Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was strange. Robin crouched on the edge a roof in still hours of the night. He’d long since lost his fear of heights, now finding them exhilarating. The strangeness wasn’t from the location, or position, or even the hour. No, the strangeness was the still ever-aching emptiness beside him. His mentor… his father was gone. Long dead, by now. And even years later, it was still so painful.

Everyone he knew… loved… fought to protect… gone.

He shook himself out of his steadily darkening thoughts. Now wasn’t the time for this. He had a patrol to finish, and though it wasn’t Gotham, it was still home.

He leapt off the roof with no hesitation. Fear forgotten years ago, he let out a quiet laugh as he shot off his grappling hook before swinging across the city. Civilians and Heroes were none-the-wiser—he’d memorized Heroes’ patrol routes long ago. Even the Underground Heroes tended to have some kind of schedule.

The only unpredictable element was his favorite to mess with—Eraserhead.

Though he’d never let the man see him—just as no hero had ever seen more than his shadow—he made sure the man still knew him. He’d tie up criminals and leave all kinds of notes and puzzles for his favorite Hero to solve. Sometimes, on nights like tonight when he knew the man had been far too overworked, he left him gifts.

Which is why he was currently hiding two roofs across from the man (said Hero completely unaware of his presence). He smirked as he threw a stone just behind him, causing Eraserhead to whirl around in surprise.

With his tech, he could hear the man speak. “Goddamnit, kid. I know you can hear me… somehow.” He sighed as he spied the gift basket sitting innocently where Robin had left it.

Eraserhead picked up the note. ‘Looked like you could use this. Enjoy your quiet shift—you’re welcome! –Robin’

The basket held snacks, a steaming bowl of soba, and—most importantly—Eraserhead’s favorite coffee from his favorite coffee shop across town. “Thank you.” He whispered with a soft smile. “Though I don’t understand why you do this.”

Maybe… tonight would be okay? He’d spent years messing with Eraserhead. And while the man knew he was under the age of 18 (due to an earlier game) he had no idea that he was still in middle school. They’d never met face-to-face, after all. Robin was very good at staying undetected.

But he and Eraserhead had a sort of… understanding. At least, Robin thought they did. If he showed himself… would he still turn him in?

He decided to take that chance. After all, the Entrance Exams for U.A. were tomorrow. Eraserhead was a teacher there, and if Robin attended the school, there was no doubt that he’d put the pieces together eventually. Well… most of them.

“Maybe because I’m fond of you?” Robin spoke from the edge of the building that Eraserhead had just vacated.

The Hero whirled around in shock, taking in the bright colors of the vigilante’s costume for the first time.

“So you’re Robin.”

“Robin the Boy Wonder. Yup~! That’s me!” He grinned. Not quite a boy anymore, though, but I suppose I can stick with the title for a few more years.

“You really are a kid.” He muttered to himself, before noticing Robin’s tense posture. “I won’t catch you tonight. Nobody’s here but us. And to be honest… you do more good than anything.”

“Yet you’ve tried to catch me before.” Robin raised an eyebrow.

“I still think you should stop. This is dangerous. But I know if I tried to catch you, you’d still get away.” Eraserhead sighed, and Robin smirked. At least he wasn’t underestimating him just because he was a bit younger than expected.

A few moments passed before Eraserhead spoke again. “Why?”

“Why what?” Robin tilted his head as he sat on the edge of the ledge, facing Eraser as he sat down against the wall.

“Why did you show yourself to me? After four years of scarcely a shadow?”

“Hmm… I guess it’s because I’m lonely. And I trust you more than any other Hero.”

“Me?” Eraser snorted in disbelief.

“Yes. You. You… remind me of him, in a way…” Robin trailed off, old memories accosting him. He shook his head violently, returning to the present. “Besides, I figure I’ll start a new game~!”

“Oh, great.” Eraserhead pinched the bridge of his nose, staving off a headache. “What’re you up to this time?”

“Tomorrow’s the Entrance Exam for U.A.”

Eraser’s head whipped up in shocked realization. “Don’t tell me you’re not even in high school…”

“If I pass the test tomorrow, I could be one of your students, Aizawa-sensei.” Robin smirked. The man stiffened at the use of his Civilian name, but let it slide.

“If? Kid, there’s no if about it. With the way you’ve been able to subdue villains and avoid police and Heroes alike, I’d eat my scarf if you failed the Entrance Exams.”

“Hehe… I’ll look forward to being one of your students, then.”

“I’ll buy aspirin in advance.” He replied dryly. “You aren’t going to give up this vigilantism though, are you?” Robin didn’t answer, and that was all the answer Eraserhead needed. “Can you at least tell me why you do it?”

“Because it’s all I know.” Robin answered after a moment, biting his lip. “It’s all I’ve got left of them… If I give up being Robin… then they’re lost forever.” His tone was quiet and mournful, and Aizawa didn’t need to look to see the tears seeping out from under the domino mask.

“Then how about this…” Aizawa sighed, coming to his own decision. Robin was grateful that the man had enough tact to drop the obviously sensitive subject. “Once you get into U.A., we’ll talk to Nezu about making you my apprentice. Then you’ll go on patrol with me, and I can keep an eye on you. I’d feel better knowing you weren’t fighting for your life in some back alleyway somewhere.”

“What’s the catch?” Robin’s eyes narrowed. This seemed too good to be true. Though he made it seem easy… it was really annoying and extremely difficult to dodge the heroes and the police. It was so much easier when nobody had Quirks.

“Does there have to be a catch to care about someone?” Aizawa gestured to the basket that Robin had left for him.

“Fair enough. Though if you’re sure you want to take me under your…” Wing… “Tutelage, then there’s something you should know about me.” He smirked with his signature cackle. “I’m Quirkless.” He backflipped off the roof, giving the Hero a panic attack before he watched the young vigilante swinging away on a grappling hook, cackling madly.

“I’m going to go grey with this one.” Aizawa sighed. “Problem Child.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: U.A. Exam

The next day dawned bright and warm, much to Robin’s chagrin. He’d tried to turn in early the night before, but he kept running into trouble. First that mugging, then that gang, and then a freaking bank robbery!! At three in the goddamned morning!! Who robs a bank at three AM?!

In all, he hadn’t gotten back home until well past four, and had to catch his train at 7:15 to make it to the Entrance Exams on time.

He rubbed at his bright green eyes, darkening the circles that had long-since become a permanent fixture of his visage.

He double-checked that he had everything, his gaze lingering on his ID. His civilian name still felt strange to him, after all these years.

For over half a decade, he’d gone by Richard Grayson. So it was only recently that he’d started getting used to seeing the name Midoriya Izuku as his own again. Great. As if two identities weren’t enough for one kid, toss in a third and time-travel, and this is the bullshit you get.

Oh, if Bruce could hear his foul-mouthed brain, he’d have a mouthful of soap for sure. And heaven forbid Alfred ever heard those words cross his tongue. His heart twinged at the thought of his family. Gone. Dead.

He was shaken from his thoughts as the train pulled to a stop. He almost didn’t realize it was his stop until it was too late.

With a sigh of relief—because as amusing as watching Eraserhead eat his own scarf would be, he didn’t want to stay a vigilante forever—he made his way over to U.A. “Wow… impressive.” He whistled, holding his backpack a tad firmer.

He nearly tripped on an exposed brick in the path (who was in charge of the maintenance around here?), but managed to smoothly recover before noticing a girl with a hand outstretched towards him.

“Oh, sorry! I noticed you were about to trip, and was going to catch you!” She snatched back her hand nervously.

“O…kay? Thanks for the almost-save, then?” How was he supposed to respond to that? The only people his age he really talked to were Barbara and Wally.

“Are you nervous? I’m nervous! Oh, we should get going! Good luck!” She then sped off, obviously as much of a scatterbrain as Izuku used to be.

I think she would’ve gotten along well with… He shook his head and went inside.

The only seat open was next to Bakugo Katsuki—his old childhood friend, and current bully/tormentor. Of course, he could totally kick Bakugo’s butt! But he had a secret identity to keep, and Midoriya Izuku wasn’t a strong athletic type. Not yet, anyways.

He’d been keeping everything under wraps until today. Nobody would expect it—a Quirkless kid passing the U.A. Hero Entrance Exams?! Unheard of! Preposterous! And totally his style. He smirked as Present Mic stepped up on the stage.

He resisted the urge to geek out (yes, he was still a fanboy. Sue him!) as he listened to the rules. Robots. Totally his style. He was feeling the Aster today, and was immensely glad that he’d gotten several pieces of equipment approved for the exam.

Like his grappling hook, staff, and—shockingly enough—his cell phone. (Which, as it turned out, was allowed anyways). He was totally going to win this.

Izuku wondered why he was the only person in the entire auditorium who kept responding to Present Mic’s calls. The man had grinned excitedly every time Izuku shouted out—he honestly felt kinda bad for the man. As a performer himself, he understood how hard it could be to work with an unresponsive crowed.

Though he got several glares for his antics, Izuku really couldn’t give two shits. “I am loving your energy, Listener! I’ve got my eye on you!” Present Mic grinned, and Izuku couldn’t help his own grin. Several people near him muttered in surprise, even as a blue-haired guy stood up and openly called Izuku out on being disruptive.

Again, he didn’t humor the kid with a response. Izuku really didn’t give a damn, though the spotlight was uncomfortably hot. “I mean, if you want to give me the stage, I know a couple of magic tricks, but I really don’t think that’s why we’re here today.” Izuku shot back at the startled boy. “Look, I’m here for the same reason as you—to become a Hero. Just cause you don’t like my style, doesn’t mean I’m not serious.” Izuku grinned, before gesturing to Present Mic, who had a very well-hidden smirk of amusement on his face. “Take it away, Present Mic~!” Izuku stated in his best entertainer voice, to which the man laughed.

“Of course!” He grinned. “Talk to me after the exam, I think I want you to be a guest on my radio show! You’ve got the perfect presence for it!”

“You got it!” Izuku’s grin was matched only by the hero’s. He didn’t miss the way half the auditorium glared death at him, but he didn’t mind. He may have made a ton of enemies, but he’d certainly caught the attention of the heroes, and in a competition like this, that was what mattered.

Twenty minutes later, they were standing before the gates to the testing area. And Holy shit, just how big is this school?! He was starting to think that Bruce’s fortune found its way to Japan.

“GO!” The moment he heard it, he reacted, dashing through the gates with the speed of the devil.

His staff was extended, and it wasn’t long before he came across a three pointer. With a wicked smirk, he easily incapacitated it. It was nothing compared to some of the villains he’d dealt with.

He then started wracking up points. 20; 32; 57… He was having a blast!

Until it showed up. The ground rumbled, and his expression grew immediately serious. His eyes widened when he saw the 0P robot. “That’s insane!” Maybe it was to test their reflexes and logic under pressure?

He was about to monitor and help the others escape when his ears picked up a familiar sound—a cry for help.

Before he’d fully registered it, he was running towards the cry, mind racing at a million miles a second. His staff wasn’t going to take down that—that much he knew. And the girl was trapped under the rubble… with the rate the Zero Pointer was moving, it would take too long to get her out of there and escape.

He grit his teeth. Only one option, then. It was risky, but he’d literally diffused bombs before. This—he reminded himself—was still a (hopefully) controlled environment.

With no further thought, he used his grappling hook to launch himself up to the head of the robot. Where is it?! He pried off the panel before finding what he was looking for. The robot was far too complex to simply snip a few wires and deactivate, but that wasn’t what he was after.

He pulled out his cell phone, his best and most versatile weapon, and connected the wires he needed. Then he got to something he was best at—hacking.

In the observation room, Aizawa Shouta was carefully watching this year’s batch of applicants. Robin was in there somewhere, and he just had to figure out where.

His eyes roamed over the monitors. He had a handful of applicants in mind. It would have to be someone who didn’t show any obvious Quirks, as the kid he was looking for didn’t have one.

And wasn’t that a kicker? One of the most sought-after and notorious vigilantes in Japan… was Quirkless. And a 14-year-old kid.

They were four minutes into the practical, and Shouta was fairly sure he knew which applicant it was. That one kid with the green hair… his movements were too practiced, too smooth, and flowed too well. The way he leapt from roof to roof… he was sure of it before he even fired off his grappling gun.

“Who’s that kid?” Shouta pointed him out to Nezu.

“Oh? You’re taking an interest in an applicant? How unlike you, Aizawa!” Nezu grinned. “Let’s see… Midoriya Izuku. Fourteen, Quirkless.”

“Quirkless?” Midnight echoed. “And he’s fighting that well? What’s he up to, point wise?”

“Last I counted, he was at 51.” Cementoss spoke up, sounding impressed despite himself.

“Damn. That’s impressive.” Snipe sounded like he was smirking.

“Let’s see how they react to… this.” And then Nezu pressed the big red button, releasing the Zero Pointers.

Shouta really shouldn’t have expected anything less. But he’d hoped that the kid would’ve had the common sense to run away from the giant killer robot, not towards it.

“Look, there’s another kid trapped.” Ectoplasm pointed to the screen.

“So that’s why he’s running towards it.” Thirteen mused.

“Heroic indeed, but there’s only so much someone without power can do.” All Might shook his head, causing Shouta’s ire to spike.

“Just watch. I have a feeling that this kid’s gonna do something impressive.”

“Oh? You sound like you’ve met him before.” Nezu smirked.

“If this kid passes, I want him in my class. Hell, I want him as my apprentice.” Shouta’s words stilled the room. Only three times had he ever requested someone in his class. And never had he wanted to take on a student as an apprentice.

“Why on earth?” Midnight stared at her friend.

“He gave me a challenge… to find him. To guess who he was. He gave me one glaring hint. Tell me, Nezu… Is there any other Quirkless applicant in the Hero Exam today?”

They watched as the boy grappled up to the robot’s head, and pried off a panel.

“No, just him.” Nezu’s eyes gleamed as Midoriya pulled out his cell phone of all things and connected some wires to the device. He then started messing with his phone, a thin line of sweat trickling down his brow. There were less than ten seconds of the Exam left, and less than six until that robot reached the girl (Hizashi was on standby to get her out of there if need be).

“Then I’m sure of it. That’s him, all right.” Shouta grinned madly as the robot suddenly died. It shuddered to a stop before backing up and away from the girl.

“Did he… just hack that robot with a cell phone?!” Snipe gasped in awe.

“Indeed he did.” Nezu’s grin became as maniac as Shouta’s.

“TIME!! THE EXAM IS OVER!” Hizashi’s voice cried out over the testing sites.

“Midoriya Izuku… is the Vigilante Robin.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Quirk Assessment

It had been nearly two weeks. Izuku was fairly confident that he’d passed, but his nerves made him second-guess himself. So he did what he always did when stressed—patrol.

He’d—unfortunately—been unable to run into Eraserhead during this time, but he’d bagged nearly twice as many criminals as he usually did.

Present Mic had—as promised—spoken to him after the exam. He guest starred on his radio show twice a week, now—Fridays and Saturdays. Izuku absolutely loved it, and went by the name Richard (Richie, as Mic called him) on the radio show, much to Mic’s confusion.

The two got along swimmingly, and had even traded personal numbers. He had permission to call him Yamada, outside of the radio station, of course. The two texted regularly, and Izuku found it surprisingly not weird to be friends (at least, he was pretty sure they were friends) with someone who may or may not become his teacher soon.

He hadn’t met any other teachers or heroes during this time, but he still enjoyed the time he took in the evenings to unwind. On those nights, he patrolled after the radio show, and went until sunrise.

Tonight, he found his favorite person sitting on a rooftop. “Been looking for you, Eraser.” He grinned as said Hero twitched in surprise.

“Midoriya.” He nodded in greeting.

“So you did figure it out.” Robin grinned, sending the Hero a wink.

“Not that hard—your movements were practiced and that grappling hook was a giveaway.”

“I wasn’t necessarily trying to hide from you. I made this game easy.” He placed his hands behind his head in a carefree manner.

“You’ve impressed Nezu, you know. That’s no small feat.”

“I did? How?” Robin thought maybe it’d been from his fast movements, but maybe it was the robot thing at the end?

“You’re kidding me. You hacked the Zero Pointer. The security and coding on that thing rivals the government’s.” Eraserhead leveled him with a disbelieving look.

“Oh. Yeah, it would’ve been faster if I’d been allowed my usual equipment, but I only had my phone on me, so I had to make do.”

“Make do…” He echoed. “You really are a Problem Child.”

“You know, I hacked the Pentagon once.” He grinned as Eraserhead choked on his spit.

“Why did you— you know what? I don’t want to know.”

“Nope~ The less you know, the safer you are.” Robin grinned. He didn’t mention that time he hacked SHIELD, though. Were they even still around? He’d have to look into that later.

“Once the semester starts, I’ll expect you to stop doing these patrols alone.”

“I know, I know.” Robin sighed. “So Nezu approved the apprenticeship?”

“He did, on the condition that you meet with him at some point during the first week of school.” There was a lull as the two scanned the surrounding area for trouble. “Who the hell trained you, kid?”

“My mentor… He’s one of the greatest heroes I’ve ever known.” Robin smiled softly, looking out over the skyline. “Taught me everything I know…”

Eraserhead waited. Robin knew he wanted a name, but honestly… that name would be recognized—however vaguely—even now. The echoes of his mentor reached even here, three hundred years into the future.

“He’s gone, now. Died a long time ago.” Robin finally said, trying to ignore the painful clenching of his heart as the words left his lips.

“I’m sorry. It’s never easy losing the people you care for.”

“Maybe I’ll tell you the story one day… maybe even his name… but not tonight.”

“I’ll be here when you’re ready; just as long as nothing comes back and bites you in the butt. If something from your past comes up, I expect you to tell me before anyone’s at risk—yourself included.” Eraserhead sent Robin a mild glare to accentuate his point.

“Fair enough.” Robin chuckled. “Though the chances of that happening are slim-to-none.” He muttered. Somehow, I doubt the Joker can survive three centuries, mad genius or not.

The evening passed relatively quietly, likely due to Robin’s overactive vigilante work lately. The sun was starting to light the horizon as the two went to part ways.

“Oh, and congrats, kid. I’ll see you in my class on Monday.” Eraserhead smirked as he called over his shoulder.

And if he grinned at the excited whoop from Robin, nobody saw.

By the time Izuku slipped into his bedroom window at home, he was exhausted. The nervous energy combined with finally having the answer to his enrollment at U.A. equated to an extremely tired vigilante.

“And I thought tests in normal high school were nerve wracking. At least in America they don’t have exams to get into high school.” He shook his head.

His mother was asleep, he knew. His father—luckily—was away on a business trip.

After Izuku had vanished at the tender age of 9 due to an accident involving someone else’s Quirk, his mother had panicked, calling his father home. Of course, Izuku had reappeared just a few days later (a few days to everyone else, at least). But he’d changed so much in just those ‘few days’ that his mother had grown increasingly concerned.

His father, on the other hand, had been hoping that Izuku had finally developed a Quirk—he was wrong.

But ever since then, he’d been going back and forth between trying to force Izuku’s nonexistent Quirk to emerge, and just plain abusing the kid. His mother had no idea, and Hisashi had only hit her when he’d been drinking.

In exchange for Izuku’s silence about the abuse, he’d keep his hands off of Inko. And he’d threatened to kill Inko if Izuku ever told anyone outright.

Accidental slips that could be explained away were met with ‘accidental’ drunken rages on Inko, to which Hisashi would ‘apologize’ profusely when sober, and she’d forgive him, because she was far too nice.

Purposeful slips, his Father promised, would be met with Inko’s death and Izuku’s endless suffering. Whether that suffering meant more beatings, or selling him to Villains remained to be seen. Either way, his Father was only home for a week or so at a time before leaving for a few weeks on business.

Izuku didn’t complain when the man vanished, and though Inko seemed mildly disappointed (the man was a brilliant actor), she never stopped him from going. Izuku was grateful.

So he knew he could rest easy for a few more days before Hisashi would return from said business trip.

With this in mind, he let his eyelids slide closed and fell into an odd dream that he’d vaguely remember upon waking. Something about Bruce and Barbara and Wally and Alfred, and for whatever reason, Eraserhead and Present Mic had been there, too.

“I’m so lost.” Izuku sighed, looking at the hallway he was sure he’d passed through several times already.

He heard someone chuckle behind him. Turning to look, he found the Pro-Hero Snipe. Fighting the urge to fanboy (though he couldn’t keep the excited sparkle from his eyes), he pouted. “Mou… It’s not nice to laugh at someone’s misfortune.”

“Sorry, kiddo.” Snipe grinned. “Looking for 1–A?”

“Yeah. Aizawa-sensei would kill me if I was late. Do you know where it is?”

“Oh? So you are him.” He smirked. “Aizawa warned us about you, Robin.” He jabbed a thumb behind him. “Back that way, two lefts and a right. Better hurry, that bell will ring in six minutes.”

“Arigatou, Snipe-sensei!” With that, Izuku dashed off in the direction that the blond had indicated. Within a minute, he was standing before the very large and imposing doors of class 1–A. Wasting no time, he quietly pushed open the door and slipped in.

Not for the first time, he thanked his training. By remaining quiet and silent, he prevented the class from noticing him. Though it seemed they were all too entertained by getting to know one another.

That blue-haired kid who’d interrupted Present Mic’s speech during orientation was there. So was Bakugo and that girl he’d briefly met before the exam. He quietly slid into his seat—right behind the explosive blond—and waited. He knew Aizawa. And the man would certainly want to make an impression.

After all… anonymity was the perfect way to test someone’s experience, and when you look like a hobo who hasn’t slept in a month, it makes for a great excuse to see if people are willing to pay attention to details.

Things that Robin had noticed when he’d first laid eyes on the man. Things that screamed that this person was a Pro Hero and not a hobo. Like the sharpness of his gaze, the sternness to his voice, how every movement—no matter how lazy it may seem—conserved energy and wasted nothing.

Or, you know, the obvious stuff like his Capture Weapon and the knife he kept in his left boot.

Movement caught his eye, and he found himself locked in a brief staring contest with the man he’d just been thinking about. Though said teacher was now laying on the floor… in a sleeping bag?

I’ve seen some weird shit. And I guess it does make sense, but… why would he crawl all the way here from the Teacher’s Lounge in a sleeping bag? That seems… unnecessarily exhausting. He raised an eyebrow to convey this thought, to which Aizawa rolled his eyes and waited for the other students to notice that they were no longer alone.

It took eight seconds. Izuku was severely disappointed in them.

Apparently, so was Aizawa, as the man chewed them out—in a tone that said he really didn’t want to be there—and told them all to change into their gym uniforms and meet him out on the field.

Izuku grinned. Years as a vigilante—particularly the years he’d spent as Robin fighting alongside Batman—taught him how to change in seconds. Time was precious, after all, and spending even one minute changing verses the ten seconds he could now do would waste 50 seconds that could cost someone their life.

He knew this. He’d seen it happen. So even though this was school and nobody’s life was at stake, Izuku was changed and out on the field in thirteen seconds flat—having jumped out the window and parkoured his way down the outer wall of U.A., much to the shock and awe of the handful of classmates who saw him do so (Kirishima and Kaminari).

He reached the field at the same time as Aizawa.

“Problem Child.” He raised an eyebrow.

“What? I don’t like to waste time.” He crossed his arms. “Time lost changing clothes could kill people. My record right now is ten seconds. I’m working on it.”

“I’m impressed you can do it that fast to begin with. It’s not a skill most Heroes have these days.”

“The Old Heroes used to do it all the time.” Izuku sighed.

“It’s a good skill to have.” He paused a moment. “Do not take offense to the topic of today. It’s a Quirk Assessment Test.”

“Oh?” Izuku smirked. “I’ll accept that challenge, then. Quirk or no Quirk, I can hold my own in a fight.”

“I have no doubt of that. As a reward for being the first on the field, I’ll give you one hint—don’t panic.” Izuku glanced up at his teacher’s mischievous smile, returning it with one of his own. He knew he’d felt a kinship in there somewhere—a fellow prankster. (Just, apparently, a prankster that liked quieter and subtler pranks.)

After a few minutes, his classmates started to trickle out. “Dude, did you seriously just jump from the window?! That was so manly!!” Kirishima grinned, clapping a bewildered Izuku on the back.

“Uh… thank you?”

“You have to teach me how to do that!” Kaminari grinned.

“I’m sure you’ll pick up the skills during our classes.” He replied, settling into a relaxed posture.

“Twelve minutes.” Aizawa spoke up as soon as the last person joined the group. “That was twelve minutes a villain could’ve used to kill hostages.” The smiles froze and died as the students processed what he’d said. “The only person who seems to be taking this seriously is Midoriya. I said the same thing earlier—Time is precious, and you cannot afford to waste it.” He sighed. “That aside, today we’ll be having a Quirk Assessment test. Now, you should all be familiar with—”

“But what about orientation?” Uraraka asked, and Izuku had to wince. She interrupted him…

“You’ve got three years. That’s it. Three years to learn how not to die while protecting the lives of people around you. We don’t have time to waste on things like orientation. U.A. prides itself on its freeform teaching approach. That applies to teachers, as well.” He sent the girl a mild (for him) glare before continuing on. “As I was saying, these tests will be the same ones you’ve been doing all your life. Long jumps, endurance runs, ball throws… But this time, you’ll be allowed to use your Quirks.”

“Sounds like fun!!” The pink-skinned girl—Ashido—grinned.

Izuku felt a flash of anger. They’re just children. They have no idea what’s in store for them out there. He reminded himself. Sure, he had a shit ton of fun on patrols and fighting villains, but he knew the dangers of this profession. He’d stared his own death in the face many times, and watched the light leave the eyes of those he’d failed to protect.

