Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku hated his life.

But what else was new?

At least at this point, he could sleep whenever he wanted and train when he wasn’t. Maybe grab some food every week or so if he felt like it.

Well, if he thought about it, it wasn’t as if he hated his life. It was just boring.

Wake up, workout, train, go to board meetings with the league of villains, be yelled at by Hisashi, rinse, repeat.

Izuku tapped his fingers against the ledge of the building. The skyline at sunset was beautiful. To bad at some point it’ll be overrun with Nomus if he couldn’t talk some sense into the man child that was Shigaraki soon enough.

To be honest, the only interesting part of his life was constantly pulling the big escape on-

“There you are!” The voice behind him was more of a frustrated growl than anything else.

Izuku smirked through his mask. “Three minutes! Old age catching up to you?”

Eraserhead gripped his capture weapon tighter as Izuku stood.

“Tetra, you are a pain in the-“

Tetra wagged a finger. “This is a language free zone, Eraser! Don’t you teach children?”

“Those children curse more than I do and how the hell did you know that I teach?”

“Last year’s sports festival, duh. You and Midnight make quite the announcing duo. Is there a relationship there I should be aware of?” Tetra glanced at his watch. “Well, it was nice talking to you. How about the same time tomorrow at that cafe down the street? You’re paying!”

At the same time Eraserhead started to run forward and his capture weapon extending outwards, Tetra stepped off the ledge.

The impact from the fall onto the sidewalk probably would’ve killed any normal person, but unluckily for everyone involved, Tetra was not a normal person.

He hit the ground running and dashed into an alleyway. His suit was equipped with a camouflage like effect, and he crept along with the buildings silently. It wasn’t long until he was in the wealthier district of Musfatso. He took the long way back, just in case anyone was following him. One of his many quirks told Tetra otherwise but any excuse to stay out of the house longer than usual was a good one.

He entered the house from the back door and tugged off his mask.

“Honey, I’m home!”

He didn’t have to enjoy life here, but he could at the very least annoy Hisashi as much as possible.

“Izuku! My office, five minutes.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. It was a call from the second floor. ‘Of course, the bastard wouldn’t even come to greet his son after avoiding capture for the millionth time. So rude.’

A flash of green hair around the corner came into his sights and the willowy figure of a woman stood in front of him. “‘Zuku, dear, how was your time out?”

“Fine, Mom. Got to play hide and seek with Eraserhead again.”

Inko shook her head. “You know I don’t like it when you get that close to those heroes. They are good people, or so the media says, but I don’t like to think about how they would treat you if they caught you.”

“It’s okay, Mom, Eraser won’t catch me unless I want to be caught.” Izuku squeezed her hand in reassurance. “Anyways, how was your meeting with the League?”

“You know I don’t pay attention to those things. Anyways, go on up to your father and dinner will probably be ready by then, only if you want to eat though! I know you have a quirk that rarely makes you hungry but that doesn’t mean you don’t need the energy.”

Inko turned on her heel and left Izuku standing in the hallway. The domesticity of the action almost could let Izuku believe he was back when Hisashi wasn’t in their life and he was still the All Might fanboy. Almost.

He walked up the stairs and into Hisashi’s office.

“Sup, sperm donor.”

“Treat me with a little more respect, would you? I am the most powerful villain after all.”

Izuku plopped into a chair opposite his desk. He sat sideways with both of his legs dangling over one of the armrests.

“Na. Maybe before All Might kicked your ass a while back, maybe. Not now. You couldn’t even slap me if you wanted to.”

Black tendrils of darkness shot out of Hizashi’s fingertips and came inches away from piercing Izuku’s face.

“Ooo that’s a new quirk. Who’d you steal it from? Anyways, you don’t scare me. Those look like it would hurt but probably not as much as BTS disbanding-“

The tendrils receded except for one, which wrapped itself around Izuku’s neck and threw him against a bookcase.

Izuku coughed and winced as a book from the top shelf landed on his head. “Best you got old man? I barely felt that!”

“Would you like me to raise your pain tolerance?”

Izuku shrugged. “Maybe in the morning when I feel bet-“

“I have a new mission for you.”

Izuku let the excitement show on his face and stood. “Well, why didn’t you just say so?”

“You are insufferable.”

“So I’ve been told.”

Hisashi smirked and it seemed to make the air in the room dropped ten degrees. “You are going to be a mole. I know it’s not your favorite type of mission but I don’t trust the other assassins we have. At least you know better than to defy me... Directly, at least.”

Izuku’s eye twitched and his jaw tended but he did his best to smooth his features. “Yeah yeah, you’ll kill Mom and the other prisoners including that girl with the reversal quirk. Honestly, why haven’t you just taken her quirk and killed her? Give the quirk to someone a little more useful.”

“You may not see the use of the girl but I do. Chisaki Kai has agreed to give her quirk to us in exchange for Eraserhead.”

Izuku pulled a knife from his waistband. “So I have to capture Eraserhead, the hero who’s been on my ass since the beginning, and somehow get him high as a kite to do a handoff?”

“Not exactly but basically.”

Izuku groaned. “That’s terrible. Truly, really, awful.”

“You’ll in U.A. and are to get information, as well as capture Eraser.”

Izuku picked the blood out from underneath his fingernails with the knife. It was black and shiny and he did most of his dirty work with it, but only when poison or his quirks fail. So very rarely. In fact, the blood under his nails probably wasn’t even someone else’s... probably.

“Anything specific you want me to find out?”

“The specifics of the quirks of the teachers and the students of the hero course. As well as the layout of the campus and the schedules of the hero course students. You’ll be in general studies as a transfer student from America.”

Izuku frowned and tossed the knife at the wall. “How the hell am I supposed to find out all that then?”

“Figure it out. The league, Chisaki, and I will use the information you give us and will extract you in due time. The rest of the information you need is in the file on your bed.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “How did you know I would accept? And stay out of the room.”

“Oh, Izuku, we both know what would happen if you refused.”

Izuku’s jaw locked and this time he didn’t bother to be stoic. “Yes, we do.”

“Good! I’ll see you in the morning.”

Chapter Text

The file on his bed was thin and not at all like the ones he was used to.

It suggested that there was hardly any intel to debrief himself on and honestly, Izuku wasn’t surprised. U.A. has great cyber security, after all, and he doubted his father would attempt to find out about their regular security in person. Maybe he should just hack their files or something once he gets inside. Should be easy enough if he can get Nezu away from his computer long enough. 

He tucked that mental note to the back of his mind and looked over the first few pages that were in the file.

Alias: Akatani Mikumo

• Age fifteen, birthdate April 6th, 20**
• Father, Tadashi Mikumo, is the CEO of “Akatani Industries” based in Manhattan, New York, United States. Mikumo was born in Japan but moved to America after his American mother was declared dead in a house fire four years after his birth. The two moved back to Japan three months ago as Tadashi is overseeing the development of a location of Akatani Industries in Japan. He is a transfer into U.A.’s General Studies and starts class as of May 28th.
• Quirk, Chikara; It allows the user to have increased strength, speed, as well as an increased metabolism and natural healing prowess (See All For One to receive it)

There were a few forged documents attached to the sheet to prove ‘Mikumo’s’ existence, including an ID, quirk registration papers, and a birth certificate.

Izuku nodded to himself as he read but frowned when he read the quirk part. He currently had four quirks, curtesy of his father, but not a single one of them was specifically classified as a ’physical’ one like most pro heroes have.

Also, why the hell was no drawback listed? All quirks had a drawback and it was one of the few things Izuku studied for fun. A common ratio he encountered was that the more powerful the quirk, the more powerful the drawback. This quirk seemed to be pretty powerful and it made Izuku anxious to think of the consequences of using it.

Also the metabolism thing would be a pain. Increased metabolism type quirks  are usually because they allow you to make muscle very quickly. If he had an increased metabolism than it would either A) Cancel out his “Not hungry” quirk or B) Make it so he burned calories like crazy but he still wasn’t hungry.

Ugh, now he may actually have to stop and eat. There are so many other things he could do without that time wasted.

Izuku flipped the page and saw that it was a summary of all the teachers at U.A. and their known quirks, ages, and even some notes on their fighting styles.

Eraserhead’s was the shortest while Midnight’s was the longest. Funnnn.

Izuku set the file down and he felt a twinge of excitement that comes with the time before a mission.

Oooo maybe he could crack open that black hair dye he bought a while back to help with his disguise...

Turns out, dying his hair was a messy and painstakingly boring process, but the end product was worth it. The raven’s black hair was at least a little less noticeable than his natural dark green, and the way the black shifted between purple and blue in the light was pretty great.

Ooo maybe he could just not cut his hair for a few weeks and have enough to do a hair flip.

Izuku walked into Hisashi’s office and saw him nod in approval. “Your alias is half-caucasian though. There is some makeup in the bag with your uniform to make your skin lighter.”

“Did you buy the good shit? Because I am not  wearing some Great-Value brand makeup. I only wear Jeffree Star Approved.”

Hisashi waved his hand dismissively. “Your mother picked it out. Ask her. Any questions on your alias?”

“Yeah, why the hell is my ‘Mom’,” Izuku made sure to airquote the word. “American? That means she moved to Japan only to die and you would think with my ‘Dad’ being Japanese we would stay in Japan after her death?”

“Meh. I let the interns have fun with the backstory.”

Izuku sighed dramatically. “Fucking interns. They can’t even write a comprehensive backstory.”

“Any other, actual, questions?”

“What’s the drawback of the quirk?” Izuku grinned evilly. “And when can I play with it?”

“There are no known drawbacks and I’ll give it to you tomorrow, you evil little shit. If that is all you can escort yourself out. I expect you to be up early tomorrow morning.”

Izuku rolled his eyes and noticed the knife he threw at the wall earlier on the floor. He picked it up and twirled it a bit.

“Na, but thanks though. Tomorrow is the last day I have before I’m being forced to go to prison.”

“It’s school.”

“Same thing,” Izuku tucked the knife into a black holster on his side. He turned and started to walk out when Hisashi spoke from his desk.

“Where are you going?”

“To get some information, duh, seeing how skimpy that file was I’ll go get intel myself.”

Hisashi pinched the bridge of his nose and Izuku reveled in the obvious mix of anger and disappointment. “And how are you going to do that?”

“There is one place where every hero and criminal alike are documented religiously, as well as incidents involving well, everything.” Izuku flashed a mischievous grin at his father. “Time to hack the police station. Stay out of my way, will you?”

Chapter Text

Getting into the police station was surprisingly easy.

The night shift crew looked dead on their feet and hardly took any notice to a villain walking into their bull pen. There was one officer who kept glancing at him as if she knew him from somewhere (impossible but whatever).

Now it was the choice between connecting to the stations WiFi and get into the files that way, or using Tsukauchi’s computer. He may not be that high up in the ranks but he has access to a lot.

He went over to a water dispenser type thing and grabbed a paper cup. Izuku scanned the floor and noticed all of the people in the room were uniformed officers. He mentally smacked himself for not realizing sooner that Musutafu’s Koban system was larger than most, so the higher up detectives that work with pro heroes likely have their own offices.

He stayed towards the edge of the room and slowly made his way towards where the offices were. As far as he could tell, no one was questioning his presence...yet.

He passed by Tsukauchi’s office and noticed that the officer in question was in there and so was eraserhead.

‘Well fuck me gently with a chainsaw’.

Ugh, at this point the logical portion of Izuku’s mind was saying to get out and try again another day but the other part (the side that wants to cause chaos) said that this was his only chance.

Izuku took out his phone and swiped at the screen. If all goes well-

The alarms in the building went off and Izuku smiled in satisfaction. It was surprisingly easy to fake a villain attack.

All you had to do was get into the signals of a few phones in the area, have them signal an S.O.S feature and bing bang boom! A fake villain attack of which our dearest Tsukauchi had to investigate.

The door to the office swung open and a very tired looking Eraserhead and an exhausted detective speed walked out. Izuku caught the door before it could close and slipped inside.

This wouldn’t give him long but it was probably enough. Probably.

He quickly went over to the computer and found it was already on and signed in. Oh tsukauchi, you make my life to easy.

It didn’t take long to get in on what the police have on U.A., which included the teachers files, incidents reported, and the layout of the school.

Really, this was almost to easy. Which was probably why Izuku wasn’t surprised when he got a download time of seven minutes into the hard drive he brought.

He flipped a newspaper on the desk to the last page to where the crime reports were listed. Ew. It’s been a disgustingly low crime week.

Izuku checked his phone and saw that by now, the nearby pro heroes would be already at the scene and find that there is no villain. Fuck.

That didn’t last nearly as long as he needed it to.

A part of his mind started to panic; he was never this close to being caught. Sure, he’s had a few close calls but never to the point where he was almost definitely, positively, with ten-thousand-yen-on-the-line-sure he would be caught.

Five minutes.

By now the alarms have stopped and he could see the confusion on the faces of some of the uniformed officers.

Four minutes.

Izuku stifled a groan as he saw the door to the Koban opened and very pissed off Eraserhead stepped inside.

He probably realized it was a diversion and he and the detective split up to investigate. ‘Damnit, I should’ve made it farther away’.

But if he would’ve made it farther away it would’ve notified other Kobans and he didn’t need that headfuck of roads being shut down and swarmed with heroes.

Three minutes.

Izuku could see through the small window that Eraserhead was walking towards the office with a hand gripped on his capture weapon.

He can probably pull the “I’m a rebellious teen and I thought it would be fun to sneak into a police station” card if he tried hard enough.

A small part of him whispered that if he encountered eraserhead and spoke to him directly, he would have to act as Mikumo. Damnit. He should’ve died his hair later.

Thinking on his feet (well not literally, he’s been spinning around in the chair behind the desk), he removed some of the files that hadn’t been completely downloaded yet. He could deal without the U.A. map. He’ll just take extra time later to make one for his father.

That (luckily) dropped his download time to less than a minute and as Izuku was about to pull the flash drive out, the door to the office opened.

Fuck Fuck Fuckfuck-

“Who are you?”

He scrambled to stand and look at least somewhat embarrassed.

You are Mikumo what would some nerd who has a tech giant for a father and was raised America d-

Raised in America.

“O-Oh I’m sorry sir, I d-don’t know much Japanese,” He spoke in his best English accent he could and tried to mimic a bashful-scared effect.

“Well we’ll speak in English then. What are you doing here?”

WELL fuck America and it being a global super power and therefore other countries making it a requirement to learn the language.

“Oh I-I um was e-exploring the city a-and I got lost?”

Eraserhead did not look impressed. “You we’re exploring the city... at night. You do realize Japan as one of the highest villain counts in the world right?”

“W-well that’s m-mostly because of the l-lower population and the villain per citizen ratio is actually c-comparably low...”

‘Good job, Izuku, you made yourself into an actual nerd. He’s gonna expect a fanboy and straight A student or some shit when your in class.’

“Well put. Can you answer my question again? This time, not lying?”

“Weeeeelllllllllllllll fine then. I was hoping to access the p-public records stored here on the school I’m being transferred to here. I’m from Manhattan,” he scratched the back of his head nervously with one hand and moved the other to slowly place a newspaper on top of the hard drive.

“And that led you to be in the head detective’s office?”

“Yes?”

Please by it pleaseplease-

“I’m pretty sure you can tell that I know you aren’t telling the whole truth. Logic tells me to take you in for questioning but unfortunately we wouldn’t be able to question a minor for more than an hour without a guardian present. An hour is less time than needed for the detective to be back. I’ll let you go kid, but if I see you again in here without an actual, logical excuse, I won’t hesitate to take you in for questioning. Do I make myself clear?”

Izuku did his best to look guilty and nodded hesitantly. He reached under the paper and tugged as he started to walk out of the office.

Hopefully, it was smooth enough to not let Eraserhead know. Probably not. Eh, he’ll deal with the fallout if he has the hero as a teacher.

That night he went through what information he was able to get.

There was a list of U.A.’s land assets (The USJ, an apartment complex for the teachers, the school, and for some reason a property located in the middle of the wilderness), a full list of every student that had graduated from the decade prior, a list of small police investigated incidents (There were a lot of explosions from the support course listed), and detailed portfolio’s on the heroes that teach there.

Izuku pulled up Eraserhead’s portfolio.

They had a small picture of him in the corner and a standard list of his quirk, age, name, list of things he’s helped with, contact info-

Wait.

Oh my god, they have Erasers phone number.

He has Eraser’s phone number.

He had to use this he just has-

Izuku got out his second phone (it was basically a brick and so they probably couldn’t trace the location. And if they could, fuck it. He wouldn’t mind dying.

Tetra:

We still on for tomorrow?

Unknown:

Who is this?

Tetra:

Aww you forgot me already?! Man, as they say, never text your heroes.

Izuku grinned and made Eraser a contact.

Eraserhead:

Who. Is. This.

Tetra:

Jesus Christ it’s Tetra lol. So, are we still up for tomorrow?

Tetra:

What, not gonna respond?

Tetra:

Ohhhh I get it it’s pretty late, I guess sundown syndrome hits pretty hard this time of night.

Tetra:

Okay now I just feel betrayed ;-;

Eraserhead:

I can’t trace your location.

Tetra:

It’s called a brick phone dumbass

Eraserhead:

Don’t contact this number again.

Tetra:

Oi, I’ll do what I want.

Tetra:

Respond or I’ll spam the crap out of this with photos of you falling on your face from our encounter a month ago

Tetra:

Not good enough blackmail? How about I’ll leak to your students that you are married.

Eraserhead:

How the hell did you know that?

Tetra:

That’s for me to know and for you to never find out~

Eraserhead is offline

Izuku rolled his eyes and read the rest of the file beyond Eraser’s phone number.

Huh. He has his own file.

He has his own file.

...

Fuck yes! That’s when you know you’ve made it as a villain, ladies and gentlemen, you have your own file in a koban.

Maybe this whole thing would be over quickly. He doubted Tetra would be a small name after he traded eraserhead for some teenager with a reversal quirk.

Chapter Text

Izuku spent the next day relaxing. He received the new quirk from his father that morning and it, as it always does, took a lot of energy. 

He was fascinated by the glow that would surround him would he would tap into it but was equally annoyed when he couldn’t hold it for more than thirty seconds.

‘It’s one of those quirks’

He grabbed his Tetra outfit and slipped it on. At a glance, it wasn’t anything special: black leather boots, a full face mask, black pants, and a long sleeved shirt, but when you looked closer the shirt and pants were made out of color changing fibers. They were able to detect the colors around him via the wave length of the light around him and change color to help him blend in. It was pretty badass. 

It did barely anything for protection in a fight, however. And that is why, he, Tetra, Izuku, whatever, rarely intentionally engaged with Eraserhead and/or any other hero.

Izuku used his suit to stick along side the house and make his way into the city’s heart. 

He climbed to the top of a rather tall building and sat on the ledge. 

It was times like this that Izuku wondered if there was ever a time when he wasn’t a villain. A time when he wasn’t doing what Hisashi said out of some sort of loyalty that definitely did not exist now.

There was a time, he supposed. According to his mom, between the ages of birth and four, Hisashi was in America. And then when he was five, Hisashi came back and swept them away from their normal life and into one of villainy. It was ironic. 

You would think that villains would be all... evil and shit, even around it to their kids, but that’s not the case. His Dad, sure, he was a dick, at least let him have some semblance of freedom, and Inko was one of the most fierce protectors of those she cared about Izuku thought existed. 

So maybe villains had some sort of good side? 

Nah. He’s a villain for god’s sake. Is there any moral compass in him? Nope! Hisashi beat that out a loooooonnnnggggg time ago.

Something flashed in his vision and Izuku winced. 

It flashed again.

He looked down and saw it was the sunlight being reflected off of some screen. The light stopped and Izuku saw a man dressed in all black.

Okay, who the didly darn fuck decided to mess with his afternoo-

Oh.

OHhhhhh.

He diiiiddd have a promised dinner date with Eraserhead. 

Izuku waved to Eraser and back flipped off the building. Luckily, the street below was deserted. 

Ewwwww. They were probably going to try and arrest him. 

Izuku put that thought aside and leaned against the building.

“So! Time for our date, Eraser?”

***

Eraser head was a terrible conversationalist. He wouldn’t answer any questions about his day, what time it was, or even the weather for All Might’s sake.

“Come on! I know you are just biding time until you have backup or some shit to arrest me but you can at least give me something to work with... I know! How about a game?”

Eraser didn’t answer.

“The game is simple- You answer any question I ask truthfully, and I’ll answer any question you want, conditionally, of course.“

Eraser head sipped his tea and nodded. “How much do you know about my spouse?”

“Meh. That you have one. I don’t even know their sex.”

“Good. It’ll benefit you if you don’t look into it.”

Izuku hummed. “Okokok. Just FYI, I won’t answer any question about my name or identity. My turn! Hmmmmmmmmm... How high am I on the villain scale?”

Eraserhead raised an eyebrow. “You could’ve asked me anything and you ask that?”

“Yup!”

“Considering you haven’t committed any felonies- that we know of- you aren’t even on the villain scale.”

Izuku frowned but thankfully Eraserhead couldn’t see it. “But my fi-“ Izuku stopped speaking as soon as he realized what he said.

“Ah,” Izuku swore Eraserhead was smiling even though his face hadn’t even moved. “You’ve been in the police files, hmm?”

“Weeellll technically, yes, but actually no.”

“What does that even mean?”

“It’s my turn! Okay so my quesssssttttiiioooon isssssss, what subject do you teach at U.A.?”

“...Gym.”

Izuku stifled a laugh. “Really? They have an underground hero teaching gym?”

“It’s my turn to ask a question, isn’t it?”

Izuku groaned. This was just painful. He really should make something to like rule out the turn based system next time.

“How old are you?”

“Ehhhhhhhh I’m younger than you think I am.”

“That not an answer.

“It is if I say it is.”

Eraserhead sighed. “Fine then. Last round of questions? I really should be going back on my patrol.”

Izuku rubbed his hands together. “Okay gotta make this one count then. Do you expel most of your classes? And if so, why?”

Its been in tabloids and mock media sources that Eraserhead hates his classes but he wants it confirmed from the source.

“If I expel a student, it is because I don’t see them fit for the hero course. Whether it is because they lack the power, attitude, or other reasons, or because they back away from challenges. I would rather them be off and exploring another profession then have their dreams squashed when they graduate.”

Izuku blinked. “Wow. That’s deep.”

Silence lapsed between them and Izuku felt his latte was getting cold. 

“Anyways,” Eraserhead spike. “What do your parents think of your... extracurricular activities as Tetra?”

Izuku leaned back in the café chair. “Bold of you to assume I have parents.”

“Biologically, everyone does. Answer the question.”

“Okay hmmm... Who do you think introduced me to the world of annoying heroes?”

“So your parents are villains then.”

At Izuku’s nod Eraserhead stood.

“Hey, where do you think you are going?”

Eraserhead set the cup of tea back on the table. “Myself and the police would like to thank you for your cooperation in this interrogation.”

“How the fuck was it an interrogation?”

“Because I earned more from that than you think.”

By now Izuku was on his feet and he growled. “What’s the status then? Is the whole place surrounded by police?”

“No police- Just heroes who have been told to take you in alive.”

“Lemme guess, this conversation has also been recorded?”

Eraserhead nodded.

“Fucking mint, and now is the time when I do the big escape.”

Izuku threw all of his weight at pushing Eraser over the Cafe’s counter. It surprisingly worked. 

Huh. I guess one lightweight can be heavier if- wait. Was he glowing?

Eraser head looked as shocked as Izuku felt and he used the surprise to dash out of the front door.

It wouldn’t be logical to surround the Cafe directly, to much media attention at a large gathering of heroes. So a perimeter then, but how big? How much leeway would have to work with?

A column of fire was launched in his direction and Izuku barely dodged. 

‘Not much then.’

Endeavor in all of his fire-y hell glory was attacking him.

Damnit. He should’ve brought a gun or something. Something long range.

Well fuckity fuck, running was definitely his best bet right now. 

Unfortunately for these heroes, he knew the alley ways and underground subway systems better than anyone.

