both hands, one to press down on the veins at Todoroki’s wrist and then another to feel the ones towards his elbow. Touching his arm like this, observing the small rhythmic bumping of his pulse, looking so closely at blood flowing through delicate veins… it was the one day he could do this. Todoroki was watching him.

Midoriya suddenly felt teeth lightly pressing into his shoulder. “I’m hungry…” Todoroki sleepily grumbled, slightly muffled by Midoriya’s shirt as he was biting him. 

“I know. You’re always hungry.” Midoriya said quietly, continuing his observation of his hero’s arm. He moved his fingers around to watch the bones and veins move under the skin of his hand. “You can eat this afternoon, I promise. Kurogiri will make you the best soba ever.” The little villain let go at last and turned himself around in Todoroki’s hold to face him. He cupped both his cheeks and looked up at him with a daydreamy smile. This would normally be when he leaned up to kiss him. Instead, he reached up to Todoroki’s scarred eye and pulled down his water line carefully. Todoroki averted his gaze upward to let him observe whatever he wanted. “To the right, please.” He looked to the right. It was barely morning and Midoriya could barely contain himself. “Beautiful…” the little killer leaned up to kiss his forehead, running his fingers through red hair and moving it to see underneath.

Midoriya made his way down to the bar alone that morning. He didn’t want to tease Todoroki with food that he couldn’t eat yet, so he had him stay in the room and sleep a bit more. On coming down, he found Shigaraki sitting at the counter, as usual, and Dabi fast asleep on the sofa with an empty glass bottle in one hand. He couldn’t even make it back to his room last night, apparently. But Zuzu was on his lap keeping him safe and giving him company. “No Todoroki? Is he not feeling well?” Kurogiri asked, bringing two plates to the counter. Midoriya did not answer. He only ate quickly. “Izuku?” Kurogiri asked again. It took the little villain no longer than two minutes to eat half of what was on his plate. He didn’t have much of an appetite, but he needed the energy.

“Don’t go to the lab,” Midoriya warned quietly. Kurogiri appeared still while Shigaraki lowered his head and turned away. Just let him do his thing. He trusted him. The little doctor went into the staircase to go retrieve his newest subject.

Midoriya clung to Todoroki’s arm as the elevator brought them down several levels. They were silent. But Todoroki rested his cheek in his beloved’s green fluffy hair peacefully. Feeling the pulse in his wrist, the little villain could feel that he was so calm. There was no fear. He could only hope to have that kind of powerful trust. When the door opened, he could have sworn the air around them instantly became a bit colder. But he guided his beautiful hero forward, eventually letting go of his arm to go to his work desk. “This is where I spend most of my time. I hope it doesn’t scare you.”

Todoroki stood by one of the three tables in the center of the room. His attention was immediately stolen by the cages to the side of the room and then the furnace with a trail of dark stains in front of the door. “Was this how you entered the medical course so easily?” he asked. He felt a need to approach the cages, kneeling down and gently caressing one of the bars. How many people had been in these metal containers? His eyes narrowed at the chains and cuffs inside the one he was touching.

“Yes,” Midoriya confessed. “I started studying day and night. Then Tomura delivered corpses to me to practice on. Then he let me kill someone.” There was no shame in his explanation as he was sorting through notes and sketches at the desk. A stack of his old fanboy journals was aligned against the wall on the tabletop. He grabbed the one that was heavily burned and tarnished.

“Who did you kill first? Do you remember?” Always so curious. Midoriya smiled softly, watching Todooki investigate the cages. His beautiful hero was always thinking. He watched him kneel down and nearly crawl into a cage to inspect the floor of it.

“I do. He was a pedophile and a stalker.” the little villain answered casually while flipping through a few pages of the old journal. “He made a living taking photos of young male heroes in compromising positions that his quirk forced them in. But he also made a profit of selling photos of young boys on the dark web…” he trailed off for a moment. He glanced over at Todoroki and saw him sitting inside of a cage across the room, his arm holding a bar in front of him, high above his head. His other was over his chest. His lips were slightly parted. His head was tilted limply to the side so his red hair covered his scarred eye, but his other eye was visible and wide open. It was glowing gold. 

Midoriya blinked quickly to find he was mistaken. Todoroki’s right eye was grey. It wasn’t wide open. It looked a bit half-lidded from sleepiness. “Shouchan, please don’t sit in there. It’s probably dirty.” Todoroki made a quiet grunt as he raised his head slightly, giving him his attention. He nodded and crawled out of the cage, wiping his pants off of anything that could have dirtied them. “Anyway,” Midoriya continued to look through the journal, finding a page with Endeavor. “That guy, he wasn’t even human… Tomura showed me his camera to show me who was next to be stalked… you were on there. I lost it.” 

He nearly jumped when he felt strong arms wrap around his neck. But they were gentle as Todoroki leaned over his shoulder, hugging him from behind and peeking at the journal in his hands. “I thought I saw someone taking pictures of me one night… Just figured it was my father’s paparazzi or journalists.” he nuzzled into the side of Midoriya’s head. “Thank you for protecting me.” he breathed. His breath felt hot. 

Eventually, Todoroki was sitting in the desk chair with Midoriya in his lap. His arms were wrapped around the little villain’s waist, hugging him closely as the little doctor was taking notes in another journal beside the burnt one. He was asking various questions about Endeavor and Rei and whatever he knew about their quirks. He asked about his brother Natsuo and sister Fuyumi. Todoroki answered appropriately. He couldn’t remember a thing about the eldest brother… Midoriya would just ask him himself later. 

“Is that me?” Todoroki asked, peeking over Midoriya’s shoulder at the journal he was taking notes in.

“It is.” the little villain admitted. He’s had a sketch of Todoroki in this notebook for quite some time. There were notes in it from watching him every day at school during the observation period. He was only adding to it now. There was so much space he had left open. He’s been craving for this opportunity for such a long time, whether he would admit it or not. He placed his left hand over Todoroki’s hand. “I’ll be extra careful with you, I promise.” Todoroki blinked, focusing his gaze on Midoriya rather than the journal. “I wanna keep you awake. The second you shut your eyes, I’ll know something’s wrong. I’ll numb you as much as I can.” his voice sounded so sad, and yet he was smiling. “If something goes wrong… If something goes wrong…” The thought couldn’t even process. He lowered his head and giggled to himself quietly, covering his eyes with his other hand. Such a scary thought. How horrible. It… wasn’t possible. He didn’t notice Todoroki’s free hand traveling up to his throat.

Todoroki’s hand twitched and he used it to take Midoriya’s cheek and guide his freckled face closer to kiss his cheek. The kiss caused the little villain to blink and nod, getting a hold of his senses again. He got off of Todoroki’s lap and reached for a surgical mask and gloves from a drawer in the desk. “Right… Let’s get started then. You’re probably starving.”

“Is this too tight?” Midoriya asked, his voice subtly bouncing off the walls of the dimly lit laboratory.

“No.”

“How about this? Maybe just a little-”

“It’s fine.”

“Is your head comfortable? Do you need-”

“I’m okay.”

Perhaps the restraints weren’t necessary. They had mostly been used to keep subjects from trying to escape. Though, it would encourage this one not to move. Midoriya looked down at his beloved, seeing his arms, wrists, ankles, neck, and chest all tied down to the table. It didn’t look comfortable at all. But here he was. Once a boy striving to be a hero with much pride and potential, now restrained to a mad doctor’s table by his own will. He still appeared so relaxed. His eyes were closed to shield them from the bright light shining down directly above him. Feeling comfortable with Todoroki’s position, he walked off for just a moment to retrieve a bulky machine and wheeled it over. 

Midoriya began wrapping wired fabric around small sections of Todoroki’s right arm and wrist. He plugged it into the wall and watched the monitor’s lights turn on, reading all of his vitals. “If something feels wrong… you tell me, okay? Right away.” he placed his hand on his beloved’s cheek, looking down at him lovingly. Todoroki nodded slowly, receiving a kiss on his forehead in return. “You’re so beautiful, you know that?” Midoriya cooed, giving his cheek one more rub with his thumb before pulling his hand away. He put on the surgical mask, adjusted the angle of the light, unzipped Todoroki’s hoodie to reveal his bare torso, and put his gloves on.

“This is going to pinch. I’m sorry.” Midoriya apologized, filling a syringe with a liquid from a vial. He took hold of Todoroki’s chin to raise his head and tilt it to the side, giving him the room to inject a drug into his neck. “Deep breath.” He watched his subject grit his teeth and take a sharp inhale as his arms began to quiver, his hands clenching. “I know, I know,” he said softly. “You’ll feel better soon, okay? Just look at me.” He was going to be very verbal with him. Even if Todoroki didn’t talk back, he could at least keep him more awake by talking with him. And he always loved to give him praise. “All gone, see?” he held up the syringe that had been emptied of the drug as soon as he pulled it out. “That was great, Shouchan.” 

Midoriya placed the syringe back on the table and began to fill another syringe with the same drug, but not as much as before. “Feeling a little sleepy?” he asked, getting a glimpse of Todoroki’s face. His head was tilted slightly and his eyes were tiredly half-open. He could only manage a small nod and an 'mhm.' Midoriya placed his hand on his subject’s abdomen before taking a marker and drawing a dotted line from the center of his stomach, to the center of his chest. He rubbed off the ends a few times, adjusting how long the line should be. “Just a little more, okay Shouchan? It won’t hurt as much, I promise.” He put the marker down and took up a new syringe. “I’m so lucky that you’re mine. No one gets to have someone as pretty as you.” He lightly rubbed his abdomen, his fingers gently pressing down and tracing his curves. Someone so strong being under his mercy gave him such a sick pleasure. “Ready? Deep breath, one more time.” 

Stabbing the needle into his side, Midoriya watched Todorki’s body tense up with another sharp inhale, though it was less dramatic than the first time. The syringe emptied out faster than the first due to the lesser amount of the drug being injected. “You’re doing so well. Look at that, all done.” He stood up straight and smiled cheerfully under his mask, his eyes closed innocently. Even at a moment like this, Todoroki only saw him as being cute. Midoriya clasped his hands together near his face with a tilt of his head. “Now, no falling asleep okay? I need you to stay awake for me. You can do that, can’t you?” He watched Todoroki weakly nod once again with another soft mumble. It made the little villain’s heart swoon. “Such a good boy.”

It was then Midoriya picked up a scalpel. It seemed to gleam in the single bright light above them. “I’ve numbed you as much as I can. Any more and you’ll feel really sick later or you could faint. Now it’s very important that you don’t move.” This would usually be his favorite part, like opening a present. But he caught himself shaking now.  He began to glance between the blade and the dotted line he drew on his subject. That was a good enough length, wasn’t it? Not too big? What if he cut too deep? He’s made that mistake many times in the past. Subjects had died quickly due to his carelessness… “Shouchan…” he whispered, looking at his subject. “I love you… so much. A-And… don’t feel bad if you need to scream.” He numbed him. But sometimes it wasn’t enough to block out all the pain.

Midoriya placed the tip of the blade into Todoroki’s chest, watching closely to not go in too deep. He could feel his subject’s body tense at the metal, twitching the moment he drew blood. But he had to press down further. It couldn’t just be a scratch. He had to hurt him. “Just a bit more…” Delicately, he pressed the blade deeper through beautiful pale flesh. It was usually so soft and clean, smooth to the touch. He heard the scalpel push deeper inside, going in smoothly despite the body starting to react more. There was a slight quivering, but not enough to falter him. Blood began to drip out from both sides. “You’re so strong, Shouchan. You’re doing wonderful.” he praised. He dragged the scalpel down. Perhaps he would have heard the sound of the slicing if Todoroki hadn’t begun to quietly gasp in pain. “I know, you’re doing so good.” 

The scalpel reached the lowest part of the pectorals when Todoroki gritted his teeth. His limbs struggled against the restraints, his body instinctively wanting to escape. Warm blood began to lightly flow from his center down to his sides. “Such a perfect job. Just a little bit more.” Midoriya continued to praise. He wouldn’t flinch. His hand was perfectly steady. Even when Todoroki’s back began to arch and his hands clenched to fists, even when his gritted teeth separated to let out a cry of pain, the doctor continued the delicate cut. “Lovely…How lovely.” The beeping from the monitor was steady, a bit fast, but steady. He was fine. The blood began to flow more and more, but it didn’t seem to be too much. “Almost there. You’re doing great, Shouchan.” Reaching the stomach, Todoroki's cry escalated to a low scream. The drug was nowhere near enough to spare him the pain. “Breathe. Keep breathing for me.” Midoriya cooed through the screaming. At last, he reached the end of the dotted line and took the knife back. He placed it on the table beside him and watched Todoroki’s back flatten onto the table once again as he shut his eyes tightly, breathing heavily. 

Midoriya leaned down beside his subject’s head, placing their foreheads together and running his bloodied gloved fingers through his red hair. “That was amazing. You did so well, not anyone could have done that so wonderfully, Shouchan.” he kissed his forehead. “I’m so proud. I love you so much.”  He pulled back to look him in the eyes and move some red and white strands out of his face. “I’m going to keep going, okay? Is that okay?” He let Todoroki catch his breath, let his eyes open. He watched him nod and nearly whine yet another “mhm.”

“Okay.” Midoriya switched out his gloves since he touched Todoroki’s hair, not wanting to dirty the wound he just made. He took a wet wipe and began to clean away the blood that was leaking to his sides. Some trails had gotten thick from the flow and the amount of blood loss. Pain killers were blood thinners, so he was meant to bleed more. But he didn’t inject enough to make it dangerous, just as he kept the amount low to keep him from getting sick or fainting. This still left a massive amount of pain to be felt. 

“I knew it… it is veins.” Midoriya said cheerfully. He had begun maneuvering the two flaps of skin and adjusting the light above for a better view of the inside of the wound. As he poked around the inside, Todoroki’s body twitched and flinched. He was relatively silent through gritted teeth, but would occasionally grunt and even whimper at various points. Midoriya worked diligently despite the noise and the movement. He was fascinated by what he saw, glowing eyes twinkling at his discovery. Between the blood, the skin, the muscle, and the tissue, he could see different colored and sets of veins. There were two. They were black and white and much thinner than normal blood veins. They almost looked like wire.

“Amazing…” he took quick notes in his journal, humming to himself. “You really are amazing, Shouchan. Your body is capable of housing and using two extra sets of veins. Well, it’s kinda like one set because they’re both split at your center.” he could only hope to portray his happiness to his subject. He was getting results. He went back to poking around, carefully moving the flesh inside and adding more light for a better look. “The black must be the fuel to your fire and the white, your ice. And they…” he peeked towards the top of the wound to see which direction the veins went to. Did they turn to the heart? His eyes seemed to beam. “They go straight to your brain, just like I thought!” he was thrilled his hypothesis was correct. 

Midoriya returned to the table beside him to sort through a few vials he had prepared. He took out another syringe and filled it to half capacity. “You doing okay, Shouchan?” he asked, examining the needle to the light. Todoroki’s chest rhythmically heaved as he still struggled through the pain. It stung. But he also felt sick. He tried desperately to ignore it, keeping his eyes on his beloved to encourage himself to be strong and tolerate it all. This was for his trust. Though something in his heart seemed to lighten at the sight of his precious boyfriend being so happy. He nodded at his question though he flinched at the sight of another needle. “Okay… I’m going to poke your arms a few times. We’re just gonna let your quirk do its thing. Don’t fight it. Just relax.” 

Midoriya went to his arm and cleaned his upper arm with a wipe. “Deep breath for me.” He brought his other hand up to motion for him to inhale. Todoroki’s breath was shaky, but he tried to sync with him. But it was too shallow for the doctor’s liking. “One more time.” Midoriya had his subject breathe again, more successfully this time. It made him smile as he held the needle to his shoulder. “You have such a beautiful quirk… I was in awe of it the first day I met you. Such a beautiful boy with a beautiful heart. You were kinda like an angel. Must sound pretty silly.” he then pressed the syringe into his arm and made him shake. Blood veins appeared to suddenly become more prominent under his skin as he injected the drug into his system. Todoroki flinched at the pain and shut his eyes tightly and breathed in through his nose. He couldn’t keep a few quiet cries of pain back. 

“No, no, don’t shut your eyes,”  Midoriya said softly. As soon as the syringe was emptied into his subject’s left arm, he put the needle on a lower shelf of the table and took out a small light instead. He moved to Todoroki’s head and used his fingers to force his left eye open. He shined the light in front of it to see his pupil constrict from it. A flame appeared on his head and it traveled down to his ear as another rose on his shoulder and began to stretch down his arm. He began to twitch and occasionally whimper in pain and discomfort. Midoriya examined his eye to look for a reaction. “Look up for me.” Todoroki angled his focus upward to make it appear as if his eyes rolled back into his head. “Amazing…” 

Midoriya let go of Todoroki’s eye and then took hold of his lower jaw, forcing him to open his mouth. He shined the light inside to get a peek and even pinched his tongue, giving it a small pull, making him make a slightly louder whine. “So it appears to be active on an outer layer level only. You can regulate your inside temperature, but you can’t set your insides on fire or freeze them. Though… maybe it could happen if your quirk goes too far. But I think it would have to be really bad.” He let go of his tongue and let him shut his mouth. “But I’m not going to even risk going that far. We’re just going to do the bare minimum.”

Midoriya took another syringe and filled it halfway again. "I know it hurts, but can you do one more deep breath for me, Shouchan?" he asked. Todoroki nodded, and looked directly up at the ceiling, struggling to inhale evenly through his nose and exhaling out his mouth. He repeated until the little doctor was satisfied, letting him inject the chemical into his right arm. It made him groan in a high pitch, quivering as the drug entered his body. Midoriya put the needle down. Just as he moved closer to the incision, Todoroki’s right cheek began to frost over, as well as his hand and leg. The little doctor began poking at the wound and observing the exposed veins as his subject grunted and cried in pain. “You’re doing absolutely wonderful, Shouchan.” he continued to praise him.

“We’re almost done. You’ve been such a lovely subject,” Midoriya said lovingly. After so long, his journal had been filled out almost completely with notes from this test. He had been poking and observing his insides for quite some time all while Todoroki endured so much pain and discomfort. Having finally been satisfied with the information he’s gained, Midoriya went sifting through vials to fill another syringe. “Last needle, then we’ll stitch you up. This stuff is supposed to make sure there’s barely even a scar left behind. I’ve tried it a few times, but I think it only works when someone’s alive.” 

Todoroki was breathing heavily through his mouth, his body quivering from the trauma it had just been through. His eyes were half-lidded in the exhaustion of trying to endure the pain and keep his volume at a decent level. He was at his limit, and yet his vitals were looking very safe, just for a slightly faster heart rate and lower blood pressure from the blood loss. He nearly closed his eyes at being told he was going to be stitched up soon, but his focus suddenly locked on to something. When Midoriya went to stab his side with the syringe, he flinched away. “Shouchan, you’re doing so good. But you need to stay still.” It wasn’t safe to inject him while he was moving. He glanced at him to see if something was wrong. Todoroki wasn’t looking directly at him. More a few inches behind him.

Midoriya turned back and saw nothing was there. “Whatcha looking at? Are you doing okay?” he asked, leaning over to place his hand on his subject’s forehead. He didn’t get his full attention despite the gesture.  He could feel that his temperature was definitely on the colder side now. And he was becoming terribly pale. “You must be so tired… you look it.” Surely he was just exhausted. 

“Is...Is K-Kurogiri… here?” Todoroki asked in a quiet and woozy breath. Midoriya raised a brow at such an odd question.

“Kurogiri? Why would he-” Midoriya was about to ask back when Todoroki coughed. He saw his neck suddenly freeze over as his body dramatically flinched. It made the incision leak a bit more blood. “Shouchan?” Midoriya placed his hand on his subject’s right cheek. He hadn’t injected him enough to make his quirk act so sporadically. And yet his neck froze so suddenly. Then he heard what had been a steady beeping become quicker in pace. He looked up at the monitor reading his vitals and could see his heart was speeding up. Placing his other hand over Todoroki’s chest, he could feel it was a correct reading. “H...Hey.” 

Midoriya went to grab the needle again. “Yeah, I-I think that’s it for today. No more.” He didn’t like Todoroki’s sudden reaction to the last injection. Perhaps his body was going into a true fight or flight mode now, causing his neck to freeze in fear and heart to beat faster. It made sense. Surely, it was just a bad reaction. Time to call it quits.

“I-Izu… I can’t…” Todoroki’s voice sounded terribly wheezed out of nowhere. His hands struggled harder than before against the restraints. If he really wanted to, he could have just burned through them. And yet he wasn’t. Almost like he couldn’t. The heart rate on the monitor became faster. He suddenly made a loud cry in pain as the incision on his torso began to bleed much more severely from his twitching and struggling.

“Sh-Shouchan, what’s wrong?” Midoriya asked in a worried panic. He took hold of Todoroki’s shoulder and his cheek, trying to get him to stay still. The more he moved, the more blood he would lose. He glanced at the monitor to see his heart rate getting dangerously fast and his blood pressure dropping. Todoroki’s twitching and struggling was beginning to look more like spasming. A seizure. “Sh-Shouchan, look at me-” He had done so well this whole time. They’ve been down here for a few hours, so why was it at the very end that something had to go wrong? What had happened? What did he fail to do? Where did he mess up? 

He put his hand on Todoroki’s forehead in an attempt to keep his head level with his heart. If he were to lift it, the blood in his brain would rush out all at once. He would lose consciousness and that could be fatal. Midoriya could only turn it to keep the airway clear. He didn't notice himself beginning to tear up, his own heart shattering to pieces seeing what he had accidentally done. This was his fault. “Just look at me. You’re safe. Everything’s okay. I’m here.” he tried to keep talking to him in hopes he would become responsive. He would have to let this pass and get right to first aid as soon as he stopped moving, awake or unconscious. “I know it hurts. You’re doing such a good job. I…” he took a moment to remove his mask and use it to wipe his tears. It must have been harder to hear him with the mask on so he thought it would be best to take it off. He shut his eyes tightly, finding that watching his beloved hero have a seizure while still cut open on his table was too unbearable to watch. “I-I’m sorry…!” He didn’t see Todoroki’s nose start to bleed or his eyes start to water. But nothing could keep him from hearing the rapid beeping from the monitor. He heard it stop.

It wasn’t an elongated beep. The monitor had only turned off suddenly. “So emotional. Bakugo was right, you really are a cry baby.” Midoriya heard Todoroki say calmly. Upon opening his eyes, he saw his subject’s body completely still, covered in blood, but still. When his focus came to Todoroki’s face however, he was disturbed. Todoroki didn't smile like that. A wide and wicked smirk with crudely furrowed brows, he would never. And his eyes were never gold. “Ooh, now that’s a look I like to see. So bastards like you can feel pain.” Todoroki doesn’t talk like that. But that was his voice. That was his body talking. But that wasn’t him.

“Smart enough to become a doctor, but not smart enough to know what’s up? Typical. Brats like you are only book smart and can’t do a lot of thinking on their own.” The words sounded so much crueler in Todoroki's voice. But the tone wasn’t his. “Who woulda thought my mom had a pretty awesome quirk? I’d take all I said back in a heartbeat. If I had one.” Midoriya put his hand on Todoroki’s chest. There wasn’t a heartbeat. But he wasn’t dead. “C’mon pipsqueak, think real hard. You haven’t forgotten me, not with that beauty mark I gave you.” He watched Todoroki wink with his right eye, and that was something he would never do. But the little villain held a finger to his own right eye, feeling the scar that had been left on him. 

“Y...Your mom wasn’t quirkless… Kosuke?”  Midoriya stuttered, quivering. That nightmare he had so long ago when Todoroki was recovering from his first nomu encounter. He had foreseen something so similar to this. But that was only a bad dream… it couldn’t be. Kosuke was dead. He killed him. But those golden eyes were unmistakable. His father had a dragon quirk, passing down the ability to breathe fire. His mother was quirkless, leaving the two with an undesirable relationship because it was believed her quirklessness deprived him of more power… She hadn’t. She passed down the most hideous ability. “Get...Get out of him.”

“I was really fucking pissed when I got killed by a loser like you. I ended up cursing your pwecious boyfwiend instead of you. Which, in hindsight, was really inconvenient because he’s the only one I can get to. So I got to sit in this room for weeks and watch you kill dozens of people.” Curse. This boy cursed Todoroki with his dying breath. Between Midoriya, Kurogiri, and Shigaraki, Kosuke was powerless against all of them as they had come and gone from the lab. Todoroki was the only one vulnerable. Bringing him down here, the moment those elevator doors open… “But here I am. I wondered if you were crazy enough to bring him down here one day. I was starting to lose hope. You impress me by how much of a piece of shit you are, cutting him open like some science project frog.”

“G-Get out… leave him alone.” Midoriya cried softly. What else could he do?

“Have you always wanted to dissect him? Ever think that maybe you fell in love with quirk instead of him?” 

“Get out of him…” It wasn’t like that. Surely, it wasn’t like that.

“Or maybe you loved him first and then his quirk became more attractive. Then it became more about his body and power than him.” Kosuke’s words were always so cruel.

“L...Leave him alone… h-he’s not yours to play with.”

“Did you only save and protect him all this time because you wanted his body for yourself? Like the freak you are?!”

“Get out!!” Midoriya screamed, slamming his fists down on an open section of the table. His eyes were full of tears. “You don’t know me! You don’t know him! You’re just a bastard who doesn’t know when the world doesn’t want him anymore!” He gritted his teeth with his nails digging into the table. “Just get out!” 

“And here I thought you would release him if he had a seizure. I’ll leave if you untie me.” Kosuke hummed with Todoroki’s smirk. 

“No, you’re just going to kill him if I do that.” Midoriya snapped back. Kosuke’s intentions were too obvious. He put a different mask and gloves on before grabbing the syringe he was just going to use. He still had to stitch up the incision and stop the bleeding. He still had a subject to finish up with. Though, when he tried to inject the drug, Kosuke purposely made Todoroki move just to make it more difficult. “Kosuke, I swear-”

“What are you going to do? Kill me again? Do it now, I dare you.” The little villain couldn’t stand such a bratty tone in Todoroki’s voice. It was so mocking and childish. Todoroki never talked like that. Midoriya rolled his eyes and grabbed another syringe, filling it with a different drug. His beloved was surely going to feel very sick later… but he’d be alive at least.

“I wonder if you can feel pain like this.” the little villain forced Todoroki’s head down so Kosuke couldn’t move it and put the needle into his neck. There was no reaction. Kosuke couldn’t feel pain. He made Todoroki smirk hideously again.

“Guess not. Never done this before.” There must have been lots of things that Kosuke didn’t know about this power. This was the first time he’s been able to take control of someone’s body. This was all a learning experience for him as well. “Sucks to suck. Bet you’d love to torture me again. Another one of your kinks, right?”

“Shut up.” Midoriya would just have to work with this. Todoroki’s body was paralyzed with the drug so he could finally do his work, but Kosuke could still use his mouth. He wouldn’t shut up, even when the little villain had begun to sew up the wound after injecting one more needle. 

“So you come here often?”

“Piss off.”

“So you two fuck yet or what?”

“Shut up. You won’t distract me.” 

“Well, that’s a yes. Bet you were all over him, little freak. He make the sounds you were hoping for? Cut him up a bit then too? Little blood turn you on?”

“Shut up.” 

“You’re embarrassed, I get it-”

“Why down here? Why didn’t you ever use the elevator?” Midoriya asked sharply. Kosuke made Todoroki huff and roll his golden eyes.

“I tried. It’s like trying to walk through a rubber wall. You’ve probably heard me punch the door a few times. I’m stuck down here.” Midoriya could remember a few times he’s heard a strange bang when the elevator doors closed. He also remembered strange shadows from the corner of his eye and things falling over at random. His lab was literally haunted. 

“Could you leave in Shouchan’s body?” 

“Untie me and I could find out.”

“Not happening.” The conversation seemed almost too casual for the situation. Midoriya continued to stitch the wound, getting blood all over his gloves and being careful not to make the stitching uneven. All while Todoroki’s body was too limp for Kosuke to move it. “Why haven’t you just, I don’t know, passed on?”

“I’d wait a century just to see you fail… If I killed Todoroki right now, the look on your face would bring me so much peace.” Kosuke’s bitterness and hatred overpowered any boredom or impatience he had. “I had it all planned out. I gave him a seizure, you untie him, I take control, and I would rip his guts out right in front of you. It would have been beautiful, I’m telling ya.”

“Get out of him already. I’m not leaving and neither is he until you’re gone.” Midoriya finished his stitching job at last. So he went to the sink to retrieve a towel and wet it, squeeze it out, and then return. He began to clean all the blood off Todoroki’s torso. “This can be a waiting game. I’ll wait as long as I have to.” He then used the towel to wipe away the blood on Todoroki’s face from the bloody nose he had gotten during the seizure, all while he stared sadly into golden eyes. “He’ll find a way back himself, eventually. I know he will.” 

Kosuke scoffed at Midoriya’s pitiful expression. “He’s looking for you. He’s been disrupting the place ever since I took over, it’s making me dizzy.” The place? What place? “He doesn’t even know it’s me. What a whackjob…” Midoriya raised a brow to what Kosuke was talking about. “He’s literally just looking for you. He’s such a moron.”

“I believe in him… he’s strong and he’s smart. And I know he loves me. He’d never betray me, not when he let me do this to him…” Midoriya put the towel to the side and grabbed one of Todoroki's hands. He knelt down so he could let it hold his bloody freckled cheek. “I’ll never bring him down here again. And I’m going to spoil him rotten when we’re all done.” he then giggled to himself. “He’s always hungry. I’d like to see you fight him off when I promised him soba after this. And he’s starving by now, I’m sure.”

Kosuke was becoming far less talkative. “You’re shitting me… he’s lonely and he’s hungry?” he grumbled. “What a fucking baby…” It suddenly appeared that keeping Todoroki out of his body was harder than Kosuke thought. And it was probably that much harder when he was hungry from skipping dinner and breakfast. Though he was probably missing Midoriya’s voice more than anything. 

“So where is he? What place is he at?” Midoriya asked.

“I’m not so sure myself… It’s peaceful though. It’s nice…” 

“What’s that supposed to mean? How do you not know?” Midoriya stood up straight to look at Todoroki’s face to find both his eyes closed. It looked like he was sleeping now. Seemed like the curse quirk allowed Kosuke to haunt the laboratory, but was only a direct threat to Todoroki. But the possession can only last so long and it’s connected to some 'place' where Todoroki’s consciousness was stored. Midoriya would also bet there was a stamina component as well. But that didn’t matter now. He slowly leaned over and lightly patted Todoroki’s cheek to receive a small mix between a whine and grumble as a response.

Todoroki’s eyes slowly open to reveal their usual heterochromatic colors. It made the little villain smile under his mask and a tear fall from his eye. “There’s my Shouchan…” He proceeded to undo all the restraints and put all of his supplies away. This would give Todoroki the time to wake up a bit and give the drugs time to wear off little by little.

“Did I faint…?” Todoroki asked sleepily. 

“You did. You lost a lot of blood, so we’re going to move very slowly. And I’ll have Kurogiri start making food right now. All your favorites.” Midoriya removed his mask to show his hero his cheerful smile. Then he took out his phone to text Kurogiri right away. “You did great today.”

“I know I said I take requests but… oh dear,” Kurogiri sighed looking at his phone and receiving a list of foods that he was asked to prepare. Shigaraki was at the bar looking over a few different newspapers with the same headline. All of them were reporting on the hospital fire. There wasn’t much on Endeavor’s reaction like he hadn’t made a public statement yet. Was he ever going to? Or was he just planning out his words very carefully?

“Prince Charming a big eater or something?” Shigaraki asked, taking the hand off his face. He glanced back and saw Dabi was still fast asleep on the sofa with Zuzu. He had been sleeping for hours. He wondered if it was a habit from being out on the streets trying to pass the time, or was he just hungover. “That one’s probably gonna be hangry when he wakes up too. Lazy ass… And I was gonna give him something to do today too.” Or he suspected Dabi could just be sleeping to skip out on doing work. He wouldn’t put him past him to be that lazy. 

“I’m not quite sure what those two were doing. But if it’s what they want, then I believe it would help Todoroki feel more welcome.” Kurogiri then warped himself off to prepare Midoriya’s requests. Shigaraki watched him and continued to stare at the place he was just standing at. Things have become a bit more lively with two more people living at the hideout. Though… he looked back at Dabi again. Still sleeping. It appeared he wasn’t very lively at all. 

Watching him sleep, half slumped over the arm of the sofa, Shigaraki couldn’t help but let his mind wander for a few minutes in complete silence. He couldn’t help but be jealous of how long he had been sleeping. Todoroki and Dabi both seemed like such easy sleepers, getting rest whenever they wanted. Midoriya constantly had dark circles around his eyes, always tired and restless. And Shigaraki appeared to be superhuman. Awake past midnight, awake in the afternoon, at the bar for breakfast, at the bar for dinner. Always there and always awake. To be as deep asleep as Dabi… it looked nice. 

Then came another thought. The staples were impossible to ignore and the burns were terribly disgusting yet so mysterious. Dabi was wearing the same ragged clothes Shigaraki had found him in the night they met. He could see the purple on his skin on his ankles, how far did they go up his legs? He could see purple reaching to the back of his hand and stretching down his arm. Did they go to his shoulders? Did he have any on his abdomen? His chest? What about his back? Were they painful or just mildly uncomfortable or could he not feel them at all? Were they from Endeavor or himself? On purpose or an accident? Shigaraki couldn’t help but wonder and he doubted if he would ever receive answers.

Shigaraki’s childish curiosity was powerful enough to compel him to leave his barstool and take his precious father with him. He was so dreadfully curious. He knelt down on the sofa beside Dabi, leaning over to get a closer look at him, even tilting his head ever so slightly. He was silent, careful to not wake him. With black spiky black hair like that, Dabi did kinda look a lot like a sleeping tomcat. It took some self-control from Shigaraki to not chuckle at the thought. He wouldn’t be surprised if he saw twitching cat ears in that black mess. It was such a silly comparison.

But big bright red eyes were innocently focused at the sleeping one’s face and chest. Watching Dabi breathe, he could see the staples moving with him, holding his skin together. They were no decorations or edgy accessories. Were they really holding him together? Or did they serve some other purpose? Like, maybe that wasn't his skin. What if it was like a skin suit that needed to be sewn together? There was no way someone could handle having so many staples implanted on their face. Shigaraki couldn’t help himself. The curiosity was killing him. Very slowly, so delicately, he raised a hand close to Dabi’s face, just an inch or two away from his cheek. 

Just as he went to poke a staple, the sleeping man’s face twitched. Like a startled bunny, Shigaraki took his hand back quickly and leaned back preparing for the other to wake up. And yet he didn’t. He was still fast asleep. What the scrawny villain would give to be that deep of a sleeper. Shigaraki leaned forward once again. He blinked a few times, tilting his head to the opposite side. Still trying to keep as quiet as he could, he couldn’t help but stare. He hadn’t been this close to him since they were at each other’s throats. Such ugly burns. But he didn’t have such an ugly face. Maybe… the opposite of ugly. At least to him. He went to touch Dabi’s face one more time, nothing but curious as to what that tattered skin felt like. It was then he suddenly felt something tickle against his back.

“Didn’t anyone teach you about personal space?” Dabi grumbled, his eyes still closed but his arm snaked around Shigaraki’s lower back. He smirked as Shigaraki tried to lean back in a short moment of panic, dropping his precious father onto the floor. Zuzu’s ears perked up from the sound of it landing on the hardwood while she was laying on Dabi’s lap the entire time. The stapled villain pulled him closer teasingly. “Didn’t take you for the type to get up close and personal. Coming after me when I’m napping too. How-” Dabi snarked with a sarcastic grin as he slowly opened his eyes. He paused, however, at the sight of Shigaraki leaning over the back cushion, ducking his head down behind it. He was trembling. Dabi could feel it with his arm wrapped around his back. He blinked seeing him acting so strangely. It looked like he was hiding. Anxious. Dabi tilted his head, becoming curious about Shigaraki without the hand over his face. What did he look like again? “Hey, what’s up with you?” he squinted his eyes and leaned forward. Could he get a peek?

“Nothing. What the hell do you think you’re doing, huh?” Shigaraki quietly snapped back, beginning to scratch at his neck. With his head low and behind the back cushion, Dabi couldn’t see his complexion through his shaggy blue hair. “You’ve been sleeping all day. I was just trying to wake you up.” His tone was sharp.

“Well, you could have-” Dabi was going to say something with his hand on Shigaraki’s lower back gripping a little firmer. He really was skinny.

“Let go.” Shigaraki had cut him off, his scratching becoming a bit more intense. He didn’t want to make this situation a conversation. The stapled hand on his back twitched. Dabi looked at how he was holding him, his arm having brought him fairly close. His teasing grin faded away as he noticed the subtle trembling that much more. He noticed the redness and irritation in his neck. 

“Yeah… Alright. My bad,” He said quietly, sincerely. He took his hand back to his side. He was about to pet Zuzu when the puppy left his lap and jumped to the floor. He watched her poke her nose into the palm of the hand on the floor, then she moved her head back to sneeze. She shook her head before picking the precious hand up by the yellow foundation and trotted around the couch to Shigaraki’s face. She put her front paws on the back of the sofa to get closer to him, returning his precious father to him.

Shigaraki took the hand back and put it right back where it belonged on his face. He leaned back to sit on the sofa normally, picking Zuzu up to take with him on his lap. She put her front paws on his chest and wagged her little tail for him. He petted her head calmly. Dabi raised a brow for just a moment before leaning back a bit, his elbow on the arm of the couch and his fist against his stapled cheek. “So why wake me up, huh? Need something, boss man?” he grumped. 

“Well, it’s almost four in the afternoon. Any longer and I’d think you were in a coma. You really are a tomcat.” Shigaraki seemed less prickly. With space between them, his father on his face, and Zuzu playing on his lap, he had stopped shaking completely. The tone in his voice was how it usually was. 

“Maybe I’d like a coma, creep.”

“Zombie.”

“Mophead.”

“Frankenstein.”

“Stalker.”

“Alcoholic.”

“Toothpick.”

“Staple Face.”

“Okay, that’s low.” Dabi cut the childish name-calling there. Shigaraki had been playing with Zuzu’s paws when he paused. Perhaps Dabi was a bit more self-conscious than he first thought. It would seem that they both had their boundaries.

“Alright…” Shigaraki said quietly, resuming his fidgeting with puppy paws. “Have you killed anyone before?” Red eyes narrowed and looked at the one sitting next to him. Any answer Dabi had would be believable. City streets and alleys were rough, but some people had very stubborn morals. Todoroki had already been called out on his by his own brother.

“Yeah. Why?” Dabi answered with little hesitation. Shigaraki closed his eyes at the response. 

“There’s something I want you to do. An information trip.” He hunched over with Zuzu still in his lap and spoke casually. “Izuku said there’s a summer camp trip for All Might’s students soon. It’s a big secret of where they’re going. And-”

“Aren’t you after All Might and Endeavor, why do you keep going after a bunch of teenagers?” Dabi shook his head and appeared mildly annoyed and confused at this villain's logic. Kosuke’s murder was very impactful, the USJ was a failure, Hosu had mixed results, Todoroki was considered dead, he couldn’t understand the thought process behind all these schemes. 

“Fear and uncertainty,” Shigaraki answered simply yet happily. “Those teenagers are All Might’s and multiple pro heroes’ students. The whole country has its eyes on them because of U.A.’s reputation and the oh-so-famous sports festival. Two students are dead… with so many unfortunate events, can’t you sense the distrust people have with the heroes? Their faith in them is dwindling. Their hopes and sense of false security are shattering with each student that falls. Izuku has a grudge against one more student in that class… and I don’t know if All Might would be able to tolerate another tragedy.” Shigaraki could see Dabi’s focus locked on to him. He was listening well. “He’ll come straight for us after that. Or maybe Endeavor will come first for the sweet praise and attention he craves.” Shigaraki began to chuckle. “We could ambush them. And if we fail, we can just watch people turn on them in fear. They’ll ruin them for us~” Dabi’s eyes narrowed. “I have a list of people who know where those kids are going to be… I need you to find out where.”

Dabi folded his arms while he was listening. People losing their sense of security, something he never had before. But theirs was fake. Heroes couldn’t be trusted, not when someone like Endeavor was considered a hero. That word. Hero. It had lost its meaning. It was an occupation before anything else. A popularity contest. Heroes weren’t real anymore, just as Stain believed. There were no true heroes left, not when they left him and his baby brother to suffer and die. Shigaraki worked differently than Stain did, but they were working on the same notion. However… there was only a single problem that he hoped could be ignored. “Alright. Where am I headed-” Dabi stood up and stretched, kicking a bottle on the floor to the side.

“Not yet.” Shigaraki put Zuzu beside him on the sofa and stood up as well. Dabi watched him walk behind the bar and go rummaging under the counter. He folded his arms and tilted his head hearing a few things being moved around. A box was then placed on the counter, similar to the one Todoroki opened for his villain costume. “Custom made.” Dabi brought the box closer with Shigaraki standing on the other side of the bar. He seemed to be turned away as if he wasn’t paying attention, though his eyes showed otherwise. He watched the stapled man open the box skeptically. Dabi was curious as to what he was being given. Holding up the box's contents, he saw a long black coat with a white stitched pattern on the shoulders, half-sleeved with large grey cuffs on the trim, and the lower back was frayed and stylistically poorly sewn together. Edgy. But custom-made? Who customized it? 

“Guess someone guessed my style.” He knew exactly who designed it. A certain someone must have put some thought into it and was too proud to admit it. Scoffing with a smirk, he took off the tattered jacket he was wearing and replaced it with the one from the box, turning his head to get a glimpse of how it looked on him. He was very much satisfied. “My compliments to the fashion designer,” he said a bit smugly. It earned him a small shiver from Shigaraki.

“Tomu! Have you seen Zuzu?” Dabi turned around and Shigaraki looked to the staircase leading from the second floor to see Midoriya coming down, looking for the puppy. Hearing her name, Zuzu jumped off the sofa to run up to the little villain. He knelt down to pick her up and take her into his arms, receiving lots of puppy kisses in return. “There you are. Shouchan needs your company.” Midoriya hummed. “Nevermind~” he called out to his big brother, turning on his heel to go back upstairs. He looked as happy as could be.

“What’s wrong with him?” Dabi asked before Midoriya could walk away. He sounded a bit tense. The freckled boy looked back, visibly a bit confused. Shigaraki began to come back from around the counter. “The mutt’s his little guard dog, isn’t she?” Not in the attacking guard dog sense, but she’s been there for Todoroki multiple times. Without her, Todoroki wouldn't have been found in time at the hospital. “Why does he need her?” Dabi’s crystal eyes narrowed at the boy. He had heard about the things he did. Everyone knew about the Fallen One and Kosuke’s Hiro murder. His expression became dark at the sight of a crooked smile and mischievous, mint-colored, glowing hues. 

“Shouchan deserves to be spoiled, always. But he spoiled me today, so I’m going to make sure he’s pampered well tonight.” Midoriya giggled, nuzzling his cheek against Zuzu’s. “He was so good on the table, I’ve never had a better subject. I want him to have a perfect night while he’s recovering. Kurogiri just made a lot of his favorite foods so now I just need his little guardian.” He adjusted his hold on the puppy so he wouldn’t drop her. 

“What did you-” Dabi took a step forward when he felt a hand using four fingers take hold of his shoulder to keep him back. Shigaraki could convince him to avoid a physical fight, but the stapled man did not look pleased at all. Pissed actually. “You mean you experimented on him? Like a toy?” This boy had seemed so sweet and loving tending to Todoroki after the fire and hugging Shigaraki in the hall that night. Dabi had seen the couple cuddling and taking comfort in each other’s company. But he felt disgusted at the thought of his baby brother being dissected on a table. He turned to look at Shigaraki. “You said he was protective of him. What the fuck is that? You call using him like that protective?!” He took his shoulder back bitterly.

“You know, it’s really hard to tell what you want sometimes.” Shigaraki sighed. Dabi flinched at the statement. “Is he hurt? Did anything go wrong?” Shigaraki then asked Midoriya casually. He wasn’t worried at all.

“There was a small mishap but no damage was done. He offered himself to me and prepared accordingly so it all went mostly without a hitch. I took good care of him, I promise.” the little villain beamed so innocently. Though looking at Dabi, he could clearly see that he wasn’t happy. But Midoriya also wasn’t as happy anymore. He didn’t appreciate being accused of using Todoroki as a ‘toy’. Especially by Dabi. “...I took care of him better than you ever did…” he added very quietly under his breath.

“You wanna say that last bit a little louder?” Dabi challenged. It didn’t seem like the comment was heard, but the tone could be interpreted easily. The two could read each other fairly easily now. The little villain saw a man who probably cared about Todoroki, but not always enough to actually want to do it himself. He avoided him and preferred keeping company in alcohol rather than face his past. He abandoned Todoroki with Endeavor. And Dabi saw a mentally disturbed, unstable boy who emotionally manipulated Todoroki to let him do anything to him. He made him feel safe just to have him be used for the little doctor’s personal benefit. They had given each other the benefit of the doubt the night of the fire, but first impressions were important. They both didn’t think highly of each other now.

“I said I didn’t use him. I would never.” Midoriya huffed. He looked at Zuzu as if to silently ask for her opinion. He would never use Todoroki, right? Letting Todoroki become his test subject for a few hours… that wasn’t the same, right? I didn’t count. Surely, it didn’t. “I’m going back to him now,” he grumbled, leaving to go back up the stairs.

“You’re just going to let him do what he wants with him? What if he kills him?” Dabi let Midoriya leave, but turned to Shigaraki and spoke angrily. “Shou didn’t come here to be some little testing dummy for that little nutcase. If I knew that’s how he was, I would have brought Shousomewhere else.” He grabbed the collar of Shigaraki’s shirt. “What do you-”

“Would you?” Shigaraki asked back calmly, making the stapled man flinch. Would he? Would Dabi have brought Todoroki somewhere else had he known Midoriya was itching to get him on the testing table? “Ever since the fire, you’ve avoided him. When I first met you, you were more than willing to let him stay with Endeavor. As far as I’m aware, you saved him in a moment of panic. I’m sorry, but you can’t convince me that you would have done something different.” He wasn’t afraid of Dabi. But he couldn’t read him either. He didn’t understand… but he wanted to. “But I trust my little brother. Izuku is crazy. But not crazy enough to ever want to hurt his prince charming. If you’d seen the lengths he went through just to save him… he spent nearly a whole year of his life getting his prince charming out of that house.” Dabi’s grip on Shigaraki’s shirt quivered. Shigaraki then took Dabi’s wrist with four fingers and lightly pushed his hand away to be released. “You should stop it with the mixed signals.” It was getting annoying. “I’m not out to get you."

-Kurogiri is on standby if you need him. Fall back if there are too many people. Good luck.-

Dabi looked down at his cracked phone, walking down an alleyway in the dead of night. Fall back if there are too many people. Good luck. His eyes narrowed at the words. Shigaraki telling him to retreat if it was too dangerous and wishing him luck, he didn’t know what to make of it. This was all so new and confusing. He pinched the sleeve of his costume, examining what had been designed especially for him by Shigaraki. He looked down at his boots that didn’t have a dot of mud and not a single hole. He had bought them with the money Shigaraki gave him. Then he rubbed the back of his neck. There wasn’t an ache or cramp to be felt from the sleep he had been getting in the bed he was provided. And he couldn’t stop thinking about what the scrawny villain said to him earlier… 

I’m not out to get you…

There was a small pang in his chest. He remembered watching him placing his deadly hand on Todoroki’s head. How calm the teenager appeared under it…

We’ll take good care of you here…

Dabi shook his head slowly, running his fingers through his hair. “You’re a lot better at this than I am…” Shigaraki was doing a far better job at taking care of his brother and making people feel safe than he was. The red-eyed villain trusted Todoroki to switch sides more than Midoriya did. Even when Dabi confronted him about it, he just looked the other way. “You don’t need someone like me… you know that, don’t you?” He kicked an empty can on the ground. There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that Shigaraki knew that Dabi could be more trouble than he was worth. “You don’t need a fucking second-best…” Reaching into his pocket, he grabbed a pack of cigarettes and lit one in his mouth with his finger producing a blue flame. He glanced down at his phone again and studied a few faces on the screen. A list of people to choose from and kill. 

Finding himself behind a small hero agency, he peeked at his phone to study a random face. A jellyfish type of hero, Shigaraki had left small descriptions for each profile to give Dabi a warning on what he would be fighting. He really spent a lot of time doing research. “Does this guy ever sleep…?” It seemed he went out of his way to make sure Dabi could go about this job safely. He shook his head at the thought. A villain like that looking after him like this, it didn’t make sense. 

“Hey. What’s someone like you doing lurking around at night?” Dabi had been leaning against a wall of an alley, smoking and scrolling through his phone when someone called out to him. He peeked up with city lights illuminating his beautiful blue eyes that ran in the family. He saw a bald man with bright blue veins visible from under his scalp. He had a pink mask with a blue and pink hero costume with an aquatic theme. This was definitely the guy on Shigaraki’s list. “Haven’t you heard of shady folks going missing at night? You should get home. Or are we going to have a problem?” 

“I heard heroes were going missing too. Better watch your step,” Dabi sighed, releasing the smoke from his lungs and dropped the cigarette on the ground, stepping on it to snuff it out. Just get the information and kill him. That’s all he had to do. Killing a guy up close wasn’t so hard… was it? “I got a question for you. Quicker you answer, the quicker I can get on my way.” He got off the wall and stretched. “There’s a summer trip some U.A. brats are going to. I need to know where.” He watched the hero flinch.

“You’re with them, aren’t you?!” Dabi raised his hand the moment the hero stuck his arms out. Blue veins in the hero’s wrists shot out of his skin, going straight for the stapled man. In return, Dabi’s eyes widened as he let a blast of fire leave his hand, letting them go straight for the jellyfish. 

“Guess I’ve been found out. What a pain…” the stapled man grumbled. What he would give just to go back and nap. But he had to earn his rent. Shigaraki gave him a place to stay in return for running jobs like this. “I just need an answer, hero.” He thought flames had engulfed the hero. When they died out, there was nothing but ash behind, but there was no way he killed that hero. Looking up, he saw the jellyfish without his cape, letting it take the brunt of the fire while he dodged. He sent his stinger veins at Dabi again, causing the stapled man to jump back a few times to keep a distance. How far could those reach? He thought he was far enough only to be caught off guard by one wrapping around his boot. The hero pulled his feet right from under him, forcing him on his back.

“Don’t make me use these on you. With skin like that, it’ll cause you a lot of pain.” The hero pounced on him, but Dabi kicked him in the gut the first moment he had with the heel of his boot. The jellyfish recoiled, holding his stomach. In making the hero back up, Dabi noticed that something fell out of the man’s pocket. It only took a glance, but he saw a wallet. Some cash and coins had fallen out, but a small photograph also landed on the pavement. Some scattered lights from his quirk were scattered on the ground and gave him just enough light to see the photograph. He paused to look at it. “Hey, give me backup! I got a villain here!”

Dabi snapped out of his sudden thoughts when he heard the hero call for help on his phone. He couldn’t be found out. He couldn’t be captured. Shigaraki would be pissed. He’d be so disappointed. But his name, Dabi couldn’t risk his identity. This was his first job. He couldn’t fail already, not with such things on the line. In a short moment of instinctive panic, he shot a flame out from his hand at the hero once again. The jellyfish dropped the phone with it getting consumed by fire. It became a dodging game of long-range attacks. Between stinger veins that had a certain distance and flames that could only be used so sporadically, Dabi and the jellyfish fought. But Dabi wasn’t firing lethal shots. He only had so long before reinforcements arrived.

“P-Please…” the hero whimpered, littered with burns and veins swelling from under his scalp. Dabi had pinned him down and held a hand up with a fire burning in his hand, preparing to blast the man. “Please… I don’t want to disappear…” the hero begged.

“Tell me where they’re going,” Dabi growled, frustrated. His flaming hand was quivering and his eyes were wide. He was a bit dirty from moving around in the filthy alley.

“Please… I-I have a daughter…” the photograph on the ground had touched a spark so the corner of it was burning. It was of a little girl with blue hair and blue fins for ears. The quality of the photograph was older. It must have been taken quite some time ago. The back of it had the name ‘Sirius’ written on it. 

“Just tell me!” Dabi snapped, his free hand took hold of the hero’s throat. Even when he got his answer, he would need to kill this hero. And this hero, this father, was starting to tear up, begging to be kept alive.

“Th-The Pussy Cats!” Finally, an answer. “The Wild Wild Pussy Cats…! N-Now please…” Dabi’s grip on the hero’s throat loosened slightly. His mission was half done. He had to kill him. He couldn’t let the heroes know what Shigaraki was after. But this crying man. He was so desperate to live. This hero had been reduced to tears. “L-Let me go… Let me go home to my daughter…I-I’m all she has left.” Dabi was completely paralyzed, only staring at him in shock. “My Sirius… Please…” He gritted his teeth, his body trembling, the flame in his hand growing brighter. A drop of blood escaped the seam of the burnt skin under his left eye. Why the hell did some people have good families?

“I… I  can’t… I’ve never killed someone-” He lied to Shigaraki’s face. He had never killed anyone before. At least, not on purpose. Not up close.

The ones before... long before... they were a bunch of nobodies. Tools. Replacements. They were nothing. They deserved to be ash. But to kill people who have families, futures, and plenty of relationships and hope for the future... Was he really allowed to strip them away like that? Take away everything? Destroy their futures, their hopes, turn them into nothing but ash? Could he break a family? Ruin one? Burn one up for his own gain? Could he bring himself to do it? 

And suddenly he felt himself be grabbed from behind by multiple pairs of arms. His arms began to be wrapped up in a type of cloth while two others worked together to restrain him. He took too long. Backup arrived.

“We got him! Get the boss outta here!”

“Someone call Endeavor! Attacking like this is something the League of Villains would do!”

The hero scrambled to his feet, backing up from Dabi, and then began to tie his feet together with his stinger veins. “Fuck… no,” Dabi muttered, trying to light his arms on fire but the cloth of someone’s quirk was wrapped too tightly around him, there was no air for the fire to ignite. He could light up the rest of his body. Though, so much fire and screaming would surely only drag in more attention. But they were going to turn him into Endeavor. He messed everything up. It was over. He should have just… left Todoroki at the hospital. He should have never got involved. Should have kept to the bars.

“What the-!” a sidekick cried out. Dabi felt the cloths around his arms loosen. Disappear. He glanced and caught the tail end of the fabric restraining him turn to dust. The sidekick with the quirk using it had two hands wrapped around her throat from behind when the rest of her body turned to dust. The other two sidekicks watched in horror as she disappeared so quickly, faster than she could scream. The one standing behind her was a certain scrawny villain with a severed hand over his face. 

“It’s Shigaraki Tomura!” Both the sidekicks holding Dabi let go while the jellyfish hero used his stingers to wrap around his shoulders and kept one an inch away from the stapled seam at his neck. 

“D-Don’t move young man…” That stinger would do serious damage if it got into the bloodstream. Their fight was over. Dabi was just a hostage now. He was helpless to watch Shigaraki finish his task. How pathetic that he couldn’t complete it on his own. Kurogiri had been on standby to help him escape, but Kurogiri was no fighter. In a situation like this, he would have no choice but to bring Shigaraki in himself. How shameful he couldn’t earn his rent with such a simple job. “You! Don’t hurt them or I-” The hero called out to Shigaraki but before he could even say his demands, Shigaraki grabbed the arm of one of the sidekicks with four fingers, pulled him back over his shoulders, and whipped him at the hero to knock him over, giving Dabi the chance to slip out of the stingers.

Dabi sent a flame to the stingers at his boots. He fell back on the ground and scooted back away from the hero and sidekick while Shigaraki turned the second one to ash in mere moments. “Shigaraki I-”

“Save it.” Shigaraki didn’t want to hear what Dabi had to say at the moment. Whether it was an apology, an excuse, information, or a thank you, the red-eyed villain did not want to hear a thing. The sidekick and the hero were on the ground with one on top of the other. The sidekick got up and immediately raised his fist, charging in a blind rage at Shigaraki, tears in his eyes. Shigaraki did just kill two of his comrades after all. He saw the first grow spikes at the knuckles and decided to duck down and go for his throat. The sidekick’s attack was so pathetically direct when overwhelmed with emotions. It gave the scrawny villain the easy opportunity to grab his throat with all five fingers, turning him to dust in an instant. All that was left was the hero.

“Shigaraki-!” Just as the body disappeared, Dabi tried to warn him. Why? Shigaraki would be the type to kill him after such a failure, right? That’s what people did, wasn’t it? Surely he’d be punished for this blunder. But even his warning wasn’t even enough as Shigaraki verbally hissed in pain when the jellyish hero’s stinger wrapped tightly around his wrists, making a small sound from the pressure of them. The villain quivered as he froze, letting the shock of pain flow from his wrists to the rest of his body. The hero had taken it easy on Dabi, a man without a criminal record, by keeping the stingers wrapped around his clothes or boots. But Shigaraki Tomura and Fallen were both Class S villains. Heroes couldn’t risk being so merciful to them. The jellyfish restrained Shigaraki by his wrists and let the venom work. Shigaraki gritted his teeth hard as his body trembled. His hands were forced to be raised above his head. 

“Annoying…” the red-eyed villain growled. “So annoying…” He stopped trembling and took hold of the stingers with his bare hands, wrapping them around his palm and raising his pinkies to get a grip on them. All of this before more stingers could get close to his feet. He used all his physical power to yank the hero closer by his own stingers. He swiftly maneuvered around the stingers going for his feet, brought the hero closer, and then released the stingers from his grip. He took the hero’s face in his hands and stared directly into his eyes angrily, watching him blow into the breeze as dust.

“Sirius…” was the last word the man whimpered before drifting away.

Shigaraki looked at his own hands, seeing small patches of his wrists turning red and painfully swelling. Dark red lines had formed on his palm and fingers from the venom of the stingers. His hands were twitching from the stings. “We should get your brother-” Dabi said as he stood up slowly. But before he could even take a step, he was grabbed by the collar of his tattered white t-shirt.

“Why did you lie to me? Why did you lie about being experienced with this kind of thing? What was the point of that?!” Shigaraki had started off by growling bitterly at Dabi when his voice raised its volume at the last moment. He was trying to control his anger, remembering that Midoriya had informed him that Todoroki was triggered by people yelling at him. He wouldn’t put it past Dabi to have a similar problem. But he was still pissed nonetheless. He shoved Dabi back lightly, letting go of him. “I wouldn’t have sent you here. Your damn trust issues are going to get you fucking killed. Don’t you understand that?!” 

Shigaraki took heavy breaths, his hands twitching. The amount of venom in his veins must have been making him tired. “I wouldn’t have given you this job…” he repeated more quietly. “You realize they almost brought you to Endeavor, don’t you? You think I want that?” Dabi didn’t answer, keeping his head down as he watched the photograph on the ground burn up little by little. He just took the scolding in silence. “So… what was that, huh? What stopped you?” Shigaraki picked up the wallet that had been dropped on the pavement. He went ahead and looted the cash and a few of the cards. “Don’t like seeing people cry?”

“He said… he had a daughter. And I froze up.” Dabi mumbled. Shigaraki glanced at him from the corner of his eye, then tossed the wallet aside. He leafed through the cash casually. 

“Okay…” That’s all he had to say. “Let’s go back.” Dabi’s head shot up and saw Kurogiri form a portal before both of them. That was it? He was even allowed to come back? “You coming or what?” Shigaraki was halfway through the portal when he noticed the stapled man wasn’t following right away. After a few moments of hesitation, Dabi went with him through the portal.

“Let me go get Izuku. I’m sure he’ll-” Kurogiri stated as Shigaraki took his seat at the bar, lazily slumping over the counter.  Dabi stood behind the scrawny villain, looking away at the floor. Like a child in trouble. Shigaraki raised a wounded hand as the dark fog man was about to warp off to signal him to stop. Getting Midoriya wouldn't be necessary.

“No. Let him have his time with his prince charming. I trust you know where he keeps the hydrocortisone. And get some ice. I can do the rest myself.” Shigaraki stated. If Midoriya found out his big brother got hurt because of Dabi’s lying and incompetence, the little doctor would never forgive him. They’d be snapping at each other forever. Shigaraki was not about to deal with petty infighting between them, fighting over Todoroki’s well-being was more than enough. Kurogiri bowed his head to the request and warped off for a few moments, leaving the two men alone. One sat and the other stood in silence for a few moments. It was quite awkward for one of them. “You’re not in trouble or anything… you can sit, you know.” Perhaps old habits die hard.

Dabi slowly sat down but kept his head low. He didn’t make eye contact and he didn’t speak. Was he afraid of saying something to get himself in trouble? Maybe a bit paranoid. More than anything, he was just so gloomy. And Shigaraki noticed. “I know you got secrets… we all do. You don’t have to tell me. I would just prefer it if you don’t lie… it’s not just your life anymore. Lying is going to get someone else hurt, and that includes your brother.” Dabi wasn’t alone anymore. His actions impacted other people now. It had been a long time since his choices actually mattered. Shigaraki was warning him.

“You sound tired,” The stapled man commented quietly. Just saying what he noticed.

“I’m exhausted…” Shigaraki told him truthfully. Through the gaps of the fingers on his face, it was clear that he really was wearing himself out. Before their conversation continued, Kurogiri returned with bandages, a small bottle, and two ice packs. Shigaraki nodded to him and pulled the supplies closer to himself before the suited villain warped off again. He must have had something important to do on his own time. This left the red-eyed villain to open the bottle of hydrocortisone, but the one sitting next to him carefully stole it from the counter.

“I’ll do it. I fucked up and still gotta earn my rent.” Dabi had Shigaraki give him his wrists to dot cream onto the dark red, irritated stings. He was amazed at the lack of reaction from Shigaraki. He expected at least a flinch or a jolt from him. And yet, there was nothing. Was it the exhaustion or did he just have a massive pain tolerance? Either was impressive. “Should I teach you how to sleep too?” he half-joked, rubbing the cream into the wounds. He noticed Shigaraki curling his pinkies to keep from accidentally touching him as he tended to his palms and fingers.

“I’d take you up on it…” 

Dabi blinked, finally taking a moment to look the other in the eyes. “Seriously?” Shigaraki nodded, closing his eyes. He was terribly jealous of how Dabi could sleep until four in the afternoon earlier. Perhaps learning from the prince of laziness wasn’t a bad idea. “Alright. Sometime soon then,” the stapled man obliged awkwardly, not expecting to be taken up on his offer. Then he proceeded to press an ice pack against the swelling lumps, watching a bit of the redness fade.

“You shouldn’t think about that stuff…” Shigaraki then mumbled out of nowhere. Dabi glanced up at him, but then focused right back on his wrists. Best to just listen. “About that guy’s kid… If you keep dwelling on it, you’ll drive yourself crazy…” So used to being yelled at, arguing, and being harshly corrected. And yet, this lecture didn’t feel so bad. “Everyone’s got a family… What you do here, you do for yourself. And for your brother. Everyone in our way is a nobody.” Dabi had been shifting the ice over the swelling when he subtly paused. 

“I haven’t done anything for him… that kid,” he took a moment to remember his name. “Midoriya. He’s probably done better for him than I ever have. Running away from him for so long.” Finally… some honesty. It didn’t take a genius to know Dabi felt heavy guilt. Shigaraki picked up on it right away. He kept talking as the stapled one began wrapping his wounds.

“You just gotta give yourself the permission to do what you want. No one else. I already gave you that freedom.” If Dabi wanted to spend time with Todoroki, he could. If he wanted to avoid him, he could do that too. If he wanted to kill someone, he needed his own permission. “You two were both abandoned by heroes because you played by their rules… I think they should see those consequences. You just need to do it for yourself.” It was all about being selfish. 

“For myself, huh?” Dabi repeated softly. He tied a final knot at Shigaraki’s wrist, having finally patched up his mistake. He kept his head down in thought. He felt a pain in his chest from finally telling the truth. It stung a lot more than lying. But the rest of him felt… comfortable. He turned his back to the counter while Shigaraki faced it. The two of them just left each other in silence for a couple of minutes, letting the conversation end there. But it didn’t feel so awkward.

They would soon hear footsteps coming down the stairs in a little bit of a hurry. Then they would see Midoriya casually come down and swiftly make his way past them, slipping behind the counter and going into the back room with an innocent smile. “Tomu, do you know where Kurogiri keeps the ice cream?” he asked, poking his head out from the doorway. Shigaraki kept his hands under the counter to hide the bandages. 

“Walk-in freezer on the second shelf to the left, all the way in the back.” He knew exactly where the ice cream was. Because of course he knew exactly where it was. It made Dabi chuff with a subtle smirk. Big bad villain had a sweet tooth. And apparently wasn’t big on reprimanding either. Some S-rank bad guy… “What, Kurogiri didn’t make enough food for you two? You’re monsters.” Shigaraki shook his head at the thought. Teenagers. 

“Shouchan wanted some to share with Zuzu. Now- which one…” the little villain disappeared into the back room but he could be heard rummaging through the freezer. He left the door open. From his smile, it appeared that he and Todoroki were having a peaceful night together. There was no mischief or crookedness to be seen. Just a teenager happy to spend an evening with his beloved. He almost looked normal and maybe there was still some normality to him. Maybe Todoroki wasn’t just a toy to him after all…

“Strawberry.” Shigaraki stole a glance at Dabi. The sound of rummaging stopped as Midoriya must have stopped to listen to the stapled man. “Strawberry’s his favorite... Just thought you’d want to know,” Dabi shrugged, keeping his head down and back to the counter. If only had seen the small smirk appear on the scrawny villain’s face. There was nothing to be said.

“Oh, we have that~” Midoriya hummed. They heard the door to the freezer shut and the little villain popped out of the backroom with a tub of strawberry ice cream. “Thanks! See ya.” And he raced right back up the stairs, not wasting a moment to deliver his beautiful hero’s frozen treat. A life of villainy didn’t appear to ruin the little things about him. An innocent teenager could still be found behind all the horrible crimes. And just as Shigaraki heard Midoriya reach the top of the stairs, he felt something on his shoulder.

Earlier, when Dabi had been sent out on the mission at sundown, the two villainous brothers had a very short conversation. Midoriya had been on his way to deliver more food to his room for Todoroki, Zuzu, and himself. But Shigaraki stopped him for just a moment. “Hey… what kind of stuff does your prince charming like? Like… what did you do to make him trust you?” he had asked.

“Well, I shared food with him once. And I let him take a nap on me.” Midoriya had said Todoroki’s favorite things were sleeping and eating. The little villain then giggled at another thought. “He’s honestly a big cat. If you pet his head, he gets all snuggly.” Shigaraki remembered shaking his head at the answers. They weren’t the ones he had been looking for.

And it was that night, Dabi leaned his head on his shoulder without a word. There was no warning. And he wasn’t asleep either. Shigaraki had been caught off guard by the gesture. Since they were both facing opposite directions, he couldn’t see the drops of blood dripping from the seams in Dabi’s face. But he didn’t have to see the blood to understand what he was feeling. Or at least trying to feel. Being leaned on was all it took to comprehend the exhaustion, the fear, the sadness, the anger, the guilt, and the vulnerability. It was a bad night. He just kinda needed… someone.

Up in Midoriya’s room, Midoriya was laying in bed with Todoroki curled up at his chest, Zuzu in arms as the three were nested in blankets and pillows. Many dishes were in the sink from all the food they had eaten that evening. And now they were snuggled together watching a movie in peace and quiet company. Midoriya didn’t speak a word when he took a spoon full of ice cream and held it up to his beloved hero, spoonfeeding him to further spoil him. After putting it down, he ran his fingers through his silky hair and pushed his bangs back to delicately kiss his forehead. “I love you… you never have to go down to the lab again,” he purred lovingly.

And in the bar, Shigaraki placed his hand with his pinkie finger up in Dabi’s spiky hair. He subtly brought the stapled man’s head closer to him, but neither seemed to mind. Dabi shut his eyes and let the silence be. A hand that could take a life in a moment somehow felt kinder and safer than anyone else’s. His whole body relaxed at the subtle shifting of fingers through his hair. Petting him. A deadly man had such a gentle touch. “We can try again… whenever you feel ready,” Shigaraki muttered, offering a second chance whenever Dabi felt comfortable. Dabi nodded, staying in his position just a little bit longer.

Chapter Text

Nights appeared to be plagued with nightmares for many. The terrible events that had taken place the past months had driven the city mad with anxiety and others with grief. Those affected personally were suffering dearly. A teacher could hardly sleep during the rainy night. Beginning to turn in his sleep miserably, Aizawa’s face twitched in distress, his hands grasping at nothing beside him. His teeth were gritted tight, feet flinching to kick at nothing. It wasn’t much longer until his eyes shot open with his whole body jolting awake on its side. He quietly gasped finding himself in the darkness of the master bedroom. The sheets below his head had become slightly soaked. He sat up slowly, rubbing his forehead with the bottom of his shirt from sweat. Then he proceeded to tap under his eyes with his fingers, feeling tear stains.

Aizawa took a deep breath, tilting his head up and blinking to soothe his watery eyes. Just a bad dream. Yet he knew it wasn’t entirely fiction. He rubbed the side of his face, scratching at the scruff at his jawline. Then he reached beside him before feeling a bit more sporadically to realize he was alone. “Hizashi..?” he looked around, using the streetlights from out the window to see. The space beside him had the blankets rolled down. There were blood splotches on the pillow and sheets.

Perhaps Aizawa wouldn’t have been as anxious if it weren’t for the terrible dream. He didn’t bother with slippers when he got out of bed. “Hizashi?” He called out in the hallway in an indoor voice. It wasn’t just him and Yamada in this house anymore. Just to be sure, before he got all the way down the hall he opened the door to a different room. All the lights were off except for a phone that had a cat was pawing at. With the light from it he could see someone still sleeping in bed, purple hair poking out from under blankets. Aizawa sighed silently in a sense of relief. At least Shinsou was where he was supposed to be. 

Aizawa shut the door to let the boy continue sleeping. It was nearly dawn and there was school in the morning after all. So he continued through the house searching for Yamada. He was grateful to find that at least the desk the blond worked at so often was empty. He was relieved to see he wasn’t slaving away over paperwork at this hour. And soon enough he saw the light on in the bathroom with the door open. “Hizashi?” he called out quietly again, peeking around the doorway.

There was a bit of blood on the floor and the sink. One of the cats was sitting on the corner of the sink, looking up at Yamada as he stood in front of the mirror. He had his head tilted up as he pressed a bloody towel over his neck. Though he heard Aizawa’s call and turned to look at him, smiling awkwardly but genuinely, petting the cat with his free hand. He didn’t appear to be in much pain. “I tried not to wake you up.” his voice seemed to be improving from the attack. It wasn’t as wheezed and hoarse as it had been. “I must have nicked a stitch in my sleep. Not a big-”

“You should have woken me up,” Aizawa spoke over him coldly. He approached the other and took a clean towel, replacing the dirtied one in Yamada’s hand. He held it himself, putting pressure on the wound and causing Yamada to wince a little. Just a sting. “You could have asked for help…” Aizawa then said a bit softer. There was hurt in his voice. “I can be there, you know.” He took the towel back to check the stitches on his partner’s neck, seeing the wound was closing up again. But he just looked so sad.

“You've been thinking about Todoroki.” Yamada could read him easily. He kept his head tilted up to let Aizawa tend to the bleeding. 

“How could I not…?” It was unavoidable.  For the rest of the year he would have to look at two empty desks. One student’s body he had seen and wished he could forget, and the other he only heard the dying voice he wished he could un-hear. This semester would haunt him for the rest of his life. “The kids are going to be destroyed. Todoroki was on good terms with most of them. But you… you got his boyfriend.” Once the bleeding had stopped, Aizawa took bandages and began to rewrap the wound.

“I’ll just have to do what I can.” When Aizawa was done, Yamada rubbed his neck and checked the mirror to get a look at himself. “Right after he saved me this all had to happen. How cruel…” So much for good karma. Yamada then picked up the cat that had been sitting on the sink and held it like a baby. “We’ll just have to be strong for them. It’s what we’re here for.” With such a soft smile and holding a cat like that, Aizawa lowered his head and used the ball of his palm to wipe below his eyes.  “Come here.” Yamada held out his arm to bring the other into a gentle hug.

“This shit sucks…” Aizawa muttered, keeping his face in his beloved’s shoulder. 

“I know.” Yamada ran his fingers through shaggy black hair. “But I’m sure Oboro’s taking good care of him. He was always good at that kinda thing.” The blond smiled even though it hurt, inviting the other into a long kiss.

An alarm woke someone else up. Midoriya reached for his phone to shut off the alarm with a quiet groan. How he’d love to spend every day at the hideout instead of going to school. Without Todoroki, there was almost nothing to look forward to anymore. He was almost jealous when he peeked next to him and saw his beloved hero still fast asleep with Zuzu in a ball between his shoulder and neck. As beautiful as ever, he did have a few tears on his cheeks. It was going to be a difficult habit to break one day. But the little villain took the liberty of leaning over him and kissing his forehead, then his cheek, then his jawline, peppering small displays of affection that morning. He smiled while doing it, taking pleasure in being just a little bit annoying, but he wanted to wake him up so he could say goodbye to him. He also didn’t want him waking up alone. And eventually he would hear a soft mumbling.

“Izuku…” Todoroki muttered, feeling a plethora of kisses on his face. Midoriya only giggled as he continued giving him early morning affection. “Izuku… what are you doing?” Todoroki went to put a hand on Midoriya’s head when the little villain took hold of his wrist and kissed the palm of his hand, then brought it close to nuzzle his cheek into. His left hand was always so soothingly warm. Just sleeping beside him was like having a heated pillow.

“I want you to wake up to see me go to school. It’s going to be so boring without you.” Midoriya hummed. But then he watched Todoroki roll over and bury himself in blankets, taking his hand back. It confused the freckled boy for only a moment.

“I’m dead. Don’t have to wake up early.” Todoroki complained. But it only made Midoriya chuckle as he climbed over him to sit on his back without his full weight. He could tell he was just being lazy and nothing more. 

“You are not dead. C’mon.” he shook him a bit to try to annoy him.

“Nuh-uh. I’m dead.” TV and the internet said so.

“Alright, fine. You’re dead. Rest in peace.” Midoriya shrugged cockily and began to crawl off of him. Though just as he got his feet on the floor, he felt a hand on his shoulder. The moment he went to turn back, he was greeted with a kiss on the lips that he was more than happy to receive. Good morning kisses had simply become his favorite thing by now. “How you feeling…?” he asked quietly, both of them pulling away. Todoroki had sat up a bit while Zuzu yawned and stretched, feeling her owner move. 

“A little uncomfortable. But it doesn’t hurt.” Zuzu made her way onto Todoroki’s lap and nudged her nose under his shirt. There was a line of stitches and dark red skin down his center that had only begun to heal. Midoriya leaned down and raised his shirt a bit more to get a closer look. 

“Try not to go out as Yako too much this week. It’s supposed to be raining on and off and I wouldn’t want you getting sick or slipping.” The little villain let his beloved’s shirt back down with that warning. Then he proceeded to get changed into a school uniform without a second thought. Todoroki was more focused on Zuzu while the other undressed, though he did peek up just a few times. “Any advice for crying at will?” Midoriya asked. He sat down at the foot of the bed putting his socks on and then tying his tie. “I’m going to have to be a good actor for people to believe I’m grieving your death. I guess I could just think of something sad…” Todoroki crawled up behind Midoriya, wrapping his arms around his neck and nuzzling his left cheek against him. He knew he liked his warm side on rainy days.

“Have… you grieved Stain yet?” Todoroki asked quietly. “I’m guessing he’s the tutor you told me about, the one you were working with before the Sports Festival. You got stronger and you were really busy.” Midoriya looked down at his half tied tie sadly. “I bet you were close. You wanted him to escape that night… I know he was only arrested. But still.” Todoroki’s hug became a little tighter. “I feel bad. I’m sorry.” It was because of him that Stain got arrested in the first place.

“Well… that’s definitely a strategy. Definitely know how to make me sad.” Midoriya muttered, finishing the knot for his tie.

“Sorry…” Todoroki repeated.

“No, no sorries. You didn’t have a choice. And he did mess up your leg.” Midoriya turned his head to take Todoroki’s cheek to kiss. “That nomu went rogue off my orders; I told it not to attack you. But… Tomu’s master’s doctor got impatient about recruiting you. And uh… he was going to take you by force. But Kurogiri warned Stain about it, and it was Stain’s choice to protect you.  He thought very highly of you.” The little villain had been so focused on Todoroki lately, Stain had not been on his mind as much as he would have been. And yet a part of him didn’t feel so bad because it was his master’s choice to stay behind and fight for his cause. It was honorable.

“Should I be worried about his doctor guy then?” Todoroki asked, slowly letting go of Midoriya so the little villain could get up.

“Maybe… I’m not entirely sure who he is and I don’t think Tomura knows either. Kurogiri doesn’t trust him and if it wasn’t for him, who knows where you’d be…” Midoriya shook his head at the thought. Todoroki being turned into a nomu only sounded like a nightmare. Having him on the table was more than enough. “He doesn’t live here like us. Sometimes Tomura will talk to him through the tv in the bar or the monitor in his room. But he usually only talks to his master and that’s the one we trust.” He put on the rest of his uniform before going back to the bed and kissing his beloved’s forehead. “I don’t want you to be afraid. You’re safe here. Just…” he cupped his cheeks and gazed into his dual colored eyes so lovingly. “Promise me you won’t go into the laboratory.”

Midoriya would not tell Todoroki of the curse lying in the lower level of their home. He didn’t want to frighten him or restrict him. But for his own safety, all he had to know was to never go down there. Kosuke could only harm him if he entered that room. This was just to keep him safe. “I won’t. There are some things I’d like to do anyway after all.” Soon, Todoroki would get out of bed and go to his villain costume that was hanging up in a closet. Midoriya watched him curiously. “You think Shigaraki would like it if I get into my dad’s computer?” 

“That’s not a bad idea,” Shigaraki answered. The two teenagers sat with Shigaraki at the bar that morning, Zuzu on the counter, sharing pieces of meat and egg with Todoroki. Kurogiri stood just behind the counter, cleaning a dish in his hands. “I was just gonna wait before having you make any moves. But you’re eager to fuck over the bastard.” With the hand on his face, Todoroki couldn’t see Shigaraki smirking. But his tone was enough for him to understand that he was happy. “However…” he said, looking at them from the corner of his eye. “Is he fit to be moving around yet, Izuku?” Midoriya flinched at being called out and almost choked on what he was eating. Zuzu looked to him and pawed at his glass

“Y-Yeah! He’s okay. Just… nothing crazy. No fights or crazy acrobatics.” Midoriya assured, taking his glass to drink and clear his throat. He petted Zuzu’s head. 

“I don’t plan on it. I’ll be careful. And I’ll get you all the information you need about the investigation team.” Todoroki closed his eyes and sighed softly. “There are some people on that team that I can’t stand.” Shigaraki's eyes seemed to flicker at the suggestion. People on the investigation team that Todoroki didn’t like? What a convenience… “And there’s one person that just needs to be saved from all of them, so I’m going to delete him from the records.” Midoriya knew exactly who he was talking about and it made his heart flutter. Even as a villain…  his beautiful heart showed so much kindness for truly good people. And yet the murderous intent was there when he opened his eyes. Those peoples’ names he was going to give Shigaraki, they were people he wanted to die. Shigaraki gave him a light pat on the back. 

“I’ll hook you up if you need anything,” Shigaraki assured. Midoriya couldn’t help but smile at Shigaraki getting along so well with Todoroki. And someone was hiding out the stairs thinking the same thing. Dabi was listening to their conversation from the staircase, sitting on the steps. It was like he was waiting for them to leave. Or at least one of them. While he sat, he was on his phone scrolling through nothing, but he had his hand in his hair. His fingers occasionally shifted, feeling spiky strands poke upward between them. He concluded that he liked it better when it was someone else’s hand. It wasn’t the same with his own. “You going to sit there all morning, tomcat?”

Looking up from his phone, Dabi saw Zuzu standing at the entrance to the stairs wagging her little tail. Shigaraki had his back to the bar counter and folded his arms smugly. Dabi's been found out. “Why you gotta do me like that, mutt?” he grumbled to the puppy. But he didn’t sound angry, more annoyed. He begrudgingly stood up and peered around the doorway to see Midoriya and Todoroki were staring at him. At first glance, he was only relieved to see Todoroki was really okay after the testing. 

“You coming or what? No starving yourself here.” Shigaraki turned around on his stool again and then poked Midoriya’s forehead with a bit of a push to make him whine in annoyance. “We already know what kind of trouble that can cause, don’t we?” Could never let that day of the aquarium go. But a lot did happen that day. Dabi rolled his eyes at Shigaraki’s taunt, but now that he had been spotted, it’d be awkward to walk away or to just sit on the sofa and ignore them. And he was hungry…

Dabi sat down on the other side of Shigaraki and first glanced at his hands. Shigaraki took the bandages off earlier that morning, but the stings were still there if you looked closely enough. But he seemed to be keeping his hands in motion or keeping them in his pockets so Midoriya wouldn’t notice them. They must have been getting irritated being uncovered and rubbing against the fabric of his clothes. Going that far just to keep them from fighting? But also sitting at the bar, even though they were separated by two filled seats, this was the closest he’s physically been to his baby brother. Looking at Todoroki’s face, he couldn’t help but feel old. A little baby held and bottle-fed was so grown up eating breakfast with some stray dog he found on the street and his boyfriend. He must have never needed him after all that time…

“Alright. You, be careful today. I’ll see you when I get back.” Midoriya stacked his dishes and silverware together before leaning up in his seat to sneak his fingers in Todoroki’s hair and kissed his forehead. He picked his bag off the floor and put it over his shoulders then waved goodbye to Shigaraki. Shigaraki casually saluted him, keeping the wound on his palm covered behind his fingers. The little villain went to the door and just as he opened it, he nearly fell back. Someone was there, leaning in close to be face to face with him with a wide grin on her face.

“Good morning!” Toga leaned closer, taking a step inside with her hands behind her back. “You’re Fallen! Mr. Stainy’s apprentice~”

“Wh-What are you doing back here?” Midoriya stepped back with his arm in front of himself. He only remembered this girl being a nutcase with a knife. He watched her take out a pink cellphone with a little teddy bear charm on it. She showed the screen to him enthusiastically.

“So, my place totally got raided the other day. Such a bummer. So Giran told me to come here and that Tomura would give me a place to stay!” Todoroki and Dabi both looked to Shigaraki who was facing the doorway. He looked completely dumbfounded before checking his phone. He only received a notification of warning from Giran just an hour ago. An hour was not enough warning for someone like Toga. 

“L...Like hell-” Shigaraki was about to answer. Living with Todoroki and Dabi was already making life more complicated. But now her?

“That can easily be arranged,” Kurogiri spoke in his place, making him turn to him suddenly.

“That’s not-”

“Giran promised her hospitality so we should oblige. We have plenty of room and this is an opportunity to forge trust between you and your team, Shigaraki.” And Kurogiri had a point. This was an opportunity to build trust and form a loyal and tight group. That’s what All For One instructed of both of them. Even if Shigaraki didn’t like it, like most things, he knew it was for the best. So he sighed and scratched the back of his head.

“Fine... alright.” he gave in. How obnoxious... another roommate. He listened to Toga make a girlish squeal, standing on one foot and lifting the other back while balling her fists upward. At least Dabi and Todoroki were the calm quiet types. She was going to be a handful and Shigaraki could already tell. Midoriya felt bad for him.

“I can prepare a room for this evening. Shigaraki, here, could accompany you in retrieving new personal belongings in the meantime.” Kurogiri volunteered him. 

“What?!” 

“Looks like you got a date,’’ Dabi remarked slyly.

Just as Shigaraki began mostly snapping at Kurogiri and telling Dabi to be quiet all while Toga hugged on to his waist, Todoroki slowly stacked his dishes and then placed his kitsune mask over his face. He carefully snuck away after patting Zuzu’s head for her to stay and he joined Midoriya at the door. They both knew he wouldn’t be able to walk the whole way with him, but he could at least accompany him halfway. It made the little villain smile. Midoriya got on his toes and pulled Todoroki’s hood over his head for him. Then the two held hands as they went on their way together.

It was a very cloudy morning with heavy moisture in the air. Many people had their umbrellas prepared for a rainy day. “Pretty convenient that no one questions masks all that much these days. You don’t have to sneak around too hard.” Midoriya commented as he and Todoroki walked. What with body changing quirks, lots of people hide or alter their faces. “I’ll miss going on out with you though. I like seeing your face.” Even if Todoroki wasn’t dead, there were plenty of downsides to his faked death. 

“We could try other disguises or something. You think that girl knows anything about makeup?” the taller boy suggested. It would appear that wearing makeup as a boy wasn’t much of a problem for him. “We should ask her sometime after she’s settled in. With Shigaraki helping her, it would be quick.”

“That’s if Tomura doesn’t kill her first.” Midoriya rolled his eyes with a smile. “He hates going out. Though...” he snickered to himself. “There’s one thing you can do that always gets him.” And somewhere in the distance, Toga was hugging on to Shigaraki tightly with big puppy eyes. She asked for him to go with her with a ‘please?’ and he became completely frozen.

With the school in sight, Midoriya pulled Todoroki aside into an alleyway. Without a word, he quickly reached up to take the kitsune mask and lower it just enough to kiss his lips. He held it carefully, not wanting to dirty it. With his other hand, he held his beloved’s cheek, guiding him to only come closer. He could feel himself being pushed gently back against the wall, the back of his head being forced against cold brick. It didn’t bother him at all. He smiled feeling a hand sneak down to his hip while another held his chin to bring him closer. “A playful little fox...” he whispered teasingly, only pulling away for a moment.

After his comment, he felt more pressure pushing him into the wall and deepening the kiss. It made him giggle. Todoroki was never the power-hungry type, rather someone who went with the flow of things. Maybe the freedom Shigaraki had given him was getting to him. Midoriya wouldn’t love anything more. He giggled. “Oh, someone didn’t like that...” he teased a little further. Then he felt a bite on his lip. Todoroki was getting bold. Endeavor may not have frightened him, but the shackles he forced on him were ripped off. “So scary... but you’re still just my little fox.”

The sound of their kiss started to be drowned out by raindrops hitting the ground. And yet they proceeded with it through the rain. It came down hard quickly, soaking the both of them. Yet there was something else that began to water. Pulling away slowly, Todoroki gazed at his beloved’s teary eyes. “Preparing for school?” he asked, brushing green hair behind Midoriya’s ear lovingly.

“I guess. I’m just...” Midoriya smiled as the rain came down a little harder. “I’m so happy... for you.” Todoroki was finally free. He could finally live his own life and take control. “But, I’m really going to miss you at school.” But there were still things the little villain was going to miss. He reached up to place his hand on his beloved’s neck where he had seen burns there so many times. He had healed them so many times. “But you’re finally safe. It just makes me so happy that I don’t need to worry so much.” He took his hand back and began rubbing his eyes with his sleeve and held the kitsune mask back out to Todoroki. “Rainy days are so gloomy, huh?” 

Todoroki took the mask and looked down at the red designs with just the smallest soft smile on his face. “I don’t know... I kinda like rainy days. It’s when I found you after all.” He put the mask back on and reached under his white cloak to give Midoriya an umbrella he had grabbed before they left. “You should get going before you’re late.” Midoriya took it and opened it above his head. His tears of mixed happiness, sadness, and fakeness blended with the rain wonderfully even as he smiled at his hero who was turning to leave. “By the way, you can’t call me little when I’m taller than you,” Todoroki said like he was pretending to be annoyed. It made the other giggle as they both went their separate ways for the morning.

As soon as Todoroki left, Midoriya closed the umbrella despite the storm. He took a moment to slap both his cheeks lightly. “Gotta pretend he’s dead. Like you just lost everything.” It’s not like he was living with him now, sleeping in the same bed every night, eating breakfast together every morning, kissing countless times a day- it was so hard to think sadly when that was the truth. But his identity was on the line here. It was time to play the best actor ever.

Walk like you did that day. Midoriya merely dragged the umbrella at his side, looking half down towards his feet. His eyes were dark, tired, and dull. Walk like you’re going to the roof. His feet subtly dragged with each step, keeping a slow pace. Letting his hair and clothes get soaked, he didn’t let it bother him as other students hurried past him trying to get inside. The more miserable he looked, the more uncomfortable he felt, the more negative his mood would be. He was going to work with his real emotions to encourage fake ones. 

A depressed and heartbroken Midoriya wouldn’t think normally. He’d be out of his mind. Do things out of habit rather than adjusting. He wouldn’t be rational. The little villain left his umbrella in the holder with everyone else’s, but he didn’t head to his homeroom. Instead, he went towards class 1-A, keeping close to the wall and keeping slow. It was what he would have done if Todoroki had really died in that fire. He would check his desk to see if he was there, even if it was impossible.

Midoriya peered around the corner of the doorway and looked into the classroom. Kosuke’s desk was empty with a few flowers that had been kept in glass vases and a photograph. They must have been tending to it since his body was found. And now Todoroki’s desk was blanketed in white flowers. There was no room for a photo. No one must have printed one out yet. Beside his desk was Yaoyorozu in her own seat, crying quietly into her hands with Jirou bending down beside her. Most other students were keeping to themselves, sitting quietly, and occasionally wiping their eyes. Some were more reserved and others were more emotional. He saw the boy Shinsou had been talking with texting on his phone, forcing a smile as he tried to hold back tears. He saw many with their heads down, keeping quiet and trying hard not to look at the flower-covered desk. Some desks were still empty with students yet to arrive.

“This isn’t right!” Midoriya jumped at someone blurting out in frustration. He noticed Kirishima stand up with his fists on his desk. His face was soaked with tears. He must have been much more sensitive than most people. It wasn’t a bad thing. “He was just-... he was just here last week! How...” That boy too had a big heart. He and Todoroki would have gotten along well had they spent more time together. “How could this happen...? We were just interning.” The school let them down. Surely that’s what they were all feeling. But it couldn’t just be that. The hero world failed them. Two of their classmates were dead and not a hero could help either one. “It’s not fair... He was a really good guy, you know? Quiet but like, he was really nice...” he quietly wept.

“They said it was an accident. It was just a mistake. Everyone... makes mistakes.” Ojiro said, using his tail to cover the top of his head as he kept it lowered. He sounded choked up.

“Well this was a pretty bad mistake! They let one of us die!” Kaminari put his phone down and snapped, losing his smile. But he still struggled to keep himself from ugly crying. “Didn’t you hear... how awful it was?” No one even wanted to imagine.

“Th-They said it was smoke, right? Like... it was peaceful.” Aoyama also forced a smile as he gestured with his hands. It was a peaceful death. It was just... suffocation.

“I thought they were saying he, y-you know...” Uraraka had her fingers in her hair at the side of her head, using her other hand to cover her mouth. She broke down before she could get the words out.

“Burned alive...”  Tokoyami finished for her, having his hand over the center of his face, letting tears stream down his straight expression. His statement caused a few others to crack; Ashido, Sato, and Mineta gritting their teeth hard as they cried. 

“He was the only one... how lonely, you know?” Asui rubbed her eyes with the ball of her palm. “I feel bad. I never talked to him that much, kero. Like, we’re all feeling this sad even though none of us really knew him that well. You get the feeling like, you don’t get to be sad. But... I’m sad for us and him...kero.”

“S-Sometimes it hurts more that way. B-Because now we all felt that w-we should have been there for him, you know? I-I mean, you all noticed it too, didn’t you?” Ashido spoke through her crying, turning back to look at Asui and then the rest of the class. “The day we trained with those giant robots, we all saw it. H-How sad he was.” The day Todoroki tried to get himself killed. He was almost crushed and he wasn’t going to dodge it.

“Does... anyone know about a funeral?” Shoji asked quietly. His eyes were closed and his mask was a bit wet. But his tears had stopped. He seemed calm. “We should all go to pay respects. Maybe... he won’t be so alone that way.”

“I heard his family is keeping it private. They’re not letting any visitors in.” Jirou answered sadly, lightly rubbing Yaoyarozu’s back. The earphone jack student seemed to be doing well at keeping her grief together for the time being. But there was still pain in her tone as the class looked at her. “Wh-Whatever remains they found- I heard his father wanted him cremated and that he won’t have a public grave to visit.”

“That’s fucked up!” Kirishima swung his arm in the air and balled that hand’s fist. 

“Kirishima..!” The quiet rock boy, Koda, raised his hands slightly to try to keep Kirishima calm. “It... It’s his family’s wishes. W-We should respect them.” His voice was soft and shaky, but still clear to be heard. 

“He’s not some family dog to be buried in a backyard and kept alone in a house! That’s selfish! It’s cruel to Todoroki!” But Kirishima wasn’t backing down as he brought his fist closer and glared at it, letting teardrops fall on to his knuckles. “Todoroki cared about every single one of us. Don’t you remember how far he went to save Mr. Aizawa and to call for backup?! He risked his life for us and...” he gritted his teeth, hard, as his voice grew soft. “I don’t think I ever... properly thanked him... He would want us to visit him. He would want someone to talk to...” 

Anyone listening would be sure Todoroki was dead from eavesdropping on his class. The grief was real. The fear, the guilt, the sadness, the emptiness was all so real for his classmates. Even Midoriya, who knew he was alive, who kissed him so passionately just a little while ago, was in tears all over again listening to them. It wasn’t empathy, no. It was convincing him that Todoroki really was dead. That he really burned alive all alone in that fire, abandoned by all the heroes. 

“Get out of here.” someone lightly bumped past Midoriya while he was listening. Dripping wet, hair soaked, and eyes streaming tears, the little villain looked up to see who nudged him. That bleach colored hair and blood-red eyes were unmistakable. “Your boyfriend’s not here,” Bakugo stopped at the doorway and looked back at him coldly. The loud, hot-headed demeanor he had grown accustomed to was not present here. Was he grieving too? Or was the atmosphere just getting to him? “You’re only making it more painful for yourself so get lost.” 

He didn’t stick around for a response and went inside the classroom. As shook as Midoriya was seeing him so quiet, his blood ran cold when he watched the boy go to Todoroki’s desk. He watched him pull out two flowers from inside his blazer. Bakugo was the only one to bring a single, dark crimson rose to the sea of white flowers. It was a flower of mourning. Bakugo did not say a word when going to his own desk to sit down and look out the window with his chin in his hand.

“Midoriya...” Then a softer voice came from behind him. Looking back, the little villain saw someone he could barely stand to look at. Overwhelmed by the convinced thought of Todoroki being dead was too much for his composure. At that moment, he was believing it himself. That Dabi never saved him. That no one ever came for him. That he was left to die, alone. Iida stood before the little villain, his head lowered in shame. “I guess it makes sense that you’re here. Checking on hi-” Iida was cut off by a hard, burning slap to the face. 

Midoriya’s eyes were wide with hate, soaked with tears, and red with irritation. Iida’s head had turned sideways from the slap, his cheek red and stinging. Yet his face was neutral. He let it be okay. But none of this was okay. “You were with him... You were in Hosu that night. You both were in the same hospital. He told me!” Midoriya snarled harshly. “Why didn’t you check on him then, huh? You loved him, didn’t you?!” If there was finally a time where he was allowed to be angry, this was the time. “All this time, trying to win him over right from under me... and you never bothered to go back for him?!”

“I was a fool... just like everyone else and I’m sorry.” Iida apologized calmly. “I trusted that he was rescued.” The glare of his glasses made it difficult to see the expression in his eyes. But his tone was sad, yet cold. “Just as planned.” Midoriya was about to slap him again when he paused with a quiet gasp. The little villain began to quiver. Planned? “You know what I’m talking about... don’t you?” Did Iida know? Did Iida know Todoroki more than he thought? What was he talking about? “You knew him better than anyone. So you must have known... that fire wasn’t an accident.” The bell for homeroom rang.

Iida walked past him without another word. He was the class representative and he still had a job to do. Midoriya was left stunned in his place. How did he ever find out? How much did he know? When did he find out? Was that okay? There was nothing that he could do now. He couldn’t just follow him inside and he wasn’t about to make conversation with him either. All he wanted to do right now... he just wanted to call Todoroki. He just really felt the need to hear his voice after listening to the students' talk.

The little villain ran off just as Aizawa came down the other end of the hall. The teacher was only able to see the boy turn the corner in tears. He didn’t go after him, having a class to console instead. And right now, Midoriya just wanted to hear Todoroki’s voice. He needed to remind himself that he wasn’t dead. He was perfectly fine. They kissed just a little while ago. But the anxiety in his stomach told him he just had to call him. He sat down in a staircase in the corner by large windows. He brought his knees to his chest as he whimpered through his tears. Todoroki was fine. He was out today, doing his own thing.

Midoriya tapped Todoroki’s contact on his phone and held it to his ear. He nearly choked on his own breath when an automatic message spoke. It said the number no longer existed. “The fire... it broke in the fire.” He had no way to contact him. “O-Okay...” Maybe he was back home already. Maybe he was with Kurogiri and Dabi back at home. So he called for Kurogiri. As usual, he answered right away.

“Hello?”

“H-Hey Dad... is Shouchan there? I-Is he back yet?” 

“Everyone saying he’s dead getting to you?” He always knew what was going on. “Are you alright?”

“K-Kinda... I’m just worried about him all of a sudden, y-you know?”

“Well, he’s not back yet. I’m sure he’s just fine.”

Midoriya covered his mouth and closed his eyes. He wasn’t back yet. That wasn’t what he wanted to hear. If Endeavor finds him sneaking around the mansion... he was really going to be dead. But Todoroki was good at sneaking around. He’d snuck out so many times before.

“If you’d like, I could send Dabi out to go look for hi-” Kurogiri started when there was a voice interrupting him in the background.

“Hey, I don’t think I’m really on board with that. He can handle himself.” Dabi was clearly trying to avoid Todoroki still. How long was that going to last?

“If he’s not back by like, afternoon... could you?” Midoriya asked quietly. 

“If it comes down to it, I’ll let your brother know.” Kurogiri knew Dabi would at least listen to Shigaraki. It was a cheap move, but it would work.

“Thanks... I gotta go now.” Midoriya was already late to homeroom. So he hung up, but didn’t get up right away. He put his phone down on the floor next to him and rubbed his eye with the ball of his palm. “He’s safe... Surely he’s safe,” he told himself. But he ended up crying a little harder. He missed Todoroki so much already.

“Alright you little grunts! Back to school so back to work! Hope your internships went well because y’all are gonna owe me papers at the end of the month!” Yamada was back and full of energy, keeping up the attitude and the smile for his class. His voice seemed much stronger with the help of the directional speaker around his neck. Most of his students were unaffected by Todoroki’s death because no one really knew him. He was just the kid that came in second place at the sports festival and nothing more. Yamada stood there with his hand on his hip and pointing out to the class. But he couldn’t help but glance at Shinsou. He was texting on his old flip phone and he looked pretty worried. Then the boy made eye contact with him before turning to Midoriya’s empty desk. “Class rep, take it away! And pardon me for just a minute, don’t miss me too much!” and he went out the door.

Yamada exited the room and looked down both ends of the hall, lowering the headphones on his ears. Just working with his gut, he jogged down one end and turned the corner. Keeping a steady quick pace, he searched the halls of the school high and low. Midoriya would be too stubborn to miss school. But not everyone had the strong enough will to function normally. So he took a couple minutes to look for his student. He knew he didn’t have many friends and wanted to be there for him at least a little bit. “Midoriya?” he called out. It took a little while, but he would eventually hear crying.

Midoriya still sat in the corner by the windows, his soft crying almost being drowned out by the rain hitting the glass. But one hero was still able to hear it. The little villain could hear someone come up the stairs slowly, letting their footsteps be acknowledged. Then he heard them get down on their knees in front of him. “Hey... hey, hey, c’mere.” He was brought into a gentle hug from Yamada. “I know, I know, it hurts. More than anything in the world.” The hug was a bit uncomfortable from the directional speaker. It was a bit bulky. “Lemme take this stupid thing off-” he slipped it off quickly and put it on the floor. It gave him a minute to look at his student’s face.

Midoriya was still dripping wet, his face and eyes were red from crying. Though he wasn’t grieving, as everyone thought he was, it was just the sudden anxiety and worry that was making him so upset now. It was still a false act of grief, but he was still sad. The attention and care from Yamada was still appreciated. Midoriya hugged him back, being careful of the bandages still around his neck. Of all the pro heroes out there... this was truest one of all. No glorious fights. No criminal getting arrested. No news crews or cameras flashing. Just a teacher taking the few minutes to excuse himself and comfort a boy in a time of grief in a dim hallway, letting the rain hit the glass beside them. 

“I’m gonna miss him too...” Yamada spoke quietly. This wasn’t the time for loudness, but without the speaker, his voice couldn’t be as powerful from the healing wound. “Don’t think I didn’t find out that I never paid for you both at that cafe. It never came up on my billing statement.” he nearly chuckled as he ran his finger back through Midoriya’s hair. “Little trouble makers together... but I knew he just made you happier than anything. I saw him light up your world every time you got a glimpse of him.” Ever since the first day of school, their first observation period, Yamada had seen a little twinkle in Midoriya’s eyes every time Todoroki was on screen. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but you can be happy like that again... That boy wanted nothing more than to see you smile.”

“He was lonely a lot... I hate that he was alone in that hospital.” Part of the grieving process was anger. “He was alone and no one went to help him. It wasn’t fair to him. He never did anything wrong to anyone.” 

“It’s okay to be angry. Lots of mistakes were made and something terrible happened because of it.” Yamada wasn’t going to patronize him for being angry. He wasn’t going to invalidate any of his emotions.

“He tried to do what's best for everyone. And no one cared about him enough to check if he was okay. He... He gave his heart out to people who didn’t deserve it.” Yamada suddenly felt the grip in his shoulders tighten while Midoriya had his head resting his shoulder. He couldn’t see his face. But he could hear the pain in his voice and feel the intensity of his hold.

“No... People cared about him, Midoriya. It was all just an accident. People were reckless, but they cared. We all cared.” Yamada kept his hand on his student’s back and tried to hug him a little closer. He didn’t want him to be filled with hatred. If only he had known it was nearly a year too late for that. He was holding a killer. In those teary eyes were glowing red hues accompanying a wide, crazed, and crooked grin.

“Now no one gets to have it anymore... they lost that privilege when they let him die.” Todoroki was all his now. Todoroki was home with him. He had been on his table, in his room, in his bed, at the bar with him. They were together and his heart was his and his alone. “No one’s going to take advantage of him anymore.”

Yamada couldn’t help but sigh. “If... that’s how you feel about it. Just know that he was genuine in the things he did for people. I have a feeling he’ll always be looking out for the good ones.” As he let Midoriya go slowly, he watched the boy wipe his tears. He never saw him smiling. “You think you’re okay enough to come to class?” He stood up and held his hand out to his student. With a few sniffles, Midoriya put his phone back in his pocket and took Yamada’s neckpiece before taking his teacher’s hand. He then gave him back the piece to his costume. 

“Yeah... I’m okay.”

“For someone who’s killed a ton of people, he doesn’t seem that strong-willed,” Dabi commented, swirling a drink in a shot glass. He sat at the bar with Kurogiri behind it. Shigaraki and Toga had gone off, leaving the two alone. “He was only there, what, an hour? You sure he’s this infamous doctor? Stain’s apprentice?”

“He’s unstable,” Kurogiri answered bluntly. “He’s been that way from the start.” He watched Dabi drink the shot in one hit, hunched over casually. His stapled face wasn’t flushed yet, probably having a high tolerance. “Your brother means the world and more to him. More than anyone could begin to understand.” 

Dabi looked down at his empty glass and looked disappointed that it was empty. “I mean, at least someone is there for him. And I should thank you for uh, taking care of him.” He said, scratching the side of his head. “Bossman said that you’ve been keeping him here in secret every once in a while. When things got bad at home-”

“This is his home now,” Kurogiri said quickly, causing Dabi to look up at him suddenly. “I made a promise to Izuku and Shigaraki that I would do anything in my power to make this place comfortable for him. I would like to start by never calling that mansion his home.” He didn’t come off as sharp, more concerned. “I would like to do the same for you.” The stapled man blinked a few times.

“You could start by giving me another round,” he snarked and raised his glass.

“I think you’ve had enough for one morning.” Kurogiri gently forced the glass down and refused his request. This left them both in silence for a little while. Dabi watched the news on the small tv while Kurogiri cleaned under the counter. Rain could be heard pattering outside, though it didn’t mask the sound of a puppy bouncing down the stairs. Zuzu had left and just came back down with her little Endeavor toy in her teeth. She looked as proud as could be to have the jugular in her jaws.

“Still trying to commit murder, huh?” Dabi watched her put her front paws on his stool. He leaned over to pick her up and put her on the counter so she could feel tall. “Me too...” This puppy had more bloodlust for Endeavor than he did for any living thing. He couldn’t kill someone when Shigaraki asked him to. He wanted to try again tonight. “Why did you send Shigaraki with that crazy girl? You don’t seem like the type to pull pranks on him,” he asked Kurogiri. 

The dark fog man rose up from under the counter and looked at Zuzu and petted her kindly. “I’m sure you’ve noticed that Shigaraki doesn’t act his age.” He tapped the side of his own foggy head. “He’s got the attitude and interests of a child, but he’s more experienced in life beyond his age. It’s unfortunate...” he paused for a moment to look at Shigaraki’s empty seat. “This is where I have to thank you for what you did the other night.” The night he failed to kill someone and bandaged the other’s hands. “He doesn’t have experience with people his own age.”

Dabi sighed at the thought. Shigaraki never took the time to hang out and talk to people his age? It didn’t look like he had any friends. He was antisocial and not the best at connecting to people; considering he tried to poke Dabi’s staples while he was asleep. He was pushy, bratty, and rude sometimes. But deep down, Kurogiri must have thought he was lonely. He never got to go to high school like other kids, never got to consider college, no parties, no nightly joyrides, pulling pranks with friends, he never had any of that. Never had a chance. When he walked the college campus that night he first found Dabi, he walked past something he never had. Friends.

“What about Fallen? He calls him his little brother, doesn’t he?” Dabi mentioned.

“There’s a five-year age gap between them. And though I feel he’s learned something from the boy, I wouldn’t consider it the same,” Kurogiri answered. “And now that Todo- do you think I should call him Shouto?” he shook his head. Maybe it was too soon for first names. “Todoroki will have all of Midoriya’s attention. They won’t be spending as much time together, because Todoroki means, quite literally, everything to him. Without him around, Izuku would... crumble.” It was only natural that Todoroki would steal Midoriya’s attention from Shigaraki. 

“So you’re saying he’s never spent more than a couple minutes with someone his own age, so you pushed the girl on him to socialize him?” Dabi asked to clarify. He already knew the answer and it made him make a short chuckle. “He’s like, what, 20? And he’s never socialized with anyone? No girlfriend either? Ever? Well I guess the severed hand is a bit of a turn-off...You would think someone on this side of life would have gotten laid by now or someth-”

“Shigaraki Tomura does not feel attraction towards anyone.” Kurogiri cut him off before he could make any more assumptions. It made the stapled man freeze up for a moment.

“What does that mean? He can’t be that heartless.” He was evil, a killer, and rude. But he had feelings. He cared about Midoriya and he protected Dabi when he was attacked. He gave them all a safe and comfortable place to stay. His rules were lax and he was reasonable. He wasn’t heartless.

“Shigaraki is physically incapable of feeling physical attraction to anyone. That's just the way he is. But physically... he is stunted.” Dabi raised a brow to Kurogiri’s vague explanation. He watched him glance at the tv as if he was checking to see if anyone was listening through it. He looked suspicious. “You will hear the mention of a doctor here. Shigaraki’s master, All For One, has a very powerful doctor at his disposal that Izuku now works for. That doctor is not to be trusted.” Dabi folded his arms as he leaned back a bit and listened. “As a child, training was required in order to make him become numb to killing. All For One had him as a child hitman, so to speak. He returned wounded on multiple occasions.” Kurogiri folded his arms as his glowing yellow eyes narrowed. The dark fog clouds that were his body became a bit sharper as they moved. “The doctor took the liberty of altering multiple parts important to his physical development in order to keep him from getting 'distracted' by any exceptions to his orientation.”

“So basically... this doctor guy cut him open as a kid and made it so he skipped the majority of his puberty? To like, double make sure he doesn't get turned on or anything?” Dabi looked down at his empty glass. Boy, did he think Shigaraki deserved the strongest drink of mankind. No wonder he became so anxious at being touched that afternoon. When Dabi had his arm around his lower back, jokingly bringing him closer, he watched him scratch his neck trying to keep himself together. “Does it... hurt him?”

“Your first questions are correct. Your third... I am unsure.” Kurogiri held a hand over his face with a sigh. “What that doctor did was cruel and unwarranted. I can’t forgive him for doing that when he was just a child. He wouldn’t stray from what All For One expected of him regardless.” He then uncovered his face and looked at Zuzu who was gnawing on a flame from her Endeavor plushie’s head. “That is why I’m trying to push him to socialize. He needs to learn how to communicate and connect with others if he truly wants to be a leader. But also... I would like for him to form relationships with people. It’ll help him grow.”

Dabi thought about what he had just learned about Shigaraki. While in thought, he lowered his head and put his hand in his hair, shifting his fingers a bit. It still felt better when it was someone else’s. Shigaraki was capable of connecting and caring. It was just difficult. “I’ll keep that in mind...” was all Dabi had to say on the matter. “By the way, could you tell him I want to try again tonight?” 

Observation period was hopelessly boring. Everything was boring. There was nothing to look forward to, not even lunch. School had become so boring without Todoroki, but also a bit lonely. Getting his lunch, Midoriya instinctively went to the glass door before he remembered it was raining. But it was then that he remembered that there was no one to eat with. Instead, he sat down at an empty table for two that Todoroki had sat with him at during the very beginning of the semester. Though now he didn’t have that much of an appetite. He couldn’t wait to have dinner with Todoroki tonight.

“Midoriya.” Someone had come up to the table after a few minutes of sitting in still silence. Three people had, actually.

“Hey man... you doing okay?”

“I mean, you’re probably not but like... you know...”

Shinsou, Kirishima and Kaminari came to check on him. All of them appeared to be worried about him, though Shinsou seemed a bit more stone-faced than the others. Expressing emotion didn’t come easy to everyone. “I mean... I’m as good as I can be, you know?” he lied. He was sad Todoroki wasn’t there to eat with him and that he couldn’t contact him at the moment. But he wasn’t grieving.

“So, we were wondering if you wanted to sit with us. Instead of being alone. We brought an extra chair over so there’s plenty of room for you.” Kaminari offered, pointing to their table. Bakugo, Sero, and Ashido were stealing glances at them. Bakugo looked extremely pissed. But he averted his gaze the second Midoriya looked his way. 

“But if you want your time alone, we respect your choice.” Shinsou added, trying not to make him feel forced.

“But we’d really like to have you!” Kirishima was a bit more pushy. Midoriya looked to him specifically remembering what he had said in the classroom. He was very defensive and distraught over Todoroki’s death. He was passionate and upset. He really did care; he was a good guy. Midoriya smiled timidly with a small shrug of his shoulders. 

“If it’s not too much trouble.” he answered, making the two hero students smile brightly while Shinsou cracked a smirk. Then the four of them walked together to the table. He sat down next to Sero and Shinsou, while Shinsou sat next to Kaminari. Ashido was directly across from him. He was mostly silent and kept to himself, mostly just listening to the people around him. They seemed to have an assortment of personalities. Fun-loving, mischievous, but they just seemed like normal teenagers. Teasing and making fun of each other, but still being supportive and trying to peer pressure each other into silly things. Though, maybe they were trying to be extra silly today. 

Kaminari was playing with his food a bit, changing the rice around to make funny pictures and calling them portraits of the others. Ashido was showing the table memes on her phone as well as just random things and making hypotheticals to answer. “Would you rather… have a horse loose in a hospital or… or be homeless in a new town?” Kirishima and Sero talked a bit loudly to each other, getting hyped about something, but it looked like they were enjoying themselves. It seemed they were trying to make the air infectious with humor and fun. Even Shinsou made small sarcastic comments to Kaminari, talking to him more than anyone else. Midoriya noticed that specifically. 

Kaminari would just talk and talk and goof around with Shinsou mostly listening and occasionally commenting to keep him talking. He would rest his cheek against his fist, just watching go on about random topics. The look in his tired eyes was unmistakable to the little villain. The little twinkle, the focus, and just the smallest smirk on his face. Shinsou was listening to every word but his eyes were hopelessly entranced with thoughts. He was looking at Kaminari the same way Todoroki looked at Midoriya when he talked. 

“Hey, Bakugo- Where ya going?” Kirishima reached out to Bakugo as the latter got up with his half-eaten food to leave. He hadn’t said a word since Midoriya sat down and he had barely even looked at him. He was never the type to be silently pissed off, rather he was more willing to have a fiery outburst. He wouldn’t just walk away. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Kirishima got up with him and took his hand only for Bakugo to whip his out of his grip. Kirishima looked a bit disheartened, though more worried.

“Lost my appetite.” Bakugo muttered, taking a moment to glare darkly at Midoriya.

“W-We still… what about later?” Kirishima asked much more quietly. No one at the table would hear them, but it was clear that they were talking to each other.

“Just keep me away from him and we’re fine.” And with that, he walked off, tossing his food out aggressively and leaving the cafeteria completely. Kirishima was left to sit back down as he rubbed the back of his head. 

“Sorry about him, Midoriya. I know you guys were never really on the greatest of terms. But he sympathizes with you, honest.” he apologized. “But there was something else we all wanted to ask you…”

“We know you and Todoroki would spend a lot of time during lunch and after school together. So…” Sero began awkwardly but was keeping a kind tone and face.

“We wanted to invite you to come out with all of us right after we go home!” Ashido balled her fists and smiled brightly. “After we dropped our stuff off, we wanted to head downtown and spend the afternoon wandering around.”

“We didn’t want you to feel lonely or anything. But if you want your space, that’s fine too.” Shinsou, once again, made sure Midoriya didn’t feel pressured. Sometimes people needed to be alone with their grief for a little while and that was okay. But the company was there for him too. The little villain’s breath was caught in his throat as he looked around at the friendly faces surrounding him. Kirishima seemed to be smiling the most heartfelt.

“O...Okay.”

Meanwhile, someone had ditched those friendly faces. Bakugo had his hands in his pockets as he walked out of the cafeteria, staring at the ground a few feet in front of him. Eyes that had been so bright with rage and passion appeared dim and intense with thought. He was alone in the hall while teachers and students enjoying their meal time with friends. But he didn’t have an appetite or a desire to sit near Midoriya. His pace was slow until he stopped completely. He stared at the tile below his feet, then up at the ceiling above him. This was where Kosuke’s body had fallen.

Bakugo remembered being paralyzed the moment it hit the ground. He, Kirishima, and Todoroki were all drenched in splattered blood, separated by the corpse between them. They were incapable of moving from the shock and the fear caused by the sight of gore. It made his stomach sick at the memory. His classmate’s death was so merciless and cruel, but most of all it was disrespectful. Unforgivable. It was done out of hate.

Bakugo continued down the halls back to his classroom, peeking inside to check if anyone was there. It was empty. He let himself in and started by leaning against the window and staring at the rain. For minutes he just stood there in silence doing nothing but listening. Listening to the patter and droplets falling from the roof. Just staring and watching. It was such a gloomy day. Kosuke would have been complaining all day, saying stuff like how the weather made him weaker. It would have been annoying to listen to. But shifting focus to Kosuke’s empty desk, there would never be a complaint heard again.

Before long, Bakugo found himself standing directly in front of Todoroki’s flower-covered desk. There was a sea of white petals with just one red blossom amongst them all. Everyone had pitched in. “Was it everything you were hoping for?” he asked quietly. He knew he wouldn’t get an answer. Though he placed a hand amongst the flowers. “You wanted this, remember? Think it’s nice?” Everyone had seen the look on Todoroki’s face when that robot fell. He wanted to die. Bakugo gritted his teeth and lowered his head. 

“Because it sucks for the rest of us. You think you can just throw a match and die on us like this? Don’t you see how upset you’ve made everyone? You fucking idiot!” His nails dug into the wood of the tabletop. “And you’ve left us a psychopath… you were the only one that could control him, but he ended up controlling you! You damn weakling!” He was sad, but he was enraged. “Is he gonna kill us off now? Just like Kosuke? Are you really okay with that?!” 

He shook his head. “You saw what he did. Weren’t you… scared? Like the rest of us? Is that what happened to you? Did he keep you in a cage and you only played his puppet to stay safe? You knew something was wrong with him, didn’t you? You couldn’t be that blind!” He put both his hands on the desk. “I’m not one for believing in speaking to the dead- but please protect everyone from him. If you can do one fucking thing right… Don’t let him butcher the rest of our friends!” He was frustrated. But he was scared.

“Don’t go saying something like that out in the open. Making conspiracies like that are only going to get you expelled.” Bakugo raised his head at the sound of Aizawa’s voice. But when he looked back, his teacher wasn’t in the room. He was in the hallway talking to someone else.

“I-It’s not a conspiracy. My brother knew something was wrong eight years ago! He left it alone and it happened again. You have to believe me!” Iida’s voice could be heard desperately trying to converse with Aizawa.

“Easy young man, we know you’re upset. But sometimes accidents happen… It’s just human error. I know it’s hard to accept; but sometimes that’s all there is to it.” All Might was out there too. Bakugo kept his back against the wall near the door to listen in.

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Aizawa stopped him from continuing. “Some things involved… I have a hard time believing it was all human error alone. You don’t just miscommunicate someone being left inside a burning building. Especially someone like Endeavor’s son.

“So you… do believe me?” Iida asked.

“There’s a lot I’m not sure about. Between Kosuke’s murder, Endeavor’s role, and Todoroki’s unfortunate death… I’m not sure what to make of it.” They all sounded pretty stumped on the situation. There was much to be skeptical about.

“You don’t think… that boy still has anything to do with it? The one Todoroki was always with?” All Might knew there was still another piece to this puzzle. “D-During the interrogation, that was not the look of an innocent schoolboy. That was… I almost want to say a mons-” He was cut off by footsteps.

“You’re talking about Deku, aren’t you?” Bakugo asked, stepping out of the classroom. He found All Might, Aizawa, and Iida standing just a little way down the hall. They looked surprised to see him while he kept a grumpy straight face.

“D...Deku?” All Might asked back.

Bakugo gestured with his hands to his hair and face. “Green hair, freckles, looks sadistic half the time.” He approached them and put his hands in his pockets. “He killed Kosuke, I know it.” The three others’ faces looked surprised to hear his accusation.

“How would you-” Iida was about to question him.

“I saw his eyes…” Bakugo’s eyes narrowed. “Back at the USJ, when that monster had me in its grasp. I was right in front of him. He wore a mask, but those eyes were his… the bloodlust. And I swear I saw a scar on the right side.” He recalled back to the time he got to look Fallen in the eyes. Glowing red hues, eager for fun and death. He had seen them at the mall so long ago, but he never forgot.

“We have no proof and that information is not going to cut it.” Aizawa folded his arms.

“You calling me a liar?!” the blond student snapped.

“I’m saying that’s not enough. I believe you. I’d believe you if you told me in the interrogation room before the USJ. That kid has evil written all over his face in blood. But the question here is what he had to do with Todoroki’s death now that Kosuke’s case has gone cold.” The tired man had been suspicious of Midoriya since the day the body fell. Hearing Bakugo so convinced as well just strengthened his conviction. 

“N-Now now, that must have been an accident-” All Might was persistent on no foul play. 

“I’m telling you Endeavor started that fire. He killed his firstborn son eight years ago and covered it up as a freak accident! His son was a troublemaker and had poor grades and Endeavor must have gotten furious. Todoroki threw the match at the sports festival on live tv and he was suspicious of Kosuke’s death because of their fight. So he off-ed him too!” Iida insisted. "And Midoriya... I believe Bakugo too. He threatened me once and said I may end up like Kosuke. He was aggressively protective of Todoroki, I believe enough to kill someone for him."

“I wouldn’t doubt Endeavor to be so violent… I went to his mansion to demand Mic’s resignation. He swung at me.” Aizawa’s eyes narrowed as he held his hand to his scarf.

“He swung at you?!” All Might had sweat running down his brow as he looked away with gritted teeth. There was no smile in this conversation. “Todoroki… What are you doing? What have you become…?” 

“So we’re saying his old man tried to kill him by setting the hospital on fire and manipulating first responders to miscommunicate and leave him in there to die? Well what I’m worried about is his little boyfriend killing everyone in the school now that he’s gone.” Bakugo looked back at the classroom with narrowed eyes. “Todoroki would have kept him from hurting anyone, you all know it too. But I think he wasn’t strong enough to convince that psycho to spare Kosuke. We know what Deku is capable of with enough motivation and no restraint.” 

“Without the evidence, we’re just making conspiracies. That can get both you in serious trouble and even expelled. All Might and I-” Aizawa was cut off mid-sentence.

“None of that matters if we can keep someone else from dying. We have to do something!” Iida stomped his foot and balled his fists. He was right. They had to do something. A lot of people were going to die if they didn’t.

Chapter Text

Shinsou looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He repeatedly took off and put on a purple unzipped hoodie over a black graphic t-shirt. Squinting at his reflection, he was stumped on whether he looked better with or without it. He eventually sighed and kept it on before putting some water in his hair trying to keep it from popping up. But the moment it was wetted down, it popped up again. He grumbled trying multiple times to keep it down. Eventually, he gave up. Then he went to the kitchen and grabbed his phone off the table before making his way to the door and slipping his shoes on. “I’m leaving,” he called out.

“And where are you going? It’s going to pour tonight,” Aizawa asked. He was grading papers on the sofa with the tv on in the background. Yamada was in the kitchen cooking.

“Um… out,” Shinsou answered vaguely. He looked to Yamada for help but the blond just raised a brow with a smirk. He wasn’t gonna make an excuse for him. “With… friends.”

“Anyone I should know about?” Aizawa didn’t look up from the schoolwork on his lap. He trusted him with going out. He just wanted to know some details. 

“Well uh… some kids from your homeroom. Kaminari invited me.” The tired man rolled his eyes as Yamada turned his back to chuckle quietly to himself.

“I’m just going to say this now. If there’s one thing I learned in life, don’t get attached to a loud blond. Because you’ll be stuck with them forever and they’re nothing but trouble.” Aizawa grumbled but then he smirked to himself. He was happy he got stuck with one. “I want you back by eight.”

“Nine?” Shinsou tried to push.

“Seven.” The boy was about to protest when the tired man raised his hand. “Any later you call one of us to pick you up. I don’t want you walking back after sundown. I’ll take your friends home too if they need it.” Shinsou sighed in relief. He knew Aizawa was just worried about him after what happened to Yamada. But he was happy to be given the privilege of staying out late with his friends. He’s never got to do this before after all. “And one more thing.” Aizawa got up from the couch with a tired grunt before going into his work bag on the floor. Shinsou was given a small handful of cash. “Go have fun. But you better study for exams all tomorrow afternoon.”

Shinsou looked at the money he was given with wide eyes of amazement. It wasn’t a ton of money, but it was just something new to him. He gulped with a slow nod. “Y...Yeah. Thanks.” He put the money in his pocket before grabbing an umbrella that was leaned up against the wall. “So I’ll be going now. I’ll be careful, I promise. Bye.” And he went out the door, waving goodbye to the two teachers.

“Stuck forever with nothing but trouble?” Yamada laughed, repeating what Aizawa had said. He only smiled bigger feeling a hug from behind his waist and a chin resting on his shoulder.

“No doubt about. Just a big pain in my ass.”

Bakugo peeked out his bedroom window to see Kirishima and Midoriya waiting outside in the rain for him. Midoriya wore a black hoodie he kept in his bag while Kirishima had already gone home to change and drop his school bag off. Bakugo had gone inside with him to avoid being left alone with the little killer. But now Kirishima was alone with him. He didn’t take his eyes off them for a second while getting changed. There was no way to hear them, but he could see that they were talking. He hoped they would get along… for Kirishima’s sake.

The two sat on the sidewalk outside as it drizzled out. Despite the rain, there was still a plan to go out and enjoy their late afternoon. “Don’t you guys have big exams coming up? I thought you would be studying.” Midoriya asked with a small smile. He genuinely enjoyed this redhead’s company. He was a little on the loud side, but he knew how to read the atmosphere.

