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Over the course of their time at UA Academy, hero class 2-A has experienced more than enough of their fair share of up-close encounters with villains. Despite the prestigious institution’s best efforts, it has basically become routine for the class of up-and-coming heroes to be targeted by those wishing to eradicate any semblance of peace that still remained in society. The students are pretty much used to it by now.
So it doesn’t come as a big surprise when class 2-A is kidnapped by an unidentified villain and imprisoned in an inescapable pocket dimension courtesy of the villain’s unique quirk. It’s just another Tuesday, really.
This particular villain’s quirk allows him to create a special room sequestered from time and space in a reality separate from our own. He can manipulate the space within the room as he pleases, giving him the freedom to create a uniquely customized prison for any person that he manages to entrap.
Despite the endless possibilities of torture chambers available at this man’s fingertips, the villain seems to prefer a minimalist approach when using his ability. The room that he has chosen to create and detain class 2-A in is completely empty and without any distinguishable features. The walls and floor are grey and textureless, and the space within is illuminated by an indeterminate source of light. The room is a little larger than the size of a typical classroom. No doors, no windows. A grey void of nothingness.
To make matters even more unoriginal, the villain wants to play games with the students. Specifically, mind games. He likes to pick out his victims individually and challenge them to complete a task. The tasks he orders are often humiliating in nature or force their recipient to reveal a secret or vulnerability.
“I want you to reveal your weakness to me,” the villain, who has yet to unveil himself in person, but calls himself ‘Gris,’ announces into the room as an incorporeal voice. “You’re not as great and powerful as you think you are. Allow me to show you.”
The class of teenagers had faced many perils beforehand in their careers as heroes; this one should not be anywhere near as dangerous as those before.
They are wrong.
Mineta is the first casualty. He is tasked to “simply announce the immoral wrongdoings he’s done towards his fellow classmates and apologize to them.” The offending boy denies that he has ever done anything wrong towards the rest of his classmates and refuses to say anything else. His protests are abruptly silenced as all life appears to drain out of the boy’s eyes and his body collapses, fading away into smoke.
The students react only with silence, for it is not a moment of mourning, but rather one of acknowledgement. The stakes of this game have been made clear: failure will not be tolerated.
Their lives are on the line.
On a less terrifying note, but nonetheless still threatening, Gris somehow has inexplicable access to everyone’s most personal information. Like,really personal. Things like well-kept secrets and memories and innermost traumas. Things that nobody but the owner of said things should know about. This villain already had the unreal ability to create a space that existed outside the realm of reality—does he also have a mind-reading quirk?
There is literally no time to stop and try to comprehend exactly what they are dealing with.
The games continue on as Gris chooses another student to test, and another, and so on. Each challenge aims to achieve the same goal: to humiliate and expose the weakness of the game’s player. And every time, the villain seems to know a substantial amount of personal information about the person. The thing is though, he never outright announces the student’s secrets for all to hear. He knows about them, but he wants the player of his game to reveal their secrets themself. Force them to share their vulnerabilities with their own voice.
Shinsou is the second to be targeted. Gris orders him to brawl with another classmate. The conditions: he must choose his opponent and use his brainwashing quirk to command the other person to fight him. Victory is not a requirement.
“You don’t seem daunted by this task, do you?” Gris’ voice asks with a curious lilt.
Shinsou smirks dismissively. “I’m not. I mean, you’re not even asking me to win the fight. This doesn’t sound hard.”
Gris sighs. “It seems you don’t understand your challenge. I’m asking you to use your quirk, the one you secretly feel disdain towards having, in order to fight one of your comrades—to inflict pain upon them. And I want you to choose your opponent. I will not choose for you, and neither will any of your classmates. You choose. You choose who to brainwash, who you want to hurt. It’s always been your choice, Shinsou.”
Shinsou’s leisurely smile slips from his face and something grim takes its place, furrowing his features. With a remorseful look in his eyes, Shinsou nods, accepting the challenge.
Several students approach Shinsou to volunteer for the fight, giving him permission to use his quirk on them. Shinsou regards his friends and classmates with a somewhat pained look, but he remains quiet while he considers who to pick. Eventually, he decides on Yaoyorozu to be his opponent.