He was prepared. He had fun because it was his coping mechanism and his own life choice. He entered this profession knowing full well what he was getting himself into, and even then he’d almost died. These children were brought up believing this to be some kind of celebrity thing, and it honestly sickened him.

He became a hero without expecting thanks or recognition. He did it because he didn’t want to see other people suffer. He wanted to help people. But in the Quirked Era, most kids did it because it was the ‘cool’ thing to do. Because they wanted to be popular or feel important or because they believed that it was the fast route to getting rich.

It was one of the reasons why the Old Heroes were so respected—they got nothing in return, and still became incredible heroes.

“Fun?” Aizawa’s eyes turned sharp, and Izuku knew that the man had been thinking along similar lines. “You think this is going to be fun? All right, then. Let’s add a little something. The person with the lowest score across all the tests will be deemed to have zero potential and expelled.”

There was an outcry among the students about how unfair that was because it was only the first day of school. Again, Izuku felt his own anger flaring up.

“Life is unfair. Get used to it.” He snapped out, glaring at the others. “You think villains fight fair? You think they’re going to care that it’s your first day on the job and go easy on you? I’m sorry, but that’s not how the world works.” He scoffed and bit his tongue, stopping himself from going on a rant. His classmates were already staring at him wide-eyed. A few of them just shook their heads, dismissing his words as that of a child with as much inexperience as them.

“He’s right.” Aizawa spoke up. “It’s a hero’s job to make it fair. Take advantage of everything around you to even the playing field. Analyze, Adapt, Overcome. Plus Ultra.”

After that, the class fell in line fairly quickly, and though Izuku wasn’t allowed to use his gear, he still felt he did a lot better than some of his other classmates. And he still gave it his all.

At the very least, he was proud of himself for outlasting Yaoyorozu in the endurance test.

“How the hell did you manage that?!” Kirishima gaped. “She made a freaking motorbike, for crying out loud!!”

“I had a tough mentor.”

Even Aizawa couldn’t completely hide his disbelief at Izuku outlasting a motorbike of all things. Psh! She’s got nothing on chasing villains around Gotham all night. Compared to that, outlasting a motorbike is a piece of cake!

Then the final test—the ball throw. Izuku realized that he needed to not score the worst for this one (which wasn’t looking to be much of an issue, considering the fact that Ashido had melted half the ball, and the invisible girl had managed to get a somewhat below-average score).

He stood in the circle and thought for a brief moment before smirking. He quickly took off his shoes and socks, and fashioned a makeshift sling.

“What’re you doing?” One of the students asked. The rest of them looked just as bewildered.

“Leveling the playing field.” Izuku smirked, before swinging it in a very practiced motion. Once he felt the apex of his swing, he released the ball. With a proper sling, he could’ve thrown the ball about 400 meters, but since his was rudimentary at best he only got to 297. Still better than a lot of other kids, though.

With little fanfare, he untied his socks and slipped them back on before replacing his shoes.

“I-is that even allowed, sensei?” Someone asked.

“I said do whatever you want as long as you don’t leave the circle.” Aizawa stated. To anyone else he would’ve sounded monotone and done with the day, but Izuku could hear the approval in his voice. He’d impressed him.

“DEKU!” Bakugo shouted, enraged as he charged Izuku. He just stood there, waiting for the right moment to dodge, when Aizawa’s scarf wrapped around the boy, his Quirk erasing the explosions that had just been crackling on the kid’s hands.

“Stop making me use my Quirk, it gives me serious dry eye.” Aizawa growled, as he pulled the struggling blond away from his target. “I will not tolerate infighting in my class. Pull another stunt like that, and there will be consequences.” Aizawa promised, before releasing his Quirk and hold. Bakugo stood there, glaring at Izuku.

“You think you’re better than me, huh?!”

Izuku ignored him, causing the blond to snarl, but his impending explosion was cut off when Aizawa continued the assessment.

Before Izuku realized it, they’d finished, and Aizawa showed the results. Izuku was quite pleased to see himself placed solidly at 10—right in the middle. The person at the bottom was an unbelievably short boy with purple balls for hair. The kid gave off a lecherous vibe that Izuku did not like. He made a mental note to keep an eye on the brat around the girls, just in case.

“Right, so these are the results.” Aizawa said as the kid started to cry. “Oh, and nobody’s getting expelled. It was just a logical ruse to make sure you all did your best.” The man’s grin was frankly terrifying to the kids, but Izuku had seen worse as Robin. And nobody’s smile is as creepy as Joker’s.

“Hey~! So I’m so curious!! What’s your Quirk? Something like agility maybe? Or an intelligence-booster?” Ashido grinned as the rest of the class leaned in to listen.

“Stupid Deku doesn't have a Quirk. He’s Quirkless.” Bakugo butted in with a nasty grin. Gee, thanks for essentially outing me, jerk.

Sure, Izuku was going to tell them himself, anyhow, but the fact that Bakugo just outright told them without even considering Izuku’s position on the matter pissed him off. And judging from the look on Aizawa’s face, his teacher agreed with him.

“What?! Quirkless? No way!” A few of them shouted. Izuku steeled himself, preparing for the negative backlash he knew was about to come.

“That’s so AWESOME!” Kirishima cried out with a grin.

Um… what? Izuku stared blankly at the redhead.

“You managed to get into the Hero Course without a Quirk?! Dude, you’re amazing!” Kaminari grinned, Jiro nodding along with him.

“You must’ve cheated somehow. No way a Quirkless kid could get in.” Mineta scoffed. Ahh… there it is. I was worried I’d stepped into an alternate dimension for a minute.

He relaxed at the familiar jeer.

“Hey, man! Not cool!” Kirishima glared.

“Everyone has earned their positions here!” Iida reprimanded the shorter classmate. “U.A. would never let someone unqualified into the Hero Course! To say such things is offensive and rude! Apologize immediately!”

“Everyone calm down.” Aizawa spoke up, cutting off Mineta’s reply before he could get started. “I assure you that Quirk or no Quirk everyone is here for a reason. If you’ve got a problem with that, there will be plenty of controlled combat situations where you can address the problem yourselves. I don’t want to hear anything about anyone giving anyone crap because of how they were born. I do not tolerate bullying in my class.” He glared. “Now scram, you’ve got a class to get to.”

Izuku stayed back after the class had moved on to grab the syllabus. “Thank you. You’re the first teacher who actually spoke up for me.”

“I expect you to let me or another teacher know if something happens again.” Aizawa sighed. “You’re far too used to that. Don’t think I didn’t notice how you relaxed at Mineta’s words.”

“Honestly, I thought I got dropped off in the Twilight Zone or something.” Izuku chuckled, before realizing that Aizawa might not know what the Twilight Zone was. They do have a more modern re-make, right? I think… It came out in 2345? About twenty years ago?

“Anyways, you were totally going to expel someone. Don’t think I didn’t hear about those three homeroom classes you expelled.” Izuku changed the subject.

“There’s potential. The test wasn’t about physical ability, but to gauge the level of determination each student has.” He explained.

“I figured that much out. It’s illogical to test the control a student has over their Quirk on the first day, especially when they’re legally only allowed to use their Quirks at home or in designated Quirk Practice Areas, which can be expensive. So logically, you were looking for something else. Something that would be essential to become a hero. Determination and drive are important, yes, but that can be tested using other methods.” He smirked when he looked up at Aizawa. “No, you were testing our ingenuity. When the odds are against us, and the stakes are impossibly high, would we freeze? Falter? Hesitate? Our drive to do whatever it takes to survive when our back is up against the wall… It’s something you either have or you don’t. It cannot be taught. It cannot be learned.”

“Kid, your mind is terrifying. I think I see, now, why Nezu wants to talk to you this week.” Aizawa grinned. While the smile would’ve been the stuff of nightmares to his classmates, Izuku felt himself grinning back.

“Experience is Life’s most efficient teacher.”

“Not the safest, though.” The teacher sighed. “Now get to class before you’re late.”

“Hai, sensei~!” Izuku grinned as he scaled the side of the building to slip into the window closest to his class.

Of course, actual classes didn’t start until the following day (Day 1 was just figuring out where everything was and who their teachers were), and Izuku was looking forward to what the school would be like.

Iida, Uraraka, Kirishima, and Kaminari were waiting by the gate for him after school. He blinked in surprise.

“Uh… hi?”

“Hey Midoriya!” Kaminari grinned. “We wanted to know if you wanted to walk to the train station together!”

“W-why?” Izuku tilted his head.

“Because we’re friends, silly~!” Uraraka grinned. “So what’dya say, Deku?”

Izuku flinched at the nickname.

“Uh… Deku isn’t my name. Midoriya Izuku is my name. Deku is something Bakugo calls me to call me useless.”

“I-I’m sorry! I didn’t know. But I just thought that ‘Deku’ sounded like ‘Dekiru’, like ‘you can do it’.”

“As much as I appreciate that, please don’t call me Deku. It brings up some bad memories.” He winced.

“So, dude! We’ve gotta work out together sometime~! You have the best stamina in the class, and I need to know your secret!” Kirishima grinned, diffusing the awkward situation like a pro.

The five of them chatted amiably on the way home, striking up a fierce and fast friendship. The four made it known that they couldn’t care less about his lack of a Quirk, and Izuku made sure that they knew how much that meant to him.

As it turned out, Kirishima and himself had the same train stop.

“Hey, wanna meet up tomorrow at the station? We can ride to school together!” Kirishima grinned.

“Sure! Though I’ll probably take the early train.”

“No prob, man! I’ll see ya tomorrow!” He grinned as he ran off, leaving Izuku smiling after him.

“Mom, I’m home!” Izuku called.

“Welcome home, sweetie. How was school?”

“I… I made friends, mom!”

“Oh, Izuku, I’m so happy for you! Sit down and tell me all about your day while I start dinner.”

And he did. He excitedly talked about how his teacher was his favorite Hero, Eraserhead, and how he now had four friends who didn’t care that he was Quirkless!

If his mother cried in happiness, hearing her normally quiet and reserved son talk so animatedly about his first friends since he was four, then he didn’t say anything.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Battle Scenario

As promised, Kirishima met Izuku at the station. The latter was a little tired, having still gone on patrol that night (not that Aizawa knew that), but he was far too used to getting no more than 3 hours of sleep a night. In fact, he found that, unless he was sick or hurt, he physically could not sleep for longer than 4 hours. It was a bat thing.

The two made conversation on the ride over, and met up with the other three in front of the school gates. From there, the five went about their first normal school day.

Nothing of note happened until they hit English with Present Mic.

“All right, everybody heads up!” Present Mic called out in English, before switching back to Japanese. “Let’s get this party started!” He grinned.

Yamada-sensei, Izuku learned, had the annoying tendency to switch between Japanese and English (which was fine for the radio show, but annoying during class). While Izuku was fluent in both, it only made things harder since sometimes he forgot that what he was hearing was supposed to be foreign for him.

“Midoriya!” He called upon Izuku in the middle of class. “Please read and answer question five for the class!”

The question was easy. “It reads, ‘combine the following two sentences into one. ‘Kyle wanted to play with his friends. Kyle asked his father.’ To combine them… ‘Kyle wanted to play with his friends, so he asked his father.’ Or something like that. You could also phrase it as ‘Kyle asked his father if he could play with his friends.’, but that would leave out the part about him wanting to play with them, though it is inferred…” He trailed off when he noticed the class staring at him. “What?”

“Midoriya…” Iida blinked. “You were speaking in English.”

“Oops…”

“Your answer is correct!” Yamada-sensei grinned. “Though next time, let me know that you’ve already got experience in English! Stay behind to speak with me after class.”

“Hai, sensei!”

After English had ended, Izuku stayed behind as instructed.

“So, you’re fluent in English?” Yamada-sensei asked. Izuku grinned.

“Yep~! Though I’m familiar with American English, rather than European English.” He responded in the same language.

“Geez, Richie, and you didn’t tell me? I thought we were friends!” He pouted, as Izuku chuckled. “What other languages do you know?”

“I know English, Japanese, German and French. A little Russian and Spanish, and a splash of Polish.” He thought for a moment… he was missing something. “Oh! And Latin!”

“Wait, Latin? The dead language?” Yamada had been so surprised that he switched back to Japanese.

“Erm… yes?” Izuku had honestly forgotten. In this day and age, almost nobody knew a lick of Latin. Sure, they knew a few base words because it was a root language, but much of the language’s secrets had been lost over the last three hundred years. He sighed, pulling out a notebook.

His Quirk Notebook was written in Latin, for added security (because it was more than just Quirk analysis, now. He used it to observe a person’s fighting style and weaknesses, too). It was coded to look like a journal of sorts, too, just in case. So if (for whatever reason) someone knew Latin, the most they’d get out of it would be a written account of his (non vigilante) life.

He handed it over. Yamada’s eyebrows shot up as he recognized the language. “Damn, Little Listener! I’m impressed!” He grinned excitedly. “Now, obviously, the course syllabus for this class is way below your capabilities.” He pointed out. “So, I’m going to give you separate homework and studies from your classmates to keep you challenged.”

“Thank you!” Izuku matched his grin with one of his own.

“Now I see why Shouta wants to apprentice you.” Yamada chuckled. “Would you mind if I kept a hold of this for the day? I’ll give it back to you tonight at the radio station.”

Izuku really didn’t want to, but he was confident in his code. “Sure. Just don’t forget it in the Teacher’s Lounge or something.”

“Have you so little faith?” He grinned.

“It has nothing to do with faith, and everything to do with what Aizawa-sensei has told me about you.”

“Che.” Yamada pouted. “Of course, Shou would blab.” He couldn’t hide his fond smile. “Then in retaliation, I’ll tell you some stories about him while we’re off the air tonight.” Izuku didn’t bother to hide his grin.

“I’ll look forward to it.”

It wasn’t long before he was allowed to head off to his next lesson, taking the late slip from Yamada so he wouldn’t get in trouble. Cementoss didn’t mind, and allowed Izuku to slip into his seat with no trouble.

“Welcome to Modern Literature and History. I am Ishiyama Ken. Hero Name: Cementoss. You may address me as Ishiyama-sensei or Cementoss. To start with, I’m going to have you write an essay on any major war you wish. The more detail you can give me, the higher your score will be. Please also include why you chose this particular war as your topic. You have until the end of class.”

Obviously, Izuku couldn’t be normal and write about one of the well-known major Quirk Wars. Nope. He chose to write about World War II—a war that, while touched upon briefly even these days, was not studied in-depth as it was back in the early 2000’s.

He remembered when Bruce had once taken him to the Camps. Izuku clearly remembered the chill that had gone down his spine as he and Bruce traversed those accursed hallways. He could practically hear the cries and screams of people long passed. The scent of burned flesh seemed to still linger in the air, and the aura of absolute hopelessness seemed to spark a determination within the boy, renewing his passion for heroics.

Bruce had urged him to never forget. “It’s people like this… that we need to help. We must never forget our origins. I know you’re from another time, but carry these memories with you into the future. Never turn away from someone who needs you. You never know when a kind word or a simple action will stop someone from a grand path of destruction. Did you know? Adolf Hitler was originally an artist. I still wonder if this genocide would have happened if someone had simply encouraged him in his youth.” Bruce sighed and looked at Dick with a soft smile—the kind he reserved for the BatFam. “You are a hero, Robin. So do everything in your power to make sure nobody suffers as these people have.”

Izuku abruptly shook himself out of the memory (flashback?). He put his pen to paper and started to write. By the time the class was over, his essay was five pages long. Whoops.

Eventually, lunch came around and the five of them sat together. “So what did Yamada-sensei want to talk to you about?” Uraraka asked as she started eating her food.

“Since I’m fluent in English and stuff, he wanted to let me know that I’ll have different course work than the rest of you. He wants to make sure I’m challenged.” Izuku replied.

“Dude, I’m so jealous! Help me with my English work please?!” Kaminari begged.

“I’ll help you, but I’m not going to do it for you.” Izuku smirked. “The English I know comes from America. I also know bits and pieces of a few other languages.”

“You’re so manly, Midoriya!” Kirishima cried. “Is there anything you can’t do?!”

“I can’t harden my skin.” Izuku grinned as he snarked back, causing the others to laugh.

Then, after lunch, was their Heroics Class. Izuku would be lying if he said he wasn’t excited.

Until he realized All Might was their teacher.

About ten months before the exam, Izuku had had a run-in with the #1 Hero. In a moment of weakness, he’d asked the man if a Quirkless person could become a hero.

Though he was a successful vigilante, he’d still been worried. What if heroics had different qualifications? What if nobody gave him a chance? Bruce told him he could, but the man was from a time without Quirks. Of course he’d say yes. He’d never asked someone from the Quirked era, keeping his dream of being a Hero a secret from his classmates. He knew they’d laugh, and he was bullied enough for being Quirkless as it was. Only Bakugo had realized that he’d never given up on the dream.

So when he met All Might, his second favorite Hero (right after Eraserhead), he found the words tumbling from his mouth on that rooftop.

And he said no.

Izuku had understood his reasoning, but it was still frustrating and humiliating. After being told to kill himself by his former best friend that same day, undergoing a nasty beating from his Father, and then surviving a villain attack (that slime villain was just a bad matchup for him without his ice capsules) he’d been having a shitty day. But then All Might had to go and crush his dreams and what little self-confidence he’d had left before leaving him alone on the roof.

It had been the anniversary of the day the Grayson’s, his adoptive parents, had been murdered.

It had been so tempting to jump off that roof… to join his family in the realm of the dead. But he didn’t want to see Bruce’s disappointed look. The frown on Alfred’s face. The anger in Barbara’s eyes. The tears on Wally’s cheeks…

He couldn’t do it.

And so he’d headed home to another beating from his Father. He’d gone out that night with a vengeance and was nearly seen as the vigilante Robin. And he decided to flip All Might the proverbial bird and become a goddamned hero anyways. Not that he hadn’t already been planning on doing so in the first place, but now he could spite someone while doing so.

So when All Might dashed into the classroom with that huge grin on his face and introduced himself as their Heroics teacher, Izuku did not grin and cheer with his class. He wanted to punch something (preferably All Might) or cry.

But he did neither, and instead grabbed his costume as instructed before heading to the changing rooms. He lingered a moment, not wanting to be the first one out there to stand alone with All Might.

Luckily, his friends wanted to chat while changing.

“You don’t seem overly excited to be taught by All Might.” Kirishima noted as he donned his costume.

“I’ve… erm… had a bad experience with the guy.” He admitted, drawing Kaminari’s attention.

“What happened?”

“I asked him if a Quirkless kid could be a hero and he said no.” Izuku sighed. “And then he left me alone on a rooftop after a very bad day.”

“He left you alone on a roof!?” Iida stared in horror. “That’s just–!”

“Yeah. He’s not exactly my favorite hero, if you know what I mean. He’s a great hero, don’t get me wrong. And I’ve still got a lot of respect for the guy as a hero, but… I just hope that he’ll give me a chance this go-around.”

“Yeah, well, you’ll just have to prove him wrong!” Kirishima grinned, clenching a fist to prove his point.

“Let’s just get out there.” Izuku finally said.

His outfit was one that he’d been very specific about. This was why he remained unseen as the Vigilante Robin. His red shirt and dark green tights… his long black cape with bright yellow inner lining… and his Domino mask. His yellow utility belt…

It felt good to be back in his Robin costume. What he’d been using as a vigilante was something he’d made himself. And while it looked similar, it wasn’t the same as something made from the best and most protective materials in the world. And he’d been very specific about the materials his costume was made out of. Kevlar never felt so good.

He planned to add a few more things to the outfit himself to get it back up to snuff, but for now, it would work.

He stepped out, and was pleasantly surprised to see that he wasn’t the brightest outfit in the bunch.

And then the show really started. Iida and Bakugo vs. himself and Uraraka. Yikes.

And he saw something in All Might’s expression, too… He purposefully pitted me against Bakugo. That fucking… I can’t believe this! He’s still trying to convince me to quit being a Hero.

“Uraraka… When this starts, Bakugo is going to come after me. I want you to bypass him while I distract him. Take this with you—it’s a flash grenade. It should take Iida out just long enough for you to reach the bomb. If not…” He hesitated a moment before pulling out another capsule. “Throw this on the ground after the flash grenade, at his feet. It’s a sticky substance and should keep him from running all over the place.”

“Wow, Midoriya! You really think of everything!”

“If you have any trouble, radio me. I’ll come.”

“Be careful, okay?” She smiled as All Might called for the lesson to start.

As predicted, Bakugo made a beeline for him, leading with his signature right hook.

“Did you really think I didn’t remember your movements, Kaachan?” He mocked the blond. He knew using the old nickname would rile him up, and that was exactly what he wanted. Bakugo fought better angry, but when he was like that he only had eyes for the person who angered him.

Bakugo never noticed Uraraka sneaking away as Izuku—Robin as he was in his Hero Costume—led him to a more open room to fight.

He was doing extremely well, fending off Bakugo’s attacks and hitting him back with attacks of his own. He was trying to figure out how to subdue the kid without hurting him when Bakugo smirked, one hand held out towards Robin while the other was on the pin attached to his grenade-like gauntlet.

It only took Robin a moment to realize that those were filled with Bakugo’s sweat—filled with nitroglycerin. His eyes widened, even as he heard All Might try to stop Bakugo’s action.

“Stop! He’ll die!”

“Only if he doesn’t dodge!” Bakugo grinned as he pulled the pin.

Robin didn’t have time to dodge. He hoped that the support team made his cape like he asked them to, and fell into the familiar position of hiding behind it. A rush of nearly unbearable heat followed by a deafening explosion knocked him back into the wall. It was all Robin could do to keep himself protected. The cape was smaller than he’d asked them to make it. He clenched his teeth against the pain as his left leg suffered from the unexpected miscalculation on the Support Course’s side.

A moment later Robin was back on his feet, staff out. Bakugo stared in surprise, as Robin wasted no time in rushing him.

It took only two seconds for Bakugo to react, but that was two seconds too late. Robin already had the Capture Tape wound tightly around his foe.

“B-Bakugo has been captured!” All Might’s voice rang through the building. Robin knew the cameras were toast, so he guessed that there was a sensor or something that told him when someone had been caught by the tape.

Robin took that moment to assess the damage to himself. His left leg was badly burned, and he abruptly realized that if he hadn’t had that cape, he would’ve surely died from his injuries.

And All Might still hadn’t called off the stupid exercise. What an idiot. What if I’d died? Or been seriously injured? The cameras are out, and so are the microphones in the room. There’s no way of knowing if I’m alive or dead, and you’re just letting things go on. Fuck you too, asshole.

Okay, so maybe he was being a little harsh, but in his defense, he was in quite a bit of pain. It’s not like he’d regularly encountered burns during his time in the past. He was used to bruises, broken bones, the occasional knife wound or toxin, not burns. Luckily, though, pain was still just that—pain, and he was able to push it to the back of his mind with a practiced ease. He ignored Bakugo’s raging demands to know what the fuck was going on with Izuku, and ran up the stairs to join Iida and Uraraka.

“HERO TEAM WINS!” All Might’s voice cried out as he arrived at the room. Iida was stuck to the floor, and Uraraka had a hand placed on the ‘bomb’.

“Whelp, guess you didn’t need my help, after all.” Robin smirked as he approached Iida. He was glad he’d brought along his own utility belt instead of having the Support Course make his (they’d probably take away all his toys).

He pulled out his handheld laser. “Don’t move, Iida. I don’t want to accidentally hurt you.” The other boy froze, obeying his orders as Robin carefully broke a freezing capsule over the gunk before shattering it with the laser. “There. All free.” He grinned.

“Is that even allowed?” Iida gave the laser a pointed look.

“I dunno. I made it myself, so I never asked.” Robin shrugged before turning to look at Uraraka. “Glad that you were able to pull it off!”

“Your plan was amazing!” She smiled.

“I was not expecting the flash grenade.” Iida admitted, impressed. “Once again, I acknowledge you as my better, Midoriya.”

“It’s not a competition, Iida.” Robin chuckled as they made their way back.

“You’re hurt!” Uraraka realized when they stepped back into the observation room. “You’re limping!” But her concern was dodged when Kirishima and Kaminari came up to him, grinning.

“Dude, that was amazing!”

“You fight incredibly well!” Jiro beamed.

“Bakugo.” All Might leveled a look at the explosive blond. “You disobeyed my orders, and another student was hurt because of it. If you pull that again, I will pull you out of practical exercises for the foreseeable future, do you understand?”

“Yeah, I got it.” Bakugo replied nonchalantly.

“Midoriya, are you okay?” All Might asked. It was dark in the room, and there was no way to accurately assess the severity of his injuries without light. But Robin couldn’t help but twitch at the tone the man used. It was as if he didn’t really care. As if he was asking out of politeness instead of actual concern. He wondered if he was just being biased?

“The blast only hit part of me.” Robin answered carefully, before All Might nodded and resumed the lesson. He blinked in shock. You’re shitting me.

With a sigh, Robin made to leave the room.

“Where are you going? Class is not over yet.” All Might chastised.

“I’m injured. I’m heading to Recovery Girl. Burns get worse the longer you leave them, and I left my first aid kit in my locker.” Robin answered curtly.

“Very well, then.” All Might answered before resuming the lesson. A few students looked after him in concern.

“I’ll escort him to the nurse!” Uraraka volunteered, but All Might shook his head.

“No sense in you missing the lesson, too. Please stay behind while we talk about your match.”

Fuck. You. Robin shook his head and walked out of the room, fists shaking. Not just because he outright refused to treat Robin as an equal to the other students, but because he hadn’t recognized him. He could tell. He hadn’t put two and two together at all. And Robin would admit that it hurt that the man didn’t recognize the child whose dreams he’d crushed. You’d think the guy would remember someone he revealed his weakness to, at the very least.

