Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The idea started to form during a visit with his mother. Shouto had pulled up a chair next to her bed so his mom could remain sitting on the edge as she tended to during their visits. The curtains in her room were open, the sunlight was pouring in through the large windows that lined the wall giving the room a warm and light feeling. They chatted quietly about safe topics, stories Fuyumi had shared about her students, how Shouto was settling into the dorms and dorm life, and the antics Shouto’s more rowdy classmates have gotten into.

At a lull in the conversation, his mom said, “Shouto, do you still want to be a hero?”

Shouto furrowed his brows in worry. He had been avoiding topics like this on purpose. Afraid his mother would not want the same things and terrified of what would happen when she learned he was using his fire. Shouto looked down at his feet, his hands gripped his knees. “Yes,” he said quietly but clearly. He didn’t want to lie to her. Not about this, not about anything. 

His mom reached out and took one of his hands as she said, “I am so happy to hear that.” She squeezed his hand gently and continued, “When you were little you wanted to be like All Might and I was so worried I ruined your dream.” 

Shouto jerked his head up and looked at her. “Mom, you couldn’t ruin anything. It wasn’t your fault.” He shook his head. The words were threatening to spill out, but he needed her to understand. “It would have been his fault. He almost did. If it wasn’t for my friend, I wouldn’t have remembered that I wanted to be a hero to save people and not just a pawn in his conquest for a legacy.” He took his mother’s other hand in his as he said, “I don’t want to be like him but I still want to be a hero.” He paused as he tried to find the words. “I want to be a real hero,” like Midoriya was for me, he thought but didn’t say.  

“I’m so proud of you Shouto. I’m sure you will be a splendid hero.” There were tears in her eyes threatening to spill over.

“Thanks, Mom,” he said as his mom took her hands back to carefully wipe her eyes. 

“And I am so happy to hear you have made friends that can do so much for you.”

“Me too,” he said, feeling himself warm a bit at the thought. He never expected to have friends and never expected them to mean so much to him. 

Their conversation drifted back into safer topics for the rest of their visit.

The idea started to form after Kamino Ward. Izuku watched as his mentor, his idol, the Symbol of Peace, barely won the battle against All for One and was forced into retirement as a result. He couldn’t help but think about how world-changing that was. 

In the months that followed Izuku watched as the world scrambled to hold itself together with the dramatic loss of it’s symbol. Crime rates went up and new villains and villainous organizations appeared regularly. Confidence in heroes was at an all-time low. Sometimes the heroes didn’t appear to believe in themselves anymore. Izuku watched it all and wondered if having a Symbol of Peace that could fall was worse than having no symbol at all. 

The global crime rate did decrease with the rise of All Might but was that correlation or causation? Were heroes getting better? Were there fewer villains, less reason for people to go into villainy? All Might spent most of his time in Japan and while his time in America was well-known, why had a hero that spent most of his time in one country credited with worldwide change? Izuku’s mind buzzed with these questions as he sat in his dorm room one evening unable to sleep. 

Izuku had always wanted to be like All Might, saving the day with a smile and inspiring hope. When All Might chose him as his successor, he knew he was going to be the next Symbol of Peace. He believed then it would be a seamless transition. Hero Deku in spot number two when All Might decided to retire, handing over the metaphorical torch to his successor. Izuku would still have had to work hard for his spot next to All Might but was determined to do so.  But now, there was a gap. There was no Symbol of Peace and no one to take up the mantle. 

Seeing firsthand the aftermath of All Might’s forced retirement hit Izuku with how human All Might is. How human all heroes are. There was no guarantee they would win the battle, save the citizens, avoid mistakes, come out able to fight the next villain or even come out alive. All Might was human and he could have died in his first battle with All for One with no successor to take his place. Izuku wouldn’t be able to take All Might’s place for years. If he managed to take it at all.

Symbols have a purpose but when those symbols are human is it really worth it? 

Izuku had accepted the burden All Might placed on him but he was beginning to wonder if he should have. Was the symbol worth preserving? Should so much of the hero system depend on the single hero at the top? 

Izuku knew he couldn’t answer these questions quickly. He decided to do what he did best. Pulling out a new notebook he labeled the front ‘Hero System Analysis No. 1’ and turned to the first page. Muttering to himself as he wrote, he listed out topics that would need more research, his current thoughts on the system, and questions he had. 

The idea was solidified one day after a conversation with his father. 

Shouto was sitting at his desk with his schoolwork spread out around him as he worked on the recent Math assignment. His phone rang and he glanced at the screen to see who was calling. He thought about ignoring it again but it was the fifth time Endeavor had called today. Shouto was rather sick of hearing his phone ring. Clearly, the man wasn’t going to give up. 

“Father,” he answered tersely. 

“Shouto, you should answer your phone when I call. I need to talk to you,” Endeavor said.

Shouto rolled his eyes. “That is usually why people call,” Shouto said sarcastically. 

Endeavor huffed with annoyance. “This is important. Just listen to me.”  

“Fine.” 

“I know you had a run-in with a villain that goes by the name Dabi at your training camp over the summer. Dark hair, scars, blue flame quirk.”  

“Yes,” Shouto said, wondering where his father was going with this. 

“It has come to my attention that he might be-” his father paused and Shouto heard an annoyed grunt. “He might be Touya.”  

Shouto went silent, too shocked to speak. He gripped the phone tightly, his knuckles turning white. 

Touya’s dead. Touya’s dead! 

He remembered seeing his brother bleeding and burned as the ambulance took him away after his quirk went out of control. He never came home. Died in the hospital as a result of his wounds. They had a funeral. His ashes and bones were in the family grave. What was his father talking about? 

Touya’s dead.  

“Touya’s dead,” he said numbly, unable to voice anything else. 

“Touya might not have died,” his father said without any emotion. 

“But the burns, the hospital, the funeral! I remember you putting his ashes in the grave. What are you talking about?” Shouto was barely able to keep himself from yelling. This didn’t make any sense. 

Touya’s dead!  

“He ran away from the hospital after he was admitted. No one with a healing quirk had been able to help, he had been too weak. He was never found, assumed dead, and we held a funeral,” Endeavor said. 

“But the ashes. You told us he died in the hospital. Touya is dead. Touya died. We had a funeral.” Shouto knew he had started to become incoherent but unable to stop himself. “Touya is dead. He can’t be a villain when he is dead. Those burns. Touya died from his burns.” He felt his mind burning with thoughts as he ignored whatever Endeavor was saying. 

Touya’s dead. Touya might not be dead. Touya might be alive. Touya might be a villain.  

“Shouto, listen to me. I am only telling you this because he has attacked you once before. You may be targeted again in the future. Dabi is a villain and needs to be stopped,” Endeavor was starting to sound angry but Shouto was unable to say anything as his mind continued to run. 

Touya might be alive. Touya might be a villain. But alive!  

“Shouto! Do you understand?” Endeavor yelled into the phone.  

Shouto hadn’t been listening, but he wanted this call to end. “Yes,” he said, clipped and short. 

“Good. That’s all.” Endeavor said and hung up. 

Shouto set his phone down and stared at the Math homework in front of him uncomprehendingly.  

Touya’s alive!  

His father had lied about his death. His father had faked Touya’s death. He knew his father saw his children as a means to an end but to care so little? Shouto had believed his father had cared in some way, but he sounded so uncaring on the phone.

Do Natsu-nii and Fuyumi-nee know? Does mother? Should I tell them? Touya’s alive!  

Touya had been pushed into villainy.  

The thought struck like a lightning bolt. This too, like his mother’s mental breakdown, was the fault of his father. The number two hero, number one now, had broken his wife and pushed his firstborn into villainy. Shouto was already sure he never wanted to be a hero like his father but now he knew what kind of hero he wanted to be.

The idea was solidified after the School Festival. 

Izuku was resting after the cleanup in the common room listening to his classmates’ chatter. He scrolled through the photos that were taken that day. Eri had smiled so much that he wondered if her cheeks hurt. The day had been wonderful and he was grateful he could give Eri a day filled with fun. 

Izuku let his mind wander as he scrolled, thinking about how they saved Eri. All Might couldn’t have saved her. She was too hidden. It took dozens of small-time local heroes all working together with Sir Nighteye to locate her. Without Sir’s investigative skills she would have never been found. All Might would have never faced off against Overhaul. He was too high ranking to have even been considered for the raid on the Shie Hassaikai. It would have leaked if All Might was on the case and Overhaul would have gone into hiding with Eri long before the heroes could have made a move.

It was only due to the fact that the main people on the case and actively investigating were relatively unknown. Ryukyu and Fatgum worked in the right areas to be involved without raising suspicion. 

Izuku was seeing it more and more. The smaller heroes seemed to make a larger difference but rarely had the strongest quirks. Instead, they depended on surprise and honed skill to defeat the villains. Villains often underestimated local heroes too.

Their raiding force had only just been enough to save Eri and that had come at a high cost. Too high of a cost. Sir’s death and Mirio-senpai lost his quirk, neither should’ve happened. Eri’s power was the only reason he had been able to save her. She saved herself. Victims shouldn’t have to save themselves. What good are heroes if children have to save themselves from villains like Overhaul?

And the league had been there. All Might had managed to defeat All for One but Shigaraki and the rest of the league were still out there. Trying to be the next Symbol would paint a target on his back. A target he was willing to take but did that target mean the league would actually go after him? So far they hadn’t, not since the mall incident and clearly, Shigaraki wasn’t out to kill him that day. The league was hiding in the shadows, somewhere he couldn’t track them.

Izuku headed back to his dorm room. Once inside he pulled out ‘Hero System Analysis No 2.’ His research had expanded to a second notebook pretty quickly but the results were damning. He flipped through, rereading bits and pieces of information he had gathered. He already knew the picture that had been painted. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, his decision was already made.

Chapter Text

It was the first day of class for the new school year and Aizawa was already tired. He got out of his sleeping bag and gave his students an appraising glare. They were second years now and while he would never admit it he was proud of most of them. He had never had a full class make it to second year before. He had always expelled at least one student but this bunch had bonded together and pushed each other further than any other class he had taught before.

  Multiple villains attacks would do that, he thought ruefully.

They all needed a lot of work before they would even be close to Pro level, some more than others, but he was proud.

“You have managed to make it through your first year without getting expelled. Things are only going to get harder from here on out,” he said with one of his cheshire grins. 

Some of the students groaned but it was a noise more of acceptance than complaint.

“I want an eight-page essay on what kind of hero you want to be and why. Due next Monday, standard formatting rules apply,” he said tiredly.

“Oh, this sounds like a fun assignment for once!” Ashido said.

“I would expect such assignments from the Hero Course!” Sero responded excitedly. 

“Everyone should be quiet. Aizawa-sensei is not done with class yet,” Iida said loudly while chopping his arm robotically in the air.

“Is this real? Is Aizawa-sensei going easy on us because it is the first day of the school year?” Kaminari asked.

“Oi, shut up!” Jirou pointed one of her earjacks at Kaminari. “Do you want him to give us more work?” 

Aizawa activated his quirk and glared at his students causing them to quiet down quickly. “You are being given a week because this isn’t supposed to be an easy assignment. You all need to think about this. These essays will be used to help decide on how to customize your training for the rest of your time here at U.A. Take this seriously.” He gave his students another once over. “You can start now. I am taking a nap.” He quickly got into his sleeping bag and rolled, facing away from the students.

The kids quickly started chatting away.

“I want to be a hero that outshines all the others.” 

“I’m gonna be super manly! Just like Crimson Riot.”

“I’m gonna be number one!” There was the sound of small explosions. “None of you extras will ever be able to beat me.”

“I want to be the hero that gets all the ladies!”

“We all know what Deku-kun is going to write about!” Aizawa heard the nervous laughter he assumed to be from Midoriya. “I am going to have to think about it. I wanted to be a rescue hero like Thirteen but after my time with Gunhead and Ryukyu I am not sure anymore.”

“I am sure you will figure it out, Ochako-chan. Ribbit .”

The lunchroom was bustling as the group of friends found their usual seats. “Ah, I missed Lunch Rush’s food!” Izuku said as he dug into his meal.

“It’s healthy and tasty. As expected of U.A.” Iida said.

They ate their lunch and chatted about what they did over break. Asui shared stories about the time she spent with her siblings. Uraraka was able to go visit her parents. Everyone seems to have had a pretty relaxing spring break.

“Do you all want to work on that essay Aizawa-sensei gave us together after school?” Uraraka asked the table.

“That’s a good idea!” Izuku said. He knew he was going to struggle on it and having others might help. He wasn’t sure he wanted to tell them his decision yet but he would like the company while he worked.

Todoroki nodded. “I can do that.” Izuku smiled at him. He was so proud of his friend. He had opened up and started socializing so much more. No longer the cold, aloof person he was at the start of high school.

“Hm, I want to give it more thought first,” Asui said, putting her finger to her chin. “I have a pretty good idea but he sounded like we should really take it seriously. Ribbit. Not to mention I want to get started on the math homework from Ectoplasm-sensei.”

“Ah, I was trying to forget about the math homework. I was having trouble understanding the lesson today,” Uraraka said dejectedly, slumping down in her seat.

“Do you want to join me for the math homework then? Ribbit. I may be able to explain it to you, Ochako-chan,” Asui offered.

“Really? That would mean so much to me Tsu-chan! Thank you!”

Izuku looked over at Iida. “What about you? Essay or math?”

“I believe I am going to work on my essay but I find I work on such assignments best alone. It allows me to think and detail out my thoughts,” Iida said seriously.

“Ah, makes sense.” Izuku turned to Todoroki. “Did you still want to work on the essay together?”

Todoroki was quiet for a few breaths before he nodded. “I would like that.”

“Sounds good! Ah, your room after school? Mine might not be best…” Izuku trailed off. He thought of all of his All Might posters and memorabilia covering his room, worried that it would make him feel even guiltier while he worked on the essay.

“Sure.”

Shouto was having trouble with his essay. He wasn’t sure how to express that he wants to go underground without revealing his family situation. He knew he couldn't reveal the truth about Touya either. It hadn't been confirmed. Shouto either had a dead brother or a villain brother. He wasn't sure which option was worse but his father was the cause either way. 

He knew his thoughts were going to spiral if he kept thinking about Touya. To avoid that, he turned his head to look at Midoriya. He was reading through one of his notebooks, pen against his lower lip, clearly thinking hard about the essay they were working on. 

“I thought this assignment would be easy for you,” he said. 

Midoriya’s eyes shot up to him. “I know. It would have been a year ago .” He put his pen in his notebook and set it aside. “Or even six months ago,” he said with a sigh. 

Shouto knew he wasn’t the best conversationalist but this was a statement he wasn’t expecting. Everyone knew Midoriya wanted to be like All Might. The notebook caught his attention and he noticed it was titled ‘Hero System Analysis No 2.’ Shouto hadn’t seen that one before. He had assumed it was the notebook for a class or one of his Hero Analysis books. 

Midoriya continued before Shouto could think of anything to say. “Maybe that is why Aizawa-sensei gave it to us now instead of at the start of school. Goals change.” Midoriya said with a shrug, eyes moving in a way that avoided looking at Shouto. 

Shouto blinked in surprise at this admission, unsure of how to respond but he wanted to say something. “That's true,” he said, trying to offer something. It was true, goals did change. Shouto’s own goals had changed drastically. He no longer wanted to only use his ice, he no longer wanted to be a ranked hero, much less the number one hero.

He was saved from saying something awkward as Midoriya spoke. “I always wanted to be like All Might but after Kamino and the fallout, after saving Eri, I am not sure anymore.” He looked down at his notebook, “I wouldn’t have been able to save Eri if I was famous like All Might and-” he cut off. Looking guilty Midoriya said, “I am not sure that having a Symbol of Peace is actually beneficial to society anymore.” 

Shouto dropped his pencil and stared at Midoriya, dumbstruck. Midoriya glanced up at him before looking away again. Midoriya must have seen the shock on Shouto’s face.

The Symbol of Peace? Not beneficial?  

“I know, I know!” Midoriya groaned out. “I just-” a pause, “Okay, look at this.” He moved closer to Shouto grabbing his notebook and flipping to a page with a graph detailing how crime rates fell with the rise in popularity of All Might. “Everyone always gives All Might credit for the drop in crime but I started to wonder if that was actually connected and not just coincidence.”

Midoriya took a deep breath. “So, I started looking into other things that are known to cause drops in crime to see if they had been implemented or expanded.” He turned to the next page which had even more graphs. He pointed to the top one. “This is the increase in programs for the homeless.” He pointed to the next. “This is the increase in the programs for villain reform.” He pointed to the one next to it. “And this is one that shows how few recommit crime after they are in one of the programs.”

Midoriya went on and on so quickly Shouto couldn’t follow. There were graphs and statistics about welfare, increased budgets for education, decriminalization of victimless crimes, even how the number of quirkless was falling. Shouto tried to catch as much as he could but he was too overwhelmed to say anything. Midoriya finally stopped and looked over to Shouto. Eyes pleading with tears that had yet to fall. Shouto wanted to say something but he was so stunned he just stared. 

Midoriya looked back down at his notebook and started to furiously rub the tears from his eyes.

“Midoriya,” Shouto finally said after a small eternity of silence. Midoriya looked up and their eyes locked, “Are you saying that All Might isn't a deterrent to crime?”

“Yes- well- no. Kind of?” he rubbed his eyes once more. Midoriya flipped to another page in his notebook, “See if we look at the stats before All Might we can see similar trends when programs were introduced elsewhere. During his career, more of them were implemented and existing ones were expanded. I think we would have seen the same downward trend even if All Might wasn’t around.” He flipped to another page. “All Might does cause drops in crime when he’s in a given area, that is very clear, but what isn’t as obvious is that crime spikes up after he leaves before leveling out again.”

Shouto was reeling. How had that gone unnoticed? But Midoriya wasn’t done. “So now that he is retired we are kind of seeing that spike everywhere. At least I think we are. I can’t be sure since we don’t even have a year’s worth of data to look at unlike the over 30 years of data there is for his career. It’s just an educated guess at this point. Not to mention the publicity of his final fight reminded people that heroes are not immortal or infallible and instead are very human .

“It only makes sense we would see a spike in crime under these circumstances but is a new symbol needed or will the remaining heroes be able to level it out? I expect they might be able to level it out since All for One was caught but at the same time, the idea of a symbol has been so ingrained in us at this point that losing it might make it even harder. Then there is the League of Villains and-” Shouto held up his hand to stop Midoriya before he continued. 

“Are you telling me that All Might was not the reason for the global drop in crime but it was attributed to him anyway?” Shouto’s eyes were locked on Midoriya.

“Yes,” he said in a small voice. “I don’t really know w-why but I don’t think I want to be a limelight hero like him if I could be used that way.”

Used? Used by who?  

Shouto pushed the thought away trying to process the bombshell Midoriya had already dropped on him today and he knew he wasn’t ready for another one.

“But if not limelight, then what?” he asked Midoriya tilting his head slightly and furrowing his brows in his confusion. Midoriya was perfect for a limelight hero. He smiled like the sun, pulled people in until they were orbiting around him, and his open expressive nature warmed everyone around him. Midoriya truly cared and anyone in his vicinity knew and loved him for it.

Midoriya was looking at the floor as if the tatami was extremely interesting. He lightly scratched at the textured flooring before he said, “I was thinking about talking to Aizawa-sensei about underground heroics.”

“You too?!” flew out of Shouto’s mouth before he had time to process what he was admitting. Midoriya’s head snapped up to look at him with shock written all over his face.

“Wha- too? But? Huh?” His mouth agape and eyes round and shining. “Really?” he squeaked out. Midoriya was gaping and Shouto was pretty sure he was mirroring that expression.

They stared at each other for several minutes before Midoriya began to laugh. A full laugh that was bordering on hysterics. He rolled onto his side seemingly unable to stop.

“Midoriya?” Shouto said but Midoriya didn't stop. “Midoriya. Are you okay?” he said with concern. He was starting to worry.

“I can’t-,” Midoriya laughed, “can’t stop.” He laughed more. “Just-just give me a m-min-minute,” he spluttered out before falling into another fit of laughter. 

Breathing deep and concentrating on not laughing again he looked at Shouto with a serious expression, “Kacchan is going to kill us,” he said, snorting before the laughter returned.

“Oh, my-” Shouto started before he began to chuckle softly imagining how angry Bakugou would be. Midoriya smiled brightly at him, seemingly glad he wasn’t the only one to find this amusing.

Shouto would have never laughed at this a year ago, he wouldn't have laughed in general if he is honest with himself. After their Provisional Hero License Supplemental Lessons, he had begun to understand Bakugou's explosive nature better and how he seemed to take everything personally. Bakugou really was going to be pissed.

Midoriya finally managed to catch his breath and stop laughing only to glance at Shouto and start up again. 

“He is going to explode the classroom!” Midoriya laughed out.

“Are you sure he won’t be so overwhelmed with anger he combusts then and there?” Shouto said with a smile, mirth clear in his voice. This caused Midoriya to laugh even harder. 

“He might get so angry he actually implodes.” 

“You think he might declare he is going underground just so he can beat us at that too?” Shouto retorted.

“Pfft, Kacchan as an underground hero? Oh god, I can’t-” Midoriya was laughing so hard that he began to turn red and Shouto couldn’t take his eyes off of him. Smiling as he watched his friend laugh uncontrollably, he laughed harder too.

Eventually, they managed to get themselves under control. Laying on the floor, splayed out, knuckles of their hands barely touching, they stared up at the ceiling, breathing heavily. Shouto was trying to focus on more serious topics to avoid laughing again.

Carefully Shouto said, “Want to go talk to Aizawa-sensei together?”

Midoriya hummed a noncommittal noise. “I need to talk to All Might first. I don’t know how he’s going to take this.”

“Yeah, I expect your dad would want you to follow in his footsteps,” Shouto deadpanned.

“Todoroki-kun! We have been over this! He is not my father.” Midoriya turned his head, giving Shouto a look . Shouto turned to meet him with a small smile on his face. Midoriya snorted seeing that Shouto was joking. Midoriya had to work at composing himself to avoid laughing.

“I would like to go to Aizawa-sensei together if you don’t mind waiting a day or two so I can talk to All Might first,” Midoriya answered his initial question. “It won’t hold you back from working on your essay will it?”

“No. Unless Aizawa-sensei says I am completely unfit for underground work my essay won’t change.”

“He might,” Midoriya said seriously.

“I know,” the dejected tone in Shouto’s voice was clear. “I am distinctive looking, from a famous family, and my quirk is unique. Everyone expects me to be a flashy limelight hero but-,” he cut himself off as he tried to find the right words. Giving up he lamely finished, “That isn’t the type of hero I want to be.”

“Then I guess we'll just have to convince him if he disagrees,” Midoriya said with his trademark determination. Shouto was hit with how lucky he was that Midoriya was his friend.

They laid there in companionable silence, knuckles brushing up against each other. Shouto couldn’t quite believe that Midoriya wanted to go underground. He could barely process his friend no longer wanting to be the next Symbol of Peace. Midoriya’s admiration for All Might was well-known, everyone expected him to follow in All Might’s footsteps. Out of all of his classmates, he would have never have expected Midoriya to go underground.

Midoriya broke the silence. “Todoroki-kun?” he said, questioning. Shouto gave an acknowledging hum. “You don’t have to answer but- uhm,” he paused and seemed to gather himself, “Why?”

Shouto knew he could play dumb. Ask ‘Why what?’ and it would fluster Midoriya enough that the topic would change. He could claim he doesn’t know. Except he does know and out of everyone, this was the one person he felt like he could share it with.

It took him a few minutes to gather his courage and find the right words. Midoriya let the silence fill the room without any expectation of a response. Shouto stared straight up at the ceiling, holding himself very still, fearing how his friend might judge him. Shouto finally spoke. “I want to save people like me. I don’t want anyone else to go through what my family and I did.”

Midoriya took Shouto’s hand in his and gave it a gentle squeeze causing Shouto to turn his head. Mismatched eyes meeting green. Shouto was suddenly very aware of how close they were.

“I don’t think there is a better reason,” Midoriya said with such conviction that Shouto’s worry about his reason being too small and too personal was lessened. He looked away, back up at the ceiling, overwhelmed.

Laying on the floor, holding hands, exhausted from all the emotions and laughter, Shouto could feel the tension between them that he could not identify and did not have the energy to figure out. He decided to get the topic off of himself and hopefully lighten the mood instead.

“That sure was some rant you went on earlier. I haven’t seen you that passionate about anything but quirks,” he said.

“I haven’t been keeping up with my quirk analysis as much. This has been taking all my free time instead. I didn’t even get to the parts about the Hero Commission likely being corrupt, how trafficking and drug rings have been on the rise since they don’t commit flashy crimes, and how the crimes against kids with villainous quirks, quirks that can be abused, and quirkless are rarely addressed. And I have only recently started investigating if limelight heroic methods actually cause more property damage and increase the potential for victims. It might be better to let crimes, such as bank robberies, happen, and then capture the criminals later.”

Shouto turned his head once again to gape at his friend. “What?” Midoriya’s eyes met him and he saw the conviction. Shouto knew his friend had this figured out with the facts to back it up. He was too smart not to have. “You know, never mind. Another day. I can only process one world-altering fact a week and you have given me two already.”

“Two?”

“The Symbol of Peace didn't change the world and you don’t want to be the next one,” he said seriously.

“Pfft!” Shouto heard before Midoriya said in a playful tone, “I get the first one, I am still not sure I believe my research but the second?” Midoriya gave a little huff of laughter as he let go of Shouto’s hand to lightly punch him in the shoulder. “No more jokes or we’re going to end up laughing until we throw up.” 

Shouto smiled. He wasn’t joking but knew he couldn't convince Midoriya of that. Not tonight at least. He let it go and decided to move onto safer topics. 

“Have you looked at the English homework yet?”

After dinner, Izuku headed back to his dorm room to try and get his homework done. He thought about joining Iida’s homework gathering in the common room but after the conversation with Todoroki, he was low on the energy needed to interact with people.

He hadn’t intended to tell anyone about his research or his plans to go into underground heroics. He wanted to talk to his teachers first and see if they agreed. Instead, he just spilled everything to Todoroki without him even really asking. Izuku was always letting his mouth get ahead of him.

And Todoroki was planning to do the same thing! That was almost as unbelievable as what he discovered about the Symbol of Peace. It did make sense, considering his upbringing. Only an underground hero would be able to investigate abuse claims against high ranked heroes. Especially the top ten heroes. 

Few underground heroes would have the strength to take on someone like Endeavor. Having someone with Todoroki’s skills as an underground hero would be amazing. He was already so strong and skilled and would only continue to improve. Todoroki was so kind too. Wanting to save others from what he had gone through. His reason seemed so much better than Izuku’s own.

Izuku decided to focus on his homework and managed to finish everything before heading to bed. He couldn’t fall asleep though. He was too nervous about how he was going to bring this up to All Might.  

I hope he won’t be disappointed in me. 

He started thinking about how he explained it to Todoroki hoping he could avoid rambling as much when he talked to All Might. He was finally starting to drift off when a thought hit him. 

Oh my god, I held his hand.  

His hand!

Chapter Text

All Might was waiting for Midoriya in their normal morning training spot in the woods on campus. He had never been late before but All Might supposed there was a first time for everything. He checked his watch and Midoriya was already ten minutes late. 

Maybe I should go look for him, he wondered but made no move to go look just yet. 

A few minutes later Midoriya came running, stopping in front of him panting and trying to catch his breath. “S-sorry, All Might! I overslept,” he panted out. 

Midoriya looked like he didn’t get enough sleep, if any at all. His hair was more of a mess than normal and he had visible bags under his eyes. All Might wondered if he should say something. Before he could find the words Midoriya said, “Let's get started!” and took a stance. 

All Might had been working to teach his pupil how to create the punches that changed the weather. The punches that could turn a sunny day to a rainy one, in a small area. The punch forced a change in the air pressure by creating a vortex that pulled all the clouds in the area and condensed them together. Midoriya had only recently been able to use a high enough percentage of One for All to start learning such moves. He hadn’t gotten the hang of it yet but All Might could see he was making good progress on getting the spin just right. 

He watched as Midoriya let off several punches. Something was wrong. He was sloppy and moved almost frantically. The stance he had perfected was incorrect and he was letting off punches much quicker than normal. Not fully watching the aftermath of each to try to see how he needed to adjust. It was clear to All Might that something was wrong.

“Stop. Stop,” he called. Midoriya went rigid as he turned. The anxiety was written all over his face. All Might hadn’t seen Midoriya this anxious in...he wasn’t quite sure. It had been awhile. Unsure how else to approach the problem, he was blunt. “Is something wrong, my boy? You are not yourself this morning.”

Midoriya smiled but it was wobbly and there were tears in his eyes. 

Always the crybaby. He still needs to work on that.

“Sorry, All Might. I didn’t sleep well which is why I overslept. I’ve had a lot on my mind and it has been keeping me up. I need to talk to you about something and I am worried about what you will say and I don’t know how to start. Right now isn’t the best time and I didn’t bring my notes with me and-” All Might coughed lightly to interrupt the ramble. “Ah-ah, sorry,” Midoriya said, looking down at his feet. 

All Might mentally worked his way through the ramble. “You need to talk to me but now isn’t a good time. At lunch then?”

“Uh, do you have time after school? It, er, might take a while,” Midoriya asked, never taking his eyes off of his feet.

“I can do that, my boy. We can meet in our usual room.” All Might nodded, hoping this will help his protege get back in the right mindset.

“Thanks All Might.” Midoriya looked up with a wobbly smile on his face. At least he didn’t look like he was about to cry anymore.

“Now, as much as I know you want to continue training, the fact that you didn’t sleep well means I think you should take it easy this morning.” He could see his student was about to object so he continued. “You have been working very hard, even over break. You can take off one morning. It’ll be better for your health and you know afternoon classes are going to be tough. Neither of us wants to suffer Recovery Girl's wrath. Back to the dorms with you now. Take it easy and eat a full breakfast.” He waved his hands to shoo his student off. Midoriya nodded at him silently and started heading back towards the dorms. 

I wonder what he wants to talk about. He said he needed his notes? Well, no use worrying about it now. I will find out in the afternoon. 

Deku had been off all morning. He was spaced out in class, constantly dropping things, and all around not himself. Todoroki seemed to have noticed as well and had been sticking close to him as they headed to lunch. She watched as Deku managed to trip over his own feet. She reached to try and catch him with her quirk but Todoroki managed to grab his arm and steady him before she could.

“Deku-kun, are you okay?” Ochako asked.

“Uh, yeah. Just a lot on my mind right now and I didn’t sleep well,” he said sheepishly.

“Did you…?” Todoroki said, raising an eyebrow. 

“Ah, not yet. After school. I didn’t think I would have enough time this morning or at lunch,” Deku said. She glanced between the two trying to make sense of the conversation. She was missing pieces.

Todoroki nodded. “I am sure it will be fine.” He bumped his shoulder lightly against Deku’s.

Deku looked over and smiled up at Todoroki. “Thanks, Todoroki-kun!” 

What was that about? 

Ochako knew she was being left out of something. There was a conversation there but she had no idea what it was about. 

At least Deku-kun seems to be feeling a bit better now. 

She shrugged as they made their way to lunch. She might be curious but she was sure Deku would talk to her about it soon.

All Might was in the meeting room making tea while he waited for Midoriya. He had been fretting all day about what his protege was wanting to talk about. He couldn’t remember the last time he was so worked up.

I will need to reassure him first. He mentioned being worried about how I would respond so I need to remind him I will support him.

There was a knock at the door. “Come in,” All Might called. Midoriya entered, shutting the door soundly behind him. He looked extremely nervous as he fingered the edge of his uniform jacket. Midoriya was back not meeting his eyes. All Might tried to not let this increase his concern.

“Tea?” All Might asked. Midoriya nodded and sat down in his usual seat. All Might poured two cups of tea. He handed one to Midoriya before taking his seat. He could see Midoriya was trying to work himself up and decided to reassure him first.

“Young Midoriya, before you tell me whatever this is about, I want you to know that I support you. You have always exceeded my expectations and no matter what I believe in you,” he said, letting the fondness he felt into his voice. Deciding to lighten the mood a little bit he joked,  “Unless you want to join the League of Villains. We might have a problem then.”

Midoriya looked up and gave him one of those wobbly smiles. “Thank you, All Might.” He looked back down and All Might could see the silent tears falling to the floor. All Might was about to say something when Midoriya looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. “I’m sorry, All Might. I don’t want to be the next Symbol of Peace. Sorry, sorry. I know that’s what you expect of me.” 

All Might gaped at him and nearly dropped his cup of tea. All words of reassurance gone from his mind. “You don’t want to be a hero anymore?”

“No! No, that isn’t it,” Midoriya said clearly. “I want to go into underground heroics,” he said much more quietly. All Might was not expecting that. He had thought this might be something about not being worthy of One for All, not this. All Might had told his student he would support him and he meant it.

“I have to admit I wasn’t expecting that but an underground hero with One for All could be a powerful force. I’ll support you however I can.” 

“Really? You’re not disappointed in me?” The desperation in the question was clear.

“Not at all, my boy. You cannot be me, you have to find your own path to being a hero. If that is underground then so be it. I am proud of you and that won’t change. You should talk to Aizawa-kun about this. I don’t know much about underground heroics.”

“Thank you. I already planned to talk to Aizawa-sensei but I wanted to talk to you first.” The tears seemed to have stopped.

All Might was wondering what brought this on and decided to ask. “What caused the change in goals, young Midoriya?”

“Oh, uhm, I’d been thinking about things for a while and doing a lot of research on it. Then Aizawa-sensei assigned us an essay to detail out what kind of heroes we want to be and why. Since I’d already been thinking about it I knew I needed to talk to you about it before I could write my essay,” he said very quickly.

“Research?” All Might questioned.

Midoriya looked away guiltily. He set his untouched tea on the table and reached into his bag. He pulled out a notebook and started to fiddle with the spine. “So, after Kamino, I started thinking about your power as the Symbol of Peace and how you are a deterrent to crime and all that. And uhm, I don’t think you are going to like this next part…” he trailed off.

“It is alright my boy. You can tell me.”

He watched as Midoriya took several deep breaths and rubbed at his eyes. “My, uhm, research points to you not being the reason for the global drop in crime, nor do you act as a true deterrent. There are other causes that coincided with your career to cause the changes. And uhm. I’m so sorry but I think-,” he sniffled as the tears started flowing again. “I think that maybe this system is faulty and putting so much on a symbol is actually hurting everyone more than if we didn’t have a symbol,” he cried.

What.

That would mean...My entire reason...The reason my master chose me...Everything. 

All Might stared at his student, mouth gaping at this revelation. He couldn’t get his thoughts in order. His protege just told him his goal, his entire life’s goal, the thing he fought for every day of his career, did more harm than good in the end.

Midoriya continued to cry and refused to look at All Might. The guilt was apparent. After several minutes All Might finally, finally managed to get himself under control. “Can I see your research?” There was a hint of hopefulness in his voice. He knew Midoriya was smart but maybe he came to the wrong conclusion. Maybe his research was faulty. Maybe, maybe he was completely incorrect.

Midoriya nodded silently and opened up his notebook flipping to a page with several graphs on it. He handed it to All Might silently, still refusing to look at him as the tears streamed down his face. 

All Might began to read. The title on the page was ‘Education Budgets.’ He read details about the budgets from before his career and how increased budgets contributed to a drop in crime in several different areas with several graphs showing the downward curves. He read over details about greater increases in budgets during his career leading to the crime rates dropping even more and by how much can be expected based on the income of the area and the amount the budgets had increased. All Might noted there were even sources listed at the bottom of the page for all the data.

He turned the page and read ‘Villain Reform Programs.’ The page was filled with similar graphs, figures, and how the programs were expanded. Followed by ‘Welfare Programs’ which was several pages long with details on different types of welfare and how each contributed to lowering crime and again, all had been expanded greatly during his career.  

Oh my god.  

He kept turning pages seeing more and more data. All of it saying the same thing. The drop in crime would have happened due to this, not him. He turned to a page titled ‘The All Might Effect’ with graphs all titled with a location. Each graph had a mark for when All Might made a public appearance in the area and another for when it was public knowledge he left. All Might stared at the page.

This can’t be real. What the fuck?

All the graphs had the same pattern. A drop when he arrived and a spike when he left before it leveled back out. All Might looked back at Midoriya and noticed he was still crying. 

Shit, I’ve been a bad teacher.

He knew he needed to comfort Midoriya, that needed to come before anything else. He closed the notebook, willing away his spiraling thoughts.

“My boy, please stop crying.” All Might put his hand on Midoriya’s head and ruffled his hair. “This is-,” he cut off, unsure of what exactly to say.

Honesty is the best policy, right? 

“Shocking but also amazing. It will take me some time to go through it all. Do you mind if I borrow this notebook from you?”

Midoriya sniffled and nodded his head. Stopped and then shook it. All Might waited. It took several minutes for Midoriya to compose himself enough to speak. “I, uhm, need it for talking to Aizawa-sensei,” he said.

“Ah, that makes sense. Can I make a copy then?” All Might asked.

Midoriya nodded at him. “You will want pages five through forty-two,” Midoriya said with a sniffle. “The other pages are about other things that don’t relate to you.”

“Okay then, I will be back in a few minutes while I go make a copy. Drink your tea, I will be back soon.” He got up and made his way to the staff room.

I can’t believe...this is unreal. Focus! Time to make a copy. I can worry about this later.

At the copy machine, he set it up to create two copies of each page. He worked his way through the pages he was told. Holding the book down he noticed the title, ‘Hero System Analysis No 2.’

I wonder what’s in the first book? Is there a third or fourth? How long has he been researching this? He mentioned Kamino but he could have started earlier since this is about the Hero System. I’m going to have to ask him about all of this. 

Later. Not today.

After he finished making the copies he sorted them into two piles and stapled each. He set one copy on his desk and walked back to the room he left Midoriya in. After entering the room he noticed Midoriya had composed himself fully but his eyes were noticeably red. Midoriya was still refusing to meet All Might’s eyes but at least he was looking in All Might’s direction again.

“Thank you, my boy,” he said kindly as he handed Midoriya his notebook and a packet of papers. “I made you a copy to give to Aizawa-kun.” Midoriya nodded at him wordlessly.

He knew he needed to reassure his student. “I’m very proud of you,” he offered with complete sincerity. Midoriya finally looked up at him. “I know this was hard to share but I am glad you did. Thank you.” Midoriya remained silent and blinked away the tears that had started to gather.

“This change in goals means there is likely to be some changes to your training. For now, I want to skip tomorrow’s morning training.” He could see Midoriya was going to argue and held up his hand to stop him. “I know we didn’t have a very productive session this morning either but you have had a lot on your mind and I expect you need the extra rest. Take it easy today and tomorrow morning so you will have a clear head for classes tomorrow. Aizawa-kun will want you to explain things clearly so focus on that. We’ll pick up morning training the day after. Understand?”

“Yes, All Might.”

“Good. You should head back to the dorms. It’s nearing dinner time. Go hang out with your friends and take it easy. Okay?” he said gently, hoping to ease Midoriya’s worry. It must have worked as Midoriya smiled, not a wobbly one but a real one this time, and headed towards the door.

“Have a good evening, All Might,” he said.

“Good night, my boy,” All Might said as he watched Midoriya shut the door behind him.

All Might stared down at his hands. 

I have a lot of reading to do.

All Might was sitting at his desk holding a pile of papers staring at the wall. He hadn’t moved in over fifteen minutes. Aizawa wanted to just ignore it. He really did. All Might was the Symbol of Peace, he took down villains Aizawa would never have stood a chance against. What in the world could be affecting him so much that he was just staring at a wall? 

Aizawa sighed loudly but All Might didn’t seem to notice. 

Dammit, I am going to have to say something.

“All Might,” he said. 

All Might jerked in his seat before turning to him, “Oh, Aizawa-kun. I didn’t notice you came in.” 

“You have been staring at the wall for over fifteen minutes,” he responded, bored. 

All Might blinked at him. “Ah, I have been a bit lost in my thoughts,” he said, voice monotone. 

Gods, he isn’t making this easy. 

“Is it something you need to share with the rest of the staff?”

All Might flinched but it was barely perceptible. It could have been a tremor caused by his health conditions but Aizawa didn’t think that was the case. “Hm. No, I don’t think so. I expect young Midoriya will be telling you soon. He said he was going to talk to you about it next.”

Aizawa knew he was good at maintaining a blank expression but it must have failed him. All Might’s eyes were large and surprised. “Oh, it isn’t anything to be concerned about. That essay you assigned? He came to talk to me about it,” All Might let out a defeated sounding sigh. “Managed to make me doubt my career and life goals in the process,” he said under his breath.

Aizawa’s eyes bored into All Might, stunned. He probably wasn’t supposed to hear that last bit.

What the hell did you do Problem Child? 

Unsure of what to say he offered, “I will be sure to make time for him tomorrow then.”

All Might didn’t say anything but nodded stiffly. He stared at the pile of papers in his hand for a few more seconds before he got up, taking his papers with him. “Good night, Aizawa-kun,” he said while heading out the door.

Aizawa ran a hand through his hair. He wasn’t sure what to expect tomorrow but decided to head home and sleep. Assignments could be graded later. Tomorrow was going to be exhausting.

Midoriya was fidgeting in homeroom, glancing at Aizawa like he wanted to say something. He debated making it easy on the kid but decided against it.  

Better to let the kid come to me than forcing it. Especially after Problem Child somehow left All Might in that state.

After his classes ended he headed to the teachers’ lounge to grab a nap while he could. He got in his sleeping bag and crawled under his desk. He had been dozing when he was woken up by a knock on the door. Hizashi loudly said, “Come in!”

“Hi, Mic-sensei. Is Aizawa-sensei around?” he heard Midoriya say. Instead of letting Hizashi respond, he popped his head out from under his desk. Unexpectedly he saw Todoroki was also at the door.

Midoriya jumped a bit, “Ah, Aizawa-sensei!” Todoroki looked at him impassively. “I was hoping to talk to you. Would you have time after school today?”

Before he could respond, Todoroki said, “I also have something I need to discuss with you.”

“After school will be fine. Stay behind after classes end and I will see you both in the classroom.” He pulled himself back under his desk and closed his eyes once more.

“Thank you Sensei!”

“Have a good lunch little listeners!” he heard Hizashi say before the door closed again.

I expected Problem Child but Todoroki too? 

He sighed. 

I am already getting a headache.

“Since you are awake you should eat,” Hizashi said in his direction. Aizawa groaned.

Ochako had finished packing up her bag after classes ready to head back to the dorms when she looked over at Deku only to notice he seemed to be moving intentionally slowly. She bounced over to him and brightly said, “Ready to head back?” 

He glanced over at Todoroki. “Actually Todoroki-kun and I have to stay after class to talk to Aizawa-sensei.”

I wonder if this has something to do with when they went off together before lunch. What is going on with the two of them?

Her curiosity got the best of her. “What about?” she asked bluntly.

Deku started spluttering and waving his arms about. “It is a bit personal,” Todoroki said.

Ochako was surprised by that. Deku wasn’t one to keep secrets and Todoroki was in the know. She felt left out. “Oh, come on Deku-kun you can share with me!” she pleaded. Instead of giving her an answer Deku just looked more flustered and had wrapped his arms around his head trying to hide.

“Uraraka-kun, it isn’t polite to badger your classmates. If they need to discuss something with a teacher that is between them. We do not need to involve ourselves,” Iida called from the other side of the room. 

Oops, I guess I was too loud and people overheard. 

“Ah, you are right Iida-kun. Sorry, Deku-kun, I didn't mean to push you. See you back at the dorms later!” She waved and headed out of the room.

On the way back to the dorms Mina tapped her shoulder and leaned in conspiratorially. “What was that about Ochako-chan?”

“With Deku-kun in the classroom?” she asked. Mina nodded. “I don’t know,” she said exasperated. “Deku-kun has been off since the start of the school year and Todoroki-kun seems to be sticking to him like glue. I have no idea what is going on!”

“Jealous?” Mina said with a playful tone. Ochako stopped in her tracks.

“Maybe? I don’t know. I find it weird. Usually, Deku-kun is so open and right now I feel so left out,” she said dejectedly.

Mina looked guilty at the admission. “Ah, sorry for teasing. I am sure he will tell you what is going on when he is ready.”

“Yeah, I know. I am just a bit frustrated,” she replied, letting some of the tension go.

Deku-kun is my friend! I am sure he will let me know when he is ready.

Aizawa entered the classroom and gave his two students a once over. Midoriya was nervously playing with the hems of his sleeves. Todoroki was facing forward with his normal neutral expression. 

“Midoriya. You first. Unless this needs to be separate.” 

“Oh, no, this is fine. Uhm, s-so-” Midoriya stuttered out. He took a breath to steady himself. “I want to go into underground heroics!” he practically yelled.

Aizawa was not expecting that. Keeping his face neutral he said, “I was under the impression you wanted to be the next All Might. What changed?”

Midoriya looked away guiltily. “I have been doing s-some research on the impact of the S-symbol of Peace and w-wh-what I found is uhm-” he cut himself off and instead reached into his bag to pull out a packet of papers. Midoriya got up and set the papers on the podium for Aizawa. “All Might said you might want a copy,” he said before rushing back to his seat.

Aizawa glanced down at the packet before looking back at Midoriya. “Explain,” he prompted.

“The Symbol of Peace is not the reason for the global drop in crime. I think having such a symbol hurts things in the long run,” he said in a rush that Aizawa barely understood.

Aizawa blinked a few times, processing. “Go on. Slower this time.”

“If you, uh, look through the, um, packet you w-will see how other things that are known to, er, cause a drop in crime were implemented or expanded at the same rate that crime fell. Things like villain reform, welfare, increased education budgets, anti-quirk discrimination laws, and such.”

Aizawa noticed that Midoriya was losing the stutter as he got going. 

Good, the kid should have more confidence in himself.

“Looking at the impact on crime rates such programs had before All Might it can be extrapolated what impact they had during All Might’s career as they were implemented more widely and expanded. Overall the drop in crime matches up with what would be expected and the fact that it lines up with All Might’s rise in popularity appears to be a coincidence. It explains why the earlier years of All Might’s career didn’t have as much impact as we saw later.”

Holy shit.

Midoriya wasn’t done. “The fact that we are seeing a spike in crime now that he was forced into retirement leads me to believe that having a symbol that can fall is actually more harmful than good. All Might was a deterrent to crime but only when it was public knowledge he was in an area. Once he left, crime would spike before leveling back out. I think the increase we are seeing now is just that spike but on a more global level since he retired and didn’t just travel to another city.”

Holy. Shit.

Aizawa began to look through the packet of papers and he knew he was smiling. He knew he should remain blank-faced but this was too much.

This kid might be a monster. The Symbol of Peace was false? Thought to have been such a deterrent he caused a global drop in crime but all the data here says otherwise. This is insane. No wonder All Might seemed so off yesterday.

Midoriya might have broken All Might.  

Fuck. I am going to have to deal with that too. Maybe Hizashi can help.

Aizawa looked up to see Midoriya fidgeting nervously. Todoroki had remained as blank-faced as ever. 

Todoroki already knew. Interesting. 

“Midoriya, how long have you been working on this?”

Midoriya started a little at the question. “Oh, uh, I started a few weeks after Kamino. Seeing the aftermath from All Might’s forced retirement got me thinking and well…” he trailed off waving his hand at the packet in Aizawa’s hands. Midoriya moved his eyes away from the teacher and seemed to focus on a spot on the wall.