“I want to make it clear to you,” says Yaoyorozu before the fight, “that I am fully consenting to you using your quirk on me, okay?” She gives him a small, reassuring smile. “I trust you.”
Shinsou looks at Yaoyorozu with a faint glimmer of gratitude in his eyes. “Thank you. I promise it won’t last long.” He smiles ruefully. “You’ll beat me quick, I know it.”
True to his word, the match ends swiftly with Yaoyorozu as the victor. As soon as she regains her free will, Yaoyorozu helps Shinsou to his feet, checks him for injuries, and apologizes for her onslaught.
“You did what you had to,” Shinsou says. He looks away guiltily. “And… I’m sorry that I chose you to do this.”
Yaoyorozu merely shakes her head. “You put a lot of care and deliberation into your choice. I know that the last thing you wanted to do was to hurt me. You’re still good, Shinsou-san. I’ve never seen you be anything less.”
Shinsou remains quiet afterwards, but as time continues on, the anguish that was previously present on his face seems to vanish.
From then on, several more games are played with the students of class 2-A.
Tokoyami is asked to “confront his inner demons.” Literally. The villain wants him to speak to Dark Shadow and confess every spiteful thought that the boy secretly feels towards them. At first, Tokoyami refuses to say anything, avoiding the task with a look of shame. But eventually, he opens up and speaks to Dark Shadow, revealing thoughts of self-loathing and similarly dark beliefs. Dark Shadow listens and contributes their own burdens, and in the end, the two end up having a very meaningful and conducive conversation, one that results in long-saved tears being shed from both parties.
The next game plays out in a similar manner.
“Let’s see… Bakugou Katsuki,” Gris announces to the room. “ Yikes. There’s a lot going on with you, isn’t there?”
“Huh ? The fuck you want from me?” Bakugou spits loudly.
Gris hums, as if he were contemplating. "You've made a lot of enemies over the years, but what about friends? I bet you don't have many of those."
"Yeah, right! I have fucking friends!"
"Prove it to me. Tell me all about your beloved friends."
Bakugou opens his mouth ready to aggressively rebut, but he freezes when he realizes exactly what he would have to say: the names of the people he considers the most special to him and why he feels that way about them. He will have to say a lot of nice, sentimental things about some people—people who stand just a few feet away from him in that very room.
An ugly choked sound escapes Bakugou’s still agape mouth and his skin turns an alarming shade of red.
“Oh boy…” a nervous Kirishima murmurs to Sero, Kaminari, and Ashido. The latter facepalms.
The next five minutes consist of a lot of stammering and loud cursing from a very red Bakugou as he tries over and over to explain that yes, he has friends, and yes, they’re in the same class as him, and yes, he cares about them… kind of. It’s not like they’re that special to him, or anything like that. They just happen to be the least annoying people he knows and that he’d be pissed as hell if they ever got their dumbasses killed or whatever.
In the end, Gris accepts Bakugou’s explanation and the boy in question finds himself crushed in between the arms of the people he considers his closest friends. There is a lot of angry shouting, joyous crying, and warm laughter that comes from the large bundle of limbs.
The rest of the class watches the scene with fond amusement. It is small, tender moments like this in-between trials that makes it easy for the heroes to briefly forget that they are still trapped in a villain’s dangerous game.
Among the rest of the class is Midoriya, huddled together with his friends. A gentle tug on his sleeve draws Midoriya’s attention to his side. With a small start, he notices Todoroki standing only inches away from him and leaning in close to speak.
“I have a theory,” Todoroki says with a conspiratorial tone to his voice.
“Hm, what’s that?”
“I’m starting to think that this villain’s not very good at his job. He’s probably better suited to being a therapist or something.”
“Oh my god, you’re right…” Midoriya brings a hand up to his chin as he considers the past few heartfelt moments between his classmates.
Gris said he wanted to see everyone reveal their weak points, and he’s proven that he’s certainly capable of doing that, but it also kind of feels like he’s been indirectly helping his players overcome their weaknesses at the same time.
Shinsou may have failed to win in a physical fight, but it appeared that by doing so, he won some kind of internal battle of his own. Tokoyami exposed some of his darkest secrets to his closest companion, and yet together they made peace, and their conversation closed on a bright and amicable note. Bakugou was forced to admit aloud, and probably also to himself, that he did have people in his life that he cared about and relied upon, and as a result, his relationship with said allies grew stronger.
