Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The entrance exams were very possibly Aizawa Shouta's least favorite part of his job. Leaving aside his issues with the way they judge applicants, it's really a job a single person could do. All they need is someone to make sure that the computer assigns points to the correct applicant and to keep an eye out for injured students to have Recovery Girl check on.

Instead, the entire faculty sits in a single viewing room watching kids who, for the most part, they will never see again try to destroy robots with, often, very unsuitable quirks for the task. It just isn't an efficient way of doing things, even with three groups going at once.

Regardless, it was his job to watch so that's what he would do.

They were nearing the end of the applicant pool when he noticed Nedzu lean forward slightly as the next batch got ready to go. Shouta could see some interesting quirks and at least one kid he recognized as a coworker's relative, but nothing that would make the principal show interest like that.

He scanned again, wanting to know who to focus on before they began, and his eyes caught on a pair of bulky, red shoes. Well, that answers that question. Nedzu had pushed hard for quirkless applicants to be allowed in the hero course and he was no doubt delighted to see someone finally taking advantage of the rule change.

As the exam began, Shouta kept his eye on the red-shoed applicant, wanting to see what she would make of the robots. He saw her pull something out of her pocket which she extended into a staff as she ran, jumping up towards the body of a bot and whacking it with the staff. Shouta was disappointed at the lack of ingenuity and was about to turn away but then-

The bot. Stopped. Moving.

It didn't fall over or get crushed but it was clearly done. That staff had to have some kind of electrical system inside which would explain the gloves the kid was wearing.

And it wasn't just the one bot. The kid ran as fast as she could, whacking bots as she went and working her way towards where the bots were sent out from at a pace that suggested she understood where she was going, an analysis that would have been impressive from one of his colleagues if they were at ground level.

Shouta was almost certainly also leaning forward in his seat as well now, along with Majima next to him.

The girl wasn't the fastest runner in the group but she was moving through bots quickly simply because of how little effort she had to put into taking them down. At one point another applicant hit her, possibly on accident but still enough to disqualify her, and she didn't even flinch so she had to have some sort of armor on. Shouta was genuinely considering requesting this girl for his class, something he had never done before.

And then the zero pointer came out.

The red-shoed girl barely glanced at it until a scream rang out. Another girl had fallen in front of the bot and seemed to be struggling to free her leg from some rubble, too large to be moved without a machine or a strength quirk. The bot would, of course, be directed around her-

But the red-shoed girl didn't know that.

Her gaze went to the girl on the ground and then to the bot. Her face was grim as she pulled out a length of rope with a grappling hook attached. Shouta's face was even grimmer. No tech she could carry so discreetly on her person could take down a zero point bot, the shell was too thick and insulated for that. From the look in her eyes, she knew that.

Nevertheless, the red-shoed girl ran and jumped onto the bot swinging her hook and scrambling up further. All around applicants turned to look even as they ran away, awed at the audacity but derisive about her chances. And still the girl on the ground struggled with the rubble, even as some who ran had shown abilities that could lift it with ease.

The red-shoed girl came to the bot's neck, took out a pocket knife, and began unscrewing a piece of the plating. She was working quickly, so quickly that she didn't pay enough attention to her footing. She slipped and nearly fell off completely before catching hold of the rope still hanging down and pulling herself back up.

"We need to shut that bot down!" All Might boomed. Although, to be fair, he never seemed to speak at any other volume.

Majima shot that down quickly. "You see how unsteady she already is up there. If we stop it too suddenly, she'll be dislodged."

There was less than a minute left of the exam but every faculty member was on the edge of their seats.

The red-shoed girl got a piece of plating off and disappeared inside the bot.

Everything was still in the viewing room for several seconds. Shouta is almost entirely sure that no one even breathed, even after the bot stopped moving until the girl reappeared, moving much more slowly and safely to ground level.

Hizashi began his countdown and the tension dissipated in the room.

"Well," Majima said, after the girl's feet touched ground again and the countdown was over, "if the hero course doesn't take her, support certainly will."

Shouta shot him a glare but Nedzu spoke before he could.

"The girl has enough villain points to pass on those alone and I think we can all agree she also rescued that girl on the ground. She has earned her place in the hero course."

Nedzu nodded slightly as Shouta caught his eyes and a smirk grew on Shouta's face. Oh, he'd do his best to get her workshop time with Majima outside of classroom hours but there was no way he was letting her go into another class altogether. She had too much potential for that.

Chapter Text

As Izumi walks into her (her!) new homeroom at UA (UA!), she has approximately fifteen trains of thought competing for space in her head. She's running through best and worst-case scenarios for her new classmates, analyzing an article on crime prevention she read on the train, analyzing a fight she watched yesterday online, and making vague plans to try and get access to the support course workshop.

When she walks through the door, she immediately eliminates all of the best-case scenarios she was considering. Not a single scenario she'd be willing to call best-case would include Kacchan in her homeroom.

Obviously, she knew he'd get in but she was hoping against hope that they would be in separate classes. Oh well, business as usual.

Or slightly worse than usual when it turns out she's supposed to sit right behind Kacchan, especially since he's currently facing off with the boy who singled her out during the exams.

Izumi's attempts to fade into invisibility fail as the boy with the glasses spots her and immediately approaches and introduces himself to her.

Before he can get too far into what seems to be a prepared speech about her insightfulness in the exams, the girl who had been trapped in front of the zero-point bot comes over as well, further proving her visibility.

"Hi, I'm Ochako Uraraka! You're the girl who stopped the zero-point bot, right?"

Izumi nods, slightly shakily and much too enthusiastically. The girl is much prettier up close and Izumi can feel her cheeks turning red.

"Izumi Midoriya. It's nice to meet you. I'm glad you're okay."

Uraraka's smile brightens almost beyond belief and she thanks Izumi for her help which, of course, sparks an even worse blush. Then, she starts talking (to Izumi!) about the schedule for the day and smiling (at Izumi!) and continues to be generally overwhelming.

So it's almost a relief when the door slides open (and Izumi has a wild moment to wonder how a caterpillar got that big) and their teacher scolds them for socializing and destroys all semblance of structure for the day by announcing a surprise quirk assessment. At least it's a return to the natural order of things.

---

Except that, of course it isn't. Why would things ever be so easy?

Uraraka keeps talking to her even as the assessment is going on. She makes comments on the other students, asks questions about Izumi, and actually seems to be listening to and considering what Izumi says. The whole thing goes down as a mark in the column of 'everything since the UA entrance test has been some sort of coma fever dream'. A column which has been getting worryingly large lately.

Izumi doesn't do great in the assessment. They had to change into gym clothes with specific instructions not to bring anything else so she doesn't have any tech.

She also doesn't do horribly though. She might not have tech but at least she's been training her body with the knowledge that she has to make up for the lack of a physical quirk. It seems like she's the only one, though. The kids who do well in the tests are almost exclusively the kids who have quirks suited to them, while kids who have less physical quirks don't seem to have trained at all in the interest of rounding themselves out, with the exception of Kacchan and a couple of other kids.

She doesn't have any incredible scores but she doesn't have any terrible ones, so it pretty much evens out, leaving her in fourteenth place and safe from expulsion.

But not, apparently, safe from Kacchan's anger.

Despite coming in third, Kacchan is angry, not only that she's here, but also that she beat out some of the kids who did have quirks and presumably deserved it more. Or, that's what she gathers from his near-incomprehensible screams of rage.

Izumi is preparing to roll with the force of what is sure to be a massive explosion (and hoping that she won't be charged for the destruction of the gym uniform) when Kacchan's hands stop sparking and he is yanked out of her line of sight.

"Stop with your quirk. And stop struggling, you're not getting out of my capture weapon until you've calmed down. For future reference, using your quirk to intimidate or harm other students outside of designated exercises is prohibited and can lead to punishment or expulsion. That goes for all of you."

That's it. It's officially a fever dream. I hope mom is coping okay with my coma.

Izumi stands still, lost in thought, long enough that Iida approaches her again and asks if she's alright accompanied by some very violent hand motions. She shakes off the cobwebs, figures if it's a dream she might as well make the most of it, and assures him she's fine. Which she is. Until Uraraka comes up and smiles again (again!) and asks if they can all walk to the train station together (together! Izumi too!) at which point she is both far more and far less fine.

Maybe it won't be so much business as usual.

Chapter Text

Izumi is distractedly listening to Iida and Uraraka bicker about the comparative merits of body armor versus reinforced fabric (and correcting their quoted statistics in her head) when All Might (ALL MIGHT!) enters the room with his signature catchphrase:

“I am here! Coming through the door like a hero!”

Izumi has only seen him up close once before and never in his hero suit (although she notes that Ojiro is correct that this is his Silver Age suit rather than his current one) and she is in awe. This is what a hero looks like. This is what she’s training to become.

In the time-honored tradition of all of her gym classes, Izumi dresses for Hero Basic Training in a stall in the locker room instead of in the open like everyone else. Uraraka waits for her so they can head out together and compliments her suit which makes Izumi feel very warm and a little like she has a concussion. She thinks (and hopes) that she managed a coherent response and compliment in return.

Luckily, she feels less concussed as they walk and by the time they reach All Might her head is mostly clear. Unluckily, this leaves plenty of room for her nerves.

Most of her classmates’ quirks were displayed during the assessment but not all of them and obviously no one saw her use one and no one without years of experience would be able to decipher Kacchan’s rage-rants. Until now, they’ve likely assumed she has a quirk that wasn’t suited to the assessment. She’s really not looking forward to them finding out that that isn’t the case.

---

Almost as soon as Iida and Kacchan enter the building, Uraraka turns to Izumi.

“We should probably make some sort of plan while we have time. I know you saw my quirk yesterday during the assessment but I don’t think I’ve seen yours yet…” There’s a definite question in her tone as she trails off.

“Yeah, no, you wouldn’t have.”

Izumi tries to figure out how to phrase it to put it in the best light. Sorry, I’ve been lying by omission? Too strong. Please don’t hate me? Too pathetic. Might as well just get it over with.

“I don’t have one.”

“Don’t have one what?” Uraraka’s head tilts in confusion and Izumi’s cheeks heat.

“A quirk. I don’t- I’m quirkless.” Izumi casts her eyes down, not wanting to see the realization.

“Oh, well then how did you do all that stuff at the entrance exam? You took down that huge robot?”

“I made support items to bring with me. They don’t specifically disallow it in the rules and they only check for it if it’s obvious. As long as it’s small or foldable you can bring in-” Izumi cuts herself off before she can ramble her way into a full-on panic attack.

“That’s amazing! You made them yourself? How did you know how to do that? Do you have any with you know?”

Izumi chances a glance up at Uraraka and sees an excitement there for tech (her tech!) that she’s only ever seen in videos, in her mother, or in her mirror. Izumi allows herself a few breaths and couldn’t stop the shaky grin that breaks out if she wanted to (which, for the record, she doesn’t).

“Well, I do have a few things, nothing that would really faze Kacchan but maybe some things that could surprise him. And mixed with your quirk-”

Izumi sees it all come together then.

“Okay, so here’s what we do…”

---

This is the part Izumi is most nervous about. She knows they have to send someone in the building to distract Kacchan who will most certainly be looking for her and she’s told Uraraka everything she can about his fighting style, even as it felt a little (or a lot) like betrayal, but Izumi would still rather be the one facing him directly.

The thing is, she knows she can stand up to Kacchan. It’s not that she thinks Uraraka is weak but Kacchan can be shockingly intense, especially to people who don’t know him and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. He probably won’t hurt Uraraka too badly, he’s always been very concerned about appearances in front of teachers and there’s no reason Uraraka would set him off in particular, but Izumi can’t keep her mind off of it as she scales the wall.

Although, scales is probably not quite the right word. Really, Izumi doesn’t have to put in effort to get up the wall, just to avoid floating away from it. It makes it much easier and, more importantly, quieter to get to the fifth floor from the outside.

Setting up the bomb on the fifth floor is the logical option. If you patrol the area (which Kacchan definitely will) it makes it more difficult for someone to slip by and even if you don’t it means the heroes will be more tired when they get there.

Hence, Izumi is making her way up to the fifth floor, weightless thanks to Uraraka’s quirk, while Uraraka distracts Kacchan from thinking too hard about what they might be up to.

Once she gets to the top, Izumi pries open one of the windows (much more difficult without gravity) and clicks her tongue softly to let Uraraka know to release her quirk. Then, she gets to work sweeping the area for their target.

Iida is alone with the bomb when she finds him, as expected, so Izumi tosses a spare screw towards the other end of the hallway and hides around the corner. As soon as she hears Iida speed towards the noise, she sprints for the bomb, trusting Iida’s engines to hide her footfalls.

She hears his engines back at the doorway but it’s too late for him. They’ve already won.

They won.

Izumi won.

Against Kacchan’s team.

She can barely All Might’s congratulations and Uraraka’s cheers over the buzzing in her ears. She thinks she nods at Iida when he congratulates her as well. The concussed feeling is back. Izumi is so distracted that she nearly walks into the doorframe as she heads to the exit, as per All Might’s instructions.

She is not so distracted, however, that she misses Kacchan’s screams of rage as he comes at her in the hallway outside.

Chapter Text

“Deku!” Bakugou roars, much too close to her ear for comfort.

The concussion-like daze from earlier is feeling decidedly less pleasant now, much more like an actual concussion. Possibly, this is because of the massive explosions going off near her head.

With Kacchan as worked up as he is, he’s sweating over most of his body which means that Izumi’s hits have to be done through a weapon if she wants to avoid blowing off her hands.

Izumi misses the pocket her staff is in the first two times she goes to grab it, dodging fists and explosions as she is, but the third time she manages to get the staff both out and extended. This is immediately revealed as a good decision when she manages to whack Kacchan in the chest with it, the force of the explosion putting a foot or so of space between them.

She’s not exactly sure how long she manages to fend him off for, what with her brain fairly offline as it is, but she knows him well enough that it lasts a while, even with her current state. Then, Kacchan does something she would have never predicted.

When Kacchan starts backing up warning bells go off in her head, although her brain is working too slowly to immediately connect why this isn’t a good thing.

He puts a hand on the grenade-styled gauntlets he has on and the warning bells pick up speed.

He says something. Izumi knows he does. She sees his lips move but her ears are ringing from the blasts and she can’t make it out (though she could make some educated guesses based on similar experiences).

Out of the corner of her eye Izumi sees a dark blur coming towards them but can’t focus on it any more than she can focus on anything else. Her head is ringing and she’s full of adrenaline and Kacchan is acting weird and she just wants to go lay down somewhere-

And then Kacchan pulls the trigger on his gauntlet and Izumi is airborne.

Through the confusion, Izumi registers that something is wrong with the way she is moving. There is only pressure around her stomach instead of her whole body and she’s moving almost perpendicular to the blast.

When she touches the ground again, she’s surprisingly okay for how bad that blast looked. She looks down and sees something wrapped around her stomach but it’s not until Aizawa-sensei comes into view that she realizes what it is. He bends down until she can see his face easily.

Somewhere, several feet away, Kacchan is still screaming.

“Oh,” she says, very eloquently.

“Oh,” he agrees, sounding much more serious. “I sent Iida to get Recovery Girl. Are you hurt anywhere that can’t wait until she gets here?”

Izumi shakes her head and immediately regrets it. Aizawa-sensei nods once and stands before turning in Kacchan’s general direction.

“You may as well stop trying to get past All Might, Bakugou. Your case is bad enough as it is.”

Oh, All Might is here? Izumi tries to look for him but she can’t quite seem to make her neck work like it’s supposed to.

“I have never seen a student act less like a hero than you just did. All Might is going to take you to Principal Nedzu’s office and you are going to go with him calmly or you will be charged for whatever property damage you cause trying to get away. You will wait there for me while I check to see what all damage you have caused. Now, go.”

Aizawa-sensei turns back towards her and bends down again. Izumi hadn’t noticed before but he has very soft-looking hair.

“Do you know what year it is?” he asks, out of the blue.

“Why? Did you forget? Oh, are you a time traveller?” Izumi is actually very excited about this possibility.

Aizawa-sensei sighs and Izumi feels her excitement drop out of her. Right, this is a teacher. Keep questions and comments to a minimum. He has an odd expression on his face as he looks at her. It’s almost how her mom looks at her when she gets into a really deep analysis. It’s definitely a weird expression for a teacher.

“I didn’t forget. I would appreciate it if you could tell me anyway, though,” Aizawa-sensei says.

Izumi would love to answer him, she really would, but she has maybe, definitely already forgotten the question. Luckily for her, someone else shows up and takes Aizawa-sensei’s attention away.

“Recovery Girl, good. I think Midoriya may have a concussion but I’m unsure. She’s dazed and moving oddly. She may also have other injuries from her fight with Bakugou who has an explosion quirk.”