“Yeah, we do. But it’s hard to study when you’re depressed as hell, you know? But uh… I wanna apologize for Kats- Bakugo, again. He mentioned that you two haven’t been on good terms in a long time.” He waved his hands in front of himself. “I’m not like, trying to force you both to be besties or anything. Th-That’s not my place,” he explained nervously. “But he was pretty upset about Todoroki too, even though he won’t admit it. So I pushed him to come out with us today too. Thought it might help…” He looked down at his shoes, suddenly not looking so sure if he did the right thing.

“Kacchan doesn’t usually listen to people. I’m impressed you’ve got any kind of influence on him.” Midoriya giggled. Kirishima blushed at the comment, but couldn’t help but fall victim to the cute expression the little killer was making. He believed this freckled boy was just an innocent little thing.

“W-Well…” he mumbled, looking back at the door. “Between you and me… Katsuki and I have been trying to uh… get together, you know?” he blushed a bit more. “Ever since the Tragedy and the USJ, we’ve spent a lot of time together. I’ve got to see sides to him no one really sees, and he listens to me. Most of the time. But he doesn’t wanna tell anyone.” Knowing Bakugo, he was probably a bit embarrassed. Though there was also an underlying threat. Kirishima could be used against him if Midoriya deemed him a weak point. The little villain did all he could not to wear a crooked grin of enthusiasm. How convenient for Shigaraki’s next plot.

“I’m happy for you both. It’s good to have someone during a time like this.” Midoriya said, folding his arms on his knees and resting his chin on top of them. “Shouchan and I couldn’t tell people we were like that. His family wouldn’t like it. But lots of people found out because we weren’t very good at hiding it.” he chuckled. He waved his hand a bit and looked to the redhead sitting beside him. “I fell in love with the school pretty-boy. How could I help myself not to kiss that face?” For the longest time, he only knew him as the beautiful boy from the roof. “You could feel him warm up when I kissed his scar. He’s pretty insecure about it, but he wouldn’t tell anyone.” He found Todoroki’s embarrassment over his left eye cute sometimes.

“You’re not insecure about yours, are you? Mine was just a dummy move. I rubbed my eye just when my quirk showed up and started bawling like a baby. Nothing compared to what you got.” Kirishima tilted his head, eyeing the red streak down Midoriya’s right eye. 

“Nah, not really. It’s a little creepy to think about where it came from though.” Midoriya poked at the scar a bit, not feeling any pain from it. “I mean… both people involved other than me are dead…” His eyes turned to Kirishima, but not his head. “Kinda spooky?” he asked with almost a giggle. It made the redhead shiver a bit. 

“So we goin’ or not?” Bakugo stepped out the front door with his hands in his pockets. Midoriya and Kirishima both stood up upon seeing him finally come out. As soon as they did, Bakugo got in between them and subtly nudged Kirishima back with his shoulder. He didn’t want him within an arm’s length of the little villain. And then he opened an umbrella over himself and the redhead.

“Did you get one for him?” Kirishima asked.

“Just the one. A little rain won’t hurt him.”

“Dude-”

“It’s alright.” Midoriya smiled. Throwing his hood up over his head, he looked up at the rainy sky cheerfully. “I like rainy days…” he hummed. He closed his eyes peacefully, letting the droplets fall on to his face. He met Todoroki on a rainy day after all. But his words left Bakugo to click his tongue against his teeth in disgust.

The three of them traveled downtown together. Bakugo and Kirishima shared an umbrella with Midoriya walking behind with just a hood on, but he was happy that way. Though eventually, Bakugo had him walking in front of them. He wasn’t comfortable with the little villain in their blind spot. Yet as they walked so casually down the city streets, they passed by some innocent-looking shops. Clothing, accessories, general goods, bakeries, passing all the likes without a second thought. Unbeknownst, there were two other villains scrounging around the area.

Coincidentally, Toga had also dragged Shigaraki to the downtown area near U.A.. She appeared as happy as could be taking the lead in their shopping trip while her accompanier trailed behind. She was dressed in her typical schoolgirl uniform because she was without a big bounty for the time being. She wasn’t well known enough to bother with much of a disguise. While behind her, Shigaraki wore a black hoodie with his hood up and a flu mask. His hair was a bit wet from being outside, though it worked in his favor because most of it covered the remainder of his face except for one eye. He couldn’t look more annoyed to be alive.

“Do you really need me for this? You’re just using me to carry your stupid bags…” Shigaraki grumbled while carrying four bags on separate fingers on each hand to keep from destroying them. “You could have just texted Kurogiri for this.” He certainly did. He took out his phone to send a quick text before tossing the bags behind him just to have them go through a portal and disappear. 

“Oh tut-tut! I just like the company.” Toga hummed, standing on one foot’s toes and delicately picking through a shelf of makeup holders. “Not everything has to be about work. Life’s hard enough as it is and I just wish it was easier.” She then reached for two holders. One was pink with hearts and the other was black with glitter. Looking between the two, she tilted her head mumbling to herself. Too many choices. “Which one do you think?”

“Black.”

“Pink it is!” Toga put the black one back and hugged the pink one gleefully. 

“Why even ask for my opinion if you’re just gonna choose the other one?” Shigaraki asked annoyedly.

“Just to prove that your tastes are totally lame. Not cute at all.” she looked back at him with a big smile despite her insults. “But you are participating, so that’s cute.” she giggled. It only made Shigaraki’s single eye and body language look more frustrated. But there was a little red on his face under that flu mask. 

“Whatever…” 

Going to the register to pay, Toga placed down a number of girly things fit for her new place. Makeup, makeup holder, jewelry box, nail polish, and a few posters and lights for her room. Shigaraki gave her the money for it all. He had stolen it from the cards of Dabi’s failed assassination attempt. They weren’t canceled yet so the atm cards were still good. It wasn’t that hard to get some cash as a villain. Just before checkout, Shigaraki grabbed an umbrella that was for sale just next to the door. He was getting pretty sick of the rain, even shivering when he got close to the glass. There wasn’t enough fat on him for body heat. This is one of those moments where he saw Dabi as a lucky bastard.

“Paying for your girlfriend. How gentlemanly.” the cashier said sweetly. That made him shiver more.

“No… it’s not like that. She’s- wait, how old are you?” Shigaraki corrected the employee before looking at Toga.

“Seventeen!” she beamed as she held up peace signs with a cute smile. But it made Shigaraki scratch at his neck in a small panic.

“T-Too young.” Definitely too young. Close enough age to relate to each other, but it was an age gap he wasn’t comfortable being romantically associated with.

After paying, Shigaraki took Toga’s bags and the umbrella. He opened it up outside before holding it over them with unbandaged hands. Toga didn’t think much of it, cheerfully walking through puddles with him with her hands behind her back. Though, for a moment, she heard the umbrella twitch in the rain. She looked up and saw it was fine the next second and then ran her gaze down the pole to the handle. It had gotten a bit wet the few seconds Shigaraki took to open it. His hands had stinger wounds still. They were a bit swollen and red, though nowhere near as bad as before. But the uneven rainwater must have been causing him enough shocking pain to make him flinch.

Toga tilted her head childishly, eyeing the wounds. There was no blood so she wouldn’t consider them to be cute. But she understood that they must have been hurting. With a small in place skip, she snatched the umbrella handle out from Shigaraki’s grasp. “Hey-” he nearly protested and reached for it back. Though he stopped mid-reach and noticed the blonde girl beside him grinning innocently. She held the umbrella up over them for him, holding it a little higher to not hit him in the head. They didn’t exchange any words over it. They kept walking in near silence while Shigaraki put his hands in his pockets to keep them dry.

“So what can I get for you two?” The two of them had stopped at a small sweets shop on a corner. It was frilly and pink, so it naturally got Toga’s attention. She had dragged Shigaraki inside, although she didn’t have to try very hard for some reason. She pondered over the options for a few moments before her face lit up.

“Shortcake!” Both she and Shigaraki said at the same exact time, though she was much louder and enthusiastic while the other mumbled. Hearing him say the exact same thing, Toga blushed with excitement and clasped her hands together.

“No way! You like sweet stuff?!” Shigaraki temporarily ignored her while he paid. It only took a few seconds for small pieces of cake to be put on two girly china plates with little forks. Shigaraki took one and walked away in silence. “Thank you- hey, get back here!” Toga thanked the man behind the counter before grabbing her cake and running after Shigaraki. They sat down together at a table next to the window. “You’re serious? You? A sweet tooth?!”

“It’s just a type of taste. What’s the big deal?” Shigaraki huffed. Toga watched him carefully as he ate. He never took the flu mask off all the way, much to her disappointment. He pinched the front of it to pull it forward and snuck the cake into his mouth from underneath. “What did you think I ate? The flesh of my enemies?”

“Wouldn’t put it past you with that attitude.” she teased with a smile.

“Rude. You’re the one that drinks blood like a vampire.”

Toga kicked her feet playfully as she ate, making small noises of delight with every bite of her delicious cake. All while Shigaraki ate in silence, occasionally looking out the window and spacing out. This all seemed like a waste of time at first glance. But he wasn’t hating all of this as much as he thought he would. Was this what Kurogiri wanted? “Is my room going to have a kitchen?” Toga asked, leaning forward to get his attention.

“Yeah, why? It won’t be that big.” he kept staring out the window, not taking the time to look at her.

“Well after I make my room all pretty, we should bake a cake together and stuff. I mean, you like sweets after all.”

“Not a chance.”

“Oh come on, please?”

“No.”

“Then I’m not sharing!” Toga folded her arms and pouted, looking away from him. Though both of them exchanged glances from the corner of their eyes. She cracked a smile at him and shrugged dramatically. “Well, maybe I will…” she hummed. “I don’t wanna get fat after all.” Shigaraki stood up with the small plate and fork to return them to the counter to be washed.

“Share with Yako and Fallen first. Especially Yako.”

“Yako?” Toga tilted her head in confusion without realizing she accidentally tapped her cheek against her fork. She got frosting on her face. “Oh, the cute boy with the bloody leg from the fire?”

“Yeah. If one of them likes you then the other will too. But Yako’s going to need to feel welcome. You should ask them.” Shigaraki snatched a napkin from the counter before returning to the table. “I think they’d like you. Just don’t stab them.” he pushed the napkin against his thumb and made one quick swipe at Toga’s cheek just before sitting down. He was able to get all the frosting off without making it awkward. She felt her cheek and then noticed the lingering stickiness of the frosting. She blushed at his gesture.

“Y-Yeah… okay. Sure.” she nodded. It took her only a few minutes longer to finish up eating before she returned her plate and fork to the counter. Shigaraki waited at the door and spent a few moments spacing out again. He didn’t realize it was taking a few minutes for Toga to meet him. “Hey, this kinda reminds me of you~” he heard her call out to him. He turned back to see her pointed at a spinning display of cute stuffed animals. She pointed to a white rabbit with an X for one eye and had a few stylistically placed sewn patches. It had a black dangly bow around its neck and big floppy ears with one being cartoonishly torn. He didn’t think it resembled him at all.

“You’re kidding, right?”

“You’re kidding, right?” Todoroki quietly scoffed to himself. He sat at Endeavor’s desk at the mansion, the office doors wide open. He had successfully infiltrated his old home and was figuring out how to break into his father’s computer. But he almost had to laugh at how easy it was. “You are such an old bastard…” There was some heavy boomer energy. At the top corner of the computer monitor was a sticky note with every password and username for his computer and investigation. Of course, he would write it down instead of downloading a password manager. What was worse… he used the same password for everything. “What a dumbass…”

It wasn’t really hacking because he was just logging in normally with a username and password. It was information that his son was never supposed to have, especially as a villain. Going into Endeavor’s records, there were multiple folders, organized in alphabetical order, that would lead well-managed files. There was a folder for every disappearance, every interview, every document, and every person on staff. “There’s so much…” There was a ton to go through and Todoroki wasn’t sure if he would have time to go through all of it. His father and sister were out. But for how long?

What made it more difficult was that Todoroki didn’t have a phone. He couldn’t take pictures of anything he found. He could always risk coming back, but surely Endeavor would notice his computer being logged on so many times. But he mostly just didn’t want to come back when he didn’t have to. This house was filled with so many bad memories. So he took a deep breath. He went into a drawer that was unlocked to take out a few sheets of paper and then a pen. The first folder he clicked on was the staff record with their names, hero names, and contact info.

Eyes became so dark staring at so many names. Todoroki wrote down names, addresses, phone numbers, agency addresses, and anything he could write down that would give Shigaraki access to their lives and deaths. He knew full well that whoever’s name he put on the paper underneath his hand would likely die. He didn’t write everyone’s names, however. Some people he never had a problem with and didn’t think poorly of them. But there were many that shared his father’s attitude and his intensity. Some heroes were hard on Todoroki, unaware of the abuse Endeavor inflicted.

You should listen to him more. You should be proud to be his son. You shouldn’t talk to him like that. Respect your elders. Respect your superiors. Why are you causing him so much trouble? You should be ashamed of yourself. You should help him more. You should be more appreciative. You should be more grateful. He’s your dad, he’ll always be your family. Family is everything. You should cherish him more. You should-You should-You should-.

So many frustrating words Todoroki had heard from Endeavor’s sidekicks, investigation staff, and hero allies. They knew nothing. They didn’t see an abusive father, just a shining hero who could do no wrong. They were blind. They tried to guilt him and lecture him when they had no right. They were heroes the world had no use for. They were so frustrating. So many names were written in ink that morning. But there was one name on the roster that he had the mouse arrow hovering over. In the screen’s reflection, he hadn’t noticed how hateful and angry his face looked. And yet at the sight of a certain name, his whole face softened. He lightly tilted his head and stared at it for a little bit.

Left Click. Delete. Control S.

“Get some rest now.” Todoroki hummed. He continued to write down a few more names before flipping a paper over and moving on to look through documents and files. He began taking notes on bits of information Shigaraki could use to keep the League of Villains more discreet. He wrote suggestions on how to leave a more confusing trail behind to mislead the investigators. Out of curiosity, he began looking through the Victims folder. Heroes, Sidekicks, Criminals, Shady Activity, Kosuke Hiro. Innocent nobodies were not in the records. Midoriya must have asked for that and Shigaraki was willing to accommodate. Being a villain felt that much better now. 

Todoroki logged out of the computer after a few hours. It was already afternoon by the time he was finished. Rubbing his face, he groaned quietly before pulling his kitsune mask over his face. He left with a small stack of papers in his hands and hid them inside his cloak to keep them safe from the rain. Being sure to shut the office doors and return everything to its proper place, he snuck out the window he came through. It was only drizzling where he was. He escaped through the window and made it safely outside the wall, landing with a deep breath. To go out on such a cool rainy day, holding papers of people’s names he couldn’t stand; it was liberating. The rain felt so calming. There was still so much more time in the day. He had no school, no homework, and not even a real curfew. His life, his time, they were his to control. He wanted to go out. Explore.

Todoroki had only walked off halfway down the street from the mansion when he heard a jingling collar. Most dog owners recognize the specific jingle their dogs make. “Zuzu?” He turned to the side to see Zuzu sprinting towards him before making a jump for his arms. He caught her and moved his mask to the left to only keep his left eye covered. This left the right side of his face to be viciously attacked with puppy kisses.

“I told him you were fine.” Dabi sighed, coming out from the same alleyway Zuzu came from. He was finally dressed in clothes that weren’t falling apart. Rather, a black leather jacket, boots, and black jeans. Todoroki looked at him and appeared to be a bit confused to see him, especially having come with Zuzu. Dabi said he wasn’t a dog person after all. “Your boyfriend called halfway to a panic attack freaking out about you.” He sounded annoyed as he scratched the side of his head. “The bartender sent me out to find you to make sure you weren’t dead or something.”

“Izuku? Is he okay? I figured he’d have a hard time at school without me. Didn’t think it’d be that bad though...” Todoroki looked down at Zuzu and moved his cloak to cover her from the rain. “Should I go back? I was… going to walk around a bit.”

“I’m sure he’s fine. He has the whole afternoon to calm himself down. I don’t think you need to go back yet.” It wasn’t like Midoriya could up and leave school. But Dabi could see that Todoroki almost looked disappointed when he said he wanted to walk around. It was his first week of freedom and his anxious nutcase of a boyfriend was going to hold him back. “Do what you want. I’ll let Kurogiri know you’re fine.” He turned right back around on his heel with a casual wave of his hand and didn’t look back. Not until he heard Zuzu bark.

With just a quick glance back, he saw Zuzu staring right at him. That little puppy was a master of manipulation tactics. Truly a villain in her own right. Her evil begging stare could pierce the souls of all. Dabi never knew how guilty a dog could make him feel. He wanted to punch himself in the face. “On… second thought,” he exhaled. “The bartender will probably give me a hard time about coming back empty-handed.” He was going to go with him.

“Let me go back with you then-” Todoroki took a step towards Dabi but Dabi walked right past him and patted his shoulder once as he kept going.

“No, I’ll follow along. I was getting bored anyway.” It was a good excuse to keep away from alcohol at the bar. “Lead the way, Sh-” Two minutes together and Dabi nearly slipped Todoroki’s first name. But Todoroki didn’t seem to notice because Dabi cut off too quickly. Thankfully, Todoroki just walked in front holding Zuzu without questioning him. “Did you even bring an umbrella?” Dabi pretended to sound annoyed as he took a small umbrella out of his pocket and opened it over the two of them. He tilted it a bit forward to reach Todoroki more. “Jeez. Maybe he was right to be worried about you.”

“I gave Izuku mine. Knowing him, he probably won’t use it though.”

“So why give it to him?”

Todoroki shrugged. “I’d like him to take better care of himself. So I’d like to help him with that any way I can.” That was the only explanation he could think of. Dabi didn’t have much of a reply. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Todoroki was still too nice to be playing the role of a villain. But he also couldn’t bring himself to believe that Midoriya and Todoroki’s relationship was good for him. Maybe he was just thinking too hard about it.

“Do you do anything for yourself?” Dabi asked after a few minutes of nothing but verbal silence and rain hitting the umbrella. They had left the vicinity of the mansion and were approaching the downtown area of the district U.A. was in. He watched Todoroki stop for a moment and look at a puddle beneath his feet. “I mean, you wanted to walk around today. But the second your boyfriend freaks out, you were about to drop everything to go back. And you nearly dropped it for me so I can avoid a scolding from the bartender.” Dabi tilted his head to the side and looked down at his little brother with narrowed eyes. “It’s not very villain like…”

“Shigaraki-” Shigaraki gave them a safe home, freedom, and other luxuries.

“Shigaraki wants to use us. He gets something out of us being here. You wouldn’t get anything if you went back to the bar now.” Dabi felt that Todoroki got nothing out of playing a subject on Midoriya’s table. He didn’t like how selfless he was being. Where had his self-respect gone? But he didn't really remember him having any in the first place. 

“Well… I owe Izuku everything… and you saved my life in that fire.” Dabi flinched at the answer. Owe. Owe, owe, owe, Todoroki constantly felt like he owed everyone something. Owed his time. Owed his services. Owed his life. Was he even doing anything for himself? How could he possibly be his own person when he was still walking around with only other people's wants in mind? It was like he hardly changed after all this time...

“You don’t owe me anything,” Dabi answered. “Even though I did save your life, I’m not going to hold it over your head to hit you with it whenever I want something.” He lightly tapped the umbrella against Todoroki’s head a few times. “You don’t owe your boyfriend anything either and he shouldn’t expect you to drop everything for him so easily. You should be doing things you want, not just what he wants.” He then folded his arms, keeping the umbrella over just himself. “So what do you want?”

Todoroki turned his head to look back at Dabi while keeping Zuzu dry under his cloak. He looked around a bit, making eye contact with Dabi, looking at the ground, and looking at some buildings in the area. What did he want? He wanted to walk around but, what did he specifically want. “Something to eat.”

“Then let's go get something to eat, yeah?” Dabi walked up and nudged Todoroki forward, keeping the umbrella over them both. “Was that so hard?”

“I didn’t bring any money-” Todoroki nearly protested.

“I did.” Todoroki shot Dabi a look that silently asked why he was acting like a hypocrite. Like a little brother accusing the older one that he wasn’t playing fair. “What? Maybe I’m hungry too. And I don’t feel like walking all the way back for you to get some cash.” He wore a smug grin as he shrugged his shoulders. Todoroki didn’t argue.

The two walked for a few minutes without saying much to each other. It wasn’t an awkward silence. Dabi was more than content just watching Todoroki stare around at everything. He appeared so fascinated by displays in windows, building lights, things people wore, and foods that were being sold on street-side diners. Dabi could tell he was never let outside much as a child. And when he could go out as a teenager, it was strictly business. He probably wasn’t allowed to look at anything besides Endeavor or just walk to school, no detours. But now he could take the time to actually experience things. Although Dabi was satisfied seeing him in such a dreamy state, his chest ached at how locked up his little brother must have been. Lockdown rules must have been much harder on Todoroki because of the trouble his brother caused when he was his age.

Dabi eventually felt a small tug on his jacket sleeve. He looked down at Todoroki and noticed him looking at a bookstore with a cafe inside of it. It wasn’t hard to guess that he wanted to go inside. An iced coffee, black coffee, and a few skewers of dangos later, Dabi stood at the end of a book aisle while Todoroki leafed through books. Dabi was still munching on dango as he watched his little brother look around. He could see Zuzu try hard to chew pieces of dango under his cloak.

“So… I still don’t know your name.” Todoroki commented, taking a book and flipping through a few pages. Dabi lifted his head to look at him. Had no one told him he either of his names? “I um… it’s weird to call you tomcat, right?” Dabi choked on the dango he was eating. He started coughing as he held his throat while Todoroki watched awkwardly.

“I’m gonna kill him.” Dabi wheezed, talking about Shigaraki. “I’m gonna fucking kill him. Please, for the love of God, don’t call me that.” He quickly gained his composure and let go of his neck. He rubbed his face with a groan, not wanting to imagine his little brother calling him such a stupid nickname that could be translated to a domesticated cat, or someone whose just horny. Dabi had every reason to believe that Shigaraki thought he was both. “It’s Dabi. Just call me that. Please.” He never wanted ‘tomcat’ to be uttered by Todoroki. Ever.

Todoroki had eventually sat down on the floor of another book aisle. The manga section actually. He appeared to be sitting comfortably with his back against the shelf and his knees bent to have the book rested against them. Dabi had his hands in his pockets as he looked at the spines of some of the books. Though he occasionally glared at Zuzu, feeling intense spite for the puppy guilt-tripping him to come along. It was starting to get awkward between him and his brother and he didn’t like it. They were talking too much. Dabi wanted to stay out of his life and yet he was just getting sucked back into it without noticing until now. He should get going.

“Are there… any books you like? You keep following where I go. Is there a genre you like?” Todoroki asked before Dabi could get away.

“I’m not a big reader. Too boring.” He wouldn’t admit it, but manga was more his style. He liked the pictures and the art more than blocks and blocks of text. But he wasn’t about to expose himself as some anime junkie. But he would call his baby brother out on it. “Looks like you’re a regular otaku though, nerd,” he teased with a smug smirk. Like a typical closeted weeb.

“I didn’t get to read these much growing up. But I’ve liked these kinds of things as far back as I can remember.” Todoroki completely ignored the insult which caught Dabi off guard. Though, it worried him. “I have three older siblings. I don’t know my brother and sister that well, and my oldest brother is dead. But sometimes I snuck into my other brother’s room because he kept some of the oldest one’s stuff.” Todoroki really didn’t have a lot of trouble talking about his family life. It made Dabi’s chest hurt all over again. But his stomach turned hearing his baby brother say he was dead. He also felt terrible that Natsuo must have stolen his stuff to keep Endeavor from burning it all.

“I don’t remember my oldest brother… at all. Not even his name.” Dabi froze. Was he really that far gone in his memory? Did he hate him so much that he forgot about him? He probably deserved it though… he left him after all. “So when my dad wasn’t around, I’d go digging through his old stuff to see if I could remember anything about him.” So he was trying to remember… maybe he didn’t hate him. It sounded like Endeavor tried to block Touya out of his memory, which is why he dug in secret.  “I found some really old manga from before I was born. So I think… he must have shown me them. Natuso didn’t own any himself, just a bunch of science and sportsbooks.”

Dabi stared at the shelves of manga in front of him, his back turned to Todoroki. He gazed at all the titles so bittersweetly. He remembered sneaking his little baby brother into his room in the dead of night when he had a nightmare. He’d raise the blankets up with pillows and wooden swords to make a little tent in his bed. He’d make light with very small flames and read action manga to Todoroki, getting all dramatic while still being quiet. He’d even make the silly sound effects and shake him up to make him laugh. Poking him when shots were fired, shaking him when the ground rumbled, pulling him into a hug during explosions… 

“Though… I found a weird one once.” Dabi snapped out of his memory and looked back at Todoroki when he continued talking. A weird one? What old manga of his did he find? “I don’t think Natuso realized what he kept because it was just a sealed box. But there were like… people with cat ears and maid outfits and collars and stuff.” He turned right back around and covered his mouth. He wanted to bash his head into the bookshelf in front of him. “I don’t think we would have read those.” 

“I would hope not…” Dabi muttered trying not to sound weird about it. He was a young teenage boy who got into a bit of trouble now and again. It wasn’t weird for someone his age to have a manga like that! But for his little brother to find it… how horribly embarrassing. He didn’t notice the blue flame that had sparked on his head. Maybe he did deserve that nickname ‘tomcat’ after all. 

“Oh, you have that problem too?” Todoroki asked. Dabi stood up straighter before looking back at him again. He saw him point to the top of his own head, gesturing for Dabi to mirror him. “I didn’t know you have a fire quirk like me. Looks like it kinda reacts to your emotions too.” Dabi patted out his flame.

“Happens,” he mumbled, trying to brush off the fact he got embarrassed.

“Izuku said that my quirk involves an extra set of veins that provide fuel for my quirk to work. Those veins connect to my brain, so each emotion causes a different half to react when I’m not paying attention.” Dabi felt a little creeped out hearing how Midoriya told Todoroki all of this. This must have been what he learned after using him as a subject. It made him feel a bit sick.

“That would explain a bit…” He looked at his hand and at the burns and staples. A quirk that reacts off of emotion would make a lot of sense and would probably apply to both of them. Todoroki noticed him spacing out. He could put two and two together, guessing Dabi’s flames must have had a severe reaction at one point or another. He also noticed how troubled he appeared by his scars. Maybe even self-conscious. He felt bad. 

“Hey, is there something you like? We should go somewhere else.” Todoroki put the manga back on the shelf and looked up to Dabi. It suddenly looked like the rumor of a dog owner looking like their dog was true. Todoroki and Zuzu both were staring at him with the same look of faint innocence and care, but also curiosity. “I’m just wandering. If there’s somewhere you want to go, I’d like to see it.” Todoroki offered. Dabi quietly scoffed at the both of them and shook his head with a smirk.

“Don’t laugh. But I was pretty into music when I was your age.”  He put his hands in his pockets and then handed the other the small umbrella in his pocket. He gestured with his head for him to follow before they went out the door together. “Do you mind?” He took out a cigarette from his back pocket and held it near his face, asking Todoroki if he would mind the smoke. Todoroki shook his head. “You want one?” Maybe not the most responsible offer. But Todoroki shook his head again. Midoriya wouldn’t like it.

“So what kind of music did you like?” Todoroki asked, holding the umbrella up over the both of them while Dabi smoked. He lit the cigarette with a flame on his finger quickly so no one would notice. They shouldn’t use their quirks in public when they were incognito.

“Take one look at me and take a wild guess,” Dabi said in a tone that made it sound like he was making fun of himself. He leaned his head back with his hands in his pockets, the cigarette between his teeth. Anyone could probably guess what kind of stuff this grungy man was into. “I stole a guitar once. Stole the money to get it fixed. Then I tried to teach myself.”

“Why did you steal stuff? Did you do that a lot?” Todoroki asked.

“You ask a lot of questions.” Dabi didn’t want to answer a lot of questions. It was best if Todoroki was left to forget all about Touya. Even if he wanted to remember.

“Sorry.” Todoroki looked down at Zuzu who he still carried with one arm under his cloak. She gave his exposed right cheek a lick to cheer him up. It seemed like he was so ready to open up to Dabi, but Dabi wasn’t willing to give the same back. He’d rather keep him at an arm’s length. But he felt bad about keeping him back like that.

“Everyone likes music so c’mon, show me what you're into.” Dabi had led Todoroki to a decently sized CD store that was just a few blocks down from the bookshop. He lightly kicked the back of Todoroki’s calf to nudge him inside. He let him in first before dropping the cigarette on the ground and stepping on it to snuff it out.

There were just rows and rows of CDs, records, and old cassettes, and in the back there were headphone stations so customers could test out headsets and CDs to see if they liked them. Dabi smirked as he went straight for the alternative and rock section, almost looking nostalgic at the cassettes and CDs. Todoroki stood at the door for a few moments, looking around fascinated by everything. But he recognized nothing. He ended up following Dabi like a lost puppy, lingering by the end of the aisle he was in. The stapled man seemed right at home, smugly grinning at some of the titles in front of him. It would take him at least a few minutes to notice that Todoroki had not even looked at anything and was following him instead.

“What happened to getting something you liked?” Dabi asked, looking at him from the corner of his eye. 

“I don’t recognize any of this kind of stuff,” Todoroki answered honestly. “I don’t listen to music that much. I wasn’t really allowed to.” Dabi probably ruined that for him too. Of course, Endeavor would steer Todoroki away from things Touya took interest in to keep him from coming out the same way… how ironic.

“C’mere.” Dabi walked past Todoroki with a CD in his hand. He gestured to him to follow with his hand as he wandered aimlessly to other sections. Without even looking, he would just grab random albums as he walked by shelves. Todoroki didn’t question him, though he did peek at a few of the album titles in his hands. They were all drastically different and there was hardly a similarity between them. Some of them weren’t even in Japanese. “Stand right here.” Dabi brought him to the back of the store in front of a CD player with big cushiony headphones.

Dabi went ahead and put a stack of about two dozen CDs on the table before picking the one on top. It was a black album with a very sharp and jagged red text font for the title. It was hardly legible. He put it in the player before taking the headphones and placed them over Todoroki’s head for him. He also went ahead and snuck Zuzu out of his little brother’s arms so Todoroki could adjust the headset and the volume as he wanted. Dabi pushed the play button before folding his arms, holding Zuzu close to his chest.

It only took barely longer than a second for Todoroki’s eyes to suddenly go wide and immediately take the headphones off. Dabi started snickering at him. “Too loud?” he teased. Todoroki blinked before examining the headphones to find the volume dial to turn it way down.

“Is this really what you listen to?” he asked, only putting one speaker against his ear as he looked at Dabi judgmentally. 

“Sometimes. Not always. Just give it a shot.” Dabi lightly pushed his shoulder with a smug grin, causing Todoroki to narrow his eyes at him distrustfully. Though he seemed more innocently annoyed than angry. It was all just fun and games. And for a while, Dabi would watch Todoroki skip through songs and albums, taking a few minutes for each album and genre to figure out what he liked best. He watched him separate the single stack of CDs into three smaller stacks. He guessed it was based on what he liked, what he sorta liked, and what he didn’t like. He wore a shit-eating grin when he saw that the first album was placed in the middle. So Todoroki didn’t hate it.

Dabi could definitely see a trend of what kind of taste Todoroki had. He didn’t prefer trendy music, but he steered away from hardcore stuff too. Though Dabi couldn’t help but feel proud at some rock titles being placed into the pile that he liked. But the majority seemed to be softer things. When his stack of things he liked got a little taller, Dabi stole an album to get a look at the title. Rock songs done in acoustic. And below was ambient electronic. Guess he wasn’t a fan of loud and intense, or happy and carefree. At least he looked like he was enjoying himself.

Dabi watched Todoroki go a whole minute through one song. He had been going through them quickly to get through as many as he could. He would only listen to ones he liked a little longer. But one album had him listening to a whole song. Dabi held a random album in his hand with Zuzu still tucked in his arms while he watched Todoroki. His little brother suddenly looked so calm. He had both speakers against his ears, holding them both close while he appeared to be spacing out a bit. 

Todoroki’s head tilted ever so slightly to the side. He let his eyes stay blissfully half-open until they slowly closed. He became completely engulfed by what he was listening to, drowning out everything around him. His hands dropped from the speakers. Instead, they wrapped around to his upper arms, hugging himself. He almost appeared ready to fall asleep standing up, being completely at peace.

Dabi thought Todoroki’s reaction was strange. His pose was odd until realization hit his older brother. Dabi knew exactly what he was doing. Endeavor was always so loud. Rei was such a quiet and gentle woman, but sometimes her cries were piercing. They would argue every now again. The mansion was never really a place of quiet or bliss. Sometimes it would even shake with intensity. It would make any young child upset and distressed. All the times Touya had taken his baby brother to the bathroom, a closet, a cabinet, or somewhere to hide, he would always grab headphones and a CD player. He’d tell Todoroki to close his eyes so he wouldn’t see how scared he was. He’d put headphones over his ears to block out all the yelling, the screaming, and the crying. He’d hug him to null any vibrations but to also let him know that someone was there protecting him. Touya taught Todoroki that.

This behavior suddenly didn’t seem so strange. If only Dabi knew this wasn’t the first time Todoroki acted this way. There was the robot incident when Iida yelled at him while he was in an exhausted state. He broke the lights in the bathroom to make it dark. He went somewhere quiet. He had hugged himself.  

Dabi put Zuzu on the table before collecting the small stack of albums that was the pile Todoroki liked most. Todoroki noticed, opening his eyes again and seeing what he was doing. He took the headphones off. “We’re getting these,” Dabi said quickly and sternly, walking away with the stack. It included the empty case of the one Todoroki was listening to.

“You don’t have to do that.” Todoroki tried to convince him otherwise. “I could come back another time with money. It’ll be another excuse to go out.”

“Or we could not waste the energy and just get them now.”

“Why do that for me?”

Dabi nearly paused in his steps at the question. But he had enough composure to keep going and not let it get to him. “Maybe I want them too. Remember when I said you asked a lot of questions?” 

“Are you always this stubborn?” Todoroki asked anyway. His denial to care about his excess of questions almost made Dabi proud.

“Maybe. Who knows?” Dabi answered smugly. He was not prepared to give any straight answers. This would nearly send Todoroki into a silent childish pout. It made the older laugh at him when he put his hand on his head to mess up his split hair.

Just down the street in a different kind of music store, a small group of teenagers were out enjoying their afternoon. “You know anything about this stuff?” Ashido asked, standing beside Midoriya with her hands behind her back. It was a store full of instruments hanging up against the walls, pianos, and drums in separate rooms, a quiet room for people to try instruments out. The group had mostly split up having found something interesting, but Midoriya and Ashido were left a bit baffled.

“Not a clue,” Midoriya answered.

“Yeah, me neither. I’ll stick to dancing.” Ashido giggled with a shrug. She stuck with him to keep him company considering the rest of the squad got distracted. “What kind of stuff do you do for fun?” It was small talk, but she wanted to keep his mind on positive things. She wanted to distract him from false grief and anxiety as they aimlessly strolled around the store. But it was a question Midoriya hadn’t thought about in a long time. For fun… It was dissections, homework, and training with Shigaraki or Stain for the past months. There wasn’t much free time for him. He spent what time he could with Todoroki. 

“Sometimes… I play video games with my brother. But I usually just study.” 

“I bet. The medical course sounds rough from what Shinsy’s been saying. And I thought the hero stuff was crazy, what you do sounds incredible.” she complimented.

“Shinsou… talks about me?” Midoriya glanced down at her before turning to look into the silent side room. The door had a big glass window so they could see inside easily. Kaminari was sitting down with an acoustic guitar and seemed to be talking nonstop with Shinsou sitting across from him listening. 

“Yeah. Don’t tell him I told you this, but he thinks you’re really cool. He says he wouldn’t have gotten this far if it wasn’t for you. He’s really grateful.” Ashido then giggled again. “He’s too embarrassed to tell you. So keep it a secret between us~” she held a finger to her lips with a wink. “He also totally has the hots for Denki. But they’re both too scared to make the first move. Denki’s good with asking people out, but suddenly he’s a dunce with going any further.” Through the glass, they could see Kaminari and Shinsou suddenly looking away from each other, both blushing a bit. Ashido shook her head. “He’s not smooth at all. He can’t say anything romantic without making it a joke.”

Midoriya couldn’t help but watch them and think Kaminari and Shinou’s feelings were so innocent compared to what he and Todoroki had. Their first kiss was an act of manipulative trust after taking Todoroki away from his abusive home. All his awkwardness vanished at the sight of perfect opportunity. He let his obsession take over and do the talking that night. Those two… they didn’t have that obsession.

“What about them?” Midoriya turned his attention to the part of the store with a bunch of different drum sets and parts. Bakugo was sitting down at a set with Sero tapping his head with drumsticks, clearly trying to tease him into playing. It didn’t take long for it to work as the blond snatched the sticks and played in a spat of rage. Midoriya could remember how Bakugo’s mom made him play an instrument in middle school. And of course, Bakugo had to be great at everything he did, and Kirishima’s sparkling eyes looked starstruck. 

“Kiri’s helpless and Bakugo’s in denial.” Ashido scoffed. But then she suddenly became nervous and shook her head repeatedly with her hands in front of her. “M-Maybe we shouldn’t talk about this, y-you know? I don’t want you to like-” she was trying her best to keep his mind off Todoroki. And here they were gossiping about others’ love lives. She felt really guilty. But Midoriya just smiled and waved his hand casually.

“No, it’s fine. Todoroki liked it when you guys were happy. So I think he’d like to see this kind of thing, everyone sticking together and all.” And that was the truth. He knew Todoroki still had a soft spot for his class, even though Midoriya wished he didn’t. It would make future plans that much more complicated. 

Ashido nodded slowly, taking her hands back to pick at her nails. “He was really sweet, huh? Did he… Was he okay?” she then asked. The question caught Midoriya off guard. “He just seemed so sad a lot of the time except when he was with you. It’s why we never stopped him from ditching the cafeteria with you. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately… Like, he never smiled or anything.” Midoriya had heard the class talking about Todoroki that morning. They all suspected something was wrong with him. They cared enough to want to know.

“He tried really hard to be okay. It wasn’t something anyone could just… fix. I like to think he’s doing okay now that he’s away from it all.” Midoriya smiled. “And yeah, he didn’t smile a lot. But when he did…” he blushed and held his cheek to feel how warm he was getting. “It’s so dumb, but I met him a long time ago and never got his name. I just called him that ‘beautiful boy’ because I never got a chance to ask.”

“He was the class pretty boy~ I can’t blame you.” He and Ashido chuckled together. Kirishima and Sero were talking together and messing with a piano, leaving Bakugo at the drumset. Bakugo was watching the little killer and Ashido laugh together from the corner of his eye. They looked so normal and innocent. But the moment Ashido turned to look at an instrument against the wall, he and Midoriya made a moment’s worth of eye contact. How he hated those glowing green eyes with the scar and that twisted smile.

Bakugo couldn’t stand how normal this trip looked. He hated how normal this all felt at face value. Getting boba together, crowding together while laughing and smiling, splashing each other with puddles, going into random stores to look at random stuff, this was what teenagers did after school. They were skipping out on studying and training. Bakugo walked behind the group for the most part, letting his classmates stay close to Midoriya. It was a dangerous plan. He knew he must have been on the little killer’s to-kill list. He had to be. But if he could let the other weasel their way into his heart just by being themselves, getting close to him by just being kind, he just hoped it would be enough to protect them. It was best if he just stayed back and stayed quiet to not cause a conflict.

Bakugo constantly kept his distance. Even in his secret favorite store, he strayed from the group and kept close to the entrance. He let Sero and Ashido stack a dozen snapbacks on Kirishima’s head in front of Midoriya to make him giggle when the stack got too high and toppled. He let Kaminari show the little killer the different memes and pictures on hundreds of pins in a bin. They would chuckle at how odd and outdated some of them were. And he let Shinsou and Midoriya browse through darkly colored hoodies together. At least until Kaminari found a bright yellow one with strange ears on the hood and lightning bolt tail in the back. He looked like a pocket monster. In the end, Shinsou helped him pay for it. But Bakugo stayed in the background... just watching.

It had gotten fairly late when their evening together was over. It was a few hours past seven, so Shinsou was staying behind at the fast food place they got dinner at. He would call Aizawa or Yamada to pick him up. Kaminari offered to stay with him to keep him company. Walking home alone at night was practically off-limits for everyone in the area. So Sero would walk home Ashido, and Bakugo would leave with Kirishima.

“Midoriya, is it a good idea to walk home by yourself? We could go with you.” Sero offered. They all stood outside the restaurant, Shinsou and Kaminari staying by the doors while everyone was preparing to go their separate ways. “You know what’s been happening. It’s not safe to go alone.” After what happened to Kosuke, no one was going to risk walking alone. If only the school was informed of what happened to Yamada. 

“Do you want to stay to get picked up?” Shinsou then offered. Midoriya would have to go alone. He couldn’t let a single one of them go with him. Not to the hideout. 

“No, no. I’m okay. I live  just a short walk away. Less than 10 minutes, I promise.” Midoriya smiled and waved his hands in front of him. 

“No, you don’t,” Bakugo said lowly. He had been keeping quiet all afternoon and it was starting to eat at him. And he knew Midoriya was blatantly lying about where he lived. They both exchanged dark glares. “You live across the city in an apartment complex near a train station. It would take you a little less than an hour to get back.”

“I don’t live there anymore,” Midoriya said back in a subtly sharp tone. The carefree mood had completely drifted away.

“Your mom is still there.” Midoriya flinched at the mention of his mother. Why did Bakugo mention her? He never wanted to go in his home when they were little. He never spoke to Inko before. How would he know she was still living there? Has he talked to her?

“I don’t live with her anymore. I stay with a different family near the school.”

“What kind of family-”

“H-Hey now, no need for interrogation.” Kirishima got in front of Bakugo and put his hand gently on his shoulder. “You feel safe going home, man? No one minds walking with you. But if you think you’re fine, then just be careful.” He butted in to stop the rising tension and it appeared to work. Midoriya smiled softly.

“I feel safe. Thank you for the concern, though.” he said, slightly bowing his head. “I’ll be getting on my way. Thank you for everything today, I really enjoyed being with everyone.” he hummed before turning around and walking off on his own. But as soon as they couldn’t see his face, his smile grew a bit crooked and his eyes glowed red. He lightly scratched at his wrist. “Talking to my mom behind my back… you better not be Kacchan…”

Just a few moments after everyone parted ways, Kirishima held the umbrella over Bakugo and looked at him oddly. “Dude, what was that about-”  Kirishima’s mouth was suddenly covered as he was pushed into an alleyway. He dropped the umbrella. Back against the wall, he felt Bakugo push his forehead into his chest, keeping his mouth covered.

“Stay away from him… We are never doing this again.” Bakugo growled quietly. Kirishima could feel him quaking. “I don’t want you getting any closer with him. Never go anywhere alone with him. That goes for all of you!” He raised his head to look Kirishima in the eyes. He looked back at the street they came from and then glanced down the alley. Were they being watched? 

“What has gotten into you?” Kirishima took Bakugo’s hand off his mouth before taking hold of the sides of his face. He forced his head forwards to put their foreheads together. “Look at me. We’re fine. I’m fine. And you’re fine too. Today was really fun, but you were so quiet and that’s not like you. This isn’t like you at all!” Bakugo pulled back and looked down and away, gritting his teeth. He wanted to tell him everything that he knew. But he wasn’t sure what would put him in more danger. “Talk to me, Katsuki. What’s going on?” Kirishima wanted to know. But something made Bakugo flinch. He turned to face the deeper end of the alley before setting off an explosion in that direction. “Dude!”

Bakugo kept his hand flexed as he waited for the dust and smoke to clear. The alley was empty. He singed the walls and the ground and blew some trash away, but there weren't any signs of anyone being within range of the blast. “I heard someone… I know you’re hiding back there! Get out here and fight me, damn it!” Bakugo challenged before Kirishima hooked his arms underneath the blond’s to restrain his arms without hurting him. 

“There’s no one there!” Kirishima tried to yell over him while also struggling to keep him still. Eventually, he unhooked his arms and hugged his neck instead. “Give it a rest, Katsuski… Please. I don’t want to think about all this bad stuff anymore.” Between the disappearances, the school attacks, Todoroki and Kosuke’s death, Kirishima just wanted a normal school semester. He didn’t want to deal with any more tragedies. Bakugo slowly stopped struggling at the sound of his plea. Maybe he really was just getting paranoid. “Let’s just go back to my place already, okay? I want to get out of the rain.”

“Okay…” Bakugo breathed.  “Okay fine,” he said a little sharper, his typical tone. He felt himself be let go so he picked up the umbrella and shook it a bit to make sure it didn’t break. 

“Thanks.” Kirishima smiled softly. But before they turned to leave the alley, Bakugo stopped in front. His face was a bit red and angry before he turned around with his head down. “What’s up?” Kirishima then asked, tilting his head to try and get a peek of the other’s face. He was suddenly pulled into a kiss by his cheek, being held there for a few long moments. Eventually, he tilted his head and closed his eyes to deepen it, then bringing his arms around him to hug him.

“I won’t let another tragedy happen again. I’ll kill any threat before they get the chance…” Bakugo said, pulling back for just a second. Both of them were blissfully unaware of the bright yellow eyes peering at them from deeper in the alley around the corner. Fanged teeth formed a smile watching them.

Upon returning back home to the hideout, Midoriya was soaking wet from the rain. He had the umbrella Todoroki gave him stuffed in his backpack because he just didn’t feel like using it. He kicked his shoes off at the door and put his bag down beside them. His drenched hoodie and blazer followed. “I’m home.” he called out tiredly. It was a long day for him and he was a bit exhausted.

Though the little killer would feel a surge of energy when he finally noticed who was at the bar. Shigaraki was in his usual seat with Todoroki standing on the other side of the bar. They had a few papers spread out on the counter and it appeared that Todoroki was pointing to things he had written down and explaining them. Shigaraki had his chin in his palm as he listened and nodded every now and again, taking in what he was saying. He would occasionally ask questions. Only his first week as a villain and Todoroki was already such a valuable asset. “This is… definitely a lot,” Shigaraki muttered.

Before Todoroki could even respond, Midoriya had bunny leaped over the counter to tackle him. “Izuku-!” Todoroki almost wasn’t quick enough to catch him. But the force and love coming at him all at once was too much to take. He immediately fell off-balanced backward. Thankfully, a portal appeared behind him to fall into and warped him to fall back on the red sofa. The freckled villain had him completely tackled as he clung on to him with both his arms and legs. 

“Could you try not to kill him for one day, please?” Shigaraki muttered sarcastically, looking back at the two. Even with the hand on his face, Kurogiri could see him roll his eyes from the backroom. But Midoriya was too busy hugging and smothering Todoroki. He missed him all day.

“Hey.” Todoroki greeted, just laying down and accepting his tackled state. Midoriya pulled back a little bit to actually see the other’s face. He just kinda pounced on him without even thinking. Placing his hand on the other’s cheek, he just looked down at him with a peaceful smile. His left cheek was always so warm. The little villain ran his fingers from Todoroki’s cheek to his neck to feel his pulse. 

“I’m really sick of people saying you’re dead.” Midoriya sighed. He slowly laid down on top of him comfortably, feeling a hand rest on his back in return. “You’re not dead. You’re just mine.” His chin was placed at the center of Todoroki’s chest allowing him to just stare at him for a while. “Everyone got me thinking about how scared I was that night. I kinda freaked myself out.”

“I heard. I was worried about you.” Todoroki played with the hair on the back of Midoriya’s head while his other hand reached for the little villain’s arm. Midoriya didn’t protest when he rolled his sleeve back, letting him see how red his wrist was from scratching. Even Shigaraki looked back from the corner of his eye; he didn’t look pleased. “I had a feeling… you’ve been pretty good about it lately, though.” Todoroki mumbled. Kurogiri watched Shigaraki lower his head with his hands twitching. He’s been trying to control his own scratching to be a better influence on Midoriya. They both had been good with their self-control lately. “Try not to do it again tomorrow?” 

“I mean, this wasn’t all about being worried about you.” Midoriya looked to Shigaraki, his cheek pressing against Todoroki’s chest. “Kacchan’s on to me. I think he knows a lot more than he’s telling people.” Shigaraki’s twitching hands paused as his fingers then began tapping the counter. Bakugo was getting suspicious...  that wasn’t good yet. It was too soon for a debut. “I think he’s been talking with my mom. And he’s not the same when he’s around me. Should we act sooner?”

“No… we’re sticking to schedule.” Shigaraki answered.

“Schedule?” Todoroki asked. Midoriya lifted his head and tapped the other’s lips as he spoke.

“You were supposed to go to a summer camp right after exams. We were planning to kidnap you and Kacchan, keeping you and killing Kacchan. But the fire changed our plans a bit.” The little villain looked at Shigaraki with a cocky smirk. “We still wanna kill him. He’s a prick. But he’s also got a big name being the winner of the sports festival. That’ll be one big blow to the hero ego. It may just cripple everyone’s faith in them all.” He then scoffed. “Personally, I believe he’d just be another fake hero that Master Akaguro would hate. Everything Kacchan does is for his pathetic ego, and I would love nothing more than see it wither away little by little.” Midoriya sat up a bit, straddling Todoroki while holding his own face with a crooked smile. “God, I can’t stand him. So loud and rude and annoying. Someone like him would never understand love or friendship either. Not like I do. And he’s so arrogant and spoiled- I want to watch his arms explode from the inside and then rip his legs off and end his obnoxious life.”

Todoroki only blinked seeing his boyfriend go into a crazed monologue while sitting on top of him. This was normal. “You know, I’m not sure how I would feel about someone saying crazy shit like that while sitting on me.” Dabi said while reaching the bottom of the stairs. He was dressed in his long villain coat prepared to go out soon. “You really are a psycho murderer.” He said as he leaned back against the bar counter with his arms folded.

“Says the one who can’t even kill one person.” Shigaraki retorted quietly enough so the two teenagers wouldn’t hear. It made Dabi grumble bitterly as he turned his head the other way. “And I bet someone like you would be into it.” There was no doubt in Dabi’s mind that Shigaraki was smirking evilly under that hand on his face. It made the stapled man huff. “So you ready to try again?” 

“As ready as I can be.”

“Yako,” Shigaraki lifted one of Todoroki’s papers and held it up. He looked back at him to see him lazily staring back, his arm laying across his chest.  “These people, you sure it’s okay for them to die? This is a good time to change your mind.”

“I want them dead…” Todoroki mumbled thoughtlessly while gazing at the paper emptily. His behavior even caught Midoriya off guard as he sat still on top of him. “They all deserve to die. I don’t care how.” Dabi wasn’t quite sure how to feel about hearing his baby brother wish murder on so many people so calmly. It was a sudden realization that Todoroki wasn’t always so caring anymore. It was scary, and yet so sad. But Midoriya was absolutely infatuated, his face blushing as he began to swoon.

“Then we’ll kill them all. We can get as many as you want on my table, just for you.” Midoriya cupped Todoroki’s cheeks and leaned down to kiss his forehead. “Whatever you want. Anything for you.” He was more than willing to torture and kill dozens of heroes. He’d honestly be willing to commit genocide for his beloved hero. But it appeared that wasn’t what Todoroki exactly wanted. He turned on his side, taking Midoriya with him and hugged on to him.

“A nap.” he mumbled just as he closed his eyes. A killing machine was at his every demand and yet all he wanted was to sleep with it like a stuffed animal.

Shigaraki shook his head with a sigh before turning to Dabi and Kurogiri. “No interrogation this time. Just kill the target.” he stated. Dabi nodded in understanding and let Kurogiri warp him wherever he needed to go. He was dropped off in a rather sleazy district with lots of neon lights on the main street and then near darkness in the backroads. He checked his phone to see a name, picture, and info of the person he was supposed to find. There was another text from Shigaraki saying Kurogiri would be on standby again in case he needed back up again.

“I don’t think that will be necessary…” he huffed confidently, taking a cigarette out and lighting it in his mouth with his finger.

Shigaraki and Kurogiri’s backup would be necessary. Multiple times. All throughout the week. 

Between getting pinned by the police, cornered by gangsters, and restrained by sidekicks, Dabi would need help more than once. His flames were weak in the rain, but not weak enough to make him this susceptible to failure. He could never deal a final blow to kill someone. He’d always hesitate at the last second. He’d always return to the hideout in a foul mood, locking himself in his room or drinking away Kurogiri’s alcohol supply. He had random fits of rage after a failure, breaking things in the streets and lighting random pieces of trash on fire outside. He was driving himself crazy.

“Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!!” Dabi kicked a stray plastic crate that had been left near a dumpster, lighting it on fire with his foot before it shattered against a wall. Trash cans and patches in the dirt were burning with blue flames as he hunched over, breathing a bit hard from a spat of rage. Smoke was coming from his neck. “Fuck!” He sent another blast of fire towards a pile of dust on the ground. He clutched his head and dug his fingertips into his scalp. “You’re fucking better than this, you useless piece of shit!” 

“Will you chill out?” Shigaraki grumbled, walking up behind him. He shoved a full soda can against Dabi’s neck to hear a quiet sizzle from his burnt skin cooling. Dabi paused when he felt the sudden cold against his skin, soothing it. “It’s not alcohol. So don’t get your hopes up.” Shigaraki tossed the can up to let Dabi catch it and look at the logo. Just soda. Shigaraki then began stomping out the little flames that were scattered on the ground, trying to clear away some evidence. “You don’t need to beat yourself up every time. You’re new to this.”

“How long did it take Fallen to kill for the first time?” Dabi asked bitterly. But the bitterness was not directed at Shigaraki.

“He worked on corpses before live people. He was used to seeing dead people on his table. It took him one try for his first kill, but there was months of preparation. You have none so don’t compare yourself to him.”

“You know that’s not true.” 

“Wanting to kill someone and actually killing someone are two totally different things.” Shigaraki folded his arms and tilted his head. “You should stop comparing yourself to other people and just go at your own pace.”  He leaned back against the wall with a heavy sigh. He looked tired. “The only one getting mad here, is you.”

Dabi stared bitterly at the soda can in his hand for a few minutes, letting the coolness of it soothe his heated hand. Even after so many failures, Shigaraki bought it for him and seemed so unbothered by how long killing someone was taking. The only one beating him up over it was himself. Shigaraki wasn’t appearing to be all that villainous about it. He just looked exhausted more than anything. “When was the last time you slept?” Dabi asked, breaking the tab off the soda can with his finger so he could drink it.

“I dunno. Decently? Never.”

“How about you take me up on my offer about teaching you how to sleep? Maybe I can do that right, at least.” Dabi offered. The two exchanged eye contact for a few moments before Shigaraki lowered his head with a sigh. Scratching the side of his head, he took out his phone and sent a quick text.

“I guess it could boost your morale a bit. Sure, why not?” Kurogiri’s portal appeared between them. Shigaraki gestured with his head for Dabi to follow him through. They both reappeared at the hideout, right in front of Shigaraki’s room’s door. 

“Should I be scared of what you have in there, creep?” Dabi teased with a smirk.

“Can’t be worse than you, tomcat.” Shigaraki opened his door while glaring at the stapled man from the corner of his eye. He knew full well that he would have a comment. His room was dark except for the light of his computer monitor and it was absolutely littered with trash bags and snack-related garbage all over the floor. Shigaraki walked through it all without tripping or disturbing anything, but Dabi was disgusted. He poked a trash bag with his foot as he looked around the rest of the room and how messy everything was.

“You gotta be kidding me. How the hell do you live like this, you fucking gremlin?” He began kicking trash out of the way, trying to clear a path to walk in. Shigaraki didn’t seem to mind as he sat down in his computer chair. “Your quirk is literally destroying things, why don’t you just get rid of this stuff? No wonder you can’t sleep.”

“What do you mean?” the scrawny villain asked. Dabi had never looked so dumbfounded.

“Don’t you know that it’s difficult for people to sleep when their room’s a mess? It also usually shows how much pent-up anxiety you have."

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Shigaraki scratched his neck a bit. Whether he was being ironic or not was anyone’s guess. But he soon stopped when a bag of trash was thrown at his face and it landed on his lap.

“Clean your fucking room and see what that does for you first,” Dabi said, getting straight to the point. Shigaraki always came off as educated and clever, but when it came to basic concepts, he was so stupid. This must have been what Kurogiri meant when he sometimes acted like a child. It was like talking to a ten-year-old. “Am I gonna have to clean it for you because you can’t do it yourself?” He tested him. If Shigaraki was going to act like a brat, then he was going to be treated like one.

“Don’t touch my stuff.” he huffed. 

“I’ll do it-”

“Fine. You’re so obnoxious.” he gave in. It made Dabi smugly grin watching him get up and pick up the bag that was thrown at him. “I don’t like using my quirk on this stuff though.” Instead of disintegrating the trash, Shigaraki moved the bag to a corner of the room. He began kicking others closer to it to push them all together one by one. Dabi did help a little bit, opening a bag and putting stray trash into it. He couldn’t kill anyone and Shigaraki had to come save him multiple times that week. He could tease him all he wanted, but he could at least make it up to him by helping him clean his room. This also gave him a reason to stay and talk to him…

“Why not? It would make all this a lot easier,” he asked. He had half a mind to burn the bags himself.

“I don’t think I should be using it like that. Some people don’t have quirks, you know? I think it would be like rubbing it in their faces if I used it for something like that.” Dabi knew immediately that Shigaraki was talking about Midoriya. “I don’t want to get in the habit of it. But also…” He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers in and out of a fist. “I dunno. I don’t like using it more than I have to.” Did he not… like his power? It got the stapled man thinking. There was a lot more to this twig of a villain than he thought.

“Does it hurt you?” 

“Not really, no. I just get a weird feeling in my chest when I use it.” Like he shouldn’t be using it. Like he should feel guilty for using it. Like he should never use it again.

“Huh. And here I thought it was the cause of you being a toothpick.”

“That’s half the reason. Like you’re one to talk about side effects.” Dabi felt called out on his burns, but he was probably supposed to. “You should be more careful about that. I can’t promise that Izuku is a good plastic surgeon.”

“What’re you talking about? I’m gorgeous.”

“You’re a chicken nugget that got dropped in the oven and left there for days.”

“Try a few years.” Dabi quietly chuckled. He was happy that they could have this kind of insulting banter. It had a way of making him feel more comfortable. He had every reason to believe that Shigaraki knew that too.

“... I should have Kurogiri buy some…”

“You’re gonna have him buy fast food in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah, why?”

“Tell him to get me some too. I’m starving.”

“I’ll consider it.” Shigaraki turned his back to Dabi and took out his phone to text someone really quickly before putting his phone away.

“You know, I expected you to be much more of a prick,” Dabi mentioned, filling a bag to the brim before tying a knot and moving it towards the others. The floor was becoming more visible already. “You still kinda are. Just… you surprise me. Like, you’re an ass. But not a monster.”

“Gee, thanks.” Glad the bar was set so low.

“I thought villain boss people were like, supposed to leave you in the dirt to die if you couldn’t reach their expectations. I was pretty paranoid when Shou so easily agreed to work for you. But… you’re not like that at all.” Shigaraki was hospitable and understanding. He was crude and childish, but nowhere near abusive or cruel. “I wasn’t expecting you to save my ass every time I fucked up. Hell, when you said rent was doing what you said, I thought that meant something way different.”

“Like what?”

“Uh…” Dabi paused while holding a juice box in his hand. Kurogiri said he couldn’t feel attraction toward anyone. Would he even understand the concept of sex work? “Well, from my life’s perspective… I kinda thought you meant something more uh…” like talking to a ten-year-old, he couldn’t find the right words to explain it.

“Why would I want something like that?” It seemed like he didn’t need to find those words. Shigaraki knew exactly what he was referring to as he folded his arms.

“Well…” Dabi’s eyes averted in another direction. He looked down. Ashamed even. “Sometimes that’s just what people want. And when you don’t have money, that’s the only thing you can give just to have a night in a bed.” He didn’t see Shigaraki flinch. He wouldn’t have expected him to understand what he was talking about, but he wasn’t stupid. It suddenly made sense why Dabi was so awestruck at the concept of having an apartment space all to himself. A bed all to himself. He was homeless for quite a while.

“I’m not about that kind of stuff. And I prefer things to be done because you want to do them for yourself.” While Shigaraki talked, Dabi opened the door to start tossing the stockpiled trash bags out into the hall. Surely, Kurogiri would be happy to have them incinerated in the lab. That man was probably dying for the scrawny villain to clean his room. “I don’t like it when people are forced to do things they don’t want to do. That’s not the control a leader should have- don’t throw that out.” Something got mixed in with the stray garbage on the floor. Dabi was about to toss it when he paused. Why would Shigaraki keep something like this? “There are things you don’t want to do, just like there are things I don’t want to do. I’m not here to chain you up and demand unreasonable results. I want my team to do things just for me, but also do things for themselves.” Shigaraki approached Dabi and took what was in his hand. “You get to be selfish with your life here, I encourage it. I’m not going to tell you how to live it.”

Shigaraki took a small stuffed animal bunny from Dabi’s hand. It had an X for an eye, a dangly black bow tie, and a cartoonishly torn ear. The tag was still on it, brand new. He didn’t seem like the type to buy that kind of thing. But he carefully placed it on a tall shelf beside some video game figurines he had. He looked back at Dabi with glowing red eyes, showing calmness and a kind of peace with his philosophy. So skinny, so tired, and yet passionate and driven. He was tough, but not cruel. He was encouraging, but not blindly supportive. Was he really all that evil? “I want to help you get what you want out of life in return for you helping me. I mean, it’s your life after all.” Dabi didn’t even catch himself blushing at Shigaraki’s final words on the subject. It was such a beautiful way of thinking to him.

On a different night, one not so long after that conversation, the rain was showering. The sky was even thundering. There was a neighborhood resting mostly in silence with the rain masking any lingering noise. It was filled with wealthier homes, bigger and more modern looking. At this hour, most of the lights were off in the windows, leaving them in darkness. One home was noticeably not so dim. One home had not been so quiet like the others. In a little girl’s bedroom on the top floor, a flashlight was on and pointed at the ceiling to poorly illuminate the room. Hiding in the furthest corner from the door, a child tended to her wounded mother. The woman so battered and bruised was alive yet unresponsive, leaving the young girl to quiver and quietly cry alone. The door had been locked and barricaded with a desk chair and whatever toys were around. Noticing the gleam of a wedding ring on her mother’s finger, the little girl forced it off before throwing it at the door. She hated it. She hated how it bound a terrible relationship. And yet on the other side of the door, a burnt and bloody corpse of a man was left on the floor to bleed out and smolder. The wedding ring on his finger had been melted into the bone.

Dabi sat on the sidewalk barely a block away from the house. His fingernails had blood stuck between the cuticles. The rain caused his skin to sizzle every so often, making smoke rise from the seams on his cheeks. He kept his head down, letting the rain soak him as he took long heavy breaths. He was exhausted from yet another fight. And yet this one wasn’t a failure. Shigaraki didn’t have to come to save him this time. He didn’t have to be pitied. He didn’t have to berate himself from incompetence. He wore a twitching grin through his breaths, occasionally cackling quietly as his hands flexed. What a rush. What a freedom. “I did it for me…” he snickered.

But there was a part of him that felt sick. His stomach was turning, even with the joy of success filling his chest. A killer. He’s become a killer. He should be proud. He took control of his life, his guilt no longer restrained him. Would anyone be proud? Was this okay? This rush was exactly what he wanted. He could have done more. He could have slaughtered the innocent, although they weren't the target. But Todoroki didn't want them dead. So he stopped at just the one.

Suddenly, the rain wasn’t hitting the back of Dabi’s head and neck. It took him a few moments to notice, but he didn’t look up right away. Instead, he noticed red shoes in the road in front of him. Looking up to see who was before him, the severed hand was obvious. Shigaraki held an umbrella over the both of them, leaning over to keep them both dry. It didn’t appear like he had much to say as he stayed there in silence for a while. They both did. Even after completing his task for the first time, maybe he still needed a little bit of saving. Dabi had looked back down at his feet, letting all the thoughts and feelings flow on through. There was much to think about after taking a life. How did Shigaraki and Midoriya and even Stain do this all the time? “You did a good job, you know.”  Shigaraki then praised him.

Dabi couldn’t help but scoff. Praise at a time like, for something like this. It felt so strange. He couldn’t believe it. “Yeah,” he sighed as he stood up. Shigaraki raised the umbrella a little higher to accommodate for the extra height. This would normally be the time to call Kurogiri to pick them up. But they both silently agreed to just walk home that night, even stopping once for a vending machine to get something to drink. There weren’t many words exchanged on the walk back. Rather, Shigaraki preferred Dabi to let everything sink in at the pace he needed it to. There was no rush or pressure to get over it. “You ever clean your room?” he asked after a little while with a teasing smirk. His tone suggested a lot of doubt.

“I did. Still can’t sleep,” Shigaraki answered, turning his nose up. Dabi’s suggestion failed him and he was a little salty about it. Cleaning his room took a lot of work and it was apparently all for nothing. Though his attitude made the stapled man make a short chuckle. 

“Then we can try something else soon.” he offered casually. It made the scrawny villain huff but the discussion ended there for a while. It was a few more minutes of silence before they spoke again.

“It’s okay if it bothers you,” Shigaraki said out of nowhere. They didn’t make eye contact as they both looked directly ahead and occasionally to the side away from each other.

“Did it bother you?”

“I don’t even remember the first person I killed. I’ve been doing this as long as I can remember.”

“So you’re just… numb to it?”

“Guess so.” Dabi looked down at his feet. It took him so many tries to kill someone up close and personal, and the guy standing next to him had been doing it longer than he could recall. He must have looked so pathetic compared to him. But… he shouldn’t compare himself to people. Not anymore. There was no need to drive himself crazy over stuff like that.

“Thanks,” he said with no context. There was too much context. Shigaraki only glanced at him and shrugged in return. Gratitude wasn’t necessarily his concern but he’d take it.

In returning to the bar, Shigaraki closed the umbrella at the door before stepping inside. He put the umbrella on the ground beside someone else’s shoes before scratching the side of his head to feel how damp his hair had become from being outside. It only took a moment for him to notice two teenagers and a dog completely knocked out on the sofa. Both Midoriya and Todoroki had fallen asleep on the couch with Zuzu on her owner’s stomach. The scrawny villain sighed at the sight of them. They couldn’t even make it to their own room.

Without much hesitation, Shigaraki went over to them before kneeling down and maneuvering his freckled villain on his back, sneaking his hands underneath his knees. “Aren’t you going to let Kurogiri get them?” Dabi asked quietly. He looked down at Todoroki who had his phone under his hand at his chest. He saw he had earbuds in and had been listening to music that put him peacefully to sleep. Taking a peek at the song he was listening to, he could see the title of an album he had bought him earlier in the week. He couldn’t hold back a smile. By the time he shifted his focus to Shigaraki, he was able to see Midoriya sleepily hug on to his older brother’s neck more snugly as he unconsciously smiled, nuzzling his nose into the back of his shoulder. Kurogiri could have warped them back to their room. But Shigaraki liked these moments better.

 “You gonna get yours or what?” Shigaraki asked, suddenly shaking when he took a step forward. “He’s heavier than he used to be...” To anyone, it would have sounded like he was talking about a toddler when he was just thinking of Midoriya during his eating problem. But he was still able to manage his change in weight; just had to hunch over more. 

Dabi could feel the looming pressure to be a big brother. Shigaraki was shamelessly eyeing him through the gaps of the severed hand. He was waiting for him. But Todoroki wasn’t sleeping in the same position Midoriya was. Rather, he was on his back with one leg dangling over the side with Zuzu on his stomach. Dabi could only hope that he wouldn’t wake up when he went to lift him. He held him the same way he had at the hospital fire. Arm under his knees and other arm keeping his head up as best as possible. Without the high-stress situation, however, he found that Todoroki sunk into the position naturally. His hand kept his phone at his chest and Zuzu stayed put on his stomach. His head tilted to the side ever so sleepily, resting against Dabi’s chest at his heartbeat. He was unawakened at the motion, staying blissfully asleep in his big brother’s arms now. The stapled man couldn’t look more awkward about it at first.

Shigaraki walked with Dabi into the elevator where the two would stand side by side waiting for it to rise up to the next floor. It only took a few moments for Dabi to look down at Todoroki again to only look away, like maybe this wasn't a good idea. He wasn’t suffocating with smoke this time, he could enjoy holding him again for the first time in forever. Though he was having a similar problem to Shigaraki. Todoroki had gotten a lot heavier than he remembered. But he could manage. 

Shigaraki watched him stare off like he was guilty of something but didn't want to think about it. To think he was given the opportunity to spend time with his baby brother again. To have his own bed again. To have a place to shower and sleep comfortably for the first time. To feel safe. And he got to enjoy it all with someone he had been kept away from nearly all his life. It was all because of someone reaching out, someone taking care of both of them. Dabi glanced back at Shigaraki only for the scrawny villain to look away and focus more on Midoriya. It was difficult to believe the first interaction the two adults had with each other was them nearly killing each other.

When the elevator doors opened, Shigaraki was the first to walk out because he was the only one who could manage opening the apartment door. He had to do it quickly to not drop the sleeping killer on his back. He was able to keep the door open with his foot, letting himself inside first for Dabi to follow behind as he led the way to the bedroom. There was no light in the room beside the city lights coming in, being morphed by the raindrops on the windows. Dabi was first to lay Todoroki down, doing so slowly and carefully to not wake him. He actually seemed a bit nervous about it, appearing paranoid on how careful he had to be. If Todoroki woke up, it would be incredibly awkward. But he didn’t, having been a trained heavy sleeper. It gave his older brother the chance to gently take the earbuds out of his ears and slip his phone out of his hand. He took the liberty of putting it on a charger for him. 

Shigaraki just watched in silence for a few moments. Just letting Dabi do what he had to. He eventually turned his back to the bed and to Dabi who was on the opposite side and knelt down to lower Midoriya. But the little killer had a stiff hug hold around his neck. Shigaraki had to pry his fingers off to free himself. Once released, the freckled boy’s fall was thankfully soft and graceful. Though it was not without a bit of clumsiness, the back of his hand just barely bumped the bottom front of Shigaraki’s face. Midoriya’s hand just lightly tapped underneath the severed hand, causing it to casually fall to the ground.

Dabi was still tending to Todoroki and Zuzu, too occupied with making sure they were still asleep. Meanwhile, Shigaraki only stared at his precious father that had dropped to the ground. His little brother was completely unconscious still. He could just put the hand back on and no one would ever know. And yet… he didn’t. He did pick it up, but put it in his pocket instead just to keep it close. This was okay.

By the time Todoroki and Midoriya were tucked into bed, the two of them drifted closer to each other immediately like magnets. They couldn't stay away from each other even for a few seconds. Zuzu would wiggle in between them, making herself comfortable in a ball. “Pretty hopeless, huh?” Dabi mocked quietly, looking to Shigaraki when he suddenly held his breath from surprise. Even in the semi-darkness of the room, the city lights were able to help him see the other villain’s face clearly. He couldn't remember what he looked like because he got wasted when he revealed himself the first time. 

And here he was again. Looking down so peacefully at his freckled little brother, just watching him sleep without emotion to be expressed. Cracked skin around the eyes and lips, scarred at the right eye and lip, and yet there was a softness to it. He wasn’t chiseled or broad, he was young. But his eyes. They were so bright, so thoughtful, and filled with so much hate and pain. Though in the moments of staring at Midoriya, that hate was forced to drift away just for a little while. His face relaxed when he used a finger to adjust a few strands of green fluffy hair, to pull it away from his mouth. Dabi only watched with the neon lights and raindrop-covered window behind himself, awestruck by how serene a true killer and leader was before him.

 “Not a treat to look at, you don’t have to say it,” Shigaraki said quietly, lowering his head for a moment before walking away from the bed. He put his hands in his pockets and went out the bedroom door, but didn’t leave the apartment. Dabi followed after him at a quicker pace to catch up.

“That’s not what I was thinking at all, actually. Hold on.” As a fellow human with a fucked up face, he wasn’t so appalled by another fucked up face. Considering how fearless Shigaraki was at the first sight of him and how respectful he had been with the boundaries around the self-consciousness of his staples, Dabi had reason to believe he felt the same way. “I was just surprised. What, you don’t like when people stare?” He thought he loved attention. They didn’t leave the apartment. Instead, Shigaraki went to raid their tiny kitchen as it was past midnight and well into hungry gremlin hours.

Shigaraki went for the fridge first and stole a juice box before leaning his lower back against the counter. “I prefer people stare at my actions rather than my face,” he muttered, looking away from Dabi while taking a sip through the straw. A child’s taste with a man’s philosophy. Dabi had a hard time controlling himself. After everything, his first safe haven, his first interaction with his little brother in a long time, the comfort of playful banter and teasing, the confidence of having an understanding leader, and after seeing Shigaraki let down a barrier in front of him, he couldn’t control himself. 

Dabi put his hands on the counter on either side of Shigaraki, leaning over him slightly within inches of his face. The red-eyed villain leaned back a bit on instinct, but he couldn’t back up further into the counter. “It’s not that bad… you know? I wouldn’t mind staring.” Dabi said quietly, causing the other to internally panic. This was a whole different reaction than what he expected. He didn’t understand it at all. This was too weird. Too close.

“Y-Yeah well-” Shigaraki turned and lightly pushed Dabi away. It was too light to be a shove, but it served the purpose of getting him to back off the counter. This gave Shigaraki room to walk away, but Dabi still followed. “You’ve probably been drinking again,” he huffed, finishing the juice box and tossing it out. He reached up into a high cabinet to steal a box of cookies. But the stapled man was right behind him, using his hands to trap him again. Dabi felt bad for making him uncomfortable this way, but there wasn’t much he could think of to do. Shigaraki would be terrorized by affection because he didn’t have the capability to naturally want it. But if the moment came where Shigaraki outwardly told him to back off, he would. He just wanted what he was feeling to be understood.

“I haven’t had anything since this morning.” the stapled man said quietly into his ear. It made the other shake. This was weird. Too weird. Too close. “I’m being honest. I’m not lying this time.” He wouldn’t lie to him anymore. The scrawny villain had made it clear that there was no need for lying here. “I’m not lying about anything here.” Dabi slowly leaned in to get close to his cheek, but Shigaraki escaped by moving his arm like a gate and got away again. 

“Well, you’re acting weird. I think you need to go to bed.” Shigaraki threw the box in his hands out because he finished the cookies. There was hardly anything in there to begin with. Then he went out the main door to the hallway. Dabi continued to follow. He would continue to follow him down the stairs.

“I’m not tired.”

“You sleep all the time!”

“Well, not now.”

“You’re being a total weirdo!”

“You’re not telling me to stop.”

“Because I don’t even know what you’re doing!”

“I’ll stop if you tell me to.”

“Where is this coming from? Did you smoke a blunt instead of a cigarette? I’m going for a damn walk.” They went back and forth all through going down the stairs to the bar. Shigaraki didn't bother to bring the umbrella Dabi left at the door. Dabi didn’t bother to take it either. He followed him outside into the rain. They were both walking fast, Shigaraki trying to get away without running. He didn’t feel threatened. Just awkward. “Why do you keep following me? You’re supposed to be a tomcat, not a lost dog,” he asked sharply.

“Because I want to get closer to you,” Dabi answered calmly. It made Shigaraki pause. Not even Midoriya had been so blunt about something like that. Their relationship was Midoriya forcing his way into his life through innocence, devotion, and casualness. This was blunt. This was being requested of him. It was different. It was scary.

In the moment Shigaraki paused, Dabi took the opportunity to trap him one more time. Without pushing or shoving, he trapped him against the wall of an alley they were walking through by just walking closer and him taking steps back instinctively. “Dabi-”

“Can I kiss you?” Dabi asked softly, leaning in a bit closer. Both crystal blue and blood-red eyes seemed to glow in the darkness of the rainy night. Both surrounded by nothing but dirty brick and garbage in the alley. It seemed fitting for a pair of scarred misfits, thrown out by the world. 

“What…?” Shigaraki asked, nearly paralyzed by his own confusion. There was no reason for Dabi to want this, at least that’s what he thought. This area of human interaction was foreign to him. “You don’t have to, you know. I’m not-” he wasn’t like the others that had given Dabi hospitality. He wasn’t asking this of him.

“I want to.” Dabi’s boney fingers had their nails digging into the wall. He wished Shigaraki could understand these feelings. The feeling of wanting to be close to someone, wanting to touch someone, wanting to belong with someone with them belonging to you. He wanted to help him. But he also wanted him.

There was every reason to say no. It was uncomfortable. It was weird. It was scary. It seemed out of nowhere. He didn’t understand. And yet, those crystal eyes looked so pretty and the hate in them was so clear, those burns and staples showed so much pain that he could understand, maybe there was more to understand. Maybe he would like it? “S-Sure? I-”

Dabi didn’t give him the time to say anything more. He cut him off with a kiss, closing his eyes and keeping his hands against the wall, though he brought himself closer to him. In this rain, the night had become so cold. He knew he radiated a warmth to combat it. Maybe he could at least make Shigaraki feel comfortable in that respect. Because he wasn’t kissed back. Even with his body pushing him up against the wall, his hands being kept to himself, he didn’t feel the kiss being returned. It was confusion. It was shock. It was not knowing what to do.

But Dabi was persistent. Taking his hands off the wall, he gently took hold of Shigaraki’s cheek while the other took his shoulder. Just get closer. All he wanted at this point was to get closer. Closer to the one who has given him more than he could have ever asked for. His underlying kindness was beautiful. His philosophies were beautiful. “Your eyes are beautiful, you know?” Dabi opened his eyes halfway to still see Shigaraki’s eyes wide open, never having closed for a second. He smirked as he closed them again, it was funny how awkward the other was. At least until he felt the kiss back.

It was subtle, slow, and not really well done. It was from someone who didn’t know what they were feeling or what they were doing. And that was okay. It made Dabi smile through the kiss, though he could tell Shigaraki was still hesitant. He was frozen in place and a bit timid. So the stapled man took hold of his wrist carefully and brought his deadly hand up close to his face. He wasn’t afraid of his quirk. He encouraged him to touch him. And he did. Dabi felt a cold hand take hold of his cheek with only four fingers, although they were quivering. 

To try and ease the anxiety this affection was probably giving Shigaraki, Dabi’s other hand began to lower down to his waist to hold him. But he felt an immediate twitch away from him. Okay, so maybe don’t do that. Keeping the boundaries in mind, the stapled man respected them and kept his hold on the other’s shoulder and then sneaking behind his upper back. There was a moment when Dabi pulled away to take a small breath and got a peek at a stunned face that was just staring at him. He smirked and leaned again, taking Shigaraki’s chin to peck his lips numerous times in succession before holding out the last one for a few more moments. All while soaked with rain and surrounded by littered trash.

Dabi pulled away one last time, both of them slowly opening their eyes simultaneously. Red eyes filled with confusion and yet a kind of calmness, while those of crystal only showed joy and satisfaction. Maybe this would go somewhere, maybe it wouldn’t. But he felt he got his feelings across and maybe opened up a new world for Shigaraki. “I’m suddenly feeling tired, ain’t that something? I’m going back to go to bed. Don’t stay out too late.” Dabi shrugged with a smile, turning away to leave. Though, he did take a second to stop and turn around. He removed his villain coat and draped it over Shigaraki’s head real quick. “You’re gonna freeze like that, ya creep.” he snickered before finally walking away.

Shigaraki only stood paralyzed for a minute, letting Dabi walk only around the corner to go back into the bar. They never really got far. He ended up leaning back against the wall, his face expressing nothing but shock as he tapped his scarred lips a few times with one hand. He slid down to sit on the ground, tapping his mouth with both the hands. “What… What the hell was that? Y-You fucking tomcat...”

Chapter Text

“Don’t you dare…” A woman sat at the dining room table with a teenage boy driven to silence sitting across from her. His head was down as he took in her scolding respectfully. “How dare you… you come to my home to tell me such unbelievable lies about my son. You should be ashamed of yourself.” A fallen over teacup was by her hand, tea having spilled out of it and was dripping on to the floor. “You say you bullied him. Is that why he was so lonely and quiet all his life? It was you who did that to him? And yet you come here and accuse him of such evil things. How dare you! My Izuku would never!” Inko snapped, tears in her eyes and pain in her voice. Bakugo only sat uncharacteristically quiet, having never been one to like authority. But in this home, his personal grievances and pet peeves meant nothing.

“I already came to terms with the blame. You don’t need to rub it in.” Bakugo muttered, looking to the side and refusing to make eye contact. He was used to being yelled at and scolded by his own mother. But this wasn’t anger talking to him, this was shame and disappointment. He felt sick. “I royally messed up and I didn’t bother to examine the consequences until it was too late. I’m aware people are dead because of me.”

“No! Not because of you! Izuku would never hurt anyone!” Inko denied Bakugo’s deductions. How could he possibly convince a loving mother that her son has turned into a deranged killer? “I really thought kindly of you for visiting me in place of Izuku being so busy with his studies.” She looked at a series of flowers in vases that were placed around the apartment. They were bouquets that she couldn’t have grown from her location. Someone bought them all for her. Bakugo bought them all. “Your company has appreciated these past few days, Bakugo. But I can’t accept these baseless rumors you have on Izuku.”

“They’re not baseless. I’m telling you the truth that no one else is gonna tell you until he comes out about it.” Bakugo kept his voice quiet but there was a clear bitterness in his tone. He hated being talked down on and called a liar more than anything. But he was forced to bite his tongue here. For Inko’s sake.

“The only thing he would have to come out about was having a boyfriend!” Inko cried out. “And now my baby is out there grieving for his death after such a terrible accident and you have the nerve to accuse him of killing people!” She wiped her tears with her sleeve. “I’ve tried calling him but he won’t answer. So imagine he just wants his time alone.” He was planning something big. “I call every day and leave a voicemail for him to listen to and I text him to let him know he can talk to me whenever he feels ready to.” He was preoccupied with other things.

“His boyfriend was the only thing keeping him under control. And his death wasn’t even an accident, Deku is out for revenge now and people are in danger!” Bakugo couldn’t handle being doubted. People’s lives were at stake and his mother was too stubborn on seeing Midoriya as her precious, harmless baby boy. He could see where Midoriya got his stubbornness from.

“I forbade you to call him that here!” Inko snapped back, unafraid of the teenager at her table. He was so much taller and so much stronger than her, but she fearlessly stood her ground.

“The last time you saw him was after the Bloody Tragedy. Did he look and act the same to you? He’s not that awkward little kid anymore! And Todoroki was with him, right? Ever think about why he didn’t go home and came here instead that day? His dad got him killed and De- he’s going to be out for more blood in return.” Bakugo stayed seated and did what he could to try and argue with Inko. He had to let this woman see what Midoriya was becoming. Maybe she could stop him before he had a chance to hurt anyone else. If there was anyone that could get him to turn himself in… she could, right?

Bakugo pushed Inko far. She eventually grabbed her cellphone off the counter where it had been charging and held it to her ear after tapping it a few times. The blond looked mortified. This woman was going to get him killed.

"Shouchan..." Midoriya quietly mumbled. "Shouchan..." He shook the one sleeping beside him. Although it was difficult because of the death grip that was on his arm. It was easy to tell a bruise was beginning to form. "Shouchan, wake up." He tried to wake Todoroki gently, but it wasn't working as his hero's fingers desperately dug into his skin. Even Zuzu was pawing at his head and whining to get his attention to no avail.

"Don't go..." Todoroki whimpered quietly. Usually, in his tearful nights, his face would be still with only a few teardrops slipping down his cheeks infrequently. It was this morning that his face was scrunched in distress with his eyebrows furrowed at the center. His cheeks were shiny with a constant stream of tears. "Don't go..."

Midoriya put his forehead against the other's and held on to him firmly. He would just have to let him wake up on his own. "I won't. I promised I wouldn't." he cooed softly. He cupped Todoroki's cheeks to let him at least feel that someone was there. It only took a few moments for his eyes to snap open and his grip on Midoriya remained tight. "Good morning, Shouchan." The freckled boy stroked the white half of his hair back. He felt frost at the tips of a few strands.

Todoroki was such a pretty crier, it made Midoriya just a tad jealous. But it also made him admire his beautiful boyfriend even more. Seeing him so suddenly still faced with shimmering glossy eyes and shiny unblemished cheeks, it was enough to make him feel infatuated all over again. It was also the sight of his strong and determined hero being so vulnerable and fragile at moments like this that made a twisted obsession kick in his chest. He raised his arms towards him and gestured to him closer. “C’mere.” he beckoned with an innocent smile.

There was a strong sense of satisfaction feeling his boyfriend cling on to him. Midoriya held such a powerful force in his arms and against his chest. It was at his every beck and call. It was so emotionally dependent. But he didn’t see it that way. Instead, he comforted the most precious treasure. He was able to be there just in time for the one he loved most, not a second too late. Being together like this made tending to him so much easier and he’d never have to be late again. “You had a bad dream again… I’m sorry you still have them. And here I thought they would go away once you were finally here with me. Guess that was just wishful thinking.” The little killer stroked his hero’s hair soothingly. “You wanna talk about it?”

“Did I do that?” Todoroki asked, looking at Midoriya’s upper arm that was right in front of his face. There was a little bruise from his grip on it.

“Yeah, but don’t worry about it. It doesn’t hurt. You’re just clingy.” The little villain teased with a smile, hugging his hero closer. “You’re cute like that.”

“Not cute.”

“Very cute.” Midoriya only giggled at his pouting boyfriend, feeling his burnt face hide in his shirt in denial of being cute. All while Zuzu tried to stick her nose in the small nook between the two. “See? Zuzu wants to see your cute face too.” Todoroki only made a grunt in response and tightened his hug on Midoriya to squish him a bit. “And now the cute fox is all pouty.”

“I did not wake up to be harassed.”

“And now I’m being assaulted. So good thing we’re both villains because the cops can’t save us both.”

“Fuck cops.” Todoroki said acab. Then he proceeded to pull Midoriya down to force him flat on the bed while leaning over him with his hands beside either side of his head. He may be embarrassed about being called cute, but he could only think the same of his beloved freckled killer. He cupped his right cheek and rubbed his thumb over the streaked scar under his eye with the slightest tilt of his head. Todoroki suddenly looked so sad again.

“Hey…” Midoriya reached up to hold the other’s left cheek and curled his index finger against his burn. He watched him lean into it with closed eyes. “So what’s up…?” He kept his tone soft and inviting, hoping his beloved would talk about what dream had made him so sad.

“Just a nightmare… It wasn’t real.”

“A nightmare that really got to you, whether it was real or not. You never get a good night’s sleep. It’s why you take so many naps in the day time and you’re never down long enough to reach the ability to dream.” They both knew Midoriya was the farthest thing from uneducated. Of course, he could understand the little things Todoroki did because of his inability to function normally.

“It was just… my dad taking everyone away. Just like, dream logic and all that. They were just pulled into darkness.”

“Everyone?”

“Well…” Todoroki watched Zuzu lay down next to Midoriya’s chest and place her head on him. She was just keeping close to both of them. “My family was sitting near a kotatsu. And you were there too. It was really nice until they all got dragged away.”

“All of us? Me too?”

“Yeah… My mom really liked you. But I felt so heavy and sick. I could barely move.” Todoroki’s gaze shifted to the side, unwilling to look at Midoriya below him. “Mom’s skin started turning purple, like, with bruises. Then the kotatsu caught on fire. My brother got sucked underneath it or something, but I couldn’t grab him quick enough.”

“Was it Natsuo?”

“No… the other one. His face was all blurry and I still don’t remember a thing about him. Just that…” Todoroki paused for a second. “He was kinda skinny. A-And he had piercings on his ears.” he almost sounded excited. But was it really a memory, or his mind playing tricks to try and fill in the gaps? “But mom got pulled away and you tried to help her with Natsuo. Then the kotatsu exploded and he got pushed back and dragged away.”

“What happened to me and Fuyumi?” Midoriya pressed quietly. He wanted him to get it all out. Perhaps he wouldn’t dwell on it all day if he just talked about it all now.

“Fuyumi… she… ran away, I think. And you went to me. I-I tried to hold on but I…”

“You’re strong enough.” Just as Todoroki was about to trail off, Midoriya confidently filled in the gap. It caught his beloved hero off guard. “You were going to say you couldn’t hold on and that you weren’t strong enough. You are. Sometimes you can’t fight dreams like that because dreams aren’t realistic. So don’t let something fake make you believe that you’re not strong.” He brushed red and white hair back behind the other’s ears with a soft smile. “You may be a villain, but you’re still my hero, always.”

Todoroki sunk down to lay on top of Midoriya, nuzzling his head under his chin while taking a firm grip on his shoulders. “You’re mine too…” he mumbled. They snuggled for a bit, enjoying the comfort of each other’s company and warmth. Todoroki even warmed his left side a little, knowing Midoriya liked it when he did. “Do you-” He was about to ask a question when a phone began to ring. Looking over to the nightstand on Midoriya’s side, his phone was going off with Inko’s caller ID.

“Mom… She’s been calling every day since you died.” Midoriya stated, sitting up halfway against the pillows but keeping Todoroki at his chest. He took his phone and stared at it while it rang. Was he ready to answer it?

“Maybe you should talk to her this time. She’s worried about you.” Todoroki said, looking at the screen.

“It’s so painful lying to her all the time… I just wanted to think about you these past few days; not how I need to explain myself to her. But I guess it has to happen eventually…” He held the phone to his ear after accepting the call. Then immediately held it away from his face with scrunched eyes.

“IZUKU!” Inko’s cry was so loud.

“Yeah… hi mom.” Midoriya smiled tiredly. It felt good to hear her voice, but it sucked to hear her so upset. But this was a tone he had grown used to over the years.

“A-Are you doing okay? What’s been going on with you? I’ve been worried and I saw the news earlier this week and I haven’t heard from you and I haven’t heard a thing-”

“I’m okay, really. I’ve been fine. My grades are good, I’m eating, I’m being taken care of and everything.” Midoriya awkwardly explained. Though he began to blush at feeling something against his neck.

“Well y-yes, I’m sure your friends a-are taking good care of you but… you haven’t contacted me since Todoroki…” Inko could be heard sniffling a bit. She only met Todoroki once, but she really felt for him when they talked. He seemed like such a good boy. “Sweetie… You must miss him so much.” Midoriya rolled his eyes at the phone before shutting them tight. Oh yeah, he totally missed him. The one kissing his neck all over at the moment. It was difficult to pretend that Todoroki was dead when he was peppering his neck with soft kisses lovingly.

“Y-Yeah… it’s been hard. I just didn’t want you to hear me all messed up. And… I just wanted to be alone honestly.” The kisses were really distracting. He only peeked one eye open as his face was taken over with a massive blush. Todoroki was keeping dead quiet to not be heard over the phone. But this seemed like a fun time to give affection. “I didn’t mean to ignore you. I’m just better at dealing with sad things alone.”

“I get it. That’s how you handled your bullying problem too, wasn’t it? You didn’t want to bother me or make me feel bad, right?” Inko said quietly, understanding a bit of her son’s behavior. It made Midoriya freeze. He never told her about his past bullying experiences and never told her that he knew she was self-conscious about her genes possibly making him quirkless. The little villain placed his hand on Todoroki’s head to silently ask him to pause his love. He obliged and listened too. “I know, sweetheart. You wanted to be strong for me, and that was so brave of you. But I wish you talked to me more. I want to be there for you, Izuku.”

“Mom I-”

“Bakugo told me everything.”

Midoriya and Todoroki both flinched. Their eyes were frozen wide as they held each other in silence. Bakugo told Inko everything. What was ‘everything’? The freckled villain suddenly appeared angry with his eyes glowing red and a wide smile twitching across his face. To anyone, it would be a look to instill fear and express pure anger. But Todoroki only nuzzled into the nook of his neck lovingly. “So he’s been talking to you, huh? He feeling guilty or something now that my boyfriend, the one he beat unconscious at the sports festival, is dead?” His rage made him lose his grip on the innocent little boy act.

Bakugo’s hands twitched behind Inko. He could only stand and watch her back while silently begging her to just hang up. She was going to get him killed. She was talking to a murderer and telling him everything. “I’m not sure… guilty is the right word. But he’s been telling me some concerning things. I just needed to hear it from you. I just need to hear you say none of those awful things are true about you being evil or whatever. I know they can’t be true, but I would just feel so much better hearing it from you.”

“He’s just paranoid, mom. None of what he’s told you is true except what he’s probably told you about our past. He’s just scared.” Midoriya twirled Todoroki’s hair in his index finger, smiling playfully. Just petting his big cat. “I’m a doctor. Saving people, you know? I’m a hero too.” The bodies burned in the furnace below would say otherwise. But the one being brought closer to his neck would agree with every word he spoke. “It’s not true.” Kacchan will be begging for me to save his life. “I’m being everything I want to be.” He’ll be begging me to spare his life. “I’m making you proud.” He’ll be begging me to take his life. “I’m making an impact.”

Inko smiled on the other end of the line, holding the phone close to her ear. “You are, sweetie. I couldn’t be more proud. And you-” her voice became quieter as she turned away from the mic. She was talking to Bakugo. “Please never come here again. Not after saying such things.”

“You’re just going to believe him? Just like that?!” Bakugo’s voice could be heard in the background. Midoriya didn’t expect his mom to call him immediately after being accused. “You can’t just- how could you-” Bakugo couldn’t find the words to say for once. How could little Deku have such a trustful and loving mother? So defensive and protective and she believed in him so much. How could he ditch her for something like villainy? He was so lucky… “Don’t say I didn’t try to warn you.” The heartbreak she was going to feel would be unmeasurable. There was a quiet door slam in the background of the call. Bakugo must have finally left.

“Hey mom, are you doing okay?” Midoriya asked, running his fingers down Todoroki’s neck. It gave the impression he was ready to receive affection again. So his beloved hero began nipping and kissing at his neck all over again, making the other have to stifle giggles and smiley tones.

“Y-Yes sweetheart… I’m okay. I’ve just missed you. But I know your studies are hard and grief is complicated. You’re being taken care of, and that’s what matters most. I just… don’t want to hold you back anymore.” Inko very quietly wept in her last statement. The fact that Midoriya had been so selfless with her feelings so young crushed her. He didn’t need to be in a home where he felt guilty for having emotional baggage.

“You never held me back. You’ve always been an amazing mom. Parenting your best doesn’t always mean the kid turns out the best, you know? Humans are more complicated than that.” The little villain could only hope Inko would not feel guilty when the truth was finally out. She wouldn’t have meant for him to turn out this way. He could hear her cry a little more across the line. “I’ve actually been wanting to see Shouto’s mom soon, see how she’s doing.” Todoroki paused while in the middle of biting his neck.

“You’ve always had such a kind heart, Izuku. I’m so proud of you for that. I-I should let you go. I’m sure you have much to do. I’m just so happy to have heard your voice again. Mom loves you. She always will.”

“I love you too. Bye, mom.” Midoriya hung up with a smile, placing his phone on the nightstand. Though he was met face to face with his boyfriend staring down at him intensely. It made him giggle because he just looked like a big-eyed cat. “Yes?” he asked, booping his nose playfully.

“You want to meet my mom?”

“I always have. But I didn’t want to push it because you two were just starting to build a relationship again. But you’ve visited her so many times this week for hours at a time, I figured things were going great. So I wanted to tag along next time.” The little villain cupped the other’s face to squish it a bit. It made Todoroki grunt in annoyance though it was more soft playfulness.

“Things have been going well, yeah. I went to see her the day I was deemed dead before anyone would give her a heart attack.” Todoroki thought back to how quickly he hurried to the mental hospital that morning. He originally left to go pick up some of his personal belongings from the mansion but made a quick detour to the hospital to see Rei. He couldn’t check-in for obvious reasons. So he blocked cameras with ice and scaled the building to her room, glancing through windows to see which room was hers.

Todoroki had knocked on her window while hanging upside down from his legs. She had thoughtlessly opened it for him, letting him climb down to sit on the window ledge. He moved his kitsune mask to the left to cover only his left eye and reveal his right. But Rei removed the mask completely and held it in her hands and smiled so softly at him. He explained everything vaguely. He told her that the world thought he was dead, but he was alive and hiding with friends to get away from home. He was going to use the opportunity to do things he’s always wanted to do. She approved so quickly. She asked no questions. She only commented on how cute she found his new costume to be because she liked foxes too. If Fuyumi had gotten to her first, he didn’t want to picture what kind of relapse she would have.

Todoroki never asked about Touya to prevent Rei from having a bad reaction to terrible memories. He would rather have his oldest brother’s memories lay forgotten if it would give his mom peace of mind.

“So you think I could meet her?” Midoriya asked, playing with Todoroki’s hair again. He gave it a small tug just to annoy him.

“I think you could if you stop doing that,” Todoroki grumbled. Though it only irked the little killer to do it again and made him grunt in annoyance. Though all was still playful.

“Doing what?” He tugged one more time and forced Todoroki’s cheek into his palm. But this left his hand open for a bite below his thumb. So his half-and-half beloved bit down on his hand stubbornly and didn’t break eye contact. Midoriya barely tried to pull his hand back because the bite didn’t hurt, he just wanted to test him a little. “Someone not like the hair pulling? I couldn’t tell because I can feel your left side getting warm.” Called out. Todoroki bit harder and closed his eyes, focusing on forcing his warmth and blush to go away.

“Evil,” Todoroki muttered. It earned him a soft pat on the head.

“That’s the idea.” Midoriya giggled, wrapping his legs around his torso and then suddenly bringing him down into a tight hug. “It was all for you.” Todoroki released his bite and sunk his nose into his beloved’s shirt instead. All for him, huh? That made him feel special. A good kind of special. “Could you stay warm, please? I’m cold.” But it was important to remember he was still his boyfriend’s personal heating and air conditioning unit.

Their playful teasing and snuggling would continue for just a little while longer. They enjoyed Midoriya’s mornings without school as much as they could together. It was the most peaceful time they had, allowing themselves to be lazy and comfortable in each other’s company. Villains needed time to relax too.

“Fallen, Yako-” Though another voice was heard just outside the door, addressing them by their villain aliases. Kurogiri had his back against the doorframe as he raised a hand through the open door. He left them in privacy, but he let his presence be known and he had their attention. “When you both come down this morning, please wear your costumes. Masks and mixers on for your own safety. We have guests today.” Guests? Midoriya cocked his head at Kurogiri. “I would also suggest leaving Zuzu up here for now. Two of them are particularly violent and I wouldn’t trust them near her.” Todoroki watched Zuzu trot out the door and turn to greet Kurogiri with a big smile and a wagging tail. He could see his arms go lower, showing he knelt down to pet her.

“Are these the mercenaries Tomu talked about?” Midoriya asked, sitting up a bit, moving Todoroki’s head to his lap.

“They are. Please be wary of what you say to them. They’re a bit prickly. One’s already giving him a hard time…”

“We’ll be down in a couple minutes. Don’t wait up.” Kurogiri warped away at the little villain’s assurance, leaving the two and the dog alone again. Though Todoroki appeared perplexed as he raised his head and propped himself sitting up by his hands.

“Mercenaries?” he asked. The freckled boy got out of bed first and went to their shared closet and began to change into his villain costume.

“Tomu’s a bit picky about who he wants on his team. He’s not very patient with people that don’t care about changing society.” Hence why he had all the patience in the world for Dabi. He saw potential and passion in him. “But we need manpower if we wanna mess up U.A. again. We want to kidnap Kacchan and send one more statement to the world that heroes aren’t really capable of protecting anyone in the end.” Like how not a single hero saved Todoroki. “So he got some baddies to work with us. But he and Kurogiri aren’t very fond of them. But we still need a game plan so we were bound to have a meeting with them eventually.”

Midoriya got on his toes to reach on a shelf of their closet and pulled down both of their masks, holding both in either hand. Smiling at both of them, he couldn't help but be so satisfied with this feeling. Villains together at last. He walked over to Todoroki and took hold of his chin gently to lift it slightly. Then he placed the kitsune mask over his face, masking him for him.

Upon going down to the bar, ice had spiked up from the ground, deflecting wild movements of extended teeth. Midoriya stood behind Todoroki, both of them dressed and masked and already on the defensive from an uncalled-for attack. Though, it didn’t take long for the situation to be dealt with. Dabi sat in a barstool, dressed in his villain coat, with his body facing the center of the room, but his eyes lazily looking towards the empty stool next to him. Spinner had his sword to a giant muscular man’s neck, Toga had tackled a gas-masked boy on the sofa, holding a knife to his back, and Shigaraki sat on a man in a black straight jacket’s back with his hand around his throat. Three mercenaries. And they all seemed incredibly problematic. At least Shigaraki’s new team was there to keep them under control as they were all scattered around the bar.

“F-Flesh…” the one in the straight jacket wheezed with Shigaraki rolling his eyes on top of him with his father on his face.

“Listen, I know the three of you aren’t in this for Stain. You just wanna be a cannibal, be a psycho, and be a brat.” Shigaraki glanced between the three new faces in accordance with their personalities. The big blond muscular man only smirked and cocked his head slightly, arrogantly. He scoffed. “You all just want the opportunity and the solid chance of getting out without getting arrested. But if you don’t wanna get arrested, you’re going to have to do this my way. And if you don’t, you can say hello to a jail cell, or goodbye to your life.”

“Alright, big shot. So what’s ‘your way’?” the giant man asked.

Midoriya and Todoroki were able to walk away from the teeth that pierced the walls and the ice while holding hands. They went to the sofa where Toga had the boy in the gas mask pinned down with a big smile. Shigaraki eventually got off of the man on the floor after the teeth were retracted, giving him the time to return to his seat beside Dabi and begin explaining the plan.

“Wow… it’s really you. The Fallen One.” the boy in the gas mask swooned looking directly at Midoriya. He kept quiet enough to not talk over Shigaraki or distract all the characters in the room. The freckled boy kept his face on Shigaraki, but his eyes drifted to the boy as Toga slowly released him. But she looked ready to rip his throat out at any second. “I-I’m a huge fan of you and Stain. You can call me Mustard.” He was in a middle school uniform but he had some height to him. He must have been around the villainous duo’s age, but a little younger. Even under that gas mask, anyone could tell he was starry-eyed seeing Stain’s apprentice. Maybe a little too much. “Not to be like, rude or anything, but you’re a lot shorter than I thought you’d be. So are the rumors true? Are you really a kid like me?”

Midoriya half-listened to the fanboy beside him and half-listened to his big brother refer to the two other men as Muscular and Moonfish. He seemed to be relaying a kind of loose strategy but it was loose to make up for uncertainty and unexpected surprises. “You should really pay attention,” Midoriya warned. Had his life turned out different, he’d be embarrassed by such fanboyish attention and even offer kind words of encouragement. But this wasn’t the attention he wanted anymore. Where were the fear and intimidation?

“R-Right. But I really want to learn more about you. You’re really incredible, especially if you are young. Could we talk more? Could you show me your work and your moves? You’re a doctor and seeing your studies would be such a legendary opportunity. I would love it if-” Mustard had begun rambling in admiration, slowly crawling towards the arm of the sofa that Midoriya was standing beside. He started reaching out to touch him when his hand was smacked away harshly. It almost seemed that there were blades on the aggressor’s hand as his gloves were torn and parts of his skin had been cut. He silently recoiled and cradled his lightly bleeding hand, looking up at the owner of a kitsune mask.

Todoroki had gotten between the two, defensively lunging at the boy. Behind the fox spirit mask, one eyehole was glowing red while the other was bright blue. The eyes faintly seen were piercing and sharp. Mustard felt as if an icicle had pierced his throat to cut off his breathing. He was so startled by the attack and by the pressure coming from Todoroki’s aura. It was so intimidatingly cold and hateful. Protective. All while Midoriya stood without flinching, letting his beloved do his thing. There was no need to fear unwanted attention with such an infatuated little fox at his side. He only placed his hand on his hooded head, gently petting him side to side. A good little fox.

“Now, now Yako. No need for that.” Midoriya cooed. He turned to wrap an arm around over his shoulder and place his hand on his chest to pull him back a bit. Todoroki stood up straight, retracting his lunging motion, but glowing eyes were locked on to Mustard. He wouldn’t tolerate another attempt at conversation. Not a conversation like that. “Easy, they’re all our guests, remember?” Midoriya moved his hand to hold Todoroki’s masked cheek, turning his head to make him look at him instead. Perhaps this was a good enough hint for Mustard to understand that he would never have a chance at getting close with the little villain. “We mustn’t start picking fights.”

Mustard gazed silently at the pair. They stood so tall and strong beside each other. They listened so intently to Shigaraki and the questions the others asked. The League of Villains was a small group, but one that knew how to play games with the heroes. "You'll scatter yourselves. We'll leave no room for safety or escape. However…" Shigaraki's eyes trailed to Todoroki. "I ask that none of the students be killed without the consent of Yako. You'll all have radio earpieces to communicate with each other. Yako would have the most information and ties to the kids and teachers, so take his advice and listen to him." Underneath the kitsune mask, the teenager was wide-eyed with surprise and honor. Shigaraki was so accommodating to him. It made Midoriya smile and take hold of his hand to further remind him becoming a villain was a good choice.

"Seriously?! What kind of villain are you?" Muscular snapped. Shigaraki only glared at him in silence, letting him express his opinion. "No killing on sight and you're asking me to take orders from a couple of brats? They can't be older than you, toothpick!" Midoriya bit the inside of his cheek. His size and age overshadowed all the felonies he's committed? All the things he's done are invalidated because he was a teenager? How annoying… "Like hell! I'm not listening to them unless they can take me on! The little Fallen One is going knocked down in a heartbeat!" Muscular demanded, punching his fist into his palm. Todoroki reacted by tensing up and started to lunge again. But Midoriya held him back to keep a fight from breaking out, though Todoroki wasn't about to let someone threaten his beloved villain.

Shigaraki held his hand up to signal Muscular to stop talking and Todoroki to relax. He wasn't about to have a throwdown in Kurogiri's bar. Kurogiri would skin everyone alive. "You're not taking orders from Fallen or Yako," Shigaraki corrected. Midoriya folded his arms and nodded smugly. They'd all be taking orders from Shigaraki himself- "You're going to be taking orders from Dabi." Midoriya flinched and then froze. Everyone did. Including Dabi. Everyone's attention turned to the stapled man whose reaction was minimal. His crystal eyes twitched wide for just a moment before he sighed, leaning his back against the counter more. Playing it cool even though he too, was surprised. "Kurogiri and I will be here, jamming phone signals and roadside security cameras while also keeping in contact with Dabi. The rest of you are to do what he says."

Midoriya stood in silence, brewing in what could only be called jealousy. Dabi was so new. He didn't even have a criminal record. He was lazy and rude and had no real skill. Why was he in charge? "This poorly sewn together freak?" Muscular pointed to Dabi who just averted his gaze. Not everyone needs to call him out on his scars every couple of seconds.

"He's proven himself to take this all very seriously. Fallen and Yako have too many personal ties and I can't risk them blowing their identities" Shigaraki explained. It wasn't that he didn't trust them. It was more that he didn't want to even think about them getting caught because they were careless. "So out of everyone here, I find Dabi to be the most capable. I'll take objections, but I won't really care." Shigaraki would hear out any complaints, but that didn't mean he'd actually change anything. He looked between Midoriya and Muscular when he spoke. There were no objections.

"Hey, Mister. I wanna talk to you for a second. And you in the suit, you too." Dabi called out in a deadpanned tone. As everyone had mostly begun to trickle out of the meeting, a few faces stuck around. Mister Compress and Twice stayed behind to speak with Dabi while Mustard insistently tried making conversation with Midoriya. Todoroki was standing between the two with his leg up and using his foot to keep Mustard from getting too close. Midoriya couldn’t help but hug on to his arm in gratitude and lovingness,

“Could we maybe talk sometime?” the younger villain asked desperately trying to get closer despite Todoroki keeping him back.

“No.” the duo responded in unison while monotone.

“Team up during the invasion?”

“No.”

“Maybe get boba one day?”

“No.”

Midoriya and Todoroki were both very set and stubborn with the gas masked villain. Todoroki appeared more cold and protective while Midoriya seemed dismissive and annoyed. He just wanted everyone to leave so they could take their masks off and relax. This situation was more annoying than an actual threat. At least until a more massive figure made a shadow that loomed over them. Masked eyes came into contact with one real eye and one fake that had been replaced with an odd robotic one.

“I really am dealing with a bunch of kids, aren’t I? So fucking stupid…” Muscular growled. He pushed Mustard away, not even acknowledging him, before staring down at the two others. “Don’t you brats get cocky because you’re on the weirdo with the hands’ favorites list. I’m not taking orders or getting consent from either of you.” He pointed at Todoroki, his finger barely touching his chest. “I don’t know what your deal is. But you don’t seem like a villain to me. And you,” His focus drifted to Midoriya. A smile twitched on to the bigger man’s face. “You’re just a little pipsqueak doctor. You can be all big and tough, but you don’t have real power. I bet Stain did all the heavy lifting for you.”

“You’re pretty rude.” Midoriya sighed. Muscular annoyed him more than he actually angered him. “You’re more like a rabid barbarian. You would do better with some self-control and maybe a few more brain cells while you’re at it.” He only saw a grown man who was so hyper fixated on power, his brain couldn’t comprehend basic human decency. He was an actual idiot.

“Guys like you always have a pompous big mouth but have nothing to back it up. You’re a puny little brat with no real strength.” Muscular took a step forward but Midoriya stood his ground still. Todoroki stayed between the two, glaring up at the large man in front of them. Unlike Mustard, Muscular was not so intimidated. “Think this little fox is going to protect you? I can crush him eas-” It only took one clench of his fist to summon the adults to the conversation.

Before anyone had time to react, Mr. Compress and Twice appeared on either side of Todoroki while Dabi, Shigaraki, and Toga sat at the bar, all silently staring at Muscular with the glowing sense of homicide in their eyes. Dabi and Shigaraki sitting on stools while Toga was on the counter. Between gold, blue, and red, it was difficult to tell who would take the opportunity to kill first. “Pardon us, but Shigaraki made it clear that there will be no fights in here. Or infighting, period. And I suggest you listen because power or not, there are quirks here that can suppress it.” Mr. Compress warned, putting his arm casually in front of Todoroki as a silent gesture of protection.

“Yeah! So leave these guys alone, we’re not looking for a fight. But you can sure as hell get one if you’re asking for it, punk!” Twice added on with his arms folded, both personalities coming out. Midoriya and Todoroki exchanged glances before looking at the men beside them. The two seemed very loyal to Shigaraki but by choice. And they were nowhere near as bloodthirsty as the barbarian trying to pick a fight.

“Are we going to have a problem? Lay a hand on those dears and I’m going to assume we are.” Magne said with a falsely sweet tone while just outside the door, looking in with Spinner who kept quiet. But his sword was being gripped at the hilt on his back. He was prepared for a fight.

There was nothing physically stopping Muscular from having a fit of rage at the bar. There were two men in his way from beating the two teenagers. He would have taken them all on. But when he looked at his clenched fist, he noticed it was gone. It was replaced with a dark cloud while he could feel his knuckles touching the floor. Kurogiri was in the back room with only his glowing eyes illuminating his presence as he used a portal to warp Muscular’s fist somewhere where it couldn’t hurt anyone. Muscular scoffed in disgust before turning to leave in silence. He pushed back Spinner and Magne with his broad shoulders and continued on his way. Mustard left shortly after, keeping his head down and awkwardly leaving feeling he was no longer welcome.

Midoriya removed his mask with a loud, exasperated sigh. “What a jackass.” he groaned. “Tomura, are we seriously going to work with those guys? They suck!” He sat back on the sofa with folded arms in a childish pout.

“They’re powerful. That’s all we need.” Shigaraki answered.

“That beefy guy is super lame and the one with the teeth is totally weird.” Toga commented. “Let me turn them into pretty ribbons instead?”

“Tempting. Maybe afterward.” Shigaraki would actually consider letting Toga skin the mercenaries alive and turn their insides into ribbons. Dabi shook his head at both of them. He had to remember he was surrounded by psychopaths.

“Thank you for the backup.” Todoroki slowly removed his mask and hood while looking between Twice and Mr. Compress. Twice instantly put a hand in his dual-colored hair and ruffled it a bit, messing up the clean split at his hairline.

“Not a problem at all kid! Just didn’t want a fight to break out. I’ll fuck him up next time!” Todoroki looked mildly annoyed at his hair getting messed up but he just let it happen. He knew it was meant to be more endearing than a pain. Meanwhile, Mr. Compress sauntered over to the bar and took a bottle from off the shelf. He turned to Kurogiri who came out of the backroom and saw him nod in approval, letting the showman take the drink. Though Mr. Compress took three and turned them into marbles before juggling them skillfully.

“Fallen was right to call that beast a barbarian. No class or manners at all. I would have gladly compressed him right then and there, my dear boy. So there is no need to thank me.” he mused. Midoriya watched him juggle with a childish awe before a marble was tossed at him. He caught it with a big smile and held it close before Kurogiri could take it away. Maybe he could finally get a sip of alcohol like a real adult! However, when Mr. Compress reversed the marble to its original state, the little villain would find that it was actually a juice box that had been tossed to him. A magic trick of sneaking in a fourth marble at the last second to amuse the freckled boy. Todoroki would soon be tossed a juice box marble as well. He seemed innocently fascinated by the quirk and drank the juice through the straw while Twice began politely fixing his hair to be evenly split again.

Twice and Mr. Compress would leave within the hour, leaving the remaining villains in their home hideout. Todoroki laid down on the sofa with his head on Midoriya's lap, staring up at him and occasionally playing with his green curls while the little killer drank his fruit juice. Toga had gone to her room and came back down dressed in cutesy clothes with a small purse.

"I'm going out~ anyone want anything?" she asked. She originally looked to Shigaraki but then remembered what he asked of her a few days ago. He wanted her to be inviting towards Todoroki. So she shifted her gaze to him and smiled more innocently, hiding her fanged teeth. "How about you, Yako?"

Todoroki blinked at the sound of his name and his focus shifted to Toga. He couldn't think of anything he needed right away. However… "Are you… good with makeup?" He asked quietly. Shigaraki seemed intrigued by the question while Dabi almost choked on the bottle of alcohol he was drinking.

"I think I'm pretty good at it! I don't usually wear that much but I can go hard every now and again." Toga answered while swaying on her feet forward and back. Her aura just felt like flowers. "Why do you ask?"

"Izuku and I were talking. I'd like to walk around without a mask eventually. And we're bound to go public in the future, so we'd need to disguise ourselves anytime we go out." He put his hand over his left eye. Their scars stuck out a lot. "Our faces are pretty distinguished. So we'll need your help."

Toga blinked a few times and tilted her head to the side. She wasn't expecting that kind of answer. But she didn't know Todoroki or Midoriya that well either. From what she could gather, Todoroki was rather soft-spoken and seemed like someone who spaced out a lot. He was adorable. Especially with his scar. "How about tomorrow the three of us go makeup shopping then? I'll need to match your skin tones and stuff. Then we can go get boba or something!" she offered cheerfully.

"That'd be nice. What do you think?" Todoroki looked up at Midoriya and reached to poke his freckled cheek. He wanted his approval. To which Midoriya smiled brightly and held his hand in return for the poke.

"I think that'll be good. Gives us time to go see your mom today," he answered. Though he didn’t notice Dabi taking one long swig of a bottle in response to his answer. Shigaraki noticed and had half a mind to scold him. It made him wonder what kind of relationship Dabi had with Rei and whether he even knew where she was at the moment. Did he know anything about his family currently? “We should get going now, don’t you think?” Todoroki nodded and before long, the two disappeared up the stairs to let Midoriya change and to retrieve Zuzu. Toga went on her merry way, skipping out the door and eagerly thinking about tomorrow.

“I will accompany them,” Kurogiri said, bowing his head slightly before warping away to prepare to teleport Midoriya and Todoroki wherever they wanted to go.

This would all leave Shigaraki and Dabi to themselves. Once given the privacy, Shigaraki removed the severed hand from his face with a silent sigh. With so many people having come and gone, he finally felt comfortable to put down his security for a little while. He took out his phone instead and scrolled through it mindlessly while the stapled man next to him began to drink away at a bottle until it was empty. His face wasn’t even flushed after having finished the whole thing. He put it down and laid his head in his arms. The two of them would stay like this for quite some time. Enough for Dabi to take a short nap.

Dabi would wake up no longer than two hours later, a bit of drool escaping the corner of his mouth. For someone who slept all the time, he wasn’t always the prettiest sleeper. He woke up to find a tv on across the bar and the one sitting next to him casually playing video games. He smirked and quietly scoffed to himself. Hard to take your big bad boss seriously when he’s just some gamer boy who hides in his room most of the time. And yet the red-eyed villain had stayed next to Dabi instead of leaving him. How peculiar.

“Nerd,” Dabi mumbled with a smug, sleepy grin.

“Alcoholic,” Shigaraki casually said back. “And you’re drooling.” Dabi rubbed his mouth and chin against his sleeve without moving his arms and kept his head down afterward. He didn’t feel like moving or doing anything really. So he sat there and watched Shigaraki play his game, ending up becoming impressed by his skill on a game with an infamous difficulty. Coming up with a dumb theory, he wondered if Shigaraki became a good strategizer from gaming. It was a funny thought that came to his mind when he closed his eyes to rest again. “...So are we just… not gonna talk about it?”

Dabi opened one eye as it peered over to the scrawny villain sitting next to him. What could he possibly mean? Making him the leader of a mission, or their little moment together just last night? He shrugged with a smirk. “All on you, boss man. I have no idea what you’re talking about.” he hummed. In his usual manner of prickery, Dabi slid one arm out from underneath his head and placed his hand so delicately on Shigaraki’s thigh. “We don’t gotta talk about it. I said my peace.” He wanted to get closer to him. There was more to it, but that was the gist. He held back a chuckle when he felt Shigaraki’s whole body shiver at his touch.

So awkward. It was so weird. Shigaraki tried his damnedest to keep a straight face. This was new and he didn’t know what to do about it. Was this what people called a gay panic? Or was it just panic? The feeling of slender fingers subtly pressing into his thigh in succession over and over, it was so terribly strange. And yet when he glanced at Dabi, there wasn’t a speck of disturbance on his stupid smug face. He was playing so innocent with his hand somewhere so sensitive. “Somethin’ the matter, boss?” Dabi asked like he wasn’t doing anything scandalous. Shigaraki only gulped and averted his gaze. He didn’t know how to feel about it… “Just let me know if you don’t like it this way.” the stapled man then said softly, resting his eyes once again.

Whether it be the affection of kisses or touching or the general idea of being in some kind of relationship, if it was not what Shigaraki wanted, Dabi was openly being considerate of his consent. He’d push his boundaries but never surpass them. He didn’t expect the red-eyed villain to react the same to this kind of thing as he did. Dabi had much more experience, whether he was proud of it or not. Though, this was his first time dealing with someone who can’t exactly ‘feel’ things like a normal person. So he could only wonder… what was he feeling now? While sitting in that stool without his security object hiding his face, playing video games casually, what was he thinking? Did he hate it?

“I hate pretty much everything,” Shigaraki muttered, his fingers finally pausing with the controller in his hands. So he probably hated this all too… It kinda seemed like a stupid idea. How could someone who couldn’t physically feel attraction like even the slightest hints at romance? “But I don’t hate this… yet.” Dabi’s eyes shot open as his focus drifted back to the scrawny villain. So skinny, and yet he always seemed so powerful. “It’s just weird… alright? So don’t fucking push it.” he huffed, keeping his attention to the tv screen before stealing a glance at Dabi. To which he instantly looked away when he saw him smiling at him in a not so smug way for once.

“You’ve got pretty eyes, you know?” Dabi hummed, still looking at Shigaraki while Shigaraki refused to look back.

“I thought you hated them.”

“I lied. I lied a lot. So I’ll try not to do that anymore.” He lied about hating his eyes. He lied about wanting to leave Todoroki with Endeavor. He lied about ever killing anyone. No more lies. “I also tried to kill you the second I met you. So I’ll try not to do that anymore either.” he joked.

“Is that not what you call romantic?” Dabi shook his head with a smile at Shigaraki’s response. So he did have a bit of a sense of humor. Cute. Unable to help himself, the stapled man leaned over to the side just enough for his hand and hair to brush up against the other’s hand. All while his other hand remained comfortably on his thigh, occasionally giving it a little squeeze. It was probably the fattiest part of him. “You are such a tomcat…” Shigaraki said with a sigh.

“You know, like, nya.” Dabi raised his other hand limply to ironically make a cat paw motion. He wouldn’t deny it any longer knowing that the scrawny villain had the politeness to not call him a tomcat in front of the mercenaries. Perhaps it was just a nickname to be kept in the hideout. Between them. “You’re screwed when I find something stupid to call you.”

“Not gonna happen.”

“It’ll happen. Like how you’re getting sleep tonight whether you like it or not.”

“And what’s the brilliant idea this time?”

“Company.” Shigaraki nearly froze at Dabi’s new plan. Company? Was he going to sleep in the same room as him? That didn’t seem like a good idea. A really dangerous idea, actually.

“You’re serious?” he asked, just to be sure. But even Dabi could pick up on the subtle nervousness of his tone.

“What? Got something to hide?”

“You willing to tie me up?” Dabi’s eyes shot open as a small blue flame ignited on his head. Whatever real skin he had left on his face had turned red. As someone who slept around to just have a place to stay for the night, that question was taken to a whole new level. How was he supposed to respond to that? Was that really how Shigaraki slept? What the hell was he actually into? Though before he could say anything, the flame on his head was smothered by Shigaraki’s bare hand. “Not like that you fucking tomcat!” he shouted. Oh, thank god. “Use the nonperverted side of that porcupine head of yours. People move in their sleep. You really wanna die because I touched you while I’m sleeping?” Dabi averted his gaze up to the ceiling. Guess that made sense. Made him wonder how many blankets, sheets, and mattresses he had gone through by accidentally destroying them at night.

“Wait… so you get nervous about destroying things in your sleep?” Dabi asked, looking to the red-eyed villain again. He appeared just as exhausted and grumpy as ever. He couldn’t be like Dabi and sleep anytime or anywhere; he had to be careful to not be near anything important that could be destroyed. That, all with the pressure of having the expectations of being the biggest villain in Japan would not make for an easy time of rest. Dabi watched him look down and slowly nod to his question. “If you’re that anxious about it, I’ll do it. I’ll try not to be weird about it.” Try. Try not to be weird about it.

Meanwhile, a knock on a mental hospital room window could be heard by a woman sitting by her lonesome as she was peacefully reading a book in bed. Looking out the window, she could see the tips of fox ears from a mask just below the sill. Rei smiled as she opened the window as wide as she could, letting Todoroki poke his masked head up. She removed his mask and placed it at the top of his head to see all of his face, not just one half. Unlike how he would typically move it.

Three stories up, Todorooki blocked cameras with ice and also used his ice to scale the building with Zuzu. He handed her up first for Rei to take the puppy in her arms gladly before stepping back to let Todoroki in. “There’s one more this time. I want you to meet the boy I’ve been telling you about,” he said, moving to stand beside his mother. It was then that five strings of wire shot up and hooked around the window sill. Midoriya pulled himself up with the help of the ice left on the wall before using his arms to dangle from the window. He smiled awkwardly with an innocent tilt of his head.

“This must feel really strange. But I’d like to ask permission to come in?” he asked politely. When you’re a murderer but you want your boyfriend’s mom to like you. At first glance of Rei, there was a blast of realization. She looked like such a shy but gentle woman. He watched her put Zuzu down and then approach him, taking his hand to help pull him inside despite the fact he could have clearly done it on his own. Todoroki’s kindness, his softness, and his prettiness really did all come from his mom. He had her face and her eyes. The resemblance made his chest feel warm as he was pulled into the hospital room. “Thank you for having me.” he bowed politely.

“Thank you for taking care of him.” Rei bowed back, speaking sweetly and so kindly. Todoorki had her tone too. Endeavor when he was mad, but Rei all the rest of the time. Midoriya was happy for him. But he also blushed at being thanked and bowed to by a woman he didn’t know. In all honesty, he was used to people looking down on him all the time. Pitying him or being suspicious of him. How nice of this woman to be a different change of pace. “You’ll always be welcome here.”

Rei would pull out a desk chair and a chair from the side of the room for both boys to sit on while she sat at the foot of her bed. She softly smiled the whole time as Zuzu was in her lap, gently playing and licking at her fingers. Guess she was a fan of dogs too. “I see now why he got your attention, Shouto,” she commented with a giggle. Midoriya blushed and pointed to his scarred eye.