He feels guilty. That will need to be addressed.

Aizawa hummed and looked back down at the current page he was on. 

He even has sources listed. I should check those. How many hours did he spend on this?

He knew it was going to take him days to go through all this information he had just been provided. As much as he wanted to read it all immediately he had other things to address first. He closed the packet and set it down. “And you, Todoroki?”

“I wanted to ask if you think I can even be an underground hero.” Aizawa was surprised once again. Todoroki would make a good limelight hero and Aizawa expected him to follow in his father’s footsteps.

“Why?” Aizawa questioned dryly.

“I would rather articulate my reasoning in my essay if that is allowed,” he said with his trademark stoney face.

“Is it because of the information Midoriya has handed to me?” Aizawa asked. He didn’t think Todoroki was the follower type but he knew the two are close and didn’t want one student making a decision because of another.

Todoroki blinked, surprise flitting across his face. He wasn't expecting this question. “No, I decided this myself before the end of first year. I didn’t even know Midoriya was thinking the same thing until Monday after classes,” he said neutrally.

That’s good. 

Aizawa would be worried if his student hadn’t made the choice himself. “Why do you think you can’t be an underground hero?” he asked.

“My family is famous, my quirk is flashy, and-” Todoroki cut off and waved his hand at his face, “I am rather distinctive looking,” he said, blankness breaking for just a fraction of a second as the frustration showed through.

Ah, that makes sense. He was raised by a limelight hero too.

“You can go into underground heroics. Anyone can. You might have to work a bit harder than some but if you truly want to go underground you can.” Todoroki visibly relaxed. “Hair dye and makeup will be important.” Aizawa looked towards Midoriya, “That applies to both of you.” Both nodded at him

“Besides the expected lessons in stealth, negotiations, quirkless fighting, and weapons you will also need acting lessons.” Midoriya pulled out one of his notebooks and started writing quickly. “Acting is important. Sometimes you will need to be able to play a vigilante, villain, informant, victim, and other parts in the underground. And it will need to be done convincingly ,” he said seriously.

Aizawa eyed his students, “You will both still take all of the normal classes with your classmates but there will also be additional lessons, including Sunday lessons. Are you ready to put in the extra work?”

“Yes, Sensei!” Midoriya said loudly, determination showed on his face.

“Yes, Aizawa-sensei.”

Aizawa nodded and grinned. “Go change into your gym uniforms. We won’t be wasting any time. Lessons start today and we are already late.”

Chapter Text

Aizawa said he would be late and to warm-up while Hitoshi waited. He had finished his warm-up stretches and was running laps. If he finished he was to move on to the workout routine they had come up with. He didn’t need supervision for it anymore and usually did his routine later so that the afternoon could be spent training with his teacher. 

Aizawa had caught him in the hall and said he would be late due to a problem child. He didn’t know what that meant exactly but he did know Aizawa’s homeroom class was chaotic. He was glad he didn’t have to deal with them. He wanted to be a hero but he did not want to deal with class 2-A.

Apparently the universe had it out for him as Aizawa walked onto the field with two of the top 2-A kids following behind and in their gym uniforms. He kept up his run without pausing. As he finished another lap Aizawa called, “Lap?”

“Ten left,” he called back. He saw Aizawa turn to the two others and say something. They began the same warm up stretches he had already done. He made it two more laps before the other two were running. They kept pace with him and stopped when he finished.

“Midoriya, Todoroki. I expect fifteen laps. Tomorrow you will run the full amount. All of you get some water and head into Gym Alpha,” Aizawa said.

“Yes, Sensei,” they said in a discordant chorus as they moved towards the water fountains.

“It is good to see you again, Shinsou-kun. You are in class B now, right? I am so glad you got transferred,” Midoriya said cheerfully. Hitoshi lifted an eyebrow at that.

“Sure,” he responded blandly. “What are you two doing here?” he asked before leaning down to drink some water. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Midoriya look over at Todoroki who barely nodded to some unasked question. 

“Oh, uh, we decided we wanted to be underground heroes,” Midoriya said nervously. Hitoshi choked on the water.

“What!” he coughed out glaring.

“Yeah, I know it is unexpected,” Midoriya said sheepishly while rubbing his hand on the back of his head. “I look forward to training with you,” he said brightly, offering one of his trademark hero smiles. Todoroki remained impassive and completely silent. It rubbed Hitoshi the wrong way.

What the hell? Two of the top hero kids plan to go underground? With their flashy quirks? They have it so easy. Hell, one of them was a recommended student. Midoriya wants to be like All Might and Todoroki was the son of the current number one. What the hell? Is this some game to them? 

Hitoshi was pissed. He was really tempted to use his quirk on Midoriya, who seemed all too happy to respond to him, but Aizawa had already chewed him out for that after the Sports Festival last year. It apparently wasn’t very rational that he used his quirk on Midoriya after their match had ended.

Shinsou continued to glare at them before heading over to Aizawa. “Are they serious? ” he asked testily.

Aizawa looked him up and down. “Midoriya definitely is. Todoroki I believe is serious but time will tell. There may be others. I will know once I get their essays.”

Hitoshi huffed in annoyance but didn’t say anything, choosing to head over to the gym instead of asking more questions. He had been training with Aizawa since after the Sports Festival. It had allowed him to finally transfer into the hero course at the start of the new school year. Hitoshi wouldn’t ever admit it but he loved the one on one training. Aizawa had mentioned that other potential underground heroes would be joining this year but he hadn’t expected there to be any. All the hero kids were the same, wanting to be famous more than anything else.

Inside the gym the three students stood to attention waiting for Aizawa to give instructions. “We are going to focus on quirkless fighting for the next week. After this week there will be a schedule for different aspects of your training each day. Shinsou, Midoriya you are paired up for sparring. Todoroki with me.”

Hitoshi went over to a mat, Midoriya followed behind him. “Let’s have a good fight!”

Gods, he is too chipper. Is he even taking this seriously? At least this time I should be able to beat him.

Hitoshi took his stance as Midoriya did the same. They circled one another before Hitoshi made the first move. Midoriya focused on dodging and blocking but after a few minutes Hitoshi swiped Midoriya’s feet out from under him and pinned him down.

Hitoshi gave Midoriya room to stand. “You have gotten so much better than the Sports Festival. You hit harder too,” he said.

“Were you going easy on me?” Hitoshi sneered at him.

“Oh. No! I wouldn’t do that! You really did beat me,” Midoriya said quickly. Hitoshi didn’t fully believe him.

“I would’ve thought you learned some caution by now. I could’ve grabbed you with my quirk a few times now.” Hitoshi said with disdain.

“But we are doing quirkless sparring,” Midoriya responded, clearly a bit confused. “You don’t seem like the cheating type Shinsou-kun.”

“What would you know about me?” he asked harshly.

Midoriya shrugged. “You want to be a hero,” he said simply. Hitoshi had no idea how to respond and wordlessly took a starting stance again. Midoriya did the same and they started the second match without words.

Midoriya ended up on the floor again but it took Hitoshi longer to knock him down. They continued without conversion and after several more matches Midoriya finally won a match. He held out his hand to help Hitoshi up. Hitoshi waved him off and stood up by himself.

Their sparring continued like that. Hitoshi won most of the matches but as they continued Midoriya started to win more often. Aizawa finally called it a day, dismissed them, and headed out. Hitoshi and Midoriya were both trying to catch their breath. Hitoshi could see Todoroki laying on the floor and it did not look like he would get up soon. 

“Thanks for the spar, Shinsou-kun,” Midoriya said between breaths. “You have improved so much in such a short time. You are going to be a really great hero.” Hitoshi could see the sincerity in his eyes but didn’t believe it.

“Are you mocking me?” he bit out. He saw Todoroki prop himself up on his elbows and look over in their direction.

“Wha- No!” Midoriya spluttered out waving his arms around frantically, “I would never- I mean it. You really will.” Hitoshi let out a grunt and turned to leave. He heard a “See you tomorrow,” called out to him before the gym door closed.

“See you tomorrow,” Midoriya called to the quickly disappearing Shinsou. Midoriya headed over to Shouto and offered a hand which he took gratefully. “How did sparring with Aizawa-sensei go?”

“He says I depend too much on my quirk.”

Midoriya hummed as he thought before he said, “I was having a similar problem. I kept moving expecting to be able to do something with my quirk. I guess both Shinsou-kun and Aizawa-sensei don’t have that problem since their quirks aren’t physical.” They began heading out of the gym when Midoriya added, “Guess we are just going to have to get used to it.” Shouto hummed an acknowledgement.

“Shinsou isn’t very friendly ,” Shouto commented.

“No, but I am sure we will be friends soon,” Midoriya replied with a glint of determination in his eyes.

“Really?” Shouto asked, confused. Shinsou had been rather antagonistic and seemed unwilling to be friendly. Shouto wondered why Midoriya would even want to be friends with him.

“Todoroki Shouto, I became your friend didn’t I?” Midoriya said with an exaggerated hurt expression.

“I suppose you did.” He huffed a laugh. “You’re still crazy, Midoriya.” he said with a lilt. Midoriya seemed determined to befriend everyone who wasn’t interested in making friends. 

Hopefully this time won’t be as explosive.

They continued to head back to the dorms in familiar silence.

About halfway there Shouto decided to ask the question that had been itching since the afternoon. “Why didn’t you share everything you had found with Aizawa-sensei?” Midoriya turned to look at him with a questioning gaze. “I mean you only mentioned the Symbol of Peace stuff, not everything else.”

“Ah, well, you did say more than one world altering fact a week was too much for you so I figured it might be the same for Aizawa-sensei.” Shouto blinked at him before he noticed the twitching of Midoriya’s lips trying to hold back a smile.

“Very funny,” he deadpanned.

Midoriya’s expression turned serious. “I expect he already knows about the rise in drug and trafficking crimes from being an underground hero. A lot of the other stuff I don’t have enough data to confirm yet.”

“And the Hero Commission?” Shouto asked.

Midoriya looked guilty before he trained his gaze on the path in front of him. “Part lack of data and proof and-” he paused for a breath. “All heroes are employees of the Hero Commission. I trust Aizawa-sensei but I don’t want to put him in that position if I am right. I don’t know what he would do and right now I don’t know if anything can be done.”

“Why tell me then?” Shouto asked. He was surprised Midoriya shared so much with him. Knowing he wasn’t willing to share it with their hero teachers made him wonder why Midoriya shared it with him.

Midoriya stopped and looked at him, causing Shouto to stop short. Shouto wasn’t sure what the expression on Midoriya’s face meant when he said, “I trust you.” Shouto had no idea how to respond and remained silent. They began walking again.

Shouto felt very warm. No one had told him they trusted him before and this was so big. Midoriya had managed to link things together that would put the entire hero system under scrutiny. No wonder he was wary of telling the teachers.

How can Midoriya just trust me so much? Would he trust me if he knew about Touya? 

His thoughts started spiraling with the weight of them.

Midoriya bumped his shoulder lightly. “Hey,” he said looking up at him. “You’re overthinking it. We’re still kids with a whole lot of work to do. I’m just going to focus on becoming the best hero I can be. Then I’ll worry about everything else. I can’t do anything about it now so I just need to work hard enough until I can.” 

Shouto nodded. 

Work hard enough until I can change it, huh? I can do that.

Once in his room Hitoshi couldn't help but wonder what was up with Midoriya. He seemed so genuine. Hitoshi still couldn’t trust Midoriya. He had thought things would be better in the hero course but his peers in 2-B were rather unsure of him and wary when conversing. Someone else was always keeping an eye on anyone talking with him, making sure Hitoshi didn’t use his quirk. Midoriya likely wasn’t any different.

And Todoroki hadn’t said even a word. Todoroki had always been aloof but was this intentional? Was he refusing to speak to Hitoshi or did he just have nothing to say? It grated on his nerves either way.

They all had that essay on what type of heroes they wanted to be and he knew it was possible that some others would be joining his underground lessons with Aizawa but he would have never expected those two. The only person he expected less would be Bakugou.

Dear gods, don’t let him join too, he prayed to any deity willing to listen.

Still frustrated, Hitoshi forced himself to focus on his homework. Maybe that would take his mind off of everything.

Shouta made his way into his apartment and promptly face-planted on the sofa.

“Shouta is that you?” he heard his husband call from another room.

“Mmfver ’ere,” came out into the pillow. He heard Hizashi walk over and felt a hand on his back trying to offer comfort.

“Bad day?” Hizashi asked gently.

Shouta turned his head, “Yes and no. I-” He sighed, long and exhausted. “I got two more students that want to go underground.”

“That is great news!” Hizashi said excitedly. “Who?”

“Todoroki and Midoriya,” he said deadpan.

“What!” Hizashi’s eyes went wide.

“And Problem Child broke All Might,” Shouta continued, sighing again.

“What!” Hizashi somehow looked even more shocked.

“Want to see his nearly 40 pages of research on how the Symbol of Peace has been falsely credited with the drop in crime?” he asked numbly.

“What!” Hizashi yelled.

“I haven’t read it all yet and I’ll need to check his sources but from what I’ve seen I think he might be right,” he continued relentlessly.

“Shouta, what the hell?” Hizashi said with annoyance. Shouta could see the info dump without explanation had annoyed his husband.

“Sorry. I’ll start at the beginning,” he paused to figure out how to start. “Yesterday evening, I noticed All Might acting weird in the teachers’ lounge. He mentioned Midoriya was going to talk to me today. You saw them this afternoon before lunch. Well, after school…” Shouta proceeded to explain all that had happened and handed Hizashi the copy of Midoriya’s research. Hizashi flipped through it some but just looked stunned.

“Two of the top students are seriously going underground and one broke All Might,” Hizashi said with awe.

“Yup.”

“Holy hell, Shouta.”

Chapter Text

Morning training with All Might was going fine. Perfectly fine. Izuku was practicing and All Might was offering tips where he could. Izuku still didn’t have the hang of rain-making punches but he was causing the air to spin more and more. Everything was fine.

Except it wasn’t. All Might kept giving him these looks that Izuku couldn’t decipher and sighing deeply. It was making Izuku’s guilt about what his research had found even worse. Izuku debated with himself while he gave a few more trial punches.

“All Might?” he asked tentatively.

“Yes, my boy?” All Might kept the same indecipherable expression on his face.

“Are you okay? I know I kind of dropped a lot on you the other day and you don’t seem to be yourself.” Izuku shuffled his feet on the ground.

All Might made another one of those long sighs. “I suppose I am a bit off but there’s nothing for you to worry about. Now that last punch…” he explained how Izuku should adjust to try and get the move right, effectively changing the topic. Izuku wanted to push but he wasn’t sure how and he knew this was all his fault. Should a hero meddle when the problem was caused by them?

Maybe I should give Gran Torino a call.

The day passed by uneventfully. Ochako had thought about trying to bring up the topic from yesterday at lunch but decided against it. As much as she wanted to know what was going on she could see that pushing wasn’t going to get her answers.

At the end of the day after packing up she noticed both Deku and Todoroki heading towards the door without their bags.

“You guys are forgetting your bags,” she called over to them cheerfully.

“Ah, no, we are doing additional training in the afternoons,” Deku said timidly.

“Is that advisable? We have a set training schedule devised by our teachers. You may do more harm than good by over training,” Iida began to chastise them with jerky movements.

“We are training with Aizawa-sensei,” Todoroki cut in before Iida continued.

Iida looked a bit taken aback but nodded. “If a teacher is overseeing then they will know what is best,” he said.

“S-sorry, Iida-kun, Uraraka-san. We need to get changed otherwise we might be late and you know how Aizawa-sensei can be,” Deku said quickly and started heading out the door, Todoroki following behind.

Ochako wasn’t sure what to think. “I wonder why they are training with Aizawa-sensei,” she said to Iida. 

“I am sure they have a very good reason,” Iida said with an arm chop.

“Of course, but they are already so talented, top of the class. Why would they need extra training that the rest of us don’t?”

Iida paused, taking time to come up with a response. “That is a good question but if they haven’t told us it isn’t our place to pry.”

Ochako let the topic drop. She knew she was being a bit irrational, everyone had a right to keep things to themselves but she never expected Deku to be like that. Maybe she would go spend time with the girls. They liked to gossip and would at least be more understanding of how hurt she was feeling. Tooru might get noisy about it and she was the best at finding things out. Ochako wouldn’t encourage her but she wouldn’t discourage her either.

After their warm-up all three boys entered Gym Alpha and met Aizawa. “Shinsou, Todoroki you’re paired today. Midoriya you’re with me,” Aizawa instructed.

Hitoshi headed over to the same mat as yesterday, Todoroki right behind. Todoroki remained poker faced and took a starting stance. “Ready,” he said, without any emotion. Hitoshi took a stance and they began.

It took less than a minute for Hitoshi to get Todoroki on the ground. He furrowed his brows and frowned in consternation. 

Huh? 

“Are you just that bad or were you not actually ready?” he asked. 

Todoroki grunted. “Just that bad.” 

“Pfft, who knew the pretty boy of 1-A sucks at quirkless fighting!” he said with a chuckle.

“I was trained to be a distance fighter with my quirk. I have a lot to learn,” he said impassively. Todoroki cocked an eyebrow, “Pretty boy?”

“The entirety of the female students, and a not small part of the male, call you ‘pretty boy.’ Did you not know?” Hitoshi asked with humor in his voice.

“No. Why would they do that? Are they making fun of me?” Todoroki asked.

Hitoshi couldn’t keep it in and laughed loudly. “Oh my god. I would have never expected you to be this clueless.” Todoroki blinked a few times in quick succession and cocked his head in response.

“Shinsou, Todoroki, you are supposed to be sparring,” Aizawa called over. Hitoshi glanced in that direction to see a winded Midoriya on the ground as Aizawa gave them an unimpressed look.

“Sorry Sensei,” he called over as Todoroki moved to get back into position. “Ready.”

“Ready.” And they started again.

By the end of their sparring session Todoroki had not managed to get a single win on Hitoshi. He had shown some improvement but it was clear he was a newbie. This wasn’t what Hitoshi was expecting from the top of the hero course. If quirks were involved things would obviously be different.

Do they really give limelight heroes so little training without their quirks? No wonder they are all so flashy.

Midoriya headed over to Todoroki who was once again laying on the floor after their final match. “Good job today, you two,” he said cheerily. To Hitoshi, “Looks like you didn’t go easy on him,” he said with mirth as he held his hand out for Todoroki to grab.

“No,” Hitoshi said seriously, unsure of how else to respond. Midoriya laughed a little.

Todoroki took Midoriya’s hand and pulled himself up. “Feel like you learned anything?” Midoriya asked him.

“That I really depend too much on my quirk and my father would definitely lose if he had to fight quirkless,” Todoroki replied with no hint of humor.

Is he being serious? Did he just stay the number one hero would lose if he was forced to fight quirkless? 

Hitoshi shook his head before he headed for the gym exit.

“See you tomorrow, Shinsou-kun,” Midoriya called after him. Hitoshi threw up his arm in a half-hearted wave without turning around.

“See you tomorrow, Shinsou-kun,” Izuku said, watching Shinsou leave. Shinsou gave an apathetic wave.

Progress!

“He said people call me ‘pretty boy.’ Is that true?” Todoroki asked seriously.

Izuku bit back his laughter but the smile on his face and crinkle at his eyes was impossible to avoid. “Yes, they do. Most of the school actually.”

“Why?” The confusion was written all over Todoroki’s face.

“You-you don’t know?” Izuku said, shocked.

“No. Why would I know why other people do something?” Todoroki said with some annoyance.

“Todoroki-kun, you are extremely attractive.”  The blush that spread across Todoroki’s cheeks brought Izuku back to himself as he realized what he just said. “You know, uh, objectively speaking. You have the hair, and the eyes, and the whole build. Not to mention when you use your ice and fire at the same time you look almost ethereal and-” he clapped a hand over his mouth and tried to hide behind his other arm.

“Thank you,” he heard Todoroki say softly enough he wasn’t sure he didn’t imagine it. “We should head back to the dorms,” Todoroki said at a normal volume.

“Yeah. I have, uhm, homework I need to do,” Izuku said and headed towards the door.

The walk back to the dorms was silent and Izuku was very careful to not look at Todoroki. Much too embarrassed to even glance at his friend. He could not think of anything to say so they walked back in awkward silence and quickly parted when they got to their dorm building.

Hitoshi was mentally replaying how his extra training went. He couldn’t quite believe the way Todoroki took his complete failure at quirkless sparring. It was impressive how bad he was, way too dependent on his quirk. Hitoshi expected him to get angry or frustrated as he continued to lose. Instead he just kept getting back up and trying again. The way he asked about the ‘pretty boy’ comment left Hitoshi second guessing his impression of the guy. He had always come off as pretentious and condescending. Maybe he was just as awkward as he had seemed this afternoon.

He might be fun to mess with if that is the case.

Midoriya had made it clear last year that he was stupidly friendly. Determined to be the best hero possible but also annoyingly friendly. It seemed no matter what Hitoshi did he had an endless amount of goodwill. He improved so quickly during their sparing the day before meaning he learned fast too.

I wonder what tomorrow will bring since he sparred with Aizawa-sensei today.

Hitoshi didn’t want to admit it but he didn’t really dislike either Midoriya or Todoroki, not after spending time with them. They seemed to be taking the underground training seriously even if they were ideal limelight heroes.

I just wish I knew why. They are perfect for limelight heroics and don’t seem at all suited for underground at all.

He wanted to know what made them decide to go this route. Something with no fame, less money, and required more work and training. Why would anyone choose that when they could be a flashy popular limelight hero?

Momo was sitting in the common room working on her homework hoping to catch Todoroki when he got out of the shower. She had seen how flustered and awkward he and Midoriya had been when they came in and she wanted to know why. Maybe something finally happened?

Momo knew that Ochako had feelings for Midoriya, all the girls knew, it was hard to miss but she had also seen the way Todoroki and Midoriya started to circle around one another both seemingly as oblivious to themselves as much as each other.

Boys are all emotionally stunted it seems.

She had just finished her history homework when she spotted Todoroki heading across the common room. “Todoroki-san,” she called out to him, lifting her arm in a gentle wave. He turned towards her and headed in her direction.

“Can I help you with something, Yaoyorozu?” he asked.

“Ah, I was just wondering if you would be willing to check over my history assignment. You tend to get better grades than me in that subject.”

He nodded and took a seat across from her. She handed over her assignment and he started to check it over. She let him read it over, wondering how to bring up her real topic. He got about halfway through her assignment when she decided to just be straightforward.

“I saw you and Midoriya-san come in together. You both looked rather flustered. Did something happen?” she asked, trying her best to sound nonchalant.  

He looked up at her and she saw the uncertainty and embarrassment flit across his face before it settled again to his neutral expression. “Someone called me ‘pretty boy’ and I asked Midoriya why they did that,” he said. Momo thought that was all he would say when he continued. “He explained it to me.” Momo had to suppress a smile as she imagined Midoriya likely rambled and said more than he meant to. “It was enlightening,” he finished.

“Ah, that would have left a lot of people flustered,” she offered, trying to hide her amusement. She did not want to increase how uncomfortable he was. She let the silence resume and he finished checking over her assignment.

“I don’t see any mistakes. Let me know if you want me to look over future assignments for you,” he said.

“Thank you Todoroki-san. I appreciate it. Let me know if I can return the favor,” she said brightly as he got up to leave. “Have a good night.”

“You too.”

The next day went smoothly until they got to afternoon training with Aizawa. “Today we are going to do something different,” Aizawa grinned in a way that was almost feral. “You three against me.”

Shouto lost count of how many times he had been thrown into Midoriya or Shinsou. It had been far too many. He was by far the weakest link and Aizawa took advantage of that. The others had been used against them too but not nearly as much as Shouto. Aizawa was merciless.

The three of them were laying on the floor trying to find the energy to move. Aizawa had dismissed them and left at least five minutes ago but they were still laying there. 

Midoriya was the first to get up. 

Of course he always seems to have limitless energy. 

“Guess we need to work on fighting together,” he said. Shouto only had the energy for an affirmative grunt. Shinsou let out a similar noise. “I need to get to work on my essay,” Midoriya said, sounding a little vexed.

“Ugh, don’t remind me. I need to work on mine too.” Shinsou groaned out.

“Want to work together in my room? It is quieter than the common rooms and the library tends to be crowded.” Shouto offered. He really only wanted to offer Midoriya but he didn’t mind Shinsou’s company. Midoriya wanted to be Shinsou’s friend and Shouto figured he might help out where he could.

“Thanks, Todoroki-kun, that sounds great. Shinsou-kun?”

“Sure, why not. I need to shower first. Meet you there in like thirty?”

“Sounds good,” Midoriya said cheerily. He held his hand out to Shinsou who took it to pull himself to his feet before he went over to Shouto and did the same. “Oh, Shinsou-kun, his room is on the fifth floor.”

“Thanks,” Shinsou called as he headed out with an unenthusiastic wave.

They were all sitting in Todoroki’s room working, or rather, trying to work on their essays. Hitoshi was done with his and was checking over what he had already written. Midoriya was mumbling, scribbling things down, and mumbling more. Todoroki appeared to be trying to set his paper on fire with a look. Hitoshi was trying to come up with a good way to start a conversation so that he could ask about their reasons for going underground. That was the reason he agreed to this after all.

Midoriya finally took a break from his mumble and writing storm and looked over at Todoroki. “Not going okay for you?” he asked gently.

“I am having trouble figuring out how to explain why without...” Todoroki trailed off but Midoriya seemed to understand what the problem was.

“Hm, what about making it more generic? You want to save the people from hidden villains. The people that use their power and money to hide their crimes. Then you can go over how there aren’t enough heroes that can or will do that currently,” Midoriya said.

“Thanks, I think that’ll work.” Hitoshi watched in shock as Todoroki actually smiled at Midoriya.

Who knew Todoroki could smile? Wait, he wants to save people from hidden villains? People with money and power? That is unexpected. I wonder what caused that.

“How about you?” Midoriya asked Hitoshi.

“Oh, I am almost done. Just proof reading mostly at this point I think.” Hitoshi didn’t want them to ask about his essay so he quickly asked, “And what about your essay Midoriya?”

“Ugh! I am having so much trouble trying to figure out how to stay within the page limit,” he said frustrated.

“Page limit?” Hitoshi asked.

Todoroki let out a small huff of laughter. 

He can laugh too? 

“Yeah, last time we had an essay I went a bit overboard and Aizawa-sensei actually docked me points for writing too much. I have been told I cannot write more than the expected page count ever again or he will fail me on the assignment,” Midoriya answered with a shudder. Hitoshi wasn’t sure how to respond to that and just stared at him stunned.

“He already has your what, thirty-five pages? Of research. You should be able to make generic references to it and he will know what you are referring to,” Todoroki said. “It’s a clear inspiration for you going into underground heroics.”

“You have thirty-five pages of research related to this?” Hitoshi asked, shocked.

“Thirty-seven actually, but yes,” Midoriya answered like that was normal.

“And what exactly was your research on?” he asked.

Midoriya glanced at Todoroki who gave him a shrug in return. Midoriya didn’t say anything for several heartbeats as he appeared to be thinking. “I went looking into how effective the Symbol of Peace actually is on lowering the crime rate,” Midoriya finally answered.

“Okay?” he said, confused. Everyone knew the Symbol of Peace was the reason for the drop in crime.

“Turns out it was next to none,” Midoriya said straight faced.

“What?” Hitoshi nearly yelled. “You’ve gotta be shitting me.”

Midoriya pulled out a notebook and handed it to Hitoshi, “Check pages five through forty-two.” Hitoshi noted the book was titled ‘Hero System Analysis No. 2’ and began to wonder how many more there were before turning to page five.

Hitoshi read and read and he could feel his eyes trying to pop out of his head. 

This is insane.

“What the actual fuck, Midoriya,” was all he could say when he got to the end. He just stared. Midoriya shrugged at him while Todoroki worked on his essay without paying them any mind.

After several minutes he finally managed to compose himself. He asked, “Is this the reason why you decided to go into underground heroics?”

“One of them,” Midoriya said simply.

“And what the hell are the other reasons?” he asked sharply. Hitoshi didn’t mean for it to come out angry but he was so shocked that being angry seemed easier than anything else.

Todoroki looked up at him. “Do you actually want to know that? He has a habit of shattering your perception of the world.” Hitoshi didn’t have a response. 

Todoroki already knew about the Symbol of Peace, what else has Midoriya discovered?

“Hit me with the cliff notes,” he said more confidently than he felt. He wanted to know why they were going underground. He might not have known what he was getting into but he was not about to chicken out.

“Crimes that underground heroes handle are on the rise. Drug and trafficking rings. Crimes against vulnerable children too. I feel like I can do more good underground than I could as a limelight hero. Also, and I want to stress I haven’t finished researching this so I am not sure yet, but I believe that limelight hero protocols actually cause more property damage and create more potential victims to crimes,” Midoriya said.

“Explain that last one,” Hitoshi demanded.

“Todoroki, this might go over your one world altering fact a week limit, do you want us to go elsewhere?” Midoriya asked. 

Todoroki sighed. “I was only partially serious about that. Stay, I want to know more too.” Todoroki put down his work so that he could give Midoriya his full attention.

“Back in my last year of middle school I was caught up in the Sludge Villain Incident. You might remember the news reports since it made a big splash.” Midoriya looked at them getting nods in return. Hitoshi did remember it. Bakugou was all over the reports since he had been caught up in it and he had such a strong quirk. 

“The villain had robbed a store, stealing around thirty-five thousand yen. All Might gave chase but the villain eluded capture for a bit. He grabbed me as a hostage. The villain was trying to use me as a disguise. I would have died but All Might caught up and saved my life,” Midoriya took a few deep breaths and gave himself a bit of a shake. Hitoshi remembered the footage of the villain around Bakugou, it had looked awful, he could not imagine having gone through that. This clearly wasn’t a good memory for Midoriya. Todoroki moved closer to Midoriya and pushed their shoulders together. Midoriya gave him a small smile before continuing.

“The villain escaped capture and several blocks away caught Kacchan and tried to do the same thing to him. In his struggle to get away Kacchan’s quirk went out of control and set a large part of the street on fire. None of the onsite heroes did anything, claiming their quirks were incompatible. I ran to try and save Kacchan but was useless. Fortunately, All Might arrived, defeated the villain, captured him this time, and changed the weather to put out the fires.” Midoriya silently let this sink in. Todoroki ran his hand through his hair, disturbed by this story.

“But, if All Might had not given chase the villain would never have felt the need to try and take a hostage in the first place.” Todoroki’s eyes went wide and Hitoshi could feel himself mirroring the action.

“He stole around thirty-five thousand yen from a store but the chase and subsequent damages cost tens of millions, almost got Kacchan and myself killed, and there were dozens of people that had injuries from the fires.” The room remained silent for several minutes after that. No one was sure what to say to that revelation.

Todoroki spoke first, “You have always been a trouble magnet haven’t you?”

Hitoshi laughed. Out of all the things Todoroki could have said he did not expect that. Midoriya was looking sheepish but also chuckling, clearly his reputation as a trouble magnet had been well earned.

“You are absolutely insane, Midoriya,” Hitoshi said between laughs.

I might actually get along with these two.

Chapter Text

All of his students handed in their essays on time. It had taken him all of his waking free time on Monday and Tuesday to work through them all. He had put off Midoriya’s essay until last and he was regretting that decision. He wanted the report on the Sludge Villain. He had put in an access request but apparently, they were backed up and it was going to be a while before the files were sent to him.

Closed cases had low priority. He knew this but it didn’t stop him from being annoyed about it. Aizawa sighed, that was a problem for the future. Midoriya had managed to stay within the page limit and still cram more information than anyone else. At least it was clear he was set on underground heroics in more ways than one. 

Todoroki’s essay had surprised him. Wanting to go after the villains that regular heroes couldn’t touch was honorable. With his powerful quirk, he might be able to take down some corrupt heroes, which was a field that was severely lacking in power. Aizawa was one of the few that was even able to take on such cases. Others could but no one wanted to be the bad guy in their field. Todoroki would be a valuable asset there.

He was going to be adding another student from his class to the underground heroics lessons. Aizawa had expected a few from Class B but Vlad said only Shinsou was interested in underground heroics. 

What is Vlad teaching those kids? Some of them are perfect for underground work. I put Shinsou in that class expecting more of them to go underground.

As much as Aizawa despaired at the lack of underground students this was the most he had for a given year ever. He hadn’t had any students the previous year meaning he wouldn’t have to split his time between two classes. He would never admit how pleasantly surprised he was by Todoroki and Midoriya’s quirkless fighting over the last few days. They had rotated between paired off sparring and all three students against him. Midoriya was making gains in his skill level much faster but that made sense with his quirk. Midoriya had much more hand-to-hand experience than Todoroki but his rate of growth was nothing short of astounding. 

The Problem Child had always impressed him with how fast he improved. It made Aizawa wonder why he couldn’t use his quirk at all at the beginning of first year. He should have had a better handle on it considering how fast he figured things out and his insane pain tolerance. Todoroki was showing steady improvement, he still hadn’t managed to win a single spar against Shinsou or Midoriya but that was expected with his lack of training in hand-to-hand. The additional training they would start today would also help his skills. Quirkless sparring was one thing but there was so much more for them to learn. 

Aizawa sighed and headed towards the classroom. 

Time to get this over with and try to take a nap.

Aizawa opened the door and his students immediately got quiet. “I have gone over your essays. Asui, Ashido, Sero, Kouda, Jirou, Uraraka, you are meeting Thirteen in room two-fifteen after school today.”

“Yes, Sensei!” came the enthusiastic chorus from the named students.

“Midoriya, Todoroki, Tokoyami, you are meeting in room two-thirty-two after school today.”

Another round of, “Yes, sir,” but much less enthusiastic.

“Mineta, you are meeting Hound Dog in his office after school.”

“Uh, yes, Sensei,” Mineta said.

“The rest of you do not have an extra meeting and are free to go at the end of the day.”

“Yes, Sensei!” chorused once again.

“You all have noticed you have a free period this year. Most of you are taking advantage of that period for extra training which was the intention. After the Sports Festival, that time will be dedicated to a Media and Public Relations class, unless you are pulled for other classes. Those who will have additional classes will be getting details about them in their meetings today.” He gave his students a once-over.

“That is all,” he said before wrapping himself up in his sleeping bag and ignoring his class.

Ochako went to Tsuyu's desk and said, “Did you want to work on rescue heroics too?”

“Yes, I assume that is why we are all meeting with Thirteen after school. I wasn’t expecting there to be six of us though.” Tsuyu turned toward Sero. “Especially you Sero-chan. You seemed more interested in fighting villains.”

Sero rubbed the back of his head. “Yeah, I was thinking about it a lot after the Provisional Licensing Exam. I still want to be good at fighting villains but I think having more rescue training would be good. My quirk’s really suited to it.”

“That’s true! You could do so many things with your quirk to help with rescue work,” Ochako said brightly.

Tsuyu turned to look at the other side of the room. “I wonder who those three are meeting with, ribbit,” she said, putting her finger on her chin. “It is odd that Aizawa-sensei didn’t mention a teacher.”

“I want to know too!” Tooru said brightly. Ochako jumped, she hadn’t heard Tooru come up to join them.

“Maybe they are meeting with Aizawa-sensei?” Ochako guessed. “Deku-kun and Todoroki-kun have been training after school with him lately. It is odd to add in Tokoyami-kun though.”

“Oh, mysterious,” Tooru said. Ochako nodded enthusiastically at her. She knew if anyone would be as curious as she was about what was going on it would be Tooru.

Before the conversation could go further Ectoplasm walked in to start their Math class. Ochako and Tooru quickly headed back to their desks. She glanced over at Tooru who didn’t visibly respond but that didn’t mean much, she’s invisible.

Izuku was so excited about the idea of his new underground heroics classes he was nearly vibrating. As much as he had enjoyed quirkless sparring he was looking forward to all the additional things they would get to learn. The last week had left him exhausted but it had also been fun. Shinsou had been friendly since the weekend and he was pretty sure they were in ‘friends’ territory now. Todoroki seems to get along with him too which was rather unexpected. They were both blunt people so maybe that was why.

Izuku was walking with Todoroki and Tokoyami towards the room they were meeting in. He wasn’t surprised to see that Tokoyami would be joining them but he hadn’t expected it either.

I wonder who from Class B will be there besides Shinsou-kun. Kuroiro-kun would make sense with his quirk, Black. The way he can merge into dark things means he would be perfect for reconnaissance and surprise attacks. Monoma-kun would make sense too. With his copy quirk, he could have several different personas with different quirks not to mention in a fight his ability to just suddenly use a different quirk can be shocking. Tokage-san would be great too. Her quirk would be useful for reconnaissance. It isn’t very pretty to look at but the shock factor could put villains off and it makes her hard to attack.

He felt Todoroki bump his shoulder. “We are almost there.”

“Oh, sorry! And thanks, I was getting a bit lost in my thoughts about who else might be in these classes with us,” Izuku said sheepishly. “I am rather excited,” he added.

“I could tell,” Todoroki said plainly.

Tokoyami got to the door first and opened it. Todoroki and Izuku followed him inside. Izuku took a quick look around and saw Shinsou who gave them a nod. “Hi, Shinsou-kun! Is Aizawa-sensei here yet?”

“Don’t think so,” he responded. Izuku shut the door and took a seat.

“Anyone else from your class joining us?” Izuku asked Shinsou.

“Nope. At least I was the only one told to come here,” Shinsou said.

“Really? But so many of your classmates would be perfect for underground work!” Izuku said distraught. Shinsou shrugged in response.

“You three seem to have a better idea of what is going on than I do,” Tokoyami said. The question he was not asking was clear to all of them.

“Ah, sorry, didn’t mean to leave you out. We have been training with Aizawa-sensei to be underground heroes,” Izuku said simply.

Tokoyami’s eyes widened and he opened his mouth to say something but the door opened and Aizawa entered, causing Tokoyami to snap his beak shut.

Aizawa looked around the room, “Good you are all here.” He glared at an empty corner. “Hagakure, is there a reason you are here?”

The boys looked over towards the seemingly empty corner as things remained silent. “I will give you detention for the rest of the year,” Aizawa said sharply, capture weapon flaring ready to grab someone.

“Sorry, sorry, Sensei! I was curious!” Hagakure said, voice filled with desperation. “I will just go now. Sorry.”

“If you would like to take some of the stealth lessons let me know at an appropriate time. You might be invisible but you shouldn’t depend on it to hide you completely,” he said as the door started to open.

“I understand, Sensei,” Hagakure said before the door closed.

“Now that that has been dealt with. Welcome to the start of your underground heroics classes. We will be using both the time that would have been reserved for Media and Public Relations and after school. Tokoyami, since you are looking to go a more hybrid route between limelight and underground you will still take most of the Media and Public Relations classes but you may have to play catch-up if I deem a lesson necessary to you.”

“I understand Sensei,” Tokoyami said with a nod.

“Monday, Wednesday, and Friday will be dedicated to gymnastics, parkour, and fighting techniques, quirkless and quirked. Tuesday and Saturday will be dedicated to stealth and weapons training. Snipe will teach some of the weapons classes. Thursdays will be negotiations, tactics, and other lessons that are valuable to underground heroes, like quirk analysis.” He saw Midoriya perk up at that.

“Sunday will be makeup and acting with Midnight. Tokoyami you will not have to take those. Since you are not looking to go into underground heroics full time you will not need to be able to act.”

“I don’t think makeup would help much either,” Dark Shadow quipped. Shinsou sniggered at the unexpected comment.

“You are expected to use all that you are learning from these extra classes during your regular hero training classes with your classmates.” He got nods all around but he expected his students didn’t fully understand what they were agreeing to yet. “Tokoyami, I am assuming you plan to take part in the Sports Festival?”

“Yes.”

“You other three, if you are serious about underground work, will not,” Aizawa said sternly.

“Yes, Sensei!” Midoriya said while Todoroki just nodded.

“Sure. Less work for me.” Aizawa smiled at Shinsou’s comment but it was not a friendly smile.

“That means your free periods are going to be used to train with me.” He watched Shinsou wilt a bit.

“Yes, Sensei,” he got in a barely together chorus.

Aizawa settled a glare on Midoriya, “Midoriya. I am going to ask that you do not share your research with anyone else without express permission from me.” He turned his head to face Todoroki and said, “Todoroki, I don’t know how much Midoriya shared with you but you are also not to share it.” He returned his gaze to Midoriya and continued, “This includes not just the topics covered in your essay and the previous information you have given me but future topics you may decide to look into,” Aizawa said sternly. He watched as Midoriya went pale. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose, “What did you do Problem Child?”

“Uh, I sh-shared it with Shinsou-kun too,” Midoriya said, refusing to meet his gaze. Aizawa let out a long-suffering sigh.

“That’s my fault. I should have told you this sooner. Shinsou, you are also not to share that information with anyone without my permission,” he said. “For good measure, this applies to you too Tokoyami and Dark Shadow for that matter.” They all nod at him.

“Uhm, Sensei?” Midoriya said in a small voice.

“Yes?”

“I was hoping to also share it with Gran Torino.” 

That’s unexpected.

“He’s the hero you did your internship with last year after the Sports Festival, correct?” he asked.

“Uh yeah, he trained All Might,” Midoriya said. 

Oh, that makes sense.

“Which part?”

“The Symbol of Peace part.” 

Not the Sludge Villain Incident? Even though All Might had played a huge part in that too? I guess he doesn’t want to say ‘Hey All Might your actions almost killed myself and Bakugou and cost millions in damages but thanks for saving my life.’ That would be awkward.

“You may but only the overview. Sooner might be better. Tell him to call me and I will provide him a copy of your research. He has my contact information.”

“Thank you, Sensei!”

Aizawa moved his attention to Shinsou. “Shinsou, I expected more of Class B to join in on these lessons. I was mistaken, it seems you are the only one. If you would like, you can be switched into Class A.” Shinsou looked a little shocked but was masking it well.  “It will require moving dorm rooms and there is no difference between the classes but it may be helpful to have more classes with these three. It will also make things easier on me. It is your choice, let me know before the end of tomorrow. If you are moving I want you in my class on Friday and we can move you in the evening on Friday or Saturday.”

Shinsou nodded at him wordlessly. The unexpected offer appeared to have thrown him off balance.

“Now, any questions?” Aizawa asked them all.

Todoroki raised his hand and Aizawa called on him, “Why gymnastics? I understand everything else but that one seems out of place.”

“Flexibility, balance, and precision of movement. All of these will be helpful skills to have with your other training.” Todoroki nodded, accepting.

“Any more?” Aizawa was met with silence. “Then go get changed, do the standard warm-up. One of you three show Tokoyami what is expected. Meet me in Gym Alpha. We start with gymnastics today.”

Tooru had left the room after being caught and quickly went to retrieve her phone.

Aizawa-sensei is still as scary as ever!

Midoriya had said they were going to be underground heroes. Shinsou was there and he was pretty much guaranteed to be an underground hero. Tokoyami she could see going underground too, he was so much stronger at night that it would make sense. But Midoriya and Todoroki? 

They have two of the flashiest quirks in their class and are both at the top in class rankings! What the hell? I am going to have to talk to the girls about this.

Once she had retrieved her stuff she quickly pulled out her phone and opened up the girls only Class A group chat.

Invisible Girl

@Everyone Girls! I have news! Meeting when the rescue crew gets back to the dorms?

Creati

I will make tea!

Invisible Girl

Sounds great!

Pinky

we will be there when 12 is done

13*

Uravity

we can meet in my room

Creati

Should you all be on your phones?

Pinky

13 is rather long winded, it fine

Tooru was excited to share the news. When the notification came through that the rest of the girls were on their way Tooru was nearly bouncing.

Ochako wasn’t sure what to expect. She watched Tooru bouncing in place to share her news but they were waiting for Momo and Kyouka who were preparing tea and hadn’t made it to her room yet.

“Tooru-chan are you going to give us any hints?” Mina asked, pumping her arms in anticipation.

“Hmmm. I want to, but I also cannot wait to see your shock so I think I am just going to make you all wait,” she said playfully.

Thankfully Momo and Kyouka showed up with the tea before they had to wait much longer. “Finally!” Mina nearly yelled when they entered. Ochako felt the same. She really wanted to know what was going on with Deku and Todoroki. Momo set down the tray and everyone took a cup as they settled down around Ochako’s room.

“Tooru-chan, go!” Mina said loudly.

“They’re planning to…” she paused for dramatic effect and with a bit of gloved jazz hands finished, “be underground heroes!” The room was silent with shock. Everyone stared at the invisible space where Tooru’s face was. 

Ochako is the first to break the silence with a loud “No way!” The rest of them erupted.

“Huh?”

“What?”

“That can’t be right!”

The girls were all looking at each other with shock and disbelief written on their faces.

Tsuyu spoke up over the others and asked, “Tooru-chan, are you sure? Ribbit.”

“Yes, I’m sure. Midoriya-kun told Tokoyami-kun when he asked what was going on. Shinsou-kun was there too and was not surprised to see Midoriya-kun or Todoroki-kun.”

“I don’t understand. Deku-kun wants to be the next All Might. This doesn’t make sense.” Ochako said.

“I can’t believe they're not secretly dating!” Mina groaned.

“Huh?” Ochako whipped her head to look at Mina. She saw a playful glint in Mina’s eyes and decided to ignore the comment. Mina loved to make jokes like that and try to pair everyone off.

“Shinsou-chan is the one who transferred from General Studies, right?” asked Tsuyu.

“Yeah, I saw him use the elevator on the boys’ side the other day. I didn’t really think about it at the time,” Tooru said.

“All Might-sensei has been a bit weird too. He keeps looking like he lost something, ribbit.”

“Guess he lost Midoriya,” Kyouka joked.

“Maybe we should just ask them?” Ochako asked.

“Do you think they would answer? Midoriya-chan has been rather skittish lately.” Tsuyu said.

“I think we need to back up. Why would Midoriya-kun be embarrassed by this?” Momo said to the group. They quieted down and began to think.

“Deku-kun always wanted to be All Might. We all know how much he idolizes him. Just look at his room. If he doesn’t want to be like All Might anymore then something changed.” Ochako put in.

“But what could have changed?” Kyouka said.

“Does it matter?” Tsuyu retorted. “Something changed Midoriya-chan’s goals and he is embarrassed about it, ribbit. Maybe because he has been so vocal in the past.”

“So we should just show Deku-kun we support him!” Ochako said excitedly. Tsuyu nodded at her.

“But what about Todoroki-kun. It’s weird he would go underground.” Mina said. Waggling her eyebrows she said, “You think he is following Midori-chan?”

“Todoroki-kun has never seemed to enjoy the spotlight,” Momo said, choosing to ignore Mina’s comment. “Maybe they haven’t been open about it because they don’t want this,” she waved her hand around at everyone in the room, “type of reaction to it.”

“That actually makes a lot of sense,” Ochako said thoughtfully.

“Neither of them are very good at being the center of attention and two of the top students in our class deciding to go underground is going to be a big deal, ribbit,” Tsuyu said.

“So maybe we shouldn’t say anything. Maybe we can help redirect people when the news does get out,” Momo said.

“Oh, good idea Yaomomo. I know Blasty is going to be pissed,” Mina said. Kyouka laughed, amused at how true that was.

“This is still so shocking,” Ochako said. “I wish I knew why they decided this.”

“I’m sure they will tell us, ribbit. I don’t think they’re trying to keep it a secret, more they don’t want to deal with the fallout.”