Recovery Girl (...!?) examines Izumi quickly. Izumi wants to ask for an autograph but she doesn’t have her notebooks and she can’t remember where she left them. She tries to go and look for them but, even once she gets her body to cooperate, no one else is on board so she gives up. She’s sure this isn’t the last time she’ll see Recovery Girl, especially being in the same class as Kacchan.

Recovery Girl and Aizawa-sensei talk and possibly say something to her but it’s getting harder and harder to stay awake and she can’t split focus to figure out what they might want.

Then Recovery Girl kisses her forehead and she stops focusing on anything at all.

Chapter Text

“...It’s really lucky I was there, actually. I only came because I wanted to see how the kids performed in a different environment without knowing I was there but if I hadn’t, All Might would have been the only supervision and I really think Midoriya could have been killed. That man should not be left alone to supervise students,” Shouta says.

“Wait, so after all that Bakugou didn’t get expelled?” Hizashi asks, voice rising with shock and anger.

“No, he did not,” Shouta says and he is still seething hours later about it. “I stayed with Midoriya until Shuzenji could give me a full report of her injuries and by the time I got to Nedzu’s office, All Might had already been there for almost an hour advocating for the kid. He’d already been moved to 1-B which meant it wasn’t my approval he needed but Vlad’s and you know how big an All Might fan he is. Bakugou is on probation, will not be paired with Midoriya in any exercises for the foreseeable future, is suspended Hero Basic Training entirely for two months, has mandatory counselling, and has to write a research essay on quirk discriminatioin but he’s still here.”

And it isn’t enough, at least not to Shouta. He doesn’t want that kid anywhere near UA and if he had his way Bakugou would be gone. Nedzu had bought into All Might’s arguments in favor of rehabilitation and the ability to guide him as long as he was in their school, though, and that was that.

For now.

“How bad were Midoriya’s injuries?” Hizashi asks. “It must have been pretty bad if Bakugou got all that and you’re still this upset.”

“Well, she did have a concussion. Shuzenji was actually pretty surprised Midoriya stayed awake until her quirk kicked in. She had several burns from the explosions, although, from what was seen of her unburned skin, that’s not new for her, and a crack in her ulna from defending herself from a blast” Shouta hesitates here for a moment before forging on. “She also had bruising on her torso and a cracked rib from my capture weapon when I had to pull her away from the blast from the gauntlets on his suit.”

Hizashi looks horrified when he describes the injuries from Bakugou but when he gets to the ones his rescue caused, Hizashi’s face shifts to a look of pity. Shouta has the uncomfortable feeling that the look is directed at him more than Midoriya.

“The gauntlets are that powerful, then?” Hizashi asks.

“Yeah,” Shouta sighs, knowing where this is going. “They would have blown Midoriya straight out of the building and may have killed her outright if she’d been hit head-on.”

“So it would have been much worse if you’d done nothing,” Hizashi says.

Shouta nods, exhausted and frustrated and just about ready to scream.

Because of course Hizashi is right. That’s the thing: Shouta feels awful about the bruising and the rib but mostly he feels angry that Bakugou forced him into that situation. It makes him uncomfortable to know how deep his rage at Bakugou goes. It makes him even more uncomfortable to know that it may reveal itself as deeper still. He never wants to see the kid again and certainly not as his teacher, not when he still has a responsibility to him.

“How did Midoriya’s parents take it?”

“Parent, singular. And she’s clearly familiar with people acting unfairly towards her daughter. She was calm on the surface but you could tell there was a lot of anger going on as well. I don’t think I’ve ever heard someone threaten Nedzu as subtly yet thoroughly as she did. I almost wanted to applaud after. I really wish I could have told her that Midoriya does have someone in her corner and that I fought for Bakugou’s expulsion but once the decision was made we needed to present a united front. I’ve never been closer to breaking the line than today though. They need to know that someone is on their side!”

Hizashi pauses before he speaks so Shouta knows to brace himself, “Do they need to know that or do you need them to know that? I’m not saying you’re necessarily wrong but would it really help them to know that even when they can find someone to advocate for them, that it still ends like this?”

Shouta did not brace himself thoroughly enough.

“I don’t know,” Shouta puts his head in his hands and considers it as objectively as he can, “I don’t know.”

Hizashi moves behind him and presses up against his back. The warmth is comforting but Shouta’s exhaustion is bone-deep at this point.

Hizashi must know because he moves back and helps Shouta up. Hizashi guides him to bed and Shouta’s last thought as he falls asleep is this: as always, Hizashi knows Shouta better than Shouta knows himself and it is absolutely incredible that it only seems to make him love Shouta more.

Chapter Text

Izumi already knew that Kacchan was being moved to another class, but it’s still a little shocking on Wednesday when she comes in and sees someone else in his seat.

The new kid is blond and handsome like Kacchan but there isn’t the same harsh edge to his expressions that Kacchan always has and he seems looser as well, like he carries less tension in his body. Iida is already talking to him and he beckons her over as she walks in, a little unnecessary given that she sits right behind the new kid and there is no one else in the room but it’s a sweet gesture all the same. Iida and Uraraka had both been there when she woke up in the nurse’s office yesterday and had fussed over her to a frankly ridiculous degree. She had loved it.

“Monoma, this is Izumi Midoriya. Midoriya, this is Neito Monoma. He’s here to replace that scoundrel Bakugou,” Iida says, finishing with a harsh scowl, presumably at Kacchan.

“It’s nice to meet you, Midoriya,” Monoma says with a bright smile, before it turns sheepish as he continues, “I feel a little nervous coming into the class late but I hope we can all be good friends.”

“Oh, I hope so too,” Izumi says. “Everyone here is very nice, though, from what I’ve seen. You probably don’t need to be too nervous.”

“Everyone except that Bakugou,” Iida says, scowling again.

“Kacchan’s in the other class now though so you don’t have to worry about him,” Izumi cuts off what she figured would be another rant about Kacchan. She had tried to explain their background yesterday but she still hadn’t been all that coherent and Iida and Uraraka did not seem to understand at all.

More students start coming in so Izumi takes her seat and prepares her desk to take notes. Monoma turns around and smiles at her again before class starts and Izumi decides that she has a really good feeling about this new kid.

---

Aizawa-sensei is there when the class shows up for HBT and doesn’t seem to be leaving. Most of the class is more nervous about having class with him there but his presence comforts Izumi. He had saved her from Kacchan yesterday and had even stayed at the school until her mom came so he could answer her questions. Izumi’s mom still wasn’t happy with him but even she had to admit that he’d done more and seemed more sympathetic than any of her former teachers had. Mom just has really high standards.

The plan for today is apparently for all the students who didn’t get to do the exercise yesterday to go today and then for Izumi’s group to be shuffled around and then go again so Monoma can see and participate with his new class. The pairings leave Izumi and Monoma as the villains facing off against Uraraka and Iida as heroes as the last pair of the day.

Izumi is completely mortified that her fight with Kacchan caused so many problems but she does her best to push it aside so she can prepare for today. Todoroki and Shouji are up against Ojiro and Hagakure first and Izumi watches to see what they’ll do.

“So, I hear you won the exercise when you did it yesterday?” Monoma says, appearing beside Izumi and making her jump slightly.

“Oh, yes, Uraraka and I secured the bomb as the hero team before the whole fight with Kacchan happened. Did you win your match?”

“We had a quirk assessment test yesterday since our teacher had us attend orientation on Monday.”

“Oh,” Izumi’s brow scrunches, “That doesn’t really seem fair. I’m sorry.”

“Well I agree but it’s certainly not your fault,” Monoma chuckles and Izumi blushes. “Anyway, I figured you should probably take the lead on this one if you’ve already won at it before.”

“Oh, well, we won as heroes and Uraraka’s quirk was a big part of it so I don’t know that I have that much of an advantage…” Izumi trails off as Monoma laughs again.

“If you don’t want to be the team leader, I certainly won’t force you. I would still appreciate your insight though in the planning stages.”

Izumi is saved from having to reply when Todoroki and Shouji’s time starts. She is further saved when they are done almost immediately.

“Wow, that was fast. I wouldn’t want to go up against him,” Monoma grins at Izumi and it looks almost conspiratorial. Izumi is shocked to find herself giggling a little and sees that it only makes him grin wider.

“Yes, Todoroki does have an impressive quirk. I do wonder why he didn’t cover the ground with a thicker layer of ice though. In an actual villain apprehension, it seems like it would be dangerous to trust them to value their feet over their freedom,” Izumi says, proud of herself for how lightly she skimmed the surface of her analysis.

“Perhaps he can’t make thicker ice than that? Or perhaps he didn’t want to risk giving his classmates frostbite?” Monoma suggests.

“He can definitely make thicker ice than that, at least in concentrated areas, based on what I saw in the quirk assessment test. And since his quirk is half fire, he could melt it if he needed to. Maybe it has to do with the surface area of the ice? Or it could be that it’s more difficult when it’s hot outside since the assessment was in the morning? Or maybe he…” Izumi trails off, looking down at her feet. She didn’t mean to get so caught up in her analysis.

Monoma bumps his shoulder against hers and she startles before looking up at him. His smile is as wide as she’s ever seen it.

“I guess I have some competition for the best analysis in the class, huh?”

He doesn’t seem competitive though. In fact, he seems happy about it.

They pass the rest of the class sharing increasingly in-depth analyses of their classmates and Monoma’s smile never lessens.

Yeah, I have a really good feeling about the new kid.

Chapter Text

Getting through the media circus outside of UA on Friday added several extra minutes to Izumi’s morning commute. Luckily, it did the same thing to everyone else so she was still one of the first people in the classroom.

It’s not that Izumi doesn’t love talking about All Might. She would talk about All Might all day long if she could but not to strangers who ambushed her as she was trying to get to class. And not now.

(She may have a little residual disappointment that he had apparently been very vocal about his support of Kacchan but hadn’t said anything at all to her after their fight. It’s a very confusing feeling to have about All Might and she doesn’t like it and she certainly doesn’t want to try and figure out what she thinks about it while talking to reporters.)

Aizawa-sensei starts class by announcing that they need to pick class representatives and chaos erupts. Everyone seems to want to throw their name in the ring for the position. Iida calms everything down a little bit with the suggestion that they vote for the representatives but Asui brings up a good point.

“We’ve only known each other a few days. How do we know who we can trust?”

In the end, it’s Monoma who comes up with the suggestion they go with for how to pick the representatives. Everyone who wants the position will be given one minute to speak in front of the class about why they should be chosen and it will be put to a vote after.

Most of the speeches end up being fairly similar. Many people end up just talking about why they want it rather than why they’d be good at it though Kirishima’s at least includes a line about how manly he is (though he doesn’t end up connecting it to why he’d be good at the position).

Yaoyorozu, Iida and Monoma all have impressive lists of accomplishments that prove their suitability and a few others prove their ability to speak well in front of a group. Izumi manages to only stammer once during hers and is very proud of herself for it. She doesn’t have any accomplishments to mention but she does talk about what qualities she thinks would make a good representative and why she thinks she fits those qualities.

Aizawa-sensei agrees to tally the votes and no one seems too disappointed when they end up with Monoma as representative and Iida as deputy representative.

---

Monoma, Iida, Uraraka, and Izumi sit together in the lunchroom again and Iida is obviously very eager to talk to Monoma about their class representative duties. The minutiae are slightly less interesting to Uraraka and Izumi so they share a look and then try to contain their giggles as they dig into their lunches.

Iida is going over disaster-preparedness plans with an engaged but also clearly amused Monoma when Izumi spots Todoroki heading out of the cafeteria. She gets up to follow him.

“I’ll be right back!” Izumi waves to her friends as she leaves.

She finds him sitting on a half-wall outside with his eyes closed.

“Hi, Todoroki, right?”

He nods and Izumi takes this as a cue to continue.

“You have a fire quirk in addition to your ice quirk, don’t you?” Izumi says and Todoroki nods again. “In Basic Hero Training yesterday, I noticed that you took the time to unwind Sero’s tape from your arm and I was just wondering why that was? It seemed like it would have gone faster if you’d just melted it instead.”

Todoroki looks at her for a long moment before he says, “Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?”

---

Todoroki has just finished his story when an alarm starts blaring and all the doors and windows shutter. He and Izumi immediately stand and turn so they are back-to-back. Nothing happens for several minutes but Izumi’s heart stays somewhere around her throat the whole time.

When someone does appear, Todoroki starts sending a stream of ice toward them but it cuts off as Aizawa-sensei comes into view.

“What are the two of you doing out here? Are you alright?”

They both nod and Aizawa-sensei lets out a long sigh.

“Follow me. We’re going to see Principal Nedzu..”

He enters a code at the nearest door and Izumi sheepishly heads inside with Todoroki behind her. Aizawa-sensei sighs again before following them.

Chapter Text

On the second Friday of the semester, class 1-A heads to the USJ for rescue training. Izumi has spent the last week repairing her hero suit after her fight with Kacchan so it’s wearable but she hasn’t been able to implement any of the upgrade ideas she’s thought of since coming to UA. She’s grateful for Aizawa-sensei getting her access to the support workshop though, otherwise she wouldn’t have a hero suit to wear at all.

That had been a surprise. Izumi is used to being treated differently by her teachers but not in any way that would get her special privileges. It honestly freaks her out a little but she’s not going to look a gift horse in the mouth so she had just thanked Aizawa-sensei profusely before taking full advantage of the workshop.

While Thirteen talks about powerful quirks being used to help or to harm, Izumi can’t help but think of Kacchan. He’s going to be a hero and Izumi has always been so sure that he’ll be a great one but she can’t imagine him giving a speech like what Thirteen is saying now. She honestly can’t even imagine him thinking about it. Izumi’s just thinking how grateful she would be for a distraction when she gets one and immediately regrets it.

---

Once Izumi is on the boat with Asui and Mineta, she takes stock of the situation. They are on a fake boat surrounded by villains with no help in sight and they only have two quirks between the three of them, one of which is being able to pull sticky balls off of Mineta’s head. It doesn’t really look great. Something about her assessment seems off though so she runs through it again.

“Are we sure the boat is fake?” Izumi asks, interrupting Asui as she explains her quirk. They’ve been doing HBT for almost two weeks together, she knows enough about everyone’s quirks not to need an explanation of the basics.

Asui’s eyes widen and she shakes her head.

“Great, you guys stay here, I’m going to go check out the bridge.”

“What? I don’t see a bridge.” Mineta says behind her but Izumi is already running off.

Izumi finds the bridge functional but way more complex than anything she’d feel comfortable experimenting with normally. Luckily (or possibly unluckily), she can’t make this particular situation much worse so she goes for it, making wild guesses until the boat starts moving. It’s moving in reverse but Izumi remembers seeing land behind them so that might not be such a bad thing. Izumi starts to actually feel hopeful about their chances just before the boat suddenly jerks and starts sinking.

She runs back out to where Asui and Mineta are and sees that one of the villains has cut the boat in half. They’ll be sunk in less than a minute.

Izumi looks back and sees that they’re almost close enough for her grappling hook to grab onto something if she jumped off, but not quite. She catches Asui’s eye and nods at the land behind them.

Without bothering to explain, Asui picks up Mineta and she and Izumi both dash to the back of the boat. When they reach it, Asui grabs Izumi too and jumps powerfully enough that all three of them make it onto the shore. They get up and start running immediately, not knowing if any of the water villains are dangerous on land as well.

“Wow,” Izumi says as they run, “that was a powerful jump, Asui! You’re incredible!”

“I told you to call me Tsu!”

---

Izumi, Mineta, and Tsu make it back to the main area and none of the water villains seem to be following them. They decide to stay clear of the water which means edging slightly closer to Aizawa-sensei’s fight. It’s not a great idea and they all know it but they don’t have a lot of options. Izumi has her staff out so she can be prepared for surprise attacks and Tsu is letting her tongue hang slightly out to allow her to use it more quickly if necessary. Mineta, on the other hand, has taken to muttering increasingly unlikely ways that they might not get attacked under his breath as they walk. It is not helpful.

Aizawa-sensei is still fighting off several villains alone when he comes into view and it’s impressive but it still sets Izumi’s heart beating faster. She would never discourage her classmates by saying so but she knows his fighting style isn’t designed for large groups and he must be getting tired.

When the giant villain grabs him, Izumi thinks she may actually feel her heart stop. She can’t do anything for him. But no one had thought she could do anything against the sludge villain either.

There are more pieces on the board this time so she may not even have to aim for the giant. The villain covered in hands seems to be the leader so if she can hurt him, he might call the whole thing off. It’s not a great plan but she can’t just sit here while Aizawa-sensei gets his bones broken.

The leader lunges towards their group and Izumi swings her staff at him, pressing down the button for the electric current. Izumi grabs Tsu and Mineta as he falls and drags them out of his reach.

He gets up and looks like he’s going to head for them again before he stops in his tracks.

“Have no fear, students, I am here!”