“Oh, I didn’t come with this.” he chuckled back nervously. He thought she was talking about the cut Kosuke gave him.

“Not that, dear. You have such a cute face. Shouto has always liked cute things.” Todoroki blushed and lowered his head while a flame popped up on the left side. Midoriya took the role of patting out his boyfriend whenever he caught on fire. A few minutes in and Rei was already embarrassing him. She shamelessly chuckled at the two of them. She liked their chemistry already. “I wasn’t all that surprised when he told me he picked up a stray dog. It’s just like him.”

“I think I was able to figure that out after a while.” Midoriya smiled, patting Todoroki’s shoulder in sympathy as he was being called out by his mom in front of his boyfriend.

“But, truly, I can’t thank you enough for being there for him. I know things have become drastically different.” Rei suddenly appeared a bit sad. “Fuyumi came to me shortly after you left that first day, Shouto. She was so upset believing you were dead. I haven’t seen her like that in a long time…” Todoroki looked down at the floor guiltily. Fuyumi would find out the truth with the rest of the world eventually. Rei would find out too… “I couldn’t lie to her. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know you didn’t want me to tell anyone, but I couldn’t bear to see her so sad.” Midoriya held his breath. Rei couldn’t keep a secret from her kids sometimes. They would have to be careful of how much they let her know.

“She didn’t believe you, did she?” Todoroki asked. Rei shook her head.

“Thankfully, no. I think she thought I was crazy. I couldn’t blame her.” She was more than aware of how being in a mental hospital destroyed most of her credibility. She was a sick patient. A crazy woman who scarred her son and wanted to be away from the number two hero. A hero. Why would anyone be afraid of a hero? It was madness.

“With both of you here… may I ask why you’re hiding Shouto?” Rei looked directly at the two of them, her eyes appearing so desperate to know. Why was her son pretending to be dead? Todoroki must have never given her explicit details. Midoriya could understand why.

“Because Endeavor tried to kill him.” So he answered for him. Rei suddenly appeared mortified. Her gentle eyes had gone wide with distress, panic, grief, and pain. Things had not been well since she was taken away. To hear Endeavor tried to kill their youngest child… perhaps even their sweetest one. The one with the biggest heart. She took her hand away from Zuzu as she brought it to her slightly gaping mouth. How horrifying.

“No… he couldn’t have. Sweetheart he…” She didn’t know what to say. Sorry? How could he? How dare he? What could she possibly do to make it better? She was just as powerless as she was before.

“He called me and my family at the last second. If he didn’t… I don’t know what I would have done.” It was a scary thought indeed. “We’re taking care of him now. He’s safe so you don’t have to worry.” Midoriya hugged Todoroki’s arm, leaning his cheek on his shoulder. He watched Rei calm down a little, but not much. The two of them both knew exactly what she was thinking about. It was exactly why Todoroki never wanted to talk about… him. Touya.

Todoroki stood up from his seat and went over to his mother, kneeling down in front of her so she could look him in the eyes. He didn’t want her to have a panic attack over this. “I’m happy with them. Izuku's father and brother have given me a place to stay and everything. And someone else living with them has been showing me things Dad never let me do.” He was talking about Dabi.

“I’m so relieved you can still make friends after everything. Especially with Midoriya.” How could she thank the freckled boy enough for literally saving her son’s life?

“Well… that’s also something we wanted to tell you. Izuku and I…” Todoroki blushed, being a little too embarrassed to admit it. Endeavor beat him senseless at the possibility of the two being friends. So his hesitation was understandable.

“We’re not friends.” Midoriya smiled with upward tilted brows. He was a bit nervous to tell her. But this woman was the exact opposite of Endeavor so… “We’ve been dating for a few months. As boyfriends.”

Rei did not hesitate to hug on to Todoroki tightly. Todoroki flinched at the sudden move but his hands slowly went to Rei’s sides as he remained kneeling on the floor. Was she disappointed? Upset? She sounded like she was ready to cry. “Thank goodness… thank goodness you found someone so good to you. Oh, thank goodness…” The relief. The relief that took over her for son forming a romantic relationship with someone that wasn’t like Endeavor was exhilarating. Though dating a killer was not exactly the healthiest thing either… but at least he cared.

“So.. you’re not upset about it, or anything?” Todoroki asked quietly.

“No… No, of course not. Anything you do, anything, I should support you. And I will. I promise I will.” Endeavor never gave him an ounce of love and support. She would have to provide all of it. She closed her eyes to let a few stubborn tears fall. But when she opened them, they had a soft intensity that Midoriya recognized. A type of look that was loving and devoted. Obsessed. “I trust my Shouto to do the right thing… always.”

“Always?” Todoroki asked, pulling away to look at his beloved mother. If she would always support him… always support him with everything…

“Yes… of course.” she cupped his face and smiled so softly but her eyes were locked on to him. Her precious boy that was almost ripped away from the world that let it happen… he deserved the world to her.

“Then… mom I… I’m not going to be doing very good things,” he admitted. Midoriya froze. Rei listened intently. “I don’t want to be a hero anymore. Not when there are heroes like Dad and not when they let bad things happen. All Might even… he wouldn’t listen to me. So I don’t want to be like them.” Rei brushed a bit of his red hair behind his ear so she could see all of his scarred eye. “Mom… I’m going to kill people. I don’t want people like that in charge.” Midoriya's hands began to shake. What the hell was he doing?

“Okay.” Rei nodded when Todoroki stopped talking. She was still smiling sweetly. Like she was just told that he was going to join a sports team or a club. “If something like that makes you happy and you believe it's right… then I believe it's right.”

“What?” Midoriya whispered without thinking. She couldn’t possibly be okay with this. No mother in her right mind-

“These people… they’re not willing to give you the minimum of what you want. And I can only do so much. Sweetheart… take it.” She wasn’t in her right mind. She never truly was after that day with the tea kettle. She was still in this hospital for a reason. She petted Todoroki’s hair back with Zuzu on her lap, lovingly humming her words to him. “It’s okay to take what so many have taken from you. I’ll support you. I won’t tell a soul. I just want you to be happy… you always had the best smile.” She wanted Todoroki to take anything he's ever wanted. If he wanted to take lives, he could take lives. She then looked to Midoriya. “You’ll be taking care of him, won’t you?”

“O-Of course!” Midoriya stood up suddenly and deeply bowed. “I-I’d do anything for him!”

Todoroki stared up at Rei for a few moments, taken aback by how encouraging she was. She just gave him her approval to murder. She would love him no matter what, even as a villain. Even after he would go public, she would still love to see him. One may even say she’d be proud of him for taking control of his life. It didn’t matter to her how he did it. At this moment. Todoroki was her everything.

For the next few hours, they all would sit together with the puppy and talk mostly about the inner details of how Midoriya and Todoroki met and how their relationship began. Now that Rei was approving of all of Todoroki’s future goals , they trusted her to know them better. Though Midoriya would keep talk of his human experimentation to a minimum. He thought it best not to tell her that she cut her son open. He still held a great amount of guilt over the event. But he knew the information he gained could be helpful if Todoroki ever got hurt by his own quirk. So he would often guide the conversation to talking more about Todoroki, their relationship, and also the people they have been living with. Rei looked absolutely thrilled knowing Todoroki had a safe home.

On the walk home after sneaking out of the hospital, Midoriya was smiling cheekily while holding his masked boyfriend’s hand. How nice that Todoroki would now have constant access to his mom, even when he would begin committing crimes. He’d have even more support and love to keep him motivated and confident. Midoriya believed he could survive without Inko’s support because he had Shigaraki and Kurogiri. There was a sense of relief knowing confidence would never be an issue for them.

However, anxiety and trauma were not as easily fixed. Coming home after seeing Rei, Todoroki’s thoughts of Endeavor in addition to his nightmare had likely got him thinking about his old home again. Because his face had been hidden by the kitsune mask, no one would be aware of how deep into disassociation Todoroki had gone. Midoriya had been guiding him along by holding his hand so even directions were not on his mind. Coming through the bar door, the two were greeted kindly, but immediately. “I almost went out to look for you-”

Kurogiri greeted them just beside the door as if he was just about to walk out himself when Midoriya and Todoroki entered. His tall figure and shadowy form made him appear as a figment. A scary, familiar figment. As he had done once before, Todoroki’s right side instantly frosted over and swiped his arm in a sudden reaction, forming a small jagged ice wall between them and Kurogiri. All before he realized what he was doing. It wasn’t an attack, rather a motion of self-defense with his ice side reacting off of fear and anxiety rather than anger and aggression. Midoriya knew this. And Kurogiri was understanding enough to comprehend the action.

“S...Sorry.” Todoroki mumbled, removing his mask halfway, using it to cover his left side. It revealed his right cheek coated in ice before steam emitted from him as he melted the wall he made. He appeared terribly ashamed, looking down at the ground and away from the dark fog villain. He had done the same to All Might a while ago when he was overtired and mistook him for Endeavor. “That was rude of me…” Had it been anyone else, he would have told them to not surprise him like that. But he felt terrible having mistaken Kurogiri for a threat.

“It’s not your fault, Shouchan. It’s your quirk trying to protect you.” Midoriya consoled him, putting a hand on his shoulder and then placing his chin on top of it. “Your ice reacts off of fear, not aggression. You didn’t mean it.” It wasn’t like he lost his temper. “You just don’t like tall people coming up beside you so quickly. It’s understandable, you know? We can work on that.”

It only took a few moments for the ice wall to melt completely. However, Kurogiri was no longer standing behind its wake. Instead, he was kneeling to be just below Todoroki’s height. He made himself appear shorter and looked up the teenager instead. “I forgive you. I understand your reaction. Thus, I will let you know that if you ever feel these fears and anxieties rising within you, I will take no offense if you like me to keep my distance.” Kurogiri would go out of his way to make sure Todoroki was comfortable. “And you don’t have to tell me in person. You can text me if you would like.” He reached into his back pocket to take out a smartphone and then handed it to him. Midoriya's face beamed. “While you both were gone, I thought it would be a good idea to give you a new phone since your former one was destroyed. You have Shigaraki’s, Izuku’s, Toga’s, and my own contacts inputted already.”

Todoroki stared at the phone in his hands with a subtle look of awe in his revealed eye. This man was going out of his way to appease his anxieties and even bought him a new phone. Even after such a rude reaction to his presence. “Thank you… but you didn’t-”

“I did have to because Izuku would not be able to go to school without being nervous about you.” Midoriya blushed madly at Kurogiri calling him out. “But besides that, it would make all of us rest easy knowing you can contact us if you ever find yourself in an unfortunate position.” Todoroki only stood in silence at a loss for words. He could say thank you again or apologize again. But neither felt like the right thing to say. These villains… were really kind. Between Shigaraki giving him freedom, Dabi teaching him how to have fun, Toga being so friendly, and Kurogiri being so… dad-like, he didn’t know how to express what he was really feeling. Midoriya only noticed a single tear escape his grey eye, though it made him smile. Todoroki was simply just happy.

“Now, I hate to trouble you as soon as you returned. But there is something Shigaraki instructed me to tell you to do for tomorrow morning.” Kurogiri stood back up with his hands behind his back.

“Look at you, you do clean up nice.”

“Oh shut it.” Shigaraki was sitting at his computer well into the late evening while Dabi was at the only window in the bedroom. Dabi had it opened as he was leaning partially out to smoke a cigarette and keeping most of the smell outside. He teased Shigaraki about how clean his room was compared to the first time he saw it. There were no trash bags or trash on the floor, although the single small trash can was beginning to overflow. Though his gaze was mostly stolen by the little plush bunny on the shelf. It seemed so out of place amongst the gaming figurines.

“What’s with the bunny?” he asked, the curiosity was so distracting he had to ask.

“The vampire bought it for me.”

“And you kept it?” Shigaraki didn’t answer. Dabi only smirked, guessing he was embarrassed about keeping it. “It’s cute,” he teased. “I think it suits you.”

“Did you just call me cute?”

“Maybe.” Dabi burnt the whole cigarette to ash in his hand before dumping the remains out the window. He then sat on the floor with his back against the bed, the hood of his black hoodie acting as extra support for his neck. He noticed there was no comforter, just sheets. It must have been destroyed recently because there was a bit of dust on the floor. “You tired yet?”

“I’m always tired.” Shigaraki was hunched over in his chair with his cheek in his palm, eyes glazing over the screen that had its brightness on to the max. He must have kept it that way to not fall asleep. His eyes looked exhausted but so determined to finish what he was doing. All until someone stole the computer mouse and put the monitor on sleep mode. “Hey, don’t touch my stuff-” he spat before the same someone grabbed the back of his rolling chair and pushed it away from the desk.

“Alright, you little workaholic, time for a break.” If Dabi was an alcoholic then Shigaraki was a workaholic.

"I'm not done yet! What the hell?!" And if Shigaraki kept Dabi from drinking constantly, then Dabi was going to keep him away from his computer. He pushed Shigaraki’s chair to the bed to then manhandle him onto the mattress. This would involve a lot of thrashing and attempted biting, like trying to force a kindergartner into naptime. "I was in the middle of something! Put me down!"

"You'll always be in the middle of something if it never ends. Just- would you chill out?" Dabi had to pick him up and eventually slam him down on the bed. Shigaraki's little brother energy and Dabi's big brother energy were definitely showing. How many times he must have done this with Shouto or Natsuo because he was really good at it.

Dabi eventually had Shigaraki pinned down by his wrists to the bed, both of them catching their breaths. "You are such a pain…" Dabi grumbled.

"Yeah, you are too." Shigaraki grumped back. Though it was just a moment longer when they both smirked. They were both a pain. And they knew it too. Dabi even quietly chuckled to himself but didn't quite get off of Shigaraki yet. He liked looking down at him like this. The red-eyed villain didn’t seem so anxious despite their position as he was paying more attention to their play fight and petty insults. Though Dabi feared the playful banter wouldn’t keep away the nervousness for long. So he got off and sat on the floor again. He kicked the chair away so Shigaraki couldn’t climb back onto it.

Leaning back against the bed, Dabi could feel how hard the mattress was. It was almost like it was given to Shigaraki to keep him from wanting to lay on it. And the lack of blankets and warmth would leave such a scrawny villain freezing at night. His chair was probably more comfortable. “Why don’t you get a better bed?” Dabi asked. He heard Shigaraki shift like he was rolling on his side, his back to the stapled man, petty he was kicked out of his chair.

“Because this one’s fine.” he huffed.

“It sucks. And that coming from me.”

“And what would you know? Weren’t you homeless?” He rolled over again to face the other. And the stapled man folded his arms and turned his head to face him, though he looked out the window he left uncovered. It was the only thing letting light into the room.

“I’ve been in lots of beds,” Dabi spoke a bit more quietly as the sun sunk lower behind the cityscape. It was one of the beautiful times of the day. And yet he only associated it with the worst times of his days. “Beds with one person, two, sometimes more. Futons, king-size, mattresses on the floor… sometimes trash bags.” He closed his eyes and leaned his cheek against the mattress.

“How old were you when you started doing shit like that?” Shigaraki asked without filtering his question. How long was Dabi out there on the streets alone…?

“I was an older teenager. You just get used to it.” His focus finally shifted to the scrawny villain, making eye contact again. “You get used to everything.”

“You don’t have to,” Shigaraki responded. “Some things you get used to should get destroyed. Bad things don’t have to be normal.” He then rolled over again. It was like he was struggling to get comfortable, even curling up to be warmer.

“Aren’t we the bad things?” Dabi smirked, trying to lighten the mood he just brought down.

“Only if you let people make you believe it. Change is what you make of it.” A brat that had to be forced into bed was now spouting philosophy like a college professor. There really was no in-between with this manchild.

“You always get philosophical when you’re tired?” Dabi teased. He slowly rose to his knees to have his chest and head on the bed while Shigaraki faced the wall.

“Dunno. Sometimes I hallucinate.” The stapled man’s face dropped. That was concerning. How many hallucinations has Shigaraki been seeing? “Sometimes Izuku looks like a girl. Toga sometimes looks like the same girl. Kurogiri sometimes looks like an old man.”

“I… don’t think that’s healthy.”

“Probably not.” The red-eyed villain had his hands close together in very loose fists. He kept them near one of the bedposts.

“Do I ever look like anything different?”

“A tomcat.” Dabi hit Shigaraki in the head with one of his two flat pillows. “I’m not making fun of you this time! Sometimes, when you move your head, I think I see cat ears in your hair.” Shigaraki pushed the pillow away before rolling his eyes. “And when you pass out on the couch… your face kinda twitches like one.”

“Do you really have to watch me when I sleep?”

“Well, maybe I like looking at your face sometimes. And it's awkward when you’re awake.” Shigaraki huffed. Then he suddenly blushed and it made Dabi smirk wickedly. “Before you make any stupid comments, yes, I like your face. So shut up about it.”

“So you think I have a pretty face?” Dabi hummed, trying not to tease him about it. But teasing him was irresistible.

“No.” Shigaraki denied. “Well…” Unless. However, before he could change his mind on how to respond, he saw his wrists be taken a hold of. Almost like Dabi didn’t want any compliments, he went ahead and did what the tired villain had asked of him. He tied his wrists to the bedpost with rope. Carefully enough to not bruise him, but tight enough for them to last the whole night. Shigaraki stopped talking as watching Dabi tie the knot stole most of his attention. His quirk was so troublesome to have to do this.

Then he would feel something cover his torso and a bit of his curled legs. A black hoodie a size or two bigger than what he would have worn. It was really warm like it had been sitting on a heater for hours. Because it had been. It was Dabi’s and it just so happened to be the only piece of clothing on his torso so he was shirtless without it. But he was always warm with his quirk. Shigaraki looked like he needed the warmth more. And it made the stapled man smile seeing him curl up a bit more underneath it. Like a bunny in a burrow.

“You know you close your eyes to sleep, right?” Dabi asked, sitting at the foot of the bed. He felt a small kick to his lower back. It wasn’t hard at all. Like a little bunny thump.

“I know, I know.” Shigaraki pressed his cheek into one of the pillows while his hair splayed out more around his head. It was getting a little longer since the first day he met him, though it wasn’t past his shoulders. Maybe one day it would grow out more and be all long and floppy. Like bunny ears. “Hey…” With his eyes closed and his voice becoming quieter and slurred, Shigaraki still wanted to talk a bit more. “Why did you get upset when Yako mentioned your mother… shouldn’t you go see her too? So she doesn’t end up outting your identity?”

Dabi was about to slide off the bed to the floor, letting Shigaraki have the privacy of sleeping in his own bed. But he stopped. He stayed seated and looked down at his feet. He drank a lot, but Shigaraki was able to notice when he was upset by how and how much he drank. It was a small detail. But this manchild was able to see right through him. He paid a lot of attention to him. “I... wasn’t very nice to her,” Dabi started. “I blamed her a lot for what happened in that house. I said a lot of mean things right to her face.” He had acted a lot more like Endeavor than he wanted to acknowledge. Dabi continued. “I don’t think she’d out me if I asked her not to but...” Todoroki was so forgiving and kind. He was sure that part of his personality came from Rei. “I wouldn’t really want to take advantage of her after all that I said. I wouldn’t be surprised if she hated me.” Growing up, being homeless, and having almost no domestic skills, he had learned to appreciate how much his mother did do for him and his siblings. “And if she doesn’t hate me, I don’t want to scare her… not when I look as disgusting as this.” Any innocent woman would be terrified of someone looking like him.

“You’re not disgusting… Todorokis are supposed to be the pretty boys, I thought. I think you meet the standard...” When someone you really like calls you pretty.

Dabi’s hair caught on fire. “I think someone really needs to go to bed.” He snuffed himself out before the other would have time to notice. And he was about to sit on the floor again when a foot blocked his torso.

“Stay where you are. You’re warm.”

Dabi had been promoted to personal heater status like his little brother. He rolled his eyes and stayed right where he was. If the boss man said to stay put, then that was what he was going to do. Even after he fell asleep at last. Even though he had been worried about moving and killing the stapled man in his sleep, he was completely still. His feet didn’t move, his torso was stuck in place, and his arms were steady. Dabi was not the same kind of sleeper.

Watching the room's tint change with the time of day, it had gone from soft orange, red, and pink, to drift into a purple accompanied by warm light from street lights outside the window. The dust in the air became invisible once the night settled without the sun's rays showing the little floating specs. All while a villain was able to sleep at last, accompanied by company and a little extra warmth. Maybe he just found it hard to sleep when cold and alone. And upon that theory, Dabi would stay all night. But a tomcat could only go without sleep for so long.

Shigaraki was the first to wake up. Having never been the good sleeper it would appear he was an earlier riser, waking up with the sun at the first glimpse of dawn. The room's hue had become a soft pink in the warm light from the sun, dim enough to keep someone else asleep, but light enough for another to wake up.

Red eyes slowly opened before closing again. Shigaraki shifted his body a little to feel his hands still bound to the bedpost to a silent and relaxed relief. He didn't destroy anything this time. Though, in shifting himself, he felt something he had not quite felt before. He could see a hoodie laying over his legs after having slid off of him in the night. But he could feel an extra comforting warmth at his back. His entire back. And his stomach. He looked down.

Burnt arms were snaked around him, bringing him into a gentle hold from the one behind him. Dabi had fallen asleep behind him at some point in the night. And now he was spooning him, his bare chest against his back and his face buried in the back of his neck. There was an expression of bliss on the stapled man's face. A bit of panic set in.

This was weird. This was really weird. Shigaraki's eyes had gone wide as he fought to keep from trembling. He tugged his hands that were still bound in an attempt to get free. But Dabi's knot was too well done. He was completely stuck with someone clinging on to him. His initial reaction was trying to flee. But he wasn't desperate enough to wake Dabi up or destroy the bed by gripping the post. He would let himself be stuck. And anxious. Very anxious. But in complete silence.

But the anxiety didn't last forever. After a few minutes of laying in the quiet, the panic of the new feeling drifted away. He had never been hugged like this before and it had initially caused him to become so nervous. But having stayed in the position for almost an hour, it didn't feel as strange. Occasionally he had felt Dabi hug him closer, sometimes hear him grumble something, and sometimes felt him snuggle his face closer. Because it was Dabi… maybe it wasn't so bad. He hated lots of things, but maybe he didn't have to hate this.

Shigaraki felt every rise and descent in Dabi's bare chest against his back with every breath. At points, he could even feel the beating of his heart. He continued to wait in silence. He didn't want to wake Dabi up after he had done him the favor of helping him get a night's sleep. Though, he worried about how long he would be stuck because the tomcat could sleep until well into the afternoon. He was sure that the second Dabi woke up, he would let go instantly. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that Dabi wouldn't continue his hug.

But after another half hour, Shigaraki took a glance over his shoulder just to check if Dabi looked any closer to waking up. He didn't expect crystal eyes to be staring right back at him. And those were the eyes of someone who had been awake for a while. Shigaraki instantly turned his head away to hide a bright blush, but the stapled man sleepily smirked at how it reached the tops of his ears. He wasn't going to let go of him.

Instead, Dabi only pressed his face further into the other's neck. Shigaraki could feel his stupid grin. The stapled man was enjoying every second of this. But it'd be a lie to say that Shigaraki wasn't despite the initial gay panic. Though he would stay frozen for a few minutes. This felt even weirder now that Dabi was conscious.
Then Shigaraki felt a kiss on the back of his neck that made him flinch. Even though no words were spoken between them, somehow that kiss felt like a request to relax. The red-eyed villain may be able to feel Dabi’s lips, chest, and heart, but he had failed to realize that Dabi could probably feel his stress, tenseness, and occasionally trembling whenever his hands moved. The kiss to his neck served as a gentle reminder. It was just them. Only them. There was nothing to be embarrassed about or scared of. This didn’t have to be weird. It wasn’t weird.

Looking down at Dabi’s stapled hands holding him again, Shigaraki noticed how relaxed his grip was. He had probably done this dozens of times. He didn’t have to do it again, but he was. By his own choice. Just for him. And that was something that made Shigaraki’s face lightly blush. This was something special just for him. He soon slowly turned his head as much as he could to look back at Dabi again for the first time since finding out he was awake. Maybe… a good morning kiss wouldn’t be rejected.

Dabi had nuzzled into Shigaraki’s neck and had specifically kissed one of the reddest marks he could find. There was just the slightest taste of iron from a scab from all his scratching. He had hoped it would come off as reassuring and comforting. He noticed how nervous Shigaraki was when he encountered new feels and feelings that were correlated to affection, having become so foreign to him somehow. He wanted him to be able to feel safe in his own bed and become more accustomed to someone wanting him this way. When he saw him turn his head to him again, he blinked once with a small sleepy smirk. Maybe… a good morning kiss wouldn’t be rejected.

A good morning kiss wasn’t rejected.

Dabi leaned up a bit to meet Shigaraki’s lips for just a few moments. It was soft and casual, although a bit dry. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. A big grin was on the stapled man’s face when the other laid his head back down. He could feel him relax a bit. Though it was that moment that he remembered something pretty important. He lifted his head up and then just hovered his chin over the side of Shigaraki’s head to reach over him and begin untying the knot binding his hands to the bedpost. How could he forget that the red-eyed villain had been stuck there all night?

After removing the ropes, there was a faint indent around Shigaraki’s wrists from where they were bound. It was a bit discolored from the small effect on his blood circulation, but he didn’t appear to be in any pain. Nonetheless, Dabi continued to lay behind him while reaching for his wrists to light rub and massage to ease any numbness or soreness. Shigaraki would watch burnt and stapled hands lazily, just letting him do his thing. There wasn’t a need to be anxious anymore. If anything, he found it a little comforting to be taken care of this way. He shut his eyes and even leaned back a bit, accepting Dabi’s warmth and company. Enjoying it even. All in the comfort of silence and a morning hue-lit room.

Dabi smiled feeling Shigaraki lean back into him. And after a few minutes of massaging his wrists, he went right back to spooning him. This time, he felt hands, minus pinkie fingers, hold the top of his stapled ones. They both wanted to be closer. It was finally becoming a bit more mutual. And so they laid comfortably together, both closing their eyes and going into a half restful state, merely enjoying the silence and each other’s company.

A little while passed before Dabi caught Shigaraki reaching for something. He had to frown in disappointment but internally he was chuckling. The scrawny villain let go of his stapled hands and reached under one of the pillows to pull out a handheld gaming console. He was such a little nerd. But he must have been getting bored by just laying there and wanted to play video games as any child would. Though, Dabi imagined playing sideways was not optimal, though Shigaraki seemed content with the position. So in return, the stapled man took out his phone to play a little bit of music to help his lazy self wake up a bit. Soon lifting Shigaraki up a bit to sit up.

Dabi leaned back against the headboard while continuing to hug Shigaraki from behind around his waist. He kept his chin on his shoulder to watch him play his game. It looked like a cartoony platformer, more on the retro side. Watching him speedrun it was rather entertaining and relaxing accompanied by soft acoustic music. Shigaraki, by now, appeared to be unbothered by Dabi’s hugging, their new position, and by the fact that Dabi was still shirtless. And with a fairly good night’s sleep, he didn’t seem nearly as grumpy as usual. There was a softness in his face that was a little different compared to past interactions. Rather than being thoughtful, tired, but driven, he looked thoughtless, calm, and comfortable being a little lazy. Dabi nudged his cheek against his with a smirk and proceeded to keep emitting a gentle heat to keep him warm.

Shigaraki leaned his cheek against Dabi’s after the nudge. Then he felt Dabi tilt his head down to place his forehead on his shoulder as a means to be more comfortable. This was one of the nicest mornings he had had in a long time. And it was only made better when he felt a hand with four fingers be placed in his hair. With Dabi’s head down, Shigaraki wouldn’t be able to see his blush or the surprise in his crystal eyes. But he did feel a shiver that made him smirk and silently scoff for only a moment. He continued to play his game one-handed in order to pet Dabi’s spiky hair for a few minutes. Just a big tomcat. He’d run his deadly fingers through his hair, shifting them rhythmically and occasionally brushing out any loose knots and occasionally scratching his the upper back of his neck. He would eventually feel Dabi’s cheek resting on his shoulder instead of his chin. Looking with just his eyes, he saw crystal eyes closed and Dabi smiling softly to himself, enjoying the affection of being petted. Even though these hands could kill him in a moment, they felt the safest and the most loving. And when a cutscene began to play on the little console, Shigaraki turned his head to very quickly steal a kiss on his stapled cheek.

It was so quick that Dabi almost thought he imagined it. His eyes shot open at the feeling and only caught a glimpse of Shigaraki returning to his initial position at the last second. He blinked a few times at him in complete shock. This anxious, scrawny villain, terrified of any and all affection, was initiating romantic affection. Just for him. Granted, clearly, he was still shy about it. But it was a huge level up.

More time had passed into late morning. Shigaraki had one point taken out his phone to text someone. And soon after, a small portal appeared where he stuck his hand through, and when he took it back, he had little breakfast pastries in a bowl. To which he placed them on his lap and nibbled on them while he played his game. Though he would take one and instead of eating it, he would hold it in front of Dabi’s face. And Dabi would eat it straight out his fingers in one bite like a heathen. Gotta feed the tomcat. All of this comfort without a single word spoken between them for hours. They didn’t need to say anything. They knew what they were feeling.

Eventually, Shigaraki’s phone would go off, leading both of them to look at the message sent.

Kurogiri: It’s here

They both exchanged eye contact.

“Time for work again, bunny?” Dabi asked, finally breaking the silence that had lasted hours. He had his chin on Shigaraki’s shoulder again and looked unamused by the text.

“You are not calling me that.” Shigaraki put his phone down and continued to play on the console. He needed to find a good place to stop.

“Too late. It’s what I’m calling you, bunny.” A stapled smirk grew on Dabi’s face. “Watching you snuggle into my hoodie sealed that deal. Your nose even twitches in your sleep.”

“You are not calling me a rabbit.”

“I am. Can’t stop me.” He hugged him tighter with a playful grin. “Bunny, bunny, bunny. Caught by a tomcat.” He teased. Shigaraki turned away from him to ignore him while biting the inside of his cheek. Some big bad villain. And here he was being compared to a bunny rabbit. He couldn’t help but glare at the plushie Toga bought him… this was totally her fault.

“You’re the worst.”

“I know. Which is why I don’t get why you put me in charge of the invasion mission.’’ And just like that, the teasing turned into a serious question. Dabi loosed his tight hold, although he made it firmer as his voice became a bit quieter. His gaze lowered. “You could have chosen Fallen or Mr. Compress would do a good job, I think. But you chose me…” Was he nervous? Self-conscious? Or maybe just doubtful in himself. He had been living as a homeless drunk for years and now he was given power and responsibility. Was that really a good idea? “I don’t know… If I can do that kind of thing like you can.” Shigaraki was a better worker, a better big brother, and a better leader. He was more suited for this.

“Izuku is too… passionate. And we’re too close. He’d be too comfortable disobeying me because he knows I wouldn’t punish him. He'll look for any opportunity to prove himself. He’d jump headfirst into danger if he thought it was the best way to go at first glance.” Shigaraki shook his head. He knew Midoriya would be offended by his choice, even if he didn’t let it show. He wanted so desperately to be considered Shigaraki’s right-hand man. “I trust you to listen and think more rationally. You’d make the best choices.”

“I’m pretty sure I have a record of making the worst choices.”

“Not lately.” They made eye contact again when Dabi’s focus was raised. Not lately. Teaching Todoroki how to be more independent and enjoy hobbies. Doing things for himself. Engaging in this relationship with Shigaraki. Those weren’t bad choices at all. He didn’t regret anything. “I think you’ve been doing pretty well for yourself here. I think you can do the same on the field.” Shigaraki encouraged him, built him up. It made Dabi nod with a subtle smile.

“And what’s here is for you.” Shigaraki looked at his phone again, at Kurogiri’s text. He began to shift, signaling for Dabi to let go. He stood up and picked up the hoodie that had been abandoned at the foot of the bed and threw it at the stapled man. It hit him in the chest. But Dabi thought nothing of it and put it back on, zipping it up. “You wanna see it?” Shigaraki gestured to him to follow. Out of the bedroom door, they went to the elevator to be taken down a few levels.

“What is it?” Dabi asked, seeing how many levels they were going down. It was near Midoriya’s lab so it had to be something strange.

“Izuku won’t be happy about me giving this to you. But these have a bad record of rebelling against him thanks to our ‘friend’ that provides them. I hope he’ll let this one listen to you. It should help you keep Muscular and Moonfish in line…” Shigaraki spoke casually. And when the elevator doors opened, Dabi looked around to find the room to be mostly dark except for a single light dangling in the center of the room. He froze at the sight of what was underneath it. “It’ll do anything you say. I trust you’ll use it efficiently.”

Before them sat a massive blueish-grey nomu, chained up and sitting still. It had multiple arms jutting out the sides, all armed with giant chainsaw blades and a few other outdoor tools. It was muzzled with an iron bar that connected to its purple helmet that framed its exposed brain. It was a creature of nightmares and even had Dabi taken aback. Shigaraki was just… giving this thing to him? “This is… insane.” Dabi muttered, awestruck. Shigaraki only shrugged with a smile. Who said he was sane?

“Help…”

“Where are you?!”

“These people… they’re insane…”

Bakugo sprinted down the street from his house, shoes untied, and struggling to put a black jacket on that he must have grabbed last second while going out the door. He held his phone to his ear while his other arm struggled to get through the sleeve of his jacket. He appeared to be in a state of nervous and protective anger as he listened to who was on the line. "Ejiro where are you?!"

"... I-I can't say…" Kirishima's voice was quiet. In a back street of a very tight neighborhood, between a small closed shop and a cement wall, Kirishima laid on his stomach. He was pinned down, his quirk activated as a means of self-defense but it wasn't doing him any good. A needle was shoved into his shoulder and his skin wasn't able to break it. So he was forced to lay down with someone in a kitsune mask on top of him. This kitsune mask was red and black. A smiling girl hummed as she sucked his blood out with a needle into a clear cylinder.

Toga was kneeling on the ground, making sure the cylinder connected to her villain mask was filling to the top. "Suck, suck, suck, you better stay still~ I love your hair by the way. Totally love the color! I hope we can be friends!" she sang at first before reverting to the attitude of a normal teenage girl.

Kirishima looked to her as he pathetically laid his head down on his cheek and helplessly watched his blood be drained from him. His phone was on speaker just in front of his face. He would occasionally glance at the one in the black kitsune mask. "You can talk to him." There was a voice mixer to hide their real voice.

Despite being pinned down, the only discomfort was the needle in his arm. He was left able to breathe and to move his head. He was able to talk to Bakugo. "Just don't tell him where you are. Not yet." They made it sound like he was going to walk away from this. But the blood loss was becoming sickening.

"Am I… going to disappear? Just like the others?" Kirishima growled. He was still angry. These people weren't familiar. But the targeting of someone alone was just the League of Villains style.

"You're not going to disappear! I’m not going to let them get that far!” Bakugo shouted over the phone. “You were on your morning run, weren’t you?! I’m on my way to kill them!”

“You won’t disappear, I promise.” the one in the black kitsune mask spoke softly, calmly. Under the voice mixer, they sounded so confident and sure. Kirishima would not disappear.

“You bastards, I can hear you! I’m going to fucking kill you!”

“Yeah… that sounds like a hero,” they responded in sarcasm.

“Hey… he is. Don’t let the temper fool you. Besides… what would villains know about heroes?” Kirishima spoke up despite his pinned position. He wouldn’t let anyone say Bakugo wasn’t a hero, even in a state like this.

“I know they get away with things too easily. It's corruption that encourages bad personalities. I prefer to think about all the people they’ve stepped on to get where they are. You should talk to him about that sometime.”

“What are you talking about-”

“All done~” Toga took the needle out of Kirishima’s arm, making him gasp and groan in pain. The dizziness was really starting to set in after so much blood had been sapped. “Shall we be going, Yako?” She held her hand out for Todoroki to take. He did take it, letting himself up off of Kirishima. Although the redhead was paralyzed on the ground, too weak to even get to his hands and knees. He could only lay there barely conscious.

“Ejiro?! What’s going on?! Where are you?! Ejiro?!” Bakugo still stayed on the line. Todoroki nodded his head to his former classmate as a means of giving him permission to tell his location. They got what they wanted.

“Same road… as the curry place you like. Aroundthe… the… corner.” Kirishima’s words were heavily slurring together. It was becoming harder and harder to keep his eyes open as all sound was like being underwater. His head was pounding, aching. But he was strong, clenching his fist as he struggled to raise himself up just a little bit to watch Todoroki and Toga walk away. "You guys…" They didn't kill him. They could have, like all the others. But they didn't. "...the fox…” Todoroki stopped and looked back, Toga stopped with him. She watched both boys make eye contact. “I don’t know… what heroes did to you.” The League of Villains just seemed so spiteful. They chose their targets carefully and heroes were always the ones to disappear. At least they were the only ones that made the news. “But… I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

No one was born a villain. They were taught to feel or forced to feel outcasted and hatred. Kirishima may be the one wallowing on the ground from blood loss, but his heart hadn’t been ripped to pieces by anyone. If these villains couldn’t be beaten with violence, the manliest thing to do at this moment was to just try to understand them. “You guys don’t like heroes… a-and it sounds like the ones you’ve encountered have done some messed up things to you… I can’t fight you. So I’m just sorry…” Kirishima’s eye began to close with his blood pressure starting to fail him. “I wish… I coulda fought those bad guys for you… that’s what a real manly hero would do…”

Kirishima fainted. Toga and Todoroki left him there to go down a maze of branching backroads until coming across a portal where an adorable freckled face was there to meet them. “So we can go out now, right?” Midoriya asked, seeing one of Toga’s containers filled nearly to the top. She smiled widely with a giggle while Todoroki removed his mask. He wore a half-smile before nodding slowly.

All while racing footsteps reached the abandoned redhead. Bakugo skidded around a corner, looking both ways down the skinny road before finding Kirishima right where he was left. He slid to his side, taking his upper half in his arms and feeling around for a pulse in his wrist, neck, and chest. There was one at every point. Kirishima was breathing. There wasn’t a scratch on him, more a few bruises from being hastily pinned. Had they been out to kill him, Bakugo would have been too late. That thought crushed him. “Fuck… I’m sorry…”

Chapter Text

  "A little lighter... Not quite. And we're gonna need full coverage." Todoroki closed his eyes while he listened to Toga and felt different creams and powders be swatched on to his face. At least the makeup brushes were really soft. But the whole feeling of makeup felt very strange. Midoriya couldn't help but stare and watch. Todoroki always looked so cute when his face scrunched up.

"Will it be enough...?" the freckled villain asked. Both his own and Todoroki's scar would be no easy task to cover up. The two of them and Toga were in a busy makeup store with Todoroki having pushed his mask slightly to the left to see what Toga was doing and so she could play with his skin tone.

"A lot of primer and concealer should be enough I think. If not, I can just go crazy with eyeshadow!" Toga seemed almost a little too excited to decorate Todoroki's face. "That, and we can play around with his hair. I think you should work on growing it out." She was talking to Midoriya until she fiddled with a few white strands of Todoroki's hair. There would be more room to look different if it was longer. "As for you-!" she turned to the freckled villain with a big smile. Midoriya suddenly felt a surge of fear. "We'll be using lots of blush for those freckles!" His heart sank as he knew she was going to disguise him as being extra cute when the time came. He was short, fluffy, and spotted and he knew he was being looked at like some kind of puppy. This girl was going to destroy his evil demeanor. He was dreading it.

At least while he was still an innocent schoolboy, he could walk around without a disguise or hiding. He could walk the city streets with boba tea with Toga and Todoroki without much fear of being found out. "So what are you doing this for?" Todoroki asked Toga, also enjoying a cold drink. It felt odd spending time with a girl he barely knew like this. Usually, Midoriya would rather only go out as just the two of them. He was a bit protective that way. "This whole villain thing. Do you have a goal in mind?"

"So many things are so hard and annoying. I want a life where I can live easily. So just doing what I want." Toga shrugged happily. "I was originally in this for Mr. Stainy. But Tomura isn't so bad." She didn't think he was bad at all. She even blushed a bit before complaining. "But he has no idea what anything cute looks like. My costume is so lame!" 

"He's... not what I expect a villain to be," Todoroki mumbled before sucking down on the straw. He was so soft-spoken when he talked, they almost didn't hear him. But he had Midoriya's full attention with awe in his bright green eyes. "At the USJ, you both really seemed like villains. Like... bad guys. But maybe that's just what heroes would want me to think." Todoroki mumbled a bit, almost like he was talking to himself. He wasn't immune to hero teachings and some of it was starting to feel almost like propaganda. "You're all much... nicer, I guess. Especially Shigaraki." 

"Tomura's not in this for personal gain. So he's the type of villain heroes fear most. He thinks the same way as a lot of people who heroes let down... just a guy who doesn't trust those in power." Midoriya explained as he tapped the side of his head. "Only he has the power to actually change something and start something. So he'll always be seen as a bad guy until you get to know him." 

“I mean… people aren’t huge fans of murders,” Toga added.

“Th-That’s beside the point!” Midoriya began a rapid-fire nervous rant of how amazing his big brother was, making Toga giggle and tease him. His admiration for Shigaraki was adorable and pure. Todoroki listened in silence as he thought about what Midoriya had said about how Shigaraki will always be seen as a bad guy. He placed his hand on his head to remind himself of the first gesture from the red-eyed villain and how kind it was.

We’ll take good care of you here.

That was what he had been told and he felt that Shigaraki followed up on it well. He just hoped he could fulfill the expectations he had set for him. But what expectations were those? At this point in time, with the summer camp invasion being just a week away, were there any expectations at all? What could he do in payment at the very least? As the three walked together, Todoroki was lost in his thoughts while Midoriya’s inner fanboy reemerged when talking about Shigaraki. But Todoroki’s attention was taken away from his thinking when he noticed something in the window of a small shop they walked past.

“Hm? Foxy, watcha lookin’ at?” Toga noticed him pause.

“Do you really have to smoke in here?”

“The window’s open. It won’t smell so don’t worry about it.”

“I’m more worried about the dog. Ever heard of second-hand smoke, tomcat?”

Shigaraki sat unprofessionally in his chair, his legs over an arm and his back against the other. His room was mostly dim except for the light coming through the open window as a trail of smoke led out of it. On the floor were a few snack bags but also a lot of fluff stuffing. In the corner of the room was a severed head of a plushie, neglected, chewed up, and covered in questionable stains. And on Shigaraki’s lap was Zuzu, blissfully playing with her now headless Endeavor plushie. His right hand was on the computer mouse, but his other was carefully petting her belly as she enjoyed her playtime. Dabi, meanwhile, was lying on Shigaraki’s bed, smoking a cigarette without much care. Though he would soon notice the plush Endeavor’s severed head in the corner of the room. He flicked a small blue flame at it to cremate it. He smirked to himself and closed his eyes peacefully.

Soon there would be a knock at the door that would gain both villains’ attention as well as the murderous puppy. Shigaraki reached for his father across his desk to put it on his face, just in case. “Come in,” he called out. To which Midoriya would open the door a crack and peek his head in sideways. He wanted to be sure his face was covered because he knew he’d want to wear it in front of Toga. Seeing it was on, he opened the door the rest of the way to reveal Todoroki and Toga behind him. In Toga’s hand was a small decorated paper bag that she held with a big smile. “I don’t trust that look on your face.” 

“We got something for you.” Midoriya smiled sweetly with a small tilt of his head. Zuzu paused from playing with her headless toy and noticed Todoroki standing the furthest back. With her toy leaking stuffing, she kept it in her mouth as she trotted up to him with her little tail wagging. He picked her up and held her close. He couldn’t help but crack the subtlest smile at the fact that her toy was headless. He’d have to remember to ask Toga to sew the hole closed later.

“For me, huh?” Shigaraki turned his chair around to face the three of them fully instead of just turning his head. Midoriya took the bag from Toga to approach Shigaraki and then handed it to him. Dabi had one eye closed while the other peered at them, curious to see what the three of them bought the scrawny villain. He didn’t notice Todoroki staring at him, growing suspicious as to why Dabi was in Shigarkai’s room and on his bed like he owned it. It didn’t take him long to notice the rope dangling around one of the bedposts. 

“It was Shouchan’s idea,” Midoriya said when Shigaraki pulled a pair of strange gloves out of the bag. They were black and had buckles to be kept secure around the wrists. But the gloves would only cover two fingers on each hand. “You can touch things and not have them turn to dust when you wear them.” Shigaraki looked at the gloves curiously before gazing up at the three teenagers that had so innocently bought them for him. 

“I like to think I’m pretty good at-” Shigaraki felt he had a lot of self-control and skill in not destroying everything he touched. But Midoriya’s face suddenly became dark and eyes glowed brightly with murderous intent. His smile vanished with a face that would spark terror in any normal person.

“Wear them. I’ve seen people’s working insides and tortured them to death. But watching you eat with chopsticks is more painful than anything I have ever seen.” Shigaraki blinked at his little brother’s threatening aura. He wasn’t scared at all, just surprised at how bothered he was at the sight of him using chopsticks. 

“Wait, how the hell do you hold chopsticks?” Dabi asked. Thus Shigaraki reached into a drawer where he had a stash of instant ramen noodle cups and a reusable pair of chopsticks. He took the chopsticks in his hand and held them in the most painfully awkward fashion causing Toga and Dabi’s eyes to squint in confusion and disgust. It didn’t look comfortable or efficient at all. “Wear them!” they both demanded.

“Alright, alright, jeez. Didn’t know the way I hold things offended everyone so much.” Shigaraki grumbled, annoyed. To satisfy everyone, he put them on right away without much trouble. The most obnoxious part was the buckles but he eventually got them on and flexed his fingers. Was this all it took to contain his destructive power? He caught himself staring at his hands curiously. He didn’t feel anything different. 

Suddenly, Midoriya clapped his hands around one of Shigaraki’s. It sent a shiver up the red-eyed villain’s spine. A spark of fear and a stab on anxiety took over him all at once as he froze as his little brother gripped his hand fearlessly. He was going to kill him. 

He was going to kill his little brother.

His first reaction would be to pull his hand away but Midoriya held on tight. He was holding on tight. Still holding on tight. 

Nothing happened.

Shigaraki stared at the two hands grasping his as it was half gloved. Midoriya held it with a pure smile and a little sparkle in his eye. “Pretty neat, huh?” he asked, unaware of how much panic he just gave his big brother. But Shigaraki didn’t say anything about it. He only nodded before being let go and he took his hand back to look at. These gloves could save him a lot of trouble.

“There’s a subject for you in your lab. I left a few notes on your desk for you to look over beforehand. It’s important for you to know about the invasion,” Shigaraki seemed to not even want to mention it. Rather, he preferred to get Midoriya thinking about the invasion. To which he watched the freckled villain become a bit more serious and attentive. Brother or not, he still worked for him and had work to do. “There will be a nomu on the field under Dabi’s control. The subject has the same quirk as one of the ones injected into it. Understand it and relay what you learn to him.”

“Why does he get one?” Midoriya questioned. He already sounded jealous but wasn’t going to make accusations. 

“Because he gets one,” Shigaraki answered cruelly vaguely. But seeing Midoriya’s face, he sighed. “I don’t trust the doctor. He went behind your back with the last nomu and we both know how badly that could have ended.” They both only glanced at Todoroki. He wouldn’t be standing there if it weren’t for Kurogiri warning Stain. “I would rather Dabi have it if it means there’s no chance of it going rogue.” Midoriya folded his arms and looked away. It was so frustrating that Dabi wasn’t only the leader of the invasion, but now he was getting such a powerful monster. He hadn’t even been in the League that long.

“Fine… I’ll get to work.” Midoriya muttered before turning to leave. He was still mildly upset, but he couldn’t help but understand Shigaraki’s reasoning. All For One’s doctor was impatient and rude. It was clear he didn’t trust the younger doctor. Shigaraki was just placing his money on Dabi this time in the hopes that no foul play will occur. “I’ll do my best,” Midoriya added before leaving the room. Just leaving a reminder that he trusted his older brother and that he would still help him to his ultimate goal. They had to make cracks in people’s trust in heroes one more time. And this was Shigaraki’s idea that considered the freckled villain’s personal grudge against Bakugo.

Toga and Todoroki would leave very shortly after. But not before Toga noticed a little plush bunny sitting on a shelf. She giggled at it, feeling a warm fuzziness knowing that Shigaraki kept her gift. She skipped out of the room with the fuzziness coming out in a flowery aura she expressed. Todoroki was the last to exit, having accidentally been staring at Dabi for an uncomfortable amount of time. Dabi didn’t notice until he made eye contact with him. Todoroki left awkwardly as soon as he did, shutting the door behind him.

“Was he staring at me?” Dabi asked.

“Like, the whole time,” Shigaraki answered. “It kinda looked like he wanted to ask you something.” Dabi covered his eyes with his hand. There was no way he was found out… right? “I don’t think he knows. He didn’t look suspicious.” Shigaraki tried to reassure him. He then turned in his chair to get back to what he was doing.

“Shouchan~” Toga called out to Todoroki as they walked down the hall together, Zuzu in her owner’s arms, gnawing on her toy.

“Huh? Oh… only Izuku calls me that.” he rubbed the back of his head. He wasn’t sure how he felt about Toga calling him that. She blinked at the comment before putting a finger to her chin and looking up. 

“Oh, I get that. A boyfriend thing~ that’s cute. Then what should I call you….?” Todoroki thought about an answer for her. Did he really want to be called by his last name at all? But clearly a villain name was too formal for the girl’s liking. 

“My first name is Shouto, if you were wonder-”

“Sho-Sho!” Toga hummed, balling her fists. That was yet another nickname he would have to get used to. “Sho-Sho, have you ever wondered what Izuku does? I kinda wanna watch. How about you?” 

Todoroki shook his head. “Not really...  I think he prefers it that I don’t go to his lab. It’ll stress him out. I was actually going to go to the hospital to check on Kirishima.”

“For a villain, I don’t get why you still worry about those guys. I know Tomura only had you go with me to keep me from stealing too much blood. But it just seems strange. You’re a little strange.” Toga leaned over as they walked to be in front of Todoroki and get a good look at his face. He had been in a mask all morning and afternoon so she wanted to see him again. 

“I guess I am.” Todoroki slightly shrugged. “I guess… some of those guys were good to me. Just not as good as Izuku. I just don’t want to see some of them get hurt.”

“That’ll probably change.” Toga said in a suddenly different tone. The change in voice caused Todoroki to give her more of his attention. She wasn’t smiling anymore and was actually frowning. Her voice was a little deeper. A little angrier.  “When you start really being yourself, people’s true colors show. They were nice to you when you had your nice boy mask on.” They both stopped walking as Toga stood before him. Zuzu had paused in chewing her toy in Todoroki’s arms and made eye contact with the blonde girl.

“Everyone likes you and is nice to you when you pretend you’re just like everyone else and you’re the person everyone wants you to be. But that’s hard after a while.” It was hard. Pretending was hard. Being someone you’re not is hard. Letting everyone believe you’re okay when your body is begging you to stop pretending is so hard. Life is so hard. “And when you finally do what you want, people don’t like you anymore. They won’t want to be your friend. That’s why we have friends here that like us for who we are and want to be.” Toga leaned over and reached to pet Zuzu’s head with a smile. “I want to see Sho-Sho be himself all the time because it’ll make him smile more.”

With that, Toga stood up straight again with her hands behind her back. “I’m going to go watch Izu. I’ll let him know you’ll be back later!” She waved happily before going to the elevator and going down to the lab, leaving Todoroki and Zuzu to each other. Todoroki sighed and looked down at Zuzu who looked up at him. He only sighed and she licked his nose.

Kirishima sat in a hospital bed, wide awake with a tube in his arm. He had a single band-aid on his cheek while he was reading through some papers. Bakugo sat beside him in a chair, folding her arms and angrily bouncing his leg. “Nothing. The girl’s a suspect for a few murders. But nothing on the guy with the fox mask.” 

“You’re kidding me!!” Bakugo stomped both his feet on the ground with his fists over his knees. 

“They don’t know where she is and the fox guy never used a quirk so they can’t check quirk registration. And he doesn’t have a known criminal record.” 

“Fuck!!” Bakugo gripped his head and leaned forward in his chair in an aggressive rage.

“I know you’re mad. But look, I’m fine, okay? There’s nothing to worry about.” Kirishima put the papers on his lap and smiled half-heartedly. He knew there was a lot to worry about. But he was alive and would be able to leave the hospital before the evening. But he was targeted. And a few things stuck out to him as odd. Why did they attack in the morning instead of the night and why was he kept alive? It baffled him. Why was he spared? What made him so special? 

“There’s everything to worry about… don’t say crap like that to try and make me feel better.” Bakugo growled quietly. He sat cross-legged in the chair with his fists balled tight. Nothing could be said to make him feel better. He knew these attacks were likely his fault. “I shoulda known… They changed their game up just to get you. They always play dirty with the students. This was a warning shot.”

“Now you’re going too deep, man.” Kirishima leaned over to place his hand on the blond’s shoulder. But Bakugo was quick to swipe it away and turn to him with a dark gloom slowly taking hold of his facial expression.

“They changed it for Kosuke, didn’t they?! He snapped.

“I’m not Kosuke!” Kirishima snapped right back, nearly causing Bakugo to flinch. But he did pause. “I’m not a victim in the making! So stop looking at me like I am. You shouldn’t feel like you need to protect everyone by yourself!” The shark-toothed boy stared into blood-red eyes that were quivering. He looked just as angry until his face softened as he reached to take Bakugo’s hand. “You’re not weak for not being able to stop all these crazy things. It’s not your fault any of this is happening.”

Todoroki listened from the window that was just a crack open. He sat on a ledge of ice just beneath the sill so he couldn’t be seen. He wore his white kitsune mask just in case. Sitting cross-legged, he looked at his feet. There was a small swell of guilt in his chest when thinking back to the USJ and how he and the two worked together to try and stop the League of Villains. Kirishima risked his life to save him from the nomu and Kurogiri, although Kurogiri was never a threat. 

But he felt empty for Bakugo. His distress and anxiety were completely nulled by the fact that it was him that guided Midoriya to the roof that fateful rainy day. Had Todoroki not been there for Midoriya at that moment, there wouldn’t be a Midoriya in his life now. There was no guilt. No pity. No grief. He looked forward to the future Midoriya had planned for Bakugo. But what would that do to Kirishima?

“What the hell happened?!” Kaminari’s voice rang out loudly with the hospital room door slamming open. And another voice was present with him.

“We came as soon as we heard. Mr. Aizawa is talking to the cops right now.” Shinsou was right there with him. And he must have received some odd looks from Bakugo and Kirishima. “I’ve been staying with him and Mr. Yamada. We were at their place when Bakugo texted us.”

“Being in the car with Mr. Aizawa is a whole other form of terrifying,” Kaminari said fearfully traumatized. Perhaps it would be a good time to tell him the tired teacher didn’t trust loud blonds around his apprentice. “Sero and Ashido are on their way. You’re in for it big time, bro.” He fist-bumped Kirishima with a big smile, relieved to see he was awake and okay. They left Bakugo in his seat in silence, letting him dwell in his thoughts for a little while longer.

Toga’s bright golden eyes didn’t even blink when blood was lightly splattered on her face. There was a muffled sound of screaming following shortly after as well as some banging. The laboratory was dimly lit with the brightest light coming from the testing table where a man was tied down, blindfolded, and gagged. Yet the subject’s cries in pain were still heard through the gag as a knife had been brought down to its arm, splitting it open to reveal a circular saw blade that was just beginning to emerge from the bone. Toga tilted her head in curiosity, watching Midoriya do his lab work like she wasn’t even there.

Power tools jutted out of the subject’s body with chainsaws coming out its shoulders. Drills poked out of its palms and nails pointed out of its shins. Midoriya took careful notes before taking a scalpel to its legs and began cutting around the nails to examine their source in the body. He kept quiet as he worked. He didn’t flinch at the screams, the squirming, the blood, or the sight of power tools and other tools jutting out of the body in mass despite it clearly being painful. But Toga was very focused on how the little villain was cutting.

“You’re angry,” she commented. Midoriya ripped out a nail forcibly with a pair of pliers causing the subject to shriek through the gag and then it cried.

“How can you tell?” the little villain asked plainly. He eyed the nail in the pliers before dropping it on a piece of paper and taking note of it and the ugly chunk of flesh attached to it. 

“Well, I’m not dumb.” Toga tilted her head to the other side. “I just don’t get why. But I think it has to do with Sho-Sho.” 

“Everything has to do with him.” Midoriya placed the blade to the subject’s palm. He started to cut around the base of the drill tip in the subject’s palm before cutting a line down to the forearm, making a seam, and splitting it to see inside a bit. The subject’s arm struggled to thrash under the painfully tight restraints but to no avail. Midoriya began to poke inside the open forearm as blood and black fluid seeped out and dripped to the floor. “But I’m not mad at him. I could never be.”

“Then-”

“I just don’t like how he wants to go back to them,” Midoriya paused in his work to speak. He could multitask but his thoughts overpowered his work at this moment. “All that work to bring him here to me and away from those heroes, and he’s already going out of his way to check on them. I don’t get what he could still see in them. What do they have that I haven’t given him?” he gritted his teeth under his face mask. “Are Tomura and me not good enough or some-ow! Bastard!” there was a spark that popped from the subject’s forearm that shocked the little villain. In spite, Midoriya gave a solid punch to the subject’s jaw.

“So you’re mad at him.” Toga concluded.

“I’m not!” Midoriya insisted loudly and angrily. “He’s just…” Then his tone softened a little. He was beginning to lose his temper and needed to tone it back a bit. “He’d never betray us. But I don’t want him thinking that he can still be friends with the heroes after switching sides. He’s…” He pulled his knife back to clean for a moment. “He’s just going to get his hopes up.” Wiping the blood away with a now stained cloth, he appeared to only wonder what Todoroki was doing and thinking at the time. Did he really think he could have the best of both worlds? Could he really be that naive? “I just don’t want to see him heartbroken.” 

“You think he doesn’t understand that?” Toga asked genuinely. It made Midoriya pause in wiping the scalpel. Did Todoroki already know that being kind to his old classmates would be fruitless? Was he simply just okay with that?

“That… doesn’t make sense. He wouldn’t get anything out of being nice to them.” Surely Todoroki had more self-respect than that… didn’t he? 

And yet just a few floors above them, at the very time of their conversation, Todoroki was peeking around the corner of the back room at the bar, Zuzu in his arms. He was silent as he watched someone else elegantly cut things on a chopping board. He seemed a bit mesmerized by the simple movement and stayed halfway behind the door frame to not bother the one doing the cutting.

Midoriya proceeded to take a syringe to stab into the subject’s shoulder and take away some blood. Then he took another syringe to take a sample of a black ooze that was leaking from the open forearm. Taking out a small plastic square platform, he only put a drop of blood on it and then dripped the black ooze on it. There was a small spark. “Does Sho-Sho seem like the person to do things just because they make sense?” Toga asked while the little villain worked.

“There’s no need to hide, young man. Do you need something?” Kurogiri turned his head to see Todoroki’s right half peeking at him from the door to the backroom. He tilted his head to the side and down a bit seeing that the teenager didn’t come out right away. “Do you usually feel the need to peek around doorways like that?” The man definitely took note of how it was the right half that was exposed. The left was hidden away.

“Well… not always.” Midoriya answered Toga as he wrote down a few more notes before taking hold of a bigger knife. He went to the lower end of the testing table before examining the subject’s foot for a moment, noticing how much it was twitching and how the toes were curling at the pain of being cut and forced to use its quirk. “Sometimes he just does things out of habit. Or just because he feels like it.” He took the heel of the foot in his hand. “Or because it feels right…” He brought the knife down, making the subject scream once more, and yet the doctor did not flinch. “Or safe.”

Todoroki slowly emerged from behind the door without a word, still holding Zuzu. Perhaps a little tighter than usual, but nowhere near enough to hurt her. He held her like a baby and she was happy right where she was, cold nose nuzzled into his shirt. Her owner had removed the kitsune mask and cloak, leaving him in his casual attire of a t-shirt and unzipped hoodie and baggy pants. Todoroki approached Kurogiri’s left side despite it not being the direction the man’s head was turned. “Izuku has mentioned that you’re a big eater. Do you know how to cook?” Kurogiri asked, realizing that Todoroki was eyeing the small slices of pork that were being cut on a cutting board. 

Midoriya held a severed pinky toe in his gloved fingers. Toga approached him from behind and leaned in a bit to peek over his shoulder at the small appendage. Why did he cut off such a small thing? She watched him begin to carve around it until the bone was visible. Just one bone. There wasn’t a second joint. The little freckled villain stared at it so bitterly. “So Sho-Sho just does things because he feels like it sometimes. Whether they make sense or not. He’s smart but not always logical, is that right?” Toga asked. Midoriya placed the toe on a piece of paper, letting a mix of black and red blood leak from it. There was no spark. He took note. 

Zuzu sat on the corner of the counter, eyes wide, and watching her owner work alongside Kurogiri. Todoroki’s sleeves were rolled up and his eyes were locked onto Kurogiri’s hands beside him. He watched the man cut meat very carefully and tried to mimic him. But by the time he looked down at his completed work, it was an absolute failure. The cuts were all uneven and messy and nothing compared to the neatness and skill Kurogiri had. He knew absolutely nothing about cooking and had no skill whatsoever with a knife. His sister would have been so ashamed. “No one ever taught you the first thing about cooking, huh?” Kurogiri spoke kindly. Todoroki could only look down in shame. He wasn’t used to failure. 

“I guess if he was logical…” Midoriya muttered, looking down at the helpless subject, fighting through pain to stay alive. “He wouldn’t have ended up with someone like me.”

“Izuku used to have an eating problem. I noticed… after he started talking about a tutor, he got a lot better. That tutor was Stain. But it’s my fault Stain was arrested and now he’s out of his life.” Todoroki said softly, guiltily even. “I want to make sure he eats. So I was thinking about learning but…” he raised his hand that held the cutting knife. “I’m not very good at it.” 

“So I think you should just let him do his thing. If you trust him, then he’ll stay right here with us.” Toga put her hands behind her back before smiling brightly. “Sho-Sho is just a little stuck He makes things harder for himself by feeling like he needs to go see people that don’t really want him. But I think he’ll figure out that sometimes doing what’s easy is okay.” Such a little girl with such a bright smile had such encouraging words to say. Midoriya looked back at her and his face softened a bit. She seemed so confident that Todoroki was just still adjusting and that he would stay in the end. Her confidence was contagious. It felt right to believe her. Todoroki was just stuck in old habits just as he was stuck in habits of hiding part of himself away. He would work through it. Midoriya smiled cutely as he picked up a strange device from a drawer from a little rolling table. It was a small torture device to keep someone’s mouth open. With that in one hand and a scalpel in the other, he still had a lot of work to do.

“You can’t just master things right away. But I suppose that’s what was always expected of you.” Kurogiri put the knife down on the cutting board. He turned to Todoroki and very carefully placed his foggy hand on his shoulder. It was so slight, so subtle. But he felt just the smallest shiver. “It doesn’t make you a failure to ask for help or guidance and it’s alright if you can’t do things perfectly. So let’s work together, yes?” Todoroki’s eyes seemed to shimmer as he looked up to the man shrouded in a dark void. He didn’t expect villain life to be so domestic. But he didn’t expect it to be so comforting either. He nodded his head with a bit more confidence and Zuzu barked from the counter, wagging her tail happily. There was a lot of work to do.

After so long, there were vegetables chopped and put into small bowls. Some were cut better than others. But Kurogiri stood beside Todoroki, leaning his back against the counter as he watched slowly cut away. He could see the boy was so focused. But his hands were starting to shake from the discomfort of holding a knife so tightly for so long. “You’re so intense. You’ll wear yourself out before we get to actually cooking anything,” he commented.

“I didn’t realize there would be so much cutting…” Todoroki sighed, rolling his shoulder a little bit. His arm hurt from being in the same position for a while.

“Food preparation takes more than double the time it takes to actually cook. And meals are done best when done by hand.” Kurogiri bent down to eye level with Zuzu who was still on the counter. It wasn’t necessarily sanitary to let the dog on the counter. But she was kept away from the food and her fur was tamed. “Some things look so simple from the outside until you actually do it.” Todoroki lowered his head. He ate so often but he had never stepped into a kitchen with the intent of actually making something himself. It was already ready for him. He had to eat fast. There were always more important things to do. “I suppose that’s how adults see kids your age.” Kurogiri then suddenly added. The boy raised his head. “Being a teenager looks so easy and simple to adults. But they don’t understand how hard things are for you.”

Todoroki appeared to space out for a few moments. Though, not long enough to make the silence awkward when clearly he was just thinking. “Lately everything feels pretty hard,” he said sadly before suddenly raising his gaze to Kurogiri. “But little by little… I think they’re getting easier. I like it here.” The dark fog villain’s yellow hues narrowed and angled upward as if there was an invisible smile on his face. 

“Allow me to get the pans. I’ll be showing you how to sear tonight.” Kurogiri walked off to another room that branched off from the current one. He disappeared through the threshold leaving Todoroki with Zuzu. This gave him an opportunity to sneak her a piece of meat he didn’t chop so well. But the puppy would enjoy anything. He placed his arms on the counter to rest his chin on them, allowing Zuzu to lick his nose and then the rest of his face. With a sigh, a small frosted breath escaped his lips with a few snowflakes riding the current. To be so calm and at peace, his body temperature was cooler and in comfort.

“Never thought I’d see you in a kitchen.” a voice came from the doorway leading into the bar. Todoroki’s eyes shifted to see Dabi looking left and right as if being wary of Kurogiri’s presence. That was the body language of someone who was about to do something that they weren’t supposed to. “He around?” he asked.

“He’s around, just not here at the moment. But he’ll be back soon.” Todoroki answered honestly.

“Cool.” Dabi walked right in and began rummaging through cabinets and drawers. Zuzu jumped off the counter to join him, running in and out of cabinets. As soon as Dabi would open one up, she’d go in. He’d close it and open the one next to it and then she would pop out. It seemed like a fun game for her. But Dabi just seemed to be looking for something. Though there was a point where he opened one cabinet, closed it, but opened it again with something having grabbed his attention. He swiped a bag of popcorn kernels. Then closed the door again. Todoroki only blinked at the action but said nothing of it.

“Are you…” The boy wanted to ask if Dabi was searching for something in particular. But was eventually cut off when the stapled man found a box of cookies in a high cabinet on the very top shelf. 

“Of course he hides them there. A damn child.” Dabi said before Todoroki could finish his question. “Alright, I got what I wanted. Don’t tell the void anything.” He held a finger to his half-burnt lips before heading to the door, opening the bag of popcorn kernels before putting one in his mouth.

“You eat them unpopped?” That’s what bothered Todoroki. Not the fact that Dabi was hiding from Kurogiri or that he just stole a box of cookies that he was obviously not supposed to have right after being spotted in Shigaraki’s room with a rope dangling from the bed frame. It was that he was eating unpopped popcorn. 

“Huh?” Dabi turned back to look at Todoroki who was staring at him, stone-faced and yet eyes nearly twinkling with curiosity. In response, he put another kernel in his mouth and smirked. He wondered if the boy would pick up on what he was doing. Even though it seemed there was just a seed in his mouth, there was suddenly the sound of soft crunching.

“Can your quirk…” Todoroki squinted his eyes.

“I won’t tell you. You gotta try it yourself.” Dabi’s smirk only grew smugger. 

“I don’t… I don’t like using fire.” Todoroki admitted.

“Then you’re not gonna know.” Dabi shrugged and went to leave again. Todoroki had half a mind to let him leave. But he then felt two tiny paws on the back of his leg as Zuzu was literally trying to give him a push to go after him. Taking the puppy’s advice, he did.

“H-Hold on. I’ll try it.” He took a step forward before scratching the side of his head. “I’ll try it.” He was curious. But it also just felt okay, like it was safe to try something so stupid and pointless. His willingness to try something so silly made Dabi chuckle for a moment as he turned back. He leaned back against the counter to sit down on the floor, holding the bag of kernels to Todoroki. Seeing how he didn’t reach right away, he shook the bag.

“C’mon. It’s not gonna hurt you.” Dabi pressured in a hum. Todoroki took a kernel in his thumb and index finger, examining it from a few angles. Then he sat down with his legs crossed across from the stapled man. “Go on. Little fire won’t hurt.” Dabi pressed again. Zuzu trotted into his lap and lunged at the box of cookies. Though she missed it completely as he lifted the box up before she could grab it. No chocolate cookies for puppies. 

Todoroki narrowed his eyes at the kernel before putting it in his mouth. He let it sit for a few seconds, looking down at his feet. It looked like he was trying to focus. But his mouth wouldn’t seem to catch fire. It didn’t when Midoriya tested on him so maybe he couldn’t and Dabi could. “Your tongue is an organ. But it has muscles. You just really have to focus and trigger a few at once because they’re really small and don’t activate like the others. It’s not something that just happens like the thing with your head.” The stapled man tapped the top of his head as he explained. He knew how their similar quirks worked and he knew them well. With his advice in mind, Todoroki focused on his tongue.

There was a pop in Todoroki’s mouth that caused him to suddenly jump. It made Dabi snicker at him and his shocked reaction. The teenager covered his mouth with his hand as he chewed the popped popcorn in his mouth. “Feels cool, right?” Dabi chuckled, putting a kernel in his mouth and making it pop. He then handed another one to Todoroki to take. And Todoroki took it and put it in his mouth, giving it a few moments to pop. It was such a stupid, silly little thing. Such a terrible half of himself could be used to make such a scarred up man laugh and a self-conscious boy become more comfortable with his quirk. It didn’t have to just be his boyfriend’s heating system. It could be a means of some innocent fun. Just two brothers sitting on the floor popping popcorn in their mouths. 

After about a minute or two of playing with popcorn, Todoroki ate his last piece before speaking. “Hey… Dabi, I wanted-” They suddenly heard footsteps coming from the room Kurogiri had disappeared into. Taking that as the signal to leave, Dabi hid the cookie box in his hoodie and speed-walked out of there as quietly as he could. It was difficult to tell if he even heard Todoroki start talking.

“I am not getting bitched at for a box of cookies for that brat.” But the stapled man was more concerned about not getting caught by Kurogiri. So he left just as the dark fog villain returned. Todoroki never got to ask him something. Nonetheless, he stood back up and washed his hands again to prepare for his next cooking lessons.

Kurogiri prepared the stove and placed the pans on the burners before taking a few utensils and spices from other cabinets and drawers. Zuzu followed around his feet, almost dancing around him. “So, would you like to continue these lessons?”

“Huh?” Todoroki appeared to be spacing out at the sink when he raised his head to the older villain.

“This could become a regular routine. I wouldn’t mind such company back here for a while.” Kurogiri offered. “Izuku will be asked to work on his lab studies and homework, while also training with Toga. I imagine that going out is inconvenient and stressful for you now that you’re living as a ghost. So I would hate for you to be left to your lonesome for the next few days.” Todoroki only needed a second to decide. It didn’t take long for him to nod slowly with the smallest awkward blush.

“Y...Yeah. That’s okay, I guess.”

“It’s different. But it’s good.” Midoriya commented with his mouth half full. The residents of the hideout were all at the bar together, sharing an evening meal together. The freckled villain’s judgment on his dinner caused Todoroki to look off and away with yet another awkward blush. 

“A little on the well-done side,” Dabi smirked while giving a heavy side-eye to Todoroki. He knew exactly who made it. Kurogiri never asked for critiques because he knew he was good at what he did. He was asking for opinions for Todoroki without telling them who was really behind the stovetop.

“You’re a little on the well-done side.” Shigaraki mocked him.

“At least I wasn’t left out in the sun to dry out.” Dabi mocked him right back. Both of them were half grinning through their little back and forth. 

“You’re both messed up.” Toga sighed as if she was as annoyed by their childish banter. But she then smiled widely and wickedly. “Which is why you two should come over and let me give you facials!”

“Absolutely not.” Dabi and Shigaraki said simultaneously. It made Toga and Midoriya giggle. They could pretend to hate each other all they want, but they could tell there was definitely something going on between them. 

The three younger villains were the first to turn in their dishes and return to their rooms for the evening, leaving Shigaraki and Dabi with Kurogiri for a short time. It was usually times like this that Shigaraki would recap with Kurogiri about what had been done that day within the hideout. In a way, it was how he kept tabs on everyone while also granting them the privacy they deserved. Toga and Midoriya were bound to start training with each other soon and he was relieved Todoroki was adjusting here as well as he had been. With that knowledge, he returned to his room with a certain someone following him.

“You’re true to your deal, aren’t you?” Dabi asked, leaning slightly over the red-eyed villain’s shoulder while he was at the door. 

“You are literally the worst.” Shigaraki sighed, going through the door only to sharply inhale when two arms wrapped around his waist tightly and quickly. 

“You weren’t saying that this morning after you actually slept last night.” Dabi hugged him firmly with an evil smirk as he kicked the door shut behind them and then pulled the scrawny villain to bed. It was a little too early to sleep but too late to keep working at the computer. So Dabi wasn’t going to let him work. Instead, he held him tight as they both laid on their sides." I stole your damn cookies without getting caught so you’re letting me stay the night and you’re not working again til tomorrow.” Shigaraki huffed at Dabi's request to appear annoyed. But he never said he didn’t want him to stay the night again in the first place.

“Fine,” Shigaraki muttered. His gaze averted away from the stapled man, like that was going to make the blush growing on his face go away. “You know, I would have thought someone like you would be touch repulsed.” His words only made Dabi hug a little more firmly and then he felt his chin on his shoulder. 

“Normally. Just not with you. Annoying you takes president over that. And you’re extra annoyed and grumpy when you’re tired.” 

“Am not.”

“That’s not what this morning looked like,” Dabi said smugly before turning his head and carefully planting a kiss on Shigaraki’s neck. He felt his whole body freeze up. “I can’t remember the last time I woke up like that. It was nice, you know?” His tone became a bit softer thinking back to that morning. The silence they shared in safe comfort. 

“You’re not annoying you know…” Shigaraki muttered, still looking away. His voice was also a bit quieter. “You’re just weird…”

“No, you think someone wanting you this way is weird.” Dabi corrected. He kissed his neck once again and felt the frozen up posture loosen a bit. “You’ve never wanted it before. So you just don’t know how to feel about it.” He pressed his forehead into the back of his shoulder. “I’m not used to wanting someone this way either…” Then he suddenly let go and pulled back to get on his hands and knees above the glowing red-eyed villain. Shigaraki stayed on his side but made eye contact with him nonetheless. “It’s okay if you don’t like it-”

“It’s different. But I don’t hate it.” Shigaraki cut Dabi off.

“Well not hating something is not the same as liking it.”

“I’m not very good at liking things.” Dabi took a moment to just stare at the one below him. Not good at liking things. He couldn’t imagine living so negatively. Hating so many things and hardly liking anything. Hardly be able to understand liking something. He was born to hate and made to hate. It was amazing that the stapled man wasn’t dead for getting into this kind of relationship with him. 

“I guess… you’re not.” It felt a bit strange knowing the feelings weren’t completely mutual, rather in a grey limbo. This… was just going to take time and getting used to. He wouldn’t want to change him. Someone so driven and understanding, he wouldn’t risk ruining that. But even with a scarred up, dried up, and begrudgingly embarrassed face, he found him almost cute. Such an odd mix of cute, honorable, comforting, and fun to tease made his chest tighten in a way it hadn’t before. He couldn’t help but slowly lean down for their lips to meet. “So maybe… you’ll let me help with that?” 

Slowly closing crystal blue eyes, Dabi initiated a kiss from above. It was returned almost instantly from below. In a darkened room with nothing but a clouded sunset left ignored outside a window giving any decent light, both red and blue glowing hues disappeared behind gentle eyelids. What was a stiff position of Dabi holding himself up high over Shigaraki, relaxed as he carefully rested more weight on top of him. His forearms took the pressure to the mattress while their chests both met. A stapled hand found its way into messy blue locks. It was a bit fluffier than he expected, though the roots were a bit oily. 

“Do… you wanna put your hands on me a little bit? I’m not worried about it.” Dabi mumbled, parting away for just a second.

“You know that could kill you, don’t you?” Shigaraki opened his eyes only halfway. He hadn’t taken the buckled gloves off his hands since Midoriya gave them to him. But even with them on, he was still wary if they were defective somehow. 

“I’m not scared of some bunny paws.” A palm was shoved in between Dabi’s eyes, but no fingers were laid on him.

“Tomcat.”

“Bunny rabbit.” He pried away the gloved hand with a smirk before leaning down again to resume their private kiss. Though that smirk turned into a genuine smile when he felt a small tug on his sleeves. Maybe not enough confidence to actually touch him, but clothes were a good first step. With a small streak of confidence building, the stapled man would push his luck again with a small bite. Just one to the lower lip. Small and harmless. It didn’t get too much of a reaction. The kiss furthered and deepened within the next short while until he bit again. Then he went to sneak a chance at something daring only to instantly be pushed back by Shigaraki, but not away. He still held on to his sleeves.

“The hell was that…?!” His face had become bright red with a clear look of embarrassed panic.

“Ever heard of using your tongue? It’s supposed to be romantic. But not everyone likes it-”

“It’s weird!” If there was one thing Dabi had learned to translate, it was that ‘weird’ was not always a bad word in the lovely dictionary of Shigaraki’s vocabulary. But it wasn’t always clear and that wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

“Okay. Is it a good weird or a bad weird?” So he’d rather just talk about it. He would talk through as many things as Shigaraki needed them to. He watched him turn his head away and bite the inside of his cheek in a childishly cute pout.

“Not a bad weird…” 

“So a good weird?” There was a moment of silence with no verbal answer. But there was a half nod. “So you wanna look at me again so we can try again?”

“Tomcat…”

“Yeah, yeah. Nya.” Dabi rolled his eyes and leaned back down to try once again to deepen their kiss. “You are such a little brat.” he chuckled just as they kissed again. This time going a little farther and a little deeper. A simple turn of the head. A twirling of hair around the finger. The slow descent of the rest of his body. To keep things slow and careful like this kept both of them at ease. There was no rush and no obligation. There was no worry of hurrying the job just to get a decent night’s sleep and no pressure to know what to do or how to feel right away. 

Every day was a new day. 

Todoroki worked in the kitchen with Kurogiri often, though most often in secret. Perhaps he’d rather surprise his beloved villain with his level of cooking skills once he was finally proud of himself enough. He spent mornings with Midoriya, afternoons practicing makeup with Toga and evenings with Kurogiri in the backroom where he cooked and examined the pantry. There was always something to learn and he had never felt safer in such a learning environment.

Midoriya still had to tolerate school with his beloved hero. Going to class appeared so much more boring and unfulfilling as he had to keep up with the innocent schoolboy facade. Now more than ever as he caught Aizawa and All Might often side-eye staring at him in passing. Bakugo was much quieter in his presence and usually never stood near him alone. It was always with the squad of friends that were nothing but bright smiles and occasional mischief. Though it was clear to see that whenever the freckled boy was around, Bakugo would not leave Kirishima’s side. But Midoriya could spot hand holding under a lunch table better than anyone. He kept silent about it. He took much more pleasure from watching Kaminari and Shinsou awkwardly try to portray their feelings but then instantly retreat the second they tried. A loud blond in sporadic nervousness, and a quiet purple-haired boy that tended to just look away and trail off with a simple ‘nevermind’. 

Work would keep up in the lab, continuously working with the same subject related to the nomu under Dabi’s control. As he longed to spend his early evenings with Todoroki, who knew he had to stay focused on the work that had brought him to this point. So he just had to use it as a motivation to finish as efficiently and quickly as possible. But efficiency could never be forgotten if he wanted Bakugo to be successfully taken care of. There was no slacking to be had. Knives were made bloody every day and left clean at the end of every session. But even afterward he was not left for Todoroki as he was required by Shigaraki to spend time with Toga in a training room. A sporadic girl, quick on her feet and insane for bloodied people, such a blood lustful villain would make for a great training partner to keep up his teachings from Stain, as well as improving them. He mustn’t let himself forget all that was taught to him. His days were exhausting. But the nights spend snuggling with his beloved made every moment worth it.

“You look so tired…” Todoroki laid on top of him, his chin on Midoriya’s chest. Although the lower half of his face was lost behind the white hoodie the little villain kept so dearly. He was currently getting his hair pet delicately as the two of them listened to a podcast that was playing quietly in the background. A single lamp was on to give dim warm lighting that seemed to match the atmosphere of sleepiness and bliss.

“I’m always tired. I’ve never been the best sleeper. Not like you.” Midoriya giggled with a tilt of his head. He didn’t seem all that upset about his exhaustion. Rather, he felt satisfied. “I’m doing everything I wanted to do… I’m making an impact, I’ve become strong,” He raised his fist and flexed a bit to show finely toned muscles, something he had never had before. “And you’re here with me. You’re safe. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen you so relaxed.” 

Todoroki sighed and pushed himself further up so his cheek rested on Midoriya’s shoulder, wrapping his arms around his neck. “I really like it here and it's best with you.” In return, Midoriya hugged his torso and nuzzled into his hair. The little villain could feel his beloved’s body temperature keep at a warmth for him because he knew he liked it.

“This place is best with you too. I don’t think I’ve seen Kurogiri so happy to see someone. You’re like his favorite child now.” Midoriya joked. But maybe it wasn’t that much of a stretch with Kurogiri’s intense dad energy. “Though, I think you’re scaring Dabi.”

“Huh?”

“When I gave him my notes the other day, he mentioned that you keep staring at him. I think it’s creeping him out.”

“Do I…? I haven’t noticed.”

“I mean, you do have a habit of staring. Sometimes at nothing but sometimes at people. You’re just so quiet and no one knows what goes on in your head.”

“Oh…” Todoroki almost sounded depressed.

“D-Don’t take it the wrong way! You’re just really mysterious sometimes! Y-You don’t have to be upset about it!” Midoriya waved his hands a little bit in the hopes that Todoroki wasn’t feeling bad about having a staring problem. He just couldn’t find the words to say to people as quickly as most did. “I kinda find it cute. It’s the best time to steal photos of you.” Todoroki blinked when Midoriya pulled out his phone and began scrolling through his camera roll of all the times he took pictures of him while he was spacing out or staring at something. “You’re always really stoic and thoughtful. And really photogenic. And that really suits you because your eyes are really a focal point because you don’t express a lot but you have a lot of emotion in your eyes that enhance how pretty you are. Of course that in addition to-” Todoroki proceeded to listen to his beloved ramble for multiple minutes about how pretty he was, going into deep analysis about the smallest details. By the time he stopped talking, a flame had to be patted out on Todoroki’s head again.

“Did I embarrass you?” Midoriya asked with a chuckle. But his face was soon cupped as Todoroki stared so intensely at him. He looked like he had something to say but the words weren’t in mind yet. 

“I… all of you is cute,” he mumbled. “I like counting your freckles when you’re not looking. And…” he needed a second to think. “I like your eyes too. They’re always really bright, and they’re brighter when you smile.” Then his fingers started playing with curly, fluffy green strands. “Your hair is really soft and it smells nice. But sometimes I think I see it move and maybe there’s something living in there. But I didn’t want to ask.”

“There’s nothing living in my hair, I promise.”

“Okay.” It seemed like that confirmation relieved him. He must have been wondering that for a long time and it actually bothered him. “But… I really like your voice.”

“My voice?”

Todoroki nodded slowly before cuddling closer. “I like how you talk to me. It makes me feel better even when I’m just feeling pretty neutral.” Midoriya couldn’t help but think back to the most important phone call of his life. Hearing Todoroki be beaten over the line while forcing himself to be quiet so Endeavor wouldn’t notice. Calling out to him after he was left unconscious must have meant a lot more than he thought. “No matter how dark and lonely things get, your voice makes things less scary and I don’t feel like… how I did a long time ago. It really is like a medicine… I like it when you talk about things you’re passionate about or when you’re just thinking out loud. I like to listen to you.” 

Hearing someone so soft-spoken and limited in words most of the time finally go into a bit of a tangent of how much he likes something made the little villain blush with a gentle smile. All things Todoroki said to him were genuine, so he believed every word without modesty. At this point, perhaps it was something to also keep in mind. Would something go wrong without his medicine? Would Todoroki ever go crazy without hearing Midoriya’s voice after a certain period of time? “I’d do anything for you, to hear your voice. I’d burn the world for you.”

Through the days of exhausting work of the villainous doctor, his big brother was having a far different learning experience than he was. While working on human experimentation and more skills with a blade in combat, someone was taking his time learning something far less violent. Though, anything that wasn’t violent was more difficult to comprehend. There was suddenly more to life than hating everything and the endless lust for destruction.

“Is this okay?”

“I think so.”

“Is this okay?

“Nuh-uh.”

“You okay?”

“Never. But yeah.”

“Bunny.”

“Tomcat.”

Every night had been a new step. The patience Shigaraki had for Dabi to kill was being returned by Dabi in patience for Shigaraki to learn what affection was like. What started as stiff cuddling and standoffish kisses were becoming a bit more comfortable. But of course, nothing was done or changed without Shigaraki’s approval. 

“I think I saw your nose twitch, bunny. How cute.”

“You did n-”

“Did you say something? Didn’t quite catch it.”

Shigaraki laid down on his back with Dabi unapologetically laying on top of him with his full weight. What had started as a gentle makeout session had turned into a playful set of biting Shigaraki’s neck. One particular bite had him freezing up and suddenly tightening his grip on Dabi’s hair. Though, with buckled gloves on, he still held a finger up just in case. “You are absolutely-” That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to hold back from cussing Dabi out. But he stopped talking the moment the biting stopped and noticed the stapled man leaning over him with a blissful smile.

“You’re cute.” 

“I-”

“I mean it. I just thought you should know.” Dabi smirked and cocked his head to the side. “Would you rather I call you disgusting, honestly? You hide your face all the time when the psycho’s around and when anyone from the team comes to talk with you. Don’t you think you could learn to take the compliment?” He watched the other bite the inside of his cheek and turn his head away with a blushing face.

“No, you.” Shigaraki poked his forehead before taking his hand out of spikey hair to let it rest beside his head. “You’re the one with a ton of self-doubt. You keep going to look at the nomu thinking it's going to be the key to your success. You would do fine without it.” He got him. Dabi blinked and looked away with a small grumble after having been called out. “Talk all you want… but there are still things that hold you back from your full potential.” The red-eyed villain may be the one underneath him, but he still had the heart of a leader.

Dabi sighed quietly before laying down on top of him, his cheek on the mattress beside Shigaraki’s head. He looked down at their bodies resting one over the other. “We head out tomorrow… So what, I'm a little nervous?”  

“It’s okay to be. Just don’t rip yourself apart over it.” Shigaraki’s response made him huff. It wasn’t pathetic to be nervous or on edge. “It’s okay to have doubt. But that doubt shouldn’t translate to you being incompetent or weak.”

“Why do you gotta be like that?”

“Be like what?” 

Dabi turned to lay on his side next to Shigaraki rather than on top of him, now making eye contact with him rather than looking away. “You’re supposed to be this evil boss. But when… like… it’s just us, you just kinda know what to say without even trying. It’s honestly kinda creepy. It doesn’t seem like something a villain would say.”

“Well… I don’t know.” Shigaraki shrugged. “Maybe it’s just stuff I need to remind myself sometimes.” 

“So you have doubt?”

“Sometimes… more whether one idea is better than the other. Not so much the capabilities of my team.”

“What about yourself?” Shigaraki was quiet for a moment. Like he had to think. He ended up staring at his gloved hands while going deeper into his thoughts. But whatever he was thinking about was interrupted by a soft kiss to the lips. “I think you could do anything.” Dabi hummed quietly, his kiss trailing from scarred lips to a scratched up neck. “I think you could take over the world.” He bit down near his shoulder as his hand took hold of his shoulder and slowly slunk down smoothly. “I think you could destroy it. And I want to be right there with you…” With that hand gripping the lower hem of Shigaraki’s shirt, he was itching to lift it. He wanted to go so much farther. “I’ll burn all of it with you.” Just a little bit. Maybe he could get away with just tracing the divet of his hip. His fingers just barely sunk below the fabric of his shirt.

Dabi’s wrist was grabbed suddenly. “That was stupid- I should have asked like I usually do-” His first reaction was regret.

“No lower.”

“What?” Dabi’s eyes grew a bit wide as he looked to Shigaraki and how he stared at their hands together.

“No lower.” Shigaraki only repeated. But the stapled man understood. Below the beltline was still a no-touch zone. But he was being given permission to explore a little higher if he wanted to. All this adjusting and getting used to affection, he was letting this scarred man get a little closer. He was becoming part of his life that no one had even gotten close to. It was weird but… “It’s okay.” 

Dabi merely gulped as he brought one hand under Shigaraki’s shirt. He didn’t lift it up, letting him keep it on. He wasn’t going to push him farther than he already had. Though, the moment his skinny fingers grazed his waist, he heard just the smallest sound come from the scrawny villain. Not a moan or groan or grunt. But just a quick and short and quiet whine, shutting his eyes tight and turning his head away. How cute…

His ribs were more prominent than he thought. To feel them through his shirt was one thing, but feeling through just the skin was concerning. He was so skinny. It was almost scary. Dabi didn’t want to touch them, so instead, he ran his finger up the centerline of his abdomen, tracing up to the center of his chest. He could feel him shiver, but not tremble. He wanted him to relax a bit more than that. So after a few moments, he leaned over him once again to kiss his cheek and then his lips. He was happy with how quickly he engaged, even using both hands to cup his burnt cheeks with four fingers for each hand. He was impressed that it only took one bite to his lower lip to get him to just slightly open his mouth. The moment Dabi deepened it further, he brought his second hand under his shirt.

“Let’s destroy the world together…” Dabi whispered, pulling away with a small trail of saliva between them. His hands far underneath the other’s clothing as he licked his lips. 

Chapter Text

Four little marbles sat on a wooden counter of a little wooden building in the middle of the woods in the midst of evening and night. A soft breeze blew, shifting the trees as the dense forest seemed to protect the location of the little building. It was odd for a strange place to be located in the middle of nowhere. But it was the perfect spot to temporarily take over for a secret base.

“I dare you to jump!” Toga shouted.

“I’m jumping!” Twice announced before proceeding to jump into a steamy pool of hot spring water. Toga used her arms to shield her head to avoid getting her hair messed up so soon. She giggled seeing Twice lose the towel around his waist at the last moment before he jumped, but his mask stayed on. There was no shield for most of the surrounding villains. Though Shigaraki held up a towel with the most unimpressed and annoyed look on his face. He sat, fully clothed and hand on his face on the side of the pool with not even his feet soaking in the water.

He was disgusted. He was revolted. “I dedicate my time finding this place for you and this is the thanks I get?” he asked, lowering the towel only a little before Toga tried to splash him with water from inside the spring. He raised it again at the last second to defend himself.

“We can’t truly be villains if we don’t cause a little bit of trouble for you, Tomu.” Midoriya chuckled. His hair had gotten a bit wet from Twice’s jump but he appeared unbothered by it. He sat on Todoroki’s lap with his arm around his shoulders and had to move some red and white hair out of his eyes because it had gotten in his face from the water. But even Todoroki didn’t seem to mind the innocent fun his teammates were having. He was more focused on the one on his lap, blushing at just seeing him look so carefree while undressed. Being his chair felt like a privilege. 

“I say let them have their fun. But you lot do make me feel old.” Mr. Compress lounged in the water with his black face mask on only. He smiled and took joy in watching the villains act so casually. 

“I think you could beat him, huh Spinner?” Magne nudged Spinner with her elbow, making him blush and turn away. 

“N-No… that’s so immature.”

“Lighten up a bit. Have a little fun~” While Magne tried peer pressuring her friend into loosening up, Dabi watched from the background, sitting against the wall. He was just being antisocial with a black robe on, his chest exposed while his arms and legs remained covered. 

“C‘mon Spinner!” Toga and Twice mused together and pulled on the lizard’s arms to yank him deeper into the water, forcing him to join in their antics as he cried out in protest. It made Midoriya and Mr. Compress chuckle.  Todoroki’s attention seemed to be elsewhere as he was staring at Magne curiously, almost like a kitten.

“Don’t stare Shouchan. I know you wanna ask her something.” Midoriya petted his head with a soft smile. He knew exactly what he was thinking about. 

“But… is it rude?” Todoroki asked quietly. But not quietly enough as Magne lowered her sunglasses with a smile. She had a feeling she knew what he wanted to ask her.

“Are you confused by me, sweetheart?” She encouraged him to ask. It wasn’t like he was repulsed by her, just innocently confused but curious. “Is it because I look like a man but prefer to be referred to as a woman?” Todoroki nodded. To which Magne kindly explained and educated him on sexual and gender identity and he listened to every word with the utmost respect. She informed him of what kind of questions were appropriate to ask and what kind were best left private, as well as the struggles she had been through to get to where she was. 

“It’s not accepted everywhere or by everyone. And… it can make you feel quite lonely and bitter when you don’t even like the body you’re living in. But when you do find people that accept you and care about you, they become that much more precious.” She went on, having his full attention, as well as Shigaraki’s who was sitting behind her. “Protect them no matter what.” Midoriya hugged on lovingly to Todoroki’s head. He was the most precious person to him.

“Your criminal record wasn’t full of murder and robbery for fun, huh?” Shigaraki asked with his fist against his cheek. The answer he received was Magne simply blowing him a kiss with a wink. He only gritted his teeth and cringed at it like a child. It just made Dabi lower his head and smirk in the background.

After just a little while longer of some of them lounging and three of them splashing around a bit, Toga and Twice decided to turn in for the evening. Wrapping themselves in towels, they waved goodbye before leaving the spring. “You best be headed back soon, Shigaraki.” Mr. Compress reckoned. “I’m surprised you even came this far.”

“Kurogiri can handle two trips a day to this location from our place. It won’t be detrimental to take me back”  Shigaraki shrugged.

“Why only two trips?” Spinner asked, climbing out of the water now that his captors were gone. He put a towel around his neck and another around his waist. 

“Kurogiri’s quirk can work almost all day when we’re just going around the city. But long distances like this can make him weak after a few times.” Midoriya answered for Shigaraki with his finger up. Could always count on him to know their quirks inside and out. “That’s why it’s important that we all leave together at the end of the mission. It could be risky for him to come back and get us.”

“So what’s the farthest he can go?”

Midoriya held his chin and pondered for a moment. Mathematically distance-wise… “Probably one trip a third through the country, north to south. But it would probably leave him unconscious and in a critical state.” 

“So even he has to take other means of transportation sometimes,” Todoroki commented quietly. It seemed a bit strange to picture in his head. A man that could warp all over the place having to take a bullet train to warp even farther away to not wear himself out from a long trip. 

“Speaking of leaving,” Shigaraki began before turning to Todoroki and Midoriya, Midoriya absentmindedly petting Todoroki’s hair. “You should be headed out soon.” 

“Why does it have to be him? No fair…” Midoriya groaned, hugging on to his hero even more. He didn’t want him to leave when they were having such a nice time in the hot spring together. 

“Because he would know the best way to avoid everyone, you know that.”

“I guess I should get ready now.” Todoroki closed his eyes as he took Midoriya by the waist to carefully remove him from his lap. But the little villain was clinging to his neck, doing what little he could to get him to stay. “Izuku…” Todoroki muttered, struggling to pry him off. He eventually kissed his cheek, making Midoriya pull back slightly while biting the inside of his cheek. 

“You’ll be back before dawn?” he mumbled, placing the bottom of his palm against the burn scar.

“I promise.” 

“Just be careful.” he huffed and let him go. Todoroki was at last allowed to get up and walk out with a towel, to which he would wander to a slightly bigger part of the building they were annexing. It also posed as an inn. So he walked to a room that he and Midoriya likely shared to get changed into his villain costume. It was just a small wooden room with futons and a closet to keep their costumes and few belongings in. As he was changing, he swore he heard rustling outside the window.

 Before too much time had passed, Magne, Spinner, and Mr. Compress would all turn in for the night. It was best to get a good night’s sleep because who knew how long they would have to be awake the next night. This invasion could take an hour or until dawn. Either way, being prepared was important. “Don’t stay up too late, you three.” Mr. Compress waved to Shigaraki, Dabi, and Midoriya before shutting the door behind him.

“Sleep is for the weak.” Midoriya huffed just as he left. It made Dabi snicker quietly to himself. 

“Says the insomniac.” Shigaraki snarked.

“Hypocrite.” Midoriya snarked right back.

“Get to bed.” Shigaraki leaned over the water to flick his little brother’s forehead. “You’re going to be all emotional tomorrow and we don’t need that amplified because you’re sleep-deprived.” Between Todoroki being on patrol and their target being Bakugo to kidnap and kill, it was inevitable that Midoriya was going to be every which way with emotions. It wasn’t a bad thing, necessarily. But it was something that would need to be controlled in order for things to go as smoothly as possible.

Midoriya stuck his tongue out in retaliation but did get out of the water with a towel. They could bicker and tease each other all night, but Shigaraki was the leader and a leader for a good reason. He knew what he was doing. “Goodnight,” he said only a little bit begrudgingly but mostly lovingly, as any little brother would. He left Shigaraki and Dabi by themselves now.

It only took a few moments with Dabi waiting to see if anyone would come back for him to remove the bathrobe he wore and step into the spring water. Shigaraki took the hand off and looked away until Dabi was chest deep and leaned against the wall with a deep and blissful sigh. “Should you really be in there?” Shigaraki asked, keeping up with fake annoyance. Why did Dabi wait till no one was around to strip like that? He wondered if the water would do anything to his staples or irritate his burnt skin. He also couldn’t help but think that the temperature would lead to discomfort.

“Not for very long. But I can do at least a few minutes.” Dabi answered with his eyes closed and his head leaned back. “My skin will get loose and hurt when it gets all wrinkly. But other than that…” he reached over to the bathrobe he left at the edge of the pool and grabbed a box of cigarettes from the pocket. He lit it in his mouth, took a long drag, and let the smoke out directly up in the air. “... this is fine.” He didn’t seem all that worried about being in the water.

“Why do you do that?”

“What?”

“Smoke. That stuff is supposed to kill you.” Shigaraki at least took his shoes and socks off to put his feet in the water, but nothing else. It did feel kind of nice. But he wasn’t going in any deeper, absolutely not. “And it smells.”

Dabi peeked one eye open at Shigaraki to see that he was indeed looking at him. But in his beautiful red eyes wasn’t pity. He liked that about him. “Take a wild guess…” he tilted his head to the side and back to where it was in one motion. “Besides addiction.”

Shigaraki turned away to look down at his feet in the water. He kept his gloved hands behind him to keep himself propped up. Deep in his heart and mind, he knew it wasn’t just the nicotine that kept Dabi smoking. “I don’t want you to die to something like that, you know?” He said so so quietly. Dabi should have died years ago. And yet he was still in the world of the living, slowly killing himself with menial things. He always caught the empty bottles in a bin behind the bar counter. Addiction played a role, for sure. But a more somber impulse was at work.

“What, you’d rather kill me yourself, bunny?” Dabi smiled. Even after Shigaraki kicked the water to splash him. 

“I will if you keep calling me that.” 

“Cute.” the stapled man shrugged. “That sounds like a more romantic way to go…” And that’s where the conversation ended. Shigaraki kept his feet in the water and appeared to space out in his own thoughts while Dabi lounged with a cigarette between his lips. They had this silent company together, and yet it didn’t seem like they were enjoying it. Crystal eyes would glance at a bothered and anxious display of body language. Complete stillness, head down, hair hiding the face, and a finger digging into the crevices between the stones of the floor. 

“Would you stop if I asked you to?” Shigaraki asked without moving.

“I guess… I could try.” Dabi pondered for a moment, stretching his arms a bit.

“Then could you try to stop?” The bluntness of Shigaraki’s question caused Dabi to pause. He wasn’t dancing around what he wanted, huh? But it would make sense. Shigaraki didn’t always know what he liked. But he knew what he hated. 

Dabi took the cigarette out of his mouth and dipped the bud in the water before flicking it away. “Alright. I’ll try,” he smirked. It was then Shigaraki finally looked at him but then instantly looked the opposite direction when he saw that stupid look on his face. But even the stapled man could see the redness of the tips of his ears. Moving away from the edge he was leaning on, he decided to drift over to the scrawny villain and place his arms crisscrossed over his lap before resting his chin on top of them. “Now you gotta do something for me.” he hummed. 

“What- Tomcat!!” Shigaraki asked deadpanned before his waist was grabbed and he was cruelly pulled into the water, fully clothed, with a big splash. If Dabi really wanted to die, he made that very clear. He laughed as Shigaraki emerged from the water, red-faced and pissed as he started aggressively splashing him and then attempting to drown him by trying to shove his head into the water. But of course, he didn’t use all his strength to keep him under. Somehow, this attempt at murder only made Dabi snarkily smile a bit more. 

It wasn’t long before Dabi sat on the same underwater ledge Todoroki had sat on, letting Shigaraki quiver with rage as his hands flexed near his throat. How desperately the scrawny villain wanted to choke him himself. But his self-control was a lot stronger than one would first see. Despite all his boiling fury, he never hit Dabi once.

Eventually, Dabi snagged him by his tiny waist again and propped him up on his lap, letting himself be straddled by his angry bunny. Shigaraki’s rage would subside after a few moments. He was soaked with his hair matted over half his face, his clothes feeling heavy from being drenched, and he was steaming. Whether it was from anger or the spring water was anyone’s guess. But at least he wasn’t trying to kill him anymore. Rather, he bit the inside of his lower lip in an annoyed pout as he shifted on Dabi’s lap to get a little more comfortable. He had no doubt that this is what Dabi wanted of him in return for stopping smoking. But did he have to pull him in like that? The smug look on his face said yes.

Shigaraki made a silent exasperated sigh. He would have done this if Dabi just asked. But he had to go off and be a pain about it. But seeing him with such a content expression now and feeling himself be so gently held at the thighs made him forgive it. He held his breath when he felt his forehead be placed against the center of his chest. This was new and very… weird. But good weird or bad weird? He had to think for a few seconds. He put his hands on the other’s shoulders with four fingers before feeling around at his seams. He had seen him shirtless before but never made the attempt to actually put his hands on him before. He hadn’t been ready for that kind of thing yet. But if there was a time to at least try… now felt like a good time.

The burns were so uneven. The ones on his face started at his mouth and reached his lower neck. But even that singular scar didn't stop there as it traveled down his right shoulder all the way to his wrist. It took up a large portion of his back, reaching all the way to the middle of his spine with a curve. His left shoulder was spared from the burns but his forearm and wrist were not. And the center of his torso that wrapped around him in a jagged line reached as high as his left pectoral and as low as the divots of his stomach and pelvis. Shigaraki's fingers were delicate in their tracing and gentle to the touch, careful to spare him any more pain.

Dabi had begun to subtly blush as he felt Shigaraki so delicately yet intensely feel around at all the staples and seams. His childish curiosity about them was cute. But his care to not irritate a staple or to press too hard was more than that. He could tell he was still paranoid about using all five fingers even with the gloves on. 

In return for the gentle touches, Dabi raised his hands from Shigaraki’s thighs to under his heavy shirt. He had done it once before and it appeared that the other was unbothered by him doing it a second time. Perhaps even less than unbothered. Dabi was taken aback when he was lightly pushed away, but it wasn’t from displeasure. It was so Shigaraki could reach for the lower hem of his soaked shirt and pull it off over his head and toss it on the stone floor where it created a puddle from how much water the fabric took in.

“Did you pull me just to try and get me to take my shirt off?” he asked quietly and only slightly bitterly as he tried so hard to suppress the blush on his face. He was looking away with his arms folded, almost like he was still trying to hide. Such a skinny frame, his ribs easily visible but not morbidly so. He was paler than sand and there were just the slightest streaks around his stomach that were even paler. Scars that have healed and were barely visible; they could only be seen this up close. They looked like cuts, likely done by a doctor. Dabi was nearly speechless, not expecting to get this far like this. 

“Th...That wasn’t what I had in mind if that’s what you’re wondering…” He was caught staring, deer in the headlights. Pulling him in was just supposed to be a funny prank. But seeing his hair and torso dripping wet in the spring like this… “You’re okay with it… right?”

“It’s fine. It was uncomfortable.” Unfolding his arms, Shigaraki put his hands back on the other’s shoulders. Dabi couldn’t help but rest his cheek against his chest and hugged him closer. He didn’t expect arms to wrap around him back. He felt a cheek against the top of his head in his hair. This wasn’t what he expected at all. But it was so much better.

There was a little bit of white in there. Shigaraki laid his cheek on Dabi’s hair but noticed at the very root of the strands that they were white. He blinked at it to make sure he was seeing the color right. So Touya did dye his hair after all. 

Dabi deeply sighed as he pulled back and looked up at the other villain. He tilted his head ever so slightly. He reached up to take the other’s cheek while his other hand rested on his thigh. He brought him in closer until he felt an arm around his neck and the other behind his head, in his hair. They shared a long and modest kiss in the privacy of the hot spring. No one else was around as the rest of them were resting peacefully in their guest rooms. There was nothing but the fireflies that had made their way in from the open roof to watch them. They just brought each other closer and closer in the time they had.

They never went farther than a kiss. They made it last for minutes until Shigaraki was the first to pull away with his eyes half-lidded. “I should get going…” he said quietly. He almost sounded disappointed.

“Y...Yeah. You gotta head back” Dabi agreed with a similar tone. They both got out of the water. Shigaraki grabbed his soaked shirt from the floor to carry it back to the changing room. He tried wringing it out by hand to get the water out but it was still drenched and heavy. 

“You mind-” he was going to ask Dabi to use a flame to maybe dry it out but a different solution was offered as Dabi draped a black hoodie over his shoulders and head. “You’re not even that much taller than me, why are your clothes so big?” Shigaraki dropped the shirt and put his arms through the sleeves. But the sleeves outreached his hands as the cuffs dangled. He couldn’t resist flapping them around for a second.

“I don’t like tight stuff. Gets caught on my skin so I need to get a size or two bigger.” Dabi explained casually as he put just a white t-shirt on that was a little bit baggy. Though he snickered for a second at how Shigaraki’s arms were drowned by the sleeves and the hoodie reached down past his hips. “You look so small in it.”

“I’m not that short!” Shigaraki lightly whacked his chest with the ends of the sleeves. Dabi barely even felt it and it just made him scoff. Short king. He watched the scrawny villain pout and grumble before zipping the hoodie up all the way and kind of got lost in the warmth. With Dabi’s constant high body temperature, the piece of clothing felt like it was fresh out of a dryer. Shigaraki seemed very happy with this convenience. 

The two would eventually be at the main entrance to the inn with Dabi standing between the door and Shigaraki outside with his wet shirt in one hand and his phone in the other. He was in the middle of texting Kurogiri that he was ready to go. “Do you… really have to go? You can’t set up a computer here or stay the night or something?” Dabi asked, averting his gaze to the trees. He didn’t want to sound clingy but he did wish Shigaraki could stay.  They’ve been sleeping in the same bed together for a week and he was getting used to it.

“And warp all the stuff out during an ambush? You know that wouldn’t work.” Shigaraki sighed and almost half-smiled. How cute of Dabi to try and hide the fact he was becoming a bit clingy. “And I need to change my clothes. I’m freezing.” Though his shirt was efficiently replaced, his pants and hair were still dripping wet. 

“Yeah… my bad.” Dabi apologized but was also half-smirking. He wasn’t that sorry. Just for him being cold he was.

“To think that’s what I get for going into a hot spring fully dressed alone with you.” Shigaraki sighed before clicking the send button on his phone. He raised it up a little higher in an attempt to get a better signal. Middle of nowhere service sucked. “Maybe not next time,” he added quietly.

Dabi was leaning against the doorframe with his eyes closed before they shot open and a flame popped upon his head, ‘Maybe not next time’? Like, as in, he won’t be dressed next time they’re alone together? “Wait, are you- are you serious?” he had to make sure he was interpreting that right. He smothered the flame on his head out and looked to the other intensely. “Are you sure?” But Shigaraki just shrugged with a half-smile. 

“We’ll see…” he was considering it. He was really considering it. Dabi quietly coughed into his fist and looked away. Who would have thought that he would ever get this far? 

“N-No pressure…” he muttered. 

“You too.” He blinked at the other’s response. Shigaraki approached Dabi before almost playfully tilting his head to the side and reaching up to hold his stapled cheek. “You’re going to do fine.” He was talking about the mission now. He knew Dabi was silently stressing about it for days. So he wanted to give him one last piece of encouragement and faith. Perhaps if they hadn’t become so close, they wouldn’t have had moments that even resembled this. 

“Yeah… I will.” Dabi breathed calmly, taking a gentle hold of the other’s hips to bring him in for a kiss. It was a fairly long kiss, though nowhere near as extensive as the one in the hot spring. But it felt just as sincere and maybe even loving. It wasn’t completely certain what was going on between them. And that was okay. 

Shigaraki pulled back first and backed up a few paces before Kurogiri’s portal appeared behind him. He made a small wave goodbye before disappearing into it, leaving Dabi to his devices. This left the stapled man to sigh and rub the back of his head as he turned around to go to his room. Going up a flight of stairs and turning into a hallway, he opened a sliding door to a traditional guest room. He dropped to his knees and flopped into the futon with a heavy sigh. He ended up turning on his side and hugging a pillow with his face buried into it. He was getting a little too used to sleeping next to someone at night and now his bed felt empty.

Meanwhile, a little freckled villain was having the same problem. Flopped down on his futon dressed in jeans and a hoodie, Midoriya hugged the pillow tightly while on his side. How frustrating that Todoroki had to patrol the area to make sure the heroes didn’t spot them. After kicking his feet in frustration a few times, he sat up grumpily before crawling to a small bag of his things. He began to strip off his hoodie when he heard a small thud. But it was so quiet that he shrugged it off.

What was outside his window may have caught him off guard if he actually investigated. While Midoriya was in ignorant bliss in his room, Todoroki was on the offensive and defensive outside.

Mustard was pinned to the ground with his masked face being forced into the dirt. Todoroki’s knee dug into his back as his hand kept his head down. “I should kill you…” he growled quietly from underneath his black kitsune mask while forcing the boy’s head into the ground. “Trying to look at him like that, you’re disgusting.” The only thing stopping him from killing him was the fact that Shigaraki and Dabi needed Mustard alive in order for this mission to be successful. 

“Wh-What are you? His guard dog or something?” Mustard said before getting muffled by dirt. 

“I’m whatever Fallen, Dabi, and Shigaraki need me to be.” Todoroki dug his knee into the boy’s spine before his right hand froze up with an icy gauntlet with sharpened knuckles encased in it. He held the claws just an inch away from Mustard’s neck.

“How nice it must be to be their little puppet. You’ll do anything they tell you? What an easy life.” Todoroki gritted his teeth at the brat’s rudeness. Easy life? He was supposed to be dead! But he tried to not let his temper get to him. This mission was for Midoriya and Shigaraki. “So you are their little lap dog, huh? Just do everything someone nice to you says? Perhaps it’s your way of trying not to be human.” Mustard smirked as he turned his cheek into the dirt to get piercing eye contact with the one in the kitsune mask. “You’re pathetic. You don’t have any self-respect. You’re not your own person. Why should I listen to someone like you?”

In a small fit of sudden anger, Todoroki grabbed the back of Mustard’s shirt collar before whipping him off the ground and throwing him against the tree with rage-induced strength. “Shut up… you’re wrong. You don’t know anything about me!” Not his own person. He was! He was his own person! He wasn’t just Endeavor’s son. He wasn’t just the dead U.A. student. He wasn’t just Midoriya’s boyfriend. He was his own person… wasn’t he?

Mustard landed upside down and collapsed over himself with a small snicker. Gas started to emit from his body but he did well to keep it contained as he smirked at the masked boy. “If you’re so angry, then I’m right. You just don’t like being told you’re wrong by someone like me who’s not supposed to be as cool as you! How embarrassing.” 

Todoroki shook his head and turned his back to him to walk away. He didn’t need to stay and listen. There was patrol to be done and he stopped the peeping tom at the inn and now needed to check on the heroes’ position. “Walking away, huh? Won’t fight me because you’re scared? Or is it just because Fallen or the handyman didn’t tell you to? You’re just nothing without them.” That wasn’t true. He didn’t need to be associated with anyone to be something. He didn’t have to live in other people’s shadows of association. Just walk away. For Izuku’s sake.

But it was hard to walk away when he was pinned to the ground by his face. Having tried to walk away from a fight, he found himself in another one with a man physically far stronger than he could ever be. Muscular seemed to come out of nowhere but he must have snuck up on Todoroki and Mustard during their small tussle. But rather than going for the younger boy, he went for the one he had been making threats at since day one. Todoroki desperately clawed at the massive hand, even digging ice claws into his skin. Though the skin broke, Muscular didn’t even wince. Raw muscle and power were terrifying.

“After watching you walk away from a fight like that, I really wanna kill ya…” The grip around Todoroki’s head tightened. He shut his eyes tight from the pain and pressure. “How can you turn tail like that and call yourself a villain? And I’m supposed to be listening to you?!” 

“Y-You’re supposed to listen to Dabi…” Todoroki kicked at his knee to no effect. Why was this man so focused on him? Why was he so angry about needing his consent to kill anyone? Did he really desire murder that much?

“I really hate kids, you know that? You’re all so annoying-” Muscular had begun to smile widely and ferally when there was a small clicking sound. His grip loosened ever so slightly as Todoroki gasped in relief. 

“Your muscles may be strong, but your head is still just a skull. Though, I guess a neanderthal like you would have a thick skull for being so stupid.” Mustard said with a smug giggle. Both Muscular and Todoroki saw a pistol in his hand pointed at the man’s head. “You’re dumb if you think you can really kill him without messing all of this up. The League of Villains will kill you and me if he’s dead. So get lost and I don’t have to shoot.”

“Arrogant little… there’s nothing stopping me from killing you.” Muscular growled, slowly backing off. Todoroki pushed himself back and coughed a few times to catch his breath under his mask. 

“Actually there is. They need me too so they’ll kill you if you come after me. You’ll be deemed as too big a risk to bring along. You’re literally the equivalent of an infant.” Mustard mocked with a dramatic shrug and shook his head in disappointment. “If you cry too loud, you’re a detriment to the mission. Take a look at yourself, you buffoon. And you…” he turned to Todoroki but didn’t point the gun at him. “You’re just weak.”

“And you’re just a pervert.” Todoroki stood up and brushed himself off. His deadpanned and casual response made the boy twitch. Don’t think the half and half boy forgot that it was his peeping that got him in this situation in the first place. “Just piss off, the both of you, and leave me in peace.”

“Don’t think we’re going to just do everything you say when the time comes. If things start going to shit, the first one I’m going after is that little arrogant doctor kid.” Muscular spat. “No one gets to have that kind of pompousness while being so small and helpless.”

“Try it and you will die.” The words left Todoroki so smoothly and unhesitantly as there was a small red glow from an eye hole in his kitsune mask. His demeanor didn’t change much. But his tone was far less soft and indifferent than usual. It made Muscular smile widely.

“A challenge from a pipsqueak like you, I’d welcome it. I’ll turn you into dust.” Todoroki rolled his eyes at Muscular’s threat and began to walk away. His patrol was meant for heroes, not these obnoxious mercenaries. 

“The only one who could do that is Shigaraki.” he said back indifferently before continuing on his way. That threat against Midoriya would not be so easily shrugged off, however. He was going to keep it in mind. And if Mustard really was infatuated with Midoriya like that, he would have said something too. But peeking back at him for the corner of his eye, the boy was still. A gun could kill Muscular, but that man was still bigger and stronger than he’d ever be. Mustard talked big, but he was afraid of him.

Turning on his left. Turning on his right. Pressing his face into the pillow. Laying on his face. Staring at the ceiling. No position was comfortable to sleep in. Iida was desperately trying to rest after borderline torturous training. His legs were exhausted and weak and he could feel them throbbing for the exertion. But he couldn’t get his eyes off of the unused futon across the room. It was still rolled up in a corner while the other male students were scattered all over the floor, some in their futons and some having wandered out of them somehow. 

Some of Iida’s classmates were sleeping more deeply than others after having been worked to the bone. He noticed a few shivering after their blankets had escaped them and one gritting his teeth and appearing distressed from a bad dream. Unable to sleep himself, he decided to get to his hands and knees and crawl around to take care of everyone. He pulled a blanket over Sero, unburied Kaminari’s head from pillows so he wouldn’t suffocate, made sure the rope tied around Mineta was still tight, and gently poked Bakugo’s hand to try and release him from his nightmare. 

In the end, Iida found himself sitting on his knees in front of the unused futon. He couldn’t help but just stare at it. He wished, more than anything, that they had someone to use it. “Eraserhead… I can’t apologize enough.” Just outside the sliding door, Iida heard one of the Wild Wild Pussycats talking to Aizawa. Becoming a bit curious he crawled to the door and opened it up just a crack to see inside the next room. Mandalay was speaking to his teacher that was sitting by an open window, looking up at the stars of the night.

“It was an honest mistake. Your team had been out of the area so you wouldn’t be tracked. Not all news made it to you and not everyone can remember. Media is exhausting to keep track of.” Aizawa explained.

“I feel like this is something we should have remembered. It was cruel of us to be so inconsiderate.” Mandalay continued to apologize sincerely with her head lowered in shame. “How could we forget such a tragedy of one of your students passing? And to just remind your students so abruptly… Even Kouta remembered.” At the start of the training when giving specialized exercises to the students, the Pussycats had called out names to direct instructions. How rude to just repeatedly call out for Todoroki Shouto when he wasn’t there.

Iida looked back at the unused futon in the corner. They forgot to take it back because Todoroki wasn’t there to use it. “It wasn’t done out of malice. You put too much blame on yourself.” Aizawa spoke in monotone but he was being honest. He wasn’t angry. But it didn’t keep him from feeling a bit sad. “There’s been a lot of loss this semester. Everyone’s just doing what they can and I can appreciate that.” he never looked at Mandalay as he just kept his focus on the sky. Whether he was looking up to keep from tearing up or just feeling comforted by the night, it was anyone's guess. Or perhaps he just felt the presence of someone he missed listening to him on the roof. 

“It must have hit you hard after the first tragedy…”

“It did. I would argue the kids were more devastated. They all cared about him and there’s not much I can do for them now besides just help them through it. In all honesty… I don’t know if I could have gotten through the initial grief without my partner.” Mandalay put her paw hands on Aizawa’s shoulders as he just thought out loud. “They’re all so strong. But they can’t help but miss that boy.” His voice got a little higher pitched, trying so hard to keep the composure he was famous for having. But talking about such grief was so hard. “And I failed him…”

“Eraserhead…” Mandalay did what she could to respectfully comfort him. But no one was there to comfort Iida who had silently broken down once again. And though Mandalay’s words weren’t enough to soothe the pain Aizawa felt, there was just a soft breeze outside. And on that soft breeze came a small whirl of cold air. The Pussycat hero would even see a few snowflakes riding the wind as it drifted past Aizawa’s hair. The frosty air then slipped between the cracked open door and swirled around Iida before disappearing. “I think… a kind boy like that would forgive you in a heartbeat.”

The boy in the kitsune mask would climb down from the roof after deeming the heroes blissfully unaware of the villains’ presence just a few miles deeper into the forest. Without lowering his mask, he went on his way to return to the temporary base while gazing up at the stars. “I forgive you,” he mumbled to no one in particular as he was walking down an overgrown path by himself.

Walking the opposite direction of that overgrown path was not so lonely the next night. Multiple people walked with him to climb up on a small rock ledge to look over a section of the forest that had been shaped by a man-made path. “Yako, what are they doing?” Dabi asked.

“It’s a scaring competition. Class 1-A are walking while 1-B are setting up traps to frighten them. But there are students in the main building with Eraserhead and Vlad King taking extra lessons after failing their exams.” Todoroki answered, sitting on the edge behind most of the villains. He seemed to be staring off at a small bag that he had under his cloak that was filled with odd items. Kitsunes were known for playing tricks after all…Using his quirk would give him away.

“And the Pussycats?”

“Mandalay, Tiger, and Pixie-Bob are near the entrance of the trail waiting for passing students. Ragdoll is at a checkpoint at the farthest end of the circle.”

Dabi nodded with his hands in his pockets and leaned back a bit. He turned his head to look at the villains, prepped and ready to make a bit of chaos. “In case some of you need a recap because I know at least one of you is a dumbass, our goal here is to capture Bakugo Katsuki alive.” He took a photograph of Bakugo out of his pocket that was taken at the award ceremony at the Sports Festival. “And per last second request from the boss man, pro hero Ragdoll is also to be captured alive.”

“Alive?! Seriously?!” Muscular snarled.

“If you wanna be unalive that can be arranged, ya dummy.” Toga glared with her black mask on as she held up a knife as a warning. She wasn’t afraid of him at all. “Yako, is there anyone we’re allowed to kill?” she then turned to Todoroki with her hands folded together and asked with a sweet tone. Midoriya stood beside him and awaited his answer eagerly.

“I guess… There's a kid with purple hair that looks like grapes. He can die, honestly. And…” Todoroki thought back to other stuff he had learned while on his patrol. He thought of the empty barrel of boiling water that was prepared for him if he was considered alive. “I don’t care for the Pussycats…” 

Dabi folded his arms and nodded. His little brother was still far too nice. One classmate and three heroes out of everyone at this summer training camp would never do. But perhaps baby steps needed to be taken. So he just nodded. “You get that?” he looked down from the cliff he was standing on where the Chainsaw Nomu was sitting and heavily breathing. It growled lowly at the sound of Dabi’s question. That was a yes. “I want everyone with their earpieces on. And no fucking around on the channel.”

Of course, there was immediate fucking around on the channel. “I get to hear Fallen’s voice in my ear~” Mustard swooned to which Midoriya shook his head and stood even closer to Todoroki. 

“No messing around! Pssh, I’m hungry, over, pssh.” Two of Twice’s personalities said, holding his ear.

“H-Hungry… Flesh…” Moonfish only tilted his head to hit his own shoulder to turn on the earpiece. Dabi rolled his eyes and rubbed the center of his forehead. 

“So much for the professional, threatening Vanguard Action Squad, boss,” he grumbled quietly. But it appeared only one person on a separate channel heard.

“They’ll get the job done. All service lines are blocked so there won’t be any backup to surprise you.” Shigaraki said to only him. No one else was in contact with him. He sat comfortably in his bedroom in his chair with a headset and microphone over his head. All the lights were off with his monitor screen shining bright in his face while Zuzu sat in his lap. If only Dabi could see that he was still wearing his hoodie with the sleeves that were too long.

Dabi just smirked and shook his head. “This feels a lot more like babysitting but whatever.” Shigaraki knew what he was doing, surely. And Dabi trusted him. “Alright, you all have your instructions from earlier. Twice, make a copy of me, and let's give them all a little fright.” He smirked wickedly as a slight breeze blew past them. And just as quickly as they reached the cliffside, none but Dabi and Twice remained on the rocks after the wind stopped.

Smoke. It all started with smoke. As the forest caught fire from beautiful yet foreboding blue flames, killers started emerging from the woods. At the checkpoint, a little villain raised his hands in a cat-like manner for the wires to loosen and flex as a blonde girl held up a needle behind a mouth mask with a childish blush. A boy in a gas mask began to fill the forest unaffected by flames with a noxious gas with a giggle in hopes that the one he admired would be impressed. A man in a tophat and a mask seemed to dance amongst the treetops, keeping watch on the teenage target. And that target happened to be without a partner from the odd number of students, but just happened to be with a student from 1-B that tried to spook him. The real scarer was the escaped death row criminal in a straight jacket that was moaning at them as he stumbled in their direction. At the entrance of the woods, a woman with a confident smile and cool pair of sunglasses stepped up to the pro heroes with her dear lizard friend at her side. And lurking around the main building, a stapled man was leaning against a wall with a kitsune masked boy hanging upside down from the roof. But one killer seemed to have strayed a bit, having been distracted by an easy target that had not been mentioned. No one ever said anything about killing some random kid that was hanging around the pros.

Keep those in the main building inside and out of the way.

“Is worry taking precedence, Eraserhead?”

“Vlad!” Aizawa shouted before being cut off by a blast of blue fire. Having seen the smoke outside the window during extra lessons, his instincts and experience told him that there was danger. But just as he got outside to investigate, he was ambushed by Dabi. Or at least a clone of him. Distracted by this clone, Todoroki trailed the rooftop expertly and snuck in a second-floor window. 