It was a close call, and to be honest, Izuku was having to many of those lately for comfort.

It was a challenge to escape the pros, and Eraserhead quickly recovered from him being all glow-y. Hopefully he doesn’t think to much of it. But that made a completely different problem for Izuku- this new quirk stood out which 1) went against everything that Tetra stood for and 2) was very recognizable, which means he is going to be noticed by his teachers. Fucking greaaat.

He had to find a way to limit the glow. Izuku powered it up in the safety of his room and his fist illuminated with the whiteish light.

Izuku frowned in concentration. There was a thrumming like sensation in his hand and he tried to... maneuver it. To take control and force it into certain sections of his hand (maybe just his fingers or his palm?).

Izuku couldn’t describe it to you if he tried. It was all instinctive and that was why he was very surprised when it worked.

‘Okay so I cant control the glow, but I can control where and when it is activated.’

That made his life a little easier. Maybe he could bring some gloves or something and where them to try and mask the glow. It would be a dead giveaway of who he was if he didn’t.

Izuku used the rest of the night to figure out this quirk. He took copious notes and filled half a standard notebook with sketches and paragraphs.

And as soon as he stopped and decided to get some sleep, was when Inko was knocking on his door and telling him that it was time for breakfast. 

Chapter Text

The blankets were warm.

So fucking warm.

Why did he have to go to school?

You know, he could just pack his things and go live on his own somewhere. Somewhere warm with blankets and no fucking school and sleep.

Inko didn’t have that same thought process, apparently. She came in and ripped the blankets off of Izuku and turned on the lights.

“Up! You need to eat breakfast and get a move on.”

Izuku groaned and took a pillow to cover his eyes.

“If you aren’t up within ten minutes I will pour ice water on your head,” Inko chirped happily.

That was enough for Izuku to face the coldness and light of the rest of the world. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. 

“I’m really proud of you, going to school and all. Homeschool can only teach you so much. And to think that U.A. accepted you! I’m so proud.”

So Hisashi didn’t tell her everything then.

“Yeah...”

Damnit. He was a villain! He shouldn’t have trouble lying to his mom!

“Remember to wash your face before the makeup though! We don’t want your breaking out. Pancakes will be done in a bit.” She set a freshly ironed uniform on the foot of his bed. “If you hurry up and get dressed they should still be warm.”

Inko turned on her heel and marched out of the room. 

Izuku crawled off of his bed and put on his uniform. Ughhhhh. Whyyyyy.

He was definitely regretting accepting this mission. 

He shuffled downstairs in his uniform with his tie half-hazardly tied. 

As promised, pancakes were ready and Izuku forced himself to eat at least one. They had like, no nutritional value but hey, the syrup was good.

His father was the one to drive him to school with the remark that he was to be home by four exactly.

Well fuck you to then.

Mikumo kept his head down as he walked into the school’s halls. Just act like you belong, and people won’t question it.

He stopped by the admission’s office to pick up his schedule and glared at it. 

Student: Akatani Mikumo 
1-F, General Studies Course
Homeroom: Mignight- Ms. Kayama
A period: Arithmetic- 
B Period: History
C Period: Gym
D Period: World Language, English
E Period: Modern Literature 
F Period: Japanese

Alternate Classes:
G Period: Study Hal 
H Period: Free Time 

Elective(s):
N/A (See Admission’s office for details) 

Fucking hell this was complicated. He knew Eraserhead taught gym, Midnight had History, and Present Mic taught English from the police files but he had absolutely no idea who else did what and even where his classes were.

“Um, hi!” Someone beside him nudged his side with their elbow. “If you stare at your schedule any longer you’ll burn a hole through it. Are you new?”

Mikumo looked up at the person and saw it was a girl with short bob like brown hair. ‘Remember to stutter, Izuku.’  “Y-Yeah? I-I am a transfer...”

“Oh you are the new General Studies kid!” She exclaimed. “Miss Midnight told us that we would be getting a new student. Uraraka Ochaco.”

“Akatani Mikumo.”

“Ooo that’s a cool name! I’m guessing you don’t know where any of your classes are?”

Mikumo shook his head.

“That’s okay! 1-F is down the hall from 1-A so I can show you on your way there! So where are you from?”

Izuku mentally noted that 1-A was Eraserhead’s homeroom, and ergo this girl was in the hero course. 

Uraraka was a decidedly very pleasant person but that just made Izuku want to punch her. She seemed to be a sunshine sally type and he hated overly optimistic people. But, she was the only person being at least somewhat kind. She, as promised, showed him the first year floor and the classrooms.

“Our schedules are different from yours but we all take the same core six classes, in the first year at least. Where you have free time we have heroics class and the support course has genius hour I think.” They stopped walking outside of 1-F’s classroom. “But we all have lunch at the same time so I’ll see you then!”

Mikumo nodded and fidgeted with the strap of his backpack. As she practically skipped away Izuku rolled his eyes and entered the classroom. 

All chatter inside came to a stop and Mikumo shyly waved.

“H-Hi?”

The teacher at the front desk stood and smiled. She was wearing a hero costume that was definitely not appropriate but luckily for her Izuku and Mikumo alike were as straight as a circle. 

“Hello, Akatani Mikumo! I won’t make you introduce yourself as we have a lot of announcements to cover today, but you can take a seat next to Shinso Hitoshi.” She gestured to an open seat in the back of the classroom next to a kid with vibrant purple hair.

‘Ugh, definitely a main character type.’

Midnight cleared her throat. “Okay, so as I was saying, this Thursday you will not have gym as Mr.Aizawa is taking his homeroom to the USJ for some extra hero-ing. On Friday for the first period remedial work we have a joint lecture with the support, business, and hero classes about Japan laws, sexual violence in schools, and as well as a few guest speakers. Remember, we have to have five hours of this type of training recorded so if you choose not to show up, I’ll make sure to make Mr.Aizawa give you the lecture alone.”

A course of rushed “yes ma’am’s’ followed that and Mikumo stifled a grin.

“Also, some combat training will be offered by myself, Ectoplasm, Vlad King, Eraserhead, as well as a few third years during the last two remedial session, for those of you aiming for the hero course and the hero course students themselves. Otherwise Present Mic, Cenemtoss, and Principal Nezu, will be here if you have any late assignments or homework you want to get done. Other than that this week will be as normal as possible.”

There were a few grumbles and Midnight grabbed a stack of papers off her desk and walked towards the back of the room.

“Hello, Akatani, I want to welcome you to the school and it’s chaotic mess. This is the student handbook, of which I am required to go over with you and have you sign. So if you will see me for study hall that would be great. I’m sure Shinso will explain everything you don’t understand and will help you find your classes for the rest of the week.”

The kid beside him gave the R-Rated hero the best ‘are you fucking kidding me’ look of which Midnight seemed to shut down with a single look. Wow. She must be a mom because she has the stink eye down to a science.

The bell rung and everyone in the class got up. Mikumo glanced questioningly at Shinso.

“It’s math right now and we have to go to Ectoplasm’s room. He’s in 1-E.”

“Heh, sounds fun?”

“Meh. The real fun is when lunch comes around.”

***

Math was... challenging, to say the least. It wasn’t the easiest but Izuku caught a few things here and there he already knew. Ectoplasm made sure to let him know that if he needed help or anything to come to him during study hall. 

History was boring. It was all book work and apparently Midnight was one of those ‘I speak really fast and I expect you to take notes’ teachers.

Shinso and him barely talked. He answered a question Mikumo had occasionally and dutifully led him to the classes and eventually, lunch.

Apparently Shinso didn’t have many friends because he was always alone. Whether it was for their breaks or even at lunch he was in the corner.

Izuku knew a thing or to about loneliness and he was determined to make this person be an extrovert. 

Uraraka waved to him from a table near the front of the room and Mikumo glanced between them and Shinso.

“U-Um can my... friend come sit over here to?”

Uraraka nodded enthusiastically. “The more the merrier! I usually sit alone anyways.”

Izuku awkwardly caught Shinso’s eye and nodded to the table. Shinso’s eyes narrowed but after some telepathic communication (it was mostly just Izuku gesturing angrily to the table next to him) Shinso came and sat.

“Uraraka Ochaco,” the girl stuck out a hand but almost immediately retracted it.

“Sorry, it’s nothing personal-“

“-just don’t want to touch the hand of someone below you?” Shinso muttered and Ochaco’s eyes widened.

“No no! Nothing like that. It’s my quirk. If I touch you I’ll make you float. I usually bring gloves or something to lunch but I forgot them in my locker.”

Shinso let out a sigh (Izuku swore it was one of  relief). “That is an interesting quirk. What is it called?”

“Zero gravity. It works but well, making gravity not apply to that certain object.”

“Can you control the amount of gravity lifted?”

Izuku was almost fascinated by the interaction (Jesus he needed to be around kids his own age more often).

Ochaco looked as though she was in thought. “If I concentrate hard enough I can but I can’t do it at will, not yet at least. I’m working on it.” She turned to him. “What’s your quirk, Akantai?”

Izuku was caught off guard by the question and had to remind himself not to say ‘which one?’.

“I-It’s called Chikara. It increases my power and speed by m-making my body glow or something. I don’t really understand it.”

“Drawbacks?” Shinso asked.

“None that I know of. I was an extremely late bloomer.”

Ochaco’s eyes widened “Those are rare. How old were you?”

“I got it yesterday.”

“Oh... wow.”

Shinso frowned. “I was a late bloomer per se to, but for you to receive a quirk at what, fourteen, fifteen? That’s really odd.”

Odd? His whole life was ‘odd’. Probably the most normal thing about the past three days is that he dyed his hair!  “Tell me about it.” 

“You are in the hero course, Ochaco?” 

Ochaco nodded to Shinso. “I thought you knew that considering your comment earlier... I really am sorry if it seems like the hero course students look down on the other classes, though.”

“No worries, I just want to let you know that some of the general studies students are gunning for your spots. It’s not anything against you or your peers, in fact, you seem tolerable, but I just wanted to warn you. I want you to be in the classroom when I get there.”

“Thanks? I’ll make sure not to slack off then.”

“Wait,” Izuku interrupted. “We can transfer?”

Shinso nodded. “Yes, through the sports festival. If we score high enough they can transfer us.”

Izuku’s brain gears were turning. That’s how he had to get in. That’s how he was going to complete his mission! 

“I hope you do well then! But I want to let you know that we have stuff to lose to, it’s our chance to get accounted.  Ochaco’s watch beeped and she looked almost sad. “I got to go. My other friend said they wanted to meet in the library for some extra studying.

She took her lunch tray and left the table with a small wave.

Izuku grabbed Shinso’s hand and started pulling him up.

“What are you doing?”

“You want to get into the hero course, huh? I’ll teach you how to fight. If we leave now then we can almost have a full hour before our next class.”

Chapter Text

“Keep tension in your stomach,” Izuku advised. “Your punches should use your whole body, not just your arms.”

“Yeah,” Shinso grunted. “How much longer?”

They were outside of the gym and Izuku had drug out a punching bag and hug it up on a pull up bar.

“We have ten minutes. What’s our next class? 

Shinso threw one more punch before collapsing to the ground.

“That’s enough for today.”

Izuku frowned. “Why? We have more time. Was I to hard on you?”

Shinso rolled over onto his stomach and slowly stood. “Our next class is gym and Mr.Aizawa expects us to be dressed in our gym uniforms and out of the locker room not one second after free period ends.”

“Ummmm is there anyway we can like, skip gym?”

“Pardon?”

“Well for one you just got a workout and two Eraserhead thinks I don’t speak Japanese.”

“What?”

“Eraserhead thinks I don’t speak Japanese.”

What?”

“Oh for All Might’s sake-

“-It’s a figure of speech, dumbass!” Shinso pinched the bridge of his nose. “Why, does one of our teachers think you can’t speak Japanese?”

“It’s a very long story, but if we skip class then we’ll have time to tell you,” Izuku singsonged.

“You know, your personality seems to flip-flop.”

“That’s another story. Let’s go, we need to find a place to hide.”

Shinso nodded. “I know a place.”

“I know a place” happened to be a small section of the library. There was a small closest behind a bookcase on the very very back wall.

The closet was, yes, small, but it was big enough for the two of them. LED fairy lights illuminated the room and the floor was covered in pillows, a beanbag, and blankets.  

“How did you even find this?”

Shinso shrugged. “My parents are part of the staff here. They used to take me to work when I was too young for school or on the weekends. U.A. has a lot of secrets.”

That peaked Izuku’s interest. “That’s fun.”

Shinso settled into next to the beanbag. “Now, story time. How the heck does Eraserhead think you don’t know Japanese, and how did you know he was the hero Eraserhead? He only revealed that to his homeroom class.”

“How did you know if that’s the case?” Izuku snarked.

“Touché. Answer the first question.”

“Well I was in the police station doing something I probably wasn’t supposed to be doing and Eraserhead’s caught me. I pretended to not speak Japanese because I’m from America.”

Shinso barked out a laugh. “So your plan is to avoid him forever? That’s not possible, especially if you want to get into the hero course. His class is the only one with an opening.”

“Wow you’ve really done your research on him, hmm?”

“Let’s just say I overhear rants... a lot. Anyways, how did you learn to fight?”

Izuku shrugged. “My Dad thought I should learn to protect myself. He taught me a few things from various martial arts and trained me in weapons handling.”

’Less of taught and more of used against me so I picked up a few things.’

“That’s pretty badass not gonna lie.”

Izuku grinned. “I can show you how to handle a knife tomorrow during free period if you want. We may have to use a stick because I doubt you could get an actual knife on campus.”

Technically, Izuku could pull out one of his many knives that he keeps on him at all times but he and Shinso weren’t there yet. If you touched one of Izuku’s weapons without his permission you better hope you get a quick death.

Shinso smiled for the first time today. “Sounds fun but are you really aiming for the hero course?”

“What’s it to you?”

Shinso huffed. “That would make us rivals. There is only one opening in the hero course and ergo only one can go in. Plus with your quirk it’s one of those flashy type ones, they would let you in in a heartbeat.” He shrugged. “Sorry, but it means to me that I’ll have to work harder because I don’t have a physical, flashy type quirk.”

“Huh. What is it then?”

“Pardon?”

“Your quirk,” He prompted.

Shinso hesitated. “Brainwashing. If you verbally answer my question, I can control you. But only when I want to.” He added quickly.

“Dude, that is so fucking cool!”

“I-it is?”

“Duh!” Izuku’s mini fanboy in him was going haywire. “I’ve never met someone with that mental level quirk. Think of the possibilities! You could do so much good in the hero world. So, can you control more than one person at a time? Is it only a verbal trigger? Can you release them at will?”

Shinso looked stunned but he quickly recovered. “I think so. It takes a lot more concentration to control more than one person, however. Yes, it is only a verbal trigger, and yes, I can release them at will, but if they are physically jostled it also releases them.”

“That’s fucking dope.”

The two talked for an undetermined amount of time. About quirks, their classes, their teachers- anything and everything (which also includes YouTube and anime recommendations).

They were in the middle of talking about “episode four” of Full Metal Alchemist, Brotherhood, when there was a knock on the cupboard door.

“Hitoshi? Are you in there?”

Izuku grabbed Shinso’s arm and hurriedly whispered, “Who knows of this place?”

“My parents.”

Wellllllll fuckity fuck. 

“You do realize that I can here you two whispering right? Come out, it’s almost study hall anyways.”

Shinso sighed and nodded to Izuku. They slowly got out of the closet (after making sure the fairy lights were off).

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Present Mic is your father?”

“One of them.”

“Dude, you do realize I thought that they were some teacher for the third years right? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“You didn’t ask?”

“Kid, I hate to interrupt this argument, I really do,” Present Mic chirped. “but you have a very angry gym teacher waiting for you in the teacher’s lounge.”

“I thought we agreed to keep the fact that I’m your son a secret to everyone?”

Present Mic quirked an eyebrow. “Yeah but we also agreed you wouldn’t use one of your many closets during class time. Let’s go! The longer we keep Shota waiting the worse it’ll be.”

The lounge was empty sans for Eraserhead. He was sitting on a couch and Hitoshi and Izuku took seats opposite of him.

Izuku expected yelling but the room was dead silent. “ I bet he thinks if he’s quiet we will confess our sins faster,” He whispered.

“So you admit you skipped class?”

“Well duh,” Izuku mumbled. “There really is no escaping that.”

“Well at least you are self-aware. Hitoshi-“

Shinso’s head snapped up to face the teacher. 

“-and yourself will both see me for detention this afternoon. I have half a mind to expel both of you but if I expelled every student that skipped class there would be hardly any students here at all.”

The smile on Eraserhead’s face was borderline manic. “And since you can’t speak Japanese, Akatani, you’ll join me whenever you have your world language class.” Eraserhead’s voice was dripping with sarcasm but the hunger at threat was there.

Izuku groaned. “That’s worse than detention- making me miss the class that an actually fun teacher teaches.”

“Good, school is not meant to be fun. Go to study hall, Hitoshi, and tell Midnight I’ll be keeping Akatni a little longer.”

Shinso shot him a “good luck” look and obediently left the room.

“Why do you insist on being such a problem child?”

“Hold up, when did I become a problem child?”

“Since you snuck into a police station, lied to me, and convinced a usually great student to skip class.”

“Touché. How did you know that it was me?”

“The back of the gym has cameras and they record audio too. It’s how I sent Mic to find the both of you.”

“Fair. So why did you want to keep me? Ms.Midnight wanted to go over the student handbook.”

“If your current track record keeps up I have half a mind to allow you to burn the handbook.”

“Oooh I can do that?”

“No,” Eraserhead hissed. “Mother of All Might I do not get paid enough for this.”

“On your hero check or teacher one?”

“Both, combined,” the man sighed. “I kept you here because I wanted to ask you a few questions that your school file didn’t contain the answers to.”

“Okay?”

“Only one emergency contact is listed, your father I think, and that is not allowed for safety and standards sake. Do you have a mother or other family member?”

‘Think like Mikumo, Izuku.’

“Mom is dead, house fire.”

“I’m sorry I asked.”

Mikumo shrugged. “I barely remember her, it’s fine.”

“Any other family? Guardians? Family friends?”

“In America or somewhere in the very southern tip of Japan. Never met the ones here, and unless you want someone I’ve never met as an emergency contact, he’s all I got.”

“So just your father then,” He noted. “Moving on, your home address?”

“Home address? W-Why did you need that?”

“Another security precaution. If you live outside of the district we are required under law to take extra steps regarding your schooling and safety.”

“Like?”

“Like if you live in the southern district just in the city boarders, the villain rates are very high. There have been numerous cases of our students being attacked and assaulted. U.A. would have a teacher escort you from school to your home.”

Mikumo nodded. “Smart. I live in the northern part of the city, almost in the suburbs. You can call my father for the address, I can’t write it in Japanese yet. Anything else?”

“Yes, how is your home life?”

Izuku blinked. “Excuse me?”

“Don’t take it personally, kid, I am required to ask.”

How the hell was he supposed to answer this one? ‘Oh yeah my home life is great- I just have a father that likes to use me as a punching bag to “Raise my pain tolerance” and a mom who has Bipolar-mania and her episodes are so. Much. Fun. To deal with! Of course I wouldn’t have to deal with them if Hisashi would just buy her damn medicine. Oh, also I’m a villain that has to routinely do missions or else I’ll be forced to kill my mom.’

“My home life is pretty good. My father isn’t the most touchy-feely person in the world but we... bond over certain things.”

Aizawa nodded. “Good. You can go back to study hall now. Be in my classroom not a minute after 3:30 for detention.”

“Yes sir.”

They were standing outside of the classroom and Izuku twisted his bracelet out of habit. 

It was a silver plain thing and it was the only gift that Izuku ever received from his father.

He wore it everyday, and he can’t remember a time he ever took it off.

Once class 1-A was dismissed and exited their classroom (Shinso and him received a few questioning looks from Ochaco and a tall blue haired guy) Aizawa nodded to them.

“Meet me in the gym out of school uniform. Five minutes.”

“Uhhh why? I thought detention was just like writing lines and stuff.”

“Because, Akatani,” the maniac grin was back.  “You gotta make up your work for your skipped class today somehow.”

Eraserhead made them run...

And run...

And keep running. 

And when they stopped running, they had to do a circuit of twenty five pushups, thirty sit-ups, forty-five crunches, and a one minute plank...ten times.

He also kept Izuku and Shinso and opposite sides of the gym so they couldn’t even talk to each other to make it at least somewhat bearable.

Izuku was fine for the running. Being a villain meant you had to run away from heroes on a daily basis. But when it came to the circuits, it was a completely different set of muscles working. He wanted to give up after the first rep.

However Eraserhead’s unspoken threat of making them do more if they slacked off kept making him suffer through. 

5... 4... 3... 2... 1!

Izuku crumbled to the ground after his last plank session.

“Tired?”

Izuku just groaned in response.

Eraserhead chuckled and he threw a towel in front of Izuku. “Good, and because you were the mastermind behind the plot you can run two more laps and then go home. Clean up your sweat while you’re at it. I’m assuming you learned your lesson?”

“Oh definitely. Never skipping your class again.”

“You won’t skip any class again,” the hero corrected.

“Tomato-tamato.” 

He cleaned up the puddles of sweat (Jesus, it was almost disgusting that that could be emitted from a human) and did his final two laps. Shinso was waiting for him near the door when he finished.

“Awww you waited! I feel so loved.”

“Yeah yeah, I just wanted to tell you off for getting us both in trouble but it looked like the circuits really took it out of you.”

Izuku groaned. “Don’t tell me you found that easy.”

Shinso shrugged. “That’s my normal workout, but I only do five reps and not ten... plus I don’t run as much.”

“So you found it easy or you are doing the ‘tough guy act’, either way, fuck you.”

In an almost deadpan tone- “Fuck me yourself, coward.”

“Oh you wish you weird purple grape. Here,” Izuku pulled out a small slip of paper. “Text me. All Might knows I don’t have someone to spam memes to.”

“Akatani-“

“-Izuku. You can call me Izuku... it’s my middle name. Mikumo is what my parents call me.”

“You do realize what being on a first name basis with someone in Japan means right?”

“Closeness and shit. We just went through Eraserhead Boot camp I think we are there yet.”

“Huh. Call me Hitoshi then.”

“Wow are you two gonna kiss or something? Should I leave?”

“Mr.Aizzzaawa don’t be like thaaaattt.”

Eraserhead rolled his eyes. “I notified your father of your detention. That’s probably him waiting outside of the gate.”

Izuku peeked outside of the gym and saw it was, in fact, his father’s car waiting by the U.A. gate. “Greaaaaaattttt. Welp, time to die, see you in hell, Hitoshi.”

“I won’t be there?”

“Meh, Eraserhead will be.”

Chapter Text

“You got detention.”

“Obviously.”

“For skipping class.”

“Affirmative.”

“To hang out with a friend?”

Izuku winced. “Aye?”

Hisashi looked like he was both surprised that Izuku had made a friend and disappointed. “Is this friend helpful to your mission?”

“Which part?”

“Either.”

Even though Hitoshi technically was in association with Eraserhead, Izuku shook his head. 

“Friends are not essential to your mission, Izuku. I expect you to not jeopardize your mission by having them.”

“I gotta blend in, right? Being a loner would make me stand out.”

“You know what I meant. Now, what information do you have for me?”

“Uhhh what do you want? It was my first day! I can barely find my classes much less a computer to get into their files.”

“I want the class schedules of the hero course and what classes each of the heroes teach! The league gave us a deadline,” Hisashi growled. “I’m sure you can understand that.”

“Of course I can, but aren’t you the leader of the league? Can’t you just, you know, change the deadline?”

“Allow me to rephrase- I’m giving you a deadline of day after tomorrow, at midnight. If you cannot get me the information I want then you’ve outlasted your usefulness. You do know what we do to useless people, don’t you?”

Izuku forced his face to be as emotionless as possible. “I’ll get the information to you.”

“Useless people die, Izuku,” Hisashi continued. “and with your quirks, as artificial as they are, you can be useful. Chose to be useful and serve us to the best of your abilities. A useless person is a dead one, mentally at least, but I won’t hesitate to make them dead physically as well.”