“Midoriya?” Robin blinked up at Aizawa, who stood in the empty hallway with him. He leaned on his uninjured leg as he realized he’d been lost in his thoughts. “What happened?”

“Bakugo didn’t listen when All Might told him not to use the gauntlet in battle training. The Support Course cut some corners and took off a few inches from my cape, which I hadn’t realized until I went to use it as a shield. I had it fireproofed for this exact reason.”

“All Might didn’t send someone with you?” He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Robin snorted.

“That idiot didn’t even send me to the nurse himself. I had to leave of my own accord, and got chewed out for it.” Robin shook his head. “I think he paired me with Bakugo on purpose to prove a point. I know he doesn’t approve of a Quirkless Hero.” It came out a bit more bitterly than he intended.

“I’m sensing a story here.” Aizawa sighed before carefully picking Robin up, causing the boy to struggle against him. “Hold still. You shouldn’t walk on that leg. You can explain everything while I take you to Recovery Girl.”

They were quiet for a few minutes, the sound of Aizawa’s boots clicking against the floor echoed in the empty hallways. He relaxed into his teacher’s arms, picking up on the steady thrumming beat of his heart. It made him feel calm and safe.

“I met him ten months before the Entrance Exams.” Robin started quietly. “I’d been having a… bad day. Let’s just say that aside from several class members suicide baiting me, a slime villain attacking me directly after school was the icing on the cake.” Aizawa had stiffened when he mentioned the suicide baiting. “I didn’t have any of the support items I needed on me, so I tried to evade the villain. As it just so happens, I’d been injured at the time, and he managed to capture me. He nearly suffocated me before All Might showed up and saved my life.” He paused, feeling oddly comfortable against the warmth of his teacher’s arms. He really is like Bruce. A calm, dark, strong, quiet figure. He didn’t know why he was so damn comfortable around the man, but he was.

“All my life… Everyone but my mentor always made fun of me for wanting to become a hero. Nobody thought a Quirkless kid could do it. And my Mentor’s been gone for a long time.” He took a deep breath. Talking about Bruce still hurt like a bitch. “All Might was my favorite hero as a kid. And by middle school, he was my second favorite… right after you, actually.” He smirked as Aizawa blushed lightly.

“Problem Child…” He muttered under his breath.

“So… I asked him. I asked him if a Quirkless kid could ever hope to be a hero.” Robin shook a little as he remembered that day. “He told me no. Showed me his weakened form and explained everything. Said that I should stick to more ‘realistic’ goals and then left me alone on top of a very tall building. Right after crushing my dreams.” Was that his imagination, or was Aizawa shaking, too? “I’ll admit it… I almost jumped that day. But I’m glad I didn’t.”

“Kid… Izuku. I’m going to say this once.” Aizawa looked him in the eyes. “I’m glad you’re alive. I’d say ‘you’ll make a great hero someday’, but you’re already a great hero. You just need to get the license, now. You’re more prepared than any of your classmates, and I’m damn proud to be your sensei.” He was blushing a little darker as he said it.

“Aww, you do care~” Robin couldn’t resist the urge to tease him.

“We all do, Problem Child.” He gently set Robin down on the bed in Recovery Girl’s office.

“Love you too, Dad~!” Robin cackled as Aizawa bristled like a cat, stiffening in shock. Oh, he wished he had a camera as the man’s normally carefully controlled expression melted into one of horrified realization. It was hilarious.

“Come now, I don’t need two of you in my care.” Recovery Girl chastised as she shooed Aizawa out of the room. “Don’t you have a class to get to? Shoo.”

He made to leave the room, but stopped at the door. “Thank you for telling me your story.” He gave Robin a meaningful look over his shoulder, and Robin understood. Your trust is not misplaced. It said.

Aizawa Shouta honestly hadn’t known what to expect that day. It was the first time in a while that he hadn’t expelled the majority of his class, and perhaps the first time he’d never expelled a single one. He knew the other teachers kept eyeing him with suspicion. (He didn’t know why, he could still expel everyone tomorrow—it wasn’t like he graduated a full class of 20 students).

Hizashi had even asked him if he was an imposter—to which he’d proceeded to create an ungodly concoction of coffee, red bull, 5 hour energy, sprite, and pure powdered caffeine before calmly downing the entire hell’s mix with a smirk on his face, even as a few of his coworkers proceeded to twitch in expectance of his impending heart attack. Hizashi, Kan and Midnight (all of whom he’d attended U.A. with as a student) confirmed his identity when, even after drinking such a travesty, he managed to curl up in his bright yellow sleeping bag and take a short nap.

But even still, Shouta should’ve known that today wasn’t going to be a normal day for him. First it was Hizashi. He strolled into the Teacher’s Lounge with a huge grin humming some upbeat tune that aggravated him.

“What’s got you so happy?” He raised an eyebrow.

“Shouta~! That apprentice of yours, Midoriya, he’s incredible! I knew he was something special when I offered him that part-time gig on my radio show, but I didn’t know he was this good! He’s fluent in English, French, German and Latin! LATIN!” Hizashi gushed, drawing the attention of Maijima and Snipe, who were also in the lounge.

“I thought Latin was an ancient dead language?” Snipe raised an eyebrow.

“It is! But look at this!!” He held up one of Midoriya’s notebooks. Sure enough, Shouta was able to recognize Latin on the pages, even if he couldn’t read it himself. Damn, this kid… was there no end to his surprises?

“So I talked to him about giving him personalized assignments instead of the class assignments. He can hold an entire conversation in English, you know! Sounds like a native speaker and everything! Learned it in America.”

He kept gushing about it until Cementoss came in, having just finished teaching Class 1–A.

“Aizawa, that Midoriya kid of yours is something else.” Was the first thing out of his mouth. Shouta groaned.

“Isn’t he?!” Hizashi grinned, retelling his discovery of the kid’s gift with languages.

“What’s got your interest piqued, Ishiyama-kun?” Midnight inquired, having entered the room partway through Hizashi’s original gushing.

“You know how I assign a small essay the first day? Kids can choose one war to write about, so I can get a gauge of how much history they know, and what their writing style is like.” He waited for the nods. “Well, Midoriya not only managed to write five very detailed pages, but his topic was… a very old war. World War Two, actually.”

“Damn, most kids don’t even remember that one.” Hizashi blinked. “I know I had to hunt in the library for that one report on it in third year…”

“Yes, well… Midoriya wrote a very detailed five-page long essay on it, including dates, names, locations, and even the smaller countries and who they were allied with. He even noted how Hitler had once been an aspiring artist—something I had to look up, myself, to verify.”

“In other words, keep an eye on the promising kid in our classes.” Snipe noted.

“Honestly…” Shouta rubbed his temples. “As if the kid being a vigilante wasn’t bad enough.”

“Come on, Shou~ It’s not like being good in school is a bad thing!” Hizashi draped an arm over his shoulder.

“You know, I wonder how he’s faring in All Might’s class right now?” Midnight idly spun her pen between her fingers.

“I’m more concerned about how All Might is faring in his first class.” Maijima chuckled.

“I’m going to head over to my classroom. I need to finish grading some papers without your distractions.” Shouta sighed, gathering up his supplies.

“Aww~ Shou-kun~” Midnight pouted.

“Don’t you ‘Shou-kun’, me, Nemuri.” He sent her a half-hearted glare. “And don’t pout, it’s unbecoming for a teacher.”

“Ha!” Hizashi laughed.

“I’m so done with you all.” He turned and left the room, leaving chuckles behind him.

He was halfway to his classroom when he noticed his student walking down the halls. “Midoriya?” He asked, startling the kid out of his thoughts. He took a moment to assess the situation. He was hurt. His leg was badly burned, and he looked more despondent than anything else. Moreover, he was alone. Is he trying to get out of going to Recovery Girl? “What happened?”

“Bakugo didn’t listen when All Might told him not to use the gauntlet in battle training. The Support Course cut some corners and took off a few inches from my cape, which I hadn’t realized until I went to use it as a shield. I had it fireproofed for this exact reason.” He answered like it was a simple thing.

I am going to have to talk to Bakugo later. And why did All Might allow him to use said gauntlets in the first place? Early training exercises should be highly controlled and preempted with a strict talk about the dangers of using one’s Quirk on another human being. He mentally groaned. Looks like I’ll have to have someone else give them that talk.

“All Might didn’t send someone with you?” He raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Midoriya snorted.

“That idiot didn’t even send me to the nurse himself. I had to leave of my own accord, and got chewed out for it.” I’m sorry, what?! Shouta couldn’t believe it. How had All Might not sent him to the nurse? And to lecture a student for caring about his own physical well-being?! “I think he paired me with Bakugo on purpose to prove a point. I know he doesn’t approve of a Quirkless Hero.” The kid’s tone became bitter, and Shouta knew there was something more to this entire situation.

“I’m sensing a story here.” Shouta sighed as he carefully picked Midoriya up. There was no way this kid was going to walk on a leg that injured. He doubted the kid even realized how badly he was hurt. “Hold still. You shouldn’t walk on that leg. You can explain everything while I take you to Recovery Girl.”

The silence enveloped them for a bit, which was fine by Shouta. He’d let the kid talk whenever he was ready, he wasn’t going to force it. But he was pissed at All Might. If he really was discriminating because Midoriya didn’t have a Quirk…

“I met him ten months before the Entrance Exams.” Midoriya started quietly, startling Shouta out of his thoughts. “I’d been having a… bad day. Let’s just say that aside from several class members suicide baiting me, a slime villain attacking me directly after school was the icing on the cake.”

Suicide baiting? Was this normal for him? The kid spoke far too calmly for Shouta’s liking. He knew the kid had probably been bullied for most of his school life. Those with Quirks unsuited to heroism tended to be treated badly, so he could imagine how rough someone without a Quirk would have it. Though the fact that he spoke about being told to go kill himself with such nonchalance startled and infuriated him. He tightened his arms around Midoriya. He wasn’t going to let this kid face that shit again. Not alone, at least.

“I didn’t have any of the support items I needed on me, so I tried to evade the villain. As it just so happens, I’d been injured at the time, and he managed to capture me. He nearly suffocated me before All Might showed up and saved my life.”

He felt a small trill of fear run through his veins. He nearly died before I even actually met him… He realized. I would’ve forever wondered what happened to Robin…

“All my life… Everyone but my mentor always made fun of me for wanting to become a hero. Nobody thought a Quirkless kid could do it. And my Mentor’s been gone for a long time.”

Not for the first time, Shouta wondered who the hell this kid’s Mentor was. Who taught a child how to be a vigilante? Taught him four different foreign languages fluently? How to hack a goddamn government?! But the way Midoriya always spoke of him… he was obviously still grieving the man’s death, and Shouta knew better than to push for information.

“All Might was my favorite hero as a kid. And by middle school, he was my second favorite… right after you, actually.” He smirked as Shouta found his face uncomfortably warm. He wasn’t used to being someone’s hero like that. He was an Underground Hero for a reason, and not many people even believed he was a hero because of that. Fans? He hardly even had any merchandise.

“Problem Child…” He muttered under his breath. Only you…

“So… I asked him. I asked him if a Quirkless kid could ever hope to be a hero.” The kid started trembling in his arms, and he held him closer, hoping to help stave off any flashbacks. He already figured what the idiot blond had said. “He told me no. Showed me his weakened form and explained everything.”

Well, that wasn’t expected. All Might had insisted that nobody tell anybody about his weakened form. The man hadn’t even given them an explanation of it, just that an old injury had finally caught up with him. He refused to answer any questions after that. But the kid sounded like he knew more than they did.

How irrational. Telling a perfect stranger about your weakness. A child, no less.

“Said that I should stick to more ‘realistic’ goals and then left me alone on top of a very tall building. Right after crushing my dreams.”

Shouta nearly froze. He… left him?! On a rooftop? He shook with anger. How dare All Might crush a child’s dreams—regardless of the fact that Shouta did partially agree (but Midoriya was a special case, and it seemed that even the seemingly impossible was possible with him)—and then not even assure the child’s safety?! The psychological trauma of not only having an idol humanized and weakened, but being denied that hope of a dream… At least when Shouta crushed dreams by expelling students, he made sure they made it home safely.

“I’ll admit it… I almost jumped that day. But I’m glad I didn’t.”

“Kid… Izuku. I’m going to say this once.” Shouta looked him in the eyes. He needed him to understand that there were people who wanted him alive. That he wasn’t better off dead like his mysterious mentor. “I’m glad you’re alive. I’d say ‘you’ll make a great hero someday’, but you’re already a great hero. You just need to get the license, now. You’re more prepared than any of your classmates, and I’m damn proud to be your sensei.” He was blushing a little darker as he said it. He wasn’t used to expressing his feelings, but Midoriya was an expressive kid. He didn’t want to risk him misreading something when the message was so damn important.

For a moment, he thought the kid was going to cry. Shouta was very aware that he was probably the first person to fully support his dreams (again, aside from this mysterious dead mentor, but Shouta was alive and therefore now the only living person to openly acknowledge this kid’s dream). But then the kid hid behind his snarky attitude, as was likely his defense mechanism.

“Aww, you do care~” He was glad that the door to Recovery Girl’s office was a push-style door instead of a sliding one. It was much easier to open with his hands full.

“We all do, Problem Child.” He gently set Midoriya down on the bed in Recovery Girl’s office.

“Love you too, Dad~!”

Shouta’s brain short circuited. Dad?! Was that how Midoriya saw him? He knew that the kid already had a dad, and this was likely his way of teasing him, but the way he said it… There was some genuine emotion there that had Shouta panicking and flailing about mentally. He was very grateful when Recovery Girl came in.

“Come now, I don’t need two of you in my care.” She chastised as she shooed Shouta out of the room. “Don’t you have a class to get to? Shoo.”

He made to leave the room, but stopped at the door. “Thank you for telling me your story.” He gave the kid a look. He needed him to understand that Shouta was someone he could trust. Someone who cared about him, and someone he could come to in the future when things got tough.

Midoriya gave him a small smile. Good. He got the message. Shouta returned it with one of his own before heading to find All Might and give him a very heated piece of his mind.

Yeah, he hadn’t known what to expect from today. But it seemed to be a good day after all. And if he got to punch the Number One Hero, well… then it was just going to get even better.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Panic

When Izuku and Kirishima had gotten the text from Iida, Kaminari, and Uraraka stating that they’d wait for them inside the building, the two were understandably confused. Until the saw the horde of reporters at the gate.

“Oi, oi… Are we really expected to get through that?” Izuku shook his head in disbelief. How did heroes deal with this crap?! Maybe he really would go Underground like Aizawa-sensei.

“I guess there’s no two ways about it.” Kirishima looked just as uncomfortable as Izuku as they headed towards the crowd.

“What is it like to have All Might as a teacher?!” One reporter asked, as she shoved her mic in Izuku’s face.

“Do you harass all kids like this? Or is it just U.A. students?” Izuku smirked. “Buuut, if you want a comment…” He discreetly gestured for Kirishima and a weird purple-haired kid to scoot past while he distracted the reporters. “Present Mic is an amazing English Teacher! I mean, look how proficient I’ve become in just one day of teaching!” He grinned as he spoke in English. The reporters blinked in shock as he switched to German. “Sorry, but I’ve got a class to get to.” He waved goodbye and made his escape while they floundered at his abrupt language switch.

“Nice save, man!” Kirishima high-fived him.

“Thank you for helping me through that.” The new kid said.

“No problem!” Izuku grinned. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, by the way.”

“Kirishima Eijiro!”

“Shinso Hitoshi. General Education.”

“Good to meet you!” Izuku grinned, but his grin faltered when Shinso glowered at the emblems on their uniforms.

“You’re in the Hero Course.” He stated.

“Yeah, Class 1–A.” Izuku nodded.

“Must be nice, being born so blessed.” He stated it so calmly, and Izuku felt his ire spike. Kirishima stiffened, shooting Izuku a worried look.

“Come on, Kirishima. Let’s get to class.” Izuku stated. He was not in the mood to deal with this right now.

Shinso glared. “You’re just like everyone else. Just because you were born with heroic Quirks… Everything was handed to you on a silver platter. Well, some of—”

“Shut. Up.” Izuku snarled, startling both Shinso and Kirishima. Normally, his fuse was a lot longer, but he’d just learned that his father was coming home a week sooner than expected, and Izuku was already on thin ice. He knew he was in for a serious beating—his father hated heroes. “Don’t talk like you know everything. You want to hate me for being born a certain way? Trust me, that’s nothing new. If you want to be angry with me, be angry with me for all the hard work and training I’ve put in to be here. Curse my name for the blood, sweat and tears I’ve spilled to come this far. But don’t you dare accuse me of getting here on a fucking golden ticket.” With that, Izuku spun around and started walking towards the building.

“The fuck do you know?!” Shinso glared at Izuku’s back. “Do you have any idea what it’s like?! I was born with a villain’s Quirk!”

“No Quirk is villainous. Just as no Quirk is Heroic.” Izuku stated calmly, his earlier anger finally under control. He turned and looked at Shinso with a cold determination. “You decide what your Quirk is worth, just as I decide what I am worth. I know what it’s like to be bullied for the way I was born. To be different, cast out, ostracized. I’ve been told all my life that I’m a worthless nothing that should go die. I’m Quirkless. And I’m still going to become a hero. So what’re you going to become, Shinso?”

Izuku gently tugged Kirishima’s sleeve as they entered the building, leaving a badly shaken Shinso behind them.

“Did someone really tell you to go die?” Kirishima echoed.

“A lot of people did…” Izuku sighed. “Some have even left me notes and threats to do it themselves, before. It’s nothing I’m not used to.”

“You’d tell me if something like that happened here, right, man? You know that they’re wrong to do that.”

“I know… I’m just not used to having… friends.” Izuku flushed a little. “I haven’t had friends since I was pronounced Quirkless, you know.”

“I thought Bakugo…?” His eyes narrowed as things started to click into place. “He was a bully to you, wasn’t he?”

“I’ve got a few scars. Nothing too bad, though. But he’s getting better… and one day, he’ll make a good hero. I’d appreciate you not telling the others about this, though. They’d worry too much.”

“As long as you tell me or Aizawa-sensei if he pulls any crap, you got it? You aren’t alone anymore, Midoriya.” He ruffled Izuku’s soft green hair.

“Izuku.”

“Hm?”

“Call me Izuku.”

“Then call me Eijiro.” He grinned.

“Hai, hai, Eiji-kun.”

How in the world did this happen? Izuku questioned himself as he stood before his class. He’d gotten six votes to become Class Rep. Even Yaoyorozu only got two, and everyone else got one (or zero). Izuku, himself, had voted for Yaoyorozu, so that meant that even if all four of his friends voted for him, two other people voted for him, too.

English was fun, as he’d been assigned several worksheets in English, French, and German to complete by the end of the week. Plus, as an extra credit assignment, he was to translate one paragraph from Japanese to Latin, and another from Latin to English. (Where Yamada-sensei had found a Latin paragraph, Izuku wasn’t sure).

And History/Modern Literature with Cementoss was interesting, as he’d gotten his essay results back from a rather impressed sensei.

“Not many students can write an essay about World War Two with this much detail even with research, let alone off the top of their head.” He’d praised quietly, making Izuku flush. He’d never handled praise well, having grown used to being admonished or put down. Insults and bulling? He could handle that. Joker? Bring it. Vigilante work on two hours of sleep in as many days? Nothing he wasn’t used to. But heaven forbid someone should compliment him.

By lunch, Izuku was exhausted and not looking forward to All Might’s class that afternoon. If the last one was anything to go by, he was going to end up in Recovery Girl’s office… again. And he had the feeling Aizawa-sensei would kill him if that happened.

Or kill All Might.

He was also excited for tonight. He and Aizawa were going to go patrolling together for the first time—the paperwork had finally been sent through, and Aizawa was going to take him down to the police station to assure them that he was no longer a wanted vigilante.

But he had to survive the school day first. Ugh.

“Are you okay, Midoriya?” Uraraka asked as the group of five sat down. “Bakugo burned your leg pretty badly yesterday, right?”

“Yeah. Recovery Girl fixed me up. Her Quirk is amazing~! It accelerates a person’s natural healing, which is why you feel so tired afterwards, because healing requires stamina, and if you’re hurt too badly, then her Quirk could actually kill you, but—” He cut himself off, turning red. “S-sorry. I just really like Quirks.”

“I think it’s amazing how you can analyze someone’s Quirk so thoroughly!” Iida announced with excitement.

Izuku looked up when he sensed someone heading over to their table. Shinso came to a stop next to Izuku, and shifted uncomfortably. Before Izuku could say anything, Shinso bowed. “I wanted to apologize for earlier. I was in the wrong. I had no right to assume or judge. You got to where you are now because you put in the work I was too scared to do. You deserve to be a hero.”

Izuku blinked. “Y-you can raise your head, you know.” Shinso stood. “Why not sit down and join us for lunch?” He offered. “I’m not mad anymore. It’s all good.” He smiled. “Sorry I snapped at you. I just had a bit of a rough morning, is all.”

“I- bu- what?” Shinso looked bewildered.

“Haha. That’s just how he is. Midoriya doesn’t stay mad, long.” Kaminari grinned. “So sit down and introduce yourself! I’m Kaminari Denki!”

Shinso sat down and before long, was pulled into the group of friends. Izuku smiled. Well, that’s one person I’ve saved from isolation. Uraraka had just finished explaining what had happened during yesterday’s training exercise.

“And he wasn’t punished? Why am I not surprised.” Shinso shook his head.

“Because people with flashy, powerful Quirks tend to get free passes.” Izuku shrugged as he shook his head. He was glad to have one person in the group who could relate to his views on how skewed society was as a whole.

Somehow, they’d gotten on the topic of why everyone wanted to be a hero.

“Heroes are so manly! They protect everyone, and keep the peace!” Kirishima grinned.

“Yeah, and they’re so cool!” Kaminari agreed. “Besides! What good are our powers if we can’t protect people?”

“I come from a family of Heroes.” Iida piped in. “Ever heard of Ingenium?” A few people perked up and excitedly nodded. “That’s my older brother! I want to be like him, one day. He’s my inspiration!”

“My reason isn’t nearly as noble as all of yours…” Uraraka flushed. “To be frank, I’m in it for the money.”

“Money?” Shinso wasn’t impressed. Neither was Izuku, to be honest.

“My parents run a construction company. It’s a very hard job, and I want to make a lot of money so they don’t have to work quite so much. Then they can retire young, and go vacationing all the time!” She smiled.

“Ah, then that’s different.” Shinso nodded sagely. “You want the money for someone else’s sake.”

“Why do you want to be a hero Shinso?” Uraraka tilted her head.

“My Quirk… Is Brainwashing.” He hesitated, like he was expecting backlash for it.

“That’s so cool!” Izuku grinned. “You can save so many people with that! Hostage situations, shootings, negotiations, even helping out in rescue operations by keeping small children quiet, or guiding people out of danger!”

“I… I’ve never had someone tell me that before…” Shinso looked so startled by the encouragement and support, even as the other hero students grinned in agreement. “All my life, people have told me I’m a Villain, because of my Quirk. Even my own parents refuse to talk to me, because my Quirk is response based. But… I’ve always wanted to be a hero. You can’t help what the heart wants.” He smiled wistfully for a moment. “And you, Midoriya?”

“As you said, Shinso. You can’t help what the heart wants. I was born Quirkless. When I was officially pronounced as such, I got bullied, badly. All my life, people have laughed at my dream, and put me down for it. Even All Might told me it was a fool’s dream, and I should do something else. But… when I was younger, I met my mentor… He believed in me, and trained me to become a hero…” Izuku smiled for a moment. “He died a long time ago… But I can’t help but feel that he’d be proud to see where I am now. I want to become a hero… So the people who’ve helped me get to where I am now will never truly die. They’ll never be forgotten for as long as I chase after my dream.” He abruptly remembered that there were people listening to him, and turned bright red. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to off on a tangent!”

“That’s such a manly reason! So beautiful!” Eijiro clenched his fist as tears rolled down his face.

“Wow… I didn’t realize you had such an incredible back-story, Midoriya!” Uraraka grinned.

Shinso was about to say something, when the alarm abruptly went off.

“Attention. A security breach Level 3 has been detected. All students please evacuate to the designated shelters.”

“Level 3?” Iida stopped an upperclassman.

“It means someone’s breached the front Gates of U.A. and infiltrated the school. In my three years of being here, I’ve never seen it happen!” The upperclassman then rushed off.

They made to follow, when Izuku stopped them. “Wait!”

“What, Izuku, we’ve gotta evacuate, too!” Eijiro argued.

“Take a moment and look at that disaster.” Izuku calmly pointed towards the absolute panic that was the hallway, where several people were probably going to be trampled to death if something wasn’t done. He glanced out the window to assess the situation, and blinked when he saw… “The press? Are you fucking kidding me?”

A few of them flinched at Izuku’s f-bomb, but he really didn’t care at that point. He sighed. “I’ll be right back.” He reached into his backpack—which he brought with him everywhere out of habit—and grabbed his grappling hook.

He then shot it at the pipes over the exit door, and skillfully balanced on the very small ledge there. Compared to scaling skyscrapers in Gotham, this was nothing.

He then used his newly improved computer (which was disguised as part of his glove) to wirelessly hack the intercom in the hallway. “ATTENTION STUDENTS!” He called out, startling the group of rampaging teenagers as his voice sounded from the speakers above them. “DO NOT PANIC! THE PRESS HAS BEEN SPOTTED OUTSIDE! PLEASE REMEMBER WHERE YOU ARE, AND PROCEED IN AN ORGANIZED FASHION TO THE DESIGNATED AREAS!” He sent them a mild glare before hopping down. Now that the panic had been dealt with, he easily made his way back over to his friends.