Most would have died from facing a blast that size at such a close range. But the eraser hero stood on a wall side with his scarf holding him up from above having escaped it at the last moment, eyes red and glaring for defense.

“I guess you are a pro after all.” The clone snarked with a nearly emotionless glare. The only expression in its eyes was smugness. It prepared another blast only for its flames to sizzle out, leaving him powerless.

“Nothing’s gonna come out.” Aizawa said, using the cloth around his neck to wrap around the clone and bring them closer. His eyes erased the flames, giving him the opportunity to get close and take it by the hair, bashing his knee into its face. Temporarily stunned and restrained, the clone was pinned face down into the dirt while the teacher had it under the blades of his knees. “Tell me your purpose, number, and positions,” he demanded angrily. Not again. A student wasn’t going to die on his watch again.

The man was soon distracted by a loud shaking and rumbling in the distance into the forest. This was the beginning of absolute chaos. “Mr. Aizawa!” Iida called out with multiple other students behind him. The kid with hair like a grape was there… must be a pretty evil little shit for Todoroki not to care if he died. But Aizawa was so laser-focused on them the moment they showed up, so internally desperate to protect them all. 

“Are you in a hurry, Eraser?” Using this moment of distraction, the clone teased the pro hero before slipping out from under him with a flame sparking on his head. But it was still restrained with Aizawa’s scarf so it couldn’t escape more than a few feet. But it made sure to look back with a twisted grin. It couldn’t stand looking at the man. This hero ignored Todoroki in his most desperate time of need.

Unfortunately, the clone didn’t have the strength to last much longer. It was done for when Aizawa gave the scarf a strong pull to tighten it, but it ended up splitting the clone in half just as it was melting away. It was sure to deliver one last message with a wide mocking grin. “Are your students important?” it asked in a smooth tone. Its head tilted back a bit, giving a creepy, zombie-like posture. Aizawa silently held his breath as he pulled a little tighter, trying to destroy the monstrosity quicker. “As expected of a U.A. teacher. Hey hero, I hope you can save them in the end… I bet poor Todoroki Shouto hoped so too.” it mused, taking pleasure in seeing the hero’s heart break in a single moment. “See you later…” But it could do nothing more as it fell to a pile of muck. 

Had the students been any closer, they may have seen and heard the clone’s final moments. But between the loud noises and rumblings in the distance, they were left ignorant. Though they did get a glimpse of a moment of brokenness in their teacher’s eyes. As they approached him, they only watched their teacher run off into the forest, determined and furious. “Get inside! I’ll be right back!” he instructed, leaving Ojiro, Koda, Iida, and Mineta to follow instructions and go inside where another villain was already lurking. 

“Yako, don’t engage. Not until my second clone gets there.” Dabi instructed over the earpiece radios. Todoroki hid within the building, having taken out a ceiling panel at one point and made the ceiling his hiding spot. He watched the four students enter the building and hurry to the room where the extra class was being held where Vlad King was with even more students.

“Why not? Even if they don’t know who we’re after, Kirishima is really strong-willed. We can’t risk him getting out. At least let me distract them-” Todoroki began to protest. But Dabi shut him down quickly.

“Don’t even think about it. You shouldn’t go up against a pro without your quirk. And if one of those brats recognizes you, you’re done for. You’re not facing them without my clone.”

“Poor little fox can’t take on a few heroes without a babysitter, how sad.” Mustard mocked over the line with a giggle. “I can tell some losers have already passed out from my quirk. Consider my part a success!”

“Pathetic,” Muscular added just to be a dick.

“Yako, don’t-.” Dabi wasn’t quite sure if Todoroki was one to give in to taunting like that. But considering he was already on bad terms with the two, he was at the end of his rope of patience. 

“If someone steps foot outside the classroom, I’m making a move.” Thankfully, childish taunting wasn’t enough to make him stray from Dabi’s orders to the stapled man’s relief. Mission wise, it would be detrimental if Todoroki were to fight so many people that could know his identity. But even still… he didn’t want his little brother throwing himself in danger like that.

“Currently engaging on Pro Hero Ragdoll~,” Midoriya and Toga said at the same time, with Toga singing it. Deep in the forest at the checkpoint, two little villains approached a hero that stood behind a desk. By the desk, two students laid in the dirt having passed out from the noxious gas taking over most of the trail. Ragdoll must have pulled them to safety only to find herself trapped. She couldn’t abandon the students with the infamous masked villain, Fallen, or the psychotic girl on the villain watch list. 

Toga smiled widely and cutely as Midoriya’s mask had a smile engraved in it with shark-like teeth. “Don’t let her get a good look at you. She can sense where you are, but can’t see a weakness without you in view.” Midoriya warned with a hum. Being quirkless had its perks because he didn’t have such prominent weaknesses. With a strategy in mind, he reached into a back pocket where he kept two little smoke bombs. He slammed them down on the ground to fill the trail with a thin layer of smoke. “Oh Mustard, could you spread the gas a little further north? Would really appreciate it~” the little villain teased over the line.

Somewhere in the woods, a little boy was swaying on his feet with his hands over his heart as it felt like it was beating out of his chest. “F-Fallen asking something of me? Of course! Of course! It won’t be a problem! You can count on me for anything because I can totally do my job perfectly solo!” he obliged, but not without yet another small slight at Todoroki. 

With the gas getting closer, Toga put on goggles to protect her eyes while Midoriya's mask would already protect him. Shigaraki provided them both with very efficient and protective masks. Toga even blushed at the thought. “What’s your goal here because I’m not letting you take any of these children away!” The kitty hero readied herself for a fight in the smoke as claws came out of the paw gloves on her hands and bent down low to inhale less smoke. “To think the League of Villains would really come all the way out here… you people are awfully low. You killed someone for our location, didn’t you?!” 

“Doesn’t matter now, does it? We’re here now.” Wires came at Ragdoll from behind but she was able to swipe at them to keep them back as she jumped back with her other paw covering her mouth.

“I love your outfit, really shows off the curves! Have you tried getting blood on it because it would really make it pop!” Toga came at her from her side with a knife and was only able to slash her side before getting kicked back with some very powerful boots. 

“You villains… you’re insane.” Ragdoll didn’t have a moment to even make an attack as wires kept coming at her from all directions. And just when she thought maybe they’d let up, Midoriya himself came up to her for close combat with small knives held between his fingers.

“I’ve got kitty claws too.” he teased. In an act of foul play, the little villain kicked some dirt with his feet to try and get it into Ragdoll's eyes as he was crouched down to keep from inhaling smoke or gas. When she leaned up and back to avoid it, she ended up coughing from breathing a little bit of both in. To which Midoriya slashed her legs with his blades and then made a move for her neck only for her to jump back while covering her mouth. He kept coming at her but she kept bouncing backward out of his range. When Toga joined in the fray from the sides, she managed to dodge her too from being able to sense her presence.

“Keep jumping around like a scaredy-cat and you may leave one of the precious students behind.” Midoriya had a knack for playing dirty. The merciful side he had at the start of his villainous descent had nearly disappeared. He picked up one of the two students abandoned in the dirt with the wires of his gloves, Jirou. “This one caused me a lot of trouble last time…” Her speakers blocked out his voice at the USJ. If it hadn’t been for her, Todoroki wouldn’t have had his ribcage shattered and lungs punctured. He wouldn’t have been in so much pain… it was all her fault. He wouldn’t kill her for Todoroki’s sake but… it wouldn’t stop him from letting her know how much he hated her.

“No! Stay away from them! They can’t even fight back!” Ragdoll shouted as she went to try and swipe at the wires. But Jirou was pulled up out of her reach. Being moved around like a doll, she began to regain the slightest bit of consciousness. The wires weren’t razor, but she would still be cut. With wires wrapped around all her limbs and her neck in spirals, with one yank, the fastness of the skidding would cut through her skin. A desperate cry left her despite being partially asleep. The burning and stinging brought torturous pain. She instantly fell when the wires painfully released her. But Ragdoll caught her before she hit the ground.

“Not like I care. I’m just here for you. But I’m still going to have a bit of fun while I’m here.” Midoriya hummed with a dramatic shrug.

“F-Fun?” Ragdoll was nearly left speechless. From height alone, she could assume that Midoriya was a child. This was such a twisted version of fun. She looked at Jirou in her arms who could barely keep an eye open and was struggling to breathe through the gas creeping into the area. “You’re here… for me?”

“That’s right!” Toga popped up right behind her and shoved the entire blade of her knife into her upper back. While stunned by the intense pain, even choking on the air in a silent gasp, Midoriya restrained her with the wires of his gloves. They wrapped around her arms, legs, neck, and forehead. He forced her to drop Jirou into the dirt before moving his hands in a quick fluid motion. The wires forced Ragdoll’s head to snap back while the exposed skin on her arms and legs were cut deeply and released. Between the knife that was stuck in her back and then the sudden snap of her neck, the pro hero fell to the ground, bleeding out from her wounds while barely conscious from a damaged neck. 

“I didn’t break her neck, but she may be paralyzed for a bit.” Taking the wires back into his gloves, Midoriya approached the hero and put his foot on her head, smashing her bloody kitty headpiece. “You didn’t stab a vital, did you?”

Toga leaned down to tug the knife out of Ragdoll’s back, causing her whole body to twitch before she started quietly wheezing. She would pass out very soon. “I don’t think I did~ But I’m pretty sure that area is really sensitive. So she’s probably pretty sleepy.” She leaned over to smile and wave at the hero below her. She could tell her vision must have been getting hazy. “Get that beauty rest! Night night~” she hummed.

It would only take a few moments for Ragdoll’s eyes to close. “Pro Hero Ragdoll has been subdued.” Midoriya made the call over the line. He used his wires to wrap Ragdoll up and keep her from escaping if she ever woke up.

“Of course Fallen could do it! It was such an easy task for someone like him! We would expect no less!” Mustard swooned, making the little doctor roll his eyes. Toga did the same.

“This brat is kinda annoying… and he’s mean to Sho-Sho. Can I kill him later?” she muttered off the line to Midoriya. 

“I don’t think Dabi or Tomu would mind, honestly.” Midoriya was certain neither of them would care. 

“Alright. Regroup with Compress and continue on to the final part of the mission. Compress, tell them your location.” Dabi instructed the two of them in a dull tone. All business and no fun here. Though his bored attitude and rude demeanor were still intact.

“If you would be so kind as to call me MR. Compress, that would be very appreciated!” Mr. Compress complained but in the background of his voice was some loud crashing. He sounded a bit occupied with something.

“Mister, what’s going on over there?” Dabi added without the ‘Compress’ this time.

“W-Well, it would appear that the target has found Moonfish…” There was a sudden drop in the League of Villains’ chests. Moonfish was sent out to scare off students from going further into the forest, leaving Bakugo by himself and away from any backup. To think he would have found the divider was troublesome, but also detrimental because that monstrosity had no brain cells to be found.  “His quirk is too loud. If that boy starts defending himself, everyone in the camp is going to know where he is and rush to his aid.”

“Magne, Lizard, how are the pro heroes?” Dabi checked on the others to make sure the pros were at least distracted. 

“My name’s Spinner, asshole! And we’re doing fine unless these kids decide it okay to use their quirks. But they’ll be in deep trouble with the law if they do.” 

“I imagine they may have to resort to that, so we should finish quickly,” Magne added.

“Kirishima’s trying to leave. I can’t wait anymore, Dabi.” Todoroki quickly cut into the line. Kirishima was one of the only people that strictly was not allowed to leave in order for this plan to work. But Todoroki couldn’t wait for Dabi’s clone to arrive any longer. And perhaps Mustard’s and Muscular’s taunts made him just a little more impulsive.

“Yako! It’s just around the corner-!” Considering there was no answer, Dabi had to assume Todoroki already jumped in to start trouble. 

Having been hiding in the ceiling for a long enough time for Ragdoll to be captured, not only had Todoroki been getting restless, but hearing Midoriya be successful and taunts from the mercenaries made him even more reckless. And the U.A. bunkering down in the building were feeling the same way. 

“Mr. Aizawa would understand! He knows we need to fight back!” Kirishima argued with Vlad. With his fists balled and teeth gritted, his hardening quirk began to activate. “We can’t just stand by or someone else is going to get taken!”

“It is the pros’ job to make sure that doesn’t happen. If you want to make it easier for us, you need to stay put.” Vlad tried to convince the anxious class to stay together where they believed themselves to be safe. 

“As much as we want to follow the rules, I’m inclined to agree. We need to fight back.” Ojiro also took the side of breaking the rules, stepping up to try to convince the teacher.

“You haven’t lost a student this semester and we’ve lost two! We can’t handle another!” Even Ashido stood between the two boys with her fists balled. She closed her eyes right as her tone softened sadly. “We don’t mean disrespect, Mr. Kan. But we already know that they’re after someone. We know that they almost got Kirishima.”

Vlad’s face flinched with fear at her words. “You… weren’t supposed to know about that.” Kirishima’s attack was supposed to be covered up to keep the peace amongst the public and U.A.

“If they were after him, then they would have taken him already.” Ashido deducted. It seemed she had put a lot of thought into the situation already. It appeared most of the students in the room did besides the only 1-B student present. “We need to find and protect the one they’re really after. They have a target. They have always had a plan with these things.”

“Even if that were true, how do we know who they’re after? You think that far pro loser?” It seemed the 1-B student couldn’t stop being a prick even in times of crisis. “The pros know what they’re doing! You aren’t that special just because you’re in 1-A.” 

“So what?! That’s not going to stop us from trying to save someone’s life! We’re wasting time here! We need to act now!” Kirishima was far too fired up to be denied now. He stomped to the door only for Iida to grab his wrist the moment he reached for the doorknob. “What are you doing-?”

Iida held a finger to his own lips to gesture to be quiet. The strict rule follower had not said a word during the argument when he would usually side with the teacher in this instance. But it appeared that he had been distracted by something else the whole time. His eyes weren’t focused on Kirishima at all. Rather… the ceiling. Kirishima followed his eyes upward. Everyone remained silent. The League of Villains loved hiding things in the ceiling, didn’t they?

“We don’t have time for this.” Kirishima’s skin hardened in defense as he twisted the doorknob. A small explosion came from the ceiling as smoke filled the room faster than the students could cover their mouths. Loud bangs rang out from all over the room followed by small sparks. The lights were then knocked out making it almost impossible to see with only the moon granting any kind of light.

“What the...” Iida coughed with his fist to his face. He swore he felt something strange on his legs. Looking down quickly, he noticed a sticky gum-like substance completely engulfed in his exhaust pipes. They were completely jammed. 

“S-Stay away whoever you are! Stay back!! O-Or take that! And that!!” Mineta’s voice cried out into the smokey darkness with nothing but panic in his tone. A popping sound followed suit.

“Don’t use your quirks! Especially when you can’t see! Stay together and don’t let them get to you!” Vlad instructed sternly through his coughs. But his instructions came too late. Shortly after the popping, there was the sound of something hitting paper. 

“H-Hey, guys I’m stuck!” Kaminari called out as his foot tugged on the floorboards. 

“Me too!” Sero’s feet also appeared to be stuck. “Hey!” Then there was the sound of tape stretching, but it seemed Sero wasn’t doing it willingly. “Gross what is this stuff!” Then the tape dispensing stopped. 

“As am I!” Monoma from 1-B shared the same fate of being stuck. It would appear almost everyone was stuck in place including Iida, Ojiro, Sato, Ashido, and Vlad himself.

“He knows our quirks!” Iida announced. It clicked in his head of how efficient this hidden villain was. This enemy knew how to prepare for a dirty fight.

But Kirishima didn’t let himself freeze up. Not for a moment. This wasn’t the time to be frightened, especially of a little darkness. “To hell with this! Come out and fight like a real man!” he demanded as he hardened his whole body and made a beeline to where he saw the glare of the moon’s light coming through. He smashed a window in with his head hard as a rock, letting the smoke escape into the breeze outside. “Alright… show your cowardly face…” he growled, pulling his head back inside to look into the room. But his rage slowly morphed into realization. “It’s… you again.”

Standing in the classroom, lit with nothing but moonlight, was someone in a black kitsune mask with a matching black cloak with nine red lined tails on the sewn in the back. Kirishima immediately recognized the villain as the one that attacked him on a morning run. Not his former classmate that he wished he knew well enough to call his friend. 

With the slight breeze coming in from the broken window, it lifted Todoroki’s cloak just enough for Kirishima to see a piece of paper in his hand, and attached to it was one of Mineta’s purple balls. Having thrown them in a panic, Todoroki had used their classwork as a shield to have all the papers take the hit. Then he used those papers as a type of glove and stick the students and teacher to the floor. In his other hand, he held small capsules that were likely filled with the sticky putty that he used to jam Iida’s legs and also Sero’a dispensers. Mineta himself was wrapped up in tape that Todoroki stole from Sero and restrained so he couldn’t remove the balls.

No one was hurt. No one was dead. They were all just stuck. All without the use of a quirk. Kirishima was very quick to notice it. “You’re not like the others…” he said lowly. No one was hurt. The League of Villains killed people and enjoyed it. This villain wasn’t the same because if he was, Kirishima wouldn’t be alive. “What do you want from us here? Because clearly you don’t want to kill us.”  He looked around at his classmates that were silently staring at the intruder. Even Vlad was silent, careful not to agitate in case there was something much eviler up the kitsune’s sleeve. They were myths of trickery and deceit after all.

“You made sure I wasn’t killed and here you are again, with a bunch of fancy toys to spook everyone. And yet you haven’t used your quirk once.” Kirishima took a step forward. “So you’re not killing us for sport like the others. So… are you a threat, or not?” He pounded his fists together in front of his chest. 

“Don’t leave the building.” Todoroki’s voice was disguised by a voice mixer inside his mask. “The real killers are out there. It’s safer in here.” Just let the League take what they want and leave. There didn’t need to be more bloodshed necessary.

“Why are you doing this if you’re just trying to warn us? Which one of us are you after this time!?” Kirishima stomped his foot. This villain was kind. But still helping the killers. “You don’t have to be doing this! We haven’t done anything to you!” 

“Have we?” Iida added quietly. His little addition to the conversation caused everyone in the room but Todoroki to look at him. The jet legged student appeared saddened and sympathetic with his words. “Have we done something to you to make you do these things?” Kirishima thought back to what he had said while on the ground beneath the villain, getting his blood drained away. He was allowed to talk to Bakugo to stay calm and allowed to live. Iida was on to something here. Perhaps this villain was far more sensitive than the others.

“Has someone else done something to you for you to do this?” Kirishima asked. This sudden change of tone left Todoroki in silence. How could heroes be so neglectful, irresponsible, and cruel and trick these pure-hearted teenagers into joining them? Their hearts were better than the heroes’. His old classmates weren’t the kind of people to have the cops leave someone in a burning building. They weren’t the type to let bad people get away with wrongdoings no matter how popular those people were. But eventually… they would become such heroes. They couldn’t help him. They couldn’t save him. Not like Midoriya did.

“None of that matters. If you don’t want to get hurt then you should stay here. For your sakes.” He didn’t want Moonfish or Muscular to find them. Those two were the closest things to monsters and it would be detrimental if the students were to come across either of them. And it appeared one had already found Bakugo. He just hoped the other was just guarding the perimeter like he was ordered to do. Surely no one would be on the outskirts of the camp in the middle of the night…

“If you’re worried about others then why are you on their side?!” Kirishima struggled to understand. “If you’re trying to help us then why are you with the guys trying to kill us?!” 

“Because not all of you are bad people… just like them.” Cooking with Kurogiri, popping popcorn with Dabi, shopping with Toga, being saved by Midoriya, these villains weren’t bad people. Magne was sweet, Twice was silly, Mr. Compress was fun, Spinner was quiet but he was passionate. 

“So you just get to decide who deserves to live or die?!” Kirishima gritted his teeth. This selfishness to pick and choose who’s saved and who’s killed, it was cruel and unfair. Unable to keep up with the sympathetic lead, he hardened his skin and charged at him. “You won’t use your quirk, just like the other guy with the mask. You really don’t wanna be found out, huh?” 

Kirishima went straight for the mask. Todoroki ducked and sidestepped to avoid him and let the other’s inertia keep him going straight into a table. But Todoroki didn’t realize all the talking was not only a means of trying to understand him but also distract him. As Kirishima crashed into a desk, Todoroki was suddenly lunged at from behind. But the feeling was familiar. He threw up another capsule that exploded as a flashbang as he jumped back. He would have usually used his ice.

“I won’t let you or your people harm these students…” Vlad King had escaped from Mineta’s quirk. Todoroki looked around as to how that could be until he spotted the piece of paper that was holding Vlad in place. It was burnt. But not with fire, rather with acid. Glancing back at the students, Ashido was shooting her quirk very carefully and quietly at people’s feet to melt the balls and paper holding them to the floor. It wasn’t going to be two on one for much longer. “I don’t care if you personally have nothing against them. But you’re still a villain no less. I’m not letting you escape.” the teacher threatened. 

Looking back at the students, most of them were already freed. Todoroki needed to get out of the classroom. They were at least warned and Vlad had even more reason to keep the students in the building. “D-Don’t think you’re getting away now, you weirdo.” Mineta stuttered, holding up with quirk with tears in his eyes. The brat was still terrified, but he knew he could keep him in place and get detained. Vlad also raised his arms, ready to shoot his blood in his direction and any direction he would flee to in order to restrain him. This was why Dabi didn’t want him going in alone.

Todoroki slowly took a step back. The broken window was his only chance. Vlad took a step closer and was just about to shoot his blood when he swore he heard someone at the door. Just footsteps and someone grabbing the doorknob from the other side. In a moment of desperation, he shot at Todoroki just as a blast of blue fire came out the door and engulfed almost the whole room.

The intense heat and light forced everyone to shut their eyes, leaving them blind for just a few seconds. Just long enough for Todoroki to freeze a barrier around his legs to keep Vlad’s blood from spraying them. When the blood hardened, he was able to slip out easily. The blue fire melted the ice for him so there wouldn’t be a trace left behind. 

“Mr. Kan!!” Monoma, the 1-B student cried out as Vlad appeared to have taken the initial brunt of the fire. Kirishima was also in line to be blasted but Iida and Kaminari pulled him out of the way just in time. With the flames sizzling out, Vlad was revealed to have slightly singed clothes as he had backed up before getting too burnt, and Dabi’s clone was standing at the door with a lazy, crooked smirk. 

“Get yourself into a bit of trouble, Yako?” the clone asked. “Next time would you at least listen to me when I tell you jumping in is a bad idea?” While eyeing Vlad, it walked in to approach Todoroki. The teacher kept narrowed eye contact as he went to get in front of the students. Seeing a bit of height difference between the stapled man and the kitsune masked one, he had a sneaking suspicion that this ‘Yako’ may be younger than he initially thought. He even watched the clone open its hand flat and lightly hit the other’s head in a slow chopping motion. There was no way it actually hurt. It was just a small act of scolding.

“Hey, I found a brat on the mountainside.” the clone and Todoroki paused for a moment as their attention went to their earpieces for a second. Vlad noticed. Muscular was on the line and he sounded a little too happy about it. “The fox shit never said anything about this kid. Waaaay too young to be a student!” Todoroki quickly thought back to the conversation he overheard between Mandalay and Aizawa. He didn’t recognize the name ‘Kouta’. But on his patrol… he did remember seeing a little boy. Even though he was on the villain’s side, hero instincts didn’t disappear overnight. 

“Yako-.” the clone was quick to grab Todoroki’s shoulder.

“He’s not a threat. Don’t touch him-.” Todoroki spoke quickly, taking a step towards the window. Vlad was just about to lunge when he heard the former hero student demand someone’s safety. 

“I mean, too late, you know?! I thought I recognized his puny face somewhere. What a coincidence that his stupid parents were the ones that fucked up my face! I think I get free reign here!” there was a small pause. “Damn it, he’s making a run for it.”

“Let him go! He’s just a kid! He’s not his parents!” Todoroki demanded. The clone held on to Todoroki’s arm tightly as he kept trying to go out the window. Muscular didn’t respond after that, probably being too distracted with chasing the child down.

“You can’t fight that guy. He’s too strong and we need him.” it tried to reason with him. Dabi didn’t know this kid and this was a mission Shigaraki gave him. He didn’t need to worry about some random brat when there was a task at hand. “With any luck, the kid will get away.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let him do that! You promised me that the people I didn’t want to die wouldn’t die!” Todoroki tugged his arm out of his grip.

“Tomcat…” Shigaraki’s voice came up on Dabi’s and the clone’s earpiece. It was a copy of the same earpiece after all. “Let him do it.” Still sitting at his desk with Zuzu in his lap and Dabi’s hoodie draped over him, Shigaraki was lightly smirking at the thought. This wasn’t something he was expecting. But he could work with it… he could definitely work with it.

“You can’t be-.” the clone and Dabi were both incredibly concerned about the instructions they were receiving. 

“Don’t worry about it… just think how confused everyone will be.” the clone glanced at Vlad’s and the students’ faces. They could have attacked them both right now as they were both distracted. But hearing Todoroki so distressed over Muscular hurting a child caused them to pause. They were watching a villain wanting to save a child. This could change the League’s reputation. Make their goals a little more clear but also more blurry on the line of right and wrong.

“But…” Muscular was so powerful and ruthless. Todoroki wouldn’t be able to fight someone like that. The only way to beat someone like Muscular would be to… “That freak would kill him… and what if someone sees him-.”

“Let me have the monster then.” Todoroki looked up to Dabi’s clone, asking permission to be given the nomu. “Give me control of it. My chances would be a lot better, don’t you think?” The chainsaw nomu would do anything Dabi said. Surely control could be passed over at his command. And those nomu were powerful. He had seen what they could do at Hosu and heard what they could do at the USJ. It could at least protect him.

The last thing Dabi wanted was his little brother running off to fight someone he couldn’t possibly beat without his quirk. But with Shigaraki giving him the okay and the idea of the nomu protecting him… He was still worried. But Todoroki would probably never forgive him if he let some innocent kid get killed on his watch. With a heavy sigh, the clone lowered its head. “Fine… But I want your radio on the whole time.”

Deep in the distant forest, the real Dabi held a hand to his ear to contact the nomu that was absolutely terrorizing two students at the moment. “Hey, get to the one with a black kitsune mask. Find him and do whatever he says. He’s your master too now. And…” he bit the inside of his lower lip as he looked off towards the mountainside where he could see a part of it had crumbled. Muscular would really slaughter a child for fun and petty revenge against his parents… Of course, Shou wouldn’t let it slide. “Protect him at all cost.”

The nomu had been chasing down a 1-B student who was dragging Yaoyoruzu alongside him. The two were granted an indescribable sense of relief when it paused to listen to its master’s orders. With a low growl of understanding, it turned around and slowly lugged itself in a different direction. Then it suddenly bolted in a straight path, knocking over a few sturdy trees in its way. That thing could have easily killed the two students if that was its goal.

“Aw look at you. You got a real soft spot for the kid, don’t ya? Gross! He’s way too young for you!” Twice initially teased before another personality suspected something different. If only it knew it was incest too.

“Oh shut up. It’s not like that.” Dabi growled. At least in the second half of the accusation. He really did have a soft spot for his little brother after all this time…

“If anything happens to him, I’ll have your goddamn heads.” Midoriya butted in over the radio line. He had been dragging Ragdoll behind him when he and Toga stopped in their path completely. The little doctor was seething with anger as Muscular was purposely disobeying and picking a fight with Todoroki and Dabi letting him go face him alone. Granted, with a nomu. But he knew Todoroki had an underlying fear of them after having been attacked by them twice. And after Todoroki had fled the building, he was incredibly fast to make it into the forest. He could smell the gas in the distance and see the smoke in another direction. He could hear the crashing of trees from multiple fights happening at once. He could hear rocks crumbling and falling from the mountainside as Muscular was hunting down a child. 

But his heart dropped when he felt a loud thud behind him. Turning around, he saw the massive chainsaw nomu standing before him, breathing heavily after having rushed to him at an inhuman speed. Its power tools jutting out of its body were dripping in blood, but not a lot of it. Its brain was barely pulsing out of its head, possibly signaling an order was completed. It leaned down to Todoroki with a low grumble, causing the boy to take a step back.

Being snatched up by the sharp talons of one and having his ribs crushed by another, this nomu wouldn’t hurt him too, would it? He hesitantly held his hand out to it with his palm down but was ready to pull it back at any moment. These things were deadly. These monsters were bloodthirsty and heartless. Could he really trust this one to help him instead of attacking him. It was so subtle, but he was trembling ever so slightly.

That trembling stopped when he felt a giant finger under his palm. The nomu put its massive hand under Todoroki's with just the pad of a single finger taking up his entire palm. Surely, this creature wouldn’t hurt him this time. 

Just after Todoroki left the building, the clone of Dabi was left by itself. It watched the black-cloaked villain flee out the window before turning around with a flame in its hand. But before it could even grow, he was grabbed by the throat by Vlad before having blood sprayed and hardened around his shoulders down. Back against the wall, unable to move its body, and neck in the grip of a pro hero, it seemed so helpless.

“You’re too slow!” Vlad growled, looking at the small crater he made in the wall from how hard he slammed the clone into it.

“You’re acting exactly as I thought you would.” And yet it spoke so calmly and smugly with a shit-eating smirk. It was so unbothered by its situation. “You all lost the minute you lost the initiative.” There was more to this than just kidnapping Bakugo. There was more to everything they were doing. Shigaraki’s goals were far more complicated than what most people would see at first glance. “The pinnacle of hero education, U.A., and the Symbol of Peace, All Might. Sloppy management that keeps allowing attacks to get through,” it glanced at Kirishima with a crooked smirk for just a moment before looking back at Vlad with an even wider grin. “and in the end, being so weak as to allow a student to be stolen away by a criminal group.”

“You bastard!”  Vlad shouted in frustration. He went to slug the clone only for it to smile twistedly before its face was bashed into a wall again with a foot. Coming through the door, Aizawa used his scarf to hold the clone in place and began stomping it until it was nothing but muck on the floorboards.

“It’s no use, Vlad.” He grumbled, angrily stomping it with maybe too much emotion. 

“Mr. Aizawa!” The 1-A students cheered together.

“This guy’s just trying to stir things up. He won’t tell us anything.” Aizawa eventually stopped when all that was left was a puddle. “Look at this fake. Both times, it was just one like this. I think they’re coming strong like this because they want to keep our attention here because we’re pros. It’s a strategy to make up for the small number of people they sent. For the time being, we’ll win by keeping everyone safe and sound.” They needed the students to stick together and look out for one another. It was the only way to make sure no one got taken again. 

“One of the villains said we would be safe if we stayed here. How do we know it’s not a trap?” Sato brought up a question that has to be on everyone’s mind. The black kitsune masked villain was all stuck in their thoughts. A foe, but someone who was trying to protect them. Or was he trying to fool them? But he seemed really distressed over a child being hunted down by a maniac. 

“As crazy as it is to say it…” Kirishima gritted his teeth and rubbed the back of his head. He really didn’t want to believe it. “I think we should trust him for now. So I think it's best for everyone to regroup here.” 

Aizawa and Vlad looked at each other. Should they stay here if this was a trap? Or should they go out and search for the students if this ‘Yako’ was telling the truth? They had to make a choice. “If a villain comes near here, your first actions should be to hide. If you’re spotted, you heard Mandalay’s message.” Aizawa instructed, to which his students nodded but Monoma appeared a bit skeptical. This class had been in a life or death situation before. He had not.

“Defend ourselves. But do not engage. We understand.” Iida nodded his head and spoke sternly. Do not engage… Had he never engaged Stain, had Todoroki never been injured because of him… he shut his eyes tightly at the memory. He would be sure to learn from his mistakes.

Defending themselves. A certain someone was taking that to a whole new level. As Aizawa and Vlad hurried outside into the forest, on the opposite end of the path, a student had lost all composure. A massive shadow monster that could only be described as a demon had lost every sense of control. It let out a roar that rang out for miles as it knocked down fully grown trees and left a rut in its wake. It had completely gone on a rampage as another stood by having been injured by it.

“Well, how are we supposed to fight that?” Toga asked, watching from behind some bushes with Midoriya right beside her. 

“With any luck, maybe it’ll just kill the freak with the teeth. He’s just causing trouble and he’s not that far away,” he whispered. They wouldn’t stand a chance against such a monster. He held a hand to his ear. “Mr. Compress, that roar just now, how far away are you from it?”

The masked showman was stalking Bakugo from the trees. He only stood back and watched as the boy did his best to evade and blast Moonfish’s creepy teeth while also trying not to start a forest fire in addition to the one that had started around him. But it was already a little too late as brightly colored flames were already lighting the treetops. 

“I’d say less than a kilometer eastward. Follow the sound of the explosions.” In the background of his call was an explosion. And in the distance, the two young villains could see a fire rise above the canopy. 

Toga covered her ears as the student, Tokoyami, engulfed in shadow made another ear-piercing roar. It must have heard the explosions as it turned its head rapidly trying to find the source. Midoriya thought back to the sports festival and how the creature was afraid of light. The idea came to his head that if he could lead the monster to Moonfish and Bakugo, it could neutralize Moonfish before he killed Bakugo and Bakugo could frighten the monster before it rampaged against the other villains. 

“We need to lead it to Mr. Compress,” Midoriya muttered to Toga.

“Okay, and how are we going to do that?” 

Midoriya looked back at Ragdoll that was unconscious in his wires. Lugging her around would slow him down but Toga wouldn’t be able to use the gloves to keep her tied up. So the only option was to have her lead the monster. But he wasn’t so sure if she was quick enough… maybe she wasn’t. But perhaps Tokoyami’s classmate was, even with a bleeding limb. But there was no way a hero would help a villain so easily. Midoriya then looked at his clothes that had been splattered with a bit of blood from the fight earlier. He had an idea. 

“Sh-Shoji!” Jirou’s voice called out desperately. It would appear that Jirou had stood out from the bushes with her hand raised high. Blood looked like it was flowing down from her forehead and she was dirtied from the forest brush.

“Jirou! Get away!” Shoji reached out to her despite being all the way on the other side of Tokoyami. But the girl pointed in the direction where red flames were rising. The monster that was Tokoyami and his Dark Shadow roared as it turned to her.

“Bakugo’s in trouble and he could frighten Dark Shadow.” she then turned on her heels and began sprinting away as fast as she could. The monster screeched before chasing after her and knocking trees over on its path. “Help me lead him there!” Dark Shadow suddenly took a swipe at her and she ducked her head in a panic. “M-Maybe this wasn’t a good idea…” she whined to herself. 

Dark Shadow dug pierced the ground with his claws, causing the ground to rumble and shake. The sudden quake caused Jirou to trip and fall then scramble to get to her feet. She looked ahead and saw a small glint of something coming towards before she was suddenly picked up and carried away. Midoriya's wired had come for her just in case, but she was saved by someone else.

Jirou was lifted onto Shoji’s back as he began to run full speed into the direction of the fire. The fire was not big enough to frighten Dark Shadow from a distance. But once they were close enough it may be enough. “You’re hurt, are you alright? Were you attacked?” Shoji asked before shutting his eyes tightly at the painful loudness of Dark Shadow’s roar. “I thought you were with Hagakure. Is she alright?” This boy was covered in blood with his expendable limbs bleeding, and yet he was so concerned. So bloody. It made her blush. 

“W-W got separated. I told her to go back to the main building. And I-I’m fine.” Her hands were on Shoji’s shoulder as she couldn’t help but give a light squeeze as the blood on them got on her palms. How cute. “This is all the League’s doing, isn’t it? Wh-Who do you think they’re after this time?” While they were running for their lives, it may be a convenient time to gather intel.

“I… I don’t know. Maybe Iida.”  Shoji said while leaping to the side to dodge yet another swipe from the monster chasing them. “I don’t think U.A. will be able to handle the public backlash if we lose another. And… I don’t think the class could emotionally take it. We’re still struggling with Todoroki. Especially Iida and Bakugo…” 

“Bakugo too?”

“You mean you haven’t noticed?” Shoji leaped again and slid on his feet on the landing before continuing his sprint towards the explosions. “He’s always looking at his desk. I’m pretty sure he’s the one that’s watering and replacing the flowers when no one’s watching. And Koda told me he saw him rewatching their fight at the sports festival on mute on his phone. I think… he’s probably taking it the hardest with Iida. It was obvious that Iida had a crush on him too.”

“I guess… maybe I never noticed.” Did Midoriya notice? 

“What the hell is that?” Coming up to the trail once again, they had finally reached the flames and smoke. But Shoji had not expected such a nightmarish villain in a fight with Bakugo. Using his teeth as a deadly weapon, Moonfish had risen high above the trees with bladelike teeth stabbing in the ground holding up while also going after the lone student he was fighting. If Bakugo was going full force, perhaps he would be winning. But it appeared the threat of setting the forest further on fire and an unconscious student that was on the dirt was holding him back. On the ground, he was standing over a boy with his hands sparking, breathing heavily from how tired he was, and dirtied from the fight. But his attention was immediately ripped away at the sound of trees crashing and loud stomping. “Bakugo!!”

Coming from the brush, Shoji hurried right past Moonfish with Jirou holding on as tightly as she could. “What the hell-?” Bakugo crossed his arms in front of himself to brace for a wave of dust and pressure to blow over the trail from Tokoyami’s out of control form. It screeched loudly at the sight of the fire in the treetops and acted out in a frightened fury.

“F-Flesh… Flesh… H-Hungry…” Moonfish moaned as Dark Shadow rampaged. With one swipe, the villain’s teeth were shattered to pieces, leaving Bakugo to just watch as this monster destroyed the man he couldn’t easily defeat. As the teeth were shattered, a little villain watched from the brush with a smirk. This could work. A plan was building in his head.

Midoriya shrugged with a smile, letting Moonfish’s quirk be smashed to pieces as he proceeded to glance around before waving a wire to make a small glint. It only took a few moments for Mr. Compress to drop down and land elegantly with a bow. Always a showman. But the little villain always held childish awe in his eyes when watching him. This masked man always made him feel comfortable. “Good evening, Fallen. I see you were successful, as Shigaraki and Dabi suspected.” Mr. Compress said, looking at the unconscious pro hero restrained in his wires. He took the liberty of turning her into a marble and casually sticking it into his pocket. Midoriya sighed at finally being able to retract the wires back into his gloved fingertips. So much dead weight was finally taken away. “Where’s Toga?” Mr. Compress looked around searching for the freckled boy’s companion.

Midoriya only pointed to Shoji and Jirou. After Moonfish had been stomped on, Bakugo was able to make a blast big enough and close enough to frighten Dark Shadow back into a normal form. Tokoyami knelt on the ground, trembling and desperately apologizing for letting his quirk cause so much damage and even harm Shoji. “She’s with them.” The little villain answered. “She doesn’t have much longer in that form, but we know how to separate them all. The target will be alone once they start moving.” He already had it all planned out in his head.

But something disrupted his thoughts when the radio in his ear turned on. “I think I’ve been found out.” Mustard’s voice said in a quiet whisper.

“Seriously? Already?” Twice criticized. Perhaps a bit of payback on Todoroki’s behalf. 

“Sh-Shut up! I’m not being attacked yet. B-But some back up-”

“You’re on your own, brat,” Dabi said sternly over the line. “If you can’t handle a few teenagers then you don’t really have the right to be working with us. Don’t be such a coward.”

“You need me, don’t you? I-I’m essential to this mission!”

“The target will be ours in less than a few minutes. Your job is practically done. But you’re not leaving until we’re done. So it’s your problem if Kurogiri can’t reach you on time.” Midoriya heartlessly added to the barrage of hate towards Mustard. “You're working with real villains here. Try to keep up and not get left behind.” They all came off as pretty heartless. But it was likely all done to avenge all the taunting for Todoroki. Hearing Midoriya be so harsh, Mustard became quiet for a few moments.

“Alright… I’ll prove to you guys I’m just as strong as the rest of you. Even stronger than that stupid fox.” Mustard spoke confidently. The freckled villain just scoffed off the line. If Todoroki was able to use his quirk, Mustard would be killed a dozen times over.

The line suddenly became loudly fuzzy. There was some muffled talking amongst it. The noise was loud enough to have Mr. Compress hold his ear in the disturbance. “Who has their line on? It’s very loud. My old ears are sensitive.” He complained. But no one answered as the static continued.

“I told Yako to keep his radio on…” Dabi muttered. His voice and background were programmed to go over everyone else’s so the static subsided for a few moments as he kept his radio on. It was like he wanted to say something, but he was thinking. 

“Dabi…” Midoriya gritted his teeth as his eyes suddenly glowed red. Dabi bit the skin of his thumb as he looked off towards the mountainside that Todoroki had said he was going to. Should he send him back up? Who could he send? He had the nomu protecting him, shouldn’t that be enough? Muscular would be the type to push him to use his quirk and would rat him out later too. “Dabi!” Midoriya shouted to make sure he was paying attention.

“He’s fine!” he shouted back in frustration. He didn’t like the pressure to do something he didn’t have much control over. Todoroki was fine. Surely he was fine… he was strong. He could handle this on his own with a nomu. “He’s fine…” He would be fine…

“That’s what you said back then, didn’t you?” Midoriya spat. An intense heatwave pulsed from Dabi that caused Twice to flinch. He was really close with Shigaraki but boy did he have every urge to kill his little brother. The freckled villain knew exactly what nerve to touch at all times just to piss him off and dig up old emotions that he’d rather leave behind. He hated how right he was. 

“We should have more faith in him.” Spinner’s voice suddenly came over the line. He had never been much of a talker this whole time, a little standoffish even. He preferred standing by Magne without saying much or adding anything. It was like he was tagging along while evaluating everyone, trying to figure out where everyone fits in this team. “Stain believed in him, didn’t he? A meathead like that guy won’t have anything on him. Fallen,” Midoriya gulped and looked off awkwardly. How could he forget that Stain risked his freedom for Todoroki’s prosperity? His master saw something in him too. To be reminded by a cosplaying fanboy was a bit embarrassing. “Stain was right about him, wasn’t he?”

Midoriya bit his lower lip. Of course, his master knew best. Stain wouldn’t be wrong about such a thing. But he was still worried. For Dabi to let Todoroki run off so recklessly still angered him. Even if he were to find out that Shigaraki gave him okay, his anger would only be directed at the neglectful older brother. “I’m fine…” Todoroki’s voice suddenly came over the line, causing the little villain to silently gasp as he pressed the earpiece further in his ear to hear him better.

On the mountainside were shattered and crumbling rocks and boulders. Todoroki was on one knee with a sniveling child clinging on to his right arm. They both were dirtied and lightly bruised. Muscular had gone into a fully powered, chaotic, form and was in a stalemate with the nomu. Hand in hand, the two monsters were face to face, pushing forward against each other in a battle of pure brute strength. Their feet had created craters where they stood from the sheer force both were imposing on each other. Even a nomu was barely enough to take this villain. “I’m okay…” Todoroki breathed over the line. “I got the kid. I think he’s mostly okay, just a little scared.”

“We’re villains! He’s supposed to be scared!” Mustard criticized. 

“Well…” Todoroki looked over to the child. This was Kouta, the one Mandalay had mentioned, the one he had seen very few times around the camp on patrol. To think this child was an orphan and his parents’ killer was standing right in front of him, chasing him through the night. It must have been a living nightmare for him. Todoroki knew exactly what kind of fear he must have been feeling. “I don’t want him to be scared of all of us,” Midoriya remembered how Todoroki originally wanted to be a hero to put people at ease. Villains couldn’t really do that. But perhaps this moment could be a special case. 

“Yako, your identity isn’t worth your life. Use your quirk if the situation calls for it.” Dabi instructed. 

“I don’t plan on it. Shigaraki trusted me to stay hidden during this mission so I want to do just that. I won’t let him down.” There was suddenly a loud roar over the line. “Fuck…” Todoroki breathed out loud. While Dabi and Midoriya could sit and simmer in their anxiety about what was happening over the line, Todoroki watched Muscular and the nomu.

What had been a stalemate between two monstrous beings slowly began to tilt in one direction. Muscular wore a wicked smirk as he began to push the nomu back. It tried to use its chainsaws to turn the tables but the blades were nulled by the toughness of his quirk’s skin. It was pushed further and further back, its heels digging back into the stone. It was forced to bend backward to maneuver the pressure downward instead of back so it wouldn’t be pushed back over the cliff. However, it forced itself to be pushed into the ground below Muscular. 

Todoroki slowly stood up and lightly pushed Kouta further behind him. “Run back to the others before this gets worse. Stay away from the pros if you can. Wouldn’t want you getting caught in the crossfire.” Todoroki hoped he could convince him to escape while Muscular was still preoccupied. With any luck, all of his two brain cells would focus on the kitsune villain rather than the young boy. But it seemed Kouta was practically paralyzed with fear.

The nomu roared again as it struggled to gain the upper hand but it seemed even extra appendages weren’t enough to make Muscular budge. It wasn’t going to last much longer. Todoroki quickly turned around and put his hands on Kouta’s shoulders. “I need you to run away. I know even escaping is hard and scary, but you need to keep yourself safe. It’s nothing to be ashamed of and someone would rather have you alive.”

“Wh-Why are you helping me? A-Aren’t you here to kill someone?” Kouta whimpered. It couldn’t be helped that he was frightened of Todoroki. “H-Heroes are selfish losers. B-But villains are supposed to be monsters!” As if on cue, the nomu let out another roar that turned to a shriek as bones could be heard snapping.

“Not all heroes will protect you. Something tells me you’ve learned that.” Todoroki said. “There’s more to being to a hero than a career path. And people are just more complicated than that. I want to save people.” Just not everyone. Not anymore. “So I want you to run.” 

With a heavy sniffle and deep breath, Kouta nodded before running away as fast as he could. With bruised and tried legs, he finally has the courage to flee. It really wasn’t anything to be ashamed of right? 

But someone wasn’t about to let it be that easy. “Don’t think I’m done with you!” Muscular laughed. With another snap of the nomu’s bones, he took the opportunity to take one hand away and pick up part of a crumbled boulder and launched it at the boy. Such a small target and such a large projectile, he wasn’t about to miss.

In a moment of desperation, Todoroki quickly coated his body from the neck down in ice before leaping at Kouta and hugging on to him tightly as he could and used himself as a shield against the boulder. The impact nearly snapped his back as he silently gasped on impact. The force of the boulder then sent both of them dangerously close to the cliffside. But Todoroki dug his fingers into the ground to keep from sliding all the way off with one hand as he held Kouta in his other arm. 

“Mister!” Kouta cried, looking up at the villain that protected him without a second thought. 

“Yako!” Midoriya covered his mouth as he called out to him over the line. Hearing the crashing and static was driving him mad.

“I-I’m alright.” Todoroki’s voice shook as he struggled to straighten himself out. His back hurt but he would be okay. Just had to let the initial shock pass. But the sound of crumbling made him wince. 

“Mister!!” Kouta cried out again. Despite just being on the cliffside, Muscular and the nomu’s fight was putting so much stress on the mountain. The shaking and the sudden weight caused the cliffside to collapse just under Kouta, making him slide down the edge.

“I got you.” Todoroki nabbed him just in time with a firm grip and was able to pull him up without much trouble despite the slight lingering pain in his back. Kouta had a death grip on his cloak despite being pulled to safety. 

“Do you now?!” They both turned around to see Muscular practically pouncing at them like a wild animal. His jaw was wide open and his eyes mad with his obsession with killing and power. Kouta was going to have nightmares for weeks at such a wretched sight. Perhaps his dreams would be saved at the sight of Muscular suddenly face planting into the ground.

Although the chainsaws couldn’t cut Muscular, the nomu used them to trap one of his legs so he couldn’t reach Todoroki and Kouta. It ended up making him trip. While he was face down, Todoroki was quick to get to his feet with Kouta on his back and make a run for it himself. “Just learn to give up!” Muscular shouted as he kicked the chainsaws off of him before getting up and turning around to finish the job.

“Don’t look back,” Todoroki said. But Kouta peeked back despite his warning. He instantly regretted it as he watched Muscular begin to beat the nomu down, starting off by break off all of its limbs with his bare hands. Kouta closed his eyes tightly and buried his face in Todoroki’s shoulder but there was nothing that could be done for the terrible sounds.

The nomu shrieked and roared as its arms were snapped and then broken off with brute strength. The breaking and cracking of bones were far too loud for comfort. The dripping, pouring, spraying sound of blood was the same. The creature was in a lot of pain, but whether it had the brain power to comprehend pain was unknown to Todoroki. Even if it couldn’t feel pain, he felt bad for it. “I’m done with you now!” Muscular said triumphantly, readying to stomp the nomu’s head when there was a sudden flash that temporarily blinded him. 

When Muscular brought his foot down, it shattered a barrier of ice made around the nomu to protect. The heat from the stun grenade was enough to melt the pieces that were shattered. In an act of rage, Muscular bellowed an incomprehensible yell and blindly punched the creature in the jaw with enough force to send it off the cliff. 

When the flash disappeared Muscular turned to look at Todoroki and Kouta. Todoroki had put Kouta down and stood his ground as he let the boy run on his own. “You’ve been really annoying… I can’t wait to smash you to pieces.” Muscular growled, clearly annoyed and enraged by how difficult killing one child had been. And now that it was just him and Todoroki, the odds were far in his own favor. 

But this wasn’t about winning or losing. This was about buying Kouta time to get as far away as possible. So Todoroki charged forward head first before launching another flash grenade at Muscular. But the man caught it before it went off and smothered the flash in his fist. When his fingers uncurled, his palm and fingers were burned and singed but he didn’t look like he was in pain at all. None of the tools provided to him were going to work…

“You’re just that pipsqueak’s pet playing with toys! Show me your power! What little of it you have!” Muscular taunted. But Todoroki refused. He would just have to play as a decoy. Muscular tried to punch him but he slid out of the way. He tried again with the other hand but Todoroki jumped back out of the range. One hit by such a powerhouse could doom him. “Stop messing around, you coward!!”

This game of dodging didn’t last for very long. Todoroki’s reflexes were impressive as was his stamina. But he was using energy and his back was still stiff. He could only last so long he had his feet swept out from under him from Muscular breaking the stone ground and then being punched full force into a rock wall, making a crater around him. 

The wind was nearly knocked out of his lungs. The shock of the impact paralyzed him. He was stuck in the rock wall splayed out vulnerably. Watching Muscular stomp towards him, his vision slowly became clouded. 

He looked like a nomu… no. He looked like his father. 

Todoroki spat up a bit of blood that was caught in his mouth. But soon he felt a hand around his throat. Muscular wanted to be sure to hold him in place so he couldn’t jump around like he had been. He wanted to kill him with one swing. He wore a twisted grin. He was furious. “You won’t kill anyone… you’re fucking weak. How can people take you seriously when you’re such a coward?” His grip became tighter around Todoroki’s throat causing him to choke. “After you, I’m going after that pipsqueak doctor.” He threatened with a low whisper. “Then the doll that’s poorly stitched together. I’ll crush them one by one along with everyone else here. That’s how you show your worth.” Todoroki gritted his teeth as his left side began to frost over under his cloak. But the coating was thin. 

He wouldn’t let him. This ogre wasn’t going to lay a hand on Midoriya.

“There won’t be anyone alive to miss you. The brats you don’t want dead so badly are going to die...” Muscular was about to swing at him when water was sprayed in his face. Using that water, Todoroki quickly froze it to coat Muscular’s face and other parts of his body that had gotten wet. It was easier to freeze water than a human with a large body mass and high temperature. With stunted movement and the surprise of being sprayed, Muscular was frozen mid-motion. Todoroki weakly looked over at the source of the water that saved him.

Kouta stood a few meters away with his hands out and dripping wet. He was crying and quivering, but he was standing his ground with his tiny stature. Muscular’s smile only grew wider. “So he came back. What an idiot.” He took Todoroki by the throat and casually tossed him to the cliffside. But he wouldn’t fall off as he clung on desperately to the edge. He coughed up a few drops of blood as he pulled his upper half over the cliff to steady himself. But he was almost helpless to watch Muscular stomp closer and closer to little Kouta. Killing Kouta had priority over killing him, but part of Muscular wanted Todoroki to see for himself how weak he was. He wouldn't be able to save anyone, not even a little kid.

Todoroki mentally screamed at himself for being so weak without his quirk. He could at least put up more of a fight than this. He wouldn’t have to be saved by a little kid, let alone the kid he was supposed to be protecting.

“Yako!? Yako!” Midoriya was yelling for him over the line. How much was the team able to hear? Enough to make his beloved have a borderline panic attack at least. “I don’t care what you’re doing! Get away from there! Now!”

“I-I’m fine…” Todoroki coughed, pulling himself further up the edge. There was no way he’d reach Kouta in time. And the boy was practically paralyzed with fear all over again, his courage only being momentary. 

“You’re not fine! Don’t lie to me!” Midoriya demanded. But Todoroki wasn’t going to listen. He could use his quirk as long as there weren’t any witnesses, that was what Shigaraki asked of him. No witnesses…

No survivors.

Muscular went to take a swing at Kouta, pulling his arm as far back as he could. “M-Mama… P-Papa…” Kouta whimpered, unable to find the willpower to move. He just wanted his parents. Just someone to keep him safe and tell him everything was alright. It was so innocent. 

A wall of fire blasted between them, causing Muscular to take a step back. “What the-!” Using a sudden burst of strength, Todoroki pulled the rest of himself up over the cliff before making a dash to grab Kouta. 

“Mister!” Kouta clung on to Todoroki as the masked villain went in a circle around Muscular as the flames persisted in a wall. He was so dumbly focused on them being behind the wall, he didn’t notice that they slipped past him. However, the wind caused by him punching through the flame caused it to blow out. Seeing they weren’t in front of him, he instantly saw them behind him. 

“I’ve had enough of your tricks!! You and every kid here is going to be dead!” Todoroki held on to Kouta tightly as he braced himself for another impact, freezing his back as thickly as he could in just a moment. 

“Yako!” Midoriya shouted over the line one last time.

The ice shattered when the force of the punch hit him, sending them both flying over the edge. 

“Mister? M-Mister!?” Kouta looked up at Todoroki while clinging to him still. He didn’t get a response. “Mister!?” They were way too far from the cliffside to grab it. And the masked villain wasn’t answering anyone’s cries. Kouta only grabbed the clothes under his cloak and tried to shake him awake as the proceeded to fall down to the rocky forest ground. “Mister please wake up!” 

“Yako?” Dabi held his hand to his ear. He kept his voice steady and calm and kept his back to Twice. He didn’t want him to see the panic that had overridden his face. “Yako, turn your radio back on.” He instructed. “Yako, I need you to respond.” 

“That didn’t sound so good.” Twice poked his fingers together nervously. There wasn’t even static or background noises. It was just pure silence. 

“Twice, I want you to-.” Dabi was about to instruct him when someone else contacted him.

“Calm down, tomcat,” Shigaraki said. Dabi’s eyes looked off before glancing at the mountainside. He could only see faint smoke on the other side and a few parts of the mountain had cracked. He didn’t like how quiet it was. But Shigaraki’s reassurance at least brought him some ease. “Those earpieces aren’t indestructible. And a kid like that wouldn’t die so easily to such a neanderthal.” 

Dabi only gulped. Shigaraki sounded so confident but the last they heard of his radio didn’t give him the same impression. “Yeah but…”

“The nomu will protect him. I gave that to you, remember?” If that nomu’s job was to protect, then that nomu was going to protect… “Don’t let Izuku’s panic get to you. Our Prince Charming is no precious prince that needs to be pampered.” Then Shigaraki made a small giggle. “And even a prince has limits.”

“Dabi, I swear to-!” Midoriya was about to severely lose his temper when Dabi cut him right off.

“Worry about your part of the mission, Fallen. Don’t get cocky just because the target’s within your reach. He’s not yours yet.” Dabi said sternly and sharply. 

“I can handle the capture. Can you handle being a damn leader?” Midoriya snapped back. 

“I’m caught!!” Mustard suddenly interrupted. But it didn’t seem like anyone really cared. 

“Two mercenaries have caused us trouble and one can barely stand on his own two feet. And now you’re telling to focus when my Shou-!” Midoriya was ready to kill Dabi and a Dabi was just as prepared to do the same to him. But Midoriya was able to catch himself from saying Todoroki’s name. 

“Shigaraki, it’s taking all of my willpower to not cremate your little brother,” Dabi growled, switching his line over for a second. While he did so, someone took the time to give Midoriya a talking-to.

“I know you’re worried about Todoroki. But yelling at Dabi won’t solve anything. If anything, if Shigaraki trusts him to make these calls, then I think you should too.” Mr. Compress and Midoriya were tailing a small group of students at the time. Though it appeared that Midoriya must have stepped back a few times to raise his voice, meeting up with Mr. Compress afterward. But the freckled villain was currently looking up at the showman with a pout underneath his mask. “I know he’s very special to you. But he’s not a weak child in need of protecting. Take Spinner’s advice for the time being… have a little more faith in his strength.” 

Midoriya folded his arms and turned his head away. Perhaps the team’s faith in Dabi would wither away once they learned that he was Todoroki's older brother that neglected him in the first place. But Shigaraki wouldn’t like that… Shigaraki would respect his privacy. 

“Now let us focus on our task. Toga should be giving us a signal very soon.” Mr. Compress continued down the path the students have taken, awaiting the moment to make a move.

On the trail, Toga as Jirou was walking alongside Tokoyami, Shoji, and Bakugo. Shoji was carrying the unconscious student from 1-B. They were going down the trail that was supposed to lead them back to the main building. Sticking in a group was the safest option to make sure no one got taken. The League had infamously played dirty by going after people when they were alone. Thankfully, everyone in the training exercise had been in a pair except for Bakugo. So the idea of everyone having at least a partner gave them some sense of safety. 

The group had mostly been walking in silence, carefully listening to their surroundings to prevent someone from getting the jump on them. “It’s almost… too peaceful.” Tokoyami commented. The only thing they could hear was the faint popping and burning of the forest from the blue fire in the distance. But other than that, things appeared rather calm.

“Don’t let it get to you,” Bakugo warned bitterly from the front of the group. He had been constantly glancing around, unable to relax for even a second. “Pick up the pace, will ya?” He wanted to hurry. These villains went after Kirishima once. Would they go after him again? What game were they playing at this time? It was sending his thoughts in a paranoid circle.

But not everyone was in a hurry. “As nice as that would be, remember that not everyone is uninjured here,” Shoji said, carrying an unconscious boy while being bruised and cut up himself. Though, his attention was focused on the Jirou imposter. She appeared to be bleeding from her head and arms and was in the back of the group, dragging her feet and looking exhausted. Shoji had even slowed his pace to make sure she wasn’t left far behind alone. She sighed as she brushed her hair behind her ear with her thumb. “Are you going to be okay?” he asked. 

Jirou nodded as she wiped her forehead with her thumb, collecting blood and a lot of sweat. “Yeah… just tired,” she said in a heavy breath. 

“You’re not looking so good.” Tokoyami began to slow down, realizing that Jirou may not be fine at all. To which she giggled and gave a half-hearted and casual thumbs up.

“I’ll be just fine-.” She watched Tokoyami and Shoji’s eyes widen as they saw a small glint in the darkness behind her. Before either one could react, several wires whipped out of that darkness and wrapped around Jirou’s arms, legs, and waist. “Huh?!” Tokoyami and Shoji tried to reach out to her just as Bakugo turned around in horror. The three of them could only watch as she was reeled back into the darkness screaming.

“Jirou!!” Shoji and Tokoyami didn’t waste another second to chase after her, Bakugo hurrying right behind them, more furious than ever. 

The three boys were left so far behind. Jirou’s screaming turned to intoxicating giggling and innocent laughter as the disguise melted away. “Weehee~” Toga raised her arms as she was reeled back through the air while dripping away into her normal form. She was definitely having fun with Midoriya’s gloves. When she was let on her feet, she found herself draped in a red coat. Mr.Compress was sure to cover her to keep her from being fully exposed. They respected women in this villain household.

“Nice work.” Midoriya complimented as they both cutely high-fived. Their teamwork and planning seemed to work flawlessly. He then handed her a glass tube with a large amount of blood in it. Enough to last much longer than what they had of Jirou’s. That sweating was a sign that her quirk was wearing off. And the three gestures with her thumb was the signal to be taken out of the situation before she was found out. “Ready for phase two?” he asked. Toga smiled brightly and nodded with a cute blush.

Tokoyami, Shoji, and Bakugo knew it was best to try and keep their cool in this tense situation. But even such brave and mature students were shaken at the idea of Jirou being kidnapped right in front of them. Bakugo held a front-row seat to Kosuke’s corpse on the hallway floor. To think another classmate could share the same fate. Someone as kind, friendly, funny, and loved as Jirou. Already on the back of the unseen death Todoroki supposedly being burned alive in a freak accident that may not have been an accident. 

They only ran in the direction they saw her pulled away into. “They couldn’t have gotten that far, could they?” Tokoyami asked. It felt like they were running for too long in one direction. Surely the villains couldn’t move that quickly. The three eventually stopped and looked around frantically for any sign of anyone around. Surely there were some clues.

“Remember the USJ? Maybe they didn’t get away yet.” Shoji reminded. Todoroki was almost taken once, but Iida found him again in the same building. “Maybe she was only moved. She could still get away or we can still find her.” There was still hope. They couldn’t let fear and grief take over yet. “We need to stick together and be wise about this.” 

“Don’t be giving them the benefit of the doubt either. You know what these guys do.” Bakugo added coldly, a spark cracking in his hand. “Kill them on sight.” He wasn’t going to give them a chance to monologue or to play around with them. Kill on sight.

“When Mr. Aizawa said to defend ourselves. I don’t know if he would be able to approve that.” Tokoyami raised his hands awkwardly. Aizawa wouldn’t be able to protect them from a murder charge. But he couldn’t protect them from the wires either. Midoriya’s wires shot out of the darkness and wrapped around Tokoyami’s wrist and neck.

“No!” Though just before Midoriya could whip him back, Shoji grabbed both of Tokoyami’s hands. He wasn’t going to let him go. And if they were pulled together, then they could find Jirou, couldn’t they? But now he stood his ground, holding on as tight as he could to his classmate while holding an unconscious one on his back. “Bakugo-!” Shoji was about to ask for Bakugo’s help just to see the blond leap in the direction of the source of the wires.

“Die!!” he screamed, setting off an explosion to blast away a large area of trees and brush. He left a crater where he was sure the wires were coming from. When the smoke cleared, he looked back at where Shoji and Tokoyami had been. The wires were gone. But so were they. “H-Hey…” he looked back and forth then all around himself. “Bird brain, Octopus?!” he called out. “Tokoyami?! Shoji?!” then their actual names. “Guys?!” 

Bakugo let off another massive explosion out of sheer rage. “You fucking bastards!! I’ll kill you all!!” Three classmates. Three. They were all around him just now. And they were all gone in a matter of minutes. He made a run for it, but not to flee. To desperately search. There was no direction he was aiming for. He singed trees to keep from going in circles, but there were no results in his search. “Ears?! Jirou?!” He screamed before setting off a blast. Maybe they could signal him somehow. He wanted to let them know he was looking for them. He wouldn’t let them get taken.

“Shoji?!” Limbs? Were there signs of arms, ears, or eyes popping out anywhere? He set off more explosions in the hopes that maybe Shoji would see him and direct him on where to go. He was going to protect them. That’s what a hero would do. His personality was nothing like those of villains, he was a hero! Wasn’t this proof enough?!

“Tokoyami?! Show me your dark shadow!!” Could dark shadow sprout out far enough to lead the way? His classmates were smart enough to figure out how to get away. How to get help. They needed help. Once again they were just reminded that they were children in desperate need of help. “Help me out here you guys!!” He couldn’t find them on his own. He couldn’t save them on his own. Help…

He needed help…

“Half-and-Half…” Someone was supposed to help him do this. Someone who was just as impacted by Kosuke’s death. “Todoroki, you’ll help them, right? I know you would… You fucking better.” He didn’t want to say it. To admit such a weak thing. “Help me…”

“H-Help…” Having stopped to take a moment and dwell in his crippling panic and doubt, he heard a quiet plea for help. Though, it wasn’t the voice of someone he had been looking for. But it was from someone that he recognized. If only there was someone to see his heart sink to his stomach, the resurgence of panicked fear in his eyes. He was quick to start running again, his shoes beyond filthy with blood and dirt. He nearly tripped but caught himself midfall and kept running. He had been running a lot. He hated it. He hated being late.

“Kirishima!” his voice nearly cracked, pushing tree branches aside as he came to a small clearing. He found Kirishima on the ground with his back against a tree to sit up against. He appeared to be covered in blood, despite not many wounds to be seen. But there was too much on his mind for him to fully analyze every detail like that. 

“I saw your explosions… I came out looking for you.” Kirishima smiled weakly before chuckling. “Mr. Aizawa told me not to. Oops.” he shrugged. Bakugo got to his knees beside him and began silently, yet frantically looking him over. Bruises and some cuts, but nothing totally serious. “I ran into some guys in masks. The one from the USJ. But I didn’t see the fox guy. I got away though.” he smiled through the pain proudly. “And I totally found you too, so we can go back to the others together.”

“You idiot, why did you come here by yourself?!” Bakugo's voice cracked furiously. But it was so hard to stay mad. He lowered his head and placed his forehead against the tree stump over Kirishima’s shoulder. “It’s dangerous to be alone, I told you this." Bakugo came off as paranoid these days. But there was sense to his warnings. It was never safe to be alone. "But I can’t go back yet. Shoji, Tokoyami, and Jirou were taken. I need to keep looking for them!” He pulled back only for the redhead to put his hand on the other’s shoulder with a confident smirk. 

“As manly as ever. Let’s look for them together, then. I saw those masked guys not that long ago so they’re still crawling around.” 

“Can you walk?”

“What do you take me for?!” Kirishima stood up while using the tree as a support as he wiped his bleeding nose with his fist. He had one eye closed with a cheeky smirk that made Bakugo fold his arms and turn away. Was he blushing? He’d never admit it. “Hey,” he peeked back at him to see such a reassuring smile that made his cheeks get a little redder. Then his hand was suddenly taken as they began to walk together. If they ran, Kirishima wouldn’t be able to keep up. But they could maybe find clues if they just took their time.

They walked for a while. Little by little, Kirishima could feel Bakugo’s grip on his hand tighten. They stopped every once in a while to examine anything suspicious. Footprints, burns, traps from 1-B, and any form of destruction. Kirishima knelt down a few times, pointing to footprints and broken tree branches that were above them. They both concluded that the villains must have been alternating between the ground and the trees. Bakugo was able to catch on to a pattern and find a trail. So they followed it.

Following this trail, they walked for minutes. But the minutes were agonizing. The longer they took to find the villains, the farther away they were getting with their friends. Were they moving quickly enough? Was this even the right trail? Were they following it backwards? What if they didn’t make it in time? “You’re so nervous,” Kirishima commented.

Bakugo hadn’t noticed that his head was tilted downward in his depressing and anxious thoughts. Kirishima stopped with Bakugo’s hand still in his. The blond tried to keep walking but was tugged to stop. “Why are we stopping? We can’t waste time!” he tried to tug back, but Kirishima held on to him tight. He only tugged him closer.

“You need to be thinking with a clear head! We need to focus!” Kirishima raised his voice.

“I am focused!” Bakugo shouted right back. But then he suddenly froze before looking off. He hadn’t been focusing all that well… But he didn’t want to admit it. But he hated lying too. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes tight in frustration. “I’m just-... I’m…” Kirishima tilted his head, waiting for him to say what he wanted to say. He even took both his hands to hold as he took a step closer. “I’m…” the blond sounded so sad all of a sudden. The redhead he loved’s hands then moved to hold both his cheeks gently, causing him to lean into his touch. They were so close. They could kiss.

“Scared?” Midoriya whispered with a giggle without a voice mixer from right behind him. Wires wrapped around Bakugo’s ankles and neck while a knife was stabbed through each of his palms, causing him to scream out in pain.

Midoriya had jumped down from the tree above and landed behind Bakugo. He stabbed a knife into his left palm while Kirishima stabbed the right with a different knife. The blades pierced into his thighs, restraining him with his own body and pain. Before he could even ask what was happening, he watched his beloved’s face melt away and morph into that of Toga’s with a big, twisted smile. Midoriya placed a hand on Bakugo’s shoulder to swing himself around him playfully, his mask in his hand held up to only half his face as he grinned crookedly with bright red eyes. “Plus Ultra, huh Kacchan~?” he sang.

“WHERE’S KIRISH-!” Mr. Compress cut the blond off by dropping down behind him with a bow and then tapped his head to turn him into a marble. Then he once again covered Toga in his coat as she took a minute to revert back to her normal self. Though she twirled around in the coat with her hand to her ear. 

“Target acquired~ Target acquired~ We did it!” she sang and danced before taking Midoriya’s hands and twirling in a circle with him in victory. 

“Alright. I’ll call for Kurogiri as soon as we locate Yako.” Dabi responded. He sighed in relief off the line. At least Midoriya, Toga, and Mr. Compress were able to get both their targets successfully. Two mercenaries were lost and one had gone completely rogue. But he wasn’t leaving without Todoroki. “I want everyone to fan out and look. We need to leave as soon as we can.”

“Right!” Spinner, Magne, Toga, Mr. Compress, Twice, and Midoriya all said at once.

“Mister!” A child was crying out. “Mister! Wake up! Wake up! Please don’t be dead!” His voice was really loud and whiny. It wasn’t the one that woke him up the last time he was in a world of darkness. The quiet was nice while it lasted. The peace was blissful for a least a little while. But there were things to do still…

Todoroki blinked and was greeted with Kouta’s frozen and shocked expression, tears streaming from his eyes. The moon was right behind the boy, giving him enough light to see pretty clearly. “Y-You… You really are…” Kouta stuttered. Todoroki sat up and rubbed his head. His head. There was no mask. He had his head down and noticed that he wasn’t on the dirt either. He was cupped in the massive hands of a nomu. The chainsaw nomu was cradling him while he was in an unconscious state and proceeded to hold him carefully. So it didn’t die in the end… it saved them.

“You’re really… you’re that dead guy.” Kouta took a few steps back, holding the black kitsune mask in his hands. It must have fallen off when they reached the ground. He was shaking in fear as he looked up at Todoroki, the moon giving him a rather elegant silhouette. He sat up, hunched over with his knees bent and elbows against them. His crystal blue eye seemed to glow mystically in the moonlight, his cloak softly flowing in the forest breeze. “Y-You died in that fire…”

“No…” Todoroki reached his hand out, hoping Kouta would be kind enough to return his mask. “I was supposed to.” Kouta hesitantly handed it back. Then he held the lower rim of his shirt and stepped back a bit in fear. Was he talking to a ghost? A zombie? A hero? Or a villain?

Kouta watched Todoroki look at his mask, then at him, then back at the mask. This child had seen his quirk and his identity. No one was supposed to see him like this and yet he was beyond exposed now. And yet… he wasn’t all that worried about it. Instead, he reached up to place his hand to hold the nomu’s jaw and rub it gently with his thumb. “You caught us right after you regenerated, didn’t you?” Two nomus had tried to kill him. But this one saved him after getting ripped to pieces. He smiled softly at it. He was grateful. “Thank you.” Then he shifted his attention back to Kouta. “And thank you for coming back. But why did you? You could have been killed.”

“I-It felt wrong… I wasn’t thinking, really.” Kouta answered before stepping back so far to hide behind a tree. “A-Are you going to kill me now? Because I know who you are? I-I won’t tell anyone!” 

“I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone. I’m supposed to be dead after all and I don’t want the one that tried to kill me to know I’m alive.” 

“Tried… to kill you?”

“A so-called ‘hero’.” Todoroki watched Kouta’s face drop. Then his little head lowered. He was so young, but he suddenly had a lot more to think about. Even in addition to his parents’ deaths. It must have been so much. “But that’s not important right now…” Todoroki stood up and stepped out of the nomu’s cradling hands. He put his mask back on and leaned back against the tree the boy was hiding behind. He held a finger to his chin as he thought. “Muscular is going to kill anyone and everyone here if I don’t think of something…” He tapped his ear and noticed the earpiece was busted. He couldn’t hear anyone over the line and he could tell pieces of it had broken off. It was just junk now so he took it out and tossed it aside.

“We can’t fight him again! He’s too strong!” Kouta stomped. It was foolish to try and fight again after they had already lost once.

“He knows my quirk. His big mouth could let that slip out and I could be found through quirk registration. But even more important than that…” Todoroki looked off into the forest where his former classmates were still scattered and fearing for their lives. “I can’t let him lay a hand on them.” Kouta’s eyes shimmered with confusion and admiration. It was a suicide mission and he was a villain, but so desperate to protect the other villains and the students.

“If you care about them so much, why don’t you go back to them, Mister? Won’t they help you with the guy that tried to kill you?” Todoroki shook his head.

“They can’t do anything for me. And the pros wouldn’t. But that doesn’t make my former classmates bad people. Just one of them is.” Just one. The boy’s heart dropped as he gulped. So his hero was here to kill someone after all. But if one of them really was a bad person… 

People really are so complicated…

He didn’t know how to feel at all. Killing was bad, wasn’t it? “There’s only one way to protect them at this point…” Todoroki muttered. But that monster that attacked them was going to kill the students for sport. Was there really only one way to stop him? Was it really okay to kill someone to save another?  “I have an idea…”

And somewhere in the distant forest, Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Kendo Itsuka had taken Mustard’s place. The gas had been cleared and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu was lugging the pathetic villain behind him. They both wore gas masks just in case all the gas hadn’t cleared yet. “Do you hear something?” Kendo asked. There was a faint rumble in the ground and thumping from behind. The two students looked back before screaming at the sight of a nomu running at them at full speed. They tried to book it out of there with Tetsutetsu eventually dropping Mustard to drop the dead weight. 

Todoroki jumped off the nomu’s back with Kouta on his back before crouching over Mustard’s unconscious body. Instead of helping him or saving him, he looted him, stealing something from his belt before climbing back on to the nomu. “To the building with all the lights. As fast as possible.” The nomu roared before making a mad sprint with Kouta and Todoroki holding on for dear life.

“Hey!! We need help!! Badly!!” Awase Yosetsu cried out as loud as he could. He limped down the path towards the main building with Yaoyorozu’s arm over his shoulders. He was practically dragging her while she was barely conscious. Students that had been hiding in the building poked their heads out the window to see them.

“Ashido, Kaminari, Mineta, cover me please!” Iida instructed. Ashido and Kaminari nodded confidently while Mineta was in tears. The students hurried down the stairs with three of them fanning out to survey the area while Iida rushed to Awase and Yaoyorozu’s aid.

“We were attacked by one of those monsters from Hosu. Yaoyorozu got hurt really bad protecting me. I’m sorry!” Awase passed Yaoyorozu to Iida while giving a tearful apology. “I’m sorry I couldn’t do anything! We only got away because it was called somewhere.”

“You mean it’s still out there?” Iida lugged his classmate over his back and looked at the other boy in terror. Not another one of those things. He wouldn’t be able to defeat it like this. He could barely handle it with Todoroki’s help. And he wasn’t here to protect him this time… not as a hero.

“Nah! That thing is long dead!” Muscular laughed. There was a sudden boom towards the building. Mineta had been picked up like a baseball and chucked through the wall of the main building by Muscular. There was a gaping hole as the little student was completely knocked out on impact. Awase and Iida looked back in horror at the sheer mercilessness and strength this villain possessed.

“Get back!” Ashido warned before shooting a stream of acid his way. Iida stepped back a few paces with Yaoyorozu safely on his back and Awase dove out the way. The acid burned Muscular’s upper shoulder and he hissed in pain. But the wound seemed to barely slow him down. Instead, he smirked wickedly at Awase before lunging at him. He was able to grab him like a doll before launching him at the pink girl. Ashido stopped her stream of acid, waving her hands in front of her before attempting to catch the boy. They crashed into each other and the force pushed them to the ground and slammed them into the tree after tumbling in the dirt.

“Don’t just throw people like that! What the hell, dude?!" Kaminari began to charge himself up before making a run at him. His quirk was only safe to use at close range. But he wouldn’t get a chance as Muscular met him midway with his fist, punching him up in the air and sending him through a window of the second floor where the classroom was. The glass shattered as he barreled through desks and was left on the floor bloody and twitching. He couldn’t even get close. 

Iida only watched, frozen in his fear and confusion. He could run away with his classmate, but leaving the others behind would lead to their deaths at the hands of this monster. He could fight, but there was no way he could match such intense power. Perhaps Yaoyorozu could do something, but she wasn’t even conscious at this point. The teachers had fled to gather more students from the forest. “He lied…” Iida muttered. That fox said they would be safe here. He lied. He should have never trusted a villain so foolishly. “He lied to us…”

Muscular only laughed. He pointed at Iida and mocked the hopelessness on his face. “Damn right he did! He couldn’t stop me from coming here and ripping you brats apart one by one!” Stop him? Yako tried to stop him?

“B-but… aren’t you both on the same side?” 

“Same side? I was just hired! And I fucking quit! I’m not holding back on a bunch of pompous teenagers!” Muscular pulled his arm back and went to take a swing at Iida only for the student to dash out of the way with the use of his quirk. Just as he braked, he wasn’t quick enough to start up again and was hit with a second punch that wasn’t as strong. He was knocked back, tumbling in the dirt, and Yaoyorozu was thrown from his back. Iida’s glasses had shattered from the hit as he laid on his stomach. “And I’ll start with you, nerd.” A foot pressed into his back, crushing him into the ground. He opened his mouth to cry out in pain, but not a sound came out from the air in his lungs being forced out all at once. He could only helplessly reach out to Yaoyorozu who had been picked up by Muscular. Though she was unconscious he could see her struggle as the villain began to squeeze the life out of her with one hand. This man was hardly a man. He was a monster. 

“L-Leave her… alone…” Iida wheezed, his vision getting cloudy from the lack of air as his body was pushed further and further into the ground. It began to shatter and crumble beneath him and the weight crushing him. He didn’t want to lose another classmate. Not another. Not after Todoroki. No more death and suffering. No more.

“See you in hell!” Muscular laughed. “I’ll meet you there someday-!” The monster was suddenly slugged in the face by a massive discolored hand. Yaoyorozu was dropped to the ground and Muscular was forced off of Iida, leaving him to loudly gasp for air. He began coughing and hacking as he rushed himself to breathe again. He rubbed his eyes to adjust to the blurriness of not having his glasses at the moment. But he was able to see a nomu had charged and punched Muscular right in the jugular. 

Having been pushed back, Muscular slid to a halt while bleeding from the nose. And yet he smirked as he was hunched over. “So I didn’t finish the job, eh? Well, there’s not going to be a round three after this!” The nomu roared as it held its hands up and caught Muscular’s fists before he could deliver a barrage of punches. Rather than trying to push him back, it roared as it only wanted to hold him in place and stand its ground. Iida watched from the ground, lost in the awe of watching to monstrous beings that were both his enemies face off. A creature and a monster, both destructive and mindless with violence. He couldn't fight them. He couldn’t protect his classmates from things like those. Would he be able to take on the victor in the end?

Then his attention was suddenly stolen by Kouta running up to Yayorozu’s unconscious body, taking her arms over his tiny shoulders and dragging her away from the fight before she could get caught in the crossfire. Where did he come from? 

“Came back too, eh kid?! You really wanna die that badly?! Well, I’ll kill all of you when I’m done!!” Muscular declared loudly with a crazed smile. His real and fake eye mad with bloodlust by now. There would be no reasoning. There would be no restraining him at this point. “You hear me!? All of-!!” there was a bang.

The shouting, the taunts, the rumbling in the ground all stopped. The noise was silenced. It suddenly became so quiet. So peaceful. So much relief in a single moment. So quickly done away with.

Blood sprayed out of Muscular’s head for a moment. Iida’s gaze shifted upward to the moon where he saw the silhouette of, he could swear it was, a fox spirit. With a cloak flowing openly in the air, Todoroki was mid-air from leaping from the roof of the main building. In his hand was a simple pistol. He seemed so still as time seemed to slow in the moment of taking someone’s life. A fox pouncing down on unsuspecting prey below. Silent until the moment the gunshot rang. Elegant form in the air that let him land down gracefully with the cloak spreading open on the crouched landing.

Muscular was face down on the ground. Twitching. Fighting the fatal blow that had been dealt to his only weak point. The bullet had gone straight through his skull, blood rushing from his head and pooling in the grass. His eyes were wide and locked on the black kitsune mask that was illuminated by the moon. The one that got him. The one that should have been killed twice now by a man who had far too much power compared to what he deserved.

A large and powerful man now left twitching and whimpering on the ground. Fighting to stay alive. Struggling to get away. Begging fate to let him live a little longer. Someone like that didn’t deserve to see the next day. He didn’t deserve to see another face, to greet another person, to tarnish the atmosphere with his presence. All the lives that have been saved and avenged by a simple bullet. The problem had been dealt with so quickly. So easily. It was so easy.

Todoroki stood above Muscular, in front of him, his foot on his head. The nomu stood behind him, looming over calmly and quietly. The mask hid the piercing eyes that were sharply staring at the man below him. A problem that had been plaguing him for days and all night was so quickly done away with. There was no one to tell him no. The morality of heroes was such a waste of time if results could be made this easily.

To think that his father could be taken out of existence so quickly. No need to dance around morals, the media, a future, and the familial drama. His problems could be gone. People could be saved. So easily.

Things didn’t have to be so hard. So tiring.

To be this powerful for once… to have control for once in his life. To be the one looking down. “Y...You wouldn’t-.” there was a bang.

Muscular didn’t get permission to finish his sentence. Another bullet went through his head to permanently silence him. He wouldn’t hurt the students anymore. He wouldn’t hurt Midoriya. He wouldn’t hurt Dabi. He wouldn’t reveal Todoroki's identity later. Such a problematic man suddenly wasn't a worry anymore. It was so nice. Like the moment he realized Kosuke wouldn’t be alive to bully him anymore.

It was such a rush of relief and power. He couldn’t help but pull the trigger again. The jolt of the dead body was enough to give him the rush all over again. It was amazing. It was intoxicating. He shot again. He caught himself quietly giggling to himself. This power was incredible. He shot again and again, as many times as it took. Is this what it felt to truly smile? How euphoric!

Iida watched, captivated by the shock of what he was seeing. A man was killed right in front of him and he was watching the murderer shoot the corpse over and over again, quietly laughing at it all, ignoring the blood splattering all over his cloak and blending with the red lined designs. The nomu was standing behind the masked villain so obediently. Yako saved him, but at what cost? A man was dead. That wasn’t right. Iida was saved, but was his life worth the death of another? That couldn’t be okay. There could have been another way.

Todoroki then reached down to take something out of Muscular’s ear. There was a small pop when he took it out and blood dripped out from the ear canal. He wiped the blood off of it with his cloak before placing it in his own ear. “My part of the mission was successful,” he said softly but proudly. He sounded at peace with his work.

“He’s alive!” Toga cheered happily. 

“Of course he’s alive!” Spinner spat.

“What happened to you? What radio are you on?” Magne asked.

“Muscular is dead. So I’m borrowing his.” Todoroki answered, lightly rubbing the side of his head.

“Dead? There’s no way the heroes did that.” Mr. Compress said.

“Well… I did. It was the best option.” Todoroki shrugged although his heart was still pumping hard. “My task is done.”

“Alright, I’m calling the bartender. Don’t keep him waiting.” Dabi said deadpanned. But only Twice would see him suddenly press all his weight against a tree and hold his hand over his eyes in relief. To hear Todoroki’s voice after sending him off alone was the best thing he’s felt all day. But to hear he actually killed someone… Did Shigaraki predict this?

Hearing a few footsteps, Todoroki turned his head to be greeted with a foot being swung near his head. Iida had gotten up and dashed over to try and kick him in the face. But at the last moment, wires wrapped around his leg and held him back. The jet legged student struggled to keep his motion but was instead stuck in place. His leg was then suddenly twisted as there was a loud crack from it being turned too far in one direction. He cried out in pain as he was left to fall to the ground and hug his broken leg in pain.

“You’re damn lucky he doesn’t want you dead. Because I would rather break every bone in your body before ripping your engines out and shoving them down your throat before using them to incinerate your insides. Then decapitate your head and use it as a kickball.” Midoriya threatened. He came out of the woods and leaned over Iida with folded arms. He would have loved to tackle Todoroki out of relief seeing that he was okay. But he was already under suspicion and he couldn’t risk making himself look worse. So he kept his cool for the time being.

“Are you okay?” Midoriya reached up to hold his face lovingly. He looked down at Muscular and was smiling under the mask at the sight of his corpse. He took the gun from Todoroki’s hand and tossed it aside. 

Todoroki slowly nodded, leaning into his touch with a soft sigh. “Tired…” he breathed.

“We get to go home now. We got what we wanted.” Midoriya then took three marbles out of his pocket and tossed them towards Iida who was still wallowing in the dirt. “You’re good Mr. Compress.” Those two marbles then released Shoji, Tokoyami, and the unconscious boy Shoji had been carrying. They were so dazed from being freed, they didn’t have the time to stop the masked villains standing a few feet away. “You did so well. I’m so proud of you.” Midoriya hummed as a portal appeared behind him. He looked back at it and then the nomu. “And I see you have a new little pet.”

“Wait!!” Iida reached out to them as the nomu was going through the portal. He pathetically stayed on the ground but so desperately wanted them to stay to be captured. Or at least talk to the fox whose actions confused him beyond comparison. Todoroki hesitated going through the portal to look at Iida. Maybe even pity him a little. But Midoriya took his arm and lightly pulled him through.

The bed they shared had never felt so soft. They were warped to Midoriya’s room to which  Todoroki instantly plopped himself down at the foot of the bed to sit down with a heavy sigh. He was covered in blood spatter, spots staining his cloak, and dripping from his mask. The air felt so much cooler in this peaceful room. The humid forest air was so far away now, no more getting filthy from dirt, they were inside. Just the two of them.

“You did so well tonight, Shouchan.” Midoriya whispered gently, taking off his mask and placing it on his desk. Then he approached Todoroki and carefully removed his, smiling at the expression that was hiding underneath. Such tired eyes, exhausted from the night, the mission, but also the killing. But such an adorable twitching smile. Some blood must have gotten under the mask from Muscular’s head, but Todoroki was also bleeding at his cheek, eyebrow, and lip from a few cuts. “But please, never run off like that again. You had me so scared.”

Todoroki’s small, twitching smile froze for a moment before disappearing while Midoriya went into a nearby bathroom to grab a towel and wet it in the sink. He came back to lean closer to Todoroki and lightly pat the cloth over his bleeding lip. “You really do look tired,” he commented, holding his cheek to tilt his head a bit so he could see the cut better. “I pretty much passed out the first time I killed someone. So you’re doing better than me.” he giggled innocently at the end. 

“Did you… feel bad?” Todoroki asked quietly. He sounded tired too. 

“Not really, no. I knew I did it for you, so it never really bothered me.” Pulling the cloth away, Midoriya tapped the wound with his thumb to check it would still bleed. Still needed to keep a little pressure for a little longer. “Why? Do you?” he asked. “It’s okay if-.”

“I don’t.” Todoroki answered honestly. The answer caught the freckled villain off guard as he blinked in surprise. But then he just smiled with a loving sparkle in his eyes. "I feel… assured, I think.” He was going to let Todoroki just talk for the time being. Let him get all his thoughts out into words. Pulling the cloth away, he saw that he got the cut on his lip to stop bleeding. He kissed it before folding the cloth and dabbing his cheek. “Like… I didn’t have to spend time thinking of more complicated solutions. He won’t be a problem anymore… so much annoyance…” Todoroki shut his eyes and leaned his cheek into the cloth comfortably. “It’s all gone. Just like that.”

“It must be nice not having to dance around others anymore. To just get them over with quickly to prevent any more pain.” Midoriya reworded. He felt Todoroki nod into his hand. “You finally have control of your life. You don’t have to let people ruin it any more.” 

“And I get to do it with you,” Todoroki added with a sleepy, but happy tone. His soft spokenness and cute sleepiness were enough to make the little villain blush and swoon. They could have control over their lives together. 

“Why do you have to get all romantic on me like that? I’m supposed to threaten someone’s life in a couple minutes you know.” Midoriya joked before reaching between Todoroki’s cloak and unhooking it to let it drop on the bed. Underneath, Todoroki had been wearing a red button-up shirt with a black vest and tie that was similar to Midoriya’s. It made the freckled boy blush, seeing how they truly were wreaking havoc together. He couldn’t help himself but to push the other down by his shoulders and crawl over him with a loving smirk. “Things are a lot more fun with you here, though.”  He then used the towel to wipe away the blood that dripped from Todoroki’s eyebrow.

“I’ve never had this much fun.” Todoroki reached up to bring his beloved’s face closer.

“Well, there’s plenty more to be had.” After all the fighting and adrenaline were over, the life-threatening mission was completed, and the killing was done, in the end, there was an underlying theme of fun. Like the surge of laughter and joy after having run away from being caught doing something bad. Though there was just a dash of infatuation added between the two.

Midoriya leaned down to kiss Todoroki, letting one hand sift under crimson red strands of hair and the other hold his chin up. It had been all night since they'd kissed and that was too long for the freckled doctor. To hear Todoroki’s radio go completely silent after a large boom in the background, he couldn’t help but tighten his grip in his hair. He never wanted to let go of him again, never let him run off again. He wanted him to stay right with him, beside him, beneath him, he just had to stay. “Please never do that again…”

Feeling Midoriya pull back to look down so sadly at him, Todoroki held the hand at his cheek and placed his other on the other's upper arm. “He was going to try and kill you… I couldn’t give him the chance.” Even if it was because he personally didn’t want his beloved to get hurt, he did make a promise a while ago to his mother. That one night he stayed over after the Bloody Tragedy, he promised Inko that he would take care of him. “I’ll try my best. But I could never let you get hurt.” 

“Always the hero…” Midoriya hummed. Of course, he meant the word hero in the non-career path sense. Even as a killer, his kind heart could never darken completely. “But mostly my hero.” he leaned down to kiss him again for much longer, gripping his hair to never let him go or get away. There was no need to be anyone else’s hero for now. He was just his now, as they kissed in cuddled lovingly on the bed over the splayed out blood-soaked cloak.

“Take a little rest for now, okay? Eat something. Come down whenever you feel you’re ready to say hi to a certain someone.” After minutes of a romantic kiss, there was still work and fun to be had. Midoriya pulled back with a smile and a soft minty glow in his eyes. His little look of mischief. “I’ll be waiting…” he ran his fingers down Todoroki’s scarred cheek before getting off of him and grabbing his masks. Todoroki only watched him go before rolling on his side and curling up a bit, closing his eyes and getting comfortable for a little while.

Before walking out the door, he took a quick glance in the mirror at his blood-stained clothes and the few spots that had got on his face from kissing Todoroki whose face had also been spotted with blood. He poked the scarred streak at his eye before smirking at himself. Maybe in another world, he would have been in a costume and a cape. But the dressy shirt and vest covered in blood suited him just fine. Perhaps there was a world where he and Bakugo were heroes and friends. But being a villain was just so much more fun. He giggled at himself before heading out the door.

“And here I thought you were some loud big mouth.” Shigaraki could be heard while Midoriya was coming down the stairs. “But I guess looks speak louder than your words here.” Peeking around the corner, the little villain saw Shigaraki sitting casually at the bar with the hand on his face, facing Bakugo. Bakugo had been tied and restrained to a chair with his hands confined for the restricted use of his quirk. He wouldn’t be able to escape without. But it appeared that Shigaraki expected him to be yelling and flailing. And yet he was just sitting there, glaring tensely at everyone in the room.

Dabi was leaning against the counter beside Shigaraki with his arms folded. He looked tired, but he also generally always looked tired. It didn’t look like he had much to say at the moment as he just kept a side-eye on Shigaraki. “Don’t you know staring is rude?! Where are your manners you little punk!” Twice pointed at Bakugo and scolded him in a dramatically deep and stern voice.

“I liked the other boy with big arms better…” Toga pouted. She held a little puppy burrito in her arms as she hugged it closer. Zuzu had been wrapped up in Dabi’s hoodie and was currently being held hostage by Toga. But the puppy didn’t seem all that opposed to the situation.

“Well don’t cut this one up without permission.” Spinner muttered. He thought the girl’s infatuation with blood was creepy and beyond strange.

“You’re all a bunch of crazy freaks…” Bakugo grumbled, looking away.

“Ah, we have words.” Mr. Compress lightly clapped his hands.

“Too bad his vocabulary is a bit lacking. He makes up for it by screaming though.” Midoriya’s voice disguised by a voice mixer said, finally coming out from the stairwell. Bakugo lifted his head as he glared darkly at him as he approached him with his masks on. “You haven’t changed much since middle school, have you-...” Midoriya stopped less than a meter away. He leaned over and took off both masks with one hand, tilting his head with a crooked smile and glowing minty eyes that were wide with anticipation. “-... Kacchan.”

Chapter Text

Vlad King called emergency services as soon as service was reconnected after having been blocked remotely by Shigaraki. And fifteen minutes after the villains left, ambulances and fire trucks arrived. Of the thirty-eight students, fifteen were unconscious and in serious condition from Mustard’s gas. Eleven others had major or minor injuries. Eleven were left uninjured. And one was missing…

Of the six pro heroes, one was in serious condition after receiving a hard blow to the head. And one lost a lot of blood and went missing.

Meanwhile, on the villain side, two were caught red-handed and arrested. A third was found dead. Murdered by someone on his own team. There were twelve gunshot wounds to the head with a pistol found at the scene. All the rounds had been fired.  Leaving two behind, the other villains disappeared without a trace. 

The murderer laid in bed with his wrist draped over his eyes and his hand weakly in a fist. His bloody hand reached up to the ceiling. It was still dark outside with the moon shining through the window, illuminating his pale skin and bringing greater contrast to the splattered red. Blood had dried in the midst of dripping down his hand to his wrist, stained. His eyes were half-lidded with fatigue and exhausted stress.

Those heavy steps that had approached him while being paralyzed against the mountain wall. It was like the time the nomu cornered against a tree and broke his ribs to pieces. It was like his father holding a flame to his face while trapped in debris at the hospital. Such massive creatures, they were all heartless. But this time… he was able to overcome it. He was able to erase it from his life. From his worries. To suddenly have a rotten person cut from existence, never to cause pain again… That little boy would never be tormented by him again. No more lives would be lost to him.

He did such a good thing. A powerful thing. To take control and take away the right to life for another who didn’t deserve it… He wanted to remove such people more often. All the time. Perhaps his family could have been saved if he came to this conclusion sooner. Maybe he wouldn’t have had to feel so alone for so long…

A smile crept up on his face and a few tears trickled down his face. Shifting his arm to reveal his scarred eye, it was wide and iris constricted.

He felt lonely in the moment. The bed was missing someone. It was driving him mad.

“You should see the look on your face! What a joke!” Midoriya laughed, tossing his mask on the floor in a crazed fit of laughter and mockery. He had Bakugo’s face in his hands and was grasping it tightly enough to redden his cheeks. He forced it to tilt and turn to take in every angle of his hopeless realization. Wide eyes plentiful in despair and crushed optimism.

Bakugo knew. He knew it deep in his heart and mind that it was Midoriya who was wreaking so much chaos for the heroes in this city. Somehow the sniveling crybaby who used to follow him around had met people that were far too powerful for their own good. They shared that power with him and he completely lost his mind. But it was his fault he lost it. He pushed him away and pushed him away from heroes to the roof of their middle school. All Might was the one to give him that last shove off that roof.

But despite believing this for such a long time, there was a part of him that wanted to be wrong. To be proved right like this… being laughed at by him covered in blood with such a psychopathic look in his eye… this was Deku. But not the one he knew. This one didn’t protect kids from bullies on the playground.

“Who woulda thought you’d end up like this? Not me! If it was the old ‘Deku’ he’d be sniveling and crying trying to save your sorry ass. A Deku with no self-respect and standards! Honestly, how did I let a pathetic bastard like you get to me?” Midoriya let go of Bakugo’s cheeks with force to make him turn his head. But Bakugo didn’t turn back to look at him. A pathetic bastard… he was pathetic. He couldn’t stop the nomu at the USJ, he was frozen in fear at the sight of Kosuke, he couldn’t protect Kirishima or his other classmates. The others… and Kirishima.

“Where’s Kirishima?” he initially asked quietly before so much anger took over his face. He ignored Midoriya completely and glared and bared his teeth at Toga across the room. She held Zuzu with an innocent dumbfounded face. Why was this hot tempered brat yelling at her again? “You bitch! You used his body, didn’t you?! Where is he?!”

Toga blinked before shrugging. “I dunno.” She hadn’t a clue. She wasn’t at the main building with Todoroki so she had no idea where he was. She then looked down when she felt Zuzu wiggling. She put her down and released her from Dabi’s hoodie that Shigaraki must have cocooned her in. The puppy ran off to the staircase through a doorway. 

Toga had more attention on Zuzu running away than she had on Bakugo. And though Bakugo hated being ignored and brushed off like he just was, someone hated being ignored more than him. Having looked away and yelled at Toga for a moment, the punishment was a hard kick to the cheek. Hard enough to force his head to turn. Angrily turning it back, he was suddenly gagged by Midoriya’s shoe in his mouth. “Tread carefully, Kacchan.” the little villain hummed, pressing his foot further into his mouth with impressive posture, balance, and flexibility. His leg was perfectly straight and up, tilting up to further make this an uncomfortable experience for his former friend. Though his tone spoke was a playful one, his face did not express the same as it was cold and hateful, not a smile to be made out. “The only one you should be worried about is you.” Both of their eyes narrowed at each other. “So keep your eyes on me.”

After a few moments, Midoriya slowly pulled his foot out before kicking the saliva on it back at Bakugo and then putting it back on the ground. He put his hands behind his head and leaned back casually, looking off like a normal teenager with blood splattered all over him. He waited patiently for Bakugo to stop coughing and catch his breath after spitting out dirt that had gotten in his mouth. “What the hell happened to you? You’re not Deku… You’re an imposter, aren’t you?! You have been for a year!” 

“Wrooong.” Midoriya said, sounding like a buzzer for an incorrect answer on a game show.

“Deku wants to save people! He wouldn’t do this.”

“Half wrooong.” 

“He wants to be just like All Might! He wants to be a hero!”

“Wrooong.” Midoriya looked more and more annoyed and bored by the second. How quickly his personality changed. The initial rush was over. Now it just felt like dealing with a nagging middle-aged woman. “It’s really me, stupid.” He folded his arms and leaned closer to Bakugo’s face with an unimpressed glare. But then he forced the most believable impression of his past self.

His bright green eyes began to glitter and became so wide with fake admiration. His smile was so innocent and toothy with the most adorable blush as he clasped his gloved hands together. “You’re so cool Kacchan! You’ve improved so much that All Might won’t stand a chance to you soon enough! I wish I could be the number one hero too and save everyone with a smile!” It was such a believable display, even Shigaraki was smirking under the hand on his face. How silly and naive his baby brother used to be. That wasn’t the boy he frightened half to death in an alleyway. That wasn’t the one who stabbed a man’s eye out and laughed about it.

Bakugo’s face dropped again, though more subtly. The tone the freckled villain spoke in, the sparkling face of optimism was all a perfect replication of who Deku was. All except the scar on his eye that Kosuke gave him and spots of someone else’s blood mixing with his freckles. But he said he was half wrong just now about saving people… half wrong? “What about Todoroki?!” Midoriya did still want to save people, didn’t he? Or maybe… just one person?

“‘What about Todoroki?’ asks the one that blasted him unconscious on live tv. To be so inconsiderate to not even evaluate that he had personal reasons for his decisions. I don’t think you have the right to be asking that.” Midoriya’s voice suddenly became cold as he spoke, standing up straight with his arms folded. Then he sighed and moved some hair out of his face with the back of his hand. “What about him?”

“He wanted to be a hero more than anything. You think he would still have feelings for you like this?! You honestly think he’d be grateful for what you did to Kosuke?!” Bakugo bared his teeth. This argument would get him nowhere. But he wanted to understand. What went so wrong? “You remember that look on his face! You traumatized him!” 

Midoriya only shrugged indifferently. He looked at Shigaraki with a little smirk. This was all just a fun little game to the little villain and he was so grateful for his big brother giving him this opportunity. “What the hell did you do to him?” Bakugo suddenly took the chance to move his attention to Shigaraki too. “You fuck with his head or something?”

“Me?” Shigaraki pointed to himself before tilting his head. “Not really. All him.” He pointed to Midoriya. Midoriya rubbed the back of his head with a giggle and a blush.

“He’s using you, you know that don’t you?” Bakugo asked. Maybe there was just the smallest chance of salvaging the old Deku. Clawing through the darkness, the evil, and the blood, the little hero could be saved. Just maybe. 

“He helped me. Saved me even. He made me really happy…” Midoriya held his cheek with a sharp smile. He could tell what Bakugo was trying to do right away. He wanted to crush his hope over and over and over again until it didn’t amuse him anymore. “He’s like the big brother I never had.” 

“There’s no way he saved you! He’s a villain! You’re supposed to beat those guys up because they don’t save people! They only hurt them!” He had to try. Bakugo would refuse defeat in any form. He wouldn’t lose Deku to this monster standing in front of him.

“I only lasted this long because of him. He helped me when all the heroes cast me aside.” Midoriya spoke calmly, but his heart was starting to beat faster at the conversation topic. He was facing his past like this in front of all the other villains. But it was okay. He wanted to show everyone that he was the real deal. He was a villain. “Heroes don’t care about me. And they don’t care about you either or are you too blinded by the praise and popularity to see that?”

“They’d care more about you than I bet that freak does!” Both Midoriya and Dabi’s faces twitched.

“Don’t call him that!!” Suddenly lashing out, Midoriya kicked Bakugo in the neck, knocking the wind out of him. Then he grabbed him by the throat tightly, choking him. “Talk about him like that again, and your arms will be mine before your life is.” He wanted to kill him so badly at this moment. But it was too soon. He was going to make him beg for death first. Killing him too soon wouldn’t be satisfying enough. “In fact, I don’t want to hear Tomura’s or Shouchan’s names leave you lips or your tongue is coming out first.” He pulled a scalpel out from the back of his belt before releasing his throat. But he then gripped Bakugo’s jaw to force it open and reached the scalpel so far to the base of the tongue. “And don’t think I won’t do it… You were only brought here so I could kill you. But I wanna see how many times you can break a hero first…” he looked back at Shigaraki with a sweet smile. “For research, of course.” For research purposes, he assured.

But Shigaraki wasn’t watching, though only for the last second. His attention was taken away by someone at the stairs, to which Midoriya looked too. “That didn’t take very long. Are you sure you feel well enough to come down?” He became so much softer as he pulled the scalpel back. Such a gentle smile took over an initial ugly grin. Eyes filled with bloodlust and hate were overcome with love. Bakugo’s eyes followed the other’s to see someone in a bloodied black cloak and kitsune mask and a puppy at their feet. They stood in front of the staircase, leaning against the doorframe.

“H-Here, why don’t you sit down? It’s my spot but that’s okay!” Twice had been sitting on the red sofa with Magne when he suddenly stood up and gestured to the new arrival to take his seat.

“You can lay down if you want too, sweetheart. Don’t be shy.” Magne rose up as well and sat on the arm of the couch instead. Bakugo noticed their actions weren’t based in fear. And the one in the mask bowed their head gratefully with the softest ‘thank you’ spoken through a voice mixer. This one had a different kind of presence than the others. Everyone’s attention was on them, but with care, respect, and worry. This… wasn’t exactly someone to be afraid of.

Midoriya watched Bakugo’s expression before making a short ‘hmpf’ with a giggle. Bakugo watched him saunter over to the kitsune masked one who was sitting quietly on the couch with Zuzu snuggled next to their leg, under the cloak. Midoriya went behind them and wrapped his arms around their neck from behind, nuzzling his cheek against the mask. “You okay?” he asked. He got a nod as an answer. “You’re still sleepy though. Couldn’t sleep?” He got another nod. His voice was eerily soft and gentle. There would be hearts in his eyes if it were possible. He only looked and talked to one person like that…  “Maybe you’d sleep better if you took your mask off. You mind?” Midoriya reached for the lowest point of the fox mask. “I think someone would like to see you again.”

Midoriya carefully pulled the mask forward before slowly raising it up. His full attention was back on Bakugo, eagerly awaiting a horrified expression. He wanted to savor his misery, he wanted to bask in all of it. And with a mischievous green glow in his eyes, he revealed who had been this soft spoken kitsune villain that attacked Kirishima.

“Y-You… You’re alive…?” Bakugo’s voice uncharacteristically quivered as he cracked a smile. This had to be a sick joke. “N-No way… you’re dead. You were burned alive in a fire. You’re a-ashes…” He chuckled brokenly. “This is a joke! The real Half-and-Half-.” 

“Is right here in front of you.” Midoriya hummed smugly, twirling a few red strands of hair with his finger. He tossed the kitsune mask in his other hand on the cushion next to a very sleepy eyed Todoroki. Though there was some remaining blood spatter on his cheek and hand from Muscular’s head.  “My Shouchan never left me for a second. But he left all of you.” A toothy crooked grin rose on Midoriya’s face as he tilted his head. “For me.”

“No, that’s a sick clone! I know he would never cling to someone as messed up as you!”

“You know? You ‘know’? What about him do you know, Kacchan?”

There was a pause between the both of them. A smug little giggly grin and hesitant silence. Looking in the tired eyes of a living ghost in front of him, Bakugo was left to grasp at straws for what he did know about Todoroki. This quiet boy who risked his life so many times for so many people. The one sitting so silently and still in the arms of a monstrous doctor, only one gesture away from having his neck constricted by a lying snake. 

What did he know about him?

What did anyone know?

Bakugo lowered his head. Surely he knew something about him. Something that he knew for sure. “You don’t know anything, do you Kacchan?” Midoriya pressed confidently. He stood up straight and released Todoroki with a theatrical shrug. “What would you even care? You never cared about anyone other than yourself. Everything has to be about you.” His voice suddenly became dramatic and exaggerated as he walked around the sofa with the same shrug. “The great gifted Katsuki Bakugo! The star academic student! The class hottie!” He approached Bakugo and pinched his cheek tightly before harshly tugging it. Then he leaned in close with a dark expression. “Yet no one’s complained about your big mouth until now. Probably because they’re sick of your narcissism and arrogance.” he spoke lowly. “It’s all gone to your head if you’re telling me you know a damn thing about my Shouchan.” He let go of his cheek, leaving a red mark from his gloved fingers, and a few blood smudges. Strolling back to the sofa, Midoriya sat sideways on Todoroki’s lap, wrapping one arm around his shoulders and holding his cheek with his other hand. He guided Todoroki’s head to gently kiss his bloody cheek.

“That’s not true…!” Bakugo spat. He gritted his teeth. There were people he cared about. He wasn’t arrogant. He wasn’t narcissistic. He loved someone. He was insecure. He was doubtful in himself. He did know something about Todoroki. “Todoroki… cared about people. Enough to endanger himself for them! Four-eyes had a dumb crush on him! Something was always bothering him and it was why he was always quiet and stayed away from everyone! ” Midoriya rolled his eyes as Bakugo’s voice only got louder and louder. He was playing with Todoroki’s hair looking the most unamused he had all day. He was hardly paying attention at this point. “I’m not a blind idiot… I know something was going on at home!”

Midoriya’s eyes suddenly narrowed as he was suddenly glaring at Bakugo from the side. Todoroki appeared to just be looking sleepily at Zuzu nuzzle against his leg. Maybe even a little sadly. “I know his dad killed him. Four-eyes and Eraserhead are trying to find evidence to leak to the press. I was trying to help them!” Midoriya gritted his teeth. That couldn’t be true. The heroes would never rat out their own. “You think I just went to your mom’s place just to ask about you?!” Bakugo was trying to get evidence to have Endeavor charged… He wouldn’t. Someone like Bakugo would never… “You think I don’t care about people?!”

“You wanted me to kill myself!” Midoriya snapped. 

“And I wish you did!” Bakugo snapped right back. He was leaning so far forward in the chair he was bound to. “Tons of people are dead because of you! And it’s because of me you’re like this! I wish you had died so none of this would have happened!!” 

“Oh you are so-” Midoriya grew a frightful smile that even gave Spinner a chill up his spine. That is, if the ice didn’t first. Twice hid behind Toga when a sudden spike of ice shot out of the ground, frosting some of the floorboards around  in the process, with the tip of it stopping barely an inch from Bakugo’s throat. Todoroki’s right arm had raised with the most empty expression on his exhausted face. 

Midoriya blinked at the jagged spike and the little ones that had sprouted from it on the sides. “Sorry. All the yelling must have been stressing you out.” he apologized kindly, gently rubbing Todoroki’s cheek. “Guess I got a little worked up.”

“No…” Todoroki mumbled. “I just didn’t like what he was saying.” he closed his eyes and leaned into the other’s touch. He didn’t want to hear about Midoriya dying. As fateful as the day they met was, he didn’t want to even think about Midoriya going through with what he had planned that evening.

“So you can talk. If you’re the real Half-and-Half, I want you to tell me yourself. Tell me that you betrayed everyone that had your back for this loser!” Bakugo snarled. 

“I betrayed the heroes to become a villain.” Todoroki answered bluntly in monotone. It made Bakugo pause. He didn’t expect him to be so willing. “And I don’t think there’s any going back now…” Todoroki raised his hand that was stained darkly with blood. “... I just killed someone.” Bakugo held his breath as his eyes widened in disbelief. His former classmate was speaking so casually, sleepily even. “Felt kinda nice. Like something I never felt before.” 

“So that’s… that’s really you? You’ve been alive all this time?” Bakugo asked quietly, yet desperately. Now he wondered whether it would have been better if Todoroki died in that fire. “We mourned you. Ponytail and four-eyes cried their eyes out over you and this is what you’ve become?! What about them? What about everyone you left behind?! How could you?!” He struggled in his restraints, trying desperately to break free. He wanted to beat him to the ground so badly. “I may not have known you that well. But I didn’t think you’d be so heartless to betray all your friends like this! What’s so special about that loser on your lap, treating you like some pet?!” 

“He saved me.” Todoroki answered simply, lazily leaning his head into Midoriya. Saved him emotionally that rainy day at the middle school. Saved him from his own home after having been caught sneaking out on a date. Saved him from a bully. Saved him after his father tried to kill him in a fire. His deeds have been priceless. His love and affection had become more valuable than anything. Maybe even his own life. 

“He saved you? Seriously?” Bakugo forced a broken smile. He couldn’t believe it. “And here I thought… I fucking thought you would try to protect everyone from him with me. You-”

“I can still protect them.” Todoroki cut him off calmly. “The only one captured was you. The only one who’s supposed to die is you. I made sure the others would make it out.” That didn’t make any sense. A villain protecting hero students? He couldn’t have. He just killed someone. Villains kill heroes. But maybe… 

“Then that means…” 

“Everyone survived. Someone we hired wasn’t exactly capable of following the rules so I took things into my own hands.” Todoroki looked at his bloody hand, front and back.

“So Kirishima… he’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, I made sure of it. Both times.” He glanced at Toga who winked while making a heart with her hands and fingers. “Iida, Yaoyarozu, and Kaminari took in some harder hits… but it was my fault for not getting to them quick enough. And someone decided to break Iida’s leg.” His gaze went to Midoriya who looked away awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head. 

“He tried to kick you in the face. I couldn’t let that slide, now could I?” 

The talking and arguing could go on all night in the hours of dawn. And everyone was fully aware of that by now. Dabi subtly leaned over to Shigaraki to whisper in his ear. “I think I heard enough. Think it’s about time everyone split?” Shigaraki folded his arms and nodded in his response. This would go on forever if he didn’t call for this to end. So he stood up and got behind Bakugo’s chair, putting both hands on the back of it.

“How cute that you three were able to catch up. But we have things to do and I can’t wait for the press to get a hold of this. So I’m going to have to spoil this little reunion.” he said casually. Midoriya folded his arms and nearly pouted. He had yet to give Bakugo a true piece of his mind. But looking at how tired Todoroki was, it was probably for the best to call everything off for the night. “But you’ll have plenty of time to talk later.” Shigaraki went around to face Bakugo in front, putting his foot flat against his chest. “He’ll be the last person you ever talk to so I suggest being a bit nicer. Or just saying everything you want to say to them to get it all out of your system. I don’t really care.”

“I’ll kill you.” Bakugo spat, actually spitting on Shigaraki’s shoe. 

“So bratty…” Shigaraki sighed. “Oh well.” Taking his foot back, he suddenly kicked Bakugo in the chest to send him and the chair backwards into a portal where he would be warped somewhere else in the hideout. 

“Sounds like you two have quite the history together.” Mr. Compress commented once the room suddenly became much quieter.

“Yeah. Unfortunately.” Midoriya sighed grumpily. 

After a successful mission it was about time for the League of Villains to split up and turn in for the time being. They would all be wanted criminals with descriptions fresh in the news. People would be looking for them and heroes would be on the hunt. It was best to head back to their homes while it was still dark. Kurogiri was happy to assist.

“Did you want everyone to leave just so you could hold me hostage in my own room?” Shigaraki sat on his bed and up against the headboard with Dabi draped over his lap and clinging on to his waist, his face buried in his shirt against his stomach. He wasn’t wearing the hand on his face anymore and Dabi wasn’t wearing his villain coat.

“Yes,” Dabi said quickly, muffled by shirt.

“You’re not even denying it…” Shigaraki almost sounded disappointed. It was so pathetic how almost clingy Dabi had become. But he did tease him a bit at the hot spring so he could partially take blame. He wasn’t going to bring it up though. “However,” he then placed his gloved hand in Dabi’s hair with four fingers before gently shifting it side to side rhythmically. “I’ll allow it because you did so well tonight.” A little bonus reward for completing the mission. Finishing the task was supposed to be a rent bill. But he could generously spare a few extra rewards like praise and the hair petting.

Dabi closed his eyes and tightened his hold just a little, emitting a soft warmth. Perhaps this tomcat’s way of purring. “You did very well, actually.” Shigaraki praised quietly.

“Shou almost got killed… And none of your mercenaries made it back. I don’t think it went that well. You’re too easy to please.” Dabi mumbled. He didn’t want to deny the praise since he craved it so much. But he was quick to repel it out of habit perhaps. 

“Shouto killed someone. He took the most crucial step of true initiation. And I never liked those guys anyway. Mustard would have probably ended up stalking Izuku until he knew his identity. The other two were just annoying.” Shigaraki explained. So in the end, he was more satisfied with Dabi’s results than he would have been if everything went smoothly. “You’re still pretty hard on yourself, aren’t you?”

Dabi didn’t respond. Rather, he just nuzzled his face a bit closer and sighed deeply. He didn’t want to admit that Endeavor still had a hold on him. Trauma ran deep. Instead of talking about it, he just wanted to relax with someone he felt so comfortable with. So he would lay in silence for quite a while. Shigaraki even thought that he fell asleep. It was well past his typical bedtime after all. So he kept petting his hair with one hand until his other hand snuck in beside it to gently hold his head. He didn’t mind their position at all, finding it fairly comfortable with Dabi’s warmth. And something about that stapled man’s resting face was rather cute. “So… did you mean what you said last night?” Dabi then suddenly asked softly, having never actually fallen asleep.

It surprised Shigaraki that Dabi never actually knocked out. But he didn’t react with more than a blink. He was forced to think back to their private time in the hot spring and afterward. “I mean… I meant it but…” he trailed off, looking towards his computer monitor that was turned off.

“No pressure, remember? We can wait.” Dabi didn’t come off as the patient type. But for Shigaraki, he would be. Perhaps things would have been different in a different universe. 

“Yeah…” Shigaraki quietly mumbled. It was very clear that he was holding something back, that something was on his mind that he wasn’t quite so prepared to bring up. He didn’t exactly know how to feel about all these things that Dabi kept proposing and introducing him to. There was much to think about. But so much more to feel.

“I’ll be honest… I didn’t think you’d swing for guys.” Dabi changed the subject a bit. There were things about his boss… about his partner that he didn’t quite understand fully. Especially with the characteristic of not feeling attraction like most others. 

“Well, I don’t really ‘swing’ for anyone. This just kinda happened. And it’s 100% your fault.” 

“I take full responsibility, gladly.” Dabi smirked with a small chuckle. “I think there’s a name for that. Where like, you don’t feel turned on by people. It’s called asexual.” 

“So it’s common enough to have a name?”

“Yeah. So it’s nothing to feel weird about.” Dabi looked up at Shigaraki. “Something tells me you might be demiromantic too. When you only feel romantically attracted to someone you’ve spent time with. You don’t talk to anyone and apparently, you’ve never wanted something like this with anyone else.”

“These names are pretty confusing…” Shigaraki grumbled, scratching the side of his head. “Just a bunch of confusing labels.”

“Well yeah. But they can help you figure yourself out so you don’t need to feel so weird about your preferences. And you feel weird about everything.”

“Shut up.” Shigaraki lightly bonked Dabi on the head with his fist. But Dabi didn’t even react to it because it was so light. Shigaraki had hit Midoriya so much harder. But then he looked off awkwardly, biting the inside of his cheek. “So… what the hell do you call yourself, huh? Do you prefer guys or something?”

“I don’t really care.” Dabi shrugged while pressing more weight into Shigaraki’s lap and stomach. “Never cared. Guys or girls, or anything in between. I’m down for anything.”

“Not very picky, are you?” 

“Well, that would make you that more special, wouldn’t it bunny?” How quickly Shigaraki’s face went bright red with rage and embarrassment all at once. Angry at the nickname but also by just how embarrassed he suddenly felt. This tomcat made him feel so vulnerable sometimes and he couldn’t tell if he hated it or liked it. 

“Y-You didn’t have to put it that way!” Shigaraki complained. “You are such a tomcat!” he suddenly pushed Dabi off of him, but not harshly, and laid on his side facing away from him. It totally left him open to a hug from behind a kiss on the side of his neck that made him blush even more. 

“But I wasn’t lying.” Dabi cooed, holding back a teasing laugh.

“I will destroy you.”

“How romantic.” Dabi laid down, spooning him shamelessly while keeping a steady warmth he knew the other liked. He was thoroughly satisfied with his teasing, but could definitely tell there was more on Shigaraki’s mind. The scrawny villain’s beautiful eyes were locked on to his computer monitor. “So…” Dabi started quietly now that the joking around had stopped. “Is there like… something holding you back?” he asked honestly. Was there something preventing Shigaraki from going the full way? “I mean, I’m not trying to be impatient about it or anything. I won’t be pissed if you change your mind.” A man of consent.

“I… Maybe I’m not sure…” Shigaraki answered. But neither knew how much of a truth or lie that was. “Is that normal?”

“Nothing we do is normal.” Dabi answered with a smirk, trying to let Shigaraki know that it wasn’t anything to be ashamed about. “Maybe that’s what we need though.” Shigaraki blinked and looked at Dabi from the corner of his eye, feeling his burnt cheek against his neck. “Would doing something normal help?”

“Define normal.” Shigaraki didn’t seem too impressed. Being normal didn’t sound like a good thing in this kind of context. 

“Like a date. We’ve never actually gone on one. I just annoy you all the time.” Dabi proposed.

“A...date?” Seriously? Shigaraki thought maybe that sounded a little too normal. He hated people and hated going out. And the population would be looking high and low for the League of Villains. But maybe if they went somewhere so busy, their presence would be lost in the sea of faces. 

“Yeah. You know, food and window shopping and all that. Maybe some mild vandalism and arson, I dunno. Just give it a shot. Maybe it’ll help.” Dabi leaned into him a bit. Usually, he’d tell him ‘no pressure’. But now he was pushing pressure.

“No.”

“Please?” It worked with Toga. It worked with Midoriya. Shigaraki rolled his eyes before closing them tightly.

“Whatever. Fine.” And it worked for Dabi too.

“It’s a date then,” Dabi smirked, suddenly laying on his back beside Shigaraki. The bed creaked from the sudden shift in weight. Shigaraki’s bed really sucked. After getting confirmation, he tried to shut his eyes and actually get some sleep. But he kept turning on either side to try and get comfortable but the mattress was uncomfortable at every angle. If it wasn’t for Shigaraki’s company, he’d be in his own bed and fall asleep in a heartbeat.

At least until he heard a heartbeat. In all of his repeated tossing and turning in the span of a few minutes, he was suddenly pulled into some kind of hold. Shigaraki had curled his legs up and stayed on his back to forcibly bring Dabi’s head onto his chest. But the stapled man was nowhere near opposed. Stunned by the initial shock of being cuddled, his eyes slowly closed peacefully as he brought his arm over Shigaraki’s chest comfortably. He could sleep like this, even smiling a little bit to himself.

“Hey…” he mumbled cheekily. Shigaraki peeked one eye open and looked down at him questionably. “When you kicked that brat back in the chair… not gonna lie, that was kinda hot.”

“Go to sleep, tomcat.” Shigaraki growled, humorously annoyed.

“I’m just saying. Kinda wished it was me.”

“Tomcat…”

“Alright, Alright.” Dabi snickered quietly. He was left to blissfully fall asleep within a few minutes, though Shigaraki was not so easily lulled. Rather, he spent quite some time glancing at his computer monitor despite it being turned off.

Much further into the night and beginning the hours of morning, all the lights were turned off but two active minds couldn’t do the same. Rooms cooly lit with moonlight and city lights were quiet except for just the quietest sizzling from a tea kettle on a stovetop. But it wasn’t allowed to sit long enough to whistle. A freckled villain sat on a sofa with the curtains wide open, a cup of tea on the low table near his feet, and an anatomy book on his lap. Dark circles around his eyes were consistent all the time now, but seemed more prominent at night. He kept silent as he read peacefully with a clock ticking away in the background. He almost felt nostalgic as this was like the days he first started studying in the medical field. 

Back in his bed that he typically shared now, Todoroki was snuggled under the blankets with Zuzu at his feet. Though in his fairly blissful sleep despite the occasional tears, he began to feel around the empty space beside him. He gripped weakly at the sheets as if searching for something. Shedding just two more tears, his shiny eyes slowly opened, reflecting the glow from the outside window.

Sitting up with a blanket, Todoroki looked outside to see how dark it was against the lights of the street lamps, city windows and signs, and the moon and stars. It was rather beautiful for the late hours. But as beautiful as it was, it wasn’t enough to ease him. Letting one last remaining tear fall, Todoroki wiped his eyes and cheek and stared at the empty space beside him with only a slight indent in the sheets left behind. 

Todoroki got up out of bed, holding a blanket around himself like a cloak and began to walk out the room. However, he took a moment to turn back and look at Zuzu who was snuggled beside a bump in the comforter. He turned back to crouch down to her level, seeing her sleeping face up close as her little nose twitched with sniffs. He reached to pet her head gently, pressing his fingers carefully near the nape of her neck where he could feel thin bumps that must have been scars under her fluffy fur. Soon he brought his face closer to press his nose against the side of her face to feel her instinctively nuzzle into him. They couldn’t be happier to have each other.

Midoriya took a small sip of tea using both hands to hold the glass cup. His eyes were locked on the book in his lap as he kept reading diligently. Though, his attention was suddenly taken away when he felt the sofa cushion shift and arms take hold of his waist from behind. “Shouchan…” he whispered softly, but with a smile. Todoroki had crawled onto the couch from the side and snuck up behind his beloved to hug him and place his chin on the other’s shoulder to see what he was doing. He looked so tired with the tear stains fresh on his cheeks. “Did I wake you…?” Midoriya began to put his cup on the table. 

Todoroki only shook his head.

“Did you want some...?” Midoriya offered him his cup. Todoroki reached his hands out as a silent answer. The freckled villain gave it to him to let him take a small sip before returning it. Even though it was just them in the apartment, it felt appropriate to keep their voices down and quiet. Todoroki didn’t seem all that awake and keeping a low volume would maybe help him doze off. “Was it another nightmare…?”

Todoroki shook his head again before placing his forehead against Midoriya’s back, the blanket he dragged out covering both of them.

“Just couldn’t sleep…?” It was a simple problem. How could someone like Todoroki sleep after such an eventful evening? He felt a nod against his back.

“I was… thinking about my class…” Todoroki admitted quietly. Midoriya frowned, his eyes looking back at the lump under the blanket clinging to him.

“Don’t let Kacchan get to your head. You don’t even need to care about them anymore…” Midoriya knew Todoroki’s kind heart was going to struggle with letting go of his former classmates. But the little villain couldn’t deny that he was a bit concerned, if not frustrated, with how Todoroki still cared about them after he had finally solidified himself as a murderer. “We’re evil, Shouto… Once they find out, they won’t care about you either...” he flipped the page in the book he was reading. There were lots of pictures and diagrams of the muscle structure in the human arm. Todoroki knew full well what he was studying for.