“I will get the information to you,” Izuku repeated through gritted teeth.

“Inko doesn’t have to die, Izuku. I love the woman and so do you! So why must you-“

“-I’ll get the information to you by tomorrow evening!” It only took him a moment to realize that he said tomorrow and not, the day after tomorrow.

‘FUCKING HELL, IZUKU! You already had an impossible deadline but now you have less than twenty four hours.’

Like a switch, Hisashi’s whole demeanor changed. “Good! Now, your mother is going to meet us for takeout, where do you want to go? Text her and she’ll meet us there.

They went to a Mom-and-Pop restaurant tucked on the edge of the city. Inko met them there and kept rambling on and on how proud she was of him. Heck, even the old lady behind the counter gave them a pot of tea on the house for seeing Izuku in his U.A. uniform. 

It was oddly one of the more domestic moments in his life. There was a point where he just relished in how both of his parents were both getting along and how no villain stuff was being discussed. Just regular, normal, small talk.

Under the table, Izuku typed on his phone.

Tetra:

Yo Eraserhead, how’s it going? I have a question.

Eraserhead:

I almost definitely have an answer, but I’m inclined not to give it to you.

Tetra:

I’ll do you a favor~

Eraserhead:

What could you possibly offer me?

Tetra: 

I’ll allow you to capture me! Only for a bit though so you an Tuski can do your interrogation thing. 

Eraserhead:

1. How terribly humiliating to my reputation as a pro hero 
2. I don’t believe you

Tetra:

1. Your reputation doesn’t mean shit considering you can’t catch me
2. You should

Eraserhead:

Do you have something written in fine print of your promise? Something I should be aware of?

Tetra:

Ehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh yeah. It won’t be right away, obviously. I have to finish my mission first.

Eraserhead:

I know I won’t get information on that statement so fine. What is your question?

Tetra:

Back when we were playing our QnA game you said I have committed zero felonies and ergo am not considered a villain. 

It made me wonder what it does take to be considered a villain in the eyes of the government and what does my file say for the crimes I have committed?

Eraserhead:

That is two questions. 

Tetra: 

Just answer them dickwad

Eraserhead:

What a foul mouth. Anyways there are three steps in the process of becoming a villain- vigilante, criminal, villain. Vigilantes are defined as people who haven’t committed any misdemeanors or felonies, and often times do work that heroes would normally do, however they work just barely in or outside of the law to do so. Criminals are people who have committed misdemeanors and/or nonviolent felonies and villains are defined as people who have committed several felonies and have destroyed property, or harmed others- heroes or citizens- with the disregard of their safety or intention to injure or kill. Are you with me?

Tetra:

Ye

Eraserhead:

To your second question, your file just states that you are a vigilante and I am mostly in charge of watching those classified as such. Why do you ask?

Tetra:

Well here’s the thing- I’ve committed crimes, you know that, how am I not considered a criminal?

Eraserhead:

An important detail for vigilantes are that they are trying to do good, just work outside of the law to do so. Some work farther outside the line than others. Take Stendhal, for example. He had ideologies that went against the idea of heroes, so he became a vigilante. But when he started killing heroes, and ergo, taking someone’s life (See the definition of a villain “Intent to harm” part) he became a villain, known as Stain.

Izuku didn’t like the hero killer. Sure, he respected him but you didn’t have to kill every hero in sight just because you couldn’t become one.

Tetra:

Ohhh yeahh. He hasn’t been on the news much but I’ve seen the reports of a few heroes over in other cities being found dead or severely injured in alleyways. 

Eraserhead:

I don’t know why I’m telling you this but the reason it’s been out of the news is because of the government limiting access to those records to the public. He’s assaulted approximately forty two heroes as of a week ago. Back to the original question, there have been resorts of you helping people- helping people escape a hazardous area or you, according to the record of women who’ve described your costume, have helped over fifteen women from assaults.

Tetra:

Wait, me?

Izuku frowned. He would remember if he did something that good. So why doesn’t he? He would remember a time when he didn’t act as a villain... wouldn’t he?

The bracelet on his wrist seemed to grow warm for a bit and Izuku rubbed it for some source of comfort. 

Any doubt he had was washed away and only the feeling of complete and utter withsay was left.

Eraserhead:

If the reports could be believed. Most of the people couldn’t say your name directly, But once shown a picture of you once they described a “very short person with a full black suit with chameleon like scales”. 

Tetra:

Huh. Fun.

Eraserhead:

Are you saying that you weren’t the person described?

Yes.

Tetra:

Nooooo! I just didn’t realize they were recorded lol Gotta go though, dinner and all that jazz.

Eraserhead is offline. 

The next day at lunch Izuku sat with Ochaco and Hitoshi again.

“Uraraka,” he started. “In Midnight’s announcements she said that tomorrow your class is going to do some extra heroing? What’s that about?”

The girl tapped her chin in thought. “I think Mr.Aizawa and Mr.All Might are taking us to the USJ facility or something. We don’t know much, only that it’s taking up our gym time and what little Mr.All Might told us.”

“Mr.All Might?” Hitoshi scoffed.

“Well yeah! I don’t feel good about not calling him All Might without the proper honorific or something! You try having him as a teacher and you’d be faced with the same thing.”

Izuku laughed. “I’d just call him All Might, lol. Or, like, the stupidest hero ever.”

“W-what?” Ochaco asked at the same time Hitoshi said “Did you just say, lol?”

“The man has like zero conversion skills! And he owns like, one suit. He’s just not my kinda hero, and yes, Toshi, I did, lmao.”

“Please don’t say text abbreviations.”

“Lmao, you’re funny.”

“Stop.”

“LmOa.”

Hitoshi sighed and Ochaco giggled. 

“Anyways what classes do we have next, Toshi?”

“You and I have world language, and I don’t know what Uraraka has.”

“I have heroics.”

“Greeeaaaatt.”

Ochaco frowned. “What’s wrong with world language? Mr.Present Mic is the best!”

“I am being ordered to spend it with Eraserhead.”

“Why?”

“He convinced Eraserhead that he couldn’t speak Japanese and then when he was found out, Eraserhead, decided to make the punishment fit the crime.”

Ochaco giggled. “That’s great.”

“Great for you to laugh at! Eraserhead hates me!”

“He doesn’t hate you...He just thinks you are more trouble than you are worth and finds you mildly annoying.”

“How is that any different, Toshi?! Answer me you purple headed main character of a stereotypical romance anime that only features straight people!”

The talked for a bit more before the three of them dumped their trays and went on their ways to their respective classes. Uraraka had to leave earlier because she had a class but other than that Izuku and Hitoshi wasted time talking.

He faced his death with a grin and swung open the door to classroom 1-A.

“Honey, I’m home!”

“Keep it down, problem child.” 

“Will do, Mister Eraserhead sir!” Izuku mock saluted and plopped down in a desk in front of Eraserhead’s. “What are we doing, anyways?”

“Well considering you are obviously fluent in Japanese, we can work on another world language that wouldn’t be offered until your second or third years.”

“Ew.”

“Don’t like that, huh? Good, because I don’t either. You will help me with my hero work as an extra curricular suggested by Nezu.”

“Nezu? The principal?”

Eraserhead nodded. “He saw your transcripts from your past school and suggested that one of the teachers offer your extra classes to suit your... IQ. I offered, considering how I don’t trust you and you seem to have the rest of the teachers fooled by that stuttering act you put on.”

“Nothing gets passed you, huh?”

“I’d like to think so.” Eraserhead dropped a stack of papers on his desk.

“Go through these files and take detailed notes on each. If you see any patterns within each file of the victims let me know. I’ll be doing the same at my desk. These are classified, and if you discuss anything within these files with anyone other than me you will be immediately expelled and fined.”

“Jeez, I get it okay? Hush hush.”

Between the files and Izuku drawing up a schedule of the hero course based on what little he knew, he was kept quite busy.

The files were boring as heck and it was mostly just Stain stuff. 

Apparently, he wasn’t privy to the files that had the heroes that survived (you know, the ones that had actual information).

He felt like asking but mehhhhhh. Too much work. 

The (dead) victims were all medium ranking heroes with some popularity but not a lot. A look into them proved that they had all talked on late night comedy shows about a week or so before.

“Mr.Aizawa, what is stain’s quirk? And what happened to the two percent that survived his attacks?”

“We don’t know his quirk, and the heroes found that survived were severely injured. Some of them seemed were paralyzed due to the injures and others couldn’t move on their own accord for an unknown reason. We assume it was from a poison we couldn’t identify but considering that we couldn’t find any toxin in the bloodstream it’s highly unlikely.”

“I had to do a report on poisons a while back,” Izuku lied smoothly. “You can’t identify one unless you are specifically looking for it so maybe they just aren’t looking in the right place?”

“Fast acting toxins that can cause paralysis in very minuscule doses… It’s possible. Some of the statements from the survivors said that once the hero scratched them with his weapon the paralysis took place almost immediately.”

“Huh. Well I do know of a few but my guess would be either  succinylcholine, atropine, strychnine, tetrodotoxin or-“ 

“-repeat the last one.”

”Tetrodotoxin? Found in pufferfish and it’s sometimes referred to as Tetradotoxin.”

Eraserhead stood and grabbed a jacket off the back of his spinny-chair. 

“Go to your homeroom. Tell Midnight to cover my last class.”

“Where are you- 

“-Classified.”

Izuku frowned as the door shut and quickly went over the list in his mind of their conversation.

Tetrodotoxin? Tetradoxtoxin?

Tetradoxtoxin.

Tetra-doxtoxin. 

.

.

.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

“Here,” Izuku muttered. He set the Manila folder down on Hisashi’s desk.

The man picked it up and flipped through the pages. “Very comprehensive, thank you. This will be of use to the league.”

“May I ask how?”

“The league has been planning a raid on U.A. for month- they just needed a time of when Eraserhead and All Might would be in the same place.”

“Don’t you think-“

“-Know your station, Izuku. You are to stay out of the way and not arouse suspicion.”

Izuku gritted his teeth. “Yes, sir.”

Hisashi waved his hand dismissively. “Go do your homework.”

Eraserhead:

I’ll take that favor now.

Tetra:

I told you, it won’t be for a while.

Eraserhead:

I want you to answer a question instead.

Tetra:

Okay

Eraserhead:

How did you choose your name?

Tetra:

Why you gotta ask that lol

Eraserhead:

Is there a problem?

Tetra:

Not really. I’ll tell you how but I better not get any pity from it

Eraserhead:

You have my word.

Tetra: 

My dad signed me out from school one day when I was like, six. I thought we were going to do some bonding thing but he took me to his workplace. He took me to the lowest level and showed me a... cell like thing which held a few beat up men. My father made me sit in the corner of the cell with a notebook and made me observe/take notes of the different poisons used on them and the side effects. 

Eraserhead:

?

Tetra:

Yeah lol. Anyways I asked what they did to deserve that but my father just said that they betrayed him. So when I started Tetra I chose the name as a reminder of what happens when you defy him: Tetradoxtoxin, a fast acting, painful poison that can quickly kill the target.

Eraserhead:

...I’m sorry I asked.

Tetra:

Stfu with your pity 

Eraserhead:

It’s not pity, it’s concern.

Tetra:

What the hell is the difference?

Eraserhead:

Pity, or sympathy, is the feeling of being sorrowful or distressed at the expense of another. Concern is being compassionate about an individual’s personal well being or happiness. 

Tetra:

Thanks, I guess? It’s misplaced, though 

Eraserhead:

I don’t think so. You said your parents are villains and that you are “younger than you think”. Those two things combined give me a number of reasons to be concerned.

Tetra:

Okay, fair, but why would you be concerned over me lol?

Eraserhead:

There is a social contract present in every society. This social contract says you will abide by laws, care for those who need it, and be a morally good person. This “contract” also has an unsaid part that every adult who is in contact with a child has a responsibility for them. If your parents, more specifically, your father, has broken this contract in any way then concerning you, his child, then that means that a next of kin or a friend would be responsible for guiding you on the right path. 

Tetra:

So that’s what you see me as, huh? Not a vigilante or a villain or someone who has committed horrendous crimes, but a case for you to get glory out of if you can get me off of this “path”.

Eraserhead:

Oh definitely not. Glory isn’t my thing, and I wouldn’t have become an underground hero if it was. But being in this line of work means you shoulder a lot more of this “social contract” than people think. In this world of heroes, every hero or police officer or soldier, whatever, is not only responsible for themselves but for every civilian. I deal with the messy stuff as an underground hero that other heroes don’t want to deal with- so if anything that makes me responsible also for the ones that the other “heroes” don’t want to help. That includes you.

Eraserhead:

When I am in meetings with other heroes and the like and your name is brought up, you’d be amazed how many glare at me and ask why haven’t I caught you yet... Apparently, the fact that you are like trying to hold water in an open hand wasn’t enough of an excuse. I was forced into agreeing with surrounding the building with pros when we met in that cafe. Endeavor and the like believed we should bring you in with any means possible while I disagreed. 

Tetra:

So that’s why you didn’t follow me after I left. I knew you could’ve easily caught up to me and make escaping a hell of a lot harder

Eraserhead:

Exactly. And by letting them have a go at it they learned that “hey, this kid is actually pretty hard to catch” and got a lot of them off my back. Back to my point, I am morally responsible for you according to that social contract. Just like I am morally responsible for my students or the other vigilantes I am socially obligated to help them and guide them. And unfortunately for you, I do feel obligated to help you... Even if it means I have to neglect my hero work so you have someone to keep you mentally sane.

Tetra:

I’m touched 

Eraserhead:

I smell sarcasm 

Tetra:

I’m being sincere, jackass. And how can you smell sarcasm?!

Eraserhead:

It’s an acquired talent

Tetra:

Noice 

Really though, thank you. Can I like, send screenshots to your students?

Eraserhead:

Oh I’m regretting it already.

Tetra:

So that’s a no???

Eraserhead:

I get told I’m a dad by my colleagues enough I don’t need actual proof that I do care for my students. It’ll ruin my reputation as the “strict” teacher

Tetra:

So eraserhead is a softie. Good to know. 

Eraserhead:

Problem child 

Tetra:

Old man

Eraserhead:

Pufferfish poison vigilante 

Tetra has changed Eraserhead’s name to “Dadzawa”

Dadzawa has changed their name to “Eraserhead” 

Eraserhead:

Brat

Unknown:

My father wants to know if you got your U.A. account set up

Akatani:

What

Unknown:

Oh it’s Shinso btw. U.A. has an online school app thing where your grades and stuff is shown. Your username should be the first letter of your surname and then your first name. Password idk, contact admissions

Akatani:

Thanks ig 

Shinso:

Anyways what’s up

Akatani:

The sky bish

Shinso:

God what is even your life

Akatani:

A bottomless pit of nothing 

The next day, Izuku had a smile on his face and was often commented on how he seemed more energetic.

Hitoshi, gratefully, didn’t question it. 

“Okay remember, as I said on Monday,  You do not have gym today as Mr.Aizawa is taking his students to the U.S.J facility.”

That definitely ruined his mood and suddenly, something clicked in his mind.

“Mr.All Might teaches heroics”

“they just needed a time when Eraserhead and All Might would be in the same place.”

“Eraserhead teaches gym-“

Izuku clenched the paper in his hand and crumpled it up. 

Today. The league was going to attack today, during the first period. 

He needed to do something. He just, he couldn’t do nothing! 

The bracelet on his wrist was almost hot and Izuku traced the design on it with a finger. 

Izuku had decided. He wouldn’t do anything.

He couldn’t resist Hisashi. Hisashi had asked for him to stay out of the way and that is what he would do. 

The feeling inside of Izuku was like holding a lid on a pot of boiling water. All of the voices inside of him screaming for him to save Eraserhead and class 1-A was drowned out by the static and feeling of warmth.

He couldn’t disobey.

No! He could! he hated his family he could save-

-The static grew louder

If he disobeyed he would be useless...

...and useless people died. 

Hitoshi knew something was up with his friend. He was unusually chipper in the morning and as soon as Midnight mentioned the U.S.J he deflated like some sad balloon animal.

The bell rang signifying the end of homeroom and as the rest of the glass stood and grabbed their books, Izuku remained seated. He had this far off look in his eyes and his hand mechanically kept rubbing the bracelet on his arm.

“Akanti? Izuku?”

Midnight was watching them from her desk and Hitoshi looked at her. “Miss Midnight? I think something is wrong with him.”

“Take him to Recovery Girl, I’ll send an email to Vlad about how your absence is excused.”

Hitoshi nodded and tapped Izuku on the shoulder. His friend looked up and that weird fog in his eyes was still there.

“Hey, come on, we are going to recovery girl.”

Izuku frowned but nodded. He shakily stood and Hitoshi grabbed his shoulder to keep him from stumbling.

“Do you feel alright?”

“Mmm not useless.” It was almost to soft for him to hear but Hitoshi felt a tinge of worry.

“I never said you were. Come on, you probably have a fever or something-“

“-Don’ wanna die ‘Toshi.”

“Okay, Drama-whore, you aren’t going to die.”

“Sure?”

“Yes I’m sure. Come on, Midnight is making her next class wait outside until we can get out but I don’t know how much longer she can hold them off.”

Izuku nodded and tried to take a step forward only for his legs to give out. Luckily, Hitoshi caught him in time to avoid a head injury.

Histoshi wrapped one of Izuku’s arms around his shoulder and basically began dragging dead weight out of the classroom and towards Recovery Girl’s office. 

They received a few odd looks from class 1-B but Hitoshi couldn’t care less. Izuku was still mumbling strings of incoherent words and his eyes were dazed. 

Finally, they were at Recovery Girl’s office and she was waiting by the door.

“Midnight told me you two would be here. Come in. Set him on the bed.”

Hitoshi practically dumped him onto the hospital bed and stepped aside so the woman could do her work.

“I said set, not drop! For all we know he could have a head injury! Now, tell me what you know.”

Hitoshi recounted everything from this morning to now. Frankly, there wasn’t much to report but he did his best to not leave out any detail as Recovery Girl was taking his vitals.

“Hmph. He doesn’t have a fever so that rules out an infection of sorts. We can assume it is some type of virus and excuse me while I contact his father.”

Recovery girl stepped out of the room with a phon wand Hitoshi looked at his friend. As he turned to exit the room, Izuku weakly grabbed his wrist.

“Toshi, who’s your other father?”

“What?”

“‘The one ‘sides Present ‘ic.” His words were slightly slurred and Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Eraserhead. I would think you would have figured that out by now but that virus must be doing something to your memory.”

The grip on his wrist loosened (if that was even possible) and Izuku looked... resigned.

“‘Hats what I thought. You... you need to ‘et to him.”

“Why?”

“U.S.J, not ‘afe. Tell Present Mic.”

“Buddy, you need to explain more.”

Izuku shook his head and winced. “Can’t, can’t be useless.”

Recovery girl entered the room and sighed. “His father said he will come and get him. What he is experiencing is just side effects of a new medicine. You may go back to class, Shinso.”

“What type of medicine?”

“One to clear his thoughts and help keep him focused. You may go back to class.”

“Is it alright if I stay? Just until his father comes?”

Recovery Girl sighed. “Well alright. I am being called to Nezu’s office, anyways.”

Izuku rarely spoke once the woman left. He kept looking at Hitoshi with this far off look in his eyes that said everything and yet nothing.

For some reason he thought his dad was in trouble... and for some reason Hitoshi believed him. 

There was a knock on the door and a man in a suit and raven black hair stepped through.

“Hello? I am told this is-“ the man’s eyes landed on Shinso and Izuku and Hitoshi stood from a chair.

“I am Shinso Hitoshi, you are?”

“Akatani Tadashi, my boy. You must be my  son’s friend, right?”

“You can say that.”

Akatani moves closer and Hitoshi‘s hands made fists at his side. 

“I’ll handle it from here, kid, you can leave.”

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Mikumo?” Akatani waved a hand. “His meds for concentration must be getting to him. He was just prescribed a higher dose to keep him... on track. My car is parked outside, I can move him.”

“Are you sure you don’t require assists-“

“-Both of us are fine. Go to class.”

Hitoshi went against his gut and nodded. He exited the room and shut the door, not even realizing he was sprinting to the teacher’s lounge until after he was at the door.

Chapter Text

“You just couldn’t follow orders, huh?”

“Mmm.”

“Okay, drunkie, lets get you to the car where I can yell without restraint.”

“Hitoshi? What are-“

“-Zazhi, something bad is going to happen to Dad and Izuku is in trouble and-“

“-Whoa! Slow down, kiddo. Now, what makes you say all of that?”

Hitoshi gritted his teeth and nodded. “Dad is in trouble. Izuku kept saying it over and over again and he sounded like he genuinely believed it. Have we heard anything from the U.S.J?”

Hizashi shook his head. “I’m sure everything is fine but I can call him that would make you feel better.”

“Please do.”

Mic picked up the phone sitting on the coffee table just as the door to the lounge slammed open.

“Ida? Aren’t you-“

“-The U.S.J is under attack. Mr.Aizawa is holding off the villains the best he can and last I saw Thirteen is down as well.”

Hizashi nodded. “I’ll let the other teachers know. I need you to stay calm and stay here, though.”

“But sir-“

“-Kid, it’s one less head we have to worry about surviving. Go to Nezu and see what he wants you to do, but don’t go back.”

Hitoshi watched the exchange and his normally stoic face was tinged with anxiety.

“Hitoshi, I need you to go to Ectoplasm’s classroom and tell him the situation. I don’t think he has class right now and after that you go straight to your homeroom, okay?”

“But-“

“-You forget I can’t live without him either, Toshi. It’ll be fine.”

“...fine.”

Hitoshi distantly had the thought about how Izuku was in trouble but one look as he passed Recovery Girl’s office showed him that they were already gone.

Hisashi looked at his son and rolled his eyes.

“Oh you are such a drama queen. It’s just a bit of confusion you’ll be fine, probably will have a massive hangover like effect afterwards though.”

He was met with a few muffled words that sounded like “fumk youm”.

“You won’t remember this either though, which means you’ll probably make the bracelet max out again. If you just were loyal and followed orders like a good little assassin we wouldn’t have to worry about you being incapacitated would we?”

He glanced at Izuku, who was curled up in a small ball in the passenger’s seat. “Well, as long as you don’t take it off we won’t have to worry about you betraying the league. Just don’t try to access what the bracelet is keeping at bay. Of course you don’t know what that is, but it is for your own good.”

“Yeah, it’s a good thing you won’t remember this.”

[9:00]

Shinso:

What’s going on?

[9:01]

Shinso:

They just called an emergency all school assembly and Present Mic, thirteen, Eraserhead, Ectoplasm, and All Might aren’t here. That’s like a third of the teachers.

Shinso:

They won’t tell me anything but I can see the teachers whispering and glancing at me

Shinso:

I want to brainwash them

[9:05]

Shinso:

So look, I’m really worried. If you get these please text me back and tell me what made you think something bad was going to happen

[9:09]

Shinso:

Please

[11:27]

Akatani:

Dude, chill. my dad made me take a nap to like wear off whatever was affecting me.

Shinso:

I was worried about my parents and my peers possibly dying while one of my only friends was stuck with his probably insane dad and you were taking a nap??!

Akatani:

Not my proudest moment but yeah

Akatani:

I’m sorry for worrying you. I’m fine now so probably just one of those 24 hour virus things.

Shinso:

How did you know something was happening at the U.S.J?

Akatani:

That assembly thing still going on?

Shinso:

Yes. All classes for today have been cancelled and they started releasing us by year for lunch. Even more of the teachers have disappeared and some of class 1-A just appeared and they looked really shaken up. Don’t change the subject, though.

Akatani:

You wanna know the truth?

Shinso:

Preferably

Akatani:

I had a feeling.

Shinso:

A feeling?

Akatani:

Idk! Something was just like “Hey! Someone’s gonna die today!”