“They’ve gotta start having drills or something, because this is just ridiculous.” He shook his head as he helped up a few people who’d been caught underneath the stampede. Luckily, nobody was hurt too badly to move, and he pulled out his cell phone and called Recovery Girl to let her know that she should expect a few people.

By the time that everything had calmed down and been settled, Izuku was even more exhausted than before. So it was a pleasant surprise to find that Aizawa was going to join them for the exercise today. Maybe it’s because of the bullshit All Might pulled yesterday? Izuku would have donned his Robin outfit if it weren’t still in for repairs (and alterations, because damnit he told them to make that stupid cape longer!), so instead he settled for his gym outfit with his utility belt and his newly refurbished gloves (he’d put the digital system into it, allowing him to hack tech a lot faster, which was what he’d used in the panic earlier).

On the bus, Izuku found himself enjoying his conversation with Asui, pleasantly surprised to find them teasing Bakugo. When the bus came to a stop, he, as class rep, guided everyone out.

The moment his foot hit the soil, a strong feeling of wrongness churned his stomach. He knew… he knew something was going to go south today.

“Sensei.” He stated quietly, making sure the students couldn’t hear him.

“Midoriya?” He raised an eyebrow. Izuku wondered how the man hadn’t picked up on the feeling of wrongness.

“My gut’s screaming at me right now. Something’s wrong here.”

“Thirteen and I are both here, and All Might should be here any minute.” He reassured him.

“Please… be careful, Eraserhead.” Izuku sent his teacher a meaningful look, and Aizawa stiffened at the use of his Hero name.

“You as well, Robin.”

And on a paranoid instinct, Izuku sent a text to the only other U.A. Staff member he had in his contacts (because he doubted Recovery Girl would be of much help right now, when she was still dealing with some of the aftermath of the panic earlier).

‘Yamada. I have a bad feeling… If, in ten minutes, you cannot get a hold of either myself or Aizawa-sensei, assume something is gravely wrong.’ He made sure the message went through before joining the rest of the class in the Unforeseen Simulation Joint.

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: USJ

Izuku would’ve been awed at the interior of the building, if he wasn’t so jumpy with adrenaline. He hyper-analyzed everything, hand hovering over his staff, ready to snatch and extend at a moment’s notice. Whatever was about to happen had him on edge more than stealing Alfred’s cookies.

“Thirteen, where’s All Might? He was supposed to meet us here.” Aizawa asked, looking around.

“About that…” Thirteen held up three fingers. Izuku knew what that meant. He ran out of Hero time. What an irresponsible… He tried to quell the sickening feeling welling up in his belly.

He tried to listen and pay attention to Thirteen’s inspiring speech. He really did. But before he knew it, his classmates were clapping and Thirteen was bowing and that feeling got worse.

“All right. First let’s—” But Aizawa didn’t finish his sentence.

The lights flickered, and the water in the fountain down in the square spluttered. A black warp opened up in the air, and Aizawa stiffened and turned around in horror. Izuku fell into a battle stance in the front of the class, staff out and extended as he followed Aizawa’s horrified gaze.

A hand reached through the swirling purple portal, and a blue-haired man with a hand covering his face peered out. Izuku caught sight of his single visible red eye, and shivered. That look… he knew that look. This man was the same kind of crazy that he saw back in Gotham. This was bad.

“Gather together and don’t move!” Aizawa ordered, loosening his scarf. “Thirteen, protect the students!”

Eijiro looked over, and noticed the portal. “What’s that?” Villains started pouring out of the warp gate. Bad got worse. “Is this like the entrance exam where the lesson’s already started?” He made a move forward, but Izuku held his hand out to stop him.

“Don’t Move!” Aizawa snapped at them as he put his goggles on. “Those are Villains.”

The class froze; the sudden reality of the situation hit them hard.

“Midoriya!” Aizawa looked at Izuku. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, before he spoke with a fierce undertone. “Protect the students. Be. Careful.” He stressed. The students didn’t understand why Izuku was suddenly placed in the same position as Thirteen. They didn’t know that Izuku had experience fighting villains. But they also didn’t get the chance to answer as Izuku nodded, a hard gleam to his eye.

He saw Thirteen shoot him a somewhat awed look (or at least he assumed it was awed, as it was hard to tell with their helmet).

“Come back alive, Aizawa.” Izuku ordered, as Aizawa jumped into the fray.

Thirteen started to herd the students out. “I’ll guard the rear!” Izuku informed Thirteen, as he made sure the stragglers were safe.

“W-what’s going on, man?” Kaminari asked Izuku, bewildered. “I mean, I know you’re class rep, but…”

“No time to explain. I’ll tell you later.” Izuku promised. “We need to make it out alive, first.”

But then that warp villain blocked their path. For a moment, Izuku feared that Aizawa had been killed. He shook his head; this was no time to think such things. The sound of the fight in the background assured him that Aizawa was most definitely alive.

Things happened almost too fast for him to react. Almost. When the man, Kurogiri, surrounded them with his mists, Izuku snatched the two students that were closest to him—Asui and Eijiro. He would protect anyone he could.

Then they were falling. He saw the water below them, and while he knew Asui would be fine, he doubted Eijiro would fare too well. He noticed an extra person, who Asui had wrapped her tongue around—Mineta.

“Hang on!” He ordered them, and felt their arms tighten around him. He snagged his grappling hook and roughly deposited them on the boat. Shipwreck zone. He realized.

He was on his feet in an instant, surveying the deck for enemies. He realized that they must not know their Quirks (or skills) if they’d dropped Asui here in the Shipwreck Zone. Which meant… Yep. The villains were staying in the water. They may have been cannon fodder, but they weren’t that stupid—they were waiting it out, trying to figure out what their skills were before engaging them in combat.

He had to think fast to get them out of this situation unharmed. And damned if he wasn’t going to protect these kids, because they were his responsibility. And he may (technically) be a kid himself, but he’d lived, like, seven years before being forced back into his nine-year-old body, so he was really in his early 20’s or something. So yeah, kids.

“Asui.”

“Call me Tsu.”

“Tsu, I need you to tell me about your Quirk. You too, Mineta, Eijiro.”

The three talked, and Izuku was slowly forming a plan. “Okay… I think I know what we can do.” He explained his plan before he ran into the boat’s interior. Perfect! He found an area to hack from. He traced the signal from the boat to the control board, and remotely hacked it, activating the whirlpool in the water.

“Now, Mineta!” He shouted, and the boy started throwing his sticky balls into the water like no tomorrow. Sure enough, the enemies all got caught, and by the time Izuku deactivated the whirlpool, they were all either unconscious or stuck together like one giant villain-raft.

“That was a good plan, Midori.”

“Izuku. If I call you Tsu, you call me Izuku.”

“Okay, kero.”

“Damn, man, that was awesome!” Eijiro grinned.

The four of them got to shore, and started making their way carefully around the square, trying to avoid getting caught up in Aizawa’s skirmish.

But the movement of the fight still drew their attention. They couldn’t help but look. And then they were transfixed in horror when the blue-haired man, Shigaraki, disintegrated Aizawa’s elbow.

“Move, now!” Izuku whispered urgently to the other three. “Help whoever’s at the entrance.”

“What about you, Izu?” Tsu asked in concern.

“Yeah, we’re not about to leave you!” Eijiro refused.

“Y-you can’t possibly be thinking about fighting that?! He’s a pro and he’s getting hurt!” Mineta freaked.

“Quiet!” He snapped. “Unless you want to draw their attention. Just do as I say.” He didn’t bother trying to reassure them that he’d be okay—lies like that tended to jinx what little luck someone had.

And then Nomu smashed Aizawa into the ground. The creature moved faster than Bane, and seemed three times as strong. He shivered as blood flew through the air. Izuku stilled himself—forced himself to stay where he was. If he rushed out now, he’d just put his classmates in danger.

But Kurogiri came back and informed Shigaraki that Thirteen had been taken care of, and someone escaped and was running to get help.

“Ah… it’s game over…” He muttered to himself in disappointment.

He’s a child. He’s a man-child with about as much sanity as Joker… terrifying. Though now that he was really looking at Shigaraki, he realized that the blue-haired man still had much more sanity and self-preservation than Joker. I suppose even in the future, nobody can measure up to Joker’s unique brand of insane. Somehow, this thought comforted him. Shigaraki wasn’t anywhere near Joker’s level.

Still a threat, yes—especially to these untrained kids. But suddenly Shigaraki wasn’t so intimidating to Izuku anymore. Still just as dangerous, though.

“But before we go, let’s crush the Symbol of Peace’s pride.” Shigaraki grinned as he moved almost too fast for Izuku to see. Almost.

Being best friends with Kid Flash gave one unreal reflexes, after all. And never had Izuku been more grateful for his long-time friend.

Moving just as fast as Shigaraki, he shoved himself in front of Tsu, blocking the blow with his left arm.

“Izuku!” Tsu’s eyes were wide in horror as she processed what had happened.

He bit down a cry as the pain hit him, before it abruptly cut off. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Aizawa using the last of his power (how was he even conscious?!) to erase Shigaraki’s Quirk.

He didn’t waste a single precious second that his sensei had bought him, and punched the blue-haired man in the face, smirking as he felt his nose crack.

He leapt out of the water as Shigaraki stumbled back, barely dodging Izuku’s kick.

“NOMU!” He cried out, and the creature abandoned his still awake prey and dashed for Izuku. Again, he thanked his time spent around the two fastest men to ever walk the Earth. Without them, he never would’ve been able to dodge Nomu’s hit.

The villains stared at Izuku in shock as he stood just at the edge of the massive crater that Nomu had created.

“Who are you?” Shigaraki asked, interest piqued. “No normal kid can dodge something as fast as Nomu…”

“I’m a hero.” Izuku grinned. “And the biggest thorn you’ll ever have in your side.”

“Nomu! Catch that brat!” Shigaraki growled. “But don’t kill him.”

Ooh! I pissed him off. He grinned excitedly. He shot a brief look over to Eijiro and Tsu before glancing at Aizawa. The kids looked on in horrified awe, and Eraserhead was sporting a very similar look (though his was laced with concerned anger and his face was covered in far more blood than was healthy).

Izuku knew he couldn’t keep dodging for long. The Nomu was way too fast, but he managed—barely. He threw a bird-a-rang at Shigaraki. It missed, landing at his feet.

He laughed at Izuku’s shitty aim… until it exploded.

“Don’t diss my toys, man, not cool! I work hard on those, you know!” Izuku let loose his signature cackle as he used the brief confusion to strike Shigaraki again. He was pleased to see the broken nose from his earlier work, and the new black eye he’d just given him. He almost didn’t dodge Nomu’s next attack, but blinding pain radiated from his neck as Shigaraki finally got a hit in. Luckily, it was brief enough that it wasn’t fatal. But still…

Too close! So he can control how quickly something disintegrates. All five fingers are needed for his Quirk to activate…

This went on for several minutes—Izuku dodging both the Nomu and Shigaraki. Though Shigaraki had caught his shoulder once, disintegrating it nearly to the bone. And didn’t that hurt like a son of a bitch?

Nomu finally caught him by his bad arm—the one he’d all but sacrificed for Tsu—and held him in the air. He bit down a scream when Nomu snapped his arm like a twig, and glared at Shigaraki as the man smiled back.

“You are an interesting one… You’re not an NPC like all these others… You’re a higher level than these other brats… a mini-boss? Or a boss later in the game?” He grinned madly, and Izuku smirked back.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” If I can keep him talking, then his attention is on me. And if it’s on me, then it isn’t on Tsu, Eijiro, Mineta, and Aizawa. He hoped they’d managed to grab Aizawa and get out of there, but Izuku knew better than to look. He couldn’t risk drawing Shigaraki’s attention to anywhere but himself.

“At least tell me your Quirk before I kill you. Sensei may want it.” That statement sent a small shiver down his spine, and he filed away the statement for later evaluation.

“My… Quirk?”

Izuku couldn’t help it. He laughed. Bloodied and mangled, facing down an insane villain who thought he was about to kill him… This brought back memories, for sure. But the idea that this villain thought he was about to kill him was laughable. Robin had been in so many hopeless situations… And this was far from hopeless. There were people nearby who could move and fight. Nobody was dead (yet, his mind supplied), and backup was on the way (assuming that Yamada took his message seriously).

More than that, he laughed because this guy hadn’t realized that Izuku was Quirkless! He was looking forward to seeing the man’s reaction.

“Hate to tell you this—Shigaraki, was it?—but I’m Quirkless. Two pinky-toe joints.” He wiggled his foot to prove his point. “You’re being bested by a brat who doesn’t even have a special power.”

Shigaraki’s face morphed into an expression of loathing as his eye gleamed with malice and hatred (and was that a little hint of respect?). Though it was meant to be intimidating, it was entertaining to Izuku (because all his encounters with Joker and the other Gotham regulars apparently did leave him a little unhinged, himself). “How dare you mock me?!” He reached out a hand towards Izuku’s chest. “I was going to make this fast, because you’re actually really cool, but now you’ve pissed me off. You’re going to suffer.”

“Hate to tell you this, Five finger Death Punch wannabe, but I’ve been tortured by scarier dudes than you. And they didn’t need Quirks to get the job done.” Izuku grinned as Shigaraki came closer.

Maybe he’d thought that Izuku would be in too much pain to move. Maybe he’d thought that Nomu had a tighter hold. Maybe he was just too pissed to think about it.

So when Shigaraki came closer, Izuku was able to deliver a nice hard kick between the legs with one steel-toed boot, and an equally harsh kick to his stomach with the other.

The blue-haired man crumpled to the ground in pain, even as Nomu screeched, throwing Izuku right into the fountain with deadly force. He saw stars, but had had just enough time to make sure he hit that fountain in a very specific and practiced manner.

Not for the first time, he was grateful for his experience as Robin—if he hadn’t been thrown through brick walls more times than he could count, he probably wouldn’t have survived being thrown into the stone fountain with a force rivaling Superman’s strength. (Though Izuku would argue that All Might—and by extension, Nomu—was actually somehow stronger than Superman, but they’d never truly know.)

He barely managed to avoid a nasty concussion. Staggering to his feet, he noticed that Tsu, Eijiro and Mineta had grabbed Aizawa, and the three were hidden near the staircase, watching the fight unfold in horror. Aizawa, in particular, looked like he had half a mind to come over and fight alongside Izuku (or kill him himself), though his two broken arms and extreme head trauma prevented that. Seriously, how is he awake?! Even Bruce couldn’t stay conscious after that kind of beating!

Izuku would’ve sent them a reassuring smirk, but he couldn’t risk drawing any attention to them.

At that very moment, the doors of USJ flew off their hinges as All Might came in. For the first time since the Slime Villain Incident, Izuku was relieved to see the Number One Hero.

“You took your sweet fucking time!” He twitched in annoyance. He ducked to the side, having seen movement out of his peripheral vision, only to relax upon realizing that it was just Shigaraki finally getting up.

“Looks like we get a continue…”

Maybe Izuku had hit his head a little, because though he could follow All Might’s impressive speed (which he noted was still slower than Nomu), he wasn’t able to dodge the man’s hand that grabbed him, and safely deposited him with his classmates and severely injured sensei.

“Izu!” Tsu had tears in her eyes as she looked him over.

“Holy shit, man! What the hell was that?!” Eijiro looked at him with wide eyes.

Aizawa glared at him as Izuku quickly got out his First Aid Kit. “Stop glaring and be still.” Izuku sent Aizawa a glare of his own as he (awkwardly yet expertly) wrapped the man’s head to stem the bleeding. He didn’t want to mess with Aizawa’s arms. They were far too shattered for him to deal with. Instead, he wrapped his elbow and carefully slid his arms in a makeshift sling to prevent them from worsening, before doing the same for his own shattered left arm.

“You’ve done this before.” Eijiro accused.

“Of course I have.” Izuku then threw his dislocated shoulder into the side of the staircase, relocating it with a sickening pop. “Ow. I hate relocating shit.” He quickly shook himself. There was nothing more he could do for his left arm now—that needed a medical professional. And he couldn’t feel any other major injuries that couldn’t be treated later. “All right. Field treatment’s done.” Izuku nodded to himself.

“We need to get Aizawa out of here and regroup with everyone else.” He looked up at the other four people he was with.

“Problem Child.” Aizawa growled out through clenched teeth.

“Save your strength, but try to stay awake. Head injuries are a bitch.” Izuku shook his head. “Keep talking, but don’t you dare try to move.”

“Thank you.” He gave Izuku a meaningful look.

“If you die, I’m going to bring you back and kill you myself.” Izuku promised.

“Same to you, brat.”

“Nobody’s dying!” Eijiro denied as he carefully scooped Aizawa up into his arms.

“Eiji, keep him talking. If he falls asleep with that head injury, he may never wake up.” Izuku stated firmly.

“R-right.” He hesitated. “You were so badass out there.” He rambled for a minute.

“Nice try, kid.” Aizawa slurred out. “We’ll work on your rescue form later in the year.”

Izuku snorted. “You’d better hold on to teach us, then, Eraserhead.”

All Might had been fighting Nomu up to this point—was still pounding away at the creature that Shigaraki had claimed held several different Quirks. But then… Izuku felt it before he saw it.

Shigaraki’s hand flew through a portal created by Kurogiri. Izuku’s eyes locked with Shigaraki’s and he knew. In that moment, though Shigaraki’s original goal had been to kill All Might, the villain had found a more pressing goal—Izuku. In landing several hits and hurting Shigaraki’s pride, Izuku had managed to paint himself as the villain’s equal. Now, it would seem that Shigaraki saw Izuku in the same manner that Joker once saw Batman. And Izuku couldn’t say he was overly pleased by the sentiment.

Izuku felt the five fingers brush his right cheek as pain blossomed. Shigaraki wasn’t going for a kill shot—he could feel it. This was more than that. A warning. A mark. He wanted to brand Izuku as his rival—as his antagonist. And the pain right below his right cheekbone flared as Shigaraki’s Quirk ate away at his skin. At the same moment, he threw a knife, which gave Shigaraki a deep cut on his left cheek—one that would surely scar. He was still locked in an intense staring contest with the man, who grinned, and—

BANG!

The hand vanished as Shigaraki held his shoulder gingerly, blood blossoming like a flower on his shirt. Izuku let out a breath, the moment of intensity gone.

The cavalry had arrived.

Present Mic saw them first, and when his eyes landed on Aizawa, his expression changed to beyond livid.

“YEEEEEEAAAAAA!!!!” He all but screamed in the loudest voice Izuku had heard in his life. Luckily, it wasn’t directed at him.

Several villains who’d just started coming to and had been gearing up to attack the injured group crumpled to the ground.

“You guys alive?” Present Mic asked, jumping down to assess the situation. He would’ve sounded casual to anyone else, but to Izuku, who had learned to listen to the slight influxes of tones and body language to understand the emotions of The Batman, Present Mic’s fear and concern were as loud as his Quirk.

“ ‘m alive…” Aizawa reassured.

“I’m still breathing.” Izuku coughed up a small bit of blood—one hand tracing what he knew was going to be a new scar on his right cheek. He winced as the sweat and dirt on his hand caused the open wound to sting even more fiercely.

“Cementoss! We’ve got injured down here!” Present Mic called up. “Hold tight, we’ll take care of this.” He smiled. “You’re safe, now.”

The other kids relaxed, but Izuku kept his form rigid and tense, ready to fight at the drop of a hat if need be. There was no logic in relaxing when your enemy had access to a literal wormhole.

“Careful. Blue-hair—Shigaraki—has a disintegration Quirk. All five fingers need to touch his target, and he can control the speed and rate of the disintegration. It’s stronger when he’s pissed.” Izuku informed. “The guy covered in shadows has a Warp Quirk.”

“Right. Thanks, Little Listener.” He smiled before running off to join the fray.

Cementoss made his way towards them along with Midnight. As the two teachers reached them, Izuku felt the odd compulsion to turn around and look at the square they’d just left behind. He locked eyes with Shigaraki again.

The man grinned, a sick twisted smile spinning out on his face. “I’ll look forward to our rematch…” His voice was quiet, but it echoed in the building eerily. Izuku vaguely noticed that the entire area had gone silent as Shigaraki had one foot in the portal of his escape as he spoke. “Izuku…” He could feel the teachers stiffen and look at him with a dawning horror. “I acknowledge you as my nemesis. I will kill you.” Izuku felt Aizawa shift and Midnight and Cementoss stand a little closer to him, as if to protect or shield him from his newfound enemy.

But Izuku met Shigaraki’s gaze steadily, a burning fire in his eyes. “You can try, Shigaraki.” His own voice echoed as he tried to fight the urge to cough up more blood. Instead, he gave him a wicked smirk through bloodied teeth, conveying strength borne from countless hardships. He ignored the pain in his body as he shifted to a deceivingly relaxed yet confident posture—one he’d used constantly as Robin. He was silently telling Shigaraki that he wasn’t worried about his declaration. “But you’re going to have a very hard time achieving that goal. I refuse to die by your hand.”

“Then it appears we’ve come to an impasse. It seems I’ve found a bonus level.” Shigaraki laughed, a new gleam of excitement in his eye as he and Kurogiri made their escape.

Everyone was still for a moment. The cannon fodder villains had been rounded up, and nobody knew quite what to say after that.

“We should find the remaining students.” Nezu said, snapping everyone out of their stupor.

Midnight carefully took Aizawa from Eijiro’s arms as Cementoss approached Izuku and carefully picked him up, too. “I’m not sure if that speech of yours was powerful or stupid, but either way, you’re badly hurt—you shouldn’t be walking.” Cementoss reminded him.

“I suppose that’s fair.” He coughed up more blood. “Though I might’ve pissed him off a bit much.”

“You think?” Eijiro scoffed.

“Do you think it was the kick to the nuts?” Izuku wondered aloud.

“Did you really kick a villain in the sack?” Midnight stared, lips twitching.

“He did.” Aizawa smirked.

“Good, you aren’t dead yet.” Midnight smirked. “Try to stay awake without your devil’s drink.”

“It’s effective.” Aizawa argued.

“Be that as it may, it’s a heart attack in a cup.” She shook her head as they walked across the platform.

Izuku winced as a rather violent coughing fit had blood spilling from his mouth like All Might. “God, I hate internal bleeding. This sucks.”

Cementoss sent him a look of disbelief. “You…” He shook his head as he followed Midnight outside. “I can’t believe that ‘this sucks’ is his reaction…” Cementoss grumbled under his breath.

“Midoriya!” Iida’s eyes widened in fear when he saw the teacher carrying out his friend who was covered in blood. The bone of his shoulder was showing, and his left arm was held in a hastily made sling.

“I’ll be fine, Iida.” Izuku waved him off with his good arm. “I’ve had worse. Is everyone else okay?”

“Yeah… everyone’s fine.” Kaminari piped in, worry etched into his face.

“It looks worse than it is.” Izuku reassured them.

“Why do I not believe you?” Kaminari shuddered.

Nobody else got the chance to protest as Izuku was loaded into the back of an ambulance and rushed off to the hospital.

He abruptly felt bone tired. His eyelids sagged as the adrenaline finally started to filter out of his system. The pain started to register and he realized he was probably a little more hurt than he’d first anticipated. But he’d still had worse. He’d be fine. Though the ambulance was new to him. He missed the Batmobile…

He finally let the day catch up with him, as he succumbed to the darkness. Damn. So much for patrol tonight.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Truth

Shouta hated hospitals with a burning passion. He hated hospitals more than he hated mornings without coffee. They were noisy, smelled like disinfectant, far too clean, and there was no privacy. The only good thing about them was the excuse to sleep all the time. But even then, the shitty beds and cheap sheets made good sleep almost impossible, and the one time Shouta tried to use his own sleeping bag, they’d tried to confiscate it (and he just knew that he’d never see it again if he let that happen). But even he had to admit that he was in a bad state. Or had been before being brought to this hellhole.

Even now, Shouta was in pain. And he knew from experience that they had him on some pretty heavy-duty painkillers. He’d been checked over several times, and though he felt like shit, he had every intention of going back to teaching when school let back in after they were finished with security updates (because if he knew Nezu, there would be extensive updates—the kind that they shut down the school for).

“Hey, you’re awake.” Hizashi smiled softly as he came into the room. “You scared the hell outta us, you know that? You were touch and go for a little bit.”

“I’m fine now. How soon can you spring me?” He begged Hizashi with his eyes.

“Hehe. Same as ever, I see.” He took a seat beside Shouta’s bed. “School, as I’m sure you’ve already assumed, has been closed for three days while we try to figure out a way to keep that Warp Gate Quirk out.”

A flash of blood crossed his mind’s eye. “Midoriya…” He locked eyes with the blond. “How is he?”

Hizashi pulled back the curtain on Shouta’s other side, revealing the form of the small boy. He was pale and covered in bandages—though not to the extent of Shouta. His left arm resembled Shouta’s own mummified arms, and he had a thick bandage on his right cheek. He had several wrapped around his neck, and a few around his head. Damn Problem Child…

“He’s alive, which is impressive as hell. He scared us all as much as you did. According to the other kids, he didn’t hesitate to throw himself between you all and that villain.”

“He scared me, too.” Shouta shuddered as he recalled how helpless he’d felt as he watched that villain go after his kids.

“Speaking of… I hope you don’t mind the interruption.” Detective Tsukauchi stood at the doorway.

“Need my statement?” Shouta sighed as the man nodded.

“Let’s start at the top, shall we?” Tsukauchi waited for Shouta to start.

“Now that I think about it, Midoriya mentioned when we got off the bus that he’d had a bad feeling…” He thought back to the kid’s concern. He’d thought that maybe he’d been tired or nervous… Shouta, of course, hadn’t simply written it off—the kid had experience fighting crime—but he hadn’t realized that things would go south so quickly.