---

Izumi absolutely does not want to head back to the area where All Might is fighting the villains. She is carrying Aizawa-sensei with Tsu and Mineta which means she is still helping and if All Might can’t take on the villains, she certainly can’t help. There is no reason for Izumi to get involved at all.

And then she sees her classmates running towards the fight and suddenly there is a reason.

All Might had captured the sludge villain and Izumi had still had to fight him off to save Kacchan. All Might had been there when Kacchan had attacked her and he’d done nothing. All Might had been so late this morning that they had all had to fight off villains meant for him.

All Might is powerful and Izumi trusts him to be able to fight off the villains; All Might is reckless and Izumi does not trust him to keep her classmates safe while he does so.

Izumi turns back.

Izumi is quirkless and she cannot fight off the villains on her own, has barely managed to survive them this long; Izumi is reckless and she will fight to keep her classmates safe anyway.

---

“Do you have anything to stop the warp villain? He’s their escape route and if they think he might be compromised it might be enough to make them run.”

Izumi’s head whips around but she doesn’t find what she’s looking for. “Monoma?”

“I’m here. I copied a chameleon quirk but I don’t have anything that could help here.”

Izumi judges the distance from her to the warp villain and doesn’t like what she sees.

“I have my staff and if we could get him in that metal collar it might take him down but I won’t be able to get close enough,” she pauses for a moment. “Are your gloves insulated?”

They aren’t but Izumi’s are close enough to his size that he can wear them. They switch and Izumi hands her staff to Monoma. He’ll need a boost to reach the collar so he stands on her shoulders and she hopes she looks crazy when she runs into the fray with her hands hovering above her shoulders rather than dangerous.

Either she does just look crazy or she just looks useless enough to dismiss because she gets close enough to the villain for Monoma to jump and it works. The warp villain comes down and Monoma is still invisible so it seems unlikely that anyone will guess what’s keeping him down.

Unfortunately, that leaves Izumi as the most likely culprit and the leader definitely notices. And remembers her taking him down earlier.

“You!”

He lunges and Izumi tries to dodge but it just means that he catches her arm instead of her face.

It’s a matter of moments for her sleeve to dissolve along with her skin and the top layer of muscle. She’s almost relieved as it goes deeper because there are fewer nerves that transmit pain that deep below the surface.

At least Monoma is close by. It would be worse if I knew I was dying alone.

Suddenly, though, Monoma is in front of her instead of on the warp villain where he should be. His hand is up in front of him like a threat and oddly enough, the villain leader is treating it like one.

“Thief! That’s my quirk!”

Izumi has seen Monoma fight while also keeping up a stream of excellent trash talk before and he’s very good at it. She wonders why he’s not doing so now but it’s getting difficult to think about things like that. Or anything at all really. She thinks she might be going into shock.

The giant bird from before goes flying and Izumi wonders how she missed it having wings before. The villain leader screams again, wordless this time and turns away from them to head back to where All Might is standing.

Monoma is asking her something but there’s an odd ringing in Izumi’s ears now and she doesn’t really know what he’s saying. She nods at him but it makes her dizzy enough that she feels like she’s moving.

She only just has time to realize she is, in fact, moving when there’s a Very Loud (she feels it deserves the capitals) sound and Monoma falls which, since he’s the one holding her, means she falls too.

Monoma is speaking to her again but she thinks she hit her head on the way down because there was a pop and she can’t even hear the ringing anymore. She certainly can’t hear Monoma. She’s glad he’s here though.

Much better than dying alone.

Chapter Text

Shouta wakes slowly and it takes him a few seconds to realize he’s not at home, especially with his eyes covered as they are. He goes to move but stops when he hears Hizashi.

“Hey, it’s okay. You’re in the hospital but I’m here with you. You don’t need to go anywhere so just stay there, okay?”

Shouta nods and settles back in, feeling out of sorts. Shouta trusts Hizashi to know what’s best so if he says to lay down, that’s what Shouta will do.

“What happened?” Shouta manages to croak and Hizashi feeds him some ice chips before answering.

“Do you remember what you were doing before you passed out?” Hizashi sounds hesitant.

Shouta thinks back and is moving again before he realizes it.

“Hey, no moving, remember? You were really hurt and Shuzenji couldn’t heal all of it at once,” Hizashi’s voice is unsteady and that, more than the pain in his body, stops Shouta from trying to get out of bed.

“How are the students?” Shouta says, once he’s calmed slightly.

“Only three had to come to the hospital and both have checked out now. Everyone’s okay.”

“Which students?”

When Hizashi pauses Shouta already knows who one of them must be.

“Ojiro had to be treated for smoke inhalation but he was out quickly. Monoma had blown eardrums and could have seen Shuzenji at the school but the paramedics brought him here so he had to wait until she was done with All Might and could make it over. Midoriya had blown eardrums as well but she also had part of her arm disintegrated and a lot of blood loss. She checked out a few hours ago but she left something for you,” Hizashi’s voice was choked up and hesitant again as he began but there’s a smile in it at the end.

Shouta feels the ache in his elbow distinctly as he thinks about Midoriya having something similar happen to her. He’s distracted by Hizashi’s last sentence though.

“She left something?”

“A card. She insisted that her mom not take her home until she gave it to you. I hope you don’t mind but I looked inside. She put a design for new goggles inside as well. They spray eye drops in mist form. I think she was really worried about you. She said you looked really cool fighting but that she hopes she never has to see it again.”

Shouta feels something in his chest clench even as the monitors remain steady. When Hizashi begins stroking his hair, he lets himself be lulled by it.

“Everyone is okay now. You kept them safe. Go back to sleep and hopefully when you wake up I can take you home.”

---

It’s Sunday evening before Shouta is checked out of the hospital and he’s extremely grateful that UA is closed tomorrow. He still only manages to wait until they get home before asking Hizashi for the full story. The USJ is covered in cameras so they know exactly what happened, even if several people almost wish they didn’t.

Shouta feels sick several times while Hizashi tells the story and he doesn’t think it’s from his pain medicine. His students are fifteen years old. They just started at UA. They shouldn’t have had to fight like this yet.

They wouldn’t have had to, either, if All Might had shown up on time like he was supposed to. If he had cared more about his responsibilities to his students than to his image. If he had even just called UA when he ran into Iida instead of continuing on his own, things could have been better.

Shouta has just begun what is shaping up to be one of his better All Might rants when Hizashi stops him.

“I know you’re angry. Trust me, we’re all angry. Can we not talk about it tonight, though?”

“Hizashi?”

“You’re safe. The kids are all going to be okay. I know things are bad and I know they could have been worse. There will be plenty of time to be angry. For tonight, can we be grateful instead? You’re safe. You’re here with me. As long as that’s true, everything else will be okay.”

“Of course, Hizashi. I’m sorry.”

“Hey, no apologies either. You came home to me. Tonight is all about gratitude.”

Shouta feels Hizashi’s eyes on him as he falls asleep that night and, yeah, he can think of a few things to be grateful for.

Chapter Text

The doctors tell Izumi to take it easy when they release her on Saturday and since her mom was standing next to her, she actually has to do it. So, Izumi spends most of Sunday brainstorming new tech and texting her friends (friends!).

Apparently, after Izumi had passed out, Monoma had carried her to the base of the entry steps and Iida had carried her the rest of the way to the paramedics. Monoma was also taken to the hospital but he was out the same day so he, Uraraka, and Iida had spent all of Friday night worrying about her. It lights up something warm in her chest to know that they worried about her even as she also feels guilty for worrying them.

To make it up to them, Izumi offers to buy all of them lunch on Monday since UA has cancelled classes for the day. Everyone agrees to meet up but not a single one will take her up on her offer to pay. They even insist she has nothing to feel sorry for. They really are too good for her.

---

Izumi heads out early and hits the local hero merch shop before she meets up with them. She leaves with a Best Jeanist sports tank top for Monoma, an Ingenium glasses case for Iida, and a Thirteen bracelet for Uraraka. They would need to learn to be more specific if they wanted to stop her from doing things for them.

Izumi ends up being the last one at the ramen shop and she is immediately engulfed in a hug (a hug!) from Uraraka (her friend!). As soon as she’s released she ends up in two more hugs (more hugs!) from Iida and Monoma as well. Izumi thinks her face might actually combust by the time they all sit down but she certainly isn’t going to complain.

Everyone insists that she didn’t need to get them gifts but she convinces her to open them anyway and they all seem to like them. The boys both thank her profusely and Uraraka actually bursts into tears and declares that Izumi is her best friend (best! friend!). Izumi’s face reignites and she barely manages to stutter out that they are the best friends she’s ever had. Iida sputters, Monoma chuckles, and Uraraka cries harder but all three agree (!!!). Monoma goes so far as to declare them the best friend squad and immediately changes the name of their group chat to match.

They haven’t even gotten their food and it’s already the best lunch Izumi has ever had.

---

On Tuesday, Aizawa-sensei surprises everyone by showing up looking like a mummy and Izumi blushes immediately. She’s glad she left the card and design in his hospital room but she had thought it would be longer before he’d be back so she wasn’t expecting to see him today. Even the announcement about the upcoming Sports Festival doesn’t distract her from her worry that he’ll think it was too much. So, when he asks her to stay back at the end of class, she’s already very nervous.

“I wanted to thank you for the card and the design you left for me at the hospital. I’ve already sent it to my support company to see if they can implement it,” Aizawa-sensei says, knocking Izumi completely off guard.

“Oh, I should really be the one thanking you. You’re the one who got hurt protecting us. I’m glad you think my design will help though,” Izumi says, even managing to look up from the floor at the end.

“As I recall, I wasn’t the only one injured. How is your arm?”

“Oh, it’s okay. I have a really high pain tolerance.”

Aizawa-sensei’s eyes narrow and Izumi would very much like to fall through the floor now, thank you very much.

“Is there anything you need to disclose to me?” he asks.

“No, sir! Everything’s fine! I grew up with Kacchan, though, and he didn’t always have his quirk under as good control as-”

Izumi cuts herself off as Aizawa-sensei’s look darkens further. When she doesn’t continue, he sighs but doesn’t press further.

“Speaking of Bakugou, students on probation are not allowed to participate in any extracurricular events, including the Sports Festival. Bakugou may come and observe with the general public if he chooses, but he cannot compete.”

“Are you sure? I mean, Kacchan is really good and I know the Sports Festival is used to promote UA and to find work studies and it’d probably be really good publicity-”

This time, instead of Izumi cutting herself off, it’s Aizawa-sensei who cuts her off.

“I assure you that nothing could be worse publicity for UA than a student who cannot control himself and his quirk. Bakugou will not be participating,” Aizawa-sensei says.

Izumi nods several times, rapidly enough to make herself dizzy, before making her apologies and practically running out the door. She slows down when she actually makes it outside though and, for the first time in days, she checks around the corner for Kacchan before she turns. She is sure he is absolutely furious and she really doesn’t want to go back to the hospital today.

Even while she checks corners, though, Izumi has to squash a slightly happy feeling in her chest. She knows it’s not nice to feel happy that Kacchan is going to be unhappy but the happiness refuses to go away. She knows she didn’t actually do anything to make this happen, but it still feels a little like victory.

---

It feels even more like victory on Thursday when Izumi finally manages to get her dart shooter working. With access to the support course workshop she’s managed to make a mix to coat the dart in that will knock anyone stuck with it unconscious. They all have to wear their gym uniforms to compete in and those leave a lot of uncovered skin.

This is it. I could really be the first quirkless person to win the Sports Festival!

Izumi gets to work on plans of attack for each of her classmates. The Sports Festival almost always includes one-on-one battles and she wants to be as prepared as possible.

She gets through most of them pretty easily. Iida is the only one she’s really worried about. He’s too fast for her to aim at and too smart to fall for any tricks she can think to pull. She doesn’t want to bank on hoping he’s in a different bracket but that’s all she can come up with so she sets her plans for him aside so she can come back to them later.

Izumi doesn’t hit another snag until she gets around to planning for a fight with Todoroki.

She’s not worried about winning. It seems unlikely that he’ll use enough ice that he would have to melt it after and he certainly won’t use his fire but that’s kind of the problem. She’d seen some of Todoroki’s fight at the USJ and even then he hadn’t used his fire.

Todoroki is strong and smart and if he was willing to use his full quirk, he’d almost certainly win the whole festival. His refusal to use his fire even extends to regulating his own temperature, though, and it means that he ends up not getting the full use of either of his abilities.

Izumi is certain that she could use a dart and knock him out if she wanted to. He’s not as fast as Iida and a drawn out fight at half-power will limit his ability to use his quirk.

She doesn’t want to, though. Todoroki’s mental block is going to get him hurt someday and she can’t claim to be a hero if she’s willing to ignore it in order to win. Winning would be nice but that’s not what being a hero is about.

Izumi has seen Todoroki avoid using his quirk when it would be helpful so she can’t just make it so that it would be ideal to use it. She needs to make it necessary. And, in case that’s not enough, she needs to push him verbally as well. She has plenty of arguments and evidence for why he needs to use his quirk, she just needs to make him listen.

With a sigh, Izumi pushes the rest of her plans into a drawer. She’ll have to redo them all. She can’t just use a dart shooter to knock out her opponents in every fight except his. It would look like she thinks he’s weak enough that she doesn’t have to use it. It’s tangential to the point she’s trying to make but not spot-on enough to be effective. She’ll need to tread carefully here.

Izumi pulls out another stack of paper and gets to work.

Chapter Text

Monoma and Iida both take their positions as class representatives seriously but it’s clear that they have very different views of what that means. Iida does his best to protect the image of their class by making sure everyone stays orderly and professional while Monoma protects their image by making sure they have the best possible chance to succeed, whatever form that takes. For example, before the Sports Festival Iida makes and distributes suggested schedules for everyone for the morning of so they can all arrive on time and refreshed while Monoma makes and distributes a plan to work together to get as many of class 1-A into the final round as possible.

Monoma calls a class meeting on Friday morning to discuss his plan. At least forty people make it into the second round of the festival every year and typically the ones who do the best in the first round end up out of the competition soon after since everyone has already seen what they can do and targets them. So, if they want to get into the final round, the best thing to do is to hang back in the first round so they go unnoticed into the next one.

It’s a good plan and a simple one but not everyone agrees with it. The loudest dissent comes from Kirishima but Todoroki, Iida, Kaminari, and Ojiro disagree as well. Iida and Ojiro say it’s unsportsmanlike while Todoroki, Kaminari, and Kirishima say that if they need to use tricks like that, they don’t belong in the final round anyway. It’s the latter argument that Izumi most strongly disagrees with.

“It’s not like pros don’t use their intelligence to outwit villains in the real world. Sir Nighteye, for example, bases most of his agency on superior planning and they have some of the best numbers in the country,” Izumi says.

“Yeah but Sir Nighteye also doesn’t make most of the arrests himself. He has to get other heroes to help him out because his quirk doesn’t give him enough of an advantage,” Kirishima says back.

“It’s not that he couldn’t make the arrests himself,” Izumi argues, “it’s that Sir Nighteye wants to give the heroes every advantage. He’s smart about it but he’s not arrogant enough to think that he’s always going to be the best person for the job.”

“Look, I get that you need stuff like this because you don’t have a quirk,” Kaminari interjects, “but sometimes all you need is a powerful quirk.”

“Oh yes,” Monoma drawls, “because being able to fry your own brain always works out so well for you. How we all wish we could be blessed with such a powerful quirk.”

Monoma sounds bored and his voice isn’t particularly loud but the temperature in the room drops several degrees anyway. Everyone in the class has heard him use that exact voice right before he destroys someone with their own quirk during HBT.

Kaminari seems to be the only one not affected by the sudden chill because his face is turning very red. He doesn’t respond, though.

“Alright,” Monoma says after a moment, “I understand that several of you do not want to participate in this plan and that is fine. I do ask, though, that you not say anything to the other classes. I would hope that none of you would harm your classmates’ chances that way.”

There are general nods about the room and Monoma dismisses the class meeting. Everyone files out but Monoma waits at the front until Izumi gets there and falls into step with her.

“Kaminari’s a idiot but I didn’t realize he was a bigot, too,” he says as they walk out the door.

“Don’t worry,” Izumi says, “I’ve dealt with much worse than that. Saying anything usually just makes it worse.”

“That’s not the point. Kaminari isn’t going to be half the hero you are and that kind of thinking is a big part of the reason why,” Monoma says. “Of course, the other part is that he couldn’t hope to keep up with you even if he cheated at literally everything.”

Izumi grins at him as they enter their next class and for that moment, she doesn’t doubt it at all.

---

A crowd gathers outside the classroom at the end of the day and Izumi has never been more grateful that Kacchan isn’t in their class anymore. He would definitely not help this situation. De-escalation has never been one of Kacchan’s strong suits.