“Yes, I am sure they will tell us when they see we won’t make a big deal out of it,” Momo said. She clapped her hands together lightly and continued, “We won’t push them or react when others find out, and we will try to deflect other’s attention when it is clear someone’s uncomfortable, especially Bakugou-san who I expect will be the main problem. Everyone agree?”

There was a chorus of agreement from the gathered girls. Ochako was happy she finally knew what was going on but was still a bit hurt that Deku had decided to hide it from her. Though she probably would have put him on the spot asking all kinds of questions if he had told her. Maybe she really can’t blame him. 

“I brought snacks and today's tea is …” Momo started, successfully changing the topic.

“Ugh, I hurt in places I didn’t know I could hurt,” Midoriya said as he got up. Shouto let out an acknowledging grunt and heard similar noises from Shinsou and Tokoyami.

“I would never have expected gymnastics to be such a challenge,” Tokoyami said.

“At least he didn’t use Todoroki as a projectile today,” Shinsou said with mirth.

Tokoyami rolled his head on the floor so he was looking over at Shouto. “Quirkless fighting practice,” Shouto said in explanation.

“He really sucks at it,” Shinsou said with a light chuckle.

Midoriya held out his hand to help Shouto up, which he took gratefully. The other two managed to push themselves to their feet before Midoriya could offer assistance.

“Hey Shinsou-kun,” Midoriya said. Shinsou gave him an acknowledging hum. “Do you know yet if you are going to change classes?” he asked. A few heartbeats passed and Midoriya started again, “You don’t have to, uh, answer. Sorry. I didn’t mean to put you on the spot. I was just-” He was cut off by Shinsou laughing.

“Midoriya you really need to work on your poker face,” he said lightly. Shinsou’s expression turned more serious when he said, “Honestly, I probably will. Class B is nice but they still treat me…differently.”

“Oh, that is rather unfortunate. I’m sure my class will be happy to have you. At least I will be!” Shinsou looked over at Midoriya who was smiling brightly.

“You guys are okay but you don’t think the rest of your class will be weird?”

“No, I’m sure you will get along great with everyone!” Midoriya said.

“Maybe not Bakugou,” Shouto interjected.

“Ah well, Kacchan is…” Midoriya trailed off, unsure of what to say to that.

Shouto looked over at Shinsou seriously, “I am positive he would be unable to keep his mouth shut so just have fun brainwashing him.” Shinsou’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Pfft! Todoroki-kun you aren’t supposed to encourage quirk use in classes!” Midoriya tried to chide as he laughed.

“Why? I’m sure Aizawa-sensei will be happy to have someone shut him up,” Shouto deadpanned. Midoriya laughed harder and Shinsou joined in. Shouto’s lips twitched up slightly, happy that his joke made his friends laugh.

“You three seem to have developed a very strong companionship,” Tokoyami said as he chuckled lightly.

“I didn’t have a choice in the matter. Pretty sure Midoriya just decided we were going to be friends and then refused to let me have a choice in the matter,” Shinsou said with a smirk.

“He really doesn’t give you a choice. At least he didn’t shatter any bones when befriending you,” Shouto said, playfulness in his tone.

“You guys!” Midoriya whined, flailing his arms about in embarrassment as he began to blush.

Shinsou looked at Tokoyami and added, “You’re probably next.” That got Tokoyami to laugh again.

“That’s unnecessary. Midoriya and I have been friends since he asked me to join his team for the cavalry battle in last year's Sports Festival. I would also prefer it if he kept his bones in one piece.”

“Come on guys. I wanna shower before dinner,” Midoriya said, not quite a whine, as he headed for the doors. “And I need to call Gran,” he said with a definite whine.

Shouto watched him head to the door and could see that his ears were still bright red from the teasing. 

Cute.

Huh?

Izuku thought he had finally stopped blushing after being teased when Shinsou wished them a good night as he headed towards his dorm building. The three of them were heading towards their dorm building when Dark Shadow popped out, “Are you going to tell us why you two are planning to go underground?”

“Dark Shadow, do not be rude,” Tokoyami rebuked.

“But you are curious too!” Dark Shadow protested.

“Ah, it is okay Tokoyami-kun,” Izuku cut in. “I think I can do more good as an underground hero than a limelight one.”

“I would not have expected that of you Midoriya. I was under the impression you wanted to be like All Might.”

“Yeah, there were several things that changed my mind,” Izuku added sheepishly. Tokoyami didn’t press. Izuku hoped he understood that he wasn’t allowed to talk about it. Aizawa had been rather clear about that.

Dark Shadow turned to Todoroki and said, “What about you?”

“Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami chided.

Todoroki looked forward and went a bit still before he said, “I want to take down the villains that we don’t think are villains. People that use their money and power to do evil. Corrupt politicians, CEOs, heroes, and the like.” Tokoyami made an affirmative hum and appeared to be mulling over what Todoroki said. 

Izuku felt the blush return to his face. He was happy his friend took his advice on how to explain why he wanted to go underground without revealing personal details. He hoped it was dark enough no one else noticed he was blushing.

“I also don’t want to do all the limelight hero things. Photo shoots, merchandise, that kind of stuff,” Todoroki added. 

“What about you Tokoyami-kun? If you don’t mind sharing that is. Aizawa-sensei mentioned you wanted to be a hybrid?” Izuku asked.

“Dark Shadow works best in darkness which is not the best for a limelight hero but I also want to show others with powers of darkness that they too can be heroes,” Tokoyami said seriously.

“That is very noble of you Tokoyami-kun! I am sure you can do it,” Izuku said brightly.

Back in his room after dinner, Izuku stared at his phone. 

I have put this off for long enough. I need to call Gran. 

He chewed on his bottom lip as he dialed. The phone didn’t ring long before it was answered.

“Yes, hello?”

“Hello, Gran Torino. This is Midoriya Izuku. I, uhm, need to talk to you about All Might.”

“About All Might? What happened kid?”

“I decided I want to go into underground heroics because I think I can do more good there and don’t want to be the next Symbol of Peace.”

The line went silent for a while and Izuku wasn’t sure if he should add anything at this point.

"I’m glad you are choosing your own path, kid, but what brought this on?”

“Oh, uhm, Aizawa-sensei said you should contact him for a copy of my research. I can give you the short version?”

“Go for it.”

“So, uhm. I was looking into how effective the Symbol of Peace is on lowering crime when you take into account all other factors that lower crime.”

“Interesting.”

“All Might did next to nothing,” he said quickly. The line remained silent long enough that Izuku checked his phone to make sure the call was still connected.

“I understand why you called me,”  Gran Torino finally said. “Thanks for the heads up kid, I will take care of Toshinori and you don’t have to worry about it.”

“Uh, Gran Torino, is there any way I can help?” Izuku asked guiltily.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this. That’s the best thing you can do. Got it?”

“Yeah, I got it,” Izuku said dejectedly.

“I have to get going. Don’t worry about Toshinori. I got it handled. Bye.” The line went dead before Izuku could say anything.

Izuku sighed. He still felt guilty, extremely guilty, but Gran Torino was probably right. He decided to focus on his homework and reviewing class materials. Better to keep busy than start overthinking things, which he definitely would if he let himself.

Aizawa was about to head home when his phone rang. He answered, hoping it wasn't an emergency. “Hello.”

“Eraser, this is Gran Torino. I just talked to the kid.”

“Ah, I was expecting you to call. What did he tell you?”

“Kid did research, plans to go underground, and Toshinori is out of sorts.”

“That is the gist of it. Would you like a copy of his research?”

“Yeah. I am going to share it with Tsukauchi. Toshinori and him are friends, he might be able to help where I can’t.”

Aizawa found himself nodding. Someone else dealing with All Might sounded ideal to him. He really didn’t know what to do with a broken Symbol of Peace.

“I trust your judgment but I want to warn you Midoriya has thirty-seven pages of research, with sources listed. I have gone over everything and I think his conclusion is correct. This information is dangerous in the wrong hands.”

“I knew the kid was smart but damn.” 

Aizawa hummed an acknowledgment at the statement. He had started to realize there might be more to the Problem Child than any of them knew. He heard a muffled conversation on the other end of the line but couldn't make out the words.

“Tsukauchi said he can stop by tomorrow around lunch to pick up a copy so that nothing shady happens. Sound good?”

“Yes.”

“Take care of the kid, Eraser.”

“I will,” he said sincerely.

Chapter Text

Izuku had really enjoyed their first Tactics lessons from Aizawa. It was the only extra class in a classroom and unlike their normal Hero Informatics class Aizawa was never rushing through the material with the obvious desire to get into his sleeping bag. It was a little weird. According to Aizawa, all they learned in this class would be applied to their more practical lessons, extra classes and regular hero lessons alike. This first class was mostly Aizawa explaining what they would be learning and why they had to learn it. Limelight heroes had teams of people to help them on missions that they were connected to via comms. Underground heroes rarely did and backup couldn't be counted on.

Underground heroes needed to know how to read a room and everyone in it. Body language, skills, quirks, and so much more. A plan was only as good as the information gathered. The more information the better the plan could be. This applied to any negotiations they may end up in too. Underground heroes were known for their connections to less than savory people and vigilantes. The more you knew about the people you were dealing with the easier it became to get information out of them and determine the information they may be hiding. 

At the end of the class when Aizawa said they would be starting with Quirk Analysis next time Izuku wanted  to cheer. 

Shouta was at home sitting at the table across from his husband. They were both grading assignments. Well, it was more accurate to say that Shouta was trying to grade but failing while Hizashi was flying through his papers. Shouta’s mind kept wandering to that look Midoriya had in class. 

He gave up trying to grade and looked at his husband. “Hizashi, I might be scared to start teaching Quirk Analysis.”

“Huh?” Hizashi looked up from this pile of papers and put down the pen he was using to mark them. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion but ready to give Shouta his full attention.

“Problem Child’s eyes just-” Shouta pinched the bridge of his nose. “Ugh, they actually sparkled when I mentioned it,” he said gruffly. 

Hizashi snorted. “Only you would be worried because a kid is excited about a topic.”

“It isn’t that he’s excited, he’s excited about everything,” he deadpanned. “But this is Midoriya the Problem Child of all problem children Izuku.”

“You do have a point there,” Hizashi said thoughtfully. “Are you going to start the lessons the way you usually do?”

“Yes, I always know how much they need to learn after that,” Shouta said with a shrug. He always started the lesson the same way. It had always given him a way to gauge where they needed to start.

“It isn’t like he can tell you something you don’t already know.” Shouta nodded as his stress started to lessen. Hizashi always had a way of making Shouta believe what he said. The niggling sense of dread was still there but Shouta was able to ignore it better.

Hizashi must have noticed Shouta was still tense. “How about we start dinner?” Cooking would give him something else to focus on, he nodded at his husband. Hizashi started to organize the papers and Shouta was reminded how lucky he was.

Momo wasn’t sure what was going on when she walked into the classroom to see the desks adjusted with an extra behind her. 

A new student? But who? It was a weird time to transfer and U.A. doesn’t allow transfer into the heroics department between semesters.

As others arrived they seemed to share the same thought and the classroom was buzzing with questions about the extra desk. Midoriya walked in, spotted the extra desk, and beamed. Ochako noticed him and made a beeline in his direction. “Do you know what is up with the extra desk, Deku-kun?”

“I have an idea but I don’t want to spoil the surprise,” he said with a smile on his face.

“You being all in the know and keeping it to yourself,” Ochako poked at him playfully causing Midoriya to laugh lightly.

Aizawa entered the classroom and the conversation immediately died as everyone quickly got to their seats. Mina raised her hand, likely to ask about the extra desk but Aizawa pointedly ignored her.

“There are two things we need to go over today. First,” he called towards the door, “Come in.”

Hitoshi knew, logically, he shouldn’t be nervous, he was just changing classes. He knew people in this class. He might even call some of them friends, just not to their faces. But here he was waiting outside of his new classroom for Aizawa to call him in and he was nervous. He didn’t want another class full of people that were wary when talking to him. More people that were scared of what he might do to them with his quirk. His Gen Ed class had been better than Class B.

Aizawa called, “Come in,” and he entered the room to have twenty pairs of eyes on him. Hitoshi let his eyes scan over his new classmates. Todoroki and Tokoyami both gave him an acknowledging head nod while Midoriya smiled at him like an over-powered sunbeam. Bakugou looked downright pissed. 

But that isn’t unusual. He is always pissed. 

The rest of the class looked curious and maybe excited but not much else.

“This is Shinsou Hitoshi, you should remember him from last year’s Sports Festival. He transferred into the hero course at the beginning of the year and was placed in Class B but we decided he would be a better fit in Class A. Get along with each other.” He motioned for Hitoshi to introduce himself.

“Shinsou Hitoshi, my quirk is Brainwashing,” he said with a smirk. He knew it was better to act confident regardless of how he actually felt. It was a habit he had used for so long he found it easy to fall back on.

“You can sit, your seat is in the back,” Aizawa said. Hitoshi headed towards his seat. He walked a bit faster than he normally would, unable to completely hide his nervousness.

Midoriya waved as he passed and quietly said, “Glad you are in our class now.” Hitoshi gave a nod and took his seat without comment.

“Second, the Sports Festival is in two weeks. If you haven’t been using your free period for extra training I highly suggest you do. Your Hero Lessons are also going to be free training until after the festival. Midoriya, Todoroki, Shinsou, since you will not be participating I will be taking over both your free period and Hero Lesson time,” Aizawa said to the class.

The classroom erupted.

Well, at least they won’t be paying attention to me, Hitoshi thought wryly.

Ochako knew this was going to go badly as soon as the words were out of Aizawa’s mouth. The girls might have made a pact but they didn’t have any real plans. They thought they had more time, especially with how Deku had been acting. Everyone knew Bakugou was going to be pissed and they really should have at least tried to make plans on how to deal with him.

“What the fuck,” Bakugou growled as he got up and turned to face Deku as small explosions popped in his hands. 

“Ah, K-kacchan-” Deku started waving his hands around wildly.

“What’s it to you?” Todoroki called over with a steeliness that was reminiscent of the beginning of first year.

“And you too half ‘n half bastard!” Bakugou turned his anger towards Todoroki.

Todoroki remained straight-faced under the glare. “It shouldn’t matter to you if we are participating or not,” he said.

“I am going to fucking kill you! You have to compete so I can beat you!” Bakugou nearly roared.

“Then we are just making it easier for you to win since you won’t have to beat us. As long as you are at the top, what does it matter?” Todoroki said with some confusion. Ochako stared at him. 

Is he trying to instigate Bakugou? 

“I shouldn’t stand in your way, right? That is what you said last year,” Todoroki challenged.

Bakugou roared incoherently and Ochako knew she needed to somehow distract him before things got worse. She glanced at Aizawa and he was just watching the exchange with mild annoyance. Having no other ideas she decided challenging Bakugou was likely the best bet to get his attention.

“Why do you need them?” Ochako called over. “You may have beat me last year but you won’t this year!”

“Yeah right, Round Face,” Bakugou scoffed.

“Ha! Can’t take the challenge?” she taunted.

“I’ll fucking destroy you!” he yelled, pointing aggressively at her.

Eijirou was not sure what was going on. “But why aren’t they participating?” Kaminari said, voicing the question Eijirou was thinking.

He turned to Kaminari hoping to start a conversation when Jirou used her earjacks to get Kaminari’s attention and gave a stiff shake to her head. “None of our business,” she said sharply. Eijirou and Sero looked at her and she added quietly, “We need to distract King Explosion Murder for now.”

Eijirou didn’t understand but Jirou appeared to know what she was talking about. “Yeah Bakugou! You beat me last year but I am way stronger this year! You won’t be able to just outlast me this time,” he challenged.

“Not a chance, Shitty Hair!” Bakugou yelled back with a small explosion for emphasis.

“Mes Amis! This is so unexpected,” Aoyama said emphatically.

Mina elbowed him to get his attention. “Don’t bother them now,” she said, voice low enough that no one else could hear.

Shouting across the room, “Yeah Blasty! What makes you think you are even going to beat the rest of us?”

“You too, Raccoon Eyes?” Bakugou said.

The class was yelling around him. Bakugou was setting off explosions and spitting insults particularly loudly. Tenya didn’t understand why some of his classmates were not going to participate in the Sports Festival but that didn’t matter. He needed to get the classroom under control. 

“Everyone, this is very unbecoming behavior for students of U.A.” he said.

“Bakugou quirk use is not allowed in the classroom,” he chided but got no response.

“This is not the time to be challenging each other!” he very nearly yelled but was still ignored.

Tenya wasn’t sure what to do to get the classroom under control. His peers weren’t listening to him. He looked to Aizawa for guidance but didn’t find any answers.

Aizawa had watched enough of this. He activated his quirk and flared his capture weapon. “Be quiet,” he said in a dangerous tone. The students went silent almost immediately. Bakugou let out a ‘tsk’ before he retook his seat.

“Midoriya, Todoroki, have you not informed your classmates of your plans?”

Todoroki shook his head. Midoriya gave him a weak, “Not yet, Sensei.”

Aizawa sighed, long and full of all the annoyance this class put him through. “Connections are extremely important with the career path you have chosen. Your classmates will be some of those connections and cultivating them now is important.”

Midoriya kept making worried glances at Bakugou as he said, “Uh, I know Sensei, we just, uhm, haven’t had a chance.”

“You have a chance now,” Aizawa said seriously, leaving them no other option.

Before Midoriya had time to gather himself Todoroki spoke  loudly enough for everyone to hear. “Midoriya, Shinsou, and I all plan to go into underground heroics.”

There was a chorus of questions and one very hard to miss ‘The fuck!’ Aizawa noted only the boys seemed surprised by this revelation. 

Ah, Hagakure must have overheard something and told the rest of the girls.

He eyed his students and they quieted down once more. “You will all do well to stay in contact with one another once you graduate. Limelight heroes will often find themselves on cases where the expertise and contacts of an underground hero can make all the difference. Underground heroes will sometimes need the additional resources and firepower of limelight heroes. It’s a mutually beneficial relationship and one you would all do well to cultivate.”

Aizawa gave his students a once over. “There is only a minute left in class.” He glared at Bakugou, “Be quiet until Ectoplasm gets here.”

Mineta poked Midoriya. “If you’re going underground how are you gonna get all the ladies?” Midoriya opened his mouth and shut it again, face pinching in confusion.

Aizawa sighed again. 

I suppose hoping to see changes after his first session was asking too much.

“Mineta, you are to meet with Hound Dog after school again today, “ he said dryly.

“But why?” Mineta whined.

“You know why. For whining about it you will be seeing him every day for the next week. I will inform Hound Dog to expect you.”

When they got dismissed for lunch Izuku knew it was going to be a challenge to avoid Kacchan. He jumped up and dashed to Shinsou’s desk as soon as the bell rang.

“Lunch?” he said quickly. Shinsou nodded, standing up without a word. Izuku could see that Shinsou understood their need to rush.

“Deku!” Kacchan snarled from behind him. Izuku turned to Todoroki who nodded as he stood, not needing to be asked. They quickly moved towards the door.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kirishima jump up and wrap his arm around Bakugou’s shoulders. “Hey, Bakugou!” Kirishima said, stopping Kacchan from chasing after them, glaring at the arm on his shoulders instead.

Izuku made eye contact with Uraraka who said, “We will meet you there,” and waved them on. Izuku could not believe he had such good friends. He didn’t even need to communicate what was going on and they were all ready to help. He was going to have to thank them.

Once settled in the cafeteria with their food Izuku finally let himself relax. He could see that Kacchan was being managed by the self-proclaimed Bakusquad. He didn’t miss the glares Kacchan kept sending in their direction but he ignored it. Kacchan wasn’t one for starting things in the cafeteria and his friends were distracting him.

“Shinsou-kun, I must welcome you to Class 2-A. I didn’t get a chance in the excitement earlier,” Iida said enthusiastically. 

“Excitement is not the word I would have used. Your class is known for being chaos incarnate,” Shinsou replied.

Uraraka laughed, bright and gentle. “It really is, isn’t it!”

“Are you going to be moving into our building then? Ribbit,” Asui asked.

“Yeah, tomorrow after extra classes.”

“Oh, perfect, we can all help then!” Uraraka said excitedly.

“Uh, you don’t have to,” Shinsou said tentatively.

“Psh, you are the newest member of the Dekusquad. We help each other. Oh! What is your phone number? I can add you to the group chat!”

“Dekusquad?” he smirked at Izuku.

Izuku groaned. “I didn’t name it and they refuse to change it!”

“Oh, yes, I will need your number to add you to the class group chat as well. Please keep messages to school-related content only,” Iida interjected.

“Iida-kun, ninety percent of the content of the class group chat has nothing to do with school,” Izuku said.

“Just because most of our classmates ignore the rules of the chat doesn’t mean the newest member will be as flippant with the rules as the rest of you,” Iida replied seriously. Shinsou chuckled at their antics. Izuku had his suspicion that Shinsou might add to the chaos more than anything but he wasn’t going to tell Iida that.

“Midoriya-chan, Todoroki-chan, we don’t want to pressure you but we are curious about why you are going into underground heroics, ribbit. I think we all would agree we didn’t expect this,” Asui said seriously. Uraraka shot her a look that Izuku couldn’t read.

Izuku rubbed at the back of his neck. “Uh, yeah. Sorry about that. I didn’t really know how to bring it up and I didn’t want to just drop it on you. Especially not like this. Not to mention dealing with Kacchan. Which thanks for that earlier in homeroom Uraraka-san, I could tell you were trying to redirect his attention and several of the others seemed to pick up on it,” he rambled.

“It is unfortunate he didn’t implode,” Todoroki said, deadpan, causing Izuku and much of the table to laugh. Izuku thought back to when he first made that joke and smiled to himself.

“I think it is an honorable path. There is always a need for more underground heroes,” Iida said sincerely.

It seemed like no one was going to say anything until Todoroki spoke. “I decided I wanted to fight the villains that aren’t always seen as villains. The people who use their money and power to hide their crimes. Owners of companies, politicians-” he paused for a heartbeat, “corrupt heroes.”

This was met with stunned silence from their table. Asui finally said, “That is a very noble goal. Todoroki-chan. With how powerful you are I am sure you will be very successful.” Izuku could hear how earnestly she meant that. He hoped Todoroki picked up on it, Asui wasn’t always the easiest to read but everyone knew how honest she was.

“Ugh, I feel like such a bad guy here! I want to explain but Aizawa-sensei has forbidden me,” Izuku said with a groan, placing his head on the table.

Uraraka, Asui, and Iida just stared at him. Shinsou sniggered, “He’s serious. I was there when Aizawa-sensei banned him from sharing.”

“The short version is that I believe I can do more good underground than in the limelight. Sorry, I can’t explain it better,” Izuku said dejectedly.

“That’s okay Deku-kun! We understand,” Uraraka said. Izuku could see the false edges of her brightness but wasn't sure what to do about it.

Izuku felt like such a jerk. He couldn’t explain. He wanted to explain so they would understand but he also didn’t want to explain, scared that it might ruin their opinion on heroes. He didn’t want to do that but he also desperately wanted them to understand. He tried to blink away the tears welling in his eyes.

Asui must have seen the need for a topic change as she began to talk about the new rescue training she was doing with Uraraka. Izuku felt a shoulder press against him. “Hey, everyone understands,” Todoroki said in a low reassuring tone.

“I know,” Izuku sniffled out.

“It won’t be forever. I’m sure Aizawa-sensei will let you tell them one day.” Izuku nodded and rubbed at his eyes. He didn’t think he had the words to try and explain how he both did and didn’t want to tell the others. The conflict and guilt rolling around in his head into one big jumble of anxiety.

“Then Thirteen showed us how we need to look at the entire building’s structure because this one wall that looked completely solid was actually the weak point…” he heard Uraraka chatter away. Izuku began to eat his lunch again, forcing himself to listen to his friends discuss their training.

Fumikage hadn’t been sure what to expect from his new underground lessons. He had not expected Todoroki or Midoriya to be learning alongside him. He wasn’t expecting to have a four versus one quirkless match against his teacher but that at least was something Aizawa would do.  He was definitely not expecting to be hit with his classmates. 

Well, one classmate more than the others. He had also definitely not expected to also be used as a projectile. At least he seemed better at dodging Aizawa’s grabs than Todoroki. He now understood their comments from the other day. Dark Shadow thought it was hilarious.

They were headed back towards the dorms when Dark Shadow was unable to keep his mirth to himself. “Do you like being thrown around?” Dark Shadow asked Todoroki.

“No, it is rather unpleasant,” Todoroki answered seriously. Dark Shadow laughed.

Fumikage was about to scold him when Dark Shadow said, “But you rarely dodge. You take the hits rather than avoid them. Sensei uses that against you.”

Todoroki hummed acknowledgement at the statement and Fumikage noticed Midoriya’s eyes widened as he looked at Todoroki. “I apologize for Dark Shadow, he speaks without much thought.”

“He makes a valid point. I had not noticed I did that. I appreciate the insight.” Todoroki said.

Izuku couldn’t believe he hadn’t noticed until Dark Shadow said something. He had thought Todoroki was just inexperienced but now that it was pointed out it was obvious. Izuku had spent his childhood running and avoiding, Todoroki had spent his learning to silently take a hit and hit back. It could be easily explained away too. Todoroki was used to throwing up an ice wall to block attacks so it just looked like he was inexperienced with quirkless fighting rather than anything else.

Dammit, I should have noticed.

Izuku was working on his homework in the common room trying to get his mind off how he felt like he had failed as a friend. He was making progress on the math homework when someone came up next to him and he heard a low and threatening “Deku.”

Izuku knew he had gotten better at dealing with his childhood friend. He rarely flinched at explosions or when Kacchan got close. He could generally ignore the yelling and the threats now. Seeing them as more bark without as much bite but that didn’t mean he enjoyed it.

I don’t want to deal with this right now. 

He had other things to do and Kacchan being Kacchan wasn’t a high priority.

“Yes, Kacchan?” he said dryly.

“What the fuck?” Kacchan nearly yelled.

“What the what, Kacchan? I need more to go on than that,” Izuku deadpanned. He knew he shouldn’t push things like this but he couldn’t help it. He was so tired of dealing with Kacchan being mad at him.

“Don’t play dumb you shitty nerd. This shit about you being an underground hero!”

“Oh, well, that is my plan,” Izuku said blandly.

“Hey! Bakugou. I need some help with my English homework,” Kirishima called over. Izuku could see him glancing between the two of them. Anyone could see that Kirishima was trying to distract Kacchan but from the fury on Kacchan’s face, it wasn’t going to work.

“Fuck off, Shitty Hair!”

Izuku sighed. “It is fine Kirishima-kun,” he said tiredly. 

Might as well deal with this now.

He could see that Kacchan wasn’t going to drop this. At least with other people around it couldn’t lead to a physical fight this time, he hoped. Even at the risk of getting put on house arrest, he wasn’t willing to be a punching bag, not anymore.

“What the fuck happened to being like All Might?” Kacchan spat out.

“My goals changed,” Izuku answered honestly.

“What the fuck, Deku!” Izuku didn’t reply and just looked back at his homework. “How am I suppose to show everyone I am the best when you and fucking IcyHot aren’t competing?”

“Uhm, win?” Kacchan grabbed Izuku by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up.

“Bakugou, you really shouldn’t-” Kirishima was cut off.

“Arg! Why don’t you get it?!” he snarled, completely ignoring Kirishima’s efforts to alleviate the situation.

“Kacchan, I think you don’t get it. Todoroki-kun and I will never be competing ever again. Not in the Sports Festival, not in the Hero Rankings, not in the popularity polls, nothing. If you win then you’re the best.”

Kacchan gripped his collar tighter, knuckles turning white. “And how the fuck does that show everyone I am the best when you and that half and half bastard aren’t there to get killed by me?” he said in a dangerous tone.

“Because we will never be there to fight you!” Izuku said loudly enough to be heard by the entire room. “What do you want from me?”

“I want to beat you!” he screamed.

“And I refuse to fight this time!” Izuku yelled back.

Kacchan scoffed and pushed Izuku back towards his seat. Seemingly out of words Kacchan stormed off and Izuku let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. Kirishima walked up and placed a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You okay bro?” he asked.

“Yeah, yeah. I knew this was going to happen.” Izuku shrugged.

“Yeah, Bakugou is really,” he paused, seeming to try to find the right word, “competitive,” Kirishima said.

Izuku snorted. “That’s one way to put it.”

“And this is really unexpected from you and Todoroki,” he added, the question Kirishima wasn’t asking hung in the air.

Dumbly, Izuku replied, “Uh, yeah.”

Kirishima thankfully didn’t push and just gave him a sharp-toothed grin. “Well, let us know if we can do anything.”

“Thanks, Kirishima-kun,” Izuku said with a smile of his own. Kirishima walked away, going back to whatever he was doing. Izuku had a feeling he was in the common room to keep watch in case something happened. He got the sense that all his classmates had been actively trying to run interference and distract Kacchan. He didn’t know how to thank them for that. Deciding before he could change his mind he pulled out his phone, opened up the class group chat, and typed out a quick message.

Deku

I know the fact that I plan to be an underground hero is a bit surprising. 

I would explain but Aizawa-sensei has barred me from explaining the details. 

The short version is that I believe I can do more good this way.

Izuku immediately muted the chat, not wanting to deal with the responses right then, and went back to his homework. He tried to get work done but couldn’t seem to get in the right mindset. He pulled out his phone again and opened up his chat with Todoroki.

Midoriya Izuku

Hey, are you doing homework? If you are, would you mind if I joined you?

Todoroki Shouto

I am. That is fine. I am in my room. Do you want to come here or meet somewhere else?

Midoriya Izuku

There is fine. Be up in 5

Shouto wasn’t sure what to think about Midoriya’s texts. Usually, they only did homework together when they made plans in person or in the group chat. It was rarely just the two of them.

Maybe he is having trouble on an assignment?

The knock on his door jolted him out of his thoughts as he stood to let his friend in. Seeing Midoriya he could tell something wasn't right. This wasn’t really about homework but Shouto didn’t know how to ask what it was about. Unsure of what else to do he let Midoriya get settled so they could try to do some work.

Fifteen minutes later Midoriya put his head on the table on top of the math homework with a frustrated noise.

“Math giving you trouble?” Shouto asked.

“No, just can’t concentrate,” Midoriya said.

Shouto waffled for a few beats and then asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

Midoriya turned his head to look up at him with a small smile and a look of something Shouto could not name. Fond? Maybe? “Would you mind?”

“Never. We’re friends, that’s what friends do,” he said earnestly.

“Thanks, Todoroki-kun.” Midoriya sat up. “It’s just Kacchan. He started with me when I was trying to work on stuff in the common room. Kirishima-kun even tried to get him to drop it but Kacchan wouldn’t. I don’t know what to do. I knew he would be pissed. As much fun as I had joking about it with you I still didn’t want to actually deal with it.” 

Shouto hummed. He didn’t want to deal with Bakugou either but expected he would be next. “He doesn’t think he can truly win the Sports Festival without fighting me, well the both of us really. The fact that we won’t be participating seems to piss him off more,” Midoriya finished dejectedly.

“I think that means that it is a him problem instead of a you problem,” Shouto said seriously. Midoriya made a non-committal noise. “I doubt there is anything you can do besides giving him what he wants and that isn’t an option,” Shouto added, hoping to convince Midoriya.

Midoriya nodded at him. “Yeah, I’m just frustrated.”

“He’s a frustrating person,” Shouto deadpanned.

“Pfft, you know that isn’t what I meant,” Midoriya chuckled out.

Shouto made sure his eyes were meeting Midoriya’s as he said, “Midoriya, I know you are always one to meddle. You helped me by reminding me who I wanted to be but even then I still needed time to come to terms with things myself. I think that is what Bakugou needs, whether he wants it or not. He needs time.” Wanting to lighten the tone a bit he added, “He is just going to be a pain in the ass in the meantime.”

Midoriya gave him a watery look but let out a laugh all the same. “Yeah, yeah, you’re probably right. Thanks, Todoroki-kun.”

“Anytime,” Shouto said sincerely. “Math homework?”

Their first Stealth lesson was fun. Izuku absolutely flunked it but he still had fun. Aizawa had decided the best way for them to see their shortcomings was a big game of hide and seek tag but where everyone was It. Being seen was a point against you. To gain a point you had to sneak up on someone and tag them without ever being seen. Izuku finished with negative points. Double digit negatives.

Shinsou had been taking lessons with Aizawa since last year and was very good at this game. He managed to move silently and find perfect places to hide for ambushes with quick escapes. Tokoyami was great at hiding in the shadows. Izuku expected Dark Shadow had something to do with that. Todoroki was amazing at moving around silently for someone who didn’t have any formal training. Izuku realized the likely reason why and wanted to punch Endeavor but instead praised his friend for his skill.

Izuku on the other hand? He sucked. He might be small but finding hiding places was useless when his bright red sneakers gave him away. He couldn’t move quietly no matter how much he tried. Izuku quickly became the favorite target of the others since it was obvious where he was at all times.

After their game, Aizawa gave them lessons on how to walk to stay silent. Izuku didn’t have the hang of it and knew he was going to have to practice quite a bit. Aizawa also went over the small signs of someone sneaking around. The small sounds most people would pass off as building noises and more. Izuku found it fascinating.

Their weapons lesson was kept short since Shinsou was moving that day. Aizawa explained they would be going from least lethal to very lethal weapons. When they were adequate in a weapon the class would move to the next one. The goal was not to gain proficiency in any weapon yet.

They needed basic skills and understanding on how to use them and they would focus on honing their skills in specific weapons of their choice the following year. Having a basic level of skill in everything would also allow them to take better advantage if they found themselves without their regular gear. Their next class was going to be learning how to wield staff type weapons. Not just quarterstaffs, bo staffs, and the like but also ‘found staffs’ such as lengths of pipe.

Izuku had never really thought about weapons before this. His quirk didn’t seem like it would be good with weapons but there might be times he couldn’t use One for All.

I wonder if Hatsume-san can make weapons that could withstand the force of One for All.

Hitoshi was glad he didn’t have to move everything himself. He didn’t have a lot but he had enough that it would have been a challenge to move it all himself. He hadn’t expected so many people to help and he hadn’t expected them to use their quirks to make his move faster but here he was. After their extra classes, Midoriya had texted the Dekusquad group chat and by the time they got to Hitoshi’s dorm building, the rest were waiting outside. Midoriya had quickly gone over the plan and they got started. 

Todoroki and himself were placing the things that couldn’t be moved as-is in boxes. Uraraka was floating everything out his balcony and then lightly pushing it downwards where Midoriya or Iida would grab it, run to just below his new room and lightly push it up. From his new balcony, Asui would grab it and if it had gone off course in its float upwards she would grab it with her tongue. Every so often Midoriya or Iida would call up an all-clear so that Uraraka could release the previously floated items. It was amazingly efficient and they were almost done after only an hour.

Hitoshi was extremely grateful. It would have taken him hours to move everything and he would have had to ask for help to move the furniture. He was stunned by how quickly it all came together and how smoothly it went. He had been a little worried something would be floated into the stratosphere by accident but Asui kept a good rein on everything. 

If anything did happen to get out of control Midoriya had assured him they could have Uraraka deactivate her quirk and he could catch it before it hit the ground.  Hitoshi wasn’t so sure about that working very well in practice but at the same time, he wasn’t about to suggest carrying everything the old fashion way, down an elevator, over to the next building, back up the elevator. Not to mention the larger furniture items that might have needed to be carried up the stairs. It would have been a pain in the ass.

With the last of his items sent down Hitoshi, Todoroki, and Uraraka set out to leave. They made it to the common room and were about to leave the building when Monoma called out, “Think you're so much better than us now that you are moving to Class A, eh?”

“Uh, no, Aizawa-sensei suggested it,” Hitoshi said honestly. Unsure what else to say in the face of such hostility.

“And why would you listen to him over Vlad-sensei?” Monoma sneered.

“I’ve been training with Aizawa-sensei for nearly a year and there are others going underground in Class A. I wouldn’t have switched classes if any of Class B was planning the same.”

Monoma seemed taken aback by this statement. Hitoshi wasn’t sure why. It was pretty much common knowledge Aizawa had been training him for the hero course since after the Sports Festival last year. “Someone in Class A is going underground?!” Monoma said incredulously.

Oh, that’s why he is surprised.

“I am,” Todoroki said clearly from just behind Hitoshi.

“Huh?” Monoma said dumbly, blinking at Todoroki owlishly like he had just grown another head.

“So is Deku-kun!” Uraraka said in her chipper way.

“I didn’t expect you to out him like that, Uraraka,” Hitoshi said.

She shrugged. “He posted about it in the group chat,” she replied as if that made a difference.

Maybe it does. Class A is weird.

“Are you really trying to convince me that the son of the number one hero who is a recommended student with two flashy quirks and Mister I-want-to-be-All-Might himself are planning to be underground heroes?” Monoma asked, angry with disbelief.

“Not really tryin’ to convince you. Just stating facts.” Hitoshi shrugged and turned to leave.

“See you Monoma-kun!” Uraraka said cheerfully and waved at him before heading towards the door, Todoroki following silently behind.

They made their way into the Class 2-A dorms and Hitoshi was surprised to be greeted by so many. 

“Hey Todoroki, Uraraka, Shinsou!”

“Welcome to Class A Shinsou-kun.”

“Hope the move went well! I would’ve helped if you had told me about it.”

“Do ya need help unpacking?” 

“What’s your favorite type of cake? Satou-kun will definitely need to know!”

Hitoshi suddenly understood why deer freeze when caught in headlights. He had no idea how to respond to all these people being friendly. Uraraka elbowed him lightly, jolting him out of his daze.

“Uh, lemon cake,” he said, turning towards whoever spoke and all he found was floating clothing. 

Oh, that must be Hagakure.

“I think you’re the first there! Hm, lemon cake. I don’t think I have had one of those,” she said.

“I am, uh, just gonna go finish moving in,” he said trying to get himself out of this situation.

“Did you take the room on the fourth or fifth floor?” someone called out to him.

“Fifth,” he said, slowly making his way over to the elevator. Trying to escape without it appearing he was running away.

“Good choice. No one wants to be next to Blasty! We aren’t quite sure how Kiri manages to deal with it.”

Hitoshi had managed to hit the button on the elevator when someone else called over, “Let us know if you need anything.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said. The elevator dinged with its arrival and he made his escape. Todoroki joined him but Uraraka had joined some others in the common room.

After the doors closed Todoroki said, “I know they can be overwhelming but they mean well.”

“It is just a lot,” he said. Todoroki gave an acknowledging hum. Hitoshi realized that Todoroki might understand how overwhelmed he was feeling. He had figured out over the last week that Todoroki was rather awkward and not the best in social situations. He never expected someone like Todoroki to be similar to him.

They made it up to their floor and headed towards Hitoshi’s new room. There they found Iida and Midoriya placing the furniture in the same layout as his previous room. “I think we got everything in the same place. Did you want to move anything around?” Midoriya asked.

Hitoshi shook his head. “Nah, this is great. I just want to unpack and take it easy.”

“Finishing your move immediately is a very responsible thing to do Shinsou-kun!” Iida said.

“Makes sense. Want help? Company? Or should we leave you be?” Midoriya asked.

“I can take care of it. You all can head out. Thanks for all the help,” Hitoshi said.

“No problem! Let us know if you need anything,” Midoriya said, waving as the group made their way out of his room.

Once the door was closed Hitoshi took a steadying breath as he fell onto his bed. 

Finally, some time to decompress.

He knew Class A was chaos incarnate but he didn’t expect them to be so friendly and in his business. Midoriya, sure, but the rest of them too? It was rather overwhelming and Hitoshi was looking forward to the time to unwind.

Shouto knew Saturday meant movie night. He was rarely interested and unfortunately for all of them it was Kaminari’s turn to pick a movie. Kaminari somehow always managed to pick the weirdest, most obscure, supposedly comedy movies. Shouto was pretty sure he wouldn’t have bothered going to any movie night if it wasn’t for Midoriya. Now it seemed he was expected even at the ones he wanted to skip. Shouto also knew his classmates. With Shinsou joining the class they were likely going to go all out. He was expected to take part, especially by Midoriya.

He figured he should get some of his homework done since he had class tomorrow, unlike most of his classmates. They could take care of whatever grand plan they had, he would just show up and sit through the movie.

He managed to get a decent chunk of his homework done before the telltale knock on his door. He opened it to Midoriya smiling brightly. “Movie night?” Midoriya asked. Shouto nodded. “Awesome. I’m going to grab Shinsou-kun and then we can head down together.”

Midoriya knocked on Shinsou’s door and it took a bit but Shinsou opened. He looked very confused but before he could ask a question Midoriya said, “Hey, we are all set up for movie night. Let’s go.”

“Uh, do I have to? I don’t really want to join in,” Shinsou said dryly.

Midoriya gave him a look. “You don’t have to come if you really don’t want to but if this is you shutting yourself off from us then…” he trailed off. Shinsou looked guilty and even Shouto could figure out that Shinsou actually did want to go. “Thought so!” Midoriya chirped and in a flash of green suddenly Shinsou was over Midoriya’s shoulders in a fireman’s carry. 

“P-put me down!” Shinsou spluttered.

“Todoroki-kun, can you get the door?” Shouto shrugged and closed the door before the three of them headed down the hall.

“Oh my god. I get it. Just put me down!” Shinsou said, showing his annoyance by trying to get out of Midoriya’s grasp.

“Todoroki-kun, since we cannot talk to Shinsou-kun right now I want to inform you that the reason I’m carrying him is so he cannot try to run away.” Shouto gave a hum but didn’t add anything.

“You jerk. I won’t use my quirk on you. Wait-” Shinsou looked down at Midoriya, “Are you even using your quirk?” Shinsou had stopped struggling at this point and instead was just gawking at Midoriya.

“You know Todoroki-kun, I don’t need my quirk to carry people like this,” he smirked. 

“I can see that,” Shouto said.

Shouto found himself feeling uncontrollably warm and a bit unpleasant. He had trouble placing exactly why. Watching Midoriya carry their classmate in such a nonchalant manner as if carrying people around was no big deal was not an unexpected sight, not exactly. He knew his friend was strong, maybe not that strong but at the same time, he wasn't surprised.

Why do I feel this way?

I wonder if he can pick me up.

That thought had Shouto blinking at himself as he pushed it away. They got to the common room and Midoriya flipped Shinsou onto the sofa. Shinsou let out an ‘Oof’ while several of their other classmates laughed at the scene they made.

“I see you got him Deku-kun!” Uraraka said.

“We can’t let him miss his first movie night,” Midoriya replied.

“What are we watching tonight, Kami?” Ashido called from the kitchen into the common room.

“The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension!” Kaminari yelled back.

“Is it any good?” Sero asked.

“Oh, yeah, it is awfulsome!”

Shouto tilted his head a bit, furrowed his brows. “Awfulsome?”

“Yeah! It’s...it’s..a-uhm,” Kaminari started snapping his fingers, trying to find the word.

“Portmanteau!” Aoyama interjected.

“Yes! That! It is a combo word of awful and awesome,” Kaminari said in explanation.

Shouto was still quite confused. Kaminari’s explanation hadn’t provided insight. Midoriya bumped his shoulder and quietly said, “He means the movie is so bad it’s good.”

“How does that work?” Shouto asked, more confused than before.

“Hm, like the hide and seek game we had earlier. I was downright awful at it but I still had a lot of fun. Kind of like that,” Midoriya said in an effort to explain.

Shouto gave a noncommittal hum, trying to puzzle out the concept. He was still very confused. Midoriya left to help the others. Shouto sat down next to Shinsou who was looking rather dejected on the sofa.

“He won’t be upset if you leave because you really don’t want to be here,” Shouto said, wanting it to be known that Shinsou didn’t have to force himself.

“Ah, maybe. I think I do want to be here. This is just new to me,” Shinsou said.

“Mm, I understand,” Shouto said. He did understand. His class was so energetic and could get to be too much but he did enjoy spending time with them. “I’m pretty sure Midoriya noticed and is currently telling everyone to not make a big deal. Given the chance, they would have thrown you a party.”

“Oh gods, I’ll have to thank him later,” Shinsou said seriously.

They sat in companionable silence as the rest of the class got everything together. Shouto went back to thinking about ‘awfulsome’ and tried to make sense of Midoriya’s explanation but he found he was still perplexed and couldn't grasp the concept. 

His confusion must have shown. “What has you so baffled?”

“Awfulsome,” Shouto said. Seeing this wasn’t enough he added, “I don’t understand what it means.” Shinsou laughed. That must not have been what Shinsou had expected to hear.

“I guess you are just going to have to watch the movie and find out,” Shinsou said, still chuckling. Shouto gave a hum, he had expected that. Maybe the movie would clear it up for him.

By the time they were hopefully most of the way through the movie and Shouto was beyond confused. Midoriya was next to him laughing and Shouto had no idea why. Even Shinsou was laughing, though not nearly as hard. The main character was a physicist, rock star, neurosurgeon, pilot, and a few other professions that were impossible for an individual person to have all at once. Maybe he had a quirk that let him learn new skills extremely quickly? But no, this was a pre-quirk era film.

On-screen, they were fighting some monster alien things from the eight dimension, he thought? But what about the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh dimensions? There was some crazy guy that might be the villain? He at least had an evil laugh like a villain. Why did the heroes keep running past the same two people? Were those two spies? Wait, were the main characters even heroes? He was never sure with pre-quirk era movies. Shouto was so confused. Midoriya was laughing again so that meant he understood. Right? 

Shouto leaned over, “Midoriya?” 

“Hm?”

“I’m very confused,” he said seriously, hoping Midoriya would be able to explain.

“Pfft, so am I!” Midoriya exclaimed quietly. “I have no idea what is going on but the whole thing is just so bad!” Midoriya began to laugh again and leaned into Shouto. Shouto felt himself warm a bit and his mind went a bit fuzzy.

Oh well, this is fine too.

Chapter Text

Morning lessons with All Might were most definitely fine. Perfectly fine. Izuku was not losing sleep over it and he most definitely didn’t feel guilty. Oh, who was he kidding? Izuku was feeling so guilty that he knew it was affecting his morning quirk training and probably all his lessons to a degree. He should have had this by now but still didn’t have the hang of it. He had never had this much trouble with one of All Might’s moves before.

Izuku knew he was getting frustrated and that wasn’t helping anything. To make matters worse, his mentor, who normally would notice such things, wasn’t paying any attention. That spike of guilt Izuku was trying so hard to ignore stabbed at him again. He didn’t want to start crying, especially not guilt-ridden frustration tears. Izuku took several deep breaths in an effort to calm himself down.

Think about good things. The movie last night was absurd and hilarious. Shinsou-kun was having fun and connecting with other people in class. Todoroki-kun was so confused that he was adorable. Wait. Wait! Abort! No thinking about your friends like that!  

Now he was blushing bright red but at least he wasn’t facing All Might. He gave himself a vigorous shake and tried to calm down. Izuku mentally worked his way through the movements he needed to make, slowly trying to be sure he understood exactly what he needed to do. Another deep breath and he punched. 

It started to rain. It was raining! 

I did it! I finally did it! 

He turned to All Might with a full smile, “I did it!” he yelled excitedly.

All Might blinked and took in the scene around him seeming to shake himself from a stupor. “Wonderful job my boy. I knew you could do it,” he said sincerely with a smile. All Might moved closer and ruffled his hair in an almost paternal way. Izuku wanted to cry all over again. This was the All Might he knew. “I am so proud of you.” Izuku wasn’t able to hold back his tears any longer.