Class 2-A’s morale was looking, surprisingly, pretty high right now. All thanks to Gris?
“Yeah, he’s oddly… helping us, I think?” Midoriya muses aloud.
Todoroki frowns as he considers. “That can’t be his intention, can it? Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know…” Midoriya taps his chin thoughtfully and then shrugs. “Maybe he really is just that bad at being a villain?”
Todoroki and Midoriya look at each other with serious expressions—and then Midoriya snorts a laugh into his palm and Todoroki fails to stifle a chuckle.
“Do you think he has a Doctorate’s degree in psychology?” Todoroki deadpans after a moment.
“Todoroki-kun, this is no time for jokes,” Midoriya chides, but he’s biting back a smile.
“No, it was a serious question.”
Before Midoriya can counter with a rebuttal, Gris’ voice suddenly chimes into the room again.
“Midoriya Izuku.”
The noise in the room quiets, but for the most part, there is not much tension or fear emanating from the students. As a whole, the class has started to notice a pattern in Gris’ games, and so far, not much challenge or loss has resulted because of them. This imprisonment in the villain’s quirk was starting to resemble more of an inconvenience rather than a threat.
Nonetheless, Midoriya straightens to attention and evenly addresses the villain. “Yeah?”
“I’ve heard a lot of promising things about you, Midoriya. I hear you’re intent on becoming the world’s next greatest hero, correct?”
“That’s the plan, yes,” Midoriya replies, a hint of confidence present in his voice. “I want to be a hero that saves people with a smile on my face.” He’s gotten so used to announcing his goal to people lately, it almost feels like it’s become a slogan of his.
Gris hums pensively. “I just don’t get it. I don’t see what’s so special about you.”
It might just be the lingering endorphins in his system, but Midoriya is feeling a bit bolder than usual right now. “If you let us out of this quirk of yours, you can face me in person and find out the answer for yourself,” he challenges.
Gris tsks. “I don’t think I will do that. I’d rather talk, get to know you a little better first.”
“It doesn’t really seem like you need me to tell you anything. You already know basically everything about all of us anyway.”
“True,” the villain admits. “But I like to hear other people share their secrets with me personally. So, why don’t you share one of your secrets with me, Midoriya? After all, you have quite a few of them, don’t you?”
Well, he’s not wrong. Gris could be referring to any number of things, like the fact that he was born quirkless. Or he could be referring to his troubling past with Bakugou’s abuse that not even his own mother knows the true extent of. Or maybe Gris is referring to the fact that he has seven different quirks from the previous holders of One For All manifested inside of him—that’s kind of a big one.
Either way, if Gris is going to force him to reveal one of these secrets to his fellow classmates, well… the truth about any one of those things was bound to come out at some point. If anything, this kind of knowledge being shared will not only help Midoriya’s allies understand him better, but they will be able to help him grow stronger as a hero since they will be able to coordinate better with his powers.
This villain’s next game shouldn’t be a problem.
Midoriya stands tall, self-assured and battle-ready. He speaks to the grey nothingness before him. “Name your game.”
Gris doesn’t respond right away, but when he does, his next words knock the wind out of Midoriya.
“You’re in love with someone.” He states it as a fact, leaving no room for argument.
Midoriya freezes in place, completely thrown for a loop. He feels his face heat up in embarrassment and he struggles to find something, anything coherent to say. “Wh-what?”
Gris huffs out a pleased sound. “My, the look on your face right now... I think I’ve found your weakness.”
The burning humiliation in his skin starts to ebb as dread quickly takes its place, washing over his body like frigid water.
He didn’t consider this an option. He forgot, he didn’t think, he underestimated—
“Have you told him yet?” Gris continues to prod.
Midoriya gapes wordlessly, baffled by the sudden and unceremonious outing of his interest in a boy.
“Judging by your silence, I’m certain you haven’t.” Then the villain’s voice brightens. “Fortunately, he’s standing so close to you! Wouldn’t now be the perfect time to tell him how you feel?”