Todoroki went quiet for a few moments, letting Midoriya read through blocks of intense text. The freckled villain could tell he wasn’t satisfied with his response. He almost felt bad. But he mostly felt pity. “You don’t need them... You have everyone you need here, with Kurogiri, Tomu, and Toga. Zuzu’s even here too. And you’ve been getting along with Dabi, haven’t you…?” Todoroki pressed his cheek into Midoriya’s neck before subtly nodding. “So don’t think about those other guys. They never did anything for you in the first place…”

“...What about Kirishima?” Todoroki asked. Midoriya had mostly been talking about Iida and Yaoyorozu. But mostly Iida. Kirishima didn’t really cross his mind. The brave redhead that threw himself at a nomu to save Todoroki’s life. The one who was the most angry at his death. The one who tried to be there for Midoriya and his grief the most actively despite not knowing him that well… “He’s going to be so upset about Bakugo…” 

“Guess he’ll just have to deal with it…” Midoriya shrugged. He sounded uncaring. But deep down… he felt that maybe he owed Kirishima. Another time, for sure. But not with this. 

Todoroki went quiet again, likely thinking over his beloved’s response. Letting go of empathy was difficult. Forcing him to let it go was difficult for Midoriya too. It was what he fell in love with in the first place. His heart was beautiful and he wanted it all for himself without tainting it. It was a delicate process. Wanting Todoroki to be kind but also evil was not simple.

“Can… you be evil in the morning...?” Todoroki asked quietly, hugging Midoriya’s waist a little tighter. “Come back to bed…?” 

Soon after his request, there was the sound of tiny, slow clacking. Zuzu came, dragging her small paws across the wood floor with her claws pattering against it. She sleepily stumbled to the foot of the sofa where she plopped down next to Midoriya’s feet and pretty much fell asleep all over again. He picked her up to take her into his arms while looking back at his sleepy boyfriend. He then glanced at the open book in his lap. “I guess… being evil can wait till morning.” he smiled softly as he cradled Zuzu. 

Midoriya’s eyes twitched while closed, slowly being woken up by the growing sunlight coming in through the windows. He grumbled a bit and turned on his side and curled up further under the blankets. Evil hid in darkness. But in this case, evil just didn’t want to get up yet. At least until he felt a kiss against the side of his forehead. His eyes blinked open slowly when he noticed the sunlight wasn’t so harsh. Though only because someone’s head was blocking it.

Todoroki sat beside Midoriya, his legs curled behind him and Zuzu in his arms. With his head slightly tilted to block the sunlight, he had just the smallest smile with a mild fluffy bedhead. Because of this, his hair was covering the upper left corner of his face. Midoriya turned his head to see his beloved sitting behind him, sitting and smiling as photogenically as possible. Always the beautiful boy… even at the start of every morning before even brushing his hair.

“If you’re going to smile like that, I want to see all of you.” the freckled villain smiled sleepily as he rolled over a bit and used his hand to move Todoroki’s red hair behind his ear. To see his whole face. “There… that’s much better.” Keeping his hand by his ear, he leaned up to kiss the burn scar he never could see as ugly. He giggled when he felt a small rising warmth in the room temperature. “Good morning.” he said softly.

“Good morning.” Todoroki greeted back, taking Midoriya’s hand that rested by his ear. 

“Now what’s got you so happy? And here I thought you were going to be eaten up over last night.” Midoriya rubbed his thumb over the burnt skin that reached Todoroki’s cheek. He was happy that his beloved wasn’t having an existential crisis about murder. Though he wasn’t the type to smile for no reason.

“No reason.” Todoroki answered. His eyes closed while he leaned into the other’s touch. “I was just happy you came back to bed with me.”

“Seriously? I think you need some higher standards than that if that’s all it takes.” Midoriya almost sounded nervous through his smile. Still needed to work on the self-respect it seemed. Appreciating the little things was far different than craving the bare minimum. “I’ll always want to sleep with you.” His intentions were romantic. But a very intense blush came up on his face as he suddenly began waving his hands in front of him frantically. “I-I mean- not like that. U-Unless you want to- The first time just k-kinda happened and I know you haven’t mentioned anything about it since! Don’t take that the wrong way-”

Todoroki and Zuzu just kinda watched Midoriya have an early morning panic rant moment with blank innocent stares. The dog and owner looking alike stereotype was true once again. They just let him struggle to defend himself from a bad misunderstanding that really wasn’t going to happen. Midoriya rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, sitting up cross legged and looked down in a bit of embarrassed shame. “None of that came out right…” he sighed hopelessly. But he was caught off guard when Todoroki leaned forward, nuzzling his face into the nook of his neck.

“Either is fine with me. No need to be flustered.” he said calmly and yet lovingly enough to make the freckled villain blush all over again.

“...You really are in a mood today, huh?” They were accustomed to soft and lazy mornings together. But never had he felt such a carefree vibe from Todoroki like this before. He seemed so much more relaxed than normal. Perhaps he wasn’t as traumatized by his first kill as Midoriya expected he would be. Maybe… his heart was finally his after all. 

“I guess you could call it that…” Todoroki seemed so indifferent to how he was being perceived. “But I did get breakfast for you. You should eat it before it’s cold.” The mention of food made Midoriya chuckle. 

“Well, if you got food, no wonder you're like this.” Food seemed like a straight shot to Todoroki’s heart after all. Midoriya put his hand in Todoroki’s hair and ruffled it up playfully, messing up the split hairline that was already a little messy. He was just an oversized hungry cat. Preparing to get out of bed, the little villain noticed that there was a plate of food on his nightstand. Breakfast in bed. Todoroki really went all the way to Kurogiri and brought their meals up to share in bed. “You spoil me.” 

They ate together in bed. Blissfully letting time pass without a worry to cross their minds yet. Midoriya picked up a piece of meat with his chopsticks and held it out to Todoroki to try and playfully feed him. Though when the other leaned closer to try and bite it, he cruelly pulled it back and stole a kiss on the lips instead. Chuckling at Todoroki from his little prank, he held the meat up in the chopsticks beside himself for Zuzu to steal it sneakily. Though she offered to share with Todoroki, he patted her head to let her eat all of it. 

Midoriya blushed at his carelessness to be beat out by a puppy and looked off. Though his attention was taken back by Todoroki holding a piece of meat on his chopsticks in front of him. He didn’t pull it back and allowed him eat it with an embarrassed blush that only turned to an innocent smile when he received a kiss to his forehead while he was leaned over to bite.

After a bit more time to wake up and get the motivation to actually get up, Midoriya was tying his tie while standing at his desk and looking down at a series of notes he had written about the anatomy of the human arms. After he adjusted his tie to his villain costume, he made sure the rest of his outfit was in order before picking up a worn notebook and intensely studied the pages. He began pacing with it, quietly muttering with a loose fist covering his mouth. Zuzu had begun following his back and forth pacing like a game, careful to not be tripped over. 

“Izuku, have you seen my white mask? I thought I hung it up in the closet… do you think it’s safe to even go out with a fox mask at all?” Todoroki had brushed his hair to be evenly split again and was searching through their shared closet for his white kitsune mask. He wasn’t all that nervous about it being misplaced because he knew it hadn’t left the room. While he was in the closet, he grabbed a newer white hoodie that he owned and wore it over a light blue t-shirt unzipped. “Izuku?” he asked again after not receiving an answer. Turning his head, he noticed that Midoriya was still pacing and practically ignoring him while being so invested in his notes. “Izuku.” Todoroki spoke up only a little louder to try and get his attention. His tone seemed bothered by being ignored, but thought it best to not be hurt by it and not let it get to him.

The little villain didn’t even hear him the third time. He proceeded to pace and read his notes diligently and almost absent mindedly with a twitching grin. “I’m going out today, do you think that’s okay?” Todoroki knelt down looking for his mask thinking maybe it had fallen on the floor of the closet. He kept trying to talk to Midoriya despite consistently being ignored for his work. The doctor simply took all his work seriously. Maybe it was best not to interrupt him.

“What are you going to be working on today?” He tried to ask about him instead. Zuzu stopped following Midoriya’s pacing and noticed Todoroki watching his beloved with a subtly sullen expression. She trotted up to him and put her front paws against his thigh. He petted her. “He’s just focused. It’s alright.” There was no need to feel bothered and overanalyze. Even though he worked so hard to make him breakfast before he woke up and brought it to bed for him. 

And Midoriya worked so hard to get him to this point… He spent a year of his life for this opportunity… Surely Bakugo, the one wanted out of his life more than anything, was not actually more important now that he was in the hideout… right?

“Are you… going to be testing on Bakugo today? Is that why you were studying arms last night?” Todoroki asked. It would be a lie to say his chest didn’t twinge at the sight of Midoriya snapping out of his thoughts at the sound of Bakugo’s name. But he wouldn’t let it get to him. This was a complicated time, surely. His mind must be overwhelmed with complex thoughts and feelings. It was nothing to take offense to.

“Huh? Yeah, you got me.” Midoriya smiled as he closed his notebook halfway. Finally, Todoroki had his attention. But not for very long because Midoriya opened his notebook again and turned away. 

“Have you seen my white mask?” Maybe he could still bring the coversation back.

“Huh? Um, I think I hooked it to the hanger or something.” Midoriya mumbled. 

“The hanger?” Todoroki stood back up to look into the closet. There were lots of hangers and clothes. Which one was he talking about? Didn’t he have enough focus to specify? But Midoriya didn’t answer. So Todoroki looked through a bunch of hangers and eventually found his white and red kitsune mask hidden on a hanger that was also holding a red button up shirt. He would have found it quicker if it was with the white cloak. 

“So… I’m going out today. I shouldn’t be gone too long. I’ll stay off the main roads.” Todoroki held his mask and looked back. “I… love you.” he walked to their bedroom door and stood there for a few moments to wait for a response. Usually he would get one right away. “I… I’m going to check on Iida and Kirishima. And the others too.”

“What?” He suddenly had his beloved’s attention. Granted, he didn’t expect such a sharp reaction. He wasn’t expecting a reaction at all. He didn’t want to upset him. 

“I wanted to make sure they’re all okay…” Todoroki held up his mask. “I’m going out to spy on the hospital they went to. But I’m going to be careful not to get caught.” He had been trying to tell him this for the past few minutes. “It’s not a big deal. You’ll probably still be busy with Bakugo by the time I get back.”

“Don’t tell me what Kacchan said actually got you. I told you not to let him get inside your head.” Midoriya closed his notebook. “You don’t need to check on them. They’re not your friends anymore.” He didn’t want to be angry. But this game of tug-of-war with Todoroki’s heart between his former class and him was constantly a thorn in his side. Even when he went to go check on Kirishima after draining his blood, it took Toga to calm him down and to keep from being upset at Todoroki. 

Todoroki couldn’t be a real villain if he kept clinging to his former hero friends, even after killing someone. What was so special about them anyway? What did they give him that Shigaraki and Kurogiri didn’t? Why couldn’t he just let go?

“What Bakugo said didn’t bother me. I just wanted to see that they’re okay myself.” Todoroki didn’t mean to upset him and he was fully aware that he did. But Shigaraki gave him the freedom to go out and do as he pleased. Checking on his former classmates wasn’t such a bad thing, was it? It wasn’t like he was helping them.

“You saw them after you killed Muscular. That should be enough. Four-eyes probably has a broken leg, but he’ll live.” Midoriya spoke a little more sternly. They were having such a nice morning together. Their mission was a success. Todoroki stepped up as a villain but it still felt like he was moving backwards. It still felt like he wasn’t close enough. Like he wasn’t devoted enough. “I mean… you killed Muscular for us, didn’t you?” Midoriya asked with a nervous smile. Surely Todoroki killed Muscular for the villains’ success and survival. Muscular could have ruined everything by going after Dabi and Twice or him and Toga. 

“I did. He told me he wanted to kill you, so of course I killed him.” Why were they arguing? Why was this even a question? He did everything he could to prove that he was taking villainy seriously and to heart. He let himself be cut open and studied. He killed someone. He attacked his own former classmates. Why was Midoriya doubting him? Had he doubted him all this time? Was he doing something wrong? “I got so angry when he told me he wanted to go after you…” Todoroki looked at his mask. The one that wasn’t spotted with blood from last night. “But-”

“There shouldn’t be a ‘but’ in there. We should be your priority just as much as you are to us. With no distractions.” Midoriya never wanted to argue about this. He wanted this foolish attachment to class 1-A to fade over time just like his other brainwashed morals. But this part of him was stubborn. Rebellious even. If he had to force it to change… he would. “You need to let them go, Shouto. They’re only slowing you down. And you certainly don’t need them when you have us.”

Todoroki looked down at his mask a bit sadly. The disappointment and criticalness of Midoriya’s tone wasn’t settling well. He had never been spoken to like this before by him. The words he was saying...

They were familiar… 

But in a way that made him feel sick.

“But… they’re not bad. I want to protect you. I’d do anything for you. I told you I’d burn the world for you…” He raised his left hand where a tiny flame formed in his palm. “I meant it… I did.”

“Then you need to burn them too.” Midoriya couldn’t tolerate these hero brats from holding Todoroki back from reaching a full villainous potential. What made them so special? Why were they so important when they did almost nothing for him. Todoroki’s flame went out.

“But I want to keep them safe.” That was what Todoroki’s heart wanted. He wanted to protect the ones he cared about by any means necessary. But the one most precious to him was hurt by him caring about others.

“Why? Because you think there’s a chance they’ll still like you after all you’ve done? After you’ve lied about dying? After you’ve kidnapped their friend and attacked them and killed a guy?!” This foolishness needed to end now. Especially now. While Bakugo was in their grasp and the heroes were frantic. Todoroki would only be the greatest threat he could be if he just stopped caring. “What have they even done for you? What have they done for you that I haven’t or can’t do?!” This frustration was overbearing. He didn’t have the sense to keep his tone and voice under control. To keep his anger under control. Why couldn’t Todoroki’s beautiful heart just be his and his alone?

Todoroki’s body began to cool the moment Midoriya raised his voice. Not all kinds of yelling caused him to act this way. He wasn’t affected by Present Mic’s or Bakugo’s or other students' loud voices. There was a time Iida’s voice triggered this reaction. “It’s… more complicated than that.” Todoroki tried to find a means to explain himself. Why was he holding on to them so desperately? He wasn’t clinging on the crushed dream of being a hero. But… letting go of friends when he never had them before... 

“You’re the only one making it complicated for yourself!” It was frustrating and it was annoying. All these buried feelings and thoughts were beginning to rise up out of the depths. Things he never wanted to say. Things he never wanted to admit. But little things build up and explode when they’re not addressed. They should have talked about it more… 

Midoriya couldn’t help but to grit his teeth and clench his fists. He might as well just say what his heart’s been dying to let be known. “Why can’t you just stay put?! Why can’t you just stay here and stop seeing those losers?!” Just say it. Just get it all out. That was healthy… wasn’t it? “After worrying about you and working so hard for you for more than a year, we're seriously having this problem?! I worked my ass off to make you comfortable here and you’re still running back to people who’ve done the bare minimum of being nice to you! How do you think that makes me feel?!” His voice had gotten so loud. Zuzu was hiding behind Todoroki’s leg.

Todoroki kept quiet with his head slightly downward. Ashamed and guilty? At least a little bit… But silence was all Midoriya got in return. He was spilling everything that he had been dwelling on and Todoroki only answered with silence.

“Can you at least say something or even look at me?!” Todoroki was always the quiet type. He preferred to be the listener. His loving eyes would always show that he was focusing. But if he wasn’t even looking at him, how could Midoriya know for certain that he was listening? Did Midoriya really need to drag the words out of him? Perhaps not. However, instead of words, Todoroki turned his head away before only looking at him with his right eye. In the shadow of his bangs, that glare did not look loving at all.

“Don’t you look at me like that now…” Midoriya growled. All this work to give him a home like this, and this is how he’s treated? He didn’t notice himself walking towards him. “You’re not going out to see them... You’re staying right here with me. This is your home and this is where you’re safe! So stop being so rebellious and just listen to me, Shouto!!” With every demand he got louder. He got closer. He grabbed Todoroki’s arm tightly just before he had turned to walk away. 

Todoroki’s right arm frosted over in patches with an icicle jutting from his neck and cheek where it ended. The ice appeared so suddenly. Similar to a wall against All Might or Kurogiri when he was spooked. But this ice was direct defense. This was from feeling threatened. From feeling afraid. It showed itself often whenever Endeavor was around.

Endeavor.

Midoriya blinked and looked at his hand that had dug its fingers deep into Todoroki’s frosted arm. He slowly loosened his grip with a silent inhale. He quivered. He quickly took his hand back, stepped back, and covered his mouth.

Endeavor.

“Sh...Shouchan…”

He sounded just like Endeavor just now.

The yelling. The demand to stay locked up at home. The forbidding of seeing anyone outside the home. Grabbing him. Bruising him underneath his sleeve. Getting up in his face and yelling at him.

Todoroki’s dark glare from before wasn’t one Midoriya was used to receiving. But Todoroki was used to giving it. It was a habitual, self-defensive reaction.

He triggered him.

“Shouchan… I… I-I’m sorry…” Midoriya immediately apologized. It took a lot of power to not cry. It was power he didn’t have because his dark green eyes began to water. To be looked at with the same eyes as an abusive father. To be wavered by the defense mechanism triggered by feeling threatened. 

He was a terrible boyfriend.

What had he done? What was he doing? This wasn’t what he wanted to be at all.

Midoriya took a few more steps back as he hugged himself. Restrained himself in a way. He noticed Todoroki melt the ice away calmly. The glare vanished so quickly. Glancing up, he just saw his beloved look so worried and caring as he tried to approach him. 

He didn’t deserve that.

Todoroki was so loving, so forgiving. Even after being screamed at, he was so prepared to forgive and comfort him. Comfort him. As if he was the one who needed comforting. He wasn’t the one who just had his trauma triggered because his boyfriend was just as controlling as the father that tried to kill him.

“Stay away from me…” Midoriya nearly whimpered. All morning his mind was on Bakugo. Bakugo. The boy that was always screaming, always yelling, and always abusing him. He had been thinking about him so much that he had even ignored Todoroki. All the screaming he just did… how he wanted to direct it all on his childhood bully. But he just let it all out on Todoroki. The lack of control, the lack of focus, and the lack of care. Todoroki shouldn’t be around someone so unstable. He was so worked up on the anticipation and complex feeling of finally being able to confront Bakugo… he neglected the compassion he loved to give Todoroki.

Midoriya grabbed his notebook off his desk and held it close to his chest. He hugged his notes. His work. But not his beloved, beautiful hero. “I-I… have so much work to do today…” That’s all he could think of to say. There was work to do. There was always work to do.

Todoroki didn’t approach any further or take a step back. His hand was slightly outreached, awaiting some kind of touch in return. Even if Midoriya just grazed his finger. He wasn’t mad. A little upset, but not angry. He was hurt, not furious. But Midoriya was his medicine. He always made him feel better. It wouldn’t take much to fix this. But the doctor didn’t trust himself to heal the wound he just made

Midoriya walked past Todoroki without touching him, his head down, and went to the living room where there was a tall bookshelf filled with textbooks. He started mindlessly leafing through them, trying to distract himself in order to not make the wound any worse. He needed to keep his mouth shut because apparently he couldn’t control himself from butting into someone else’s life and private situations. Especially when they upset him.

Todoroki put his hands in his pockets and felt for his phone to make sure he had it. Zuzu made a small whimper and followed as he headed out of the room and out the main door. “I’m leaving…” he said quietly, but loud enough to surely be heard. Midoriya didn’t answer. With his back turned to his beloved hero, he gritted his teeth and put his forehead against one of the shelves. “Please don’t work too hard. You could get sick.” Todoroki then shut the door with Zuzu leaving with him. The moment the door clicked closed, Midoriya sunk to his knees and threw his notebook behind him harshly. He gripped his hair and tugged down on it before scratching aggressively at his wrists.

“What the hell is wrong with me…?” he cried quietly. 

Todoroki walked at a bit faster pace than normal while going down the stairs to the bar, faster than what Zuzu could keep up with her tiny trotting legs. He flipped up his hood and speed walked through the bar, trying to leave as quietly as possible. “Oh, Shouto-,” Kurogiri was behind the bar counter cleaning as usually when he noticed Todoroki and kindly tried to get his attention. “Did he like what you made-?”

“I’m going out. Don’t know when I’ll be back. Make sure Zuzu stays here, please.” Todoroki said quickly and softly. He put his mask on before opening the door. He used his foot to gently keep Zuzu from squeezing through. Kneeling down quickly, he petted her head before trying to leave. But she bit his sleeve and hopelessly tried to pull him back with a whine. “Go take care of Izuku. I’m okay.” he pulled his arm back, making her let go and shut the door without another word.

Zuzu began scratching at the door and barking loudly with a cry mixed into it. After scratching and jumping at the door that wasn’t going to open, she sat down and began barking at it instead.

“Why does the mutt have access to my room?” Dabi asked, putting on a shirt in his room. Shigaraki was standing at the door to his room with Zuzu in his arms who appeared pretty distressed. Panting, wiggling, heart racing, Shigaraki was staring at her, having no idea what to do about her strange behavior. He had spent the whole invasion period with her and she was just a docile and calm little thing with him. 

“Kurogiri put small doors for the tiny killer on everyone’s doors.” Shigaraki answered.

“And why the hell did he do that?”

“So the tiny killer won’t be contained.” Zuzu would never be contained. Dabi rolled his eyes as he put on a leather jacket with lots of needless zippers. He then picked up a flu mask and kept it under his chin to hide most of the burns. From a distance, they’d be more difficult to notice. Then he took a small wrap of bandages and put a single strip over the bridge of his nose and wrapped it around his head to cover the burns under his eyes. Shigaraki was dressed in a black hoodie and black pants with a red scarf wrapped around the lower half of his face while his hair was left unkept and covering one eye. So they were going out on a date after all. 

“Why do you keep calling it that? It’s a pathetic tiny dog.” Dabi grumbled.

“She ripped apart a doll of Endeavor faster than it took you to kill someone.” Shigaraki held her up to his face close to his nose. She gave his nose the smallest lick. “If she was bigger, she would be a beast scarier than Cerberus.” He had such high expectations of this tiny puppy. But he honestly just liked dogs.

“No, it’d be a bigger fluffball that would leave even more fur all over the place.” Dabi was meanwhile picking pieces of puppy fur off of his jacket. “But it does seem a bit stressed out this morning. I don’t think that’s normal.” Both of them had noticed Zuzu’s strange behavior. Usually Zuzu was a reflection of Todoroki’s mental state and acted as a type of emotional support animal for him and even the other League of Villains members. “You think it’s about that blond brat?”

“Dunno.” Shigaraki put Zuzu on the ground to see what she would do. Her first reaction was to run to Dabi and start jumping at his leg and start barking.

“Hey, hey, not so loud. Jeez.” Dabi lightly tried to push her away with his foot. She bit the lower rim of his pant leg to hold on and whine. “Yeah, this is definitely not normal…” Dabi lifted his foot off the ground to watch Zuzu dangle from his pants, wiggling ever so slightly. Shigaraki wrapped eight fingers around her tiny body so she could let go and not hit the ground. He then placed her back on the floor where she laid down, whining and making tiny muffled barks against the floorboards. “She’s probably bored and wants to play. Toga can take care of it.”

Dabi put one hand in his pocket before taking Shigaraki’s wrist to guide him out of the little apartment. Zuzu followed. When they passed Toga’s room, they could hear loud music and two people singing very out of tune but probably purposely. “I think Twice came back this morning to goof off with her.” Shigaraki mumbled, then shrugged. “Better him than me.”

“Yeah, because you’re stuck with me today.” Dabi tried to nudge Zuzu closer to the little doggy door that was installed into Toga’s door. But the puppy was defiant and sat down, using her paws to keep from moving forward. She was really being stubborn this morning. Dabi eventually rolled his eyes and dragged Shigaraki down the stairs, eventually letting go of his wrist the moment he saw Kurogiri. 

“I see you two are going out as well. Shouto just left.” Kurogiri informed them as he was dusting off the tv at the bar. “He requested Zuzu stay inside today.” They both took notice of how Kurogiri was referring to Todoroki by his first name. He must have been spending enough time with him to ask his preference or get his permission. They appeared to have a fairly close relationship. 

“Is that so?” Dabi nudged Zuzu back away from the door with his foot to keep her from getting any closer and slipping out. “You heard the kid. Confinement for you.” Shigaraki opened the door only a little to get through without Zuzu escaping. 

“We’ll be back before dark.” Shigaraki said before stepping out.

“See ya.” Dabi followed right behind and shut the door quickly behind him. Zuzu bolted for it the second he took his foot away but she ended up slamming her head into the door and falling back on her butt. She shook her head to shake it off before pawing at the door and whining some more.

“We better be back before dark…” Shigaraki grumbled with his hands in his pockets. He and Dabi began walking together, keeping to either quiet backroads or the busiest streets they could find. It was either stay away from everyone, or blend into a massive crowd. Even with their faces covered a little bit, they’d be harder to recognize at a glance.  But more than anything, Shigaraki hated going out and he hated people. This ‘date’ thing wasn’t exactly his idea.

But looking at Dabi, he could see how casual he was. He had a cigarette in his mouth but didn’t light it. Probably trying to break his habit one step at a time. He had his hands in his pockets too, taking long slow strides. He closed his eyes letting a small cold breeze flow through the spikes of his hair. He knew how to walk the streets. Side roads, back roads, main roads. He had learned all of them and made them his home for years. Despite being a villain, a killer, there was a part of him just like everyone else. A part of him that craved some kind of normalcy. Just a little bit.

Shigaraki turned his head away from him trying to keep the blush hidden under his scarf. He would humor him for today. Another award for being so successful perhaps. That’s what he’d call it. 

“So… what do you like?” Dabi asked. If this was a date, then they were supposed to do something together.

“Nothing.”

“Bullshit.” Dabi smirked and poked the side of Shigaraki’s forehead to push him a little. “There’s things you like. You like dogs and video games and junk food. So c’mon, what else do you like?” Shigaraki made a small noise in annoyance and gave Dabi some heavy side-eye. But it just made the stapled man smirk more widely. They were such a pain to each other. “I didn’t take you out to torture you. Well… maybe a little bit.”

“So you admit you like to make me suffer.” Shigaraki sighed. But his soul completely left his body when Dabi reached into his pocket to steal his hand to hold. Though he was careful to not hold his pinkie even though he had gloves on. Taking into account that Shigaraki was not comfortable with touching things like a normal person yet. Shigaraki went paler than a ghost with his eyes wide and his hand was as stiff as could be.

“Yeah, a little bit. It’s cute.” Dabi shrugged with his signature smug grin. “So where you wanna go? Or am I going to have to choose?” Shigaraki didn’t answer. They’ve been much more intimate before. But that was always in private. This was in public. People could see. He could see people glancing. Their stares and prying eyes didn’t make him nervous. But the idea of just being perceived like this… Like a normal person on a date… How embarrassing… “Alright, guess I’m choosing.”

And that was a mistake.

Shigaraki had never felt more out of place.

He sat at a low table that was lightly colored in a room filled with sunshine, flowers, and small animals. Some kind of animal cafe. That’s what Dabi chose. It was pink and bright and cutesy and it felt like the last places one of the most wanted criminals would be found. Shigaraki was absolutely dumbfounded as well as probably traumatized to just be sitting somewhere so humiliatingly adorable.

“If anyone finds out you were here, I’m so dead, Dabi.” A girl who definitely worked there stood over Dabi dressed in goth lolita clothing with her arms folded. It appeared the two knew each other, but she knew Dabi under a different name. Dabi only smirked and waved her off.

“You owe me so I’m taking you up on it. We won’t get caught, I promise.”

“If we had a snake I’d make sure it’d go for your throat.” she huffed before walking away. 

“Friend of yours?” Shigaraki asked, having a staredown with a hamster across the room. Such tiny soulless eyes.

“Sorta…” Dabi rubbed the side of his head. That could mean a number of things knowing his history. But Shigaraki wouldn’t judge no matter what he did. So he didn’t press. He just ate a cookie from a bowl that was sitting at the center of the table. From behind the bowl, a little hedgehog peeked its head out. When Shigaraki narrowed its eyes at it, it hid back behind it only to peek out the other side a few seconds later. “Just some blackmail and drugs.” Dabi said vaguely. Shigaraki shrugged. “And some sex.”

Shigaraki nearly choked on the cookie. He appreciated the honesty but to just say it so casually… “Y...Yeah, she seems like your type.” Just glancing back at the girl, she seemed to like the dark clothing and clearly had some tattoo under her stockings. She seemed to have quite the attitude too. Edgy and bratty was Dabi’s type, huh? 

“Think you’d dress like that for me?”

“I will kill you.” Shigaraki put his chin on the table to be at eye level with the shy hedgehog. He may have liked how it waddled around and how it tried to get into the bowl by getting to its hind legs. But it fell on its back from reaching too high and curled up in a ball. “Looks like you.” Dabi raised his brow. “The fur. You match.” Spikey. 

“Is that so?” Dabi scoffed before getting up from the floor. He looked around a bit, looking for something in particular. He was careful not to step on the hamster that was casually rolling by in a ball when he walked off. Shigaraki leaned over while Dabi wasn’t looking to snatch and hold it before watching it roll around in circles around him. Despite how cutesy the place was, there was just the slightest hint that the scrawny villain probably simply liked animals more than people.

A white cat leaped down from the catwalk that was built on the ceiling for the felines. It tried to pounce on the ball in a more playful fashion than that of a predator. The animals were probably carefully picked and trained to not kill each other. To let the little hamster get away, Shigaraki reached for a feather string toy to distract that cat. He played with it for a little while, sitting with his knees close to his chest. Maybe this wasn’t so bad…

Shigaraki turned back when he felt a small tug on his scarf from behind to which he saw two tiny puppies smaller than Zuzu playing with it. He could barely see their eyes because they were just fluffy little nuggets. No bodies, just fluff. In order to not be choked, Shigaraki laid down on his back for the puppies to have more scarf to play with and less to tighten around his neck. Though it ended up with the cat he was playing with pouncing on him and rolling down on his chest. This soon turned into a full-blown ambush with puppies attacking his face with kisses and a hedgehog and hamster nibbling at his hoodie and pants.

“You really like them grimey dontcha?” The girl stood back with her arms folded while smoking a cigarette. She probably wasn't supposed to be smoking. Dabi stood beside her, rubbing the side of his neck but was completely entranced by his partner being attacked by fluffy animals. Even with Shigaraki’s mouth covered by the scarf, he was blushing at the idea of him smiling so innocently.

“I like them cute too…” Dabi hummed. Then he scoffed with a shit-eating grin and face to match. “I mean, you-” he didn’t even get to finish his sentence when a tennis ball was shoved in his mouth to shut him up. Dabi took it out and tossed it aside, coughing but almost laughing. “As bitchy as ever, I see.”

“At least you grew a pair. You’re not as pathetic as when I last saw you. Took you this long to join a gang and kill someone?” Dabi stopped smiling and looked off. It appeared Shigaraki was not the first villain he ever came into contact with. “Every hero in the market is after you guys. You really got yourself into deep shit this time. But at least you’re not a big baby about killing anymore.”

“Took a little convincing… yeah.” he answered quietly. 

“You? Actually trusting someone? And here I’d thought you’d always be a pathetic lying rat with emotional baggage.” Dabi thought back to when he first met Shigaraki and when he first began living at the hideout. He did lie a lot… it almost got him killed. But he hasn’t had to lie to Shigaraki ever since his major screw up. And he eventually had a whole emotional breakdown when he couldn’t kill someone. He was pretty pathetic back then, huh? “Want one?” The girl offered Dabi a cigarette. 

Dabi turned his head with a half smile. “Nah. I’m trying to quit that stuff.” Shigaraki asked him to after all. When he turned his head, he noticed something that made his eyes light up for a moment. “There’s the fat bastard.” he snickered.

Shigaraki was just sitting up after having been thoroughly attacked. His hair was a bit more messed up than usual and he was covered in different color fur. But he didn’t seem to mind as he was casually brushing himself off. Then he jumped in momentary panic when something was plopped into his arms. “If I’m twins with a hedgehog, then that’s you.” Dabi sat down across the table again with a cocky smirk, staring at his partner who was completely frozen with the chubbiest bunny in his hold.

It was a white ball of chub with grey splotches around the nose and tips of its floppy ears. Its eyes were closed peacefully with its head appearing to have a double chin from all the chonk. Shigaraki could have just put it on the floor but he’d have to maneuver his hold to take it in both hands, touching it with all his fingers. He couldn’t risk that. He’d kill a city’s worth of people. But he drew the line at animals. They were too pure to be tainted by human shittiness. So this scrawny villain was left to hold this bunny, waiting for it to wake up and hop away on its own.

“He’s your spitting image, bunny.” Dabi teased, leaning over the table with his chin on his hand. 

“T...Tomcat.” Shigaraki stuttered. He wanted to say more but got distracted by the fact that the rabbit was slipping out of his arms. Bunnies and cats were both liquid animals. They just turned into puddles when on the floor. So he had to shift and maneuver himself carefully and held the animal almost like a baby with its little paws resting against the top of his hand. 

Dabi just scoffed at him, totally making fun of him. After a short while, the scrawny villain seemed to get more comfortable with the animal. He visually appeared less stressed and more calmed and just kept holding the chonky bunny with its little nose twitching. Dabi waited for the perfect moment. When the red-eyed killer relaxed a bit. When his whole body was loose but secure. When his eyes began to wander, looking curiously at all the other cute animals around the cafe. When his beautiful eyes were at the most perfect angle. Head tilted down a little and gazing up at a black fluffy cat napping on a hanging plant. Dabi’s phone made a small snapping sound. 

“Delete it,” Shigaraki said with an annoyed glare, looking very unimpressed.

“Nah.”

“Delete it or die.”

“Guess I’ll just die.” Dabi held his phone up with a proud grin. “I’ll treasure this forever.” He then moved around the table to sit next to Shigaraki and just smile at him in the most insulting way possible. Shigaraki only glared angrily at him until he swore he saw something pop up on Dabi’s head. He slept pretty well last night so he shouldn’t be hallucinating. He didn’t even feel tired.

Shigaraki blinked a few times and tilted his head to the side. “Tomcat.” His tone was different from how he usually said it. It wasn’t teasing or bitter or petty. Dabi looked up noticing how he was staring at his hair. Then he felt something on his back. From the scrawny villain’s angle, he saw two cat ears pop up from Dabi’s spikey hair, or at least from behind it. A cat had climbed up the stapled man’s back and was nuzzling into his hair and purring. It made him look like he had actual cat ears for a second.

“Hey, hey, get off-” Dabi went to reach for the invasive cat before he noticed he was practically surrounded with cats trying to climb into his jacket and two trying to get comfortable in his lap. “You gotta be kidding me…”

Shigaraki took the opportunity to lean against Dabi’s shoulder with the chunky bunny still in his arms. “You’re a cat magnet because you’re warm.” A little kitten climbed up Shigarki’s other arm before making itself comfortable in a ball at the nook of his neck and hoodie. Being a cat heating pillow wasn’t so bad if he could be one for Shigaraki too… Dabi just sighed and leaned his cheek on Shigaraki’s head before poking the chub of the bunny’s neck. 

Maybe playing normal wasn’t so bad…

Between getting coffees at a small cafe and kissing the whipped cream off of Shigaraki’s nose, going to a bookstore and peeking over his shoulder when he sat in a dark corner to read a comic book, and stealing small merch items from video game stores, it was a breath of fresh air for Dabi. Villain or not, it felt pretty okay being a human for a little while.

“You really gotta show everyone up, huh?” Dabi lightly nudged through a small crowd of greasy young men that were circled around an arcade machine. He walked away for one minute and Shigaraki couldn’t stop being a show off or a nerd for just a second. Perhaps it was much longer than that because whatever high score was on that machine was demolished. He had all of the other gamer boys in the rooms’ eyes on him. He had them awestruck. But Dabi just stood beside him with his hands in his pockets glancing around. “What happened to laying low?” 

“These guys are on video game forums in their rooms all day. They don’t watch the news.” Shigaraki muttered. He appeared focused, brain locked on what he was doing. “Why? How many are there?” There were gasps as Shigaraki turned his head away to look at the circle that had gathered. He didn’t care to notice them before. Eyes completely off the game and he was destroying the record easily without even looking. “Yikes.” There were more people than he thought. As much as he loved attention, attention for this was just weird. The ‘yikes’ was more out of pity as he thought it was pretty sad that they were looking up to him like this. 

“I’m not sure how I feel about this many people staring at you.” Dabi leaned his back against the side of the machine with a sly smirk. 

“Hypocrite. You stare at me all the time. You and your brother have a staring problem.” Perhaps it was a Todoroki thing to just stare at people.

“Well I think I get to stare.” Dabi got off the machine and turned on his feet to face Shigaraki, rudely putting one hand on his waist and using the other to tug his scarf down just enough to kiss his lips. There was a series of quiet screams of panic in the small crowd of gamers because they thought for sure this meant Shigaraki would mess up from the distraction. The new high score would end! But even with the distraction of a kiss, the scrawny villain played expertly while subtly kissing Dabi back. In a dark arcade, they were only illuminated by the white screen of the machine.  “Because you’re mine.”

“You’re just a pain in my ass.” Shigaraki huffed, turning away back to the game with a single head motion that put his scarf back into place. “But… I suppose mine nonetheless.” He was hiding it with the scarf and the focus on the game, but Shigaraki’s face was redder than it had ever been. “Why do you have to be so embarrassing around other people?” The embarrassment wasn’t crippling because these people didn’t know them. They’d probably never see any of them again. But people could still see and it made the scrawny villain’s face turn red just think about it.

“Just to piss you off.” Dabi snickered, shrugging his shoulders. There was a tiny innocent blush on whatever skin he had left. It was fun. He was happy. But he also thought the idea of asserting his dominance in front of a crowd of gamer guys was kinda funny. They may have been impressed with Shigaraki’s high score. But he just liked how cute he looked when he was focused on a game.

“This is the most fun I’ve had all day.” Midoriya giggled, taking the wooden bat in his hands and bashing it against Bakugo’s head. “Needles and knives are usually my thing but I think I’m enjoying this more.” He put it over his shoulder and held the top of it with his other hand, swaying on his feet childishly.

They were in the laboratory. Bakugo was chained to a cage by his hands and ankles with his hands still restrained in a metal box to restrict his quirk, leaving him absolutely defenseless. He was forced to wallow on the ground on his knees, his nose and mouth bleeding with a few scratches on his cheeks. The blow to his head forced him to lose balance and fall face down on the ground. But he was stubborn and got back on his knees slowly and shakily. His body was bruised all over the place. This must have been going on for quite some time. “You’re still a weakling.” he spat.

The comment made Midoriya’s face twitch. He watched in anger as Bakugo rose to his feet hunched over with his hands dangling limply. He stood up as tall as the chains would allow. Just a hunched over stance, but a bloody head held high with feral smirk. “Can’t you shut up for once?!” Midoriya’s eyes flashed red as he brought the bat down on Bakugo’s head again, the force making him fall on one knee and his head be tilted down. But the blond refused to fall. “Don’t you know what I can do to you?! I’m going to kill you! So stop acting like such a bastard already!” Midoriya bashed his shoulder to try and throw him off balance. Bakugo knelt down more, constricting himself to conceal the pain.

Bakugo spat blood on to the ground before slowly raising his head to look at Midoriya. The freckled villain was in a stance, reading to bring the bat down again. He was splattered in blood and his eyes were glowing with violent rage. Teeth gritted, hands gripping the bat intensely, his chest heaving with every tense breath.

He couldn’t help but remember the kind freckled boy that reached his hand out to him in the pond where he fell, asking if he was okay... Looking up at such a concerned and kind face.

How could this be the same person… How did he create this…?

“Well? What are you waiting for?!” Bakugo shouted. “Are you sca-” His stomach was hit in an upward motion, knocking all of the air from inside of him as he wheezed and spat up blood and spit. He fell on both knees, but didn’t collapse. “C...C’mon, you can hit harder than that…” Why was he egging him on like this? What was the point of this teasing? Midoriya looked so angry, but maybe even a little frightened. The hopelessness Bakugo felt had vanished, Mioriya’s source of joy was gone. But this fearlessness and taunting… he’s never had a subject like this. One that wasn’t afraid of him. “Deku… Come on… I-I know you’ve got more than that.” Bakugo brought one foot forward to rise back to his feet. He just kept getting back up. “You’ve got more anger than that. So hurry up… get it all out.”

Midoriya took a step back and lowered the bat. “What did you say…?” Did he hear that right? Looking down at Bakugo, he thought back to the little boy, the leader always filled with confidence. One with such an amazing quirk and passion. But even someone like him needed a little help sometimes, a hand to grab on to.

 How could this be the same person? How come he couldn’t break him?

“I know you’re angry… I know what it feels like to be so pissed off at everything and yourself.” Bakugo smirked through the pain. “You were better at controlling it more than me. Or at least I thought so. But it turns out you’ve just bottled it up this whole time… and this is what it's turned you into.” He smirked even though it hurt. He wasn’t laughing at Midoriya. He was laughing at himself. The two of them have always been so angry at everything. Angry at the impossible expectations and the lack of any. Angry for not being strong enough. Angry at not being good enough. “I can’t even recognize you even though I did this to you.” He was self aware of his mistakes. He admitted he hurt him. “Yeah, I wish you killed yourself. But only to see that you’ve killed and hurt so many people.” And yet… “And yet… if only someone had saved you. I’d prefer to say…” Midoriya dropped the bat. It clattered on the bloodied tile floor. “...I’m sorry…”

He was sorry...

“I’m sorry I-” Bakugo was going to keep talking when his throat was suddenly grabbed by two hands very tightly. The grip was so powerful that it cut off his airwary right away. His mouth was gaping open as he struggled to even get a single breath. He was forced off balance.

Midoriya had gotten on his knees with his eyes wide, inhumanely wide open. His breathing was calm, his body was still. But the power in both of his hands was incredible. He forced Bakugo back, making him sit down. He forced him back further so he was laying down on his back. He was on top of him with his hands clenched so tight around his throat that his fingers were cracking and turned red and white. He wasn’t saying anything. Emotionless eyes were locked on to his former friend’s face. How pale it was becoming. How his eyes were struggling to stay open, even rolling back. How his mouth struggled to take in any air. He was barely moving after a few seconds. How cold he became. Like a corpse.

If only someone had saved you.

Bakugo gasped and coughed as soon as his throat was released. He spat up saliva and blood as he rolled on his side, curling up and wheezing.  He tried reaching for his neck, but the metal box prevented him from doing anything.

“Shouchan saved me… idiot.” Midoriya folded his arms and turned his back to Bakugo. He didn’t want to look at him. Or rather… he didn’t want him to see him. “I tried to jump, you know that? I went back to the school and tried to jump. I really wanted to die…” Bakugo watched his body language from behind. He watched his head tilt down and move side to side subtly. He saw Deku. The crybaby he always knew… “It wasn’t just you. Don’t give yourself that much credit. You always do that…” the sound of his voice getting a little choked on crying, but trying so hard to keep it back. “I met All Might in person after school that day. You jealous?” He tried teasing him. “Maybe it would have been better if I never did because even he didn’t believe a quirkless loser like me could be like him…”

Bakugo thought back to all the looks All Might had given Midoriya in passing. How concerned or even ashamed he looked when around him. It was always awkward. In the hallway or the time they saw each other at Recovery Girl’s office or the police station. They knew each other. All Might knew all along what he must have helped create.

“But… Shouto did.” Midoriya giggled through the tears he must have been shedding. “So many coincidences that day, huh? He just happened to get burned by his dad and sprinted out of the house. He just happened to see me… He just happened to get to me in time. He caught me just in time.” He hugged himself and remembered the arms that held him so tightly that day. “He saved me, Kacchan… he told me I could make an impact even without a quirk.” He missed him so much...

“So why do this…?” Bakugo coughed, his eyes narrowing bitterly. He was angry at almost being killed. But he did want to understand all that went into making things go so wrong. 

“Well…” Midoriya turned around with his hands shrugged, the dim lighting of the furnace in the lab almost creating a silhouette. He had such a big smile. “What’s a bigger impact than killing the number one hero?” Bakugo gritted his teeth. “And killing the number two hero for hurting my hero?” A tear fell from Midoriya’s eye. “And killing you?”

“And you thought Todoroki would go along with you?” Bakugo got back on one knee with one eye closed, breathing heavily, and even drooling. “You couldn’t have a quirk, so you wanted him instead?”

“It took some convincing, but this was his choice. He-” Midoriya was so ready to brag and go on a tangent on how he took Todoroki away from the heroes when Bakugo cut him off.

“You mean manipulating?” Bakugo said lowly. He tried not to sound angry. But it wasn’t really working. “If what Iida and Mr. Aizawa said about Endeavor is true, then he was vulnerable. He was hurting and you wouldn’t let him talk to anyone about it. Iida tried to help him.”

“Well he wasn’t very good at it.” Midoriya folded his arms again and huffed. Iida gave Todoroki a panic attack. It was a good thing he didn’t let Todoroki near him much after that.

“He at least tried! Mr. Aizawa did too!”

“He was too slow.”

“He was being careful!” Midriya thought back to that dreadful phone call. Maybe Todoroki wouldn’t have been beaten unconscious if he had been more careful. Aizawa didn’t even want to risk something like that phone call. How frustrating,

“Shouto trusts me!” That was the core of it. Todoroki trusted him. 

“Because you wouldn’t let him trust anyone else!

“I saved him from Kosuke!” Kosuke would have kept attacking him.

“He was going to get expelled! He was already dealt with before you killed him!”

“I saved him!” He was abandoned in that fire.

“We all wanted to!”

“I love him!!” He loved him.

“You’re obsessed with him! You’ve lost your fucking mind!”

“Shouto loves me!!”  He… loved Midoriya didn’t he?

Midoriya couldn’t help but think of that hurt expression on Todoroki’s face before he walked out the door that morning. It was almost the evening and he hadn’t gotten a single text from him on his phone. 

“Because he doesn’t know what love is!!”  Bakugo screamed through his hoarse voice. “He’s never received love in his life! You’ve made him dependent on you! He only stays with you because he doesn’t know what love would feel like from anyone else!”

“Shut up!”

“If you loved him, you would have given him outlets that would insure other means of happiness! You cut them all off and it was from your recklessness that Endeavor was suspecting him and he had no one else to turn to!”

“That’s not true!”

“If you let Eraserhead handle Kosuke, Todoroki would have never been suspected! He never would have been left to die. You endangered him more than anyone else for your own greed!”

“You’re wrong!!”

“You wanted him so badly that he could only be yours or no one’s! Even if that meant he was dead!!” 

“ENOUGH!!” Midoriya picked up the bat again and swung it against the side of Bakugo’s head so hard he knocked him over. He left him twitching on the ground, his head bleeding and his eyes rolling back to just look at the freckled villain. Midoriya hesitated before just screaming. Screaming as he brought the wooden bat down on Bakugo again and again. Until Bakugo was unconscious. Until Midoriya was covered in blood. Until his voice hurt from screaming in rage. Until the bat snapped in half.

Midoriya sat on his knees before collapsing on his side on the bloody floor. Bakugo laid unconscious right behind him. They were back to back. One silently sleeping in chains, and one twitching and crying silently with only quiet gasping hiccups. “Shouchan…” he quietly whined. His hands trembled as he reached into his back pocket. He went to log into his phone when he got a bloody glove print on the screen. He made a small noise of desperate frustration as he took his glove off with his teeth and logged in. There was just a single text that was left unanswered. It hadn’t even been read.

-When are you coming home?-

It had been hours since it was sent. Even more tears welled up in Midoriya eyes as he gritted his teeth and typed another message. “Shouchan…” How could he let Bakugo get to him like that? He’s only been captured for one day. But the things he said… they were wrong. Surely they were wrong. Todoroki loved him… didn’t he?

-I love you.-

Bakugo was dragged and locked into the cage again. Midoriya cleaned up the mess before he left. In going back to his room, he checked around every corner to see if Todoroki had returned. Every room had been left untouched since he left. He wasn’t back yet. Midoriya looked outside to see the sky as a sea of yellow, orange, and pink. It had been all day since he last saw him. He never responded or read any of his texts either. 

The little villain threw his phone as hard as he could against the pillow on his bed before flopping down face first onto the mattress. He laid flat on his stomach, staring hopelessly out the window. It only took a few seconds for him to reach for his phone again and check the messages one more time. He kept refreshing the app. Again and again he was hoping it would change or update any second. He couldn’t help the tears that were beginning to slip out again. While repeatedly refreshing  for at least a few minutes, there was a shift of the bed when someone else sat down.

“So what happened?” Shigaraki asked quietly. Midoriya’s eyes rolled back from his phone to see his big brother sitting beside him with his legs over the edge. The red eyed villain was looking down at him with an expression that wasn’t easy to interpret. He was feeling one thing as a boss, and another as a brother.

It was only a few minutes prior when Dabi and Shigaraki returned to Kurogiri’s bar. They made it back before sundown just as they promised. At the door, Zuzu was laying on the floor directly in front of it, puppy eyes locked on the doorknob. When it began to jiggle, she stood up with her tail wagging and hopes high. Dabi and Shigaraki came through and Zuzu ran up to them, looking behind Shigaraki’s leg up until they shut the door. Her ears and tail lowered with a quiet whine. It was just the two of them… Todoroki was still out there.

“Now what’s with that?” Dabi picked Zuzu up and held her in front of himself to examine her. She wiggled her paws and cried out with a bark. She was still acting strange.

“I guess Shouto hasn’t returned yet. It’s odd for him to be gone for so long.” Kurogiri commented. Shigaraki was in the middle of taking his shoes off and unwrapping his scarf. “I did message him about dinner. But he hasn’t even read it. It’s been more than two hours.” Kurogiri checked his phone just in case there was a new message. 

“So he’s not back yet? He didn’t even come back for a second?” Dabi wanted to clarify. He looked back at the door and then at Zuzu. She’s been wanting to escape all day. She’s been waiting at the door since they left. Todoroki took her everywhere when he was going out to run errands or wander. It was strange of him to leave without her. It was strange that he asked that she stayed here. It was strange that he wasn’t answering his phone. Dabi glanced at Shigaraki.

“I’ll figure it out. Just stay here.” Shigaraki sighed, lowering his hood as he walked further inside. 

And that’s when he ended up on his crying little brother’s bed. Just seeing him so upset, he knew something was wrong. Todoroki was nowhere to be found and Midoriya was an emotional disaster. “So what happened?” he asked, careful to keep his voice down. He didn’t want to come off as angry.

“I...yelled at him. I said some terrible things to him and I raised my voice and I grabbed his arm too tight and…” Midoriya lifted his head with tears and snot all over his face. “D-Did he come back?” He wanted him back just as much as Zuzu did. And Shigaraki only shook his head and looked down at his feet in thought.

“No. No one’s heard from him. I can tell Dabi’s worried.” Shigaraki answered honestly. The freckled villain that was already broken in tears appeared to have somehow shattered even more. Midoriya got to his knees and grabbed Shigaraki’s shoulders tightly.

“I’m not worried.” Dabi said, sitting at the bar with Kurogiri behind it. Zuzu was at his feet, biting at his pant leg and growling quietly. Dabi pretended not to care. But considering he was already drinking out of a bottle…

“Wh-What about Zuzu? She’s with him, r-right?” Midoriya asked desperately. She would take care of him if he wasn’t emotionally well. She always knew what to do. She somehow always knew. But Shigaraki shook his head. “He’s… alone…? All day?” Midoriya looked mortified. He hadn’t gotten a text back all day. 

“I think you should go look for him.” Kurogiri suggested to Dabi. Dabi raised a brow, acting like he was annoyed. Kurogiri checked his phone when he received a text from Shigaraki. “Shouto and Izuku had a fight, it seems. And he left Zuzu behind, which isn’t like him.” Dabi slammed the bottle down on the counter.

“That fucking…” he grumbled. “What? Did he yell at him for not being the perfect puppet? The little shit…” he stood up and scratched the side of his head appearing to be very frustrated. He knew Midoriya couldn’t be trusted with Todoroki’s feelings. “Alright, where would he be?”

Midoriya sat beside Shigaraki, wiping his eyes as he continued to softly weep. Shigaraki was on his phone, typing something out to Kurogiri. “M-Maybe the mall… or the hospital. H-He said he was going to the students’ hospital. O-Or maybe his mom’s hospital. There’s a park in the district north from here we used to go to… m-maybe the beach by the aquarium. A-And check the middle school…!” the freckled boy was listing all of the places Todoroki may have been to or where he may be now. Shigaraki was typing them out to Kurogiri.

“Take Zuzu on foot to the beach and middle school on the outskirts of the downtown area. I’ll check other places. Do be careful of your identity.” Kurogiri warned. Dabi went into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulled up a black mask that would cover his nose all the way down to his neck. He didn’t exactly want to come back to the hideout to be sent out on a search and rescue for his little brother. But he wasn’t about to let Midoriya do it.

“Alright you little furball,” Dabi kicked the main door open after putting his boots on and Zuzu sprinted outside, barking wildly. She had been wanting to go after her owner all day. And she was going to chase after him as fast as her tiny legs would take her. Dabi just didn’t expect her to take off that fast; he had to run after her. “Hold on a second, mutt!” Kurogiri shut the door behind him before warping off.

Dabi chased after Zuzu with her mindlessly barking and howling on the sidewalk. She was bolting around corners and running around people with only one thing on her mind. The night was settling in so there weren’t many people on the street to avoid, thankfully. “Slow down!” Dabi called out to her. He didn’t have the energy to run anywhere near as much as Zuzu. Todoroki took her out for runs a lot, surely. He wasn’t as healthy and strong as him, even in his supposed prime. “Zuzu!” He was only just barely able to catch up when the puppy was about to bolt into a crosswalk. But the light was still red. Dabi snatched her up just before a motorcycle zoomed by where she was about to run. “He’s gonna kill ME if you get run over or stepped on. So chill out!” He gasped, trying to catch his breath, having to lower his mask to regain his composure.

Zuzu whimpered with her ears flattened as she leaned forward to kiss Dabi’s nose. “Kiss up…” He put her down and she sat down, waiting for him to collect himself. His heart was beating out of his chest and he felt ready to pass out already. He hated being reminded of how weak he actually was. “Listen to me… and I know you’re good at that.” he crouched down and looked down at her. Her tail was wagging furiously and she was panting. She wanted to run again. To keep that from happening, Dabi picked her up and put her in his jacket, zipping it up so only her head was sticking out. Contained. “I’m worried too… okay?” he admitted quietly. “I should have noticed what you wanted this morning. Sorry that I doubted you. But you’re a fucking dog.” It was almost scary how smart Zuzu actually was. It kinda creeped him out. “We’re gonna find him, okay?”

When taking a train to the beach, Dabi just had to sit and look out the window. There was no way to get there any faster but it was just painful to sit and wait. He could feel Zuzu getting restless in his jacket. “I know… I know…” he muttered, trying to keep her from running off again. He did not need the dog wreaking havoc on a bullet train. The car they were in was empty at least. It gave him a moment to lean back and stare at all the empty seats.

He remembered being covered in bandages as a child, standing beside his mother when the bullet train was almost full. His little brother was still so small, small enough to be carried easily. He remembered how this big, beaty, bicolored eyes lit up at the sight of a small dog in a woman’s purse. Too young for words, he just smiled and tried reaching for it. Touya asked why they could never have a pet. Shouto looked like he really wanted one. But Rei was worried Endeavor would kill it. They ended up playing with the foxes they found in the garden.

At the beach, Dabi kept his hands in his pockets while letting Zuzu sniff around the sidewalks, the sand, and benches. She was going in circles trying to find anything with her little snoofer. “It’s alright. He probably wasn’t here.” Dabi picked her up again as she whined in disappointment. He was disappointed too.

“Don’t move, okay?” Going to the middle school, Dabi stood by the wall with the puppy in his arms. He held on to her tightly as he lit the bottom of his boots on fire, forcing his body to shoot up in the air and then land on his feet on the rooftop. It had gotten so much darker now. The city lights and the moon were his only source of light here. He let Zuzu down again to let her sniff around the roof. “So this is where they met, huh?” The stapled man paced around while the puppy got to work. This is where his little brother’s fate was forever changed. On this rooftop, just trying to do what was right. And it landed him a psychopath of a boyfriend.

Dabi stood at the edge of the rooftop just to look down at the ground from that height. Maybe just get a feel for what both of them were thinking at the time. He seemed lost in thought when he heard a small puppy sneeze. “You find something?” Zuzu had her paws spread out and her face flat into the ground. She made a muffled bark. So Todoroki was here at some point. Recently, if Zuzu was able to pick up a scent. “So he’s around…” But where would he have gone. Zuzu was still walking in circles, like she didn’t have a solid trail. Dabi folded his arms and just looked around. Where would Todoroki go…

Sad. Confused. Angry. Hurt. Lonely… where would his little brother go? Dabi spotted a few places with lights on. Hotels and restaurants and bars… he wouldn’t. Too many people and he knew better. He wasn’t at the beach either. The stapled man squinted and saw a construction site just a little ways down the road. It looked like they were building something massive. There was sturdy scaffolding that reached high up and caution tape up to deter people from getting close. “I think I got him.”

Tomcat: I got him

“Dabi found him.” Shigaraki told Midoriya, still sitting at the foot of his bed. Meanwhile, the little villain was curled in a ball at his pillow hiding his face into it while clinging to Todoroki’s old and ratty white hoodie. He lifted his head and wiped one of his eyes.

“I-Is he safe? Is he hurt?” He sat up a little and leaned towards his big brother. “Where is he? I-Is he mad?” He crawled over to him and looked at his phone. Was Dabi going to send any details? “What’s he doing? I-Is he…” He had to know everything. 

“Why don’t we just give them some space?” Shigaraki suggested. “He’s the type that needs time to think on his own and talk about it when he’s ready.” 

“How would you know that?” Midoriya wiped his eyes some more, looking down sadly. Shigaraki didn’t want to tell him how he knew what he did. He was in a relationship with Todoroki’s brother after all.

“Why don’t we talk about what caused you to explode. You’ve been snippy. Besides…” Shigaraki put his arm around Midoriya with a smirk as he pulled him closer with his hand near his neck. “It’s been a while since I’ve been able to talk with the little schoolboy.” This is how they were like when they first met. Now that the League was officially a league, they haven’t spent alone time together in a long while.

“Well… I guess I just let what I want get the better of me. I didn’t realize how much I was hurting Shouchan…” Midoriya began, openly admitting his hurtful mistakes. “I wish… I could be more like you. You do what you want and give others what they want without a problem. I wish I could focus on a million different things at once. I wish I could make time for everything I want…” Shigaraki took his arm back and just listened. He really had become a role model for this little villain. “You’re strong and smart… you know how to talk to people even though you hate it. And I… I can’t even manage to be a good boyfriend.” Shigaraki looked off at a desk that was cluttered with notes and books.

“You work hard. You’re passionate. Sometimes that passion gets the better of you and you stop seeing the game clearly.” He turned to Midoriya. “It happens to me too. That’s why I make sure we can restart the game and try again.”

“But I can’t just erase what I said to him like a save file!” Midoriya’s voice cracked. “I hurt him. I turned into something worse than what I was trying to save him from. He trusts me and loves me because he just doesn’t know any better…” he put his face in his hands. “What was I thinking…? How could I ever make it up to him?”

“I guess…” Shigaraki wasn’t exactly a relationship expert. In fact, he was probably the least qualified for the job. But what answer would make the most sense? “Apologize and promise to be better.” That’s really all he could do. They couldn’t turn back time. He couldn’t take back what he said. He couldn’t just forget it and ignore it either. “That’s all we can really do when we mess up. Just try and do better next time.”

“What if I can’t be better…?” That was a scary question to ask. What if Midoriya couldn’t stop being selfish like that? What if he couldn’t stop hurting Todoroki? “What if this is really my best and it only gets worse?” 

“You think I would have picked you up off the streets if this was the best you were going to get?” Shigaraki bonked Midoriya enough to make the boy whine in pain. He always hit him harder than Dabi. “That’s just your shitty self esteem. C’mon, Akaguro taught you better than that.” Sometimes the answer to a scary question was just a little pep talk. Support. Something Midoriya never had a lot of. “You think I gave you a whole lab for nothing? You better not be insulting me if you really want to be like me.” Shigaraki made just the slightest smirk.

Midoriya sniffled as he rubbed his head, one last tear escaping his eye. But that was probably from the pain of being hit so hard. He smiled a broken smile, looking down at his feet next to Shigaraki’s. “Yeah…” Akaguro taught to use his conviction and his passion to move forward, to take care of himself. Todoroki was his passion, wasn’t he? He couldn’t lose him. He would have to be more careful. He would have to be better. A better doctor, a better killer, a better researcher, and a better partner. He couldn’t let anything slow him down if he wanted to be who he wanted to be. “I’ll be better.” Midoriya slapped his face with both hands and let the shock settle. Shigaraki and Stain believed in him. And if incredible people like them felt that he was worthy enough to have their support, then he wasn’t going to let them down. He wasn’t going to let his beloved hero down again.

“I’ll be back later!” He jumped off the bed and grabbed a black hoodie from the closet. He bolted out the door without another word, just a big smile on his face. Shigarki had no idea what was going through his head at the moment. But he just shrugged and let it happen. But then Midoriya popped his head back into the room. “I’ll get my notes to you tonight by the way! I left them on my desk in the lab! Okay bye!” And he left again.

“Hey.” Dabi stood behind Todoroki on a steel beam, hands in his pockets and looking very dull in the face.

Todoroki had been sitting on a steel beam several stories up, hugging his knees with his hoodie and hair lightly bouncing in the wind. He had earbuds in as he was listening to music on his phone. His eyes had been locked on the view of the beautiful cityscape at night, looking over the sea of twinkling, multi-colored lights. Despite the gorgeous view, his eyes looked so sad.

Hearing a voice behind him, he took an earbud out quickly and turned his head in a near panic. He wasn’t wearing his mask all the way up there and thought he had been found out. Not exactly relieved, he was surprised to see Dabi. “Dabi…?” he asked just as the stapled man took a long step to get on the same beam as Todoroki. 

“Did you have to be so high up for fuck’s sake?” They were high up. Really high up. Dabi couldn’t help but feel a little sick. He sat down next to Todoroki to feel more balanced with a loud sigh. Then Zuzu leapt out of his jacket and began crying and attacking her owner with kisses to the face. Todoroki struggled to get a hold on the frantic puppy and eventually just hugged her close and let her give him licks with a half smile and one eye closed. “You almost gave her a heart attack, you know? But I wouldn’t have found you without her.”

Zuzu eventually crawled under Todoroki’s shirt and reappeared with her head poking out of the collar of it. Her favorite spot. But Todoroki looked away from Dabi. Ashamed. Guilty. When other emotions were already eating away at him. Maybe he didn’t want to talk about anything just yet. Or maybe he was just scared to. In the time of silence, the stapled man took a few minutes to just look around. It was a beautiful view. But where they were was not safe at all. One wrong slip and that was a fall to death. To death.

“The school not high enough for you?” he asked. An insensitive question. But a blunt one. There was no avoiding this conversation. Not with his little brother. He watched Todoroki try to make himself smaller by hugging his knees closer and hiding his face in his arms. 

“I wasn’t going to jump…” he insisted. 

“Sure you weren’t.”

“I wasn’t.” Todoroki raised his head to finally look at Dabi. Restating himself sternly. But Dabi was looking right back at him with bright crystal blue eyes that mirrored his singular one. They were so intense. “I… wasn’t.” Todoroki suddenly didn’t sound as confident. “It would destroy his heart.” He put his chin back in his arms before just hiding his whole face again in shame. “I already did…” 

“Yeah, I heard about that.” Dabi stretched and cracked his neck side to side. Then he was very quick to grab the steel beam they were sitting on again. Couldn’t be too steady. “So why did you think coming up here was a good idea? It solve anything for ya?” Todoroki peeked down at the ground, checking how high up they were again. “Why didn’t you talk to anyone? You left without saying anything and you never answered your phone. What good was that going to do you?” 

Todoroki didn’t answer.

“Kurogiri is out looking for you right now. So you two got into a fight. You wanted to do something your little boyfriend didn’t want you to even though it wasn’t hurting him-”

“It upset him. So it did hurt him.”

“No, that’s a ‘him’ problem. Not a ‘you’ problem. He needs to get over that you have a will of your own. And you,” Dabi put his hand on his shoulder, clutching it tightly and shaking him. “You need to understand that you deserve things too. You’re upset because you think you hurt him. But he hurt you, didn’t he?” Todoroki looked at his wrist, pulling back the sleeve to see a small purple bruise. “It’s not all about him. It’s about you too. Why don’t you care about yourself?”

Todoroki sat silently, still not ready to answer. He just let a small breeze go by and through his hair. 

“Why didn’t you talk to anyone?”

Dabi asked his previous question again. He wasn’t one to play therapist. But maybe he could play big brother. This was what he was avoiding since he started as a villain. And now he just couldn’t help himself, not when his baby brother was sitting stories up on a construction site alone. 

“Is it because you’re scared?”

“What if the person I talk to ends up hating me too…?” Dabi blinked at Todoroki’s question. It hurt. “I’m used to being alone. I don’t want to try talking to someone if it’s just going to hurt more in the end anyway. For both of us.” It’s what happened with their mother. It’s what just happened with Midoriya. And Touya left him too. He felt he was avoiding it by rejecting Aizawa’s help. “So maybe I don’t care about myself… Maybe I shouldn’t if everyone I get close to gets hurt. So doesn’t it only make sense to just solve these things on my own?”

“That’s stupid.”

Todoroki blinked at Dabi’s simple response.

“Your feelings aren’t stupid. But that’s stupid. You may not care about you, but there’s other people who do. Don’t you know how upset they’ll be if something bad happened to you?” Todoroki looked away. “Your mom, your dog, the rest of the team, your boyfriend? I can’t stand the little bastard, but he matters to you, doesn’t he? Your worth just as much as he is.” Dabi gestured a bit with his hand. “I don’t care how much you hate yourself, you have to take care of yourself. If you can’t do it for yourself, then start by doing it for someone else until you can do it for yourself.”

Dabi folded his arms and sighed. What he said had quite a bit of weight in it for the both of them. He couldn’t help but think of Shigaraki when he said it. He was trying to quit smoking for a reason. Meanwhile, Todoroki was silent again. He was thinking carefully about every word. “If you want someone to talk to…” Dabi muttered, picking at a staple on his cheek. “You can talk to me...you know?” Was that weird? He hoped that didn’t come off as weird or suspicious. “Shigaraki uh… told me a lot about you. Your dad being a piece of shit and all. And your mom being in a hospital. I get it.”

Todoroki loosened up a little bit. He pushed his knees away from his chest a little and looked at Dabi with a bit of surprise. “I thought you’d be mad at me for killing Muscular. And taking the nomu…” 

“I gave you permission for that. Now you’re just being paranoid.” Dabi poked the side of Todoroki’s head to lighten the mood a little. “Give yourself a break. Not everyone’s mad at you all the time.” 

Endeavor’s constant anger. Kosuke’s undying hatred of him. Bakugo’s rage towards him at the Sports Festival. Iida pinning him down and yelling at him. Getting punished for fighting Kosuke by Principal Nezu. The cops aiming guns at him unprovoked. Being left to die in a fire. Midoriya snapping at him. So many people around him were just angry at him. It was probably just getting to him after so long. There was no one to really talk about it with.

“And there’s one more thing I wanted to ask you.” Dabi started. “What’s with the staring problem? You’ve been staring at me for over a week and it's kinda creeping me out.”

A small flame appeared on Todoroki’s head as he turned away awkwardly. Called out on the staring habit again. Only this time he was called out by the one he’s been staring at. “I uh… Your quirk..." Todoroki mumbled shyly. "I’ve been wanting to ask you if you would train me how to use my fire.” Dabi’s heart fell to his stomach and picked right back up in his chest. Train his little brother? “I never wanted to use it before. I still don’t like using it because it reminds me of my dad. And I… would rather remind me of someone cool like you.” Todoroki… looked up to him? He thought he was cool? 

“I-I’m not sure if that’s the best idea. I’m not a teacher.” He was just getting over being a homeless alcoholic. Now he was becoming Shigaraki’s right hand man and partner. Now a teacher for the League of Villain’s powerhouse? And he wasn’t sure if that was best for Todoroki… what if he ended up messing things up again? “Are you sure?” 

“I’m sure.” His little brother nodded.

Dabi rubbed the side of his head and looked at Todoroki, the little flame still on his head and eyes big and hopeful. How could he say no to that face? So innocent and determined. He reached over to lightly pat his head, mostly to smother the flame, but to also give some positive reassurance. “Alright then. I’ll train you.” He held a finger up. “On one condition.” He pointed down. “We are not pulling this shit again. I feel like I’m getting air sickness up here.” 

“Okay.” Todoroki nodded.

“And,”

“So there’s two conditions?”

“Yes there’s two.” Dabi grumbled. “If you feel like pulling this shit again, you talk to someone so I don’t need to walk halfway across town and climb up here to get you.”

“Okay.” Todoroki nodded again. His instant approval seemed almost too sincere. That was far too easy. Todoroki must have been wanting him as a teacher for a while now. 

“So… how are you feeling now?” Dabi asked. His baby brother seemed to be in a better mood. Being very responsive and his posture had loosened up as he was sitting up straight with his feet dangling. But then he became quiet again. He put Zuzu down beside him as he turned around on the steel beam, his back towards the view. Was he ready to go? Dabi was about to get up when his heart dropped. “Shou!!”

Todoroki purposely fell backwards on the steel beam, his eyes blissfully closed. Dabi lunged to stop him, as did Zuzu. But Todoroki caught himself by dangling upside down by his legs, looking at all the twinkling lights that way. Dabi was on his hands and knees above him, looking down, ready to have a heart attack. Zuzu looked ready to faint. “Did you really have to do that?!” Dabi was not happy at all. Very embarrassed actually. He even slipped his first name like an idiot. But Todoroki didn’t seem to pay it any mind, thankfully.

“I feel ready to burn the whole city to the ground.” Todoroki answered. It caught Dabi a bit off guard. “I should start caring about myself, right? So I should just burn everything that told me not to in the first place.” There was a bright blue glow in his eye that resembled Dabi’s. But with far more ecstaticness as he gestured out to the city with his hands, seeing it look so small from his perspective between his palms. “Heroes.” Dabi watched him smile. He wondered if Todoroki took what he said the right way.

After descending down the giant scaffolding, Dabi was quick to put Todoroki in a choke hold and grind his fist into the top of his head. It was a playful gesture but Dabi was also incredibly pissed. “Don’t scare me like that!” he scolded, but in a tone that was more humorous than angry. “If I’m going to be your teacher, I’m going to have to look out for your ass. I’m not looking out for a lunatic!” At least that’s what he told him. He would… because it was Todoroki, he’d look out for him no matter what. 

“So… how should I go back after that? I can’t just pretend everything’s normal. I think Izuku is too scared to talk to me.” Todoroki asked as they walked back to the hideout together with Zuzu trotting happily between them.

“Yeah, I’m not good at that. I’m more in it for what goes on in the sheets than a lover’s quarrels, you know? Why don’t you ask the psycho girl?”

“You mean Toga?”

“Yeah. Go talk to her and Twice. They probably know more about that kind of stuff than me.”

And that was how Todoroki ended up in Toga’s room, sitting on a pink, frilly sofa and nibbling on a cupcake with Zuzu. There was a plate of cupcakes on a kotatsu and a tv with bunny ears was on playing a slice of life anime. Twice was sitting on the floor with just his mask on while the rest of him was dressed casually. Though he was drinking out of a juice box with a straw that was snuck under his mask. It was also important to notice that Twice’s mask now had a bunch of cutesy stickers on it. 

“So you and Izuzu got into a fight, huh? No wonder he hasn’t left the lab all day. He missed dinner and everything.” Toga pouted a bit, dressed in pink panda pajamas and her hair down. She missed her freckled and murderous bestie. Todoroki held Zuzu on his lap as Toga took her little paws and began painting her claws lavender with nail polish. No one seemed opposed to this. “You’ve been gone all day too. You were just upset, weren’t you? Needed some time to think?”

“More like… someone to talk to.” Todoroki answered. 

“Well you can talk to us! Right, Jin?” Toga smiled brightly to Twice who’s facial expression under the mask smiled back with a thumbs up. Twice soon sat on the couch on the other side of Todoroki.

“So what’s eating you? Besides crippling depression!” he asked enthusiastically. Both of them were much more energetic than Dabi. Todoroki wasn’t quite sure how or where to start with talking to them. He looked unsure. Toga reached over to the kotatsu and handed him another cupcake that had colorful sprinkles in the shape of cats on them. 

“Make yourself at home until you’re ready to talk.” She giggled, resuming painting Zuzu’s claws. When she was obsessive with blood and stabbing she was kinda scary. But when she was baking and watching anime, she really was like a high school girl. Todoroki took small bites of the cupcake he was given as he sank back into the plush couch and watched a few minutes of the anime she put on. Her room had no right to be this cozy. Shigaraki really helped her put this all together? Todoroki imagined Dabi and Shigaraki both dying the second they walked into a room like this. All the lights and pastel colors would surely kill them.

While watching the show, Todoroki watched Toga and Twice both become really invested and involved with the plot. There was definitely some point the teenage boy was missing, but he didn’t judge. He watched the two lean forward almost in tears at a very emotional moment. But it was all just a bunch of drawings. They were getting so teary eyed over something fiction… how strange. But they also displayed what they were feeling so openly. He began to wonder if Midoriya had a hard time reading him sometimes because he wasn’t as emotionally obvious. What was a good way to show that he wanted to talk about what happened but he wasn’t mad about it?

“So… how do you tell someone you want to talk to them after a fight? But you want to let them know that you’re not mad?” Todoroki asked out loud.

“You ask to talk and tell them you’re not mad.” Toga sat back and looked at Todoroki as soon as the scene was over.

“But what if you feel like you don’t outwardly come across that way? And they misread you or overthink it and stress themselves out.” That sounded exactly like something Midoriya would do. Toga held a finger to her chin and looked up at the ceiling in thought. She hummed to herself to think.

“I dunno. I never had that problem.” she claimed. Then she grabbed Todoroki’s shoulders and pushed him a little closer to Twice, leaning in close behind his ear. “Why don’t we ask Uncle Twice?”

“‘Uncle Twice’…?” Todoroki repeated awkwardly, peeking at Toga and her adorable smirk from the corner of his eye. And when he looked forward at Twice, he saw the man almost in tears. 

“I-I’m an uncle?!” He accepted the role of uncle immediately even though it was probably a joke. Toga giggled at the fact that such a small title brought him so much joy. 

“He’s old enough to be your uncle. So Sho-Sho, this is your new uncle!” Toga clapped her hands before raising them both in the air happily. She watched poor Todoroki get clung on to in a hug by Twice. But he didn’t react much besides just staying absolutely stiff as a board. Toga held Zuzu in her lap to protect her. 

“U-Um… okay?” Todoroki just accepted this fate apparently. This is what happens when you have easily influenced enthusiasm and easily influenced indifference. “So… what am I supposed to do… Uncle Twice?” he just played along, trying to get an answer that may help him. Twice sat up straight with one leg over the other, one arm across his chest, and one hand holding his chin. A professional thinking pose for a professional and responsible uncle! 

“Ah yes, displaying feelings and sincerity through actions rather than words…” he took a few moments to think in silence, the anime credits song playing in the background. Todoroki seemed to stare at him in anticipation for an answer, almost like a puppy. He was sitting so still and intently. Toga began to braid his hair when he wasn’t paying attention.

Twice eventually held a finger up and closed his eyes, speaking in a deeper tone than normal. A professional uncle should sound professional! “Doing something out of kindness and generosity should be a clear indication that you are ready to make amends! You could buy him a gift or make something that you put your heart and soul into!”

“Why don’t you just make him dinner?” Toga suggested, bouncing off of professional uncle Uncle Twice’s idea. Todoroki blinked at her. “I’ve seen you practicing every morning with Kuro. Izuzu has been in the lab all day as far as I know. I saw him running out a little while ago. But the elevator is back in his lab so he must have gone back to work. I don’t think he would have gone out this late for food when there’s food in the kitchen.” Toga poked her cheek and deducted. For being so goofy and carefree, she was pretty observant. “If you make him food, it’ll show that you still support him and care about him, right? So that can be your signal that you’re ready to talk it out whenever he’s ready.”

Todoroki nodded. “Yeah, that makes sense.” He was pleasantly surprised by how helpful this strange duo was. He wouldn’t have expected to get solid advice and a new uncle in a single night. “Thank you.” Todoroki was sure to bow his head slightly before going to get up. But Toga hugged on to his neck from behind to pull him back down. 

“Stay for one more episode?” she asked with sparkles in her eyes.

He did indeed stay for one more episode.

It wasn’t much later when Todoroki peeked his head into the bar with Zuzu right behind him, newly painted claws and a pink bow in her fur. Kurogiri appeared to be hiding junk food in cabinets around the back room, probably secret spots for Shigaraki to not find. It didn’t take long for the dark fog man to spot the boy peering at him from around the corner of the doorframe. A small habit he noticed that he had. “Good to see you have returned.” Kurogiri was slow to approach him, just in case he was still worked up from earlier. But considering he could place a foggy hand on his head compassionately without a flinch, he assumed Todoroki was doing much better. “What can I help you with?”

Todoroki was nowhere near as good a cook as Kurogiri. He still couldn’t cut noodles or vegetables very well and he had a habit of overcooking every kind of meat. So even though cooking by himself may have come off as more meaningful, he really didn’t want to mess it up. So he asked Kurogiri for help when making katsudon. 

“Thank you for your help. Sorry to ask this of you so late at night.” Todoroki thanked him with a small bow of his head. He stood in front of the elevator waiting for it to get to him, Zuzu sitting at his side and bowl in his hands. “Especially after looking for me. I should have told you where I was going.”

“You are still granted privacy, young man. We only went searching because we were concerned. But you’re under no obligation to keep us updated on your whereabouts, especially if you do need that time alone.” Kurogiri responded respectfully. He didn’t seem bothered at all by any of the events that had transpired that evening. Perhaps he was just more relieved that things were fixing themselves. His glowing yellow eyes tilted in a way that would resemble a smile when he saw Todoroki lower his head and blush to himself. He seemed pretty happy.

The elevator dinged once it reached Todoroki and he stepped inside with Zuzu. He pressed the button that would lead to the lab without a second thought. And yet as the elevator descended floor by floor, Zuzu became more skittish. Her tail and ears were flat as she backed into a corner. She had never been to the lab and Todoroki never took her in there. He had only been in there once before himself. Hearing her whimper, he knelt down to pet her head gently. 

“You must not like all the blood. You can just stay in here, it’s okay.” He thought she could just smell the blood and the corpses that had been in the lab. The whole room reeked of death in scent and atmosphere. 

As soon as the door opened, Todoroki expected Midoriya to be hard at work or maybe in the middle of testing. But instead, he saw him fast asleep at his desk, pen still held in his hand. Zuzu was left cowering in the back corner of the elevator while Todoroki approached Midoriya’s desk, leaving the steaming bowl on the table away from the papers scattered all over it. He wouldn’t want to ruin his work. Peeking at the freckled villain’s sleeping face, he noticed him drooling over his open notebook. He was careful to pull it out from underneath him to make sure he didn’t mess up the pen ink or the paper. Moving some green strands from his face, he gently kissed his forehead. At least he wasn’t pulling an all nighter like last night.

Todoroki petted his hair a bit and left him in peace. He walked past the cages where one held Bakugo who was also asleep. Beaten and chained, but asleep nonetheless. Todoroki returned to the elevator and pressed the button to go back up. “We should get some sleep too.” he insisted, looking at his puppy. But she looked mortified, even shaking. “Guess you don’t like it down here, huh?” He went to kneel down to pick her up and hold. But just a moment before the doors closed, he slammed all his weight against the wall and began violently coughing.

Todoroki nearly collapsed as he sat on his knees, hunched over while leaning against the back wall of the elevator as it rose up. Zuzu put her front paws on his leg and began barking frantically. Todoroki covered his mouth with both hands and nearly wheezed to catch a breath. He then held his throat and gritted his teeth, his hand desperately trying to freeze over. His chest and his neck… they felt so hot all of a sudden. It felt like he was on fire on the inside. He placed his hand over where he felt the hottest in order to soothe it as best he could.

“I-I’m okay…” Todoroki tried to assure his puppy. He stopped coughing, but only for a moment. He leaned forward to put his forehead against the carpet and cough hoarsely into the floor. “I just feel… really sick.” His stomach was turning and his head started to become dizzy. Getting as close to the floor as he could felt like the only way to stabilize himself. Zuzu nudged her cold nose against his face and tried to give him small kisses of comfort. He was suddenly in so much pain. And it was just the two of them in the elevator. 

When the doors reopened, Zuzu jumped out of the elevator quickly, but Todoroki didn’t follow right away as he wallowed on the floor. She ran back in for him, biting his hoodie and trying to tug him out. He pushed himself up from the floor, but it took multiple attempts to get to his feet. He kept falling back to the floor or losing his breath in a violent coughing fit that he tried so hard to keep quiet. When he did get to his feet, he stumbled against the wall, dragging himself to the closest room.

He felt like he was going to be sick. His head was pulsing and vision swaying, Zuzu kept close to his side as she followed him to the first door from the elevator. His old room. He collapsed the moment he got inside, kicking the door shut behind him from the floor. Zuzu whined and tried to get close to his face when he pushed her away. “I-I’m…” he gripped his torso and clenched it hard as he gritted his teeth. He was going to be sick. “I’m n-not okay…” 

He threw up on the floor, a mix of blood and some kind of black ooze that was steaming. “...It’s so hot…” he complained, freezing his right half slowly. His body wasn’t freezing like it usually would. So he slammed his hand on the ground and began to frost the room, covering the floor and walls with patches of ice. Icicles grew from the ceiling as he desperately tried to cool himself while proceeding to spit up a disgusting liquid on to the floor. But he didn’t want to make a mess. Kurogiri would be the one to clean it. 

Todoroki could only drag himself to the bathroom. Zuzu followed, unsure if she should go get help and leave him alone for even a second, or stay by his side. She watched throw up on the bathroom floor since he wasn’t able to make it to the tub or toilet. “Z-Zuzu…” Todoroki’s right hand was frosting over more efficiently at last as he began to pull himself up to the sink. But the ice on his hand was forming a clawed gauntlet rather than a cooling surface barrier. When he was able to get to his feet, he saw himself covered in blood and black liquid, sweating monstrously, and eyes watering. He was gasping for breath as his eyes looked ready to roll back any second. He tried putting his frozen hand over his face to cool off, covering his left eye and hearing it sizzle.

“G-Go get… Izuku…” he told his puppy. But Zuzu couldn’t work an elevator. “O-Or Kurogiri…” He threw up again, into the sink and lost his balance. He was about to fall when he caught himself on the now bloodied sink. “G...Get D-Dabi…Please,” he glanced up at the mirror one more time before smiling inhumanely wide and bashing his head into the glass, shattering it with his skull. Zuzu yelped in fear and sprinted out of the room.

Dabi sighed deeply in his room, a damp towel around his neck, hair dripping wet, and only wearing a pair of black sweatpants. He was scrolling through his phone at the foot of his bed, slightly hunched over as he dried his hair with the towel. He couldn’t help but smile when he landed on a picture that he had taken that had Shigaraki holding the fat bunny, snickering at how cute and nonthreatening he looked. And yet he subconsciously felt that Shigaraki was plotting his murder at this very moment just because he was looking at the picture. 

Dabi made a small chuckle to himself before leaning over to put on a black t-shirt with some band name on the front of it. He flopped back in his bed with his arms out and shut his eyes. He was hoping to sleep with Shigaraki tonight like he had done every night. But he didn’t know if he was ready to take that next step. He had been hoping that their date would make things feel a little less confusing about them. About what kind of relationship they were supposed to have. Eventually, he told himself he’d go sneak into his room in a few minutes. He wanted to spend a few minutes in his own bed after being out all day.

But his day apparently wasn’t over yet. He jumped when he heard the doggy door on the main door slam open followed by panicked barking. Zuzu sprinted into his apartment and then his room, leaping up to his bed and instantly began biting and pulling his pant leg. “You gotta be kidding me… what is it this time?” Dabi sat up and grumbled, scratching his head. He was tired and sleepy and well past his bedtime. The tomcat hadn’t taken a single nap all day. But Zuzu ignored his sour attitude and kept pulling at his pants, strong enough to actually move his foot.

Dabi debated brushing her off. He wanted to go to bed and Todoroki should have been perfectly fine now. But… he learned a lesson this morning didn’t he? Zuzu didn’t act strange for no reason. She knew something was very wrong with Todoroki before anyone else. And here she was again, desperate for help. Yet this time she seemed much more panicked and even frightened. “What’s wrong with him?” Dabi asked, finally sitting up and then getting out of bed. Zuzu kept pulling at his pants, wanting him to follow. And her consistent yanking made it clear that she wanted him to hurry.

“Where did he go this time?” Dabi was under the impression that Todoroki wandered off outside again. But the moment they got into the hallways, he watched Zuzu bolt into the spare room closest to the elevator. He raised a brow. In there? So he was still home. What could Zuzu possibly need the stapled man for? He sighed and followed her, stopping at the door she went through. He could feel a liquid under his feet. Picking up his foot, he noticed drops of blood. “That’s not good...Shouto?” Dabi knocked on the door and called out to Todoroki. There wasn’t an answer. “I’m coming in.” he then warned.

All the lights were turned off because they had been destroyed. The room was freezing cold with large patches of the floor and walls being coated in frost. The ceiling had icicles sparkling in the moonlight from outside windows, nearly glowing at their sharp and deadly tips. A dresser had been knocked over with shattered glass from a vase or two littering the floor. The pottery was then tainted with blood and black ooze. That black ooze and blood were all over the floor. The moment Dabi stepped inside, his foot was in a puddle of it. And there were more human claw marks marked with blood on the walls. 

Dabi’s eyes widened when he saw his baby brother sitting in the center of the bed, his right hand frozen with icy claws and those claws digging into his own chest. His eyes stared emptily up at the ceiling. His head was bleeding from cuts of broken glass. His clothes were torn at the center where a deep gash was in his stomach. Blood was dripping from his mouth as he was in the process of digging ice into his own chest, bleeding in the area around his heart. Zuzu was on the bed, biting the sleeve of his frozen arm, trying to hold him back from stabbing himself. 

“Shou!!” Dabi nearly slipped as he ran to him so quickly. But the floorboards were so slippery with blood and vomit. He was able to catch his balance as the door slammed shut behind him. He jumped on to the bed and grabbed both of Todoroki’s wrists, pulling his hands away from himself. “What’s wrong with you?! What the hell are you doing?!” They just talked about this. Todoroki looked fine after their talk, maybe even a little happy. Why was he ripping himself apart?

Zuzu’s fur rose up as she began aggressively barking. But not at Dabi. But not necessarily Todoroki either. She snarled and bared her teeth, almost preparing for a fight. The stapled man glanced at her, confused more than ever at her actions. “Shou, talk to me. What’s going on?” He shook him, trying to get an answer. That’s when he saw Todoroki’s eyes almost completely glazed over. But those eyes weren’t his baby brother’s. The innocent, puppy-eyed, soul behind them wasn’t there. The dual colors weren’t there. His eyes were never yellow.

“...H...Help…” Todoroki’s voice was barely above a whisper. He sounded like he was in so much pain, blood still dripping from his mouth. He was even crying.

“What do you need help with? I don’t know what’s happening to you, you need to help me out!” Dabi could only hold Todoroki’s wrists up, keeping his hands away from him so he couldn’t stab into himself. “I’m here. I’m not leaving you, okay?” The only thing Dabi could think of to do was just talk to him and try to comfort him. His little brother’s eyes looked so dead, but he looked so afraid. “I’m staying right here…” What more could he do? His little brother was in so much pain and so frightened, and was this all he could do for him? “Just look at me. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Who the hell is this freakshow? Why would anyone want to look at a face like that?” Dabi was taken aback by the sudden tone change. That was Todoroki’s voice. But he didn’t talk like that. And he certainly didn’t smirk like that.

“What?” Dabi’s eyes narrowed coldly. This wasn’t his little brother anymore. His body and voice, sure. But this wasn’t who he was talking with anymore. “Who the hell are you?” Dabi felt Todoroki’s hand freeze over more with the icy claws getting longer.

“Doesn’t matter.” Todoroki went to break free of Dabi’s grip but Dabi melted the ice around the other's hand easily and just glared, unimpressed. 

“You did not just try to stab me just now.” 

Todoroki struggled to break his wrists free of Dabi’s hold. A small flame popped up on his shoulder but it didn’t do anything. He didn’t know how to control his quirks suddenly. No… someone else didn’t know how to control Todoroki’s quirks. 

Todoroki was stunned with a twitching smirk. Dabi was the absolute worst person for Zuzu to find. He could melt his ice and his flames were much stronger. “What shitty luck…” Todoroki struggled to get out of Dabi’s grip once more, thrashing his arms and even leaning forward to try and bite him. But Zuzu ran behind him and bit the back of his hood and tugged him back so he couldn’t lunge. “I’m gonna kill that rat!”

“Not if I kill you first.” Dabi tightened his grip but Todoroki only smiled wickedly.

“I’d like to see you try.” That challenge was a trap and the stapled man saw right through it. If he tried to kill this person controlling Todoroki, he had little doubt that would also be the death of his little brother. By his own hand. He would never. “You scared or something?”

“Get the hell out of here,” Dabi demanded coldly. “And stop making him smile like that.”

“And to think I hid inside of him to get out of range of his little boyfriend. Now I gotta worry about your ugly mug?” Dabi gritted his teeth. The sound of Todoroki’s voice insulting him like this hurt. But this wasn’t Todoroki, he had to remind himself that. But this attacker ‘hid’ inside of him to get away from Midoriya?

“What do you even want? Just get out of him!” Dabi shook him trying to get some answers. 

“The dead kid that’s gonna make sure he dies painfully for what his bastard boyfriend did to me. Now if you excuse me,” It was undoubtedly Kosuke. So he did have the ability to leave the lab by hiding within Todoroki. But would he be able to wander once he left him? Or would he be forced back? This was an attempt at murder, but it was also a test to see what this curse quirk could do. He suddenly leaned back to use his legs to kick Dabi in the stomach as hard as he could.

Dabi recoiled and his grip loosened. Kosuke escaped and froze Todoroki’s right arm again. It seemed that was the only thing he knew how to do. The claws he made on his hands were jagged and uneven and even rounded at some points. Todoroki could have made it much sharper and defined. “Don’t you fucking dare!” Dabi reached for him, but not quick enough to stop Kosuke from digging the frozen hand into Todoroki’s stomach which was already bleeding from being punctured and cut. The wound only became deeper as he dug his hand into it even more. Blood was spilling out fast.

Dabi lunged at him, forcing Kosuke to use both hands to hold him back. He didn’t feel pain. Hurting Todoroki didn’t hinder his ability to control his body. With the ice claws, he made a swipe at Dabi nicking one of his staples on his cheek. Dabi held his cheeks as it began to bleed. He only flinched as a natural reaction despite not feeling much pain. But that moment enough gave Kosuke the opportunity to claw into Todoroki’s chest, ripping three jagged lines across his skin as they began to bleed. 

“You really seem to care about this loser. He suck your dick for free?” Kosuke mocked.

“What? You’re disgusting.” Dabi growled. Is that what Kosuke thought of Todoroki? He was only being attacked for being Midoriya’s boyfriend? The only bit of his personality that Kosuke knew about him was that he was romantically involved with the freckled villain. He was only attacking him because of Midoriya. “Just leave him alone! If you’re mad at Fallen, leave him out of it!”

“Is that what he’s going by? Talk about a melodramatic name. But no can do. If I really want him to suffer, this guy is a straight shot to his crazy head.” Kosuke was ready to go for the throat when Zuzu bit Todoroki’s arm. Not his sleeve, his actual arm. She yanked it away from his neck to keep him from slitting his throat. “You are such a pain too-” 

Kosuke forced Todoroki’s left hand to grab Zuzu by the neck and tightened his grip violently. Zuzu yelped loudly. Dabi was going to lunge again when he paused now that Kosuke held a hostage. “Any closer and the rat dies. I hear it’s really special to him-gah!” Todoroki’s head lowered suddenly as his body began to tremble. “A-Already…?” It seemed Kosuke was on a time limit. He couldn’t stay in the body for long. He couldn’t stay out of the lab for even less time. 

Dabi inched closer. Todoroki would be heartbroken if his body was used to kill the puppy he cherished so deeply. And Dabi owed this puppy Todoroki’s life. Multiple times. And even though she was small and annoying, she was a good dog. “N-No! I’ll kill it! I’ll kill him!” Kosuke snapped at the stapled man, looking up at him. One golden eye had turned grey. “I-I… kill me…” 

That was Todoroki. For that one moment, it was Todoroki. Begging to be killed. He shook his head violently as Zuzu yelped louder at the tightened grip at her neck. Her breaths were uneven, whined, and wheezed. “I’m trying to!” Kosuke shouted, frustrated. Dabi had to watch his little brother try so desperately to fight off the consciousness that had taken over his mind and body. “S-Stop hurting them…” Todoroki looked up at Dabi and saw his bleeding cheek. His grey eye appeared so desperately upset. He lowered his head and shook it frantically. He began coughing again.

Dabi took the opportunity to tackle him down to the floor. Zuzu was released with a painful whine. “Get out! You’ve lost!” Dabi demanded. Now that Kosuke lost his grip, he couldn’t regain it. Todoroki was gaining more control little by little. If Kosuke couldn’t kill him with full power, he couldn’t do it now. 

“He’s gonna die… I-I’ll make it happen.” Todoroki coughed. “It...hurts.” Dabi kept his hands pinned to the floor. He couldn’t let him move. Not yet. Not until he had full control.

“Fight him off, Shou,” Dabi encouraged. It was all he could do. But even it was all he could do, he was going to do it.

“Oh, don’t give him a pep talk, you idiot!” Todoroki closed his eyes tightly and gritted his teeth that had spots of blood on them. “I…I wanna die... K-Kill me, Dabi...”

“I’m not doing that, Shou!”  Dabi kept calling out his name.

Todoroki shook his head frantically, clearly in some kind of intense pain. “G-Get away…” But also trying to fight something else off. Not just Kosuke’s mind. Todoroki arched his back to tilt his head back as a blast of fire shot from the air in his lungs. He fought to angle his head away from Dabi to not blast him at point-blank range. His eyes closed tightly and his body became desperately strained. This wasn’t his quirk. Dabi suddenly noticed the black liquid coming out of Todoroki’s nose and mouth. Another quirk trying to manifest in his airways..? 

When the fire coming from his mouth ceased, Todoroki stopped moving. He went limp. It would appear that he fell unconscious. Zuzu rose up from the ground with her fur up and began aggressively barking at seemingly nothing. Teeth barred and lip curled, she snarled and growled before bolting to the door, putting her paws on it and barking like she was chasing something out. After a moment, she sneezed and brought her paws down. Then she shook. “Is… he gone?” Dabi asked now that all was quiet.

Looking down at Todoroki, he could easily see the blood pooling around him from his stomach, head, and chest. Kosuke forced him to mutilate himself. Looking at the walls, there were handprints and claws marks. Todoroki must have struggled to maintain any control until he couldn’t fight it anymore. There was blood and black liquid all over the floor from bleeding out and throwing up. The room was trashed from the struggle. It looked like something out of a nightmare.

Zuzu nuzzled her nose into Todoroki’s cheek with a sad whine. She only nudged him, but he didn’t wake up. But a stapled hand gently petted her head. “You okay?” He felt around her neck and felt it was a little wet. She was bleeding a little. She then went up to Dabi and reached up with her paws on his chest to lick the blood coming from his cheek where his staple was nicked. “I’m okay. But…” Todoroki was definitely not. 

The first thought he had was to bring him to Midoriya. But Kosuke mentioned Todoroki was near Midoriya when this happened. The lab was not a safe place. He couldn’t risk taking him down there. He did know what Kosuke was capable of doing. Could he latch on the people and possess Todoroki by being close? Could he get inside the elevator? Dabi hadn’t a clue. And he wasn’t about to take any chances. “Get Kurogiri.” 

Dabi didn’t want Todoroki to wake up to see the nightmarish scene of the spare room. So he carried him to his apartment as carefully in his arms as he could. There were already throw blankets on the couch so he used them to cover it before laying his little brother down. He never bothered to check, but he went to the bathroom to see if Shigaraki ever stocked him with some kind of first aid. Anything that could be helpful. But all he had was a bunch of towels. All he could do for now was wet them and wipe away the blood from Todoroki’s wounds and put pressure on his stomach and chest to stop the bleeding. He didn’t have enough hands to get to the glass cuts at his forehead. “I’m sorry.”

But another hand did take a wet towel and hold it to Todoroki’s head. Dabi looked up, surprised to see Shigaraki. He didn’t even hear him come in. Probably because he came with Kurogiri as the puppy and bartender were beside him as well. “And here I thought he was doing better.” Kurogiri knelt down beside the couch and lifted Todoroki’s shirt to see his wounds. His chest could heal on its own. But he couldn’t say the same for his stomach. He assumed Todoroki must have had an emotional breakdown that caused these wounds.

“He was. He was attacked just now.” Dabi kept pressure on his stomach with the towel because the wound still hadn’t stopped bleeding. But he reached up to caress his little brother’s cheek. He had such a young face when he was asleep… “Something that wasn’t human. It was like he was possessed.”

Shigaraki raised a brow. That sounded absolutely absurd. Possession? Maybe in a fantasy world… but in a world of quirks, nothing was necessarily impossible. “I’ll have to talk to Izuku about it,” he mumbled to himself. 

“You better. That thing said he only did this because of him. Fallen must have killed him and he’s after Shouto for revenge.” Dabi seemed incredibly bitter. Did Midoriya know about this? Why didn’t he tell anyone? Was Todoroki in danger just by living here? But then he just sighed. “He looked so scared just now… he asked me to kill him.” He gritted his teeth. “My little brother just asked me to kill him.” Right after they had a nice talk at the construction site, looking over the colorful city together. Things for Todoroki were just looking up again and he asked to be killed… because he was so scared of killing Dabi or Zuzu. Zuzu put her front paws on Dabi with a small whimper.

Kurogiri looked at Shigaraki who appeared to be deep in thought. Keeping secret about something so dangerous wasn’t like Midoriya. It was unacceptable behavior. Brother or not, he was still a boss. It was his job to make sure this hideout was safe for everyone. “Do you know what it’ll take to fix him?” he asked Kurogiri.

“I’d have to go to the lab. But yes, I know exactly what is needed.” 

“Get in and out as quickly as possible.” Shigaraki folded his arms and sat on the arm of the sofa. Kurogiri nodded in understanding and warped away. “We’ll see what happens tomorrow morning. Let them make up first.” As much as Dabi wanted Midoriya to have stern talking to immediately, the problem would probably be solved best when Midoriya was in a good headspace. And it would probably make Todoroki happy.

Dabi sat across the room with his head in his hands, trying not to look at Kurogiri carefully stitching Todoroki’s stomach after injecting something into the area. It took several grueling minutes. He couldn’t stand the sound, no matter how quiet the room was. When Kurogiri was done, he had his back turned to him as he began wrapping the wounds on his torso with bandages. Zuzu was right by his side, staring intensely with her tail wagging the whole time. She was inching closer minute by minute.

Suddenly Dabi felt something cold and damp pat his cheek. He adjusted the staple that was irritated, but it would take time for the skin to fit back in place. He was still bleeding, although not a lot. But enough to have Shigaraki dab a wet towel over it. It was a silent gesture, like most of his gestures. The petting, the cuddling, the touching, he did everything without a single word, letting his actions be judged instead. It spoke more volumes to Dabi than words ever would. The stapled man leaned his forehead into Shigaraki’s chest sadly. He felt so powerful as the leader of the Vanguard Action Squad. But he was powerless as a big brother to protect Todoroki from being attacked and hurting himself. “This sucks…” Dabi whispered. Shigaraki just put his arms around his back to pull him a little closer, resting his chin in between his shoulder blades, as he watched Kurogiri work. He'd listen to Dabi retell what he just saw.

“Perhaps I should take him back to Izuku’s-” Kurogiri eventually finished his work, stopping all the bleeding and wrapping up all the wounds he could manage. There were some injuries under his shirt and hoodie that Dabi had not seen. But just as he was preparing a portal, Dabi cut him off.

“I want him to stay here.” he stated bluntly. He and Shigaraki had separated, simply sitting side by side now. Though Dabi quickly got up and approached Todoroki, kneeling down to look him over. “I want to keep an eye on him in case whatever that was comes back. I don’t want him alone for a second.” From going out of his way to ignore and avoid him, here he was taking the role of a teacher and even a guardian at this point. But seeing his baby brother so sad on the scaffolding and then so pained and killing himself, it stirred feelings Dabi thought he had buried away. Something was growing over that grave.

“I believe that is a responsible choice.” Kurogiri agreed. He wanted to respect Dabi wanting distance from Todoroki while nudging him every once in a while. And to see him take on the position of big brother so passionately, he would strongly encourage it. He watched him pick Todoroki up from under his knees and his back, keeping his head up and against his chest. Zuzu was right at Dabi’s feet, prepared to follow him closely. 

“Figure out what that was for real before it kills someone.” He looked to Shigaraki intensely to which the scrawny villain nodded. “Goodnight.” It was past his normal bedtime. And Todoroki needed to sleep soundly as well. Kurogiri and Shigaraki left together, warping elsewhere in the hideout without another word, leaving the brothers and the puppy to their privacy.

Dabi carried Todoroki to his bed. He was about to set him down but thought maybe it would be more appropriate to get him under the blankets. Zuzu jumped up onto the bed and handled it for him, biting the corner of the sheets and pulling them away. 

Dabi laid Todoroki down on his side before covering him up with the sheets. He laid down right beside him on top of the comforter, facing him on his side. Zuzu curled up against Todoroki’s chest, nuzzling her nose as much as she could against him. 

Dabi just stared at them both with tired, worried, and conflicted eyes. It was a long day and he was very tired. But was it safe to fall asleep? What if something happened again while he was sleeping and didn’t wake up quick enough to stop it? Should he have even given himself the responsibility of looking over Todoroki at a time of danger like this? Looking at his bandages, he couldn’t help but feel he didn’t help that much when he was possessed. He sighed deeply, softening his expression.

This position felt uncomfortably familiar. Sharing a bed while being covered in wounds and bandages. They’ve done it before, but it was unlikely that Todoroki would have remembered. Both he and his little brother at younger ages sharing a bed at night to comfort each other after a rough day. Only now it was just the little brother that was wounded. “Guess we both can’t catch a break, huh…?” Dabi mumbled. He felt compelled to slowly reach forwards, putting his fingers in Todoroki’s hair to then move his bangs a little out of his face. “I’m sorry…”

Even as a teenager who was mentally aged beyond his years, his face still looked so much like it did so long ago. His expressions were always so soft, and his complexion was so young. With the lights so dimmed and just being able to see his face, it felt just like things did long ago. Just watching a child in pain. Just watching his baby brother cry in his sleep. 

Midoriya slept through the whole night at his desk in the lab. The katsudon left beside him went cold within an hour, but it stayed there untouched. The little villain’s face scrunched before shivering a little. He was so used to his bed. He was used to sleeping next to Todoroki on his warm side. Perhaps he had gotten too used to it. “Cold…” he complained quietly.

“Yeah, me too.” Shigaraki sat beside Midoriya on his desk. He was leaned back a bit with his hands propping him up and had one leg resting over the other. How long had he been sitting there waiting for him to wake up? He didn’t have the hand on his face despite Bakugo being in the lab. But he was probably still asleep if Shigaraki felt comfortable revealing himself.

Midoriya jumped at hearing his voice and his head shot up, drool coming down his lip and hair messier than usual. “T-Tomu!” Was Shigaraki down here because he was in trouble or was he just checking on him? “H-How long have you been sitting there?” he asked nervously. It wasn’t like he was scared, just a little spooked from his big brother looming over him like that. He then quickly noticed the katsudon sitting beside him with chopsticks sitting in it. Reaching for the bowl he could tell it was cold. But he began to eat it anyway.

“Not long.” Shigaraki leaned forward and folded his arms. He didn’t look happy, but he never looked happy. He seemed less neutral than normal. He said he was cold just now, probably because he didn’t get to sleep next to Dabi last night if he even slept at all. 

“What… time is it?” There were no windows this far underground. He checked his phone to see it was just barely morning. Human cats like Dabi and Todoroki would still be sleeping even with the sun up. “I was just working on transcribing my notes for you…” With noodles still in his mouth, Midoriya began shuffling through the papers scattered on his desk. Some looked like scribbles and others were very neatly written. Two papers had a bit of drool on them. “I can get them to you this afternoon.” 

“Is there something about this lab that I should know about?” Shigaraki changed the subject very quickly. Midoriya seemed to flinch at the question.

“Wh-What do you mean? You built this for me. You should know everything about it, don’t you?” He awkwardly ate his cold katsudon while peeking around. He hadn’t changed or added anything to the lab since he’s started working in it. But Shigaraki’s tone sounded suspicious. “Could you tell Kurogiri I said thank you for making this? But maybe he shouldn’t make it so early…” Midoriya tried to change the subject again.

“Kurogiri didn’t make it.” Shigaraki brought it right back. “Your prince charming did.” Midoriya looked down at the bowl. He thought it tasted a little different than normal. But then he suddenly dropped his chopsticks as fear overcame him so quickly. Shigaraki’s eyes narrowed at his reaction.

“H-He didn’t come down here, did he?!” Had the bowl not been on the desk, Midoriya most certainly would have dropped it. He stood up out of his chair immediately and looked to the elevator.

“Why is that such a bad thing?” Shigaraki pressed calmly, but now he really didn’t seem happy. 

“Is he okay? I-Is he hurt?!” Midoriya seemed to ignore his question and tried to make a bolt for the elevator. He had to check on Todoroki. Right away. No matter what was going on between them, he had to make sure he was okay. But Shigaraki grabbed his shirt by the shoulder without his pinkie. “I-I have to see him-”

“What happened to him last night?” Shigaraki asked sternly. His tone made Midoriya freeze. He let his panic subside just for now. If Shigaraki knew something happened, he must have taken care of it. Things must have been fine because his big brother knew how to solve every problem… “If there’s something going on, you have to tell me. I give you privacy, but I don’t tolerate secrets in my lab.” This was Midoriya’s workspace. But it was Shigaraki’s hideout. It was his lab. He wasn’t happy that Midoriya didn’t tell him something dangerous was lurking in it. Probably watching them right now.

“Kosuke…” Midoriya sat down in his chair with his head lowered. He went on to explain to Shigaraki what he learned. About how Kosuke’s mother wasn’t quirkless and passed down a curse quirk to him. How Kosuke cursed Todoroki with his dying breath. How Kosuke consciousness haunted the lab, but only the lab. How Shigaraki and Kurogiri and all his subjects couldn’t be harmed by him, even if he tried. Shigaraki noticeably looked around, even over his shoulder. 

“He can’t leave, at least I don’t think so. And he won’t rest until Shouchan’s dead because he knows it’ll hurt me more than anything else…” Midoriya gritted his teeth. “And you’re right, okay?” he turned his head to speak to no one in particular, but he was sure Kosuke heard. “When I did an observation test on Shouchan, Kosuke possessed him. He can hide in his body without him noticing and assume control when his guard is down.” Midoriya remembered looking at Todoroki crawling into a cage and caressing the bars strangely. How he thought he imagined his eyes being bright yellow, but realized he wasn’t imaging that at all. Kosuke possessed him long before he was on the table. 

“The only reason things didn’t end badly was because he knows just as much about his quirk as I do. He doesn’t know how to use it because he’s never used it before. That first time was his first time using it. I’m sure he could have killed me while in Shouchan’s body and then himself. But he didn’t know how to. And I think it takes time for him to settle into it and take full control. He was at full power when Shouchan was unconscious.” Midoriya went digging through journals that he kept in a drawer. It looked like he was searching for a specific one as he was leafing through tens of them. “I wouldn’t let Shouchan live here if he could leave the lab. It would be too dangerous.”

“He can leave the lab.” Shigaraki corrected. Midoriya held his breath and froze. He held the notebook he had been searching for in his hands when his heart practically stopped. Shigaraki held his own cheek in his hand while thinking back on what Dabi had told him. “Kurogiri helped him make you food last night to try and make up with you after your little fight. Kurogiri let him deliver to you.” So Todoroki came down to the lab. Midoriya physically felt ill. If only he hadn’t fallen asleep.

“I would bet Kosuke hid inside him to avoid getting caught by you. You knew about him haunting the lab so you would know what to do if Todoroki came down. He left with him while you were asleep.” Midoriya trembled as Shigaraki spoke, slowly putting his notebook on the desk and silently flipped to a page with a page marker. “Kurogiri and I found blood in the elevator.” Todoroki was isolated from everyone when Kosuke attacked. It was smart on his part.

Midoriya reached for a pencil to start writing with a shaky hand. “There was blood and some kind of black stuff. It smelt like shit. Dabi said he saw it coming out of his mouth and his nose.” Midoriya wrote diligently while Shigaraki explained what he knew. “He hid in the spare room we had for him. Zuzu was with him the whole time. She stepped in the blood and it led to the bathroom before running out the door. The mirror was broken and Kurogiri found glass in his head.”

Midoriya was taking notes on Kosuke’s section of the journal. He was aggressively crossing things out and writing new notes. Updating his data. “Dabi saw him using his quirk. But he said he wasn’t using it well.” It was hard to control Todoroki’s quirks. It was hard to control anyone’s quirk when it wasn’t their own. But Kosuke was beginning to figure out how to use Todoroki’s. He was learning. “He tried to kill himself with it. But Dabi and Zuzu stopped him, so he began attacking them. Dabi mentioned Todoroki started fighting back when he started choking Zuzu.” Certain things could trigger Todoroki conscious to fight back.

“Todoroki asked Dabi to kill him.” Midoriya’s writing stopped for a moment. His grip on the pencil tightened as he gritted his teeth and a tear fell on to the page. He wrote down in his journal slowly. -control can encourage suicide from the host-... “Dabi kept calling out to Todoroki by first name. He didn’t know if it helped. But he thought he should mention it.” Midoriya nodded as tears slowly rolled down his cheeks and on to the paper. “Before Todoroki passed out, Dabi wanted me to let you know that he breathed fire. He said their quirks didn’t usually work like that.” 

“That was Kosuke’s quirk…” Midoriya choked. “That black stuff that was coming out of his mouth… did Kurogiri clean all of it already?” 

Shigaraki tossed Midoriya a small bottle with a thick, goopy, black liquid in it. “I made sure he collected a sample before disposing it.” Midoriya caught it with both hands. He put it beside the katsudon bowl. 

“Where is he now?” Midoriya asked quietly with his head down, still taking notes. 

“Dabi didn’t want to leave him alone just in case.” Shigaraki answered. Midoriya nodded, thinking that was a responsible move on Dabi’s part. The two didn’t like each other. Clearly. But he could admit when Dabi made good choices regarding Todoroki’s safety. “So he’s with him right now. They were both asleep when I checked on them a little while ago. But that means Todoroki hasn’t woken up since being possessed.” 

Midoriya crossed out a note that said -takes a few minutes for the host to wake up-. It could take much longer. “He’s going to be hungry when he wakes up.” Midoriya said quietly. “He won’t remember anything. But he’s going to crave food more than he usually does.” Shigaraki remembered Midoriya making multiple trips to Kurogiri and the kitchen to get food for Todoroki. It was like he held him hostage in his room and just kept bringing him monstrous amounts of food. “That’s if his after effects are consistent.” Midoriya put the pencil down, finishing what he was writing. He then leaned back in his chair and held his wrists, digging his nails into them. “L-Listen to me… consistent…” He lowered his head even more as he began to cry. “This wasn’t supposed to happen more than once…It’s all my fault.”

It was his fault they fought. It was his fault that he fell asleep at his desk. It was his fault for not telling anyone about how dangerous his lab was for Todoroki. “I didn’t want to tell him. I wanted him to feel safe here, that he could go and do whatever he wanted because he’s never gotten to do that. N-Now look…” he began to scratch and turn his skin red. It didn’t matter how much it hurt. Todoroki must have hurt so much more. It was his fault. “I had the audacity to yell at him for going out whenever he wanted and doing whatever he wanted. I could do that, but I couldn’t warn him to keep him safe? I-I’m the worst…” 

“So you messed up.” Shigaraki reworded it more nicely with a shrug. He stuck his foot out to lightly nudge one of Midoriya’s hands. Silently reminding him not to scratch. They both have been good about not doing that lately. 

“I almost got him killed…! How could I mess up worse than that?!”

“I almost got you killed, didn’t I?” Shigaraki slowly sat up straighter, looing down at Midoriya sternly. They got shot at during the USJ. Shigaraki may have taken all the bullets, but Midoriya was still in that line of fire. He brought Stain to the hideout and Stain attacked both of them. He may have killed them if he didn’t take a liking to them. “And my carelessness almost got him killed too.” The first nomu could have killed him. The second almost took him to the untrustworthy doctor. Encouraging Dabi to let him fight Muscular could have gotten him killed. 

“But I-” Midoriya couldn’t help but think about what Bakugo told him the day before.

“It doesn’t matter. What would make both of you happy is making up and moving forward. He made you your favorite meal, so clearly he wants to make up with you. If you give up after every other mistake, you’re never going to get anywhere.” Shigaraki folded his arms. “Just talk about it. It’s not gonna kill you. Learn from it and move the hell on.” He then put his heel on Midoriya’s head to give him a light bonk. “So get to it.” 

Midoriya kept his head low as he quickly got up from his chair, then bolted to the elevator doors.

Dabi woke up the sound of coughing. He inevitably fell asleep last night in the same position, unmoving. But his eyes shot open at the sound of coughing. Never so quick to wake up, he quickly pushed himself up with his arms and saw Todoroki curled up in a ball, coughing into his hands. Zuzu had woken up and was nudging his face with her nose and whimpering.

 She seemed desperate. 

“H-Hey…!” Dabi leaned over and put his hand on Todoroki’s shoulder and then his forehead, pushing his bangs away from his eyes. What color were they? He had to know. Did Kosuke come back? Was it not over? “What’s wrong? What do you need?” Dabi asked. 

A surge of relief flowed through him seeing tired dual-colored eyes look up at him. Todoroki looked truly exhausted as he coughed and hacked into his hands. Pulling them away for a moment, he revealed red and black spots splattered in his palms. When the coughing stopped for a moment, he was wheezing painfully and clutching his chest. His right hand pressed into the lower half of his neck before freezing it and his chest. 

The use of his quirk seemed to make him cough harder and curl up more. “I need you to talk to me here, Shou. You need to tell me what I can do.” Dabi kept asking because he hadn’t a clue what to do. Wait it out and let it pass? But doing nothing could make it worse. Get him water?  What if he choked on it? Turn the thermostat down? Would that even help? He was helpless to just watch his little brother almost suffocate. But Todoroki didn’t know what he needed either. 

All Dabi could think of to do was keep him from curling up like he was. He forcibly took him in his arms and kept his upper half against his chest and his legs on the bed. Todoroki gripped his own chest with one hand and Dabi’s shirt with the other. Just finding someone to hold on to. “Don’t compress yourself. Let your lungs expand.” Dabi instructed. “You want me to be your teacher, right? So you better listen to me.” He had no idea what he was doing. But he needed to sound confident to at least try and give Todoroki comfort. But Todoroki needed help, desperately.

Dabi didn’t notice rushing footsteps in his apartment until they were at his bedroom door. “Who the hell let you in-” Dabi held Todoroki carefully when he noticed Midoriya standing at the threshold, panting. He was sweaty from running as he stopped to take in the situation. Choking. But not trying to cough up a single object. Suffocating but not hyperventilating. His eyes were half-lidded, showing blue and grey rather than yellow. He wasn’t possessed. But he was suffering a new side effect.

Midoriya rudely didn’t wait for Dabi’s permission to enter further. He even got onto his bed and quickly examined the black and red drops on Todoroki’s chin and lips. The red stuff was obviously blood but… “What is this stuff…?” the black drops frightened him. They fascinated him but he deduced that they were the cause of his beloved’s breathing problems. There wasn’t time to investigate. Listening to him wheeze and struggle to breathe resembled that of someone choking. Something had to have been caught in his throat from his lungs. 

Glancing at Dabi, he saw the stapled man staring right back at him with narrowed eyes. As much as they hated each other, they did have the same goal in mind. Midoriya silently scoffed as he leaned over to reach underneath a desk just a bit away from the bed. He grabbed a trash can. “Here, hold this.” Midoriya dumped all the cigarettes and garbage that was in it on the floor uncaringly before shoving it into Dabi’s hand. The little villain then stole Todoroki from his arms. “S-Sorry about this Shouchan-” He shoved two fingers deep into his mouth.

Dabi was ready to incinerate him as he watched Todoroki’s eyes close tightly and his wheezing be muffled by the fingers. But then he watched panic spread on his face. Midoriya took his fingers back quickly before Todoroki reached for the trashcan Dabi was forced to hold. Pulling it closer, Dabi had the wonderful luxury of keeping it steady as Todoroki vomited into it. Midoriya just triggered his gag reflex.

Dabi looked absolutely disgusted as the one holding the trashcan steady. But he rolled his eyes because Midoriya could have definitely held it himself. He made him hold it on purpose. He couldn’t say that he had never done this before. This felt different, however. Hangovers and drunkenness was one thing. An unknown black substance was another. And it smelt terrible. Midoriya clung on to Todoroki’s shoulders, placing his cheek against his back to comfort him as best he could.

Todoroki leaned back against Midoriya, catching his breath at last. He looked exhausted and miserable, sweaty and dark liquid dripping from his lips. The bandages wrapped around his head and the patch on his cheek appeared to have come loose. His beautiful complexion was just a complete wreck. Zuzu had stepped back to let the doctor do his work, and then she timidly approached her owner. She sat on his lap to receive a weak hand to her head. “That shit reeks.” Dabi complained, putting the trash can on the floor and awkwardly pushing it away with his foot. It seemed everyone’s panic had settled. Midoriya had known just what to do.

“Shouchan I-” Midoriya wanted to apologize right away. He felt it was the right thing to do after what happened yesterday morning. Todoroki didn’t need to apologize for anything. But the little villain was taken aback when his beloved hero turned around to hug him and press his forehead into the nook of his neck. His heart was racing, his breathing was heavy, he was even trembling. But he wrapped his arms under Midoriya’s to bring himself as close as he could.

Midoriya couldn’t process the words to say. His eyes began to water and well up before he could even say he was sorry. To think how he had hurt the most important person in his life so many times and to be clung on to so lovingly after all of it. How forgiving and kind Todoroki was. Midoriya felt that deep in his chest he didn’t deserve this beautiful boy with the most beautiful heart. But he was going to earn it. He was going to give Todoroki everything he deserved.

“I’m so sorry… I’m sorry.” Midoriya apologized, hugging him back tightly. “I’m sorry for everything I’ve ever done to hurt you. Even indirectly… I-I’m so sorry.”

“You don’t-” Todoroki tried to speak softly when he felt Dabi’s foot on his back.

“Yes he does.” Dabi corrected. He then looked back to see Shigaraki had been watching silently for quite some time, leaning against the doorframe with his arms folded.

“No, Dabi’s right.” Midoriya agreed through his tears with the stapled man even though he hated it. “I said awful things to you. I didn’t control myself at all. All the times I never thought things through and you got hurt because of it. I’m sorry for everything.” He closed his eyes tightly. “I’m sorry I meddled in your life and forced this all on you. I-I’m sorry I was never truly honest with you and kept secrets, I’m sorry I never told you how dangerous the lab is, I’m sorry for… causing you so much pain. I’m supposed to be your medicine but I just made so many things for you worse…” 

Todoroki’s hold had loosened as he listened. His heart was still beating hard, but his lungs were functioning normally at last. The panic of suffocating finally passed as he listened to his beloved sob with guilt. As much as it saddened him to hear him like this, there was a sense of security being apologized to. That their fight wasn’t his fault. That none of this was his fault. He felt so calm in Midoriya’s arms like this. That things were okay.

“I’ll be better for you. I promise I’ll be better. A-And…” Midoriya pulled back and cupped Todoroki’s cheeks lovingly. “I’ll take care of all your wounds a-and explain everything…!” He then let go and slipped away from Todoroki to get off of Dabi’s bed. He ended up losing his balance and falling in a clumsy panic, but got right back up and bolted out the door past Shigaraki. Shigaraki moved out of the way to not be bulldozed through, his hair flowing up a little from Midoriya’s speed.

The little villain sprinted back into the room with a big fluffy pillow shaped like a white and red fox that he needed to hold with both arms because it was so massive, white and pastel blue flowers in one hand, and a thick soba recipe book in the other. “I-I couldn’t think of a time I ever even bought something nice for you besides food. So I wanted to show how serious by doing that. B-Boyfriends do that, don’t they?” Todoroki held Zuzu in his arms and looked at Midoriya, completely speechless by what he was seeing. Not receiving an answer right away made the freckled boy blush. 

“I-I should also say that… you don’t have to forgive me.” he said, looking off awkwardly. He must have looked so pathetic. He hoped he didn’t come off as a kiss up. He was sincere in everything he said. “B-But you deserve better than what I’ve given you. So I know doing stuff like this shouldn’t make everything go away. B-But I wanted to start with this…” 

“Cute…” Todoroki mumbled. He didn’t say anything because he was just distracted by how cute Midoriya looked, blushing and holding such a fluffy pillow and flowers. As messed up as his face was, bandaged, scarred, sweaty, bloody, and messy, Midoriya thought the tiny tired smile he saw was absolutely beautiful. 

“God, you are way too easy to please,” Dabi grumbled to Todoroki looking very annoyed and disappointed, humorously of course.

“What do you mean?” Todoroki tilted his head to him, confused about Dabi’s accusations. As if Todoroki being easy to please didn’t work in Dabi’s favor. And the stapled man knew that and turned away, rubbing the side of his neck.

“Nothing. Just hurry up and makeout or something. I don’t like having so many people in my room.”

Midoriya dropped his gifts at the foot of the bed before sitting beside Todoroki. “I… also wanted to ask one more thing…” Midoriya appeared to lean in for a kiss as he whispered. As romantic as he was trying to be, Todoroki held Zuzu up and used her paw to halt his advances. She wagged her tail, happily to be used as a shield from such an innocent kiss. The little villain opened his eyes when he felt the puppy paw and stayed there awkwardly.

“Ask me first. Kiss later.” Todoroki recommended. He gestured to the trash can with his eyes. Glancing at it, they both saw the black liquid was almost bubbling despite being completely still. God knows what Todoroki just threw up and it smelt terrible. The last thing he wanted was Midoriya kissing the remains of that. The little villain suddenly appeared very relieved at his boyfriend’s quick wits.

“R-Right. Good idea…” he leaned back and instead put his hands on Todoroki’s, both of them holding Zuzu between them together. “I… wanted to know if you were ready to debut…” Todoroki, Dabi, and Shigaraki’s faces all showed a bit of surprise by the question. “A-And if you wanted to debut… with me.” 

Chapter Text

There was a small playful splash in the bathtub that morning. Though from the puppy’s point of view, it was a big wave and she felt powerful. Like a god. With morning light coming through the curtains of the bathroom, Todoroki sat in a tub of water while letting Zuzu swim around with her tiny paws making little splashes. When she jumped in, she got some water on the floor. He didn’t seem to mind, even smiling a bit as he took her into his lap to scrub the bottom of her paws gently. “Do you like what Toga did to your claws?” Her claws were still a light purple from Toga using nail polish on them. Zuzu just wagged her tail and wiggled in the water happily.

“Are you feeling any better?” Midoriya peeked an eye shyly through a crack in the door. His voice sounded guilty. He still felt bad about everything and couldn’t help but notice faint red marks under Todoroki’s soaked bangs. 

“Izuku, you can come in.” Todoroki looked towards the door with sympathy. He wasn’t angry at all. He never was. “I told you everything’s fine.” He tried to come off as reassuring as he could. He didn’t want his beloved being so awkward around him now.