“Thanks, All Might,” he said between sniffles.

“Still need to work on that crying I see,” All Might joked.

Izuku snorted a laugh and scrubbed at his eyes with his rain-damped sleeve. After composing himself, he looked up to All Might. “I should get going. I need to get ready for Midnight-sensei’s class.”

“Ah, with that in mind I think we can likely end these morning sessions for now,” All Might said, clapping him on the shoulder.

“Huh?”

“You got the move figured out now. You’ll need to practice more to get used to it but you don’t need me here for that.” All Might wasn’t really looking at Izuku, he was looking past him.

“B-but-” Izuku stuttered, unable to form a sentence.

“I’ll be off then. See you in class, Young Midoriya.” All Might said, walking away without looking back.

“But All Might,” Izuku whimpered to the empty space. The tears were back but for a completely different reason. All Might had just said that Izuku didn’t need him anymore but Izuku did need him. He was only here today because of All Might. Izuku made his way back to the dorms. He still needed to get ready for class even if he wished he could just hide in his room all day.

Shouto was heading towards the kitchen when through one of the windows he caught a glimpse of familiar green curls in the corner of his eye. He stopped and did a double-take to be sure that yes, Midoriya was currently sitting outside on the steps and it looked like his clothing was wet. He decided to delay breakfast and headed toward his friend.

Once outside he sat down next to Midoriya without a word but he made it obvious he was there. Midoriya looked like he had been crying which wasn’t uncommon for him, but he also looked completely defeated. Shouto had no idea what to say and decided at the very least he could offer company. He was pretty sure Midoriya would tell him to go if he wanted to be alone.

After several minutes Midoriya finally spoke, “Thanks Todoroki-kun.” He still wasn’t looking at Shouto but the sincerity was clear in his voice. 

Shouto, ever the conversationalist said, “You’re all wet.” He was having a very hard time ignoring how wet Midoriya was. His shirt was clinging in a way that made Shouto feel like he needed to reign in his fire except he wasn’t using his quirk and it was too early to try and figure out why this was affecting him in such a way.

Midoriya chuckled. “Yes, I am.” He sighed, running a hand through his damp curls. “I finally made it rain with a punch.” Midoriya looked up at the sky.

“That's amazing,” Shouto said, astounded. He knew Midoriya had quirk training with All Might since their quirks were similar but he never expected him to be able to make it rain, at least not so soon. It was truly amazing. Shouto hoped he would get to witness it sometime soon.

“Yeah,” Midoriya said morosely. Shouto knew he was missing something but he wasn’t sure what or how to help so he remained silent trying to wait for Midoriya to figure out if he wanted to say anything more. “Just- ugh!” Midoriya let out a frustrated grunt, running his hands through his hair several times with his head bowed.

There were several more minutes of silence before Midoriya let out a deep sigh and stood up. He turned to face Shouto, “We should get ready for class.” Shouto nodded as he noted that Midoriya didn’t look quite so down. Still not his bright self but maybe Shouto helped some. He wasn’t sure. They went inside and went their separate ways.

Shouto headed into the kitchen and found Yaoyorozu making some morning tea. “How is Midoriya-san?” she asked. “I saw you join him on the steps.” He gave a noncommittal hum since he wasn’t actually sure.

As he went to make his breakfast he could feel Yaoyorozu watching him. Shouto wasn’t sure if he should mention that Midoriya managed the rain making punch since he didn’t seem nearly as excited as Shouto expected him to. Figuring he should at least answer her question he said, “He was very wet.”

Yaoyorozu raised her eyebrows. “He was wet,” she deadpanned back to him.

“Yes.” Shouto was worried he hadn’t spoken clearly.

Yaoyorozu chuckled softly and with a gleam in her eyes. “Okay Todoroki-kun.” She walked away with her tea leaving Shouto, once again, very confused. He mildly wondered if being confused was going to become his new normal.

Nemuri was excited to be teaching the Acting and Makeup class again. She always did a brief overview for the Media and Public Relations class but it wasn’t the same. Teaching how to make a public persona was so different from teaching how to inhabit a different identity. 

Not to mention the makeup and disguise parts of the class. She usually taught the girls how to make themselves look amazing while heroing but this was different. And she had three boys to teach! Most underground heroes were men so teaching them wasn’t anything new but she always enjoyed it. 

You had to know how to use makeup in the normal ways before you could use it in the more extreme ways and boys tended to be more adverse to that. She loved to tease the ones that tried to skip the basics and go straight to the advanced techniques.

As she walked up to the classroom she noticed her three students waiting outside. She knew they were responsible kids but it was nice to see they weren’t late for their first class. She gave them a brief greeting as she scanned her key card to unlock the door to the room. 

This wasn’t a standard classroom, it was set up with vanity stations along the sidewalls and a large open space in the middle. The vanities had a large mirror with the desktop about twice the size of their normal classroom desks. Each area had its own lights which could be controlled with a set of switches just left of the mirror. There were curtains that could be pulled around each station to provide privacy if needed. There was a door in the back that connected to the supplies room which had another key card lock. Students could check out items but only teachers had access to unlock the supply room door since it contained so many expensive items.

“Take a seat at whichever station you prefer,” she said to the students as she went to the front. “Welcome to your first Acting and Makeup class.” She bent down and pulled out three textbooks from behind the podium. “First, you three have been given access to this room via your student ID key cards. You can use this room for practice at any time. There are currently no other classes using this room so feel free to use it whenever. Second, here are your textbooks,” she said as she handed them out. 

“You will be learning about Method Acting. Method Acting is when you fully immerse yourself into a given identity to become that person. You don’t just act like them, you think like them until you break character. It isn’t an easy thing to pick up. Part of this will also be about creating identities. Underground heroes sometimes need to make identities quickly or on the fly, being able to create them is an important skill for you all to have. We’ll also cover things not normally considered as ‘acting.’ Shinsou-kun, you usually try to get your opponents to speak out of anger, correct?” She got a nod in return. “What about flirting? Comedy? Downright confusion?” she asked.

His eyes widened in realization. “I had never thought of that,” he said, surprised.

“We will be covering all of that. It can be extremely useful and not just for Shinsou-kun. You all will learn to throw your voices and voice mimicry for instances where support equipment is unavailable or broken. The acting part of this class will not officially start for a few weeks but you will have assigned reading from your textbook so you understand the concepts before we put them into practice.

“For now we’ll be focusing on makeup. I know you expect the makeup part of this class to be about disguises. That is not the case. We will cover everything. Sometimes you need to look like you but a better or worse you. Today we will be starting with the basics. Foundation, concealer, eyeliner, and so on.” She glanced over her three students to make sure they were all paying attention. Shinsou and Todoroki were watching her intently while Midoriya was hurriedly taking notes.

Good. They aren’t taking this lightly just because they are boys.

“As you know all students must participate in the U.A. Sports Festival.” She watched the confusion bloom on their faces, “For the underground students we give them a different assignment for the festival. As with many assignments from this class, your classmates will be part of it. This time they will play a knowing part. Many future assignments they will not know about the assignment or their part in it.” She paused to make sure she hadn’t lost them before continuing.

“You three will have to disguise yourselves and not be recognized by any of the other hero course students. You must put on your entire disguise yourself. You can offer suggestions to one another but the actual work must be done by yourself. You must remain in an area where there are other students in your year which means no hiding or sneaking around. You must eat your lunch in the cafeteria. You will be wearing your gym uniforms like everyone else. You must remain in your disguise the entire festival. 

“Lastly, you must remain together. Obviously, there are allowances for bathroom breaks and such. Your classmates will be on the lookout for you and anyone who manages to correctly describe your disguise to me will be getting extra credit in my other classes. To pass, all you have to do is not get caught by your classmates,” she smiled at them. “Simple right?”

She enjoyed the uncomfortable look on their faces. This always seemed like a harder assignment than it really was but they would learn soon enough. Midoriya raised his hand and she pointed to him. “Sensei, if we need to remain in a place where other students are then does that mean we have to take part in the first event?”

“Good catch! Yes, you do but you are expected to intentionally lose. Many of the non-hero course students do not try in the first event since they don’t want to participate. You should try to blend in with them.” The students nodded.

“Today we are going to start with how to create a look and to hide your identifying features. For most people that would be their hair. Which is true for you all but...hm, let’s see.” She took a good look at the three boys. “Shinsou-kun, we need to work on your eyebags. Midoriya-kun, freckles, and Todoroki-kun, birthmark.”

“Birthmark?” Todoroki said, confused. She looked at him unsure of why he was questioning the statement. “Do you mean my scar?” Nemuri worked to keep her face neutral and not show her surprise.

That is a scar? How does a child end up with a quarter of his face scarred over his eye?

“Oh, I was not aware. I assumed it was a port-wine stain. I’m sorry for the assumption, I should have asked,” she said seriously.

“No, it’s fine, Sensei,” Todoroki said neutrally. “I thought it was obvious. Knowing it looks like a birthmark-” he cut himself off and paused to search for words, “makes sense.”

Nemuri knew this wasn’t something she should ask about now. 

Maybe Shouta knows something about it? 

She didn’t want to bring attention to this revelation and had to keep class going. There were other students present. “Who here has used any makeup before?” She expected to see no hands go up but surprisingly Midoriya shyly raised his hand. She gestured at him to explain.

“I, um, have used some basic stuff in the past,” he said nervously. “My mom is a w-worrier so I sometimes hide bruises from training.” 

“Good to know, that means you can help the other two when you are all practicing. Now, back here is the supplies room.” She moved towards the door at the back and unlocked it. Opening the door and turning on the lights revealed a room much larger than the classroom it was connected to. 

The room was filled with drawers and shelves. The shelves were covered in various mannequin pieces with wigs and simple prosthetics made for the face, hands, and more. The drawers were all labeled with different types of makeup. In the back, rack upon rack of outfits in various styles and sizes could be seen.

“You can check out anything you want from here. You don’t have automatic access to the supply room so anything you need from here will need to be checked out with a teacher. This includes the makeup. The makeup is not to be returned, we will buy a new one to restock with. While you can use your own supplies there is no need, if there is a specific product you want just let me know and we can start stocking it. There is no need to put a financial burden on our students when you are going to go through a lot of makeup for class, practice, and assignments.” She gave the boys a few minutes to gawk. U.A. was never a school to hold back. Plus Ultra and all that.

“Come on now boys, let’s pick out makeup for you all and get started!”

Shinsou and Todoroki looked completely lost but Midoriya started looking through the labels on the drawers. He opened one and pulled out several different products “These are the ones I typically use,” he said shyly.

“Great! You will try those first. Boys, let's get you two figured out.”

After getting Shinsou and Todoroki sorted with basic products she moved on to the other things needed for all three. Once finished she noted what has been removed so that it could be restocked later. She walked the boys through a pre-makeup regime so that they could prep their skin correctly. 

Nemuri had to school her face once again when she saw Midoriya had eyebags that rivaled Shouta’s. 

Not just concealing training bruises I see. 

She didn’t say anything about it but she was impressed with his skill level. He managed to hide his eyebags but his freckles were still clear, that wasn’t something most people could do. She really wasn’t expecting any of them to have any experience. He should be able to help the other two which would benefit them all.

The lesson went smoothly. She managed to cover the basics for completing a look. Foundation, concealer, blush, eyeliner, mascara, lipstick, eye shadow, and everything in between. Shinsou and Todoroki were good students but needed practice. Midoriya was either a natural or he had more experience with this than he would admit to. He might rival the skill of some of the girls in his class.

“That’s it for today. I expect you all to practice all week and that includes wearing makeup in class.” She was rather amused when she got three looks of absolute horror. “Now, now boys it isn’t the end of the world and how are you supposed to know if you did it correctly if it doesn’t last all day?” Their looks of horror remained. “If anyone gives you crap about it, tell me. I will deal with it. Okay?” She got affirmations from all three, dejected affirmations but affirmations still.

“Good. Next week we will cover wigs, contacts, simple prosthetics, and the makeup needed so everything appears seamless and natural. Start thinking about what you want to wear for the Sports Festival and we can start with that in mind. Now, you are free to go when you’re ready. As I said at the beginning of class all three of you have access to this room anytime you need it. Take your time leaving and I’ll see you in class. Bye.” She left without a backward glance, happy with how well the lesson went. She couldn’t wait to see how they would look on Monday. 

“I am so happy that is over,” Shinsou said.

“I rather enjoyed it,” Midoriya said.

“Does it really look like a birthmark and not a scar?” Shouto asked without preamble. It had been weighing on his mind since Midnight said something. He put it aside as best he could but it was still shocking to learn what he thought was a hideous scar, looked like a birthmark to most people.

“I had no idea it was a scar until you told me,” Midoriya said.

“News to me. You must have seen people with strong healing quirks,” Shinsou said casually.

“They must have been stronger than Recovery Girl, she still leaves scar tissue behind. It wouldn’t have been a speeding up of the normal process. It would’ve been an actual healing of some kind. I have heard of several other healing quirks but nothing like that. I wonder if it was some kind of skin grafting quirk or maybe...” Midoriya continued to mutter about possibilities.

“Midoriya,” Shouto said, trying to call his friend's attention back from his tangent.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to- '' Midoriya began to splutter an apology but Shouto cut him off.

“It is fine,” he said bluntly. “I just- I had no idea it didn’t look like a scar. It makes sense why no one has questioned why I have such a large scar,” he said neutrally or at least Shouto hoped it came out that way. 

He was going to have to search online for pictures of what Midnight thought it was. If it looks like some type of normal birthmark that makes so much sense. His father had changed his school after he was fully healed but scarred. He had no idea why at the time, now he knows it was to limit questions. He became a kid with a birthmark, not a kid with a scar over a quarter of his face.

“So, I feel ridiculous in this makeup. We should clean up,” Shinsou said, pulling Shouto out of his thoughts.

“Ah, yeah, this is way more than I’m used to wearing,” Midoriya said enthusiastically.

Shouto turned towards Midoriya. “I didn’t know you wore makeup.”

Midoriya met his eyes before turning back to the mirror and flatly said, “It’s surprising what skills you pick up when you grow up with Kacchan.” He grabbed a wipe and began to clean the makeup off his face.

Shouto wanted to press about what that meant but he could see the tenseness in Midoriya’s movements as he cleaned up. Midoriya’s childhood with Bakugou was a touchy subject. As much as Shouto wanted to poke he could see this was not the best place or time.

Monday morning arrived and Izuku would admit he was freaking out a little bit. He knew logically his classmates would be fine about the whole wearing makeup thing but it was just so nerve-wracking. Sure, Izuku had worn makeup to class plenty of times but it was never anything obvious and he thought he was good enough people didn’t notice. At least, no one had ever said anything.

Since all three of them had to do this together they decided it would be nice to do similar things each day. Shinsou hadn’t gotten the hang of covering his eyebags and Todoroki needed practice in covering his scar, especially at his hairline, which meant Izuku couldn’t just cover his freckles. They decided to start with one of the easier skills and were all going to put on eyeliner. Izuku was still going to hide the evidence of his lack of sleep but that wasn’t anything new and Midnight said they had to practice, doing something he was already good at wasn’t practice.

But the idea of walking into class obviously wearing eyeliner was intimidating. Would his classmates make fun of him? Laugh at him? Would they talk about him behind his back? Maybe if he left a bit late and got there just before the bell he could keep his head down and hide during class.

Izuku knew he was over thinking things and needed to make himself stop. He pulled out his phone and messaged Todoroki and Shinsou asking them if they could all walk to class together. Several minutes later they all met down in the common room. They were clustered together in a corner and most certainly not hiding.

Izuku was working his way up to suggestions they headed to class when Aoyama came over and said, “Mes Amis, class is soon. You do not want to be late!” When they turned to him he excitedly said, “Messieurs! You all look magnifique!” and walked away with a wave before they could say anything.

“Uh, did that just happen?” Shinsou asked, perturbed.

“Yes, yes it did,” Izuku said in similar perturbed tones. He might be friends with Aoyama but he still wasn’t very good at being his friend. “Well, he is right, we should get going to class.”

“And we look magnifique,” Todoroki deadpanned. Izuku and Shinsou looked at him, shocked before Izuku caught on that he was joking and began to laugh. Shinsou caught on a few seconds after. Todoroki had a barely-there smile on his face. 

Between laughs, Shinsou managed to chuckle out, “I will never get used to you making jokes.” Izuku’s anxiety about going to class had lessened significantly. He would have to thank Aoyama even if he was pretty sure this outcome wasn’t exactly his intention. 

Hitoshi was feeling pretty wound up before class but Todoroki made an actual real joke and completely got his mind off things. Class A had already shown they were different and tried to include him. Rather forcefully but at least they weren’t avoiding him. Walking into the classroom no one appeared to notice them until, “Are you fucking nerds wearing makeup?” Bakugou growled and all eyes turned on them.

“Uh. Y-yes Kacchan,” Midoriya stuttered.

“Midnight-sensei has required us to, for practice,” Todoroki said plainly.

Bakugou scoffed and looked away from them. As others in the class started talking in an incoherent mess Hitoshi managed to only catch bits and pieces.

“You guys look great!”

“Oh, we should invite them to makeover night!”

“I’ve never really worn makeup.”

Mineta’s eyes were darting between the three of them when he said, “So are you guys like gay now?” The room went silent.

“Huh? What did you say you grape fuck?” Bakugou said menacingly.

Mineta didn’t seem to notice. “Makeup on guys is super gay,” as if to clarify.

“Oi-” Bakugou started.

“Well I am bi so everything I do is half gay,” Hitoshi said confidently. He had no idea where the confidence was coming from but might as well use it to keep the classroom from delving into explosive chaos before his favorite teacher arrived, even if he was internally freaking out.

“Did you just seriously take his insult, turn it into a joke, and come out all at once?” Kaminari said to him, seemingly impressed.

“Super manly.” 

Hitoshi shrugged, “Not really ‘coming out’ when I am pretty open about it.”

Oh yeah, super open. So open no one knew until now. What the hell, self?

Hitoshi wished he had gone to the school of ‘How Todoroki Remains Expressionless’ right now because he could feel his neutral face breaking and he really, really hoped no one else noticed.

“We love and support you!” Ashido yelled across the room.

“Mina-chan that is the most generic thing you could have said,” Jirou said.

“But it’s true isn’t it?” Ashido replied cheerily.

“Well yeah, but still, you could have said something more original,” Jirou retorted but Ashido only shrugged.

“But does that mean you three are gay? Because without Todoroki the hierarchy will break down and I might finally-” Mineta got cut off by Sero taping his mouth shut.

“Wearing makeup has nothing to do with sexuality, Mineta,” Sero said coldly. “You are being extremely offensive.” Hitoshi was pretty sure heard Sero mutter, ‘Scum,’ under his breath as he turned away from Mineta. Others in the class started to chime in.

“Mineta, you are being rather vulgar.”

“Super unmanly and homophobic.”

“Man, can’t you just stop being gross?”

Bakugou stood up, stalked over to Mineta’s desk, and glared down at him. “Listen here you little fucking gremlin. You say one more thing like that and I’ll get Pink Cheeks to float you while I will blast your face so hard you will fly into the sun. Got it?” he said low and threateningly. Mineta nodded vigorously. Bakugou went back to his desk, retaking his seat.

“Well now that we are done with that. I do love the look guys,” Jirou said kindly. “I agree with Mina, you should definitely join us for makeover night.”

“Yeah! They are so much fun!” Hagakure said. Hitoshi wondered how exactly she would know.

She’s invisible, does she wear makeup? Can she wear makeup? Does she just like doing it on other people?

Before anything more could be said Aizawa made his way into the room and the class went silent. Aizawa eyed Mineta, who was pulling at the tape over his mouth, and shrugged before beginning class.

Nemuri walked into Class 2-A and was happy to see the boys were wearing makeup and they weren’t trying to hide it either. “Midoriya-kun, Todoroki-kun, Shinsou-kun, has anyone given you trouble?” she asked.

She didn’t receive a response from the three boys but several of the girls' hands shot up. She pointed to Yaoyorozu who said, “Mineta was asking about their sexuality in relation to wearing makeup. I do not want to repeat his words but I can write them down if you need Sensei.”

“Thank you Yaoyorozu-san. I’ll let you know.” She eyed Mineta, “Mineta, you have been warned about your behavior several times already. From this point on you are officially on probation. Come to the teachers’ lounge after school today and the details of your probation will be explained to you.” She watched him open his mouth to object and harden her expression. He snapped his mouth shut without a word.

After her classes, she finally managed to catch Shouta awake in the teachers’ lounge. “Aizawa, can I talk to you real quick?” she asked. He nodded in her direction.

Quietly she asked, “Were you aware that the mark on Todoroki-kun’s face is a scar?”

His eyes widened a fraction. “No, I was not.”

“He told me during their makeup lesson when I called it a birthmark. He seemed completely unaware that it wasn’t an obvious scar.”

“Hm. I will ask Recovery Girl to take a look at his medical records. Thank you for letting me know.”

The week went past incredibly quickly and extremely slowly at the same time. Izuku was looking forward to their first Quirk Analysis lesson but there was so much to do before Thursday managed to get there.

Todoroki, Shinsou, and Izuku kept upping their makeup each day, spreading out into eye shadow, and even some light foundation. Mineta hadn’t said another word and everyone had been positive and supportive. The girls demanded they join the next makeover night so many times that Izuku felt they had no choice but to agree.

After a close call Tuesday morning where they were almost late to class they decided to head to the school building early and use the Makeup and Acting classroom to prep in the morning. The large mirror and desk made it easier and being in the same room meant they could give pointers to one another more easily without trying to cram into a single dorm bathroom. They were able to leave their supplies in the classroom since they were the only students with access.

With that change, they decided to take time after their underground classes with Aizawa to use the room and practice. The hope was they would feel confident enough they could cover up their ‘identifying features’ by Saturday. Todoroki definitely had the most work to do but he had been improving.

Classes with Aizawa were constant. Izuku found himself enjoying the extra training even if he wasn’t always good at it. He was getting the hang of how to walk and move for stealth. He still wasn’t very good but he felt like he was improving. Todoroki was getting better at dodging during their sparring lessons. Shinsou had a chance to show off his skill with Aizawa’s capture weapon while the rest of them got themselves tangled up. Tokoyami had been spending more time with them outside of class, including sitting with them at lunch sometimes. Izuku thought Uraraka was going to invite him to join the ‘Dekusquad.’ He really wished the name was different but he did enjoy hanging out with Tokoyami and Dark Shadow.

Thursday morning Izuku debated on if he wanted to bring his Quirk Analysis notebooks for their lesson after regular classes but decided against it. He wanted to learn what Aizawa had to teach them from scratch without having influence from his self-taught hobby.

Aizawa walked into the classroom and eyed his four students.

Gods dammit he’s practically vibrating.

He knew his apprehension was unfounded but this level of excitement from Midoriya made him wary. “Today we are starting Quirk Analysis. To start we’re going to cover my quirk. You are going to list out facts about my quirk. I will correct anything after you four are done. If you disagree with one of your classmates, explain why.”

Midoriya’s hand was the first one up but Aizawa waited, pointedly ignoring Midoriya. When the other three all had their hands up he pointed to Tokoyami.

“You erase peoples’ quirks by looking at them and your hair floats when your quirk is active.” Aizawa wrote this on the board and then pointed to Todoroki.

“You can erase multiple people’s quirks at once.” Aizawa nodded and added that to the board before pointing to Shinsou.

“You cannot erase mutant type quirks and by ‘erase’ I mean you interrupt people’s access to their quirk factor. Your quirk also gives you dry eye causing the intervals you can use it for to go down if you have to use it repeatedly.” Aizawa added that and looked back at his students. Only Midoriya’s hand was still raised. He sighed and pointed to him.

“Sensei, are we going over facts or what you tell people?” Midoriya asked earnestly.

Huh?

“Facts,” Aizawa answered, unsure of where Midoriya could be going with this.

“Okay. I want to add that you need to see a person to erase their quirk. If they are behind something, in a full-body costume like Thirteen, or invisible like Hagakure-san your quirk doesn’t work. I don’t know how much of a person you need to see for your quirk to work.” Aizawa turned to write this on the board as Midoriya continued, “I assume there is a distance limit on how far away a person can be and still be technically in sight but I don’t know what it is either. I also assume there is a limit to the number of quirks you could erase at once but again, I don’t know the limit.” Aizawa was surprised the kid thought of all that.

“Your quirk does work on mutant types and it does not interrupt their quirk factor. Your quirk is a mental one that makes people believe they cannot use their quirk but it’s impossible to convince someone with rock skin that they don’t have rock skin making it ineffective on some mutant type quirks,” Aizawa nearly dropped his marker but continued to write with only a short pause. He was glad he was facing the board because he wasn’t sure he could have hidden his shock. He schooled his face and turned around.

“Midoriya, explain why you think that.”

“If you interrupted the quirk factor in people it would interrupt the entire quirk factor, mutations included since that part of our DNA is jumbled together. Most people can’t have part of their DNA suddenly blocked, even temporarily, without repercussions. If your quirk did interrupt the entire quirk factor their mutations would disappear or they would die. Ojirou-kun’s tail would literally fall off instead of him being unable to move it. Your quirk works on Iida-kun who has a clear mutation and Ashido-san, who might be misclassified and her acid production is a mutation, not an emitter. The idea of a quirk being able to tell the difference between the mutation part of a quirk factor and the non-mutation is as unlikely as the quirk being able to only target part of someone’s DNA. It doesn’t add up. Quirks make sense. ”

Holy shit.

Aizawa was working hard to hide his shock. He wasn’t sure he was succeeding but Midoriya wasn’t actually looking at him and his other three students were staring at Midoriya. “The fact that your quirk is a kind of hypnosis is why it doesn’t work on Nomu. They cannot think. I’m pretty sure with the right mental training it would also be possible to get past your quirk but I haven’t figured out the specifics yet. Something about not thinking of your quirk as a quirk. I wonder if it would be possible for someone to use their quirk while under Shinsou-kun’s brainwashing with you erasing it at the same time. I remember how I felt under his control. I could think some, but my brain was foggy. I wonder if that lack of awareness would be enough to overcome your erasure, Sensei.” Midoriya looked up at Aizawa questioningly.

Holy fucking shit.

Aizawa knew the shock was showing on his face. He was so sure he knew everything about his quirk and now he wasn’t sure he knew anything at all. 

Shinsou interrupted his contemplation. “Wait, wait, back up. What do you mean ‘quirks make sense.'   They rarely make any sense at all,” Shinsou said vehemently to Midoriya, who turned to look at him. “Explain Toko-” Shinsou cuts off as Midoriya tensed and there was a twitch of his head. Aizawa wishes he could see Midoriya’s expressions better.  Shinsou coughed. “Explain Todoroki here and how he has two quirks.”

Midoriya visibly relaxed. “Oh easy, he’s a bilateral chimera. Well, or he has one temperature manipulation quirk with preferences for hot and cold on either side. If that’s the case then he should be able to learn to use both elements on both sides. Lind of like how a right-handed person can learn to write with their left. But I lean towards the bilateral chimera option because,” he waved his hand at Todoroki, “ Look at him.”

“Huh?” Todoroki said.

Midoriya faced Todoroki, “Your heterochromia, your split color hair, even your eyebrows, eyelashes, and arm hair are split down the middle. Chimerism isn’t unheard of in humans but- Wait, are you fully fire-resistant or just your left side? What about ice resistance?”

Todoroki blinked dazedly at Midoriya but answered. “That is split down the middle too.”

“Yup, chimera! Though you would need a couple of DNA tests to prove it. Oh! We can ask Monoma-kun. He should know if he gets one or two quirks from you,” Midoriya said excitedly.

Shinsou smirked. “So Todoroki, do the curtains match the drapes?” Midoriya choked.

Todoroki looked at Shinsou confused. “I don’t have any curtains or drapes in my room. What does that have to do with my quirk?” he paused, “Quirks?”

Shinsou and Tokoyami started laughing. Midoriya spluttered and blushed brightly, “He was making a joke. Maybe someone can explain that to you, uh, later.”

“Midoriya, what’s a chimera?” Todoroki asked.

Midoriya opened his mouth to answer but Aizawa had had enough time to recover and didn’t think he could deal with Problem Child dissecting more quirks right then. He already had too much to think about. He interrupted, “As interesting as this topic is, let's get back to the actual class topic.” Aizawa eyed them menacingly, counting on his annoyance to keep his shock hidden. “Rather than go over exactly how my quirk works we are going to work out what I can and cannot do, how that affects my fighting style, what can be expected, and how to best counter it.”

Aizawa made eye contact with Midoriya. “I will not be sharing the exact limits of my quirk and I will not help you try to overcome it.” 

Not yet at least. Erasure quirks are much more common in villains than heroes. I didn’t think there was a way around them. This could be invaluable if most work the same.

Aizawa managed to make it through the class without any more shocking revelations. After the students were dismissed he couldn’t help wondering why Midoriya reacted the way he had when Shinsou was going to ask about Tokoyami’s quirk. Sentient quirks were extremely rare, everyone knew that. Aizawa had actually heard of a few cases where the quirks that were thought to be sentient were actually- 

Oh fuck. No wonder he freaked out a bit. Gods dammit, Problem Child!

Aizawa picked up his pace and got to his desk in the teachers’ lounge quickly. He didn’t respond to any of the greetings he received and instead focused on pulling up Midoriya’s file on his computer. He located the cell phone number and hoped it was up to date as he entered it into his phone.

Aizawa Shouta

Midoriya, this is Aizawa. You are NOT to discuss Tokoyami’s quirk with anyone. If it comes up you are to say you have not figured it out yet. Confirm you have gotten this message and understand.

Aizawa was sitting on the edge of his seat debating if he needed to start running towards the dorms or not when the reply came.

Midoriya Izuku

I understand Sensei. 

Aizawa Shouta

Good. Do not share my number with anyone. We will discuss this tomorrow. 

Midoriya Izuku

Yes Sensei.

Aizawa sighed and relaxed back into his chair. He looked over at his husband. “Hizashi, I am going home early,” he said tiredly while getting up. Hizashi was not doing a good job of hiding his surprise. 

I guess I don’t usually head home early.

“Okay. See you at home,” his husband said.

All four students were heading back to their dorm after their first Quirk Analysis lesson and Hitoshi was still a bit shocked about the amount of information Midoriya was able to drop. He wasn’t sure if he should ask about his own quirk or avoid the topic altogether. The idea of more information was intriguing but the idea of that much more information was terrifying.

Midoriya might tell him something he didn’t want to know or reveal details he would have never thought of. Both probably. Tokoyami appeared deep in thought and Todoroki looked like he had questions.

Which he probably does after I called attention to him today.

“Midoriya, what’s a chimera?” Todoroki asked, repeating the question from earlier.

“Ah, okay. So, when you were nothing more than a bundle of cells in your mother’s womb you weren’t one person, you were two fraternal twins. One with an ice quirk and white hair and one with a fire quirk and red hair. Through some process of nature, we still don’t fully understand the twins combined into a single person, making you. Or at least I think so.”

“I am...two people?” Todoroki furrowed his brows.

“Kinda? I expect you have two sets of DNA.” Midoriya said seriously.

Todoroki was looking both confused and worried, or at least Hitoshi thought he was. Todoroki was hard to read but there were little signs Hitoshi was starting to understand. “Don’t have an existential crisis on us Todoroki. You’re one person, just a very unique one,” Hitoshi said with a lilt.

“How common is this?” Todoroki asked Midoriya, tone flat and emotionless, completely ignoring Hitoshi.

“Rare. It’s been documented in animals pretty well but most people don’t actually show signs of being a chimera. Many people could be a chimera and never know. You’re special because it’s not only evident in how you look but in your quirk. If someone only had, say a hand, with separate DNA they may not have a second quirk and if their hand did happen to look different it would likely be assumed to be a mutation.” Midoriya said and Todoroki seemed to have a revelation as his eyes widened.

“Wait, so the twins don’t always become one person split down the middle like me?” he asked, rushed.

“No, that’s even rarer.”

“What you're telling me is that my existence is extremely unlikely?”

Midoriya nodded vigorously. “Based on what we know, yes.”

Todoroki had a look that Hitoshi couldn’t place. Something like anger but also melancholy. He looked downright broody and Hitoshi wasn’t really sure what to think about that.

“A real million-to-one chance of existing,” Hitoshi said sarcastically, hoping to lighten the weird mood that seems to have fallen over them.

“Which means 9 times out of 10 it’s going to happen,” Midoriya said playfully.

“Huh?” Hitoshi and Todoroki both said in unison.

Midoriya stopped in his tracks. “Oh, sorry, it is a reference to some books-” he cut off and looked away, embarrassed.

“Midoriya, are you a fan of the novels that take place on the back of Great A’tuin?” Tokoyami asked.

“You too?” Midoriya’s eyes jumped from the ground to Tokoyami. “I haven’t found anyone else who reads old pre-quirk era novels like that!” Midoriya said excitedly, beginning to walk again.

“If I have to listen to Fumikage talk about how there are only five hundred real people in the world again I am going to-” Dark Shadow began.

“Dark Shadow!” Tokoyami scolded, cutting him off.

“We will have to find time to talk about them, Tokoyami-kun!” Midoriya beamed at him, getting a nod from Tokoyami in return. Midoriya looked towards Dark Shadow who was hanging on Tokoyami’s shoulder. “And how do you know there are more than five hundred real people in the world? Have you actually interacted on a real level with that many people?”

“Ugh! Another one,” Dark Shadow cried. Eliciting small chuckles from Tokoyami and Midoriya.

Hitoshi wasn’t going to question the tangent that just happened. If nothing else it made Todoroki less broody even if he had no idea what was going on.

Back at the dorm building, they found a space in the crowded common room to settle down and work on homework. Most of their classmates were there working on homework together as well. Uraraka and Asui were nearby but already embedded in some assignment that Hitoshi knew he hadn’t started. If he had to guess the other three hadn’t started either.

Hitoshi knew he should save all the quirk talk for class but he could not help and wondered what else Midoriya would have to say. He may have also wanted an excuse to put off homework for a bit longer. Throwing away his caution he said, “Back to Midoriya explaining quirks. What about Iida? He is part machine.”  

He wanted to ask about Dark Shadow and how could they make sense but he saw the look on Midoriya’s face when he started to ask during class. That seemed like a topic that was better to avoid for now but Iida seemed safe and weird enough.

“No, Iida-kun looks part machine.” Midoriya shook his head at Hitoshi. “There are insects with gear-like leg joints, bacteria with motors made of 40 different parts, and plenty of other occurrences of naturally occurring machines,” he said confidently. “I’m sure if we could take apart Iida-kun’s legs the insides would look nothing like the machines they do on the outside. He runs on orange juice for goodness sake! Orange juice isn’t fuel for any man-made machine but for a naturally occurring one it makes sense.”

Many of the others must have been listening in on their conversation as Ojirou turned around in his seat to face them and said, “But that is still pretty complex to exist in only so many generations.”

“Considering how common quirk marriages were in the beginning I am not surprised,” Midoriya said, seemingly unaware of what he just suggested.

“Are you suggesting my predecessors took part in a quirk marriage?” Iida said, offended. Quirk marriages were not looked upon with kindness. Even the suggestion of taking part in a quirk marriage these days could ruin a person’s reputation.

“I’m suggesting most if not all of us are related to people who took part in marriages based on quirks. Quirk marriages didn’t always include one or both people being forced, that is a common misconception. Quirks were not stable in the beginning. Without the massive amount of quirk marriages that helped stabilize quirks, I think the infant and toddler death rates would still be much higher like they were when quirks first appeared,” Midoriya said seriously.

Hitoshi watched as Midoriya scanned the room and he must see that this notion wasn’t sitting well with their classmates. Hitoshi could see this wasn’t one of his best ideas. This whole conversation was going in ways he never expected. He knew he should say something but he had no idea what.

“Look at Kaminari-kun. He short-circuits but doesn't have any long term damage. He has to have some kind of electrical tolerance mutation along with his quirk. If he just had his Electrification he would kill himself instead of short-circuiting. I highly suspect that somewhere in his family line there was someone with an electrical tolerance quirk that married someone with an Electrification quirk. If they didn’t all of their kids would have never been able to use their quirk without possibly dying. Can you even imagine a child dying from using their own powers?” This seemed to spark some understanding in the others.

Yaoyorozu moved to their table and asked, “Wait, does that mean that a couple could have kids and undo that stabilization?”

Midoriya nodded. Unexpectedly, Todoroki spoke up, “Yes, it happened with my brother.” Everyone’s eyes turned toward him. “He had a strong fire quirk but got my mother’s ice resistance instead of fire resistance.” He bent his neck slightly so his eyes were on the floor as he quietly said, “He burned himself with his own quirk.”

Had. He ‘had.’ Not ‘has’ but ‘had.’ Past tense. I’m a freaking idiot and this was a terrible idea!

Iida didn’t notice the change in atmosphere and said pointedly, “You cannot be suggesting that quirk marriages are still a good idea are you Midoriya-kun?”

“Oh, gods no! Never! People should marry for love,” he said fiercely. “I would never- No. Please no. Quirk marriages are a terrible idea.”

Midoriya sent a few worried glances at Todoroki before he continued much more softly, “I do think couples should take into account their quirks before they have kids though.” This statement once again caused some discontent from the others that Midoriya quickly picked up on. “Think of it like genetic diseases, like Huntington's. If you had a chance of causing your child to have a debilitating disease would you think it is worth the risk?” he asked sadly.

Many of the others started murmuring in small groups.

“But it is just a chance, right?”

“I guess Midoriya-chan would know about it. He used to break his bones every time he used his quirk.”

“I’ve heard of quirk incompatibility but I never really thought about it.”

Iida, always the class president, decided they had been distracted enough and started chopping his arm. “This is time for homework. We should get back to the work we have to get done instead of talking about topics that do not affect us right now.”

Everyone appeared thankful for the excuse and went back to their work. Hitoshi wondered how many of them were going to be talking about this later, in smaller groups. He really should have kept his mouth shut.

Hizashi was worried when Shouta walked into the teachers’ lounge and ignored everyone. Shouta always responded to him. He watched as his husband quickly did something on his computer, sent off a text, and then stared at his phone as if it offended him. Fortunately, whatever had him on edge was fixed quickly and he relaxed only to say he was heading home early. 

Shouta never called him by his name at work. At work, he was always ‘Mic’ or ‘Yamada’ to avoid students finding out about their relationship. Shouta also never went home early. Getting him to go home on time was a challenge, leaving early did not happen. Hizashi was worried and decided he better finish up and get home quickly.

He managed to finish his work in record time and went straight into their apartment to find his husband. He expected Shouta to be on the sofa when he got home since that was where Hizashi typically found him on bad days. Instead, he found Shouta in the bedroom, buried under the covers. He went over to the bed and rested his hand on a lump he assumed was part of his husband.

“Shouta, are you okay?” Hizashi asked gently.

“Yup,” Shouta said, muffled by the covers.

“You sure about that?”

“Nope.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Shouta flung the cover off of him and sat up. “Shit, Hizashi,” he shook his head. “I don’t know if I am a shit teacher or if I should blame the education system!”

Hizashi was worried before but now he was extremely worried. “Shouta, you are a great teacher! What happened?” he said with concern, placing his hand on Shouta’s arm.

Shouta placed his hand on top of Hizashi’s free hand and squeezed, taking a few breaths to calm himself. “Today was the start of Quirk Analysis and we both agreed there was no way Midoriya could tell me something about my quirk that I didn’t already know, right?”

“Yup! Best way to start so you know what you need to teach them,” he said enthusiastically.

“We were wrong,” Shouta said with complete seriousness.

“Huh?” Hizashi knew that he really should say something more coherent but they knew everything about their quirks. They were Pro Heroes. How could a sixteen-year-old kid have anything to add to that?

“He explained that my understanding of my entire quirk is completely fucking wrong,” Shouta said with conviction.

“What?” Hizashi shrieked, tightening his grip on Shouta’s arm.

“I always assumed that I interrupted people’s connection to their quirk factor,” Shouta continued, ignoring the outburst.

“Right,” Hizashi said tentatively.

“That’s wrong. If I blocked the entire quirk factor then I would work on mutant type quirks but well, he used Ojirou as an example, his tail would fall off instead of being unable to move it.”

“Well, gross, but the tail is a mutation so your quirk doesn't affect that part,” Hizashi said confusedly.

“Exactly. How does my quirk manage to affect one part of someone’s quirk factor but not another? What we call the ‘quirk factor’ is just part of our genes. It would be amazing that my quirk can manage to pick out the right parts to affect when I myself have zero understanding of it.” Shouta said. He looked into Hizashi's eyes, looking for something.

“Uh…” Hizashi was trying to make sense of this. It didn’t make sense, quirk genetics was not something he paid much attention.

Shouta didn’t give him more time to try to figure it out. “The answer is simple. I don’t affect the quirk factor. I make people believe that their quirks are not working causing them to be unable to use them. It doesn’t work on mutant type quirks because trying to convince someone they aren’t a mutant is rather impossible. Hizashi, I have a mental quirk.”

“Holy shit,” he breathed. His grip slackened and his hand fell from Shouta’s arm. This was revolutionary. Hizashi was going to need time to process it but it made so much sense.

Shouta didn’t give Hizashi time and barreled on. “It explains why my quirk doesn’t work on Nomus, they don’t think.”

Hizashi blinked at him a few times, processing the latest revelation. “I thought that was because they have multiple quirks?”

“I can erase quirks from multiple targets and Nomu are made from multiple people. In theory, it should work and my quirk works on Todoroki so it should work on Nomu.” Shouta shrugged like the answer was obvious.

“Huh? Todoroki?” Hizashi felt like he was losing track of the conversation.

“Bilateral chimera,” Shouta said in answer. He waved his hand, seeming to fling the question away.

“Huh?” Hizashi said smartly. Hizashi knew he hadn't just lost track of the conversation. It was going perpendicular and he was going to need some time to backtrack and make the dramatic left turn he missed.

“Here’s the best part though,” Shouta said with a gleam in his eyes. Continuing to leave Hizashi with no time to catch up. “Problem Child had a way to test it. If Shinsou brainwashes someone and commands them to use their quirk they aren’t thinking so my quirk shouldn’t work.”

A way around Shouta’s quirk would be- he isn’t sure. Good and bad. “Uh, wow. Are you going to test it?”

“No way. Last thing I need is that class having a way around my quirk,” he deadpanned.

Hizashi sniggered. “So you mean you are going to test it at some point and threaten them with expulsion if they tell anyone else.” Shouta gave him a look that he knew said ‘Why do you have to know me so well and call me out on it?’ which only made Hizashi laugh harder. “But Shouta, that’s insane. How did Midoriya know all that?”

Shouta threw his arms up. “I don’t know. I was so shocked I pushed the topic aside and moved on. I plan to talk to him about it tomorrow since I already need to talk to him about Tokoyami’s quirk.”

“Tokoyami?” Hizashi needed a road map for this conversation. 

Gods how many quirks is this kid going to change our understanding of?

“Yeah, not looking forward to that. But shit Hizashi. How did we miss this?” Shouta said with such dejection that Hizashi pushed aside his confusion.

“What do you mean exactly?” he asked gently.

“I mean he has been our student for over a year and we didn’t notice that Midoriya is probably a genius,” Shouta stated miserably, running a hand through his hair. Catching on tangles and he started to pull on them, forcing his hand through.

Oh. Oh!

Hizashi carefully took Shouta’s wrist and removed the hand from his hair. “Shouta, he gets good grades but not genius-level grades. How were any of us supposed to notice?” Hizashi said tenderly.

“I know, I know. Is the problem the education system? If he went into quirk research he might revolutionize the field,” Shouta said vehemently. Shouta took Hizashi’s hand and gave it a little shake. “Hizashi, he thought I knew. He asked before he talked about it because he thought ‘blocks the quirk factor’ was a cover I used!”

Hizashi took several seconds to digest. “That is- I don’t have a word for it.”

“I have met with most of the top researchers in the country. Erasure quirks are rare and studying them is important in suppressing criminals. Not one researcher mentioned the possibility that my quirk was a mental quirk. Even if he’s wrong, which I don’t think he is, the fact that he thought of this with sound logic, and a way to test it without any special equipment is astounding. Hell, he came up with a way to test Todoroki on the spot! I just-” he cut off, shaking his head.

Hizashi could see the pain in his expression and he knew Shouta was thinking he failed the kid by missing this for a year. Except it wasn’t just Shouta that missed it. All the U.A. staff missed it. All the previous teachers Midoriya had, had missed it. If Shouta had failed him it was only because everyone else had failed the kid too.

“Shouta,” he said firmly, pulling his husband from his thoughts. “This wasn’t your failure. No one saw it and there were a lot of people that could have, myself included. We know now and can take the time to cultivate his skills.” He took Shouta’s hand in his and squeezed it, trying to offer reassurance. 

Shouta refused to meet Hizashi’s gaze. “I almost expelled him on the first day,” Shouta said quietly.

Oh! That is what this is about! 

Shouta would never admit how much he doubted his teaching ability sometimes. He expelled students he saw no potential in or that he thought needed the shock of being kicked out of the country's top school to make them take their training seriously. It worked most of the time. Either he let them back in or they got into one of the other hero schools, didn’t slack off, and became outstanding heroes.

“But you didn’t, Shouta,” he said, giving another squeeze. “And considering the little listener’s level of determination, I get the feeling he would have been a hero one way or another. I don’t think an expulsion would have set him back.” He started running his hand through his husband’s long hair, careful of the tangles. “You are a great teacher. Don’t forget that. You might have to make him do separate work from the other three though,” he said with a smirk.

“I know. I think I am going to have him analyze the entire staffs’ quirks,” Shouta answered with a smirk of his own.

“He might shock them all.”

“Oh, I am counting on it. He already broke All Might, what is the worst that can happen?”

“Do you really want to find out?”

Shouta gave him a feral grin., “I really think I do.” Hizashi turned to get up, sensing the end of the conversation when Shouta added, “And I haven’t even told you what he had to say about Todoroki’s quirk or what I expect he knows about Tokoyami’s.”

Hizashi held back a sigh. If he reacted too much Shouta might start up again and he already had too much information to process.

He was right to name this kid ‘Problem Child.’

Chapter Text

Tenya left the common room after most of his classmates finished their homework. He thought it would be good for him to get some self-study time in. Instead, he found himself rather unsettled by the things Midoriya had said earlier in the evening. The Iida family line was long and well documented. He knew who his forebears were, he could find when their engine quirk came into being, and the thought that they had married for the sake of a quirk instead of love was unnerving. Then when Todoroki had mentioned his brother it started to make sense but Tenya found himself feeling unbalanced, his perception of the world was no longer as defined as it should be.

He couldn’t just accept this. He needed more information.

He knocked firmly on his friend’s door. “Oh, hi Iida-kun,” Midoriya said, upon opening the door.

“Good evening. I’m sorry to bother you but I was thinking about what you said about quirks earlier and was wondering if you could recommend some reading on the topic?” Tenya asked.

“For sure!” Midoriya waved him into the room. “Hm, I don’t have any physical copies of the books. I can email you over some digital copies and a list that you should be able to find at the library. Oh, what do you listen to while you run? I listen to books and podcasts a lot so I can send you some of those on the topic too. That is a lot, isn’t it? Is there a place you want to start?”

Tenya blinked at his friend a few times, processing the stream of information. “I think for now I will take everything. I am sure I can take some time to sort through it and decide how I want to navigate it all.”