Midoriya continues to stare unyieldingly into the greyness ahead of him. He can’t bear to see everyone’s reactions to this, to his face, to his feelings. He can’t bear to turn his head even the slightest towards his friends, towards Todoroki. He can’t—
“Wait a minute,” Gris suddenly laughs, and then abruptly, his voice takes on a darker edge. “Don’t tell him. I don’t want you to tell him. I want you to show him.”
Please, Midoriya begs hopelessly in his head. Not like this.
“I want you to turn around, walk straight to him, and kiss him. Don’t tell him anything—no warning, no nothing. Kiss him or I’ll kill him. You have two minutes.”
And then there’s deafening silence.
Midoriya gasps violently as he inhales deeply—he must have stopped breathing at some point. There are voices swarming around him but he can barely hear anything through the ringing in his ears. He sees figures moving in the corners of his vision, but his eyes only see grey. There’s a hand firmly resting on his shoulder. Is that Uraraka’s voice he can faintly hear next to him? The only words he can make out from what she’s saying are ‘breathe’ and ‘please.’
So he breathes. He breathes until he can even marginally feel sensation in his legs, until he feels certain that he’s not going to upheave his stomach in the very next second, until the blackness in his vision clears and he can make out the pink of Uraraka’s hero costume standing in front of him.
“Mido-kun, can you hear me?” she asks, her hand steady on his frame. She looks him over with large, concerned eyes.
“Midoriya-kun!” Iida cries from Uraraka’s side. “Are you okay?”
“I—I’m okay…” Midoriya manages to rasp. He brings a hand up to rest against his pounding forehead and shuts his eyes. “I just need a second.”
“I know, Mido-kun, but you don’t have much time…,” Uraraka implores softly.
“Yeah… yeah, I know,” Midoriya pants, his mind still rushing from the panic coursing through his veins. “I’m gonna do it, I just—I need—...” his words falter, not knowing how to finish.
What does he need?
Fuck, he needs to move, he doesn’t have time, Todoroki’s going to—
“Everyone!” Someone—no, Iida, that’s Iida’s voice—shouts to the room. “Let us all be courteous and help give Midoriya-kun some privacy!”
Yaoyorozu quickly catches on and joins in with giving instructions. “Yes, let us help him make this easier! Boys: please line up against the wall of the room and close your eyes! Girls: give him some space and do the same but against the opposite wall!”
The sound of shuffling feet echoes throughout the room as the students of class 2-A obey the instructions from their class representatives without complaint. Well, mostly.
“Fuck this!” Bakugou gripes loudly. “I don’t want that shitty nerd getting anywhere near me!”
Midoriya, having regained most of his composure, speaks coolly over his shoulder, “Kaachan, it’s definitely not you.”
“Good!” And Bakugou takes his place amongst the wall, only facing it instead, his arms crossed impatiently. “Now, hurry the hell up! I don’t wanna have to listen to your gross ass making out sounds!”
Uraraka and Yaoyorozu give Midoriya a final sympathetic look before they both cross to the opposite side of the room. The girls turn around and face the wall, leaving Midoriya alone to his ‘game.’
“Is everybody ready—” Iida calls but is interrupted.
“Midoriya,” comes Shinsou’s voice.
Playing it safe, Midoriya decides not to turn around just yet. “Yeah?” He answers back.
“Just in case, I want to give you my consent to what you’re about to do.”
“That’s an excellent idea, Shinsou!” Iida commends. “Midoriya-kun, you have my full consent, as well.”
One-by-one, the rest of the boys contribute their own proclamations of consent (Midoriya listens carefully for Todoroki’s “I consent” and repeats it in his head like a mantra). The kind gesture from his classmates makes Midoriya’s heart swell with gratitude.
“Okay, everyone, eyes shut!” Iida shouts. “Midoriya-kun, whenever you’re ready!”
Midoriya takes a deep breath and turns around. He’s met with the strange sight of his classmates lined up against the wall, reminiscent of one of those criminal lineups you’d see in a police station. He can’t help but think that this almost feels like some kind of twisted version of Duck, Duck, Goose. Instead of tapping the goose on the head, he has to kiss him, and if he doesn’t, the goose will die. Fun… lots of fun.