Midoriya slowly opened the door with a notebook in his hands and a small plate of tsukune resting on top of it. “I-I know, I know. But you lie about being okay sometimes.” And the little villain wasn’t wrong about that. But perhaps part of it was his own fault that Todoroki felt that he needed to insist on being okay all the time. “I’m just…”

“Trying to be better?” Todoroki finished the sentence for him. Midoriya lowered his head and blushed awkwardly. He nodded sheepishly. He was trying to be better. Give him space. Make sure he was actually okay. Respect his boundaries. “Come sit with me.” Todoroki invited him.

The little villain sat on the floor, his back against the tub and raised the plate to Todoroki. “You still hungry?” As if that was even a question. Taking a toothpick, Midoriya held it to his beloved to take, which he did without hesitation. “How many meals have you eaten already? It’s not even noon.” he lightly joked.

“I think this would make six,” Todoroki said, biting half the meat on the toothpick and then giving Zuzu the other half. He always seemed three times as hungry after possession. It really took a lot of energy out of his body to house a whole other consciousness. 

“Maybe the hungrier you are, the less time Kosuke has in your body. Dabi said you dispelled him pretty quickly last night.” Midoriya theorized out loud. So they talked about it. Kosuke’s haunting was no longer a secret. The lab was officially off-limits for Todoroki with his safety in mind. And apparently, everyone else’s because Kosuke could attack others while in his body. “Did you eat yesterday after I yelled at you…?”

“Not really. I didn’t have an appetite.” Todoroki answered bluntly, eating another toothpick of meat, sharing a little bit with Zuzu. But by the third one, she was rejecting the offers. She must have been full from sharing food with him all morning. 

“Is... this a bad time…?” Midoriya then asked, holding up his notebook timidly. He opened it to two blank pages that were titled ‘Debut Plan’. 

Remembering earlier that morning, sitting in Dabi’s room with Todoroki, Dabi, and Shigaraki, they were all taken aback by Midoriya's question revolving around a debut. The three of them were surprised but Dabi didn’t seem pleased at all. “Seriously? After all of this, that’s what you’re thinking about?” It seemed uncaring and very selfish despite the promise to be more considerate and caring towards Todoroki.

“We’re still villains. But I don’t think I have much more time to hide…” Midoriya mumbled sadly, lowering his head. “Kacchan said Ingenium, Eraserhead, and All Might are investigating me behind the scenes. I don’t know how close they are to finding anything on me. And then…” He looked up to Todoroki worriedly. “Shouchan can’t hide his quirk forever. He could have taken on Muscular by himself if he was at full power. Keeping him hidden like this won’t do him any good and he could get hurt if we do another mission undercover.”

Shigaraki stayed leaning against the doorframe, hand to his lower lip as he thought. He stared at the ground in front of him for a few seconds, trying to think this information over. “Soon would be a good time too…” he muttered. U.A. classes were suspended until all the students had recovered and until Bakugo was found. Dead or alive. They assumed that he would reappear like Kosuke did, dead, or like Todoroki did at the USJ, alive. The heroes were scrambling to find him. To save their reputations. To save people’s blind faith in them. One more blow by revealing traitors may just shatter their trusted foundation. “Do you have a plan?”

Midoriya rubbed the back of his neck. “I was hoping that… we could think of something together.” He looked hopeful to his beloved hero. “But if-” He wasn’t going to pressure him. If Todoroki wasn’t ready, didn’t feel well, or if he wanted to do it solo, he would let him. Without question.

“I’d like to debut with you.” Todoroki nodded. “We’ll figure something out together and then we’ll get your approval.” He looked to Shigaraki who only smirked. How relieving that they could make up so solidly on their own. Perhaps that was just thanks to the beautiful heart that the freckled boy loved so much. 

In the bathtub, Todoroki rested his chin on Midoriya’s shoulder from behind to get a peek at the blank pages. The freckled villain was eager to get started on a plan. But he wouldn’t start without his beloved hero. “Did you have something in mind?” Todoroki asked, trying to see if Midoriya had thought of anything. Just to get the ball rolling to start thinking of possibilities. But putting his chin on his shoulder caused the freckled boy to shiver and blush. He tried not to stare, but just glancing at his face so close while he was wet and unclothed in a bath was a far greater privilege than he deserved. Somehow after their fight, being alone for a whole day, he found himself getting flustered by things he should have been accustomed to. He felt like he didn’t deserve it.

But it was nice...

“T-Tomu likes flashy. He’ll want us to really make a scene so everyone’s eyes are on us. That’s the point of a debut.” The little villain began as he started doodling, his cheeks light pink. Todoroki just blinked at the first doodle because it seemed a bit ridiculous. “So maybe we should have fireworks. Like, you know, bang bang bang! Wake everyone up!” Midoriya started making childish sound effects and gestures. They were going to have fun with this project. 

“So you think we should do it at night?” Todoroki asked. Starting with the basics first. What time of day should they do it? What district should they do it in? How long should they be out? What crime would they commit to start the debut? “If we do it in the afternoon or the morning, there’ll be a lot of people to see. But there’ll be a lot of heroes out too. I can protect you, but I don’t know how I’ll fare against more than four pros…” They were going to have fun, but they needed to be careful still. For each other’s sakes. “Pros patrol at night. But not as many as the day time. And if you want something like fireworks, they’ll be seen best at night.”

“Right. Right.” Midoriya nodded as he scribbled down in his notebook. “We should stay in the city, but not too close to the hideout. They’ll search the district high and low for activity so we’ll be on house arrest for days. That’s lame. But we can’t go too far because if things get rough, Kurogiri needs to be able to get us quickly.”

Todoroki watched him scribble. He then pulled his head away from his shoulder to continue bathing himself, running his fingers through his hair to wash out soap. At one point he lifted Zuzu up and put her on the floor for her to shake like a little gremlin and get water all over the place. Midoriya shielded himself with his notebook. Todoroki then leaned over to cocoon her in a towel to contain her. She became a little puppy burrito.

“Oh, y-you’re getting out?” Midoriya tried not to stare the whole time. He wanted to keep his eyes on the pages. He had the nerve to ignore Todoroki yesterday, to be privileged with seeing him while he was bathing felt cruel. Almost like he was objectifying him. He thought back to all the things Bakugo had said when beating him senseless. “I’ll just-”

“You’re letting what Bakugo said get to you, aren’t you?” He was standing up when Todoroki spoke up. Todoroki had turned his body to prepare to get up, but he stayed in the water a little longer, his arms resting on the edge with his cheek on them. Water dripping from his silky, now shiny, hair and even enhancing the subtle sparkles of his eyes with the sun, he really was beautiful. Midoriya tried even harder not to stare, looking away. Not only was he blessed with a beautiful boyfriend, but now he just felt like a hypocrite. He told him not to let Bakugo bother him. But now he felt bothered by the blond’s words.

“I would be a jerk if I said yes…” Midoriya half admitted. “How can you tell?”

“I don’t know…” Todoroki tilted his head a bit more into his arm, looking up at the freckled boy thoughtfully. How did he know what he was thinking? “He was mad about me being alive with you. So I think it’s inevitable I would have come up in conversation. But…” he paused for a few seconds. “You just look so unsure. The Izuku I know is confident in his feelings towards me. And Bakugo would know how to get under your skin more than anyone.”

Midoriya lowered his head. How could he explain to Todoroki that he was always a little insecure on the inside? It just came out through hatred most of the time. 

“That and… I can just tell.” Todoroki then made the smallest gesture with his head and shoulders, silently asking Midoriya to come back down. But the little villain assumed that maybe he was just asking for a towel. Putting his notebook down on the sink, he grabbed a white towel from the closet and then knelt down to Todoroki’s level. He draped the towel over his head for him to help dry his hair. He put it on him almost like a veil, letting a lot of it rest on the sides and the back of his head so he could still see his pretty face. In doing this, Todoroki took the opportunity to lean forward and kiss his lips longingly, softly.

It had been a full day since they had kissed. 

The little villain forgot how much he missed him. All of him. Everything about him. He may have shed a tear feeling the softness of his lips again. How gentle and shy his beloved was. Someone who always needed to be reassured that he was loved back. Someone who needed to be pushed to push back. But this time Midoriya pulled. He tugged the towel on Todoroki’s head to bring him closer, to cup his cheeks in the cloth. The soap on him and in his hair smelt so lovely. Sweet like strawberries. Midoriya tilted his head to deepen their kiss just a little bit. He wanted it to last just a little bit longer.

They would have to part eventually, Todoroki pulling back first, opening his eyes slowly with the faintest smile. Perhaps a flame would have appeared on his head if his hair wasn’t soaked. Midoriya put his hands over his face to hide a massive blush, tilting his head down and shaking side to side. “Don’t overthink… okay?” Todoroki said before getting up and out of the water. He wrapped a towel around his hip and kept the one Midoriya gave him over his head. 

Midoriya nodded slowly, keeping his hands over his chest to feel his heart rate. He hadn’t gotten so much fuzziness from a kiss in a long time. He peeked back at Todoroki who picked up Zuzu while she was napping in her towel cocoon. “Oh, Shouchan… your back.” the freckled boy got up from his knees to approach his hero’s back. It was darkly bruised and discolored all over. He put his hands on him to feel around just in case. Todoroki watched him from the corner of his eye. “This isn’t from Kosuke, is it?” He couldn’t imagine how Kosuke could have done this.

“Maybe… I still don’t exactly remember anything.” Despite having his possession explained, he had no memories of the event. He had to take Dabi and Midoriya’s word on their recounts. And Dabi’s was missing the first few minutes of being taken control. The wounds on his chest, stomach, and upper arms were enough physical proof, however.  “I didn’t exactly have an easy fight with Muscular either.” It may have been one, the other, or both. 

“Don’t put a shirt on yet. Could you lay down in bed on your stomach instead? If it doesn’t hurt of course!” Midoriya asked. And Todoroki obliged. Only throwing on a pair of loose pants, he laid down on the bed on his stomach, a towel still resting on his head. And this was an excellent time to use the new fluffy fox pillow Midoriya got him, nuzzling his cheek into. Zuzu took her leisure time by jumping on a chair and then Midoriya’s desk to watch the world outside the window. “I should have checked you sooner. I should have checked you as soon as we returned from the ambush.” Midoriya muttered to himself. He knew that he forgot to check Todoroki for wounds because he was too eager to terrorize Bakugo. “I was so stupid…” 

“I can hear you,” Todoroki said, lifting his head and watching Midoriya wet a towel in the bathroom just across the hall. The little villain jumped and launched the towel in the air before catching it again. Todoroki didn’t like him talking badly about himself. And he knew that. He awkwardly went to the bed and sat beside Todoroki, placing the wet towel on his back.

“You can regulate your temperature to the towel to soothe any pain you have.” 

“It doesn’t hurt that much. But you shouldn’t talk badly towards yourself like that.” Todoroki said. He rested his head down in his arms on the fluffy pillow, peeking at the notebook that was placed near him on the bed. He looked at some of the notes and doodles of their plans. He wanted to keep planning. “So at night… a district or two over,” he mumbled. Midoriya nodded before slowly pressed his weight onto Todoroki’s back with his hands. Todoroki winced at the initial pain bet then exhaled at the sudden bliss he felt… a massage.

Midoriya pressed down while also feeling around at the tense muscle that had made itself present on his hero’s back. Stress and wounds had made him much tenser than normal. He could feel the tightness. He must be sore. If he could start doing nice things for him, this seemed like a nice start. And Todoroki reached for the notebook and pen to start writing. He tapped his lower lip with the back of the pen repeatedly. “We want to wake people up. We could do fireworks or… how about arson?”

“You want to set something on fire?” Midoriya asked before grunting, suddenly feeling a big shift in Todoroki’s back. Todoroki winced before making the slightest exhale again and even a groan. He blinked slowly, suddenly feeling a wave of relaxation. Then he nodded to the other’s question. “Okay…” What could they set on fire? What would get people’s attention? What would make an impact?  Then he smirked. His lips curled wickedly as he giggled mischievously, a green glow becoming present in his eyes. What a wonderful idea had crept into his mind. He leaned down to Todoroki’s ear, both his hands pressing down into his shoulder blades. “How about your father’s pride?” 

And thus began a few hours of this plotting. Todoroki proceeded to write down notes in Midoriya’s journal about their ideas while occasionally pausing to react to his muscles being forced to relax. It would be a lie to say Midoriya wasn’t pleased by his reactions. Hearing him grunt and groan and forcing his words to get cut off or slurred every so often made him smile with a mischievous look in his eye. 

Midoriya eventually leaned down closer to take a peek at Todoroki’s notes. “Your handwriting always so nice?” he asked quietly with a smile. In an attempt to be subtle, his chest moved against his back as he climbed on top of him. His fingers slid smoothly from his back, around his sides to his toned abdomen. His chin rested on his shoulder, looking over what was written. “Tomu needs me to rewrite my notes for him all the time. He’ll actually be able to read yours.” he giggled at himself.

Todoroki tilted his head lazily to the side so Midoriya could look over his shoulder, but he was feeling a sense of bliss since his aching muscles were relieved. In feeling Midoriya on his back like he was, he couldn’t help but blush. He felt like he was infatuated all over again. “I circled the ones that would be the most possible.” he pointed to the notes with the pen. “And I drew stars for ones that we both really want to happen.” 

“Look at you being so organized.” Midoriya hummed before feeling Todoroki shiver. He wasn’t doing anything scandalous. Absolutely not. He would never.

“Izuku…” Todoroki breathed calmly, his eyes closing sleepily. “Where are your hands going…?”

“Nowhere you wouldn’t want them to go. But let me know, just in case.” The little villain smiled to himself when he felt Todoroki suddenly twitch. He rested his cheek on his back. “I love feeling your heart…”

“Something tells me that’s not the only thing you like feeling.”

“Do you mind?”

Todoroki laid in silence for a few moments, thinking it over. “Guess not.” he merely shrugged before flinching with a quiet hitch in his voice. “Izuku-” 

Midoriya just giggled at his beloved hero, teasing him mercilessly. But lovingly. “You can be so cute sometimes, Shouchan.”

While a villainous doctor loving clung and teased the love of his life, a stapled man was latched on to his partner. Shigaraki was sitting up against the headboard of his bed, awake and scrolling through his phone while Dabi was hugging onto his waist, his cheek against his shirt. Though Dabi was normally a peaceful, quiet, albeit ungraceful sleeper with his mouth usually open, later that morning was not so typical. Shigaraki noticed him quivering, his face scrunching, and breathing quickly. He usually wasn’t one for nightmares like Todoroki. 

It was odd for him to have such a stressful sleep. Shigaraki wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to wake him. His tomcat went to bed so late last night and to be woken up before noon didn’t seem like something he’d like, especially a second time. He was thankful it didn’t come to that because it wasn’t long before he glanced down at the stapled man and found crystal eyes staring at him, almost panicked.

“Hey,” Shigaraki greeted casually with a straight face. He could feel Dabi’s heart racing against his thigh. He glanced away, not sure what else to do. But he glanced right back, seeing him just completely paralyzed with his eyes locked on to him. Must be one hell of a nightmare for him to wake up without a snarky or weird comment. So Shigaraki put his hand on his head with four fingers and began lightly petting his hair side to side. He liked that, didn’t he? “You alright?” He asked a loaded question and he wasn’t quite sure what he would do with any answer.

“Fucking hell…” Dabi groaned, his head rising a bit to Shigaraki’s touch before sinking down to rest his cheek on his lap. He hugged onto his waist a little tighter, nuzzling his nose into his stomach. 

“Well, that’s a no.” Shigaraki deducted from being latched on to. It felt like one of those videos of a cat clinging to someone’s arm that would whine when the human tried to take it back. He didn’t know what else to do besides just pet his head. While he did, he could at least feel his heart rate steady.

“I need a fucking drink…” 

“If you do, I won’t pet you.”

Dabi lifted his foot up before kicking it down on the mattress in a pout. “Not cool.”

“Alcoholism isn’t cool,” Shigaraki spoke casually while Dabi complained. “So what do you want more?” Alcohol or affection? Dabi was being forced to choose. To which he made an exasperated, pouty sigh into Shigaraki’s stomach.

He’d rather be petted. 

So the scrawny villain willingly proceeded to play with his spikey hair and soothingly stroked his head. “Tomcat.” he teased in monotone. But he was very satisfied with his choice.

“Can I kiss you then?”

“You can.” Shigaraki allowed. To which Dabi slowly lifted himself up and put his hands on either side of the other’s legs. Lazily, he leaned forward to kiss his cheek. Then kissed his lips. Shigaraki closed his eyes and welcomed it without a fuss, kissing back and even putting down his phone. Though he soon found himself being dragged downward as Dabi took hold of his hips and pulled him to lay down underneath him. How skinny he was. His pelvic bone could be felt by Dabi’s thumb. As a bit of a surprise, he slowly wrapped his scrawny arms around the other’s neck to pull him down a little closer once he was flat on the bed.

The stapled villain paused for a moment, taking the time to gaze down at the one below him that was pulling him closer. Pulling back, he was able to get a good look at his scarred face at his lip and eye. He cupped his cheek to trace his thumb over the one at his lips. He quietly chuckled at the face he made, annoyed that he was poking at it. “How cute…” he mused. Then he snickered at Shigaraki for sticking his tongue out at him in spite.

It was the perfect opportunity to initiate another kiss while making it more intense than the last. Pushing down further. Pressing his chest against the other’s. Gripping his shoulders for a little while before resting his forearms beside his head. He slipped his tongue further. His body flared up in temperature at the sound of the smallest moan and Shigaraki’s chest pushing him back up. Dabi then paused and slowly pulled back, crystal eyes wide with shock. He never expected a sound like that from him. “You-”

“I couldn’t breathe…! F-Forget you ever heard that!” Shigaraki demanded with his face beat red. Dabi’s pleasantly shocked expression morphed to his typical cheeky smirk.

“Now how could I forget that?” he teased. Shigaraki sat up with Dabi on his hands and knees still above him, though now at eye level. “You can be really cute, you know.” His mouth was covered with both of Shigaraki’s hands with eight fingers.

“I’m ordering you to forget it!” Dabi took hold of both his wrists with one hand and pushed them back.

“Denied.” he released them before laying against him, his cheek against the top of his shoulder. “Don’t be so embarrassed. It’s just us anyway.” he shut his eyes again, not ready to go back to sleep but just to rest. He felt a small bonk on his head which was normal. Then he nuzzled closer with a smile against a petting hand. He was already forgiven.

“I hope so at least.” Shigaraki then said, leaning back and taking hold of his phone again. He was scrolling through news articles where reporters were on Endeavor’s tail with details on the investigation. Heroes were scrambling since the invasion. He could see protests about teenage heroes and putting them on the field amongst the pros. As much as this news filled him with pride, something else wasn’t sitting right with him. He didn’t feel alone in his room.

“You hope so? You think that ghost is in here?” Dabi peeked one eye open before closing it again. Surely the ghost was back in the lab. They didn’t have to worry about that here.

“Well…” Dabi peeked again. He noticed Shigaraki staring at his monitor from the corner of his eye. He had been staring at it a lot recently. “Not a ghost, exactly.” Shigaraki appeared a bit suspicious, if not worried. He wasn’t worried about Kosuke, but his computer? What about it? “Sometimes my master or the doctor contact me through the computer. They always seem to know when I’m around.”

Then it hit him. Dabi’s eyes widened suddenly. “Is that why you haven’t done anything? You’re worried the bigger bossman is gonna see us or even watch us?” He got up from laying against him and sat on his knees beside him. “Why didn’t you say something? You could have been sleeping in my room. Or why don’t you just tell them-” he then suddenly remembered more details of the conversation he had with Kurogiri. That the doctor did something to Shigaraki to keep him from feeling attraction normally in order to keep him from being distracted. Of course, Shigaraki wouldn’t tell All For One or the doctor about their relationship.

“I thought you didn’t like roommates,” Shigaraki answered with a shrug.

“This is different!” Dabi slammed the palm of his hand into his forehead. “Yeah, I do hate roommates when I’m forced to live with people just to have a roof over my head for the night.” He put his hands in front of him in a chopping motion. “You’re not forcing me to live here, dumbass.” He then aggressively poked his forehead. “I kissed you and asked for this first, didn’t I? I realized you’re not like everyone else. Got it?”

Shigaraki’s face scrunched at his forehead being poked as he grumbled with every poke in annoyance. “I’m not a dumbass, you’re the dumbass. How was I supposed to know where your boundaries start and end?” he huffed. “Am I just supposed to believe that you wanting to do unspeakable things to me overrides all your initial preferences for space?”

“Yes!” Dabi answered instinctively before his head caught on fire. Shigaraki grabbed a flat pillow and began lightly whacking the flame with it. Once it was put out, Shigaraki sighed and tossed the pillow aside. He folded his arms and tilted his head judgingly. “I told you that you were special, didn’t I?” Dabi covered his eyes slightly as he turned his head away. He normally wouldn’t get flustered over these kinds of things. But suddenly letting Shigaraki know bluntly that he changed his mind about him compared to when they first met and now craved a night of lust with him felt… weird. “So… you want to sleep in my room tonight or not?” Dabi grumbled. 

Asking for sexual affection was normal. Asking for it genuinely was weird for him. 

To see Dabi so embarrassed all of a sudden was a rare sight. He was always so confident and snarky these days. Constantly teasing and smirking, now brought a level of hiding his face and catching fire embarrassingly. Shigaraki could almost pity him. Almost. He got off the bed and stretched, flexing his neck side to side. He walked past Dabi with just a light pat to his shoulder. It caused the stapled man to turn to him quickly. He didn’t expect to be met with a kiss on the lips that only lasted a few seconds. Shigaraki pulled back first. “Your room tonight then.” then he flicked his head lightly. “After making me clean my room, yours better be fucking spotless.”

Dabi blinked speechlessly while rubbing his forehead as Shigaraki headed for the door. He struggled to contain his blush at being given such blatant consent. He nodded absentmindedly. He would be sure to clean his room before the end of the night. “O...Okay.”

“Why are you just sitting there? You start to train Yako today, don’t you?” Shigaraki opened the door a crack, ready to walk out himself. He still had things to do today. Now that they both had plans tonight, wouldn’t it be better to get the day started sooner rather than later? 

“Y-Yeah. I do, don’t I?” Dabi suddenly remembered from Shigaraki’s reminder. 

Midoriya sat on a barstool at Kurogiri’s bar, a small stack of textbooks and notebooks sitting in front of him while he was reading through a book. A backpack and hoodie were on the floor beside the barstool. He was dressed cleanly in his villain costume, diligently reading and occasionally tapping his fingers on the wood. At the very bottom of the stack of books was one on the anatomy of human arms. The book he was currently reading was quirk alterations to the human body. He was looking over the chapters on fluids. 

Shigaraki sat beside him, casually playing a video game with his phone opened in front of him to a news podcast. He seemed to be listening to reporters talking about a planned conference in a week with U.A. teachers. “It is absolutely unacceptable. This is the second life-endangering occurrence children have had with villains! Two students have lost their lives in the span of a couple of months because they were thrown into the hero field too early. It is irresponsible and the heroes need to be held accountable. Eraserhead has always hated journalists, probably because he has a lot to hide. I don’t know how someone sleeps at night knowing two kids died because of the life he’s leading them into! It’s-” the podcast went on and on with a single angry reporter.

“Shouchan’s not gonna like that,” Midoriya mumbled, keeping his eyes on the textbook he was reading. But he could multitask and listen to the reporter.

“Why do you say that?” Shigaraki asked out of curiosity. 

“From my understanding, it’s because he respects Eraserhead, doesn’t he?” Kurogiri answered from the back room. He emerged from it with a small plate of fruit on toothpicks. Midoriya casually took one while Shigaraki pushed the plate closer to him. Healthy food? Disgusting. “I thought he would be angry at him for ignoring his calls back at the hospital.”

“Shouchan’s more forgiving than that. He’s pretty certain he just never noticed his phone going off. So he’s not angry at all.” Midoriya twirled his finger in the air as he spoke. He wished Todoroki would be more hateful. But that wasn’t his choice to force on him. 

Shigaraki shrugged again, not really concerned with how Todoroki felt. He was loyal. That’s all he needed. So he continued with his game without a second thought. “You reading about arms again?” he then asked about a few minutes of silence. He must have caught him reading about them when he would get lost in his fantasies about torturing Bakugo. He also noticed the book the other night on his desk.

“Not this time…” Midoriya answered, leaning a little closer to his book. The closer he got, the more he would understand. Surely that’s how learning worked. Shigaraki was admittedly surprised and Kurogiri was too. Both of them leaned a little to get a glimpse at what the little villain was studying up on. “I want to figure out why Shouchan was getting sick earlier this morning. I’ll have to look at the sample you gave me. But I want to see if there’s anything I have in my library that could help.” 

Todoroki’s health had taken priority over Bakugo’s fate. 

Shigaraki smirked with a small snicker. “You work so much.” he hummed.

“Hypocrite,” Midoriya said back without hesitation but with a smile.

“You both need to learn how to balance work and rest.” Kurogiri scolded. The three looked to each other for a moment before returning to what they were doing. It felt like months since it was just the three of them at the bar together. A few more minutes of silence between them all ensued. It was just another day at work.

After a while, Shigaraki let out a loud sigh. “Why did you keep Kosuke a secret?” he asked. It was a heavy question. Midoriya froze in his reading and looked off and away. Todoroki would have been protected if he had known. Dabi’s face wouldn’t have been nicked. Zuzu wouldn’t have gotten hurt. “You could have told me, you know? And the tomcat really wants me to grill you on it.”

“I…” Midoriya leaned back in his stool a bit, looking away at his book to his feet instead. He felt the weight of that question. It was heavy in his chest. He kept a secret from his big brother, his boss. He had no right to. He should be severely punished and yet… Shigaraki was far too nice for that. “I guess I was afraid you would think I’m crazy. But…” they were all a little crazy here. That wasn’t a good excuse at all and he knew that. “You already have so much to worry about. And I’m trusted to be careful and take care of the lab you gave me. I think I felt ashamed that I let one of my victims haunt it…” then he slammed his head on to the countertop. “But now I’m ashamed that you had to find out this way!” He felt stupid along with his guilt.

Shigaraki reached over to smother Midoriya’s face into the counter. “Yeah, you should be,” he grumbled. “But you need to get over it now.” Then he pulled his hand back and Midoriya lifted his head, his forehead red. He rubbed it and looked to his big brother, looking uncertain. “That’s it. That’s your punishment. Don’t keep secrets again.”

“You’re not gonna… threaten me or take something away? You’re not going to lock me in the lab for days with only your leftover vegetables?” Midoriya put his hands on his stool between his legs, lowering his head awkwardly. Perhaps just out of respect. 

“What would that accomplish?” Shigaraki waved his hand and went back to watching his game on the screen. “You overworking? Running on low energy? Learn to hate and distrust me from abusive discipline? I’m pissed, but I’m not going to torture you.” Acting off his rage with cruelty was irresponsible and counterproductive. Midoriya rubbed the back of his head sadly. “Besides… I’d rather you tell me what you came up with for a debut rather than me reading about it.” Midoriya’s eyes suddenly lit up. “I can’t read your handwriting anyway.”

“Shouchan wrote them so it’s fine. But if you want to-” Shigaraki put his video game controller down and rested his cheek in his palm. Midoriya took out a notebook that was at the top of the books he stacked and opened up to the debut section that was filled with notes and doodles. He quietly listened to Midoriya enthusiastically explain the ideas he and Todoroki came up with. His rambling would go on for quite some time. But his big brother just listened and took everything into consideration. He was mostly relieved to hear that the little villain and his prince charming were back to working together.

“We’re going to need everyone if I’m hearing this right…” Shigaraki pulled the notebook closer with two fingers to see what was circled and starred. “I think we can make that work… quite nicely actually.” He nodded before tapping once specific note that was starred. “That’s a pretty big feat, however.” He narrowed his eyes and Kurogiri leaned over to look as well. 

“I don’t believe it’ll be that difficult with Toga and Shouto. And we can have Twice and Spinner on standby.” Kurogiri advised. “Though I suppose the question is how do we possibly capture someone like that? And contain them long enough for it to work…” he held a fist to his foggy chin.

“I’m still trying to plan it all out. This is important and…” Midoriya pulled the notebook back and looked over all the notes. This was something he and Todoroki made together right after a fight. It was really important to both of them. But more than anything… “I know it’s going to be tricky. But I really wanna do this for Shouchan. He deserves it.” Shigaraki and Kurogiri watched his face to see how sad and yet how determined he was. “I’ll think of something, I promise. I just wanted to run it by you.”

Shigaraki nodded and waved his hand. “Alright. We’ll meet once a day to discuss.” Just the two of them. Midoriya found himself nearly blushing at the trust and responsibility he was given. Despite keeping Kosuke a secret, the scrawny villain was still going to work with him as if nothing happened. “Besides, it’s been a while since it was just the three of us. Things are so noisy these days.” Midoriya nodded in agreement. Things had changed quite a bit since he first started. He had changed a lot. They both did.

Midoriya eventually closed the book he was looking through and packed it into the backpack on the floor. He put another book and a few notebooks into the bag as well. He threw the hoodie on over his costume. “Going out?” Shigaraki asked.

“I’m going to head to the library to see if there’s anything on Shouchan’s condition. And after dinner, we’re going to Mr. Compress’s place for training.” Midoriya went to the door before putting his shoes on. “There’ll be lots to do.” he smiled. There was a lot more work to be done. But he was excited about it.

“So your quirk reacts most strongly based on emotion, am I remembering right?” Dabi stood with his arms folded over Todoroki, dressed in his fireproof villain cloak. They were both in the training room that Midoriya used often with Stain and Shigaraki in the past. Though typically he would practice with Toga and Spinner these days. Todoroki was in a black tank top with an unzipped hoodie, looking up at him with his most undivided attention. He nodded silently to his question. Dabi tilted his head and visibly seemed awkward. Being stared at like that and learning more and more that Todoroki was the quiet type felt so strange. His baby brother used to smile and laugh all the time. He cleared his throat into his fist. “What emotion do you think your fire reacts to most?”

“Anger,” Todoroki answered bluntly. He looked at his left hand, conflicted. “Sometimes embarrassment. But it was strongest when Izuku was attacked by Kosuke and got the scar on his eye.”

Dabi put his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, that makes sense.” A little too much sense considering Endeavor’s personality. “Have you burned yourself before?”

“I don’t think so. I suppose I would if I used it too intensely.” So it would seem that Todoroki had a stronger constitution than Dabi did. He could handle his power better.

“Alright, so we’ll start with setting up a limit,” Dabi instructed. He then leaned back against a wall and gave Todoroki a few instructions in a deadpanned tone. He watched one wall of the room be layered in thick sheets of ice. While he watched Todoroki prepare the training setup, he took a small flask out of his pocket and took a short gulp. Before Todoroki could turn to look at him, he put it away and wiped his mouth with his sleeve.

Todoroki removed his hoodie to not destroy it. “What do you mean by a limit?” he asked.

“I mean we’re going to see the strongest you can go without hurting yourself.” Dabi then roughly poked his forehead. “Let’s keep that scar on your face the only one you got.” The last thing he wanted was his baby brother needing staples just to keep his body from falling apart. Todoroki took a step back from the poke and rubbed his forehead. As annoying and teasing Dabi came off as; he’s done a lot for him. He respected the fact that he was being considerate of his well-being. He was grateful, actually. “So take a second to piss yourself off.”

“What?”

“Get mad.” Dabi’s facial expression slumped seeing Todoroki so genuinely confused. “Have you never put yourself in a bad mood?” Todoroki shook his head. Dabi scratched the side of his head. Not only had his baby brother lost his smiles and laughter, but apparently he was emotionally repressed too. “Okay…” he took a deep breath. His initial idea was to piss him off himself. Try to say things to trigger him. But something about that made him feel sick. “Try… to think of the most frustrating things. Sometimes it helps to cover your ears and close your eyes and just try to picture something that would anger you.”

Todoroki looked unsure. The idea of getting angered like that didn’t sit so well with him. Wasn’t there another way to try to get his strongest flames? But if Dabi thought this was the best way to start then… he covered his ears slowly and closed his eyes. Something that frustrated him… He could have thought of Kosuke, he could have thought of Midoriya yelling at him, he could have thought of Iida yelling at him, he could think of All Might turning his back on him, or even Bakugo yelling at Midoriya. He could think of all those things. And he did.

Dabi watched Todoroki’s, typically still, face suddenly express a lot of pain; although not physical. Hands that covered his ears began to grip at his hair and head in frustration and sadness. All the hatred he withheld was suddenly beginning to stir with every thought. 

But nothing compared to picturing the hospital on fire. Seeing his father raise a flaming hand to him, prepared to kill him himself. But in the end, he just abandoned him. What hurt more? What angered more? Did Endeavor driving Rei to madness frustrate him more than being left for dead? Or was it driving away his brother and sister and supposedly killing the other? Was it the consistent abuse and neglect of him, or others?

“Shou…” Dabi had taken a step back with his arm raised to protect his face from the intense heat Todoroki was radiating. Flames had appeared on his head, shoulder, and foot. But the sheer sweltering temperature he was creating had made the whole room feel like Hell. Maybe his suppressed emotions were best left untouched in this kind of way. “I think that’s-” Dabi was about to tell him to stop and open his eyes when Todoroki did indeed open his eyes and rashly swung his arm to create a massive blast of fire sent directly at the part of the room he froze. Though it was melting from the temperature, what was left was completely engulfed by a flame so bright that Dabi had to look away. Though he swore at the very core of that massive blast, one at least one-fourth the size of the room, he could see blue.

Half the room was charred and singed from the flames despite having been coated in ice. It wasn’t thick enough to contain a blast that big and that intense. And it appeared Todoroki’s body could barely manage it as well. He dropped to one knee and gasped for breath with his left half smoking. His shirt was singed and burnt on the left side, though mostly intact. His arm quivered as he heaved heavy breaths from the sudden exertion. And there was a tear streak running down from his scarred eye to his cheek.

Dabi stood over him with his hands in the pockets, looking over the damage to the room. He had watched Todoroki make a glacier bigger than the city stadium at the Sports Festival and continue on without much difficulty. This blast was nowhere near as big, and yet he appeared to be at his limit. He never really used it that much. There was a lot of work to be done if they would ever hope to even out his quirks.

“Fire really isn’t your specialty…” Dabi deducted. Todoroki nodded and coughed lightly, choking on his own ragged breathing for only a second. 

“It’s why I asked for your help…” He preferred the stapled man to Endeavor to ever teach him. After all, he thought Dabi was a lot cooler than him. Though, his new teacher suddenly felt a little guilty having Todoroki mentally rip himself apart like that. He internally hoped that the emotional pain wouldn’t linger. But seeing the destruction he could cause with little to no training of his fire at all… he smirked. Todoroki certainly could become a great killer. 

“Alright, so we’ll start a few steps back from that. We can work you up-” Dabi began to explain before suddenly noticing something that caused him to freeze. Todoroki began to calm down and was looking at the blackened walls and ceiling. But he was completely oblivious to the darkened scarred skin under his eye and the blackened skin at his hand and wrist. Looking at his own hand, Dabi knew exactly what those were. Prototypes of his own scars. “Actually… I think a break is in order.”

“What? How come?” Todoroki stood back up, rubbing the left side of his head a little. His body began steaming as small patches of ice appeared around to cool himself down. He must have felt fine. Or at least that was what he was telling himself because this training wasn’t as bad as other forms.

“Because I said so, don’t question me,” Dabi said sternly, raising a finger. Suddenly he felt like a parent and he didn’t like it. “You’re too used to being pushed too far. You’re still just a kid.” How was what they saw at that training camp even legal? It was borderline torture with the excuse of making the students stronger just to be used. He wouldn’t train Todoroki like that.

And thus, every so often Dabi would have Todoroki sit to rest multiple times. Even if it was just for a minute. He wanted to give him plenty of time to cool. He could see his skin burning little by little with how much firepower he was using. He could consider that normal and his body was building a tolerance. But he would never push him far enough to collapse or get sick. Whatever power it would take to get him to pass out could be worked up to with stubborn repetition done in safe spurts.

“Your power will increase every day we do this. But your control and posture absolutely suck.” Dabi lectured. Todoroki had frozen and melted the walls of the room over and over again. He could make strong flames, but they were almost always out of control. Whether the aim was off or the blast had become too big to manage, he had almost zero practice with precision. There was a lot to be done to bridge the gap between his fire and ice. “You’re trying to use it like ice, but it’s not like that at all.” He watched him at the sports festival. He knew how he fought.

Dabi came up beside Todoroki and stomped his foot before sliding it to nudge Todoroki’s to the side. “You’re used to grounding yourself with your left foot. You have to switch it up.” With his hands in his pockets, he kicked at his little brother’s feet to adjust his posture. He was really taking this teaching stuff seriously. “Left foot in front, right foot in back. Turn it a little.”

“I thought you said teaching wasn’t your thing,” Todoroki commented. Dabi huffed and lightly punched his shoulder.

“Just listen,” he grumbled. “We can get you more mobile later. Let’s just get power and basic control first. Then mobility and more complex things will be later. The farther your feet are from each other, the more grounded you’ll be.” He then stood by Todoroki’s left side. “You’re used to focusing ice to your right foot to freeze the battleground. Fire is going to be best used with your left arm. You keep trying to shoot straight but then it fans out.” From looking at the walls, there were patches of melted and frozen over ice that was burned in odd patterns.

Dabi took hold of Todoroki’s arm. “Swing back.” he pulled it back. Todoroki let him with watchful eyes. There was just a small sparkle of awe in them despite his still face. “Forward. Up.” He held his arm up, across his body. “This is where you build up power. Back to prepare, up to flare up,” Then he lightly pushed and let go of his arm. “Then swipe and release.” Todoroki nodded slowly, mimicking the movements slowly. “Don’t be stiff about it. Just let it do its thing.” His attention then shifted to Dabi who copied his stance and arm movement in a single motion. His arm went up and powered up a blue flame before he shot out a blast that aimed and landed in a burst directly in front of them. “Now give it a shot.”

Dabi leaned back against the wall of the unfrozen half of the room. He’d watch his little brother practice over and over, finding the most comfortable stance and adjusting to the swiftest motion of his arm. He started off terribly sloppy. There was even a point where the flame went a complete 90-degree angle off the mark because he released too late. And there were times he accidentally blasted the ceiling. Dabi wouldn’t miss the chance to laugh at him. “Ya missed.” he was sure to annoy.

“Maybe I should just aim for you.” Todoroki huffed with a petty glare.

“You can’t even aim straight. Comes with not being straight, I guess.” Then his hair caught on fire as he immediately turned away and got right back to practicing.

When Todoroki wasn’t looking, Dabi took out a flask from his pocket and took a quick drink. He couldn’t believe he was talked into doing this. Maybe this is what Shigaraki meant by not disliking something. It was just weird...but he was having a little bit of fun.

Dabi would end up playing on his phone for a bit. Todoroki had been sending blast after blast for at least an hour, but his skin wasn’t singing black and purple like before. He had made him take breaks before so he trusted him to stop when he needed to. But after another twenty or so minutes passed, Dabi glanced up at him again. He was hunched over and breathing kind of hard, sweating a lot too. “Hey… You need to sit?” Dabi called out. He could see a lot of steam from his left side from the ice trying to cool him. 

“I can do a few more…” Todoroki insisted, standing back up straight. “I almost got it.” He had made a target out of ice with rings jutting out from the wall. He had refrozen it multiple times trying to hit the center. But from the uneven patches, Dabi could tell he was missing most of his shots. He was a talented boy, for sure. But even talent needed practice. 

“It’s… okay if you don’t get it perfect in one day. It takes a long time to master a quirk. Think about how long your ice took. Don’t be impatient.” Dabi had half a mind to step in and stop him. But if he was really that determined, he’d let him push himself. So he just left him off with a warning.

Just as Todoroki requested, he did try a few more blasts. He was at least hitting his target, but not the center like he wanted. He kept going. Again. And again. Even though it started to hurt a long time ago. Even if his wrist’s skin was darkening little by little. “Shou. Time to stop.”  Dabi put in all this work to train him. The least he could do was learn how to aim fire right. Dabi deserved to see only the best results. If he ever wanted to be as cool as him, he’d have to go beyond what he could do now. “Hey, you listening to me? I said that’s enough.” Saving him from the fire, saving him Kosuke, talking to him on the scaffolding. He had a jerk of a personality, but his actions were still kind even if he denied it. He wanted to prove he could be as strong as a kind person like him. No pain could possibly compare to those scars and staples. “Hey!”

With one last blast, his hand smoking and singed black, fire had been released and flew straight ahead. It exploded into the target dead center, melting the target in a near-perfect circle. He gasped for breath, hunched over a bit before he began to fall forwards. His body was so hot and working so hard to cool down. He couldn’t bear the dizziness. And yet he never hit the floor from being caught. A stapled arm was able to get around his chest with another wrapped around his back to hold him steady. “You’re such a dumbass. This is why I had you sit.” Dabi scolded. Todoroki looked up at him from the corner of his eye before his focus shifted to the melted hole in his ice. An exhausted smile ever so gently crept up on his sweaty and flushed face.

“I did it though…” he breathed, relieved. Progress in just a single day. “Just like you taught me…” his legs gave out but Dabi was still able to keep a hold on him. He just had to let him down on his knees. Todoroki glanced at him again with a tired expression.

Maybe he was just overworked. Maybe he was hallucinating. Maybe his eyes were just playing tricks. But his teacher didn’t look like he usually did. His expression didn’t look so scolding, but worried. His skin didn’t look scarred. His hair wasn’t black. His vision was a little too fuzzy to make out the details.

He only blinked once and his sight focused on the stapled man above him.

“That was really stupid- oh don’t try to kiss up now you little lunatic.” Dabi wasn’t going to let a sappy act like that let his little brother off the hook. “Let’s look at your hand before your little boyfriend chews me out. No more today.”

Dabi sat Todoroki against the wall. He melted all the ice on the walls himself. However, he did keep a chunk of it on the floor as he slid it over to his little brother by kicking it. He forced it up against his left side for him to lean on and then hear sizzling. He then used the water from the melting chunk to wash Todoroki’s hand. Thank god the blackness was just a bit of char and ash from the ceiling and only a thin layer of his skin. But the skin of his wrist was not the same. “Do you think I’ll be able to use blue flames like you…?” Todoroki asked quietly.

“Just because you could doesn’t mean you should,” Dabi answered. He was thankful that Shigaraki and Kurogiri had equipped this training room with bandages and towels. He was able to wrap his wrist with an ointment. He was lucky this was the only ‘major’ wound aside from smaller red spots on his arm and neck. “Even if you figure out you can use them at will, I don’t consent to teach you.” Dabi’s eyes were focused on the wound before looking at Todoroki with an intense glowing stare. “I don’t want you using them. Your body won’t be able to handle it.”

“How do you know?” Todoroki asked genuinely. His tone wasn’t rude. But if Dabi couldn’t handle them, who's to say that he couldn’t?

“Call it a hunch.” Dabi lightly patted Todoroki’s burnt wrist and watched him wince at the slight stinging pain. “But you can also call it me being careful. Burns like that aren’t worth the risk.” He pointed at him, making sure he had his full attention. “So don’t try to use them, got it?” Todoroki nodded slowly. He looked tired from working so hard, though there was a hint of sadness in his face. He liked the way Dabi’s flames looked a lot. But he wanted to respect his wishes.

“Got it…” he sighed. It quickly earned him a pat on his head only for it to turn into an attack on his hair. Dabi was sure to mess it up as much as he could with an aggressive ruffle. It made him scrunch his face up and make a small grumble in annoyance.

“Don’t go rebellious on me. No pouting either.” Dabi took his hand back with a smirk as Todoroki just glared at him in silence. “I’ll be back in a minute, alright?” 

Leaving Todoroki for just a minute or two, Dabi took the elevator back to the level of his room. He made his trip quick. Going into his apartment, going into his freezer, taking a small box out before going towards the door. But he suddenly spotted a little puppy snuggling a headless Endeavor toy on his sofa. They made eye contact. Dabi picked Zuzu up in his hand like a box while she held her toy in her mouth. 

“Here.” In going back to Todoroki, he tossed him the small box he took from the freezer. Then he let Zuzu sprint up to him to give him lots of love and affection. It included lots of puppy kisses and attempts to lick away his sweat. 

“What’s this?” Todoroki took a second to appease his puppy, petting her and holding her before letting her sit on his lap with a wagging tail. Getting a chance to actually examine what he was given, he blinked.

“It’s your favorite, right?” Dabi had his hands in his pockets and looked away awkwardly. “Uh… Fallen or Midoriya told me…” Even though he was the one that told Midoriya. He had tossed Todoroki a small snack-sized strawberry ice cream pack with a tiny spoon attached to the lid. “It should help cool you down. But also a little reward for your hard work today.” He then huffed to himself. “Just this once. Don’t expect it every time.” He couldn’t go spoiling him… or maybe he could. He was weak to that innocent child-like sparkle in his eye when he looked down at the frozen treat.

They sat side by side with at least two Zuzu lengths between them. Todoroki silently ate while occasionally using the other end of the spoon to pick out ice cream and shared with Zuzu. She would chew on her toy, then drop it and let it fall on the floor, lick up the dessert, then hop off his lap to retrieve the toy, then lay back on his lap. She was high energy today. But she did end up making a small bark at Dabi.

“What?” Dabi asked, annoyed. He had just taken a sip from the flask in his hand. He looked to Zuzu with a tired glare. 

“I don’t think she wants you drinking that,” Todoroki commented.

“How would a dog know what that is? You train her to do that?” Todoroki shook his head. But then Dabi mentally facepalmed. Shigaraki definitely did. “Nevermind… I know who did.” He was gonna kill him. Fuck him. Then kill him.

“Shigaraki, right?” Todoroki then answered before taking another bite. Dabi almost spat out what he drank out of shock. But he covered his mouth to keep it in. His unharmed skin turned red and a small flame popped up on his head. He was quick to pat it out.

“D-Did he tell you?” He did not like how Todoroki answered that so cleanly. Did he know something was up? Did it matter? It wasn’t like Dabi was ashamed of their strange relationship but they were keeping it to themselves for now. They never acted intimate around others.

“No. I just had a feeling.” Todoroki shared some ice cream with Zuzu before taking another bite himself, rudely speaking with the spoon still in his mouth. He looked down at his treat thoughtlessly, yet head full of conspiracies. “I thought you were in a relationship or something.” The stapled man did his damndest to hide his sudden panicked embarrassment. Found out. He was totally found out. Did he let something slip? How the hell did Todoroki know?! “You were in his bed once with some rope on the floor. I thought maybe one of you liked that kind of thing.” he shrugged so casually.

“I-Is that your only evidence?” Was that literally all he knew? He based his theory on a single observation?!

“Pretty much. Izuku and Toga never noticed it. Am… I looking too much into things?” So he wasn’t entirely sure. The relief that shot through his older brother was ungodly intense. There was an opportunity to shut him down.

“Yeah. Yeah, you definitely are.” Dabi lied. He leaned over to make sure he was being heard clearly. “We talk about strategies a lot. He just has a bunch of weird stuff lying around the floor and he’s a slob who never cleans his room.” That was only a half-lie. “Nothing more. Okay? Nothing going on between us.” And another lie. Why was he even bothering to hide it? What was the point?

“Alright.” Todoroki believed him very quickly. No questions about it. Dabi leaned back against the wall with a sigh. That was definitely a close one. He went to take another drink from the flask but Zuzu barked at him again. “Do you want some? She won’t bark.” Todoroki offered his ice cream. He wasn’t sure how conscious the stapled man was about germs. But he felt it was kind to offer anyway.

“Nah. I don’t really like strawberry.” Dabi waved his hand and turned him down. 

Todoroki looked down and continued to eat. He was about halfway done having taken small bites to savor it up until this point. It was only then it looked a lot smaller all of a sudden. His hands looked smaller for a second too. The air and the room didn’t smell like smoke. It felt like he was outside on a park bench where the air was cleaner and he was with someone else next to him. What were they eating? “You like mint, don’t you?”

Todoroki blinked a few times when he spoke. He spoke without thinking. His mind warped him right back to the training room he was in with the puppy and box on his lap. Turning his head quickly, he made eye contact with Dabi who appeared shocked. Almost… afraid.

“How… would you know that?” he asked quietly.

“I dunno…” Todoroki shrugged, focusing on Zuzu all of a sudden. How awkward. He felt like he said something wrong. So he just petted his puppy and let his hands sink into her soft fluff. “Just a guess?” His answer didn’t sound so sure.

“Well, it’s actually cremia.” Dabi corrected untruthfully. “Nice try though.” He didn’t care that Zuzu barked at him again. He took a long swig of that flask because he needed it.

After a short while, Dabi ended up with a slightly flushed face and mindlessly scrolling through his phone. He wasn’t exactly drunk but he definitely didn’t feel as stressed out. Todoroki’s ice cream had long been finished and the empty box was sitting on the floor. Zuzu snuggled on his lap comfortably, softly snoring with her toy up against her face. And it had appeared she and her owner fell asleep at the same time, Todoroki still sitting up against the wall. So tired from training and then being given a dessert must have turned his exhaustion into sleepiness.

There was a point his weight shifted and he began to tilt over a little bit. Before he fell, Dabi reached with his hand to keep him up. “So hopeless…” he grumbled. He tried pushing him back to his original position but he wouldn’t seem to stay. He kept leaning to fall over. A big brother couldn’t help himself. The vulnerable teenager was asleep after all. The stapled man slowly moved closer, but only enough for his little brother to lean his head on his shoulder. Just for a short nap only. Tipsy crystal eyes watched him lazily. “Just forget him… he was no good anyway.” What he would give to let Touya stay forgotten. 

Midoriya sat at a table by his lonesome surrounded by stacks of books and his notebooks scattered around him. He tapped his head with a pen repeatedly, scanning pages quickly and intensely. “Nothing,” he muttered before pushing the book aside and took another out of the stack. Book after book he was analyzing as quickly and efficiently as he could. It took a very thick and heavy one for his eyes to light up. There were only a few pages. Just a single section in a single chapter. He pulled his notebook closer and held his pen, ready to write.

“One documented case… in America…” his eyes never left the pages while he muttered to himself, scribbling down notes. “A possession done by a curse…” there were pictures. There was a photograph taken of a crime scene where a rotting corpse was chained to the ground of a basement. “Poisoned and died… supposedly killed by abused wife…” He flipped the page and found scanned diary entries in English that were translated into Japanese. “She claimed he cursed her before he died…” His eyes became locked on words and phrases that seemed too familiar. ‘Haunted’, ‘voices and bangs’, ‘hallucinations’, all things Todoroki experienced. Midoriya couldn’t forget the way Todoroki looked at him while tied to the table. He asked if Kurogiri was with them. He must have gotten a glimpse of Kosuke. “She threw the body in the basement… but she went back to chain it down out of fear.”

Midoriya’s pen stopped. He was sure to re-read what he had seen wanting to be sure he was understanding everything correctly. “Home security footage…” there was a detailed retelling of a home security video that had been collected that taped several days of strange behaviors. He read it over but found a source to the description. He took out his phone and earbuds to search for it himself.

There was a video of a woman violently thrashing around, digging her nails into the wall, knocking pictures and paintings off of it. She threw up blood onto the carpet as her eyes were leaking a black substance. Clawing at her eyes and then her stomach, she bashed her head into a glass window until it shattered. There was no audio, but her movements suggested a lot of pain until she threw herself into a kitchen counter where she was still. But it was a few seconds later that she stood up calmly, looking at her hands and feeling her face and body, confused. Then the video ended.

“Possession is very violent with a lot of struggle. Substance in question came from her eyes. Not the mouth.” Midoriya was sure to note. Watching her struggle was painful. To think Todoroki had to fight like that to maintain control of his own body from something he didn’t understand. The little villain would read further that the woman killed herself by slitting her throat with a kitchen knife. 

“Husband’s quirk was nocturnal vision… black substance found had part of his DNA.” Midoriya’s heart began to sink, learning what the investigation team discovered. There wasn’t much. But the conclusion was becoming clear. “Upon further testing… she gained her husband’s initial quirk before her suicide…” He bit his index fingernail, flipping back and forth between pages to make sure he was reading everything correctly. Surely he was missing information. Clearly, there was a possession. But did the wife gain control and kill herself? Or did the husband kill her out of revenge? She was left alive for days, letting his quirk manifest. “He was trying to live in her body.”

Shigaraki’s words suddenly appeared much more frightening. Dabi recounted to him that Todoroki breathed fire, something they weren’t supposed to be able to do. “Sh-Shouchan…” Who knows what would have happened if Zuzu didn’t trigger his consciousness. Todoroki’s poor appetite must have also saved him that night. If Kosuke was allowed to stay long enough he could make a home. What was a worse fate for him…? Killing himself or Kosuke living in his body until the body rotted?

He shut the book loudly. He didn’t need to read anymore. He understood exactly what his beloved hero was getting sick on. The lab would be off-limits for him, with no exceptions. He couldn’t risk another possession. Not for research purposes and not to attempt to get rid of Kosuke. He could live with a ghost in his lab as long as it meant Todoroki was never to be harmed by it again.

“You appear to be reading some pretty heavy material.” A kind voice said. But Midoriya didn’t trust it. He recognized it. Having almost snuck up on him, the little lifted his head and found a former pro hero across the table from him. “I don’t believe we’ve met. But my brother’s told me a bit about you.” The man bowed from his seat in a greeting. “My name was Ingenium. But I’m just Iida Tensei now. A pleasure to meet you.” A blue-haired gentleman in a wheelchair greeted him politely.

Midoriya’s eyes narrowed slightly as he stood up and returned the gesture with a polite bow. “Midoriya Izuku. Likewise.” he sat back down, slowly closing his notebook and never breaking eye contact. These notebooks held very compromising information. He couldn’t let them be examined in detail, although they looked like simple notes at first glance. Nothing to be suspicious of with a medical student. “I’m surprised you recognized me. I’ve never seen you before.” he lied.

“Tenya and I watched the sports festival together. You had a crowd cam on you when you shouted out to Todoroki.” Or at least when the clone did. “Tenya was sure to point you out.”

Midoriya faked a blush as he rubbed the back of his head. “How embarrassing. I had no idea that they recorded me!” he fake laughed.

“You definitely encouraged quite the scene.” Tensei smiled. But he was just smiling through his teeth. They both were. And they both knew it. Bakugo warned Midoriya people were after him. The little villain glanced around through his laughter. There were people hiding in aisles nearby watching him. Midoriya and Todoroki needed to debut soon. The heroes were much closer than he expected them to be. “I hate to bring up what must be a bittersweet memory. Allow me to apologize for your loss. I imagine you were just as devastated as Tenya.” 

“Yeah… it hit pretty hard.” Midoriya tried not to let his eyes wander too much. He had to play this out and get away without looking suspicious. He pretended to look at his phone for the time instead. “I guess I’ve been coping by just working harder in the medical course. You already noticed all the books.” 

“That must be so. You were very focused.” You didn’t notice yourself getting surrounded. Tensei’s hands were resting on his lap when he slowly began to reach on to the table. “I’m curious. Mind if I take a…” 

“With all due respect, I would rather you not,” Midoriya said quickly and sternly. A faint minty glow illuminated his irises. “Explicit material is not for the faint of heart. I wouldn’t want you to lose an appetite over it.” He warned. His undertone threatened. He ripped the pipes out of his arms, he could rip his stomach out too.

“You speak very maturely for your age. You kids really are growing up so fast.” Tensei had paused in his motion. Out of respect and for his own safety, he pulled his hands back and placed them back into his lap. He smiled with more false kindness and tilted his head so innocently. “Somehow you sound very familiar. Are you sure-”

 “I assure you that we have never met before.” Midoriya cut him off with a smile and giggled in his tone, biting his tongue. “I don’t mean to be rude. But I made plans with a friend this evening. I wouldn’t want to be late.” He glanced at his phone as if he was checking the time again. There was somewhere else he wanted to go before returning to the hideout. Perhaps it would turn into a preferable getaway plan now that he was being watched and would likely be followed. He began to pack up his things quickly, even a little too quickly. 

“Let me cut to the chase then-” Tensei grabbed one the books Midoriya was about to pack away, their hands on either side of it. Both their smiles disappeared. Midoriya could see the heroes around them had suddenly paused as if preparing to take the offensive. “You are the only one who I can talk to who would know.”  Tensei’s eyes narrowed darkly. “What happened to Todoroki Shouto? What’s going on in that house?” The little villain suddenly tugged the book out from under Tensei’s hand. “Please, I have to know.” Surely he wanted to know what happened to his little brother’s crush. But he couldn’t get the sight of the little white-haired boy all those years ago out of his head. The hopeless eyes, the layers of bandages, and the haunting last words of not wanting to go back home. 

“It’s not a problem for you to solve anymore. He’s dead. So it’s over.” Midoriya shoved the book into his bag before taking his last notebook and squeezing it in as hurriedly as he could. The heroes had their shot to do something. It was time for the villains to actually make a real difference. He threw his bag over his shoulder and abandoned a few books on the table before making his way to leave. “I have to get going.” He couldn’t help but think the only reason Iida was still alive was because Todoroki had a soft spot for him and that he genuinely wanted Endeavor brought to justice now.

The little villain’s pace was quick. He pulled out his phone as if he was checking the time. He only glanced back to see Tensei watching him go and making a subtle hand motion. They were going to follow him. What were the chances that they had someone that could tap into his phone? He wouldn’t be able to call Kurogiri for help. So there was one other person he could call. He instantly dialed a number and held the phone to his ear, waiting for someone to pick up. He gave his backpack a tug trying to adjust it because it was terribly heavy from being filled with his books and notebooks. With the phone to his ear, he didn’t hear something fall on the floor behind him.

“Hello?” a tired voice picked up.

“H-Hey Shinsou! You’re around right?”

“Huh? Yeah, why?” 

Midoriya looked back as he walked out of the library, but he didn’t see anyone following. But when he looked ahead, there were familiar prying eyes on the sidewalks filled with people. There was no slipping away so he would have to rely on his friend. “The hospital?”

“I’m down the street from it. There’s a cheap coffee place with lots of flowers in the front.”

“Great! I’ll meet you there!”

“Wait-” He hung up and put the phone in his hoodie pocket. Flipping his hood up and keeping his head down, he walked at a brisk pace to try and get lost in the evening crowds. Even if someone was able to keep track of him, they would see that he was just meeting up with a friend. 

It was a simple getaway plan and one that went smoothly. Walking only a few blocks down the street, bumping shoulders with a few people on his way, Midoriya made eye contact with a peculiar woman. Dressed in a tank top and shorts, her flaming hair was bright enough to attract his attention. He recognized her instantly as one of Endeavor’s sidekicks. He believed her name was Burnin’. They exchanged looks as he smiled and she glared darkly with angered intensity. So it wasn’t just Ingenium’s agency after him anymore. Endeavor was on his case too. They weren’t working together… were they? That wouldn’t make sense if Ingenium was after Endeavor.

Midoriya kept on his way until he saw a small coffee shop with lots of flowers in the front and large windows. When he opened the door a little bell rang. He glanced around quickly, almost in a rush but tried to look eager. He quickly spotted a purple-haired student, pressing buttons on his flip phone and taking a sip of hot coffee. Shinsou looked up hearing the bell and raised his hand halfway to get the others’ attention. “I hope I didn’t make you sit for too long,” Midoriya said in a sigh, approaching him, setting his bag down on the floor and sitting across from him. The moment he sat down, he peered behind him. Burnin’ had her hands in her pockets as she walked to the door. She pretended to be looking at the menu outside, but her eyes were locked on him. 

“No, it was only a few minutes. I mostly came to get some food.” Shinsou said, putting his phone away. He had a little bag on the table filled with small pastries. 

“I didn’t take you for the bakery type.” Midoriya giggled before closing one eye teasingly. “Unless those aren’t for you.” How quickly Shinsou’s face reddened. It was so obvious he bought food for Kaminari who was stuck in a hospital with hospital food. But he would spare him the suffering of calling him out on it any further. 

“Y-yeah… they’re for someone else,” Shinsou answered vaguely. “A-Anyway…” changing the subject. “You sounded in a hurry just now. You hung up pretty quickly.” He was so perceptive. All those months of investigating all of U.A. for a traitor had improved his insightfulness. And yet he was too naive and trustworthy of his first friend. “What’s up?”

Midoriya leaned in slightly and kept his eyes peering outside. Burnin’ was gone from the window. But he had a suspicion that she didn’t ditch. “I think I’m being followed.” Shinsou’s calm expression dropped to one of anxious fear. “I was at the library just now. And I think someone’s watching me…I-I hope you don’t feel like you’re in any danger. But I needed an excuse to get away. And if there’s anyone to count on…” Midoriya sat back in his seat and rubbed the side of his neck, faking an innocent meekness. “When the traitor could be anyone these days… I felt I could only count on you.” It was the truth that Shinsou was the only one he could count on. But he was just using him now. 

“I-I understand.” Shinsou nodded. But he suddenly had a subtle expression of determination. He wanted to be a hero after all. If his quirkless friend was being stalked, then he would protect him as a friend but also as a selfless hero. “You can count on me.” He pulled out his phone again and began to fake text. They would just make this interaction look as casual as possible. “Is it a villain…? It’s getting dark so they might be out.”

“I think it’s heroes.” 

“Heroes?” the purple-haired student’s eyes twitched as he glanced up but he kept glancing at his phone. At this point, he was just playing a random game. 

“Before Shouchan died… heroes suspected him as a traitor.” Midoriya glanced around once again. Was he still being watched? Were they listening to him? Could they hear him at all? Was Endeavor’s team following him or Ingenium’s? Who was working for who? What information did both of them want? Shinsou mindlessly played his game with a stone face, but his hands trembled a bit. “Shinsou…” Midoriya sighed with a whisper. “The heroes killed Shouchan.” 

He froze.  “How do you-”

“I’m asking you to trust me. There’s so much I want to tell you. But it can’t be here. Not when they’re on me like this…” The little villain’s glowing minty eyes narrowed. Under the table, he put the toe of his shoe over Shinsou’s. “Today. Actually no, I’m busy.” he tapped it. “Tomorrow. Are you free?” he tapped it again. He taped it four more times. Four days from tomorrow. 

“Yeah..” Shinsou nodded. “I can do tomorrow.” He lied out loud.

“Good.” Midoriya smiled with a tilt of his head. He wasn’t wearing his wired gloves. But how he felt like he was using Shinsou like a child’s toy puppet. This was such a fun game. Playing with the heroes and his dear, dear friend. “Remember that music place? Where Kaminari played for you?” The other blushed again and nodded. “Remember the last place we went before we split up?” He nodded again. “Let’s go there.” 

“What time?”

Midoriya slumped back with his arms folded, looking up at the ceiling in thought. “How about fourteen? Like 2:00 pm?” Under the table, he kicked Shinsou’s shins lightly, twice on one leg and twice on the other. Twenty-two. The twenty-second hour. Ten o’clock at night. 

“That sounds alright.” 

“Perfect.” Midoriya clapped his hands together. “Why don’t we go to the hospital now then, before those pastries get cold? That’s where they’re going, aren’t they? We can talk a bit on the way there.” He stood up with an adorable smile and put his hands behind his back cutely. Shinsou didn’t know what to make of it.

Midoriya was such a good liar. 

He just told him he knew who his dead beloved’s murderer was. And yet he was acting like it was just a friendly afternoon with his best friend. 

Maybe a part of him was suspicious at that moment. 

But a bigger part took it as Midoriya using the seriousness of the situation to keep the act up. Midoriya would never do such cruel things. Not the quiet boy who stood up for him to shut down baseless gossip. Not the emotional boy who told him he could be a hero when the whole class thought otherwise. Not the kind boy that called him a friend. Not the one that saved Yamada from a life-threatening attack. 

Midoriya would never.

Shinsou took the small bag off the table and stood up with his friend. “Yeah, that’d be great.” As they walked out together, Midoriya gave a quick side-eye to Burnin’ and Ingenium who were beside each other across the street. There were a bit too many people and they were a bit too far away, but it looked like Ingenium had something in his lap. “Are they there?” Shinsou whispered.

“Yeah…” Midoriya nodded subtly before focusing his gaze ahead.

“Just stick close to me.” Shinsou gently bumped shoulders with him. He trusted him.

Todoroki was laying in the center of the bed he usually shared, Zuzu next to his head and curled up in a ball. His eyes were closed but he wasn’t sleeping. He had his phone just out of reach with an alarm ready to go off any minute. Just taking a short rest after training and waiting for his beloved. They made plans that evening and he wanted to be awake for it. 

Soon enough, he would hear a door open and shut from across the apartment. Zuzu’s ears twitched but did nothing more. Todoroki’s eyes scrunched but did nothing more either. At least until he heard something heavy hit the floor and then felt someone crawling up on to him. “Sleepy after training?” Midoriya asked, crossing his arms across his hero’s chest to rest his chin on. He smiled sweetly down at him. “You got a little burned.” His hand then reached to rub his thumb against a small dark spot under Todoroki’s scarred eye. “You feeling okay?”

Todoroki nodded before slowly opening his sleepy eyes. “I’m not in any pain. I’m okay.”

“Good…” Midoriya unfolded his arms to reach and pet his hair soothingly. “You’re not lying are you?” He tilted his head with a playful smirk.

“I am not.” Todoroki tilted his head up in an almost as if he was speaking in a matter-of-fact tone. As a reward for not lying, Midoriya wrapped his arms around his neck in a hug. “Where were you all day? You came back later than I expected.” In return, Todoroki put his hands on the sides of Midoriya’s waist to hold. 

“I’ll have to update Tomura later. But I was out doing research on your uh… condition. I found out what you were getting sick on.” He wasn’t exactly thrilled with what he discovered. 

“Was it food poisoning? Did I poison myself?”

“You did not. Your cooking isn’t that bad.” The little villain sighed. “But it was Kosuke trying to manifest his quirk inside of you. You were throwing up his attempt to mutate your lungs. You choked on it and felt sick because it was blocking air from getting to your head. You went into a state of panic.” He suddenly looked saddened as he lightly petted the back of Todoroki’s head. “I think a part of me wanted to maybe… one more time let you go down there once I found a way to dispel him. But now I don’t even want to risk it. I never want you going down there again.”

“I understand.” Todoroki leaned his head to the side to rest against his beloved’s wrist. He didn’t seem upset at all. 

“You always do…” Midoriya pulled himself closer to him to share a short kiss. “You’re always so understanding…” He learned that the day they first met. Even though someone as powerful as him could never relate to being quirkless, he still found a way to understand and empathize. “I guess maybe that’s why I worry about you so much. You always think of others’ feelings before your own… You thought about upsetting me instead of how I treated you.” Their fight was still eating at him and it probably would for a long time. “And… When you talk about Endeavor… it kinda seems you’re more upset about what he did to your mom and your family. You were angry at him for yourself. But it sounds like you want revenge for your mom and brother.” Thinking back… Todoroki probably got that from his mother. Watching that crazed and obsessively loving look in her eye appear once they told her Endeavor tried to kill him, she cared more for Todoroki than her own feelings.

“I guess it just never occurred to me.” Todoroki shrugged. “Dabi talked to me about it too.” Midoriya looked ill just thinking about Dabi.

“I’m sure that burnt bastard really wants to give me a piece of his mind…”

“He does.”

Midoriya groaned and buried his face in Todoroki’s chest. Shigaraki hated infighting and he and Dabi were only getting worse. He didn’t want to upset his big brother but they weren’t doing a good job at getting along. “Anyway...I…” Midoriya hesitated, turning his head to the side and looking off at his desk. “I want your opinion on something…” Todoroki tilted his head and blinked, emphasizing that the little villain had his whole attention. “I…” Whatever he was thinking about was really weighing on him. “You know… I really hate Kacchan, right?”

“Right.”

“I really… really want to kill him. But I want him to suffer too. For everything he's done.”

“Right.”

Midoriya gulped. Closing his eyes tightly, he couldn't get Bakugo's face out of his head. Screaming at him about how bad of a person he was to Todoroki. The face he made just before he knocked him out. 

It was such a blurry memory, one clouded by exhaustion. Just that night while Todoroki was possessed on the floors above, Midoriya had been napping at his desk. He barely remembered half waking up to the sound of pained moaning. Calling out for someone’s name in their half-sleep. The faintest call for ‘Ejiro’. He remembered picking up a textbook and throwing it at the cage it was coming from telling the speaker to shut up. 

“I made a detour today to the hospital. Everyone in your class is expected to make a full recovery. You… wanted to be sure. So I tell you that truthfully.” Midoriya continued. That’s what their fight was about in the first place. Todoroki just wanted to see that everyone would be okay. 

“Did you go see someone?”

“I did. I went with Shinsou to go see Kaminari. I was being followed so I needed a good excuse to go in.”

“You were followed-?” Todoroki sounded worried.

“Yeah, but I got away so it’s fine. But…” Midoriya paused before looking to Todoroki. There wasn’t a glow in his eyes at all. For once, the glint of madness and frustration wasn’t there. Todoroki almost didn’t recognize that look. “I saw Kirishima there with him. Shouchan do… do you feel that…” He could never forget that heroic decision for Kirishima to throw himself at the first nomu to save Todoroki’s life. And then he had to go being so nice and considerate to Midoriya during his false grieving and be rightfully angered at Todoroki’s death. “Do you think that… we owe him?” 

He thought back to when he and Shinsou entered Kaminari’s hospital room. His forehead and torso were bandaged tightly with a few patches on his face. It appeared that Muscular injured his spinal cord and banged his head up a bit. But the blond was not his happy dorky self. Not with Kirishima sitting in a chair beside him looking beyond defeated. 

There wasn’t a speck of light in Kirishima’s eyes. There wasn’t any hope. His hair wasn’t spiked up. Even his skin looked paler. Darkness was clouding around his eyes. He probably hadn’t slept since the attack. There was no passion. There was no drive to stand up and go searching for Bakugo. There was no way to track him. Yaoyorozu and Awase tried to attach a tracker to the nomu that chased them, but it ran off before they could. Where would he start? Looking for trouble by himself was vigilante work which was illegal. He had seen first hand what these villains do to people. He was right there with Bakugo when Kosuke fell from the ceiling. He was just as paralyzed with fear. Knowing the same people who did that had someone so close to him, someone, who Midoriya knew he was romantically attached to… 

The little villain had seen first hand, the consequences of his actions. He didn’t stick around long. A quick hello and goodbye to Kaminari was all he came for. He turned and left quickly into the hallway and to the elevator. But someone caught his wrist halfway down the hall. “Midoriya-...” Never had the little villain expected to see such a pained and hopeless look in Kirishima’s usually shimmering red eyes when he turned around. The misery this hero displayed. And yet this misery didn’t spark joy in the villain. “How… did you ever come to terms with grieving Todoroki…” He felt his grip tighten. “How?” he cried… “I can’t do it…”

“I do.” Todoroki answered honestly. “But you don’t want to keep him alive for Kirishima. But you don’t want Kirishima to suffer either.” Midoriya nodded. Todoroki truly was understanding. “So what do you plan to do?”

Midoriya sat up slowly, seating himself on Todoroki’s abdomen. He played with his hero’s shirt for a few moments as he was thinking. He clearly had a plan in mind, though he seemed worried if it would get approval. Getting Shigaraki’s approval was a necessity. “I did have something in mind.” He held a hand to his own cheek. “We could totally clone him-”

“You could have Twice do that. But you wouldn’t be satisfied.” Todoroki called him out.

“I could… send his heart to Kirishima?”

“I think that’ll make him feel worse.”

“I could kill Kirishima too.”

“I wouldn’t like that.”

Midoriya sighed and a small groan. Such a difficult problem. Being nice to heroes sure was difficult. “I was mostly thinking… We could send him to All For One’s doctor to be turned into a nomu.” Todoroki’s face seemed to flinch with surprise. “They need a corpse that can handle immense power. But even though the host is dead…” Midoriya thought back to when he studied the first nomu. It purred. It had food preferences. It was brain dead but… alive. “A part of them still remains alive. I can’t explain it, but I’ve seen it.” Then the little villain smiled softly with a faint blush. That glint of murderous intent rose up to the surface once again. “And to have Kacchan under my complete control like that… as a monster that he already is. How wonderful that would be. Carrying out our every command.” He leaned over to cup Todoroki’s cheeks and then down to kiss his forehead. “He’d be our little pet for the rest of his existence…” he giggled. 

“And Kirishima can live with a false hope that he can be saved.” Todoroki mumbled to which Midoriya nodded. It was a cruel plan. But one that worked out in their favor. Midoriya’s guilt wasn’t even pure. “You’ll be happy with this?” Todoroki asked.

“If you are, then yes. I want you to be happy with me. That’s why you’re here.” Todoroki took a moment to think. But only just a moment.

“I think it’s good but…” Midoriya was about to lean closer to kiss his beloved again when he paused at Todoroki’s hesitation. He watched him turn to Zuzu who was still curled in a ball and staring at him intensely. “Zuzu can’t be replaced.” There was only one pet allowed in this household. 

“Of course. How could I be so insensitive?” Midoriya giggled and petted Zuzu to make her little curly tail wag. Then he proceeded to lean back down and share a kiss on the lips with Todoroki. To which Todoroki would wrap his hands around his back to bring him closer. Things were feeling alright between them again, just what they both wanted. “And we have a little free time, don’t we?” the little villain hummed, slowly bringing his hands to his hero’s chest with a sly smile. “Is that okay?”

“It’s okay.” Todoroki answered without hesitation. He then made the most subtle movement to place his hands lower on Midoroiya’s hips. The little villain took that as the consent to lean in for another kiss, much deeper than the last. His motion was so sudden it almost caught the other off guard as he squeezed his hips as a reaction. 

“I forget how strong your grip is.” Midoriya teased with the glow of mischief in his eyes once again. “Kind of silly of me. But it can’t be helped when you get so meek like this.” He took his hero’s cheek in one hand while the other snuck away under his singed shirt. “With your pretty face, it’s to be expected that you’re the cute type, Shouchan. But still my meek little fox in the end.” 

“I’m not meek.” Todoroki said lowly, increasing the pressure on his grip a little bit more.

“Prove it.” Midoriya challenged, leaning in again. 

They both shivered and Zuzu jumped when a phone’s alarm went off. 

Todoroki leaned up as Midoriya sat up a bit, both blushing awkwardly as they checked to see why the alarm was going off. It really had to spoil the moment for them. “We have to get to Mr. Compress’s. I almost forgot.” Todoroki said calmly. The other awkwardly, though also disappointedly nodded. There was still plenty of work to be done. At least it was work they could do together.

Chapter Text

Midoriya and Todoroki were about to head down the staircase to go to the bar, both dressed in villain costumes with Zuzu being held by the freckled villain. He went down first, leaving Todoroki to glace back behind them for just a second. He swore he saw Shigaraki’s door close, getting just a glimpse of the tail of a black coat leading inside. “Coming Shouchan?” Midoriya asked, looking back to him from a few steps down. Todoroki suddenly focused his attention ahead and followed him down.

“You are such a tomcat…” Shigaraki grumbled while at his computer. Dabi took a seat on his bed without a second thought, taking out his phone to occupy himself. 

“Don’t mind me. Just waiting. Or am I going to have to manhandle you again like a little kid?” He vaguely threatened. “The kids are leaving and Toga and Twice are with Spinner and Magne on the mission you sent them on. No one’s gonna be around for a while and Kurogiri will be able to run things without you. You’re just stalling at this point.” From the computer, Shigaraki was hunching over more and more in frustration. His face was red. “You can just change your mind-”

“I’m not.” he huffed. “Just… give me a minute.” Shigaraki wouldn’t be lying if he said he was working. On his screen appeared to be a screenshot of a picture of a drawn-out, slightly faded blueprint of a building. He had that opened on one window with a clearer version that he must have made in another window. He began adding little circles to his model. “Do you know anything about this building?” Dabi was able to recognize the shape with one glance.

“Top floor is his office. Sidekicks work a floor below,” he answered.

“You think the four of them can capture Burnin’?”

“Does that vampire girl have Shou’s blood?”

“He gave her some, yes.”

“They can do it.” Dabi nodded his head.

Somewhere in a distant district at night, Burnin’ was in a maze of alleyways, cornered by Magne and Spinner while Twice held Toga’s knife up to a fake Todoroki’s neck. Covered in special effects makeup, Toga disguised as Todoroki was covered in blood and burns looking half alive and desperate to live, begging for help. How could his father’s sidekick ever leave such a suffering child with dangerous villains?

“How did training go?” Shigaraki asked. He added a small circle to the topmost floor of the building model. 

“It was fine up until I tried to treat him.”

“Softie.”

“Am not. Anyway-” Dabi threw a pillow at Shigaraki’s chair in momentary retaliation. “Something sparked his memory. I don’t think he knows. But he’s starting to remember things. I gave him ice cream to cool down and he knew what my favorite was. I had to lie and tell him he was wrong. But… it kinda freaked me out.”

“Do you ever want him to know? It seems pretty annoying to keep it a secret.” Shigaraki kept his eyes on the screen but he seemed to be good at listening and multitasking. Dabi scoffed and held his hands up mockingly.

“Yeah. Just let me go: ‘Hey, I’m your dead brother who left you with a piece of shit father and never came back for you until some creep found me in a back alley and tried to kill me.’” he said sarcastically.

“You tried to kill me first.”

“Beside the point-” Dabi rolled his eyes. Then he slumped over a bit with his forehead in his hand. Todoroki finding out about him was really worrying him. His voice got quieter. “Touya fucked up… he was a shit person and a shittier older brother. I want Dabi to…” he had to pause and think. Who did he want Dabi to be to Todoroki? “... maybe not be someone to look up to but someone he can rely on. Someone that will be there for him instead of leaving him behind.”

“But Touya and Dabi are-”

“They’re not the same person. Not to me.” Dabi said sharply. He gritted his teeth and turned his head to the side. He was itching for a drink or something to smoke. But he would control himself because Shigaraki wanted him to. “Touya is dead. And staying dead.”

“I think you should go see your mother,” Shigaraki said nonchalantly. His suggestion carried an unimaginable weight and yet he said it so easily. Dabi’s head shot up and he even stood up. He wanted to ask if he was crazy. “He’s been talking about you with her. He writes her letters and Kurogiri delivers them. Kurogiri has asked him what he writes about and he openly said he has talked about you at least once. It’s only a matter of time before she repairs his memory for him.”

“There’s-” Dabi tried to cut Shigaraki off.

“Either one or both are going to find out. If you ask me, I would just tell the one who told her kid that it’s okay to kill people.” Shigaraki closed all the windows on his computer before shutting it down. He turned his chair around to face Dabi at last without the hand on his face. “Touya’s not dead. He’s just afraid of being rejected again."

Always second-best. Easily replaceable. Never worth anyone's time. Touya was a failure. Dabi was so much more than that. Even after Touya died, his death wasn't enough to make his father change. Not even his death. His life had meant nothing to him. It was the ultimate form of rejecting. Touya never wanted to feel that again, so he was never going to. Dabi was going to be worth everyone's time now. And yet Shigaraki... just wanted Touya.

“You’re always like this…” Dabi growled quietly. In one quick motion, he grabbed Shigaraki's waist and easily lugged him over his shoulder like nothing.

“Tomcat!” Shigaraki kicked and tried to punch is back but Dabi was being awfully stern. “What do you think you’re doing?! I know where to go, dammit! What’s gotten into you?!” Shigaraki could have overpowered him if he really wanted to. But he would let Dabi have his way. Though not without complaining of course. Thus he would be carried all the way to the stapled man’s apartment, the door shutting behind them as he was taken to his room and sat on the bed. “You didn’t have to do that you know-” And he was cut off with a frustrated kiss. It lasted barely longer than a few seconds.

“I… really fucking hate it when you call me out like that. Why do you dig so deep to figure me out? It’s… not cool.” Dabi pulled back and held Shigaraki by his shoulders to keep him sitting down while he stood over him. It was so annoying that Shigaraki always knew what buttons to press and how. How did he let him in so deep?

“I don’t. That’s too much effort.” Shigaraki narrowed his eyes and bit the inside of his cheek. Suddenly he seemed more annoyed than ever. But his expression and now folded arms just made him look like a little kid. He was so childish… how cute. “You’re just like a book sometimes. Sometimes a picture book.” Dabi was sometimes pathetically easy to read. “But other times you’re like a clay tablet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Too hard to read and I’d rather just bash it against the wall.” Dabi tried to keep a straight face but he totally cracked. He was literally just talking to an eight-year-old. He broke into a quiet snicker with his head lowered because he was trying to hide it. Granted, he did a very poor job. “Don’t laugh at me! I’m being serious!” Shigaraki started listing with his fingers. “You contradict yourself all the time. You try to look all confident but then crack under the pressure and get really insecure. And you want things and then try to tell yourself you don’t want them because you’re indecisive and overthink the possible consequences of your choices.”

“You really are just ripping me to pieces tonight, aren’t you?” Dabi sighed. He eventually sat beside Shigaraki at the foot of the bed. He kept his head down as he began fiddling with a staple on his cheek. “Anything else you wanna rip into me about?”

“That I’m impressed that despite how annoying you are you got me to feel things that I don’t understand. Way to make everything more complicated…” Shigaraki sighed.

“You’re welcome,” Dabi said proudly, sitting up with a smug grin.

“Shut up.” Shigaraki pushed him with his shoulder and elbow. However, instead of pulling back from the shove, he stayed leaned up against him with his cheek against his shoulder. Dabi had braced for another attack and was caught off guard by the subtle affection. Looking down at Shigaraki’s face, he could see that his eyes were averting away and that his gloved hands were gripping the blanket. He was nervous… 

“Hey… I’ll think about what you said. It makes sense so… I’ll at least think about it.” Dabi told him. "I just don't know how she'll feel about it." Shigaraki nodded in understanding. At least he got the stapled man to think about seeing his mother. It might do him some good. Who knew? And then they were both left in silence. Neither of them spoke a word for a full minute. It was terribly awkward for both of them even though they usually felt comforted by silence. This was more of suspense and anticipation scaring them both into hesitation. How the hell were they supposed to start anything like this?

“Do you… need anything?” Dabi eventually asked. Shigaraki shook his head. Dabi nodded. “Okay…” Now what? “Um…” 

“Didn’t you used to do this all the time?”

“I-I mean yeah but… not with…” Shigaraki was so still and monotoned, masking his awkwardness like a pro. But Dabi’s stalling and hesitation spoke volumes. “...not with someone I actually liked, you know?” 

“Is there a difference?”

“Of course there’s a difference.” The stapled man had averted his gaze elsewhere at one point as well, still hating being so open about his feelings and motives behind his actions. “You’re… different. So of course it’s going to be different.” Soon he made a loud and heavy sigh. They sat in silence again. Shigaraki began glancing around, still leaning against Dabi. He must have been searching for any sign of a camera or microphone. “It’s just us in here,” Dabi assured him.

“Just us… huh?” It sounded like the red-eyed villain had to remind himself too. No one was watching them. No one was going to lecture or punish him for this. This didn’t make him any less of a villain. There was still a goal to be focused on. But… he could do things for himself too. He could enjoy things. 

“No one else is here.” Things had gotten so quiet and awkward. This was inevitable, right? It wouldn’t be wrong to make the first move? Dabi turned his body a bit towards Shigaraki. “That’s okay, right?”

“Yeah…” Shigaraki didn’t turn. Not yet. “I want one condition.” His eyes narrowed despite not having eye contact with the one sitting next to him. There was still one thing he wanted before all this after all. Dabi watched him intently. “Let me call you Touya.”

“What?”

And Dabi stared at him for a few moments, letting it process and letting himself think it over. How much he wanted Touya to be dead and forgotten. Touya didn’t deserve these things. Touya didn’t deserve the love of a significant other, the love of a mother, of the love of a lonely little brother. And here this little, skinny, dried up, murderous, villain was, telling him that Touya did deserve all these things. Dabi wasn’t going to be enough for him. But Touya was. “I’d honestly prefer that stupid tomcat nickname…” he grumbled.

“Fine then…Anything else?”

Shigaraki shook his head slowly.

“Then I get one condition.” Dabi leaned in a bit closer, sliding his hands to be on either side of the red-eyed villain. “I get to call you Tomura.” 

Shigaraki noticed the advances. He wasn’t opposed to them. He slowly raised his arms to loosely wrap them around the other’s scarred neck. “You can…” he said quietly before their lips met in complete privacy. In subtle darkness where the city lights through a big window were their light source. In the almost quiet, where the shifting of the bed and nightlife outside were the only noises. But it was just them in that room. “Touya…”

“Lay down.” Dabi used his posture to push himself forward and encourage Shigaraki to fall back. And he did. Dabi helped him adjust so his head was resting on the pillows. He became infatuated with the expression of comfort and bliss. Shigaraki didn’t have a soft or comfortable bed at all to keep him motivated to work. Lying back on the mattress and fluffed pillows made his eyes close as he turned his head to press his cheek into the pillows, snuggling into the comfort. He would definitely stay the night. “Look at me…” 

Shigaraki opened one eye to look up and be met with another kiss. To which he greeted back with one hand holding Dabi’s cheek with four fingers and his other holding his shoulder. The hand in his cheek would move to his hair the moment the stapled man pulled away, though only enough to leave a kiss on his cheek, his jawline, and the travel down to his neck. Shigaraki tilted his head to just subtly give him permission to kiss his healing wounds. All the while, kiss after kiss to his neck, his hands traveled under his shirt, gently feeling around the bumps of his ribs and the soft divots of his chest. “Can I…?” he asked quietly, breathing against the other’s neck.

“Yeah…” He took the hem of Shigaraki’s shirt in his teeth and pulled it up to above his face. Crystal blue eyes never seemed so intense while being so close. Staring sharply into the red hues below that were awkwardly trying to look away. Unblinkingly, Dabi never looked away while his hands ventured across tight, pale skin, that squeezed bones too closely. He waited patiently for Shigaraki to raise his arms. And when he did, he took the hem out of his mouth and lifted the shirt off all the way, tossing it aside to the floor. “Now you…” 

“Alright…” Dabi stripped away the black villain cloak that he still wore. He tossed it aside carelessly before crossing his arms in front of himself to grab the lower hem of his shirt. He took it off in one motion and discarded it in the same fashion. He leaned back down to share a long kiss, his knee slowly sneaking between the other’s legs. He never touched where they met and instead bit his lip before going further with his tongue. Not being pushed back, not feeling a shiver of fear, or hearing a complaint, he didn’t stop. Pushing closer and forward, once again, he heard just the smallest noise come from him. He pulled back gradually with a trail of saliva between them. “Couldn’t breathe?”

“No… I was enjoying myself.” Shigaraki retorted before reaching up and taking his hair to pull him right back down into the kiss. Dabi smirked smugly. He could absolutely tease him about that later. But not now. He would enjoy himself too. Kissing back in rhythm and occasionally pulling back just to see the look on Shingaraki’s face. His skin wasn’t perfect but the soft glow of red eyes was alluring. The grumpy expression from being pulled back from was enough to make the stapled man snicker before he was pulled back down again. Such a brat.

Dabi eventually would pull back when Shigaraki needed a moment to breathe. He took the opportunity to slink down and kiss the center of his chest. Shigaraki watched him as he caught his breath. Kissing over and over again at his chest, his ribs, and his stomach. He closed his eyes and let his hands rest beside his head as he only wanted to focus on the sensation. The softness and gentleness of lips pressing against his body.  These things he never felt before. He didn’t hate them. He… liked it. “You okay?” Dabi asked, looking up at him from his beltline.

“Yeah… I’m okay.” Shigaraki answered quietly.

“You sure?”

“I’m sure…” 

Dabi seemed skeptical despite the reassurance. “You’re not um… nevermind. Don’t worry about it.” Who knows what that doctor did to his body. Maybe Shigaraki really was enjoying himself and this time together. But his body wasn’t showing it. Maybe… it couldn’t. “Can I…?”  He snaked his arms underneath the other’s thighs, placing his fingers at his hip at his beltline. They’ve never gone this far before. He wanted his full consent. “I’ll stop any time you want. You just have to tell me.”

“You...can…” Shigaraki gave him approval, albeit a bit more quietly. Hearing the softness and insecurity of his tone, Dabi only brought his fingers under his pants and not the last article of clothing. He slid them down slowly, inch by inch, eyes on nothing but the other’s face. Eventually, he wouldn’t be able to see it because Shigaraki covered his face with his forearms in just the smallest attempt to hide. He really was nervous. But he would never admit it after they’ve gotten this far. Dabi kept at it slowly until he could slip the pants off his feet and throw them elsewhere on the floor. Then taking a moment to lean over, he crawled over Shigaraki to look down at him from directly above.

“We can stop, you know.” He offered softly.

“I don’t want to,” Shigaraki spoke in a near whisper.

“You’re hiding.”

“A-Am not.” 

“Then stop covering your face. I want to see you.” He leaned down to carefully kiss the palm of Shigaraki’s gloved hand. Then he kissed his neck to get close to his ear and whisper. “I’m not doing anything more until I see my bunny’s cute face.”

“Not cute.” Shigaraki shook his head. “Not a bunny either.”

“I’m not doing anything until I see Tomura’s face then.” Dabi would wait as long as he had to. Much to his surprise, it only took a couple moments for the other to slowly drop his guard. “It’s just us… It’s just me, Tomura.” he hummed into his ear. When his arms finally dropped, Dabi leaned up to finally get a better look at him. He was so red. “Just keep your beautiful eyes on me.” Neither one of them was a very beautiful person, personality, and appearance-wise. Their eyes were unmistakably different. 

Dabi sat back and put one of Shigaraki’s knees on his shoulders to softly kiss the inside of his thigh. That soft kiss would turn into a loving bite that made the other barely flinch from surprise. It made Dabi chuckle. “If it hurts more than that, you say something.” Shigaraki had an ungodly pain tolerance. But there was no such thing as being too careful with this. “You trust me?” He had every reason not to. And yet…

“I trust you, Touya...” Shigaraki said quietly, feeling the last of his clothes be taken away.

That night consisted of a loving time in the privacy of the hideout, a kidnapping of a sidekick who was beaten unconscious and limply laid underneath a giant magnet, two young villains in love dancing romantically with a puppy circling them playfully, and a student beaten halfway to death’s door in a basement laboratory staring thoughtlessly at a ghost he swore he was making eye contact with.

For the first time, Dabi was the first one to wake up. And it wasn’t even noon yet. Blue eyes slowly opened as he saw his room warmly lit with the morning sunshine coming through the window. How obnoxiously bright. He closed his eyes again in the hopes that it would go away. Of course, it didn’t. While his eyes were closed, he noticed a fluffy texture underneath his burnt chin. He opened them again and noticed someone sleepily cuddled up to him as close as they could get. They also hoarded all of the sheets and blankets to themselves. 

Shigaraki was in a deeper sleep than he had ever been before. Snuggled up against Dabi’s chest, a gloved hand carelessly having placed all five fingers over his heart while the other was curled beside his sleeping face. He had never looked so peaceful. Dabi didn’t have the heart to wake him up. Any other morning he would have. But after what they did, he’d let him sleep. And considering both of them were completely without clothes, he was sure that he was cuddling so close and stealing all the blankets because he was just cold. 

Giving him just a kiss on the forehead, Dabi very carefully began to sneak out of bed. When he was able to get up and put on a pair of pants, he watched Shigaraki curl himself up tightly in a nest of blankets even more. He chuckled quietly before walking out. Coffee seemed nice right about now. But would Shigaraki like it? Was he a tea or coffee kind of guy? … Definitely hot chocolate.

Dabi had the kettle on a burner and the coffee maker brewing when he turned on the tv and kept it at a low volume for some background noise. When putting the remote down on the counter, he noticed a pack of cigarettes he left. There were a few missing from the pack. So he was still smoking when Shigaraki wasn’t looking. But it would seem that he was cutting down drastically. He instinctively went to grab one when he stopped the moment he touched the box. There was no need for one right now. 

Soon enough, just as Dabi was pouring boiling water into a cup, he heard a bit of shuffling coming from his room. Someone was awake. “I’m in the kitchen, bunny. I promise I didn’t ditch you,” he called out just loud enough to be heard. But there wasn’t a response. Guess he was still waking up. He must have been tired. “Made you hot chocolate. You didn’t seem like the type to like coffee or tea.” There wasn’t a response. He didn’t even come out. Maybe he was having issues finding his clothes because Dabi did kind of toss them wherever last night.

Just out of curiosity, Dabi took a few steps back and leaned to be a good enough angle to see into his room from the kitchen. Shigaraki was still cocooned in blankets, but sitting up with his back to him. It seemed he was turning himself to get his feet on the floor. His whole body was trembling. “Hey, maybe you shouldn’t get up yet-” Dabi warned. Did he go too hard or something? “H-Hey! Are you listening-” and there was a thud that made him cringe. It sounded like a rough landing. “Tomura?!” 

Dabi hurried to his room and just found that Shigaraki had fallen off the bed from trying to get up. And he took his nest of blankets and sheets with him. He was curled up on the floor and hugging all the softness and warmth as tight as he could with his eyes closed. “You are not sleeping on the goddamn floor.” He knelt down and collected the scrawny villain and all his stolen blankets in his arms. “C’mere,” There wasn’t any form of resistance or complaining. He was able to hold him in a bridal form and he didn’t have anything to say about it. That didn’t seem right at all.

“What’s up with you?” Dabi plopped him down on the bed with a small bounce. He made sure he was sitting up with the blankets still covering him to keep him warm. And it was then he saw the most lifeless look in his eyes. Glowing red hues were glazed over and cloudy and he seemed exhausted. Nothing like last night. “Hey… you good?” Dabi asked, sitting down in front of him. He waved his hand in front of his face. No reaction. “Don’t tell me I just fucked your brains out…” He snapped a few times. Not even a blink. “That’s not good.”

The thought of getting Midoriya did cross Dabi’s mind. But there was no good lie he could come up with to hide what he and Shigaraki did last night. He placed the palm of his hand on his forehead, then used the back of his hand. “Not a fever… but you’re warm.” This didn’t seem natural. The obvious answer seemed to be that Dabi caused this strange behavior. But how? He shifted the blankets around Shigaraki to get a more exposed look at him. His thighs and torso were a bit bitten up but he knew exactly what caused that. He took off one of Shigaraki’s gloves and saw that his fingers were red and light purple near the tips. “Hey, did I do something wrong?” He seemed genuinely worried.

The most he got was a slow shake of Shigaraki’s head. Then he just kind of fell forward into Dabi to be caught in a heated hug but didn’t hug back. “So you can hear me. Maybe you just need some food or something.” Dabi carefully pushed him back to keep him sitting and steady. He wobbled a bit but was able to stay sitting up. Meanwhile, Dabi got up and knelt down to a pile of their clothes that were all mixed together. “At least put some clothes on or something first …” He began tossing clothes behind him carelessly. “Mine, mine, yours, mine, yours-” At one point, a shirt hit Shigaraki in the face and he just fell backward with a small noise onto the bed with the pathetically weak inertia.

“Maybe the abyss will know what’s up with you,” Dabi muttered to himself, referring to Kurogiri. Kurogiri knew Shigaraki best after all. Surely he would know. “Don’t move or anything. I’ll be right back.” Dabi threw on a hoodie that had probably been laying on the floor for days. The moment he stood up straight and turned around, Shigaraki was sitting up straight again with at least a shirt on. But it wasn’t his. “You can be a big scary villain all you want. But that’s pretty cute.” Dabi wore baggy clothing to keep from irritating his staples. But to someone as skinny as Shigaraki, his white low-cut shirt drooped down one shoulder while it draped down to his mid-thighs. Watching him sleepily rub his eye with the knuckle of his index finger, Dabi just felt the need to kiss his forehead. Shigaraki closed his eyes when receiving the kiss.

Reaching the bottom of the stairs, Dabi peeked around the corner to see Midoriya, Todoroki, and Toga with Zuzu on her lap already sitting at the bar with Kurogiri on the other side. It was a small detail, but Midoriya seemed very tense, sitting up straight and stiff. The stapled man would pay no mind to him. If anything, he hoped they would ignore each other. 

Kurogiri heard Dabi’s footsteps before noticing him approaching the bar. “I was wondering when you’d show up. Have you seen Shigaraki? He wasn’t in his room last night.” The stapled man twitched at the question. How the hell was he going to explain himself? In front of Midoriya, Todoroki, and Toga too. 

“Yeah, about that… can I talk to you for a second?” Dabi was quick to walk behind the counter and into the back room. He wanted this to be kept quiet. Kurogiri tilted his head, baffled by Dabi’s secrecy, as did Todoroki. They looked at each other and shrugged before Kurogiri followed him back. They met in the farthest back corner of the pantry. Dabi faced the wall, tapping his foot and scratching the back of his head. He turned around with the smallest flame on his head. “He’s in my room and something’s gone wrong with his brain. Can you check on him or something?”

Kurogiri’s glowing foggy eyes just blinked a few times. “Your room?” He didn’t want to assume anything. But it was really hard not to. The fire on Dabi’s head grew a little bit and the stapled man tried to smother it only for another one to pop up.

“Yeah… A fever but not really. And his hands look like they’re numbing or something weird like that. But I don’t think he’s sick.”

“No… Shigaraki doesn’t usually get sick.” Kurogiri tapped his chin. “Alright. Midoriya wanted to speak with me first because he couldn’t find him. It seems to be important.” What a stressful day to be the villainous bartender and secretary. Dabi sighed and let Kurogiri return to the front while he stayed in the back to find a small box of frozen pastries. They seemed like something Shigaraki would eat in the morning.

The stapled man leaned against the doorframe of the entrance to the back room. He was going to wait until he could leave with Kurogiri. “So do you want to tell him or me?” Todoroki asked, looking to Midoriya.

“I-I can do it.” Midoriya’s eyes averted as he rubbed the back of his head. “Yesterday when I went out… I-I was followed. The heroes are on to me, big time.” Kurogiri folded his arms and looked down. It was concerning that one of the villains was being stalked. Their hideout could be exposed and they’d be in a really tight spot. “I was able to get away. They lost me so it was fine. But… I-I guess I got away too quickly.” Toga, Kurogiri, and Dabi narrowed their attention. “They have one of my notebooks.”

The temperature of the room felt like it dropped. Dabi and Toga’s eyes widened in sudden anxiety. Midoriya’s notes were some of the most precious things to the League. They were the key to creating nomus. The heroes had crucial information in their possession. “How much information was in that one?” Toga asked. “If you just started it then it’s not a big deal, right?” She hoped it was barely filled out.

“There were at least thirty pages… no sketches.” Midoriya gripped his head and lowered it. How embarrassing that he made such a clumsy mistake. He must have dropped the notebook when he was leaving the library. Ingenium must have picked it up. “Ingenium or Endeavor has it… Endeavor would have more resources so he probably has it.” And yet Kurogiri didn’t seem as nervous.

“No sketches?” he asked. Midoriya raised his head and nodded. No drawings. Just notes and information. “Then I believe there’s nothing to be worried about.”

“I told you,” Todoroki said, eating a piece of meat with chopsticks. He didn’t seem all that nervous either. But Dabi and Toga felt terrified. Midoriya appeared confused. 

“Toga, you could retrieve the book on your preparation mission. If it’s too dangerous, then we leave it to burn.” Kurogiri folded his hands and spoke calmly. “As for the possibility that they will discover what you’re doing, I believe it is very unlikely.”

“Unlikely?” Dabi asked. "Those are notes about dissecting people. How could anyone be stupid enough not to figure that out?"

“Izuku’s handwriting is atrocious. They will never be able to decipher it in such a short period of time.” Midoriya froze at Kurogiri’s explanation. He looked even more embarrassed as he was hunched over, defeated. Betrayed. He could even cry.

“I...It’s not that bad… is it?” 

“It is.” Todoroki doubled Kurogiri’s claim. He continued to eat without a worry about it. “You wrote me a love letter once to read during homeroom. It was when you were really busy with your work and Stain. I lied when I said I liked it. I couldn’t read it. But the thought was nice.” He took another bite and swallowed before pointing to his beloved casually with his chopsticks. “You’re lucky Mr. Yamada was your homeroom teacher. He teaches English and Writing so he can probably read anything.” 

Toga just giggled and kicked her feet. “You must have developed doctor handwriting Izuzu!” she teased. And here Midoriya was, almost having a panic attack over losing something so important just to be told that his saving grace was his horrible handwriting. “Don’t worry! I’ll get it back for you. That’s what friends do!” 

“I appreciate it…” he was thankful. But he felt so attacked right now and was still recovering. All that worrying for nothing.

Dabi and Kurogiri would leave together by going into the backroom and warping to Dabi’s apartment. The stapled man led him to his bedroom where Shigaraki had fallen right back to sleep in a messy ball of blankets.

“And he’s down again…” Dabi sighed. Going up to the bed, he shook the scrawny villain a little in an attempt to wake him up again. He was still warm and the tips of his fingers were still discolored. Kurogiri watched him slowly wake up and Dabi helped him sit back up. Eyes were still glazed and cloudy and he seemed exhausted. “See? Something’s wrong with him. He's not even yelling at me because I woke him up. And he never sleeps this much."

“I see that.” Kurogiri got closer and placed his hand on Shigaraki’s forehead. Suddenly he received a very agitated facial expression. “You know, when I wanted to socialize him, I didn’t think you’d actually coax him into sex.” He took his hand back. “Did he glare at you like that too?"

“I-I didn’t coax him- It was mutual-” 

“So are you two romantically involved then? I never thought I’d see the day-”

“W-We’re not.” He had no idea what they were or where they were going with all of this. “Moving on. No, the glare is new.”

“Then it’s probably because he doesn’t like me.” Kurogiri only shrugged. Their relationship was never the greatest. Even half brain-dead Shigaraki didn’t like Kurogiri. “I do imagine this is the doctor’s doing. I’m sure you’re of the same notion. This isn’t quite a fever but his body appears to be trying to fight something off.” 

“Like a virus?”

“You could say that. But considering this is so soon after intercourse, I would think that the virus it's trying to fight is you.” Kurogiri deducted. So it was Dabi’s doing, at least in theory. He was mistaken for a virus. “I would just give him some time. After all, this is the first time this has ever happened to him.” The stapled man sat beside Shigaraki and gave him one of the pastries he took to eat. He watched him take it in two hands and take only the smallest bites. He felt bad for him, but he was acting so cute like this. “Feel free to call for me again. But I would recommend keeping an eye on him.” Shigaraki then stuck his tongue out at Kurogiri. “Good luck.” And the foggy villain warped away. If he didn't have to deal with that childish and bratty attitude, then he wasn't going to.

Dabi continued to sit beside Shigaraki and watch him take little bites of the pastry until it was gone. He felt the scrawny villain lean against his shoulder and sigh. “So this is my fault...huh?” he mumbled. “Sorry…I hope you liked it at least.” There was quite a bit of guilt now. But Shigaraki was the type to tell him not to feel that way. They both agreed to it. It was just a matter of figuring out how to go forward knowing that there were consequences to getting intimate with each other.

It wasn’t long for Shigaraki to fall asleep once again. Dabi laid back down in bed on his back and let Shigaraki sleep on top of him, curled in a ball with all his blankets and the stapled man’s quirk to keep him warm. He was going in and out of sleep for quite some time. Dabi just stayed right where he was and kept scrolling through his phone. For the most part, he found himself on forums talking and gushing about Stain the hero killer. His legacy truly was amazing.

Shigaraki began to shift after falling asleep again, pushing his face further into the nook of Dabi’s neck while his hair was being brushed through with slender fingers. “Are we waking up again?” Dabi asked. He felt a nod.

“I feel like shit…” That was the first time he had received words all morning. “Everything hurts…” Shigaraki hugged on to his neck to bring himself even closer to the other. “And I’m cold as hell.” he wanted to steal all of the warmth.

“How about sick? Or are you sore?” Dabi asked, trying to get him to be more specific. 

“A little sore I guess… But everything feels like needles.” Needles? Shigaraki’s pain tolerance was inhuman. And yet he was in pain to the point that his skin felt like it was getting stabbed with needles. Perhaps he wasn’t half brain dead from the shock. It was trying to cope with the intense pain. He kept trying to sleep to block the feeling out. And the slight fever made him exhausted.

“Just rest as much as you need to then. I’m not doing anything until later today.” Shigaraki didn’t need to be told twice. With a heavy sigh, he was quickly down and out all over again. For someone who hardly slept, this was probably the most sleep he’s gotten in weeks. Though it didn’t seem as cute now that he knew this was all because he was in pain.

Letting him sleep more, Dabi continued to comb his fingers through light blue hair thoughtlessly.  Shigaraki was such a quiet and still sleeper, being used as a heated mattress pad wasn’t so uncomfortable. At least until something started to feel a bit wet. He didn’t notice at first until Shigaraki just barely turned on his side. Dabi had placed his hand around his back and then moved it lower to his hips. The blankets covering him felt damp. When he took his hand back, he saw the faintest red splotches on his fingers and palm. “That’s not good…” Shigaraki was bleeding. He must have been all morning and the sheets were just covering it up. “Damn it… I never should have asked you for this.”

“Hey…” And it seemed Shigaraki woke up again and heard Dabi’s regret. “I liked it, you know.” He even leaned up a bit and held Dabi’s cheek with all five gloved fingers. Then he went down for a short kiss on the lips.

“I hurt you,” Dabi whispered when he pulled away. 

“Yeah, no. It wasn’t you.” Shigaraki poked his forehead with a bit of force. “I know it was the doctor just trying to keep me in line. So don't take that blame. It's not your ass I want to kick."

“I thought you didn’t know about that…”

“I found out eventually. I won’t let myself be a mindless puppet to my master. I do things for myself too.” he folded his arms on Dabi’s chest, his hair getting his face a bit from being extra messy. “I did this for myself too, you know.”

“I should have been more careful though.”

“Keep up with that thought process and you’ll drive yourself crazy again.” he poked his forehead again. “And that’s on top of your identity crisis.”  Dabi huffed and grumbled to himself. Couldn’t go one day without being called out on something he was insecure about. Then he shook his head and wrapped his arms firmly around the scrawny villain as he started to sit up. “Drop me and I’ll kill you.” Shigaraki held onto his neck as he was picked up bridal style once again. No resistance. But he was sure to threaten. That seemed more like him.

“Good thing you’re so light then.” Dabi stood up easily with what little weight he held in his arms. “You feel like taking a bath together?” He was already headed to the bathroom. 

“If my skin isn’t steaming then the water isn’t hot enough,” Shigaraki warned with a tired, teasing smirk. “But I can make an exception for your sensitive skin. Matches your personality.” Calling Dabi out for being sensitive. 

“You are just a little monster this morning, aren’t you?” Dabi rolled his eyes. And for a split second, he pretended like he was going to drop Shigaraki before catching him again easily in half a second. Though it felt like he was about to be choked from how tightly his neck was clung on to in that moment. “Got you.” he snickered. Shigaraki lightly kicked him in retaliation, his head resting on his shoulder. “Thumping now are we, bunny?”

“Tomcat…” Even though they were just being bastards to each other, they were both smiling. "We'll figure something out..." 

Todoroki stood by the bar entrance with Zuzu at his side as he waved goodbye to, who looked like, Burnin’ as she waved back with a bright and cheerful smile. Though, not without her turning around and posing with her foot up, a wink, a peace sign beside her eye, and her tongue sticking out like a little schoolgirl idol. Seemed more like Toga’s mannerisms. Todoroki cracked the smallest smile as he turned away and shut the door behind him to go back inside with Zuzu.

“You’re a monster!! An absolute monster!” The real Burnin’ shouted loudly, her voice sounding pained and enraged. Bakugo laid limply in a cage, still chained down despite having not shown any motivation to escape the dreary laboratory. On his stomach and awake, only one eye was open and watched the woman scream at his former friend from his table. All while he was in a dazed state, blood had dried on his face from his head.

Burnin’s face had been burned and charred around her hairline with the burns reaching her cheeks and eyes. Her eyes brimmed with frustrated tears as she was restrained to a table with her head being forced to hang back from no support being underneath it. Her hair glowed brightly in the dimmed laboratory, but the color appeared to be flowing from red and green unnaturally. 

Midoriya stood behind her with a fire extinguisher in hand. The moment her hair started to flare up too much, he shot her with it to keep the flames from reaching him. “Please, tell me more. Or don’t. Your screeching voice hurts my ears.” he shrugged. He walked to the side of his table in his costume, flu mask, and fireproof gloves. He began to examine one of her arms.

“What have you done to Shouto?! Where is he?!” she demanded to know. “You kidnapped him, didn’t you?! You started that fire!” She let out a frustrated scream in rage. The villainous doctor watched tiny sparks appear on her arms where little hairs were. “Let him go!!”

“Baseless accusations. You make lots of assumptions, don’t you?” Midoriya mumbled as he took a few notes. “You’re too loyal to Endeavor to even consider the truth. No wonder Shouchan hated you.” He went back to her upside-down head and squatted down to be at eye level with her. “Shouchan’s mine and he wants to be here. He also wants you and your colleagues dead. So I’m going to make it so.” Burnin’ shook her head and shut her eyes tightly in denial. He got back up and went back to the side of the table to use a pair of tweezers to pluck out a few hairs on her arms.

“You’re lying!! Shouto would never!” Midoriya sighed and rolled his eyes as he put the hairs he plucked out on a small plastic tray. He watched them light up with green flames and burn away to ash. He took a few notes. He was practically ignoring her. “He’s kind! He cared for everyone!”

“He is. And he did. But it’s time he started caring about himself. He doesn’t need heroes like you putting pressure on him to be so selfless for people who don’t deserve it.” Midoriya reached for a scalpel and held it to her upper arm, angling it to prepare for a horizontal cut. “You sidekicks were always telling him to care more about his bastard father than his own needs. His father tried to kill him, idiot.” 

“Mr. Endeavor would never! He would never kill his own son!”

“Is that what you believed about the first one too? Or did he never tell you about that?” Burnin’ was the prime example of why Todoroki could never come out to the heroes about his home life. It was all their fault for making him feel so alone and abandoned. She trusted the pros more than the victims. “What a sick world you’re all living in.” How dare they force everyone else to live in it too.

Bakugo watched in a dazed state as Midoriya brought the scalpel from the top of her shoulder to her wrist, skinning an entire section of her arm and taking chunks of muscle out in his cut too. It was done in one quick motion. Blood splattering onto his clothes and face. Without flinching, Bakugo heard the woman scream and saw her face scrunch uptight to take in all the pain. He didn’t even blink when a drop of blood found its way onto his face. 

The little villain placed the piece of flesh on another table, dripping blood onto the tile floor and letting it pool on the table. Burnin’ gasped for breath as her arm violently bled and spilled onto the floor. She remained conscious. “G-Give him back… he doesn’t belong here…” Burnin’ demanded much more quietly. “Let him go back… b-back to his family.” 

“He has one here that he’s quite fond of. There’s not much you can offer him.” Midoriya took notes as he noticed the hairs on the chunk of flesh began to light up but not burn out. While he was taking notes, he blinked a few times. “Right, right, Toga,” he muttered to himself. He went over to a few cabinets and knelt down to go digging inside. He came out with a bucket and put it under Burnin’s table to collect the spilling blood. They were going to need it later.

“You’re… insane…” 

Midoriya held the scalpel up and turned back to her with a smile under his mask. “That’s the idea.” Being sane would mean he’d be compliant. He couldn’t have that now, could he? He then looked up at the ceiling in thought. Something clicked in his memory. “Now that I remember, you’re one of the bastards who took down Master Akaguro.” Burnin’ appeared to flinch at the name. Stain. “And here I thought that I couldn’t care less.” He seemed impressed with himself with how little he cared for this woman’s life. 

“S-So that was you… with Stain?” 

“Yeah, that was me. Now I really don’t want to hear your voice.” The little villain sighed as he went to his desk. Beside it, he kept a small sheath and dagger. It was very similar to what Stain used. “I did my research so there’s not much else to do with you.” He unsheathed the dagger and played with it in his hands a bit. Burnin’ couldn’t see what he was doing because his desk was on the opposite side of the room. The only person she could see was Bakugo. But he hadn’t moved a muscle the whole time. He hadn’t even spoken. While Midoriya was reminiscing, she had to take a chance.

“K-Kid… we can get out of here. Help me and I promise we’ll escape.” She tried to whisper to him. There was no reaction. But his single, dark red eye was locked on to her. The other was covered by his hair. It may not even be open. He looked exhausted. His glare was dark. “E-Everything will be alright. Trust me. I’m going to be a pro hero someday.” She forced a smile. “So let’s come up with a plan, yeah? We can start by-” Her head was cut off mid-sentence.

Bakugo watched her severed head hit the floor and the blood from her neck nearly waterfall into the bucket below. The flames of her hair went out the moment she was sliced, leaving behind thin lime green hair instead. The muscles in the face were relaxed and released. So despite being severed and dead, Bakugo watched the facial expression change due to the muscles being lifeless. He didn’t react.

“Sorry that you had to see that.” Midoriya giggled as he grabbed the head by the hair and began swinging it casually in his hand. “But not really. It’ll be nice and quiet now so you can go right back to sleep until I’m ready.” He chuckled as he took the head to the table with the piece of flesh. Bakugo closed his eye. But it would do nothing to block out the most repulsive sounds he had ever heard. The skinning of a head. The splitting of a skull. The tinkering with a brain. What he would give to fall asleep or be able to cover his ears from those terrible sounds. 

“I’ve decided not to kill you myself, Kacchan. Pretty surprising, right?” Seeing how Bakugo couldn’t sleep through his work, Midoriya decided to talk instead. “I’m not entirely sure if you’re understanding everything I’m saying. You’re probably suffering a pretty bad concussion. Maybe even a hint of brain damage. But I think you’ll listen to this.” He so casually worked on dissecting Burnin’s head while speaking to his former friend like it was just another day. “You’re going to make a lovely addition to our debut. As a nomu! Isn’t that cool?” 

Midoirya’s eyes began to sparkle with admiration. The same admiration he used to have towards heroes. “You’ll be the host of a brand new nomu! Stronger than a bunch of pros combined! Just like you always wanted! Only you’ll only be able to follow our commands. So you don’t even have to do any thinking! Talk about a great bargain, right?” He tapped his head with his pen that was bloodstained. “Head empty, no thoughts, just murder. Sounds just like you!” He took a few notes beside a sketch he drew. “And I’m sure there’ll be plenty of opportunities to see Kirishima.”

There was a small bang from the cage. Bakugo smacked the bars with the metal contraption binding his hands. It was the first reaction he had made all day. Midoriya only smirked. Kirishima was pretty important to him, huh? Who would have thought…?

“Did you tell him to kill himself too? I’d bet that bonehead would love anything you say to him. Probably let you beat him up too.” Midoriya rolled his eyes. “You know, I don’t think you’re so good at the boyfriend thing either. You probably treat him like shit and he just takes it.” Bakugo banged the bars again with a low growl in frustration.

“Well, now you can spend the rest of your life watching him try to save you from your fate. Too bad there’s no reversing the procedure once it's finished. You’re going to be our little pet forever.” 

“Go to hell.” Bakugo spat, hitting the bars one more time.

“Save a spot for me, won’t you? You’ll be getting there first.” Midoriya scoffed before sitting at his desk and took more notes. 

And he would work at his desk for hours in silence. Besides adding more information to his notes on Burnin’ he spent a lot of time messing around with small glass bottles that were filled with the black ooze Todoroki had thrown up. He was sure to investigate the samples with a microscope as well as watching its reaction to other chemicals. If there was a chance that Todoroki was possessed again, perhaps these samples were the key to keeping his body unharmed. 

At one point, the silence became boring. He went on to his phone and scrolled a bit before tapping a few times. Setting it aside, a familiar voice started talking. “Goooooood afternoon my listeners!” Midoriya smiled at the sound of Yamada’s voice. His podcast was up and running again and had been for some time. 

“Shouchan cut off all of Endeavor’s contact with Mr. Yamada so he could get back to doing the things he loves,” he commented. “I’m happy for him. I hope the press meeting with Eraserhead isn’t stressing him out too much.” Bakugo didn’t respond. If anything, he much preferred his English teacher’s voice to the sounds of a head being dissected from before.

Neither one would speak for the next few hours. 

Midoriya eventually stretched with a loud groan as he pushed back his chair. Nothing like being hard at work as a quirk researcher. “Alright Kacchan, your turn! Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.” He got up from his seat. He left Burnin’s head on one table and thought it best to take her headless corpse and drag it to the furnace to burn. Being sure to check the bucket, he was satisfied with how much blood he collected before tossing the body. He cleaned the table and mopped the floor thoroughly. Then he grabbed a syringe and filled it with a drug before going to Bakugo’s cage and stabbing his neck to numb every part of his body. He gave it a few seconds to set in.

Midoriya opened the cage and grabbed Bakugo by the metal box around his hands. He dragged him to the table before lugging him on to it. He was grateful to Stain and Shigaraki for making him stronger. Who knows if he would have been able to lift him without them? He quickly restrained him before unlocking the box around his hands. Instead, he replaced it with some other contraptions. In the corner of the room, he retrieved six small metal devices loaded with needles. He strapped one to each of his upper arms and forearms. He attached metal boxes to each of his hands to contain the explosions. But there were holes for parts of the blast to escape. The other contraptions were metal bars making the shape of a rectangle and the insides were lined with needles. If Bakugo moved or even flexed his arms a little bit, he was going to be stabbed. But Midoriya added an extra precaution. “Try anything and you’re not going to have a good time.” On a rolling table, he kept a jar with a dangerous liquid in it. He took a pipette and filled it with it before putting drops on the bars to let them soak the needles. “It’s going to burn like hell.” 

The little villain adjusted the table and was able to spread Bakugo’s arms out as if he was on a crucifix. “Just remember, the more in-depth research I can do, the more likely your mental state will survive the nomu procedure. So be a good listener for once in your life.” Midoriya smiled before putting on his flu mask. 

“F-Fuck you…” Bakugo growled. The moment the drug began to wear off, as it didn’t last a long time, he tried to start the sparks with his palm. But the muscle connecting to his arms flexed and pricked one of the needles. His skin began to sizzle and melt and then bleed, causing him to grit his teeth and turn his head away. Midoriya savored his reaction, he loved his pain. Bakugo didn’t want him to enjoy it. He wouldn’t feed into his taunts and pleasures. He was going to try his best to never react. 

“We can just get right to the fun part. I already know so much about you. I could write a dissertation.” Midoriya prepared a needle beside a burnt notebook. The one Bakugo blew up and tossed out a window about a year ago. “Go fucking feral like the wild animal you are.”

“At least I’m not a monster like y-” Bakugo sharply inhaled through his teeth as his upper arm was stabbed with a syringe. He flinched in the pain and it caused him to graze the poisoned needles that made his skin burn painfully. Midoriya just smirked. But he acted quickly. He loosened the bars around Bakugo’s arms to give him just a little more room to flex. He wanted him to make the biggest explosions he could. Though he didn’t loosen the bars that much. He was sure that his arms would be destroyed.

“I’ll kill you… I’ll fucking kill you…” Bakugo growled through his teeth, his arms trembling. He was trying desperately to keep the explosions from blasting. But his quirk was building up again his will. His body wanted to release all of the power. His arms began to sweat. His hands felt so tense as they cramped and trembled. His fingers felt like they were going to snap off. “I-I won’t be… a lab rat!” he denied. He wasn’t going to be used. He wasn’t going to be forced to do anything. “Not fora pathetic pebble like you!!” 

“Says the doll.” Midoriya hummed before a bright flash and force exploded with enough wind to blow his hair back a bit. He stood there with his hands behind his back, watching intently. Though he soon closed his eyes, being soothingly lulled by the sound of painful screams. He took off his mask and tossed it aside, smiling blissfully and taking in the sweet scent of burning flesh. He didn’t take notes. He was hardly watching. He hummed to himself, just a little song he had stuck in his head at the time. He hummed to the beat of each blast going off in succession. It was rhythmic. He eventually bopped his head side to side to the beat. “How lovely...”

“Burn in hell!!” Never had using his quirk felt so painful. The blasts were so massive and yet compressed in such a small space. “I hope you die alone!!” He could feel the skin on his hands burning away. The force and intensity blew his fingernails off a few at a time. Even pieces at a time. “I hope every one of you gets slaughtered like pigs!!” His arms flexed and pulsed rapidly in succession. His veins were bulging through his skin, darkening as the pressure continued the build even after every forced explosion. “You’ll always amount to nothing!! You’ll always be a reject!!” No matter how many explosions he forced, it wasn’t enough to relieve the painful build-up. “I hope your dying breath is nothing but misery you fucking pathetic parasite!!” Bakugo cursed and cursed with nothing but hate left for Deku.

Midoriya watched, unimpressed, and yet pleasantly smiling as the pain became so much for Bakugo. His arms trembled uncontrollably, bringing his skin to graze and prick the poisoned needles. How the pain became so much more intense. And much lovelier to watch. His glowing eyes began to sparkle at the sight of his skin turning a darkened purple with bruises and swelling. Green eyes morphed red, folding his hands up to his cheeks as that swollen skin began to tear. “Blow them off…” he pleaded with anticipation. 

“I won’t let you have your way!” Bakugo’s body struggled to move under the restraints. He shook and turned his head trying to take back control of his quirk. His body began to arch as a choked cry of pain left him, his upper arms beginning to bleed and pulse aggressively. They really felt like they were going to rip off. His body was tearing itself apart. The skin holding his arms together was burning and cutting under the needles, his muscles felt ready to burst, he was losing feeling in his hands but the explosions kept coming. They just kept getting louder and louder. Louder than his painful cries. His ears were ringing. His nose was bleeding. His vision was blurry. From exhaustion. From tears.  His head felt ready to explode from the loudness. From the pain. It was too much. He was going to die.

“S-Stop…” He just wanted it all to stop. There was a loud snap and pop that followed. His right ear continued to ring despite the noise in the room noticeably suddenly becoming quieter. His left hand kept blasting and exploding, his head turning away from it. It soon stopped and dwindled away. Everything became so silent. But he couldn’t feel his right hand. Or even his wrist. His vision was blurry and becoming dizzy. But his eyes widened at the horrific state of his right arm.

Midoriya only smiled with blood lustful red hues. “I called it…”

“I-I…” Bakugo nearly choked. His voice was so hoarse. He tasted blood in his mouth from his nose. But his eyes were quivering at such a sight. His right arm had ripped apart at the center of his bicep. The skin melted his way and his muscle and tissue tore. The only thing keeping it connected was a visible bloodied bone. “I-I can’t feel… I-I can’t feel it…” He couldn’t even move his shoulder.

Midoriya hummed his little tune while writing in his book. He smiled and tilted his head peacefully, finally taking notes.

“My a-arm… y-you…” Blood soaked the table and dripped on to the floor. Bakugo’s breathing was hoarse, wheezed, and heavy. Perhaps hyperventilating. But he also exhausted his quirk. His consciousness wouldn’t last much longer. Everything was becoming darker gradually.

“Such amazing power, wouldn’t you say Kacchan?” Midoriya asked him. Bakugo glanced away from his arm at the little villain. He saw him talking and yet…

“What… did you… say..?”  He fell unconscious. 

Midoriya tilted his head the other way and blinked a few times. Then he shrugged. “And here I thought you’d last longer.” he then sighed, closing his notebook. “Oh well.”

“Well it looks like you had fun.” Shigaraki was sitting at the bar, munching on an unhealthy snack while looking over a file without the hand on his face. There were papers with hero profiles scattered all over the counter. He turned to the elevator when he heard it arrive on the ground floor and saw Midoirya covered in blood spatter while holding a notebook. 

“It was great.” Midoriya smiled and joined him by sitting in his usual seat beside him. “I didn’t kill him. Did Kurogiri tell you about my new plan?”

“He did. I think it's a good idea. And he also told me about your little mishap with a dropped notebook.” Shigaraki took another bite and Midoriya shivered. He was happy to have his approval of the nomu plan but he was prepared for a scolding about his clumsy mistake. It earned him a hard fist to the top of his head and he whined in the pain. “That really could have been bad for you. You better be grateful for Toga being so willing to retrieve it for you,” Shigaraki scolded.

Midoriya nodded and rubbed his head. “I-I am…” he groaned.

“And if anything happens to her, you better take care of her immediately.” Shigaraki rested his cheek in his hand with his elbow on the counter. “She’s already doing something dangerous for you two. Don’t be taking advantage of the fact that she likes you.” The little villain blinked at Shigaraki while he ate. His opinion of Toga had changed drastically since she first started living here. At first, he wanted nothing to do with her. Now he seemed… protective? 