Midoriya nodded. “Okay, it will take me a bit to put everything together but I will send it over sometime tomorrow.”

“Thank you Midoriya-kun. I am very grateful,” Tenya said with a bow.

“Anytime! Let me know if you want to discuss it any. I have always found quirks fascinating.” Midoriya responded happily.

“I will be sure to do that. Have a good night, Midoriya-kun.” Tenya left the room and turned to head back towards the stairwell.

“Good night,” he heard Midoriya call towards him. 

Hitoshi had been staring at his math homework for at least ten minutes without actually making any progress. He wasn’t really trying to get it done, instead, he was trying to understand what was going on within himself. He had been so impulsive and something resembling confident this past week and he didn’t understand why. 

Normally, he would have been stand-offish and bordering on rude, or just plain rude if he was honest with himself. Instead, he had been conversing with his new classmates, joking with them, admitting things he never thought he would, hanging out, and egging on conversations he knew he shouldn’t have just because he was curious. 

Now he knew Midoriya was beyond smart, Todoroki had a likely dead brother, and there was something unmentionable about Tokoyami’s quirk. He wanted to bang his head against the tabletop but he didn’t want to make a scene.

Then there was the amount of other information Midoriya dumped on everyone like it was nothing. He knew Midoriya was smart but watching him tear apart their understanding of Aizawa’s quirk was something beyond just smart. Hitoshi had seen the look on Aizawa’s face, and he knew he wasn’t the only one shocked. He suspected Midoriya had provided details even Aizawa had been unaware of. Which was downright insane to think that Midoriya might know more about Aizawa’s quirk than Aizawa. He guessed he would never know the truth. 

I wonder when we are going to test his theory about me brainwashing someone.

“Math homework that interesting?” Uraraka interrupted his thoughts playfully.

He gave her a half-smile, “Just thinking.”

“Mm, Deku-kun have you thinking about quirks and such too?” she asked kindly.

“You should’ve seen him tear apart Aizawa-sensei’s and Todoroki’s quirks in class. It was something else,” he said, not bothering to hide how astounded he was.

“Really?” she said excitedly. 

Hitoshi had the sudden realization that he shouldn’t have mentioned that. He started looking for a way to change the topic but couldn’t find any easy one. “Yes,” he said, bordering on terse, not wanting to be rude but wanting the conversation to end. He bent his head back down to stare at his math homework once more.

“You seem to be fitting in well with the class, ribbit,” Asui said.

Hitoshi recognized the change in topic and accepted it gratefully. “Ah, yeah, you all are very-” he cut off looking for the right word.

“Friendly?”

“Welcoming?”

“Helpful?

“Supportive?”

“Yes. Forcefully so,” he deadpanned, causing the other two to laugh. “I don’t think I had a choice in becoming friends. Especially with Midoriya and once he decided the rest of you seemed to just come along.”

“Mm, that is Deku-kun. Once he decides to be your friend you will be his friend whether you want to or not. Just look at Todoroki-kun! Though it hasn’t worked so well on Bakugou-kun yet,” Uraraka said.

“But Midoriya-chan is very tenacious, ribbit,” Asui said thoughtfully.

“From what I have seen that whole dynamic seems rather unhealthy,” Hitoshi said, not asking the question but leaving it up to them if they would continue the conversation.

Uraraka and Asui looked at each other before Uraraka said, “We’ve tried talking to Deku-kun about it but he says they have known each other since they were babies.” She shrugged.

“You should’ve seen Midoriya-chan when Bakugou-chan tried to corner him in the common room the day everything got announced,” Asui said. “The common room was pretty empty but Kirishima-chan and I were around. Midoriya-chan was rather cheeky, ribbit. Kirishima-chan tried to put a stop to it, and he is the best with Bakugou-chan, but even he couldn’t. Midoriya-chan actually yelled that he refused to fight and that seemed to put an end to it.”

Hitoshi wasn’t sure what to make of that. He hadn’t seen Midoriya yell since spending time with him. He seemed almost incapable of being angry enough to yell unless he was in a real fight.

“I’m glad it didn’t lead to a physical fight like last year,” Uraraka said gravely.

“They got into a fight?” Hitoshi asked, surprised.

“Bakugou-kun started it but Deku-kun refused to be a punching bag,” Uraraka said. “His words, not mine.”

“Midoriya-chan is getting much better at standing up for himself, ribbit,” Asui added.

“And much more confident in general,” Uraraka said with a hint of pride in her tone.

“You also seem much more confident, Shinsou-chan.” Asui stared at him.

Hitoshi rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, refusing to meet Asui’s gaze. “Ah, yeah. I don’t really know where it came from.”

“Our trademark forceful supportiveness, obviously,” Uraraka joked.

“Maybe, maybe,” he replied seriously. “It is nice to have people actually converse with me without worrying about…” he trailed off and waved his hand at his head.

“You’re clearly a good person, Shinsou-chan. Anyone that’s wary around you is foolish, ribbit.” Hitoshi blushed, unused to such comments.

“Thank you, Asui.”

“Call me Tsu, ribbit.”

“Have you let Deku-kun gush about your quirk yet?” Uraraka said with vigor.

“I’m kind of scared too,” he admitted.

“Fair. I still suggest it. He has such good insight, things to try, ways to use it, and more…” Uraraka continued to chatter about ways Midoriya pointed out she could better use her quirk, ideas of things to try, combos with classmates, and more.

Shouto hadn’t been able to stop thinking about Touya and what Midoriya said. He had been ignoring things since he got that call from his father. Refusing to think about his maybe not dead brother, refusing to think about Endeavor. He knew he couldn’t fix the problem so he did what he always did, focused on what was in front of him.

Except, it wasn’t working tonight. He had been trying to sleep but Midoriya’s words were running around in his head. Circling tighter and tighter, constricting his thoughts until there is nothing else he could think about. 

It was just past midnight and Shouto guessed Midoriya would still be awake. He grabbed his phone and went to the kitchen. He messaged Midoriya to ask if he was still awake and offered tea. Shouto got a response of, ‘be down soon,’ nearly immediately.

Too quickly to not have rushed, Midoriya was there. “Tea?” Shouto questioned when he heard the telltale footsteps.

“That would be nice. Thank you, Todoroki-kun,” Midoriya said.

They stood in the kitchen drinking their tea in silence. Shouto was trying to find the words he needed and it seemed Midoriya was ready to wait.

“Earlier you made it clear me and my quirk are extremely unlikely.” Midoriya nodded. “How likely was my father to get someone like me?” Shouto asked.

“So, uhm, I am not an expert and-and I might be wrong.” Midoriya met Shouto’s gaze and continued, “From what I can find on element generation and manipulation quirks, using the term ‘element’ generically to mean the uh, like, thing. I’m not saying this right.” He fidgeted a bit, twisting his cup around several times. “By element, I mean, uhm, material? Matter? Like fire, ice, water, cement, earth. A single type of material. Make sense?” Shouto nodded, it did make sense. “Okay, so, from what I can find on element generation and manipulation quirks there is no one with a dual element quirk, except for you.”

Shouto’s eyes widened with the jolt of that knowledge. “None?” he questioned, completely unable to hide his surprise.

Midoriya shook his head. “None that I can find documentation of. There are plenty of documented cases of parents having different elements but the kids always end up with only one or some mutation. I think Cementoss-sensei is such a mutation since he can manipulate cement and cement-like substances instead of straight-up earth or rock, but I don’t know his parent’s quirks and can't be certain. The genes that control such things haven’t been fully mapped yet because quirks are so complex but it’s theorized that the element a person can generate or manipulate is a single gene, meaning it would be impossible to end up with dual elements unless you had, well, extra genetic material,” he said with a hand wave.

Shouto stared at his tea and tried to digest this information. “Meaning I am-” he scrunched his eyebrows together, “-impossible?”

“With the data we have on the chances of bilateral chimerism, the fact that the original twins that made up you both had one quirk each with the correct mutations for resistances, and the sheer strength you have over both those quirks? Yes, Todoroki-kun the chances of you existing are so astronomically small they can only be described as zero.” Midoriya’s eyes were shining as he said, “You are quite possibly the single most unlikely person to have ever existed and possibly will exist.”

Shouto tried to accept the fact that he shouldn’t even exist. Endeavor’s entire goal was pointless. What he put his mother through had no meaning. He should have been another failure like his siblings. His mother might have been forced to have more children if he didn’t happen to exist. More kids that could have ended up like Touya. Touya, who was burned so badly he either died or decided to become a villain. Shouto felt a nauseating anger rising. His father set out with an impossible goal but somehow got what he wanted anyway.

Midoriya must have seen the turmoil running through Shouto’s head as he grabbed Shouto’s arm with care, gentle but firm. Shouto eyed Midoriya’s hand before he met Midoriya’s gaze.

“I know your father set out to create you-” the ire in Midoriya’s tone left no room to think that he agreed with what Endeavor did, “-and his goal should have never come to fruition.” Midoriya shook his head before locking their gazes once more. “It was a misguided and cruel thing but I am happy you are here. You are a singularity. An inconceivable number of impossible coincidences all lead up to you and I’m thankful for them because you are here and you are awe-inspiring. ”

No one had ever said anything like that to Shouto before and he didn’t know what to do with the feelings it caused. He felt like fire and ice were running through his veins simultaneously making everything too much and not enough at the same time. Where Midoriya’s hand was on his arm felt like it was buzzing with electricity. Shouto wanted to say something but he had no words. What could he ever say to something like that? Midoriya said something so heartfelt that Shouto was reeling, unable to form coherent thoughts, much less words.

At a thump in the dark common room, Shouto shifted to ice cold. Thoughts freezing over and becoming crystal clear as he pushed away all the muddled confusion. Old, ingrained habits made it easy. Someone had been listening. They shouldn’t have been having this conversation here. Shouto knew conversations like this shouldn’t be in public spaces. Why had he made such a stupid mistake?

Hitoshi was just heading to the kitchen for a glass of water. It should have been no big deal but as he was making his way towards the kitchen, still hidden in the dark, he overheard, “I know your father set out to create you and his goal should have never come to fruition. It was a misguided and cruel thing-”

Well someone seems to have a shit father and Midoriya knows about it.

“-but I am happy you are here. You are a singularity. An inconceivable number of impossible coincidences all lead up to you and I am thankful for them because you are here and you are awe-inspiring.”

That sounds awfully close to a confession but I am sure Midoriya didn’t mean it that way. Not with the way he gushes about things. 

Hitoshi saw a flash of red and white and knew the other person must be Todoroki.

Should have expected, Midoriya is gushing about Todoroki’s quirk.

Hitoshi decided the best thing he could do was sneak back to his room and pretend he never heard anything. Unfortunately, his mind wasn’t in agreement as it started racing with the implications or what he had heard. 

Todoroki’s father apparently set out to create him. Quirk marriage? Todoroki’s father is Endeavor. The freaking number one hero had kids in a quirk marriage! A quirk marriage that may have ended up with a dead child from an incompatible quirk combination. Screw that guy. Oh! Todoroki is going into underground heroics because he wants to take down corrupt heroes. Corrupt heroes like his father? His father is the number one hero. Holy-

Seeming to forget all of the training he had ever done with Aizawa, Hitoshi backed into a sofa making a loud ‘oof’ as he stumbled and two heads whipped in his direction. Once he steadied himself he realized he had very few options left. He could try to run away but then they would know someone overhead them and Midoriya could catch him easily with his speed. If he went into the kitchen and acted like he didn’t hear anything maybe, just maybe, he could get out of this without anyone thinking they had been eavesdropped on. 

He entered the kitchen with a, he hoped, neutral expression on his face. “Oh, hey guys. Didn’t expect to see anyone else up this late.”

“Shinsou-kun! Uh, w-we were, we were, just having some tea before bed,” Midoriya said hurriedly. Shinsou nodded. He saw how Todoroki was giving him an icy stare but he pretended he didn't notice. He quickly got his glass of water and turned to leave.

Several steps towards the exit and he was about to wish them good night when Todoroki spoke up, ice cold and sharp, “What did you overhear?” Hitoshi felt his eyebrows go up. He would lie. He would pretend he didn’t hear anything. It would be easy.

“Todoroki-kun,” Midoriya said in a way that was warm but scolding. Todoroki turned his glare towards Midoriya. Hitoshi watched as Midoriya set his hand on Todoroki’s arm and squeezed.

Todoroki blinked long and slow before shaking his head. He looked back towards Hitoshi, glare gone. “Sorry, sorry.” Todoroki cast his eyes down. “I didn’t mean to be so upset.”

Hitoshi was going to lie. He really was, but now? Now, he couldn’t. “Crap, sorry. I really did just come down here for some water and I really didn’t mean to overhear anything. I heard from the bit where Midoriya said your father created you and you totally don’t have to explain, at all.”

Hitoshi knew he was rambling but he was just so out of sorts, in general, he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “I won’t ask any questions and I won’t say anything to anyone else. I’m just going to try and forget this but my brain is already busy making connections that it really shouldn’t and I’m sorry. I really didn’t mean to eavesdrop.” Hitoshi shuffled a bit and then met Todoroki’s eyes. “Endeavor’s a real asshole, isn’t he?”

Todoroki blinked owlishly while Midoriya shot concerned glances between the two of them. Hitoshi stood there silently awaiting his judgment. After a small eternity, Todoroki gave him a small half-smile and said, “He is a real dick.” The tense atmosphere dissipated almost immediately as Hitoshi laughed. It really wasn’t that funny but he was so on edge that he found himself letting go. 

This prompted Midoriya to smile and add, “A real flaming pile of trash!”

“Now come on, that is insulting,” Todoroki deadpanned. Hitoshi and Midoriya both looked at him concerned. A few beats later he smirked and added, “To the trash.”

Hitoshi and Midoriya erupted into laughter. Hitoshi knew they should be quieter, people were trying to sleep but he couldn't contain himself. They ended up spending the next thirty minutes coming up with new, creative, and sometimes crass ways to insult Endeavor. Hitoshi had never been a fan but roasting him with his own son was not something he would have ever expected.

Izuku closed the door to his room, walked over to his bed, and face planted with a groan. He couldn’t believe he said that.

Thank gods Shinsou-kun accidentally interrupted, even if he did hear things he shouldn’t have.

Izuku was sure if things had continued he would have said something more and that would not be okay. They were friends. Just friends. Izuku needed to stop crushing on his friends just because they were nice to him. It was not a good quality.

It wasn’t like he was the only person who had feelings for Todoroki. He was pretty sure most of his class was at least a little bit in love with him, if not most of the school. It was hard not to be. Todoroki was strong, beautiful, and so kind. Izuku refused to ruin their friendship with his stupid fleeting feelings. Todoroki had so much going on and had come so far it wouldn’t be good for him to know about plain old Izuku having a crush on him. Izuku’s crush on Uraraka had faded and he expected this one would too, even if it was a bit more intense.

They were all too busy for relationships anyway. He was going to pack his feelings back up in their tiny little box and bury them deep. Hopefully this time they would stay there and stop coming back at inopportune times causing him to say things that he didn’t want to actually voice.

It had taken ten days but it had finally arrived in his inbox. Ten days too long but the timing worked out in his favor. He could read the report before he had his chat with Midoriya. Aizawa forwarded a copy to Hizashi since he would want to read it too. He idly wondered if maybe next time he needed a copy of a report he could bother Tsukauchi so he didn’t have to wait ten damn days. At least now he could have one conversation with Midoriya instead of a second one if there was something in this report.

Aizawa really wanted to avoid the conversation altogether. Problem Child had shown an exceptional amount of skill with quirk analysis. The kind of skill that almost seemed wasted on a hero.

But maybe not an underground hero since they don’t have the same support that limelight heroes get.

Aizawa sipped his coffee and began to read the report. He could at least tackle that before class started.

When Aizawa finished reading he checked that this was the complete report. Downloaded it again to confirm that yes, it didn’t get corrupted. This was the entire report. It was short, too short. He shot off a quick email to Hizashi asking him to read it before lunch and read the report a second and third time.

Definitely, the entire report and it seemed to cover the events that were reported in the media but there was no mention of Midoriya Izuku in the report. Aizawa was sure Midoriya wouldn’t lie. The kid wasn’t that kind of stupid, especially when he knew his teachers could get access to official reports. The way he wrote about the event in his essay made it very clear he was there so why is there no mention of him in the report.

Aizawa didn’t have time to ponder it now. Classes went by uneventfully. The makeup the boys were wearing had been getting more extravagant by the day. He was happy to see that none of the other students were giving them a hard time about it. 

Back when he was in school they didn’t have such classes for underground heroics but he remembered spending many evenings with Kayama learning how to use makeup to disguise himself. She was a good teacher, even then. He was rather impressed with their progress. They should be able to hide in the crowds easily at the Sports Festival. He would never admit it but he was rather excited to see what they would come up with.

At lunch, he sat down with Hizashi and got straight to the point. “Have a chance to read that report?”

“Yeah, and there was no mention of the little listener.” Hizashi tapped his fingers on the table.

“I double-checked, the report is complete. I don’t understand. Problem Child isn’t one to lie and I believe him.”

“I had some time and went digging. Found a civilian video. You can see Midoriya run forward and try to help Bakugou. Threw his backpack at the villain. You can’t see Midoriya’s face so I can’t be certain but it lines up with his story and the hair is the same but the kid was pretty scrawny then.” He pulled out his phone and loaded up the video.

“Thanks, Hizashi,” Aizawa said fondly.

“You are talking to him after school, right? Going to ask about this too?” Hizashi asked.

“I think so. It is just odd to be left out like that.”

Hizashi gave an acknowledging hum and took a few bites of his food. “Something else is rubbing me the wrong way. There were six different heroes present and none of them were trying to save Bakugou. It took All Might to save him.”

Aizawa took a bite and chewed slowly before he spoke. “The report mentions incompatible quirks.”

“Bullshit and you know it! You fight against incompatible quirks all the time,” Hizashi retorted with disdain.

Aizawa shrugged. “Maybe so but I’ve seen it before. Most heroes are so dependent on their quirks they are unable to think of how to save people without them,” he said impassively.

“We train the kids to be better than that, right?” Hizashi asked earnestly.

“Yeah, yeah we do,” Aizawa responded solemnly. As much as they train them in school it doesn’t always stick after they have been in the field for several years. He doesn’t mention it because they can’t do much once the kids graduate.

“Shinsou, Todoroki, Tokoyami. Gym Alpha, work through some of the routines you have learned. Midoriya, with me. The rest of you are dismissed,” Aizawa announced.

Izuku knew this was coming but he was still nervous. Todoroki sent him a questioning glance that Izuku returned with a smile he wanted to be reassuring but knew was wobbly. The rest of the class dispersed without fanfare.

Aizawa made a motion for Izuku to follow and they quickly made their way to one of the conference rooms he was used to sharing with All Might. They both took seats and Izuku waited for his teacher to start.

Aizawa sighed. “Tell me what you think about Tokoyami’s quirk.”

Izuku reached into his bag and pulled out ‘Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13’ which contained his notes on Tokoyami. He flipped to the page. “I, uh, have thr-two!” he said with more emphasis than he wanted, trying to hide his mistake. “Two theories.” 

Aizawa raised an eyebrow and motioned for Izuku to continue. “Uhm, he could be a pair of semi-identical conjoined twins or-or a pair of fraternal t-twins that would’ve become a single chimera but didn’t fully merge and ended up being conjoined twins-like. Both of those would be extremely rare but could be explained as if we assume they have two different quirks, Tokoyami-kun having a bird mutation and Dark Shadow having a shadow quirk. Or maybe something else. I don’t have enough information on all the aspects of the quirk or quirks. I’m pretty sure Tokoyami-kun has mentioned some aspect of telepathy-”

Aizawa waved a hand to stop Izuku’s ramble. “How likely would either of those be?”

“Uhm, well, there are like three recorded instances of semi-identical t-twins, and for them to end up conjoined on top of that? Same with the possible incomplete chimerism. It’s, er, astronomically small. It’s theoretically possible but nothing like that has ever been recorded.”

“What’s the other theory?” Aizawa asked. 

Izuku looked down at the tabletop and stared. He had a feeling Aizawa knew what was coming. He didn’t want to say but he was pretty sure this was what his teacher wanted to talk about. “He has a personality disorder,” he said quietly.

“Problem Child.”

Izuku jerked his head up at the tone. “I don’t mean like a trauma-induced one!” Aizawa raised his eyebrows and made a gesture for him to explain.

“Uhm, most personality disorders are trauma-induced but Tokoyami-kun is, well, normal. He doesn’t have any of the other s-signs and while that isn’t proof of any kind I just uh, don’t want to believe such things could have happened to him.” Izuku paused before he went on and Aizawa nodded at him to continue. “Quirks typically come in by four years old. It’s also very common for kids that age to have imaginary friends.” Aizawa’s eyes went wide. “If he gave a personality to his quirk it was likely s-supported by those around him making Dark Shadow become, er,  separate from Tokoyami-kun in his own mind.”

Aizawa tapped his finger on the tabletop and didn't say anything. He appeared to be thinking it through. Izuku wanted to tell him his third theory. He wanted to explain how Dark Shadow is a stockpiling quirk like his own and maybe it had some kind of imprint or echo of Tokoyami. Or maybe, just maybe, it was passed down in some way too. Maybe, Izuku would have someone to talk to about how weird his quirk was! But he couldn’t. He would have to explain One for All and he couldn’t do that. That secret must be kept. He couldn’t mess up again and let someone else know.

“Do you have a way to figure it out?” Aizawa asked, forcing Izuku’s thoughts back on track.

“Not really. If Tokoyami-kun was, uh, born with Dark Shadow that lends itself more towards the twins theory while if Dark Shadow came into being later that lends towards the personality disorder theory but that doesn’t prove anything since people are sometimes born with quirks. There is no way to really test it though since Dark Shadow doesn’t have a physical form that could have DNA tested and it’s a stockpiling quirk so Monoma-kun cannot copy it. There might be some medical tests that could be run on Tokoyami-kun but I’m not an expert.” Izuku shrugged.

Sternly Aizawa said, “For now, if the topic comes up you are to say you aren’t sure. Your theories do not leave this room, understood?”

“Yes Sensei,” he said vehemently.

“Are there any other students I should worry about?”

Izuku flipped through his notebook double-checking. “I don’t think so. Everyone else’s quirks are pretty straightforward.”

“Can I see your notes?” Aizawa asked.

“Uh, yeah. S-sure, S-sensei,” he stuttered as he handed the notebook over.

Izuku watched as his teacher silently flipped through the pages for a few minutes, expression unreadable as ever. “Can I borrow this for today? I will return it tomorrow,” Aizawa finally said.

“Uh, I guess. I don’t really need it right now.” Aizawa nodded and set the notebook aside. Izuku was very confused.

Why does he want to borrow my notebook? Did I do something wrong? Am I in trouble? Oh no, they always told me my notetaking was creepy.

Aizawa pulled out a folder. “Now, I want to ask you about the Sludge Villain Incident. I requested a copy of the report after I read your essay.” Izuku’s eyes went wide as he was jerked from his worries. This was not what he was expecting and he didn’t think any teacher would look into that. He wondered what could have been in the report that had Aizawa questioning him about it.

“You aren’t mentioned in the report.” Aizawa opened the folder and pushed the paper in front of Izuku. “I believe you, Mic even found a civilian video online so I know you aren’t lying. I am just trying to understand why six pro heroes didn’t bother to mention you in the official report.”

Izuku read the report and then he saw the line and understood why his teacher missed it. It wasn’t like Aizawa knew. He wasn’t looking forward to explaining this but he didn’t see a choice. He felt like his place at U.A. was safe. He wasn’t always waiting for someone to tell him he didn’t belong and expel him. Izuku hoped he wasn’t wrong about that. Aizawa essentially fought quirkless, if anyone wasn’t going to be a quirkist it would be Eraserhead. Right?

Aizawa watched as Midoriya read through the report. He could see the kid hadn't expected to be questioned about this but Aizawa hadn't expected nearly as much dangerous information in the notebooks. He shouldn't have been surprised by the notebooks, he had watched Midoriya writing in them for over a year now. Based on the one he was given he could guess there were likely fourteen or fifteen notebooks of information. He was going to have to do something about that.

“Uh, here.” Problem Child said, calling Aizawa’s attention back. Midoriya’s face was grim as he pointed to a small area of text. Aizawa took the page back and read. ‘Quirkless child tried to interfere and caused problems, was reprimanded.’ 

What?

“Why did they think you were quirkless?”

Midoriya was looking at the table and refusing to meet his eyes. “I s-still w-was then.” 

Huh?

“Explain,” he demanded and saw Midoriya flinch at his tone.

“Oh, uhm, I’m a late bloomer. My quirk is s-so powerful that I couldn’t actually activate it until my body got s-stronger after training. I was, uh, I was-” Midoriya paused and Aizawa could see the tightness in his jaw as he clenched his teeth before releasing it again. “I was quirkless for most of my life.” Midoriya still had his eyes trained on the floor as if he was admitting to something shameful.

“This event took place-” Aizawa paused as he did the math, “-ten months before the entrance exam. When exactly did your quirk manifest?”

Midoriya seems to shrink in on himself. “You know how I kinda broke three limbs during the entrance exam?”

“Yes,” he nearly hissed.

“That was the first time I used my quirk,” Midoriya admitted quietly.

“And the second?” Aizawa asked tersely.

Midoriya somehow made himself even smaller. “The first day of school during the quirk apprehension test,” Midoriya said even more quietly than before. If the room wasn’t silent Aizawa was sure he would’ve been unable to make out the words.

Aizawa knew he was getting too annoyed but couldn’t hide his exasperation when he asked, “Problem Child, why didn’t you tell me?”

Midoriya’s head snapped up and he met Aizawa’s gaze. “You would have expelled me,” he said, clearly, as if that was a fact that was plain as day. There was no stuttering, no doubt in the way he said it. Midoriya truly believed he would have been expelled for previously being quirkless.

Aizawa opened his mouth to deny it, he wanted to deny it, but he stopped himself. He wanted to tell this kid that no, he wouldn’t have expelled him but he can’t. The more he thought back to that first day of school last year and how annoyed he had been, the more sure he was that he would have expelled him. 

He had watched as Midoriya Izuku broke both his legs and an arm saving someone who wasn’t in any real danger only to almost actually die as he fell towards the ground but was fortunately saved by the person he was trying to protect in the first place. He hadn’t wanted someone so reckless and lacking control of their quirk in his class. Aizawa had been furious when he had been awarded so many Rescue Points that he was admitted to U.A at all. 

If he had actually known that was the first time the kid used his quirk would his mind have changed? Aizawa wasn’t sure. Most people had at least ten years to learn to control their quirks before U.A. Midoriya was literally ten years behind his peers, most people would never be able to catch up. 

Midoriya hadn’t just caught up, he was exceeding a number of his peers now but on that first day of school? Aizawa didn’t see the potential. He and everyone else had missed how smart the kid was for over a year now. No wonder Problem Child kept shattering his bones and to the point of nearly crippling his arms. He had been pushed to it. Aizawa himself had pushed him to it. He wasn’t the only one that pushed but he was far from guilt-free.

Aizawa did the only thing he could do to start to make this right. He stood and bowed deeply. “Midoriya Izuku, I have failed as your teacher in more ways than I can count. I offer you my sincerest apologies.” He heard Midoriya start to splutter, completely taken aback. Aizawa righted himself and Midoriya quieted when their eyes met. “I will do better by you and ensure you become the best hero you can,” he said with sincerity he rarely ever showed students. “But,” he continued in a more serious tone as he retook his seat, “I will need you to be honest with me and tell me anything else I need to know.”

Midoriya nodded vigorously with watery eyes and then suddenly paled. “There is something I cannot tell you.” Aizawa hardened his expression but before he could say anything Midoriya continued, “It isn’t my s-secret alone to share. I don’t think it will have any impact on things but-but if it does I will talk to the other person and get permission to share it with you. Is- is that okay?”

Midoriya fidgeted uncomfortably, his eyes darting around searching Aizawa for something. Aizawa didn’t want to agree but couldn’t see an alternative. He had messed up badly and in ways that he could not make up for. At the least, if he wanted to gain Midoriya’s trust then he would have to offer his own trust first.

He tapped his fingers on the table. “I’m going to ask you a few questions and I need you to be one hundred percent honest with me. Understood?”

“Yes, Sensei.”

“Is this other person a villain?”

“No! They’re a hero!” Midoriya said, flailing his arms about.

Aizawa nodded. “Is this secret a danger to you or anyone else?”

“Not as long as it says a secret.” Aizawa found that answer concerning but the fewer people that knew a secret the better.

“Are you or anyone else currently in any danger?”

“No.”

“Are you or anyone else being threatened or blackmailed?”

“No.”

“Are you and everyone you care about safe?”

“Yes.”

“Then you don’t have to share unless it starts affecting training and you come to me about anything else that comes up. Understood?” he said with a sharp knock on the table to emphasize his point.

“Yes. Thank you, Sensei,” Midoriya said with a watery look bowing slightly several times.

“Let's get back on topic.” He pointed to the report in front of them. “So you are mentioned in the report but that statement still clashes with your version of events. Any idea why your actions weren’t mentioned?”

Midoriya let out a sigh that sounded frustrated. “Sensei, I was quirkless,” he said, sounding equal parts defeated and exasperated. Aizawa knew he was missing something, something important. His lack of response must give Midoriya some clue as he said sadly, “I had hoped you were one of the good ones.” Midoriya looked almost relieved as he looked at Aizawa, like his lack of understanding was a good thing. Aizawa was about to ask what Midoriya meant when he asked a question of his own. “Have you ever known a quirkless person, Sensei?”

Aizawa pondered but he couldn’t say he had met a quirkless person, at least not knowingly. They were pretty uncommon, most of them are much older, someone Midoriya’s age was rare, nearly unheard of. He shook his head. “Not personally.”

Midoriya took a deep breath and let it back out slowly. He refused to meet Aizawa’s gaze as he spoke. “Quirked people don’t always see quirkless individuals as fully human. We are something lesser. Something to be treated like glass or with derision. Something from the past that shouldn’t be around anymore. Something worthless. I didn’t have a quirk but somehow I was less than the girl who could change her own eye color or the guy whose hair grew so fast he had to cut it daily.” The anger in Midoriya’s voice was shocking to Aizawa. He didn’t think he had ever seen this kid get angry.

Midoriya took another deep breath and let the anger go only to be replaced with a clouded grim expression. His finger started tracing a pattern on the tabletop. “Growing up quirkless isn’t easy, Sensei. We’re a minority, a minority that is quickly dying out so even good people who don’t discriminate don’t actually think about us. I don’t really want to dump my entire childhood on you but if you look into quirkless discrimination you will have a pretty good idea. My life was-” he stopped and clenched his jaw so hard Aizawa thought he could hear his teeth grind together, “-typical for a quirkless person,” Midoriya finished dejectedly.

Aizawa didn’t know what to say or even what to think. He may have heard about quirkless discrimination at some point in passing but he never really looked into it. It didn’t impact him or anyone he knew. He had never cared. How bad was it? And the way the kid spoke, he clearly still thought of himself as quirkless in a way. He could see in Midoriya’s body language that he really wanted to be done with this conversation, the kid was curling in on himself again. Aizawa thought if he kept pushing Midoriya might shut down and refuse to offer more. Pushing for more information wouldn’t get him the trust he needed from Midoriya either. Better to let it go for now.

Aizawa had more than enough to think about and he needed time to mull things over. He hadn't expected these kinds of revelations. He dismissed Midoriya, instructing him to tell the others that today would be free training for the rest of their scheduled time.

After Midoriya left Aizawa sighed long and low as he placed his head on the table. Calling him ‘Problem Child’ had been an understatement. Aizawa stayed like that for several minutes, letting himself unwind and telling himself it was so he can be sure Midoriya is well on his way. He lifted his head and began to flip through the borrowed notebook.

Aizawa wanted to facepalm when it dawned on him that the copy of Midoriya’s research on the Symbol of Peace was from a notebook like this too. There must be even more notebooks full of information that shouldn’t be written down! He was going to have to go to Nedzu. There was no avoiding it anymore. He didn't bother delaying, getting up and heading straight for Nedzu’s office. No point in putting it off.

Normally he would send an email. Dealing with how long-winded Nedzu tended to be made email the preferred method of communication but this is important, too important. He knocked on the large doors and heard a “Come in.” As he entered, Nedzu said, “Aizawa-kun! To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”

Aizawa scanned the room and ensured no one else was around. He handed Nedzu the folder with the Sludge Villain Incident Report. “I want all the heroes involved with this incident removed from our approved list for internships and work studies. Except All Might, I guess.”

Nedzu read over the report quickly. “Ah, this was the incident Bakugou Katsuki was caught up in before U.A. Why do you want these heroes removed from our approved list?”

“They discriminate against quirkless individuals.” Nedzu didn’t say anything. Aizawa knew he was going to have to explain but he was hoping that maybe if he held out he wouldn't have to.

It didn’t work. Something about the principal's black-eyed stare unnerved even him. He sighed, defeated. “See the line about a quirkless child?” The principal nodded. “That was Midoriya Izuku. His quirk manifested late, very late, he was still considered quirkless then. He tried to save Bakugou and likely bought enough time for All Might to get there and save his life. I obviously don’t support Midoriya’s actions, they were reckless, but the fact that he was barely mentioned in the report, they didn’t bother to even get his name, and mention he interfered when really he helped can only lead me to one conclusion.”

“That’s interesting. Are you sure you have the correct information?” Nedzu asked, snapping the folder shut.

“Midoriya isn’t one to lie and Mic found a citizen’s video of the incident online. One that shows Midoriya, who was cut from the newsreels.”

“Understood. I will remove them from the lists. Kamui Woods and Mt. Lady are pretty high ranking. Some of the other teachers are going to question this,” Nedzu said plainly.

“Then tell them. Quirkist beliefs are not something we support here.” Aizawa glared, daring Nedzu to disagree.

“Indeed.” Nedzu placed the folder on the table and pushed it in Aizawa’s direction.

“I also want to get Midoriya a Pro Hero laptop, one with top of the line encryption and security, and a Hero Network email.” Nedzu’s back went rigid. Aizawa suppressed a grin at being able to surprise Nedzu. It wasn’t often anyone could surprise him.

Nedzu blinked very slowly at Aizawa. “Why?” Aizawa handed over Midoriya’s notebook without a word.

Aizawa didn’t let him read much, wanting to get this over with quickly he interrupted, “There are at least fourteen more notebooks by my guess but I haven’t asked yet. And, I should have told you sooner but Midoriya has been doing research.” With that admission, Aizawa’s composure broke. He couldn’t remain the stoic teacher anymore. There was just too much.

He took a seat and just sagged. “Gods Nedzu, it’s unbelievable. He went looking into how effective the Symbol of Peace has been in lowering the crime rate. And you know what he found? That All Might did next to nothing. There are dozens of other reasons crime has been dropping. He gathered all the information and charted it out and extrapolated exactly how each item would affect the crime rate based on how such things worked here and in other countries.” 

Shouta ran a hand through his hair. “The logic was flawless as far as I can see and the data is good. I checked all the sources, which he detailed out. Gran Torino and Tsukauchi are looking into it more but I’m pretty confident the kid’s right.” He sighed deeply. “I didn’t bring this to you earlier because I haven’t been able to come to terms with the fact that a sixteen-year-old was able to prove the Symbol of Peace is false with only publicly available information. Oh, and yesterday he completely changed my understanding of my quirk” he finished, throwing his hands up in an exasperated gesture, finally out of words.

Nedzu led the conversation after that. Asking questions that Shouta answered as best he could. If Shouta hadn’t known the principal so long he would be unable to spot the excitement in Nedzu’s mammalian features but Shouta could and Nedzu is ecstatic. Nedzu was smarter than most humans and Shouta found himself wondering how Midoriya’s intelligence would compare.

Nedzu was thrilled with this revelation. He understood why All Might had chosen Midoriya as his successor, he had that spark of unwavering determination to help, but somehow he had failed to mention the child was more. So much more that Aizawa had lost his trademark composure, something Nedzu had never seen another student accomplish before. The way he had dissected these quirks was astounding and hearing about his research Nedzu wondered what other topics he had looked into or wanted to research. He was looking forward to seeing how far Midoriya could go.

After chatting with Aizawa about Midoriya for quite some time, gathering all the information he needed he finally agreed for the school to provide him with a laptop, and Aizawa visibly relaxed. Really, Nedzu had decided to grant it as soon as Aizawa had asked but he wanted to know more. Information was power after all.

“I expect you will impress upon him how much he needs to digitize this information and destroy the hard copies?” Nedzu asked seriously.

“Yes, of course,” Aizawa said, surprised. “I had thought that you might want to start teaching him though.”

“No, not at this time. He is in good hands with you and with all his additional underground classes I don’t think he has time for a class with me,” he said simply. Aizawa nodded sharply and Nedzu could see something he had never seen in Aizawa before, doubt. Aizawa was doubting himself.

This was intriguing and Nedzu would have loved to poke and prod at it. But he was the principal first and taking care of his staff came before his own curiosity. “We could spend all the available time training his mind and educating him to become a hero similar to myself but with the skills you are teaching him he can be so much more and he needs you for that.” Nedzu watched as Aizawa tried to hide the surprise at his words. Nedzu hoped he got that right. Sometimes humans were so... human, it made them hard to deal with. “I will have his computer ready for him by next week.”

They worked out additional logistics of Midoriya’s training and Aizawa’s plans. Nedzu was extremely happy with Aizawa’s plans and hoped Midoriya would excel. Expected he would.

Once Aizawa left he turned his mind to something else, One for All. Nedzu had never expected Aizawa to find out that Midoriya was previously quirkless. He wondered if maybe not informing him was a mistake. Now that Aizawa was taking a much larger and more personal role in Midoriya’s training it might be good for him to know the true nature of Midoriya’s quirk. Nedzu would have to find time to have a conversation with All Might but that would have to wait. He had a Sports Festival to finish planning. It was only a week away.

Izuku debated not following instructions and just texting the others. He needed some alone time to shut up in his room to just unwind. Telling Aizawa he had been quirkless, even if he wasn’t anymore, was hard. He had told his teacher to look into quirkless discrimination but he really hoped he didn’t. Izuku was afraid he would be treated differently. 

Aizawa-sensei is one of the good ones, he kept reminding himself. 

Aizawa had even apologized to him. Izuku wasn’t sure if that was real or some stress-induced hallucination.

He made his way to the gym after changing. He popped his head in the door and saw his friends. “Hey guys,” he called over. The others turned to him with greetings. “Aizawa-sensei says today is free training.” He saw their surprise but didn't say anything. They all knew that Aizawa very rarely gave his students free rein like this. He could see the questions beginning to form. Part of him wanted to explain that he just had a very serious talk with his teacher that took longer than expected but the rest of him did not want to talk about the details. “I am gonna go for a run,” he said quickly, closing the door without another word.

Izuku began to run almost immediately, making it to his regular trail much faster than normal. He completed lap after lap. Focused on his breathing, one foot in front of the next, keeping up the pace. He didn’t think, he just ran and ran.

It didn’t work. He tried counting his steps, counting his breaths, focusing on anything else, but it wasn’t working. He knew he wasn’t in trouble but he expected to be. He had hoped no one would ever find out, that he would never have to explain but he didn’t know what else to do with Aizawa questioning him like that. 

Now it is only a matter of time until everyone knows I used to be quirkless and things will go back to the way they were. No more friends, likely no more hero course. Will I even get to stay at U.A.? Will All Might want me to give One for All to someone else when they kick me?

Izuku knew his thoughts were unreasonable, spiraling around and making things worse, but couldn’t stop. He tripped and started to fall but managed to turn it into a roll and keep himself from getting injured. 

Huh. Guess those lessons with Aizawa-sensei are really paying off.

It was enough to jolt him from his negative thoughts and he decided he needed something more to focus on otherwise, he was just going to drown in his own self-deprecation. He headed back to the dorms hoping something there would keep him from thinking.

Shouta headed home as soon as possible. He saw the surprise on his husband’s face when he headed out early for the second day in a row. Once home, he settled himself in front of the computer and started researching quirkless discrimination.

He had only been at it for an hour when he was already understanding too much. Problem Child’s complete lack of self-preservation? It was likely some self-destructive tendency born from a need to prove his worth. He read about the suicide rates, the baiting, the bullying quirkless people were likely to go through, the fact that quirkless missing person cases typically went unsolved because they were almost always ruled as runaways or suicides regardless of evidence that said otherwise.

Shouta found too many instances of people posting about much darker things. He felt sick to his stomach. He had seen his share of the dark side of humanity but this was systematic. The police refused to file a report when someone went to report a crime committed against them simply because they were quirkless and that somehow made them not worth believing? The cases that did get opened were just closed claiming the victim lied or recanted. The number of ‘suicide’ reports he found with wounds that were not possible to be self-inflicted. Calling it sickening was too light. It was so much worse.

Shouta was disgusted and angry by the time Hizashi came home. He thought about going to find some villains to fight but decided it would be better to channel his anger at what caused it. Beating up bad guys wouldn’t solve the problem.

“Hizashi, I am going to need your help,” he said seriously, without preamble. The shock on Hizashi’s face was something that would normally cause Shouta to laugh but he had no humor in him right now.

“You okay Shouta?” Hizashi asked gently.

“Fine,” he said tersely. He knew it was a lie, Hizashi knew it too. He shook his head trying to clear it some. “No, I’m not okay.” Hizashi moved to him and combed his hand through Shouta’s long hair without a word. “I will get to the why later but yes, it does have to do with Midoriya. For now, I want to focus on what I want to do about it.”

“Tell me how I can help,” his husband said seriously.

“You’re a limelight hero with more connections than me. You have a radio show. If someone has the power to start to make a change it is you.” Hizashi nodded, eyes questioning. “We need to put an end to quirkless discrimination, or at least make a start.”

“We should invite him to hang out and talk about those books you like,” Dark Shadow declared when Midoriya walked into the dorm building looking distressed.

Fumikage was thinking it over when Todoroki added, “I think that would be good. Sometimes he needs distractions.”

Seeing the decision had mostly been made for him he said, “I believe we should let Midoriya shower first.” He could see that Midoriya was heading straight for the showers, avoiding the others, and his gym uniform was a bit dirty. Anyone would want to shower first, best to ask him to hang out after he was clean. He may also be feeling a bit better afterward. “Dark Shadow, keep an eye out so we do not miss him.”

“You got it!”

Fumikage was glad Dark Shadow came up with the suggestion. He was concerned, they both were. Midoriya had looked so distraught when he came to tell them they had free training and did not stick around. Then he returned to the dorms much later than the rest of them, still looking troubled. 

Something was up but Fumikage knew it wasn’t his place to ask. He wanted to offer support in a way he could. The five of them would be spending much more time together and he wanted it to be on good terms. Midoriya was someone he had thought highly of since the Sports Festival, if he could offer some help he would.

Some time later Dark Shadow tapped his shoulder to alert him that Midoriya had reappeared. Shinsou must have seen the action as he called out, “Hey Midoriya!”

Midoriya turned his head to see who called him and headed over to their area in the common room. “What’s up?” he said with clearly forced cheerfulness.

“We were going to go discuss some pre-quirk era novels in my chambers, would you like to accompany us?” Tokoyami asked.

A small but genuine smile appeared on Midoriya’s face. “Sure, that sounds great. I just need to go to my room first. Meet you guys there?”

“Sounds good,” Dark Shadow said for them as Fumikage nodded. He counted this as a win. Hopefully, some time with others could get Midoriya’s mind off whatever was causing the inner turmoil.

Settling down in Fumikage and Dark Shadow’s room, Shinsou said, “Tokoyami, your room is such a mood.”

Fumikage would have raised his eyebrows, if he had eyebrows, instead he asked, “Meaning?”

“I love it,” Shinsou said seriously. “My own room is rather bland and normal, your’s is just so you. I’m kind of jealous.” Fumikage gave an acknowledging hum, unsure of how to respond. He had never been good at taking compliments. Part of him wanted to preen but a much larger part wanted to avoid that at all costs. 

“So Fumi really loves…” Dark Shadows began talking to Midoriya about the books he enjoys. This sparked a whole discussion between the three of them on which character arcs were the best with Shinsou and Todoroki asking questions occasionally trying to understand. At some point, Midoriya changed the topic to just pre-quirk era books in general trying to see if the other two had read anything but the classics. It turned out Shinsou was a nerd too, he had been hiding it.

“We didn’t have the money for lots of stuff so I had to go with what I could find for free online. All the pre-quirk stuff is public domain,” Shinsou explained after some light teasing.

“That’s part of the reason I got so into it too!” Midoriya added with a bit of eagerness.

“Oh, and what is the other reason?” Shinsou questioned and Midoriya’s expression dulled a bit.

“Ah, my dad was a historian that specialized in the pre-quirk era and rising-quirk era media. He loved it. Left behind a huge collection of physical books. I grew up reading them trying to get to know who he was better,” Midoriya said with a nervous rub to the back of his head.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up something unhappy,” Shinsou said seriously.

Midoriya waved his arms around frantically. “No. It’s, uh, okay. He went abroad to w-work when I was four and died in a villain attack when I was six. I don’t even really remember him.”

Todoroki scooted himself right up against Midoriya’s side until they were flush against one another. Midoriya gave him a grateful smile. “If you were to suggest one pre-quirk book to read, which would it be?” Todoroki asked, clearly changing the topic. Fumikage wondered what was going on between the two of them exactly but decided it was not his business.

“Definitely ‘Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy’,” he said with a gleam in his eye. “I have a copy in my room I can lend you if you want to read it. I also have a digital copy and several different audiobook versions. I don’t know which you would prefer…” Midoriya trailed off before he started waving his hands around. “That’s assuming you even w-want to read it which I realize isn’t what you actually said and that w-would be my recommendation for you not for just anyone and I don’t know what I w-would suggest in general. You really need to take a person’s tastes into account when s-suggesting things.” Midoriya began to ramble and their conversation went back to safe topics.

Thank you , Fumikage sent over to Dark Shadow through their mental connection. He received something like a mental hug in return.

This was a good idea and they cheered up their friend. Not to mention he now had a whole list of pre-quirk media to look up and give a try. Kaminari had been the only other person he knew who watched anything pre-quirk and all of that was intentionally bad. Midoriya appeared to have taste or at least was giving suggestions with other’s tastes in mind. Shinsou and Todoroki also somehow seemed to almost catch Midoriya’s enthusiasm for the media. Fumikage hoped this would become a more regular thing.

Shouto hadn’t sat down and read a book by choice in...ever. He might have read some small childhood books but he cannot remember a time he actually read a book for himself. He had read the assigned books for school but the idea of reading for fun had never really come up. Especially not pre-quirk era books. He had a feeling his father wouldn’t approve. So he got comfortable in his room and started reading the book Midoriya had lent him.

He wasn’t quite sure why Midoriya suggested this book to him. So far it was about a guy upset his house was getting destroyed because the paperwork was hidden from him. Shouto figured that Midoriya would be happy to explain anything he didn’t understand and debated if he should start taking notes. 

Then the alien ships arrived. He read, “The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don't” and snorted with laughter because that was a terrible way to describe things but at the same time he completely understood and the whole juxtaposition made it hilarious. He wondered if this is how the rest of this book was going to go. He might really enjoy it.

Chapter Text

The three of them had gotten up extra early and headed to the makeup room to get ready for the day. Shouto expected that Midoriya and Shinsou didn’t need to get up as early as he did but appreciated the company. Covering his scar was somehow nerve-wracking. He had been practicing but he always felt he looked wrong. 