“I actually got a text from him.” Hizashi blinked as he scrolled through his phone. “He said he had a bad feeling and that if I couldn’t get through to you or him in ten minutes to assume something was gravely wrong. When I couldn’t get through to your phones after those ten minutes, I gathered the other teachers and went to find you, then we ran into Iida partway there.”

“We’d gone into USJ for a scheduled lesson… The lights had flickered and then a warp gate appeared by the fountain.” Shouta continued. “I told Thirteen to protect the students before engaging the villains pouring out of the portal. I tried to keep an eye on the guy who looked like the most trouble—the one with the warp Quirk—but the moment I blinked, he was gone.”

“Kurogiri is his name.” Tsukauchi informed.

“After that, things just blurred into fighting… But then Shigaraki pointed out that the intervals between my blinks was getting shorter and shorter. I attacked him, and he caught my elbow before using his Quirk on it.”

“He ordered that thing… Nomu, I think it was, to attack me.” Shouta shuddered hard, remembering the sheer strength of the beast. “I was sure I erased its Quirk… It didn’t matter, though. It was too fast to see… too strong to fight. It snapped my arms like twigs and nearly flattened my skull into the ground.” He noticed Hizashi turn a little white as Shouta described just how overpowered he’d been.

“They called it the anti-symbol of peace. Something made to kill All Might.”

Tsukauchi stiffened as he wrote that down.

“Kurogiri returned not long after and mentioned a student escaping. Shigaraki talked about a ‘game over’ or something before he mentioned dealing a blow to All Might’s pride.”

Shouta remembered the scene with a devastating clarity. “Shigaraki had been going for Asui, when Midoriya just threw himself between them. I erased his Quirk as fast as I could.” The fear he’d felt when he thought he’d been too late. And God, his eyes ached just remembering how hard it had been to erase that Quirk. And he did not want his eyes to start watering now because if that happened, they’d start burning and he couldn’t put his eye drops in without the use of his currently mummified hands.

“And then it was a little hazy after that. I remember Asui and Kirishima moving me out of the crater…” He recalled watching in stunned, horrified, awe as Midoriya managed to somehow keep up with that monster’s speed.

“Midoriya… He had no fear.” Shouta realized the words were wrong as soon as they escaped his mouth. “He showed no fear.” He corrected. “He kept pace with that Nomu… It was as fast and strong as All Might in his prime.”

“And he kept pace with it?!” Hizashi choked. Tsukauchi looked stunned, too.

“While fighting Shigaraki.” Shouta nodded. Ow. Okay, nodding was bad. Nodding hurt. Fuck, he hated being injured. “He took the pain with a laugh and mocked them… I think he was trying to draw off their attention so we could get to safety. Didn’t seem like the first time he’d done so, either… Most rookies make the mistake of looking over at the people they’re protecting to assure themselves that they’re safe—he didn’t. It’s because of that that he was successful.” And watching Midoriya’s shoulder be disintegrated to the bone had hurt Shouta almost as much as he was sure it hurt Midoriya.

Shouta’s heart had nearly stopped when he scarcely escaped having his neck disintegrated.

“And then the Nomu finally caught him by the arm.” Shouta shuddered, remembering how easily that beast had snapped his own arms, twisting and grinding the bones in its powerful grip. He was grateful for Quirks—without them, he probably wouldn’t even have arms right now. “He didn’t cry out, even as his arm broke.” Shouta recalled, remembering his blinding fear in that moment and that need to help his student. “Even still, he laughed and mocked them, keeping their attention occupied.”

“Damn, and I thought the kid was impressive beforehand.” Hizashi whistled.

Detective Tsukauchi took a seat, looking unusually pale as Shouta continued to speak.

“Somehow, he still managed to get some good hits in—one right between the legs—even while dangling from a broken arm.” Shouta smirked wickedly. He wouldn’t lie—hearing that villain’s squeak of pain as his manhood was attacked had made him grin with a vicious satisfaction. His smirk faltered as he remembered how close Midoriya had come to dying. “Shigaraki had been about to kill him… That’s when All Might showed up.” He remembered the absolute relief he’d felt when he realized that reinforcements had arrived.

“Yeah… Iida had rushed right up to us as we were heading out towards you guys. He scared the hell out of us. Thank goodness for Midoriya’s text, otherwise it would’ve taken us a lot longer. The panicked look of desperation on his face as he panted out the words ‘USJ’ and ‘Villains’… Class Reps were ordered to bring the students to the bunkers. We had no idea if this had been an isolated attack, or a distraction. I’d been under the assumption of a much smaller attack, so I’d just brought whoever was in the lounge with me—Iida’s words sent everyone else into action, and Nezu gathered the rest of the staff himself.”

“We didn’t know if it was an isolated attack or not either. For all we knew, the rest of U.A. was also under attack, and that was why nobody had come. I’m actually glad that it was just someone jamming the signal.” Shouta spoke quietly.

“God, Shou… do you realize how bad everything looked when we arrived? Thirteen was hurt and unconscious by the doorway—they’re fine, now. And you and Midoriya…”

Hizashi remembered the scene clearly. His heart had been in his throat when he realized the students had been scattered and he saw all the blood strewn throughout the square. He’d prayed that the blood belonged to the villains. And once he’d reached the top of the staircase, he’d seen the kids with Shouta, and Shouta had looked like death. For a moment, he’d seen that collapsed building from their Second Year… He truly feared that Shouta had left him alone with Nemuri.

It wasn’t until he’d moved that he realized he was even alive, but holy fuck Midoriya looked just as bad, and the kid was somehow still standing.

“Hey, stop that.” Shouta spoke up. He knew Hizashi’s mind was going to a place it shouldn’t be.

“Nobody else was hurt. Just you, Thirteen, and Midoriya. Everyone’s alive.” Hizashi reassured him.

“You could’ve just started with that, you know.”

“But you needed to get that story off your chest.” Hizashi pointed out, gently poking his cheek. “Tensei’s worried about you, too. He sends his regards.”

“I’m guessing he’s looking after his baby brother, then?” Shouta smiled fondly.

“Of course he is.” Hizashi shook his head. “Remember when Little Iida was born? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone come into their brotherly instincts so quickly.”

“Still remember when the kid puked on me.” Shouta grimaced.

“You know, I don’t think Little Iida knows that we went to school with his brother.” Hizashi mused. “I mean we see Nemuri and Sekijiro all the time at work, but Tensei decided to go off with his own agency.”

“If his brother wants to tell him, that’s fine. But it’s not our place to tell him we babysat him when he was an infant.” Shouta shook his head. Ow.

“Would you stop hurting yourself?” Hizashi asked, exasperated.

“If you get me coffee…”

“You know I’m not allowed to do that, Shou.”

“I want to thank you for your statement today.” Tsukauchi was still seated, and he was still somewhat pale, but he looked more collected than before. He glanced over to Midoriya. “I’ll come back when he’s awake for his statement.” He went to get up, when they all heard a soft groan from the other bed.

Shouta would later deny just how much of a relief it was to look over into green, very much alive, eyes.

“You took your time, Problem Child.” He smiled softly.

“I’m glad you’re okay.” The kid breathed in relief before wincing. “How long before we can spring this joint?”

Hizashi snorted in amusement. “You sure you two aren’t related?”

“Probably another day or two.” Shouta ignored his friend. “And if you ever scare me like that again…” He trailed off.

“Let’s both agree to be angry at the other for nearly dying, yeah?” Midoriya cracked a smile. “Though this is new. I’m not used to hospitals.”

“Didn’t your mentor ever take you to get treated when you were hurt?” Shouta knew this kid had to have been hurt like this before.

“No. We had… someone… Alfred was a trained military medic. There were… extenuating circumstances that prevented us from getting treated at hospitals for any injuries related to our… heroic activities.”

“So basically you were both vigilantes and couldn’t go to a hospital for fear of being arrested.” Shouta deadpanned.

“Yep!” This kid was too damn happy. “Though after a while, I suppose we could’ve tried going to the hospital… The police chief eventually started to call us in to handle the particularly insane criminals.”

“Insane?” Hizashi blinked.

“Yeah. Every now and again, there’d be a breakout from the Asylum for the Criminally Insane.” He shrugged like it was no big deal.

“You’re unbelievable. No wonder you could taunt that villain so casually.” Shouta fought the urge to shake his head.

“Well, Shigaraki definitely had a couple of screws loose, but it was nothing compared to Jo—” He cut himself off, like he’d suddenly realized he’d said too much.

Tsukauchi took this opportunity to clear his throat, alerting Midoriya to his presence. The kid paled a bit—an understandable reaction considering this man was in charge of capturing Robin.

“Forgive my intrusion. I’m Detective Tsukauchi. I know you just woke up, but I need your statement regarding the USJ Incident.”

Midoriya sent a glance at Shouta, who sighed. “We may as well settle this now. Tsukauchi.”

“Hm?”

“Midoriya Izuku is my official Apprentice. He is no longer a vigilante.”

Tsukauchi blinked, completely lost. “Vigilante?”

“You know me as Robin.” A light smirk graced the kid’s features as Tsukauchi startled badly.

“W-wait… You’re the vigilante Robin?!”

“Yes. Yes I am.”

“And he’s my official apprentice, so he’s now off the wanted list.” Shouta stated. “So please, make sure your men know. I do not want my student getting shot by your team.”

“Again.” Midoriya muttered under his breath, and Shouta fought the urge to press for answers. You can ask him later.

“They’ll be informed. Though I have to ask… how the hell did you avoid us for so long? You weren’t even seen.” Tsukauchi had an excited gleam in his eyes.

“I had a very good mentor.” Midoriya smiled softly.

“You’re fifteen? So you’ve been a vigilante since you were ten?” Tsukauchi realized, and Shouta’s own eyes widened. He’d never really thought of it that way.

“Er… yes?” He smiled sheepishly, causing the two men to sigh and Hizashi to choke.

“Yes, well… I must inform you before taking your statement… My Quirk is Lie Detector. I can tell if you’re dishonest, so please try not to gloss over any details.”

“Hai.” Midoriya shifted a little. He’s uncomfortable around him? Shouta took note of that.

“Uh… I guess the place to start would be when we got off the bus. I had this horrible gut feeling… I just knew something bad was going to go down, but had no idea what. So I sent a text to the only faculty member in my phone and informed my sensei, but there wasn’t much we could do other than try to be prepared.” Midoriya shook his head.

“And then the villains showed up… Aizawa-sensei jumped right into the fray after telling Thirteen-sensei and I to protect the students.”

“You told a student to help protect them?” Hizashi raised an eyebrow.

“He’s a capable vigilante and a very promising hero with more experience than any student. It was only logical that he help Thirteen.” Shouta defended his decision.

“Honestly, even if he hadn’t told me to, I would’ve protected them.” Midoriya smiled softly. “And then Kurogiri came up out of nowhere, introducing himself as a member of the League of Villains—a shitty name, if you ask me, but I’ve seen worse. He scattered all of us around the building, and I barely snagged Tsu and Eiji before we found ourselves—with Mineta—in the Shipwreck Zone. I managed to reverse-hack the system and activate the whirlpool while having Mineta throw his sticky balls into the water, trapping the villains together and neutralizing the immediate danger.”

“After that, we decided to rejoin the others by the entrance. I had to get them out of the building and to safety.”

“You had to get to safety, too.” Shouta narrowed his eyes.

“My safety is second to theirs. I can handle myself. They’ve never been in a situation like that before—they’ve never stared their own death in the face.” The words sent a shiver down the spines of the adults.

“And you have?” Shouta was afraid of the answer.

“Of course I have. More times than I care to count.”

Something a lot of people didn’t realize was that Tsukauchi’s Quirk had a tell, much like Shouta’s hair. Whenever someone told a lie in his presence, his eyes would flash silver for a brief moment. So when Midoriya had said that, he’d watched for it, and was horrified to find that the Detective’s eyes stayed brown.

Even Tsukauchi seemed shaken by this revelation.

“When I saw Aizawa-sensei being massacred by the Nomu, I wanted to help him so badly, but I knew that doing so would draw attention to my classmates, too. I couldn’t risk their safety. I’m sorry.” Was the kid seriously apologizing for not helping him sooner?

“You don’t need to apologize. You made the right choice.” Shouta sent him an exasperated look.

“Well, it didn’t really matter anyways, when Shigaraki tried to attack Tsu. I blocked it, and as soon as Aizawa-sensei erased his Quirk, I broke his nose.” Midoriya smirked. “That was very satisfying.”

“I’m sure.” Hizashi shook his head fondly.

“I’ve been told that you managed to keep pace with the Nomu—a creature who has speed like All Might.” Tsukauchi inquired. Shouta would be lying if he said that he wasn’t just as curious.

“I had a friend when I was younger… His name was Wally. His uncle had had some lab accident a while beforehand and accidentally gave himself super speed. The two of them were Quirkless, and Wally replicated his uncle’s experiment, giving himself the same power.” Midoriya smiled fondly. There was a sad edge to the smile, though. “We’d hang out all the time. His uncle was his mentor, and his mentor and my mentor were good friends, too. And being around two of the fastest men to have ever walked the earth tends to give you reflexes that are above average.”

Not once had Tsukauchi’s eyes glowed. Damn. What the hell, kid? Your luck is unlike anything I’ve ever seen.

Tsukauchi asked a few more questions about USJ before he finally asked a question that caught the interest of Hizashi and Shouta. “Who was your mentor?”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you… Lie Detector or not.” Midoriya shook his head, but Tsukauchi’s eyes flashed silver.

“You aren’t going to get in trouble, and neither is your mentor.”

“My mentor is dead.” Midoriya spat, startling Shouta. “He’s been dead for a long time…”

Tsukauchi’s left eye flashed silver, but his right eye stayed brown. What the…?

“That’s… a lie?” Tsukauchi himself sounded confused.

“It’s a lie for me, but the truth by fact.” Midoriya looked up at the three adults in the room. “My mentor was a vigilante who protected a city in the United States of America known as Gotham.” He took a deep steadying breath, and glanced at Shouta for support.

The kid has so much trust in me… He nodded firmly.

“His name was Bruce Wayne. Hero Name: Batman.”

That name was familiar. Maybe he’d read about his work somewhere?

“This is where things get tricky…” Midoriya chuckled bitterly. “I met him when I was eleven years old after my adoptive parents were murdered. He took me in and trained me after I discovered his identity.”

“Adoptive?” Tsukauchi’s brows furrowed. “As far as I know, your parents are still alive.”

“They hadn’t been born yet, when I met the Grayson’s.” He smiled softly, and to Shouta’s shock, Tsukauchi’s eyes stayed brown.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Hizashi looked like his brain was frying.

“There’s a couple things you need to know. First, I’m Quirkless.” Tsukauchi nodded to Midoriya’s statement. “When I was nine, I got caught up in a villain attack. I got hit by an unknown person’s unknown Quirk. It’s not known if that was from the villain or a civilian, but it made me ‘disappear’ for about a week.”

Again, only one eye flashed silver.

“Sorry, a week, here.”

Both eyes stayed brown.

“I remember that case.” Tsukauchi blinked. “I was called in to help find you since I deal with so many different Quirks… You just showed up a week and a half or so after your disappearance. Reports said you’d undergone severe personality changes, but were otherwise unharmed.”

“Yeah, well…” Midoriya scratched the back of his head. “That Quirk sent me back in time… To the year 2013. I lived there until about 2020, when the aftereffects of the Quirk sent me back to my original time and reset me to my original age. I retained whatever physical alterations and items I had on me at the time.”

Tsukauchi’s eyes stayed brown. The kid was telling the truth.

“You lived in the Pre-Quirk era?” Hizashi echoed, eyes wide in shock.

“That makes so much sense.” Shouta sighed. “Your unconventional fighting style… your experience and skills… you were… sixteen when you were sent back here?”

“Yeah. It was sudden and terrifying. One moment, I was helping Bruce research a few things, and bantering with Barbara about whether or not Catwoman and Bruce would hook up, when I just started fading. And… And I’ve never seen them look so scared before.” Midoriya curled in on himself as much as his injuries would allow. “And then I was back here in this time, and… I was a kid again, and they were gone. And all of a sudden, I was the Quirkless kid again. I was less than and alone. Everyone I cared about… everyone I’d fought for… protected with everything I had… dead.”

Suddenly, everything became clear. It’s been centuries for the world, but only a scarce few years for the kid… Shouta wanted nothing more than to scoop this child into his arms and reassure him that things would get better. That the grief would ease, little by little.

Hizashi got up and carefully pulled Midoriya into a hug. The kid stiffened and looked up in confusion.

“Shouta’s in no state to get out of bed, so you’ll have to settle for my hugs in the meantime.” He smiled softly, running his fingers through the green hair. “You aren’t alone anymore, Little Listener. I don’t care how long you’ve lived; you’re still a kid right now. It’s okay to hurt. It’s okay to cry. Nobody here will judge you for that. You can grieve, we understand.”

Apparently that was exactly what Midoriya needed to hear, because he wrapped his good arm around the blond and started to break down. Every heart wrenching sob tore part of Shouta’s heart out of his chest, and he wanted nothing more than to join Hizashi in giving the kid support.

Fuck this. My arms are broken, not my legs. He bit down on his tongue and gingerly swung his leg over the edge of the bed. He noticed Tsukauchi giving him a reprimanding glare, but the man must’ve been just as affected, as he didn’t stop Shouta.

In fact, the detective nodded his thanks and left the room, giving the three some privacy.

Shouta carefully made his way over to the two of them before swinging a casted arm around Hizashi and Midoriya.

The blond’s head whipped up in surprise before dissolving into a disapproving glare. “You should stay in bed.” He signed angrily with the hand that wasn’t running though Midoriya’s hair.

Shouta glared back, unable to respond in sign with his hands reduced to mummified marshmallows.

“We’re here, kid. You aren’t alone, now.” Shouta softly murmured to Midoriya, who glanced up in surprise.

“You remind me of him a lot, you know.” Midoriya muttered, leaning into Shouta without pulling away from Hizashi. Unable to truly hug him, Shouta tucked Midoriya’s head under his chin. The soft locks tickled his chin, but the kid seemed to melt into the embrace, nuzzling into Shouta’s chest. “You feel safe, like he did. Strong and quiet… I don’t know why, but I feel safe with you, Aizawa…”

Shouta wouldn’t admit it aloud, but that made him feel warm inside. A soft smile found its way onto his face. “No matter what, you can count on me. We’re a team, now, yeah?” And wasn’t that a strange thought. Shouta hadn’t been part of a team since Shirakumo. He supposed that he was a lot like Midoriya in that aspect—they’d both lost their teammate to death.

“Yeah…” Midoriya smiled softly. His sobs eventually quieted and his breathing evened out.

“Little Listener fell asleep.” Hizashi chuckled. “He looks so content snuggled up to you.”

“Take a picture and I will hurt you.” Shouta threatened as he saw Hizashi reach for his phone.

“I never want to see him cry like that again.” Hizashi sighed.

“I agree. I never would’ve guessed that the kid went through so much… No wonder he’s such a brilliant vigilante.”

“He’d been one for years.” Hizashi agreed.

“Batman…” Shouta’s eyes narrowed before widening in realization. “The Dark Knight…” The legend had been passed down for centuries. Not many people remembered the Old Hero’s actual hero name, and his civilian identity had never been discovered (and remained a hotly debated topic to this day). He was one of the most famous Old Heroes. He fought some of the most vile and twisted criminals, and was Quirkless to boot.

Many Old Heroes had come into Quirk-like powers through unconventional means, and had come across equally strong and powerful villains in their time. They earned the trust of the people by protecting them, and many were still known to this day. Superman. Green Lantern. The Flash—wait…

“Think the Hero Midoriya was talking about earlier was The Flash?”

“You’re shitting me!” Hizashi whispered, excited at the prospect that his student had met Hizashi’s own favorite hero.

“To think that he’d been trained by The Dark Knight, though…” Shouta smiled softly, before resisting the urge to hit his head on something. “Batman and Robin. The Dynamic Duo. Midoriya was his sidekick.”

“Oh.” Hizashi’s eyes were wide. Shouta understood why. The Old Heroes were something like Ancient Celebrities—borderline gods, depending on who you asked. Like how children looked up to All Might, many heroes looked up to the Old Heroes of the Pre-Quirk Era, the ones who paved the way of Heroism and forged the path that they followed to this day. Their teachings—spread by word-of-mouth and from whatever surviving documentations that remained—were held in high regard.

U.A. Second Years had an entire class dedicated to the study of the Old Heroes. Shouta supposed that Midoriya wouldn’t exactly need to take that class, considering he was an Old Hero.

And that thought made even Shouta excited. The Dark Knight had been his favorite of all the Old Heroes, and to know his own apprentice was once the sidekick of his favorite hero… It made him (internally) giddy. He felt that childlike wonder fill him before shaking his head (Ow).

No matter what, Midoriya was Midoriya. He was his student. His apprentice. The kid was the same kid that snarked off to villains and scaled the side of U.A. for shits and giggles.

And shit made sense. Because Gotham was known as one of the most dangerous places in the world during the Pre-Quirk Era, and only The Dark Knight and Robin had managed to keep things anything close to peaceful.

He would try not to treat Midoriya any differently, but he knew that that would be impossible.

Because he was more than a student, now. They were, in terms of experience, equals. And Shouta was going to treat him as such. Yes, he was a kid, and Shouta would continue to teach him. But the kid had as much real battle experience as any seasoned hero (more so than most, actually), and Shouta was not going to baby him out in the field.

He laid back in the bed, careful not to wake the sleeping child. He shifted to get a little more comfortable.

Weeks later, Shouta would demand Hizashi delete the picture of a mummified Shouta curled protectively around a small green-haired child whose head was tucked securely underneath his teacher’s chin.

Hizashi would do so after sending the copy to every faculty member of U.A.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: Explanations

Izuku didn’t know how he kept finding himself in these sorts of situations. It was the first day back at school. He’d been released from the hospital after two (blissful) days of observation. His Father wasn’t home yet, though, so there was that blessing (but he was due home any time, now, and that had Izuku on edge). He felt like the time spent in the hospital with Aizawa (which he’d later learned that their shared room was Hizashi’s doing, as a way to make sure neither of them panicked upon waking up) had brought them closer. And now that Hizashi (as Yamada told him he could call him outside of school) and Aizawa knew about his past in the past, things were a lot less strange, somehow. He feared that it would become awkward, but it was actually more comfortable.

And man, did they love hearing about the Old Heroes.

“You met them?” Hizashi had asked as he leaned forward in his hospital visitor’s chair, a gleam in his eye that Izuku had only ever really seen in kids who saw their favorite heroes. Even Aizawa had a small gleam!

“Yeah, I know a lot of Old Heroes. Batman was a sort of leader for a lot of them, and I was his foster kid and partner, so of course I met a lot of heroes. Though Batman and Superman did not get along at first.” Izuku chuckled, remembering how they blackmailed each other with their secret identities. “Eventually, they warmed up to each other, though. They had a special kind of trust.”

“You know, of all the Old Heroes, Flash was my favorite. There was something about the man’s style.” Hizashi grinned.

“You two would’ve gotten along, all right. He was just as enthusiastic as you, and he could talk a mile a minute.” Izuku laughed to himself. “Kid was the same—oh, Kid Flash. He was my best friend, and we’d constantly go out and cause all sorts of trouble. There was this one time we went around and messed with all the rigged games in the carnival.” He laughed, remembering how much fun it’d been. “See, cause I used to live at a circus before Bruce found me, so I knew how all of them worked. Oh, you should’ve seen the looks on the faces of the stall runners! Eventually, they stopped letting us play, so we started telling the little kids the tricks to beat the games.”

“It’s nice to see you so happy.” Hizashi smiled softly. “You actually look the age you’re supposed to be.”

“Gotham was dangerous.” Izuku’s expression darkened. “One of the most dangerous cities in the world. What happened at USJ… was something that wouldn’t have been out of place in Gotham. I’ve handled my fair share of criminals myself in my time in the past.”

“Robin, sidekick of the Dark Knight. Your name is known even now. When you first popped up as a vigilante, we thought you were trying to copy the famous Old Hero.” Aizawa chuckled lowly, and Izuku found the sound soothing. “We never would’ve guessed that we were accusing you of impersonating yourself.”

Izuku had laughed at that.

Still, it was nice, being out of the hospital. His mother was worried sick, but Izuku skimmed over the major details, and just told her about the attack, and that he was fine. (The hospital stay was glossed over as being overly cautious). But the day before school was due to start, he received a text from the new group chat.

GrumpyCat: You need to come in tomorrow 2 hrs before school starts.

NightBird: Huh? Why?

LoudBird: Because the other teachers need to know about your past. It’ll help—trust us.

NightBird: Not that I’m against it necessarily, but why? It’s not like Joker’s gonna wake up from being dead for 300 years. Though I wouldn’t put it past Riddler to have left me some gifts… Mr. Freeze might’ve survived if he cryogenically froze himself, again… Either way, that’s all back in America.

GrumpyCat: All that aside, we can change our teaching methods to better suit your combat experience.

NightBird: Will there be coffee?

LoudBird: What?

NightBird: Will. There. Be. Coffee?

GrumpyCat: Yes, Problem Child. There will be coffee.

NightBird: Death Wish?

GrumpyCat: Yes. I’ll buy you Death Wish Coffee, okay? Just show up on time, damnit. I’m getting up for this meeting, too.

LoudBird: That’s actually the name of a coffee? Should I b worried?

GrumpyCat: Yes. Yes you should.

LoudBird: Wait… Shouta… You aren’t going to be at the meeting tomorrow, because you’re STILL ON BEDREST!

