Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Mom’s hands are shaking as she reaches for him, gripping him by the shoulders like he’s her lifeline and she’s going to float away any moment. 

(Izuku thinks hard about her quirk and maybe that’s not too far from the truth.)

She kneels down in front of him and he doesn’t say that her grip is a bit too tight because she has her serious face on and Izuku knows that she’s going to tell him something important so he has to listen.

“Izuku.” She says, her eyes wide. Frantic.

 She’s scared. 

He’s seen her scared before. When that dog jumped out at them last summer. When she thought he got lost at the park two weeks ago. When she thinks he’s hurt or going to get hurt. When she’s scared for him.

Izuku doesn’t know if he’s ever seen his mother look scared of him before.

Mom takes a deep shaky breath and lets it out slowly. “Sweetie,” she says, “I need you to tell me where Katsuki is.”

Bakugou-san lets out a sob from where she’s sat at the corner of the room. At least- Izuku thinks she’s crying. He’s never actually seen her or Kacchan cry before. They’re both strong like that. Mom cries a lot. She’s softer. More emotional.

She’s not crying now.

Izuku turns to look at Bakugou-san but Mom’s hands tighten on his shoulders and turns him back to face her.

“Where is Katsuki?” She asks, “I need you to tell me where you put him, honey.”

Izuku scrunches up his face real tight and he can feel his face getting warm. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” 

And Izuku’s never been good at- faces. At knowing what someone’s expression means- what they’re feeling. But right now the face his mom is making is indescribable. Like she’s trying to not be something. Like whatever she’s actually feeling right now she’s trying really really hard not to feel. 

Izuku twists his hands together and looks at his feet. He didn’t do anything wrong. It was Kacchan who was being bad. Not him. He was just- he was-

He’s not going to cry because Kacchan says crying is weak and Izuku doesn’t want to be weak right now. Even though he’s frustrated. Even though he doesn’t understand why his mom is making that face. Even though he doesn’t understand what that face even means.

“Izuku.”

“He was being bad,” Izuku says, and he can feel his eyes heating up. Feels shame, even though he didn’t do anything wrong. He didn’t. “He was being bad and mean so I put him in time-out.” Because that’s what you do. When you do something bad mom puts you in time-out. Except mom wasn’t there and neither was Bakugou-san so Izuku had to put Kacchan in time-out himself.

The hands on his shoulders hurt now. Like when Kacchan pulls too hard at Izuku's wrist and leaves what Mom calls ‘snake burns’ that bruise sometimes. 

His toes curl in his shoes and his fingers press tighter into the flesh of his hands.

“Where. Is. Katsuki.” His mom says again, and her voice is tight and eyes are hard and her mouth is pressed into a firm line and Izuku can feel his lower lip start to wobble. 

He takes a single shaking breath. “I didn’t do anything wrong.” he whispers, and finally, finally Mom’s face cracks. Like an egg hitting the ground. Like glass shattering into a million tiny pieces. 

She pulls him tight into a hug and presses one of her hands flat against the back of his head. He doesn’t tell her that she’s holding him too tight. 

Mom breathes next to his ear and it’s just as shaky as he feels. “Where is he, Izuku.” She whispers, “It’s okay. I just need to know where he is. I need you to bring him back.”

So he does.

A door opens and Mom and Bakugou-san both jump, both turning to the sudden movement. To the door that wasn’t there before. The door that shouldn’t be there. 

The door that shouldn’t exist.

Moments later Kacchan stumbles through, dried tear stains on his face and hands limp at his side. Izuku doesn’t look over at him. He stares at the ground as mom and Bakugou-san rush over to the other boy, checking him over for injuries. For anything that might be wrong. 

The door slams shut and blinks away, both women whipping around to look at Izuku who keeps his eyes on his shoes. Cheeks puffing out.

He didn’t do anything wrong. He's not sorry and he didn’t do anything wrong. 

Katsuki continues to cry silently and his mom and Izuku’s mom take him out of the room.

They don’t come back for a long time.