Midoriya trails his gaze over each one of his classmates, thankful to see that they all have their eyes shut—except for Todoroki. Their eyes meet for just a second, Todoroki’s widening at being noticed, and then he swiftly closes his. The brief interaction only helps to churn Midoriya’s stomach with more nervousness.
With leaden feet, Midoriya steps forward and approaches the corner of the room where Todoroki stands. When he’s finally standing in front of him, Midoriya looks up at the face of the boy he’s fallen for. Todoroki looks peaceful with his eyes shut, his face neutral of any emotion. The only visible tenseness from his body is at his hands, balled into fists by his sides. Is he nervous too?
No. Midoriya can’t think about that right now.
Right now he has to focus on acting. He has to prevent Todoroki from dying.
He has to… but god , does this feel wrong. He feels guilty that he’s about to steal a kiss from his best friend. He feels ashamed that he’s about to do it without even having asked if Todoroki feels the same way about him. And he feels disgusting that he might even enjoy the kiss despite everything.
It wasn’t supposed to happen like this… if it was even going to happen at all.
Midoriya steels himself, brusquely forces away the sorry thoughts in his head, and moves.
He lifts his hand to the back of Todoroki’s head and gently pulls him down so that Midoriya can close the few remaining inches between them and connect their lips in a kiss. Todoroki jolts just a little at the unexpected contact, but he doesn’t struggle against Midoriya’s touch.
He’s warm, Midoriya relishes in the fact. It’s much too easy for him to draw Todoroki closer, to press his lips just a little bit more firmly against the soft ones under his own. He can feel warm puffs of air fan across his cheeks as Todoroki exhales deeply through his nose. The intimacy of it all makes Midoriya’s head spin.
The kiss only lasts a handful of seconds before Midoriya pulls back.
“Midoriya...” Todoroki murmurs, his voice soft and low and brimming with awe.
Ready to retreat and apologize, Midoriya bows his head and moves to step back, but he doesn’t get far because Todoroki grips a hand on his upper arm to keep him in place, and then Todoroki is dipping his head down to chase Midoriya’s lips for a second kiss.
Midoriya utters a small, surprised sound in the back of his throat, his eyes wide open and trying to register that Todoroki is kissing him back. The hand on Midoriya’s arm squeezes lightly, soothingly, trying to convey a message that means it’s okay. Midoriya sighs, lets himself close his eyes, and returns the kiss. Todoroki brings up his other hand to cradle Midoriya’s cheek, holding him steady as he clumsily presses forward, bumping their noses together, and applying a little too much pressure into the kiss. Midoriya eases back for a second, letting their lips brush together delicately, before he angles his face and dives back in. Todoroki hums a quiet, pleased noise, and lets his fingertips roam across Midoriya’s cheek and slip smoothly into the curls of his hair.
Eventually, the two of them pull back, slightly winded and with flushed faces, and Midoriya’s eyes hesitantly meet Todoroki’s. The other boy stares back at him with an intent gaze, but Midoriya can’t make heads or tails of what it means because his head is swimming and it feels like his heart is about to burst out of his chest.
He did it, he kissed Todoroki, and Todoroki kissed back, and he’s still alive and he’s not dead, he’s not dead, he’s not dead, but now what happens, was that real, why did he kiss back, did he just imagine it, no, he really did it but why did he—
“Midoriya,” Todoroki soothes, loud enough for only them to hear. “Midoriya, it’s okay. Stop thinking, it’s fine, don’t worry.” Todoroki’s hand is back on his cheek, calming him, but also preventing him from looking away. “I feel the same way.”
Midoriya just stares at him, bewildered. “What?”
“I feel the same way about you.”
Momentarily in disbelief, Midoriya scans over Todoroki’s face, searching for answers, and what he finds are soft eyes, glowing with adoration, and a small, timid smile slowly crinkling up his face.
It’s real. It’s true.
“Oh…” Midoriya whispers thickly, his throat closing up, a telltale sign of incoming tears. He lurches forward and buries his face into Todoroki’s shoulder. He releases a shuddering breath and snakes his arms around Todoroki in an embrace. “Oh...”
Todoroki immediately returns the hug, bundling Midoriya closer against him. He gently wraps a hand around the back of Midoriya’s head, nestles his face into his curls, and whispers, “I love you too.”