GrumpyCat: …

GrumpyCat: I’m going.

GrumpyCat: Nothing will stop me.

NightBird: I’ll spring you if I have to. I feel your pain. Hospitals suck.

GrumpyCat: I’ll put something near the window so you can find me without sneaking inside. It’ll be easier to just escape out the window. There’re no locks on them.

LoudBird: You’re on the fifth floor???

NightBird: …And?

GrumpyCat: Your point?

LoudBird: I swear you 2 are related.

NightBird: I mean, I think Bruce did sleep with Catwoman a few times… Maybe he’s their descendant? If so, then he’s related to a 300-year-old billionaire.

LoudBird: Wait, The Dark Knight was rich?!

NightBird: Bruce Wayne was rich. Net worth was somewhere around 9.2 billion, I think. He owned a tech company, why do you think we have such cool toys? I’m still working on rebuilding my motorcycle, but Power Loader is stingy with letting Heroics students into his workshop.

GrumpyCat: We can address that at the meeting.

LoudBird: Wait… are you sneaking into Maijima’s Support Workshop?! Do you want to die?!

NightBird: Plz. He won’t catch me. I’ve got more than enough experience with sneaking around. Why do you think Aizawa’s coffee supply is dwindling?

GrumpyCat: …

GrumpyCat: ……

GrumpyCat: No Death Wish coffee for you tomorrow.

NightBird: WHAT?! NOooooOOOooOooOOO!!! PLEASE! NOT THE C O F F E E!! T~T

GrumpyCat: You stole my coffee. I’m not even mad that you broke into my apartment, but you took. My. Coffee. Unforgivable.

LoudBird: Hehe. You made him mad.

NightBird: Uncle Zashi?

LoudBird: Since when am I an uncle?

NightBird: Can you make him bring the coffee?

LoudBird: Nope. I’m not stepping into the path of that ire.

NightBird: Aizawaaaaa

GrumpyCat: No.

NightBird: Shoutaaaaaa

GrumpyCat: No.

NightBird: Daaaaad

GrumpyCat: No.

NightBird: Please?

GrumpyCat: No.

NightBird: I’ll give you an authentic Robin the Boy Wonder autograph.

GrumpyCat: Are you really trying to bribe me? With your own autograph?

NightBird: An Old Hero autograph.

GrumpyCat: Doesn’t count when it’s you.

NightBird: I’ll leave you in the hospital.

GrumpyCat: ….

GrumpyCat: You wouldn’t dare.

LoudBird: Ooooh.

NightBird: Wanna find out?

GrumpyCat: I will expel you.

NightBird: No you won’t~ ;)

GrumpyCat: I’ll ground you. No patrols for a month.

LoudBird: you shouldn’t be doing patrols for a month anyways, Shou. >_<

NightBird: Fine. Bring me the coffee, or…

NightBird: >:3

LoudBird: Uh oh…

NightBird: I’ll call Recovery Girl.

LoudBird: *Gasp*

GrumpyCat: … I hate you.

NightBird: Love you too, Dad~

*GrumpyCat is Offline*

LoudBird: Haha. I’ll go make sure he didn’t throw his phone against the hospital wall again. See you tomorrow, Little Listener~! Oh, and we’re still on for the radio show on Friday/Saturday, if you’re up for it. :D

NightBird: Sure thing!!

*LoudBird is Offline*

Izuku smiled down at his phone. It was strange, being so familiar and casual with his teachers, but… He was technically in his early 20’s and had a lot of hero experience. So they were more like… coworkers outside of school, right?

But that was ultimately how Izuku found himself tiredly trudging into U.A.’s Staff Meeting Room two hours before school. Most of the teachers were already there, but they didn’t seem to know why. Several blinked in surprise when Izuku quietly entered, sitting down at the table between Hizashi and Aizawa—the latter of whom Izuku had sprung from the hospital earlier that morning.

The man looked like a mummy. Izuku counted himself lucky that it was only his left arm and right cheek that was still bandaged—though his arm wasn’t broken anymore, and it was just wrapped, not casted.

Izuku now sported a new scar on his neck, a nice deep permanent scar on his right cheek, and new scars on his shoulder and arm. The scar on his shoulder was nasty, and he found that it ached a bit when he got cold. Better than my leg, I guess.

His left knee was a little fucked up, but that was due to the torture Joker put him through years ago. Returning to the future and going back to his nine-year-old form had helped, but it still ached something terrible whenever he got too cold, or when the weather turned wet.

Izuku gratefully took the steaming mug of coffee from Aizawa with a smile. “Thank you.” Aizawa responded with a hair ruffle, making Izuku’s smile brighter. A few teachers blinked in surprise. After all, Aizawa wasn’t an overly touchy person (though he made an exception for Hizashi and now, apparently, Izuku).

“Thank you for coming on time, Problem Child.”

“Of course I’d come on time! You bribed me with coffee.”

Hizashi snorted.

“Forgive me, but I wasn’t aware that a student would be participating in this meeting?” Cementoss spoke up.

“This was on Aizawa and Yamada’s request.” Nezu grinned, looking at Izuku.

“Did you already tell him?” Izuku accused the two.

“Did you expect us to be able to keep this from him?” Hizashi raised an eyebrow.

“Fair enough.”

“Midoriya is here for several reasons.” Nezu started when everyone had settled into their seats, most with steaming mugs of coffee or tea. “Firstly, we need to address the USJ Incident. That is one of the reasons he is here. The ringleader of the attack, Shigaraki Tomura, has expressly called out Midoriya Izuku as his target and rival. As such, any further information regarding the League of Villains should be shared with Midoriya, as it will eventually affect him as well.”

“W-Wait! You can’t mean to encourage a child to fight this League of Villains!” All Might cried out in surprise. Several teachers seemed to agree, and Izuku was pleasantly surprised to see that their reasoning lay in his age rather than his lack of a Quirk (even if he suspected All Might of arguing due to the latter).

“Have you forgotten? Midoriya is also a very well-established vigilante who goes by the name ‘Robin’.” Nezu pointed out, watching a few gears turn.

“I think they keep forgetting.” Hizashi shook his head with a tired shrug.

“But… if you think that even this isn’t enough…” Nezu’s gleam made a few staff members flinch. “Midoriya? Would you like to explain?”

“You really think they’ll believe me?” Izuku raised an eyebrow. “I wouldn’t believe me.”

“First, allow me to say this…” Nezu started, a smirk playing on his expression. “I assure you that what Midoriya is about to explain is 100% true. Not only have I done the research—which I will provide after his explanation—but Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa has ascertained the truth of his story.”

A murmur went around the room as the teachers processed what Nezu was saying.

“All right, Midoriya. The time is yours.” Nezu chuckled as if he’d made a joke, and Izuku leveled him with a deadpanned expression. He shook his head with a sigh.

“When I was nine, I was caught in a villain attack.”

“What a wonderful way to start off.” Aizawa muttered under his breath, dodging the swat from Hizashi. “Yeah, hit the injured guy.” He hissed quietly, and Izuku fought the twitch of his lips.

“Yeah, well, it’s true. Basically I got hit with an unknown Quirk from an unidentified person and it threw me back 300 years into the past.” Izuku rolled his eyes, deciding to just throw it out there.

“I’m sorry, what?” Midnight blinked. “Did you just say you were sent over 300 years into the past?” Hizashi snickered at the dumbfounded expressions of his coworkers.

“I was sent back 346 years, to be exact. Though it’s been 352 years, now, it was 346 at the time.” Izuku explained. “I was sent back to the year 2013, to America. I was found wondering around confused and lost by a traveling circus, and a couple took me in and adopted me. They were acrobats, and taught me their trade. They renamed me Richard Grayson.” His eyes misted over a little as he brought up the old memories. The room was quiet, drinking in the words of the student.

“It was strange, living in the Pre-Quirk Era. But as a Quirkless kid, I was treated normally for the first time since I was four. Nobody looked down on me for being born with an extra joint, and suddenly I was normal. And… and things were good. But then, when I was 11, my parents were murdered. I watched them fall to their deaths.” He winced, remembering the terrible look of fear on his second mother’s face as she felt the bar slip from its hold.

Hizashi put a hand on his shoulder, and Izuku blinked, coming back to himself.

“Sorry. Uh… After that, I was taken in by a man named Bruce Wayne, a local Billionaire playboy who’d also been orphaned as a kid.” He smiled fondly. “It didn’t take me long before I figured out his secret—he was a vigilante who protected the city. Though I’m not sure vigilante would really apply to him by that point, considering the commissioner would actually call him out to deal with all the criminals in the city.” He chuckled under his breath. “And I somehow convinced him to let me help him. I chose my name, Robin, after my mother’s nickname for me.”

He looked up at the curious and saddened expressions of the heroes around him. “And that’s the origin story for Robin the Boy Wonder, second half of the Dynamic Duo: Batman and Robin.”

There were a few people who blinked in vague recognition.

“You’ll know Batman by his other name.” Aizawa smirked. “The Dark Knight, Protector of Gotham City.”

Three seconds was all it took for all hell to break loose.

“W-wait a second!!” Snipe gasped. “You mean you were right in the middle of the Old Heroes’ prime years?!”

“Yeah. I knew most of them. I was best friends with Kid Flash, Batgirl—I think she later became known as Oracle—Red Arrow…” He trailed off at the awed looks.

“D-doesn’t that mean that you are an Old Hero?!” Midnight pointed out in awe, and several others stared at him like he was a god incarnate for a moment. Izuku shifted uncomfortably in his chair.

“Hold on… Are we really going to just take this at face value?” All Might asked. Ectoplasm seemed skeptical as well.

“And herein is the proof I was talking about.” Nezu pulled out his computer and typed a few things before turning on the projector.

It showed some photos. Photos that Izuku recognized. Old photos.

There he was, standing beside Batman, Batgirl by their side as the police were dragging away a tied up Penguin. He felt tears prick his eyes.

“I remember that… Penguin had been pulling his usual bull again, but he’d teamed up with Bane, which is why there’s so much damage in the background. Bane was always one to up the collateral.”

“How is that proof?” Nezu asked, grinning. “This is to place the year.” Izuku realized that this was a scan of an old newspaper. On another page, it showed a photo of Bruce and himself at a charity event. And there was no mistaking those freckles, those bright green eyes… that unruly hair (no matter how much Alfred tried to tame it).

“Holy shit…” All Might breathed as he realized the date was from 2015.

“In 2020, at age 16, I was abruptly pulled back here to my own time. I suppose it was part of the Quirk, but I found myself back at age 9, having only been gone for a week. Though whatever items or scars I had on me came with me.” Izuku gently pulled the collar of his shirt down, showing a stylized ‘J’ branded just below his collarbone. “I got this from a nasty encounter with Joker. Luckily, he only had me for a half an hour that time before Bruce came and sprung me.”

“You mean he tortured you?!” Hound Dog growled.

“Wasn’t the first time. The man was the most terrifying person I’ve ever met. Trust me, be glad that you live 350 years too late to meet him.” Izuku shuddered. “He still gives me nightmares. Like I said, Shigaraki may be insane, but he’s not Joker level insane.”

The teachers did not like the sound of that, and resolved to keep a closer eye on the kid’s mental state.

“After I came back here, I couldn’t just not help people. So I gathered some supplies together and became a vigilante again.”

“So!” Nezu clapped his paws together with a cheerful grin. “Midoriya is an Old Hero! These circumstances are truly unique, and I think that his studies should be a little more customized, all things considered.”

The room nodded. “No wonder you’re so far ahead of your peers.” Midnight realized. “And that speech back in USJ… Makes so much more sense, now.”

“You should’ve seen my first fight. I was tripping over my own cape.” Izuku chuckled. “I swear I nearly took out the Batmobile’s headlight with my grappling hook.”

“Oh! Ask Power Loader, now.” Hizashi brightened up, causing Izuku and Power Loader to blink at him.

“Oh yeah! Can I use some of your supplies to re-build my gear? You won’t believe how difficult it is trying to rebuild my stuff from civilian-level goods.” Izuku crossed his arms with a pout.

“So long as you let me supervise, I see no problem with it.” He answered, though Izuku caught the excited gleam in his eye.

“Another thing! I think Midoriya, here, should take the next Provisional Hero License Exam!” Nezu announced, making Izuku choke.

“W-What?!”

“Is it really that surprising? You’re already an Old Hero.” Aizawa noted.

“I… I mean, back then was different… this is… professional! Like, an actual job!” Izuku argued, much to the amusement of the teachers.

“He can look hardened criminals in the eye and tell villains where to shove it, but toss an exam at him and he’s just a regular first year.” Midnight giggled. “How cute!”

“Don’t worry, Midoriya.” Cementoss smiled. “We’re here to prepare you for the exam. It’ll take place right after the Sports Festival, so try not to get hurt too badly.”

“Sports…? Oh yeah! Modern Olympics…” He paused for a moment. “Wait… I’M GOING TO BE IN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!!!” He started to freak out with excitement, making several people laugh.

The meeting dissolved into chatter thereafter, with several people questioning Izuku about the Old Heroes.

“So you knew them?!” Vlad King quirked an eyebrow in interest, and Izuku recognized that gleam.

“Yeah, most of them.” Izuku smiled. “I know Batman and The Flash the best, since the two are fairly good friends.”

“Who were you close to?” Midnight asked.

“Hm… Well, I was closest to whoever Batman was closest to… So of the Old Heroes… Bruce was close to Auntie Diana—er… Wonder Woman, The Flash, or Uncle Berry, as I called him, Zatanna, and of course, Uncle Clark—Superman.”

“You called Superman, Uncle?!” Snipe asked, obviously trying not to sound shocked.

“Yeah, he was the only one who knew our identities. Well, Wally—Kid Flash—knew, but that’s because we were out on patrol together in Gotham, and he was not prepared. So when we were placed in a position where we needed to disappear, we had to go civilian.”

“Truly, they were not Quirks?” Cementoss inquired. Izuku couldn’t blame him. A lot of people had the misconception that the Old Heroes were just extremely early manifestations of Quirks.

“Nope. Superman was an alien from the planet Kryptos, Flash was a chemistry mishap gone wrong… Nobody had Quirks. The very concept wasn’t even a thought. A few metahumans existed, but I checked—two joints. Their powers were something else, not Quirks.”

“Incredible. That people can have such powers without Quirks. It makes me wonder what caused Quirks to appear in the first place.” Cementoss wondered aloud.

Eventually, everyone migrated away from the meeting room. Izuku followed Aizawa, intent on refilling his coffee mug. “So… Sports Festival?”

“Yeah, I’m going to make the announcement in homeroom today.” Aizawa grabbed the pot of Death Wish Coffee and poured it into Izuku’s cup before pouring the remaining amount into his own thermos. “All else aside, do your best at the festival. You’ll be getting your provisional license a lot sooner than your classmates, so this will be especially important for you. While they’ll take their internships immediately after the festival, you will be taking your exam. You’ll need as much publicity as you can manage.” Izuku wrinkled his nose at that. He wasn’t as opposed to publicity as Batman had been, but his time in the shadows of Gotham had made him somewhat leery of the limelight.

“You know, as someone who once attended the actual Olympics, I think it’s interesting to see the difference.”

“I’ve always wondered what it would’ve been like to see the Olympics in that time. Like, how would those feats have looked if Quirks hadn’t shown up?” Hizashi grinned, having followed them to the staff room.

“They look badass even with Quirks in the world. I dare you to try half that shit Quirkless.” Izuku ducked underneath Aizawa’s casted swat.

“Language. If you insist on calling me Dad, then I’ll act like it.”

Izuku couldn’t help but laugh. “Alright, Dadzawa!”

Hizashi’s laughter could be heard across the building.

Izuku felt bad. He’d forgotten to text Eijiro and let him know that he wasn’t going to meet up at the train.

“Dude, what’s up?! You totally left me!” Eijiro pouted. “Good to see you, though.” He eyed Izuku’s bandages with concern. “You holdin’ up okay?”

Izuku was about to answer when Iida came around the corner with Uraraka in tow. “Midoriya!!” Uraraka grinned, running over with speed matched only by Iida. “You’re okay!” She wrapped him in a hug that squeezed his sore arm just right.

Iida must’ve seen the wince, because he started to chastise Uraraka.

“So what’d I miss?” Kaminari and Jiro came around, followed by Shinso.

“Hey, so what the hell happened?” Shinso asked as they walked towards the building. “Us Gen Ed kids don’t get told anything. One minute we’re in class, and the next all the teachers run like the devil’s on their heels. They looked scared, too. And you’re hurt, and school was closed for three days due to a security issue?” He raised an eyebrow.

“We went to USJ—the Unforeseen Simulation Joint—for a school field trip. We were supposed to learn how to rescue people, but…” Uraraka trailed off.

“There was a major villain attack.” Izuku spoke up. “A guy with a warp Quirk brought a ton of villains into the building, along with a couple of really powerful guys. Communications were blocked and we were scattered. Aizawa-sensei and Thirteen-sensei were hospitalized due to their injuries.”

“So were you.” Eijiro glared. “And the hell was that?! You just jumped in there and started badmouthing those villains like it was nothing!”

“You did say you’d explain.” Iida spoke up.

“Wait, hold on. I’m still trying to process the fact that my only friends nearly died and I had no idea.” Shinso was paler than usual.

“You should’ve seen Izuku!” Eijiro grinned. “He was so kickass! He was fighting off villains like a real pro!!”

“And he got hurt like a real pro.” Jiro reminded him.

“Maybe we should exchange contact info?” Izuku suggested. “That way nobody will be left out of the loop.”

“Good idea!” Uraraka and Kaminari grinned.

“As for that explanation…” Izuku fidgeted. “Have you ever heard of a vigilante named Robin?”

“Of course I have!” Eijiro beamed. “He’s so manly! Though he’s on the wrong side of the law, he still protects people!”

“Midoriya, I doubt there’s anyone who hasn’t heard of the mysterious Robin.” Jiro shook her head.

“Er… w-well, I’m Robin. I’m the vigilante.” He rubbed the back of his head as they stopped walking.

“Nice try, man.” Kaminari’s grin faltered when Izuku kept a straight face.

“I’m serious. I’m allowed to tell you now because I’ve become Aizawa-sensei’s apprentice, so I’m not technically a vigilante anymore. That means I can legally go out on patrol so long as Aizawa-sensei is with me. You can seriously go ask him if you want.”

“Holy shit, dude. No wonder you can fight so well!” Kaminari grinned.

“You were so calm during the whole thing, I knew you’d done this kind of stuff before!” Eijiro was vibrating with excitement. “I never would’ve guessed that you were Robin, though!”

“I’m actually not surprised.” Shinso stared at Izuku like he’d expected it. “Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if you told me you were actually the Robin: Boy Wonder.”

Izuku, caught off guard, clammed up and didn’t deny his claim. Shinso sighed. The others seemed to take it as a joke (the boy wonder part, not the vigilante part).

“So… time travel?” Shinso raised an eyebrow as the others made idle chatter as they walked the halls of U.A.

“Accidentally hit by a Quirk when I was 9. I just told the teachers this morning, so they all know. I was Batman’s sidekick.”

“Cool. No wonder you’re so multi-talented.” He smiled. “You know… The Sports Festival is coming up.”

“Yeah. We’re gonna get a briefing on it today.”

“I heard that if a General Education student does well enough, they’ll be considered for the Hero Course.” Shinso’s eyes shone.

“Really? That’s so awesome!” Izuku felt his own excitement flare up, before an idea popped into his mind. “Hey, Shin? Do you want to train with me for the festival?”

“W-what?!”

“I mean, you’ll need to learn how to fight Quirkless, right? So who better to train with than a Quirkless kid?”

“I… yeah. I’d like that, Midoriya.”

“Izuku. Call me Izuku or Robin.”

“All right, then call me Hitoshi.”

“I think we’re gonna get along just fine, Toshi.” Izuku grinned.

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Training

Izuku had been training his ass off in preparation for the Sports Festival and his swiftly approaching Provisional License Exam. His teachers were giving him a lot more work (likely to cram in a few semesters’ worth of information before the exam), but they also had started treating him like an equal. He found it refreshing, and was allowed to go into the staff room for coffee whenever he didn’t have a class.

That first day of classes after his Big Reveal was… odd. The teachers would sneak awed glances at him when they thought nobody was looking, and whenever they passed him in the halls, they’d send him a secretive smile, or nod in respect.

Some of his classmates had noticed, too, and they didn’t hesitate in asking him about what had happened during the USJ Incident.

“So the rumors say you took on that villain by yourself!” Ashido grinned as she leaned against Izuku’s desk. “Is it true?!”

“Er…” Izuku wasn’t sure how to answer this, and damnit, Aizawa was smirking behind his scarf as he pretended to sleep in the corner.

“Yeah! I saw you fighting him from the stairs! You were amazing, how did you do that?!” Sero grinned.

“That damn Deku couldn’t fight if his life depended on it.” Bakugo huffed, and Aizawa twitched from his spot on the floor.

“Though if you recall, I still nearly beat you during our little match on the first day.” Izuku smirked, and Bakugo glared death at him.

“Izu.” Asui stood up from her desk and made her way over to Izuku. Then, to the surprise of the room, she bowed. “You saved my life. You jumped in front of that villain and took a hit that would’ve killed me.” She looked up at him with a smile. “I’ll find a way to repay you some day.”

“Really, there’s no need.” Izuku sent her a gentle smile. “You were in trouble. And what kind of person would I be if I let someone I cared about get hurt?”

“Wait! So you really fought that guy alone?” Ashido gasped.

“Should I tell them?” Izuku asked Eijiro with a raised eyebrow.

“I mean, they won’t leave it alone either way, so…”

“Cool. So you know that vigilante Robin? Yeah, I’m him.” The room stared at him in disbelief for a moment, before laughing. It brought back some memories of his middle school days that weren’t too kind.

Luckily, it seemed that Aizawa did care enough to back him up on this. “Quiet down.” His voice carried throughout the classroom, silencing the students instantly.

“As if Deku could ever be anything.” Bakugo muttered just loud enough for Izuku to hear.

“And for the record, he’s telling the truth.” Aizawa continued, sending Bakugo and a few others pointed looks. “Midoriya is the vigilante Robin, and my apprentice. So he’s legal, now. This is why I asked for his help in fighting the villains during the attack—because he’s got the experience needed to not die. If something like that ever happens again, and I’m not around, you listen to him.”

The classroom was silent for a long moment, and Izuku fidgeted in his chair as his classmates stared at him in awe. Geez, what would they think if they knew I was an Old Hero?

“Now, let’s get homeroom over with so I can get back to my nap, which you lot so rudely interrupted.”

Even All Might was treating him with more respect—which was much welcomed. Hero Classes were mostly Independent study, too, so everyone had time to train for the Sports Festival.

“All Might?” Izuku asked, walking up to the man during his Heroics class.

“Y-Yes, Midoriya?” He seemed a little… scared? Intimidated? Was the name Robin really so well respected? He decided to chock it up to him being an actual Old Hero more than anything else.

“I was hoping that I could spend this class period working on some stuff in Power Loader’s workshop?”

“Of course. Go right ahead.” All Might smiled at him, as Izuku thanked him and went off to find the Support Course’s classroom.

It was in a separate building (likely as a precaution, so if something happened, only one building would blow up, rather than the entire school). He was wondering around the hallways, somewhat lost, when he literally walked right into a pink-haired girl, nearly bowling her over. He caught her in the nick of time, preventing her from smacking her head off the floor. Izuku hadn’t been Bruce’s ward for nothing, and he’d picked up a few ‘smooth’ moves in his time with the billionaire playboy. Catching a girl as she’s about to fall was one of them.

“Woah. You okay, there?” Izuku asked, a bright smile on his face. She stared for a moment as he helped her back to her feet, before smiling back at him.

“Yeah! So sorry about that! I just got too caught up thinking about my babies~!” She got this obsessive gleam in her eye that Izuku instantly recognized. Oh, she’s an inventor.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where I could find Power Loader, would you? This place is harder to navigate when you come in through the front door. Air shafts are a lot simpler.”

“Of course I do! You’re a Hero Course Student, right?” She eyed his costume. “Oh! You’re the one who had the cape re-do!! How’s it working out? I’m the one who made your gear, though my classmates worked on your clothing. Are my babies doing okay?”

“Babies…? Oh, your inventions.” Izuku realized. “Yeah! They’re doing amazing! In fact, I’m here to make some babies of my own!” He grinned. She was a little eccentric, but he thought they’d get along just fine.

“Oh? Like what? Can I help?”

“Maaaaybe.” Izuku smirked. “Depends. How do you feel about jetpacks?”

The girl’s grin would’ve frightened anyone else, but Izuku shared it with one of his own.

They bounced ideas and concepts back and forth as she led him to wherever Power Loader was. They were in the middle of discussing the fine mechanics of a hoverboard when they arrived. Power Loader took one look at the two animated students and paled.

“No… Dear God… Nezu, if the school is gone by Monday, it is not my fault.”

“Huh? Oh~! Hey, Power Loader! I was hoping to use my Hero Class time to work on a few things today. Would that be okay?”

“I’ll help!” The girl chimed in.

“Just please don’t blow anything up.” He sighed, defeated.

Izuku was somewhat offended. “I’ll have you know, that I only blow things up on accident when I’m making explosives. And I’ve gotten a lot better, too. I haven’t blown anything up since the motorcycle incident!”

Power Loader shifted, uncomfortable. “I didn’t mean you, Midoriya.” His gaze shifted to the pink-haired girl whose name he’d forgotten to ask.

“Come on! I only blow up something twice a class period!” She huffed, and Izuku had to stifle his laugh.

“Maybe I can help? If we work together, we’re sure to create some wonderful inventions without giving Power Loader grey hairs.”