Iida steps in and starts lecturing the crowd about fire safety risks but when he pauses for dramatic effect a boy from the crowd steps forward. The bags under his eyes are almost as purple as his hair and Izumi is genuinely concerned for him for a moment. Then he starts talking.

“What? You fight a few villains and you think you get to boss everyone else around now? Is everyone in the hero course on this much of a power trip?”

Izumi could have told him that Iida bosses literally everyone around, that it’s his way of showing he cares about people, but she’s a little busy focusing on holding Uraraka back from demolishing the kid for making fun of Iida. It’s not exactly made easier by Izumi’s own, similar impulses.

The kid goes on to talk about how kids from general education can replace kids from the hero course if they do well enough and the whole time, the impulses only grow stronger. Who does this kid think he is to come in here and tell them all that they don’t deserve to be in the hero course? What does he think it’s going to accomplish?

Izumi pauses at that thought and re-examines it. What does the kid think he’s going to accomplish? He says he’s warning them but that doesn’t make any sense. The kid clearly resents them so why would he bother hurting his own chances by making them fight harder. What does he stand to gain from it?

Izumi considers and discards a quirk that feeds off of emotion for power because it wouldn’t make sense to anger them so early. She also considers trying to make them turn against each other but it still doesn’t fit.

Izumi shoots off a quick text to Monoma so they can talk about it later and then squares her shoulders. She doesn’t enjoy pushing through crowds but she needs to get home soon to finish preparations for the festival. The schedule Iida prepared won’t leave time for any last-minute fixes tomorrow.

---

Izumi doesn’t necessarily think that ‘you can do whatever your heart desires’ is ever a good phrase to use around high school students but then again, it is Midnight. Knowing what’s appropriate for high schoolers isn’t exactly her strong suit. Izumi has never actually gotten through a conversation with Midnight without blushing from all the subtext she inserts.

Overall, though, the obstacle course doesn’t seem like it will be too difficult, especially since most of the class plans to lag behind a bit anyway. Todoroki freezing the ground right out of the gate isn’t a surprise to anyone who’s ever paid attention to his fighting style so Izumi is already vaulting over the people in front of her when it happens. The zero-point bots are a little more surprising but, with so many other competitors to get lost in, it’s not difficult to avoid their attention. Izumi then basically ziplines across the canyon with her grappling hook and doesn’t bother to move quickly through the minefield, putting her in twenty-eighth place overall. First place went to Todoroki who, true to his word, didn’t hold back at all.

Izumi doesn’t think she would have beaten him anyway but she’s still grateful to Monoma when Midnight announces the ten million points going to first place. She’s more than happy to stick with her average placement for now.

For now.

Chapter Text

Before Izumi can even go out looking for her ideal teammates, they all come to her. She really does have the best best friends.

Monoma and Iida agree to be in the front with Monoma carrying a copy of Iida’s quirk, Uraraka’s quirk, and hopefully a copy of Sero’s who they wander closer and closer to as they plan. Uraraka will nullify most of Izumi, Iida, and Monoma’s weight, leaving just enough so they don’t float off and Monoma will nullify Uraraka’s weight. Izumi will be the rider but her only job is to wear the headbands and beat off people who try to take them with her staff. They all agree that they will stay far away from Todoroki’s team. Too many people want that headband and they have no interest in shifting that attention to themselves.

Monoma manages to brush Sero’s arm just as the buzzer sounds and they’re off.

---

“In second place: Team Midoriya!”

---

Shinsou starts talking as soon as the match starts but Izumi has Ojiro’s warning in mind so she doesn’t waste a second in running forward on the offensive.

“What, you’re so good you don’t even need to use your quirk? Do you look down on the general education students that much?” Shinsou says.

Izumi doesn’t bother responding before hitting him with her staff. Shinsou has decent instincts but clearly lacks training so it isn’t long before he’s on the ground and Midnight’s calling the match. Izumi gets off of him and offers him her hand, which he ignores.

“Hey,” she says, to his retreating back, “just so you know I wasn’t looking down on you. If I had a quirk, I would’ve used it.”

Shinsou turns and levels her with a stare but Izumi doesn’t look away.

“You’ve got really good combat instincts,” she tells him, “if you had more training or if I hadn’t been warned about your quirk, you would’ve won. If you ever want to train together, let me know.”

Izumi gives him a smile at the end but doesn’t bother to wait for a response as she heads back to the stands. She takes her seat just in time to see Todoroki freeze Sero in a glacier.

Iida and Uraraka look towards her nervously when they see it but Izumi can see Todoroki shivering as he walks off.

---

Izumi does feel briefly bad for Ashido when they get to her match and she goes up against Hatsume. She probably deserves it for underestimating her but the embarrassment really is gratuitous.

---

Izumi passes Endeavor on the way to the field and it is the first time she has ever been glad that she didn’t inherit her father’s quirk.

---

Izumi heads into her fight with Todoroki armed with well-insulated shoes with heaters in the soles and sides, a small but supercharged and modified cordless blow dryer, her staff which she has collapsed to fit on her back, several small balls of nitroglycerin-based explosives, and an overdeveloped sense of empathy. She hopes it will be enough.

Todoroki, unsurprisingly, immediately freezes the ground around Izumi but the thin layer doesn’t last long against the heaters in her shoes. Izumi takes advantage of his surprise to dash forward, clearing the way of ice with the blow dryer.

Todoroki sends a sheet of ice toward Izumi but she throws one of her balls at it and it explodes into shards. Without his fire and already shivering, Todoroki doesn’t have a lot of other options with his quirk so he does it twice more and gets several cuts from shards of ice before he stops long enough for Izumi to say anything between attacks.

“You really think you can be number one like this? Using half your power and giving up when it’s not enough?” Izumi yells.

Todoroki’s face hardens and he sends another wall of ice at her, larger than any of the previous ones. Izumi’s forced to throw the explosive directly in front of her and gets several cuts of her own for the trouble.

“What?” Izumi says anyway, “Is that the best you can do?”

Todoroki scowls and says, “Why do you care? Did my father pay you or something?”

“Seriously? There isn’t enough money in the world to convince me to do him a favor?” Izumi says as she tries to approach him again and is thwarted, again, by ice.

“Then, why?”

Izumi thinks about saying ‘Because I know how much it hurts to hate yourself like that’ or ‘because I saw you shivering at the USJ, too but there were still no flames’ or even something that burns in her gut and begins with ‘Kacchan-’ but Todoroki isn’t ready to hear any of that. And even if he was, maybe Izumi isn’t ready to say it.

“Because it’s your quirk, not his! Are you going to let him take this from you too?”

Todoroki is trembling violently enough that Izumi doesn’t even know that they count as shivers at this point. Izumi pulls her staff out and extends it before running forward again, only to be held off by a wall of flames.

Izumi takes a moment to consider her options until she is interrupted by more ice rushing at her. She spends a few moments dodging but she isn’t all that disappointed when she slips and more ice pushes her out of bounds. She knew what she was giving up when she’d made her plan.

Izumi is a little surprised, though, when she sees Todoroki standing over her only a second after the match is called. He offers her a hand up, his left hand, and she takes it, smiling.

---

Monoma copies Todoroki’s quirk in the final round and wins when he’s the only one who will use fire in the fight. Izumi thinks back on her own fight with him and decides it’s worth it anyway. Healing isn’t always a straight line but even if their fight is the last time Todoroki ever uses his flame, Izumi knows what’s most important to her and it isn’t winning.

Chapter Text

Her placement in the lunch line is not something that Izumi has ever given much thought to before. Lunch Rush is quick and efficient enough that being one place ahead or behind doesn’t matter much.

The only person Izumi has seen care about it at all is Iida who, out of some well-meaning but also ridiculous sense of chivalry, insists that his friends go ahead of him because if anyone is going to be left without food it should be him. Uraraka had argued with him about it the first two days of classes but once Monoma started joining them for lunch and Iida applied the same principle to him, she let it drop and only occasionally still bothers with an eye roll at the gesture.

However, the Monday after the Sports Festival, Izumi makes sure that she is the first of their usual lunch group through the line. It ends up being for nothing when she grabs her tray and scans the lunchroom only to find Todoroki already sitting at the best friend squad’s usual table.

Todoroki’s face has the same deadpan look on it that it always does but Izumi thinks she sees a slight hint of trepidation as she sits so she gives him her biggest smile. Todoroki’s expression doesn’t change but he does nod slightly at her so Izumi counts it as a win. Not a single one of the others comment on the new addition beyond greeting him before getting back to their discussion about whether or not class representatives should wear some kind of distinguishing marker on class trips so they are easier to single out.

Seriously, Izumi’s friends are the best.

---

Izumi is shocked to see that she has gotten two offers for internships. Her fights weren’t showy and she wonders briefly if whoever it is had also offered internships to Hatsume before being knocked out of her musings by the next announcement: they’ll be picking hero names today.

Izumi has been crafting and discarding hero name ideas practically her whole life. She could probably fill an entire notebook with options she’d considered. Most of them, however, had been at least partially inspired by All Might or Kacchan and she doesn’t think that’s what she wants anymore.

“What future do you see for yourself?” Aizawa-sensei asks.

A hero name can be a stand-in for the media but it can also say something about who you are and who you want to be.

Who am I? And who do I want to be?

For a long time, who she’d wanted to be was All Might, or at least someone like him. As much as Izumi would like to, though, she can’t picture herself saving hundreds of people from a burning building in an hour with a smile on her face.

Izumi considers that for a moment before coming to a realization.

That’s not why All Might is so important to people. He’s important because he’s the Symbol of Peace. He’s important because he inspires others to act in his name.

Izumi can’t be the Symbol of Peace but maybe she can symbolize something else. When Todoroki stands up to take his turn, Izumi knows what she’d like to symbolize.

Midnight calls Izumi up to the front and Izumi reveals her chosen name: Catalyst.

---

Class is dismissed soon after internship offers are handed out and Izumi only takes a few seconds to look at hers before she’s decided so she stops by Aizawa-sensei’s desk on her way out the door.

“Ah,” he says, “did you need something?”

“Yes, sir. I really appreciate your offer to work with you for my internship. You’re an amazing hero and I would really love to learn from you, but I have to decline. I don’t want to be an underground hero,” Izumi says, looking at her shoes.

Aizawa’s brow furrows slightly and he says, “I know it’s not as flashy as working with mainstream heroes but I do know how to fight without a quirk-”

“Sorry, sir,” even Izumi is shocked as she cuts him off, “but it’s not about flashiness. I chose the name Catalyst today because that’s what I want to be: change. All my life, saying I want to be a hero when I’m quirkless has been both set-up and punchline and if I go underground for my career, it will be easier for me but the same thing will happen to the next quirkless kid who wants to be a hero. Ten years from now, I want a quirkless kid to say they want to be a hero and for not a single person to laugh at them for it.”

“Well, Midoriya,” Aizawa-senei says, “I think that’s the most I’ve ever heard you say. I think it’s also the best. I’m disappointed that I won’t be working with you but I understand why. Good luck with your internship. I have a feeling you’ll need it.”

Izumi blushes so hard the tips of her ears burn.

“Thank you, sir,” she says and almost turns to go before she continues in a rush, “and if you really want an intern, you should think about that Shinsou kid, I bet you’d get along. Thank you again, bye!”

Izumi rushes out the door as soon as she’s done speaking and she kicks herself the whole way to her next class for trying to give a teacher advice. What could she have been thinking?

---

Izumi spots Aizawa-sensei talking to Shinsou just off the main entryway at the end of the day and decides that even if he hates her now, it was worth it. She continues on her way to Principal Nedzu’s office. They have internship details to discuss.

Chapter Text

Shouta is training with Shinsou when his phone rings.

“Hizashi? Is something wrong?”

“Sho, have you had a chance to see the news today?”

---

Shouta storms into Nedzu’s office with what he hopes is visible fury.

“What the hell were you thinking? Midoriya is fifteen and you sent her to take on the Hero Killer?!”

“Aizawa-”

“No! You don’t get to talk yet! That girl is going to be one of the best heroes out there but only if you don’t get her killed first in one of your stupid, hare-brained schemes! It’s our job to protect these kids while they learn, not to just throw them to the wolves and hope they-”

Shouta cuts himself off abruptly as one of the guest chairs in front of Nedzu’s desk swings around revealing Midoriya Inko.

“Ah, I didn’t realize-”

“Would you like to come to dinner?” Midoriya Inko interjects before Shouta can even apologize.

“Dinner?” Shouta says.

“Yes, at our house. I rather think you deserve it for showing that level of anger on my daughter’s behalf.”

Shouta is a bit bewildered and reaches for something to say.

“Can my husband come, too?”

That is not what he was reaching for.

“Certainly, I’m a pretty big fan of his radio show.”

“Wait,” Shouta feels he is losing the thread of this conversation, “how do you know who my husband is?”

Midoriya Inko simply holds out her hand and another, smaller arm appears from the other guest chair and puts several dollars in it. Shouta recognizes that arm even before the chair turns.

“I made the guess a few years ago based on Present Mic’s stories about his husband,” the younger Midoriya says sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck.

“And when she got to UA she told me that everyone who knows the two of you must know. I have more faith in my daughter’s observational skills than she does so I bet her five dollars that that wasn’t true. Now back to the question: dinner?” Midoriya Inko says, with absolutely no hint of her daughter’s sheepishness.

“Sure,” Shouta says.

“You should probably call me Inko then. Too many Midoriyas in a room at dinner would be confusing.”

Inko nods without waiting for a response and rounds on Principal Nedzu to begin her rant anew but stops when she sees him holding up a tray of tea.

“Why don’t we all discuss this over a calming cup of tea?”

Well, no one is going to argue with that.

---

“Now,” Nedzu says, once they’ve all gotten settled, “first of all, to address your concerns Aizawa, I did not send Midoriya out to catch the Hero Killer. We were doing analyses together to try and find out where he was likely to strike next but the plan was never to send her out to catch him and certainly not alone. We were setting up sensors in the alleys of Hosu where he was most likely to strike next and when I was called away to help with the Nomu, Midoriya was to continue setting them herself. I didn’t plan for her or expect her to run into Stain.”

The principal’s words sound true but Shouta has worked with him for many years and he knows at least a little of how his mind works.

“You may not have planned for it, but you weren’t upset when it happened either. I know you. You wouldn’t have sent her out to look into those alleys on her own if you weren’t at least okay with her finding what you were looking for.”

Shouta has never actually seen Nedzu’s face go so dark as he says, “Believe what you will of me but I would not have put Midoriya in danger like that. Evidence suggested that Stain would not strike again for at least another day and I arrogantly assumed that my analysis could not be wrong. I was obviously mistaken but I did not and would not deliberately place a student in harm’s way, especially not one I see so much of myself in.”

Shouta could have done without the qualifier but he supposes the rest of the speech rings true enough and prepares to move on. Inko apparently disagrees.

“Arrogance or not, you put my daughter in danger. How can I possibly trust you not to do it again in the future?”

“Because I am aware of the problem now!” Nedzu takes a deep breath and a sip of tea before he continues, “I’m not sure that you realize quite how rare it is that I am wrong. It has been many years at least since the last instance. I let myself forget how devastating it can be when it happens. I assure you, I am not taking this lightly. Your daughter is incredible and I would never forgive myself if something more happened to her on my watch just like I will never forgive myself for what already has.”

Inko looks at least slightly mollified as she sits back in her chair.

“Now,” Nedzu continues, “if we’re done with all the shouting I can get into what actually happened.”

Nedzu tells them the story and it is ridiculous from start to finish: Iida, Shouta’s most serious student, trying to catch Stain on his own, Midoriya stumbling upon the scene as Stain prepares to murder her friend and texting Todoroki who arrives to help take him out. Shouta almost can’t believe it.

“But if the others were involved, why say it was all thanks to Midoriya?” Shouta asks.

“The laws against vigilantism are strict,” Nedzu says, “but they are also narrow. It is only technically illegal to step in and injure someone in defense of another if you use your quirk to do it. It would never have worked with another quirkless person but the public has already seen footage of Midoriya defeating a villain made of slime in defense of Bakugou several months ago and of her getting to the third round of the Sports Festival and holding her own against the number two hero’s son, both of which we reminded them of in the press statement. Given her legitimate reason to be there and the fact that she was actually the one to defeat Stain in the end, it only made sense to attribute all of it to her.”

It is a slightly more palatable story than one of Midoriya facing the hero killer entirely on her own but it still leaves a bad taste in Shouta’s mouth. From the look on her face, it leaves a bad taste in Inko’s as well. Shouta turns to Midoriya and finds her shrinking again.

“Midoriya,” he says and her eyes snap to him, “what you did was incredibly dangerous and I wish you had never had to do it. However, I am also so incredibly proud of you. I meant what I said earlier, you’re going to be an incredible hero.”

He can feel Inko looking at him with approval but he keeps his gaze focused on Midoriya until she nods.