Akatani:

Oh shit that probably isn’t helping your anxiety

Akatani:

Okayokay so no one is going to die? Everyone is gonna be jussssttt finnnnee

Shinso:

It doesn’t help because I can’t help but read your texts with a sarcastic tone

Akatani:

WELL FLIPPITY FLOP!

Akatani:

I can probably distract you if you want

Shinso:

Please

[Akatani has invited you to play “Crazy 8’s” with 2 unknown numbers.]

Shinso:

Who are the others

Akatani:

Ochaco and another girl from 1-A. Their only rules for playing is that we don’t ask what happened or anything like that. They like, legally can’t tell us.

Shinso:

Oooh first name basis with a girlll??

Akatani:

Stfu I don’t even swing that way bish accept the damn invite

They played crazy 8’s and other game pigeon games until around one in the afternoon when all of the remaining students were officially dismissed.

“Hitoshi? Come on, your dads told me to bring you to the hospital.”

Hitoshi glanced at Midnight, who was out of her hero costume and into some fairly normal clothes.

“Can you tell me anything?”

When Midnight hesitated he barreled on. “I’ve been waiting since nine when Ida came into the lounge saying that Dad was fighting villains. I know that that is his job and stuff but he usually doesn’t have to worry about an entire class being in the w-“

“-Hitoshi, he’s stable. The most damage was done to his elbow and he does have serious injuries, but they are sure he will survive.”

“....Thank you.”

“That being said, he does have a pretty severe concussion and some damage to his sight. Let’s get to the hospital. I’m pretty sure you want to be there when he wakes up.”

There was someone already waiting outside Shota’s door, dressed in all black with a full face mask under a hood.

Midnight glared daggers at the person and Hitoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Who is he?”

“Someone who isn’t supposed to be here.”

“Oi Midnight! I heard that!”

“I wasn’t exactly being subtle, Tetra.”

Tetra?

“Oooh you know my name! I’m so flattered.”

“What are you doing here?”

The man-no, probably a teenager more than likely judging by their height and voice- gestures to the flowers of purple hyacinths.  “I’m here to give the old hobo some flowers and a get well card.”

“Why do you care? And do you know what purple hyacinths mean?”

Tetra shrugged. “That man has been chasing me around for what, almost a year now? Even vigilantes get attached, and hey, he keeps my life interesting. Also, no? I’m not a hippie?”

Midnight’s eyes narrowed. “They mean regret, Tetra, and I doubt you didn’t know that.”

“Oh. I guess it fits then. I can give you the flowers to take in to him if you don’t trust me.”

The guy set the flowers down next to the door and stepped back.

“Just tell the old man that it’s boring when he’s not out.”

Tetra showed his back and walked towards the exit.

“He’s an... interesting character. How does he know Dad?”

Midnight shrugged. “Your father is in charge of keeping tabs on vigilantes, should they ever turn villainous. I don’t know much but Tetra seems to be the vigilante giving him the most headaches as of recently. Go on inside. I’ll check the flowers for recording devices.”

His dad was... in bad shape. Bandages covered his entire body but according to ‘Zashi It was mostly to keep him from not moving. Heavy bandages wrapped his head as well as his arms and there was an eyepatch  like thing covering his right eye.

“So, you almost died.”

“I... did not.”

“Don’t lie to me. I saw the way the teachers were panicking at that all school assembly! I saw your students walk in like they’ve seen a ghost and a few of them absent as well! The only reason I didn’t go down there myself was because Akatani distracted me well enough that I eventually wasn’t thinking about if I’ll be alone ag-“

Hizashi placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down.

“I know today was harsh on you, ‘Toshi, but he knows more than you do about how he could’ve not lived past today. Go easy on him, okay? I yelled at him to so I’m pretty sure I said everything and then some that you want. The only difference if that he can’t ground me.”

“Oh he definitely can but okay,” Hitoshi sighed and sat in a chair next to the hospital bed. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have yelled.”

Shota chuckled. “And we shouldn’t have kept you in the dark as long as we did. Today was emotionally taxing for the both of you and very much physically stressful for me. It’s better for me to be yelled at for doing my job then for you to silently resent me.”

“Meh.”

Shota patted Hitoshi’s head if looks could kill Aizawa would be six feet under.

“Hiss..”

“Don’t you hiss at me. You aren’t a cat.”

“Oh I wish I was a cat.”

“Don’t we all.”

The door opened and Midnight waved at the three of them. “Hey, Sho! How are you feeling?”

“Like my elbow was turned to dust. What are those?”

“Purple hyacinths from your favorite vigilante. I checked them for bugs and stuff,” the woman set them on the table next to the bed. “Also, the nurse wanted me to let you know that visiting hours for non immediate family end in two hours, but immediate family can stay until six.”

“Flower of regret,” Mic chirped.

“Wait, tetra was here and you didn’t think to arrest him?”

Midnight smirked. “Not my job. Plus, he seemed to be genuine when he said he only wanted to give you flowers and a get well card.”

“I hate you, so, so much.”

“I know.”

Hitoshi felt his phone buzz in his pocket and he quietly took it out while the adults talked.

Akatani:

How’s your dad?

Shinso:

He’s... talking. Being sarcastic and deadpan.

Akatani:

Oh so he’s perfectly fine then?

Shinso:

He doesn’t look so great though.

Akatani:

What hospital is he at? I’m coming to Musafato General bc my mom works here part time as a nurse assistant.

Shinso:

He’s at MG. I’ll check if you can stop by idk if he would want you to see him

Akatani:

Tbh fair. If he doesn’t then I’ll just sit by the door and text you lol.

“Dad? One of my friends is in the building and he wants to know if he could stop by.”

“If it’s anyone but Akatani then sure.”

“Uhhh-“

Midnight frowned. “-What’s wrong with Akatani?”

“He’s a brat and a bad influence.”

“Like any male teenager is actually a good influence.”

Hizashi chuckled. “She has a point. I give full permission for him to be in here, and, Sho, don’t pull any excuses about not wanting a student to see you with all those bandages because you know as well as I do that you are going to be back teaching on Monday.”

Shinso:

Room number 108

As soon as the text sent the door to the room opened.

“Yo Hitoshi, what was the answer to number three in literatu- OHH Hi Mrs.Midnight! Totally didn’t see you there and I definitely was not about to cheat on your latest assignment! Anyways, Hitoshi we have a whole student directory to go through so get comfy.”

Chapter Text

“Him?”

A boy with blonde hair down just past his chin and him throwing up a peace sign.

“His eyes are big so no.”

“Okay, him?”

A boy with closely cropped blue hair and glasses.

“His track record is clean.”

“Him?”

Half red and half white hair with heterochromic eyes.

“Okay that’s a specimen of a man right there so hell no.”

“What are you two doing?”

Visiting hours for non immediate family ended about an hour ago and Midnight offered to drive Mikumo home, but literally none of the doctors or the pro heroes in the room could get him to move from his place next to Hitoshi in the corner of the hospital room.

Hitoshi shrugged. “We are going through the students in class 1-A to see which one we can forcibly remove from the hero course so the both of us can get in.”

Aizawa did not look impressed, and that was with what little they could see of his face. “So blackmail.”

Izuku grinned. “Technically blackmail has to do with money so no, and don’t be like that! We’ll only remove the worst of the worst lol.”

“It’s backfiring horribly though, because all of the girls have clean records and Izuku find all of the guys too hot to target.”

Present Mic barked out a laugh. “Does this little listener have a crush?”

“Of course not but like, damn eraserhead how did you get every good looking guy in Japan in one room.”

“I’m starting to think you shouldn’t aim for my homeroom. You’d be too distracted to focus on lessons.”

“Hey!”

“You know it’s true. So, moving on, how about him?”

Izuku squinted at the computer screen. “Ew.”

“Like ew ‘ew’  or oh my god he’s so hot ‘ew’?”

“Ew ‘ew’ duh! Grape juice looking ass is ew. Also what’s his height? I only go for guys who is taller than me.”

“So everyone in the universe then?”

They could hear Mic and Aizawa chuckling from their spot by the hospital bed and Izuku smacked Hitoshi on the shoulder.

“I’m not short you monster of a person.”

“You are very short, actually. Being five-one  isn’t exactly tall. And I’ve seen him in the hallway, he’s even shorter than you.”

“Okay he’s the one then.”

”Oh Izuku, didn’t you say your mom works here?”

Aizawa’s head snapped towards them so fast that Mic almost instantly began ranting about being still and ‘recovering’.

Gotta think of an excuse fucking-

”Step-mom, technically. Oh, we should keep looking through the guys though, for research purposes.”

“You just want to admire them!”

“Tomato-tamato. Moving on.”

“Okay, what about him?”

Izuku glanced at the profile picture on the computer. “His eyes are ruby red and sooo shinny! He looks like a pomegranate. What’s his name?”

“Bakugo Katsuki.”

Izuku choked on his ginger ale and stuttered. “Kachan?”

“Kachan?”

“That’s fucking Kachan, holy shit. On second thought I should probably just stay in general studies.”

Present Mic frowned. “Do you know Bakugo, little listener?”

“...Before we moved to America when I was four, Kach- bakugo- and I were friends. Well, more like I followed him around and he bullied me for it. I’m not afraid that it’s gonna happen if I’m put in your class because I am one hundred percent sure I could take him but eh.”

“Well lets kick his ass in the sports festival and put him in his place.”

Almost then almost inaudible from Eraserhead- “Language!”

“Yeah Toshi, language!” He mimicked. “Honestly, we don’t talk like that in this gosh diddly darn mother father house! I don’t know who taught you that-“

“-Izuku, I am this close to snapping your wrist.”

“Do it, coward.”

Mic made a sound similar to a squawk. “Please don’t!”

Turns out, getting dirt on Mineta was very easy.

Aizawa gave the vague hint that the girls may know something (with the added comment that they wouldn’t tell him what was going on) and so Hitoshi and him set out on finding information.

[You have created a chat with  ‘Ochaco’ and ‘Tsu’]

Akatani:

Yo Ochaco/Tsu add any of the girls in your homeroom. I have a few questions to ask.

Ochaco:

Okay? I’m changing your name though

[Ochaco has changed your name to “Mikumo”]

[Ochaco has added three unknown numbers]

[Tsu has added one unknown number]

Mikumo:

Kk thx okay guys introduce yourselves so I can make contacts

Unknown:

Yaoyorozu Momo, and you are?

Unknown:

Mina!

Mikumo:

The name is Akatani Mikumo lol, I’m in general studies

Unknown:

Jiro. Hagakure can’t answer rn b/c she’s  out with her family

[You have updated your contacts]

Mikumo:

Thx.  Anyways, what can you girls tell me about a Mineta character?

Yaoyorozu:

What do you want to know?

Mikumo:

Anything that can get him expelled. Mr.Aizawa hinted at you guys being able to tell me something

Jiro:

That’s straightforward but informative ig. He’s a pervert

Mina:

And a homophobe!

Ochaco:

He tried to sneak into the girls locker room a few times and cat calls us whenever the teachers aren’t around

Mina:

Yeah and when he found out I’m bi he called me disgusting and a fag! It got him to stop checking me out though

Yaoyorozu:

He’s... groped me, or at least attempted to a few times

Mikumo:

Okay that’s illegal and you definitely should talk to Mr.Aizawa about that. Is there any reason you guys don’t?

Tsu:

In the first week of class he threatened under his breath to us that if we did then he would ruin our reputations or something...

Jiro:

He specifically said that he would say we had consensual sex on school property (which we would get expelled for) and that we “begged for like the sluts we are”

Mikumo:

And THATS coercion????  Jesus Christ this kid needs to die

Bold coming from an assassin but Izuku only kills traitors not civilians or do anything worse than that to them.

Mina:

Ikr. We were talking about going to Aizawa but like; there are all those stories of female heroes getting bullied out of their careers because of their ex partners calling them sluts.

Mikumo:

This world is disgusting. I want to commit die on my entire gender

Hagakure:

You are officially an honorary female

Mina:

Oh your back! And ye

Ochaco:

Welcome to the club

Mikumo:

Is there anything I should know about going into this club?

Mina:

1. You have to listen to us rant about the guys
2. No hitting on us
3. You must sit with us at lunch (Ochaco sits with you already but like, we all wanna join)
4. Help us with homework
5. Don’t be a meanie

Mikumo:

Okay but like, I’m gay so can I join in on the rants?

Jiro:

Definitely

From that day on, Shinso, Izuku, and Ochaco were joined by all of the girls in class 1-A...

And Mineta was expelled almost a week to the day when the sports festival was supposed to begin.

“Oh look who finally decided to get up out of the hospital bed.”

“Sit down, brat. I want to discuss what you brought up in our last class time.”

“Ohhhhh you mean the one where you ran out without telling me what the hell was going on?”

Aizawa rolled his eyes. “Yes, that one.”

“Sooooo did I give you a good lead or something?”

“Not really but a  poison specialist we brought in to question mentioned that she’s seen some blood related quirks that have different sideeffects.”

“Noice. Anyways what are we going to examine today?”

Aizawa grinned through the bandages and Izuku physically cringed.

“Oh, we are going to test your endurance... to test a theory I have.”

“What does that even mean?”

“I’ll see you in the gym in five minutes.”

Run thirty laps around the gym.

Stop, do thirty pushups, forty five sit-ups, and a two minute minute plank.

Rinse and repeat.

For the entire fucking hour and a half that he had that class.

“I hate you.”

“Good.”

“Why did you make me do this?”

“To tire you out.”

“Whyyyyy?”

“I think we both know why.”

Chapter Text

“Maybe we do, maybe we don’t. But the fact is that if you can’t prove what you are thinking, it is void.”

That night, Tetra didn’t appear, and Eraserhead felt as though he’d won a battle.

Four days.

Four days until the sports festival. 

And two of those days passed with free period training sessions, 1-A girls at lunch (and getting weird glances from the rest of the world along with it), and gay panic. 

“Tomorrow is the sports festival, correct?”

 Izuku swung his legs like a child whose legs didn’t reach the floor- well, that description isn’t far off. “Na, the day after tomorrow. Tomorrow is just basically an entire free day for the students to prepare.”

“You do know what that means, don’t you?”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Nope.”

“It means that if you get a high enough ranking, then you’ll be transferred to the hero course-“

“-I’m pretty sure I’m the one that told you that-

“-and once you do so, you will be able to complete your mission.”

Just hearing that last sentence made a pit in the bottom of Izuku’s stomach.

“First off, I would be able to complete my mission without being transferred to the hero course so fuck you, and second, I have homework to do.”

Izuku sighed and stood. He tried to steady his breathing and force his face into a stoic mask. “And I’m going over to a frie- informants- house to do it. Don’t expect me back before three. I’ll do some Tetra things afterwards too. 

Hisashi nodded. “Valid and if you could check in on the league that would be great. Oh, how is your new quirk coming along?”

Izuku hesitated. He had been practicing when he was alone in his room at night. He still glowed and there was like no way to avoid that but he was able to use it to increase his speed and strength for extended periods or for short bursts. “I think I’ll be ready to use it when it counts.”

“Good. I’ll expect to see it, then.”

Hitoshi was this close to forcing Izuku out of his room, down the hallway, out of the apartment, and locking him out. 

They had to read “The Witch of Black Bird Pond” in literature and it was the English translation, so it doubled as some extra credit for Mic’s class (Or Aizawa’s in Izuku’s case). Although  apparently even these study sessions hosted at his place aren’t enough to convince his friend that homework is an inevitable thing. 

“Okay okay so like the theme of the book was adaptation right?”

Hitoshi sighed. “Did you even read the book? The theme is distant family and how even though they are different from yours you still share the same blood.”

“Ew.”

Hitoshi chuckled. “You don’t like that?”

“Families are ew. Families are weird.”

Hitoshi shrugged. “If you don’t like yours then you can always choose a new one.”

Izuku blinked. “What?”

“You know the saying “Blood is thicker than water”?”

“Ye.”

“Well the actual saying is “The Blood of the covenant is stronger than the waters of the womb.” Meaning that the family that you chose that consists of friends and the like are the ones that truly matter. Blood doesn’t mean shit.”

Izuku threw the book in his hand at the wall. “If that’s the case then why is the theme of the book so wrong?”

Hitoshi sighed. “Did you really think I would tell you the actual theme? Midnight thinks we cheat regularly and I’m almost positive she’s sending Dad to listen in on us to make sure we aren’t.”

“Fair,” Izuku paused. “I do think that I know the theme though, for real.”

“Oh really? Do tell.”

Izuku hesitated. “Loyalty. The theme is of how Kit has learned to be loyal to her family, her community, and herself, but it's a double edged sword. If she is loyal to her community, then she loses the loyalty she has to Prudence and Hannah. If she decides to choose them over the community, she is also choosing them over the last family she has.”

“Hmm. It could be the internal struggle of being who you are versus who what people say you should be, then.”

Izuku tapped his chin. “That makes sense. Huh, I never thought about it that way.”

“In what way?”

Izuku shrugged. “I always thought who I was and who people say I should be were always one in the same.”

“Makes life easy then, unless who people say you should be isn’t who you want to be.”

“But what if who I want to be and who I am are two completely different people?”

“If you want to be a better person, go for it, but if you want to be a murderer, I can’t legally condone it, but that doesn’t mean I won’t help hide the body.”

“Love you, Toshi.”

“I hate you.”

Izuku picked up a pillow and held it menacingly in his hands. “Say it back, coward.”

“I hate you?”

Izuku sighed and used all of his strength to slap Shinso with a pillow across the face.

A cat plushie was then thrown like a projectile at Izuku’s head and he barely managed to dodge by death dropping off the bed. 

“That doesn’t sound like homework!”

“Oi, shut up!”

Hitoshi looked at his friend with a ‘you just seriously fucked up’ face.

“What’s that look for?”

“You just told Eraserhead to shut up.”

“Huh. I guess I did. Hey, totally unrelated question but like, does your window open?”

“I know it’s him, Hisashi!”

Shota was pacing at this point. He knew he sounded crazy and honestly he was beginning to doubt the things he was saying himself. The kid was down the hall and Aizawa knew he was Tetra. There was no other possible explanation but there was no evidence and it was starting to piss him off.

“Sho, I think the stress of chasing Tetra down every night is getting to you. Akatani is a good kid! Why would he be a vigilante?”

“I don’t know!” Shota whisper shouted and slumped down into a chair across the room. They had to keep it down or else they would tip off Hitoshi and Akatani that they were basically gossiping like two moms over wine.

“It’s just, things don’t match up. When I called his father to get their address and I mentioned the lack of a second emergency contact he said that he was unmarried and there was no one else. Yesterday, Akatani said he had a step-mom, of which he would’ve mentioned when I first questioned him.”

“Maybe they aren’t on good terms?” Hizashi waved a pen around like a conductors baton. “It wouldn’t be the first time a student didn’t recognize a step parent as their actual parent.”

“Okay, that’s a point, but I checked out the address to the new Japan location of Akatani Industries.”

Hizashi frowned and pushed his glasses back up his nose. “And?”

“It doesn’t exist! The address literally does not exist. And when I tracked it down with the consideration of typos and such it just led me to an Apple store in Tokyo!”

“Okay that’s a little fishy, but why are you so insistent that the kid is a vigilante? A possibly dangerous vigilante at that.”

“The kid shows up as a transfer, the USJ happens. The kid shows up, the school year starts going downhill very quickly. Also, U.A doesn’t do transfers! How the fucking hell did that happen? Nezu wouldn’t tell me and all of the birth certificates issued by the General hospital nearby don't have a paper or digital version of it! They usually keep those records for census and logging purposes.”

Hizashi raised an eyebrow at that “how sure are you? Are you positive they don’t have a record of it? They could have just not told you as you aren’t technically related to him.”

“All paper records are public, and U.A. has that program in place that the homeroom teacher of each student is considered a last minute medical proxy and legal guardian. I hate pulling the “I'm technically a legal guardian'' because the parents signed it in the handbook that they probably didn’t read” card but I had to.”

“No, no you didn’t,” Hizashi hissed. “You don’t have to do anything Sho! You don’t have to stress yourself over this or put in extra work that isn’t on the job. You don’t have to lose sleep and mental health points because you have a hunch that one of our students is a vigilante. You don’t have to take back to back patrolling shifts and work the cases that most heroes couldn’t even phantom. And now, you are almost desperate for Akatani to be Tetra, why?”

It sounded like a rhetorical question but when Hizashi’s silence lasted more than five seconds.

Shota sighed. “Do you remember that serial killer that emerged when we first graduated? The two years killer?”

“The one that killed one victim every two years exactly to the date and time of the last one? How could I Forget? It was the first major cold case in recent history.” A pause. “But the killer hasn’t done anything in seven years, so what do they have to do with this?”

“The police think that Tetra is to blame for those killings,” Shota said hesitantly. “They are thinking about removing me from the case once they can find substantial evidence to suggest so.”

Hizashi frowned and sipped his tea. “I’m afraid I’m not following.”

“I have two options, basically. I can bring Tetra in for questioning or allow another hero to bring him in. If I don’t do one or the other I may face charges of obstruction of justice or having my hero license being revoked.”

“...Oh.”

“Yeah. I’ve been chasing him for three years, ‘Zashi! He may be a brat but he’s not a murderer.“

Hizashi felt as though a light bulb was suddenly on above his head. “Oh! And if Akatani is Tetra then he wasn’t even alive for the beginnings of those murders.”

“Exactly.”

There was silence after the confirmation.

“I’m sorry I got worked up, Sho. I didn’t realize you were facing the possibility of your career being destroyed over a kid you want to help.”

Shota chuckled. “You hardly ever get mad at me so I can’t really complain.”

“I wasn’t mad! I was just... highly concerned. Even so, I shouldn’t have snapped at you about something I didn’t understand.”

“It’s not your burden to hold, Zashi. It’s mine.”

Hizashi laughed. “I signed up to help you carry that weight when I married you. I signed up for the good times and the bad ones. I haven’t regretted it since. It’ll work out. You’ll save the kid and keep your license.”

“Yeah, I guess I will.”

Hizashi was about to say something when a sound from down the hall interrupted him. It sounded like a body hitting the floor and something being thrown against the wall.

“That doesn’t sound like homework!”

“Oi, shut up!”

Hizashi laughed and Shota sighed.

“He’s such a fucking pain.”

Hizashi hummed. “On a completely different note, dinner is almost done.”

Shota had a look of fear in his eyes. “Oh no.”

“What? What’s wrong with feeding our kid’s friend?”

“If you feed it once it’ll come around more.”

“He’s a kid, not a raccoon.”

“To be honest I don’t think there is a difference after working with children for ten eight years.”

Unknown:

Hi! Is this Tetra?

Tetra:

Who the fuck are you?

Unknown:

Oh sorry, it’s present Mic! I got your number from Eraserhead and I just wanted to thank you for the flowers you dropped off~

Tetra:

You’re welcome? 

Present Mic:

That’s all! Sorry for bothering you!

Tetra:

So you literally got my number to tell a vigilante that your friend/possible SO thank you?

Present Mic:

Yup

Tetra:

...

Tetra:

The world needs more people like you

Present Mic:

Thanks! :p

Tetra:

:)

Tetra:

PRESENT MIC THANKED ME FOR YOUR FLOWERS BUT YOU DIDNT?!

Tetra:

I FEEL BETRAYED?!

Eraserhead:

Oh shut up.

Tetra:

I risked my free will going into that hospital and this is how you thank me?! Whisbshsuehdhhdudhdb 

Eraserhead:

?

Tetra:

It’s called a keyboard smash you fucking Gen Delta

Eraserhead:

Ok, Generation Echo 

Tetra:

OkAy BoOmer

Eraserhead:

That’s a joke from my Grandparents generation you little shit. 

Tetra:

Tbh it’s still valid.

Tetra:

Anyways how you feel

Eraserhead:

I’m fine, thanks for asking

Tetra:

Are you gonna be announcing at the festival this year?

Eraserhead:

Idk maybe

Tetra:

Oh my god you used a text abbreviation 

Eraserhead:

Yes, yes I did. Anyways, why do you ask?