The walk to campus was quiet. It seemed all of them had stayed up later than they should have. Shouto had been reading the book Midoriya lent him, which was a much more enjoyable experience than the assigned reading from school had led him to believe. He wasn’t sure why the other two also seemed as tired. Well, Shinsou seemed to always be tired. 

Is he related to Aizawa-sensei in some way? 

Midoriya on the other hand? Shouto had gotten the feeling Midoriya wasn't sleeping as much as he should lately but it seemed to be getting worse. Shouto wasn’t sure if he should say something about the startling eye bags that appeared to be getting worse over the last week. Learning Midoriya had been hiding such things since before makeup classes was shocking, Shouto had never expected Midoriya to have such a skill but it also left him feeling conflicted. If Midoriya’s lack of sleep was normal should he really bring it up? He wasn’t sure what to do and the idea was ping-ponging around his head while they walked to campus. 

Once they got into the room Shouto had mostly made up his mind to ask about it. Shinsou, it seemed, had the same idea. “So what kept you up so late you have eyebags that exceed Aizawa-sensei?” Shinsou asked.

Midoriya groaned as he put down his bag. “I just haven’t been sleeping great.”  

“Hm, and that is why you have been hiding them from everyone else for at least the last week?” Shinsou prodded.

“I didn’t want anyone to worry,” Midoriya said plaintively.

Shouto sent Shinsou a look. He suddenly had a feeling they shouldn’t push at this anymore. Midoriya wasn't one to sound so mournful unless there was a reason but Shinsou ignored him and plowed on. “You gonna explain or am I going to have to pull a Midoriya?”

“Did you just use my name as a verb?” Midoriya asked incredulously. Shouto had to suppress a snort. It did work as a verb. He would share that with the others later. 

“Yes, no changing the topic. Explain.”

“I just haven’t been able to fall asleep,” Midoriya said tentatively. He wrung his hands and must see that it wasn't enough. “Things with All Might are-” he paused as his eyes darted around the room,  “Weird? I don’t know the word for it. Tense? Just wrong. They used to be so easy but now, it just isn’t. He called off future morning quirk training since I got the rain-making punch to work. Normally we would keep it up for a while longer while I perfected it. I only got it to work once. He hasn’t pulled me aside for a lunch chat since I told him I wanted to go underground. He hasn’t offered me any advice during classes. I think he doesn’t want to be around me anymore.” There were tears in his eyes. “I did something wrong and I must be making this huge mistake and All Might must be so disappointed in me,” he sobbed out.

Shouto sent Shinsou an icy glare as he grabbed tissues from his bg and handed them to Midoriya. He let his friend cry for a few minutes watching as Shinsou shifted uncomfortably and kept sending guilty looks his way. 

“Midoriya,” he said to get his attention. He got a snuffle in response but it was something. “If All Might thinks you are doing something wrong then he is an idiot.”

Midoriya choked. “What?” The tears seem to slow.

“You-” Shouto paused and searched for the words. “You showed me that I didn’t have to be what someone else wanted me to be. I needed to be my own type of hero. It took me a while to find what that was but I did and I was able to do that because of you.” Midoriya was no longer rubbing his face. Shouto, hoping to offer comfort the same way Midoriya did for him on the night they discovered they both were going underground, took  Midoriya’s scarred hand in both of his. “Whatever kind of hero you decide to be will be correct because you’re already a hero.” He ran a thumb over the scars on Midoriya’s hand and added, “I just wish you would stop breaking your bones all the time.”

“Hey, I haven’t broken anything this year!” he said indignantly with a few sniffles mixed in but the tears had stopped.

“Yet,” Shouto deadpanned and got a smile in return. Shouto gave his hand a squeeze and said “But I meant it when I said All Might would be an idiot. You are the best of us Midoriya.” The tears have started gathering in Midoriya’s eyes again but Shouto hoped they weren't sad tears this time.

“Uh, sorry,” Shinsou started tentatively, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” he said, refusing to look anywhere but the floor. 

Midoriya turned towards him and Shouto released his hand. “It’s okay Shinsou-kun. I wouldn’t normally lose it like that. I;m overtired,” Midoriya said kindly. 

Shinsou rubs at the back of his neck. “No, no it really isn’t. I figured you had gotten sucked into another one of your research projects or something not uh...this. I’m sorry I pushed when I should have dropped it.”

“I’m just a crybaby but I feel better after talking about it.” He turned and smiled at Shouto before turning back. “And I have been researching things. It is how I keep my brain from going off into unwanted places. I focus on other things to keep it in line.”

“Well, I’m still sorry and Todoroki is right. All Might would be an idiot to be disappointed in you,” he said sheepishly.

“Thanks. Both of you. Really,” Midoriya said earnestly, turning towards his mirror to look at himself. “Now, let's get our faces put on for the day. Though my eyes are more swollen than I would like.”

“Midoriya,” Shouto said and watched as Midoriya turned back towards him. “You can always talk to me.” Shouto chilled his right hand. “And here.” He raised his hand and put it over Midoriya’s eyes. “Will that help?” he asked.

“Thank you Todoroki-kun!” Midoriya said and Shouto can see the beaming smile below his hand. Shinsou raised an eyebrow and gave him a look that seemed to be asking a question. Shouto wasn't sure what he was trying to convey and just returned the look with confusion. 

Shinsou opened his mouth as if to say something but closed it again before he did. He shook himself a little bit and then almost playfully said, “So Midoriya, you want to share with the class what you were looking into all night?” 

“Oh, nothing too big. Just looking into how medical science has basically come to a standstill since the rise in quirks. Instead of researching actual cures for things we depend on healing quirks. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing, they are amazing quirks but it isn’t a good thing either. Healing quirks are rare so people with them are pushed into the medical field for work, quirk marriages are heavily suggested, and they are expected to have lots of kids in hopes of creating more healing quirks. Then there is the lack of well, science. There hadn’t been proper funding for cancer research in at least three decades. Instead, we just use chemo like they did hundreds of years ago but they also get some healing quirk boost afterward to make the chemo less damaging. Death rates might be down but being so dependent on rare quirks and the people who have them is concerning,” Midoriya rambled. 

Shouto had managed to keep his hand over Midoriya’s eyes the entire time but was starting to wonder if he should hold Midoriya steady with his other hand. Midoriya wasn’t very still as he spoke.

“Nothing big, eh?” Shinsou said sarcastically. Shouto can feel Midoriya’s eyebrows go up. “You really are crazy,” Shinsou said, shaking his head.

Shouto removed his hand and looked at Midoriya’s face, “Better?”

Midoriya blinked at him a few times before quickly turning to the mirror. “Yeah, better.” He looked back at Shouto with a smile and quietly said, “Thank you.”

All of them began to get their makeup on for the day while Midoriya offered more insight into the workings of modern medicine. Shinsou was usually the one to ask questions or point out something but Shouto gave the occasional comment. At some point, Midoriya managed to pull out a notebook and add to it while still getting ready.

Shouto gave himself a once over when he finished applying all his makeup and turned toward the other two. “How does it look?” he asked.

Midoriya’s eyes went wide and he didn't say anything. Shouto worried he did a terrible job when Shinsou said, “It looks good to me.”

“Really, really good!” Midoriya said, leaning a bit closer. He lifted his hand and then caught himself, “Can I?” he asked. Shouto nodded and Midoriya got right up into his face. He lightly grabbed Shouto’s chin and moved his face to get a better look. Shouto was, for once, glad he had makeup on because he could feel himself blushing from being scrutinized so closely. Midoriya gently ran his thumb over the seam of his scar. “I can’t see it at all.” He then pushed up the red half of Shouto’s hair and said, “You got a little makeup in your hair but that’s expected. I don’t think it could be avoided and no one will notice unless they are this close.”

Midoriya seemed to realize just how close he was and used his feet to push himself back suddenly and turned away. Shouto watched Midoriya’s ears turn red as he began to splutter apologies.

“It’s fine Midoriya. I keep thinking I look weird so I wanted a second opinion,” he said trying to calm his friend down.

“Well ya do look weird,” Shinsou said passively.

“Is there something I should fix?” Shouto asked seriously.

“I think he means that it’s weird to see you without your scar, Todoroki-kun. You almost look like a different person.” Shouto blinked at Midoriya, unsure of how to respond. “It is like part of you is missing,” he added quietly, still not meeting Shouto’s gaze. He wasn't sure he was supposed to hear that. 

“We should hurry up. We’re already Iida-late and I don’t want to be actually late,” Shinsou said. 

As they cleaned up their stations, Shouto kept glancing at Midoriya. He looked wrong but Shouto couldn’t figure out why. His makeup looked fine, he couldn’t even tell it was there. All the signs of his lack of sleep and crying were gone but that wasn't what was wrong. Shouto was bothered by this and kept glancing over hoping to figure it out without staring at his friend. He didn’t want to ask, that seemed rude. He was just going to have to figure it out on his own.

As he walked towards the school he noticed All Might sitting on one of the benches just inside the gates but still fully visible to anyone hanging around outside. He had to suppress a groan as he noticed that All Might was reading a copy of Problem Child’s research, out in the open where anyone could catch a glimpse of it.

“You really shouldn’t be reading that out in the open,” he said trying to curb the annoyance in his voice but All Might didn’t seem to notice. 

“Ah, Aizawa-kun! I didn’t see you approach.” He seemed to take a minute to process the words Aizawa had said to him. “Oh, I guess you are right,” he said and shoved the papers inside his jacket.

Aizawa suppressed his desire to roll his eyes at the lack of situational awareness All Might had. He had other things that needed addressing and now seemed as good of a time as any. “You have time right now? I want to talk to you about Midoriya.”

All Might nodded with a “Sure,” as he stood. He followed Aizawa into one of the conference rooms. 

Once settled down in the private conference room Aizawa pulled out the ‘Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13’ notebook. “You signed this, did you also happen to read any of it?”

“Oh yes, I flipped through once. His fanboy knowledge is quite extensive,” All Might said simply.

“Fanboy knowledge?” Aizawa said, disbelieving that the Symbol of Peace had missed the value in this notebook. 

“Mm, yes. May I ask why you have his notebook?”

“I was showing it to Nedzu because this information is dangerous. The kid is likely some kind of genius when it comes to understanding quirks and-” he cut off, needing to address the earlier comment. “Fanboy knowledge? Really?” he asked incredulously. All Might looked shocked at his change in tone but Aizawa didn’t stop. “All Might this doesn’t just detail out their looks and moves. It explains in great detail their fighting style, how their quirks work, including limitations, and in many cases how to combat or use that against them. Two days ago he completely changed my understanding of my own quirk. He understood it better than I did.” Aizawa slouched in his chair, exhausted. 

All Might still looked shocked and Aizawa wasn't sure if it was from his outburst or the new information. “Genius? Truly? Gran Torino said he was smart but I never realized. I was never one to really think about the quirks of others,” All Might said with a shrug.

Of course. Of fucking course. He’s strong enough he never really had to think, he just had to punch hard enough to win. 

Aizawa had always been annoyed at flashy limelight heroes and All Might was one of the worst offenders. Having him admit his fighting style consisted of ‘punch hard beat bad guy’ was still Shocking. All Might could change the weather, that took brains, right? Maybe? 

This is not something I need to figure out right now. I need to stay on topic.  

Aizawa pushed away his questions. “You have previously mentioned you knew Midoriya before he started at U.A.” he stated. All Might nodded. “Were you aware he was previously considered quirkless?”

All Might’s eyes went wide and he looked surprised but also wary. Wary was not something Aizawa was expecting.

Why would All Might of all people be wary? 

Aizawa could guess the answer before he heard it. “Uh, yes. I was aware of that,” All Might said carefully.

“I already talked with the kid about why he didn’t tell me. So now you can explain why you didn’t tell me?” Aizawa said sternly. It was unacceptable. All Might should have told the staff. 

All Might sighed deeply. “A lot of reasons. I never planned to tell you about One for All, I am surprised young Midoriya did. Especially without talking to me first,” All Might said with such disappointment that Aizawa wasn't sure what to think. 

He focused on the words. “Huh?” Aizawa said, not bothering to hide his confusion. “What is One for All?”

All Might looked like a rabbit about to be pounced upon and Aizawa knew, just knew , that the former Symbol of Peace just messed up. 

Gods, the kid’s secret has to do with All Might! No wonder he wouldn’t tell me. 

Aizawa felt the migraine forming but refused to rub his temples or pinch the bridge of his nose. He only briefly debated banging his head on the table before pushing that impulse away too.

Aizawa stared at All Might watching him shrink down in his seat. Aizawa hoped to force a response but only heard a mutter “Shit,” in English. He felt his frustration mounting further. He had never been good with the Symbol of Peace and his flashy persona but this was so much worse. 

All Might sat up straighter and carefully said, “I never mentioned he was previously quirkless because I didn’t think it mattered.” 

Aizawa debated addressing the slip-up. He wanted to know but he was also trying to trust Problem Child. If he went behind his back to get the information it wouldn’t help in his quest to get the kid to trust him either. 

He focused on how extremely angry at All Might’s statement made him. “Didn’t matter? How would a student getting their quirk late and breaking three limbs at the first manifestation not warrant telling his other teachers? His lack of control makes sense now and if I had known I-” he cut off and ran a hand through his hair as his anger at All Might turned toward self-loathing. “I don’t know what I would have done but I know I should’ve taught him differently. I shouldn’t have pushed him the way I did,” he said mournfully. 

Shouta was ready to quit his job and become a hermit for the rest of his life. Hizashi made enough to support them all and he wouldn’t mind too much. Especially if Shouta let him visit his hermit hole. Yes, this plan sounded great. No more idiot heroes to deal with, no more problem children to train, just peace and quiet. 

Logically, he knew he couldn't do that, especially with his current Problem Child, the underground trainees, and Eri would hate it. No, Shouta couldn’t just up and run away from this as much as he wanted to. He glanced at his watch and saw it was nearly time for class. He mentally gathered himself back up and finally noticed that All Might was looking nearly as dejected as him.

“It’s late. I need to go. I understand you are new to teaching All Might but in the future please let other teachers know facts like this. They are pertinent and could help in training the students properly.” Aizawa didn’t wait for a response as he headed out the door towards his problem class. 

Walking into the classroom he was met with chaos. Loud chaos.

Maybe I can move to that island with all the cats. Eri likes cats.

Hitoshi was trying not to beat himself up over how he caused Midoriya to cry. He had expected some rambling about something crazy he was looking into or some quirk he saw and spent all night thinking about instead of sleeping. He had not expected All Might to be avoiding his favorite student. Hell, Midoriya even knew the hero that had trained All Might. Maybe there was more to that connection. He had heard some rumors about Midoriya possibly being related to All Might but had thought it was nonsense. Maybe it wasn’t as crazy as he thought. 

As they got closer to the classroom Hitoshi found he was rather excited to see his classmates' reactions to Todoroki’s lack of a scar. He debated if he should pull out his phone and film it or not. Hitoshi expected it would be amazing but it might end up embarrassing and while blackmail material would be useful, to his surprise, he actually liked most of these people and didn’t want to upset them.  

When first entering the classroom it seemed like maybe they could at least sit down before someone made note of their makeup. Unfortunately, Iida noticed them. 

“Midoriya-kun, Todoroki-kun, Shinsou-kun! You are here with only two minutes to spare! As students of U.A. you should-” Iida cut off abruptly causing much of the class to look at him. Seeing the look on Iida’s face most then turn to look at them. 

Ashido reacted first with a noise akin to a squeal. Hitoshi wanted to cover his ears and never hear it again. “Oh. My. God. Todoroki! You were hot before but now?” she exclaimed letting out another horrible noise.

Hitoshi started to make his way over to his desk, leaving Todoroki to deal with the fallout. “Look at Shinsou-kun!” Hagakure called. “He looks so much better when he has gotten rest!” Hitoshi rolled his eyes since he hadn’t slept much, just hidden the evidence of it lacking.  

Those two outbursts spurred most of the rest of his class into chaos. Hitoshi could barely make heads or tails of it all. He heard snippets. 

“How were you able to do that?” 

“What. The. Fuck!” 

“Dude!” 

“We’re so bringing them to makeover night!” 

“But-but how am I ever going to get a girl with him around! Guys aren’t supposed to wear makeup and they are not supposed to look better in it!” 

“Everyone we should be getting into our assigned seats!” 

“I knew you guys were learning but this is beyond what I expected!” 

“Think Midnight would let us join that class?”

Everyone was still talking over one another when Aizawa entered the room and gave them all a look that made everyone shut up immediately. Hitoshi and the other remaining students rushed to their seats. Once everyone was seated Aizawa went to start the lesson but even he did a double-take when his eyes landed on Todoroki. 

Class had been weird, to say the least. Shouto saw his classmates and teachers glancing at him throughout the first half of the day. Walking to lunch was even less pleasant. He felt the eyes on him. Other students kept stopping suddenly to stare, whispering to their friends, and pointing towards him. 

He had thought he was used to people staring at him. He had people doing it his entire life but something about how they were staring now was so much worse. He was tempted to lower his head and try to hide his face. He hadn’t expected this kind of reaction from just covering up his scar. He wondered if maybe he should ask someone if he still looked okay.

Sitting down, he noticed they have more people with them today. Usually, it was him, Midoriya, Uraraka, Shinsou, Iida, and Tsuyu. Sometimes Momo joined them but lately, she was spending lunch with Jirou to talk about music. Today they had not only the normal crowd, including Momo, but Jirou, Ashido, and Aoyama had joined as well. 

“So are we going to talk about how freaking hot Todoroki looks right now?” Ashido said excitedly. 

Shouto knew she was calling him attractive but he didn't want to talk about how everyone was reacting to him covering his scar. He knew it was unsightly but he hadn’t thought it was that bad. Seeing no one else had said anything he decided playing dumb might be the best way to derail the conversation. “But I am not using my fire right now? How can I be hot?” he deadpanned. 

Ashido blinked at him in confusion, mouth agape, clearly at a loss for words. Shinsou and Midoriya were both sniggering and turned away trying to hide their amusement. Iida looked like he wanted to say something but kept his mouth shut. Playing dumb didn’t convince everyone.  

“While he clearly has skill with makeup I find him covering his birthmark a bit...disconcerting,” Yaoyozoru said carefully. Shouto looked at her, wondering exactly what she was getting at. “I mean, Mina-san, would you try to change your skin color or wear scleral lenses to appear more normal?”  

“No way!” Ashido exclaimed. 

“That is how I feel about this. It is like he is trying to hide a part of himself and-” Yaoyozoru looked towards him, “You are doing this for class, not because you feel like you have to hide, right?” she said with concern. 

“Yes, this is for class. I wouldn’t do it otherwise,” Shouto answered her seriously, getting a nod in return and the concern on her face turned into a smile. 

“But if he wanted to hide it then shouldn’t we support that too? Ribbit. Just because we want everyone to be comfortable in their own skin doesn’t mean that we should push them.” Asui said. 

Yaoyorozu looked thoughtful. “I suppose you are right. I had never thought about it that way.” 

The conversation continued in that vein and Shouto was glad that it wasn't exactly about him anymore and more about hypotheticals. He was already uncomfortable and didn’t want to discuss this.

Sunday came around and they were once again in their Makeup and Acting class. Midnight spent the first several minutes praising them for their improvements over the last week. She launched into a lecture about creating disguises. Izuku was so glad he brought a notebook to take notes.  

After the lecture, the practical part of the lesson started. Midnight showed them how to put on a wig, apply makeup in the needed areas to make it look natural. Izuku had no idea putting on a wig could be so much work. His hair was also very thick and he was having trouble with it.  

“Stupid hair. Maybe I should get a haircut,” he muttered to himself.  

Apparently not quiet enough as Shinsou said, “Too bad you aren’t allowed off campus alone,” in a teasing tone. 

“You know about that?” Izuku squawked. 

“Iida made sure to tell me since I am now apparently part of your Dekusquad.” Izuku rolled his eyes. “He thought it was imperative that I know of such things since you often need someone to accompany you on errands.” 

“Boys, focus.” Midnight chided lightly. 

By the end of the lesson, Izuku thought he had a pretty good idea of how to put the items he would want to wear for his disguise. He definitely needed more hands-on practice though. Knowing that the wig and prosthetics were going to be locked up he raised his hand. 

“Yes, Midoriya-kun?” Midnight said. 

“Can we borrow the items we will be using so we can practice before Friday?” 

“Oh! Aizawa didn’t tell you,” Midnight exclaimed. “This week your free period will be here with me so that you can practice and I can help as needed. Then Friday morning I will unlock the room for you to check out everything you need for the day.” 

Midoriya felt himself unwind as some tension he didn’t know had built up left him. “Thank you Sensei. That will be very helpful,” he said earnestly, seeing his other classmates nod at his words. It would seem maybe he wasn't the only one a bit worried.

After settling down in the common room to get some homework done Hitoshi had expected a pretty quiet evening. He didn’t expect Midoriya to call out to Iida as soon as he entered the room.

“Iida-kun, I cannot believe you outed me to Shinsou-kun like that!”  

Iida turned towards them, clearly confused. “Outed?” he asked. 

“About how I cannot leave campus alone,” Midoriya clarified.  

“Ah, well, I thought he should know since usually it is one of us that accompanies you and I expected he may end up on one of your outings after he gets his Provisional License.” 

“You need someone with a license to go out with you?” Hitoshi said, surprised. 

“‘s because he’s such a trouble magnet,” Uraraka added with amusement. 

“I am not!” Midoriya pouted, actually pouted. 

“Well, there was that time with Shigaraki at the mall,” Uraraka started. 

“And then the tea guy before the School Festival,” Todoroki added. 

“And that time at the cafe,” Iida said. 

“Don’t forget that incident at the bank!” Kirishima called over. 

“And wasn’t there that time at the convenience store?” Ashido asked. 

“Oh yeah! I almost forgot about that one,” Sero put in. 

“There was that time in the darkness of the movie theater,” Tokoyami said. 

“And that time with all the frogs!” Kaminari said excitedly. 

“We don’t talk about the frogs, dude,” Kirishima said with a shudder. 

“It was very unpleasant. Ribbit,” Asui said, getting several nods. 

“Oh! Don’t forget the time on the train!” Hagakure said excitedly. 

During the entire outburst Midoriya was sinking lower and lower in his seat and Hitoshi was trying so very hard not to laugh but it wasn't working. He tried to hide it but the laughter found its way out with a burst. “What the fuck, Midoriya?” he said between laughs. 

“Shinsou-kun, language!” Iida chided but Hitoshi wasn't paying any mind.

“Do you have a villain attracting quirk or something?” he joked. 

“A villain attracting quirk doesn’t make any sense. Some mental or chemical-based quirk that would lower inhibitions or cause people to do things they wouldn’t otherwise makes more sense but then well, you all would be affected too,” Midoriya replied dismissively.  

“Pfft, I-” Hitoshi laughed more, “I can’t believe you have actually thought about this!” His laughter continued because this was just too much. Eventually, he got himself under control and said to the room, “I am going to want all these stories but first,” he looked at Kaminari, “tell me about these frogs,” he said mischievously. 

Kaminari looked giddy as he came over and sat down next to Hitoshi. “So, like, Midori was on his way back from somewhere. I don’t remember where but it doesn’t matter, and he ran into this person who got so shocked by the fall that they set off their quirk by accident. They created pheromones for animals and worked at the zoo. They were working on getting the female frog pheromones just right when they bumped into Midori here and doused him in them by accident,” he said excitedly waving his hands around to try and better express himself. Hitoshi found himself enjoying the sheer amount of excitement coming off Kaminari in his telling. 

“So Midori gets back here and he seems normal but to Tsu-chan he smelled very, very strongly. She said something and we teased him some about it because of course Midori got caught in another quirk accident!” More soberly he added, “At least it wasn’t a villain attack.”   

He shook off the sober tone, switching back to delight. “Anyway! He tried to get rid of it by taking a couple of showers but that didn’t work. We didn’t think much of it because well, he smells funny to Tsu-chan, they keep their distance from each other, no big deal. Then!” Kaminari smiled up at him with glee. “The frogs started showing up. First, it was a few on the windows, then it became a dozen, and then a few dozen, and then a few dozen more, and they just kept coming trying to find a way to get to him. There were hundreds of frogs all over the building. They would congregate around Midori. He tried to go to class and they followed and congregated around the classroom. It was insane. Eventually, Aizawa sent him back here and he had to wait until the pheromones wore off.” 

“I barely slept for three days. Male frogs croak when they are looking for a female. They were all covering my balcony and the surrounding area. Hundreds of frogs all right there croaking at me every night,” Midoriya said dejectedly. 

“Oh my god. Is that what the noise was last year?” Hitoshi asked. 

Kaminari shrugged. “Maybe, I know the Gen Ed dorms aren’t super close. Class B still gives us crap over the frogs sometimes.”

“It was terrible. Ojirou was kind enough to share his room so I could get a small amount of beauty rest,” Aoyama said. 

Hitoshi decided he could skip studying tonight. He had already finished everything due tomorrow. “Kaminari, how many more of these stories can I get you to share?” he said with a smirk. 

Kaminari lit up at the prospect. “Most of them!” 

Hitoshi spent much of the evening hearing embarrassing stories of Midoriya getting caught up in accidental quirk usage and idiot villain attacks. Hitoshi noticed that Kaminari avoided the more serious stories that he had kind of heard about in passing, like the mall incident. Occasionally, Midoriya would put in a comment objecting or someone else would add in something that added to the hilarity. Overall Hitoshi had a great time and hoped to have more nights filled like this.

Shouto was working on his homework while he listened to the others, mostly Kaminari, embarrass Midoriya with the stories of all the crazy incidents he had been a part of. He was rather enjoying himself surrounded by the quiet chatter. It was a very pleasant way to spend a Sunday evening.  

Bakugou came up from behind him and said in his usual angry tone but quietly enough so no one else could hear, “Meet me outside.” 

Shouto thought about ignoring him but expected that it would cause a scene at some point and dealing with it now would be easier. He was leaving Midoriya alone after they had talked so maybe it would be the same for Shouto? Bakugou always had a bigger issue with Midoriya than anyone else. At the very least Shouto would refuse to go far, he didn’t want to get in a fight. 

After several minutes of procrastination, he headed out to get this over with. He found Bakugou not far from the building. He got close enough that it was clear Bakugou had seen him by the glare he was sending his way but Shouto kept his distance. He stood there impassively, waiting for Bakugou to say something. 

“I don’t get it. You show off and show off and act like you are better than everyone else. Then you finally fucking use your fire against shitty Deku only to refuse to use it in your fight with me and now? Now you both are running away and not fighting at all! When I finally think I have a chance to pummel you, you just give up? Eh? What the fuck is that about?” Bakugou ranted, stomping closer until he was pushing his finger into Shouto’s chest aggressively.

“I decided I don’t want to be a limelight hero,” Shouto said, completely monotone. 

“And why the fuck did you decide that now? Huh? Your daddy issues aren’t new so what happened to change your mind. Are you just following Deku around like a fucking lost puppy?” Bakugou accused. Shouto could see that Bakugou was trying to rile him up but Shouto wasn’t interested in fighting. 

“I decided this myself. I had no idea Midoriya was planning the same thing,” he said with some steel. Shouto hadn’t expected to be accused of such things until Aizawa had suggested the same thing. Seeing Bakugou make a similar leap wasn't so surprising even if being compared to a dog was rubbing him the wrong way. 

“You really gonna tell me that you and the shitty nerd got the same sickening idea separately?”

“Yes,” he said without inflection.

“And how the fuck are you so sure?” Bakugou raged. 

“Midoriya told me his reasons and they are different from mine,” Shouto said plainly. 

“Oh, and what are the shitty nerd’s reasons then?” he barked. 

Shouto looked at Bakugou, confused. “We aren’t allowed to talk about it. You should know that. Midoriya said so in the group chat,” he stated. There wasn’t anything else he could say on the matter. Why was Bakugou even asking? 

“Like I fucking believe that lame-ass excuse.” Shouto was surprised that Bakugou didn’t believe them. It was something that would be so easy to verify and Aizawa would skin anyone who falsely claimed such things. Even Bakugou should know that. 

“Ask Aizawa-sensei then,” he said with a shrug. Shouto waited for Bakugou to say more but all he got was a burning glare. “If that is all I am going to bed.” 

“Oi!” Bakugou yelled at Shouto’s back. 

“Good night,” Shouto said loud enough to be heard but without inflection. 

“Oi! Half and half bastard!” 

Shouto just kept walking, refusing to turn around. He knew the best way to deal with people like Bakugou, like his father, was to tell them the truth without giving them more and then refuse to engage more than necessary. Hopefully, Bakugou would stop taking personal offense to his and Midoriya’s life choices when they had nothing to do with him but then again their lack of thought for what he wanted seemed to be the problem.

Wednesday’s heroics training class was at the end of the regular school day and a pretty easy one at that. A simple two versus two, heroes versus villains. The villains were in a building and were given time to hole up in there while the heroes had to infiltrate and capture them. The villain team knew which hero team they were up against while the hero team had to go in blind. There was a set time limit and if the villains were still free at the end they won. Izuku figured the teachers were going a bit easy on them since the Sports Festival was only a few days away. 

He had been paired with Hagakure. While they waited their turn they discussed possible strategies. They decided to use her invisibility and his newer training to try to sneak and find where the villains were and who before engaging. It seemed like a solid enough plan. 

It wasn’t. 

Izuku and Hagakure split up to try and cover more ground. Izuku could swear he heard the small sounds of people moving around occasionally but he never seemed to find people. He expected the villain team was moving around, avoiding them. Hagakure was having no luck at all. Izuku guessed they might be up against someone with superior hearing, Jirou or Shouji. 

He pressed the button on his communicator to tell Hagakure his suspicions and proceeded to walk into a trap. He hit a tripwire and got covered in bright pink paint. Well, it wasn’t Ashido then since she would have used her acid instead of paint. He, unfortunately, made some awful noise and apologized to Hagakure. The trap seemed ideal against Hagakure and Izuku knew they were up against at least Yaoyorozu. 

The best way to beat Yaoyorozu was to act faster than she could think. Izuku pressed on his communicator and conferred with Hagakure. She would make a circuit of the building room by room while he tried to catch them when they were moving around. He call upon his quirk and started quickly making his way through the building.  

It didn't work and time was called. Somehow the villain team was always somewhere else. No matter which sounds he followed he never found anyone at the end. It was frustrating, he was covered in paint, and now time was up.  

Outside the building, he finally got to see his opponents. Yaoyorozu and Kouda. He had expected Yaoyorozu from the paint traps but he thought he was up against Jirou or Shouji, not Kouda. That made so much more sense. 

He facepalmed when he saw them. “You asked the animals to make noise in random rooms and used them to watch Hagakure-san and me, didn’t you?”

“Yes and I was surprised at how well it worked,” Yaoyorozu said with pride. Izuku was tired and frustrated. He should have thought of that. He was so stuck on the hearing idea he didn’t even consider the possibility of Kouda. Now he was also covered in paint and felt rather miserable. 

Once they were back in the observation room he was dismissed to shower and get the paint off him. Aizawa told him to just head to Gym Alpha for his underground lessons rather than returning to class. The shower felt wonderful and perked up some. Enough that he would last through his extra lesson. The shower had the side effect of also removing all his makeup but since he wasn’t going back to regular class he didn’t bother reapplying anything. Aizawa gave him a once over when he met everyone in the gym but he didn't say anything. It might have been Izuku’s imagination but Aizawa seemed to go easy on them that day.  

When they got back to the dorms they discovered most of the showers were already taken and there wasn’t room for all of them. Izuku waved at the others to go first. He had already had one shower today and while he needed a second he didn’t need it as badly as his friends. He could wait.

Shouto walked back into the common room to let Midoriya know that there were showers open now but stopped, going stock still when he saw the sight in front of him. Midoriya was lying on his side on the sofa with both of his arms hanging limply in front of him off the edge. He had removed the jacket of his gym uniform and was using it as a makeshift pillow, leaving only his compression tank top as his top. The way the sun was hitting him makes it look like his hair had almost golden edging to it. His shoulders and collarbones were very visible and they were covered in freckles. There were so many freckles. 

It hit Shouto then, that was why Midoriya had looked so wrong this week. He had been covering his freckles.  

Shouto knew he was staring but the sight was captivating. In an effort to at least disguise his actions he took a seat on the sofa across from Midoriya and opened the book he had left there earlier. He tried to read it but he couldn’t focus. He kept glancing over at his friend, unable to stop. 

The thought barrels its way into Shouto’s head so violently Shouto almost flinches. 

Midoriya is attractive.

I find Midoriya attractive.  

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shitshitshitshitshit. I’m not supposed to find my first friend attractive.  

Shouto felt himself blushing. Determined, he stared at his book and nothing else.

Walking into the common room Hitoshi stifled a laugh. Todoroki was glaring at the book in his hands but sneaking glances at a sleeping Midoriya. 

They’re both idiots.

He decided to help out the only way he knew how. Impishly. He walked over and took a seat next to Todoroki. “You okay there?” he asked with a bit of a lilt. 

“Freckles,” Todoroki responded quietly. His eyes widened as he realized what he just said and he quickly added, “Yes, fine.” Hitoshi hid a chuckle in his hand. 

This is too great. 

“Ya know, they say freckles are like stars and you can trace constellations in them.” He watched as Todoroki freaking Shouto turned bright red in front of him. Hitoshi bit his tongue to hold in his laughter as he got up and headed towards the kitchen so he could laugh. As much fun as he was having he didn’t actually want to wake up Midoriya. He was finally getting some much-needed sleep.  

Entering the kitchen chuckling to himself he found Uraraka and Kaminari looking at him. He greeted them and then got an idea. “Hey, Kaminari,” he said, getting his attention. “Feel like making some constellations?”  

Kaminari looked at him confused. “Huh?” Hitoshi opened up the drawer with extra school supplies, thanks to Iida, and pulled out a few of the sharpies. 

He handed a marker over to Kaminari. “Midoriya is currently passed out in the common room with his freckles out.” Kaminari practically lit up and nearly skipped towards the common room. 

Uraraka was laughing quietly and held her hands out for a marker. “Gimme!” He handed one over with a smirk and went back to the common room to watch the chaos. 

He watched as Uraraka carefully connected some freckles into a giraffe on his lower arm while Kaminari was making a-  

Oh, Midoriya’s so not going to like that! 

Todoroki was looking at them wide-eyed but he didn't try to stop them.

Kaminari finished and looked at his handiwork with a mischievous gleam. He walked over to Hitoshi and quietly said, “What do you think of my art?” 

“I think you better hope he doesn’t find out it was you since he can likely throw you to the moon,” he deadpanned. Kaminari just grinned and handed over his marker. Hitoshi decided he should add something since he started this. He added a simple cat face while Uraraka added a few uneven stars.  

Uraraka beamed and skipped away. Hitoshi looked over his shoulder to see Ashido coming over only to be stopped by an Uraraka excitedly whispering while handing over a marker. Ashido sniggered at Midoriya’s arm and added a simple alien head to the mix before heading over to Kaminari and the two started joking around quietly. 

Shinsou handed his marker over to Todoroki. “You gonna add anything?” he asked quietly. 

Todoroki stared at the marker in his hand then back at Midoriya and shook his head. The room was rather quiet with only low chatter. He expected Kaminari, Ashido, and Uraraka to get loud with their joking but they somehow stayed on the quiet side. He could hear how they were brainstorming more things to draw on Midoriya. 

Iida entered the room and saw Midoriya immediately. “Midoriya-kun! You should sleep in your room, not in the common room,” he said loudly.  

Midoriya jolted up and looked around bleary-eyed. “Huh?” 

“You should sleep in your room, not the common room,” Iida repeated as he got closer. Hitoshi could see the moment Iida noticed the drawings on Midoriya’s arms as his face took on a scandalized look. “I would also suggest you wash that off your arms,” he said sternly. 

Midoriya gave him a very confused look before he looked down at his arms. He saw Uraraka’s giraffe first and let out a small chuckle. He started looking over at himself and smiling at some of the other designs. When he found Kaminari’s, he blushed from his ears all the way down his neck. “Wh-who-who drew this on me?” he questioned loudly.

Hitoshi kept his face straight but he could see Uraraka, Ashido, and Kaminari all laughing nearby. Midoriya got up and quickly headed to the bathroom. 

A few minutes later he came out, still blushing profusely. “It won’t wash off!” he whined. 

Uraraka schooled her face to neutrality that left Hitoshi rather impressed. “What did they draw on you Deku-kun?” He didn’t know Midoriya could blush even more but he managed. Midoriya’s eyes flitted towards the stairwell as he likely contemplated escape.

Todoroki must have taken pity on Midoriya. “It’s a penis Uraraka. I think you knew that though.” 

“Drawing genitals on your classmates is very unbecoming of U.A. students,” Iida chided the room, clearly unsure of who to direct it towards.  

“But normal for a bunch of sixteen-year-old boys,” Kaminari said. 

Midoriya plopped down on the sofa he had been sleeping on before with a defeated sigh. “I am going to be walking around with a penis on my arm for the next few days. Thanks.”  

“I like the giraffe,” Todoroki said. Midoriya gave a little huff of laughter.  

“The cat is cute,” Midoriya said, then seeing the marker still in Todoroki’s hand he said, “Did you draw anything?” There wasn't any accusation in his voice but Todoroki still shook his head vigorously. “Did you want to?” Midoriya asked. 

Todoroki’s eyes widened as he said, “I don’t want to cause you more trouble.”

“As long as you keep it family-friendly it is fine. I think they’re fun. Ya know, except that one,” he said glaring at the offending drawing. 

Todoroki sat on Midoriya’s right. He took Midoriya’s wrist in one hand and asked, “You sure?” getting an affirmative noise in response. He uncapped the marker with his other hand and mouth. Carefully he connected freckles making several snowflakes using his grip on Midoriya’s wrist to move his arm around so he had easy access to the freckled areas. Hitoshi could see the small smile on Todoroki’s face as he drew and he wondered how much he wanted to do this.  

Once finished, Midoriya gave Todoroki a beaming smile. “I love them, thank you.” Todoroki’s face turned slightly pink.

Hitoshi thought about apologizing. He hadn’t thought about how they were permanent markers when he started this and he hadn’t expected anyone to draw anything inappropriate. But watching the way Midoriya and Todoroki acted with each other he knew he wasn’t really sorry. 

Fortunately, the next day during their disguise practice Midnight showed Midoriya that he could use hand sanitizer to remove the sharpie from his arms. Midoriya quickly removed most of them but Hitoshi noticed he failed to remove the snowflakes that were hidden by his sleeves. 

Yup, not sorry at all.

Aizawa thought he was ready for the day. He had his coffee, he got to pet a stray cat on the way to work. His day started well and then he looked at his desk to see a case there. Aizawa sighed and picked up the note. This was the new computer for Midoriya and Nedzu left details on all the features it had and how to use them.  

Nedzu sure went all out. This is more advanced than my computer. 

Aizawa debated giving Problem Child the computer at the beginning of the day but decided it would be to do it during their underground class. He was going to drill into the kid’s head that he needs to stop writing this information down. His underground classmates could also help keep him in check. The rest of the class might wonder why they didn't get special treatment like Midoriya. Aizawa didn’t want to deal with that. 

Come time for their Quirk Analysis lesson and the first thing out of Midoriya’s mouth was, “Aizawa-sensei! I had a question I forgot to ask about your quirk. Does it work when you can see someone but don’t know you can see them? Like Tsu-chan’s camouflage?”

“Problem child,” he greeted, ignoring the question completely. He wasn't about to admit it was because he didn’t know the answer. He set the case with the new computer down on Midoriya’s desk. “This is a gift from Nedzu.” 

Midoriya’s eyes went wide as saucers. “B-but we can’t afford something like this.”  

“I said gift Problem Child. It is being provided for you at no expense to you.” 

“W-why?” 

“Your notes are dangerous in the wrong hands. Imagine if a villain got ahold of one of them.” 

“Huh? But I just write down things anyone would notice.”

“No, you don’t,” Aizawa said seriously. He saw the sheer disbelief on Midoriya’s face and knew what he had to say. “I’m only going to say this once so listen carefully. Your notes and logical leaps are better than pros I have ever worked with. You’re incredibly intelligent in ways that none of the staff here saw coming. You’re being provided this to help with your studies and to keep you and every hero’s quirk you take notes on safe. Your other research is expected to be contained to that machine too because I think you can at least understand how some of that might be dangerous?” 

Midoriya nodded wordlessly, eyes still wide, and mouth agape. Aizawa looked at the other students who were similarly stunned but they didn't look like they would say anything. He heard a sniff and shifted to look at Midoriya again, who had started crying. 

He can tell me how growing up sucked without tears but I give him a computer and he cries?

 “Midoriya,” he said not unkindly and hoping to stop the tears. 

“S-s-sorry S-sensei. I-” he hiccuped, “I am not u-used to teachers saying positive things,” Midoriya stammered out while wiping his eyes furiously with his sleeve. Todoroki handed him some tissues while Shinsou and Tokoyami looked rather concerned.

  Oh.

Oh!

The tears are because I praised him? Fuck. How poorly have I treated you?

Aizawa pushed the self-deprecating thoughts away. He had a class to teach and he needed to make sure these four learned as much as they could. Underground heroics was not an easy field and he wanted these kids to have as much under their belts as possible. Midoriya had started to compose himself and decided he could continue. 

“There are several things outlined in the booklet that you will need to do to set up the computer. It’ll be biolocked to you. Do not mess that up, I don’t want to deal with the paperwork of having to get that thing reset,” he said seriously, getting a nod from Midoriya before continuing. “It has top of the line encryption so even if the machine gets stolen the likelihood of someone cracking it is next to none but you are not to take it off campus until you graduate. Once it’s set up it should automatically connect you to the Hero Network. You have been issued an HN email address early, you do not have access to any other HN privileges until you have your full hero license. That email address allows you to contact any pro hero along secure channels, mostly us teachers. If you abuse it in any way, it will be revoked,” he said sternly and watched Midoriya once again nod. “You are to digitize all your notes, and I mean all of them. I don’t want to see notes from you written down unless they are for non-hero-related classes. Once you have finished you are to hand over all your notebooks so I can destroy them.” 

“D-de-destroy?” Midoriya said, surprised.

“Yes. It’s not worth the risk. How many are there? I know there are at least fourteen on quirks.” 

“Oh, uh. I have sixteen on quirks and four on uh, other topics.” Aizawa nodded, it was around what he had expected. “But I don’t think the early quirk ones aren’t worth anything. I think the first, hm, eight, or nine are pretty worthless. I started them when I was five so…” he trailed off with a shrug. “My mom would be kind of sad to see them go,” he added quietly. 

“I understand. Bring them to me and I’ll return the ones I can.” 

“Thank you Sensei.” 

“You other three are to help keep him in line since Problem Child apparently lacks some common sense,” Aizawa said. 

Midoriya shrunk down a bit in his seat, embarrassed as the other three said, “Yes Sensei!”

 Aizawa gave them a stern once over and began the lesson.

Midoriya left class looking dazed. He didn’t participate nearly as much as normal. Shouto guessed he was still in shock over being provided a computer. When Midoriya had started to cry with a comment about teachers, Shouto got the feeling once again that Midoriya had come from a place similar to him. He had seen the flinching at the beginning of first year, the way he seemed to always expect to get in trouble no matter what he did. 

Now, this was another piece of the puzzle. His teachers had never been supportive and Shouto wished he knew why. Midoriya was always ranked in the top five on exams and was clearly very smart. The way he had explained Shouto’s own quirk was something he was still trying to fully understand. How could teachers have been so dismissive of him? 

“Is this real?” he heard Midoriya ask.

“Course it is,” Shinsou said with a bit of a snicker.

“Yes, it is,” Shouto said, seriously lightly bumping his shoulder into Midoriya’s on the side Midoriya wasn't holding the laptop.

“Indeed,” Tokoyami added.

Midoriya nodded at them but still remained a bit dazed and unbelieving. When they arrived back at the dorms, Shouto said, “Want company while you set up your laptop?” 

“Mm, yeah, actually that would be nice,” Midoriya said with a smile. 

“Mind if I join? I wanna see how crazy this thing is and with the festival tomorrow it isn’t like I have work to do,” Shinsou said with a shrug. 

“Sure! You can come too if you want Tokoyami-kun” Midoriya said cheerily. 

“I appreciate the offer but I want to prepare for tomorrow.” Tokoyami bowed his head. 

“Ah, understood. Good luck tomorrow!” Midoriya said enthusiastically. 

Once inside Midoriya’s room, Shouto took a seat on the bed while Shinsou sat on the floor and Midoriya sat at his desk with the computer case placed carefully in front of him. Midoriya turned to face them. “This is really real? Right? Like Aizawa-sensei actually said that. Right?” 

“Dude, are you going to open it or not?” Shinsou asked with a hint of amusement. 

“Yes, this is real Midoriya,” Shouto said, hoping to offer some reassurance. He expected he would know this feeling. It was likely similar to how he felt when U.A. decided to introduce dorms and he was able to get away from his father. He never had to visit home again. He kept expecting the dream to shatter and reality would come crashing down around him.  

Shouto watched Midoriya almost reverently open the case, removing the manual to set it to the side, and pulling out the laptop. He carefully set it on his desk and moved the case to the floor. It was a rather simple-looking thing. Matte black and just overall plain looking. It sure doesn’t look like it was top of the line like Aizawa had said it was. 

Shinsou must have had the same thought. “It doesn’t look like much.” 

Midoriya hummed a noncommittal noise. “Security through obscurity.”

Shouto paused to think about that. He had always thought about heroes and their equipment as flashy and eye-catching. Something people were supposed to notice. But something like this computer, that might be filled with sensitive data you wouldn’t want people to notice. You would want them to pass on it in favor of something else. It wasn't an infallible method but it did offer something. 

Midoriya had been paging through the manual. He mumbled to himself, “Can’t mess this up,” and Shouto guessed he was reading how to set it up. No one ever wanted to get on Aizawa’s bad side. Midoriya took his time opening the machine, going through some setup dialogs, and touching specified areas. All while checking the manual to be sure he was following instructions just right. Setting up the biolock must be rather complex.

“No way!” Midoriya exclaimed. He grabbed the case again looking at some side part that hand pulled out a pair of thin-rimmed rectangle glasses. He does several more things with the computer and even the glasses before the screen suddenly goes all white. 

“Was that supposed to happen?” Shinsou said, asking what Shouto was wondering. It was a bit worrying that the screen turned solid white suddenly. 

Midoriya turned and beams. “This is so cool!” He put the glasses on and flipped them up and down while looking at the screen. “So cool,” he said breathlessly. “So uhm, it has this feature to distort the screen so I can work in public without having to worry about anyone else looking over my shoulder. The glasses make it so I can see it and it is all biolocked to me so even if someone were to steal my glasses they wouldn’t be able to see the screen.” 

“Woah,” Shinsou said appreciatively. Shouto felt the same way. He had no idea such things were even possible. It sounded useful for pros but for Nedzu to go to such lengths on a student computer is, well, not surprising. It was for Midoriya and all he had figured out about the Symbol of Peace. It made a lot of sense.  

Midoriya was quickly reading through the manual.“Oh!” he explained. Suddenly he was turning the screen one hundred and eighty degrees and snapping it against the keyboard so that it looked like a tablet. He poked at the screen and Shouto guessed it must have a touch screen too. Then Midoriya pushes in at the side and a pen pops out. Midoriya quickly started scribbling on the screen. “I can write on this! And it turns it into typed text automatically. This is so cool!” Shouto’s eyes widened a bit because that was surprising. It also seems like this thing was picked out specifically for Midoriya rather than something more generic. 