“And I know we all,” Shouta sends a look at Nedzu at that, “here at UA will do our best to make sure you stay safe long enough to get there.”

“Well then,” Inko says, pulling out a business card, “here’s my card. Let me know when you and your husband can come to dinner.”

She then turns to Nedzu and says, “As for you, Principal, I will not be nearly so pleasant if I have to come down here for something like this again.”

Shouta didn’t see the beginning of Inko’s meeting with the principal but he’d be willing to bet that that is quite the threat.

It makes him almost look forward to dinner with them.

---

Hizashi looks about ready to fall out of his chair when he hears Shouta accepted an invitation to dinner with someone who isn’t Nemuri. Shouta very kindly refrains from throwing a dinner roll at him.

Chapter Text

There are still two days left until school starts back after the internships when Aizawa-sensei and Mic-Sensei are set to come to dinner. Izumi isn’t quite at the level of freaking out but she’s certainly feeling some nerves and, apparently is transferring them to her mom. Or, at least, that’s the reason her mom gives for sending her out for flowers for the table. Apparently, ‘incessant mumbling about worst-case scenarios is not conducive to the dinner-making process.’

So, Izumi finds herself making her way home about ten minutes before Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei are supposed to arrive. She’s almost made it when she sees a familiar face out of the corner of her eye.

“Hey, Deku!” Kacchan calls and jogs his way over to her.

Izumi instinctively flinches as he gets close but Kacchan doesn’t even pretend to attack, just stands a couple of feet away looking at her.

“Kacchan,” Izumi acknowledges.

“Seems like I can’t go ten minutes watching the news today without hearing your name.”

“Yeah, they’ve been talking about the thing in Hosu a lot.”

Kacchan keeps looking at her intently and there isn’t any derision in his eyes. It’s almost like when they were kids, before he started to hate her. Izumi finds it makes her increasingly uncomfortable the longer he acts so civil, or at least civil for Kacchan.

“They might be talking about you now but pretty soon it’s gonna be me they’re talking about. You may have Nedzu training you but I’ve got someone training me, too. I’m still going to be number one. This head start means nothing,” Kacchan says.

Kacchan just stares at her after he finishes and Izumi doesn’t know what he’s waiting for but she doesn’t think he gets it.

“Is there a problem here, Bakugou?” Aizawa-sensei asks as he turns the corner onto their street.

Kacchan looks over at him and shakes his head, “No, there isn’t.”

Kacchan cuts his gaze back to Izumi again before he turns and heads up the street to his house. It’s the most pleasant interaction Izumi has had with Kacchan in years but it leaves her feeling off-kilter.

“Was Bakugou bothering you, Midoriya?” Aizawa-sensei asks.

Izumi pastes on a smile as she turns to face him, “Nope, he was just being Kacchan.”

---

Dinner is, surprisingly, not awkward at all. The conversation never gets stilted and most of it revolves around quirks, analysis, and hero ranking. Izumi’s mom wasn’t particularly interested in heroes growing up but it’s impossible to live in a house with Izumi and not pick things up so she is able to more than hold her own with the others at the table. Things do move further into personal territory towards the end, though.

“I hope I’m not overstepping,” Aizawa-sensei says, “but I was wondering if you could tell me a little more about your history with Bakugou. He seems to hold a lot of animosity towards you.”

Izumi’s mom sighs but it’s her who begins the answer, “Mitsuki, Katsuki’s mother, and I met in a local mom’s group while we were both still pregnant and became fast friends so when our kids were born, we all ended up spending a lot of time together. Izumi and Katsuki were so close that he used to throw tantrums every time he had to leave because he wanted to play longer.”

Izumi’s mom cuts off there and Izumi picks up the story, “Kacchan got his quirk early and it’s a really strong one. We were both so excited. We’d been planning to be hero partners since we found out what heroes were. Mom took me to a doctor when I was five and still didn’t have a quirk and we found out that I wasn’t going to get one. I didn’t take it well. Kacchan took it worse. At first, I think he felt like I betrayed him. We’d had all these plans and now they weren’t going to happen. Pretty quickly, though, it changed into being about how useless I was in general.”

“So, it’s about you being quirkless?” Aizawa-sensei asks.

“No,” Izumi says, “it’s about me refusing to accept that quirkless means worthless and actually working for my goals anyway.”

“Ah,” Aizawa-sensei says.

“Izumi,” her mom says, “would you mind going and getting dessert and plates for it from the fridge?”

Izumi nods and heads into the kitchen. She doesn’t shut the door though and when her mom doesn’t say anything about it, she knows she’s allowed to hear whatever comes next.

“It wasn’t just Katsuki. Everyone in Izumi’s life: teachers, friends, friends’ parents, her own father, even me sometimes, we all had trouble seeing the things Izumi was reaching for. It has been so incredible to see her at UA and know that there are people who believe in her and are helping her reach her dreams. However,” Izumi’s mom’s voice grows serious and hard, “my daughter’s safety is the most important thing in the world to me. Keeping her around people who believe in her is part of keeping her safe but if UA becomes too dangerous, I will have to pull her out anyway.”

Everything is quiet for a moment before Aizawa-sensei says, “I promise I will do everything I can to keep Izumi safe. If she asks me about it I’ll have to deny it, but she is my favorite student and the one I think has the most potential.”

Izumi waits a couple of seconds before heading back out with the dessert. She may or may not spend them blinking back tears.

When Izumi heads back out, her mom is asking about how Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei met, which was apparently at UA when they both went there as students. They, naturally, ask the same about her and Izumi’s father.

“He was a surgeon at the hospital I work in and it was a very whirlwind romance,” Izumi’s mom says.

“Can I ask what happened to him?” Mic-sensei asks.

“He’s in America now,” Izumi says, sitting back down, “he sends me a card on my birthday and I send him one on his. It’s very civil and distant which is exactly how he likes it.”

That effectively ends that conversation.

---

Aizawa-sensei ruffles Izumi’s hair as he and Mic-sensei leave. Izumi may or may not have to blink back tears again.

Her mom looks at her and says, “I don’t know why you’re still holding them back.”

Izumi thinks about that for a moment and promptly bursts into tears. Her mom smiles at her and pulls her to her side.

“You’re the best kid in the whole, wide world. I don’t know how I ever got lucky enough to have you as my kid,” she says.

Izumi does her best to say she’s the lucky one even though she can’t quite speak through her tears. Her mom understands anyway. Her ability to always know exactly what Izumi means, even, or maybe especially, when she can’t say it is one of the many reasons Izumi knows she’s the lucky one.

Chapter Text

The best friend squad, including Todoroki who got added after Hosu, were already planning to gather at Izumi’s house after the first day back to classes which is lucky because it means they don’t have to come up with an excuse to get Monoma to the intervention.

“Monoma, you know we love you, right?” Uraraka starts them off strong.

“Yes…” Monoma leaves the end hanging.

“Good, now, I need you to remember that while we talk, okay?”

“Okay, you’re kind of freaking me out,” Monoma says.

“Look, Monoma, you are a diligent student and class representative. Your work ethic is a guiding light to the rest of our class. Your win at the Sports Festival only helps to demonstrate this further. In fact, I believe-”

Izumi cuts Iida off before he can get too worked up in one of his encouraging speeches, “We all love you but you have to stop making fun of the other classes. It’s too much.”

“What?” Monoma says, “I don’t make fun of them that much.”

“Today at lunch you called Tetsutetsu a store-brand version of Kirishima,” Izumi points out.

“And before the break you told Kendo it was a good thing her hands were so big because she needed them to carry the rest of her class,” Uraraka says.

“You also have said our class is superior to class 1-B no fewer than eighteen times, twelve of which were said with a member of class 1-B in earshot,” Iida adds.

“We love you,” Izumi finishes, “and we love your confidence and your pep talks but maybe you could consider toning it down with the insults. It makes all of us feel really uncomfortable.”

Monoma’s face goes through several interesting changes over the course of a few minutes but eventually it settles into a serious look and he nods.

“I’m sorry I made you guys uncomfortable. I’ll try to tone it down.”

Uraraka reaches out and hugs him which then turns into a group hug and by the time they all separate again Monoma has a smile on his face.

“Yay!” Uraraka says, “I’m so glad that’s over. It’s been stressing me out all afternoon. Seriously, though, you’re way too sweet for a credible Mean Girls impression.”

“Why would Monoma insulting people make him a girl?” Todoroki asks.

“Wait, what?” Uraraka says, “Have you never seen Mean Girls?”

“Is that a movie?”

Monoma, Uraraka, and Izumi all mime being shot in the heart at Todoroki’s question and with almost no further discussion they all end up in front of the TV, eating ice cream, watching Mean Girls, and compiling a list of other movies that Todoroki absolutely has to see. He’s seen approximately none of them which means the list is pretty long.

Uraraka insists on several romances and also the entire Rocky series while Izumi quietly adds every Disney animated movie ever made. Iida’s only suggestion is the most recent iteration of Batman but Monoma makes all sorts of suggestions ranging from the Lorax to Inception and declares that they are all absolutely necessary in order to understand common references.

Uraraka suggests that they have two movie nights a week until they get Todoroki caught up but when Iida nearly explodes at the suggestion, they agree to one movie night a week and one group study night a week. Uraraka winks at Izumi during the ensuing lecture on proper study habits and both of them dissolve into giggles which they refuse to explain to Iida when he cuts himself off to question them.

Izumi turns to Todoroki when they’re finalizing the list and finds him completely entranced in the movie. It’s a good start to a new tradition.

---

The walls between the locker rooms are thin but usually not so thin that the girls can hear everything the boys are saying next door with perfect clarity. So, when they come in one Wednesday after HBT and find that they can, they immediately get suspicious.

It’s Kyouka who stabs Mineta but it’s Uraraka who waits outside the boy’s locker room until he comes out and proceeds to drag him to Aizawa-sensei and start quoting school bylaws at him.

One purple-haired student is replaced with another by Thursday morning which leaves Shinsou Hitoshi as the newest member of class 1-A.

---

Izumi and her friends have already been studying for exams but they decide to kick things into higher gear when the week before the exams comes along and Aizawa-sensei tells them the stakes. They’ve worked out a schedule and Iida and Uraraka are rehashing their bi-weekly argument about what exactly constitutes proper study snacks when Izumi hears someone clear their throat behind her.

“Hey, I was wondering if that offer to train anytime was still open?” Shinsou says.

“Of course!” Izumi says and gets a nod from the others who are not currently debating the exact definition of junk food before continuing, “I actually have plans all this week to study and train with these guys but you’re welcome to join us if you want, the more the merrier!”

Izumi finishes with a particularly bright smile and Shinsou nods slowly.

“Okay, great! We’re headed to my house after school so if you’ll just wait for us outside we can all go together.”

Shinsou nods again and Izumi doesn’t like the hesitation that’s still there so she amps up her smile. All she gets is a slight widening of his eyes for her efforts but that’s okay. She’ll have time to win him over while they study.

---

Shinsou does lose a lot of his hesitation as they study but it’s Izumi who ends up being completely won over. He just looks at everything in her house with such a quiet awe and he compliments her mom. How is Izumi not supposed to adopt him after that?

The others make fun of her in the group for several minutes after everyone leaves but they also all vote yes in the poll she makes. And with that, Shinsou is made an official member of the best friend squad group chat.

The first thing he does is send a meme of Aizawa-sensei as a really cranky-looking cat. If anyone in the group was still on the fence, they aren’t after they see that.

Chapter Text

“Todoroki and Midoriya will be paired up to go against All Might,” Principal Nedzu says.

Izumi and Todoroki are getting plenty of sympathetic looks but Izumi is actually kind of excited. All Might is one of the greatest heroes out there and even with the handicap it will take all of their strength to beat him. It’s a little incredible to her that the teachers think she’s one of the best students to send against him. Izumi doesn’t want to let them down.

The plan she and Todoroki make is by necessity fairly vague but essentially boils down to making it seem like they aren’t working together. Todoroki will challenge All Might while Izumi pretends to try to sneak around and when All Might goes to stop Izumi, Todoroki will escape quickly by sliding on his ice. It’s a solid plan but it will take some time to pull it off convincingly and Izumi really just hopes half an hour is enough.

Izumi learned her lesson about not carrying her tech a long time ago with the slime villain so even though she thought she was going to be fighting robots, she still has her dart shooters as back-up. She’s not sure they’d work on All Might but she’d much rather risk losing darts than breaking her staff when it’s her turn to distract him.

---

It turns out Izumi didn’t need to worry about losing her darts or breaking her staff because All Might never takes his attention away from Todoroki. It takes Izumi maybe three minutes to sneak around to the exit and he doesn’t look at her once.

It’s not that Izumi didn’t want to pass. Obviously, she’s glad she passed but All Might is the number one hero. Izumi has seen videos of nearly all of his public fights and he never falls for the tricks the villains set up. Sometimes it seems like he has some sort of supernatural sense for when someone is trying to trick him. Basically, he definitely didn’t fall for Todoroki’s performance. Todoroki is great but he’s not exactly a trained actor or a villain. He literally said the words, “I must finally prove my worth,” at one point during the fight.

Izumi has looked up to All Might her whole life. Apparently, though, he can’t be bothered to look at her at all.

Izumi had gone around the corner out the front door for her little meltdown but she supposes she wasn’t exactly subtle about it. She’s throwing rocks at the fence around the school grounds when Todoroki finds her. Neither of them say anything until after Izumi has gotten tired of throwing rocks and sat down against the fence instead. Izumi pulls her knees up and covers her face with them but she can hear Todoroki sit beside her.

“I’ve looked up to All Might my whole life,” Izumi says.

“I know,” Todoroki says, “I’ve seen your room.”

Izumi huffs a laugh but she stops when it threatens to turn into a sob.

“I guess the saying is true, huh? Never meet your heroes,” she says in a slightly shaky voice.

“I don’t know. Mine’s pretty great,” Todoroki says.

“Yeah, who’s that? I’m in the market for a new one.”

“You,” Todoroki says and Izumi’s eyes shoot up to meet his.

The thing is, Todoroki doesn’t have a very expressive face. He has about three very similar default serious expressions and the only time he really branches out from them is when he smiles. Izumi has only seen him smile three times total since she met him. He isn’t smiling now.

Izumi has learned that the only way to really tell how Todoroki is feeling is through his tone and the tone he’s using now isn’t the one he uses when he says things like, “Cold soba is the best food in the world.” He’s using the tone he uses to say things like, “My dad is a horrible person.” It’s not the tone for flattery or even sympathy. It’s the tone for indisputable facts.

Todoroki stands and offers her a hand up, his left hand.

“I have an idea,” he says.

---

Izumi’s mom walks in to find Izumi and Todoroki measuring Izumi’s now-empty bedroom walls.

“What’s going on here?” she asks.

“Oh, um, we’re redecorating!” Izumi says as she turns and accidentally whacks Todoroki with the measuring tape.

“Yeah?” Izumi’s mom says, looking around.

Izumi watches, feeling a little nervous. Her mom had bought her a lot of that stuff and she supposes she could get it back from the pawn shop but her mom still might be offended.

“About time,” her mom says with a smile, “Need a hand?”

It doesn’t take long to finish getting measurements but planning a new room design takes long enough that Todoroki ends up staying well past dinner time. His ideas are a little more traditional than Izumi is used to but she writes all of them down anyway. It’s more than worth it to see him smile for the fourth time ever.

Izumi thinks she could see him smile a hundred times and still consider it worth it.

Chapter Text

Izumi and Uraraka decide to pair up at the mall and since each of them really only need one thing, they decide to wander around first so they don’t have to carry bags. It seems like an even better decision when they spot an ice cream stand. Izumi gives her money to Uraraka and goes to grab them spots on a bench they just passed.

Izumi has only been sitting for about two minutes when someone sits beside her. It isn’t Uraraka.

“Wow, you’re the girl who beat Stain in Hosu, aren’t you? I’m a huge fan,” the man says.

“Thanks, um, I’m actually saving that seat for someone,” she says back.

“Oh, don’t worry. I won’t be long. It’s just such a coincidence running into you again,” he says, and Izumi’s eyes widen, “Although, I guess from your point of view we haven’t seen each other since the attack on UA.”

“You-” Izumi tries to say but is cut off by Shigaraki’s hand resting on her arm, directly above the scar he left on her last time. Izumi has a very visceral memory of what that hand will do to her if his final finger comes down.

“Now, now, we wouldn’t want anyone to get hurt. After all, it isn’t only hero students around now. I could dust you and then get twenty or thirty more before I got caught,” Shigaraki says.

“What do you want?” Izumi asks.

“I just want to talk,” he says, “I’m a little confused and I’m hoping you can help me out. The Hero Killer and I aren’t so different, are we? We both want to destroy the things we hate and both of us hate heroes but for some reason everyone keeps talking about him instead of me. Why is that?”