Tetra:

Meh. I’ll be at the festival so I was just wondering 

Eraserhead:

If you step foot on U.A property I’ll arrest you

Tetra:

You’ll try lol

Eraserhead:

I will succeed

Tetra:

I severely doubt that 

Eraserhead: 

You would go onto a campus full of heroes and not expect to be arrested?

Tetra:

Eh change “not expect” to “It’s gonna be fun to run away from everyone” and you’d be correct 

“Okay everyone, your schedule is a little different today, but it should be easy enough to follow. Eraserhead and Vlad have you in the morning for self defense training, Recovery Girl for first aid training after that, then Principal Nezu with a lecture on how to interact with the people at the festival, whether it be your parents, Pro-Heroes, or the media. After lunch you can report back to me and we’ll go from there! Dismissed.”

It was weird.

First Midnight seemed like a totally distant and strict teacher but she was actually pretty chill towards her homeroom.

Izuku shrugged on his backpack and him and Hitoshi made their way towards the locker rooms.

“Thank you for the extra lessons, Izuku, they’ll come in handy tomorrow.”

“Yeah! Hopefully we don’t get pitted against each other in the third round, though.”

“That would be a pity,” a blonde haired kid remarked as they passed by.

Shinso whipped around so fast Izuku feared for his health. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

The blonde paused. “If you are that insistent on competing in the festival for real and not for fun, then it means that you are aiming for the hero course. What I meant by my remark is that it’ll be nice to have an easy win in the third round.”

Izuku smiles maniacally. “And what makes you think it would be easy?”

The blonde matched his grin with one of his own. “Because if you couldn’t pass the entrance exam, how could you beat the students of the hero course who have no doubt had more training and experience with these situations than yourself. It’s just illogical, general studies.”

By now a small crowd had formed and Izuku was faintly aware of the whispers of students trying to get someone to go get a teacher.

“Did you just address us-“ 

Izuku placed a hand on Hitoshi’s arm and his friend stopped talking.

Izuku walked towards the person and only then did he notice how short he was compared to him. It wasn’t that the blonde was tall, Izuku was just extremely short.

He was still within bitch slapping distance though.

...

And bitch slap he did.

“Oh good job on that, I would’ve done it myself but you had that handled.” 

Izuku turned and a girl with orange hair in a long side pony was grinning. She grabbed the back of the blonde’s t-shirt and started dragging him away.

“Oh and by the way, none of us think like that! I can’t wait to see what you guys can do tomorrow!”

First aid training was okay and Nezu’s lecture was boring as hell. Luckily they had a small break before lunch and Izuku excitedly turned towards Hitoshi. 

“Wanna go piss of the hero course?”

“Why do you ask me questions when you already know the answer?”

Turns out, they weren’t the only ones who had that idea. 

When a tall guy with spikes beach blonde started to walk out of the classroom and push past all of the General Studies students after Shinso’s little speech, Izuky waited and then grabbed his arm.

“Who the h-“

“Are you Bakugo Katsuki?” 

Chapter Text

“What’s it to you?”

Izuku didn’t bother to make his now long hair cover his eyes. He didn’t bother to make his face stoic and he didn’t bother to act like the stuttering kid everyone at this school sans Hitoshi, Eraserhead, and Present Mic thought he was.

In fact, Izuku brought a hand up to his face and made a half assed attempt to wipe the heavy makeup that was covering his iconic freckles (Unfortunately, his setting spray was too damn good though).

“Oh nothing, I just wanted to make sure you knew that I have no intention on going easy on you tomorrow, and I have no intention of letting you win.”

Bakugou narrowed his eyes and his hands sparked. “What’d you say, extra?”

“Most people would be afraid of your quirk, or, at least in awe,” Izuku shrugged. “Explosion quirks aren’t that common, so it would make sense why. Well, I’ve got the scars to prove that explosions hurt, but I’m definitely not afraid of them, or you. You have one of the weaker quirks I’ve seen.”

That made Katsuki’s palms spark even more and Izuku could feel their heat, but he barreled on. “I would say I have an advantage in that arena, but I also have something the other competitors don’t as well.”

By now they were less than a foot apart, and although Izuky had to literally look up to see Bakugo’s eyes, he had the complex of a short person.

Meaning, he may only be five foot one, but he acts as though he’s the tallest god damn man in the room.

Izuku gave the guy an innocent smile that looked bored like insane. “I know your secrets, Kacchan.”

Katsuki’s hand was sparking and moving towards his face and Izuku was getting ready to dodge, 

And then suddenly the back of his uniform was yanked backwards and Izuku saw the gloved death grip of Hound Dog grabbing Bakugo’s shoulder.

“If any of you are here by the time I count to three, you are all expelled.”

All of the crowd had vanished before Aizawa could even begin counting, and a very relieved blue haired sonic guy walked out of class 1-A.

“Thank you, Mr.Aizawa and Mr.Hound Dog! As for you, Bakugou, I would hope that in the future you refrain from being angered so easily by a few sentences! A hero must learn to keep a calm head even in the most desperate of situations.”

“Oh, get lost, glasses.”

Aizawa ignored Bakugou and nodded to Sonic. “Thank you, Ida. The rest of the class is dismissed. If you need me I’ll be in the teachers lounge after we deal with these two.”

Aizawa turned, a stern grip still on Izuku’s blazer even as he tried to swat at the arm. “Hitoshi, go to lunch.”

There was a small sigh and his friend slowly shuffled past them.

“Stop resisting,” Eraserhead hissed and Izuku rolled his eyes. 

“Let go of me then, old man.”

Aizawa sighed. “Hound Dog, if you’ll talk to Bakugou I’ll handle Akatani.”

Hound Dog nodded and with his death grip still active, he redirected Bakugou towards his office as a counselor, and Izuku didn’t hesitate to meet Katsuki’s shocked, confused, and pissed off gaze as they walked away.

Once they were back in Aizawa’s room, he was roughly pushed towards the desk he’s adopted as his own during their freebie class. 

“Mind explaining to me what that was?”

“I told Bakugou that I wouldn’t go easy on him tomorrow.”

“Then why the hell did it look like he was about to blow your face off?

“Bold of you to assume I don’t just have a magical power of pissing people off.”

“Pissing people off isn’t a power, it’s a skill that takes years of practice and while I admire your pursuit of it, I will personally smite you if you don’t tell me the actual fucking truth.”

Izuku grinned. “Bold of you to assume I have the capacity to tell the truth.”

“Bold of you to assume I won’t keep you in here past lunch and all of your classes until you start talking.”

“Bold of you to assume that I get hungry, old man.”

“Bold of you on assuming I won’t just check the security cameras and expel your ass.”

“Fair,” Izuku huffed and crossed his arms. “I pissed off Bakugou by reopening an old wound.”

“Which was?”

“Bitch, It’s a wound for me too, and I’m not doing this, especially with you.”

“Call me ‘bitch’ again and reopening an old wound is gonna be the least of your worries. If you are so instant on being silent I’ll just ask Bakugo and I’ll use his account solely when deciding the consequences of your actions.”

“Okay fine,” Izuku tried his best to make it known that he was not happy about this situation by putting on an annoyed expression. “I told Bakugo that I have no intention on going easy on him tomorrow- no matter the cost- and that his quirk is pretty fucking weak compared to the other ones I’ve experienced.”

“So you threatened him,” Shota deadpanned. 

“Maybe? More like I tried to kick him off his high horse.”

“Then?”

“Then? You want more?”

Aizawa nodded.

“Ugh. Then, when he started making his palms go boom-boom I said I wasn't afraid of his quirk.”

“That’s it?”

“Yup.”

“That is completely it.”

“Mhmm.”

Aizawa sighed. “Go to lunch. I’ll let Midnight know what Hound Dog and I decide on your consequences.”

“Consequences for pissing off an arrogant prick?”

“Consequences for provoking a fellow student and almost coming to blows.”

“Bakugou, could you please tell me what happened?”

Katsuki huffed. “The damn extra tried to say my quirk wasn’t powerful and that he wasn’t going to allow me to win tomorrow.”

Hound Dog kept his voice level. “And your response was to use your quirk in a threatening manner?”

“I wasn’t threatening him! He was being a prick and you can’t blame me for wanting to put him in his damn place!”

“Okay, lets calm down here. Did you ever think that the kid could be bluffing? No pun intended, but all bark and no bite?”

Katsuki growled. “I know he wasn’t fucking bluffing.”

“How?”

“He called me Kacchan.”

Hound Dog:

Bakugo explained his and Akatani’s past, but he also made sure to point out that it doesn’t make sense.

Eraserhead: 

Should we include Midnight in this? She is his homeroom teacher. 

Hound Dog: 

I think we should, however we usually do our student by student cases with all of their teachers. So if we include her I believe that we should just go to the teacher’s GC.

Eraserhead:

Add me back to it. Midnight removed me after I refused to send pictures of my cat.

As Aizawa sent it, he received the notification that he was added back into the other chat and he mentally groaned at the chaos that is about to ensue.

[Hound Dog has added Eraserhead into the chat!]

Midnight: 

Maki pics, now.

Eraserhead:

I’ll send them on personal, or you know, you can just stop by the apartment. 

Hound Dog:

We are here to discuss the interaction that occurred between Bakugo Katsuki and Akatani Mikumo.

Vlad King:

And we couldn’t do this during our meeting this afternoon because?

Eraserhead:

It’s urgent for reasons I can’t explain. And we could do it in the teachers lounge right now, but Ectoplasm and Mic have lunch duty. 

Present Mic:

We could pass it off to the second year math teachers and third year ethics?

Eraserhead:

Why are you texting? You are supposed to be working. Anyways if you can pull it off then all of you better be in the Teachers lounge within the next five minutes.

Midnight:

Maki pictures and I’ll be there

Eraserhead:

image.jpeg

Midnight:

Thx

Present Mic:

Someone get Nezu btw

Present Mic: 

Nvm Nezu said we could hold it during the next period and he would get teachers to watch over our classes if that’s okay.

Vlad King:

Sounds good

Midnight was late to the homeroom class and she looked vaguely worried.

“The rest of the classes for today have been postponed. The teachers are doing a last minute security meeting to discuss how we can improve the safety of our campus for tomorrow’s event. You can spend the rest of the day anywhere on campus however you cannot leave and you have to be within a second or third year teachers sight. I need the following students to stay behind with me; Shinso, Akatani, Aiko, Takahashi, and Fujimoto. Dismissed.”

Midnight took a deep breath in and leveled the teaming students with a ‘I’m not gonna sugar coat this shit’ look.

“You are the only ones in this homeroom that decided to participate in the sports festival. That means that you are probably hoping to transfer to the hero  or support courses, or you just wanted to have fun. I will warn you that if you are hoping to transfer, it won’t be pretty. For the support course, you would have make some technical thing that will impress Power Loader enough to grab his attention, as well as the hidden disadvantage that the ones who are in the festival and are already in the support course have access to tools and knowledge you may not. If you are aiming for the hero course, I don’t even have to tell you that you will be in the same boat.”

Silence. Izuku glanced at Hitoshi and saw that he was nodding along with a grim but resigned expression on his face.

“However, it is possible. Eraserhead was a transfer, as was myself. Our quirks aren’t the flashy type that usually help during the practical entrance exam. No matter if you want to transfer or not, you are going to have to work twice as hard as anyone out there to get out on top. But I know all of you and I can honestly say that you can take any one of those hero course students.” Midnight glanced at Izuku and winked. “Just, try not to provoke them. Dismissed!”

Izuku was vaguely surprised that those “consequences” were non-existent. Hitoshi and him went to the hideout behind the bookshelf for the rest of the day and basically did nothing until the final bell wrung.

“Do you want to go back to my place or something?”

Izuku waved his hand. “As much as I love our hangouts, I gotta run an errand or two for my Dad.”

“Want some help?”

“No thanks, but if you want I can pick us up something afterwards and head over.”

“What would be your E.T.A then? Dad radiates this ‘I’m triggered but I’m also pretty chill by vibe when he comes back from patrol and you're just there. Dunno why.”

Izuku was mentally grinning like a cheshire cat   but outwardly he did his best confused expression. 

“Maybe he just doesn’t like people showing up unexpectedly?”

“He works with Midnight and is married to Present Mic, I think he’s numb to people showing up at random times at this point.”

“Mood. Anyways, I’ll arrive at like five or something. See ya!”

Izuku kept his head down as he ducked into an empty alleyway. He sighed and tapped his foot.

Kurogiri should-

As if on cue, a black swirling portal appeared and Izuku stepped through.

“Sup, fuckers.”

“Why do you insist on addressing us like that, Kid?”

“First off, handsy, I’m barely six years younger than you, and second, I’m of higher rank than you soo I do what I want?”

Shigaraki sighed. “You don’t have a rank. What do you have for us to look over?”

Izuku stifled a sigh and pulled out an envelope out of his bag. 

“This was all I could get,” he mumbled.

Shigaraki gingerly took the envelope with four fingers. He opened it carefully and thumbed through the few pages of information.

“Bullshit.”

“What?”

“You can get more information on a single hero in half an hour of interaction with them. This is not all of the information you could get us!” Shigaraki hissed. “I’d be willing to bet that-“

“-Eraserhead has been on my ass since the U.S.J, chapstick. I can barely go out as Tetra without him trying to arrest me. So yes, this is all of the information I could get for you.”

Shigaraki paused before tsking. “How many quirks do you possess, Izuku?”

“Uhhhh like four? I’ve lost track at this point.”

“Wrong! You were born quirkless, weren’t you?”

Izuku’s eyes narrowed. “What the hell does that-

“-If you were born quirkless, you stay quirkless. Do you know what happens when a person receives more than one quirk, Izuku?”

“Nope! Nor do I care, Chapsti-“

“-They become a Nomu.” 

Silence rang out and Izuku blinked.

“Shigaraki is correct, Midoriya,” Kurogiri hummed. “There are different levels of Nomu’s, sentient and non-sentient, warriors or spies, but they are all made during the same process.”

“How the-“

“-What do you think that bracelet on your arm is for? Your father infused it with multiple different quirks- including the ones your claim to have. You don’t have a quirk, Izuku, and ergo, what is given can be taken away.”

“You say that like there is more than just the ones I can control.”

Shigaraki hummed. “Oh of course! Including a lie detector. I don’t know exactly how it works, but I know when you’ve lied to me. So when you say that is all of the information you have for us, I call bullshit. I’ll make sure your father knows that you’ve been neglecting your mission. That’s is all, dismissed.”

Izuku frowned and stepped on the barstool and up onto the counter. He crouched in front of Shigaraki and did the thing that cats do when faced when a glass on the counter-

Look you dead in the eye as they slowly push it off.

“That’s all? If I wanted to I could snap your neck in a heartbeat and the only reason I don’t is because father has taken a liking to you, but you are not the heir to his empire, Tomura, I am. You are not the one he is going to give the pleasure of killing All Might too, I am. You are merely a pawn in a drawn out game of chess. You can hold an important position, but you, in yourself, are not important in the slightest. You are dispensable, and when I am in change, you’ll sure as hell know it.”

Izuku jumped down and took a deep breath before his trademarked sunshine smile was back on his face. “Kurogiri, if you could open a portal to the nearest Starbucks that would be amazing.”

In all honesty, after his discussion with Shigaraki he didn’t want to go back home, so falling asleep at Shinso’s seemed like the best bet. Hasleep on the floor after stealing some blankets (as well as a cat), from the living room.

So when Present Mic gently cracked the door and announced that breakfast was almost ready, Izuku was thoroughly confused.

“Akatani, you do realize that we have a guest bedroom right? You could have slept in there instead of on the floor.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny my knowledge on that specific topic.”

“Well, I hope the both of you got enough sleep!  Eggs will be done in a bit but the bacon-“

Hitoshi bolted up right. “-Bacon?”

“Oh you are definitely your father’s kid.”

Observing the domesticity of the morning was... weird and ew all in one.

Sure, Inko sometimes made him breakfast, but that was like a once a year thing, but here, Hitoshi didn’t seem surprised whenever a western style breakfast was fully prepared for them.

And sure, Inko would sometimes wake him up, but it was always by turning on his light and pulling the covers off- Never by just “Yo, food’s almost done.”

Izuku could barely process this morning. Whenever he came over he was usually with Hitoshi and rarely in the common spaces, but this freaking fluff that surrounded this family was astounding.

There was no father threatening him with quirks or to “raise his pain tolerance” constantly.

There was no Inko, who’s mood swings and temperament was just as unpredictable as if she was going to raise a hand to him or not.

There was no fending for yourself or being forced to watch your dad make an example out of certain people.

A part of him whispered that this was how a family should act- the parents bickering halfheartedly as they prepared food but it didn’t have enough heat to become an argument, the cats pawing at their food bowls even though they had already been fed, and even though Eeaserhead made sarcastic remarks twenty four seven, you could still tell he absolutely loved his family- but the bracelet grew warm and those thoughts instantly vanished.

Families are weird, but for some reason, Izuku felt like that wasn’t a bad thing. 

Chapter Text

Each class was given a room to prepare, and everyone in this homeroom looked fucking depressed.

Hitoshi looked like he was focusing and was choosing to save his voice, while the other students were between talking in hushed voices, playing on their phones, or stretching.

Izuku, on the other hand, had three cups of coffee behind Aizawa’s back (so the pot would be empty when he went back for his second cup, of course) and was trying to contain the literally vibration going through him.

His mind was going fifty miles an hour and he should probably get a book or something to write in because he was having shower thoughts but he wasn’t in the shower.

Which was both a good (he was definitely sure he had at least five multi trillion dollar yen ideas) thing and a bad thing.

As for the bad, he couldn’t stop thinking about what Shigaraki said the night before.

He was almost positive it wasn’t true, but on the slight chance it was, then that was a major  weakness. One of the rules of the sports festival was no jewelry (apparently a hero student one year made a knife that turned into a ring and brought it out during the second round), so avoiding being forced to take it off was going to be a pain.

He didn’t want to know what would happen if he took it off, anyways.

He didn’t want to be in the same position he was before hand.

But, there was some things Shigaraki said that made his point more valid.

He received the bracelet when he was four but his parents didn’t reconcile until he was six, and he didn’t start wearing it until he was seven (when he was sure they wouldn’t split again).

And didn’t his father start bringing him to work and start the training five days after he put on the bracelet?

Wasn’t he quirkless until the day of the bracelet? And didn’t he start feeling weird the literal day after he put it on?

This whole magic bracelet bullshit was starting to give Izuku a monster of a headache.

He was also starting to feel a little nauseous but Izuku brushed it aside as pre-festival jitters. 

Izuku’s leg continued to bounce with the caffeine as he pointed to a water bottle in front of Hitoshi. “Is that yours?”

“Yeah.”

Izuku swiped it and opened the cap, not hesitating to down most of it.

“Jesus Christ! You do realize they have free water bottles for all of the contestants down the hall, right?”

Izuku coughed and gave him a thumbs up. “I knew that.”

“Anyways, whats our plan?”

“Does your quirk work when you ask multiple people a question at once?”

Midnight announced all of the classes individually but beforehand told every course to elect one person to speak. 

Izuku was chosen, probably because Hitoshi wanted to stay on the down-low until round three, and the rest of the general studies students did not care.

First, Hatsumei of the Support Course went up to speak, and she recited an obviously rehearsed speech about how she hoped everyone had fun (and she did make a point to plug in her technology blog before Power Loader pulled her off the stage).

Katsuki went up next and did this whole one liner about how he said he was going to win, and Izuku made sure to make eye contact with him as he did it.

Katsuki can bark all he want, but if he doesn’t win it’ll be helluva blow to the hero course.

Izuku made sure to hunch in on himself as he did and awkwardly tapped the microphone.

“H-Hi! I’m Akatani Mikumo from General studies. I could say something about how I hope to win or how everyone should have fun, but I think those two things have been covered.” He scratched the back of his head and it earned a chuckle from the audience. “Well, I guess what I want to say is that although Bakugou said he was going to win, that probably won’t be the case. You see, the entrance exam for the hero course tends to favor students with flashy, powerful quirks, not students with mind based or  people dependent types. Most hero course students act like they deserve to be there. Like they are entitled to be heroes just because they have something no one has control of. Well, I’m in General Studies, but I’ve had the honor to meet some amazing people with amazing quirks. Quirks that would make them better heroes than those entitled brats will ever be.”

Izuku paused and glanced up at the announcing booth. “And I just want the hero course to know that it’s easier for you to keep your spots than for us to take them, which will make it all that much sweeter when I’m training right beside you next week.” 

Izuku nodded to Midnight to signal that he was done and hopped off the stage. 

Hitoshi was rolling his eyes at the gawking eyes of the rest of the contestants. “Good job.”

“Hey, I was doing you a favor! You said you didn’t want to be noticed until the end so I drew all their attention to me.”

“That was totally the reason you did that. Definitely not because now everyone will think you have a mind based quirk even though you have a really powerful one.”

Izuku shook his head. “I don’t plan on using that quirk. Someone is watching me and hoping I use it, and I want to show people what you can do without a quirk.” Izuku cracked his knuckles and let a grin take over his face. “Do you remember the plan?”

“Duh; play on how this generation seems to love looking at old memes.”

Midnight gave them the countdown and Izuku had his eyes trained on the door.

Hitoshi glanced at some of the class 1-B students and when they heard “Go!” He stopped a few of them while Izuku took off.

“Hey what does yeet mean?”

The question seemed to startle a few of them and as Hitoshi started jogging backwards, a few tried to answer.

“Well-

“-Gotcha. Stand still for five minutes.”

He rinsed and repeated this process until almost half of the competitors were under his quirk for a bit and with some kid making the entire fucking floor ice, it helped somewhat that he did stay back.

Meanwhile, Izuku was dodging the heck out of some robots. 

Katsuki exploded past them and some ice guy froze the bots, and Izuku ran forward and slid under the one that was about to fall.

“In first place we have Bakugou Katsuki of the hero course but he is neck and neck with  Todoroki Shouto of the hero course! But look at this, listeners, not far behind is Akatani Mikumo of General Studies! It’s still anyone’s race, and while we wait for those three to get to the next obstacle, we will be changing cameras to the beginning of the race, where at least half of the competitors are stuck by Todoroki’s Ice or are just standing there confused! Could this be the effect of a quirk? Only time will tell!”

‘Good job, Hitoshi, it’s working’.

Izuku mentally sighed because for their plan to work, he had to be in at least second place before the last obstacle.

Izuku saw how Todoroki up ahead came to a complete stop to prepare himself for the next obstacle.

His mind helpfully supplied that Todoroki was the “Specimen of a man” that he had some sort of gay panic over when they were still trying to expel Mineta, but just because he was pretty didn’t mean Izuku was gonna go easy on him.

He could see a chasm of some sort in the distance and his eyes darted like a birds, trying to find the best route across as quirky as possible.

Luckily, years of vigilantism helped in that regard. 

Instead of standing at the edge and wondering what to do, he put as much effort as possible into jumping as high as possible. 

He managed to land on one of the wires but the force of his landing caused it to spring back up and launch him in the air.  

“Look at those moves, Listeners! Akatani just sprung himself- Pun fully intended-  into second place! Todoroki is catching up, however, freezing the metal wires to slide across like ice skates! Boy I remember when I first went ice skating! Eraser, two of these students are in your homeroom, what are your thoughts?” 

“These three are highly skilled individuals, but while Bakugou and Todoroki have the power to back their moves, Akatani has the reflexes and stamina to execute them without much strain. It’s a real testament to what you can do without a powerful quirk.”

Izuku hoped someone caught that on video.

He was going to hold it over Eraser’s head forever about the time he complimented the same vigilante that drives him crazy on a daily basis.

“One thing is for certain, you should not underestimate him.”

Hitoshi jogged forward and knew he was in a comfortable place around the thirties. Most of the competition was out of the running and the hots were taken out by all of the try hards in class 1-A. 

The chasm was something he also took at a relatively slow pace, and it wasn’t until he passed that obstacle that he started going full speed towards the next.

He saw Izuku tapping his foot impatiently at the entrance and Hitoshi sighed.

“Well it took you long enough!”