“You got a soft spot for her, don’t you?” Midoriya commented, sneaking his hand over to steal one of Shigaraki’s snacks. The red-eyed villain tilted the box to let him steal. 

“Do not. I just don’t like playing with people’s trust like that.” he denied. The little villain nodded in understanding despite not really believing him. Maybe he had a soft spot for her and didn’t even realize it. 

“So…” Midoriya began. “Where were you this morning…? Dabi and Kurogiri couldn’t seem to find you. Did something happen?”

“Not really…” That was a flat out lie. And Shigaraki said it so casually. “I just had a meeting with the doctor this morning and I didn’t tell anyone. It came up last second.” Midoriya looked down at his hands. Yeah, that made sense. It didn’t sound like a lie at all.

“Oh…So… why was Dabi looking for you?”

“We had talked about setting up arrangements for him to see his mother. He’s worried about her accidentally ratting him out to your prince charming.” That was at least a half-lie. 

“Don’t you think we should just tell Shouchan instead of going through all this trouble to keep it a secret?”

“Dabi wants it to be a secret and I’m going to respect that privacy. And you are too. There’s a reason I’ve never told you or Kurogiri his name.” 

“If I didn’t know you better I’d actually think you’d have a crush on him or something.” Midoriya scoffed. “All this trouble for someone like him? Sounds like such a pain. You usually don’t have the patience for that.” Shigaraki had to hide the fact he almost choked. He turned his head away to hide an evidence of fear or embarrassment. 

“I just hate the infighting. If they’re getting along now, then it’s all fine. Besides, he’s with his mother right now anyway…”

Dabi took Shigaraki’s suggestion the other night to heart. He legitimately thought about it. And they discussed it further in the bath that morning. With both of them sitting down, Dabi leaning back against the wall of the tub and Shigaraki curled up against his chest in the steaming water, Shigaraki must have convinced him to go. Whether it was the heat of the moment or an actual skill in persuasion, Dabi found himself sitting in Kurogiri’s portal right outside his mother’s window.

“Are you nervous…?” Kurogiri asked. He noticed his hesitation. He’s been sitting there for quite some time, just staring. “Shouto has told me all good things. She’s even supportive and sympathetic of his new lifestyle as a villain. I do believe that there isn’t much to be afraid of.” Dabi didn’t answer. Maybe he didn’t want to voice his worries and would rather keep them in the back of his head to invalidate them. He was supposed to be dead. Would she feel betrayed? What if she hated him? Would she be angry? How would she feel about him being with Todoroki after being a delinquent as a teenager?

“I guess… maybe I think she’s going to be scared of me. I mean, look at me. I’m straight out of a horror movie.” Burnt flesh all over and stapled holding his skin together. He wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. Maybe she would be frightened of him before even recognizing him. But then he thought back to what Shigaraki told him while they were both in that warm and steaming bath.

“You’re too negative. Not everyone hates you, you know. I think the people around here like you even though you probably don’t believe it.” Everyone except Midoriya for the most part. But they didn’t like each other anyway.

Dabi made a deep sigh. He kicked his feet a little as he looked down at how far the ground was. Would jumping to his death be a hell of a lot easier? Probably. But that was a dumb idea… “I guess… what do I have to lose? She’d blow my cover sooner or later.” He stood up and took a step to land on the ledge of the window. “I know I drank before I got here but god, could I go for another.” He should probably knock. But she’d never let him in. So with his heart racing on the inside and his face being still as stone, he forced the window open. Kurogiri’s portal disappeared behind him.

Rei was at a small desk, rereading letters that had been written to her from Todoroki. She was smiling softly, taking in every character and even blushing at the thought of her precious youngest son taking the time to write these. He was so sweet to her. When she heard the window open and the curtain flap in the wind, she expected it to be him. She stood up beside her chair with her fist to her chest. She was already smiling with anticipation. Though it quickly disappeared at the sight of a burnt and stapled man, wearing just a white t-shirt and black denim jeans. 

Anyone would have been afraid of him on sight. Rei stepped back behind her chair from the unexpected visitor. But her fear wasn’t terror. This was a man she didn’t recognize coming into her room. And upon looking at him further… he didn’t appear violent. His crystal eyes were intense but soft. He was taller but slender. His stance was casual yet stiff from insecurity. Rei stayed behind the chair, but her initial tenseness vanished. “Are you afraid of me…?” Dabi asked quietly.

She looked so much paler and so much smaller than he remembered. He didn’t hit a growth spurt until after he disappeared. Now he was actually taller than her. He remembered her as weak and pathetic. He was always frustrated with her. But looking back with a different perspective... he must have seemed like such a heartless brat. Even if she wasn’t scared of him, would she hate him?

“No…” she answered softly. Her eyes squinted as she tilted her head. “I know what it’s like to be scared of someone.” She feared a pro hero. She knew that some people deserved to be feared and others did not. “Your face… you’re not scary.” He was too soft to be scary. But the shape of his face was… familiar. “Do I… know you?” she spoke quietly. They both did.

“Do you?” Dabi asked. Rei took his question as an invitation to approach him. She walked around the chair, her hands close to her chest as she looked up at him. She leaned side to side to take in every angle of his face. He had a hard jawline, but soft cheeks, whatever remained of the unburned flesh. She began to reach up thoughtlessly. Dabi subtly flinched, making her do the same. But he stayed still. He let her touch his neck. His skin was so rough. Her hand was so cold. It moved to his cheek to hold. He leaned into her touch. How had he been so selfish with her when younger...

“You… look so sad.” She said.

Dabi nodded. “But I’m okay…” But I’m okay. Those words triggered just the smallest memory. Badly burned and with tears in his eyes, no matter how much pain he felt… he’d always say he was okay with a big smile. No matter how many bandages he wore. No matter how dark his burns were. Even if it wasn’t okay. He tried so hard to be strong all the time.

How quickly her arms wrapped around his chest. And how quickly his went around her shoulders, burying his face in her hair. She was so cold. But it was so comforting to his flesh. He hugged her tight, his fingers clutching her shirt like they were never going to let go. “Touya..." she quietly cried. "I thought you were dead… I thought you…” Rei pulled back only a little to examine the burns on his arms. “It must have been so painful. I-I’m so sorry…Touya.” She wasn’t angry at all. She was guilty. Her eyes began to water from the relief, the joy, and the pain all at once. 

“No… don’t be sorry.” Dabi pulled back as they then held each other’s arms at the elbows. “It wasn’t your fault.” Looking down at her and seeing her crying eyes, he wasn’t so sure that she believed him. Who could blame her? He reeked of smoke and looked like a zombie. Cheating death didn’t come without a price. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but I’m doing the best I ever have.” He smiled and he meant it. “I have a place to stay that’s safe and has lots of good food. I started seeing someone. And I promise that I’m taking care of Shou.”

“You’re with… Shouto?” She knew that must have meant Dabi was living as a villain with him. They were together. “Wait… this person he keeps talking about-” She already had her suspicions and was very quickly able to put dots together from Todoroki's letters and his prior visits.

“I’m Dabi, yes.” he almost snickered. This must all sound so crazy to her. But she just cupped his face and rubbed her thumb over his staples. “I beg of you, don’t tell him the truth about me. Let me stay Dabi for him. He’s doing so much better for him than Touya ever did.” He placed his hands over hers. “Let me do this right. As Dabi. I’ll be a better brother and I’ll be a better son.” That was why he came here in the first place. He needed to keep himself a secret. But now he felt that there was so much more to be said. “I’m sorry I haven’t seen you up until now…and...” he hesitated for a moment. He hated apologizing. “I’m sorry for all the awful things I said to you... And the things I did...”

“No, you were trying to protect yourself. And you were young. Things were hard. We all did what we could...You were so very strong.” Rei shook her head. Her tears had mostly stopped but were starting to shed again. Guilt was eating her alive. Ran in the family. “He really did try to kill both of you… I should be grateful that you came back to me at all after I couldn’t do anything to protect you or support you.” 

“You know he would have killed you too…”  Dabi pressed his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. He didn’t want to see her cry. “You’re not to blame. That’s why Shou and I are going to make things right…” He had wasted so much energy blaming her in the past. He realized that now. Endeavor ruined their lives. All of their lives. He made it all a living hell. His body was the living proof of the suffering his corruption had caused. “Shou may think he’s fighting alone, but I’m going to be right beside him. We’re going to get rid of him together so he can’t hurt anyone else. He’ll never touch you again, I promise.” Being a villain gave him the power to take his life into his own hands. He would avenge and protect his family like the heroes never did. This was his life to control now. He was strong.

Rei eventually took a seat at the foot of her bed and Dabi knelt down on the floor in front of her. His head rested on her lap as he barely had his arms around her waist. He shut his eyes blissfully as her dainty hand lovingly pet his hair. He had forgotten why he liked this form of affection from Shigaraki so much. It just reminded him of his mom. From a time when things were still okay. 

“So you did end up dying your hair, just like you always wanted,” Rei said softly with a smile. Her fingers sifted through the strands to see white at the very root. But it would be impossible to see without being this close. Dabi nodded with his cheek rubbing against her thigh. “I like it.” She approved. She would approve anything. “And the nose piercings. I think they suit you. Just make sure you take care of them.” She was so supportive. Her fingers reached down to his ears as she tried to feel for piercings he remembered him getting. But she was saddened to find that his earlobes were nonexistent, burnt off. “And… you’re in a relationship you said?” For the past few minutes, they had just been catching up. There was a lot to catch up on.

“Sorta… I met this guy. He’s a little weird. But he’s… really something special. I wouldn’t have the courage to come here if it wasn’t for him.” Dabi sighed. Now he would have to deal with telling Shigaraki was right and let him hold it over his head for the rest of his life. How annoying just to think about it. But it made him snicker. “I’m gonna get a whole lot of ‘I told you so's after this…”

“Make sure you tell him thank you for me, then.” Rei chuckled.

“I will… He’s the one that took in me and Shou in the first place.” Dabi then quietly scoffed. “He’s a lot nicer than he lets on. But he’d never admit it.” 

“It sounds like he really wants to take care of you and also do what’s best for you…” Rei smiled softly just trying to picture this young man. Shouto has mentioned the name of someone taking him in. That cute freckled boy’s older brother. “Is he doing a good job?”

“Yeah… he is.” Dabi sighed deeply, peacefully. They would proceed to sit in silence for a few minutes, a mother just gently stroking her son’s tired head. It’s been years since they’d had a moment like this together. They both wanted it to last.

“Touya,” Rei then spoke up a little while later. “I’m not sure how I feel about you keeping yourself a secret from Shouto. Don’t you think he deserves to know his big brother is alive?” She was conflicted. She wanted to support Dabi as much as she could. But was his request hurting Todoroki more than helping him? “I think he would be very happy to know it's you.”

“Even if he is… I want him to rely on me and who I am now. I don’t want the me that abandoned him make him doubt me. And,” he really didn’t want to say it out loud but… “Touya doesn’t deserve his forgiveness, mom. If anything, if the day does come, I want Dabi to be the one to earn it.” Rei looked down at him sadly. He bore heavy guilt and this was the best way he could think of to deal with it. She didn’t exactly like the idea of him torturing himself like this, forcing his real self and feelings to hide behind this stapled mask. The Touya he had locked away must have been so miserable. Punishing himself the way that he was. 

“If you feel that it’s the right thing to do… I won’t tell him. But please forgive yourself someday, Touya.” She wasn’t going to force him to reveal himself. He could come out and tell Todoroki the truth when he was ready. But something told her this was more about Dabi forgiving himself, forgiving Touya, than Todoroki doing the forgiving. 

“Yeah… someday.” Dabi muttered. He didn’t think that was ever going to happen. Now he’d rather change the subject. “I should also warn you, Shou’s going to debut as a villain soon. Hero agencies may start bugging you-”

“I won’t tell them a damn thing.” Dabi had never heard his mother’s voice get so sharp. His eyes nearly shot open. Glancing up at her, she saw her glaring bitterly out the window. He had seen her upset. But never this angry. Her petting stopped but her hand was still in his hair, caressing him lovingly and protectively. “I want you two to do and live however you like. Don’t worry about me.” She looked down and held his cheek with his other hand. “I’ll always be on your side. No matter what…”

Chapter Text

“Being on this side is totally lame…” Toga complained quietly to herself and drank from a fast food cup. Disguised as Burnin’ she was walking the halls of Endeavor’s agency. As she walked, she reached into her tight fit costume dress around her chest. She pulled out a small metal disk and pressed a small button to make it light up red. Casually walking by a vending machine, she reached behind it and it stuck to the back with a quiet beep. A few sidekicks walked past her appearing exhausted with darkness and bags around their eyes, having been worked to the bone. “Brought it on yourselves.” She hummed to herself. Heroes made life so difficult after all. Being a villain was much more fun.

“Tomu will signal both of us at the same time,” Midoriya said as he slipped on his metal clawed gloves. He flexed his fingers in them with a smile. All dressed in his villain costume with his face mask tied to his hip, he was preparing to leave for the night. “I’ll be right downtown, just a few blocks away from you.” He then went to his desk where a type of electronic band was sitting. He wrapped it around his wrist and he began to adjust the setting with a few buttons.

Todoroki adjusted his tie in a tall mirror and then fixed his vest, turning himself side to side to get a better look at himself. Had to look his best tonight. Red long-sleeve button-down was fixed neatly, hair perfectly parted, and the kitsune mask in hand.  “I hope I can get in,” he mumbled. Midoriya sneakily came up behind him while he was looking in the mirror and wrapped his arms around his waist. He leaned around him and then placed his chin on his shoulder to get a look at both of them together. “Are you ready?” Todoroki stared at the two of them in the reflection and asked. Then he turned his head to share a kiss.

“Absolutely.” Midoriya mused. Then a puppy barked while at his foot, jumping on his leg while wagging her tail. “Don’t worry. I’ll make sure we’re back soon,” he assured Zuzu with a pet to her head. He would make sure Todoroki made it back safely.

“Was the subject received?” Shigaraki asked. He sat at his computer with the hand on his face. Though the screen flashed ‘no signal’ he could hear a voice on the other side. He was glaring darkly while subtly scratching at his neck, appearing as grumpy as ever. But it was just because he hated talking to the doctor.

“Yes. Kurogiri delivered it not too long ago. My new child is already being prepped. You have nothing to worry about! And let your little doctor know I said thank you for his research. He’s really making my life easier.” An old voice laughed. 

“I have half a mind to ask Master to make him head of the nomu experiments…” Shigaraki grumbled. This doctor had probably centuries of more experience than Midoriya did. But he trusted Midoriya far more than the old bastard. 

“Now don’t you go making threats at me, brat. Remember who’s working so hard for you right now. You ought to be more grateful.” 

Shigaraki rolled his eyes at the doctor’s words.  “Whatever. Just get it done.” He then got up out of his chair and made his way to the door.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going-”

“Somewhere where I can have some decent privacy.” Shigaraki kicked the door shut behind him without a second thought. 

The doctor sighed before turning off his mic. He was in his own laboratory at the moment, though it was more like a factory. Abandoned from government-approved use, there were glowing cylinder tanks lying flat with large pipes connecting them to something hidden by the dark. Lights were turned off to hide the fact it was being used. There were questionable splatter stains all over the tile floor. Vines were growing on the inside from lack of proper maintenance. In the distance, there were quiet moans and growls; the source of them hidden in darkness. The short, fat, bald man with a mustache and cloudy glasses rubbed his face with his hand before approaching one of the tanks and pressing a few buttons on a keypad connected to it. The factory rumbled from the pipes being turned on. “You’ll be an interesting one…” he said as the liquid in the tank began to bubble. 

Bakugo laid inside stripped to nothing but his shorts. A metal ring contraption was attached to his head. Wires were connected to his body all over with electrodes. He appeared unconscious as he was unmoving, his eyes half-lidded and clouded. His upper right arm had a metal cast around it, likely keeping the body part attached to him despite being completely useless to him now. However, when the doctor walked away, he wouldn’t see those defeated red eyes follow him.

While Shigaraki was walking down the hall, he took the hand off his face and put it in the pocket of the black hoodie he was wearing. It seemed a bit too big to be his. He would suddenly be greeted by a puppy jumping at his legs from behind, eagerly looking for attention. So Todoroki and Midoriya must have left. The red-eyed villain scoffed at her as she followed him all the way to Dabi’s door. She jumped through the little doggy door before he walked in. “I knew you stole it,” Dabi said the moment he saw him, standing in the kitchenette with his arms folded.

“I was cold.” Shigaraki shrugged as he put his gloved hands in oversized hoodie pockets. He smirked and turned his nose up smugly. “And it’s extra warm because it’s yours. So I wanted it and I took it.” He walked further inside and went right past Dabi to start raiding his cabinets for any kind of snacks.

“When I said you could sleep here with me, I didn’t mean you could steal my clothes.” It would seem that ever since they slept together, Shigaraki had been sleeping over Dabi’s apartment at night. He had a softer bed and there was no creepy doctor watching them here. Perhaps the scrawny villain was getting just a little too comfortable. Or perhaps Dabi was just trying to pretend to be mad…

“You know you like it when I do.” Shigaraki got on his toes and reached up in a cabinet to snag a bag of candy. He didn’t bother to turn around and see a flame ignite on Dabi’s head. He could already feel the heat coming from him. Smiling smugly, he opened the candy bag and walked right past him to go to the living room. Just as he turned on the tv to the news, where cameras and reporters were crowded around the front doors to a press building downtown, he was suddenly grabbed by his hips and pulled right back into the kitchen.

Dabi clutched his thighs before lifting him up and stealing a kiss on his lips. He sat him on the counter, holding his legs firmly all the while. Shigaraki initially looked annoyed having been pulled away so rudely, but he let the kiss happen. Even going so far as to use one hand to hold Dabi’s cheek. He eventually took it back in order to use his hands to prop himself up comfortably. They would kiss until Dabi pulled away first, letting Shigaraki speak. “You could have just asked.” he snarked.

“You could have asked to take my clothes.”

“Well that’s not really stealing, now is it? Can’t be evil if I don’t steal.”

“Bunny,” Dabi smirked teasingly, gripping his thighs tighter.

“Tomcat,” Shigaraki smirked right back and lightly tugged two spikes of his black hair to make them look like cat ears. “Don’t you think we should watch our little brothers debut now?”

Shinsou was at Aizawa and Yamada’s home, tv on the same news station showing a few people being escorted inside while being ambushed with cameras and microphones. Police kept the media back as Vlad, Aizawa, and Yamada were led inside and covered their eyes from all the flashing lights. All three were dressed formally in suits and ties, Aizawa’s hair being slicked and tied back and Yamada having his hair down. He no longer wore bandages around his neck, but there was a red scar across his throat that branched down to the base. 

Shinsou threw a purple hoodie on and took his phone off the charger that was sitting on the kitchen counter. There were two messages he didn’t see up until now.

Eraserhead: There’s Ramen in the cabinet for dinner. Don’t stay up late.

Kaminari: I know you told me you’re going out tonight. Could you text me when you get back home? Don’t mean to be so paranoid. But I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep well again tonight anyway.

Aizawa would have never let him go out this late by himself. And he would have never let him go if he knew he was going to see Midoriya. So he never told him. But he told Kaminari. So he texted him. -I’m heading out now. I’ll let you know when I’m back. Try to get some sleep if you can. I’ll see you tomorrow morning.- He closed his flip phone and put it in his pocket. He shut the tv and the lights off before he left.

Rei sat in her hospital bed, looking out at the clear and starry night with a soft smile. Tonight was the big night, right? She wondered if she would be able to see any of it from her room. “You’ll do great…”

Inko was doing dishes in the kitchen with a news station playing on her tv in the background. As she reached into the soapy water, she caught herself staring at an old family photo she had framed on a windowsill beside one of the bouquets Bakugo gave her. She found herself feeling sad all of a sudden, reminiscing over her little boy’s innocent smiling face while holding an All Might action figure. She hoped he was doing okay…

Bakugo Mitsuki and Masaru sat on their living room sofa together, eyes locked on the news channel in front of them. Masaru held Mitsuki’s hand as he looked absolutely miserable. Hair a mess, shirt collar undone, eyes tired, and face unshaven. Mitsuki, however, held his hand tightly while her other hand dug partially bitten nails into the couch cushion. She looked furious. “You bastards better find him…” she growled. “My boy’s not dead.” She taught her son to be stronger than that. He was alive. She had no doubt about it. 

Yamada was in a back room with Aizawa and Vlad, handing them both small cups of water. Through the door, they could hear people chattering loudly and cameras flashing as news reporters were taking pictures and videos of the press conference building stage. They all must have flooded the doors the moment they were let inside. The room felt like it was over capacity and a fire hazard. But the need for U.A. teachers’ thoughts, accounts, and opinions was far direr. The authorities struggled to control the flow and stampede of reporters. And because of this, an unwanted guest was able to slip inside. He was able to hide in a long coat and a hood that covered his head.

“Don’t let them get under your skin. You know how they work.” Yamada said. Aizawa and Vlad both took the cups from him to drink. “You guys didn’t do anything wrong. No one thought this was going to happen. We took precautions ahead of time just in case and they failed. They can’t say we didn’t try.” The media was ruthless. And he knew Aizawa hated them deeply. But he wanted to remind him to be careful not to lose his temper. 

“It’s been almost a week… they all probably think the poor kid is dead.” Vlad sighed. This seemed hopeless. This was just an act of public humiliation.

“He’s not dead. Bakugo’s strong and he’s smart. He’s too determined to die… I know it.” Aizawa clenched the cup tightly enough to make it crumple. This was so frustrating. “We should be out looking for him now. But we have to be here instead. They’re wasting our time.” 

“Now, now. We mustn’t be so spiteful.” Nezu chimed in. He walked up to the group in a suit just like the rest of them. He likely must have snuck in a different way to avoid all the pesky cameras. His small stature and cute voice gained all of their attention. He still had a lot of authority. “I just received word that Ingenium and Endeavor have found a possible lead. They are investigating as we speak so it’s best we keep all the attention on us in order to let them work.” He sighed and looked down at the floor with his paws behind his back. “Better let them find Bakugo Katsuki sooner rather than later… So it’s up to us to take the heat.”

Suddenly, a man in a uniform popped through the door. “You’re on in two minutes,” he warned before exiting. He had all the heroes’ attention up until he left. Vlad and Nezu nodded to each other as they were the first to make their way to the stage through the door. Yamada stayed behind to adjust Aizawa’s suit to make sure he was looking as neat and tidy as he could. There were only three chairs on the stage. He just came for moral and emotional support. 

“I’ll be in the crowd, okay? I’ll be right here when you’re done.” he leaned forward to gently kiss him. Aizawa quickly and strongly wrapped his arms around his back to bring him closer immediately. But they both kept the kiss quick. “Don’t let them get to you,” Yamada whispered, patting his shoulder twice and letting him make his way on to the stage. Aizawa only nodded before exiting. The blond went out a different door to join the reporters.

Many were seated in folding chairs that had been set up. But even more were crowded together in the back of the room standing up. All eyes were on the two men and one animal seated on the stage stiffly and formally. Yamada stayed in the back corner to just watch from the sidelines, gripping his sleeve in the bit of nervousness he felt for all of them. Someone was in the crowd of standing reporters watching him and felt pity for him. 

Questions and claims followed suit from every corner of the room.“You spoke about students’ safety, Eraserhead.” A reporter man eventually stood up from his folding chair, holding a mic to himself and reading off a notepad he had. “During the incident, it appears you urged them to fight. What was your intention behind this?”

Aizawa leaned forward in his chair to get closer to the mic to be heard clearly. His face expressed no emotion. “I concluded that because we were unable to fully grasp the situation, it had to be done in order to avoid the worst possible outcome.”

“What do you mean by ‘worst possible outcome’”? The reporter pressed with a more angered look. “You don’t call 26 victims and one abducted the worst possible outcome?”

“The ‘worst outcome’ I assumed in that situation was that the students would be at their wits’ end and be killed.” There was a bit of sharpness in Aizawa’s voice. No students had been confirmed dead from the attack yet. No child was killed. He urged the media to remember that.

“The gas attack accounts for most of the victims. We have determined that it was a sleeping gas from one of the enemies’ quirks. Thanks to the quick response of Ms. Kendo and Mr. Tetsutetsu, there were no serious injuries from that attack.” Nezu added. He spoke professionally as the press took notes on every word. “In addition, we are providing mental care to the students. At the moment, we do see signs of psychological trauma and are working hard to help them through it. As you all know… this has been an exceptionally difficult semester.”

The reporter speaking did not seem impressed at all. He was getting on someone’s nerves in the back. He kept pushing. “Are you saying that it was a bright spot in this tragedy?” 

Nezu pushed back. “We believe that the worst outcome is one that would have infringed on the future.” Heroes would prevail. The students were strong and their futures were still bright. Surely…

“Can you say the same thing for the kidnapped Bakugo?” Aizawa’s face twitched. This was bound to come up. But in such a heartless manner and tone from some fear-mongering news worker… “He enrolled at U.A. High with excellent marks on the sports festival. He was also reported to have displayed a resilience to the mental trauma of the Bloody Tragedy and the USJ Attack. So he has a history of showing how tough he can be.” He hated how he talked about his student as if he knew him. Taking notes on simple observations was not enough to understand his students. “On the other hand, I feel the heroes fail to remember that these are still children. Don’t you feel that you are becoming far too dependent on the strength of children?”

Vlad watched Aizawa from the corner of his eye. He could see him trying his best to keep a calm face. But his anger was cracking. The cold-hearted reporter kept going. “These children are under attack from villains and you and your school fail to protect them. I would argue that it was carelessness that led to the demise of Kosuke Hiro and Todoroki Shouto!” 

Aizawa stood up out of his seat. Yamada held his breath. Vlad almost reached for him to pull him back down. Someone’s left hand in the crowd made just the smallest flame in agitation. But it was quickly put out when Aizawa bowed respectfully. He shouldn’t be bowing. He didn’t need to. Those deaths weren’t his fault and he shouldn’t take responsibility. It was a problem so much bigger than him and he was taking all of the backlash… Aizawa didn’t deserve this.

“As an educator, but also as a hero, I take full responsibility for the loss that has taken place in my classroom…” The tired, exhausted man said. Yamada watched him, heartbroken for him. “The motives behind these attacks are still uncertain and because of that, we don’t know what can be done to better protect our students. All we have done is rely on their strength and teach them how to defend themselves with it.” Aizawa straightened up slowly with closed eyes before opening them. They were grieving still. Those supposed last words still in his head.

You’re a pretty cool teacher and …thanks for trying.

He was just doing his best… He truly wanted the best for these kids. Whether the media or the world understood that, he was certain the ones that needed to know it most already knew. “We never wanted any of this to happen. I don’t believe there are enough apologies that can be said to any of those children. And especially to Bakugo Katsuki. This time, I ask everyone to rely on the heroes to find him and bring him home.”

The conference would continue for much longer. To the point where people were getting a bit restless in their seats. The air was getting hot and dry from lack of ventilation. Some people walked out of the room to get a breath of fresh air and others made stops at vending machines for a drink. The topic being discussed was heavy. The lives and deaths of children were at stake. Many were cold towards Aizawa, Vlad, and Nezu. But no one was as ruthless as the man who spoke to Aizawa and Nezu so heartlessly. He had been the most diligent notetaker of all in that room. But even he needed to take a step back.

Getting up from his seat, he made his way out of the room and down the hallway to a vending machine. He showed his badge to the police at the door to be let out and showed it again to be let in. Having lost his seat from his short trip, he was forced to stand in the back with many others. While listening to more questions and answers, he felt the slightest bump against his shoulder. “Excuse you,” he grumped. It was a tight crowd to walk through. He expected the one who bumped him to keep moving. Instead, when he glanced to see who it was, he saw a white and red fox mask under a black hood of a long black coat. Though the mask was moved slightly to the right to reveal a bright blue glow with the intensity to make him shiver. The shadow of the mask and hood hid the face. But the eye was haunting. If a look could kill, his blood would have been splatter all over these walls.

“Excuse me…” Todoroki whispered. “Would you like real information on Todoroki Shouto’s death? There’s more to know about Eraserhead than you may think.”

“Burnin’! You want to come out for drinks with us tonight? I’m treating!” Toga looked at a small group of exhausted sidekicks. One waved to her and made a kind offer. After working on such a stressful and depressing case day after day, they probably wanted nothing more than to get wasted. Who could blame them when Endeavor was such a slave driver?

“I’m good. Staying late in the office tonight, you know? Need that overtime.” Is this what being an adult felt like? Toga had to ask herself because it really sucked. Boring, unfulfilling, exhausting, and totally lame.

“Suit yourself! Try not to be the last one here!” The speaker of the group waved goodbye and continued walking with the small group as they took an elevator to a lower floor, leaving for the night. Toga made an exasperated sigh. She then turned the corner and reached into her dress again to pull out another small metal disk, pressed a button for it to light up, and then placed it behind a trash can by the elevator. 

Going down another hallway with a few windows, she looked out at the night sky and cityscape. Being trapped in a building like this for countless hours a week seemed like such sucky life when there was a whole world out there. Something down below caught her eye. Looking down, she saw a man in full body suit waving up at her enthusiastically. She waved back with a toothy smile, happy to see Twice on standby for her. 

Toga went back to walking with a bit more enthusiasm in her step again. She wandered to different floors, sticking little metal disks in hiding places everywhere. She hummed and skipped without much care. Many sidekicks and employees had left for the night. A few remained; they were mostly asleep at their desks. She knew for certain though, that one man at least was still awake. She checked a clock that was on the wall for the time. It was getting close enough. Taking a deep breath, she went to the elevator and rode it up to the topmost floor. There was a small lobby with an empty secretary desk. Beside it was a large pair of double doors. “Mr. Endeavor? I’m coming in!” she announced.

Going through the door, she found herself in a massive office. One far bigger than necessary. There was so much excess empty space as well as very large windows. The moonlight and city light made the hue of the room mostly blue and dark. But Endeavor’s flames and the chandelier over his desk made the center more warm and bright. “What is it Burnin’? Have you found any more leads? Or anyone to translate this damn thing?” He banged his fist on his desk. He was hunched over Midoriya’s notebook and looked tired and frustrated. No one seemed to have any luck translating the scribbled characters that were so small.

“Nope!” Toga stood up straight and saluted enthusiastically. Todoroki told her this is what Burnin’s personality was like. She was going to play the part as best she could. “I came to ask for an attempt to read it myself!” 

“You said you couldn’t read it when you and Ingenium found it.” Endeavor growled. “We shouldn’t be trusting that cripple to begin with…” 

“Why is that, sir?!” Toga lowered her hand to be kept behind her back like a soldier. 

Endeavor had been looking down at the notebook the whole time when he finally glared up with just his eyes. He didn’t trust Ingenium. But only because he knew that he knew more about Touya than he should. He offered to work with him so openly so suddenly, right after Todoroki’s announced death. It was suspicious. But Endeavor couldn’t just tell that to people. “He’s just shady. And he’s too trusting of others.” He shook his head. “Do you really think you could read it if you gave it another go?” 

“I can try my best, sir! I won’t let you down!” Toga marched over to Endeavor’s desk and leaned over the front of it with her arms folded. She closed one eye and squinted with the other as if she was trying really hard to read Midoriya’s handwriting. She wouldn’t be able to even if she wanted to. 

“Were there any additional reports from the mission I sent your team on? Text messages? Did that boy say anything about Shouto?” Endeavor asked quietly. But his tone was not soft or comforting. He sounded paranoid. Untrusting. Toga glanced up at him with just her eyes. He had such a scary face. Sho-Sho was so much cuter. And nicer too. 

“Just an apology from Ingenium about his loss.” Toga said. But she didn’t like how his eyes narrowed. The room got hotter. Did she say something wrong? How much did Endeavor know? How much were his sidekicks supposed to know? Surely none of them knew about the atrocities he committed against his family. Midoriya told her Burnin’ died thinking Endeavor was a good man. 

“Did you hear anything about me?” She didn’t know what to say. Midoriya had told her everything that transpired the day he was followed in case she was ever questioned on it. She looked over files to make sure she had the details of what was observed. In comparison to Midoriya’s recount, there were things missing in the Endeavor Agency’s files. There was no recorded talk of heroes killing Todoroki Shouto with Shinsou Hitoshi. Did someone erase it to hide evidence? Or was it erased by someone else’s authority? “Burnin’.” Endeavor called to her. She had been quietly staring at the notebook for a long time. She hadn’t answered yet. She needed to think of something to say.

“No… sir.” Toga answered. She was quiet. Uncertain. She was out of character. She wouldn’t be strong enough to take this pro hero on by herself.

“Liar.” Endeavor slammed his hand over the notebook.

Shinsou checked his phone as he walked up to a small drink shop downtown. It was closed for the night so he stood outside, looking around curiously for Midoriya. His hands trembled a bit. He couldn’t forget what he was told at the coffee shop. Heroes killed Todoroki? He couldn’t believe it. But if Midoriya said it, then it had to be true. Midoriya trusted him enough to tell him and called for his help. It was up to them to find out what was going on. But what if they were followed? What if Midoriya’s lie wasn’t good enough? If a group of heroes really was the enemy, wouldn’t they be viewed as traitors? This was a dangerous situation to be in. But he trusted Midoriya’s word. He trusted his friend.

Looking around cautiously, Shinsou kept an eye out for anyone that could have been tailing him. There were hardly any people out, likely because Aizawa’s press conference was live and people were intently watching from home. And now more than ever, the streets at night were not safe. Even in the downtown area, there were maybe five people walking about, but walking quickly to get home safely. Their heads were down and paced quickly. People’s paranoia had not been any worse.

He kept searching for Midoriya until he heard footsteps running up to him. The freckled boy smiled and waved as he jogged towards him. “Hey! You actually came!” He wore a long black coat with a hood. It wasn’t too strange because it was a brisk night. He stopped just in front of Shinsou with bright, sparkling green eyes. “I’m so happy you did. I was worried something might have come up.” Taking a deep breath, he bowed respectfully. “Thank you for believing me.” He stood back up straight. “You’re the only one I could tell the truth to.”

Shinsou gulped and nodded. Midoriya's smile slowly vanished, suddenly appearing sad. “Todoroki meant a lot to you… I don’t blame you for digging or sticking your nose where people don’t want it to be.” Shinsou tilted his head. “But I’m with you. We’re friends, aren’t we? They help each other.” He cracked the smallest smile at his own words. It was only because of Midoriya he was able to make any friends at all. And it was because of him that he pursued being a pro hero under Eraserhead. His support and kindness meant everything. It was time to pay it forward.

“That’s right.” Midoriya nodded confidently. “But let’s get out of the open first. If someone’s eavesdropping, we could be in some pretty serious trouble.” He waved for Shinsou to follow. “I know this area well, follow me.” There wasn’t a second thought in the purple-haired boy’s mind. He followed the little killer right into an alleyway.

“Isn’t it dangerous to be going this way at night? Remember what happened to Mr. Yamada?” he asked. The look on Aizawa’s face and all that blood on him… Then seeing Yamada in such a sorry state in a hospital bed. 

“That’s why you don’t go out alone. But you have me.” Midoriya hummed as they walked, him taking the lead. He walked slowly and only took a turn every once in a while. “So you have nothing to fear. I’m here.” he giggled.

“So…” after a few minutes of walking, Shinsou began to grow painstakingly curious. “What happened to Todoroki…? You said-” Midoriya suddenly turned his head back with a red glow in his eye.

“Endeavor tried to kill him.” His sudden sharp tone in contrast to his cheerfulness just now spooked the purple-haired boy. And that look in his eye was not the same. That was nothing but anger and hatred, though not directed at the purple-haired boy. Shinsou stopped in his tracks and raised his hands slightly, frozen. Afraid? Maybe… but of what?

“Wh...What?” He asked. “His… own father?” He shook his head. “A-And what do you mean ‘tried’?” Endeavor was a hero. Was this what he meant? But why use the word ‘tried’? Who killed Todoroki? 

He watched a little grin creep up on Midoriya’s face as he stopped ahead. He turned around with his arms out openly, welcomingly. “Shouchan’s not dead.”

Toga dove down and out of the way of a blast of fire. She tumbled against the tile but stopped herself upright before making a run for it again. A wave of fire was sent her way right after the last one. She didn't have time to stop. She was found out even while disguised as Burnin’. 

“Why did you erase that conversation, Burnin’?!” Or… maybe she wasn’t found out. Not yet. “He said the heroes killed my son! Why did you erase it?!” Toga dove out of the way of another blast and got on all fours, keeping low to the ground. She was in a stance, ready to leap in any direction if she was aimed again. Endeavor was standing up from his desk with his hand prepared to fire. 

Why did Burnin’ erase evidence against Endeavor? Why was Endeavor mad about it?

“You know, don’t you?!” Endeavor accused. No, she died thinking he really was a hero. She was trying to defend him till the very end. Burnin’ was loyal to her dying breath. And yet this monster turned on her so quickly. 

“Are you… trying to kill me just because I heard?” Even if she was just a little suspicious… she wasn’t supposed to know. No one was allowed to know. Not even his most loyal sidekick was allowed to know what he had done. Their loyalty meant nothing to him if they even overheard or saw any evidence accusing him of murder or abuse. The corruption ran deep to his core. How did it ever get so bad?

“Not a soul needs to know! I’m going to be the number one hero!” He could never be number one if a conspiracy theory was ever leaked. His reputation, his future was on the line. It didn’t matter who was a threat to it. They had to disappear.

“How much do you know? Tell me everything!” the reporter begged. Todoroki and the man stood in a small supply closet. They could hear Nezu, Aizawa, and Vlad speaking on the mic outside the door. They were still in the conference room. Todoroki wore his white kitsune mask and leaned back against a wall casually.

“I can say one thing for certain, he wouldn’t appreciate your tone to his teacher.” he tilted his head. His voice mixer was turned off but there was no way for this man to recognize his real voice. These reporters liked to think they knew everything about everyone. But they knew almost nothing. “You should be more considerate.” The reporter just stared at him, dumbfounded. 

“What on earth do you mean?” he asked, sounding offended.

“I mean you’re targeting the wrong man,” Todoroki growled. Such a stubborn and dimwitted man. Too proud to admit that his target of journalism was just an innocent victim caught in the crossfire of a much larger plot. “But what you already said will probably make headlines. Your comments did a few days ago.” He took out his phone and had a news headline already opened up. He played a recorded video that was taken during the recording of a podcast.

“It is absolutely unacceptable. This is the second life-endangering occurrence children have had with villains! Two students have lost their lives in the span of a couple of months because they were thrown into the hero field too early. It is irresponsible and the heroes need to be held accountable. Eraserhead has always hated journalists, probably because he has a lot to hide. I don’t know how someone sleeps at night knowing two kids died because of the life he’s leading them into!”

“You’re the type that won’t back down even when he’s wrong. You’re quite confrontational. You’ll be harassing him for a long time, won’t you?” Todoroki deducted. Even if this man was half right about hero society relying too much on children, this killer wouldn’t tolerate slander against his former teacher.

The reporter pushed the phone away and huffed. “If you’re just going to lecture me on how to do my job, I’m leaving.” He went to the door to leave. But he quickly found it was frozen shut at the handle, hinges, and frame. “What do you think you’re-” Todoroki took off his coat in one quick motion and leaped at the reporter while his back was turned. He twisted and twirled it to use it as a gag and got it in his mouth from behind and pulled. No one would hear a thing.

In the not so abandoned factory, a fat, old doctor was taking notes in a notepad before proceeding to press buttons on the keypad of Bakugo’s tank. The scribbles of his pen and the taps of the keys echoed through the desolate building. “Quite a few injuries you have there, my child,” he said. He leaned over the tank and glanced at his papers. “Hearing loss, removal of all fingernails, 3rd-degree burns to the hands, and a completely disconnected bicep. You also have a cracked skull and a brain injury.” 

The doctor wandered off and went into the dark with a flashlight. He went fiddling with some wires and then some pipes, connecting different ones to the tank and taking others out. “We’ll start with some hyper regeneration. Let’s see if your body will last.” he chuckled before pressing the keypad. The tank’s hue changed from green to red. The bubbling inside increased and Bakugo began to squirm. The burnt and charred skin of his hands and arms began to bubble as well like it was boiling. The lower half of his jaw expressed pain, his mouth opened with his teeth bared. If he was screaming, the doctor couldn’t hear him.  

“I’m told your will is as tough as nails.” The doctor flexed his flabby arm under his lab coat. “C’mon my boy! Take it like a rock! You can do it!” He encouraged. Then he turned his back and chuckled to himself. His laughing blocked out the sound of a bang from inside the tank.

“Wh...What are you talking about? I don’t… understand.” Shinsou took half a step back. 

Midoriya sighed happily as he slowly removed his coat. He revealed his formal-looking villain costume, his trademark mask attached to his hip clearly in view. And even with those glowing red eyes, he smiled so sweetly, so innocently. “The heroes tried to kill him. He was suspected as the traitor Kosuke’s death and it only got worse when Stain saved him from a nomu. Y’know, that big monster from the USJ.” He twirled his finger in his air like he was educating in a lecture. “Shouchan was innocent.” Shinsou looked mortified. But the little villain seemed to be casually enjoying himself, loving the knowledge of his beloved hero being alive. “Endeavor set that hospital on fire to kill Shouchan to save his reputation. But he was saved.”

Shinsou had to remember what he saw at the USJ. In Hosu. All the reports and digging he did on the villains. He recognized the mask on the other’s hip on sight. “Was it… the warp villain?”

“Sorta. Shouchan called him and help came right away!” Midoriya clapped his gloved hands together. “Does it make a little bit of sense now?” he then opened them and gestured them outward with a narrow-eyed grin. He looked so pure and yet so sinister. “The one who killed Kosuke, the one who tried to use a nomu to kill All Might the phony hero, the one who was taught under Stain, and the one who kidnapped Kacchan…” he paused, waiting for Shinsou to put all the pieces together.

Shinsou slowly shook his head, his eyes couldn’t look away from him. That little quirkless boy he had grown so close to… he couldn’t be the traitor… “I don’t… I-I don’t get it.”

“Wel-” Midoriya paused as his eyes instantly became clouded and lifeless. Shinsou forced his quirk on him, brainwashing him and making him stop.

“I-I don’t want to hear anymore...Tell me this is a sick joke! Midoriya wouldn’t kill people!” his brainwashing quirk couldn’t respond to commands like that. “I-If you’re the traitor, turn yourself in!” He demanded.

Midoriya suddenly flinched awake.

“Wh-What?” Shinsou didn’t call off his quirk. How was he able to escape his control? He didn’t have a quirk. It was impossible.

“That was kinda rude, Shinsou.” The little villain whined. He lifted his wrist to adjust the metal device around his arm that looked like a bracelet. He pressed a button a few times. “Electric shock. It’s been zapping me every few seconds in case you got a little trigger happy. We’ll just speed it up a bit.” Shinsou was just as quirkless as he was now.

“T-Tell me why! Since when?!” How long had he been lying? How long was he being played a fool? 

“Since before school started. Because I’ve really come to hate heroes.” Midoriya put his hands behind his back and kicked the dirt. He closed his eyes and lazily tilted his head side to side. “I mostly asked you to come here to join me. You should hate them just as much as I do…” He then stared at Shinsou sharply. “They let people label your power as a villain’s. Once you proved yourself, they all treated you like a hero. But even at the sports festival, they doubted you. If you ask me, I don’t like it that my friend has to keep proving himself over and over to be validated. As a villain, we’d embrace who you are without question.”

“And betray Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada?! What about them?!” Shinsou clenched his fists in frustration. “After all they’ve done for me and you, they don’t deserve that!” 

“Shouchan should be killing a reporter dragging Eraserhead’s name through the mud right about now.” The little villain looked at his phone to check the time. “I still helped Mr. Yamada with all the knowledge I gained from my experiments. And Shouchan can get things done more efficiently than ever.” He smirked. “Heroes and villains are neither right or wrong. Villains just don’t pretend to be in the right all the time.” Then he shrugged with that smirk. “I know I’m doing what I want. Are you?”

Shinsou thought back to all the bullying he was put through. The complete and utter neglect from his parents. Just because he had a scary quirk. Everyone doubted him and made baseless rumors about him just to feel better about themselves… Being a hero was taking so much work. Was it really worth it in the end…? People were so mean and cruel. Did they really deserve to be protected? Them with all their prejudices? Being a villain could...

He shook his head furiously. He made friends. With Kirishima, with Sero, with Ashido… and with Kaminari. He was being watched over by heroes, amazing heroes like Eraserhead and Present Mic. He wanted to be like them. He wanted to be good for them. He wanted to be heroes with them!

“This is what I want! Sure it sucks sometimes and people aren’t always nice. But I want to save people and be a real hero!” he shouted loudly. He wanted to be heard. He wanted Midoriya to hear him loud and clear. He wasn’t going to join him. “There are things in my life that aren’t worth losing just because a few people out there that hurt me! I can be strong and get past it with the help of the friends I’ve made…” he looked down at his feet. Midoriya was one of those people...

“Is this about Kaminari?” Midoriya poked his freckled cheek, looking disappointed. Shinsou held his breath. Don’t bring him into this. Leave him out of it. Kaminari had nothing to do with this. “Shouchan joined me with a little convincing. He fell in love with me just as I did with him. Surely we could find a way for your crush to join us as well. It’s not all that hard.” He stuck his hand out, still trying to welcome him in openly and kindly. “Imagine feeling fulfilled and being accepted, all along with someone you love. It’s wonderful Shinsou… trust me.” It was like a dream.

“I don’t want that! I like him as he is!” Shinsou took a step forward. “You lied to me when I trusted you more than anyone! My first real friend when nothing about you is real! And you used me!” He gritted his teeth and inhaled. He was crushed on the inside. His eyes began to well up with tears but he refused to let them fall. “Of course I don’t want to join you! I don’t want to kill people and lie to the people I care about to get what I want! I won’t! You traitor!” He was quivering. Looking at the killer in front of him, the freckled boy now frowning unimpressed.

Midoriya turned his nose up to him with a pitying scowl. “And here I thought living a self-fulfilling life with Kaminari would be the key to convincing you. Your quirk may be brainwashing, but it seems you’re the only one whose brainwashed.” He began to draw a blade from a sheath on his belt. “I really wanted to save you Shinsou. I think we would have had a lot of fun together…” he looked down at his dagger and how it reflected the moonlight from above. “I don’t think I could bear fighting you in the future… you really were a good friend to me.” What a disappointing way to start the night… 

“I’m not your friend… No friend would ever betray someone like this.” Shinsou growled. He began to bend his knees in a battle-ready stance. He mirrored Aizawa’s movements. Midoriya sighed. And here he thought he could give Shigaraki a new member to his team. An outcast perfect for their little team of rejects. It would have been nice having his beloved and his best friend fighting alongside him. This was a rather disappointing start. But he was prepared for it. “One bad hero doesn’t define the rest of us… If what you said about Todoroki is true, I’m sure the heroes will bring Endeavor to justice.”

“All Might wouldn’t. Why have faith when their icon can’t even be there to help?” Midoriya looked up at Shinsou again, red eyes meeting purple. “You’re working for a broken system, Shinsou… there’s only one way to save you now. And only one way to spare me the pain of ever seeing you again…” His hand quickly tossed the dagger up as he caught it gain to hold in an offensive stance. 

“I’m going to turn you in so you can’t hurt anyone else. Because that’s what heroes do!” Shinsou narrowed his eyes. Heroes take down villains to protect people. To protect people… “I won’t let you get away!”

“I’d like to see you try, hero~!” Midoriya cried out in laughter, making a dash towards his old friend, bearing his dagger tightly. Good thing killing people was fun.

In the conference building, the reporter was in the midst of being gagged when he heard the sound of something freezing. From the corner of his eye, he saw Todoroki drop his mask with a wide grin and his right hand frozen in a razor-sharp gauntlet as he went to jam it into his back. “You’ll never slander him again…”

Toga as Burnin’ leapt off the ground to dodge another large blast of fire only for her foot to get burned. She yelped out in pain as her disguise began to melt away at the burn. Endeavor’s eyes widened, suddenly realizing she was an imposter and not Burnin’. In his moment of realization and shock, she reached into her dress and threw a metal disk towards him. He jumped back as she made a dash forward. She grabbed Midoriya’s notebook off the desk before turning on her heel to the farthest window from Endeavor as her quirk melted away. “I got it!” she cheered as she hugged the book. Then she reached into her pocket to get a tiny remote. “Sorry, not sorry old man!!”  She pressed a singular button before the disk she threw on his desk exploded. “Being a hero sucks!” They all exploded. Every little bomb she planted went off, sending the building off in flames as the blast’s pressure forced her out the window as she braced herself.

As the tank in the factory bubbled more and more, Bakugo punched the glass blindly with the metal device over his head. He screamed through the liquids he was in as he kept beating the glass. “Wh-What the-?! No no no no! You shouldn’t be able to move!”  The doctor cried as he threw his notepad aside and began frantically pressing buttons on the keypad. Bakugo’s arms had turned dark purple, almost black as he continued to punch the glass. Metal restraints began to rise over the tank to keep the glass from being broken. But they weren’t quick enough to lock as the glass shattered. Bakugo’s hand shot straight up in a fist before opening his hand and letting off a massive explosion that blew the doctor away and filled the room with smoke.

Midoriya couldn’t keep himself from laughing. He was so prepared for Shinsou to team up with him and yet it all came to a one-on-one fight. Though it was hardly fair at all because Shinsuo was defenseless. When the little villain ran towards him, Shinsou tried using his quirk on him. But all he did was make him stutter and freeze for half a second. His bracelet was zapping him consistently at this point, but it wasn’t painful enough to distract him.

“How unfair…” Shinsou growled as Midoriya lunged at him. The purple-haired boy forgot how agile the medical student was. He forgot that he had more flexibility and swiftness than a regular doctor. He trained under Stain. He saw the results of that training the first time he used his gloves. He tried to sidestep away from his blade but couldn’t beat his reaction speed. The dagger grazed his cheek and went deep enough to make him bleed.

“It didn’t have to be this way, you know!” Midoriya slashed again and the other jumped back. Instead of playing chase, he reached his hand out for wires to spring from his gloves. “I didn’t want to do this Shinsou! I just wanted you to do something for yourself for once!” The wires targeted the hero student as he made a run for it. He couldn't dodge something so flexible so the best he could do was get out of his range. He turned the corner of the alley and took out his phone.

He opened it to go to his contacts. His first reaction was to call Aizawa. But he was at the press conference. Both he and Yamada were. Their phones were bound to be on silent. He could call the police. They may not be able to make it in time but it was better than nothing- “Not very hero-like to run away from a fight!” Shinsou heard Midoriya taunt him before his own cries in pain took over. A knife was thrown into the back of his shoulder, causing him to stumble against the wall. He dropped his phone as it began to ring from selecting a speed dial when it hit the ground. 

“Shit, shit…” Shinsou reached down to pick it up as quickly as he could. He had keen enough senses to hear rapid footsteps coming up behind him. Quickly, he turned around and grabbed Midoriya’s wrist with both hands to keep him from bringing his dagger down on his back. “You don’t have to be this way…! We could have figured out how to fix things together!” Shinsou was able to hold him back with brute strength alone, but they were at a stalemate. He had to play dirty by kicking the little killer in the gut to push him back harshly. “People didn’t have to die!”

“It sure got a point across faster!” Wires went to wrap around Shinsou’s arms. When they did, he slipped his arms into his hoodie, leaving his sleeves dangling and having the wires slide off before putting his arms back through. “Don’t run away from me now. Being a villain taught me to be strong and to do things for myself. Aren’t heroes supposed to be brave Shinsou? Aren’t you supposed to face death for people you don’t even know? For people who don’t even care what happens to you?!” 

“There are people who care about me!” Shinsou had half a mind to run away again. He couldn’t fight like this. But he wanted to get his point across too. So with a type of bullheadedness, he charged at the little villain with his fist clenched tightly. “Clearly you didn’t care about me!” He went to slug him right in that smug freckled face. He hated it so much.

But he didn’t quite make it.

He found himself stuck mid punch. There was a massive stabbing pain in his chest. He went to breathe but all that came out was blood. Midoriya had ducked down and lunged low, dodging the punch and stabbing his blade into the center of the hero’s chest. He pulled it out swiftly and watched the blood pour out the wound and soil the purple of his hoodie. And yet despite the wound, Shinsou gritted his teeth and tried to punch him again. 

It was so pathetically direct, slow, and weak. Midoriya was able to push his fist away with his wrist before stabbing his stomach, getting close to his face, and letting him cough spots of blood on to his cheeks, mixing with the freckles. “You could stop right now, Shinsou.” Midoriya hummed.

“Y-You… deserve that scar…” Shinsou choked, looking directly into those glowing red eyes, fixating on the red-streaked scar a boy he saved him from gave him. “I-I should have let… Kosuke rip you apart…” He gasped as he was stabbed again in the hip. This time, he fell to the ground and collapsed onto his side, his phone on the dirt in front of his face. Blood pooled out of his mouth as well as his torso as he laid on his side, wallowing in pain in the dirt. Reaching for his phone, his hand trembled.

“Hello? Shinsou? Hello?” Kaminari called over the line. When the phone went to speed dial, it called Kaminari on accident. “Are you okay? Hello?” he sounded pretty worried. He was nervous about him going out late at night and asked him to text as soon as he got home. Well… now he wasn’t sure if he was going to make it home. “Are you there? Don’t freak me out like this, dude.”

“K-Kami…” Shinsou wheezed before Midoriya stomped on the phone, crushing it and shattering it.

“Tell you what…” Midoriya kicked Shinsou to force him to lay on his back. He then knelt down and brought his knife down into Shinsou’s stomach, making him cry out in pain. The wounded boy tried to grab the knife to keep him from pulling it out or pushing it further in. He wanted him to stop. “Now that you can’t call anyone, I’ll leave your fate in your own hands.” His bloody grip wasn’t strong enough to prevent the little killer from pulling it out and slowly sinking it into his torso again, pushing it in slowly to hear his flesh and muscle move to it. He closed his eyes to Shinsou’s silent gasping in pain. “You can… go get help for yourself. Save your life and risk me getting away now. Or…” Midoriya giggled. “You can hurry down a couple of blocks to the conference building where a ton of heroes and police officers are. They can identify and capture me quicker than I could get away. But you’ll probably bleed out and die before professional help can arrive.” Midoriya took his dagger out and twirled it a bit. “What’ll it be? What would a hero do? Because I’m pretty sure it’s not the best outcome for you.” he giggled with a crooked smile.

“Izuku…” Kurogiri suddenly appeared as a portal right behind the little villain. His eyes met with his before looking at the boy who was bleeding out the ground. “I’m sorry things didn’t go as planned. You were excited for a new member.” the dark fog villain seemed disappointed that Shinsou didn’t end up joining as smoothly as Todoroki. But it couldn’t be helped. Midoriya even just shrugged it off casually.

“I’d take Shouchan over him anyhow. Nothing lost and nothing gained, really.”  The little killer reached for his belt to unclip his face mask. He was just about to put it on. “Make good choices. Later,” he said with his head low, turned away, but eyes still peering at the pathetic state of his old friend. With any luck, Shinsou would be put out of his misery one way or another. The little killer turned to Kurogiri. “Is Shouchan there?”

“He is waiting for you, yes.”

“W-Wait…” Shinsou coughed, weakly reaching out to the little killer. 

“I shouldn’t keep him then~” His bloodied fingers only grazed Midoriya’s pant leg as he disappeared through the portal, leaving him alone in the alleyway. He watched the portal vanish, hopelessly. 

Firetrucks, ambulances, and police sirens blared that night. All of them rushing to a single location that was set ablaze in a type of hellfire. A skyscraper was being ravaged by flames on every single floor, nearly every corner. The black night sky lit with starlight was being covered in smoke clouds, nearly blocking out the bright moon. Pro Hero Endeavor’s agency had been attacked.

Just at the initial blast, Toga was shot out a window from intense pressure and force from the explosions. Her disguise was meting. She used her whole body to shield a precious notebook in her hand that was just starting to burn. Both were covered in ash and  burns as she began falling towards the ground from the top story of the building. Her eyes were closed as she fell as she curled over the notebook. She opened one of them and saw the ground quickly approaching. She scrambled for an idea. That was a risky move. She was supposed to be out of the building by the time it exploded. But Midoriya needed his notebook. But she couldn’t risk failure of the mission by trying to get it sooner. This was the best and only idea she had. This was for a precious friend.

Toga flew to a nearby building due to structures being built so close together. In a desperate attempt to slow her descent, she put her fingers into the brick. She pulled her hand back in the initial pain, crying out before trying again. She gritted her teeth and closed her eyes tightly, trying to take in the burning and ripping feeling in her hand and fingers. Feeling some of her nails break and snap off, her eyes began to water. “H-Help…” she quietly cried hoping someone could save her from the fall.

“Toga!” Midoriya’s voice called out. Wires quickly wrapped around Toga loosely as she fell, careful to only get around the remainder of Burnin’s clothes. The wires gently flowed with her fall to act as a kind of bungee cord. She was stopped with a few small bounces a few stories off the ground, not even letting her get close to the concrete. She was reeled up with her cradling her hand and the notebook.

On the building rooftop, she was released from the wires to find Midoriya and Todoroki kneeling beside her. But Midoriya melted away when she landed safely. “Hold on to me, okay?” Todoroki said, taking her into his arms gently while she curled up to be easier to carry. These were Twice’s clones for sure. But even if they were fake, they felt just as real.

“Thanks, Izuzu, Sho-Sho,” she mumbled tiredly as the clone froze a small slide of ice beside the building. She held on to his shirt with her uninjured hand and kept the notebook safe in her lap. She was brought down to the ground safely, the clone melting away once they reached the bottom and trading her off to Twice. The suited villain sat her down with an arm around her back to keep her seated upright.

“Toga! You’re alright! That was so badass!” he started. “Are you hurt? Are you burned? U-Uh your clothes! What happened to your hand?!” He instantly turned his head away once the remainder of her Burnin’ disguise was melted away. It would take a minute or two for her original clothes so come back and he was going to be respectful about it. By not looking at all like a true gentleman. 

“Did… I time it okay?” Toga asked, looking up at the skyscraper that she just blew up. She looked worried yet hopeful, scanning the topmost area of the building. 

It was tall, but only about 15 floors high. She could just barely see the roof through all the smoke. News helicopters had begun circling the building to get an aerial view of the building just as first responders were arriving. Firefighters were quick to rush inside to look for people still trapped inside. Police officers surrounded the building and fanned out to find any suspicious persons. Twice picked Toga up and made a run for it to make some distance, eventually taking shelter on a balcony on a random apartment to still get a view of the inferno.

“Pro Hero Endeavor!” a policeman called out. A few others around him gathered around a small crater in the road beside the building. It was charred and singed from a landing Endeavor tried to cushion with the pressure from his own flames. The man was bruised, burned, and nearly unconscious with his forehead bleeding.  As policemen surrounded him, he groaned and began to sit up as he looked up at his agency building. There was no time to be dazed. He gritted his teeth and clenched his fists as the flames on his face ignited brightly and intensely. Without a translatable word, the man just bellowed a roar in untameable rage.

His pride. His reputation. His main presence in this city, signified by this building was crumbling and incinerated. It was an embarrassment. It was shameful. The hero with the power of Hellfire’s headquarters was being consumed by hellfire itself. He worked his whole life for this authority, this reputation, and this acknowledgment. It was quite literally going up in smoke right in front of him. His furious roar carried over all the sirens and the whipping of helicopter blades.

Someone at the top of the burning roof thought it sounded like a lovely melody.

“That must sound like music to you.” Midoriya mused. Kurogiri’s portal opened up on the roof where the little villain took a step forward on the roof of the building with his mask on. It appeared that someone was waiting for him.

Todoroki stood at the edge of the roof with his kitsune mask on, looking over the vehicles and first responders below. Heroes were beginning to show up too. He nodded to Midoriya's statement. “It really does.” he sighed contently.

In a dark, filthy, lonely alleyway, Shinsou reached for his broken phone while still on his back. His bloodied hand took the keypad of his phone with shattered buttons and tried to pull it closer to himself. The screen bent over backward and snapped off the moment he moved it. He threw it aside bitterly. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes, silently crying in the severe pain of his wounds.

There was so much blood. So many stab wounds were bleeding out and creating a pool around him despite not having moved. There were too many to apply pressure to. He could never do it himself. “Alright...Alright…” he breathed in and out. He nodded his head in rhythm.

1...2...3-

Shinsou cried out loudly, blood dripping from his mouth as he attempted to sit up. His wounds squeezed to the folding of his torso, causing more blood to flow and the pain to worsen. He screamed the more he tried to force himself to get up.

He couldn’t do it.

He laid back down on his back and gasped desperately, his hand over one of the stabs that hurt the most. Looking up at the sky with tears in his eyes, he could see flies buzzing above and a narrow view of the night sky behind them. He didn’t want to die here. To be found a rotting corpse a few paces from a dumpster. Like forgotten, neglected, abandoned trash… “I-I don’t… wanna die...” his voice wheezed. Even if no one was around to hear him, he still wanted to speak. His voice was hated by so many. But he could at least try to comfort himself. “H-Help…”

So desperately did he want to be a hero. And here he was begging for help when it would never come in time on its own. How could he help people when he couldn’t even help himself? But...the choices Midoriya left him haunted him. 

He could be the hero, make a run for the press building just a few blocks away and warn everyone before further tragedy happened. Heroes and police and live cameras were there to take action right away. He could stop whatever evil plot the traitor had. All the lives he would save… but he’d probably bleed out when he gets there. 

It was a suicide mission.

There was a hospital the exact opposite way, a little farther distance. He could get help there and warn the doctors and nurses. But would word travel quick enough? Would he even stay conscious long enough to tell them what he knew? It wasn’t definite. 

Midoriya could get away with whatever he was planning to do.

Surely there would be people in the street. He was downtown where it was usually bustling with nightlife!... But not anymore. Not with the disappearances. After Yamada was attacked, although it was covered up, the media spread the word that the villains would bait people in with fake victims in distress. Desperate pleas were difficult for heroes to ignore. For their safety and for the public's, most people were staying at home at night. 

People would mistake him for a villain’s bait. It would be useless.

There was only so much time for Shinsou to stay laying down and thinking. He had to move. His life depended on it and so did the fate of others. If he did nothing, he would just be a corpse to find. That couldn’t happen. He had to try something. He nodded his head in rhythm once again, although slower.

For Aizawa... for Yamada... and for his friends…for Kaminari he had to do something.

With one more attempt, he made an effort to force himself to sit up again. Screaming and crying out, he didn’t let the pain hold him back this time. He bit the zipper of his hoodie and tried to muffle himself. He couldn’t afford to pass out from the pain. He had to bear with it, no matter how awful. Leaning forward again, he moved his legs, bending his knees and getting his shoes to splash in the blood. He made a quick effort to stand up in one motion. Before he could fall, he slammed his shoulder and head into a brick wall to stay upright.

His vision instantly became fuzzy from the blood pressure shifting in his head. He gave it a few moments to settle. He shook his head furiously. “Come on… Come on…” he held his torso and tried to pep talk himself. He would have to run and keep running. He couldn’t stop for a second, no matter which way he went. It was going to hurt, he was going to be dizzy, he was going to feel sick, his body was going to get tired and tell him dying would be so much easier. “J-Just…” he gritted his teeth as he clutched his wound, blood soaking his red and brown stained hoodie even more. “...fuck it…!” 

Shinsou made a run for it. Through the pain, through the bleeding, and through the desire for his body to shut down. He gritted his teeth and kept his head down as he just ran. His legs weren’t stabbed, they were fine. They could run and keep running until he died. The pain was all in his center. The stabbing and the shock of every movement, he could ignore it just for a little while. Just ignore it. Just ignore all the pain and maybe it’ll go away.

Turning in the alleys, he made it to the sidewalk and hunched over, looking left and right. The streets were near barren. Anyone who looked his way immediately looked away. Not their problem. They didn’t acknowledge him. A bleeding, fearful, desperate boy. They would spare a glance and then nearly hide their faces. They wouldn’t be the next victim on the news. A hero would surely handle it if it really was a bad thing. 

“Oh hell…” Shinsou groaned as he shook his head again to clear away the rising fuzziness and started running all over again. He even pushed past a few stragglers that were in his way rudely. But he didn’t have time to be polite. He wouldn’t be believed if he asked for help. It would take too long for it to arrive anyway. He just had to keep running until he couldn’t anymore.

And he couldn’t anymore. His head began to spin and the world suddenly sounded like it was underwater. His heart beated in his head. It made the air ripple painfully. He nearly collapsed as he clung on to a street lamp and vomited. Blood and vomit splattered onto the ground and on to his shoes and pants. He began to slip from his grip, slowly falling lower to collapse. No… he wasn’t there yet. Eyes watering more and more, he fought his body to stay moving. He heard a bike chime a small bell. “Y-You!!” Shinsou cried out. On the street, someone was on a bike quickly riding by.

Please stop… please answer… please don’t ignore me…

“Huh?” The bicyclist slowed down just barely for Shinsou to hear a single word of confusion. He reached his bloody hand forward.

“G-Give that to me!” The bicyclist froze with their eyes suddenly becoming hazy. Slowly, he got off the bike and calmly wheeled it over to Shinsou. He wasn’t supposed to use his quirk in public. He wasn’t supposed to use it on innocent people. But when people’s lives were on the line, this was okay, wasn’t it? Taking advantage of people like this… he shook his head again and forced himself on the bike. 

The bicyclist would snap awake just as he was riding off. Shinsou was sure he probably yelled something at him. But he couldn’t hear a thing. He just put his head down and rode forward without looking back or taking a moment to stop. He was so close… He could see all the cars around the press building. As his heart beated, his vision became blurrier with every pulse. Blood was getting all over the seat, the handlebars, and the top and down tubes. 

Nearly crashing the bike, he took a hard turn onto where police cars were lined up. He saw one had a police officer manning a radio in a driver’s seat. It took one hard slam into the back door for the cop to jump and drop his receiver. “What in the-” he instantly noticed Shinsou fall off the bike with a hard tumble onto the pavement. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?!”

Shinsou landed on his side and nearly screamed into his hoodie. How he wanted to die. This pain, this sick feeling, this exhaustion. It was so close to finally overpowering him. He had gotten so pale. Purple eyes were far beyond exhausted. His hands were trembling spastically. Sweat was drenching his forehead. “Th-The… t-traitor…” he breathed weakly, his strength fading quickly.

“What?” The officer then twitched and froze with hazy eyes.

“T-Take me...i-inside… to Eraser...head.” Shinsou was taken on the police officer’s back, his wounds pressed against his back and getting blood all over him. Despite there being two police officers at the front doors, they only appeared confused and frightened at the sight of their colleague sprinting inside with a wounded child on his back. They didn’t have the reaction time to stop or question him. They only tried to call for him which would only fail. “A-Almost...there…” Shinsou told himself. “Almost...A-Almost…” He just had to stay alive a little longer. He had to tell everyone; the heroes, the press, and the live cameras. But maybe… he could just see the two heroes that believed him more than anyone else before it was too late to say thank you…

Another tear fell from his eye as the brainwashed officer hurried up the stairs.

“We’re seeing here that the Endeavor Agency in downtown Musutafu has been completely engulfed in flames. We’re getting reports from the ground this was a planned attack. We can see police all over the place, searching for a suspect.” a news reporter woman was leaning over in a helicopter with her cameraman filming the ground and the fire. “Wait, hold it right there. I think… I think I see someone!” while the camera was panning, the woman used her hand to keep it angled on the building. “There’s two!”

In the far off distance, Rei was still looking outside the window. She smiled sweetly at just the faintest sight of smoke that was miles and miles away. She hoped her sons were having a lovely night. She giggled to herself just thinking about it.

Inko was just changing the water for one of the bouquets Bakugo got her when her eyes became locked on to her television screen. She had been watching the press conference when she couldn’t bear to listen anymore and changed the channel to one news station that was covering something else at the time. Now it was displaying the burning building.

Bakugo Mitsuki and Masaru were watching the press conference hand in hand when the three staff members on stage had their attention taken away. All three of them including every reporter, officer, journalist, and hero in the room had their eyes on a hanging tv in the upper corner of the room. It had been turned off the whole night but was suddenly turned on at the notification that the agency was on fire. 

This was the agency in charge of finding the villains that were terrorizing the school. This was no coincidence.

People who were watching the press conference were now watching. Kids and teenagers didn’t need the tv to watch when their phones displayed a live stream of the fire. 

All of the students still recovering in their hospital beds were on their phones. Kaminari watched with a drop of sweat at the side of his head. Iida sat in his room with his leg wrapped and elevated, staring at the tv in the corner of his room. His eyes narrowed but his eyebrows were furrowed with pity. This was bound to happen…

Tensei sat in his room with a laptop on his bed playing the press conference and then the burning building. He was in his wheelchair with a cup of tea on a desk. He was sitting beside it with the old book in his hands, staring at the photograph of him and a forgotten Todoroki. 

“You think this is enough attention?” Todoroki asked, turning to Midoriya while standing on the ledge of the roof. The little villain had walked up beside him to look over the city together. Though the streets were mostly empty, the many lights in the buildings were on. People were watching from home, too afraid to leave the safety of their families. 

“I believe Tomu should be satisfied.” Midoriya giggled.

“Are you?” Todoroki tilted his head. The freckled boy standing beside him then gradually took his hand to hold. He turned to face him, the flames of Endeavor’s burning pride reflecting in his glowing green eyes, filled with nothing but love.

“I’m here with you. So of course I am.” He reached up to hold his cheek underneath the mask. “I think it’s about time we make this night ours… shall we begin?”

And somewhere in the hideout, Shigaraki was laying across Dabi’s lap on his stomach. Dabi sat upright and normally on the sofa of his apartment with the scrawny villain splayed over him casually to reach a laptop that was resting on the opposite arm he was sitting near. Under his chin and between his arms, Zuzu wagged her tail as she watched Shigaraki aggressively type. “You think I should prank them?”

“Just play the song the old magician told you to.” Dabi rolled his eyes with a smirk. “Let them have their fun. They practiced this for days.” Zuzu barked and did some tippy tappies with her paws before Shigaraki took them and had her press the spacebar on his laptop. She was such a big help.

On the ground of the burning agency, everyone jumped and covered their ears as music began blasting from all the police radios at max volume over the microphones. First responders and heroes alike flinched and braced their eardrums. Even Endeavor, who was being given medical attention near an ambulance. The music the cars were suddenly blasting was the same song played in unison. Loud enough for the helicopter above to faintly pick up. Police frantically ran to the cars to try and shut all the radios down. They began to panic because they wouldn’t shut off. 

“What’s that? Is that… classical music?” The newswoman questioned, hearing it from all the way in the skies. 

“Showman! Pay attention!!” Spinner shouted, stabbing a police officer in the chest with his sword. He, Magne, and Mr. Compress were together in the alleyways, slaughtering defenseless officers that were close to Twice and Toga. They were making sure that they weren’t found and overpowered. But Mr. Compress had his hands folded as he gazed up at the roof of the building, a tear escaping his eye under his mask.

“Just like you practiced… you can do it boys…” he sounded like a proud parent. He was too focused on watching the scene above than the officers that were scattered like ants over the area. He and Toga both watched with a kind of sparkle in their eyes.

Midoriya and Todoroki both took each other’s other hand before arranging themselves in a starting position for a type of dance. Rather, a slow and romantic style of ballroom dance. It would appear that Todoroki took the initial lead, moving his foot smoothly in a crescent amongst the soot and ash. The black dust rose up into the air and made the embers around them flicker that much brighter. 

When flames grew too intense or too close, his right hand would stray from Midoriya’s waist or hand, using ice to cool the air or make a frosted wind to alter the pressure and push the fire back. They danced in an inferno. Such a painful and awful thing as fire, something that had terrorized them both, finally they could be carefree about it. Whether it was the abandonment of a fire breathing father, or the bullying and curse of a fire breathing bully, the flames made by an abusive father to oppress, or the hellscape of a burning hospital that was almost made a grave, it was their time to own the flames. They would set the world on fire and just dance on the ashes, eyes only on each other.

“Th-Those masks! It has to be! The villains Fallen and Yako from the League of Villains!!” the woman reporter announced. All eyes were on the roof of that burning building. The building was no longer the headline. The agency was no longer the star of this show. It was the two villains twirling and elegantly swaying hand in hand to the music playing below. Endeavor glared darkly as many EMTs were holding him back from launching himself up to the roof. That fall from the blast could have killed him.

“You know, did I ever tell you how much the word ‘impact’ really got to me that day?” Midoriya asked casually, twirling once under Todoroki’s hand before his back was brought against his chest.

“You may have mentioned it before,” Todoroki answered, twirling him backward and out to be held together at their hands.

“I like how you didn’t specify. Like… you had faith I could do anything. No one’s ever told me that before. At least not seriously.” They came back together before crossing their legs in unison and turning themselves to switch places. “And out of anything I could have done, I think this feels most like a dream.” Midoriya reached up to gently graze his fingers underneath the white kitsune mask. “You’re like a dream…”

“Well… I’m glad.” Todoroki said quietly. A whole building was on fire and crumbling. People were likely dying inside. First responders were in a panic and the fire was too intense for most heroes to get close. They were paranoid and careful of a trap when firefighters were still inside. They were helpless to just watch. And yet the two teenagers in love just had a conversation as they danced. “I thought your determination was… amazing. Even when everything was against you, even when you were alone, you had a moment where you were going to give up. But you didn’t. You became so fixated on proving everyone wrong… I thought you were so strong. I wanted to be strong like you and… for you.”

“I want you to be strong for you too.” Midoriya giggled “I mentioned the dancing idea because it seemed like something we’d do at a school festival or something. I didn’t want you to feel like you were missing out on fun things like that.” They stepped back from each other and bowed with a hand to their chest before coming together again. “I don’t want you to miss out on anything.”

“But I have everything here with you.” Todoroki swiftly pulled back to spin once with his foot out to push back the flames that were growing ever closer to them. “I…” They joined hands again and raised one of them up before having Midoriya twirl and Todoroki move behind him. “I love being here with you. Being alive with you. Dancing with you.” He stopped and put both his hands on his waist and slid them down to his hips. “I love you…”

Midoriya reached up to cup Todoroki’s cheeks that were just beside his head, turning his head and bringing the other’s down to put the foreheads of their masks together. “I love you… I want to be here with you forever…” One hand slid to the chin of the kitsune mask. Todoroki’s right hand rose up to the chin of Midoriya’s mask. “I want the world to know it too…” They both pinched each other’s masks before pulling them slightly forward. 

Then they shared a long kiss before tossing their masks off the roof for the cameras to see their faces, holding each other’s cheek in their moment to let everyone know they were two killers in love with blood splattered on both their faces.

A glass vase shattered on the wooden floor of Inko’s home. The water was left running in the kitchen sink as she was completely frozen. Her hands didn’t even quiver. Her eyes constricted at the sight of what was playing on the television. Tears just barely made it to the corner of her eyes. But they didn’t have time to fall as she collapsed on her knees on the shards of glass. “M...My Izuku...That’s not my Izuku…”

“Todoroki?!” Iida wasted no time throwing the blankets aside and went to get out of his bed. His leg fell out of the sling and a small IV tube attached to his arm. He instantly fell to the ground before reaching up to the bed to pull himself up halfway, his jaw stuck dropped, and his eyes wide in terror. “What are you doing?! Wh-What did he do to you?!” All of class 1-A watched in nothing but horror from their homes and from the hospital rooms. Not a single room went without panic. Or without heartbreak.

“Sh-Shinsou?” Kaminari called Shinsou’s phone over and over and over again. He was supposed to be out with Midoriya. That unanswered phone call he received. His heart was in his stomach as he kept calling. There wasn’t even a ring. “Shinsou…?” he cried quietly. He covered his mouth and kept hitting the call button. He kept sending texts. He wouldn’t stop. “Wh-Where are you? Shinsou?” He had to know he was okay. “Please pick up…p-please. You have to…!” he gripped his head tightly as sparks emerged from his body. He was quivering with tears falling excessively. “I can’t take this anymore!!” the lights in his room suddenly flickered before they went out.

“H-Hey…!” Two police officers manning the doors to the conference room hesitated in trying to stop Shinsou from pushing his limp body weight against the doors to open them. They appeared more concerned about the brainwashed officer that carried him up there. Shinsou stumbled inside, clinging to the door handle and hunched over trying to suppress his pain and nausea. Just to help him last a little longer.

With the single tv in the room on, displaying the burning building and the dancing villains hold out a loving kiss, Yamada had approached the stage with Aizawa having come down to stand by his side and watched together in horror. Yamada gripped his head as he watched the masks come off, his eyes widening, and his body trembling. He then reached for his throat to feel his scar. This couldn’t be true. “M-Midoriya…?” That boy saved his life. That boy came to him while grieving. Playfully questioned his love life. The playful banter and friendly talks at the cafe… was it all really a lie? “That...can't be him.” Yamada began to fall backward when Aizawa caught him by hugging his waist from the side. “I-It can’t be…” With Kosuke, the summer camp, Stain, the USJ, Bakugo’s kidnapping… did he really have a role in all of it? “That’s not…” His mind was breaking, a complete crisis. “Not him…”

“Todoroki…” Aizawa had the composure to keep Yamada grounded, but even he was stunned by what he was seeing. He could have been angry. He probably should have been. But he knew about that Kitsune mask. Yako killed Muscular to save and protect his students. And that white mask would have easily blended in with flower petals in a tree; the flower petals the day he confronted Endeavor and was saved by someone throwing a painting between them. He was saddened. Todoroki should have come to him for help… But the night of that hospital fire, he did. And Aizawa wasn’t there. He let him down… “I’m… sorry.” He could have prevented this. He really could have if he just tried a little harder.

Everyone’s attention was on the tv, watching in a shocked fear. So much destruction and carelessness caused by such playful looking teenagers. They watched the two part their kiss. They lovingly stared into each other’s eyes before both of them smiled and giggled, nuzzling their noses and foreheads together. Both their faces spotted with blood spatter. They looked so innocently happy. Innocently in love. Then they continued to dance just a little longer.

“There’s a traitor!” Shinsou cried out as the doors opened loudly upon his entrance. All eyes on the tv turned to him, his loudness startling them. Then people were quick to notice all the blood staining his clothes and covering his hands. “M-Midoriya... he fooled everyone…” He took a few clumsy steps forward and tried to hold on to a small table holding papers and pens to stay standing. “W-We have to stop...him b-before…” He couldn’t stand any longer. He couldn’t even make out the faces of the people around him because his vision had gotten so blurry. His eyes began to roll up as he fell.

“Shinsou?!” Aizawa’s heart had sunk in sadness upon seeing Todoroki, but now fear had overtaken it and brought it to the pit of his stomach. The quiet and gentle boy he had mentored, taken in, and stood up for collapsed right in front of him. All the blood, his swaying voice, his paleness, and the dullness of his eyes haunted him at that moment. He had seen a corpse. He had heard what was supposed to be someone’s last words. He didn’t want to see a student die right in front of him. Without a second thought, he ran to him as he collapsed. Yamada was right at his side. 

“Shinsou, you have to stay awake for us!” Yamada knelt beside Aizawa as they both held Shinsou together on the floor. They kept him on his back to keep his wounds from bleeding out more. Yamada took the initiative to apply pressure to one of the wounds before he realized there was more than one. He silently gasped when he noticed, lifting his hoodie to see multiple stab wounds that went deep. “Someone help me out here!” 

“Is there a doctor?! Anyone?!” Aizawa called out, keeping Shinsou in his arms. He looked around to just see police and press just staring at them. “What’s wrong with you all?! Call for help or help him!” People were stunned. They didn’t know what to do. They weren’t trained for this. And besides…

Heroes would always take care of it…

Nezu and Vlad were quick to join Yamada on their knees beside him. Vlad had half a mind to use his quirk, to pour his blood on Shinsou to act as a bandage. But there was the risk of ABO incompatibility or other serious health risks. So the best the man and the principal could do was put their hands and paws on other wounds and press. Aizawa held Shinsou’s hand as the boy weakly cried out in pain. He was still awake. But it didn’t look like he was going to make it.

“M-Midoriya… he lied to us all… h-he’s the villa-” Shinsou said quietly before gritting his teeth and crying loudly through his them at the pressure on his wounds. 

“W-We know, Shinsou. Please, you need to save your strength.” Aizawa held him tightly, trying to be the one to encourage him to find the strength to stay alive. But his words triggered the most hopeless expression.

“Wh...What…?” He knew? They all knew? Then… what was the point of running here? His eyes trailed to the tv behind Aizawa. It was so blurry, but being partially laid down salvaged him a bit more sight. His whole face dropped seeing the live news. 

He did this all for nothing.

This was just a cruel trap. 

“Is there anything we can use to stop the bleeding?!” Aizawa didn’t hear Shinsou’s disbelief or notice him staring emptily at the tv, coming to the realization that all this pain was for nothing. He was going to die for nothing. “Move it already!!” A few journalists had begun frantically calling for an ambulance while others were looking through their bags in a panic. One woman tossed her purse aside when she noticed a supply closet in the back corner of the room by the doors. She hurried to it in hopes to find towels or rubbing alcohol. Just something.

They were ripping these heroes apart for not doing enough to protect children when they were all standing around dumbfounded when a child was just inches from death.

A piercing shriek alerted the whole room. Everyone jumped and many dropped what was in their hands. The woman was on the floor, scooting back from the wide-open closet door. Many screams followed as people noticed the contents inside as Aizawa closed his eyes tight and turned away while he hugged Shinsou’s head to cover his ears. When they stopped, all the heroes looked to the closet and were mortified to see a mangled corpse.

The reporter that had targeted Aizawa was barely upright limply with his legs bent slightly behind him. His head was facing straight up with a sharp icicle jutting out of his mouth, thick enough to break his jaw so much that it was visually unhinged and torn. Blood was splattered all over the closet as icicles were shooting out from all over his torso, having frozen from the inside and been stabbed from the inside out. The closet had become a web of frost and icicles with the dead man’s eyes completely rolled back. Parts of his insides had even stuck to the tips of the icicles.

“Don’t look Shinsou…” Aizawa whispered. “Don’t look… just look at me and Hizashi.” Shinsou looked up to Aizawa who was trying his very best to keep a brave face. Then he glanced at Yamada who, despite all that was happening, kept a determined and focused expression as he kept trying to stop the bleeding. But Shinsou soon began watching reporters run out of the room, some covering their mouths. The corpse in the closet and the dying child was too much to witness. Their weak hearts couldn’t take the stress and their bodies only told them to run. Others would pardon themselves to vomit in the halls while others tried to keep it down. The boy could barely see the corpse from behind Aizawa. Tears began streaming from his eyes all over again.

He couldn’t even save someone. This really was all for nothing. He was so useless.

“I-I’m sorry…” he whimpered. He wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t fast enough. He wasn’t strong enough. Even with all the hope Aizawa and Yamada had for him, he wasn’t enough. “I-I’m so sorry…” he cried. “I let e-everybody down…”

“No, don’t say that Shinsou!” Yamada looked at him fiercely. “Don’t let these villains have their way with your emotions! Don’t give up on yourself!” Midoriya truly was a master of emotional manipulation. What a cruel child… 

Shinsou closed his eyes as tears dripped down the side of his head and his paling cheeks. He weakly shook his head. No amount of pep talk was going to save him from this feeling. This patheticness. 

“Shinsou, don’t close your eyes!” Aizawa demanded. “You look right at me and listen to me!” Shinsou slowly opened his eyes. But he could no longer see a face. Just a blur of blackness. If only he had seen the desperation in the other man’s face despite his harsh tone. If only he could distinguish the sweat and tears on his face from the tears that were dripping on to him. “Show me how strong you are. Don’t die and show me the strength that I know you have! You can still beat these villains!” He felt a hand on his cheek but the voice yelling at him suddenly sounded so far away. “Don’t look away from me, Hitoshi. Don’t close your eyes no matter how tired you are. Be logical about this… just like I taught you.” Blood dripped out of the boy’s mouth and down his chin to the floor that was becoming so stained and wet. “Don’t make me lose another one… Hitoshi.” The blur suddenly started closing into darkness. “Hitoshi… Hitoshi! Hitoshi!!”

“SHOUTO!!” Endeavor screamed out as loudly as his lungs could manage.

Midoriya and Todoroki were in the midst of dancing hand in hand, spinning and swaying happily when they felt the whole building begin to rumble. “I think that’s our cue to go.” Midoriya chuckled. He held Todoroki’s cheek lovingly and tilted his head. “I think everyone got the message.” Taking his hand, he pulled him closer to the ledge and looked down at Endeavor rabidly look up at them, being held back by heroes and police officers alike as he began to flare up. The little villain pulled the skin of his scarred eye down and stuck out his tongue. Just to get a final word. Todoroki covered his mouth subtly and chuckled quietly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh before.” Midoriya smiled. “It’s so cute…”

Then the building rumbled again and they both had to steady their footing, Todoroki holding Midoriya to keep him more grounded. “Just hold on to me. Just like the first time.” Todoroki instructed. Holding hands, they ran to the other side of the building. Midoriya brought himself close before both of them jumped off the edge.

“They’re trying to escape!” the woman reporter in the helicopter announced.

“Don’t let them get away!” The dog police chief barked into a walkie talkie to alert all the officers.

Midoriya hugged on to Todoroki’s neck tightly as they fell. Todoroki lit his left foot on fire to give them an extra push towards a nearby skyscraper. Then he turned the both of them for his right foot to kick and make a horizontal ramp of ice against the building wall. Holding on to his beloved firmly, he flipped themselves multiple times to weaken their push towards the wall. They were able to land without slamming into the wall. Then Todoroki proceeded to use his left foot as a type of engine to force them both to slide down the ramp with impressive speed.

When they launched off the ramp, Midoriya reached gloves’ wires like a grappling hook to change their direction mid-air by wrapping around certain objects and letting go. Todoroki would then make another ice ramp to keep their momentum going. Their teamwork made for an excellent getaway without Kurogiri. Looking back, it would appear that they were leaving the heroes and officers in the dust. Even a massive hero like Mr. Lady couldn’t keep up with them after she grew to her giant form. Midoriya beamed as he began laughing enthusiastically with a hint of evil in his tone. However, he quieted down when he felt the vibration of his phone in his back pocket.

“You really taught him how to fly?” Shigaraki questioned Dabi. He laid on his back across the stapled man’s lap with Zuzu on his chest. He was playing with her paws as she wagged her tail and panted playfully.

“Sorta. He’s not great at it when he uses it for an elongated time.” Dabi explained, watching the helicopter news crew try to keep up with Todoroki and Midoriya. “He can use it in short bursts to angle himself in the air. If he tries to actually fly, he’ll lose control.”

“You laughed at him when he crashed, didn’t you?”

“I did,” Dabi smirked. “He wanted to know how to do it for the debut so we practiced what we could.” Shigaraki nodded and shrugged in understanding. Though he smirked as well as he played with the little puppy. 

“Their debut present should be-” Shigaraki and Dabi both blinked when they heard a cell phone vibrate. On the low table in front of them, Shigaraki’s phone was face down and slowly vibrating away. The red-eyed villain lazily reached for it and checked the contact. Dabi raised a brow. “It’s the bastard,” Shigaraki answered his silent question. He held the phone to his ear and accepted the call. “What do you-”

“What kind of monster did you send me?!!” The doctor shouted over an excessive amount of background noise. Shigaraki held the phone away from his ear and made an annoyed face at how painfully loud that was. “He’s gone berserk!! I’ve never seen such resilience!” 

“What the hell are you talking about, you old coward?” the red-eyed villain growled.

“He’s escaped!! The test subject has escaped a-and- ah!” There was suddenly the growing sound of screaming in the background that got closer and was followed by an explosion. “H-He’s destroying everything!!” Both Dabi and Shigaraki paused and stared at each other.

“What do you mean he escaped?”

“I-I don’t know how he did it! O-Oh dear-” there was another explosion that sounded over the doctor’s voice. “Wh-What’s worse! His body is still taking on the regeneration ability!! It wasn’t quite finished solidifying in his body so it won’t last but right now-” There was another explosion and then a series of roars and shrieks from nomus in the background. “I don’t know how to stop him!! Shigaraki Tomura, what have you given me?!! Fix this before he ruins everything!”

In the background, there was a loud scream filled with rage. “When I find you, you are going to be blasted all the way to kingdom come!!” There was the loudest explosion yet and the line cut out. 

Shigaraki looked at his phone to see that the call ended. He blinked a few times and glanced at Dabi once or twice. He wasn’t exactly panicking. But he wasn’t expecting this at all. Without thinking, his hand started reaching for his neck when the stapled man grabbed his wrist. “Call Kurogiri and I’ll warn the brats,” Dabi suggested. It wasn’t exactly a plan, but it was a start. They’d have to figure something out. They’d lose Bakugo at this rate so the nomu plan was a failure. It was either let the heroes have him, or kill him.

And that was when Midoriya’s phone rang. “Hello?” the little villain picked up. Todoroki spared a second to look at him before continuing his concentration on getting away via surfing down ice ramps.

“So your little blond bastard escaped-” Dabi started, making Todoroki and Midoriya flinch. Both of them suddenly looked back hearing a series of loud shrieks. Dark portals began popping up in the distance around police cars and heroes that were chasing after them. In an unplanned ambush, nomus began dropping out of them, landing on the ground with loud booms and creating craters in their wake. Kurogiri and Shigaraki must have been trying to get some kind of use of them before Bakugo destroyed them all. “So the doctor failed you. What do you wanna do now?” Dabi asked. He’d let the two of them decide.

“Die!!” An abandoned factory filled with smoke received another blast  from the inside. The tank that a subject had been kept in had a gaping hole of shattered glass. Though, now it was destroyed with just a few lines on the ground showing where it once sat.

“Die!!” All the pipes connecting to it were blasted away. “Die!!” The machines they were attached to in the darkness sparked with electricity before combusting with the help of an explosion. “Die!! Die!! Die!! Die!!” Tank after tank around the factory was demolished one by one. With every tank that exploded, liquids leaking all over the floor and walls, monsters rose out of them with metal contraptions over their heads, holding their bulging exposed brains safely. They shrieked, having been prematurely awakened. Nomus rose up from broken tanks, jaws and fists bared. 

“Don’t get in my way!!” Bakugo launched himself at one of the nomus and landed on its head. He shoved his black and purple hand inside of its mouth to light off an explosion. Then he quickly jumped off on impact to let its head explode and get away without injury. Landing on his hands and feet, almost catlike, he took a look at himself in the reflection of a tank that was standing horizontally. He was wearing only black shorts and a metal contraption similar to the ones the nomus had around their heads. There was one on his, but it was a bit big and tilted, letting him see out of one eye and covering another. He growled before reaching for it to take it off without a problem. Then he tossed it into the tank glass to make it shatter. His head was too small for it.

The metal cast on his upper arm was gone and instead, his right arm was fully discolored like that of a nomu’s skin color. He flexed his hand, having a feeling in it once again. This arm had been completely disconnected from the rest of his body, nearly being amputated, and yet he could feel it again. Move it again. He used that hand to snap his fingers by his ear. He snapped a few times. Then he frowned. “I’ll fucking kill you…”

The ground suddenly shook behind him. Bakugo quickly turned around, but not fast enough to stop a pair of massive jaws with extra teeth bite into his left arm. Though also very discolored, it was not as purple or black as the other. He screamed out in pain and tried to pull himself free. A massive blue nomu that was on all fours had its jaw locked on to him. Then it yanked its head. “Get off me!!” Bakugo readied his right arms to blast it in the face. Just as a spark lit in his hand, he nearly screeched feeling his arm be brutally torn off in one motion.

There was a loud snap of his bone being broken off. There was a loud tear heard from the skin, muscle, and tissue. The nomu was blasted back into a series of supercomputers. It moaned eerily before the broken computers began to spark and blew up, engulfing the monster in flames.

Bakugo fell to his knees, clutching his severed arm tightly as his screams carried out through the factory. Blood spilled harshly all over the floor and all over his hand as he tried to compress the wound. But something in his body forced him to let go as orange sparks emerged from the left half of his body. He tilted his head up to let his lungs release a pained and enraged yell as his left arm began to grow back in seconds, discolored in black and purple compared to the rest of his body that was normally colored. “What… What have you freaks done to me…?” he gasped, nearly collapsing on the tile. He gritted his teeth and growled. He whipped his head around, searching desperately through the darkened factory and through the smoke. There was just the faint sound of moaning nomus, though much quieter than the others he had seen.

They must not have been finished products. So many of the tanks were broken and destroyed, but all the nomus in them were not accounted for. They must have escaped, leaving only those in the beta stage to die. “And die you will…” Bakugo cracked his knuckles. He might as well finish off the monsters before they would have a chance to be completed. And he might as well just put them out of their misery. If the others were able to escape, then the doctor must have too. There was nothing left to do but destroy the factory and leave.

And he did just that. Wrecking all the supercomputers, breaking all the pipes, killing all of the weaker nomus, and setting the place on fire through his destruction. He began to make his way out. However, upon finding the front door of a loading dock, he noticed a small room that was left untouched. He hadn’t noticed it before. Although the place was beginning to be engulfed in an inferno, he wanted to be sure he didn’t miss anything.  

Inside were a few papers kept neatly in binders on a metal table in the center of the small room. Half the room was bordered in a counter with cabinets. The other half was just a wall covered in papers that looked like x-ray scans and health charts. There was no hesitation destroying the binders and the papers on the wall. But once the smoke cleared, he noticed a cage in the corner of the room, covered with two black sheets. There wasn’t a sound coming from it, but he wanted to be sure.

A small quiet gasp escaped him as he found pro hero Ragdoll curled up limply in the cage, fully unclothed, and eyes half-lidded and hazy. But she wasn’t dead. He could see her breathing. “Let’s get out of here…” he knelt down and used what newfound strength he had to bend the bars.

With Ragdoll on his back, carefully wrapped in one of the black sheets, he looked around once he was outside. He too was wearing a black sheet but wore it more like a cloak to stay mobile. The sound of cars, people walking, planes, and the brisk wind made him sigh. How long it had been since he had seen the outside. Looking up at the sky, he couldn’t help but stare at the moon for a few seconds. To think he expected to never see it again.

As he kicked down the chain-link gate, he looked around the backroads the factory was hiding in. Where even was he? He looked for any kind of clue. He stepped on a newspaper that was left on the ground and squinted at the title and press name. Kamino, Yokohama. It was quite a ways away from home. But his eyes narrowed once he thought of a plan. 

“Give me your phone!!” Bakugo demanded of a convenience store clerk.  Making his way to a more main road, he came a cross a small convenience store. He had set Ragdoll down on the floor against the counter as he leaned over it aggressively, demanding a phone. The poor old man looked horrified before shakingly handing over a landline phone. Not only was the boy scarily aggressive, but his black and purple arms were quite frightening as they were covered in blood that belonged to monsters.

“H-Here you go…! Please, don’t hurt me!” the old man pleaded. Bakugo swiped the phone and quickly dialed a number from memory. While he waited for it to ring, the clerk moved around the counter cautiously and knelt down to Ragdoll’s level. He looked so sorry for her. Sparing only one frightened glance at Bakugo who was glaring paranoidly, the man ran to the backroom to retrieve a long brown coat to put around her instead of just having her covered in a sheet.

“...Hello?” a lifeless voice answered. Bakugo’s tense and aggressive face softened at that moment. He put his hand on the counter and leaned forward, putting all his relieved weight against it. He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead against the cold counter. He could barely hear it. Just barely. But it was enough to release so much pressure, enough to make him shed a tear.

In the distance, a redhead was walking random city streets in a black and red hoodie. One hand was in his pocket and another held a cellphone to his ear. Kirishima's hair wasn’t spiked up and he was dragging his feet. Keeping a steady pace, he seemed to walk a little slower whenever he passed an alley. Like he was trying to be captured. Like he wanted to disappear. Like he was willing to bait himself in order to be reunited with the one he lost. 

“Eijiro…” Bakugo exhaled. 

Kirishima stopped. In a quiet gasp, his eyes widened. His mouth moved but no words came out. 

“Eijiro… It’s me… I made it.” Bakugo cracked a smile with an uncertain snicker. There wasn't an answer from the other side. “What’s wrong sh-shitty hair…” he couldn’t even tease him without stuttering. “...cat got your tongue?” 

Kirishima’s back slammed against a wall as he covered his mouth. It was manly to cry. And yet he wanted to hold himself back. His heart raced out of his chest, his legs quaked, his face felt so hot with emotion and wet with tears. 

“Come on… say something…” Bakugo said hushedly. “Something’s… wrong with my hearing. So maybe I just can’t hear you.” His voice sounded so uncharacteristically soothing. “I was hoping… I haven’t forgotten what you sounded like.”

What could he say? Where are you? What happened to you? Are you okay? Are you hurt? Who attacked you? Are you safe? Am I dreaming? Is this a trap? What… “W-What do you need me to do?” he asked quietly. Then he shook his head frantically. “What do you need me to do?!” he asked loudly to make sure he was heard.

Bakugo smirked and clenched his fist on the counter. “Kamino… I’m in Kamino in Yokohama City. And I can’t go back home yet. There’s still something I need to do.” he breathed.

“What do you mean?!” Kirishima spoke without thinking. But then he gritted his teeth and took a step forward. That wasn’t the question to ask. This was dire. He then suddenly began sprinting towards the closest train station. “I’m on my way!! Don’t do anything without me! And don’t tell me it’s too dangerous! Just wait for me!” He was running as fast as he could go. He wasn’t dressed for a fight. But it didn’t matter. “A-And don’t hang up either!”

Bakugo put the phone down but didn’t hang up. Rather, he put it on speaker. “Okay…” Bakugo sighed deeply. Slowly, he raised his head to face the frightened store clerk. “Hey, old man,” the poor man flinched. “I don’t have any money. But could I steal a soda or something?” he asked. “I would… really appreciate anything right now.” The old man stared at him for a second. Then he turned to a small tv that was on his side of the counter that was playing the news. It was currently flipping between live footage of heroes fighting off nomu, Midoriya and Todoroki making an escape, previous footage of the press conference, and pictures of Bakugo. The old man kept looking between the picture and Bakugo. 

“Y-You’re that m-missing boy!” the man stuttered. So word really got about his kidnapping. All the way to another city. It didn’t take long to realize why he was so desperate for a phone and why he was dressed only in shorts and using a sheet as a cloak. He was all bruised and scratched up, hair messy, arms discolored, and even barefoot. And yet he had the energy and mental resilience to find this little mart and keep a fairly clear head. “T-Take as much as you need! I-I’ll go next door and call for help!”

The old man hurried out of the store while Bakugo took the phone and walked around. He went right to a fridge to take out a soda can, pop the tab, and chug the thing in just a few seconds. He was thirsty and absolutely starving. “H-Hey Katsuki…” Kirishima quietly called out to him over the phone. But it didn’t seem like he heard. The redhead hadn’t spoken in a while, likely because he was busy buying a train ticket and getting on the train. “Katsuki!” His hearing really must have been busted. 

“Hm?” Bakugo grunted, mouth full of chips. 

“Are you… what are you planning? Are you hurt? Can this wait?” Kirishima asked. He shouldn’t be on the phone while on the train out of politeness. But this was too crucial. Surely, anyone would understand.

“They’re not going to let me get away so easily.” Bakugo grumbled, opening another soda. “If I try to take a train back, I’m certain they’ll attack it. People are going to get caught in the crossfire.” He took a few heavy gulps and then exhaled. “And I have Ragdoll, but something’s not right with her. So I’m letting an old man call an ambulance for her.” He then drank again and finished the can. “So I’m going to try and hold out under their nose until they come after me again. But this time…” he crushed the can without a hint of resistance. “I’m going to kill them.”

Bakugo then walked behind the counter to get a better look at the tv the old man was watching. To see the tv, to see the world again. But all he saw was chaos the villains were inciting. What Midoriya and Todoroki were doing was a sick game while heroes and officers were fighting for their lives from nomus on the streets. “So they revealed themselves after all…” Bakugo spat.

“What?” Kirishima blinked.

“Are you not watching the news? There’s a tv right in front of me.”

“No, why?” He hadn’t been watching it like everyone else because he couldn’t bear listening to journalists rip into his teachers about Bakugo. He didn’t want to hear them talk about him to fuel an agenda or act as if they knew him. So he went out for a walk in the hopes of being captured instead. So while on the phone, he quickly went to the easiest news resource. It was already making headlines. “N-No way… That’s not…”

“Half-n-Half lived. Villains got him out of there and now he’s working for them. And Deku is keeping him in line by toying with his feelings.” Bakugo made the explanation short and sweet and to the point. But Kirishima seemed devastatingly stunned while on the train. Midoriya’s grief was all a lie? Just a sick act? And that kitsune masked boy, Yako, the one that protected them at the summer camp and allowed him to live. It was Todoroki the whole time? Using the chainsaw nomu after one of those monsters destroyed his ribcage. What had become of him? “Don’t get too worked up about it. They’ll like it too much.” Bakugo scowled.

“B-But why would they-”

“Deku’s been crazy from the very start. Nothing about him was honest. Half-n-Half was his target since the second he stepped foot in that school.” Bakugo answered, knowing full well how betrayed Kirishima must have felt. But also how guilty he must have felt for calling Bakugo crazy and paranoid this whole time. “It’s not your fault.” He huffed before going back to raiding the store for food because he was allowed to. “It’s partially my fault you trusted him so much. But I knew that if you were yourself, he would come to like you. I let all of you get on his good side to keep you safe.” In the end… it worked out in his own favor too despite trying to be selfless about it. 

“I guess I owe you an apology…”

“Yeah, well I don’t want it.” Bakugo found a freezer with a box full of popsicles and went right for them. Ripping the box open and taking one out, unwrapping it, and biting into it like a monster. “I want to see you again. So hurry up.” 

Kirishima smirked as he wiped his eyes with his fist. He didn’t have time to be angry or betrayed yet. He just wanted to see Bakugo again. “R-Right…!” 

It didn’t take long for the old man to return. But he also returned with a small stack of clothes. It must have been a retail store neighboring this little mart. “An ambulance and the police have been notified. They ask that you stay here until they arrive.” He handed the clothes to Bakugo. “The owner wanted you to have these, free of charge. You must be freezing.” The boy took the clothes and held them up. Not exactly his style but he would take anything at this point. There was even a pair of shoes for him to wear. He quickly got changed into a white t-shirt and light blue checkered flannel. He was finally given black pants to replace his old and tattered shorts. He tapped the toes of his shoes against the ground. They were a bit big but they’d have to do.

“Thanks, old man, but I’m not staying for help.” Bakugo completely disregarded the old man’s words and made his way to the door. “Let them know I haven’t left the city. They’ll know when they need to find me.” He raised his hand in a casual wave. At least the first responders would be able to take care of Ragdoll.

“W-Wait! Hold on a moment!” the old man was surprised to hear what he was doing. The automatic doors shut behind Bakugo just as the old man chased after him. But when the doors opened again, he was gone. “O-Oh dear…”

Bullet trains were quite the wondrous means of transportation. The moment the train stopped, Kirishima bolted out the doors and kept going until he was out of the station. He looked around frantically, trying to find any sign of Bakugo. He was in a convenience store just now. Were there any close by? He looked down at his cellphone and saw that the call ended. Was it safe for the blond to come out looking for him? They didn’t even know where each other were. But was it safe to be out in the open at a time like this? Where? Where should he even start?

That was when he heard a massive explosion in the distance. And he knew exactly what that meant. While most people, including him, stopped and stared in confusion, instead of starting to walk the opposite way he began to run towards the sound. It was made that much easier when smoke could be seen rising in the distance. Though his heart raced with the enthusiasm to be reunited, it also made his nerves tremble at the thought of something going terribly wrong.

This city was pretty unfamiliar, but Kirishima was grateful for how wide the main streets were. They felt safe and open, where someone wouldn’t be so easily kidnapped unless they strayed away. As he ran, he felt the ground rumble as another explosion went off. Many more people began to turn the opposite way, not wanting any business in what was going on. A few stragglers kept moving forward and drew their phones out to prepare to record. Kirishima couldn’t help but frown at a few people who looked almost enthusiastic at the sight of a fight, thinking this was just a fun streetside act. How could they not understand how dire this was?

“Look out!” Someone cried out just as a nomu was blasted into the mainstreet from an alleyway. It tumbled across the concrete before hitting a street lamp that stopped its motion. Passerbys instantly made a run for it. This nomu was bipedal with a long head, and a yellow gas leaving its mouth. It stood up off the ground and roared loudly, loud enough and at such a pitch to shatter windows within a small radius. Kirishima covered his ears from the piercing noise while trying to analyze it as quickly as he could. It wasn’t his strong suit, but he could try. It wasn’t as muscular as the other nomus he had seen, though it had a long, sharp, and jagged tail to make up for it.

Then two nomus jumped down from rooftops to join it. One landing by its side and another perching on a street lamp. Both were quadrupedal. One had spikes shooting out of its back and large hands that hand many claw-like nails. The other was more muscular with a large head. It had two horns on the side of its head that pointed forwards as well as a liquid dripping from its skin that was melting the light post it was sitting on.

Quirk use was illegal in public without a hero license, not even for self-defense. But surely, surely there could be exceptions. Arguing with the law was a task for future Kirishima to handle. Protecting others and himself was for him in the present to worry about. He banged his fists together as they hardened into rock with the rest of his arms. 

The bipedal nomu raised its head let out a roar. One head began to spew a yellow gas that would quickly blanket the vicinity before the the tail swiped across the ground to make a spark. People ran away, covering their mouths to not breathe anything in. Kirishima backed up to be out of range of the gas. The tail's spar caused a massive explosion that left a whole section of the main street path a crater. Another curled into a ball and rolled at rapid speed, the spikes on its back damaging the ground but also anything it ran into. It bulldozed inside buildings and even against the wall of them, before going after people trying to flee. The third rapidly shook itself while still elevated. Drops from the liquid on its body began to drizzle within a few meter radius, even getting a few drops on Kirishima’s shoes as he watched it melt holes in them.

He couldn’t possibly take all three by himself. Heroes would arrive shortly. However, wherever the nomus were, the League of Villains were attached to them. Bakugo had to be close by. He looked around frantically for any sign of him. From behind him, the rolling spiked nomu took a hard turn to aim directly for him. “I don’t have time for this-” Nomus were infamous for being overpowered monsters, and yet these three didn’t feel like the previous one he had seen. Two of them were skinnier while the muscular one’s movements were incredibly slow. Prototypes. He could take them. Kirishima hardened his feet and stomped them into the cracked concrete before taking the rolling nomu head-on. He kept his jagged hands in front of himself to stop the nomu. It kept rolling with spikes just inches from his face and torso. His body was pushed back in the concrete from how much force was behind this monster.

“I said… I don’t have time for this!” Gripping it tightly, he struggled to hold it back. Concrete was jutting up from behind his heels. One of the spikes nicked his hardened cheek and chipped away a piece of his flesh. His flinch in pain let the nomu push him back a little bit more.

Trying to keep his focus on the monster in his hands, his eyes were darting all over watching people run and cry and fear as the other two chased them madly. He was helpless to do anything. The nomus shrieked as one of them charged on all fours and shook like an animal to splash its surroundings in its acid. People raised their coats and hid behind anything they could to protect themselves and each other. But not everyone had enough and they cried out from the burns. Others were caught in the gas and sparks of the flying nomu. 

Kirishima was so helpless to watch. Where were the pros? What was taking so long? Why was he out here by himself? Were there more nomus scattered across the city? He couldn’t possibly do this by himself. But he would have to try!

He bared his teeth hard as he kept his exhale to a low growl. The heroes weren’t going to help him so this wasn’t going to be self-defense anymore. He was on his own and would let future him handle the consequences. Summoning all the strength that he could, his body hardening and sharpening aggressively, his growl turned into a yell as he stopped himself from being pushed back and began pushing forward. He stomped one step forward, taking back his ground.

Suddenly he heard a loud, inhuman screech from behind him, followed by an enraged scream. He glanced back and saw a nomu’s severed head shaped like that of a swordfish’s be launched from above like a spear. It pierced through the back and the stomach of the acidic nomu, even going into the ground and trapping it as it roared out in pain. 

Before Kirishima could see who speared the nomu with the severed head, he heard an explosion above him and smoke was over his head. Then someone appeared face to face with the long-headed nomu. Between the smoke and the gas, it was difficult for him to make out who it was. But his heart was beating with hope. 

Someone had leaped on to the long-headed nomu, one hand holding its mouth open, ignoring the rows of razor teeth. He forced its jaw open before shoving his arm down its throat. An explosion burst in its stomach, causing it to bloat. A second one caused it to get bigger. A third blasted its entire body to pieces, severing the head while smoke filled the area and blood splattered all over the destroyed street. 

With a strong jolt of its body, the acidic nomu forced itself to move with the severed head still spearing its back and stomach. It roared as it got itself unstuck from the ground and ripped the head out of its back by hand. It tossed it away before running further into the smoke to find the new attacker. From inside the smoke, there were two explosions lit off at once. Then a few more and another roar. The nomu was blasted out of the smoke towards Kirishima in the air. “Throw it Eijiro!!” Bakugo demanded as he whipped his arm to swipe the smoke away and reveal himself.

Kirishima’s heart may have stopped for a moment. Finally… he saw his face again. He was here.

He screamed out with all his might, before suddenly taking all his strength, adrenaline, and determination to grip the rolling spiked nomu and began to turn it. Digging his sharpened and hardened fingers into the monster, he began to tilt and turn it. The force of its uncontrollable rolling made them spin in a few circles, building up speed quickly before Kirishima took that speed and used it to launch it into the air into the acid nomu.

The two monsters collided in the air with the spikes of one nomu piercing the other, and the acid of the other burning the rolling one. They both screeched in pain before falling to the ground where Bakugo quickly jumped towards them and put one discolored hand on each of their exposed brains. He blasted their heads to pieces, splattering more the street and himself in blood. He was just given brand new clothing and he already ruined them. 

The street suddenly became so quiet. Most people had run while others were hiding quietly in fear and from being injured. Three nomu corpses and a severed nomu head laid in the middle of the road, the road cracked, melted, smoking, and full of holes with debris scattered all over. 

Bakugo heaved his breaths as he stood up straight from the final kill. He stared down at two of the corpses, even lightly kicking one with his foot just to be sure it was dead. His arms and hands were dark purple all the way up to his shoulder. He was covered in red splatter. He was scratched, bruised, and all dirtied up. He wiped his nose with the back of his fist before finally turning to Kirishima.

Kirishima unhardened himself just before he looked at him. He breathed heavily as well as they finally made eye contact, his eyes watering.

Finally… Finally… Finally…

“Ejiro…” Bakugo said almost inaudibly. Perhaps even a relieved hidden smile on his face. He took a step forward and reached his hand out. How long it had been since he'd seen him. A friendly, familiar, alive face. Alive. Having been surrounded by so much death for days. Seeing the blush in his cheeks, the liveliness in his goofy face. His heart beat in a way it never really had before. 

“Katsuki-!” Kirishima reached out with both arms. He wanted nothing more to tackle him. Embrace him. Hold him and never let go. Never allow him to leave him again.

Three icicles pierced through Bakugo’s torso from behind and above, going straight through his chest, his center, and the side of his gut. 

He paused in his motion as his eyes widened and blood dripped from his mouth. Then he coughed once with nothing but blood coming out. His hand shook, still outstretched, frozen in its movement but trembling. So close. He was so close after all this time. Couldn’t he just have this for a moment?

Kirishima became paralyzed as his face stared at him in pure horror. His mouth opened but no words came out. No cries. His arms were still outstretched, just a few feet away. Just a few steps. He was just a few steps forward. “Ka...K-Kats…” He stuttered and gasped on his words. It sounded like he was being choked. And yet his eyes were drawn upward at the source of the icicles.

Bakugo shook as he turned his head around with a mad smirk, blood pouring down his chin and out of his torso to his feet. “Y-You really tried to kill me… eh Half-n-Half?” 

Midoriya stood cross-armed on the back of a muscular quadrupedal nomu with no metal cranium cap, its eyes ready to bulge out of its narrow head, a long tongue dangling from its mouth. Todoroki stood beside him, holding the three of them up on a ramp of ice that connected to a building nearby, his right arm out forward having just summoned the ice to pierce Bakugo.  He appeared stoic and emotionless. The freckled boy smirked as he tilted his head with a giggle. “Tried to escape and now look at all the trouble you’ve caused.” 

Kirishima ran towards Bakugo to take him in his arms and hardened, acting as a kind of shield for him as he gritted his teeth through bitter tears.  But Bakugo nudged him aside as he took one icicle at a time, broke them in two, and ripped each one out of himself in swift motions. “H-Hey-” Kirishima went to approach him again even after being pushed away, panicking from the wounds he just watched him receive. But he was stunned into silence seeing the injuries quickly close themselves before his very eyes.

“Mooching off the power the doctor gave you? That’s pretty unlike you, Kacchan.” Midoriya mused. So it would seem Bakugo could still regenerate as the completed nomus could. “Looks like we’ll have to go for the brain after all. May be kinda hard considering how small it probably is.”

Kirishima turned to Bakugo when he was finally finding the words to speak. And yet his legs were frozen. He let the other interrupt him, hunched over and holding a discolored hand over his torso. There was a wicked smirk plastered on his bloodied face. “They tried to turn me into one of those things,” he explained quickly. “They can’t kill me so easily now-!!” He used his hands to blast himself upward to the villains' level. “Come at me, why don’t you, Deku?!” 

Todoroki jumped off the ice ramp while Midoriya got down on the Nomu, holding it tightly before it jumped off the ramp in the opposite direction. Bakugo’s explosion shattered the ice and he angrily exhaled when he realized he missed. He was quick to change his direction mid-air and chase after the freckled villain. Todoroki landed on the ground, just within a distance of Kirishima who was helpless to watch Bakugo act so rashly. But then he knew he had to pay attention to the one in front of him.

“S-So… you really sided with them?” he asked. Deep in his chest, he felt a type of joy seeing Todoroki alive right in front of him. But it was easily overwhelmed with betrayal, disappointment, and guilt. “The one with the white fox mask, it was you.” 

Todoroki kept his hands at his side, his eyes looking away at the ground. It seemed he didn’t want to make eye contact. Maybe he felt guilty? Or maybe he was just awkward. Kirishima couldn’t tell. Todoroki was always so quiet at school. “You could have killed me that day. Todoroki, you can’t actually want to be doing this.” Despite having just watched him attempt to kill Bakugo right in front of him, he believed Todoroki was already aware that he could regenerate. He could have easily gone for the head… but he didn’t. Maybe there was just a little hope. The smallest chance. “Y-You protected us back at the camp…! You could have set that whole building on fire, you could have fought back, you could have left that kid to die to that villain.” 

Todoroki appeared to lower his head with a small tilt. His eyes closed and there was just a hint of the tiniest smile. Kirishima took half a step back. “Because I like you guys.” 

“Then why did you do all of this?!” Kirishima cried out. He had to raise his voice over the explosions, inhuman screeching, and Midoriya’s wild laughter in the background. 

Whatever fragment of a smile Todoroki disappeared as he looked away again. He suddenly appeared saddened, troubled with thought. “It’s… all pretty complicated. I think it could be summed up as: this was a better opportunity for me.” Kirishima gritted his teeth and clenched his fists in anger.

“Opportunity?! Don’t talk like this was just an option like college or something! Look at what you’re doing!!” Kirishima gestured to the destruction around them caused by Bakugo and the dead nomus. “Is this the opportunity you wanted?!” People were still trying to get away while injured.

“Being alive is, yes,” Todoroki spoke calmly. He watched Kirishima's eyes flicker. “But I don’t think that’s what you’re meaning.” he then sighed, looking back at Midoriya and his nomu dodging Bakugo’s mindless offensive attacks. Even though he was only dodging, seeing the freckled boy laugh made his chest warm. “There are so many good things that come with defying heroes. And I can finally do things like I want freely.”

“Like what?” Kirishima readied himself to take another step back. He nearly jumped when Todoroki turned his head back around with a crooked smile much wider and more obvious than before. 

“Protecting and saving people I want without wasting my time.” He felt such joy imaging the dead reporter he left in a closet, never to slander Aizawa again. Muscular’s skull filled with bullet holes before he could kill a child or any of his former classmates that he felt so dearly about. “To give my family peace. It’s finally possible.” Endeavor would never touch his mother again. His brother could be avenged. “And I can give Izuku everything he’s ever wanted.” Killing All Might. Killing Bakugo. It would make Midoriya so happy. How much he loved to see his smile. “I don’t need to be told how to make my choices anymore, Kirishima.” Kirishima had begun to quiver seeing Todoroki express so much euphoric emotion. The quiet, serene, and stoic boy had been twisted beyond repair. “I’m never punished here. N-Never…” 

His heart was high from blowing up Endeavor’s agency. Hearing Midoriya’s joyous laughter made him swoon. The thought of how easy doing the things he wanted was so pleasing. He wouldn’t be punished for this. No cops drawing guns on him. No one looking down on him. No one criticizing his feelings. Shigaraki or Dabi or Kurogiri would never punish him, never hurt him, never invalidate him. He never had to be beaten into submission again.

Kirishima expressed horror at the sound of a quiet giggle. “N-Never… I don’t have to go through that anymore.” Todoroki put his hand over his left eye. He didn’t have to hate it anymore. Midoriya loved it. Dabi was teaching him to use it freely. He didn’t have to hate a half of himself anymore. “I don’t… I don’t have to hate me anymore…”  He leaned forward as he uncovered his scar and held his left wrist. Whatever euphoric joy he expressed was hidden away again with a serene smile. “Don’t take this away from me… please.”

“You’ve lost it. Y-You’ve gone insane.”

“Just walk away, Kirishima.”

“They’re just using you! Snap out of it!”

“I don’t want to hurt you.”

“W-We can try to help you together! With everyone!”

“Just let Izuku do to Bakugo what Bakugo wanted of him in the first place.”

“I won’t!  And he’s different now!” Kirishima stepped forward. They didn’t want to fight. But someone’s life was on the line here. 

“People like that don’t change. And Izuku doesn’t have to forgive him.” Todoroki’s smile vanished, suddenly appearing as stoic as ever. “And someone like that is just going to hurt you.” His mother. He didn’t want Kirishima to end up anything like that. “You have to believe me.”

“Why should I believe you?! You could have come to me or anyone else for help! And this is what you chose!” Kirishima cried out as his body began to sharpen up from his quirk. “I can’t let you do this. A-And if you really are a villain now then-” He was shaking as he closed his eyes tightly. How did things ever end up like this? How did he not see this coming? “As a hero, I-I have to-”

“You don’t have to do anything. And if you do, you will be punished for it later by the people you look up to.” Todoroki proposed, calmly. Even a slight breeze blew past and pushed some of his hair in his face that he gently combed back. “I don’t have to fight you if I don’t want to. No one will shun me if I do or don’t. Do you want to fight me?” 

Kirishima bitterly shook his head before he just screamed. These thoughts hurt his head. These choices were too much. His heart hurt from all of this. It all just hurt. He screamed out that pain as he charged towards Todoroki with a raised fist. He tried to punch him in the face, to which Todoroki calmly sidestepped. Trying again, Todoroki just stepped to the side again. Once more, twice more, again and again, his punches were direct, sloppy, and his heart wasn’t in it. Todoroki kept his hands in his back pockets, unwilling to fight as Kirishima screamed his heart out just trying to hit him. He didn’t want to fight him either.

“Coward!!” Bakugo shouted after another blast. Still playing this game of chase with Midoriya, he was becoming mad with annoyance. 

“You’re acting like an animal,” Midoriya said smugly, sitting on the nomu’s back. Bakugo chased him in the air with explosions like jet engines. And he chased him on the ground, landing on all fours and jumping at him like a predator. He was so angry and locked on to kill, he wasn’t even trying to look professional or sane. After being tortured for so long, he just wanted to kill him. “But I guess that’s just like you. Like a rabid pomeranian.”

The nomu kept dodging skillfully despite having a muscular torso, it had nimble and fit arms and legs. It was made for easy movement and agility. While letting the nomu do the work, the little villain spared his attention to Todoroki and Kirishima, watching Kirishima pathetically try to fight while Todoroki was hardly even trying. “Shouchan, you’re so soft.” It made him giggle and blush.

“Don’t ignore me!!” Midroya blinked at being yelled at by Bakugo as he suddenly appeared behind the nomu while on the ground. The monster couldn’t see and couldn’t react quickly enough to the next explosive attack. Midoriya jumped off its back to doge before using his gloves to outstretch the wires. Just as the blond targeted him, he used the wires to attach to a street lamp and pull himself away. Power-wise, he couldn’t fight Bakugo. Killing him on the table or turning him into a nomu were his best options and now both were out of reach. “Running away from me?! You think you can just treat me like a doll and get away?! I’ll fucking kill you!!” 

Bakugo chased after him again, going straight for the street lamp. Midoriya reached forward with one hand to let the wires wrap around the other’s waist before he dropped himself down. On his way, he made sure to keep Bakugo’s momentum going by leading him forward and face-first into a building after letting him go. He broke through a glass window and tumbled inside, hitting a table and then a floor. 

“Shouchan!!” Midoriya cried out. Todoroki’s attention was immediately taken away from Kirishima, seeing Midoriya on the ground across the street. The little villain was approached by the nomu again and he was climbing back on to it when they made eye contact. 

Right after Dabi explained the situation to them over the phone, they made sure they left the heroes in their dust before Kurogiri came for them. He brought back up in the forms of nomus to distract their chasers and let more run wild in Kamino to keep heroes distracted all over the city. “I think we have to kill Kacchan,” Midoriya said after they stopped in an alleyway together. Todoroki seemed a bit saddened by what he said. “I know you don’t want to upset Kirishima. But we can’t hold on to him forever and he escaped the nomu process.” He reached up to cup the taller boy’s face to try and comfort him. “Think about it this way… does Kacchan ever remind you of the way Endeavor acts?”

They both looked at each other in the eyes, hoping to get an understanding of what the other was thinking. “The yelling, the anger, the arrogance, narcissism, the violence? Blinded by his own desires he doesn’t care who he has to step on to get there.” The similarities were there. Todoroki nodded. “Shouchan, think about your mother… Do you want what happened to her to happen to Kirishima?” Todoroki shook his head solemnly. “Think of it as saving Kirishima now. It may be my revenge, but you want Kirishima to be happy in the future too, don’t you?”

Midoriya couldn’t defeat Bakugo in combat like this. His chances were lowered even more with the power of regeneration against him. But someone else could wear him down. Someone else actually stood a chance. 

Bakugo blasted out of the building through more glass. His face was all cut up and mangled from being shredded by the shards, but his skin was already healing quickly. In the air, he smiled widely as he was coming down towards Midoriya with his palms sparking. “You’re dead Deku!!” Midoriya was just standing up and about to push himself on to the nomu when he hid his face in his arms to brace to be blasted.

Instead, the explosion went off above him as Bakugo was almost instantly engulfed in a sea of flames. Midoriya quickly climbed on to the nomu and patted it for it to jump a distance away. A trail of ice was made from near Kirishima to where the freckled villain just was and then above. Todoroki stood at the end with his left arm smoking from the fire he just released on to Bakugo. When it cleared, the skin of his face and arms were almost completely charred and burnt away, revealing the tissue underneath. His eyes were rolled back as he lost all momentum and fell to the ground.

“Katsuki!!” Kirishima went to intervene when he was cut off by the nomu running and skidding to a halt right in front of him to block his way.

“Shouchan may have held back. But don’t think I will.” Midoriya snarked as he raised his gloved hands. Todoroki just didn’t want him killed. So that was the only limitation. Kirishima hardened his whole before narrowing his eyes bitterly and went in for a punch with a frustrated yell.

Bakugo trembled as tried to get up off his stomach from the ground. His skin began repairing itself right away, regaining most of its color if not for some redness around his face and neck. His arms were still darkened, getting closer to black. His shirt and pants were singled and burnt, but still intact. “F-Finally using your fire…” he growled, his voice wheezed as his body was still fixing itself. He was able to get on his knees as Todoroki stood in front of him a few feet away, watching silently. 