Izumi’s mind races as she tries to come up with an answer that he’ll accept but that won’t upset him, “Well, your goal is to kill All Might, right? That’s not really something most people can relate to. Stain just wanted to take out smaller heroes that most people didn’t know much about so they pay more attention to his ideology but with such a big goal, it’s all people see. Most people really look up to All Might and a villain saying he’s not so great as he tries to kill him isn’t really going to sway them.”

Shigaraki brings his face closer to hers and Izumi hadn’t thought her heart could beat any faster but apparently it can.

“It doesn’t really sound like you buy into all of that, though,” he says.

“No, no,” Izumi is quick to say, “I really do think that’s the issue-”

“That’s not what I mean,” Shigaraki cuts her off again, “I mean it doesn’t sound like you buy into all the All Might crap.”

“We spend a lot of time with him as students. Spend enough time and it gets easy to see through,” Izumi says, letting some of her actual bitterness seep into her voice.

Shigaraki releases her arm and Izumi stares as he actually stands up to go.

“I’ll see you around,” he says and then he’s gone.

Uraraka makes it over with the ice cream a few minutes later but Izumi is already on the phone with Principal Nedzu. She never does get to eat that ice cream.

---

It turns out Nedzu was the right call because he manages to argue both his and Izumi’s mom’s presence into the interrogation room as Detective Tsukauchi asks Izumi about the encounter with Shigaraki.

“I’ll be honest, Midoriya. That conversation doesn’t exactly reflect well on you,” Tsukauchi says.

Izumi’s mom gasps but Izumi is already speaking, “Shigaraki was threatening to kill me and everyone around me. What was I supposed to do? Tell him he’s wrong, his ideas are wrong, and he should turn himself in at the nearest police station?”

Detective Tsukauchi gives her a look and Izumi takes a deep breath before continuing, “I’m sorry. It’s been a stressful day.”

Principal Nedzu stands and claps his hands together, “Of course it has. Thank you for being so kind as to sit here and answer our questions but I’m sure Detective Tsukauchi doesn’t have anything pressing enough to keep you here.”

Detective Tsukauchi doesn’t exactly look like he agrees but it has been a very stressful day and Izumi isn’t going to stop Principal Nedzu from getting her out of even more questions about it. They all say their goodbyes and Tsukauchi tells them to shut the doro on their way out.

As she leaves, Izumi catches a glimpse of his notepad in the mirror behind him. She only manages to read one word.

Defensive.

---

Izumi’s mom sees her off at the door on the morning that the summer training camp starts. She’s been following Izumi around all morning so she can make sure she has everything she needs packed. Izumi can see how worried she is so she hasn’t said anything but now she really does need to go so she’s not late.

“I put some snacks in your backpack that you can share with your friends on the bus. Make sure you wear your sunscreen and bug spray. Oh, and-”

Izumi has to cut her mom off or she’ll never get off the front step, “Don’t worry. It’s a super secret location and we’ll be with Aizawa-sensei the whole time. You like him, remember?”

Her mom cups Izumi’s face in her hand before backing up a step and saying, “Okay, just be careful.”

“I will.”

Izumi gives her mom her brightest smile as she turns to go but it falls as she hears her mom’s parting words.

“I know. That’s what scares me.”

Izumi squares her shoulders anyway. She can’t let her mom’s fears, or even her own, stop her. Everything is going to be okay this time.

---

Monoma bumps her shoulder with his as they head over to the bus. Iida always asks if Monoma would prefer to lead the way to the bus before trips but Monoma had discovered early on the power that the word ‘delegation’ holds over Iida and has never had to actually do it.

“Are you excited?” Monoma asks.

“Absolutely,” Izumi says, “Are you?”

“Absolutely,” Monoma says and grins up at the sky, “I’m ready for anything this camp can throw at us.”

Izumi laughs and races him to the bus.

Chapter Text

Izumi thanks her penchant for paranoia as the ground underneath her explodes. She’s still falling but she’s also the only one who has her backpack so things could be worse.

She’s even more grateful when lunch time comes and she remembers the snacks her mom packed. They don’t really have time to stop and eat, what with the giant dirt monsters that keep attacking them, but Izumi hands out snacks as she can to the rest of the class and they eat on the go. At the very least, it helps to keep their energy up.

Still, everyone is dirty, tired, and hungry as they walk into the camp at the base of the mountain. Izumi is probably in the best spirits of anyone and even she is dragging quite a bit. Her spirits are not at all improved when she tries to introduce herself to Kota and he kicks her in the shin.

Izumi is starting to have a bad feeling about all of this.

---

When Aizawa-sensei announces that most of summer camp will be spent training their quirks, Izumi doesn’t really know what to expect. She’s always considered her tech to be her pseudo-quirk but she doesn’t know how she would work on that here. As it turns out, Aizawa-sensei has something completely different in mind.

“There isn’t really anything more we could do to help you develop your tech but we can help with how you use it. Your main tool is that staff of yours so you’ll be doing agility exercises and endurance training with it.”

Izumi spends most of her time training with Tiger and it’s incredibly intense but she can literally feel herself improving so she has no complaints. Plus, whenever she does particularly well, Tiger answers some of her questions about his quirk. It’s a good system for them.

---

Izumi is not a great cook. She tends to either get distracted and burn the food or get so worried about getting distracted and burning the food that it ends up not getting cooked all the way through. Her friends have enough experience watching her try to cook that she immediately gets put on dish duty.

Without anything else to do while they cook, it’s easy for Izumi to notice Kota leave. When the food is done, she grabs some and follows him. She figures she can deliver the food and be back in time to eat and do the dishes.

Kota is clearly not happy to see Izumi when she finds him. He’s an angry kid but she doesn’t think it’s getting dinner brought to him that’s upsetting him. She’s proven right when he starts in on how stupid it is to be a hero and to train your quirk.

“You know, I’ve met people who talk like that and they’re not the kind of people I think you’d want to be like,” Izumi lifts up her sleeve to show her scar, “one of them even gave me this. Maybe I’m wrong but despite you kicking me yesterday, I don’t think you really want to hurt anyone.”

Kota is glaring at her but his eyes keep flicking back to her arm and finally he says, “I don’t want to hurt people. I just want them to know they’re being stupid. If you still want to be a hero after getting hurt like that, you’re the stupidest of all of them.”

“Well,” Izumi says, “if I hadn’t gotten hurt like this, it would have been someone else and they might have gotten hurt even worse.”

“But you wouldn’t have.”

“Maybe or maybe I would have still gotten hurt by someone else. At least this way, when I get hurt, I know it’s for a good reason.”

Kota glares off the side of the cliff and doesn’t respond so Izumi sets the bowl of curry next to him and leaves. She has dishes to get to.

---

Izumi doesn’t think there’s many things she’d like to do less than walking through the forest in the dark waiting for people to try and scare her, especially knowing that Kacchan is out there somewhere. She is, however, grateful that they won’t be doing it alone. If she has to do this, she can’t think of many better partners than Todoroki. He’s so calm all the time that Izumi doubts anything can really scare him.

“Hey, Todoroki,” Izumi says when it’s their turn to go, “I know it’s stupid but this is pretty scary for me. Do you think maybe-”

Izumi cuts herself off when Todoroki offers her his hand. She takes it with a smile.

“Okay, let’s do this then.”

---

The first sign that something is really wrong is the gas. Izumi knows the quirks of everyone in the hero program and none of them could do anything like it.

“Todoroki, I don’t think this is part of the test.”

Todoroki doesn’t even hesitate before he starts running. There are bigger things to worry about but Izumi’s heart still does a little jump when Todoroki believes her so easily. They leave the course and make it far enough away that they can’t see the gas before they stop. Todoroki turns to her and Izumi realizes he’s waiting for an explanation or plan of some kind.

“Well, ideally we’d head back to camp but that’s also the direction the gas is coming from so it likely isn’t safe at the moment. If we stay in one place we have a better chance of someone finding us but the people who find us won’t necessarily be friendly and if a villain finds us it’s still illegal for you to fight back. So, even if we want to help we should really-” Izumi cuts herself off as Mandalay’s voice echoes through their minds.

“I know where Kota is,” she says when Mandalay is done, “and I have to go find him. If villains are attacking, he can’t be left out here alone.”

“Lead the way.”

Izumi doesn’t know that she’s ever been more grateful for Todoroki.

---

They find Kota at his hideout but he isn’t alone. Izumi recognizes the villain Muscular as the one attacking him. She’d really like to have time to make a plan but Kota isn’t moving. Izumi pretty much tackles the kid out of the way of a superpowered punch before standing up in between him and the villain. Kota is saying something to her but Izumi doesn’t really have time to listen as Muscular starts talking.

“Hey, I recognize you. You’re Midoriya, right? I’ll tell you what, you come with me and I’ll leave the kid alone, what do you say?”

Izumi doesn’t even have time to consider his offer before Todoroki ices Muscular’s legs and comes out to drag her and Kota further away from him. Izumi shoots him a slightly horrified look for revealing himself like that but Todoroki glares back at her.

“No,” is all he says but Izumi nods. If she tries to go with Muscular, Todoroki is going to do something stupid to try and stop her. Izumi could try to convince him otherwise but, based on his tone, that would be a very bad idea.

Muscular breaks through the ice on his legs and starts talking about Todoroki and thinking he can save them but Izumi isn’t paying much attention. They need a plan and they need it now.

Usually Izumi would be against Todoroki using his quirk illegally, especially when he already has a warning against it, but he’s already used it once and all three of their lives are on the line.

“Do you think you could make enough ice for us to slide off the cliff on it?” she whispers to him as Muscular is talking.

Todoroki gives a slight nod and suddenly there’s a wall of flames between them and Muscular. Ice spreads into a glacial ramp off the cliff face and Izumi grabs Kota and Todoroki’s hands as they run to the edge and slide down.

By the time Muscular has cleared the flames, Izumi, Todoroki, and Kota are already at the bottom. When he can’t immediately spot them, Muscular clearly gives up the search in favor of easier prey. As long as they stay in the trees, they’ have an advantage over him in terms of maneuverability.

The three of them take a moment to catch their breath and orient themselves before they head in the direction of camp.

“I really hope one of the villains has an ice quirk,” Izumi can’t resist saying quietly as they head back to camp.

Todoroki makes a confused sound so Izumi elaborates, “It’s going to be really hard to convince anyone that a glacier just naturally formed there.”

Todoroki huffs a small laugh and Kota laughs even harder. They might be under attack and scared for their lives but at least there are things to laugh about. It’s the little things, really.

---

They run into a group of 1-B students close to camp and on their way there only a few minutes after Mandalay has sent a message saying that the students are allowed to use their quirks to fight back. Izumi looks over at Todoroki and finds him wearing a very unimpressed look.

“I’m not heading back unless you head back,” Todoroki says.

Izumi would like to pretend that she wasn’t going to suggest that but it’s pointless when Todoroki is wearing that look. Instead, she hands Kota off to the others. She hits him with her best Aizawa-sensei impression when he protests that he can fight too until he agrees to head back.

“Just be careful, okay?” he says and Izumi is shocked when he also darts in for a hug.

“You too.”

Izumi lets him go and then she and Todoroki head back into the forest.

---

Todoroki and Izumi run into Shoji and Kacchan, both of whom look injured. Before Izumi can even ask what happened to them, Kacchan is directly in her face.

“What the hell are you doing here, Deku? You need to go back to camp!”

Izumi goes to respond but suddenly everything goes dark.

---

Izumi is groggy when she wakes up but it’s immediately clear that she’s not in the forest anymore.

“Hello again, Midoriya,” Shigaraki says.

Chapter Text

“No,” Inko says the moment Midoriya leads Shouta and All Might into the living room, “you can turn around right now because my daughter is not going back to UA, much less moving into dorms there.”

Shouta is about to speak but Midoriya beats him to it.

“If you don’t let me go back, I’ll take the licensing exam when I turn eighteen anyway and the only thing that will change is that I won’t have the training it takes to survive hero work.”

“Out!” Inko says and surprisingly her finger is pointed at Midoriya.

Midoriya sends Shouta a pleading look as she leaves the room and he’d like to sigh but he really doesn’t think it would help either of their cases.

“You promised me,” Inko says once Midoriya’s door is closed. Shouta tries to respond but Inko cuts him off as she continues, “No. I get to talk right now. You promised me that you would keep her safe and I believed you. Every time my daughter gets hurt, you promise that it won’t happen again and then it does. Your words don’t mean anything to me anymore.”

Shouta feels the force of her words like physical blows. Worse, nothing she said is wrong.

“I know how you must feel-” Shouta starts but Inko cuts him off again.

“Oh, you know, do you? You know how it feels to send your daughter to school and pick her up from the hospital? You know how it feels to have a child taken from you? You know how it feels to not even get her back from her teachers but from her friends, also your students, by the way, who snuck into a villain fight because they didn’t trust their teachers to save her? You know how that feels?”

Shouta has considered the implications of his students and Bakugou sneaking out to get Midoriya back before but no one has stated it so plainly before.

“You’re right,” Shouta says and continues when Inko doesn’t cut him off this time, “I don’t know how you feel. It was a poor choice of words. I do know, though, that the best bet for you not to feel this way again is to keep Midoriya at UA.”

“She is my daughter! How can I possibly send her into your care again when you’ve proven that you can’t protect her?”

Shouta knows that Inko does not deserve even more pain but he can’t help that his next words are going to cause it.

“Can you protect her either, though?” Inko tries to cut him off again but this time Shouta knows he can’t let her. He has to get her to understand. So he continues over her protests, “If a villain showed up on your doorstep tomorrow, what would you be able to do about it? There are dangerous people after your daughter. If she hadn’t come to UA, maybe they would have never noticed her but it’s too late for that now. We have not kept Midoriya as safe as we have tried to and that failure is on us but we have kept her alive. If the villains show up here tomorrow, could you do the same?”

Inko has been looking at him with fury in her eyes the whole time Shouta has been here but it melts out of them now. What’s left is bitterness and it’s more painful than all of the fury because Inko doesn’t look like a protective mother anymore. She looks like a grieving one, like Midoriya is already gone even though she’s just in the next room.

Inko calls Midoriya back into the room and she gives her permission for Midoriya to move into the UA dorms but her voice is toneless as she speaks.

---

“You didn’t say anything to Midoriya or her mother the whole time we were there,” Shouta says when he and All Might are back in the car.

“I don’t think you would have liked what I had to say,” All Might says very quietly.

Shouta didn’t think he had enough energy left to be angry but it turns out that he does.

---

“Sho?”

Shouta looks up from his hands to see that Hizashi has come home. At first he thinks something must be wrong but a glance out the windows tells him that night has come without him noticing.

“The day went that well, huh?” Hizashi says.

Shouta doesn’t know why but it’s that question that finally lets the tension fall from him and without it, he finds he has nothing left. The first few tears fall before he notices and suddenly Hizashi’s arms are around him and his face is pressed into Hizashi’s shoulder.

“That’s it. It’s okay. You’re all safe now,” Hizashi says as he pets Shouta’s hair.

Shouta manages to croak through the sobs, “Are we, though?”

Hizashi’s hand stills in his hair for a moment and it’s answer enough.

Chapter Text

Izumi has never really fought with her mom before and even if she had, she thinks this would be worse than that. Fighting with her mom is bad enough but fighting with her mom while dealing with the stress of being kidnapped and the stress of worrying about being pulled out or kicked out for being weak enough to get kidnapped is another thing entirely. At least, Izumi thinks it is. She’d need more data to be sure.

On the whole, Izumi’s stress levels haven’t really gone down since she’d woken up to see Shigaraki staring at her. On an unrelated note, Izumi has been avoiding sleeping. You don’t have to wake up if you never go to sleep at all.

So, Izumi should be setting up her dorm room but instead she’s doing research into stimulants stronger than coffee when she hears a knock on her door. When she opens it, she finds Todoroki holding a box on the other side.

“Can I come in?” he asks.

“Oh, of course.”

Izumi rushes to close her laptop and offers Todoroki a seat next to her on her bed. He sets his box on the floor and Izumi tries not to be nosy and look in it but patience has never been her strongest area.

Todoroki catches her trying to peek inside and says, “Go ahead. It’s for you anyway.”

Inside, Izumi finds a can of teal paint in the same color as the one they picked out for her room at home and some posters rolled into long tubes. Underneath all of that is a picture that was taken at one of the squad’s movie nights.

Izumi looks back up at Todoroki and he says, “I thought the paint could help you feel more comfortable and I have the same picture in my room. The posters just reminded me of you.”

Izumi unrolls the first poster and finds a kitten hanging onto a tree branch with the words ‘hang in there’ printed along the bottom. She stifles a laugh and just raises an eyebrow at Todoroki. He doesn’t even look sheepish about it.