He didn’t do anything wrong.

-

The first time he goes There, it’s like going home for the first time. Like stepping into his own body and shedding the skin of the old world for this one. 

The halls are endless and the mirrors reflect nothing he doesn’t want to see.

It’s wonderful. 

Endless doors, endless possibilities. 

He could do anything- go anywhere.

He doesn’t though.

He sits in the middle of the hallway and sways his feet back and forth. He sits and takes in the hallway that looks identical to the other fourty that he’s passed through. He could fall asleep here, like this. In his own skin for the first time. In his own little world.

He should go home though. Eventually,

(A quiet part of his mind tries to tell him that he already is home.)

Mom will get worried if he’s gone too long.

(He doesn’t like making her worry.)

So he stands, stretches his arms above his head and goes through the door. 

He steps out into the hall, just outside of his room. The air here is rough like sandpaper against the underside of his skin. He wants to go back. Wants to turn around and just go through the door that’s still sitting there waiting for him. Wants to go back where he belongs. 

Doesn’t though because it’s dark in the hall and mom is probably home and wondering where he is.

Izuku lets his feet carry him to the living room where he can hear the dull roar of the t.v. playing some news channel. 

Mom’s asleep on the couch and the clock reads 10:52pm. A flash of something that Izuku thinks might be guilt goes through him. She must have stayed up for him. Worried that he wasn’t home when she was. 

Eyebrows pinched together he reaches a small hand forward and shakes her shoulder. “Mom.” he says, “you should go to bed.” 

Her eyes crack open and in a flurry of movement she’s swept Izuku up into her arms and is sobbing roughly into his hair.

Oh.

She’d been more worried than he’d thought she’d be. It is terribly late after all, and even on weekends she usually had Izuku in bed by 8:30 at the latest. 

Izuku tries to pat whatever part of his mom he can reach- this ends up being her upper arm- cajolingly. “Sorry,” he says, because that’s what you say when you hurt someone. Even if you didn’t mean to. (Especially if you didn’t mean to.) “I didn’t know it was so late.”

Mom keeps saying his name over and over and rocking them gently side to side. 

It’s-

Well. Izuku doesn’t really know how it makes him feel. It’s good that his mom worries about him this much, but really he’d prefer there to be less crying.

She says something that he doesn’t quite catch so he tilts his head to try and hear her better, “Hmm?”

“-days,” She says again, voice shaking and arms holding him impossibly tighter, “You’ve been gone for three days, Izuku. Where were you.” 

Izuku’s voice catches in his throat. 

He hadn't realized he’d been in there that long. 

It’d felt like an hour. Two at most.

Interesting.

He pats his mother’s arm and promises that he’ll leave a note next time.

(It doesn’t seem to calm her down any.)

-

Bakugou Katsuki is fascinating. Honestly, Izuku is quite impressed with how deeply his friend feels all the time. (Usually Anger and Pride but it's on such a scale that Izuku can appreciate it either way.)

Katsuki holds so much passion for the world around him. He wants to be strong. (The strongest.) He wants to be a hero. (The number one hero.) He wants and he pushes and he feels so much that sometimes it’s hard for Izuku to look at him. To imagine something so full of intensity and ardor. It makes him- well he’s not quite sure what it makes him. But it makes him something. 

Katsuki is the most... human human that Izuku knows. And honestly he’d like to learn from him.

-

It’s true that when Izuku was four and his mom took him to the quirk doctor to see what kind of quirk he’d have they’d decided he must be quirkless. 

Something about toes.

Izuku hadn't really paid attention. He’d counted the doors in the room and wondered why the door next to the one they’d come through looked so much better. Like a proper door should. 

Tried to get his mom to take that one out. 

But with the news of her newly appointed ‘quirkless’ son she didn’t really listen.

(She apologised later, though he wasn’t really sure if it was about the door or about something else.)

-

"Ah, yes." Says the teacher, "I believe Midoriya is planning to attend UA as well."

Katsuki whirls around and stares at Izuku with wide angry eyes. "What." 