“Our plan was to use the materials offered by the last obstacle and use that to put you in the top five, and me within the teens and/or the twenties, and I’m sorry if I didn’t want to tire myself out before the rest of the day!”

Izuku rolled his eyes and pointed to the ground. “I started digging up the mines and I have a shield over there so like, you wanna skrt skrt?”

“Skrt skrt?”

Izuku shoved half of the metal piece towards him and grinned. “Just get ready to jump onto the mines.”

“What?”

“NOW!”

As soon as the shield made contact with the mines they were launched into the air and Hitoshi started to mentally prepare his will.

“Would you look at that, listeners! Two General Studies students have used a price of metal and the mines to launch themselves into the competition! Literally! They are overhead and as Bakugou and Todoroki are neck and neck, these two are sailing in from behind!”

Izuku leaned in close and even though Hitoshi could barely hear it over the wind, he understood.

As they were nearing the two in the front and as they rapidly approached the ground, Hitoshi let go of the metal and safely landed on his feet. He somehow managed to avoid the mines and he took his time avoiding them as they were yards ahead of everyone else.

Izuku, on the other hand, laughed like a maniac as he crashed a few feet in front of Bakugou just as the mines ended. He sprinted ahead and waved to them over his shoulder Bakugou’s eyes narrowed and he pushed the ice guy behind him with an explosion.

Ouch. That probably hurt.

Luckily the ice guy had enough sense to try and slow Bakugou down enough to try to get back into second place and while they seemed to stop fighting for a bit (to focus on Izuku of course) it was already too late.

“And the winner of the first round is Akatani Mikumo of General Studies! Did you listeners see that? He seemed to win without even using his quirk! Eraser?”

“Speed, instinctive actions, and resourcefulness are more reliable than strength. It’s a lesson hard learned in the hero world but if Akatani can teach it to the students in the hero course today, I’d greatly appreciate it.”

Izuku glanced up at the announcers’s booth and waved cheerily. 

As more students flooded in, soon enough Hitoshi was next to him and Midnight started announcing the official rankings.

“Hey,” He whispered. “Why is your last name Shinso? And not Aizawa or Yamada or Aizawa-Yamada?”

“We are not having this discussion where literally everyone and anyone can hear you.”

“So another time then? 

“Obviously, you idiot.”

Through Hitoshi’s and Izuku’s extensive research, they learned that the rounds all held the same pattern; A free for all match (To eliminate the majority), a teamwork based match (To eliminate most and/or half), and then one versus one matches or two versus two until a winner is selected.

So it did not come as a surprise when the wheel selected a calvary battle.

Izuku groaned and Hitoshi was holding back a grin when it was announced how much each person was worth. 

Ten million fucking points.

Izuku hated every moment of this. 

“Well, I’m going to find other low ranking people to team up with, good luck.”

“Oi you better- never mind then. I’ll find people who actually appreciate me then.”

Turns out, no one wants to team with the person that is worth the most (not to his surprise) except a pink haired girl from the support course, and Ochako.

“Oh... it’s you.”

The pink haired girl grinned. “Yup! It’s nice that we get to team up, Heroes!”

Ochako looked mildly annoyed but Izuku honestly didn’t care. This was the best team up possible. Now if they could only get one more person...

“Hey, Miku? Should we find someone else?”

Oh Izuku loved her, Ochako knew exactly what he was thinking at all times.

Well, not all times.

If she had that ability then Izuku would probably have to kill her.

“Miku? That’s a cute nickname! Can I call you that, Miku?”

Ochako’s cheeks became insanely red and she glared at Hatsumei.

“Umm sure? Does anyone see a person with both a defensive and offensi-“

Izuku’s eyes wondered around the crowd and he spotted a guy standing off towards the side with a bird head.

“Who’s that?”

“That’s Tokayami,” Ochako chirped. “His quirk makes his shadow animated.”

“Can he control it?”

“I-I think to some degree, yes.”

Izuku clapper his hands together. “Operation beat everyones’ asses is a go.”

Hatsumei started chattering and outfitting Izuku with her ‘Babies’ as Ochako went forward and worked her charm. Sure enough, Tokayami in all of his edge-lord glory joined their team.

Hatsumei was delighted to have more people to play dress up with, and while she went around talking animatedly, they hatched out a plan.

The ten minutes allotted to them to find teams was over before they knew it, and round two had begun.

Immediately, everyone in their general vicinity lunged towards them and Ochako launches them into the hair with her quirk.

Well, launched wasn’t the correct word. 

They more or less timed it so perfectly that when the force of the “Horses” jumping was at its peak, she took away all of the gravity affecting them. 

To be honest, Izuku was still mildly surprised they managed to pull that off and was almost one hundred percent sure they would not be able to do it.

As they floated up, the nearest team to them had their band snatched away by dark shadow.

It was worth a measly twenty points, but hey, it was better than nothing.

Whenever they were high off the ground, but not death worthy high (Unfortunately), Ochako released them and Hatsumei managed to use a jet pack thing of sorts with extendable legs to guide their descent.

Izuku had instructed her beforehand to keep them somewhat high off the ground, and to not be surprised if Todoroki froze the legs. If that happened, they would ditch the backpack, and somehow land on the ground unharmed. 

Luckily, it didn’t have to come to that, but they still had to make an emergency landing because one of the “Babies” was sparking uncontrollably and Dark Shadow was panicking.

It seemed like Bakugou and Todoroki were duking it out over yonder and Izuku’s team was left to their own devices.

They circled around other teams, using dark shadow to swipe headbands while Hatsumei and Ochako distracted. Izuku only had one job, as he couldn’t really do much with being the “Rider”, which was protect his and all of the other stolen headbands. That seemed to be going okay enough. 

Unfortunately, the peace only lasted until the last few seconds, when the Todoroki team launched themselves at full speed towards Izuku.

Izuku instinctively ducked and his team tried to dodge, unsuccessfully.

Izuku felt a a sharp tug on the back of his neck and he felt one of the high their hand bands (he put this around his neck) rip off and into the hands of the half and half bastard.

Shit shit shit- 

The buzzer went off and the crowd cheered.

“A last minute headband steal from team Todoroki! Let’s look up at the board to see if Team Akatani still has enough to be in the game!”

Izuku glanced up at the scoreboard and he saw his name slide down...

But only into second place.

Izuku, honest to god, felt like crying as Ochako pulled him down from his place as a rider and squashed him in an outrageously huge hug.

Huh. 

Maybe he does have a chance.

He saw a flash of purple hair next to him and Izuku looked up.

“Did you make it?”

Hitoshi huffed. “Barely. Good job. Bakugou is in third though, and he is royally pissed. I would suggest avoiding him during the break.”

“Oh. I already have plans for during the break, but I can meet you guys for lunch towards the end.”

Chapter Text

“‘Sup, Eraser.”

“You-“

“-Are a brat? A pain?” Izuku clicked his tounge. “What insult were you gonna use this time?”

“I was going to say something else, but whatever. Why are you here?”

Izuku kicked his legs back and forth from where they were dangling.

“Why am I here? To watch the games, of course! The top of the stadium provides a lovely seat to whatever the hell is going on down there,” Izuku squinted. “An extreme game of ‘Simon Says’? A scavenger hunt? Anyways, I should be asking what you are doing here! With all those bandages you should be in bed, much less on top of a building.”

He heard a small sigh. “The old lady went overboard with the bandages, and I severely doubt you came here to watch the games. If I would have sent another teacher up here to meet you, you probably would have left. So, I’ll ask again, what are you doing here?”

Izuku shrugged. “On one hand, I want to make a scene, on the other, it sounds like too much work.”

“I suggest not causing a disturbance.”

“Okay, but like, isn’t it your job to tell me that?”

“Technically, my job is to teach future heroes, but making sure they cause the minimal amount of property damage possible is also an unsaid requirement.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Seriously though, what are you doing up here? You didn’t miss ‘lil ole me that much, did you?”

“Same as you, I suppose. The view below is something, isn’t it?”

“You say that like you don’t hop around buildings chasing vigilantes and villains for a living.”

“Well, the tops of most of those buildings don’t have a televised sports program within viewing distance.”

In the end, Tetra did not make a public appearance. Izuku tried to blame it on how his first matchup was literally the first match, and the lunch break wasn’t long enough to cause a riot and have time to run away.

The bracelet was suspiciously cold, and Izuku was debating on whether or not to take it off.

If he did, he wasn’t sure what would happen, but considering how even attempting to disobey his father had led to events he couldn’t even remember. The only reason he somewhat knew what happened is because Shinso told him.

Izuku shook his head. He had to focus.

He stood and walked over to the hallway. Izuku crossed his arms as his eyes scanned over the bracket.

Who was he even fighting in the first round anyway-

Oh my god.

“So,” Izuku deadpanned. “You are telling me, that they put the only two general studies students, that are in the last round, both of whom are aiming for the hero course and this is their only shot, against each other?”

Hitoshi was next to him, face void of all emotion but Izuku felt like he was expressing enough anger for the both of them.

Eraserhead pinched the bridge of his nose. “Kid, I didn’t do the matchups, and I’m just as mad about it as you. I can try and change them, but I don’t know if it will do much.”

Izuku tapped his chin. “Hmmm, no thanks. I won’t have a reason to yell at people then.” 

“Akatani, I swear-

“-Hey Mic, can I have a mic?”

Mic, did, in fact, have a mic, and he almost too quickly handed it over.

It seemed like the entire family was mad. Yay.

The speakers boomed with their introductions and the after the crowd quieted down and a few bits of commentary were spat out, Izuku tapped the cover.

It screeched and he cringed. “Oh sorry about that. Anyways, I guess we know it’s on now!”

He could see Hitoshi rolling his eyes from his corner of the arena and Izuku just flipped him off where the cameras couldn’t  catch it. 

“So, I just wanted to say a few things to the person who made these matchups, which, I’ve been informed were scouts for agencies, select pro heroes, and the like. You all know that I am aiming for the hero course, and so is the most of the general Studies students, so why would you put the only two General Studies students against each other, hmm?

“Is it because you want to see what we can do? No that’s not it. You wanted to diminish our chances at winning. Why? Well, I’m not exactly a pro hero or an agency scout, but I think I can answer. You all are under the impression that if we couldn’t pass a simple entrance exam, then we don’t deserve to be pros. That we can’t do anything worth while because our quirks, or lack of, weren’t suited to face robots.”

He paused, and he heard silence ring out through the stadium.

“Or maybe you just wanted to see what some rejects could do when put against each other. Either way, I hope you enjoy crushing one of our futures for the sake of fucking entertainment.”

Izuku handed the microphone to the cement that was waiting, and it was taken back to Cenemtoss.

The silence was still there, and tension was overwhelming, but Izuku just put on his best “time to charm the public TM” smile and got into position.

When Midnight announced the start, Izuku didn’t waste time and ran forward, faking left and going right.

Izuku knew about Shinso’s quirk, and was focused on not talking. Unfortunately, Shinso also knew he wasn’t going to use his quirk. Maybe if this was another universe, he’d be able to overpower Hitoshi with sheer force, but it wasn’t that universe, and it was this one.

And in this one, they were equally trained in hand to hand combat, and if they weren’t equal, then Hitoshi had the advantage.

Izuku may have been under the mentor ship of a literal  two hundred year old that had seen it all, but his father has been losing power ever since that fight with All Might, so he was forced to train with Villain-wannabes. Hitoshi had pro heroes for parents. 

Hitoshi didn’t fall for the fake and latched on to his wrist, pulling the arm and holding it against Izuku’s back. 

Before he could be pinned down, Izuku used his good arm to thrust his elbow into Hitoshi’s side. This allowed him to regain some control as Hitoshi’s grip weakened, and he managed to back away from the situation entirely.

Okay, so blunt force won’t work (he’s already established that, but Izuku guessed it was worth a shot), and any force offensive strategy would probably be met with an equally patched defense.

Izuku felt the rhythm of the sparring match come back as he and Hitoshi traded blows. 

It was such a sense of familiarity that he allowed himself to try and come up with a strategy, instead of relying on instinct.

Think back to the hero analysis notebooks, Izuku.

Number thirteen couldn’t help him, that was filled with rookies who didn’t have a distinguishable fighting style.

Number twelve...

Izuku ducked and attempted to delete Hitoshi’s kneecaps with a kick.

Number twelve probably didn’t have much use eith-

‘Page thirty eight,’ his mind supplied.

Page thirty eight? What kinda-

The realization struck him so hard that Hitoshi was able to actually get a punch in.

“Ow you fucking-“

“-Hurry up, Izuku. The people are getting impatient.”

Page thirty eight was all about The Winged Hero, Hawks, and how he prioritized speed over power.

Speed over power.

“So Eraser, any ideas on why these two aren’t using quirks?” Present Mic boomed above them.

“These two are friends who know, at the very least, how each other’s quirks work. It makes sense that they would stay away from that, or at least things to trigger it. Hand to hand combat is an aspect of heroism that most don’t focus on, however, so let’s see how this will turn out.”

Izuku knew what he had to do, and he jumped left after Hitoshi went in for a kick. That gave him the perfect opening to move forward and get a few hits in before he was thrown to the ground.

Izuku didn’t waste time sitting on the ground, he got back up as fast as he humanly could and changed the directions he was attaining from, trying to make it as random and as confusing as possible.

Hitoshi seemed semi irritated but he was able to counter most of Izuku’s assaults.

Unfortunately, he was so focused on trying to block Izuku, that he didn’t notice that his opponent was slowly making them edge towards the back corner.

Or, Izuku thought he hadn’t noticed. 

Hitoshi grabbed his wrist and did something at a blinding pace so now it was Izuku who was closest to the edge.

Strategic bastard.

Izuku mentally sighed, and the thought crossed his mind to let Hitoshi just win. He wanted, no, needed to get into the hero course more than he did.

The bracelet grew warm in warning and Izuku felt like yeeting it off of the stage.

Oh fuck it.

Izuku launched himself forward and went right, before Hitoshi could relax, slammed himself into his side, knocking him with just enough force to go out of bounds.

Izuku coughed and rubbed the blood away from where it was running down his chin.

Huh. That one hard punch really did leave a mark.

As the crowd erupted and Midnight did her ruling, Izuku pushed out a hand and helped Hitoshi up.

“No hard feelings right?”

Hitoshi shrugged. “You‘re going to make it into the hero course, and not me. That’s fine,” Izuku watched as a small grin settled its way into his face. “because I’m going to be a hero anyways.”

They were both in Recovery Girl’s office getting patched up when Aizawa and Hizashi walked in.

“Aren’t you two supposed to be announcing?” Izuku quipped.

“Not really. There is a ten minutes break in between matches to ensure Recovery Girl can efficiently help everyone, and to ensure the arena wasn’t broken or anything,” Aizawa nodded to Recovery Girl in thanks as she handed Hitoshi a bag of ice for a large bruise forming on his cheek. “However as much as I am disappointed you two didn’t have the guts to end the match sooner and avoid injuries, I am equally proud of both of you for your performance in that match. Mikumo, if you truly want to get into the Hero course, you definitely have the opportunity, and Hitoshi, so do you.”

Izuku smiled as wide as he dared with a busted lip as he watched Hitoshi’s eyes grow wide.

“But I didn’t win any round, or that match. I didn’t stand out.”

Present Mic hummed. “Out of thirty eight hero course students, fifty two support, and twenty  seven general studies students,  you made it to the last round. The last time two general studies students made it to the last round was almost a few decades ago. When you consider how much better prepared the other two courses were, that’s quite the accomplishment. Plus the fact that you didn’t stand out with a quirk puts you in a good light, because it shows how much you can do without one. Quirks aren’t everything, especially in the hero world. So yeah kid, you didn’t stand out, but the board has already hinted at how we may need to buy you new textbooks.”

“So, Hitoshi stuck out by not sticking out?”

“Yup!”

The conversation was mostly held on after that by Mic and Eraserhead, but Hitoshi didn't seem to mind, and Izuku didn’t put up a fight against it.

And for six solid more minutes, he was able to put everything out of his mind, and focus on the bliss that was in front of him.

Unfortunately, the match against him and Candy Cane Boi came all too quickly.

Chapter Text

Todoroki Shouto was a mystery.

A very intriguing mystery, of course, but one that Izuku had zero intention of solving.

He was quick, he was smart, he was the son of the number two hero- All things that Izuku knew would lead up to being a tough opponent.

They’ve both been trained in hand to hand combat then, if Endeavor’s track record of trying to be the best no matter what held up. Izuku had a running hypothesis that Endeavor wanted to take down All Might at all costs, even if that means having his children be punching bags because they have the quirks that rival his.

Hey, snooping was something he didn’t usually do, but when it rains it pours.

Now that the disgust at using a Pro-Hero’s strategy to defeat Hitoshi (Fuck you Hawks and your weird, speedy ways) had faded, Izuku was searching his brain over any grain, any droplet of support he could gather to defeat this guy without using Chikara.

The worst part? Izuku couldn’t think of anything.

The one time he needs his thoughts to run wild, they are fucking silent. Brilliant.

The reality of it all truly set in when Midnight announced the start of the match and Izuku clumsily had to dodge to avoid the huge frontal attack Todoroki threw.

Okay okay okay- this guy had used a lot of power to attack that tape guy in his last match. He had to have a limit, right? It was just a matter of finding it.

Luckily, Izuku had a lot of stamina.

It was a dance, really. Todoroki would attack brutally with his right side, Izuku would dodge. As Todoroki was recovering, Izuku would get in close, but before he could land a hit, Todoroki would attack again.

Izuku was slowly closing in on him and Todoroki knew it, but since he was closer there was less time to dodge or think. So the game of speed and stamina had quickly turned into a dance of battle instincts and reaction times.

Those “Are you smarter than a chimpanzee” quizzes were coming in handy.

It soon became so repetitive that Izuku could finally manage a thought in between the dodging- A villain strategy.

A memory flashed through his mind and Izuku grinned.

Combo-Star was a quirk his father had taken a long while back. It was a physical attack based quirk that once the user landed a hit, it was at normal power, but as long as the blows were consecutive and uninterrupted, each one grew in strength.

Combo-Star training was vicious, and Izuku didn’t have that, but gist was the same.

All he had to do was land one hit. One hit would startle Todoroki enough to land another, and another, and another.

You can’t give your enemy time to think, you just have to keep hitting.

Izuku jumped and avoided another ice line, this one had large spikes sticking up and was obviously meant to harm rather than just immobilize.

“You can’t keep running forever!” Izuku heard the yell over the general buzzing around them.

“Oh yeah? Watch me!”

‘He was getting angry,’ Izuku noted, ‘good. Maybe this way his attacks will require more energy and in turn take more time to recover. That’s where I’ll find my opening.’

True enough, a near ice berg was formed and Izuku narrowly avoided it.

Izuku took this chance and turned on his heel, running straight at Todoroki from the side. Just as Todoroki’s ice was spreading on the floor, Izuku side tackled him.

A burst of flames hit his face but Izuku really did not care at this point. He didn’t register the pain and didn’t move, punching Todoroki once in the nose. He went in for a second but Todoroki turned and grabbed his fist with his right hand, and ice hurriedly spread up his arm.

Izuku jerked back and had to back away to avoid the rapidly spreading ice.

“Oh come-“

Izuku’s complaint was interrupted by Todoroki getting up, a pissed off look on his face.

“Why don’t you use your quirk?”

Izuku blinked, almost forgetting to dodge.

“I think I’m doing just fine without it!”

“And?”

Izuku glared. “How about if you use your full quirk then I’ll use mine?”

The ice attacks stopped and in the background, Izuku could hear Mic and Eraserhead talking about it. He also heard the offhand comment that this fight was somewhat like Bakugou and Ochako’s but the other disagreed.

“You aren’t using your quirk because of him right?” Izuku guessed. “Because it’s too much like his?”

Dead silence filled the stadium.

“Yeah Well, guess what, Candy-Cane bitch, it’s your power, not his.”

After a few, long, tense seconds of silence a grin spread along Todoroki’s face.

It was a feral thing, like something finally clicked in his head.

As his left side erupted into flames, Izuku got prepared to run again before Todoroki spoke.

“Whoever you inherited your quirk from, it’s yours then too! So, use it, and come at me with all you got.”

A few more seconds.

Izuku looked up and stared at Todoroki directly.

He felt the thrum, the vibrations of Chikara fill his bones and the energy return to him.

The glow returned, and although Izuku was never able to make it fully go away, he didn’t even bother to turn it down.

Izuku waved cheerily at the announcer’s booth before a mixture of ice and fire was sent his way.

Izuku dodged the fire, and punched the iceberg head on.

It shattered into a million tiny pieces and gasps broke through the stadium. Izuku lunged forward, grabbing Todoroki’s arm to throw him out of the stadium at the same time he felt the burn of flames and ice hit him.

Time ticked as the raw power of both quirks collided and the two were forced apart. Smoke and steam had filled the arena and it had blocked everyone from viewing in, and the two from viewing out, but by the time it cleared and the winds settled, both were out of bounds.

.

.

.

But a camera replay showed that Izuku went out first.

***

Izuku woke up in a hospital room with Eraserhead next to him.

He groaned and stretched but his vision danced as he tried to sit up.

Eraserhead sighed from next to him and forcibly pushed him back down on the bed, but while he did it gruffly it was almost gentle.

Ewwwwwwwww.

“So, Tetra, I see I was correct.”

Izuku shrugged and winced in pain. “Ehh you were gonna find out sooner or later, you had me figured out from the beginning I bet. You just needed proof. Now, you have it.”

“I’m not going arrest you, if that’s what you are worried about.”

Izuku blinked. “Didn’t expect that.”

Eraserhead rolled his eyes and patted Izuku’s shoulder awkwardly.

“Look kid, I gotta take you into custody, but that doesn’t have to be a cell. As of now, at least. This situation, this hole you’ve gotten yourself into is deep, kid, so you’ll need to come with me.”

“Eraser I-“

“Look, Recovery Girl cleared you, but I understand if you need to do something. I… I trust you enough to come back to Hizashi and I’s house.”

“You really shouldn’t.”

“Oh believe me, I realize that, but if you won’t I’ll track you down and won’t hesitate to arrest you. I won’t hesitate to bring an army with me either, including Hitoshi.”

A mock gasp. Izuku truly was offended at the thought of Eraser knowing that he wouldn’t hurt Hitoshi if his life depended on it, but making light of dark situations and not taking anything really seriously was Izuku’s forte.

“If I promise to be at your house by midnight tonight, then can I go home for a bit? Mom may worry and I can just tell her I’m sleeping over for a bit…” He trailed off. In reality, he had no intention of going to Aizawa’s, but hey, anything to get away.

“I doubt that, but I won’t limit your freedoms because you want to go home for a bit.” Aizawa nodded. “You have until midnight, got it? If not, I’m tracking your phone, hunting you down, and dragging you back by your hair. Are we clear?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Problem child.”

“Old man.”

“Thorn in my side.”

“Homeless dad of twenty whatev-“

Chapter Text

When Izuku had left for home, he noticed immediately the texts from his mom.

Maternal Unit:

We’re watching your match! Is the purple male your friend?

Maternal Unit:

The one with the fluffy hair, not the weird one with grapes

Maternal Unit:

They just announced his name! Of course he is :p

Maternal Unit:

Your father said good job with the new quirk against Endeavor’s son! Oh, can you pick up some cookies on your way back? You can drop them off to the league as well! They got new members. Toga’s a doll, I’m knitting her a sweater already but Dabi is deep and brooking, but everyone loves cookies.

Maternal Unit:

I love you!

He sent back a quick “I love you too” and shouldered his backpack on his good one.

Apparently, during his fight with Todoroki, his opponent’s flames had severely scorched his entire side. Recovery Girl’s kiss was enough for it to be mostly healed, but now it was about as bad as a bad sunburn- still pretty painful in its own right but at least his skin wasn’t bubbling.

Todoroki didn’t fare much better apparently, having severe frost bite from overuse of his quirk, and rumored nerve damage in his right hand. His fire side was better damage wise, but the exhaustion was still there.

Apparently, after his next fight with bird head guy, he was forced to forfeit on account of his injuries, a joint decision made my midnight, Aizawa, and Recovery Girl.