“Thank you for this, Todoroki. It’s even nicer for you to get this to me now so I can paint before I get everything set up,” Izumi pastes a smile on her face and tries to project a sense of calm happiness that she can’t manage to feel.

“I have to admit, bringing this to you wasn’t my only motive,” Todoroki says.

“Oh?”

“I wanted to apologize. If I had been faster or stronger or if I had insisted we go back to camp with Kota-”

“It’s okay you don’t have to apologize-” Izumi tries to interject but Todoroki keeps going.

“I know you don’t blame me but I blame me. I was too late and you ended up hurt. I never want that to happen again.”

“I appreciate that, Todoroki, but it really wasn’t your fault. I should have been stronger.”

“Midoriya, anyone who still thinks you’re weak hasn’t been paying attention.”

Izumi blushes and thanks him again but Todoroki is looking at her even more intensely than usual and it makes her nervous.

“Like I said,” Todoroki continues, “I don’t want to be too late to help you again. So, what can I do to help you?”

“Help me with what?”

“I don’t know. Whatever it is that’s keeping you from sleeping and making you even more jumpy than usual, I guess.”

Izumi shakes her head and makes sure her voice is steady before she says, “I’m fine. I just need to keep training so I can get stronger.”

Todoroki waits until she looks up before he says, “Midoriya, you don’t have to be fine. I’m not fine and I’m not the one who got taken.”

“You’re not fine?” Izumi asks, a little incredulous.

“Every night I dream of that moment when I could almost reach you and didn’t,” Todoroki doesn’t even seem embarrassed to admit it.

“I dream of what happens a few minutes after,” Izumi says quietly, “of waking up and seeing Shigaraki sitting in front of me. I dream that I’m as helpless as I was that day.”

“Does anything help?” Todoroki asks.

“Not really. Does anything help you?”

“Seeing you, now, that helps,” Todoroki says before he clenches his hand into a fist, “I wish I could help you, too, but in this it seems like I’m as helpless as ever.”

Izumi takes his hand and holds it for a few seconds before saying, “This helps, I think. Things were okay that night as long as I was holding your hand. It’s only when I went off on my own that things got messed up.”

Todoroki actually gives her a small smile at that and says, “Do you want to see if we can paint one-handed, then?”

---

“Wow, Midoriya,” Ashido says when they get to her room during the competition that night, “I didn’t think your room would be so, well, cute.”

“I had a very good designer,” Izumi says and sends a smile at Todoroki.

---

The next day, Izumi is the one to show up at Todoroki’s door with a present.

“Here,” she says and holds the envelope out to him, “it’s not much but I wanted to thank you for yesterday. And in general.”

Todoroki opens it and sees that inside is the picture they’d taken after painting yesterday. Both of them are covered in paint from trying to do everything one-handed. On the back, Izumi has written ‘Izumi and Shouto’ with the date underneath. Todoroki looks up at Izumi and it seems like he might say something until someone knocks on the door.

Uraraka, Iida, Shinsou, and Monoma are all outside holding the next movie on the list and probably more popcorn than is really wise. Todoroki offers Izumi his hand as they follow their friends downstairs. Izumi smiles as she takes it.

---

When the movie is done and a truly unbelievable amount of popcorn has been consumed, Todoroki ends up walking Izumi back to her room.

“You wrote Shouto on the photo you gave me,” Todoroki says when they reach her door.

“Oh? Yeah, I guess I did,” Izumi says, blushing.

“You don’t usually call me Shouto.”

“No, I don’t,” Izumi looks at the floor and waits to hear him say that it’s too familiar, that it makes him uncomfortable, that-

“You should.”

“Oh, um, only if you call me Izumi.”

“Izumi,” Shouto says and Izumi’s entire mind goes blank.

“Um, Shouto,” Izumi says once her mind reboots and is shocked to see a small blush spread across Shouto’s face.

Izumi suddenly becomes very aware of Shouto’s hand in hers and she squeezes it once before she steps back and unlocks her door.

“Goodnight, Shouto.”

“Goodnight, Izumi.”

Izumi has a smile on her face until she falls asleep. She still dreams of Shigaraki.

When she wakes up, Izumi decides it still counts as progress.

Chapter Text

Izumi calls Shouto by his given name exactly once the next morning before being pulled away by Uraraka and Monoma so they can interrogate her about it. They don’t have a lot of time since classes start back today and there honestly isn’t much to the story but there is just enough time and substance for the two of them to make Izumi’s face go completely red by the time they get to class.

It turns out they aren’t staying in the classroom for long once they get there, though. The teachers tell them they’re going to spend today working on ultimate moves and usher them to the TKL.

“Aizawa-sensei?” Izumi gets his attention after everyone has gone their separate ways, “I’ve spent some time updating my hero suit and I was wondering if the upgrades might count as an ultimate move.”

“Well, let’s see it,” he says.

“Um, just try to grab me or something then, I guess,” Izumi says.

Aizawa-sensei raises an eyebrow but he does grab her arm and seems surprised when she doesn’t move. Or, at least, he seems surprised until he actually touches her.

Izumi’s hero suit is now insulated and has the ability to run an electric current across the entirety of the outside. Izumi activated it at the lowest level as soon as he reached out so he only gets a moderate shock but it’s still enough that he wouldn’t be able to hold on to her.

“It can go up much higher in voltage as well,” Izumi says nervously when Aizawa-sensei doesn’t speak once he’s been shocked, “I know it’s defensive but, um, do you think it could count as an ultimate move?”

“Yeah, kid,” Aizawa-sensei says after a moment and he’s shaking his head but he’s smiling so maybe that’s okay, “I think that could count as an ultimate move.”

---

Around midmorning, Shinsou approaches Izumi and asks her if she could help him design a way to disguise his voice and they spend the rest of the morning coming up with plans to send to the support company. It’s a good distraction for her while her classmates continue to work on developing their ultimate moves. The two of them drop off the plans with Aizawa-sensei before they head to lunch.

"Hey, Shouto,” Izumi says as she sits down.

“Izumi,” Shouto says with a small smile.

“Wait, what?” Shinsou says.

“I know, right?” Monoma says, sitting down as well, “Isn’t it the cutest thing?”

Uraraka sits down next to him and chimes in as well, “So cute!”

“When did this happen?” Shinsou asks.

“Apparently, it happened last night but we found out when they were being all adorable about it this morning,” Uraraka says.

“Where was I when this happened?” Shinsou asks.

“Sleeping,” most of the table answers.

Shinsou grumbles vaguely at that and Uraraka declares it ‘the cutest’ as well.

“So, do you all have an idea of what you want your ultimate moves to be?” Iida says in a clear bid to change the subject. Iida is as likely as any of them to find things cute but he’s much less likely to tease anyone about it.

Everyone nods except Monoma who looks vaguely uncomfortable.

“No ideas at all?” Uraraka asks and Monoma shakes his head.

“It’s not like I can plan for what quirks I’m going to have around me,” he says.

Most of the table nods in sympathy but Izumi’s mind is already racing through ideas. Monoma’s been a great friend to her and if she can help him, she wants to.

“Well, um, your ultimate move should probably be more about your own quirk anyway and since your quirk requires you to touch other people, maybe your ultimate move could be something to make that easier? Like if you had a capture weapon like Aizawa-sensei you could drag them toward you to copy their quirk or if you had roller skates or something you could cover a lot of distance really quickly? There are probably other things like that you could do too, that’s just, um, a general idea of what could work,” Izumi says in a single breath.

Monoma looks shocked for a moment before his face breaks out in one of the biggest smiles she’s ever seen on him. “That’s a great idea!” he says and then rushes off without even taking his tray.

A few hours later, Monoma has shoes with retractable wheels and is zooming around the room for practice.

---

Shouto finds Izumi in the gym after dinner that night.

“Spar?” he asks.

“No quirks?” Izumi suggests.

Shouto nods and they both head to a mat. Izumi counts down and they’re off.

Sparring with Shouto is always interesting. He’s quick and clever even without his quirk so Izumi has to think on her feet if she wants a chance at winning. They circle each other for a few seconds before a small smile appears on Shouto’s face.

Izumi’s brain stops working for a second and before she knows it, she’s on the mat. Shouto backs off as soon as she’s down, as he always does but it still takes her a second to get back up.

“You did that on purpose,” she accuses when she manages to stand again.

Shouto shrugs and it’s basically an admission on its own.

“Maybe that should be your ultimate move, smile at people like that and knock them down while they’re distracted,” Izumi says. This time Shouto is the one distracted enough to get knocked on his back.

“You think so, huh?” he says, seeming completely unconcerned with her turning his trick around on him. Izumi offers him a hand up and he takes it, still seeming distracted. The smile is still on his face, though, and Izumi is having trouble looking away from it.

“Maybe you should do it more often and see for yourself,” Izumi says.

“Maybe I will,” Shouto says.

Shouto smiles at Izumi again later as he holds the door to the dorm building open for her. It’s only his quick reflexes that save her from walking directly into the door frame.

Chapter Text

“Let’s get married!” Ms. Joke says to Aizawa-sensei and Izumi thinks it’s another joke at first but Ms. Joke doesn’t let up. She keeps flirting and insisting even when Aizawa-sensei is clearly getting uncomfortable.

“Midoriya, why are you glaring at Ms. Joke?” Shinsou mutters to her but Izumi is focused enough that it barely registers. Izumi walks up to Aizawa-sensei and loudly clears her throat even once she’s gotten his attention until Ms. Joke stops laughing to look at her as well.

“Excuse me, Aizawa-sensei, I think maybe I did something to my staff on the bus. Would you come over here and help me look at it?” Izumi says.

Judging by the look in Aizawa-sensei’s eye, he knows what she’s doing but Izumi doesn’t care. She’s not going to let this woman make him uncomfortable and refuse to take no for an answer right in front of her without doing anything about it. She’ll have to watch to see if this is a regular thing because if it is, she might mention it to Mic-sensei when they get back.

Aizawa-sensei follows Izumi over to a spot a few feet away from where he was and examines her staff for a nonexistent problem until Ms. Joke gets bored and blows a kiss at him before leaving.

“Thanks,” he mutters out of the corner of his mouth when she’s gone.

“Not a problem,” Izumi says with a decisive nod of her head.

Aizawa-sensei has always had her back. There’s no way she’s going to not have his.

---

Izumi suggests that the class all stick together for the first part of the exam but Monoma brings up a good point.

“It may be better for us to split into groups of six or seven so we don’t end up surrounded by our classmates and being unable to hit other examinees without hitting them,” he says and there are nods all around. The members of the best friend squad exchange looks. “We’ll head to higher ground,” Monoma says and with no arguments, they take off running with Monoma in the lead.

They head to the city area and by the time the exam starts, they’re on the roof of the tallest building in a block. Izumi and Monoma take up positions on opposite corners so they can warn the others when someone passes by below. When they see someone, Shouto will come to whoever called and freeze the street below so they can hit them more easily. Eventually, though, people will realize not to come by this area which is where Iida, Uraraka, and Shinsou come in. Uraraka will make herself, Iida, and Shinsou lighter so they can maneuver and dodge easily while Shinsou talks to people and sends them to the area.

The plan works even better than they expected and all six of them pass within the first half hour of the test. High fives are exchanged all around when they reach the area for passing examinees and Izumi even finds it in herself to hug Shouto. His face doesn’t change but his arms come up around her and she knows he’s happy anyway.

---

The beginning of the second exam goes off without a hitch. Izumi finds Yaoyorozu at the beginning of the test and gets a stretcher from her and the best friend squad has excellent abilities for a rescue team. Izumi’s knowledge of mechanics helps to pick out the most dangerous and unstable areas so they can evacuate those areas first. Shinsou’s quirk is perfect to help panicking civilians to escape dangerous areas. Todoroki’s quirk is perfect to help stabilize those areas. Iida and Uraraka can work together to take injured civilians to aid stations quickly and Monoma has copied both Iida and Uraraka’s quirks and is working as an extra pair of legs.

When the villains show up, though, Shouto runs off to fight them and abandon the progress they’ve been making. It’s not as though Izumi doesn’t understand having a preference for fighting over rescue work but there are plenty of other examinees who are fighting. In this exam, as in the real world, protecting the civilians has to be more important than apprehending the villain.

Izumi calls after Shouto but he doesn’t turn around. She sighs but she can’t do anything about it now. All she can do is get back to work.

---

Shouto doesn’t end up passing the exam and Izumi feels awful. She keeps thinking that maybe if she had tried harder to get him back or if she’d explained her feelings on it sooner he could have passed. She feels even worse when he won’t talk to her.

Shouto doesn’t talk to Izumi on the bus ride back to campus. He refuses to talk to her when they get back to UA. She considers following him up to his room to see if maybe he’ll talk to her with less eyes on them but she thinks back to Ms. Joke at the exam and she decides against it. Shouto has made his preference clear for now. She has to respect that. No matter how much it hurts her.

Uraraka reaches out to her in concern but Izumi shakes her head and Uraraka backs off. Izumi knows that if she stays in the building she won’t be able to get anything done. Her anxiety will just build and build. Instead, she decides to go for a walk around campus to clear her head.

---

Izumi finds All Might talking to Kacchan about an hour into her walk. She has no idea what they’re saying but, as she looks at them, she feels something building in her chest anyway. She walks up to them almost before she knows what she’s doing.

“All Might-sensei? Do you have a minute?” she asks.

All Might stares at her for a minute but eventually he nods and says goodbye to Kacchan before following Izumi to a bench nearby. Izumi waits until Kacchan has turned a corner around a building before speaking.

“You know, you were my favorite hero when I was a kid,” Izumi says, “I used to watch videos of you over and over again just to listen to you say ‘I am here!’ with that big smile on your face. I always thought how safe and protected those people must feel to know that you’re there to help them. It made me feel that way, too. Now that I’ve met you, though, seeing you just makes me feel small.”

“Midoriya, it has never been my intention to-”

Izumi cuts All Might off and says, “Intentions aren’t the point. What matters is how you act. You say ‘I am here!’ but then you’re never actually there. You didn’t help when Kacchan was hurting me. You weren’t there at the USJ or at camp-”

This time it’s Izumi who is cut off as All Might says, “One of the hardest things you will have to learn, Midoriya, if you truly do become a pro is that you can’t save everyone.”

“I’m not asking you to save me!” Izumi yells before she takes a deep breath and continues more quietly but with no less feeling, “But you don’t even see me. I am one of the top students in my year and you still didn’t so much as look at me during the final exam. I passed the licensing exam today and when you talk about my future as a hero, you still say ‘if’. What do I have to do so you stop seeing me as a victim?”

All Might is quiet for a few minutes before he says, “I don’t know that there’s anything you can do.”

Izumi’s chest is doing something very odd and if she doesn’t stand and walk away now she is going to do something very stupid. So she leaves. She reaches the corner and finds Kacchan standing just around it, close enough to hear everything they’d said.

For the first time in their shared history, it’s Izumi who attacks first.

Chapter Text

Shouta hears the explosions and runs. He doesn’t stop running even after they stop. His worst recurring nightmare recently is having to tell Midoriya Inko that not only did her daughter get hurt on his watch again but that it wasn’t even by a villain. All Might has Bakugou by the arm by the time he arrives and Midoriya is sitting against a building a few feet away.

“What happened here?” he demands.

Midoriya won’t look him in the eye and All Might is as useless as ever so it ends up falling to Bakugou to explain.

“Deku got pissed because I listened to some personal stuff she said to All Might and she punched me. I wasn’t gonna just stand there and let her hit me so I fought back,” Bakugou says and it’s only Midoriya’s continued refusal to look at him that convinces Shouta it’s true.

“All Might, take Bakugou to Vlad and explain what happened. I’ll deal with Midoriya,” Shouta says and All Might leaves.

“Are you hurt?” Shouta asks.

No response.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

No response.

“What? You don’t have enough problems already so you have to go and make more, problem child?” he asks hoping to provoke some kind of reaction. He regrets it when he gets one.

Midoriya bursts into tears. They aren’t crocodile tears, either. No, Midoriya’s sobbing hard enough that every breath sounds like it’s hard won.

Shouta sits down next to her and tries to be comforting, “Hey, you’re going to be okay. No one’s seriously hurt. Please, you need to breathe, kid.”

Eventually Midoriya calms down enough to breathe fairly regularly but Shouta isn’t comforted when she still has such an anguished look on her face. She still won’t look at him. When she finally speaks, it’s in a whisper.

“You know,” she says, “it’s not like quirkless kids get harassed every second. There’s some people who harass you but mostly people just want to ignore you. They don’t want to look at you because you make them uncomfortable and as long as they don’t look at you, they can forget you even exist. Even when Kacchan absolutely hated me, at least he never stopped looking. He always saw me, even when I wished he wouldn’t. Until we got to UA.”

“Midoriya-” Shouta begins but Midoriya isn’t through.

“I just wanted him to see me. So I don’t disappear completely.”