“If you can keep her from blowing up things until the Sports Festival, I’ll give you your own workshop, Midoriya.” Power Loader promised.

“Really?! Oh, and you can just call me Robin, if you want. Or Dick. Either work.” Izuku shrugged.

“Dick?” He questioned, confused.

“It’s an American nickname for Richard—no clue why. But I went by it when I was with my mentor.”

“I like the name Robin! I’m Hatsume Mei!” The girl introduced herself with an excited grin.

“Midoriya Izuku, Hero Class 1–A. Hero Name: Robin.” He grinned.

“Robin, you’re free to use my workshop. Here’s the key, don’t bother giving it back. I know you’d find a way to pick the lock, anyhow.” Power Loader smiled as he tossed Robin the key. “As long as you keep Hatsume under control, she can join you.”

“YES!” Hatsume cheered.

Izuku grinned, ignoring the shiver that went down Power Loader’s spine. He’d start with some of his more versatile Robin gear, before working on some of the other projects—like his bike. And possibly the Batmobile. After all, if he could build it, then he could finally drive it, right?

Maijima Higari wasn’t sure what to think of Midoriya Izuku. For one, he was the Old Hero, Robin—one of the most well respected Heroes of all time (right alongside his mentor, The Dark Knight). Robin was famous for being one of the youngest heroes, and one of the notable ones without powers.

To think that that same Old Hero is actually a student of U.A…. And that same student wanted to use Higari’s workshop? He was honored. This kid—for he was still technically a child—was one of Higari’s favorite heroes, because of his rumored expert hacking and programming skills. Robin was said to be an incredible inventor that never got the chance to fully come into his skills.

He wanted to change that. If he could help nurture that inner inventor somehow, then by god, he would—even if it cost him a few labs.

But when he saw Robin walk in with Hatsume of all people—his own ‘Problem Child’, as Aizawa would say—he felt true fear. The girl was brilliant—one of the brightest inventive minds he’d seen in years—but she was also fearless. She had little regard for her own safety, and often blew up his lab. He’d quickly learned, even by the end of the first day, that she was one to keep a very close eye on.

Maybe he’d give her a lab of her own next semester just to keep her from blowing up the shared one.

But if Midoriya could curb that nasty habit of hers…

Either way, he was honestly excited to see what the two could come up with when they put their heads together. An Old Hero working with what could very possibly be the brightest Support Student he’d ever had. He could practically hear Nezu cackling—oh, wait. That was Midoriya. Never mind.

He watched the two work with the same attentiveness as an overprotective mother. By the end of the first hour, he’d lost track of how many explosions Robin had averted. He supposed he should start building that lab for the kid soon.

By the end of the second hour, the two hardly needed to speak anymore. Their teamwork was phenomenal, and Higari had never quite seen anything like it before. The two practically read one another’s minds. If he hadn’t known any better, he’d think that they’d been working together for years.

The end of the third hour had Higari convinced—he’d build them both a lab to share. These two would be regulars down here, for sure. With the way they worked together… They didn’t need to talk to communicate at all anymore, and whenever they did talk, it was almost gibberish to Higari. Plus, Robin had managed to keep Hatsume from blowing up a single thing. Three hours, and not one explosion. That was more than enough to convince him.

Higari was certain—these two could easily take over the world, if they wanted to. He was just glad that they wanted to be (or work for, in Hatsume’s case) heroes. Well, Robin had a key, now, so he was sure he’d be seeing a lot more of the two.

Maybe Aizawa would let him steal some of that headache medication he kept in the staff room.

Thirteen shifted from foot to foot. They were excited. Thirteen had grown up idolizing the Old Heroes, and the way they’d rescue people. It wasn’t about publicity or fame or anything of the sort back then—just helping people. Every hero was pretty much a Rescue Hero in those days, and that’s what inspired Thirteen to become one in the first place, despite having such a destructive Quirk.

To think that they would be able to not only meet an Old Hero, but teach him?! If someone had told Thirteen that at the beginning of the school year, they would’ve called that person insane. But here they were.

All the staff members had agreed to use the three hour long Hero Class period to teach Midoriya Izuku privately in preparation for the upcoming Provisional License Exam.

Normally, Hero Students wouldn’t really start learning the ins and outs of things like Rescue Work until at least second semester (the USJ trip is more of a way to start familiarizing them with the different types of disasters and how to initially respond, rather than actual hands-on rescuing). But for Midoriya, since he was taking the exam in just a few weeks, he needed as much hands-on Rescue training as he could get—along with a crash course of how much the laws regarding Rescue work have changed in the last three and a half centuries.

Thirteen felt like they should be stressed, what with everything they needed to teach this student in such a short period of time, but they were more excited than anything.

After all, how often did one get to train one of their favorite heroes?!

Aizawa-senpai insisted on coming along—likely because of the USJ incident not too long ago. While Midoriya had finally been able to remove his bandages, Aizawa would probably still look like a mummy for the Sports Festival.

Midoriya’s shoulder could pose an issue, though, but they’d address that when it actually became a problem.

Thirteen and Aizawa both found themselves impressed with just how good the kid was at rescue work already. He knew several different techniques for different kinds of terrain and disasters, and was able to think on his feet every time Thirteen threw him a curveball. Whenever they ran a scenario, he always remained calm and comforting, exuding confidence that would undoubtedly put a frightened civilian at ease, and maybe even make a few children laugh.

His knowledge of Field Treatment was astounding, and Thirteen wondered if he learned it through firsthand experience. Although the way the kid casually mentioned that it was easier to do stitches on another person than it was on oneself actually made the hero worry. Hero or not, a kid shouldn’t have to have ever given himself stitches—especially without anything for the pain.

“So what kinds of injures can you treat?” Aizawa asked, eyes narrowing a little as he looked at Midoriya—Robin, as he insisted they call him in costume.

“Just the typical stuff, really. I can set most broken bones, relocate stuff, remove foreign objects, pack wounds, stitches, some very basic emergency surgery, wrap wounds, stop bleeding, you know. The basics.” He shrugged. “I can also whip up antidotes fairly quickly for poisons and toxins so long as I’ve got my gear and a sample of whatever they came in contact with.” He thought for a moment. “I should rebuild my portable toxin lab so I can do that in the field. Never know when you’re gonna run into a villain with a toxic or poisonous Quirk.”

“How is that basic?” Thirteen echoed, and Aizawa seemed to be of a similar mindset.

“Kid, I don’t think you realize just what ‘basic’ medical treatment is for heroes these days.” Aizawa sighed. “Wrapping wounds, making splints, don’t let people with concussions fall asleep, stem bleeding, don’t take the object out of someone who’s been impaled, and how to use things like liquid glue and butterfly closures. That’s pretty much what the fully trained hero needs to know. Everything else is what a doctor or a Medical Hero would take care of.”

“That’s it?” Robin blinked in disbelief. “I guess it makes sense, though. You can actually go to hospitals, here. Back in my time, you usually couldn’t go to a hospital as a hero. We weren’t exactly legal, especially those like myself and Batman, who had to protect our identities. That meant that we needed to treat our injuries ourselves—no matter how bad they were. And I couldn’t always count on being able to get back to the Bat Cave for treatment. Plus, we couldn’t always rely on medical personnel being able to reach the injured civilians first.”

Thirteen noticed this early on—Robin had the tendency to refer to his time in the pre-Quirk Era as ‘his time’, as if that was where he actually belonged, rather than here. Not that Thirteen could blame him, what with the bullying that the child had undoubtedly suffered through. Society wasn’t nice to Quirkless people, so Thirteen imagined that the Pre-Quirk Era was something like a dream world to him; a place where he could finally be normal.

“I expect that if you get hurt at any point, you will come to a teacher or Recovery Girl.” Aizawa crossed his arms.

“Hai, Aizawa-sensei.” Robin sighed.

“Good.” Thirteen nodded. “Now in the case of a massive villain attack…”

And the lesson continued. Yes, Midoriya Izuku was an exceptional student, but Thirteen couldn’t help but think that he needed some kind of rescuing himself. They’d be there for him, though. All the teachers would be. Because whether the others admitted it or not, this child was growing on all of them. He was becoming more than a student—he was becoming their friend. A part of their family. And they would do anything to protect him.

Kan Sekijiro hadn’t known what to expect when he first met Midoriya Izuku. The little detail of him being an Old Hero—while exciting—wasn’t really that big of a deal. He didn’t know why everyone was tripping over themselves. Yeah, it was cool and all, but in the end it just meant that their student had more experience than they thought. That he was an equal.

It really wasn’t fair that they thrust this mantle of practical god-level worship on a kid. At least Aizawa had the right idea. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t fascinated by the stories the kid held, though.

He, Snipe and Ectoplasm were training the kid in combat. Aizawa tagged along because he was really good in hand-to-hand.

He’d known that the kid was good. He had to be to not only be a successful Old Hero, but to be a successful modern vigilante. But that didn’t mean that any of them were expecting Robin to pin Aizawa facedown in the dirt in five minutes flat. Even if the man hadn’t been using his Capture Weapon, this kid was damn good.

He shared an impressed look with Ectoplasm and Snipe, while Aizawa grinned.

After two hours of hard training—Ectoplasm had used his Quirk to test Robin’s ability to fight multiple enemies at once, to which the kid had excelled, while Snipe tested the kid’s reaction time to a long-distance foe—Sekijiro called for a well-earned break.

“Damn, kid. You’re better than I expected. We may not have much to teach you, here.” Sekijiro grinned as he sat down to enjoy his bento alongside the others. Snipe laughed.

“I’d like to see how well you can shoot, too!”

“I’ve never actually shot a gun before.” Robin admitted, and Snipe drew back in surprise. He paused for a moment before pulling out his gun and cautiously handing it over.

“You know Gun Safety?”

“Yeah.” Robin grinned, holding the weapon carefully. Sekijiro could tell that this kid was very familiar with what guns could do. They may not be common like they were in the Pre-Quirk Era, but they were still just as dangerous.

He watched with interest as Snipe set up a few things for Robin to shoot at. “Okay, kid. Fire away. Don’t worry too much about the sound—I’ve got mufflers on the end.”

“All right.” Robin took a deep breath before holding up the gun. He aimed, and then fired six shots in rapid succession.

Sekijiro breathed in shock, as Ectoplasm and Aizawa choked on their rice. Snipe looked like Christmas came early.

Robin hit all six targets dead in the center. “I thought you said you’d never shot one before?” Sekijiro managed to get out.

“I… I haven’t. I just went with my instinct. I suppose it isn’t too different than aiming with my grappling gun…” He mused, carefully handing the weapon back to an excited Snipe. “You’ve got to think about wind resistance, distance, force… all of it, and calculate everything in a moment. Because if you get it wrong, and the hook doesn’t catch, then there really isn’t much to save you from a ten-story fall, you know?”

“I’m mighty impressed, Sharpshooter.” Snipe laughed as he whacked Robin on the back in a friendly manner. The kid stumbled and stiffened for a moment before grinning.

“Come on, Problem Child. You need food.” Aizawa herded his student over to their eating area.

“You hating our guts, yet?” Sekijiro asked, a teasing smile on his face. They were working him hard, after all.

“You kidding?” Robin grinned up at him. “I’m having a blast! I love fighting new people—it gives me the chance to try out new techniques. You can’t just spar against the same old enemies, you know?”

“You say that like you didn’t take out Aizawa in five minutes.” Ectoplasm chuckled, as said hero flushed.

“Nah, that’s just because we were fighting in an open area. In an urban setting, where he can use his Capture Weapon to move about freely, I would’ve had a much harder time of it.” Robin argued. “I’m good at adapting, but I’m still just a kid—even if I’m about seven years or so older than I look.” He smirked.

“Don’t sell yourself short, Problem Child.” Aizawa argued. “You’re almost too fast to see, sometimes.”

“Eh, that’s because I had to try to keep up with Wally.” He had a fond smile as he looked up at the sky.

“That’s Kid Flash, right?” Ectoplasm tilted his head as he thought. “Sometimes I forget you actually knew the Old Heroes.”

“Sometimes you forget I was one of them.” Robin shook his head as he came out of his thoughts. “Yeah… I knew the League pretty well. At one point, us younger sidekicks established a League of our own, but that’s a little bit of a different story… I wonder how everyone took my disappearance?”

The question was probably heavier than the kid intended, but it was a hard reminder that he’d lost everyone he’d held dear.

“The old stories say that Robin disappeared one night. Nobody knew where to, or if he died or not. Many rumors sprung up, but he wasn’t seen again. A lot of the heroes went out to look for him, but to no avail.” Aizawa spoke quietly.

“Gotham is still around, you know.” Sekijiro added, and Robin’s head whipped up in shock.

“It is?!” He blinked in shock. “I wonder if the Manor… No, it’s been three centuries… there’s no way it’d still be standing after all this time.” He shook his head.

“I looked up a few things after you told us…” Ectoplasm added. “Wayne Manor is still there—preserved, as far as I know. The mansion and the land it sits on was donated to someone by Bruce Wayne, upon his death. Technically, the land and all his possessions are still private, though nobody knows who owns it, now.”

“It is?” Robin got a faraway wistful look to him. “Maybe I should visit someday…”

“Hm… You know, a class field trip to Gotham isn’t such a bad idea.” Aizawa mused, and Robin’s head whipped up in shock. “It wouldn’t be until much later in the year, though. And Nezu would have to approve it.”

“If you can get me to Gotham… even for a day…” His bangs shadowed his eyes for a long moment before he swiped away a stray tear. “I just want to say goodbye.”

They ate in silence after that, leaving the child to his thoughts. The kid was strong, in more ways than one. But he was still a kid. A kid who’d lost a lot. He felt a wave of protectiveness for the boy. He was alone and probably—to some degree—scared. He may not be able to help much, but he’d be there if the kid ever needed him. Because he was more than his student… This kid… Midoriya Izuku felt like family, to him.

And Sekijiro would always protect family. He shared a look with Snipe, Aizawa, and Ectoplasm. They would always protect him.

Nezu grinned as he watched Midoriya work. This kid was brilliant. It’d been a long time since Nezu had had a private student like this, but looking at the full extent of his analysis had the animal bouncing in his chair like a child.

This was going to be fun, he decided, as he gave Midoriya several puzzles and tests to see where he stood. Definitely fun.

This boy had a certain… animalistic aspect that Nezu loved. This instinct within him that he wasn’t sure the boy himself even knew about. And for whatever reason, his inner… bear? Yes, he decided that the bear side of him was the one that was protective of this cub.

Because, as he got to know more about the student, he started thinking of him as his little cub. A small cub that needed to be protected—no matter how well he could use his claws and fangs.

And Nezu’s inner rat was also curious about this human cub that had a keen intellect far beyond his peers.

Nezu didn’t often get protective of humans, but this boy was an exception to a lot of things, apparently. Not that the principal minded, of course. It’d just been a long while since he’d come across someone that his animal side liked so much.

His grin widened. Nezu didn’t play favorites.

But, it seemed, Midoriya Izuku was always an exception.

Ishiyama Ken, better known as Cementoss, watched as Midoriya Izuku leapt around the Urban Training Field like it was a playground. He looked so at home, as he swung from skyscraper to skyscraper without a shred of fear.

He was somewhat jealous. Ken, himself, was actually a little scared of heights (not as afraid as he was of water, because his Quirk made him sink like a literal rock). For the first time, he really understood why the kid was called Robin—he certainly looked like one at the moment.

He smiled as the kid let out a whoop of excitement as he performed some complex aerial flip-like maneuver that had Aizawa, who was standing next to him, pale with worry. He hid his chuckle. Looked like the kid was growing on everyone in the staff.

“Yeah! Keep going, kid!” Kayama Nemuri cheered, as she clicked a few more buttons. Obstacles suddenly jutted out of the walls of the buildings, forcing the boy to pull off some very risky—yet impressive—looking moves.

The point of this training was to hone reflexes, and Ken’s Quirk was ideal for this sort of thing. He would make platforms and buildings shift and crumble to see how the kid would adapt, while Midnight would control the automatic obstacles that the training grounds came with.

Aizawa was there to catch the kid if anything happened, but from the looks of it, he wouldn’t need to. Cementoss had never seen anyone look so at home at such heights—not even people with Quirks that allowed them to fly.

He briefly wondered if the boy would get along well with Hawks.

Once their snack break came around, Ken couldn’t help but question the boy on the past. He wasn’t even asking about heroes—though it was a fascinating topic—he wanted to know about the actual history of the time.

“So what are some of the main differences in culture and practices that you’ve noticed?” He asked as he took another bite of his food.

“Hm… Well, I was in America, so I’m not sure how much things have changed over there. But in general, I think a lot has stayed the same. Technology was advancing really fast—did you know? The cell phone went from this big old clunky thing to the smartphones we’ve got today in just a few decades!” He grinned, and the teachers blinked in surprise.

“Wait, really? I mean I know people say that technology was advancing really fast, but…” Kayama looked down at her iPhone.

“Yeah. And some independent inventors were coming up with some crazy awesome stuff! Like actual Virtual Reality, self-driving cars, smart homes… Some new phones could unlock by facial recognition, too! It was kind of scary, really.”

“Honestly, Quirks have pushed humankind backwards.” Aizawa sighed as he, too, ate his meal.

“Yeah, no joke.” Midoriya shook his head. “I mean, the League had teleportation technology and everything! They could teleport to their home base—which was actually in space, floating around Earth’s orbit, just so you know. I’ve been there a few times.”

“You went to space?” Ken blinked in shock. Mankind hadn’t been to space since Quirks came about. Everyone had been more interested in genetics than exploring the universe.

“Yep. I even know a few aliens. Like Martian Manhunter. He’s pretty cool. His niece, Megan, is a good friend of mine.”

“… Martians?” Aizawa blinked, and Ken was afraid that the kid may have broken him for a moment. The use of present tense saddened him, though.

“Er… yes? Actually, forget I said anything. I don’t know how much you can really handle right now.” Midoriya quickly changed topics, saving the undercaffeinated teacher from a new migraine. “So, you wanted to know about some history stuff, right? It was one of my worst subjects, but I’ll answer what I can.”

“Not a lot of information on the wars of that time period remain. You managed to write a detailed report of World War Two… Were those wars taught to you in school?” He was curious. These days, kids were taught about the Quirk Wars and how that affected the world as they now knew it. The World Wars were talked about briefly, but only Historians really researched them enough to know much anymore.

“Yeah. We were taught pretty in-depth about them.” Midoriya nodded. “Pictures, videos, interviews… Bruce even took me to one of the camps, once, so I could see…” A somewhat haunted look entered his eyes as a shiver ran down the boy’s spine. “I could still feel the echoes of the lives lost, there. What happened was terrible… a lot of the evil that was done has been erased from history. It was more than just killing; there was so much torture that went on… dehumanization… experimentation… I may not have seen it firsthand, but even the echoes were enough to give me nightmares… It reminded me why I need to protect as many people as I can. How simple words can change the course of an entire future.”

“If you’re comfortable with it, could you possibly write down some of what history has forgotten?” Ken spoke back up. He was horrified, but curious. All they really knew about World War II, now a days, was who participated, and that it was bad. The specifics on what happened to the people who had been carted off to the Camps were lost to time, unfortunately.

“Yeah! There are a bunch of things that I can remember that I can’t find documentation on anymore. Unfortunately, it’ll be mostly from America’s side of things, but it’s better than nothing, right?” Midoriya grinned, and Ken found himself smiling back. This kid was so happy—it was nice. He greatly enjoyed his company.

He couldn’t stop the happy grin on his face as Midoriya went off on an excited tangent about history that had the three captivated—even if he knew Aizawa hated the subject.

Izuku was a very busy boy. While his classmates spent their free-study Hero Class sparing with each other and practicing their Quirks (or just lazing off in the case of some), Izuku was hard at work, training with the teachers.

He was allowed to call most of them by their civilian names in private—though a few remained stubbornly silent on theirs. Not that Izuku minded, though. Everyone was entitled to their privacy, and Robin of all people knew how important a civilian name could be.

Today, Izuku was eating his bento with the staff again. His classmates were still in Hero Class, but Izuku had finished up his Friday training with Nezu early, so he decided to drop in and spend some time with his new friends (even if they were a lot older than him).

“Heya, Sharpshooter. How’s your day been?” Snipe asked with a casual smile—not that Izuku could see it, but he could tell.

“Same as ever.” He smiled back. “Just thought I’d drop in for a late lunch. Do you mind?”

“Nah, not at all! Make yourself comfortable.” Snipe went back to grading papers, as Izuku settled himself down.

“How’s the Little Listener doin’ today?” Yamada asked as he took a seat next to Izuku with a grin. Izuku laughed as the blond ruffled his hair playfully, and Izuku had half a mind to mess up the hero’s cockatoo-like hairstyle in retaliation.

“I’m good. Nezu-sensei let me out of lessons early.” He grinned. “So I decided to stop by and eat a late lunch.”

“You’d better be eating at lunch, too.” Thirteen warned from their seat.

“Don’t worry—Aizawa’s got that one covered.” Izuku laughed. “He always keeps an eye on me and makes sure I eat enough at lunch. Should’ve seen the looks on Eijiro, Hitoshi, and Iida’s faces when he stopped by our table to shovel more food onto my plate before walking away like nothing happened.” Izuku laughed.

“Damn! I would’ve paid to see that!” Hizashi laughed, too. Snipe and Thirteen chuckled, as Kan just smirked.

“Sounds like he’s taken quite the liking to you.” Kan scratched at his white hair with a grin.

“I know! That’s so unlike Shouta! He must really care about you, Little Listener!” Hizashi’s grin was nearly blinding, so Izuku decided to go back to eating.

“Stop talking about me when I’m not here.” Aizawa glared at Hizashi as he walked into the room.

“Oh, so we can talk about you now that you are here, right?” Izuku smirked, ducking under the warning swat from his dark-haired sensei. “Woah. Someone’s not feeling the Aster today.”

“Aster?” Hizashi raised an eyebrow.

“It’s a word I made up. Opposite of Disaster, you know?”

“Kids.” Hizashi shook his head.

“Oh, don’t you start. You are a kid.” Aizawa huffed, taking his seat on Izuku’s other side.

Izuku had quickly gotten used to the way the two bantered, and enjoyed joining in. He was getting close to the staff rather quickly. He wondered how long it would take Nezu to offer him a teaching position once he graduated?

Over the last week or so, the student body had found out that Izuku was Quirkless. Many of them—gen ed especially—didn’t take kindly to him ‘stealing’ a Hero Course spot.

Unfortunately, kids in U.A. were a lot more careful about how they bullied Izuku. Nothing physical, nothing substantial. It was quiet—the looks, the mutters, the way that kids would cut him off in line or block him from entering the library… mostly just acting like he didn’t exist.

Others would glare, but they didn’t dare do anything more, for fear of a teacher finding out—heroes had a knack for showing up wherever there was trouble, after all.

So in short, it really wasn’t as bad as Izuku was used to. There was nothing physical, and at most there were death threats and ‘go kill yourself’ notes along with people messing up his things if he left them unattended for too long.

He did notice that nothing happened when he left his stuff with his classmates, so he was pretty sure that nobody in his homeroom was out to get him, which was a nice change. Even Mineta seemed to warm up to him after the USJ incident.

He wasn’t all too bothered by any of it, having gotten used to much worse in middle school. He threw away the notes without a second thought, and he’d long ago stocked up on his school supplies—and always brought extras, which he hid in various locations around the classroom. He learned young to keep anything of importance on his person or at home, so nothing was really stolen, either.

That in mind, the thought of reporting the behavior to his teachers never once crossed his train of thought. To Izuku, it was manageable and tame. Nothing worth mentioning in the least.

Izuku stayed another hour after the bell rung to hang out with his teachers, before making his way home with a spring in his step. Halfway home, his phone buzzed.

Mom: Izuku! How was school? I’m going to be staying the weekend with Mitsuki. ;) Guess who’s home early? I hope you and your father have a wonderful time together! Love you honey!

Izuku froze mid-step. It wasn’t that he was particularly afraid of his father (he’d seen scarier shit as Robin, after all), but he was afraid of what his father could do. Specifically to his mother.

When Izuku was little, before he’d been sent to the past, his father had regularly beaten and abused him whenever he had the chance. His mother never knew, and Hisashi made sure that Izuku knew…

Accidental slips to other people were met with ‘accidental’ drunken rages on his mother, after which he’d apologize profusely for and she’d forgive (because she’s far too nice). He promised that if Izuku ever went and told someone purposefully, or slipped to a hero, that Inko would quickly meet a very painful end.

After he’d returned from the past, he’d gained a lot more self-confidence. He’d put up a fight, only for him to pull out the old threat again. Of course, as Robin, he’d collected a ton of evidence against this man, and was fully intending to send the files to the police and heroes.

Until he namedropped the rumored ‘God of the Underworld’.

“Listen here, you little shit.” Hisashi growled. His mother was out shopping so it was just the two of them home. Dick glared right back at the man he’d once called father.

“I don’t have to listen to you anymore. I’ve got more than enough evidence. You touch me or my mother again, and I’ll make sure it’s all sent to every hero and police agency in Japan.”

“You make a single move against me, Boy, and I’ll not only make sure Inko ends up dead, but that you end up in a state worse than death. I’ve got connections.”

“Connections, huh? That makes two of us.” Dick grinned. His little ten-year-old body was incredibly short, and he couldn’t fight as well as he was used to (because he was still getting used to shorter limbs), but he’d be damned if he let himself be manipulated like this.

“That Quirk really changed you, brat. Fine. You wanna go against me? Then listen here. I’m not your father.”

Dick blinked in surprise. “Well, that’s a relief.”

“But I work for him. He gave me orders a decade ago to watch over his son and steer him away from the wrong path.”

Dick snorted. “Yeah, you’ve done a swell job of that.”