Midoriya was the one that wanted to kill Bakugo. Todoroki was more than willing to let him do it. But now that it was on him, he was hesitant. Especially since the only way to kill him here was by going for the head, or overwhelming the regeneration. “All it took… w-was for you to become a monster… n-no…” Bakugo was able to get on one foot and one knee. “You’re just a servant to him...a t-tool…” They hadn’t seen each other since the very night he was kidnapped. “You’ll do whatever he says… even if it kills you.” He slowly stood up on both feet, wobbling to get his balance. “S-So what… you gonna come to your senses and stop this, Half-n-Half? Figure out that he’s just using you to get what he wants…” He hunched forward with his arms out and hands open. Sparks flickered in his palms. “Or are we going to have a real fight… Mr. Threw-the-Match?” Bakugo smirked before he gasped when a pointed icicle from the ground shot up through his chest.

“We are coming to you live from two different locations. Just outside the pro hero Endeavor Agency and in the west end of the Kamino district in Yokohama City. A fire has been set inside the Endeavor Agency, reportedly by a female villain disguised as a sidekick. Pro hero Endeavor was found in critical condition after falling from the topmost floor. The villain in question has not yet been found and if you have information on the arson, please contact your local police. It also appears the fire was set as a stage for a debut of two new infamous villains, both identified as U.A. students. The alias of Fallen and Hero Killer Stain’s sidekick has been identified as Midoriya Izuku, freshmen at U.A. The brand new alias of Yako, first witnessed at the invaded summer camp for U.A., has been identified as the supposedly deceased Todoroki Shouto.”

Shigaraki watched the tv with Zuzu on his lap and with with Dabi sitting beside him. The stapled man was leaned back while the other was hunched forward, watching carefully. “They’re doing fine, relax.” Dabi sighed. They both were watching the news with footage of the fire playing behind a news anchorman with a cut horn. 

“They’re not supposed to be out this long. We should have called them back here.” Shigaraki’s hand twitched near his neck, his fingers just grazing the skin. “The longer they’re out there, the more time the heroes are going to have to sort themselves out.”

“Worse comes to worst, we hop on in. Simple.” Dabi spoke calmly. But his eyes narrowed at the screen and the footage being shown. There would be a lot of heroes out soon. Maybe sending them to Kamino wasn’t a good idea.

“Son of pro hero Endeavor has been seen alive at the scene of the crime. W-We… don’t know how this is possible. We presume a villain may have disguised themselves as him. But the quirk displayed as they made their getaway confirms that it is indeed him. It appears that he and Midoriya Izuku have successfully fled the area just as powerful monsters interrupted the scene. As you can see from our aerial footage, they have come out of nowhere and have overwhelmed our beloved heroes. I-If anyone has any information, please contact your local police. Villain Yako, Todoroki Shouto, has been classified as a rank B Villain. And Fallen, Izuku Midoriya, has been classified as a rank S villain. Do not engage with these two at all costs if confronted.”

Inko watched from the floor of the living room. On her knees in front of the tv, she was lifelessly watching the news displayed. The water still ran in the sink behind her. Her hands were limp at her side. “That’s not my boy… That’s not my baby…” she mumbled. No one was there to listen. “That’s not my Izuku… That’s not him…” A doctor. Izuku wanted to be a doctor and save so many people. That’s what he told her when his acceptance letter came in. This villain couldn’t possibly be him. This was all a mistake.

“Mrs. Todoroki-!” A nurse burst into Rei’s room. Rei sat blissfully in her bed, watching the city lights at her window. The stars were quite beautiful that particular night. The smoke in the distance wasn’t enough to block them out. “Y-Your son…” the nurse stuttered, her phone in her hand playing the breaking news. And while this nurse was heaving in a panicked breath, the woman seemed so at peace and content at the time. She turned to the nurse with a sweet smile, her eyes closed and her voice gentle. 

“Is there something wrong?” she asked.

“Go get him now you cowards!! I will get there myself if you don’t do something, you good-for-nothings!!” Mitsuki screamed over her cellphone, standing over the tv. Her nails were digging into the plastic it was made of as she watched Endeavor’s agency burning from one display. Masaru stood behind her, holding her free hand tightly as he watched her scream over the phone while also sparing a few glances at the tv. But then another started showing a scene in Kamino. “That's my son out there!!” 

“Live in Kamino Ward in Yokohama, we have found Midoriya Izuku and Todoroki Shouto in a fight with two other students from U.A. It seems… one of them looks like that redhead from the final rounds of the sports festival. Kirishima Eijiro. And the other… can you zoom in there? Th-That’s…! There’s no way that’s not Bakugo Katsuki!! I-I repeat! That’s Bakugo Katsuki, the missing U.A. student!! B-But where are the heroes?! Aren’t there any that aren’t busy with those monsters?! A-Also, I just got word from our partners at the U.A. press conference that a classmate of student Midoriya Izuku is being rushed to the hospital after having confronted him just before he was spotted at the Endeavor Agency. I-It is… unknown if he has been confirmed dead. There was also a body found in a closet at the conference… i-investigation claims that it was the work of Todoroki Shouto. If anyone has any information on any of this chaos, please contact the police.”

“Sir?” A blond young man stood at the desk of a pro hero’s office; a pro who was seated with his hands folded over his mouth and glasses glaring off the television. They both resided in a small agency on a quiet street corner that night. That green-haired pro in a white suit and red tie quickly stood up before walking past the other quickly. “Sir Nighteye, you know I have to go out there.” The blond followed a few paces behind. “We were warned about this and now it’s my responsibility.”

“I know, Togata…” Nighteye paused in the hallway. Togata stopped behind him, dressed in his Lemillion costume already except for the goggles headpiece. His cape fell down against his back when he stopped walking. “I pushed this power on to you, but you still need to be careful.” Nighteye turned around to face him. “I didn’t think it would take such a toll on your body even after how hard you’ve worked. You’re not ready to fight people like this, not when they’re so likely to be associated with All For One.”

“I can do it, sir.” Togata clenched his fists and held them up beside his chest. “Besides, two student traitors in U.A. are going to destroy the school’s reputation. Let me salvage it! This isn’t just about being a hero, this is about representing my education and my fellow classmates. My friends!” He remained stubborn. 

“I’m just worried about your future.” Nighteye didn’t break eye contact with him. Togata flinched and lightened his posture, standing up straight and dropping his hands to his sides.

“Did you see something… last time you checked?” 

There was a long moment of silence. Enough to cause Togata to sweat.

“A future has never changed before. But the day you two met, it did. You weren’t supposed to be given this power. But something changed and I can’t figure out what it is.”

“Then whatever you saw, I can change it again!” 

“Mirio, you know that’s not-”

Suddenly, someone walked up to them from the other end of the hallway, his presence gaining both of their attention instantly. Nighteye lowered his head and turned away. Togata balled his fist over his chest with a determined expression on his face. “I changed my future, didn’t I? Then I will change his too, I promise.” All Might said in his hero form, his head lowered before gritting his teeth. “These mistakes weren’t foreseen, weren’t they? All this chaos, if I can cause it, then we can fix it. Together.”

Nighteye looked up to All Might with fearful anxiety in his eyes. Togata smiled and nodded to the taller man with pride, agreeing with him. Even going so far as to walk off to retrieve his goggles from a few rooms down the hall, leaving the other two alone. “You were just… lucky,” Nighteye mumbled. “But if you’re so sure you’ll be lucky again, then I want you to protect him at all cost!” Then he raised his voice at the last second. “Change his future again… You’re the only one who can. He needs to become a hero brighter than the sun. I know he can be.”

“He will be.” All Might reassured. “I won’t make another mistake like the ones I have again.” He sadly took out his phone and revealed a news article that was already published. The header had four photographs. One of Endeavor’s agency in flames, one of caution tape over the doors of the press conference room, one close up photo of Midoriya smiling while on the back of a nomu that was pinning Kirishima to the ground, and the other of Bakugo going rabid and forcing Todoroki back by trying to close the distance between them. “I’ve damned those boys… I promise I will be a better hero and a better teacher for Mirio.”

While Togata went to retrieve his goggles from his own personal tiny office, he switched on the tv to get a look at the news and what was happening that very moment. Before he could take a moment to watch, his cellphone on his desk vibrated. -I know you’re going out there. But please don’t go overboard like you usually do.- was sent to him by the user ‘Tamaki’. He smiled as he texted back confidently. Then glancing at the tv and the footage of the two fights happening in Kamino.

-I’ll be fine. And tomorrow, I gotta ask you something. So I’ll be sure to see you.-

And meanwhile, Midoriya was using his wired gloves against Kirishima in any way he could. In trying to attack him with a knife multiple times, it would break after being used against sheer rock so many times. He was left to try and use his wires which were also useless when the other dug his feet into the ground to be unmovable. In the end, he has to use the nomu’s strength to push, bite, claw, and kick him in around, using the impact to ensnare him and try and have the wires toss him into a car and sometimes a wall. Kirishima’s only means of offense was punching the nomu head-on, going for the head any time he could. 

“Keep it up like this and you’re going to run out of stamina. Look at you, you’re exhausted. Wouldn’t it just be nice to go home and go to bed like nothing ever happened?” Midoriya teased. The nomu suddenly jumped up and over Kirishima to land behind him and kick him with a hind leg. The force of the kick sent him into a street lamp and broke it in two. Kirishima shook as he raised his head, regaining the strength to get up again. He was teetering on exhaustion.

“Says the one who’s got a ride… Why not face me one on one like a man?!” He stood up and dug his feet into the concrete to ground himself and brace for another attack. The nomu charged him and tried to tackle him down, but both he and the monster were hand in hand with it trying to push him back down.

“All men are not created equal! I learned that at four-years-old!” Midoriya’s voice sounded so hateful as the nomu started gaining on Kirishima, pushing his feet further into the ground and forcing his back to bend more and more. The little villain smiled widely before laughing hysterically. “This isn’t cheating, this is adapting to compete with people who know they’re better than everyone else! You just think it's cheating because you’re losing!” 

Kirishima closed his eyes tightly, feeling himself losing this battle of brute strength. But then he growled to himself as he hardened his face and head. He hardened his hair that was still kept un-spiked up. He then used a jolt of strength to headbutt the monster as hard as he could under its chin. The shock of his mouth suddenly closing and its teeth smashing into each other was enough to weaken it. Still locked hands with it, Kirishima yelled as he managed to whip his arms to the side, tossing the nomu into a display window, sending Midoriya with it. 

Kirishima hunched over and caught his breath just as the nomu began to get up again. Midoriya had been thrown off and was sent tumbling inside, but he slammed his fist on the floor before running up and getting on its back again. “Try again!” he demanded, rubbing under its jaw.  It roared at the command before charging at the redhead again.

“Why are you running away, hotshot?! Are you afraid of me?! Are you a coward even as a villain?!” Bakugo mocked in a loud, nearly screaming voice as he chased Todoroki with explosions across the street. Todoroki quietly was jumping back and using his ice to slide around to avoid the explosions. But at one point, the ramp he was on blew up before he could make another and he fell. He landed on his back on the concrete and was dazed for a second. Through the blur in his vision, he could see Bakugo coming down from the sky directly at him. He flinched as he covered his face with his arms crisscrossed before ice froze around him and spiked upwards.

Before Bakugo could land a blow, he was impaled at the base of his neck, all over his torso, and his hands. Blood dripped down the ice, turning the icy blue and white hue red. It would have killed anyone. He was suspended on the spikes just long enough for Todoroki to get up and move. The blond, in turn, sparked his hands to blow the spikes to pieces before his body quickly healed itself as he landed on his feet. He smiled crookedly at the villain, eyes wide with murderous intent. “You keep missing my head, Half-n-Half. I remember you having pretty good aim…” he snarled with a grin. “Could it be you really don’t want to kill me? Or can your ice not penetrate a skull or any other bone? Is that it? Or are you too afraid to bash my brains in?!”

Todoroki picked up a long piece of an ice spike that survived being shattered completely from the blast. He held it almost like a sword as he charged at Bakugo head-on. Perhaps he was being mistaken for being flustered or triggered by the other’s words. The other smirked and snickered as his hands sparked. He blasted him directly and created a cloud of smoke. He saw the icicle be blown upwards and back. 

But he didn’t realize Todoroki had dropped down and slid between his legs to appear behind him. Freezing his right hand as a sharpened gauntlet, he grabbed Bakugo by the back of his head and forced him forward, bashing his head into the ground. Gripping with his sharpened icy fingers, he took him by the hair and repeatedly slammed his skull into the concrete.

“Get off me!!” Bakugo cried out, opening his palms behind his back and blasting Todoroki back at close range. He was sent back, lightly burned as he skidded across the pavement and landing on his side several meters away. Bakugo stood up and rubbed his bleeding forehead as it began to heal itself again, but a little slower than usual. “Why aren’t you saying anything…?” he breathed, gasping for breath. “You’ve killed me twenty-six times…” He’s regenerated twenty-six times from this fight alone. “And you haven’t said a thing…” He gritted his teeth and took a step forward. “What the hell are you thinking?!” He screamed before choking, vomiting up a lot of blood. 

His whole body pulsed.

Bakugo dropped to one knee as his whole body began to quiver. His forehead wound was healing, but much slower. And it suddenly started to hurt. He gripped his head and lowered it as he whined in the intense pain. The regeneration was running out. It was weakening and all the pain and deaths he would have felt more were coming back at him all at once. “Fuck… F-Fuck…” He then held his stomach, feeling every time he had been stabbed and ripped apart this night, burned alive, and bones broken. All at once. 

Todoroki’s eyes widened at the glimmer of opportunity. Quickly getting up, he froze his right hand again into a sharpened gauntlet. Without a word, he made a run for him. This was his chance. While Bakugo was down and in so much pain that he couldn’t even move. He was watching him collapse onto the ground on his knees, screaming into the concrete from the immense pain. Put him out of his misery, that would be kind of him, wouldn’t it?

An instinct kicked in.

Todoroki quickly turned on his left heel to swing his right leg to make a wall of ice between him and a massive figure that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. It was fast, beyond humanly fast. But not fast enough to outrace defensive reactionary trauma. If only the ice was strong enough. A giant fist punched right through the wall, shattering it to bits before making contact with Todoroki’s stomach in an undercut motion.

“Shouchan!!” Midoriya cried out, taking his attention away from Kirishima.  He watched Todoroki going tumbling and skidding across the concrete, even making holes in the ground on impact. He dug his fingers into the ground to try and stop himself. Before Midoriya could go to help him, the freckled villain and his nomu were cut off from interfering. Out of nowhere, a boot came out of the ground and kicked the nomu in the jaw. A whole person followed, popping up out of the ground and then jumping up to quickly slam his other boot into the brain. Only this time, the foot sparked with red electricity. 

The force of the blow created a small shock wave that left a bloody dent in the nomu’s brainand also sent Midoriya flying off its back and further away from Kirishima. “Wh-What the…?” Landing on his stomach, he looked up to see a blond young man he didn’t recognize. Just some stranger in a white suit and red cape. He watched him kneel down to Kirishima who was also forced back from the shockwave, but sat down and covered his face to keep from being blown away. 

“It’s alright. Your backup is here.” Togata smiled, putting a hand on Kirishima’s shoulder with a smile. Kirishima’s eyes seemed to sparkle, even water at the relief of help finally arriving. He then suddenly looked back to where Bakugo and Todoroki were in a panic. Ready to get up and run to him, Togata held him back to keep him from moving too much anymore. And it was a good thing he did because the boy immediately fell to one knee in trying to stand. “You’ve done your part. We’ll take it from here.” The nomu subtly began to moan as it began to rise to its hands and feet.

“Bakugo, what’s happ-” All Might was about to kneel down to Bakugo after having punched Todoroki a distance away. The boy was gripping the darkened skin on his arms as he curled on his knees. He seemed like he wanted to scream, but at one point he stopped, and not a sound could leave him. Just silent choking and inhaled wheezes. But before All Might could care for him, a blast of fire was shot between them. All Might jumped back to avoid it and let it pass. Though still on the ground, Todoroki wouldn’t let himself fail without a fight.

Todoroki trembled as he pushed himself off the ground slowly. He took nearly the full force of such a powerful punch, it knocked the air out of him and it hurt to move. He didn’t stand a chance against someone like All Might alone. But that massive figure walking towards him made him feel so bitter and hateful. It didn’t matter how hopeless the situation was. He wanted him to die.

As it got closer, he held his stomach while still on the ground and reached his arm out to freeze the ground and send a trail of spikes his way. They were easily destroyed without faltering him again. He tried again, growling as he swiped his arm to send another trail. He nearly barked with every attempt, riddled with so much anger that there weren’t words to express it, just sounds of a boy who had become so untrustful. When a hand reached for him, he froze his own hand and smacked away before sitting himself back and blasting fire at him at close range. The flame was weak and hardly had an effect. 

Todoroki was grabbed by his throat as he was lifted up off his feet and at eye level with All Might. He kicked wildly, his foot sparking flames trying to burn his arm, and his other coating in sharp ice to try and stab it. His hands gripped All Might’s as he gritted his teeth and made inhuman growls of feral hatred. Eyes so wide and yet so bitter. Angry and yet so sad. Completely engulfed in a mad murderous desire. This was not the sweet and quiet boy that could be found underneath a tree alone at lunch.

All Might looked at the struggling boy, not clutching his throat tight enough to suffocate him, but enough to alter the air to his brain, cutting off a bit of fluent control of his quirk. Darkened eyes appeared so miserable and saddened to see the sorry state of this former star student. “How did I let it get this way…?” he asked. “Todoro-”

“I’ll kill you.” Todoroki spat, digging his nails into his hand. So much anger in his tone. Never had so much aggressive emotion appeared in his face and voice at the same time. “I’ll kill you… I’ll kill you!” His right hand slowly froze, struggling to make it a sharp gauntlet again. “You left me!” He struggled to get out of his grip. “You left me to die!”

“Young Todoroki…” All Might whispered. He didn’t know what to say. There was just nothing but guilt and shame. Todoroki clawed into his hand, just enough to draw a few drops of blood. “I didn’t-” He didn’t mean for this to happen. But there were no excuses. There was no defending himself. “I-I’m… sorry.”

“No, you’re not!” Todoroki didn’t accept his apology, not even for a second. There wasn’t any forgiveness left for him. His heart was closed off for him and he didn’t deserve to have it unlocked again. “You bastard, you pig, you monster, you fake, you lying hypocrite!” As furious as he was, the only thing to call his mannerisms would be brat-like. Bratty with no authority in this situation. Just a child.

Midoriya had stood up and was forced to watch the nomu he had been riding get beaten left and right by this red-caped hero. He was watching his main advantage be smashed into pieces with mere physical attacks. As distraught as he was, he was sure to watch carefully. This hero was phasing through the ground and being launched out of it. He could phase through the monster with one part of his body and hit it with another. This person was… untouchable. And the way his punches were so devastating to it, the colored sparks flowing around his body, he fought a lot like All Might did. Just on a smaller scale. He noticed the young man occasionally flinching after every punch. “No way…” 

Midoriya instinctively turned to All Might, realizing what kind of dire situation his beloved hero was in. “Shouchan!” Without a second thought and no time for reason, the little villain sprinted towards them, wrapping wires around All Might’s wrist. They would have no effect. He wouldn’t budge or flinch when he pulled. “Let him go! He doesn’t like it when you grab him like that!” Midoriya screamed. All the times he bandaged choked burns around Todoroki's neck. He hated being touched there.

All Might shifted his attention to the quirkless villain trying his best to fight him. Then he glanced between him and the boy in his grip. Never had both of Todoroki’s eyes look so red. This sudden burst of hostility and aggression did seem to come out of nowhere as he was so silent and expressionless while fighting Bakugo. “There really was something going on…” 

“Of course there was! It only took you two homicides and a terrorist attack to figure it out?!” Todoroki snapped while All Might spoke quietly, ashamed.

“Why didn’t you… you could have told me-”

“I tried to but you turned your back on me! Don’t make this my fault! It’s not! None of this was my fault!” Dabi told him that. Dabi told him that not everything had to be his fault. Heroes blamed everyone else for crimes and problems before looking at themselves. The abuse wasn’t his fault. Turning out this way wasn’t his fault. “Stop blaming me!” 

“You should stop blaming a child, All Might. It’s not very heroic of you.” A deep voice said calmly. Just loud enough to hear. Just a few feet away. 

Midoriya flinched at the recognition. His wires unfurled from All Might’s wrist in seconds.

“Get down!” Togata tackled Kirishima, using his own body as a shield.

“You-” All Might’s eyes narrowed quickly as he turned his head. But he couldn’t say more than a word before an explosion engulfed everyone and the surrounding area in a matter of seconds... 

…

…

…

“Izuku? Izuku…!” Midoriya’s ears rang as he rested in darkness for a few moments. But Todoroki’s echoing voice was enough to overpower the ringing. His head felt like it was throbbing. It was resting on a rock and really jagged rock at that. With a small moan to signal he was awake, he shifted a bit to wake himself up. 

“...Shouchan?” Upon waking up, his upper half was pulled up into Todoroki’s arms, his head against his chest. It only took a moment for his vision to clear and for his cognitive thought to return. His eyes suddenly widened as he looked around to see what had happened.

They were in the center of a giant crater at least four times the size of the last. The city street they were fighting on wasn’t recognizable. Buildings were leveled with the shape of the bowl and everything within about a three block radius was destroyed. Smoke littered the field as well as debris as the ground had become jagged and uneven with only the center being a little leveled. The amount of power displayed in just seconds was mortifying. Enough to make the little villain shiver. 

“So, you’re members Tomura’s team.” That deep voice from before said from behind them. Both of them turned their heads to see a faceless man, his head covered in a black mask and helmet with pipes surrounding the base around his neck. And yet, the man, the monster, knelt down to their level on the ground and lifted part of the mask to reveal his mouth. He had quite the toothy grin. “Are you both alright?” The two boys couldn’t think what to do, so taken aback by what had happened. They nodded to his question slowly in silence. Then a hand reached out to them formally. “I’ve already met one of you through a screen. But it’s my pleasure to meet both of you in person.”

“All… For One?” Midoriya mumbled as he carefully reached his hand out to shake the other’s. He recognized his voice.

“Very perceptive. Correct.” He answered. Then he looked to Todoroki who then shook his hand as well.

“Shigaraki’s... master?” Todoroki wanted to specify.

“Also correct. I’m happy he recruited such quick-witted children.” All For One took his hand back. Then he suddenly took both hands and put them on each of their heads, even sifting his fingers through their hair a bit. “You’ve done excellent work,” he praised. “Allow me to assist.” Todoroki and Midoriya both sat there, taking in his expression of affection. Todoroki even shut one eye as his head was moved a bit. “To bully and blame such wounded children like this All Might, have you lost your way as a hero? Is there no order?” All For One then called out louder, turning his head. His smile never left his face.

A giant rock stabbed into the ground was suddenly blasted away with a punch, leaving a small dirt cloud where it stood. On the other side of the leveled out center of the crater All Might stood, his costume tattered and his hair drooping a bit. Behind him, Bakugo laid unconscious, dirtied, and bruised from the explosion. A moment later, a small pile of debris toppled over revealing Togata still providing cover for Kirishima. His cape was ripped to shreds and there were a few holes in his costume, but he was able to get one knee and look around. Kirishima had fallen unconscious. 

“You don’t get to criticize me…” All Might growled lowly. 

“Shouldn’t heroes be open to criticism? Maybe if you listened to the cries of those you want to protect so badly, none of this would have happened.” All For One stood up and in front of Midoriya and Todoroki, lowering his mask back down over his mouth. 

“I tried to help!”

“And you didn’t.” All Might gritted his teeth. All For One turned his head to look back at the two behind him. “You two don’t want those three to get away, do you?” he asked, referring to Togata, Kirishima, and Bakugo. They both nodded. “Allow me to take on All Might, I leave the rest to you. But do be careful of that tall one… his power should not be taken lightly. Take him out first.”

“Yes sir.” Todoroki and Midoriya answered together. They both rose to their feet. Midoriya wiped a bit of dirt off his cheek and Todoroki began to freeze his right foot. They ran off on a trail of ice together, leaving All For One to his fight.

“Good boys.” All For One praised with a short chuckle before he was met with a punch right to his chest that fended with his bare hands. The impact was powerful enough to create a massive dust cloud that covered the field with a strong wind to even send Midoriy and Todoroki off balance. Even Togata and Kirishima were blown back a bit further.

“I’ll have you return everything, All For One!” All Might cried out. But the momentum of the punch couldn’t keep going. All For One used that moment of weakness to blast All Might away, sending him lying through multiple buildings that still stood. He must have landed more than six blocks away with that much power and destruction. Togata, Midoriya, and Todoroki were awestruck by both masters’ power. There was a chance of the three of them being hurt just from being in such a close range.

“You’ve gotten weaker, All Might.” All For One mocked. All Might wasted no time racing right back in a matter of seconds.

“This time, I’ll be sure to throw you in prison for sure!” All Might braced himself as he went in for a massive punch again, only to be blasted back with a type of wind cannon, sending him tumbling through debris and the remains of buildings again. It was best not to get too close.

“Izuku, what’s this guy’s quirk? Did you see?” Todoroki asked while gaining ground up on Togata. 

“I-I’m not sure. He can phase through anything at will. He’s untouchable! And not only that, his strength is like that of All Might’s but on a much smaller scale. But enough to beat a nomu by himself in less than a minute.”

“You think All For One wants us to go after him because he might be All Might’s student? I think he knows about his quirk if he warned us.”

“He treats Tomura like a student. I would argue even a successor with how much attention he gives him.” Midoriya looked back at All Might and All For One fighting. “They both must be pretty old... They’re probably preparing for the future. This guy must be All Might’s, so I think you’re right.”

“Then we’re not letting that future happen.”  They could see Togata already watching them. He has been moving Kirishima somewhere safer and farther from the fight. Though he glanced at Bakugo who had been blown back a far distance than when All Might appeared. He was too far to reach. But he had to get him out of there. But in seeing two villains targeting him, he understood that it wasn’t going to be easy. 

Todoroki made the ice trail branch upward to make a ramp and sent them both in the air. Togata couldn’t fly so maybe the safest place was above ground. He blasted a wave of fire at him from above. But in typical fashion, Togata just phased right through it. “I don’t want to hit a couple of kids! Please just give up!” Togata called out to them. “It won’t end well for you if you don’t!”

“It won’t end well for us if we do!” Midoriya retorted. He wrapped his wires around a piece of debris to pull him down to the ground. Then he sent wires to wrap around Togata's feet. They didn’t have any kind of plan. How could you fight someone who was untouchable and yet so powerful? But they’d have to try. All For One was counting on them. 

Togata went right through the wires and made a charge at the freckled villain. They were still kids and one was quirkless. So maybe he wouldn’t have to use his full power on them to spare them the pain. “I don’t want to fight you!”

“Then don’t! No one’s making you!” Midoriya watched him disappear into the ground. He watched him pull this trick with the nomu. He’d pop right back out. He did it in front before so he would need to try behind. Turning around, the little villain saw him and quickly dove to the side to avoid him. 

“Stopping you is the right thing to do! You’re hurting people!” Togata chased after him but was soon distracted by ice reaching his foot and then it coating his entire leg, freezing him in place. Midoriya was given enough time to gain some distance.

“You’re helping a system that’s hurting people. And then you deny it’s happening because you’re not looking for it.” Todoroki said lowly. He went to blast fire at him but Togata phased through the ice and then the fire and changed his target. “We’re just more direct about it. And we’re not ashamed of it. Some people just need to die for things to progress.” Todoroki dodged punch after punch swiftly, taking the older boy on in a more martial arts fashion. Close combat wasn’t his strength, but it wasn’t a weakness either.

“How can you think like that? The whole idea of being a hero is to help people!” Togata argued. With being older and more well-trained, his skill was far better. It didn’t take long for Todoroki to take a strong hit to the stomach that knocked him back. “I want to save a million people! My job is to give people hope!”

“Just so you can crush their hopes later once you’ve already gained their faith. Just take advantage of people!” Midoriya spat as he tried to jump Togata from behind. He held another knife in his hand as he tried to stab him, but in his lunge, he was sent right through the older boy’s body. Before he could land on the ground, his foot was grabbed and twisted, making the little villain cry out in pain. Todoroki gritted his teeth and tried to engage again only for Midoriya to be thrown at him like he weighed nothing. They both collided and fell on the ground one on top of the other. “He’s so overpowered… talk about unfair,” Midoriya complained.

“We have to figure something out. Everyone has a weakness.” Todoroki began to sit back up. Wasn’t there anything they could try? Midoriya looked around, searching for anything to trigger an idea. Then he smirked.

“Keep him busy for just a few seconds.” Todoroki nodded. Midoriya quickly got off of him and made a run for it. Togata was about to go after him when Todoroki froze his foot again, making him pause and take a second to phase through it without going through the ground. He wouldn’t be able to get to the freckled boy with this distraction.

“You’re a talented kid from what I saw of the sports festival. It’s a shame that you’re using your power for evil. Is there anything I can do to make you come back?” Togata asked as he and Todoroki both kicked up high, locking their shins against one another. “There’s so much good your power can do. Surely we could figure out a way to start this all over again!” 

“It’s only evil because we’re on opposing sides. I could call you the same thing.” They both jumped back from each other before engaging again in quick close combat. “Being evil is relative. I think you’re just being indoctrinated. You said it yourself, that you don’t even want to be fighting me.” 

“So there is no changing your mind, huh? You’ve really thought this through?”

“We both have.” 

“Then I’m not holding back.” Todoroki flinched at the sight of blue sparks coming from Togata's arms and then glowing red marks illuminating from under his costume. He watched him clench his fist and suddenly grit his teeth as if he was in pain. Before he could react or try to block, he was punched in the center of his chest where all the air was knocked out of his lungs and he gasped. The inhuman force behind the punch sent him halfway across the battlefield where he used his ice to make a wall to stop himself from getting any closer to All Might and All For One. Sitting back against his ice, he struggled to breathe and spat up saliva from the hit. And then he made eye contact with All Might. All For One was down for a moment, leaving both villains vulnerable.

Togata began quickly looking around for where Midoriya had gone while shaking his arm a bit, seeming to be in discomfort. He was quick to notice the little villain was making a run for it to Bakugo with a knife drawn. Togata's legs sparked and glowed red as he leaped at him. He was able to catch up in just one jump in one moment. Then his arm sparked and glowed before punching him in the back and forcing him down into the ground. He wasn’t going to let him pull a hostage situation.

Togata pressed his knee into Midoriya’s back as he held his head down and pinned his arms behind him. “You’re going to be arrested. So just stay down and I won’t have to hurt you,” he warned. But then he winced in pain. Midoriya looked up at him from the corner of his eye and noticed just the smallest bit of blood dripping down his sleeve. They never landed a hit on him. And yet he was injured somehow. 

His body couldn’t handle his quirk.

“I’m gonna kill all three of you…” Midoriya growled. “That false idol, that pompous bastard that wouldn’t know struggle if it hit him in the face, and you, the little tool the heroes are turning into the next weapon and the next idol.” Togata narrowed his eyes as he pushed him into the ground further. “The system stops with you, Master Akaguro would want that.” Just knock him out, that was all he had to do, then this villain would no longer be a threat to anyone.

“I’m sorry you think that way.” Togata pulled his fist back. But it was suddenly grabbed and pain shot through his hand. Then his back. He didn’t have the ability to knock Midoriya out. In order to save himself, he phased and moved backward. His body moved through a massive sword that consisted of all kinds of blades taped together, and someone’s hand that had taken ahold of his fist. His glove was torn apart and the skin around his knuckles was completely gone. And his back had a large gash in it from the sword. Stepping back, he saw two new villains had entered the scene from two dark portals.

All Might glanced between All For One and Todoroki who was struggling to stand. All For One appeared to be recovering some strength for a moment, which gave him an opportunity to try and snatch Todoroki. Whether to apprehend him or hold him as a hostage. Just as he dashed towards him, his vision was obscured by a wave of blue flames that were painfully hot. Just getting close singed his hair. There was no going through them and a punch would be a waste of energy. When the fired cleared, he found two villains that were brought onto the battlefield.

“We don’t have much time to stick around here.” Spinner warned, helping Midoriya off the ground and out of the small dent Togata made with him. 

“The heroes will be here shortly. An estimation would be only a few minutes.” Mr. Compress knelt down to Todoroki’s level and put one hand on his shoulder and the other on his head. “Can you stand?” Todoroki nodded with a small ‘mhm’ while the masked showman helped him to his feet carefully. 

“Where are Toga, Twice, and Magne?” Shigaraki asked, standing in front of Midoriya with the hand on his face, his hands ungloved and opened facing Togata. Spinner and the freckled villain stayed behind him.

“Toga’s hurt so Magne and Twice retreated with her. They’re safe.” Spinner answered.

“So what the hell’s going on?” Dabi asked Mr. Compress and Todoroki. Before either could answer, All For One blasted All Might with another quirk combination that knocked the hero back into more debris and made another shockwave. The pressure blew the three of them back as well but they managed to stay on their feet and move with the pressure safely. Mr. Compress put an arm around Todoroki and used his long coat to protect him from any dust or dirt. 

“We don’t have time to kill Bakugo at this rate. I think Izuku and I would rather just try again another time. Shigaraki’s master instructed us to take down the guy with beady eyes first.” Todoroki explained. Midoriya would surely be annoyed that their chances of actually killing Bakugo were very slim with the time limit of approaching heroes and the new priority. Dabi looked back at All For One, finally seeing the infamous man in person. He watched All Might bounce back and a small fury of punches on him that sent him back. His orders came before anyone else’s.

“Forget Kacchan, I’ll kill him later. He can live with the paranoia that I’ll be back and take down anyone around him to get to him! We got him once and we can do it again.” Midoriya told Shigaraki. “I’m sure this guy is All Might’s successor. Which means he’ll be big trouble for us later on if we don’t finish this now. All For One told us personally to focus on him.”

“Big trouble for me, more than anything.” Shigaraki huffed. All For One had them change targets for a reason. Looking back at his master, the red-eyed villain felt a small pain in his chest. The anxiety building watching the old man fight his wits out against another old man who was also losing strength. It was time for them to pass their ideals to the next generation. Although premature, Shigaraki could stop the other before any kind of dramatic finale. “If Master instructed it, then he’s the target.”

“Looks like I’ll have to take on all of you then…” Togata muttered, seeing how Midoriya and Todoroki both received back up that were staring directly at him. “That’s fine. A little unfair, but I can take it.” He prepared a battle-ready stance, mostly locking on to Shigaraki. But he was almost instantly engulfed in blue flames. 

He phased through them, only to have Shigaraki lunge for him, thinking he was preoccupied with escaping the fire. But he just went right through his hand too. Dabi huffed at the demonstration of Togata's quirk, thinking it to be the most annoying thing. An untouchable hero and a villain who had the deadliest touch standing right beside him now. “He’s outnumbered. But he’s overpowered.”

“How annoying.” Shigaraki scratched at his neck. Stressful. Very stressful. How could you hit a guy who was unhittable? 

Todoroki and Mr. Compress joined up beside Spinner and Midoriya. Todoroki looked to his beloved with a look of worry. He knew how much he really wanted to turn Bakugo into a nomu. And that failed. And then how badly he wanted to kill him and they couldn’t even make time for that now. If they tried to get close, Togata would be able to stop all of them. “You two stay back, let us handle it. You’ve done your debut splendidly so you should escape while you can in case the heroes show up early.” Mr. Compress suggested. 

“I’m not running away from another fight!” Midoriya declined. “I...I can think of something.” There had to be a weakness. A loophole. Something. But at least for the time being, he and Todoroki had to watch Spinner, Mr. Compress, Shigaraki, and Dabi all try to tag-team Togata. And yet Togata appeared to be doing just fine for himself.

Meanwhile, Bakugo began to stir. His awakening was not peaceful. Almost immediately, before his eyes even opened, he growled in pain and his body trembled. It was so intense that even his eyes watered and throat couldn’t express the severity of it. There was only a silent scream. His mouth was wide open as only a broken wheeze left with an undertone of a whine. He laid on his side, his eyes wide open and his hands flexing uncontrollably. They wouldn’t even spark. All the times he had been killed, every time he was impaled, cut, beat, ripped apart, burned alive, it was all coming back at once. He couldn’t move. “M...Move…”

Just like with Kosuke, watching a terrible, nightmarish scene in front of him, he was helpless to move. 

Bakugo could see All Might and All For One beating each other in an ungodly form of hand to hand combat. All Might appeared to be losing the upper hand. And from the corner of his eye, he could see a young hero fighting off the villains that had kept him locked away and tortured for days. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t run. He couldn’t help. Worthless. He felt absolutely worthless. “M-Move… Dammit…” He banged the side of his head into the ground and it made him cry out in pain more than he should have. “F-Fucking move… s-stupid body…” He was an open target. He was pathetic.

Todoroki wrapped his arms around Midoriya and created a wall of ice behind them as another shockwave and dust cloud took over the crater once again from All Might and All For One. Dabi’s flames quickly dispersed a section of the cloud, allowing the villains and Togata to fight with better vision. “Isn’t there something we can do?” Todoroki asked. He felt helpless to watch. Dabi tried using his fire to burn Togata but he just kept phasing through them when he was close. And when they were far, his arm would spark and glow before punching in their general direction to make a wave of air pressure put them out. 

Shigaraki could only lunge and try to get close, trying to take advantage of the chaotic fight. Maybe if Togata wasn’t paying attention for a second, he could just get a grip on his throat. But every time he thought there was an opening, he would phase right through and be hit back. 

Spinner only had his makeshift sword as a weapon. But so early one it only took one punch for all the tape and blades to be knocked loose and for it to all fall apart. He was only left with the base katana. And like Shigaraki, whenever he tried to make an opening or take an advantage of one, he would just phase through and miss. “You’re not even a fully grown adult! And the heroes are putting you out like this? Stain would be disgusted!” Spinner tumbled in the dirt after being kicked back hard in the gut. “N-No wonder there were rumors of him changing his philosophies on All Might… He’s just as bad as the rest of them. Todoroki was a real hero before you all cast him out.”

“How do I get into your heads that killing people makes you a bad person? If you think we’re so bad, you’re no better!” Togata argued, catching his breath.

“On the contrary, we just take pride in admitting our crimes. We do what we must for the betterment of society which happens to be going against the mold. Heroes kill just as much, but it’s usually covered up. There’s a difference.” Mr. Compress said. He would make marbles of the debris in the area and then throw them Togata's way. But as per usual, they would go right through him and miss every time. They were all having such a hard time. But Togata was getting a little winded.

Todoroki and Midoriya watched carefully. Not wanting to run, but not wanting to give Togata too many opponents. He could start using their attacks against each other given the opportunity. Midoriya was too big a target and Todoroki lacked control of his fire. “He phases through things no problem. But… not his clothes?” Todoroki asked.

“Support courses specialize in making costumes that adjust to quirks. That fabric must not be normal. Or maybe…” Midoriya watched intently. He watched Togata's arm spark and glow before punching a rock Mr. Compress launched at him, smashing it to pieces with the pressure forcing the showman on the ground on his back. He watched Togata grab his shoulder and shiver in pain. He could see blood leaking out from his sleeve. And his skinless knuckles were bleeding. Then Midoriya watched him phase through another blast of Dabi’s fire. The blood was still there.

“I would bet his DNA is in the fabric somehow. Like with his hair.” Midoriya speculated. 

“So anything that’s a part of him turns untouchable with him,” Todoroki added. Then they both blinked.

“Even his blood…” They mumbled together.

A piercing scream suddenly distracted them. Bakugo dug his fingers into the rock and tried his damndest to get up. His whole body quivered, his eyes were tense and watery from the shooting pain in front of him. But he refused his body the luxury of resting. He had to move. But it was so much to bear. It didn’t cross his mind that staying still and quiet and out of mind would have done him better.

“Spinner!” Todoroki called out. Bakugo’s scream had taken all of the villains’ and Togata's attention. It had also been enough to wake an unconscious redhead who was left at a safe distance. Todoroki was able to reclaim the lizard man’s focus. And with one quick motion, Spinner took his sword and sliced it across Togata's side, leaving a deeper gash than the one on his back. Blood spilled out much quicker, enough to make him drop to a knee. But an extra attack from him phased right through. 

In a moment of desperation, Togata ditched the scene of the fight to hurry to Bakugo. “Slow him down. We have an idea.” Todoroki said, running to where Togata stood, kneeling down over the small puddle of blood before it soaked into the stone. Midoriya had made a run for it to Bakugo as well, a knife prepared again. He wasn’t as fast as the other because of that troublesome quirk. But he had a team to help him out. 

“I can’t help but feel you’ve ruined my night, Kacchan. But even if you do get out of this alive, I hope it haunts you to your death.” the little villain said quietly with a smile. He couldn't just turn into a nomu like planned. He just couldn't be killed easily. He just had to destroy the nomu factory and lead All For One and All Might here to intervene.

“Stay away from him!” Togata called out angrily. 

“Izuku!” Todoroki shouted, riding on a trail of ice again. He made it a ramp to launch himself in the air again, appearing to have two small, jagged, and sharp pieces of ice. But they weren’t a normal color. They were red. He tossed one down to Midoriya for him to catch. 

Noticing Todoroki in the air from behind and Midoriya in the front, the other villains holding back now, Togata prepared himself to phase through. Bearing the two ice shards, Midoriya and Todoroki both went through him. The freckled villain ending up behind him, and his hero landing knelt down in front. It appeared to be a failed attempt until blood poured out of Togata's abdomen and chest.

Four holes appeared; two clean stabs. Togata coughed up blood as he fell on one knee. “Wh-What…?” he muttered, holding one of the wounds and seeing the blood. Midoriya and Todoroki glanced at each other before turning around and running at him again. In another attempt to become untouchable, two more clean stabs were made through him again, forcing him to collapse. 

Dabi, Shigaraki, Spinner, and Mr. Compress took the time to catch their breaths, all of them bruised and exhausted from fighting such a well-trained hero student. None of them would have lasted in a fight with him for too much longer. Had they been down one more person, they wouldn’t have gotten this far. 

“You can’t… go through yourself.” Midoriya exhaled. “Your blood… we froze it. We turned it into a weapon.” He held up the red ice shard that Todoroki froze. Togata went to get up again before falling down again, reaching forward helplessly. “You’re not untouchable… n-no one is.” They were all tired. This night had gone on way longer than any of them anticipated. Beaten and exhausted, they felt relief in knowing the fight was over. “We… won here. And now…” Midoriya turned to Bakugo who was just a distance away with no more roadblocks. 

At least he felt that way until Togata's arm sparked up and glowed. He suddenly punched the ground, destroying it beneath everyone. They all lost their balance as it crumbled and shook like an earthquake. “No-!” Midoriya gritted his teeth. He could barely take a step without losing balance.

Togata's legs sparked and glowed before he blasted himself towards Bakugo. 

“I got it.” While all the other villain’s struggled to stay steady on the rumbling terrain, Shigarki hopped from one crumbled debris to another swiftly despite his tiredness. He snatched the shard from Midoriya. “Yako!” He called out. Todoroki had one arm under Spinner trying to keep him up when he heard his villain name. He stomped his right foot and made a trail for Shigaraki to run on.

“I-I can’t explain… but-” Togata knelt down on one knee before falling to both in front of Bakugo. The pants of his suit were torn in a few places, revealing his legs had turned purple and black from severe bruising. “M-My blood. Take my power… D-Don’t let it die with me.” Bakugo’s voice had become so strained from screaming, there wasn’t a sound to be heard from him. But he looked up at Togata with some kind of fear, desperation, and confusion. A pure form of raw emotion. The young hero coughed up some blood that accidentally splattered on to his face.

Togata's fist was already bloody from his first encounter with Shigaraki. He stuck two knuckles into Bakugo’s mouth to make his tongue take in some of the blood. “A-Accept it. Please…” He then looked around, up near the top of the crater where he left Kirishima. He could see him on his hand and knees, watching in horror. The young hero nodded to him before taking Bakugo by the fabric of his shirt. “T-Take it and go…!” His arm sparked and he launched him like he was weightless. 

Togata then felt a hand around his throat and jagged shard digging into his back. “Which way do you wanna go?” Shigaraki asked. Watching Bakugo get tossed, he saw Kirishima get up and run, making a perfect catch from such a far distance. They fell down together, but Kirishima was able to get back up with him in his arms. And right beside him, a few dressed up heroes started to appear. They had to leave quickly. “My way is quicker, you know.”

“I know…” Togata wheezed, coughing up more blood. “One of th-those boys got an artery. K-Knew exactly where he was aiming.” It was most definitely Midoriya. “A-All of you… wasted potential doing this...y-you know?” 

“Maybe in another life, things turned out better for all of us. But in this one, you’re in our way.” Shigaraki’s fingers wrapped around his neck, all five. And his skin slowly began dusting away. "There are things I still need to do. I don't have time to waste. I would say don't take it personally, but you're the antithesis of what I desire." Togata shut his eyes slowly, letting his head lower.

"I... hope you change your mind someday..." It only took a matter of moments for the hero to disappear into nothingness. The fight was over.

There was another fight finishing up as well, but not in the way he would have hoped. “M-Master?” Shigaraki turned around to find All Might completely enraged. The man belting at the top of his lungs in anger. All For One held a smile up with his thumbs to the corners of his lips mockingly. Surely they were talking the whole time and All For One must have hit a nerve. But it was by now that All Might noticed his student was no more. The pressure in the crater began so heavy and suffocating as he began to charge up power from sheer determination and furiousness.

“Tomura…! We have to go!” Midoriya finally caught up with him, as did the rest of the villains. The freckled boy tugged his arm to try and pull him back. But his feet were like cement. He was even trying to walk forward, quivering. He was hardly thinking. “Tomura…!”

“Master!” Shigaraki cried out. Though All For One was at the end of his power, barely standing, unable to move, he wore a mocking smile with his whole head revealed from his destroyed mask and helmet. Faceless, unhuman, and with a bulging cranium, this man turned to his student, still smiling. “We’re not done here yet.” Shigaraki tried to go towards him, but Midoriya kept holding him back. Around them, heroes had begun to pop up around the crater. They could be overwhelmed and ambushed at any second. And there was no way they could take on All Might with what little strength they had left. 

“Shigaraki Tomura!” All For One said loudly. “Start over as many times as it takes. That is why I am here. All of this is for you!” Everyone could see how wide Shigaraki’s eyes were underneath the hand on his face. “Run away from here, Tomura.” He was completely frozen in place. “Kurogiri, take them away from here!” A portal appeared behind them, giving Midoriya more motivation to pull him back. No one was going to leave until he did.

“What about you…?” Shigaraki asked quietly. All For One probably didn’t even hear him.

“Think constantly, Tomura. You still have much room to grow!”

“Master…” He couldn’t just leave him here. What was he supposed to do without him guiding him? “Wait… don’t…” Midoriya had never heard him like this before. So heartbroken. Maybe even scared. “With that body, you’ll…” There was no way he'd win. He was at his limit.

“We won’t let you escape!!” Coming up quickly, a battalion of heroes began closing in on them.

“Tomura, we have to go now!” Midoriya tugged.

“We gotta move it.” Dabi grabbed his other arm and pulled him back as well. The two of them were strong enough to drag him backward. But he proceeded to reach out.

“No! I’m not-!” They both pull him into the portal with Todoroki and Spinner following quickly behind. 

“You must keep fighting…” All For One said, before receiving a final massive blow from the number one hero.

The six villains were teleported back home and into the bar. They all fell on the floor before Kurogiri collapsed alongside them. He had been warping people and nomus all over the place all night and was at his very limit as well.

“Oh thank goodness!” Magne picked Kurogiri up to lay him on the red sofa. Zuzu bounced off the cushion to make room but to attack Todoroki with love. Twice and Toga sat at the bar in front of the tv, watching a live screening of what was happening at the crater. They saw everything.

“What the hell happened out there?! What happened to turning the kid into a nomu?!” Twice asked.

Toga hopped off her stool, losing her balance for only a moment before getting on her knees between Midoriya and Todoroki. Her foot was tightly wrapped in bandages as was her hand, although sloppily done. “Are you two okay?” she asked worriedly. The two of them slowly got up and sat on their knees in front of her. They looked to each other, examining how filthy they had become throughout the night. Bruised and battered, but their debut started with them looking pretty clean and proper despite the blood. Todoroki let Zuzu jump up on him and lick away at the dirt and blood. Though maybe not the most appropriate time, Midoriya made a short chuckle.

How crazy and chaotic everything was. Did it even happen?

“I think so. That was just… a lot. H-How about y-” Before he could ask her the same thing, a burnt notebook was shoved into his chest. Toga kept her head down as she held against him forcibly, unwilling to make anymore eye contact.

“I… I’m sorry.” She was able to retrieve it. But hardly any of the pages survived the blast. She didn’t feel guilty… did she?

“T-Toga, you don’t need to apologize! It’s a miracle you even found it!” Midoriya waved his hands in front of himself anxiously. “Thank you for even trying. Y-You didn’t get hurt because of this, did you?” Toga slowly lifted her head, guilt written all over her face. But then she smiled cutely and awkwardly as she fake bonked the top of her head with a wink and her tongue sticking out. 

“Maybe that was a little dumb of me, huh?” she said in the most adorable way possible. 

“L-Let me take care of it right away! You shouldn’t have gotten hurt because I was clumsy. And l-let’s make sure it heals properly!” he took her wrist, ready to start examining it right then and there. Todoroki even leaned in a bit, raising his right hand.

“Do you need ice?” he offered. 

“Maybe a little. Too much and it won’t heal right.” Midoriya smiled. However, it slowly vanished when he looked behind him. Twice, Spinner, Mr. Compress, Magne, and Dabi were all looking at Shigaraki who sat on his knees, completely paralyzed and silent while staring at the floorboards. “I think… more than just your wounds are going to need time to heal too…” he said to Toga quietly. 

Chapter Text

Whose bright idea was it to make hospital rooms white? It was such a bright blur of white, anyone would have thought that they died and were being greeted at the other side. The light at the end of the tunnel. The afterlife where good souls go. Maybe even rebirth. But the beeping kinda ruined the idea.

Staring up at the ceiling, purple eyes tiredly blinked. The room was so bright that it made them hurt and they shut again tightly. They tried to turn away with a small shift of the head. Going back to sleep felt like a good idea. It was nice. “Shinsou?”

Shinsou opened his eyes again at the sound of his name. He tried to blink a few times to adjust to the brightness. He made a small exhale through his mouth, suddenly feeling something uncomfortable in his nose. He mumbled a sound of questioning as he turned his head and saw a desperate face beside him with watery yellow eyes. “Kami...nari…?” he whispered with a heavy breath. The relief of seeing Shinsou made a single tear come from Kaminari’s eye. He lived.

Kaminari had been sitting beside him by a window, playing a videogame on a handheld console. But he appeared to be distracted while playing it, not doing his best, and easily got distracted. He couldn’t help but peek at Shinsou every other minute in the hopes that he would wake up. “Y-You tried to call me.” Seeing Shinsou had woken up at last, he stood up and dropped the console on the floor. He gripped the bars of the bed frame.

“I don’t… really remember…” Shinsou’s eyes blinked tiredly again, slowly looking between Kaminari and the ceiling then himself. Looking down at his body in bed, he was covered in wires and tubes, put in a plain blue hospital gown. The most annoying piece was the nasal cannula attached to his nose to help him breathe. It was so uncomfortable, although helpful. 

“You don’t remember anything?” Kaminari asked, leaning over a bit more concerned. Shinsou weakly shook his head.

“I remember… Midoriya.” he sighed. His hand moved to touch his chest to which he made a noise in pain. There was a sharp pain in his arm from the movement of the tubes attached to it, as well as a pain in his chest from a stab wound. “And Mr. Aizawa… and Mr. Yamada too…” His memory was not lost. The details were just fuzzy upon just waking up.

“You went out last night to talk to Midoriya. You told me he had something important to tell you about Todoroki. I just figured he was ready to maybe have a deep conversation with someone about his grief so I-I didn’t think it was weird.” Kaminari sat back down and explained. “Bakugo had been paranoid of him since the beginning… but we all just called him crazy. I shoulda listened…” With his hands on his knees turning to fists, his face began to scrunch. “If I-I did… then you never would have-...” They should have heeded Bakugo’s fears rather than dismiss them. Shinsou wouldn’t have gotten hurt if he just listened.

“It wasn’t anyone’s fault…” Shinsou sighed again. As much as he hated how the tubes in his nose made him sound a little nasally, he wanted to speak. But his speaking was slow from trying to get the air to talk. “No one meant for this to happen…Well-” Maybe he changed his mind on that first part. “Actually there are a few people that come to mind.”

“Midoriya and Todoroki and the rest of those stupid villains?” Kaminari huffed bitterly. “I can’t believe I tried to be friends with those guys…” 

“Well yes.” Midoriya, Todoroki, and the League of Villains surely were to blame for that chaotic night. “But…” But Shinsou felt they weren’t entirely the blame. “We shouldn’t trust Endeavor’s agency either.” His memory was becoming more and more clear as he was waking up more and talking.

“Endeavor? His agency was burned to the ground last night. Why is that place so important?”

“From what Midoriya told me…” Remembering that crooked smile, those blood lustful red eyes filled with so much hatred, as frightening as they were he knew that Midoriya was being serious in every word he said in that alleyway. Out of all the lies he had told him up until that point, that was the one time he was truthful. “Endeavor has crimes swept under the rug… enough to have made Midoriya and Todoroki switch sides…” 

Kaminari narrowed his eyes as he looked at his fists. How terribly frustrating. He shook his head furiously. “I don’t care about their reasoning. I care about you!” A few sparks zapped around his cheeks as he lost his temper for a moment. But he quickly slapped his hand over his cheek to contain the electricity. “S-Sorry. Again.” This must have been a common thing. “B-But whatever Endeavor did… it can never amount to a good enough reason for them trying to kill you.”

“That wasn’t what they wanted at first,” Shinsou said quietly, staring at the ceiling. Kaminari turned to him, seeming surprised. “He asked me to join him. All the people that were ever mean to me for my quirk and the thing with my parents… he wanted to take revenge on them with me. For me.”

“He should have known better that you would have refused.”

“I almost didn’t…” Shinsou closed his tired eyes. He had to be honest too. “It was really tempting at first. You know that feeling where you don’t like to be wrong, even if you kinda agree with what the other person says? Your gut just tells you to be stubborn about it? It was that…” He took a deep breath. All the talking was a bit draining. “I can see why he and Todoroki did it. It was the easy way out...and they get to do it together. But I couldn’t bring myself to betray you like that. Or Mr. Aizawa and Mr. Yamada. If It wasn’t for you… I may have done it.” 

“Don’t say that. You’re a better person than what you give yourself credit for.” Kaminari put his hand on his bedside and forced a smile. Surely Shinsou was just being hard on himself.

“No… I probably would have. That whole time we argued and fought, he kept throwing new arguments at me. My only rebuttal revolved around my friends and my teachers. I guess… he and Todoroki felt like they didn’t have people like that in their lives.” Kaminari went to speak, likely bitterly about how Todoroki had the opportunity to make friends. However, thoughts from the summer camp arose from when the kitsune masked boy ran off to save Mandalay's nephew and save Iida and Yaoyorozu from Muscular. Maybe Todoroki didn’t feel close enough to be friends with everyone, but he cared enough to protect them at that moment. It really must have been complicated…

“I’m still pissed he tried to kill you, though,” Kaminari grumbled. 

Shinsou just smirked. “Yeah, me too.” He may have understood why Midoriya did what he did, but he was still more than allowed to be salty about it. “Actually I’m…” he remembered looking over Aizawa’s shoulder seeing a corpse in the closet. It was clearly the work of Todoroki because of all the ice shooting out the dead reporter’s body. But it was Midoriya that got him to do that. “... I’m pretty sure I hate him for what he’s done… He’s hurt a lot of people and I can’t forgive that.” 

“And don’t go feeling bad about it,” Kaminari said passionately. “Just think about Kosuke and all those disappearances. Those were all him too. You don’t have to forgive him, just like I keep telling you that you don’t need to forgive your parents. You don’t have to prove to anyone that you’re a nicer or better person by forgiving them.” Suddenly he appeared a bit saddened. “You don’t have to keep proving yourself… so don’t feel bad about being angry at someone.”

Shinsou turned his head to see that expression on the other’s face. Even after admitting to him that he almost considered joining Midoriya, Kaminari was more worried about him feeling guilty. He didn’t need any more proof that Shinsou was a hero or a good person. He already knew that. “I wish you’d be angrier at him for hurting you. I am…” Kaminari laid his head down on folded arms on an open space on the bed beside Shinsou’s head. He was careful of the tubes and wires. “I really wanna slug him…” he pouted. It made the purple-haired boy make a short chuckle. And that made a small blush rise on the blond’s face, a little spark zapping out from his cheek. He was sure to cover it. Shinsou didn’t laugh very often.

“So… how are you feeling?” Kaminari asked after a few moments, just staring at him so close up.

“Tired…”

“So the usual?”

“Pretty much. I guess getting stabbed didn’t really change that much.” They both snickered for a moment. 

Then they just sat in silence for a little while. Shinsou closed his eyes for a short rest and Kaminari kept his head beside him, staring at him. All the tubes must have been so uncomfortable it would make it difficult to get a good sleep. The least he could do was stay quiet and keep him company. Occasionally, he would check his phone for news and group chat updates. He saw that Ashido and Sero sent him a few reports.

Shinsou’s blood trail from the press building led all the way to the scene of his attack. They found a broken cellphone and a lot of blood. There was a complaint about a bike being stolen and then recovered at the press building. There was a police officer ranting to reporters about how a student used his quirk to manipulate him and put him in danger. Shinsou could get in some serious trouble if these reports didn’t blow over. The thought of people going after him right after he tried to warn everyone frustrated Kaminari. 

Shinsou was fighting for his life trying to stop a murderer and people were trying to charge him with a crime. 

“Kaminari…” Shinsou whispered with his eyes still closed.

“Yeah, I’m here. What’s up? Do you need anything?” Kaminari put his phone down and sat up a bit. Whatever Shinsou needed he’d get in a heartbeat. “When do you think…-” he was about to ask something when there was a loud shout in the hallway outside the closed door.

“How could you say that?!” Someone shouted loudly followed by a bang of something hitting the floor outside the door to the hospital room. Kaminari sat up straight with a small jolt from surprise. Shinsou’s head turned to look at it. Instinctively, he went to sit up and instantly felt the repercussions. He inhaled sharply and held his stomach, shaking from how much it hurt.

“Shinsou-” Kaminari took him by the shoulders to keep him from sitting up any further. He gently pressed his back against the bed frame so his head was upright. “You just woke up, don’t push yourself. And you’ll ruin your stitches if you start moving already,” he warned. Shinsou nodded meekly, catching himself suddenly getting light-headed from the blood pressure shift. 

“Say that again! Louder so I have a better case!” Someone shouted again, but instead of something hitting the floor, there was the sound of a small tussle. Like someone was being held back. 

“Sounds like someone’s ready to start a fight,” Kaminari commented. 

“In a hospital…?” Shinsou couldn’t imagine who would have the nerve to get into a brawl in the middle of a hospital. 

“After all he’s done and you have nothing more to say than ‘that’s too bad’?! How dare you!” The more they heard the yelling, the closer the two got to recognize it. “You ungrateful bastards…!”

There was a bit of silence that followed. Or rather, someone must have lowered the volume of their voice. The two boys stared at the door for at least a minute. What was that argument all about? Being so close to Shinsou’s door, it was probably about him. After a few minutes, there was a soft knock. 

Kaminari had been leaning over slightly but suddenly sat up straight when the door began to open. His eyes widened in a bit of humorous fear when Aizawa and Yamada came through the door, Aizawa grumpily scratching the side of his head in frustration. He knew that voice yelling at the other side of the door was familiar. He was all too used to being yelled at by his teacher all the time. “Oh thank goodness…” Yamada sighed in relief having been the one to open the door. He put his hand over his heart after seeing Shinsou half sitting up and looking towards them tiredly. 

Both of them were no longer dressed formally, having maybe returned him home at some point to change. But it seemed more likely that one went home and brought the other clothes so someone could stay just in case. Looking at how exhausted Aizawa appeared, he was the one who probably stayed. Yamada had a messenger bag with him too.

Aizawa had his eyes closed when he was walking in, probably trying to prepare to see Shinsou again. And upon opening his eyes, his grumpy exterior quickly melted away. Seeing the student he swore died in his arms so tightly wrapped in bandages around his torso and forehead and bruised at his arms, hooked up to an IV, bloodletter, and wired to all kinds of machines with a nasal cannula in his nose, his legs could have given out. He had to pause. He and Shinsou locked eyes and Shinsou waved his hand slowly with a weak half-smile. 

“How long have you been awake? How are you feeling?” Yamada pulled up two chairs on the opposite side of Kaminari. He sat down immediately but it took Aizawa a moment to get himself to be up close. All the attention almost made Shinsou blush.

“A few minutes, I think. Maybe a half-hour.” Shinsou answered, looking to Kaminari for confirmation to which the blond boy nodded. “And I’m feeling okay. Tired and maybe a little sick. Hurts to move around too. And this thing is kinda annoying.” He reached for the nasal cannula. Yamada snickered at him.

“Good thing you didn’t need it in your neck.” He could relate with his own attack where he now had a permanent scar on his neck from the wound but also from the device they had to stick into his neck to keep him breathing. 

“I’m grateful for that…” Shinsou sighed. Seeing Yamada in that state where he could barely breathe was painful. He was thankful Midoriya never went for the throat. 

Silence took over for a few moments. Shinsou mostly stared at Aizawa who was staring down at his hands while sitting in a chair. The teacher was having a hard time looking at him. And he noticed. He tilted his head a bit to try and see his face to see if there was an emotion to be distinguished from the messy hair hiding it. Kaminari tilted his head trying to see as well. 

“So… what happened?” Shinsou asked. Yamada and Kaminari both flinched at the question. He fought so hard to warn everyone. They didn’t want to tell him that it was a completely fruitless effort. 

“They got away…” Aizawa muttered. With a deep inhale, he slowly lifted his head with exhaustion clouding his eyes. “We confirmed the body at the press building was a reporter killed by Todoroki. He snuck in and lured him away from everyone before escaping. He and Midoriya with the help of another villain destroyed Endeavor’s agency building before they went to Kamino in Yokohama.”

“Kamino? Why did they go there?” Shinsou asked.

“Bakugo escaped. He was brought to Kamino and escaped so I imagine they were notified and tried to kill him before he could get away.” Aizawa explained before Kaminari leaned forward.

“Kirishima found him too. He said Bakugo called him as soon as he got out because Bakugo knew that he was going to be targeted. There was this whole chaos with nomus everywhere and then All Might showed up with some kind of apprentice and this super villain appeared and destroyed the whole block, it was crazy.” Kaminari went on before Yamada brought the conclusion.

“The supervillain was taken into custody. The others got away and Bakugo and Kirishima are safe with the heroes.”

Shinsou looked down at his lap in frustrated disappointment. “Besides the reporter, did anyone else…?” Did anyone else die?" The three others were quiet at first. None of them wanted to tell him the truth. They knew it would weigh him down in guilt and apathy.

“All Might’s apprentice was killed in the fight. A few died trapped in the fire at Endeavor’s agency. Police officers were killed near the scene probably because they got too close to finding who the arsonist was. And the destruction in Kamino led to casualties as well…” Aizawa was the one to tell him the hard truth. He would find out eventually so he might as well know the truth now while he had people who cared about him around. 

Shinsou kept his head lowered as he gripped the sheets. His eyes looked tired. Just tired, betrayed, and heavy. The guilt weighed a ton. More than a ton. All those lives were on his shoulders and he just wasn’t quick enough to prevent their deaths. He just wasn’t quick enough. No. Not just quick enough. He was gullible. He fell for every trap and lie Midoriya set up. He was foolish, gullible, pathetic, immature… unfit to be called a hero. He stole a bike, he brainwashed an officer. He took advantage of people to help himself in an effort that didn’t save anyone but himself.

The moment Shinsou’s head dipped lower, his neck was wrapped in a gentle, yet firm hug from Kaminari. To which Shinsou slowly brought his hands up under the other’s arms to grip the back of his hoodie. He gripped tightly. It took a second for the first few tears to fall. Then he hid his eyes in Kaminari’s sleeve, crying quietly with the rest of the room in silence. They could hear his uneven inhales and hiccups, watching his body quiver and jump occasionally. Kaminari even began to tear up, trying to turn his head the other way so Shinsou wouldn’t see. He was an empathetic person. Having never seen Shinsou cry before, he knew what he was feeling right now must have been more painful than all those stab wounds.

“Shinsou…” Aizawa began. But he shook his head and changed his mind to start again. “Hitoshi… It’s not your fault.” 

It was subtle, but Shinsou shook his head in Kaminari’s sleeve, still keeping mostly quiet. 

“Hitoshi, look at me,” Aizawa said sternly, but his face didn’t quite match with it. There was even a small upped octave at the last word. It took a few seconds to raise his face just enough to uncover his eyes and look at his mentor. His cheeks were red and shiny with his forehead and eyebrows furrowed in distress. Both of them saw how truly upset the other was. Aizawa knew better than anyone, the importance of not blaming oneself. “It’s… not your fault.” It wasn’t Shinsou’s fault so much tragedy happened. It wasn’t Aizawa’s fault for Kosuke’s death and Todoroki’s betrayal. “Okay?”

Yamada reached over to place a hand on Shinsou’s head to gently pet his hair back from his face. Meanwhile, his other hand held Aizawa’s on his lap. “You did the best you could. It’s something to be proud of, not sorry for. Out of all the options that you could have chosen, you picked what you felt was the right thing to do.” he praised. “It was heroic. Don’t let anyone make you think otherwise.”

After a minute or two, Shinsou pulled away from Kaminari’s sleeve and wiped his eyes with his own arm. His face was still red and shiny from tears. But he would regain most of his composure if not for a sore voice and still partially nasally voice. Kaminari sat back full in his chair and wiped his own tears with the sleeve of his hoodie over his palm. “Why were you crying…?” Shinsou asked.

“Well, because I don’t like to see people cry. And seeing you like that, I felt I had to too. I-It’s not your fault-” he waved his hand and smiled through his stubborn tears. “I just don’t like it when bad things happen to you, you know? None of us do.”

Yamada smiled and nodded in agreement confidently. Even after everything, he appeared the most cheerful in the room. He really was good at keeping the energy positive despite what had happened. “That’s right. And I know you’re not only upset about Midoriya, even though you considered him a close friend. You feel like you failed but in reality, you did the opposite. You didn’t die, which is what the villains probably wanted.” Shinsou nodded slowly with his head still down. He was receiving all this praise but it still wasn’t clicking. It wasn’t sitting right.

“Is it your parents?” Kaminari asked. He could tell Shinsou wasn’t exactly accepting the praise. “Maybe it’s not the main reason. But is it part of it?” Maybe this posed as something that even his parents may acknowledge him for. Maybe they would be proud of him for surviving and trying so hard. But deep down, he knew that would never be the case. “Like… if you don’t hear it from them, you’re not going to believe anyone else?” Shinsou hesitated for a moment. Then he nodded slowly.

“Forget about anything you would have wanted them to say.” Aizawa folded his arms and leaned back in his chairs, suddenly coming off as very angry. “You’re never going to hear it.” Kaminari’s eyes widened at what his teacher was saying. He was a harsh man but surely this wasn’t the time to be that way. “From what I just heard, they’re more disappointed that you didn’t die.” 

“Mr. Aizawa-” Kaminari tried to convince him to stop talking. Despite Aizawa being truthful, it didn’t feel like a good time.

“Is that who you were yelling at just now?” Shinsou asked.

Yamada flinched and rubbed the back of his head. He wasn’t sure if anyone could hear Aizawa yelling, but apparently the students had. “S-So how much did you hear?”

“Not all. But enough, I guess…” Shinsou kept his head down, staring at his hands on his lap. All covered in wires and tubes running all over him, his parents really did want him to die? After trying so hard to stay alive? Was there nothing he could do to prove himself to them? This was exactly what Midoriya was talking about…

Yamada and Aizawa looked at each other before Yamada reached into the shoulder bag he brought with him. He took out a small pile of papers. “So are you interested?” he asked. 

“Hm?” Shinsou mumbled quietly, raising his head slightly to see the papers. Maybe he didn’t hear enough because he didn’t remember paperwork being mentioned. “What’s… this supposed to be?” he reached for them with Kaminari. They took them together with the blond leaning over to get a look at the contents. They both instantly blushed when they read the header on the first page.

“We were talking about it before… But now seemed like the most appropriate time.” Yamada explained with a soft smile. “It’s only if you’re comfortable of course.”

“We…” Aizawa leaned forward a little bit in order to make better eye contact with Shinsou. He still held Yamada’s hand on his lap tightly. “We would feel more comfortable if…” A teardrop fell on the front page of the stack. Fingers scrunched the paper a little bit as they trembled. Shinsou reread the header over and over and over again. 

-Alteration of Parental Guardianship Allowed Under the National Hero Public Saftey Commission-

“...you stayed under our care.” Aizawa finished. Kaminari smiled brightly and looked to Shinsou with so much excitement.

“Dude! I can help you move in and everything! And I can visit you more often- w-well if Mr. Aizawa would let me.” He suddenly became bashful as he rubbed the side of his neck. His grades weren’t exactly the best and he imagined all the extra scolding he would receive if he was spending a lot of time at his house. “A-After studying too, o-of course.” 

Shinsou was without any words, left completely speechless. He began leafing through the papers looking at what kind of paperwork Aizawa and Yamada were prepared to fill out with him. It was under the authorization of the hero commission, not under a public adoption facility. There would be a private court case that was run by only heroes. Knowing Yamada’s connections, things would be done so swiftly and easily, especially since Shinsou was old enough to fill out parts of the paperwork instead. It would be… so easy. He looked to Aizawa and Yamada with wide eyes, just barely brimming with tears.

Yamada wore a big grin while Aizawa was staring right at him intensely, yet concerned. He didn’t want him staying in that silent household. He didn’t want another Todoroki. He was going to take this all into his own hands. The opportunity was so clear and open, this was the best thing he could do. He felt that this was the right thing to do. But it’s also what he wanted to do.

“Mm...Mhm…” Shinsou nodded, unable to even say the words right away. It would be embarrassing for his voice to crack now. 

“Yeah?” Yamada leaned in enthusiastically.

“Y-Yes…” Shinsou said quietly. “I would like that… a-a lot. If you’ll have me…” 

“Of course we’ll have you. We’re asking you, kiddo!” 

Aizawa hunched over and exhaled deeply. What a relief. But there was also a twinge of joy in his chest. Kaminari leaned over Shinsou’s shoulder to press his nose then forehead into his cheek gently. He was so happy for him. Shinsou’s hand reached up to his chest where Kaminari reached around to hold it and smile looking over the papers with him.

After a bit of time, Shinsou was laying back down with eyes closed. Resting peacefully now, he was slowly giving himself away to sleep. He hadn’t been awake for more than two hours but he was already prepared to go down again. Yamada and Aizawa were both working on the paperwork already, penning down information right at that moment. Of course, they would let Shinsou fill out the rest once he had the energy.

“Oh, Shinsou,” Kaminari had been watching over Shinsou up until the final moments of him staying awake when he finally remembered something. “You were going to ask me something before. What was it?” Right before Aizawa and Yamada came in, Shinsou had a question. He never had a chance to hear or answer it.

Shinsou just barely opened his eyes and looked at the blond boy above him. “Oh yeah…” he said sleepily.  “After everything that happened… when do you think we can go back to school…?” Another student was dead, a student was kidnapped and rescued, a student faked his own death and became a traitor, one student entered the school as a traitor, and he himself just barely survived an attack from that traitor. The press conference surely didn’t blow over well and All Might wasn’t able to apprehend all of the villains, just one. School could be closed for days-

“U.A. is shutting down,” Aizawa answered. 

“What?” Shinsou and Kaminari both looked to the teacher with an intense shock.

Yamada nodded with a sudden saddened look. “I can’t blame the hero commission, but it's too much of a risk for students at this point. We don’t know if Todoroki or Midoriya have other targets and both of them would know the school too well. I imagine that’s how the League of Villains was able to sneak Kosuke’s body in and get into the USJ so easily.”

“But- But that can’t just happen! Where are we going to go to school? What about 1-A? What about you guys?” Kaminari asked nervously.

“We’re out of a job at the moment, but the Hero Commission is helping us get new teaching positions at other hero schools. As for the students, I imagine you all will be separated.” Aizawa answered. Kaminari’s face dropped. All the friends he made this semester would be gone so soon. “You’ll all be relocated to schools you applied to before U.A., your second choices. You will be able to skip entrance exams and enroll immediately with an intensive background check.”

“Thanks Midoriya…” Shinsou muttered sarcastically and bitterly with his eyes closed. Background checks. It was because of that freckled boy. The background checks were probably the final push to get Aizawa and Yamada to take custody of him. His real parents would never have anything good to say about him. 

“You… can’t be serious…” Kaminari leaned back in his chair, his hands dropping to his sides. “U.A… shut down…?” 

“Thank you for joining us this morning. While many of you were asleep, Mustafu and Yokohama were sent into chaos. Just past 10 o’clock last night, Pro Hero Endeavor’s Agency was set up in flames by an unidentified villain. She supposedly escaped and is still there on the run, likely associated with the League of Villains, the criminals involved with the USJ attack. There were six deaths and several people wounded recorded on the scene, including Endeavor himself being found in critical condition after coming in contact with an explosive at close range and falling several stories.”

The Endeavor Agency was hardly standing. The first few floors were barely intact as firefighters and detectives scavenged the scene for evidence and clues. The area was blocked off with caution tape as news reporters were just outside the barrier with camera crews. Curious civilians also gathered in small groups to see the damage for themselves. Outside the caution tape, construction and repair crews were at work repairing other damage done to the city. Fuyumi and Natsuo were amongst the crowd, dressed in long coats, casual hats, and flu masks to skew their identities. 

“ Prior to the fire, two newly identified villains were spotted within the area. Midoriya Izuku. Alias: Fallen - Rank S villain, was spotted downtown with another student that he evidently attacked. Both were identified as freshmen classmates at U.A. high school. The student attacked was later found at the press building interviewing U.A. faculty on the Summer Camp Attack. He was taken to the hospital in critical condition and is expected to recover. Conspiracy theories have started on online forums that the attacked student was a setup to make the interviewees look better in front of cameras and crew, but this has been proven untrue.”

Inko sat on the sofa of her living room, lights still on from last night. Her eyes were restless and empty. Her phone was in her hands on a missed and received call screen. There were over one hundred unanswered calls to Izuku. Without blinking or looking, her thumb tapped the latest unanswered call in order to try again. It rang once before an automated-message played explaining the number no longer existed. She hung up without hesitation. Then she tried to call again.

“Todoroki Shouto. Alias: Yako - Rank B villain, was supposedly present during the press conference with the U.A. faculty. Due to poor security checks, it was believed he walked in with a crowd of press and was not identified. He was confirmed dead at a hospital in Hosu after it caught on fire, s-so we are unsure of how he survived or got away. Some suspect a body double while others believe the villain spotted last night was an imposter. Neither has been confirmed and our detectives are working around the clock to get to the bottom of this mishap. What we know now is that he is responsible for the death of Muscular, a villain that was killed at the Summer Camp Attack, a reporter at the press building who was found dead in the closet of the interview room, and contributed to the death of U.A. student Togata Mirio.”

Rei sat in her hospital room with a newspaper. She didn’t receive many because she had never requested any until this morning. She looked at a photograph taken last night of Midoriya and Todoroki dancing on the burning rooftop. She saw his smile and how the little freckled villain stared at him so lovingly. She giggled. Then she hugged the paper close to her chest with a big smile and a blush.

“Both were spotted at the fire, although believed to not be the cause of it. It is said that this was a debut of some kind as they dropped their trademark masks. As they escaped, nomus suddenly appeared on the scene causing heroes and officers to quickly lose track of them. They were only spotted again in Kamino, Yokohama where kidnapped Bakugo Katsuki was also spotted fighting off nomus that escaped an abandoned facility where he was being held. A fight broke out between the two villains and Bakugo Katuski with another student. They were later interrupted by All Might and U.A. student Togata Mirio and then by supervillain All For One.”

Bakugo was in a hospital armed to the teeth in security in the form of officers and heroes. The outside, the waiting room, the hallways, and elevators, all the way to the door of Bakugo’s room was secured. He was kept in a glass-walled room where Kirishima, Mitsuki, and Masaru stood on the outside looking in. Bakugo’s arms were finally returning to their natural color except for a scar that was on his right shoulder from where Midoriya forced the muscle to explode. Despite it being fully healed, a scar remained. A few doctors and nurses surrounded him in a bed where they were looking over charts and a computer, taking samples of his blood and checking on a few tubes and wires he was connected to. It appeared they were taking a few tests to understand what had been done to him and what was happening currently. 

All the while, Bakugo just looked tired. There was darkness under his eyes that were hazy with exhaustion. The explosive and determined spirit behind them was absent at the moment. He gave the doctors his arms in silence whenever they asked. Opened his mouth and had his tongue swabbed. His blood was taken. His finger was pricked. Sweat was collected from his palm. His reflexes were tested. His heart rate was measured. His breathing was checked. His ears and hearing were examined. His eyesight was tested and retested. All was done without an emotion to be distinguished on his face while his parents and Kirishima watched through the glass. Mitsuki kept a strong composure while the other two nearly had their faces against the glass in nervous anxiety. 

After some time, the three were let in. To which Kirishima ran to his bedside and wrapped his arms tightly around his neck, quietly sobbing into his shoulder. Masaru dropped to his knees on the opposite side, taking Bakugo’s hand and holding it with both of his own. With his forehead against the bed, it was clear he was crying too. Mitsuki stood beside her husband, watching Bakugo never react to anything going on around him. Her expression had been stone-cold the whole time up until she was finally let up close. She seemed saddened as she ran the back of her fingers down her son’s cheek. 

While Bakugo was reunited with his loved ones, a massive figure was let into the glass walled-off room by security. All Might watched them all interact, wrapped in bandages and his right arm in a sling. He watched silently, frowning. But he put on a stern face when he watched Bakugo’s eyes lock on to him from behind the glass.

“The nomus in both cities have taken a recorded eleven lives and resulted in many others injured. And at the end of the momentous fight in Kamino, All For One was defeated by All Might and taken into custody. However, Togata Mirio was not as successful and was killed in battle. Injured by Fallen and Yako, it was Shigaraki Tomura of the League of Villains that dealt the final blow. All of the League of Villains escaped together and have not been found. Their goals are currently unclear. Their relationship with each other is also unclear. The Hero Commission and Endeavor's Agency vow to keep civilians safe from this group at all costs. But many are beginning to doubt Endeavor’s credibility after his youngest son has been identified as a villain. His popularity rating and his approval rating have dropped significantly. New allies are being requested by the Hero Commission.”

In a cemetery away from the city, a mother and father stood by a car grieving with other family members. Dressed all in black, it seemed that they were preparing to leave but still didn’t have the strength to go home without someone. At a gravestone decorated in red, white, and yellow flowers, four people still stayed behind. Nighteye stood behind a blue-haired girl, wiping her tears with the balls of her palms while still trying to keep a strong face. Though not sobbing, her grief was too strong to hold back. The man felt he could do nothing more than put his hand on her shoulder. She had to be a student from her age. She must have been a classmate, but also a close friend.

Another dark blue-haired boy had knelt down to lay down a bouquet of red roses when he didn’t get back up. He slammed the bottom of his fist against the stone instead before butting his forehead into it too. While the girl stayed quiet in her tears, it was clear the other broke down in enraged sobs as he screamed into the grave. The large pro hero behind him quickly knelt down beside him and held both his shoulders tightly, putting his face into the back of his neck to try and comfort him as best he could. 

“U.A. has been shut down due to the threat of these two new villains, as well as the school’s inability to protect their students from them. Students will be transferred to different hero schools with intense background checks. The threat of the unknown has gripped the nation in fear. If anyone has any information on these villains, please contact your local police. Stay safe. And we urge you to not go out at night alone.”

Midoriya smiled at his phone after the news recording from earlier that morning played. When it reached the end, he turned it off and placed it on the nightstand behind him. In a fluffy, well-made bed, two villains and a puppy laid in warm late morning light coming through the curtains. While one was awake and had been browsing through his phone, the other was fast asleep against his chest and a puppy sleeping in his arms. After putting his phone away, Midoriya leaned over Todoroki to kiss his forehead with a hand on his shoulder. He smiled softly and couldn’t help himself but kiss the side of his head. Todoroki was such a cute sleeper that it was irresistible.

Upon giving him gentle kisses, eventually, Midoriya would be met with lips instead of a cheek. Todoroki tilted his head ever so subtly to share a kiss with him. The freckled villain opened his eyes and pulled back with a small smile. Staring down lovingly, he watched Todoroki open his sleepy eyes halfway. His little grin was adorable. Midoriya placed a hand on the other’s partially scarred cheek.

“Good morning,” the freckled boy greeted quietly. 

“Good morning,” Todoroki responded in a sleepy sigh.

Then they both chuckled to each other before Midoriya pounced on him for a hug almost instantly. They laughed together, holding each other lovingly and nuzzling foreheads together. “Good morning… Good morning…” Midoriya repeated through giggles, kissing the other with each greeting. It was a brand new morning for both of them. “Shouchan…~” he hugged Todoroki tightly. Infamous villains together, out and known, heard and feared. It was a fantasy that had come true. It was a morning they woke up to feeling like it was a dream.

Zuzu whined from being squished in between them while trying to sleep. She wiggled out from in between them before plopping down again next to them on a pillow. Though she wagged her tail watching them, laying her head between her paws. Todoroki reached up to pet her head side to side where she sighed in bliss. Midoriya joined in petting her to which she made a sound of happiness from the attention and the love. 

“Are you hungry?” Todoroki asked. “Kurogiri didn’t look so well last night. So I could try and cook for you.” From warping people and nomus between two cities, Kurogiri was absolutely exhausted. He practically fainted upon bringing everyone home. Todoroki hoped to let him rest by taking care of himself and Midoriya.

“I would like that,” Midoriya answered, sharing a short kiss again. They’ve slept in late so they were well-rested and already hungry. But now that they were awake, they had more energy than usual. Todoroki, who would usually linger in bed for at least an hour, unburied him himself from blankets and from under his beloved. He got up and stretched his arms up wearing a t-shirt and baggy pants, his shirt climbing up to reveal his midriff in his stretch. With no hesitation, Midoriya quickly lunged at him from behind, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him back into bed in a quick motion. The mattress bounced with the sudden weight.

“Izuku-” Todoroki smiled as he was sitting up, but not for much longer as he was tackled down by his boyfriend again. To which he was attacked with a strong hug and so many kisses to the face. Todoroki lazily tried to escape without much motivation to actually get away.

“Give me like, two more minutes,” The freckled boy chuckled in his attack. “Or maybe an hour.” Straddling Todoroki’s hips by sitting on top of him, Midoriya pulled back while cupping his cheeks. “Or forever…” He wanted to be this happy, this in love, this accomplished forever. He wanted to hear Todoroki’s quiet and timid laugh forever. He heard it on that roof and he heard it this morning. He wanted to hear it every day. “I want to see you like this forever…” 

Todoroki laid with his hands beside either side of his head, staring up lovingly with a smile at Midoriya. To see the freckled boy so excited and playful was so beautiful. That depressed and broken boy at the middle school was no more; now a proud, confident, and cheerful. He felt like he finally saved him for real… “I want to see you like this forever too,” he said lovingly. “And to hear you so happy…it makes me happy.” 

“You make me happy.” Midoriya leaned down slowly before they shared a much longer kiss, tilting their heads to deepen in and make it last. The freckled boy pulled back first, still keeping his hands on the other’s face. Though one slid down to under the jaw. “Are… you okay?” he asked, seeming concerned. His hand went down a bit lower, making Todoroki flinch when he felt a fi nger graze his neck. Midoriya was careful to stop with only his fingertips touching his throat. He was always really sensitive there… ever since he met him. The fact that he still flinched upon being touched there, even after all this time, still made Midoriya sad.

“When he grabbed you like that, I got so angry. I’ve never seen you get so upset like that before.” Midoriya thought back to when All Might grabbed Todoroki by his throat just last night. How Todoroki suddenly became so verbally and visibly aggressive. Shouting and kicking like a child. It wasn’t like him to be so emotional in that way. “I know he beat you up a bit. But… does your neck hurt? Do you need me to look at it?”

“I think it’s okay.” Todoroki’s fingers met with Midoriya’s. “He didn’t choke me very hard. But I guess I did lose myself for a second there.”

“I could have gone for his throat or stabbed him or something… But I just got so upset when he held you like he did. I just wanted him to let go of you.” Midoriya began to slowly lean down again. “I don’t even touch you there. Not even alone. So no one else gets to either.” Hugging and clinging were very different from grabbing and touching. Even in their most intimate times, not once had he ever taken Todoroki by the throat. But at this moment, he leaned down to kiss the side of his neck, making Todoroki close his eyes tightly. His hand instinctively grabbed Midoriya’s hair, but he didn’t pull him back. “Are you okay with this?” he asked quietly.

“Mhm…” Todoroki mumbled very quietly. He could feel the other’s lips against the cold side of his neck while his fingertips were on the other, and no more than his fingertips. The pads of them were soft and gentle. Todoroki tilted his head up and to the side with closed eyes, trying to relax. These touches were safe. He was safe here. 

“I won’t let him do it again. I won’t let anyone do it again.” Midoriya whispered into his ear with a smile, kissing behind it as his hand opened up a little. Four fingers gently stroked the side of Todoroki’s neck. Movements were kept slow and delicate, never gripping and never more than grazing. The sensibility made Todoroki’s face scrunch as he suddenly turned and put his forehead against the other’s chest, nuzzling closer as the back of his head was petted down to his neck. He grabbed on to Midoriya’s shirt, clinging to him lovingly and securely.

It wasn’t much later when Midoriya and Todoroki were both up. Zuzu still laid on the pillow, sleepy but a little more awake. She watched Midoriya kneeling on the bed with a pile of clothes beside him. With a shirt held at his chin, he was folding it against his chest before laying it down in front of him. The news played on his phone that he had propped up against another pillow, just playing it in the background. All the while, he could smell food from the kitchen down the short hall. 

Zuzu’s nose began to twitch after so long before she lifted her head more. She eventually got up with a big stretch and a yawn then shook herself and hopped off the bed to go trotting away. Midoriya knew exactly where her little cold nose was guiding her. He finished folding the last of the clothes before following her into the kitchen where Todoroki was very focused on cooking. Though not as skilled and elegant as Kurogiri in the slightest, what he was making did smell good. Music played in the background from a small radio they kept on the counter with the news playing on the tv in the living room on mute.

Zuzu trotted with her ears and curly tail bouncing all the way to the kitchen, hopping on a chair,  and then the counter to sit on it and watch Todoroki cook. He snuck her a piece of cooked egg from chopsticks to his fingers.

Sneaking up behind him, Midoriya wrapped his arms around his neck while on his toes to get a peek over his shoulder. Todoroki would burn anything he touched in the kitchen a few months ago. But now he was able to fry rice, eggs, and vegetables without charring them. “Look at you…” Midoriya hummed. “You’ve learned a lot, huh?” He was so proud of him.

Todoroki nodded as he used chopsticks to stir everything around and bounce them in the pan without getting any on the stove. “I never thought I’d learn how to cook. I was never allowed back at the mansion. Kurogiri is a good teacher.” He was learning more about homely skills from a villain than his own family. “I want to cook for you and my mom sometime. To show her more of what I’m doing here.”

“I think she’d like that.” Midoriya pecked his cheek before blushing with his chin on Todoroki’s shoulder again.

“What about your mom?” Then he blinked. Inko was devastated and he knew it. She wasn’t like Rei. She wouldn’t support such a lifestyle like this. She probably felt betrayed by the lies he had told her. Would she be angry? Or would she just be miserable? 

“My mom…” he started. He had to think about it for a minute. “She won’t be as understanding as yours. But I don’t think she hates me. I think… she would hate herself first and blame herself for not guiding me to something less… um…murdery?” Then he shrugged. “I don’t hate her. If I find out law enforcement, or the media, or heroes start picking on her, they’re gonna die.”

“I will assist with that.” Todoroki wouldn’t allow anyone to harass Inko, not after the kindness she showed him. And he would always be sure to keep his promise to her. To always look out for Midoriya, even with all his rash decisions. 

Midoriya chuckled. “No one picks on our moms or they have to deal with us~” he sang, rocking them side to side. “Our dads can suck on maggots and coffin dust~” Todoroki chuffed with a half-smirk at the thought. Both of them were such mama’s boys and it was funny to think about. 

It was then Todoroki was able to move the pan from the active burner to one that was set on a low temperature, just enough to keep it warm while it sat. Zuzu stood up with a wagging tail when he reached for plates that were sitting beside her. But before he could grab one, Midoriya took his wrist and slid his hand into his. Todoroki blushed with a tiny sm ile, intertwining their fingers. “Shouchan… can we… um…” Midoriya, no longer on his toes, pushed his cheek against the other’s back. “Can we dance again?” he asked with a blushed grin.

Todoroki turned around slowly and took Midoriya’s other hand before leaning down to share a long kiss on the lips. With soft acoustic music playing in the background, the news displaying heroes being bombarded with the pres s and worried civilians, the apartment smelling fresh with a well-cooked homemade meal, they began to dance in t-shirts, shorts, and bare feet.

Zuzu barked before hopping down from the counter and began weaving between them and their legs, panting playfully as she played around their dance. They stepped and twirled hand in hand around their small kitchen and traveled through the living room for a giggling freckled villain to be dipped and brought back up for a peck to the cheek. Todoroki smiled softly, seeing the other enjoy himself so much. But he too felt a gentle form of joy. Being deemed alive by the world again, being seen and heard, making an impact that shocked the whole foundation of hero society. His problems were no longer  tucked away in a closet. Now everyone had to listen. All thanks to his dearly beloved that he could make smile, laugh, and blush. Dancing with him in a safe home they shared. 

Rather than continuing the dance routine up to what Mr. Compress had taught them, Midoriya went off the regim en  and tackle hugged Todoroki onto the couch and Zuzu followed. Todoroki wrapped his arms around the other’s torso and they both shared a long kiss. Midoriya tilted his head ever so slightly to deepen it, running his fingers through red and white strands affectionately. “I love you so much…more than anything,"  Midoriya said, pulling back first. 

“I love you too…” Todoroki smiled softly before he was attacked with puppy kisses to the face. Zuzu loved him too. She just had to remind him.

Out in the hallway in only baggy sweatpants and a black hoodie, Dabi stood at the outside of a door. His hand twitched to the doorknob before being brought back. He thought about knocking. But he ended up just standing there with his hands in his pockets . Just staring at the door. Waiting for a sound, for it to open, maybe for someone to come out, just something. After a few minutes, he ended up smoking a cigarette and thought about just the other night.

Midoriya retrieved a few things from his laboratory to then tend to Toga’s hand and foot on the red sofa. Todoroki sat beside her with Zuzu on his lap just to make small talk and asked what happened. The three of them were able to relay their stories at Endeavor’s agency, Shinsou in the alley, and what took place at the press conference. Todoroki appeared shocked by how insane with reputation Endeavor had become. Burnin’ was his most loyal sidekick and she tried to protect him by hiding evidence. But he turned against her out of paranoia. 

Taking a closer look at Toga’s unbandaged hand and foot, four of her fingernails had torn off as well as most of the skin on her fingertips. Her foot was red, purple, and black with burns from the explosion but mostly from a hit from Endeavor’s fire. All of this for a notebook that would have been destroyed anyway. “You should have left it. It’s gonna take a while for your nails to grow back. And your foot is gonna sting.” Midoriya muttered sadly.

“You worked so hard on those notes. It would be a pain to rewrite them all.” Toga smiled with a tilt of her head. She even smiled through the pain, although making small ‘ow’s in succession when Twice put her foot in a small bowl of warm water. 

“Sorry, sorry!” Twice apologized even though he was supposed to do that.

Meanwhile, Mr. Compress took Kurogiri’s arm over his shoulder to help the exhausted villain stand. “Where to?” he asked. Kurogiri only motioned with head to the back room of the bar. The showman nodded and assisted him there, though he wasn’t quite sure why. It would make more sense for Kurogiri to lay down and rest, but perhaps he wasn’t normal in that sense.

Left unattended, Dabi made his way right behind the counter and popped the cap off a bottle,  and took a nice long chug. He didn’t drink the whole thing, though. Just half of it. That was way too close and way too stressful. “Seriously? That’s the first thing you do?” Spinner scolded.

“Buzz off.” Dabi spat with an exhale, putting the bottle down. His eyes then narrowed at Shigaraki who didn’t even react. Normally he would comment or scold. But he was fixated on the ground. He really was not in a stable mental state. 

“Shigaraki… are you alright?” Magne asked, putting a hand on his shoulder. He didn’t answer.

“Tomu, is there something we can do?” Midoriya tended to Toga’s hand but looked to his older brother with just as much concern. 

“No…” Shigaraki stood up on his own and slowly walked away scratching his neck. Zuzu jumped off of Todoroki’s lap and went to go after him, trying to follow him into the elevator. But instead, she was kept back with his foot and he closed the doors on her. She slid back and sat down, looking hopelessly at the doors. 

“Come here. He just needs some time.” Todoroki leaned down to beckon her over. She came back and was taken in his arms and back on his lap where she put two paws on his chest and proceeded to lick some smudged blood off his cheek. 

“I don’t know. Maybe someone should talk to him.” Spinner looked to the doors. “I mean… he’s not much older than us, right? Taking on a goal like this and suddenly running everything has got to be a lot of pressure.” It was always the question of giving someone time and space or giving them company and having them talk it out. What was best in this situation? “I’m not sure if he’s up to it…”

“Don’t you dare!” Midoriya suddenly snapped. Todoroki grabbed his shoulder to keep him grounded. “He can do it. Don’t doubt him… All For One was more than just a boss to him. So don’t go thinking he’s crumbling under the pressure. Don’t shame him for having emotions like that.” Midoriya lowered his head and glared at Spinner. “All For One will probably be locked away in a prison no one can get out of. I bet it’s Tartarus. And that’s the equivalent of a death sentence. Let him grieve. All For One had faith that Tomura picked a strong and loyal team.” Midoriya thought back to how pleased the frightening villain was to meet Midoriya and Todoroki. He was polite and complimentary, proud of Shigaraki’s choices. “Tomura allowed you here for a reason. Don’t disappoint him by doubting him when he never doubted any of you.” 

Spinner, Twice, Toga, and Magne all watched and listened to Midoriya with all their attention. He was the one who knew Shigaraki the longest out of anyone here. He may have treated Dabi almost like a right-hand commander, but Midoriya was his trusted healer. Their relationship was not to be brought up to question. 

Dabi just lazily glared at everyone in the room. He stretched and cracked his neck side to side before going to the stairs. And of course,  he brought the bottle with him.  “And where are you going?” Spinner asked.

“To bed. It’s late and I’m tired.” Dabi walked right past him and didn’t turn back when he saluted with his fingers. “Wake me up when the bossman is done throwing a tantrum.” And he took another sip of the bottle before heading up. 

“So much for being strong and loyal.” Spinner huffed and folded his arms. “What an asshole. He can go be lazy. I’m going to go talk to him-”

“I think… you should wait,” Todoroki spoke up again calmly. The lizard man seemed confused. “Give him time to think first. Why don’t you stay over for the night instead?” Midoriya and Toga blinked at him and noticed him staring at the staircase Dabi went up. “Kurogiri is too weak to warp you back home and everyone will be looking high and low for us. It’s best to stay here until he’s better. But I think Shigaraki needs to process what happened before he talks about it. If he was ready to talk, he would have stayed down here… I think.” He used the words ‘I think’ very frequently. Perhaps not entirely sure or certain, but just felt his idea was the best course of action.

“I think that’s a good idea too, sweetie. It’s very considerate of you.” Magne smiled. She supported him, giving some extra confidence to those ‘I think’s. 

“There’s a spare room next to the elevator. I used to spend lots of nights there, but you should use it tonight. Maybe Mr. Compress will stay down here with Kurogiri.” The sofa wasn’t exactly the most elegant place to sleep. But Kurogiri apparently needed assistance in the bar so it would be more convenient. “If you’re hungry, there’s a pantry in the back. I’m not a great cook, but I know a little bit.” Todoroki stood up and put Zuzu on the floor.

“Let me help you, then. I’m sure you’re better than you think you are.” Magne folded her arms with a smile. Then she gestured for Todoroki to follow her. “Why don’t you be a gentleman and show me around?” Todoroki nodded bashfully as he went with her to the back of the bar. They would just walk away, but they heard some ungodly sounds coming from a walk-in freezer. Mr. Compress stood outside rubbing the back of his head.

All the while, a half-empty bottle sat at the top of the staircase and Dabi was at Shigaraki’s door. He would usually knock and go in. But this time, he just knocked and waited. It took a few seconds, but the door opened a crack with Shigaraki’s head peeking through. There was no hand on his face, but his hair drooped over half his face except for one eye. There was an empty glare in that red hue staring right up at Dabi. 

“Hey-”

“Leave.” Before Dabi could even say much of anything, Shigaraki tried shutting the door on him and spoke hushedly but harshly. The stapled man stopped the door from closing with his hand.

“I don’t think you should be alone when you’re like this. I won’t talk or anything. Just let me sit or something.” His hand shook trying to keep the door open.

“I don’t want you to be around,” Shigaraki growled and kept trying to shut the door. “Not when… I’m feeling like this.” It wasn’t like he was trying to shut the other out suddenly. It was just while he was feeling what he was. 

“That’s even more reason for someone to keep an eye on you.” Dabi’s brute strength was able to pry the door open a little more. His attention was immediately taken by the blood coming from Shigaraki’s neck. “I can see you hurting yourself. Let me in.”

“And you drank. We’re not above our flaws in times like this. Leave me alone.” With a sudden yank, Shigaraki was able to almost close the door. But Dabi stuck his foot in it at the last second. 

“Tomura, I swear-”

“Please,” Shigaraki lowered his head, refusing to make eye contact now. “Not now.” There wasn’t much force holding the door closed. Dabi just stopped trying to pry it open at the plea. “I don’t want you to see me like this. For both our sakes.”

“What are you talking about? Are you afraid to cry in front of me or something? Don’t be ridiculous-”

“Tou- Dabi-” Shigaraki said sharply. He wanted to say Touya. But he didn’t want Dabi to hear his precious name said in such a frustrated tone. So he changed what he wanted to say. “Just…” The hand at his neck turned into a fist, just clenching in anger but nor for a punch. “Just for tonight…” His patience was slipping. 

Dabi sighed and took his hand back, then his foot. He put his hands in his pockets. “I’ll be coming back for you. You better still have a throat tomorrow.” He watched Shigaraki nodded subtly and silently. There wasn’t a thank you or goodnight or anything more. Just a nod before he quietly shut the door.

Dabi stayed to hear it click shut and then lingered for a few seconds. Maybe Shigaraki would change his mind at the last second. He eventually reached for the doorknob again when he suddenly jumped back. There was a loud yet muffled crash and a muffled scream in anger. There would be bangs and thuds and loud cries in frustration and rage, all muffled by the door and walls. The sounds triggered Dabi to instinctively step back from the door and stare as he saw it tremble from something hitting it. 

Shigaraki didn’t want Dabi around when he was angry and feeling impulsively violent. Not when he had a bad history with people with nasty tempers.

It was the next morning when Dabi was standing right back where he was, smoking and in loungewear. There was no longer crashing or yelling heard behind the door. It was as silent as it usually was. Shigaraki was never one to sleep in, so he should have been awake already. The stapled man just had a hunch that he wouldn’t go down to the bar this morning either. 

Letting out one last exhale of smoke, Dabi smothered the cigarette against the wall and shoved the remains of it in his pocket. He knocked. Nobody answered. He knocked again. And there was still no answer. He kicked the knuckles of his toes against the floor as he waited. This was taking too long. “I’m coming in,” he announced as he got close to the door, putting his hand on the knob.

Shigaraki’s room was dark and trashed, though not trashed as it usually was. Instead of garbage and trash bags being all over the floor, his bookcase was face down on the ground, papers on his wall were ripped down, his chair was broken into pieces, his keyboard was in two, and anything on a shelf was scattered all over. He destroyed nearly his entire room. 

Just as Dabi suspected, Shigaraki was still in his room. He was laid down in bed over the covers, slightly curled up and his hair covering his face. Dabi looked down and kicked away some video game figurines and books aside lightly. He sighed looking at the destruction. He was grateful Shigaraki had the consideration to lash out in private in order to spare him the sight. He had little doubt that Shigaraki wanted the company last night. But didn’t want Dabi to be triggered by his rageful outburst.

Shigaraki’s bed creaked as Dabi sat down on the opposite side. “Hey…” he sighed. Shigaraki didn’t seem to react. The hand he wore on his face was near his chest almost like he was hugging it." You’re probably feeling a lot right now. What happened last night… wasn’t really something any of us saw coming,” It was just supposed to be Midoriya and Todoroki’s debut. What happened in Kamino was never supposed to take place. “I should have known why you didn’t want me to come in either.” He leaned down and picked something off the floor. Many things were broken, but this seemed to be almost untouched. The little stuffed bunny Toga bought him.

“So how are you feeling now?” Dabi asked. There was no answer. He tilted his head a bit to see if he could get a better look at Shiagaraki’s neck. There was blood around it on the sheets. “I know you’re not sleeping. Guess you just don’t feel like talking,” He had half a mind to start smoking again in order to get the red-eyed villain to say something. 

Dabi sat on the bed in silence for a few minutes. The blinds were shut on the window making the room exceptionally dark, though the morning light was bright enough to help him see a little bit. Would he be sitting here all day waiting for some kind of response? “Can you at least tell me what you’re thinking about?” He might actually need to sit there all day. He made a loud sigh and shook his head. “Alright, I get it…” Too many thoughts at once, that had to be it.

“So… I guess you’re pissed looking at the state of your room. Pissed at heroes for doing hero things and ruining everything like the scum they are. And pissed that your boss self-sacrificed like he did.” Dabi could only think to speak his mind and try to say what he was seeing in Shigaraki. Maybe if he talked like this, the other would give him some kind of sign of confirmation or correction. “Fallen said you both were close. From what I saw, that guy has a lot of faith in you. Maybe even like a dad or something. Not like I’d know what that’s supposed to feel like. So maybe you’re really depressed too.” He stared at the bunny in his hand, flexing his thumb and index finger around its neck.

“And now you have this team of rejects and a doctor that you don’t trust to take over society. So you’re stressed too, right? Even more than you already were. So… are you questioning yourself?” They’ve talked about self-doubt before, though geared more towards Dabi. It didn’t seem that Shigaraki had a lot of self-doubt, at least not that either of them noticed. Maybe not until now. “I didn’t think you’d be one to succumb to the pressure. But you’re only human…”

There was the smallest shifting sound. Dabi turned his head to see Shigaraki had curled up a little smaller. It would appear that his deductions were right. After all, he knew these feelings pretty well too. “Even though it does seem like a lot, you’re capable of doing unimaginable things. Things… that I don’t even want to admit.” He placed the bunny on a nightstand before running his hands over his face. Was he really going to say these things? “You made a stubborn bastard like me change my mind on lots of things… So believe me when I tell you that what you’re reaching for here is not out of your grasp at all.” 

Shigaraki turned his face into the mattress. It was like he was disagreeing. He didn’t believe him. “Don’t give me that. We were never supposed to be this way. I supposed to get you to fall for me so you would let me get close and I could get you to do things that I wanted. I wanted to keep you at arm’s length and just tag along for the ride, but that had to change. So I thought about emotionally manipulating you.” He bit his lower lip and growled to himself. He couldn’t believe he was saying this out loud.

“That night I lied and couldn’t kill someone, I realized you were soft. So I went to get on your good side and it worked. But… I don’t know what happened.” Dabi scratched his head with both hands. “I don’t know what you did to me. I’ve been with so many people and done this a million times just to get what I wanted out of them , not caring what happened to them. But I actually got attached to you!” He sounded pretty bitter. But he wasn’t regretful. “I look up to Stain and what he stood for and you worked with him and even formed a positive allyship with him. I can see why. Your ideals, your determination,  and ruthlessness against heroes impressed me. But… I never expected you to be as you are…” Shigaraki showed no reaction.

“You come off as bratty and impulsive sometimes, but you have so much self-control and consideration.” His immediate personality was childish, but when people looked past it, there was a mature leader who cared for his comrades’ boundaries and passions. “You pretend that you don’t but… you care. Most people in our positions aren’t like that. I’m… not like that.” Shigaraki outwardly cared about Midoriya. Checking on him, consoling him, carrying him to bed, giving advice as a leader and a brother. He was understanding of Magne’s background and pronouns. He respected people’s trust and loyalty and returned it. “I don’t know what’s happened to you in the past. I don’t think you remember what happened to you either. But when bad shit happens, they don’t turn out like you do.” Dabi gritted his teeth.

“They do everything for themselves, no matter who they have to step on. It’s their wants and their wants only. I’ve done what I had to do to get here. I didn’t let many people step on me, and I let them when it worked in my favor. But I’m no better… and you actually made me reconsider. And I fucking hate you for it.” He gripped the side of his head and hunched over. “I wasn’t supposed to be a big brother again… How the hell did you make me do that? How?!” He slammed his hand on the mattress and turned back to look. “I was supposed to kill my little brother, not save him! He was supposed to be my father’s prized possession and I was supposed to destroy him. But you stole him and changed him before I got to him. And now…” He looked at his hand for some reason. It was shaking. “You’ve turned an alcoholic street rat, village bicycle, whatever, like me, who wanted to kill my youngest brother into someone with responsibility and empathy… You don’t get to just do that and tell me you don’t think you’re good enough to step up to a challenge All For One left you!” Shigaraki still didn’t move.

“You just… had to show me that phone call. Hearing him get beat to hell like I used to… and when I saw him in that fire…” Dabi closed his eyes trying not to think about it. “...what was I thinking…? Like I could actually kill him. I’ve always wanted to… I just put on the big brother act back then to convince myself I didn’t want to.” He forced a crooked smile. It was amazing what being in a supportive relationship and environment could do to someone. “Did you know he cries in his sleep? I didn’t. Not until he fell asleep next to me after training! And all that avoiding I did after I brought his stupid ass here, not only did I not want him to remember me, I didn’t want that impulse to kill him to come up again. But he just… he couldn’t keep away! I was thinking maybe even you’d kill him if I told you he was too nice to be a villain. Then that brat experimented on him and I got so pissed. No matter what I tried, I couldn’t keep him away and I couldn’t bear to see him die. You’ve made this so difficult for me!” 

Maybe there was a small twitch from Shigaraki’s hands. “So you see yet? You can do crazy fucking things! You turned a quirkless nobody into one of the most feared villains in the country! You got two of the number two’s sons wrapped around your finger! You have monsters capable of destroying cities at your disposal! And the League of Villains is already getting a cult following online from the debut and Stain! So don’t be hiding in bed scared of the pressure. You can destroy and build anything you want! I told you we’d burn this fucking world together-!” An arm suddenly wrapped around Dabi’s neck and pulled him down on the bed to lay down. 

Shigaraki crawled over Dabi and pinned his wrists down with ungloved hands. He was always careful with his pinkie fingers. Dabi was initially shocked by the sudden movements and tried to push him off. He stopped quickly when he realized what happened. He was stuck looking up at empty red eyes staring down at him, droplets dripping down on to his cheeks. There was no sobbing or weeping, just a dead, still face that was crying. Shigaraki may as well just be daydreaming if it weren’t for the tears. “No matter what happens…” Dabi said. “I’ll be at your side when you need me. Your ultimate goal is not just for you to bear alone.” He reached up with a stapled hand to hold the other's tearful cheek.

Shigaraki leaned down and slowly closed his eyes, laying on top of Dabi and wrapping his neck in a hug. Burying his face into his shoulder, he was completely silent as a hand sifted through Dabi’s hair carefully. No words yet. But at least he wasn’t playing dead. “You don’t need to feel better right away. But you better not give up.” Dabi said and felt him nod. Then he sighed and wrapped his hands around his torso. “And before you ask, no, I’m not going to fuck you so you can numb your brain with the pain.” He could hear Shigaraki huff as a response like he was pouting. Dabi gave him a little pat on the back. “Have you eaten since yesterday?” Shigaraki shook his head. “Well , I ’m not letting you go on a hunger strike either.”

Dabi sat up and Shigaraki kept clinging to him. “You wanna come with me or do you want to hide some more?” Shigaraki let go and let himself fall on his side limply back on the mattress. He wanted to hide some more. Dabi scratched his cheek and then stood up to stretch. “I won’t be long.” Neither of them had eaten so he was a little hungry too. It would lead to him leaving Shigaraki temporarily to go down to the bar.  

The stapled man was surprised when he could smell food coming from down the stairs. Was Kurogiri up and running again? He would think so until he heard a small bark. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, Zuzu poked her head from around the corner of the backroom to look at him. She wagged her little tail and trotted up to him, bouncing against his leg playfully. “And what are you doing down here?” He snuck his foot under her belly and slowly lifted her up as she balanced on it while wiggling. Then he put her back on the floor.

Dabi walked to the backroom with Zuzu close behind. “Try turning the heat down, then flick your wrist up a little like this. It takes some practice so don’t be embarrassed.” Mr. Compress stood beside Todoroki in the kitchen that was kept in the back. The freezer was still closed with boxes stacked in front of it. Guess no one was allowed inside still. 

“I… messed up,” Todoroki admitted and lowered his head. It seemed Mr. Compress was helping him cook but as per usual, Todoroki still struggled to master the art. At least he was trying his best. Hearing some footsteps and puppy steps, he noticed Dabi come in with Zuzu.

“Ah, so you’ve finally emerged.” Mr. Compress greeted him.

“Yeah, yeah.” Dabi scratched the side of his head and went raiding the cabinets instead. Shigaraki wasn’t the type to eat a normal breakfast. “Don’t mind me. Just pretend I’m not even here.” He walked right past them with Zuzu on his heels as he opened and searched through nearly all the cabinets and drawers. Mr. Compress didn’t question him but Todoroki was staring at him a lot. Like normal. But it was like he was waiting to make eye contact. Even Zuzu bit the back of Dabi’s pant leg to give him a little tug towards Todoroki. “What do you want?” he looked down at the puppy before glancing at his little brother.

Without a word, Todoroki quietly took his foot and opened a cabinet that was right next to him towards the floor. Inside was that magical box of cookies that Kurogiri consistently hid from Shigaraki. Then, very subtly, Todoroki slid a small plate of sausage, egg, vegetables, and rice to the side, right on the counter space above the opened cabinet. Looking back at Mr. Compress, he listened and nodded his head at further instruction the showman was giving him.

Dabi blinked with wide eyes as Zuzu trotted over to the cabinet. Dabi lied to Todoroki's face and said he and Shigaraki weren’t in any kind of relationship. But Todoroki knew. And yet, he didn’t appear angry or hurt. Rather, he was being quiet and subtle while trying to help him. Dabi soundlessly gulped as he knelt down into the cabinet beside his little brother and stole the box inside, then took the plate and went to leave. Just as he reached the doorway, he glanced back and made eye contact again, receiving side-eye from Todoroki as he was still focusing on cooking. Todoroki was the first to look away and go back to what he was doing.

Zuzu stopped following Dabi and stuck right by Todoroki, letting the stapled man go back up the stairs in peace. Returning to Shigaraki’s door, he made it just in time to see it closing as someone had just gone in. He put the box and plate on the floor before opening the door as lightly and quietly as possible.

“I wanted to check on your neck,” Midoriya said. Shigaraki was sitting up at the foot of the bed while Midoriya was on his knees beside him, carefully dabbing a folded cloth over his mutilated neck. He was cleaning the blood off first, but being careful to not irritate the skin even more than it already was. “I wanted to check on you too. You take physical pain really well. But something like this isn’t easy for anyone. I didn’t think it would be fair if I let you deal with it on your own.” 

Shigaraki didn’t answer. All he did was tilt his head in any direction to let Midoriya do his work more easily. His eyes looked just as empty and tired as before.

“Everyone’s worried about you. So just take your time. We’ll come back from this even stronger than we were before. The heroes are scrambling and villains all over the country are rising up from the unrest.” With most of the blood cleaned away, Midoriya went into a black box he brought with him and wet a different cloth with a disinfectant. “All For One and Master Akaguro were like a king and folk legend. With them taken down, I imagine it's going to turn into a free-for-all. We’re not going to fall behind.” Shigaraki didn’t even flinch at the stinging to his neck.

“We started this together so I’ll be with you no matter what happens. I’ll do whatever you need me to, I’ll be up to whatever task you have for me. You can count on me. I'll recruit, I’ll kill, I’ll manipulate whoever you want me to.” Midoriya then smeared a cream all around Shigaraki’s neck before wrapping it tightly. “You gave me a new dream. I’ll make sure you achieve yours and help take down whoever gets in your way.” He began to stash away his tools in the box.

“But until you’re ready to get back on your feet, we’ll wait patiently, okay?” The little villain leaned up after packing his things and hugged Shigaraki carefully around his shoulders. “Don’t worry about us. Shouchan and I can take care of things so you can take your time.” Midoriya smiled and pulled back with an innocent giggle. The League would be waiting for their leader to recover so it was important to take the time to heal properly. It was subtle, but the little villain would feel the other lean some weight into him from the side. Sometimes even a big brother needed some comfort and help.

Dabi was sure to hide when Midoriya came out and casually took the elevator down to his lab. Dabi was hiding in the staircase when he returned to Shigaraki’s room and sat down beside him. “C’mon, eat something. You’re already a twig.” He passed him the box of cookies while he ate from the plate with his fingers. Like a gremlin. The box was placed on Shigaraki’s lap for him to open and start quietly eating. 

“So what’s the plan for today? It’s already past noon. You going to be hiding all day?” Dabi asked. “No shame in it.” Shigaraki just shrugged. “You want me to stay?” Shigaraki leaned his shoulder against Dabi’s. That was a yes. “Alright.”

Shigaraki would eat only a few cookies while leaning against the stapled man in silence. When they were both done, they would just sit there. A few minutes passed. Dabi took out his phone and scrolled through the news a bit. Crimes were already popping up all over the place. Hero agencies were being bombarded with press and protests. The hospital Endeavor was supposedly at was surrounded. 

Nearly an hour passed. And it was Shigaraki who was the first to get up. Dabi watched him get to his feet for his first time all day. With his head low, he walked across the room and knelt down on the floor to pick up one of his special gloves. Then he reached for another that ended up underneath his desk and put them on. Dabi watched him. He watched him go over to the fallen over bookcase and bend down to get his fingers around the edge and start to lift it back up. Cleaning his room after the mess he made.

Putting down his phone, Dabi got up and went to the opposite side of the bookcase and helped him lift it and lean it back up against the wall where it belonged. “I’ll help ya.” He said with a smirk. “And sometime we can go out and get you a new chair and keyboard.” He started by trying to let more light into the room by opening the shades. As sunny and bright as it was in the morning, clouds were quickly rolling in for a small passing storm.

Whenever trash bags needed to be brought to the ground floor, snacks needed to be retrieved, or any outside trips needed to be made, Dabi would be the one to do it and leave Shigaraki in his room in privacy. Sheets were changed to not be bloodstained from his neck. Broken figures and other objects were thrown in trash bags, furniture was put back into place, and both of them worked together in near silence with only the sound of rain pattering against the window. 

“You know, you can move some of your stuff into my place if you want. Like your gaming stuff. Maybe your clothes so you can stop stealing mine.” Dabi offered, tying a trash bag on the floor while Shigaraki was reconnecting wires under his desk back into the wall. “Like… instead of just staying over, you can move in or something. Even though you kinda own the whole place, you know what I mean.” He looked up at the scrawny villain to see any sign of an answer. “What do you think?”

Shigaraki paused, staring at the extension outlet that he had full of wires. It wasn’t really that big of a commitment to start staying in Dabi’s room.  They were already spending every night together since intercourse.   He was literally just on the opposite end of the hall. However, rather than living and working in the same room most hours of the day, he could live in company and separate work and leisure spaces. But more than anything… the company would be a big change .  “Mhm,” he nodded.

Dabi smirked. “Might as well move some things now then.” 

A day of grieving and wallowing was becoming a day of productivity. Several hours had been put into cleaning Shigaraki’s room. And a few more were being put into moving some of his things down the hall. While no one was looking of course. It was the first thing that got Shigaraki out of his room. He would spend time organizing his clothes around Dabi’s room and setting up his gaming systems around the apartment. While he was setting it up, the stapled man took the time to make hot chocolate and coffee.

After what they pulled last night, this all almost seemed too casual. Doing something so daring and so impactful, and now they were sort of moving in together. They did something so intense and crazy. People died. And on a rainy afternoon, he was making coffee while the other was hooking up a console to a tv in the living room. At least he was. When Dabi turned back, he noticed Shigaraki was gone. “Tomura?”

Dabi never saw him leave through the main door. He took a step out of the kitchen and glanced around when he quickly found the other outside on the balcony, just leaning against the railing with his mouth hidden behind folded arms. He seemed pretty content just watching the rain and looking out over the portion of the city that he could see.

After a short sigh, Dabi put two cups down on a low table in the living room. He then went to the balcony door and opened it carefully. Very delicately, he wrapped his arms around Shigaraki’s tiny waist. “Bunny, what are you doing out here…?” he asked hushedly.

“Just thinking…” Finally. Actual words. Dabi felt so much relief.

“Whatcha thinkin’ about?” 

“I don’t know…” 

“That’s alright.” Dabi buried his face into the other’s shoulder. His hand snuck up under his shirt and up to his abdomen. “You’re cold.”

“I’m always cold.” A gloved hand made its way on top of Dabi’s and another rested in black spikey hair, gently rubbing it side to side. Shigaraki then felt the other start to heat up to try and warm him. “Touya… what are we doing?”

“I don’t know. That depends what you’re asking.”

“I… don’t know…”

They stood in silence for a few minutes after that, letting the rain shower soothingly. They were still until Dabi kissed just under Shigaraki’s jawline. Then kissed him again closer to the front of his ear. And once more at his cheek. Shigaraki turned his head to meet him halfway for a shared kiss, one that lasted a moment as a short peck. Then with half-lidded eyes staring at each other, they leaned in again for a much longer kiss. Taking his hands back, Shigaraki moved them to hold the other’s burnt cheek and shoulder. He turned his body to face him, letting Dabi move his hands to his lower back and bring him closer. 

With more control of their placement, as they kissed, Dabi subtly began to push Shigaraki back. Back until he was gently put against the wall. Dabi’s forearms were placed against the wall on either side of Shigaraki’s head and allowed the scrawny villain to pull him closer by his shoulder and cheek. Shigaraki pulled back first, though he didn’t have a lot of room to. Dabi pressed his forehead against his and watched him take the time to breathe up close, bodies up against each other.

“Tomcat…” Shigaraki exhaled.

“Bunny,” Dabi smirked before leaning in again for a kiss with much more force than before, entangling one hand’s fingers in light blue hair.

Two empty mugs sat on Dabi’s nightstand as Dabi was just coming out of the kitchen eating a small bowl of rice with chopsticks. He walked into his room when he stopped at the door. “Seriously?” Shigaraki made himself right at home way faster than he expected. He found him lying on his stomach, facing the tv, video game controller in hand and fully focused on a game. But more than anything, he was wearing Dabi’s villain coat. “You couldn’t just grab a blanket if you were that cold?”

“I feel dark and mysterious.” 

“You were already dark and mysterious.” Putting the half-eaten bowl down beside the mugs, Dabi sat down at the top of the bed and looked at the tv to see what Shigaraki was playing. It seemed a bit… cutesy. Almost a little too cute for him. “What is this?”

“I’m giving a wolf a dinosaur statue I found in a tree so he’ll give me money to pay a mortgage off to a tanuki.”

“I don’t even wanna know. Aren’t you trying to dismantle society and capitalist gain? Not contribute to it?”

“I stole the game.”

“Nevermind then.” Dabi shook his head and laid down. The pillows were fine. But then he got a better idea when watching the other play his game.

Shigaraki’s face turned bright red and shivered when he felt his lower back being touched. Rather, his butt was being squished together. Dabi then laid his head on it and curled up a bit ready to go to sleep. “T-Tomcat..-” 

“I’m not doing anything.” Dabi hummed with a smug grin, eyes closed, and was very comfortable. “Just keep playing. I’m fine.” He waved his hand and adjusted his position a little bit. 

“You are the worst.”

“I hope so.” 

Shigaraki had half a mind to kick Dabi in the face where he laid. But in return for stealing his jacket, then he could allow it. Just this once. Never again. Never. He was able to play his game in peace with the stapled man resting on him comfortably for a long while. All up until his phone vibrated on the bed. He paused his game and reached over to look at it. “Who is it?” Dabi grumbled. He was so close to going fully to sleep. He turned on his other side and wrapped his arms around Shigaraki to press his cheek more into him.

“Izuku…” Shigaraki tapped the screen with his thumb a few times. “He said we should go to Toga’s room.”

“Do you wanna? I'm happy right here.”

“I know you are.” Shigaraki rolled his eyes. “I think if we went into her room, we would die.” It was so pink and colorful. Surely, it would kill them both. “But…” He wanted to think about it for a moment. He hadn’t seen anyone besides Dabi and Midoriya all day. Everyone was probably wondering how and what he was doing. “I think we should.”

“Alright,” Dabi sighed and got up. And just as he sat up, he looked towards the floor and noticed a little fluff ball between his legs. Zuzu was sitting right at his feet with a little piece of paper in her mouth reading ‘come to Toga’s room’. It seemed Todoroki was trying to call them over too. “Talk about teamwork… jeez.” he took the piece of paper and burned it to then pat Zuzu’s head. She then walked in tiny excited circles, waiting for the two to get ready. Putting Dabi’s jacket away, putting the hand on Shigaraki's face, washing dishes, cleaning the kitchen quickly, and grabbing their phones.

When they were done, Zuzu got low with her tail high and ready to play as she bounced up and down to then run out through the doggy door. Dabi rolled his eyes and followed as Shigaraki walked closest to her. She pranced to Toga’s room and disappeared through the door. With a sigh, Shigaraki hesitantly knocked on the door before opening it a little.

The whole room smelt like cake. There was the sound of a tv on and even a video game playing. Both things triggered Shigaraki’s curiosity and he opened the door more. In Toga’s living room, cluttered with snacks and stuffed animals, Todoroki, Toga, and Magne were on the sofa together. Dabi almost felt bad for his little brother seeing Toga painting his nails with nail polish. It didn’t look like he was being held hostage though. On the floor, Twice, Spinner, and Midoriya were sitting beside each other, eyes locked on the multiplayer game they were playing. Mr. Compress watched without his mask from the sidelines with his arms folded. He smiled at how heated Midoriya and Spinner were getting, trying to cheat by getting in each other’s way to block the screen. Twice was losing but looked like he was enjoying himself innocently. 

“So you two cared to join us.” Mr. Compress noticed.

“Of course Tomura did.” Midoriya leaned in front of Spinner and Spinner leaned right back, pushing him aside as best he could.

“Then maybe you’ll stop cheating now that he’s here to watch!” he complained.

“Not a chance!” 

Zuzu was found in Magne’s lap and was curiously watching her owner sit very still, staring intensely at his hands as Toga was painting them. “I thought it would be better to wait until it was night. When you’re alone all day, you’re bound to get lonely,” Todoroki mumbled.

“You’re so smart and considerate Sho-Sho~” Toga hummed. “Are you going to sit or what? Magne made a bunch of sweets with me! We made shortcake too~” Toga remembered from her first outing with Shigaraki that he liked shortcake. He had a sweet tooth just like her. “Eat as much as you want.” She looked towards the door at Shigaraki and Dabi. Dabi looked like he was going to throw up from all the cute stuffed animals and the lights.

“They’re not poisonous! I checked! But maybe one of them is…” Twice said just as Shigaraki sat down beside Midoriya who was on the far end of the line of people sitting. Dabi sat on the opposite side near Mr. Compress.

“You all stayed all day?” he asked.

“Fallen said it would be best for Shigaraki if we did. It would appear he was correct. And it was Yako that recommended we all come together here to create a good environment for him.” The showman answered, watching Shigaraki talk quietly with Midoriya before the little villain handed him a controller. “No one is immune to grief and pressure. As comrades, I don’t believe it was too much to ask for our trust and patience.” 

“I’m glad it all worked out,” Todoroki added, eavesdropping. Toga finished painting his last nail. All of them were black. He was sure to be very careful to not smudge them so he moved to the arm of the sofa to keep them safe. Then Magne lifted Zuzu up so Toga could paint her claws again happily. “It’s also nice being with everyone like this…”