Shouta has a sudden vision of the way his students had described Midoriya’s kidnapping. The way she was there and then suddenly wasn’t. He waits for a few more seconds to make sure she’s really done this time before saying, “Your whole class has had a rough year but you’ve had it rougher than most, huh?”

Midoriya shrugs but it’s close enough to an agreement that Shouta will take it.

“You’re a strong kid. Maybe some people don’t see it but I do and I know those friends of yours do, too,” Shouta says which sets off another round of tears. They’re the silent kind this time, though, and Shouta honestly isn’t sure Midoriya even knows they’re there. “Even strong people need help sometimes, though,” Shouta says, “and I should’ve made sure you got some. Have you talked to anyone about what happened at the summer camp? Not just your friends but a professional?”

Midoriya shakes her head and Shouta feels like the worst kind of idiot.

“Okay,” Shouta says, “here’s what we’re going to do. You’re going to be grounded to your dorm building until Monday. On Monday, after classes are over, you’re going to have the first of what will be a long string of mandatory counselling sessions. If I find out you’ve been attacking anyone again, even with provocation like them listening to your personal conversations, you will not get off so lightly. We failed in not getting you the help you need but you still have responsibility for your actions, alright?”

Midoriya nods even though those silent tears are still streaming down her face.

“Okay, now, I really need an answer this time, are you hurt?” Shouta asks again.

Midoriya starts shaking her head but she switches to a nod a few minutes in and turns slightly and lifts her leg so he can see a few patches where Bakugou’s explosions burned through to the skin on her back and her leg.

“Can you stand?” Midoriya nods so Shouta offers her a hand and helps her to her feet, “Let’s go see Recovery Girl, then.” They start walking and Midoriya is limping but it’s not so bad that he thinks she’ll injure herself further walking under her own power and she hasn’t said anything so Shouta holds off offering help.

“What was it you were talking to All Might about?” Shouta asks a few minutes into their walk and Midoriya truly stumbles for the first time. Shouta holds out an arm to steady her and says, “That bad, huh?”

“He doesn’t think I can be a hero. He never will,” Midoriya says and Shouta already knew that but it’s not good that Midoriya knows it as well. If All Might can’t even keep his doubts to himself then the man has no business being at UA, not that Shouta didn’t already know that, too. “He doesn’t see me,” Midoriya finishes and suddenly this whole night makes a lot more sense.

There are a million things Shouta wants to say, all of them true, but he doesn’t think any of them will actually help the kid in front of him right now. Instead, Shouta carefully lays his arm across her shoulders as they walk. Despite the extra weight, Midoriya walks steadier with it there.

Chapter Text

Izumi makes it back to the dorm building late enough at night that Shinsou is the only one still downstairs. When he sees her, his brow furrows.

“Midoriya,” he says, “what’s wrong?”

Izumi bursts into tears for what feels like the millionth time that night and Shinsou ushers her over to the couch and sits with her. All she can manage to get out, barely intelligible, is, “I feel like I’m disappearing.”

Shinsou nods like that’s not the most ridiculous reason to be crying that he’s ever heard and says, “I get that. I felt like that pretty much all the time until I met you. Sorry, I know that probably doesn’t actually help-”

Shinsou stops speaking when Izumi wraps her arms around him. He awkwardly pats her back as she cries into his shoulder. Eventually, she manages to calm down enough to mutter an embarrassed, “Thank you.”

Shinsou doesn’t look upset with her though, even though she got his shirt wet. “Any time,” he says and he looks like he means it, like he really would let her come cry into his shirt again even though he clearly has no idea what to do. Shinsou rubs the back of his neck in the slightly awkward silence that follows and says, “I was going to watch some TV on my laptop. Wanna watch with me?”

Izumi really, really does.

---

Izumi stays up late with Shinsou so she doesn’t wake up the next morning until she hears a knock on her door.

“Izumi? Are you there?” Shouto’s voice comes through the door.

Izumi yawns and goes to open the door, not entirely sure she isn’t still dreaming. Shouto stares at Izumi for long enough that her brain kickstarts and she’s suddenly aware that she’s wearing her panda pajamas and hasn’t brushed her hair since yesterday. She crosses her arms in front of her and looks at the floor as she waits for Shouto to speak. When he doesn’t, she glances up at him. Shouto’s entire face has gone red. It would be very cute if Izumi weren’t mad at him.

Okay, it’s still kind of cute.

“Shouto?” Izumi says, trying to break his daze.

Shouto seems to snap out of whatever thought he was in and he shakes his head a few times as if to clear it. “Sorry, can I come in?” he asks.

“I guess,” she says and steps back so he can enter. Izumi gestures to her bed and he sits but Izumi doesn’t join him yet.

“I’m sorry for waking you up,” Shouto says and Izumi hums noncommittally. That isn’t the apology she wants. “I’m sorry for ignoring you the other day, too. That wasn’t fair,” he adds. There it is.

Izumi takes a seat next to him on the bed and curls her knees up to her chest. “Why did you do it in the first place?” she asks.

“There was this guy at the exam and he knew my dad, I guess. He said I was just like him. I don’t know, it just- it got to me. I started to wonder if maybe he was right and I knew you’d tell me I’m not but I needed to decide for myself. I didn’t think I could do that with you around,” Shouto says.

“So you trusted a stranger’s opinion more than mine?” Izumi asks, feeling hurt at the thought of it.

“No, of course not. I just-” Shouto cuts himself off and he lets out a long exhale before saying, “Yeah, I guess that’s what I did.”

Izumi curls further in on herself and they both sit in silence for a few minutes.

“I’m sorry,” Shouto says eventually.

“I thought you were mad at me or something,” Izumi says and she’s embarrassed to feel tears in her eyes as she speaks it aloud, “If you need alone time, in the future, could you just tell me that? That way I know it’s not me?”

“Of course,” Shouto says and then, “I’m sorry.”

Izumi giggles slightly through her tears, “You said that already.”

“Yeah,” Shouto says, “Let me make it up to you? We can go get ice cream off-campus?”

Izumi cringes inside but resigns herself to explaining what happened last night, not just to Shouto, but to the rest of the best friend squad as well. Shouto’s face falls briefly when Izumi says that she can’t but by the end of her explanation he looks angry instead.

“All Might shouldn’t treat you like that,” Shouto says when she’s finished explaining.

“I know,” Izumi says.

“He doesn’t know anything about you-” Shouto says and it seems like he’s working himself up so Izumi grabs his hand and holds it between both of hers.

“Shouto, I know,” Izumi says and looks him in the eye so he can see how serious she is.

Shouto nods and pauses for a moment before he says, “I’ll have to make it up to you another day, then.”

Izumi huffs a laugh and says, “It’s okay. You don’t need to get me ice cream to make it up to me. We’re good.”

“What if I want to?” Shouto asks.

Izumi examines his face closely for a moment before she says, “You want to buy me ice cream or you want to make it up to me?”

“Can’t it be both?”

“Well,” Izumi says uncertainly, “I don’t want apology ice cream. I like regular ice cream, though.”

Shouto turns away from her to the point that Izumi can only see the very edge of his face. What she can see of it, though, is red again as he says, “What about date ice cream?”

Izumi’s brain goes offline for a moment but as soon as it comes back on she manages to stutter out, “I think I’d like date ice cream a lot.”

Chapter Text

By Monday morning, despite no longer being grounded, Izumi would like nothing more than to stay in the dorms all day. She doesn’t want to see her classmates, she doesn’t want to see Kacchan, she doesn’t want to see All Might, and, more than anything, she doesn’t want to see Aizawa-sensei.

Izumi had been reckless and acted out. It doesn’t fit at all with the way she likes to see herself or the way she wants other people to see her. She feels incredibly stupid every time she has to explain what happened and she wants to say that it wasn’t her but she can’t. She can’t even say she’s never considered it before.

The most she can say for herself is that it wasn’t really about Kacchan this time and in a way that makes it worse. More than anything, it was the humiliation of what All Might had said and the realization that someone had witnessed it, that someone had seen her honesty and had seen that it didn’t make a difference. If one of her friends had been there instead, would she still have reacted like that? She doesn’t know. She hopes not.

Izumi stares at her uniform for several minutes as she tries to come up with any excuse not to go to class. She imagines trying to tell Aizawa-sensei that she’s sick or injured. The only thing that brings up, though, is the image of Aizawa-sensei on that first day back after the USJ, bandaged and limping but committed to his duty.

Most heroes would do almost anything to keep from seeming like they can be hurt or like they’re fallible but Aizawa-sensei came in anyway. He’d made a commitment to teach them and it was more important than his image or his pride.

Even if Izumi is absent today, she’ll still have to see him eventually and it will be one more thing to be embarrassed about when she does. Izumi doesn’t have enough goodwill that she can afford to spit on it like that. Especially when her mom still won’t pick up her calls.

Once Izumi is dressed, she opens her door and finds Uraraka standing outside with a hand raised to knock.

“Oh,” Uraraka smiles and says as she sees Izumi, “good morning!”

“Um, good morning to you, too,” Izumi says.

“Right, I thought maybe you could use a buddy to walk you to class today. I brought you tea, too,” Uraraka says and holds out a travel mug.

“Thanks,” Izumi says as she takes the mug, more than a little embarrassed.

“I just- I thought maybe it would be easier if you weren’t alone,” Uraraka says. Izumi has to smile at that because maybe Uraraka figured she wouldn’t want to go to class today but even if she did, her reaction was to make Izumi tea and to walk with her so she wouldn’t be alone.

“Thanks,” Izumi says with a small smile and still-red cheeks, “I think so, too.”

Uraraka’s answering grin lights up the hallway and she links her arm through Izumi’s so enthusiastically that she almost spills her tea, despite it being in the other hand. Together, they head off to class and maybe some of the people who look at them are laughing at Izumi but at least Izumi is laughing, too. It’s not quite the same as being in on the joke but at least she has company on the outside.

---

Izumi spends the entirety of homeroom studying her desk as Aizawa-sensei explains what work-studies are and how they differ from the internships they’ve already done. It’s not until the door opens that she finally looks up, just in time to see the Big Three walk in.

Amajiki seems nice enough and Izumi knows how social anxiety can be so she doesn’t blame him for any oddness on his part. Hado doesn’t quite seem to understand boundaries with her questions but it doesn’t seem malicious.

By far, though, Togata is the oddest of the three of them. His failed call-and-response, his unprompted challenge to their class, and what Izumi knows of his performance in the Sports festival are all painting a very strange picture. Izumi isn’t exactly eager to fight him, especially since she doesn’t know if he’s fixed whatever it was that made him keep losing his clothes at the Sports Festival, but she’s certainly not going to back down with Aizawa-sensei having given his blessing.

Everyone changes into gym uniforms for the fight. Izumi’s staff is the only part of her normal hero suit she’s allowed to use during fights in the uniforms so she grabs it as she heads to the gym.

Izumi hadn’t paid much attention to Togata during the Sports Festival once she noticed his accidental nudity so she decides to hang back and watch before approaching. She decides it’s definitely the right decision as she watches Togata take out several of her classmates in a matter of seconds.

Izumi looks for a pattern and manages to anticipate where he’ll surface when he finally comes for her. Her staff passes right through the arm he moves towards her face but, on the downswing, it connects with the arm he’d brought up to punch her just as he makes contact. Izumi still gets the wind knocked out of her but at least she didn’t let him get away unscathed either.

She feels even better about it once the fight is over and everyone else is down for the count, too. She didn’t see much of the end of the fight but she doesn’t think anyone got in a better hit than her. She’ll take it.

---

After classes are done on Monday, Izumi waves goodbye to her friends and heads to Hound Dog’s office for her counselling session.

The session goes pretty well, although Izumi has no doubts that future sessions will be more difficult. Today seems to be mostly about getting background information on her life and Hound Dog doesn’t insist on dwelling on any topics she’s uncomfortable talking about. The only time he presses at all is when the topic of her mom comes up and, even then, they move on as soon as he has the facts without delving into any of the emotional side.

“This is not how most of our sessions will be,” Hound Dog says at the end, “but I need the facts before we can talk about anything else. In the future you can expect to spend more time on specific topics.”

Izumi nods and just about runs out as soon as the session is over. Her next session isn’t until Thursday and she’s not going to spend any more time here than she has to.

---

Izumi is heading back to the dorms when she hears Togata yell, “Midoriya, wait up!” Izumi slows down and waits for him to catch up to her.

“Dang, you’re a hard person to find,” Togata says and Izumi shrugs, “I wanted to pass along an offer.”

“An offer?” Izumi asks.

“Yeah! See, my work-study is with Sir Nighteye and I told him all about the fight today. He was one of the people working on tracking down the Hero Killer several months ago so he already knew who you were and he was really interested when I told him about how you knew where I’d come from and managed to hit me with your staff. He wanted to offer you a work-study with him, too!”

“Really?”

“Of course! He was really impressed!”

“Well,” Izumi says, “what would I have to do?”

“You’d come with me tomorrow to his office to meet him and you’d work out the rest of the details there. What do you say?” Togata says with a grin.

“Um, I guess I can meet him at least,” Izumi says.

“Great! I’ll meet you in front of the school after classes tomorrow, okay?”

“Um, okay.”

Togata gives Izumi a big thumbs up at her agreement before jogging off. Izumi’s thoughts race as she watches him go.

On the one hand, Izumi really wants to do a work-study and getting an offer like this is incredible. On the other hand, Sir Nighteye was All Might’s sidekick and that could be problematic. On the other hand, they haven’t teamed up in years and no one knows what the split was about. On the other hand, work-studies are a big time commitment and Izumi is already pretty busy. On the other hand, not doing this could be something she regrets for years to come.

Izumi has long since run out of hands by the time she reaches the dorm building.

“Midoriya? Is everything okay?” Kirishima asks from the couch, startling her.

“I don’t have enough hands,” Izumi says.

“Oh, ok,” Kirishima says awkwardly. Izumi nods and continues up to her room. When she gets there, Shouto is waiting by her door.

“Izumi?” he says.

“Sir Nighteye wants me to do a work-study with him,” Izumi says.

“Do you want to do a work-study with him?” Shouto asks.

“I don’t know. Maybe?”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Yeah,” Izumi says, “I really, really do.”

Chapter Text

Five years later, in a home like thousands in Japan…

“Mama, who’s that on the TV?”

Ami turns to see what Chiharu is pointing at and finds the famous video of Catalyst's speech from a few years ago when she was accepting her award for Rookie of the Year in what must be another prediction piece about the updated rankings coming out next week. Chiharu isn’t usually that interested in heroes but if she’s going to take an interest in any of them, Ami’s glad it’s her.

“That’s Catalyst, she’s a really strong hero and-”

“Is she really quirkless like they said?” Chiharu asks.

“She is,” Ami says, grabbing her phone and pulling up a video on it as she walks over to sit next to Chiharu. “Wanna see my favorite video of her?” Well, her favorite that isn’t too violent for a four-year-old.

“Yeah! Yeah!”

Chiharu stares, engrossed, as Catalyst appears on-screen. There are explosions going off in the background where the bulk of the heavy fighting is happening but this was the video that went viral from that fight, for good reason in Ami’s opinion. A woman grabs Catalyst’s arm as she’s running by, something that would be unproductive at best with almost any hero in the middle of a battle, but Catalyst stops as the woman points to a burning building nearby where there seems to be something moving on the upper balcony and it’s small but she says she thinks she heard a person up there. Catalyst rappels up and when she climbs back over the railing, she has a little boy in her arms. She’s just reached ground level when an explosion rocks the area, the shockwaves disrupting what was left of the structure enough to send the whole thing to the ground.

“Wow, she saved him! Again?”

“She did.” Ami smiles, setting the video back to the beginning.

“Does she fight people too?” Chiharu asks, still staring at the screen as intently as she had the first time.

“She does, she’s very strong, but I think what she did here was cooler, being willing to stop and help someone without knowing for sure what was going on, instead of running ahead to join the fight. It’s what won her Rookie of the Year a few years ago.”

“Wow,” Chiharu says again. In a quieter voice, she asks, “Does this mean I could be a hero too? Even without a quirk?”

Well, Ami hopes she’ll grow out of that but she knows her answer. “Of course you can! But only if you work very hard and eat all your vegetables.”

Chiharu’s smile is one of the brightest Ami’s ever seen. She wonders if there may have been a reason she hadn’t been so interested in heroes until now and sets it aside firmly in favor of sharing this joy with her. The tears can come later, Chiharu doesn't need them. And she'll keep a closer eye out from now on, to find out who's still so backwards that Chiharu got this idea from. Everyone not stuck in their ways knows quirkless people can do anything people with quirks can do. After all, Catalyst is living proof of it.

“I’m gonna be a hero when I grow up, too! I’m gonna help everybody!”

“If that’s what you want, I don’t doubt it for a second.”