“Seems perfect for you,” Shouto said. Midoriya smiled as he nodded at Shouto. He suddenly wants to squirm in his seat but doesn’t know why. 

“They really went all out, didn't they,” Shinsou said. 

Midoriya sighed. “Mm, I still don’t fully understand why. I didn’t think most of my notes could be dangerous.”  

Shouto blinked a few times trying to come up with the right words. “Midoriya you changed my entire understanding of my quirk,” he said seriously. 

“Eh, but you are a special case. Most people wouldn’t know about that kind of stuff,” he said dismissively. 

“But you did,” Shouto retorted.

“B-but-but” Midoriya spluttered at him, starting to blush. 

“No buts. You knew things that no one has ever pointed out before and I have been immersed in the hero world since I was a child,” Shouto said. 

“Not to mention Aizawa-sensei said you were better than pros,” Shinsou added. 

Midoriya put his head on his desk and hid behind his arms. Shouto can still see that his ears are bright red. “I still can’t believe this is real,” he mumbled. Shinsou had a mischievous gleam in his eyes and moved until he was within reaching distance of Midoriya. Seeing no reaction he reached over and pinched Midoriya’s leg.  

Midoriya jolted up. “Hey!” 

“This is real you crazy idiot,” Shinsou said playfully.  

Midoriya rubbed the spot and gave Shinsou a look that was probably supposed to be reproachful but his heart wasn't in it. “Okay, I get it,” he said quietly.  

“So can it do anything else crazy?” Shinsou asked. 

Midoriya started flipping through the manual again. “Hm, nothing exciting looking. Security on this thing sounds insane but you can’t really see that. If someone tries to break into it for too long then it’ll literally melt the hard drive so nothing is recoverable, which is kind of scary. I don’t want to test that at all. I hope no one steals it. Aizawa-sensei will be so pissed if I break it. He did say I wasn’t allowed to take it off campus for now but I wonder if that is more he worries about it getting stolen or lost or he worried about me getting caught up in something. I wonder...” Midoriya devolved into incomprehensible mumbling. 

When Midoriya was quiet again Shouto asked, “How long will it take you to transfer your notes?” 

“Ah, I’m not sure. The rewriting won’t be so bad but I have diagrams of everyone and I will either have to scan the drawings or redraw them on the computer. At least with the tablet features that won’t be as hard but I am not very good and I expect digital art is very different from physical.” 

Shouto saw the logical leap Midoriya had missed and wondered how his friend had missed it. “Why not just use photos?” 

“Oh! Why didn’t I think of that? That’ll be perfect! It’ll be easier to update too with costume and equipment changes! Oh! Thanks, Todoroki-kun! Though I will need photos of everyone in class and that might be a bit weird so I might just still draw them. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable-” 

“You can take a photo of me, I don’t mind,” Shouto interrupted the ramble.

“Really? Are you sure?” Midoriya said, clearly doubting that Shouto meant what he said. 

“Yes,” he said seriously. “I expect most people in class won’t mind either.” 

“Bakugou might,” Shinsou put in. 

“I did say most,” Shouto said. Shinsou snorts at him. 

“Oh, Kacchan will be easy. I just have to threaten to post his baby photos online,” Midoriya said unconcernedly. 

“Oh my gods, Midoriya. I keep forgetting you two are childhood friends,” Shinsou said with a surprised groan. 

“He was a cute kid too. My mom has this one photo of us in matching All Might onesies,” Midoriya continued offhandedly 

“No,” Shinsou said, disbelieving. Midoriya vigorously nodded in response. Shouto found himself wanting to see a toddler Midoriya in an All Might onesie. “I require proof of this,” Shinsou said seriously and Shouto nodded at Midoriya’s questioning look. Shouto wanted to see that photo.

Chapter Text

Shouto had spent the last five days and ten minutes trying to learn how to put in contacts. He was still failing and with his annoyingly distinctive eyes, he needed to be able to wear them today. It seemed the act of poking his eye was something he was never going to get past. Anytime he got close he closed his eye reflexively. He wasn’t sure how to get past it.

His struggle did not go unnoticed as Shinsou said, “I think you might have to give up there Todoroki. Even if you manage today you aren’t used to the feeling and the last thing you need is to be rubbing at your eyes all day.”

He made a noncommittal hum and tried again. Frustrated with his latest failure he let out an exasperated grunt. 

“Todoroki-kun?” Midoriya said kindly. Shouto turned towards him trying to push down his annoyance, “Since you are doing the whole blue thing I think you could get away without contacts.” Shouto raised an eyebrow in question, “W-well, your one eye is blue and the other will look bluer with all the other blue, ya know?” Shouto wasn’t sure he agreed but didn't have time to say anything before Midoriya continued. “And if you put on some glasses most people won’t even look at your eyes, they would just see the glasses.” 

Shouto hadn’t thought of that. Glasses were such an Iida thing he never considered them but they were wearing disguises. Now that he was thinking about it he had no idea what color Iida’s eyes were. Blue? Red? Something else? The glasses sounded like a great idea.

“Thanks,” he said monotone as he stood and returned to the storage room to look at the glasses. He was thankful that Midnight had stayed in the room while they got ready so the storage room could remain open for them access if they needed anything. He pulled out a pair of thick-rimmed glasses, the lenses oval but more rectangular at the top. He idly wondered if that shape had a name. Putting them on he turned and looked at the other two. “How about these?”

Midoriya smiled. “I think they will work well.” 

Shinsou glanced over and gave him a thumbs up. Shouto returned to his seat, placed the glasses on his table.  He started on his nails, covering them in medium blue nail polish. He applied a semi-gloss clear coat once the color was dry to make the nails appear that color naturally rather than painted. Once finished he pinned all his hair in place for the wig and put on a hairnet to ensure it stayed in place. 

Shouto unzipped his gym uniform and removed it, setting it aside, leaving his under-tank on. He took the container of blue body paint and started to cover his face and neck. He was sure to go past where his gym uniform would cover to ensure nothing would peak out when moving. He used a handheld mirror to check his back and sides to be sure he had full coverage, adding some paint when he noticed he missed spots. He took several minutes to fully dry.

Next, he applied white mascara to his eyelashes. He technically only needed it on the left side but found he looked slightly uneven if he didn't apply it to both. He carefully glued white false eyebrows on top of his own. They were thicker than his but not overpowering. He pulled out a pile of bobby pins before attaching his wig. The white wig had shorter hair than his own but it was spiked in all directions making him look quite different from normal, even without the blue body paint.

Before moving on to the rest of the body paint he put the glasses on once again and had to agree with Midoriya. They did a very good job of making it so his mismatched eyes were harder to notice. Someone would have to stare into his eyes to notice and he didn’t plan to let anyone get that close. Satisfied he started painting his hand and arm covering up near his shoulder. He let the paint dry before doing his other side. Once he was fully dried he carefully put his uniform shirt back on and took some time to double-check that every bit of skin showing was covered in body paint.

“Can I get a once over?” he asked the other two in the room.

Both turned to look at him.  “Slow spin?” Midoriya asked. Shouto made a full circle without question. “Slow spin with your arms up?” Again, he obliged. Both say he looked good and they don’t see any skin showing. 

Midoriya turned back to his mirror and added several more dots to his face and arms. Shinsou was eyeing his faux scales and moving his hands in various ways to ensure they were attached fully. 

“So, how do I look?” Shinsou asked.

Shinsou looked like he had some kind of fish mutation quirk. Dark green almost black faux fins have been attached to his ears. Matching scales adorned his face coming from his ears halfway down his jawline and just touching the apples of his cheeks and on his outer wrists and onto the top of his hands, his nails painted a matching color with the same semi-gloss coat so they appear natural instead of painted. He had black contacts making his eyes eerie as they appear to lack irises and be all pupils. He finished the look with a black wig with straight hair that sat midway down his jawline, covering his ears but allowing the faux fins to poke through. 

Shouto had to admit he didn’t look much like himself and hearing Shinsou’s voice from him was odd. “I find you unsettling,” Shouto said seriously.

An Aizawa-like grin spread across Shinsou’s face. “Good.” 

“You‘re going for creepy?” Midoriya asked, surprised.

“Yes, less people are likely to approach someone they’re uncomfortable around.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened as his eyebrows rose. “Huh. I hadn’t thought of that,” Midoriya said with a head tilt as he appeared to start thinking about the topic.

Midoriya had disguised himself with a rabbit mutation. He had long floppy brown faux ears that were just shy of touching his shoulders. They moved around as he moved his head. He had said he went with the floppy ones because they didn’t need to move or twitch like upright ones would. 

He had on a fluffy brown wig with hair similar but longer than his own. It was finer, almost fur-like. He had golden contacts in his eyes which looked even bigger than normal, a trick Midnight had taught them with makeup. To top it all off he had added freckles rather than hide his normal ones. There was a concentrated dusting across the apples of his cheeks and his nose but no place was safe. He was wearing an undershirt with three-quarter-length sleeves to hide the scar on his arm. The part of his arms that could be seen and even his hands were covered in more freckles. To top off the whole look he had on a uniform that was one or two sizes too big, making him look smaller than he really was. 

“Obviously. You went the opposite direction and are full-on adorable,” Shinsou drawled.

“I wasn’t trying to be cute! I wanted small, sure, but no one looks at Miruko and thinks ‘oh she is cute’ ya know,” he objected. 

Shinsou snickered. “But she’s like twice the size of you and everyone can see how built she is.” Midoriya groaned. Anyone could see he had lost the argument.

Shouto didn’t want to admit how cute he found Midoriya right now. He was pretty sure Midoriya would look better if he had his natural hair and eye color though, and green ears to match. The brown suited him but green was just so much better. What really had Shouto staring was the freckles. 

He wasn’t sure what to think about his newfound appreciation for them. It wasn’t like Midoriya was the only person with freckles either but somehow the little spots covering his friend made Shouto want to reach out and touch him, trace new designs. It was rather unsettling how intense the urge was. Shouto couldn’t remember ever wanting something similar before. He assumed it was likely linked to the fact that he found Midoriya attractive, which in itself was shocking, he had never looked at another person and thought they were attractive before. If they had less going on he might take some time to figure himself out but for now, he did what he had always done and pushed it away.

Shinsou glanced at him sideways, making Shouto wonder if maybe he noticed how much Shouto was staring. “Added quite a few freckles there Midoriya.” Shouto’s doubts vanished, Shinsou definitely noticed. 

Midoriya looked at his hands and arms. “Ah, yeah, most of these are actually where I get real freckles. You can faintly see them if you look close. I just made them more obvious. If I spend enough time in the sun this summer I will pretty much look like this.”

Shouto suddenly found himself coming up with ideas for outdoor summer activities he could suggest they do. The idea of seeing Midoriya every day covered in freckles was nearly too much for him. He really wanted to see Midoriya covered in freckles, maybe he would let Shouto trace some new designs in them, and- he halted his thoughts as another occurred to him. “But you didn’t look that way last summer,” Shouto said, unable to stop himself.

“Not enough time in the sun with the villain attacks and everything being moved indoors. After the whole mall incident, my mom didn’t want me going out. Then summer camp and Kamino,” Midoriya said with a shrug. “Well, I only really got to do anything once we moved into the dorms and by then we were busy with class and in full hero gear. Not much time for me to get sun.”

Shouto wondered how he might change that and make sure his friend would get plenty of sun. He didn’t expect he would see much of Midoriya over summer break. He planned to stay on campus, not wanting to deal with his father. And Oh- there was a problem. His father was not going to take kindly to him not being in the Sports Festival. He would be here. Which meant there was another person to hide from. He should warn Fuyumi that their father was going to return in a foul mood. 

Midnight interrupted his thoughts when she called their attention. “Are you three ready?” They each gave the other two a once over before replying with affirmations. “Good, you three look great! I am going to need a photo to send to all the other teachers,” she said as she pulled out her phone. They squished together and Midnight snapped her photo before sending them off.

“So, uh? Where should we go?” Shinsou said.

Midoriya scratched the back of his neck as he said, “I was thinking we could hide with the Support students. Hatsume-san’ll be going full throttle and if we tell her why she will likely help since she won’t have to compete against us.”

“Are you sure Hatsume won’t accidentally expose us?” Shouto asked, knowing that she was one of the loudest people he had ever met. Shouto had not enjoyed the few interactions he had had so far.

“Honestly? No, I am not but I expect she will be more interested in telling us about her babies instead of yelling our names,” Midoriya said a bit sheepishly.

“I don’t have a better idea. The Gen Ed kids might not mind but I wasn’t really friends with any of them,” Shinsou said with a shrug.

Shouto shrugged in return and they started heading towards the arena. 

When the Commission had decided that everyone that was working on the League case should be at the U.A. Sports Festival Naomasa had been a bit peeved. He had work to do. Once he was there, searching for his friend, he could admit he was rather glad. He might be technically on the clock but it would be an easy day, assuming everything went smoothly, and he hadn’t ever been able to watch one of the Sports Festivals in person before.

He finally spotted Toshinori and made his way over. “Hey old friend,” he said with a gentle clap on the shoulder.

“Ah, Naomasa! I‘m surprised to see you here,” Toshinori said jovially with a bright smile on his face.

“How’re you doing?” Naomasa asked. 

Toshinori gave a noncommittal hum. “Fine.”

Naomasa raised an eyebrow. “Really?” he deadpanned.

Toshinori let out a long sigh and slouched. “Ah, well, I’ve been thinking a lot about a lot of things.”

“About the kid?” Naomasa prodded. He’d heard from Gran, Aizawa, and even Nedzu that maybe he should try talking to Toshinori and this was likely the only chance he was going to get in person. Over the phone didn't seem the ideal way to have conversations like this.

“Yeah,” Toshinori said. Naomasa let the silence stretch between them, waiting for Toshinori to continue. “Aizawa-kun gave me a bit of a scolding the other day because I’d never told him he used to be quirkless or about his hero analysis notebooks.”

“Ah,” Naomasa said, unsure of what to offer since he agreed that Aizawa should have been aware of those things. At least, he could understand hiding that Midoriya was previously quirkless but if Toshinori knew about the notebooks and didn’t say anything, well, that was quite an oversight. “Why didn’t you tell him about the notebooks?” he asked gently.

“They are just full of fanboy knowledge. Something anyone could pick up if they paid attention,” Toshinori said with a dismissive hand wave.

Oh, Toshinori has always been good at overestimating people’s intelligence. Always assuming they were closer to his own.

“You were always too smart for your own good.” Naomasa let out a long-suffering sigh. Toshinori blinked confusedly at him, mouth gaping. “What you call ‘fanboy knowledge’ is something most people never pick up on,” he explained. “Nedzu sent me a copy of the kid’s page on me. He picked apart my quirk more than I have seen from anyone and I have only met him a handful of times. He figured out several ways to overcome my quirk, things I make sure people don’t know.”

“But you have a mental quirk, that makes sense. Physical quirks are much more obvious,” Toshinori retorted.

“That’s just it, Toshinori, they aren’t, for most people. Figuring out how a quirk works and how to beat it is not a skill people have. Most heroes, who’ve trained for this, focus on having an obvious quirk to combat another. Fight a fire quirk with a water quirk, so on and so forth.” Naomasa could see that Toshinori wasn’t getting it. He changed tactics a bit. “Take Gran Torino for example, most people assume he got some speed quirk and decide the best way to combat him is with something that will slow him down or stop him in his tracks.” Toshinori opened his mouth to interject but Naomasa held up a hand and pressed on. “That isn’t the case and he has a pretty obvious weakness once you know his quirk but I guarantee you most people don’t know that and wouldn’t figure it out.”

Toshinori stared at him in disbelief. “People think he has a speed quirk? But he blows air out of his feet. All you have to do is mess up his breathing enough and he cannot effectively use his quirk.”

“As I said, you are too smart for your own good. Most people aren’t at your level,” Naomasa said with an amenable smile.

“So when Aizawa-kun said that the information young Midoriya had been writing down was dangerous he wasn’t exaggerating?” Toshinori asked tentatively.

“Not even a little. Seeing my page was scary. Last thing I need is some criminal getting a hold of it and passing all the information around,” he said darkly. “I’m glad something is being done. If one of those books had gotten into the wrong hands a lot of heroes would be in great danger. Worst of all, even if Midoriya did tell someone no one would have taken it as a serious threat.” Naomasa leveled Toshinori with a serious look, “People would’ve died, Toshinori.”

Toshinori’s breath caught and he began to cough. He wiped up the blood after the coughing fit had passed but continued to stare at the floor. “No wonder Aizawa-kun got so angry with me.”

Naomasa hummed. He understood why Toshinori thought the information wasn’t important but he also understood why Aizawa was angry. As much as he agreed with Aizawa, he still couldn’t seem to get angry at Toshinori for his ignorance. Toshinori had always been a bit oblivious and at this point, that wasn’t going to change.

The students had started to come out onto the field and Naomasa's eyes were scanning the crowd looking for Midoriya.

“I cannot find him anywhere,” he said, offering a topic change.

“Yes, I am rather impressed by their disguises. The three of them went all out,” Toshinori said with a bit of pride.

“Three? Who else is going underground?”

“Young Shinsou, the brainwasher from last year,” he said looking at Naomasa who gave a nod to say he remembered, “And young Todoroki,” Toshinori finished.

“Endeavor’s boy? I am surprised he is going underground,” Naomasa said, letting out a surprised huff.

“You and everyone else and before you ask, Aizawa-kun has assured us all that young Todoroki decided this for himself,” Toshinori asserted.

“Huh. I wonder how Endeavor has been taking that news,” he said furrowing his brows. He expected the current number one was not at all happy about it but he didn’t look particularly upset when they passed one another in the hallway, at least not more than normal.

“Enough about me and my students. What about you? I didn’t know you were going to be here today.”

“Ah, I’m on-call for security. The League has been quiet and the Commission has been worried about them trying to make a big move against UA again. If security finds anyone suspicious, I get called over to question them. That way if they are up to something we will know pretty quickly.” He smiled. “It’s basically a day off for me and I get to enjoy the Sports Festival for once. Oh, and Gran Torino’s around here but I think he wanted to get some food first.”

“He always has loved his taiyaki and other junk food,” Toshinori said with a shudder.

Finding the room where the Support students were waiting was easy. Grabbing Hatsume and asking if they could hide with her class was even easier. Izuku wasn’t sure she even knew who they were but as soon as he mentioned her babies she was all for them hanging around. She loudly announced to the others in her class that they would be going out onto the field with them and, oddly, no one seemed to care. Some were distracted by their own inventions but the rest seemed to just want the Sports Festival to be over. It was weird. 

Izuku had heard the grumbles from the non-heroic classes that the Sports Festival was just a way for all the hero kids to show off but he never paid much attention. It was a required school activity too, which meant a lot of students that wouldn’t want to compete were forced to. Seeing the disgruntled students firsthand made him aware of how bothersome this might be for the other classes. He wasn’t sure what should change but he knew he would be thinking about it later.

Before he knew it they were on the field watching Yaoyorozu being called up to the stage as the Student Representative to give the Athlete's Oath. The surprise from the rest of his class, including a subdued but still angry grumble for Kacchan, let Izuku know he wasn’t the only one who didn’t know to expect this. Yaoyorozu looked rather nervous when she got up on the stage. He watched her take a deep breath to steady herself and wished he could offer some encouragement. 

Izuku had intended to listen to her speech but he was trying to look around, without being obvious, for hints of what the first game would be. He tried to adopt the air of uncaring and bored, like many of the other non-heroics students. He glanced around looking for anything that might offer insight. There was frustrating little to go on. He did notice unlike last year’s single door there were several. He didn’t expect another obstacle course and this seemed like confirmation.

He was jolted from his thoughts when everyone cheered. Yaoyorozu was done and Izuku felt awful for having missed the entire speech. He would have to be sure to watch the video later. Izuku couldn’t help but think of the contrast to Kacchan’s speech last year and how it had been met with boos and calls of how he was being cocky. Yaoyorozu was definitely a better student representative. First year they determined who the representative was by who got first in the entrance exam, leaving Yaoyorozu and Todoroki excluded. He wondered exactly how they chose it this year. Grades likely played a part as Yaoyorozu was at the top of their class but there must be other components too.

Once Yaoyorozu was off the stage Midnight was back at center stage, “The first game today is…” she paused letting the display rotate through several options even though everyone knows the games were predetermined. “Battle Royale Tag!” she yelled. The crowd of spectators and students loudly cheered.

“Unlike a regular game of tag, no one person is ‘It.’ Everyone can tag out everyone else. To tag someone out each student will have one of these!” She waved a long, white, strip of cloth. “This band can be attached anywhere on your body that is accessible. Head, arms, waist, legs, you get the idea. It must be outside your clothing and somewhere it can be grabbed. Bands you have taken must also be attached somewhere they can be grabbed. If you lose all of your bands you are out! ” she said with a crack of her whip. “No way to get back in. Each band is worth one point. Quirk use is allowed. The person with the most points wins. The game ends when someone reaches one hundred points!” she yelled. At a much lower volume, “Or we only have enough players left for the next game,” she added.

Several staff members began handing out the bands and students were tying them in various places. Izuku tied his band on the upper half of his arm, it was an easy to grab place. Todoroki and Shinsou did the same. 

Midnight eyed the field of students watching to make sure everyone had gotten a fabric band and tied it. “The field is through those doors,” she said pointing. “You have ten minutes to spread out before the game starts! Go!” 

“Hatsume!” Izuku called, getting her attention. “Want to take our bands? We aren’t planning on playing and I know you want to show off your inventions.”

“Okay!” she gleefully said back. “I am heading towards that flat area over there,” she said pointing, “Coming?” Izuku looked at his friends and they nodded in agreement.

“Ya know, no one’s likely to reach a hundred points. This game’s about lasting, not about gaining points,” Izuku said to the group but not loud enough to be overheard.

“What do you mean?” Todoroki asked.

“There are only two hundred and twenty students. I don’t think anyone could take out nearly half of ‘em before there are only forty-two left.” Izuku said.

“Huh. I wouldn’t have noticed.” Shinsou said.

“I might’ve missed it if Midnight-sensei didn’t point out that the game could also end when there are only enough players remaining for the next game.” Izuku turned towards Hastume and said, “Hastume-san, I know you want to show off your babies but you might find it best to play it stealthy this round. Less people will know what to expect from you in the next rounds too.”

“It would be easier to see my babies in action in later rounds. Hm, yeah! I’m gonna do that.”

“Do you have any babies with you that help with stealth?” Izuku asked, trying to come up with a plan. “I think you should head towards the small city area. More places for you to hide,” he said before she could answer his question.

“Okay! I have these wall climbing babies!” she said excitedly waving her hands at Izuku as they changed their course and jogged towards the city area of the field. “Shoes and knee pads too. They mimic gecko feet and I can climb walls and even hang upside down! Isn’t that cool?”

Izuku’s eyes went wide. “That’s amazing Hatsume-san! Can I try them later? It would make sneaking into buildings easier.  A person could be nearly silent without needing a quirk. It would help with parkour too. How do they work exactly? Why aren’t you getting stuck to the ground right now if you are wearing them on your feet?”

“As interesting as this is, I think you two should focus. You’re going to give us away if you keep this up,” Shinsou said as he glared at Izuku half-heartedly.

“Ah, sorry. You’re right.” Izuku said with regret. He didn’t mean to start muttering about Hatsume’s tech but she made such cool things. He would have to find time to visit the support department later. He needed to make changes to his costume too since he was going to be underground. His costume wasn’t nearly as flashy as some of his classmate’s but it might still be a bit too much. Maybe he should consult Aizawa about that. 

“We’re here,” Todoroki said, breaking Izuku out of his thoughts.

They went into one of the buildings near the middle and climbed the stairs to one of the middle floors. After some searching, they found a room at the corner that only had a single small window that Hatsume could just barely fit through with all her gear. She thought the room was perfect. Izuku thought about offering advice but also didn’t want to be overbearing. They helped Hatsume set up some of her gadgets around the room at her instruction. It took all of Izuku’s willpower to not ask what each of them could do. There was too little time for that.

The buzzer announcing the start of the game went off so loudly he felt it. They quickly finished up.

“Time for us to go,” Shinsou said and turned so his arm with his band on it was toward Hatsume. Izuku and Todoroki follow suit. Hatsume took their bands with thanks and they quietly left the building, wanting to try to keep Hatsume’s location secret for anyone who might be listening in. Once they were a few buildings away Shinsou asked, “So what now?”

“Find somewhere to watch from? If you two don’t mind. I’d like to see everyone in action,” Izuku said nervously. They had to stick together and he knew he could get on people’s nerves. Especially when he was watching people use their quirks and started muttering to himself.

“We should stop by the waiting room and grab our phones first,” Todoroki said. He looked at Izuku. “You can grab your computer and take better notes that way too.”

“Oh! That would be great,” Izuku said excitedly, his heart skipping a beat. He could barely believe Todoroki thought of that for him. Todoroki really was such a good friend.

They continued to head off the field and Izuku could hear the sounds of explosions in the distance. He expected Kacchan would win this game, if not the festival completely. Izuku was rather glad he wouldn’t have to be around for the inevitable angry explosion that would go off when Kacchan won before he hit one hundred points.

Over in the stands they watched their classmates fight an all-out battle. Shouto noticed this was very much like the first part of their licensing exam. The main difference was this was a game about lasting as long as possible, instead of trying to win the fastest. From the stands, he got his first good look at the full field. It was similar to the field from their licensing exams but everything was much smaller. 

He watched as Bakugou blasted through groups of people that must have teamed up, stealing their bands as he flew past. In a different area, people were floating in the air but secured with Sero’s tape. He assumed this must be similar to the move Midoriya, Sero, and Uraraka pulled during the licensing exam. He caught a large burst of electricity in the corner of his eye and turned to see Kaminari running around stealing bands from several stunned people.

Further scanning the field, he saw people chasing someone he didn’t recognize only to suddenly be stuck in place. “Midoriya,” he said, getting his friend’s attention. “What is happening over there?” he said pointing.

“Oh, that looks like some Class B kids. Bondo-kun must’ve coated the ground in his glue and some of the others are leading people there making it easy to steal their bands. Kind of like a fly trap. I wonder exactly how strong his glue is? Is it flammable? Lots of glues are flammable and that could be really risky when trying to capture people with fire-based quirks.” Shouto let the rambling thoughts spilling from Midoriya’s mouth wash over him as he continued to observe the battle.

Shouto noticed there were quite a few birds on the field. He guessed it was Kouda’s doing but he wasn’t sure. He had seen Kouda use pigeons but these all appeared to be crows. 

“Holy crap,” Midoriya breathed. He was staring wide-eyed at the field. “Kouda-kun might beat Kacchan,” he said in a near whisper.

“Huh?” burst forth from Shinsou in disbelief.

In a near whisper, Midoriya said, “Watch the crows.”

And Shouto did. It takes him a few minutes to catch it. There were significantly more birds than he noticed at first. Most were just perched somewhere out of the way but when a student got close they swooped down and stole a band barely noticed. Many times students with only a single band wouldn't notice they were out until Present Mic announced it. 

Shouto watched as one crow with a band in its beak flew towards the mountainous area where Kouda must be hiding. He checked the scoreboard and noticed Kouda’s points steadily climbing upwards. Bakugou’s score was still climbing, several points at a time, as he took out groups of people. Midoriya was right, it was going to be close.

Shouto was surprised when Present Mic called the game, expecting it to have taken longer. They were down to the last forty-two students already. He checked the scoreboard again to see Bakugou at the top with forty-three points and Kouda in second with thirty-eight points

“Looks like Bakugou still won,” Shinsou said a bit sourly.

“Only technically,” Midoriya said distractedly as he continued to write. Shinsou made a questioning noise causing Midoriya to look at him. “Do the math, there are only two hundred and fourteen points accounted for. Mic-sensei called people out as soon as they lost their band, not when a competitor obtained it. I count at least five birds carrying bands and I think that one,” he pointed towards a crow preening its feathers on top of one of the buildings, “has two bands in its claw. That means Kouda would’ve had another six points if the game had been called after he got the bands, not when they were lost.”

Shouto’s eyes went wide. “Putting him at forty-four points total, one above Bakugou.” Bakugou was in the distance yelling incoherently between explosions. Likely about how he didn’t have one hundred points yet even though he still came in first. Shouto doubted he had noticed he was only first on a technicality, otherwise the explosions would be larger.

“Yup,” Midoriya said as he pulled out his phone and snapped a photo of the displayed scoreboard. Shouto was surprised that the bottom seventeen students only had one point.  While Hatsume was ranked tenth with another student, both having only four points. The spread was very uneven. All of Class A and Class B managed to make it to the next round. Shouto was glad of that, it meant the three of them could still take it pretty easy. 

Ochako was disappointed in herself. She had teamed up with Sero and they had only managed six points each. Which was really only five points since they kept their original starting point. They spent more time defending their points than getting new ones. The fact that they ranked seventh place didn’t placate her either. Especially when she saw that the top three had gotten so many more points than her. Iida had managed to use his speed to get twenty-six, putting him solidly in third place. Kouda in second was a surprise but she had noticed how he was utilizing the birds to gain points. His quirk was well suited to the game. 

It still was disheartening. Bakugou was clearly the biggest threat. She wanted to face him one on one again but she also wanted to avoid any chance of that happening. She knew she had improved greatly in the last year and had confidence in her skills but Bakugou had improved too. As much as she wanted to believe she had closed that gap she couldn’t find it in herself to believe it. Maybe Deku or Todoroki could take him down one on one but she didn’t think anyone else could, not with the field advantage he had. 

She had the start of a strategy but it would depend on the game. The hard part would be getting other people to go along with her. The more she could get the better the plan would work. She just hoped it wouldn’t be considered too underhanded.

Midnight was, once again, center stage as their short break ended. Ochako was excited to find out the next game. If this followed last year’s pattern it would be one that required a team and she was counting on that. With a wave, and crack of her whip Midnight called all the attention to herself once more. “The real competition begins now! Give it your all!”

The display behind Midnight spun as she taunted, “I already know what it is but what could it be? What could it be?” Ochako could feel herself tensing in anticipation. With an arm wave Midnight announced, “Here it is!” as the display stopped spinning, “Tamaire!” Ochako could hear the murmuring of her classmates around her but kept quiet. She remembered how Midnight had yelled at them last year for interrupting.

“Let me explain. You’re going to be in teams of two to seven people. Unlike regular tamaire where you are trying to throw balls into your own baskets you are going to defend your basket and try to toss balls into other teams’ baskets.” Ochako grinned. This was perfect. 

“The points you got in the last game are the number of points you are worth in this game. Except first place is worth three times his total points, making him alone worth one hundred and twenty-nine points per ball scored in his basket!” Ochako knew her plan would work if others would work with her. Ochako moved towards Yaomomo, she would be able to help.

“Now then, here are the rules. The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members’ points. Teams will gain points by getting balls in other teams' baskets. Each ball in a basket is worth the opposing team's total points. Meaning if Team A is worth ten points and Team B got a ball in Team A’s basket then Team B gains ten points. You cannot score against yourself. Each team will have their own basket to defend and a container on the edge of the playfield that is filled with balls they can use to score with. The container with the balls cannot be touched by members outside the team. That means no sabotaging another team's container of balls! Lastly, you cannot cover the top of your basket. Defend as best you can but the top must be left open. You have fifteen minutes to make your teams. Start!”

“Yaomomo!” Ochako called, getting her attention immediately. “I got a plan. It isn’t exactly hero-like but it will be to everyone’s advantage.” Ochako gathered her determination. “I could use your help to get as many people as possible on board.” 

“Go on,” Yaomomo prompted. Ochako smiled in a way that was very unlike her normal self, allowing her competitiveness to show as she explained her plan.

“That's-” Yaomomo cut off, eyes wide. “That is ingenious.” She nodded to herself. “Yes, I am with you. I’ll go talk to Kendo-san and she can talk to the others in Class B. Can you talk to Mina-san and Sero-san? They can likely convince Kaminari-san to work with us. I think we might have already lost Kirishima-san,” she said dejectedly as she glanced in his direction. 

Ochako turned to see him chatting animatedly with Bakugou. She sighed, wishing someone else would have teamed up with him but few could deal with Bakugou’s explosive attitude. Ochako noticed the rest of the Bakusquad heading in that direction. “Got it. Talk to Iida-kun? He is more likely to go along with the plan if it comes from you,” she said with a wave at Yaomomo as she jogged over to intercept them. 

She grabbed Tsuyu and Tokoyami on her way over and explained her plan to the five of them all at once.

Kaminari grinned at her stupidly. “This is going to be great. Count me in!” he said excitedly.

“I find myself looking forward to the pandemonium this will cause. I agree with you, this does seem like the best plan,” Tokoyami said, nodding to himself with an unreadable expression. Uraraka had always had a hard time reading Tokoyami but she figured most people do. He would be a great help though. His ability to defend will be paramount but if someone managed to take Bakugou’s attention Tokoyami could be great for offense. Kirishima wouldn’t have any way to fight back.

“Isn’t it a bit mean?” Sero asked. Ochako raised an eyebrow and gave him a look. “Okay, okay, I get why but still…” he trailed off as he looked towards his other two friends. “I feel bad for Kiri,” he said a bit dejectedly.

“Yeah, I know,” Ochako said soberly. She really did feel the same way. “But, this is a competition. Teams must be of at least two people and I don’t think anyone can convince Mineta-kun to be on his team,” she said half-jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

“I am with you Ochako-chan,” Tsuyu said and Ochako smiled at her. She knew she could count on Tsuyu.

“Thanks, Tsuyu-chan. I was thinking you could be on my team since we work so well together.” Tsuyu nodded in understanding. Their combo moves will be perfect for this game. “I am going to talk to Kouda-kun and Aoyama-kun. Can you try some of the others?”

“No problem, ribbit.”

Kirishima jogged over to them and slung an arm around Kaminari and Mina. “Any of you all want to join the team with me and Bakugou?” he asked easily.

“Sorry Kiri!” Mina said cheekily. “We got other plans that don’t contain Blasty,” Mina grinned at him playfully. “All is fair in love and war after all,” she said with a wink and slapped him lightly on the back. Kirishima’s toothy grin fell away, dejected at Mina’s words but he didn’t argue. 

Ochako jogged off to talk to more of her classmates. When she passed Yaomomo, Ochako was sure she gave her a thumbs up, getting one in return. It seemed things were working on that front. This was going to be mayhem but she almost couldn’t wait for the game to start.

They were in the business class stands. According to Midoriya, this was the best view to help the business students observe and take what they saw into account as they brainstormed ideas on how to promote the would-be heroes. They were standing in the front row with empty seats behind them. Hitoshi thought about sitting but was a little too wired. All the classmates that would be searching for them were down on the field but he wanted to be able to get away fast, just in case.

Hitoshi didn’t want to admit it but he was a bit disappointed to not be competing in the Sports Festival this year. He could’ve brainwashed Bakugou and stolen all his bands at the last minute. When the second game got announced, he was less disappointed. This wasn’t like the cavalry battle they had last year. He had little chance to have fought this and won without a good team. The cumulative nature of it meant he wouldn’t be able to depend on his quirk much.

He watched as his classmates ran around talking to each other presumably deciding on teams. He was surprised when he saw Uraraka grab part of the Bakusquad only to see them walk away from Bakugou and Kirishima. Why weren’t they all teaming up together? That was...unexpected. What had Uraraka said? It didn’t seem like she was asking them to join her team. 

He watched her closely, trying to figure it out. She was talking to anyone who seemed willing to listen and they kept nodding at her words. Hitoshi wished they had audio for this, or at least they would show the students on the screens so he could see their expressions. Uraraka had talked to way more people than she could possibly have on a team and most of them went off to group with others. It was weird, to say the least. 

Eventually, she joined up with some of the Class B kids, including Monoma, which was unexpected. Their classes didn’t mix much and Monoma was very against working with Class A for anything. Kendo whacked him and Monoma stopped looking so angry. It was an interesting team. They have a pretty good split on people that could be used for offense and defense if Hitoshi was remembering their quirks correctly.

He scanned the field, most of the other teams appeared to have been decided if the huddles were anything to go by. Bakugou only had Kirishima with him, which wasn’t the best duo for this game. Bakugou could single-handedly blow up any balls that get close to their net but that was only defense. Hitoshi wasn’t sure what kind of explosive throwing accuracy Bakugou might have. Kirishima was at a disadvantage for this game. His hardening didn’t help defend anything since the basket was up in the air and he didn’t help him throw balls. 

Midoriya muttered next to him, likely trying to break down how the teams intended to work but Hitoshi couldn’t make any sense of it. 

Midnight called attention as the final stage setup began. The teams were separated and were baskets added equidistant from each other in a large circle around the field. Each team was provided way more balls than they could use as Mic announces all the teams.

“Team Bakugou, worth one hundred and thirty points, with Bakugou Katsuki and Kirishima Eijirou.” Cheers were heard but there also was some murmur of confusion. Hitoshi guessed it was due to the two-person team when larger was allowed.

“For Team Kouda, worth eighty-four points, we have Kouda Kouji, Iida Tenya, Tokoyami Fumikage, Hatsume Mei, Yaoyorozu Momo, Shouji Mezou, and Satou Rikidou.” Mic paused to allow for the crowd to cheer as the screens showed details on the students in the team. 

“Team Tokage, worth thirty-one points, is made up of Tokage Setsuna, Shiozaki Ibara, Awase Yosetsu, Bondo Kojiro, Kaibara Sen, Komori Kinoko, and Kodai Yui!”

“Team Asui, worth twenty-one points, has Asui Tsuyu, Uraraka Ochako, Kendo Itsuka, Hagakure Tooru, Monoma Neito, Shishida Juurouta, and Tsuburaba Kosei! A nice mix of Class A and B on this team!”

Hitoshi tuned out Present Mic as Midoriya started to speak. “Defending is pretty useless for the lower value teams, it doesn’t directly hurt you if people score against you. Team Kouda made a mistake with their make up since they were worth so much and should want to defend to keep people away from their basket. They’re a well thought out team otherwise. Tokoyami-kun could be great on defense, especially if he works with Shouji-kun or Yaoyorozu-san makes him something…” he descended into mumbles Hitoshi couldn’t fully hear. It sounded like he moved on to other teams.

The game finally started and chaos erupted on the field. Bakugou was being attacked by Shishida in his beast form. Kirishima was being held in place by Shiozaki’s vines. Uraraka must have used her quirk on both Monoma and Tsuburaba as Kendo threw them towards Bakugou’s basket. They blew air and he wasn’t sure what they had created together, assuming Monoma had copied Tsuburaba’s quirk, Solid Air. Disembodied hands appeared on their ankles pulling them towards the ground where they suddenly regained gravity.

Wait, isn’t Tokage on another team?

He turned to ask Midoriya but never got the chance as Midoriya went a bit slack and slumped into the waiting chairs behind him. 

“Midoriya?” he said, alarmed. Todoroki looked over at them and immediately started checking Midoriya over.

“I- I’m fine,” he said, waving them off. “It’s just-” he cut off gesturing wildly at the field in front of them. “They’re all working together against Kacchan.”

Hitoshi whipped his head around to look back at the field. He could see it now. None of them were attacking each other. They were all trying to score off Bakugou. Attacking him and Kirishima, keeping them unable to defend their own basket and able to score.

Tsunotori used her horns to knock a flying Bakugou off course. He was then pelted with giant words from Fukidashi. The words stuck to him and as he was exploding them off. Hitoshi noticed they were covered in some of Mineta’s balls. A very heavy-looking steel net fell on top of Bakugou that must have been made by Yaoyorozu. Judging by the way he went down under it, Uraraka must have used her quirk to float it. How it had been moving was beyond him. 

Kirishima was being pelted by Aoyama’s navel laser while Honenuki softened the ground under him. Iida occasionally picked up Aoyama and placed him elsewhere on the field anytime Kirishima got close. All the while balls were being thrown towards the single basket. The balls appeared to hit some kind of forcefield and sort of funnel into the basket. Hitoshi suddenly realizes that must be what Monoma and Tsuburaba did at the beginning. It wasn’t like anyone could see hardened air.

Hitoshi gaped as he watched the insanity unfold.

Hizashi was excited for the second game. This was where things started to get real and students could start to show off their quirks and teamwork. Vlad seemed to be enjoying the downtime though. He wasn’t as bad as Shouta when it came to commentating but he clearly didn’t enjoy it and he didn’t bother hiding his favoritism for his class.

His annoyance had shown through during the first game when the top three students were from Class A. All the fully participating heroics students had made it through and really, they all knew that being at the top would be punished in this game. It was standard. Class B had used that to their advantage last year. Vlad should be proud his class had done something similar this year.

Hizashi watched as the kids slowly organized themselves into teams. Some of the teams were unexpected. Especially the one with students from both Class A and B. Once the time ran out the baskets were added to the field by Cementoss. Each poll was stuck into the cement with a basket at the top. When everything and everyone was in place, Mic counted down and Midnight gave the “Go!” call for all to hear. The game started in chaos.

“Shishida goes full beast and makes a direct attack on Bakugou!” he narrated, focusing on the flashiest thing going on.

“Tsuburaba and Monoma are up to something,” Vlad added.

“That they are! I see they are flying through the air, I assume that is the work of Uraraka and her quirk Zero Gravity!” He watched as they both flew towards Bakugou and Kirishima’s basket but he couldn’t tell what they did exactly.

“Monoma’s quirk is Copy and he has become very skilled with all of his classmates' quirks. I assume they both just used Solid Air,” Vlad said, not bothering to hide his pride in his students.

He checked the field and his eyes caught on a trapped Kirishima. “Shiozaki has Kirishima trapped in her vines! A very good move. Oh! The sharp edges of his Unbreakable can cut through her vines!” Kirishima kept slashing through the vines while Shiozaki tried to add more. Hizashi could tell they were going to be at it for a while and changed his focus.

“Bakugou is using his explosions to fly through the air keeping out of Shishida’s reach.” Hizashi wasn’t sure but he looked like Shishida might be trying to lead Bakugou somewhere. Then out of nowhere a pair of horns slammed into Bakugou’s side so quickly even he couldn't avoid them. “But Tsyunotori uses her horns to knock him off course!”

Unexpectedly, a third team joins in on the opportunity. “Fukidashi is pelting him with words keeping Bakugou in place but he’s quickly blasting them off with his explosions.” Hizashi wasn’t expecting so much action to focus around one student but almost nothing was happening between the other teams. It was odd.

He scanned the field, trying to find other students to talk about. “What is that? Yanagi is using her quirk to move a net across the field!” 

How in the world did Yanagi get a net?

“Yaoyorozu made the net,” Vlad said, monotone.

“But they aren’t on the same team! Did she steal it?” No one answered his question. Everyone was focusing on Team Bakugou and not even attempting to score on each other. Sure, Team Bakugou was worth the most but this was just plain weird.

The net was dropped. “Oh! That net just landed on Bakugou and it must be heavy! How much weight can Yanagi carry?” Or did Uraraka use her quirk? He thought he saw her make her ‘release’ motion as the net dropped.

“Kirishima has been immobilized by Honenuki’s Softening,” Vlad said with the pride clear in his voice. That was a terrible match-up. Kirishima’s quirk was the opposite of helpful against the softened ground he was sinking into.

Another student decided to help keep Kirishima down. “What’s this? Aoyama is blasting Kirishima while he is slowed down in the softened ground forcing him to use his quirk while he tries to escape the trap!”

Kirishima slowly made his way towards Aoyama, determined to put a stop to the laser barrage when suddenly Aoyama was on the other side of the softened part of the field. “Did Iida just move Aoyama across the field? But they are on different teams. Midnight is that allowed?” he said to the referee. 

Midnight appeared to ponder for a few heartbeats before proclaiming, “It’s not against any of the rules. I’ll allow it!”

“Have you noticed yet?” Vlad asked with one eyebrow raised. 

“Noticed?” Hizashi questioned back. Hizashi had started to see what was going on but wanted to play it up for the spectators.

“They’re all working together,” Vlad said in a way that might be proud but also begrudging. 

“Eh?!” he exclaimed, really playing up his surprise. Hizashi was glad he had years of practice at commentating and as a hero because this outcome was unprecedented.

It was time to explain this to the audience members that hadn’t caught on yet. “Oh my! Vlad’s correct. All the teams are working together to score against Team Bakugou. They are worth the most points but I would have never expected an upset like this!”

Bakugou finally got free of the barrage of attacks he was under and blasted himself towards his team’s container of balls. “Bakugou snags a large number of his balls and is blasting them directly at Team Kouda’s basket.”

“Oh! Tokoyami uses Dark Shadow to block them! He is hidden within Shouji’s Dupli-Arms to overcome his weakness to light.”

Bakugou screamed in frustration and blasted his way to the basket he was supposed to be protecting. He grabbed the bottom and blasted himself straight up, turning the basket inside out and emptying it of all balls.

“Bakugou removed all the balls from his basket. Midnight?” Hizashi really didn’t approve of that move.

“Hm, I said they must be left open, which he has done so I will allow it!” Midnight declared. Hizashi hated to agree with her. They should’ve spent more time on the rules. Midnight was more or less forced to allow his actions unless she disqualified him. Bakugou was the favorite to win since Todoroki wasn’t competing this year. Kicking the favorite out when he didn’t technically break the rules would have not gone over well. Not at all.

With his Team’s basket empty, Bakugou gathered another large collection of balls and blasted them towards Team Asui’s basket. Kendo squared her shoulders and widened her stance. “Kendo’s Big Fist is super effective and blocks all the balls thrown at her team from Bakugou!”

Bakugou let out another angry snarl. Hizashi barely caught what was happening as something silver flew through the air.  “Bakugou has been thrown into the ground by a flying Tetsutetsu. Oh no! They are sinking into the ground!”

“Honekuni’s doing,” Vlad added.

Tetsutetsu suddenly had a tape on his back and was pulled off of Bakugou. “Looks like Sero saved Tetsutetsu from sinking too far and Wow! The ground is already rehardened, leaving Bakugou stuck!”

Mushrooms began appearing all over Bakugou. “Komori covers him in her mushrooms!” Hizashi wondered how long that would keep Bakugou down, he didn’t expect long.

He scanned the field trying to figure out what the next attack was when he saw it. “Bondo has appeared in front of Team Bakugou’s net!”

“He was carried by Kuroiro who can merge himself into anything dark-colored and move at high speeds.” Vlad pointed out, highlighting his students’ teamwork.

Hizashi took a closer look and noticed what Vlad conveniently forgot to mention. “Oh! I see, Dark Shadow was used to make the path! They might be on three separate teams but they all have the same enemy!” he said jovially, focusing on the teamwork.

As expected he knew what was coming next as he watched Bondo. “Bondo has covered Team Bakugou’s basket in glue! No more removing the balls!”

Hizashi knew he had focused too much on things relating to Team Bakugou but it was hard when everyone was fighting just two people. He took a few heartbeats to really look at the other teams. “What are those lumpy balls coming from Team Tokage?” he asked, not expecting an answer but that team was entirely made up of Class B.

It took Vlad a few seconds to answer. “Kodai used her quirk, Size, to shrink the balls and Awase welded them together.”

“That is incredibly smart of them. Each of their ‘multiballs’ will count for the number of balls it is made up of!” Hizashi praised. He was very impressed by their thinking. They won’t have to get many ‘multiballs’ into a basket to have a very high score.