Hearing the words rips a muffled sob out of Midoriya.
“Midoriya-kun!” a voice calls from the distance, breaking the moment between the boys. It’s Iida. “Is everything okay?”
Midoriya sucks in a deep breath and reluctantly pulls away from Todoroki’s arms. Once again, though, Todoroki doesn’t let him get too far as he keeps a hand wrapped loosely around his wrist.
“Yeah.” Midoriya clears his throat and calls out loud, “Everything’s fine. I, uh, I did it. You can all open your eyes now.”
The students of class 2-A do as they’re told and observe their surroundings. It isn’t difficult for them to spot Midoriya standing in Todoroki’s personal space and for them to put two and two together. Many of the students send a happy, relieved smile in their direction, some even “aww” aloud and announce their congratulations to the couple, but for the most part, the majority of class 2-A keeps their distance and allows the two to retain what little privacy they still have.
“I’m sorry,” Midoriya says quietly to the boy besides him. He sniffles and wipes at his tear-stained eyes. “I didn’t want you to find out this way. I was gonna—I wanted to tell you properly, but—”
“I know,” Todoroki replies softly. Then his voice takes on a slightly harder edge. “It’s that bastard’s fault. You didn’t have a choice.”
“God,” Midoriya breathes roughly, “He was going to kill you, I couldn’t—”
Todoroki wraps his hand fully around Midoriya’s and squeezes tightly. “I know.”
And, speak of the devil, at that moment, Gris’ voice resounds through the room once more.
“Well, now. How sweet. That wasn’t so difficult, was it, Midoriya?”
A newfound anger sparks within Midoriya and he grits his teeth at the return of the villain’s voice. He keeps his hand tightly locked with Todoroki’s, but he turns in place to face the grey space of the room—the closest thing he knows to a face for this villain.
“I knew that your confession was going to end well, of course,” Gris continues nonchalantly. “I just really wanted to see you squirm, Midoriya. I wanted to see your brave, heroic front fall for just a moment and for you to bare your weakness for everyone to see.”
Midoriya’s mouth twists into a snarl. “Next time you want to try and expose my weakness, how about you threaten to kill me instead of one of my friends?”
Gris croons a melodic laugh. “I think I’m beginning to see what’s so special about you, Midoriya. I’ll play with you again later. After all, I doubt you’ll be able to escape anytime soon.”
And then it’s silent once again.
Midoriya stares down at the ground, his face still knit with anger and his free hand clenched at his side. The students of class 2-A collectively share a mix of worried and dejected glances at one another. Some move to approach Midoriya, to try to calm him.
Uraraka steps forward. “Mido-kun…” she broaches carefully. “We can still—”
Midoriya huffs out a laugh. A genuine one, not an angry or bitter one.
“Midoriya-kun?” Iida questions his friend hesitantly. Many others in the room respond with their own confused looks.
With a wry smile, Midoriya turns and faces the rest of his classmates.
“We were joking about this before… That this villain isn’t really doing a great job of doing what he said he wanted to do. He made it clear with his ‘games’ that he wants to humiliate us, to expose our weaknesses, but so far, really, all he's done is push us closer together. This whole time, we’ve been supporting each other and trusting each other even while this villain tried to kick us down and force us to be at our most vulnerable. He thinks he’s tearing us down, but really he’s building us up, making us stronger. So, I don’t know about you guys, but the last thing that I feel right now is weak.”
Midoriya’s speech is met with a volley of agreements and cheers from his classmates. Shouts of ‘you’re right!’ and ‘we can make it through this!’ and ‘this villain sucks!’ ring through the air. Any despair and hopelessness left in the room is replaced with an unsurpassable feeling of positivity, determination, and togetherness.
Uraraka, Iida, Asui, and Shinsou gather around Midoriya and Todoroki, their faces beaming with hope and love for one another.
To Midoriya’s side, Todoroki smiles warmly and tenderly squeezes the hand in his own. And Midoriya squeezes back.
There was still a lot left unknown about their situation: how long will they be trapped in this room, how would they escape, who even is Gris, and how does he know so much about them? But it had become very clear to the heroes that their current predicament was not nearly as dangerous as any of their previous brushes with bad guys. Especially because they all had each other’s backs.