Izuku hummer and pulled out a debit card his parents had linked to their account. He paid for cookies and a few other snacks at the convenience  store a few blocks away from U.A.  He caught the train to Kamino just as it was leaving, and the ride was uneventful.

Truthfully, Izuku was fast asleep for the entirety of it, and almost felt like abandoning going to the league altogether just so he could sleep some more.

Alas, the cookies had to be delivered.

The bar was loud, as always, only this time instead of a TV filling the silence, it was new people.

A girl, around his age- maybe slightly older- with blonde hair in messy buns, and a stereotypical school girl's uniform on, standing next to a man that screamed “Edge lord” and “Hot Topic Syndrome”.

The man was tall, and Izuku was short, so when he walked over and had to physically look up, Izuku was ticked off.

No one had a right to be that tall.

The man tsked and looked at Shigaraki. 

“This is the brat that gave Todoroki Shouto a run for his money. He’s in that school uniform and everything.”

Izuku shrugged, and before he could respond with a well prepared insult, Shigaraki spoke from behind him.

“He has a mission in that school. He’s Master’s son.”

“What, does that make you two like siblings or something?”

Izuku let out something akin to a screech. “I wouldn’t be related to crusty McHandsy over there if my life depended on it. I’m Midoriya Izuku.”

The girl giggled and waved around a knife enthusiastically. “Toga Himiko! Nice to meet ya Izuku. Say, how much would it cost me to cut ya? Just a little bit! Just enough to get the knife a little dirt-“

“-Shut it, Crazy. That’s not how you interact with kids your age.”

“Annnddddd you, my good sir, have officially earned the title of the annoying older brother friend.” Izuku boomed. “What’s your name, my feminine fellow?”

“The hell? Was that a Hazbin reference?” The man’s hands started steaming and Izuku bounced on his heels excitedly while Toga was already in the cookies. “The name is Dabi, and if you think for one second that I’m the Angel Dust in this situation you are dead wrong.”

“Gotcha.”

“Izuku,” There was a hum and Izuku turned to Kurogiri. “Your father stopped by to watch the sports festival with us. He seemed... troubled. I would refrain from making his mad or exciting his emotions as a result.”

Izuku’s face was blank, but on the inside, he was screaming. As if it had heard the thoughts, the bracelet warmed and Izuku shivered.

“Well I better get going then! Ma’s cooking dinner, and I’m sure y’all be invited over tomorrow for leftovers or some shit. Bye!”

***

It wasn’t pretty.

As soon as Izuku had gotten home, he noticed that the house was silent. 

It was never silent.

When he steadily walked into the living room, managing to keep his breath even despite the rising panic, he found Inko on the couch.

She was shakily knitting, and from how disproportionate the last few rows were compared to the rest, he knew it was stress knitting.

She gave him a look, and Izuku nodded.

He didn’t need to be told twice when his father was waiting for him.

The office was locked, and Izuku knew what that meant too, so he went down the stairs and into the far basement of the house.

All For One didn’t even elephant him, he just stared out of the small window towards the back.

That was fine.

Izuku took his place in the metal chair in the middle of the room. He strapped his feet in and slipped his wrists into the cuffs.

After two minutes, the cuffs tightened and the panic started to rise faster.

After four minutes, Izuku still hadn’t spoken. He knew what this meant. He had to be quiet, at all costs.

At twelve minutes, his father spoke.

“Tell me, why do you think I’m angry, son?”

It was elephant. Izuku knew he shouldn’t but silence was getting to him anyways, and, you know what? Might as well dig a hole deeper.

“Gee I don’t know, maybe it’s because I refused to use my quirk for a bit in the festival? Maybe it’s because I lost? Doesn’t seem like you though, and the more likely option is just that you get really pissy when something doesn’t go your wa-“

A black tendril of whatever the hell it was shot out and Izuku stifled a yell when it pierced his bad shoulder. 

“I wasn’t looking for an answer, brat. Shigaraki and your mother informed me that you’ve been neglecting your mission.”

Izuku gritted his teeth. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I’ve given the league every file, every scrap of intelligence they’ve wanted and then-“

Another tendril, this time in his thigh. This time, Izuku did make a sound- a watered down grunt of pain.

“We both know that’s a lie. You were asked to deliver detailed files on every teacher, but you didn’t. You gave us the bare minimum and still neglected a few heroes.”

Izuku closed his eyes.

“We’ve asked for files on students that posed a threat.” Another tendril, this one wrapping around the ankle opposite of his hurt thigh. The sickening sound of a snap echoing through the room as his ankle was crushed and Izuku yelped. “You didn’t deliver.”

“When you put all of that together, Izuku, we can easily blame you for our failure at the U.S.J. I covered for you, boy, staring that there were other circumstances, and that you gave us the best you could have. I did that because I believed in you. As your father I trusted you.”

A loud chuckle sounded over Izuku’s labored breaths. 

“If it wasn’t for our other informant, maybe you would have gotten away with it. Did you really think we’d only send you in? No. This informant, this traitor to the heroes, is more valuable to me then you ever were. Son or not.”

“E-Everything I do, I do for you. I do for the league and the collapse of hero society.”

Even to Izuku, his voice sounded weak. He was too busy trying not to scream in pain, thank you very much. At this point, his only saving grace was the offhand thought that maybe, just maybe his father wouldn’t be able to use the quirks for much longer.

“Now where have I heard that one before?” All For One mused. “I’ve heard it out of the lips of that whore mother of yours.” Hisashi reached down and practically tore the bracelet off of Izuku.

“I should have never given you this. I should have killed you the first time you were diagnosed quirkless. I should have not allowed that bitch to cover for you as many times as she did.”

Izuku growled and Hisashi chuckled, reaching  forward to touch Izuku’s temple.

“If you survive this, which I hope you don’t, maybe you’ll be useful in other ways. How does it feel? To know that in a span of almost a month, you’ve lost everything I’ve ever given you?” 

Izuku’s vision started to swim. Stars were dancing and those stars faded into huge blobs and soon, he couldn’t see anything. 

“Have fun, Izuku.”

***

When Izuku had awakened, he was in noticeably much more pain. 

His entire stomach felt like it a knife was being slowly pressured in, and there was blood on his mouth.

The cuffs around his wrists were loose, but where they had been the skin was raw and bloody, 

Izuku slowly leaned forward to assess his other injuries, and his vision wobbled.

So a concussion. 

That’s okay. He’s worked through them before.

But what the hell happened whenever he blacked out? 

Izuku shook his head. That was a question for another day. If Hisashi found out that he was still alive there was no telling what he would do.  

Izuku leaned down and started to untie the strong belt that latched his feet to the chair. Luckily, that wasn’t metal, so the injuries from it were far less, but it still put his ankle in a very uncomfortable position.

His uniform was torn and bloody, the white shirt almost fully stained a darker version of the tie.

Izuku blanched and spat out blood. He pushed the pain out of his mind and focused on the task at hand. He grabbed the bracelet which caught his eye from where light hit it and put it on his wrist.

He ignored the absolute torture that was powering up Chikara in his state, and hobbled over to the small window. His wrist glowed and Izuku didn’t hesitate to punch the window.

It shattered and the pieces that weren’t no embedded in his hand clanked on the floor.

That was okay.

He had a job to do.

Focus Izuku.

If you stay here, you’ll die. You can’t die. Not today.

As he weakly hauled himself out, his ankle screamed but Izuku refused to listen to it. 

He was trained for this.

Hell, his whole life has been about ignoring the pain.

He… he didn’t know what he would do if he actually acknowledged it for once.

Izuku didn’t remember ordering his body to walk. He didn’t remember the rain pelting him from the side. He didn’t remember the pain. All he could remember was the street lights blurred, and him stumbling into walls. Izuku’s hand dragging against it because it was his only guide at this point.

He had to…

He had to get somewhere safe.

Somewhere else. As far away from there as possible.

As far away from him.

Izuku didn’t notice when he fell.

Huh. When did he fall? 

He didn’t notice when the grime and grit of the city met his face. All he noted was the relief at his body temp going down. The relief that was being cold when he was hot was too hot too hot oh god make it-

He also didn’t notice when his eyes slipped shut as rain soaked his clothes, his wounds exposed to the water and the dirt beneath him. 

Chapter Text

That brat. 

Aizawa jumped from a building ledge and safely landed on the one a good few feet below.

That brat.

Akatani had promised to be at his house by midnight, and it’s been two days since then. Days.

He hadn’t even shown up for school and Tetra had definitely not made an appearance, as every teacher at U.A, all the police officers and all heroes on patrols had been called by a very pissed off Eraserhead (but by doing so he opened up the newest thought- that if a pro other than him were to capture Tetra, then he couldn’t ensure they entered police custody and by extension, his, unharmed and/or alive). 

Hell, he even offered the support class extra credit in his gym class if they could find internet evidence of Tetra.

It didn’t work.

Either this kid had straight-up ghosted him, or he was in a ditch somewhere. 

At this point, the hero didn’t know if he’d find a kid or a corpse, but that was worries for Aizawa.

Eraserhead had priorities. 

Eraserhead didn’t have a family to care for. He was just a faceless pro that avoids the media at all costs- stopping the dirtier crimes the other heroes are too famous to handle.

Aizawa jumped from another ledge, using his capture weapon to grasp onto the next building’s fire escape.

He was on the shittier side of town, but everyone else had covered the good neighborhoods. 

He used the fire escape to make his way down to the ground. It was the dead of night and not a soul was on the streets. Which was why, whenever a slight glare of light bouncing off of a liquid filled his peripheral vision, he was immediately alerted. It didn’t hurt at this point to check any and every possible lead. It was that or check aimlessly in every nook and cranny of Japan.

Aizawa crouched next to the small puddle. It was beneath a street light, and it looked as though it was from a person, heavily injured, that had leaned up against it for a breath.

Eraserhead’s eyes narrowed and he looked back. 

The trail went around the corner in that direction, and the other way it just followed the sidewalk. Behind him, the blood was dry, but in front of him, it was fresh.

Another glint caught his eye, up ahead, and Eraserhead grit his teeth.

A piece- shard- of glass, and next to it a metal bracelet. 

Akatani’s metal bracelet.

Aizawa picked it up and pocketed it. He had never once seen the kid take it off. Even during the sports festival.

Finally. He had a direction. He had a lead. 

As he kept to the shadows and followed the blood trail as quickly as he dared, a thought crossed Aizawa’s mind- How with how much it was, how much blood was fresh and dried, that he was most likely going to come upon a corpse.

He couldn’t be thinking that.

Eraserhead had a job. That job was to help people, even if it was from behind the scenes or behind a desk grading papers.

Aizawa Shota saved people too but protected them as well. Family protects its own, and Hitoshi had practically forced him to adopt Akatani anyways.

The farther along he went, the more the puddles turned to droplets, and more and more it disappeared.

His patrol was about to end. Heroes who did heroing without being assigned on a patrol, especially underground heroes, violated code two-sixty-seven of the Hero Public Safety Commission.

Eraserhead’s watch beeped. An alarm he had set to remind himself that he had five more minutes.

Five minutes to find this kid.

Aizawa searches every ally way, every store side, every block in the surrounding area until dawn was almost here.

He was about to be officially off duty and ergo was not allowed to do any more work, but still, he kept looking.

Timed seemed to slow, right until he saw it.

The frail and small body huddled next to a dumpster. In the dim light, he couldn’t see much, but he knew that uniform from anywhere.

That was his kid.

Fuck it. Eraserhead was off duty, but Aizawa Shota still had a kid to save.

Aizawa dropped down next to the body and checked for a pulse.

It was faint, but it was steady.

Good.

Aizawa checked for major head injuries, and the kid looked at him through half-lidded, glassy eyes as Aizawa gently moved his head around.

No head injuries. 

No visible injuries on his neck either.

Aizawa looked over the rest of him and had to resist flinching in disgust.

There were scratches, some deep and some not all over his chest and arms. There was one worrying cut on his forearm, but it wasn’t bleeding. Glass was embedded into almost every part of Akatani’s left hand, and his right side was burned. There was a wound that Aizawa couldn’t make out the severity of on his shoulder, and a very similar-looking on the kid’s thigh.

Right now, the most worrying thing, as nothing was bleeding profusely, was an infection, but he couldn’t really do anything about that.

This kid needed a hospital.

‘These wounds weren’t self-inflicted,’ his brain hissed. ‘Someone is after him. Call Hizashi.’

And so he did. 

Aizawa had his phone to his ear stabilized by his shoulder, and he used his capture weapon to wrap Akatani’s swollen ankle.

He couldn’t take it out of the shoe, as that was the closest thing they had to stabilize it at the moment, but by wrapping his capture weapon around the sole and against the kid’s leg, he could make a makeshift sling type thing.

“Sho?“

“ I want you to call Recovery Girl,” Aizawa said through gritted teeth. “have her either at U.A or in our apartment in fifteen minutes. Make Hitoshi go to Midnight’s or Nezu’s.”

He heard Hizashi humming over the other line, and if anything it helped calm Aizawa’s nerves. “Do you want me to pick up some anpan?”

Anpan. It was a dessert that Aizawa hated with a passion, but it was also their code word.

Hizashi was asking him if he was in a situation where he couldn’t talk about it. He was asking if Sho needed backup. He was asking is Shota thought he was going to live.

“No, but some taiyaki sounds good.” 

A student. A student was hurt. 

Hizashi sucked in a breath. “Where do you want me to pick it up?”

“Ikigai Street, behind the building where we found Maki. There is a good bakery there. It’s kinda tucked away in an alley, though, so be careful.”

“I’ll get right on that.”

[Yesterday, 5:01 PM]

Shinso:

Yo you weren’t at school today. Want me to send over the homework?

Shinso:

Eh, you’re probably asleep. I’ll email the PDFs to you.

Shinso:

Done.

[Yesterday, 9:12  PM]

Shinso:

Shinso:

Izuku?

[Today, 9:48 AM] 

Shinso: 

Ochako’s worried. So is Tsu. 

Shinso: 

Eraserhead is snapping at people more than usual, Midnight showed up in actual civilian clothes, and Mic gave  us a lecture and didn’t talk afterwards. Everyone can tell something is up. 

Shinso:

Fuck, Midnight caught me on my phone.

[Today, 7:37]

Shinso:

Fuck it. I’m worried. Answer your damn phone, idiot. 

Izuku didn’t know what was going on. 

The last thing he remembered was punching a window in, and now he could hazily see two faces above him.

Two identical faces.

Wait.

Why does this person have two-

He tried to sit up but a hand pushed him back down. That hand touched his good shoulder, thank god, but had to Izuku grit his teeth in pain from just simply being jostled like that.

“-Akatani, can you hear me? Don’t nod, don’t move, open your eyes if you can.”

Izuku tried to open his eyes and after a lot of concentration, he did.

“There we go. Focus on me, kid.”

Slowly, Eraserhead formed one complete person, and Izuku dully realized he was in a car.

“Kid, I’m gonna need you to stay awake.”

Wait, when had he closed them?

There was someone else talking, but Izuku couldn’t make out the words. This voice was more worried and less calm, that was obvious, but it sounded warbled.

“Akatani, we’re almost there.”

Izuku grunted in response.

His head was throbbing, and every shake of the car made his foot scream in pain. He could feel the shards of glass but those didn’t hurt.

Maybe if he just...

There was a pair of finger-snapping in his face.

“No sleeping in class. I’ll put you through hell if you don’t stay awake.

“Hey Mikumo,” the shakey, far away voice spoke. “How do you say “Mother scolds the horse.” In mandarin?”

The voice didn’t miss a beat. “Well, actually it’s really weird. So you’d have to go ma ma ma ma, but since mandarin is a tonal language, each of those Ma’s mean different things, ya dig?”

Oh. So it was Hizashi.

Izuku blearily saw Mic from the side as he was driving. He and Aizawa were in the backseat, while Mic was, admittedly,  looking pretty rough, but keeping the wheel steady all the same. 

“So for those ma’s, it would actually be mā ma mà mâ.”

“There isn’t a difference,” Izuku murmured. His voice was scratchy and raw, and he would’ve been surprised if the person had heard.

Apparently they did.

“Of course there is, listener! Mandarin is a tonal language, and generally, there are five tones. Ma is one of the few that use all five tones, and it just so happens that four of those combined equals that sentence. Pretty cool, right?”

Izuku didn’t nod, and he felt the car slowly pull to a stop. 

“We’ll finish this lesson another day, mkay? I’ll teach you how to properly say the tones and read pinyin too if you want!”

The last thing Izuku heard was the sound of a seatbelt being unbuckled.

“We need to get the glass out of his hand, first.” Recovery girl barked. “I don’t want to use my quirk and have the skin heal around it. Yamada, dear, do you have steady hands?”

And just like that, Shota was kicked off the med team. He was told to go shower, which he did, and he changed into a new jumpsuit. 

A small meow from below him let Aizawa know that he was not alone. Maki, the adorably annoying grey shorthair Hitoshi had found when he was thirteen. 

He reached down and scratched between her ears. “You need to stay in here, alright? Mikumo will pet you once he’s better.”

The cat leveled him with a glare that could make All Might drop dead, and quietly went and curled up on Hizashi and his bed. 

Once Aizawa had decided to make his way back to the living room, he noticed the controlled chaos on the hardwood floor.

Recovery Girl and Hizashi had Izuku on the floor and on his back. While Hizashi steadily plucked out shards of glass from Izuku’s hand, Recovery Girl had set to work on cleaning and dressing the kid’s other injuries.

“You should have taken him to a hospital.”

“Those wounds aren’t self inflicted,” Aizawa sighed. “It would have been a risk to do so, if that person was still following him. Plus, he’s Tetra. I would have had to file a report and go through all of the motions with the police. They wouldn’t have let him get help as quickly as he needed it.”

Recovery Girl pursed her lips and inspected the hand Hizashi had finished with.

“He’s still unconscious. Small mercies, I suppose.” The old lady kissed Akatani’s forehead. “He’ll be in pain, but once we know that no wounds are infected, I can come back and heal his ankle. He’ll heal better in a now stress environment, so I request you keep him here. Tom, no, today, is Saturday, so be glad that you don’t have work.” 

The woman stood and nodded to the two. “Don’t make this a habit, you here? I only do house calls when it’s an emergency. You are lucky I was still healing some third years when you called, Yamada. You can try and move him to the guest bedroom, I suppose, and both of you should get some rest. I’ll have Midnight she’d over Hitoshi in the morning.”

“Thank you,” Aizawa murmured. 

“It is what I do, Aizawa. You should know that. You were my first problem child.”

Hizashi chuckled. “Ah yes. Taking on everyone in our class who had quirks when you had arms of a twig. Luckily, you built some muscle after our second year hmm?”

“Haha, let’s not turn this into a bully me moment.” Eraserhead rolled his eyes, pressing the button to get the coffee started. “Really though, thank you.”

“He’ll be fine,” She insisted. “He’s stable and in pain, but fine. You did the right thing.”

“I’m just glad we found him.”

Hizashi and Chiyo talked for a bit, before the woman left without much of a fuss.

The two worked to move the kid safely into the guest bedroom, and after they had completed that, Hizashi had kissed him goodnight.

Aizawa crashed into the bed not long after, the dull feeling of his pocket growing in warmth being noted as he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Hitoshi knew his parents were hiding something.

It wasn’t that hard to figure out. Dad never called while he was on patrol, and he had seen the flash of worry on Pop’s face before he responded with asking about anpan.

Still, he dutifully went to Midnight’s, who was barely a block or so away from their apartment and tried to sleep.

Heh “Sleep”.

Insomnia never let him do that action anyways, but the worry he felt over everything that he knew they were hiding from him made it so he couldn’t even close his eyes.

Images flashed as quickly as his thoughts, and he saw his dad, lying in an alleyway covered in blood. He saw a villain attacking the next city over. He saw U.A. being attacked.

He felt something land beside him on the couch and turned. Sushi sat there and looked at him quizzically.

The cat Midnight had had since high school- a very ancient cat- had decided that Hitoshi’s lap was a perfect resting spot and soon fell asleep purring.

Hitoshi gently pet the soft black fur and tried to force the thoughts out of his head.

Nothing could be worse than the U.S.J, right?

***

Izuku woke up in pain, but it seemed like it was dulled.

Maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe it was the fuzz and static that clouded his thoughts, but he was entirely grateful he wasn’t waking up to the full force of it.

Yeah, well, that didn’t last long.

Once the stars stopped dancing Izuku registered the pain in his leg and shoulder, his ankle, and for some odd reason his stomach.

And holy hell did his stomach ache.

Why the hell-

The door slowly creaked open and Izuku watched Hizashi step through.

“Good afternoon, listener.”

“Afternoon?” Izuku questioned. His voice sounded slurred and slow, and he coughed a bit after finishing the phrase.

Hizashi smiled a bit and gently closed the door behind him. “Yeah. It’s the afternoon now. Shouta found you around midnight last night. He’s grading some hero exams now, but...” He paused. “I told him I’d come to check up on you, you know? Recovery Girl is going to finish healing you tonight, so get some sleep before that.”

Hizashi must’ve noticed that Izuku was already falling asleep again because he quieted quickly.

“I’ll bring in some soup after that hmm? Sleep well, Mikumo.”

***

When Izuku had awoken again, he felt a hell of a lot better. His ankle didn’t hurt and his shoulder and thigh were only a light throb right now.

Granted, it was probably due to a shitload of pain meds, but hey, no pain is good pain.

Another thing- Hitoshi was next to him.

“Yo.” Izuku internally winced are how raspy his voice sounded, but at least he was able to make a sound at all.

Hitoshi didn’t even look phased. “You go missing for three days, Dad finds you in an alleyway half-dead, you’ve been unconscious for a day and a half, and the first thing you say it ‘Yo’”

“Yes.”

“God I hate you.”

Izuku pouted and pushed himself up into a half-sitting position with his elbows. “You love me. So... What’s going on?”

Hitoshi hesitated. “I don’t know much- think Dad is trying to keep me out of it on purpose- but Pops said you’re mostly healed. Recovery Girl did her best.”

“I think she did a little more than just her best. I feel great.”

“So you’re up for an interrogation?”

Izuku groaned. “Noooooooo, Eraserhead! I’m sick. I’m wounded. I don’t want to answer your questions.”

Hitoshi chuckled. “I thought you said you felt great.”

“I feel great talking to you. Eraserhead being in the room makes all the pain meds magically lose effect.”

Shouta walked over and pulled up a desk chair next to the bed. “I’m hurt.”

“You see, that’s the thing- I can’t tell if you’re joking or not.”

“Good. Hitoshi, out. Go do the dishes.”

“Aight.”

Izuku sullenly watched Hitoshi leave, and the tension in the room increased dramatically.

“So you’re Tetra.”

He didn’t say like he was asking a question. He stated it like a fact.

Izuku winced and lowered himself back onto the pillows. “Yeah.”

“Is that a confession?”

“Well, what the hell am I supposed to do, you know? You know who I am, the... person who attacked me does, and it’s only a matter of time,”

Eraserhead made a small hum of appreciation. “Thank you. Now, is there anything else you want to tell me before we continue?”

Well, when it rains it pours right? Might as well dump a bucket.

“My real name isn’t Akatani Mikumo.”

“Oh?”

“It’s Izuku Midoriya.”

Shouta paused. “So that’s why Hitoshi calls you Izuku. Did he know?”

“No!” Izuku said quickly. “He... I just asked to call me Izuku. I said it was my middle name.”

“Okay... Anything else?”

“Maybe. I’m not telling you though. Not yet.”

“Alright. So,” Shouta began. “Nezu has taken a liking to you.”

“Okay?”

“He has arranged a deal for you.”

Izuku stayed silent at that. “Since you are a minor, you will be allowed to stay at U.A and continue going to school here. You will be granted full immunity to most of the low-level crimes you’ve committed, such as occasional theft, unlicensed quirk use, and vandalism. On the condition that you give me, the Hero Public Safety Commission, and Nezu a full retelling of all and any details you’ve gathered during your years as a vigilante. As well as assist in any and every case that we think you may be of use.”