“Your father is a villain, Boy, and he expects you to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps you’ve heard mention of his name?” Hisashi grinned a sickening grin. “All For One.”

Dick went stiff and pale. He’d heard that name before. All For One was something like the villain equivalent to All Might. He was the rumored God of the Criminal Underworld, and was definitely someone that you didn’t want to cross. The man had connections, and Dick was fairly certain that he’d made several hundred heroes disappear and look like accidents.

He’d need to do more in-depth research, but… Right now, as he was, he didn’t have the connections to take on a villain like this. He clenched his fist in frustration.

“So you do know, then. If I disappear, you go to his custody. And Inko will die. I’ve made sure of it. So, boy, you won’t be sending in those files. Things will stay exactly as they are, now. And the day you graduate high school, or the day I end up dead or arrested, you will become a villain under his careful tutelage. Do I make myself clear?”

Dick clenched his fist. There were so many uncontrollable variables right now. He didn’t have much of a choice, here. If he made his move and arrested Hisashi, his real biological father would kidnap him and kill his mother. And Midoriya Izuku was just a Quirkless kid, right now. Nobody would search for him. He didn’t have enough connections, yet.

“Yes sir.”

“Good.” Hisashi grinned. “Now… you’ve been bad. Time for your punishment.”

He just needed to hold out until he made it to U.A.. The school was notoriously protective of their students—even the Gen Ed ones. And if he got into the Hero Course, then they’d surely notice a kid going missing. He’d stay put for now, but when the time was right, he’d strike.

He was Robin, after all. And a Bat had a lot of patience.

Izuku clenched his phone in his hand as he stood before his apartment door. It looked like today would finally be the day. By this time tomorrow, it was highly likely he’d be in villain custody. I just have to hold on. He took a deep breath to steel himself. Surely, All For One has nothing on Joker, anyways… right?

Chapter Text

A/N: Hello everyone! It’s been… er… nine months since I updated this story. I’M SO SORRY!! And I also feel bad that this chapter is only 5k words or so long, but at least it’s a chapter? Sports Festival should be next. Sorry for such a long wait, but HAPPY HOLIDAYS!! I wanted to get this out by Christmas to make everyone smile. :3 Did ya smile? I hope so. I also added some edits to the previous chapters, but I’ll post those at a later date because uploading even just one chapter takes me the better part of an hour. No joke. (No seriously, she’s not in this chapter. Lol)

At any rate, I wanted to thank everyone who submitted epic fanart! I loved It all!! I get so excited every time I see new art. I’ve compiled it all into one link, so please enjoy!! :D And if anyone has new fanart to send, please e-mail it [email protected] along with the username you’d like to go by. ^^

Robin's Nest Fanart

https://imgur.com/gallery/3F1nqRw

https://imgur.com/gallery/3F1nqRw

That being said, please enjoy the chapter!

Izuku smirked as he laid on his bed. Hisashi was a little smarter than he’d given him credit for—the man hadn’t laid a finger on him, and instead sent him to his room. He’d locked the door from the outside—switching the door handle out for one that Izuku couldn’t pick the lock of. No food, of course, and no water.

But Izuku had been counting on this. He’d stocked up years of evidence against this man. Videos, audio, photos, written threats… everything he could get his hands on. He’d even recorded that one day that he’d revealed he wasn’t Izuku’s biological father.

Hisashi was smart enough to know that giving Izuku bruises when he attended U.A. was a bad idea. But the man had underestimated Izuku’s ability to make connections. He knew Izuku was a Heroics student, because his mother was just so proud and wanted his ‘father’ to be proud, too, but he mistakenly thought that he was a nobody in the class. After all, who would pay much (positive) attention to the Quirkless Heroics kid?

So he didn’t bother even considering the fact that Izuku’s teachers would notice an absentee student on Monday. Because they’d never noticed at his other school, and they’d certainly never cared. And maybe the excuse of him not feeling well could’ve worked, had he not taken Izuku’s cell phone, turned it off, and shoved it in a locked drawer in the kitchen.

Because Izuku knew his teachers would send him messages asking him if he was okay, and when they didn’t get a response they’d worry. If a strange man answered the house phone when he’d blatantly told them his mother was essentially single, that’d only set off more alarm bells.

And Izuku was certain that they’d come looking for him. The only hitch in his plan was his mother—he needed to make sure she was safe. But he had no way of getting out of his room right now (without busting down the door). The handle Hisashi had changed didn’t even have a keyhole on this side, and a deadbolt was pretty freaking hard to slip a credit card through. His window was bolted shut and made of bulletproof glass (something Hisashi had insisted upon years ago, citing the bad neighborhood).

It was annoying, really. But again, Izuku had planned for this. It’s why he’d downloaded a new app onto his phone on the way home from school on Friday. It allowed him to send a text on a timer—even when his phone was out of commission (he’d honestly half-expected Hisashi to destroy the thing).

He glanced at his alarm clock. It was Monday afternoon, and he was certain his teachers were concerned, now. School had gotten out ten minutes ago, which meant his text would go out in five.

He smirked. Hisashi wouldn’t know what hit him. He waited another five minutes after the text went out before moving to sit by his window.

It was only ten minutes after that that he saw a worried Ectoplasm standing in the tree outside said window. He smiled when he saw him, and the teacher looked relieved.

Until Izuku held up a sign he’d written.

‘Window’s bolted shut. Door’s locked from the outside. Before you do anything, please take my mother somewhere safe—she’s in danger.’

Ectoplasm’s gaze became sharp and serious as he nodded and vanished from view. A clone, then, likely sent to check up on him. That meant that Ectoplasm was still at U.A. with the other teachers, who had now been alerted to the situation.

Good. Now, all Izuku had to do was wait.

Aizawa Shouta had woken up that morning with a headache. That was always a sign of a bad day. The last time he’d woken up with a headache had been the morning of the USJ Incident, so he was already on edge.

His gut was rolling, trying to tell him something was wrong, but he really couldn’t tell what it was. Hizashi was fine, and all his cats were awake and healthy. That meant that it was likely something that’d happen later in the day. He took some extra precautions just in case.

It wasn’t until he started homeroom that he realized that Midoriya was missing. The kid hadn’t been so much as late once, let alone absent. He’d checked his phone the first chance he’d gotten, but there was no message from the kid. Nothing unusual on the news, either. So if he’d gotten into trouble, it was the quiet kind, which was typically the more dangerous kind.

At lunch, he’d asked the other staff members if they knew anything, but Nezu had worriedly confirmed that Midoriya hadn’t set foot on campus since Friday. U.A. had ‘homeschool’ Saturdays, which most students took as a two-day weekend. Though the extra day of rest doubled as a full day of training opportunity for the students who were more serious about heroics.

It gave opportunity for students in non-hero courses to study under a teacher one-on-one (or in small groups depending on how many students wanted to join) using the facilities on campus. That way, if someone wanted to transfer to heroics, they had the option for the same sort of training as the current heroics students. U.A. did try to be fair to everyone, after all. Midoriya had, thus far, used his Saturdays for training.

The fact that he hadn’t shown up was concerning, but they’d just assumed that he’d taken the extra day to rest—he did work hard, after all, and sometimes he ran the teachers into the ground.

Perhaps that was their first mistake.

Now, it looked like Midoriya could be missing. And possibly could’ve been missing since Friday afternoon. But who would be able to kidnap Robin of all people? Surely, he would’ve found a way to contact them?

For the briefest of moments, Shouta had the sickening thought that he’d somehow been pulled back to the past. That he’d never see the kid again, and he was already gone.

“Give it until after school.” Nezu advised. “If we haven’t heard from him by then, we’ll check on him at his house.”

Shouta didn’t like that course of action, but he nodded along anyways. His gut may have been rolling, but it was still in the ‘something’s going to happen’ sort of way, not the ‘someone you care about is in imminent danger’ kind of thing.

The end of the school day couldn’t come fast enough. All the staff members were twitchy and nervous, even All Might, who Shouta thought hated the kid.

“Any news?” Nezu asked, tail flicking in concern.

“No, none of us have heard anything.” Ectoplasm sighed. Just then, a notification pinged on the Staff Group Chat, to which they’d added Midoriya.

Robin: Hi~! This is a timed message. If you’re reading this, then my phone is temporarily out of commission. Sorry. If you’re gonna check up on me, then please come to my window, not the door. If you don’t see me, then I’m probably in trouble. If that’s the case, I swallowed a tracking device that Nezu-sensei can trace~!

They all stared at the message. “A timed message, huh?” Shouta sighed. “So he knew something was up.” His gaze flickered to Ectoplasm, who nodded.

“My clone is already en route to the apartment we’ve got on file.”

“So now, what? We wait?” Hizashi scowled.

“We need to know what we’re getting ourselves into.” All Might said. “For all we know, rushing to the apartment would cause more harm than good.”

Ectoplasm jolted suddenly, as he tended to do when a clone dispelled and he was suddenly and unexpectedly bombarded with memories. “Well, shit just got more complicated.” He sighed. “He’s safe, or at least he’s awake and seems unharmed, but his window is bolted shut and his door’s locked from the outside. He’s stuck in his bedroom. He also says his mother is in danger, and to make sure she’s safe.”

“Did he say anything else?” All Might asked. “Like what’s going on?”

“Hold on; my other clone’s still there.” He explained. He didn’t jolt this time. “He says that he’ll explain in person after we rescue him. And he actually requested that All Might come along.”

“Me?”

Shouta was just as surprised. Midoriya made it no secret that he disliked the Number One Hero.

“Yeah. Said it’s ‘just in case’ because his captor has ‘connections he’d rather not take chances with’. Or something like that.”

“Well, then. Our student is in trouble.” Nezu grinned as he climbed onto Shouta’s shoulder. “So let’s go on a rescue mission.”

“Ugh. I’m bored.” Izuku decided. “Being a prisoner sucks. It’s so boring!” He complained. Hisashi had taken out his computer while he’d been at school on Friday, so he couldn’t alleviate his boredom there, and he’d tried to kick him around a bit earlier, after Ectoplasm left. Tried, being the keyword, because the worst he’d retained from said ‘beating’ was some mild bruising (he didn’t want to make the man suspicious by suddenly fighting back, either. His teachers would come soon enough, and then he could spring his trap).

Either way, Hisashi hit like a pussy and Izuku was still bored. He didn’t like waiting around for a rescue team, but it was better than busting out of there and risking dragging civilians into this fiasco. If the heroes came to him, then they could help him if Hisashi decided to call in All For One as backup. If Izuku broke out alone, then he’d be up against the Villain equivalent of All Might and his merry band of misfits alone.

While it wouldn’t be the dumbest thing he’d ever done, he liked to think himself smarter than that. Besides, Aizawa would have his head if he put himself in harm’s way without a decent backup plan.

Izuku was honestly surprised that Hisashi hadn’t had him kidnapped, yet—not that he was complaining, mind you. With a guy who wielded a Warp Quirk, it’d be far too easy to just whisk him away. He’d managed to do some research after USJ. The League of Villains was just too convenient. They were too organized to be led by a child like Shigaraki.

That meant that someone else was pulling the strings. Someone who had a mind that looked to the future. A planner. A chess player. Someone who was used to pulling strings and content to sit back and let others have the spotlight.

The criteria fit All For One perfectly. With a little hacking and background research, he managed to figure out a few interesting things regarding Shigaraki.

His original name had been Shimura, not Shigaraki, and he’d accidentally murdered his family at a young age when his Quirk came in. At least, that’s what the police assumed happened. The kid had never been found. Reports say that he likely got scared and ran, and he was jotted down as missing and lost in the system.

Six years later, however, a young boy matching the description of Shimura was spotted fleeing from the scene of a gruesome crime—a woman had her face disintegrated and she’d choked to death on her own blood. Police had nearly caught him, but he’d somehow managed to escape into the shadows. It sounded a lot like Kurogiri’s Quirk.

The connection Izuku found, however, was in the disappearance of the only police officer that’d seen the kid. He vanished like he’d never existed in the first place.

Similar disappearances had been tracked throughout the last hundred years or so, leaving Izuku to believe that this man had a longevity Quirk. But others claimed something far more terrifying—he could take other people’s Quirks as his own.

After he’d heard that rumor years ago, he’d looked into those mysterious disappearances a little closer. They all were seemingly random at first. A cop here, a hero there, a civilian or two now and then… but the curious thing is that the investigations were shallow and short, like it was merely a procedure rather than a true investigation. As if they weren’t really trying to find these people, or solve the murders (in the rare occasion a body surfaced).

He saw signs of memory alterations in several cases. Some people who poked their noses where it didn’t belong ended up going mad and killing themselves. Izuku quickly realized that these cases were cover-ups. And there was one distinct connection between them all. Every single case file had been locked in the police records. There was nothing particularly high-profile about these cases… nothing that would require them to be locked. But they were, and they were incorrectly marked as ‘solved’. This meant that nobody would snoop—even accidentally.

Unless that person was Robin, of course. Because he always stuck his nose in where it didn’t belong. The only reason he thought to link these cases to All For One was a single case—the one that’d been beyond locked. In fact, someone had tried to erase all traces of it in the system, and nearly succeeded.

A cop had gone missing only to turn up again six days later. His escape was obviously an accident, as he was found dead in his home a week after his hospital release, supposedly from a suicide. The kicker? When he’d shown back up, his Quirk—Air Walk—was gone. Izuku knew only one man who could make someone’s Quirk disappear so wholly.

It really wasn’t that hard to figure out, especially when the man had seemed perfectly sane just days before his suicide. Not to mention the locked—nearly erased—file. And the man had given one testament that Izuku was sure was the reason why All For One had tried to erase the case entirely.

“He had white hair, and evil eyes. I’ve never met a man so wholly powerful or evil in all my life. He stole my Quirk.”

That was all he’d said before clamming up. Not that he blamed him. Izuku imagined that he’d be traumatized, too, if he’d been born with a Quirk that was suddenly taken away.

There was a light rapping on his window, and he looked over to find Maijima and Thirteen there. He shot them a grin as Maijima quickly got to work on the window.

Somehow, this scenario reminds me of Harry Potter. He silently mused to himself as he pried up a loose floorboard and snatched a small satchel. He hid it in his pocket as he heard someone knock on the front door.

He raised an eyebrow at the two who were making quick work of the window as he heard Aizawa’s voice carry softly down the hallway. Ah. So he’s the distraction. Izuku realized.

“Come on.” Thirteen urged quietly as they silently opened the window. Izuku was quick to slip out into Maijima’s grasp as they quickly climbed down the tree. “All right, Eraserhead. We’ve got him.” They explained through an earpiece.

Izuku smirked as he heard the commotion from his apartment, only wincing lightly when he was set down on the ground. Damn, it was bright outside.

“Are you hurt?” Thirteen asked, noticing the wince.

“Just some bruising, nothing major. He hits like a wuss. Mostly, it’s just bright.”

Maijima snorted lightly at his jab while Thirteen shot the other hero a dirty look.

“We’re just glad you’re safe, Sharpshooter.” Snipe stated from his perch in the tree.

“Wow, did everyone come? I’m flattered.” He gave them an easy smirk even as he kept a sharp eye out for trouble.

“What, you really thought we wouldn’t?” Thirteen sounded somewhat hurt.

“I’m just not used to it, is all.” He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. “U.A. is the first place I’ve had in this era that cared enough to treat me like a person, let alone notice if I was gone. I’m glad I was right in thinking you guys were different.” He flashed them a grin.

“Eraserhead’s got him in custody.” Maijima announced.

Izuku grinned. “Been waiting for this for a long time.”

“I’m sure you have.” Nezu said as he climbed up onto his shoulder. He scratched the principal under his chin and the little guy leaned into the touch. Several staff members gaped, leading him to believe that he was the only person Nezu allowed to do this. “Though I am curious why you hadn’t done something about this sooner?”

“I’ll explain back at the school.” He gave the mouse a meaningful look as he passed the satchel discreetly to him. “I also have reason to believe that Hisashi—the guy inside, not Yamada Hizashi—has connections to the League of Villains, which is why I asked for All Might to come along. I didn’t want to chance him calling for Kurogiri’s Warp Quirk or something.”

“If that’s the case, then I’m glad we all decided to come.” Thirteen shuddered.

If Izuku was being honest with himself, he expected things to go south at some point. The quietness unnerved him greatly. Was Hisashi lying? No, he’d already discounted that possibility when he discreetly asked his mother years ago for details of her dating his father. She’d had obvious signs of memory alterations, likely the result of a Quirk. But people with Quirks like that are heavily regulated and always logged into the system.

There’d been an officer years ago, he remembered, that had gone missing. He’d had a memory-altering Quirk. Izuku had found his file locked like the others… It was highly likely that All For One had altered his mother’s memories, then.

He sat down in the chair in the meeting room at U.A. with a cup of coffee and a sigh. Chiyo was glaring at him, likely because she wanted to look at his ‘injuries’, but he’d insisted she waited until he was finished explaining.

“All right, so what’s going on, because you could’ve handled him easily.” Aizawa started.

“Well… maybe this recording will explain?” Izuku pulled out the flash drive he’d stashed. “I recorded a conversation Hisashi had with me soon after I came back from the past. He’d been abusing me beforehand, but I was just a normal kid at the time. I couldn’t do anything.” He explained, ignoring the grimaces of his friends.

Nezu quickly plugged it into the computer and clicked on the file Izuku instructed him to.

“Listen here, you little shit.” Hisashi’s voice filtered through the sound of rustling fabric.

“I don’t have to listen to you anymore. I’ve got more than enough evidence. You touch me or my mother again, and I’ll make sure it’s all sent to every hero and police agency in Japan.”

Several teachers nodded as his younger self spoke. “I assume that the aforementioned evidence is this?” Nezu asked, holding up the bag.

“That’s the digital evidence as well as some research I did. The photos and notes and whatever else I could get a hold of is stashed in the apartment, with several hard-copies stashed throughout the city.”

Snipe whistled. “Talk about prepared.”

“Can’t be too careful.” Izuku replied.

“You make a single move against me, Boy, and I’ll not only make sure Inko ends up dead, but that you end up in a state worse than death. I’ve got connections.”

“Your mother is safe—we’ve got several pairs of eyes on her as we speak, as well as some heroes on standby should anything happen.” Nezu reassured.

“That’s a relief.” Izuku smiled. He didn’t think he could handle loosing a mother twice.

“Connections, huh? That makes two of us.”

“That Quirk really changed you, brat. Fine. You wanna go against me? Then listen here. I’m not your father.”

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. “This is going to get complicated fast, isn’t it?”

“You have no idea.” Izuku groaned.

“Well, that’s a relief.”

“But I work for him. He gave me orders a decade ago to watch over his son and steer him away from the wrong path.”

“So he’s a villain.” Ishiyama sighed. “But the real question is which villain?”

“The one that I highly suspect pulls the strings of the League of Villains.” Izuku answered swiftly, noting the way All Might and Nezu stiffened, as if they knew who he was talking about. Interesting.

“Yeah, you’ve done a swell job of that.”

“I get that you’re frustrated, here, but could you maybe not taunt the guy with deadly connections?” Kayama pleaded, looking concerned.

“I mean, I didn’t know how deadly his connections were, yet.”

“Your father is a villain, Boy, and he expects you to follow in his footsteps. Perhaps you’ve heard mention of his name? All For One.”

The room stilled. While many didn’t know if the villain was real or not, several had heard whispers of it. Especially those who worked in the underground like Eraserhead.

“You’re All For One’s son?” All Might’s eyes were wide.

“As far as I can tell, yes.” Izuku nodded. “I’ll explain my research in a moment.”

“So you do know, then. If I disappear, you go to his custody. And Inko will die. I’ve made sure of it. So, boy, you won’t be sending in those files. Things will stay exactly as they are, now. And the day you graduate high school, or the day I end up dead or arrested, you will become a villain under his careful tutelage. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes sir.”

“So yeah. That’s basically it. My bio-dad is apparently the villain version of All Might. From the research I’ve done, he’s got a Quirk that allows him to steal the Quirks of other people. I’ve compiled a list of approximately 62 Quirks I’m sure he’s stolen. And the dude’s got connections. I’ve found missing persons files for no less than 120 civilians, 94 cops, and 237 heroes across the globe. All files were mysteriously locked and out of all 451 known kidnappings, only 62 bodies were found. Of the 62, 12 were initially found alive only to later go inexplicably insane and kill themselves later. All legal investigations were shallow and cases were marked as ‘solved’ in the system.”

The teachers stared. “I’m impressed by your research.” Nezu spoke up.

“Figured it wouldn’t be safe to do anything while I was still the Quirkless nobody, so I wanted to wait until I was a student of U.A. You’re notoriously protective of your students, after all.” He grinned at the mouse who grinned back.

“Indeed.”

“I feel that I should explain, then.” All Might sighed, shrinking down to his weakened form. “Young Midoriya. You remember how I showed you my injury?”

“Yeah. You said you got it in a villain fight six years ago, now, right?”

“That’s correct.” The man lifted his shirt to show the scar again. It was a nasty one, but he’d seen worse before. “I got this injury fighting All For One. He’s what you might call my nemesis.”

“So you’re telling me that the man who nearly killed you, is now after Robin?” Aizawa glared at the hero. “And you never thought to tell anyone that someone like that was alive? That he could target you at any time?”

“I thought he was dead. I dealt him a heavy blow, and assumed that he’d died. I would never have taken this teaching position had I known he was still alive.”

“I’ve got reason to believe that he’s Shigaraki’s mentor.” Izuku continued.

“And what leads you to that conclusion?” Nezu tilted his head.

“Well, All For One’s original name—which was hard to find, because he’s been alive for well over a century and a half and tried to completely bury all his personal files—is Shigaraki Kazuo. Shigaraki Tomura doesn’t legally exist. He’s actually a kid who went missing after accidentally murdering his entire family with his Quirk when it came in late. Tomura’s name is Shimura Tenko.”

All Might went deathly pale. “Shimura? No, it couldn’t be. Was his grandmother’s name… Nana?”

“Yeah.” Izuku nodded. “I’m guessing she was someone you knew.”

“Shimura Nana was my mentor. She died when I was a young teenager.” All Might deflated as he spoke, a sullen expression taking over. Kayama put a hand on his shoulder to offer him some sort of comfort.

“It certainly makes sense why you played it safe.” Ishiyama sighed, taking a long drink from his cup.

“Well, I had to think of my mother, too. Speaking of, what now? With Hisashi in jail, we obviously can’t go back to living in the apartment.” Izuku hummed.

“Well, I’ve always toyed with the idea of a dorm system for the students. We could go ahead and make them!” Nezu grinned. “Until then, you and your mother can stay in the staff dorms on campus. UA is likely the safest location for you—especially with the warp-Quirk jammers we’ve added recently. Even Kurogiri won’t be able to get through that.”

“Perfect.” Izuku grinned. “So then all that’s left is the Sports Festival and my Provisional Exam.” He paused for a moment. “Hey, what’s the difference between the provisional license and the real thing?”

“Nothing, really.” Aizawa spoke up. “Think of the provisional one like a permit. The counsel will keep a closer eye on you during that time, and keep track of any collateral damage you cause alongside your capture rate. After a few months, if all adds up well—or if you do something exceptionally heroic—you’ll be granted the full license.”

“And restrictions?” Izuku raised an eyebrow.

“It’s only valid in Japan at this time.” Nezu set down his cup of tea. “And there will be a senior Hero listed on your provisional license. Should anything go horribly wrong—such as deaths caused by your inaction, mistreatment, or otherwise direct influence—that hero will take a major hit for you, and—of course—you’ll lose the license.”

“So I’m only able to take the exam if a hero vouches for me in the first place.” Izuku realized. “Under normal circumstances, I assume that a class would fall under the jurisdiction of their teacher?”

“That’s correct.” Nezu grinned.

“But something tells me otherwise…” Izuku frowned.

“While you are Aizawa’s apprentice—and thusly able to practice so long as he’s with you—I felt it would be unfair for me to sign him up without permission.” Nezu’s tail flicked as he spoke. “So I took the liberty of signing you up under my name.”

“You what?!” Snipe choked. “Do you have any idea how much attention that’s going to garner?! I can’t remember the last time you sponsored someone!”

“That’s because I haven’t sponsored anyone before.” Nezu chuckled.

“So you put the spotlight on me.” Izuku rolled his eyes fondly. “I suppose I should thank you, then. What better way of gaining publicity in a short period of time than having Nezu—the principal of UA—vouch for me?

“Right, well… The Sports Festival is next week.” Aizawa got things back on track. “So Ectoplasm, Snipe and I will escort you back to the apartment to pack your things. The faster you’re moved in here the better.”

“You can say that again.” Izuku huffed.

“I’ll go with Cementoss to get your mother.” Thirteen smiled. “Mic’s already over there keeping an eye on her.”

“Thank you, guys. I really appreciate all this.”

“What’re you thanking us for?” Power Loader laughed. “Robin, you’re more than our student. You’re our friend.”

Izuku felt his cheeks heat up a bit at that. It sounded… nice. Even still, as he accompanied the three heroes to pack his things, he couldn’t help but feel edgy. Not once had he heard a thing from All For One. The way Hisashi always spoke of him made it sound like the guy would appear the moment trouble started, but it seemed that wasn’t the case.

It wasn’t a bluff—his research had told him that much. So long as his mother was safe, though, he’d face whatever All For One threw at him. He was Robin, a Hero. And honestly, after training and growing up under Batman and living in Gotham, he felt more than prepared. Not to say he was expecting an easy fight, but at least he knew what to expect in a fight.

For now, it seemed All For One either hadn’t heard (unlikely), or was taking a quiet approach to this. Izuku would take things one step at a time. The Sports Festival would come first, and Robin would be prepared.