Nearby, Uraraka and Asui were setting up an attack if the large number of balls floating in the air was anything to go by. “Uraraka and Asui just used one of their ultimate combo moves, Meteor Fafrotskies, to launch balls straight at Team One’s basket!”

Bakugou was free again and was able to counter the attack. “Oh! But Bakugou set off a large explosion turning many to dust.”

Kouda had been at the top of his game today. He had taken second in the first game, surprising everyone. “Kouda is using his bird friends to drop balls into Team Bakugou’s net!” Hizashi said as he watched Kouda’s birds continually drop balls into the basket. 

“It appears Bakugou has given up defending as he blasts his way straight for Team Kouda’s basket!” The speed and skill that Bakugou could use his explosions to fly was something Hizashi could appreciate. He needed support gear to use his quirk most effectively but Bakugou manages to do incredible things without any additional gear. 

“Tokoyami goes to block with Dark Shadow but a precise blast from Bakugou defeats the shadow demon!” Bakugou had managed to score against team Kouda. 

Looking for other students to focus on, he scanned the field. “Kaibara just used his Gyrate to launch dozens of balls straight towards Team Bakugou’s basket!”

“There appear to be two invisible students currently near Team Bakugou’s basket tossing in balls by hand. Monoma must have copied Hagakure’s quirk,” Vlad said, calling attention back to Team Bakugou’s basket.

Kirishima must have heard as he whipped his head around and looked towards his own basket. “Oh no! Kirishima has taken notice of them!”

Bakugou had flown across the field to his container of balls and grabbed another load before blasting off again. “Bakugou goes on the attack against Team Tokage this time.”

Unexpectedly, no one on Team Tokage fought back. “They are just letting him score?!”

Vlad grunted a bit. “There is no penalty for having points scored against you, they’re focusing on gaining points.” Which makes sense. There was little reason to defend in this game. Hizashi wondered again who had written the rules. This game could use a few extra. 

“It appears Team Asui is Bakugou’s next target!” he said as Bakugou flew towards them.

Shishida went careening towards Bakugou, transforming mid-air after being thrown by Kendo. “Shishida tried to intercept but was met with a precise explosion that appears to have left him blinded!”

Uraraka tapped Kendo while Asui used her tongue to toss her upwards but keeping a hold on her. “Kendo has just been tossed up in the air and slapped Bakugou so hard he just went flying across the field!”

“Bakugou redirects himself and makes another attack on Team Kouda!” Hizashi said as Bakugou redirected himself and changed targets.

“The final countdown, 5!”

Asui and Kendo hit countless balls that Uraraka had floated into the air towards Team Bakugou’s basket.

“4!”

Several ‘multiballs’ were tossed into Team Bakugou’s basket via Shiozaki’s vines.

“3!”

A cannon, he had no idea when Yaoyorozu created, blasts balls towards Team Bakugou’s net.

“2!”

Ojirou jumped onto his own team's basket pole and climbed up, quickly reaching the top. He flips their basket inside out to let the balls fall to the ground before letting it fall back in place. Hizashi saw this coming. As soon as Bakugou did it, all the other teams were going to follow suit. They just waited until the end so it would be most effective. 

“1!”

Asui used her tongue to flip their basket inside out. Hatsume used an extending pole of some sort to do the same. Every team that had balls in their basket turned them out in the last seconds except for Team Bakugou, it was impossible with the glue that coated their basket.

“Time's up! That ends the second round!” Midnight yelled.

Bakugou let out a large blast as he screamed. Hizashi checked the scoreboard and, as expected, Team Bakugou was at the bottom with zero points. Bakugou continued to rage even as Kirishima tried to call him down. Midnight must have turned off her mic. He could see her yelling in their direction with an arm on her suit ready to rip it away. Bakugou tensed but quieted before storming off the field. Kirishima following closely behind him.

This was going to be a mess. Hizashi sincerely hoped Nedzu was already working PR angles to deal with this. 

Izuku was shocked. As soon as he noticed what was going on he couldn’t believe it. He thought there would be a way for Kacchan to still manage to win, even at forty against two odds. He hadn’t though. He had ended the game in last place. He wasn’t going on to the one versus one matches. 

Kacchan had lost.  

Izuku was stunned that this could happen. Izuku was amazed that his classmates did this. Izuku was ecstatic that they did it and succeeded. Izuku was also rather appalled that they all ganged up on Kacchan like that. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t heroic.

But life isn’t fair.

Sometimes heroes had to be underhanded to win. Villains don’t fight fair. Heroes have rules to follow but no one said they had to fight fair. Lives were on the line. Sometimes, winning was more important than being heroic. 

Fighting fair was a luxury. Not something that worked in a real life or death situation. He knew this but it was still hard to see it actually happen, even to Kacchan. How would the media take this? Would they praise their actions? Would they see this as casting Kacchan as the ‘villain’ of the game? Would Kacchan get backlash for this? Would his friends and classmates? 

Izuku could feel his mind buzzing and he knew he was spiraling but his classmates had just done something unbelievable. Something never before seen. He had watched as many Sports Festivals as he could find online. Nothing like this had ever happened before. There might be some cooperation between teams but it was always small and short-lived. This was all the teams against one. Not one team had betrayed each other. There were going to be consequences to this and Izuku wasn’t sure if they would be good or bad.

He missed Present Mic announcing who was going on to the next game. He missed the announcement of the break for lunch and recreational games. He just sat there and stared blankly at the quickly emptying field. 

He wasn’t sure how long he sat and stared. It must have been at least a few minutes because he jolted when Shinsou said, “Hey, let's go get some lunch.” Todoroki was in the seat next to Izuku and their shoulders were pressing together. Izuku wasn’t sure when that happened. 

Izuku shook his head a bit to try and clear it. He gave Todoroki a thankful look before responding with a chipper, “Sure!”

Walking towards the lunchroom was uneventful. They hadn’t run into any of their classmates yet. Todoroki kept occasionally bumping his shoulder into Izuku’s and he was extremely grateful for it. It kept him focused on the here and now instead of going back into his head. 

They were about halfway there when his phone suddenly rang, and loudly. He hadn’t thought to put it on silent and his ringtone was identifying! He quickly silenced it and then checked the caller ID.

When he saw that it was his mom calling he paled and answered as quickly as possible.

“Izuku!” she cried. He could already tell she was crying. “A re you okay? Are you hurt? I didn’t see you at all in the game of tag and then they didn’t announce you for tamaire and I’m so, so worried.”

“Mom,” he said, trying to get her attention. 

“Did you get hurt in the first game? You aren’t injured are you?”

“Mom!”

“I’m so worried. I’m so sorry you didn’t qualify but I need to know if something happened to you.”

“Mom!” he nearly yelled and she finally gave him time to speak, “I’m fine. I promise. I didn’t get hurt in the first game, I just got tagged out. Everything is fine.”

“Are you sure? You don’t sound upset. I know you would be upset.”

“I’m sure. I’m not upset because I kind of intentionally let myself get out.”

“Oh no, did you get hurt before the festival even started?”

“No mom, I am perfectly healthy,” he said plaintively.

“Really?”

“Yes, really.”

“I want a photo,” she said with her mom voice. Izuku knew he would be giving in. It didn’t matter how much he tried to fight it.

“Mom!”

“I expect a photo in the next five minutes.”

“I-i don’t look like myself right now.”

“Izuku.” He could hear the steel in her voice.

“We have been training with Midnight-sensei in disguises and part of our assignment today was to hide in plain sight,” he started to explain, trying to get her to understand without explaining everything right now.

“Why are you doing that?”

“It is kind of complicated and I would rather explain in person. Next time I am home.”

“I still want a photo.”

“Fine,” he said dejectedly. “Gimme a sec.” Izuku put the call on mute, switched to the camera, and took a quick selfie that he sent off to his mom. He unmuted the call and said, “Photo sent, it should be there soon.”

“Thank you, honey,” she said kindly. The phone line was silent and awkward for nearly a minute while they waited for the message to go through. “Oh, I just got it. Hold on.”

Izuku didn’t bother to say anything, knowing his mom already had the phone away from her ear.

“Izuku,” his mom said sternly, “That isn’t you. Send me your photo right now.”

“Mom, I swear that’s me. I just told you I was in disguise!” he said frustrated. He was hoping he still looked enough like him that this wouldn’t happen. She probably didn’t look at the photo very closely but convincing her would be hard over the phone and he didn’t want to risk a video chat. Their classmates could be anywhere. “How about this? I’ll go look for one of my teachers and get them to call you. They all know about this and can confirm I’m not hurt. Will that work?”

“Hm, I guess so,” she said and he could hear the uncertainty in her voice.

He decided to take it before his mom could change her mind. “Okay, going to go look now. Bye mom!” he said hurriedly and hung up. 

Izuku let out a long sigh as he tried to think. It was their lunch break but he had no idea where any of his teachers were. He could call All Might but...No, he didn’t want to bother him about this. Then he remembered he had Aizawa’s number. Calling him seems like a bad idea though. Maybe a text will work?

Midoriya Izuku

Sensei, can you call my mom and tell her I’m not hurt and currently look like a person with a brown rabbit mutation?

Aizawa Shouta

Why?

Midoriya Izuku

She won’t believe me.

Aizawa Shouta

Problem child

Midoriya Izuku

I wanted to tell her everything in person and I haven’t been home and things have been crazy and you know I’m not allowed off-campus by myself. Please Sensei?

Aizawa Shouta

Fine. What’s her number?

Midoriya Izuku

Thank you Sensei!

Izuku texted his mom’s phone number to his teacher and then sent his mom a quick text that Aizawa-sensei would be calling her shortly. He was glad that was hopefully dealt with. He would have to find time to visit home soon. He wasn’t sure he wanted to bring any of his friends home to overhear that conversation though. Needing to be escorted off campus was such a pain sometimes.

Shouta decided last year's Sports Festival was easier. Sure, he was horribly injured just before and still recovering and he hated commentating but it was better than this. This year he had to be ready to erase any quirk in case the idiot children decide to go too far. 

Nedzu didn’t bother to take into account that the two Problem Children that nearly blew up each other and the stadium weren’t competing this year when he demanded that Shouta be on the grounds during all the games. No, he still had to be ready and watching, just in case, so he could end any confrontation before anyone got truly injured. 

Shouta had been concerned he might have to step in when Shishida was going after Bakugou but they both were clearly holding back enough to not cause serious injuries. Shishida did have several burns that Recovery Girl was going to have to address. 

He was tired and very much looking forward to taking a nap. They had an hour for lunch and he wasn’t needed for the recreational games afterward. He had time for a nice, decently long nap.

Just as he was getting comfortable in his sleeping bag his phone pinged with a message. He assumed it was just Hizashi bothering him about lunch but no additional pings were heard. Hizashi always texted in several messages. It was annoying but predictable. A single message was worrying. 

Shouta sighed as he adjusted to pull out his phone and saw the message was from Problem Child, of course, who apparently needs him to call his mom. 

Why me? Well, I am his homeroom teacher but still. 

It was hard to ignore the request.

After getting more information Shouta decides he might as well do this. It hopefully wouldn’t take too long. He wondered if the other two remembered to tell their families.

Shouta gathered up all his professional teacher persona and called the number he was given.

Inko looked at the photo again. If she really looked it did look like Izuku, at least if it was high summer and he had a rabbit mutation. She wasn’t sure what to think. Izuku not participating in the Sports Festival meant something was wrong . Nothing else made sense.

When her phone rang with an unknown number she expected this must be Izuku’s teacher and answered quickly.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is Aizawa Shouta of U.A. Calling to speak to Midoriya Inko-san,” a male voice she half recognized said. 

“This is she.”

“Ah, good. I’m Izuku-san’s homeroom teacher. I hope you forgive me for calling on my personal phone but as I’m currently at the Sports Festival stadium I do not have access to the U.A. phones. Izuku-san asked me to call you and I thought it best to call you now.”

“I understand. That’s fine. I’m worried that Izuku has gone and gotten hurt again since he wasn’t in the festival,” she said, not bothering to hide the worry in her voice.

“I assure you Midoriya-san, your son is perfectly healthy. He’s not injured in any way. He has avoided any major injury so far this year. I was also asked to inform you that he is indeed dressed to look like someone with a brown rabbit mutation.”

“Why is that exactly?” she asked. Izuku had been vague and that was worrying too.

“It’s an assignment from Midnight.”

“And why is Midnight assigning my son tasks that keep him out of the Sports Festival?”

“Izuku-san has decided to go a different route with his training.”

A different route? What did that mean?

Inko was very confused and worried. She had the assurance that her son wasn’t hurt but something was going on. Wearing costumes to look like someone else did not seem like hero work. 

“Can you explain that better?”

“Izuku-san has expressed the desire to explain to you in person. I can explain now but I would like to give him a chance to do this himself if that is possible.”

“That’s- that’s understandable. I suppose I would prefer to hear it from my son. Is there any way you can guarantee he makes it home tomorrow or the next day?”

Inko heard some rustling and a deep sigh but it sounded muffled so she wasn’t sure.

“I’ll escort him home tomorrow. I’m currently in charge of his new training so if you have any additional questions for me that will give you a chance to ask them. Will that work for you Midoriya-san?”

“Actually, yes, I would appreciate that greatly,” she said, pleased she would get to see her son tomorrow. 

“How does ten in the morning sound?”

“That will work.”

“I’ll see you then.”

“Thank you, Sensei.”

The call ended and Inko felt better. She had been assured that her son was fine and Aizawa was just as professional over the phone as he had been during that press conference when Katsuki had been kidnapped. 

Since they would be here around ten she didn’t need to have breakfast prepared but she would want to have some snacks on hand to serve. She would also want to make Izuku lunch and dinner since he finally got to visit after over a month. She was going to have to talk to him about finding a way to visit regularly but that was a task for tomorrow. Today she needed to go to the store and get groceries.

Shouta quickly texted Midoriya about tomorrow and then shoved his phone away. He was rather annoyed at himself. He just agreed to give up at least his morning on his day off. He was going to have to tell Hizashi too since he was the one with a driver's license. Shouta decided to break the news after the festival. He knew Hizashi wouldn’t mind especially when he explained that as he was talking to his student’s mother he remembered how a lot of quirkless abuse came from within the home. Midoriya never said anything bad about his family but he never said anything bad about anyone. If what he had said about his life before U.A. being ‘typical’ for a quirkless person then he should have lots of bad to say about lots of people.

Shouta was now regretting that he had left the meeting about the dorms to All Might. He really should have gone, there was no reason to let All Might handle that one alone. Shouta couldn’t trust All Might to have noticed things as it was increasingly made clear he was rather oblivious. Shouta was sure he was being paranoid but he was an underground hero and being paranoid was one of the reasons he was still alive.

He needed a nap. He was too tired to contemplate this right now. Then his phone started ringing. His phone only rang when it was important. He quickly checked the called ID to see that Hizashi was calling. That meant something was really wrong. His husband knew he hated talking on the phone.

He answered. “Who is hurt?”

“Everyone is fine, it's just- you see...” Hizashi trailed off and Shouta could hear someone yelling in the background. He wondered if Bakugou was causing havoc after how the last game went.

Annoyed, he bit out, “Spit it out Hizashi!”

When Midoriya’s mom had called, Shouto remembered he never contacted Fuyumi. He sent her a quick text while they waited for Midoriya to get off the phone. Midoriya’s mother was very concerned if what he overheard was anything to go by. 

Nearing the cafeteria, Shouto was debating what to have for lunch. They had all agreed to stay away from their normal meals, meaning no cold soba for him. He was rather disappointed about that. Shouto might have been thinking about food in an attempt to keep his nerves. The cafeteria was going to be filled with their classmates, and other students, but his classmates were the ones looking for them. 

Shouto wasn’t sure his whole blue idea was a good one. It did make him look completely unlike himself but it also made him stand out. People were sure to notice there was a blue person that didn’t exist yesterday.

They managed to get their lunch without any fanfare. They even passed by Sero, Ashido, and Kaminari without incident, not even getting a glance. Shouto wasn’t sure if the other group were just unobservant or if they were blending in with everyone else.

Eating their lunches began uneventfully. Then his father decided to show up yelling, “Shouto!” loudly into the room. Shouto went stock still and stared at his father waiting for what was to come next. He wasn’t the only one staring, most of the room was. Endeavor eyed the room, his gaze passing right over Shouto as if he wasn’t there. Because in a way, he wasn’t.

Shouto blinked. His own father hadn’t seen him even when he looked at him. Endeavor’s flames flared as he made his way around the room. There was murmuring from all the other students but Shouto couldn’t make out the words.

His father approached the teachers, turning his back on Shouto. “Where’s my son?” Endeavor demanded.

Cementoss was the first to reply. “He was tagged out in the first round,” he said plainly. 

“Bullshit!” his father yelled back. “Where ‘s my son?” he demanded again.

Midnight glanced around the room until her eyes landed on them and she turned back to Endeavor smirking. “He’s eating lunch in this very room. Are you having trouble finding him?” she taunted. Shouto wished he could sink into the floor. Now his father was going to be even angrier.

Endeavor glared at her before he took another slow look around the room, eyes once again passing right over Shouto. Present Mic had gotten up from the table and gone over to a corner, appearing to be on the phone.

“He’s not here,” he spat back at Midnight. Shouto wasn’t sure what to do. He didn’t want to give themselves away but would that count as failing their assignment? His father looked ready to burn the school down. He hadn’t planned to tell his father he was going into underground heroics but now he wasn’t sure how he could avoid telling him. Not appearing in the Sports Festival was rather noticeable. Several students have pulled out their phones and were recording the interaction.

“Can I get a piece of paper and pen from you?” he heard Midoriya say and he turned to see his friend asking for such things from people at another table. They handed it over without question. Shouto wanted to ask Midoriya what he was doing but before he could Midoriya was out of his seat and heading toward Endeavor. His posture made him look small, he was trembling, and Shouto wondered what kind of expression he was wearing.

Midoriya approached Endeavor from the side and tapped his arm. Endeavor whipped around to look at him and Midoriya appeared to shrink even more under the glare.

“What?” his father said with disdain.

“Uhm- Mr. Endeavor, Sir. I was- um hoping that I-i-i could ge-get your- um autograph. Maybe? Please?” he said, holding out the paper and pen in a shaking arm, head turned to look at the ground. Slowly, Midoriya looked up at him with his big round eyes and he looked every bit the rabbit pleading for his life from a predator. 

Endeavor ripped the items from Midoriya’s hands, bent down on a table, scrawled his name, and gruffly pushed it back into Midoriya’s chest. Midoriya stumbled with the force of it and let out a pitiful sounding yelp. When he regained his balance he bowed several times and stammered out a ‘Thank you.’ Endeavor didn’t even look at him and instead took stock of the room and noticed he was being filmed. He stalked out of the room without another word.

Midoriya, still acting small and timid, rushed back to their table and sat down, returning the borrowed pin with thanks. Midoriya crumpled up the signed paper, meeting Shouto’s gaze as he did it. Shouto knew he should say something but he was so stunned by the whole thing. 

What in the world just happened?

“Holy fuck, Mi-” Shinsou cut himself off. The room wasn’t quiet but it was still subdued. They had decided to avoid using names earlier. “You’re crazy,” he said instead, shaking his head.

Midoriya shrugged. “He seemed to forget where he was. I just reminded him.”

“And made him look bad with that poor little bunny rabbit act of yours.” Shinsou drawled with a smirk.

Midoriya shrugged again. “Bonus points.” 

Shinsou snorted and shook his head, “Crazy, just crazy.”

Midoriya looked at Shouto. “Are you okay?” he asked.

Shouto wasn’t sure what to say or if he could even say anything. Instead of speaking he nodded and went back to his food trying to process what just happened. It was unreal. Midoriya had seemed so timid and scared. He managed to get his father to stop yelling and leave by asking for his autograph. Apparently with the added bonus of making Endeavor look bad.

And it worked.

After several minutes when Shouto was sure he could speak properly he asked, “Did you know that would work?”

Midoriya chewed slowly before finally answering. “Not one hundred percent. It was the best thing I could come up with.”  He made eye contact and smirked. “Kicking him in the face didn’t seem like a good idea,” he said with a lilt.

“No, I suppose not,” Shouto said with a small smile. He would have liked to see Bunny Midoriya kick his father in the face, Miruko style.

Shinsou was spluttering, clearly trying to keep himself from outright laughing or maybe cackling. It was nice to have people who understand he didn’t get along with his father and didn’t tell him he should fix it or suggest allowances he should make for the man.

Midoriya’s phone pinged and he checked it quickly, eyes going wide as he read. “Uh, Aizawa-sensei wants to see us after we finish eating.”

“I know at least two of you didn’t bother to tell your parents that you decided to go underground,” Aizawa said with a glare, turning towards Shinsou. “Was it all three of you?”

“No, my parents are aware,” he said.

“At least one of you has some brain cells,” Aizawa said with a sigh, turning back to Midoriya and Todoroki. “Midoriya has already explained to me why he didn’t tell his parents, what about you?”

“I had never planned on telling Endeavor,” Todoroki answered stoically. Aizawa immediately knew he made a mistake. He shouldn’t have done this with the other two around. He was too annoyed and didn’t think about it until Todoroki’s blunt answer metaphorically smacked him in the face.

“You two, wait in the hall,” he said sternly, not leaving any room for objections. When the door clicked behind them he looked back at Todoroki. “Care to explain?”

Todoroki appeared to mull things over for several heartbeats. “My father will not agree.”

Aizawa couldn’t say he disagreed with that assessment. His knowledge of Endeavor made a perfectly clear picture of disagreement. He should have expected this. He would have expected this if he had bothered to sit down and think.  

Todoroki couldn’t be blamed for his father’s actions. Endeavor made a scene and Midoriya had somehow put an end to it. He was going to have to watch the footage and ask Hizashi more about that later. 

Aizawa slumped down into a chair. “Fuck, you’re right.” He lolled his head back and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to figure out what to do next. He took a few seconds before he straightened himself in the chair and looked towards Todoroki again. Todoroki, who was looking at him with wide confused eyes. Aizawa registered what he just said. “Crap, I need to watch my language at school,” he grumbled. 

He took a few minutes to think about the problem. He would have to talk to Nedzu but the rodent was protective, or maybe possessive was a better word, of his students and their rights to make choices. Their parents might be their legal guardians but Nedzu always made sure U.A. had the power to let their students decide things for themselves. The more he thought about it the less of a problem it seemed. Really, Endeavor couldn’t do much unless he took extreme measures, which seemed unlikely to Aizawa. 

“Let's look at this logically,” he said, knowing his nap was lost to him.

Shouto was shocked that Aizawa just agreed with him and hasn’t gone to try and make Shouto somehow fix things. He was angry when they got there but as soon as Shouto had said that Endeavor would disagree, all the anger disappeared.

“Point one, your father will disagree with you going into underground heroics.” Shouto nodded. That was so beyond true he didn’t have the words to express the trueness.

“Point two, your training is minimally different from the limelight kids. You get extra classes but only miss out on the Media Relations class.” Shouto nodded again. He wasn’t sure what to say. 

“Media Relations seems to be a class your father would put little value on so I don’t expect he would object to you missing it.” Shouto suppressed a snort. His father would have talked about how they had people for that and Shouto taking a class was pointless when he could have been training. He hadn’t expected his teacher to say anything negative about his father, even if it wasn’t a direct insult. People never said bad things about Endeavor.

“Point three, any work studies you may take on would be with underground heroes or police departments, not limelight heroes.” Shouto knew that would end up being a problem. Endeavor was going to want Shouto to do his work studies at his agency and nowhere else. “U.A. is the one to approve your work studies. Your parents have no control over that.” 

Shouto brightened. “Even with his standing, he couldn’t…” Shouto trailed off trying to find a diplomatic way to put it. “Push me to work with him?”

Aizawa looked at him in a way he couldn't read. “No, even the number one hero cannot push a U.A. student into a work study they do not want,” he said dryly but Shouto didn’t miss the emphasis. It seemed Aizawa had picked up on what he really meant. Shouto knew he needed to be more careful. This whole conversation seemed dangerous if he didn’t want to expose too much.

“Point four, the Sports Festival. Your father has already noticed your absence but aside from the Sports Festival next year there isn’t anything public you will be missing from.” Shouto nodded once more. The Sports Festival was the only event U.A. had that was televised. Next year there might be issues before the Sports Festival but Shouto could deal with that. The dorms made it easy.

“Which brings us to the crux of the problem. If your father finds out that you are taking a heroics path he does not agree with, what will he do?”

“I don’t know,” Shouto said after several beats. He wasn’t sure. His father’s actions had become more and more unpredictable since gaining the number one title.

“Will he make you change schools?”

Shouto mulled the idea over. U.A. was the best. This had always been the plan. He didn’t think Endeavor would pull him out. No other school was as highly regarded and only U.A. had the Sports Festival. No other schools even had events that were covered by the news. Even if his father forced him to go to another school Shouto’s plan wouldn’t change and he would say as much. “I don’t think so,” he finally answered.

“Can you think of anything negative that may happen?”

Shouto made sure his face was carefully neutral. He could think of several negatives that could happen, mostly more training anytime he was home. He generally stayed in the dorms for breaks so he could avoid his father as long as he didn’t go home. Shouto could see that trying to claim nothing bad would happen wasn’t going to work. His father already made a scene at lunch. There would be consequences to his actions.

“I expect he’ll consider this part of my rebellious phase and I will get some angry voicemails, but I can manage that,” he said as neutrally as possible but he knew some of the annoyance slipped through. Aizawa and the other teachers had seen some of their contentious relationship, trying to hide the fact that he did not get along with Endeavor was pointless. “He may also contact the school. I expect if I tell him I am going underground he will contact the school more,” he added.

“Do you want to tell him?”

“No,” Shouto said without any hesitation.

Aizawa gave him another unreadable look that made Shouto want to squirm. He felt like he was being studied. Eventually, Aizawa nodded. “Then we won’t tell him. Your education is your business. I, and the other teachers, will handle things if he contacts the school. If you need my help for anything let me know.” 

Shouto was shocked that he was allowed to not tell Endeavor and his teacher was offering to deal with his father for him. He was too shocked to process that his teacher was also offering to help him. Shouto gave a single stiff nod. Aizawa dismissed him and Shouto was glad to be able to leave the room.

He found Midoriya and Shinsou waiting right outside the room. They made their way down the hallway and back towards where the students were supposed to be without words.  Before they get there Midoriya bumped his shoulder gently. “You okay?” he asked.

Shouto gave a small nod. He was okay. Maybe a little shocked but okay. They had a task to focus on right now, even if it was just wandering around. He could figure out why Aizawa offered to help and if he meant it later. Better to see how they handle his father first anyway. 

All Might was still eating his lunch in one of the small side rooms open to staff. The Recreational Games were playing on the television in the room. He was looking forward to the one on one matches coming up soon. Seeing how much the students had improved was always a joy.

Naomasa had been called away to interview someone suspicious and wasn’t sure when he would return. All Might jolted a bit when the door to the room suddenly opened. He expected to see Naomasa but found Gran Torino instead. Naomasa had mentioned he was here but All Might didn’t expect to see him, or maybe it was more he hoped not to. “Ah, Sensei. I didn’t expect to see you,” he said carefully. His old teacher still scared him, no matter how much he didn’t want to admit it.

“Well someone has to come kick some sense into you,” Gran fired back.

“I don’t think Recovery Girl will accept that reasoning for injuring me,” he said dryly.

Gran cackled before shaking his head and sitting down. All Might continued to eat his lunch, unsure of why his old teacher was here but refusing to ask. A few minutes that felt like an eternity passed as neither said anything. 

“Your brat called me a couple weeks ago because he’s worried about you and unsure what he should do about it. He feels guilty that I could feel it through the phone,” Gran said soberly.

“Oh.” All Might hadn’t expected that. Young Midoriya seemed busy lately and All Might had barely seen him. He hadn’t wanted to get in the way of his new training.

“Yeah, oh. What kind of mentor leaves their successor worried about them?” Gran snapped.

All Might wasn’t sure what to say. He thought he had assured Young Midoriya that it was fine he was going into underground heroics. And it was fine, perfectly fine. He understood the reasons. They made perfect sense. 

“I don’t know if I have anything left to teach him,” All Might said without looking up from his food.

“He might have chosen his own path, which was different than either of us expected, but he still needs you, Toshinori,” Gran said exasperatedly.

All Might continued to eat without responding as he tried to understand what Gran wanted him to do. He was still a teacher at U.A., he was still here for Young Midoriya. What exactly was Gran trying to say?

“Look, I know his research findings hurt. Nana believed in your dream. We all did and we all believed you achieved it. I think in ways that cannot be quantified you have succeeded. There’s no way to ever count how many people you inspired and continue to inspire even now. And I don’t mean to be heroes but the people you inspire to do better every day, be kinder, be heroes in the small ways that make the world better. There is no way that can ever be figured and this country is a better place than it was, I know you played a part in that,” Gran said with sincerity All Might had never heard from his teacher before.

He raised his head and met his teacher’s eyes. He might have succeeded but he could only think of one thing, Shigaraki. “But I also inspire villains,” he said.

Gran groaned in frustration. “Every hero inspires some villains. You were never going to erase villainy. You’re just their excuse.” All Might made a noncommittal hum. He wasn’t sure if this was true or not. “You cannot make the world a perfect place, Toshinori. No one can.”

All Might couldn’t disagree with that but he wasn’t sure how to respond. He had set out with a lofty goal and thought he accomplished it. Making the world an overall better place for everyone. Only to find out that wasn’t the case and he didn’t know what to do about it. Things would have changed without him. If his successor was right he might actually have hurt things in the long run by creating and becoming the Symbol of Peace.

“Fine. Overthink things. I have enough to deal with.” Gran leveled a look at All Might reminiscent of when he was a teacher. All Might felt himself tremble unwillingly. “Take care of your kid, Toshinori.” All Might nodded, watching Gran Torino leave. 

He hadn’t spent much time with Young Midoriya lately. He should check in with him and see how his new training was going. His successor had always come up with new creative ways to use One for All and he was looking forward to seeing how he would utilize it for underground work. 

They finally made it back to the stands where they could view the rest of the Sports Festival. Todoroki’s phone had been buzzing nearly constantly until he turned it off. When they had been getting close there was a sudden shout of “Shouto!” that had them all freezing in place. Midoriya was the first to suggest they take the long way back. 

Between the meeting with Aizawa and the long way around, Hitoshi still wasn’t sure that Midoriya had gotten lost and was pretending he knew his way around; they had missed the entirety of the Recreational Games and the first few one on one matches. Exiting the tunnel into the stands Hitoshi’s eyes were dazzled and he had to take several long blinks before he could see clearly.

“They paired Iida-kun with Hatsume-san again?” Midoriya said incredulously. Hitoshi looked down at the field and snorted. Hatsume was doing the exact same thing she did last year. Toying with Iida while showing off her inventions. It didn’t seem to be going as badly for Iida as it had last year but he was pretty sure if Hatsume wanted she would have won by now. They must have missed most of the match since Hatsume stepped out of bounds with a bow only a few short minutes after they started watching.

The next match between Tsuburaba and Uraraka sounded like an interesting matchup. Hitoshi idly wondered if Uraraka could make Tsuburaba’s solid air float. Present Mic was doing his normal introductions, hyping up the crowd.

“Shouto!” came the loud yell from somewhere behind them. Endeavor was determined to find Todoroki it seemed.

“Let’s move,” Midoriya said, snapping his laptop closed and heading away from Endeavor.

They ended up on the other side of the stadium, eventually. Missing a few matches on the trek there. At this point, Hitoshi thought they might be on the second round and that meant even more of their classmates would be searching for them. The match between Hagakure and Tokoyami had already started.

Tokoyami sent Dark Shadow to push Hagakure out of bounds but she did something causing the air to sparkle, sending Dark Shadow away. Midoriya had already started mumbling something. Hitoshi decides to interrupt and asks, “Midoriya, what is Hagakure’s quirk exactly?”

Midoriya opened his mouth to answer when someone nearby said, “I heard them over here, come on!” and Midoriya snapped his mouth shut. Jirou and Yaoyorozu came around the corner. Hitoshi tried to act as nonchalantly as possible. Midoriya focused solely on the field in front of him and Todoroki sat in a seat looking bored.

“I swear, I heard them. Midoriya’s muttering is impossible to miss,” Jirou said to Yaoyorozu.

“I don’t see them anywhere. Maybe they moved?” Yaoyorozu said. Jirou made an annoyed noise before continuing past them. 

Hitoshi wasn’t sure when he missed the end of the match but it seems Tokoyami eventually won. He was a little concerned to see a U.A. gym uniform discarded on the field. 

Did she strip?  

Hitoshi made eye contact with the other two. They got the mental message about moving again. Better to keep moving than have Jirou come back and take a closer look at them.

They were passing the restrooms when Aoyama came out and stopped to look directly at them. Hitoshi made an effort to keep his gait even but noticed that Midoriya tripped a bit under the stare. Aoyama smiled at them, winking dramatically. Hitoshi stumbled a bit at that. Todoroki doesn’t miss a step. Aoyama wasn’t the one he expected to see through their disguises. Aoyama waved theatrically before turning and waltzing off somewhere else.

“Well, I guess at least one person spotted us. That sucks,” Midoriya lamented.

“Not much we can do about it now,” Todoroki said neutrally. Hitoshi shrugged, Todoroki was right. There wasn’t anything they could do. 

They emerged from the tunnels to see Kendo’s huge hand smack Asui and send her flying towards the edge of the field. She managed to use her tongue to keep from flying out of bounds and redirected the momentum from the full-body hit she took to land an extremely solid kick on Kendo. Kendo stumbled backward before falling on her butt. Midnight called the match when the tips of Kendo’s fingers were just out of bounds. 

Midoriya made an appreciative whistle. “I’m gonna have to watch the recording of that match a few times. Both their techniques looked top-notch. I wonder if taking the hit from Kendo-san was intentional.” He wrote a few notes on his computer while Present Mic made the announcements for the next match.

Shouji and Shiozaki came out and Midnight started the match. Hitoshi blinked and before he knew it Shouji was wrapped up in Shiozaki’s vines and tossed out of bounds. He had no chance to do anything. “Ah, that was a bad matchup for Shouji-kun,” Midoriya said as he wrote more.

The field needed to be resurfaced since Shiozaki’s vines were dug into the ground in many places.  Hitoshi looked at the screen displaying the brackets and noticed the next match should be Uraraka against Tokoyami. He wasn’t sure how that would go at all. He thought about asking Midoriya but decided he didn’t want spoilers.

A loud screech and telltale popping sound could be heard before Bakugou and his so-called squad entered the area. Hitoshi took a seat and tried to look like he wasn’t sweating bullets. He could feel the sweat run down the back of his neck and had to suppress his desire to nervously scratch at it. 

Bakugou had known Midoriya long enough he might be able to see through the rabbit getup. “I don’t want any of you fucking extras following me around!” he screeched at his friends.

“Oh come on, Kacchan,” Kaminari whined.

“Don’t fucking call me that,” he snarled.

“Hey, it's fine. We can all look for them together. More eyes and all that,” Kirishima said, trying to console Bakugou.

“No,” Bakugou growled. “I’m gonna blow that fucking shitty nerd’s face off myself for his stupid fucking plan. There’s no way I am letting fucking Deku get away with humiliating me that way!”

“Dude, I told you. Uraraka was the one who talked to us. No one’s seen Midoriya all day,” Sero said, sounding a bit frustrated.

Hitoshi forced himself to not look in Midoriya’s direction. He knows Midoriya didn’t tell anyone to do what they did for the tamaire game, and yet Bakugou was blaming him. 

What the hell?

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Todoroki move next to Midoriya and push their shoulders together. It had the bonus of making Midoriya harder to see from where Bakugou and his friends were.

Hitoshi pulled out his phone and started scrolling through random apps. He was trying to appear like a normal person would right now which was really freaking hard. He didn’t want to pay attention to them for fear they might notice and he didn’t want to ignore them to the point that it became obvious he was ignoring them.

They continued fighting with Bakugou letting off more pops but Hitoshi wasn’t listening to what was being said anymore. He was too busy trying to force himself to read the words on his screen, which was not working very well. 

Finally, they wandered away and Hitoshi let out the breath he was unintentionally holding. When they were out of sight Todoroki and Midoriya started heading back into the tunnel area. Todoroki made a ‘come on’ head motion in Hitoshi’s direction. He followed without question.

“S-s-sorry,” Midoriya stutters out. Hitoshi was going to ask what he was apologizing for when Midoriya said, “I, um, wanted somewhere quiet after that.”

Hitoshi just hummed an acknowledgement. He could understand that. Listening to someone threaten you for something you didn’t do must not be easy. He could tell from the beginning that something was fundamentally wrong with the relationship between Midoriya and Bakugou but the more he saw the less he liked it. All the signs point to the same thing but that didn’t make any sense. Hitoshi wasn’t about to ask outright either. 

They wandered the tunnels not saying anything, walking right past Endeavor who still looked pissed off. They ended up missing the last of the matches. When it was time for the awards ceremony they headed out to see who won and were happy to see that Uraraka and Asui were sharing third place. Shiozaki was in second while Tokoyami took first. Midoriya started mumbling something about apple themed desserts and mochi.

Heading back to their classroom for dismissal was nerve-wracking. Midnight wanted them to reveal themselves to their class but Izuku wished he could find an excuse to just hide in his room until Kacchan calmed down.

He knew he shouldn’t be scared of him anymore but when he got so angry at Izuku about some perceived slight, well, old habits die hard. He couldn’t get in another fight. Aizawa still hadn’t forgiven him for the first one. He didn’t know who’s idea the strategy for tamaire was but from what he overheard it might have come from Uraraka. He didn’t want one of his friends to have to face Kacchan’s wrath. Maybe it would be best to take the blame.

No, that wasn’t fair to anyone. It was a good plan. Kacchan might be pissed about it but it had worked extremely well. Everyone knew Kacchan was likely to win if he made it to the final round. The best strategy was to take him out earlier and they did. Whoever came up with the idea deserved credit and praise. 

Izuku was still worried about what the media was going to say. Kacchan’s attitude had been criticized last year and this year it appeared he was ostracized by his fellow students. At least Midnight didn’t have to knock him out this year and he hadn’t been chained to the podium.

Long before he was ready they were standing at the door to their classroom. They arrived later than the others, as they had been told to do, and the rest of the class could be heard on the other side of the door. Midnight was standing in the hallway waiting for them. She smiled and said, “Right on time! I will call for you to come in after I ask if anyone spotted you.”

Midnight entered the classroom and they carefully stayed out of sight. They heard her ask, “Did anyone see our three missing students today?” She got a bunch of grumbles in return. “Really, no one of you?” she asked for confirmation.

Izuku was a bit concerned. Aoyama had seen them, so why wasn’t he claiming credit? Midnight called them to enter the room. Their classmates stared at them for several long seconds before erupting.

“Deku-kun you look so cute!”

“Can I touch your ears?”

“-cuter than some girls”

“You blue fuck-”

“Holy- “

“Midori, you were the one who asked Endeavor for his autograph!”

“A fish fuck-”

“We walked right past you-”

“I knew I heard you!”

“And a god damned fucking bunny?”

“Enough, enough,” Midnight said to quiet the class. It didn’t work nearly as fast as Aizawa’s glares but the class did quiet down quickly. “How many of you saw them but didn’t recognize them?” Midnight asked the class.

Several hands went up, some that Izuku didn’t expect. He looked over at Aoyama while his hand was up. Izuku noticed he was rather pale. Figuring he must not be feeling well, Izuku decided he should give him the credit he deserves.

“Midnight-sensei, I am pretty sure Aoyama-kun recognized us when he saw us,” he said tentatively.

“Oh? Aoyama-kun?” she asked him.

“Er- Non, I did not recognize them,” he said, refusing to meet Izuku’s eyes.

“B-but you uh- waved at us,” Izuku said rather perplexed.

Aoyama made a kind of strangled noise and in a very small voice said, “Oui.”

“Uh, okay,” Izuku said dumbly. He had been sure Aoyama had recognized them. Why did Aoyama wink and wave at them? He was sure they were recognized.

“Are you sure Aoyama-kun?” Midnight asked.

Aoyama put his head on his desk and groaned. “I was rather magnétiser by Monsieur Shinsou’s scales.”

Several snickers could be heard around the room and Izuku felt awful. He was just trying to make sure Aoyama got the credit and it turned out he forced his friend to embarrass himself. He was going to have to apologize.

“Well his scales are very pretty,” Kaminari said.

“His eyes give me the creeps though,” Jirou said.

Before the class could start discussing them more Aizawa stood up, still in his sleeping bag. “You are all dismissed. Go back to the dorms and let me sleep,” he said dryly.

“Come on boys, we need to put all your stuff away,” Midnight said to them.

It didn’t take them long to clean up and put stuff away. Todoroki didn’t bother to try to clean off any of the body paint, claiming he will just shower when they get back to the dorms. Izuku decided the same for most of his makeup. It would take too long to clean it off with the wipes. 

Entering the dorms they were greeted with, “You are still blue! And Midori, you have so many extra freckles!” from Ashido.

“Ha, yeah, going to take a shower soon,” Izuku said, walking towards his gathered classmates and taking a seat.

“I am going to shower now,” Todoroki announced as he turned and left without another word. 

“Well he seems a bit testy,” Ashido said as he walked away.

Shinsou raised his eyebrows. “Wouldn’t you be if your dad was looking for you all day?” he said.

“Oh right! Midoriya, what was up with you asking for Endeavor’s autograph at lunch? I didn’t recognize you at all and you seemed so scared,” Sero asked.

“Ah-” He laughed a bit awkwardly. “You know how I am about heroes.” Izuku searched for a topic change when he spotted Uraraka and Tsuyu coming into the room. “Uraraka-san, Tsuyu-chan, congrats on third place!”

“Aw, thanks Deku-kun!” Uraraka said as she headed towards him.

“Thank you Midoriya-chan,” Tsuyu said.

Izuku located Tokoyami in a corner. “Tokoyami-kun! Dark Shadow! Congrats on first place!” he called over.

“Many thanks,” he said, nodding at Izuku.

“We should win everything from now on,” Dark Shadow said to Tokoyami, getting an eye-roll in return.

“You guys looked so good!” Uraraka gushed. “I walked right past you in the hallway between matches and didn’t even take notice.”

“Midoriya-chan, you were very cute today,” Tsuyu said.

“He was! I wanted to hug you and play with your ears. Which I know normally would be super rude but they were fake so is that still rude?” Uraraka asked.

Izuku knew he was blushing, he could feel the heat in his face. Tsuyu appeared to be contemplating the question and Izuku decided now might be a good time to shower. “I’m gonna go shower. See you guys later!” he said hurriedly as he got up.

Unfortunately, Izuku didn’t get far. He was halfway across the common room when Kacchan grabbed him by the collar and pushed him into a wall.

“Why the fuck did you have to sabotage me? You weren’t even competing? Huh? I thought you weren’t going to fight anymore? That’s what you said!” he yelled.

“Bakugou, not cool. You need to let Midoriya go,” Kirishima said, trying to calm down Kacchan but it only made him angrier.

“Not talking to you shitty hair,” he snarled.

“K-ka-kacchan, I, uh, don’t know w-what you are, er, talking about,” Izuku stuttered out. He hated that he stuttered at this. He wasn’t scared of him anymore. He shouldn’t take this crap either. Except he wouldn't get in trouble for fighting again. He wouldn’t. It didn’t matter if he wasn’t the one who started it. That was made clear and he wasn’t going to make the same mistake twice.

“Oi! Explody jerk!” Uraraka yelled, standing up. Kacchan growled and didn’t say anything. “Are you pissed about tamaire?” she asked angrily.

“What do you fucking think? Of course, I am! I can’t believe you all went along with shitty Deku’s plan!” he yelled at the room.

“That was my plan,” Uraraka said, folding her arms and leveling him with a look.

“The fuck?”

“That was my plan. It was all my idea. I came up with it all on my own. So don’t go pushing around my friend for something I did,” she said angrily. 

“We tried to tell you, man,” Sero said with a sigh, shaking his head.

Kacchan looked between Izuku and Uraraka, shocked. He let Izuku go with another hard shove against the wall as he advanced on Uraraka. “Why?” he gritted out between clenched teeth.

“Easy. It was the only way to beat you. If you got to the last round you would have won. The field for the one on one matches gives your quirk a huge advantage. So, I used the advantage we had against you in tamaire. Teamwork ,” she said confidently, lifting her chin to show she wasn’t going to be cowed.

Kacchan stormed out of the room without another word.

“Are you okay, Deku-kun?” Uraraka asked him quietly when most of their classmates had gone back to what they were doing before Kacchan decided to start a fight.

“Yeah, yeah. I am fine,” he said. He wasn’t exactly fine but he wasn’t hurt. Maybe a bruise but nothing he couldn’t manage. “Uh- gonna shower. I will see you at dinner, yeah?” he said with a smile he hoped was more confident than he feels.

Uraraka looked like she would object but he moved away before she had a chance.

He wouldn’t get into another fight.

“Shouta, we are talking Eri out tomorrow,” Hizashi lamented.

“Shit, I forgot.” Shouta pushes his hair back. Hizashi could see his husband was annoyed at himself. Shouta wasn’t one to forget such things normally. Hizashi made a noncommittal hum, he didn’t have anything to say. “Eri knows Problem Child. You can drop us off and when I finish up I will take the train and meet you where you are.”

Hizashi sighed but he knew there wasn’t much of an alternative. It was rare that they both had the same day off. It would be fine, they would make it work. He hoped Shouta wouldn’t miss too much of their day out. Eri would be disappointed.

Eijirou was worried about Bakugou. He had seemed so defeated when he stormed out earlier, not his usual angry but determined. His worry had only increased when Bakugou didn’t come to dinner. They had an exhausting day and he hadn’t seen him eat lunch. It had taken Eijirou and the rest of their friends the better part of an hour to locate Bakugou after the tamaire game.

When they did finally find him he had been adamant that Midoriya had been the one to set him up. Sure, Eijirou was a bit hurt that his friends had gone this route but he also couldn’t blame them. It was likely the only way to beat Bakugou. If he had made it into the final round he had an overwhelming advantage. Eijirou stood a chance but it would have been a battle of attrition, one he expected Bakugou would have won once again.

He sighed as he knocked on Bakugou’s door holding a plate of food. There wasn’t any answer. He knocked again louder and was met with more silence. He pulled out his phone and with one hand managed to select the right contact and call Bakugou. He held the phone to his ear but also listened carefully at the door. The line rang before eventually going to voicemail, he didn’t hear any ringing on the other side of the door. 

Bakugou must not be in his room and Eijirou had no idea where to start looking for him. He sighed again and went back towards the kitchen.

He wrapped up the plate of food, labeled it with a sticky note, and put it in the fridge. He took another sticky note and wrote a short message. When he got back to his floor he put the note on Bakugou’s door. Best to let him know there was food waiting when he got back.

In his room, Eijirou mindlessly scrolled through the internet on his phone, listened to music, anything to keep his mind off other things. Somehow the hours passed by and as he was getting ready for bed his phone pinged.

Bakugou Katsuki

You don’t need to save food for me shitty hair

Eijirou smiled to himself, pretty sure this was Bakugou’s way of thanking him. He thought he was mostly fluent in Bakugou-speak.

Kirishima Eijirou

No problem!

He sent off the text, only to be left with it marked as read. Not unusual for Bakugou but he would usually argue a bit more. 

Tomorrow.

Tomorrow he could figure out how to help.