This was too good to be true.

“What's the catch?”

“You think there is a catch?”

Izuku chuckled, staring at the ceiling. “There is always a catch.”

“Fine. You won’t be allowed to return as Tetra for the remainder of your life. You also will not be allowed to leave campus unescorted by a pro-hero or law enforcement professional for any reason bar your life being in danger for six months.”

This was still too good.

“Okay,” he began. “What about my higher up crimes?”

“Pardon?”

“The felons, I guess.”

Eraserhead paused. “You will be put on a private trial, and we will make a damn good case as to why you deserve a second chance.”

Chapter Text

Six days.

Six mother fucking days he was kept on bed rest of all things due to him being “UnStAbLe.”

Izuku called bullshit.

He was fine! Didn’t they understand that?

Didn’t they understand how annoying it was to watch Aizawa pet fucking cats and do paperwork for almost a week?

Hitoshi wasn’t even there, being able to start “HeRo ScHooL” without him! The fucking nerd.

Izuku decided to actually be useful and, without whining (mostly) did his homework and let Eraserhead catch him up on what he missed.

He was told that hero students would have a huge advantage to them come the exams, but it was nothing they couldn’t overcome.

What a joke.

Finally, though, finally he was able to return to school. Just… on some morphine. Yep. He was totally ready to be back in class.

He had a crutch too. For looks, mostly, as his ankle was still in a cast.

It was a relatively normal day, to be fair. They had a “Migratory” plan to shift their academics from General Studies to Hero Studies. They were to remain in Midnight’s homeroom for the remainder of the week, and attend classes as per usual. However, instead of a free period and gym after lunch, they were to take Heroics.

Next week, they were to shift to Aizawa’s homeroom, but attend their core classes as General Studies students, take their heroics, and now, their study hall was to be spent in the gym with the Heroes.

And for the third week, their schedule would be fully modified to resemble that of a hero student.

Unfortunately, their internships (required, even for transfers) would take place in their second week. So woo, today getting used to this schedule and then the next time he’d be in school, his entire school world would be turned upside down.

It was off, but an even odder feeling for just the general mood Izuku had been in lately.

His energy levels had been down lately, and his wounds weren’t healing as fast as they usually would. Izuku just chalked it up to being exhausted and went about his day as usual though.

Until lunch.

He ordered food- one of Uraraka’s recommendations- and took one bite. He usually didn’t eat a lot, and would just nibble to not look like an idiot.

However, this time, his stomach would not tolerate that.

Izuku took one bite of the plain jasmine rice and positively groaned with delight.

It tasted so fucking good why-

In less time than that should be humanly possible, he finished the entire plate, and his stomach was still screaming for more

Hitoshi side eyed him and casually slid over a half peeled orange. “Take it. You look like shit.”

“Thanks ‘Toshi, love you too.”

Ochako giggled nervously. “Are you okay, Mikumo? You usually don’t eat that much, but you basically wolfed down your food! If you want a portion of mine-“

Izuku cut her off by waving his hand dismissively. “Oh, I’m fine. Just didn’t eat this morning, s’all.”

His stomach growled again and a protein bar was shoved his way.

Izuku nodded to Ochako in thanks and took the orange as well, scarfing them both down as the bell rang.

Ochako smiled brightly. “You two ready for heroics?”

***

They stuck out like a sore thumb.

It was honestly kinda weird how every person in the room seemed to know everything about each other, and ergo was pleasantly surprised when two new kids joined.

Izuku guessed they wanted the tea.

Well, the others (especially the girls) seemed extremely excited to have them both in, and a few of the guys even came up to Hitoshi to chat.

Izuku stayed quiet and listened. He also watched.

He observed how the blonde with shoulder length hair stood a little closer to Hitoshi then what seemed appropriate.

Izuku observed how the specimen of a man- Shoto Todoroki, he later learned- eyed him like a piece of meat.

He also noticed how Kachan looked simultaneously like an angry, explosive Pomeranian and like a kicked,said, angry Pomeranian.

Izuku waved cheerfully and went back to ignoring his ex-friend’s existence.

“I am here!”

Izuku whipped around, and blinked a few times.

Bruh. All might was here.

Of course there was rumors that he was teaching the hero course and he did appear at the sports festival, but Izuku had thought it was just a large media scandal!

Okay, now that he’s thinking about it, mayyybbe a large scale media ploy was unlikely, unthought of, and a lil bit impossible, but sue him for not wanting to meet his Daddy Dearest’s no.1 enemy.

“All right, everyone! Sit down. Today is going to be just another boring lecture!”

Everyone groaned and Izuku snickered.

Turns out, even while All Might was talking about some laws and regulations that heroes “Just HaD to KnOw” he still managed to sound upbeat.

Not even All Might himself, Izuku was sure, knew how.

However, something interesting did come out of that class.

Hitoshi and him were given their internship papers. Apparently, they informed the scouters that they would be available for internships, and got some based off of that.

Izuku glanced over and saw that Hitoshi had tonnnssssss of people wanting him, and it made him feel a little sad at the one agency listed on his letter.

Izuku squinted at the page and his eyes went wide when he saw what it said.

‘Kyushu’s Winged Agency- Pro Hero Hawks.’

Chapter Text

“The number three hero…”

“Yup!”

Eraserhead rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t like it.”

Izuku smirked. “Oh I know.”

“And that makes you want to do it more?”

“Well, of course!”

Eraserhead stood from the couch. They were back home, with Maki weaving between legs and Mic clanging around in the kitchen.

“You do realize that because you were late getting back, that the class leaves for internships are tomorrow.”

Izuku nodded. “Yeah.”

“You also aren’t supposed to be fighting. Your wounds are still very much not healed.”

Izuku tapped his foot quickly against the floor.

Of fucking course he knew that. That wasn’t the point.

“I’m more interested in “why the number three” rather than fighting, Aizawa.”

“I don’t blame you kid.”

Silence filled the space between them. Then, slowly, Aizawa walked over, and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I can’t stop you, so you can go. However, you will only patrol with Hawks’s sidekicks.”

“Okay.”

“Should you patrol with Hawks, you will only do so for half the duration that he does.”

“Okay…?” That was a bit excessive.

“I want daily check ins. Morning and night. I have a patrol scheduled with hawks on Thursday, so if you are severely injured by then I will call it off.”

Eraserhead nods to himself and walks forward, into the kitchen.

“Go get packed, kid.”

Chapter Text

The bullet train to Kyushu was boring. Oh so boring.

Izuku had done many a things to keep said boredom at bay, but none of worked for very long.

He threw paper balls at some college kid, scrolled through insta, played peek-a-boo with the baby behind him, and even went so far as to get his homework done early.

Finally, finally the ride was over, and the sprawling city with the very obvious “Hawks Hero Agency” in the middle.

None of the building stood as tall as the agency did, and, of course, none of them had two giant wings made out of stained glass on certain windows painted on the front.

So, Izuku expected to have to walk all the way to the heart of the city, not receive a shoulder grab as soon as he stepped off the train and start to be led away.

“What the he-“

“-Shush, kid, I’m just trying to avoid the press.”

The voice was relaxed, carefree, and he recognized it immediately.

“Hawks?”

“That’s me! Just, stay low, Kay? You can’t fly, so I got us an Uber.”

“The number three hero got an Uber?”

“Yeah, it wasn’t a pleasant experience.”

Hawks pointed to an inconspicuous looking vehicle, and they both climbed into the backseat.

Hawks’s wings took up a look of room, and Izuku squished himself against the door.

“Yoshimoto?” Hawks hummed. “Take us to that ice cream place near my agency, yeah?”

Izuku raised an eyebrow but didn’t say a word.

It didn’t take long to reach their destination, and they both got out cheerily.

“What happened to avoiding the press, Hawks?”

The hero shrugged, ordering two vanilla ice cream cones and an extra large coffee from the counter. He pointed to a table and handed one ice cream to Izuku.

All around them, people were whispering. Pointing to Hawks, who was in casual clothes but his wings were as recognizable as ever. The small flashes of camera lights were going off, and Izuku knew this was going to be in every gossip magazine tomorrow.

“Well, let’s just say that at the station I wanted to avoid the press,” he sipped his coffee. “But right now, I want them looking at us.”

“Why?”

Hawks leaned in, a carefree grin on his face.

“Because then, you can’t make a scene, Tetra.”

Chapter Text

Who the fuck-

Nonono, I’m sorry, whom the fork gave this bird the right-

Izuku had to hold back what would’ve been a very villain-esque laugh.

This bird has figured him out! And, from the sounds of it, had been knowing for a while.

Did Aizawa tell him?

Izuku quickly pushed that thought away. No. Eraserhead wouldn’t have told anyone that wasn’t necessary.

“Wow, you love being a dramatic lil pigeon don’t you?”

Hawks smirked. “It’s one of my favorite pastimes. Now, story time.”

“Well... how much do you know?”

Hawks took a large sip from his coffee and absentmindedly started working on his ice cream.

“Well, it all started in a meeting I was privy to about a month or two ago.” Hawks waved his ice cream around as he spoke.

Of fucking course this guy talks with his hands.

“You know, the meeting where we meant to capture you after you and Eraser’s lil date?”

Izuku nodded.

“Anyways, eraser was all like “I can’t catch him” and that struck a cord in me. While the number two at the moment was talking about how incompetent Aizawa was, I was barking up a different tree.”

Hawks set his coffee down and rested his chin on his palm.

“If Eraserhead couldn’t catch you, that meant one of two things. One, you were more slippery than a cartoon banana peel, or two, Aizawa had some sort of emotional attachment to you. So I made up some excuse as to why I couldn’t be there for the great ambush, and instead, disguised myself as a civilian.”

Izuku growled. Where the hell was Hawks going with this? He didn’t need a that-one-guy from antman story.

“You probably didn’t notice, because Eraserhead sure as hell didn’t, but I was in the coffee shop with you and when you two had your little chat. Ergo-“

“-You saw me use my quirk, and the glow side effect,” Izuku finished.

“Bingo. However, even that didn’t sit right. So I grabbed my sidekicks and we went through all the quirk registration papers in Japanese history. Ever since I found the one for your quirk, I’ve been waiting to catch Tetra. When I saw you at the sports festival, and it soon became common knowledge that you would be transferred to the heroics course, I knew I had to get you as my intern and question you myself.”

“So my first question, Tetra, is how the hell do you have a dead man’s quirk?”

At that, Izuku bristled. This hero was dangerously close to knowing stuff that Eraserhead- no, the entirety of hero society- didn’t know.

“What the hell do you mean, bird boy?”

“Bird man, actually,” Hawks hummed. “Chikara, right? That’s your quirk’s name?”

At Izuku’s nod, Hawks resumed talking.

“Also, good to see you drop the golden child UwU act, it was kinda annoying. Anyways, are in any way related to Tanaka Izumi? A girl, who lived, say, around fifty years ago?”

Izuku frowned. So that’s where daddy dearest got the quirk from.

“Nope! Never heard of her.”

“Really?” Hawks questioned. “Because she standard learning in history textbooks. She was the first female superhero to make it to the top one hundred, and, eventually, the top twenty. She also was known for being murdered by One for All.”

Don’t flinch, don’t flinch don’t-

“That was actually what started All Might and his rivalry,” the hero continued. “Well, publicly, at least. The woman was brutally dismembered, and the quirk glands behind the cerebellum were damaged. There was a nationwide manhunt for her after she went missing, and All Might led the case. That, ultimately, lead to the battle of Osaka, his and AFO’s first big fight.”

“The one where he saved hundreds of people in alone.” The battle with that one civilian video of him proudly going “I am here!” While carrying women, men, and children on his shoulders.

The Battle of Osaka was something Izuku knew of intimately, and with every syllable leaving Hawks’s mouth, he felt the hole he was in slowly get deeper and deeper.

“But whether or not you have her quirk is irrelevant, what I want to know is how the hell you managed to convince Eraserhead, of all people, to take you in. Sure, in all honesty, it’s probably because he wants to keep an eye on you, but even he would know that the League of Villains has a pretty high price on your head. Makes me wonder what you did to upset them.”

Hawks sighed dramatically, finishing his ice cream and throwing it away.

“If you can’t tell, I have a lot of questions. Oh well! I’ll find the answers all out soon enough. Come on, kid, we have a patrol to do.”

Chapter Text

During patrol with Hawks, Izuku couldn’t think. On one hand, he was like, very much internally panicking over what the hell the bird was going to do with information that could literally end his life, and on the other, the patrol was very uneventful. That led to a whole heck of daydreaming.

Daydreaming when he wasn’t running, of course. 

Why did the bird have to fly everywhere? It was like Eraser’s Bootcamp all over again!

At roughly eight o’clock, they finished. Eraser had made arrangements for him to stay in a guest room reserved for visiting Heroes at Hawks’ agency, and the bird was more than happy to escort him directly to it.

‘ Guess he doesn’t want me snooping. Smart.’

“So!” Hawks chirped, still annoyingly charismatic for someone that just did an eight-hour patrol. It made Izuku want to hold a knife to his neck. 

“So what?”

“I’m not gonna interrogate you again if that’s what you’re thinking.” Hawks hummed, his voice lowering to a near whisper. “And I’m not gonna tell the commission- or eraser- if that’s what you’re worried about.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “That’s dumb.”

“Or,” he countered. “Extremely smart. I have a theory, and if it turns out to be true, then I’ll have to arrest you. But I really don’t want to do that, it’s a pain and a lot of paperwork, and you can benefit me in the long run.”

“So I’m a pawn in your chess game?”

“I prefer checkers but anyways sure, if that’s how you are going to think about it. I don’t really care.” Hawks’s steps slowed until they were standing outside of a large wooden door. “ Just be up by six a.m tomorrow. We’ll get breakfast and then we’ll train.” he paused before adding. “With quirks.”

“Wanna get your ass kicked that badly, bird boy?”

“I don’t think you’ll be the one kicking ass, kid.” Hawks huffed and turned away. “If you have nightmares or some shit I’ll be in my office doing paperwork.” 

Huh. So that was the number three hero. 

The fastest man alive, ranked number one in Japan’s sexist Man alive since he first debuted as a hero- almost four, maybe five years running, then-. That was the person always regarded as a man who strategized but wasn’t so book smart. 

But within half a day, Izuku knew now that everything he had assumed was a lie. 

Oh, this week is going to be so. Much. Fun. 

A loud thud sounded as Izuku hit the tatami floor mats for the thirteenth time in a row. 

“Oh my god,” He groaned. “Can I use my quirk? And, like, not you? That would be pretty pog not gonna lie-”

“Chikara is a quirk that gives you incredible power, Akatani. Use it.” 

A flash of anger went through him as Izuku picked himself off of the floor. “I have been using it! Raw power doesn’t beat you when you can literally throw me out the window with one feather!”

“Defenestrate.”

“Deforestation who?”

Hawks smirked. “The act of throwing someone out of a window is defenestration.”

“Why the hell are you tell me this?”

“To distract you.”

Izuku could feel the tips of feathers push on his major pressure points on his neck and knees, sending him down once again. 

But the feathers weren’t like knives like how they are when Hawks fights villains, but they weren’t soft like how they are when he’s patrolling. 

‘Wonder how much control he has…’

“Chikara is more than a superpower. If it was just that, then Tanaka Izumi would have never reached the level she did. You,” -Hawks just wagged a finger aggressively- “Need to figure out the secret behind it.”

Izuku gave him a tired two-finger salute. “Will do, chief.”

“Good! Drink water- Eraser would literally decapitate me if you fainted from dehydration. Meet me in my office when you feel ready.” 

Izuku nodded and went to the mini-fridge in the corner of the training room. There were fresh bottled waters and cold Gatorade in it, and Izuku took a blue one because only heathens drank red (looking at you, Hitoshi.)

Speak of the devil and he shall appear, and all that, because as soon as that thought crossed his mind, his phone buzzed. 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t Hitoshi, which brought a slight pout to his face.

8:47 A.M

Unknown:

Usual spot. 2 A.M. Bring what you need. Don’t text back.

Well, this week just keeps getting more and more interesting, doesn’t it? 

8:47 A.M

Midoriya:

Finally made it into the league? 

8:48 A.M

Unknown:

What the hell did I say, kid? Don’t. Text. Back.

8:49 A.M

Midoriya:

Like I would listen to a walking hot-topic ad. 

8:51 A.M

Midoriya:

I’ll be there. 

Izuku downed the bottle of Gatorade in one go, wiping his mouth with his sweat-soaked sleeve. 

A very interesting week indeed.

Chapter Text

7:07 AM

Izuku:

I need to rant.

Hitoshi:

Oh?

Izuku:

Jesus christ I didn’t expect you to be up.

Hitoshi:

I just finished patrol with dad smh. What’s your excuse?

Izuku:

I was getting to that.

Izuku: Okay so.

Izuku:

I’m feeling homicidal.

Hitoshi:

Towards whom?

Izuku:

Hawks.

Hitoshi:

Why?

Izuku:

• He flies everywhere. He leaves me to run to catch after him.

Hitoshi:
Oof

Izuku:

• We have to be ready for the day by 6am pronto every morning.

Hitoshi:

At least you don’t have to pull all night patrols.

Izuku:

Whatever. 3. THE MOTHER FUCKER LEFT ME TO DO HIS PAPERWORK

Izuku:

While he

Izuku:

Went

Izuku:

On

Izuku:

Patrol

Hitoshi:

Hah, loser

Izuku: 

AND AFTER THIS, GUESS WHAT?

Hitoshi:

What

Izuku:

I HAVE TO CARRY HIS LUGGAGE 

Izuku:

For a goddamn

Izuku:

*Modeling shoot*

Hitoshi:
Then get to it, personal assistant Izuku

Izuku::

I hate you. 

Hitoshi:

The feeling is mutual. 

After vent-texting Hitoshi, Izuku was ready to throw his phone across the room. 

He had finished the paperwork and incident reports thirty minutes ago (Purposefully half-assing them, thank you very much), and he really, really wanted some coffee. Scrolling through the email Hawks sent him, he noticed the bird had included the times and locations of his model shoots later. A quick google search later, he learned the shooting location (For a personalized ‘Hawks’ Rolex, apparently?) was just five minutes away from where he wanted to meet. 

Izuku grinned like a feral cat. Good. 

He can shake the bird for a measly five, ten minutes. 

The gravity of what he was about to do- meet up with a known criminal, willingly, while also deceiving the hero currently acting as his legal guardian.

Hell, for all he knows, ole AFO sent Dabi and made the edge-lord text him out of the blue.

Maybe this was a trap. 

And didn’t that just send shivers down Izuku’s spine? 

God, it's been barely three weeks since he left and kinda turned over a new leaf (Read; Kinda). He still hated hero society with a fucking passion, but the villains were worse. So. Much. Worse. 

Izuku felt the thing in his jacket pocket grow heavier with every passing second that his thoughts stayed on this topic. He pulled it out gently, letting the metal bracelet clang against the desk in front of him. 

Without this thing, this twisted gift from his father, he would be quirkless. Gone would be Chikara and the no eating and no sleeping and whatever the hell else was there.

He would be… different.

Everyone has a quirk these days, right?

Some part of him wanted to keep it. A relic from a time where he wasn’t in an active stage of rebellion. Another part of him wanted to burn it until all that was left was ashes (Maybe Dabi can help with that?). He could deal with being quirkless if it meant he could have a normal fucking life .

When did arsonists, insomniacs, and tired dad friends become his only texting buddies anyways?

Izuku sighed and slipped the bracelet back in his pocket. He had noticed that as long as the bracelet wasn’t directly touching his skin, then the whole  “forced loyalty’ shit didn’t work, but he still retained aspects of each quirk the bracelet held. 

God he needed something to do with his hands. Something that wasn't forging a hero’s signature appears or his phone that was empty of notifications-

A buzz.

What was with the world and conveniently timed texts these days? Plot armor, perhaps?

Izuku picked up the object and squinted at the notifications. 

Momo has added you to a group chat. 

,,,

The hell?

Immediately, his phone started blowing up. 

Momo:

There! I did it. Welcome, Akatani and Shinsou. 

Iida: 

Yes! Welcome. This chat is meant for work, however, the occasional meme is okay. 

Todoroki:

What is a meme?

Mina:

Oh, Hunny-

Annnnddd mute. 

There we go. It wasn’t like he was gonna need to use that chat anyways. 

However, Izuku did save Todoroki’s number. Who knows? It may come in handy some days.

Modeling shoots were unnecessary and draining. IZuku was getting tired from just watching Hawks. 

However, the hero took everything like a champ. He had the watch on with a plain white tee and then had to change into three more outfits to model the same watch . If the photographer gave him directions, he followed them wordlessly and perfectly.

The precision and attitude screamed ‘practiced’, like Hawks were used to receiving orders.

Eh, as a hero you probably get a lot of shit. 

Afterwards, they ate some chicken (Cannibalism. Pure, utter cannibalism) and then went on a “mini” patrol. 

“Just for press, T!”

“Why,”

“Because it looks good.” Hawks grabbed Izuku’s shoulder and pressed him into his side. Izuku just went with it, turning his face away to look as though he was in deep conversation with Hawks when cameras flashed.

“When you are a top hero,” Hawks murmured. “Everyone is always watching. Always. You can’t slip, no matter what. Or else they’ll lose faith, and a hero’s goal is compromised.”

“I should probably spout some mental health BS but eh. You do you, bro.”

Hawks rolled his eyes and then a scream shouted a few blocks away.

“Ugh, stay here kid. I’ll be back.”

As soon as Hawks was out of sight, Izuku checked his wrist. Eight pm. It’ll have to do for the crusty fucker. 

Izuku sprinted away and ducked into an alleyway. He ran as fast as he could for a while, zig-zagging in alleyways and passages, before tucking himself into the secluded corner of a cate cafe.

Izuku went to the unknown number and hit the call button.

It rang once, twice, before a gruff voice of our favorite blue-fired arsonist picked up.

“I wanted to meet in person.”

“I’m not that dumb, dabster!” Izuku chirped. “Now, did AFO send you?”

Dabi grumbled. “No. I’d  be dead if he knew I was talking to a traitor.” 

“Good! We have something in common then. Now,” Izuku’s voice dropped around two voice levels. “What the hell do you want?”

There was some silence on the other end before the voice grumbled and spoke back. 

“I want you to give me updates on the Todoroki kid that's in your class.”

…. What?

“Why? You wanna kill him?”

“No. I want… I need you to keep him safe. You know the league better than I do, even us newbies. You know their fighting styles. If at any point, they go after Todoroki Shouto, I want you to intercept them.”

Izuku pursed his lips.

Dabi, a villain with a vendetta against Endeavor, wants to protect the man’s son?  

“Is this a no-question asked kinda deal?”

“Yes.” He stressed, the phone line crackling and Izuku could almost imagine the tension headache he was going to give this guy.

“Then what do I get out of it?”

“What do you want?

The feral grin was back. “I have just the thing.”

Hawks had eventually found him, and although he had tried to play it cool, Izuku could see the frustration brimming under his mask. 

He was kinda impressed he could pull such emotion from a usually upbeat person (It was then that he knew that the happiness was scripted. Every move made on the number three's part was carefully calculated with every possible outcome in mind). 

That night, Izuku had his laptop out and logged into the chatroom he had created a while back for information trading.

Blue is online. 

Blue is typing…

Blue sent a message!

Attachment: Hawks_pdf

Blue: I want you to know that for anyone else this would have been impossible to get.

Tetra: You gave me a near-impossible request.

Blue: Touche. Just a bit of advice?

Tetra:?

Blue: Don’t trust the bird.

Chapter Text

Hi. Welcome.

I’m posting this Authors note to let you know that I’ve fallen out of the Mya fandom. I’ve been in it for almost three years now, and my hyperfixation as moved to a new topic. I loved the time and the good memories that MHA has given me, and I’ll never forget it.

Please note that I do intend to finish this fic. I love it dearly and I will not let it go. However, I need time to readjust myself and take a break from the fandom. I will be back, don’t you worry about that.

Thank you for reading.

-CW