Izuku stretches the skin on his face into a smile, lets his teeth poke through, "Won't it be nice to go to the same school, Kacchan?"

Katsuki sputters for a few seconds before turning back around with a huff. His hands clench under the desk- sparking dangerously. 

"Well either way good luck on entrance exams everyone." The teacher continues, "Make sure to have all of your documents in by next Monday." 

Izuku drowns the teacher out and focuses on Katsuki's barely shaking back. 

He works his cheeks a few times and reaches a hand up to feel where the skin is taught around his teeth but loose around the eyes. Maybe he hasn't gotten smiling down quite right. 

-

He’s passing under the same bridge he does everyday too and from school when something gurgles at him and squishes out from a grate. It cackles- a wet squishing sound. 

“A vessel,” It says, “'Little plain, but beggars can’t be choosers.”

Izuku can only stare, mouth agape, at the thing that just emerged from the sewers. It squishes side to side like the slime is trying to saunter up to him, squishing together and apart. Eyes floating freely but still intent on him. He takes a step back involuntarily and finds the wall flat against his back. 

“Just don’t squirm,” the slime says, “And it won’t hurt. Much.”

It lunges at him. 

Izuku’s hand clutches the door knob at his back and twists- pulling the door open just as the slime reaches him and stepping to the side. The slime goes sailing past and into the vast hallway beyond. 

Izuku closes the door.

Well. 

He picks up his forgotten backpack and notebook. 

If he doesn’t hurry home his mom’ll be worried. 

-

It’s a gradual thing- the loss.

It seems as though one day he was at the family computer, rocking back and forth as his mother put on yet another hero video for him. 

It seems only yesterday that he and Katsuki ran around the park playing ‘heros’ with wide eyes and energy beyond what he can now even begin to fathom.

And then the next day it simply wasn’t there.

It wasn’t even as though he didn’t care about heros or quirks anymore- they still fascinated him. Still gave him quiet moments of contemplation as he thinks about the uses and aspects- but then his mind shifts focus and he turns to watch the clouds in the sky or the ants under his boot or simply nothing at all.

He doesn’t know the last time he felt excitement or wonder or any sort of drive for something. 

He wanted to be a hero when he was younger- he knows this with certain clarity. Yet now he can’t imagine ever wanting something other than to be in the safe recesses of his halls.

He honestly can’t imagine ever ‘wanting’.

Katsuki though- he wants. He yearns. Watching him strut about the classroom with the students that follow saying how he’ll be an amazing hero (the best) and that he has a superior quirk (the strongest) and that he’s going to win and everyone will know how amazing he is.

Izuku doesn’t doubt this- what with how often Katsuki says it must be true. And even if it wasn’t Izuku can practically see the passion flowing off of him in waves. Knows how strong Katsuki’s quirk really is and watches how Katsuki follows through with every threat. Every promise. 

It’s not that Izuku couldn’t be a hero- he sees the opportunity just there. The possibilities are endless.

He knows he could do it.

Just doesn’t know if he wants to.

He watches Katsuki want and feel and something tingles down the back of his neck- a memory or a sensation he once knew. 

Izuku thinks that maybe some part of him misses feeling. Misses wanting. 

Perhaps Katsuki can do it enough for the both of them, Izuku thinks. If he would be so kind.

Izuku’s eyes drift away and thinks about the beautiful endless halls; and wonders how long he can really stay away.

-

He wants this thing out. 

He finds Katsuki at school the next day. Stands at his desk after the lunch bell rings as Katsuki stares down at his desk and pretends he doesn't see Izuku standing there. 

It's a game they like to play; where Katsuki pretends Izuku doesn't exist and Izuku continues to do just that.

Eventually- once the rest of class has filtered out and even the more persistent of Katsuki's friends have abandoned them to the now empty classroom- Katsuki looks up.

He looks tired, eyes sunken in and eyebrows pitched down deep on his face. 

He should really try and get more rest, Izuku thinks.

“What.” Katsuki says, and it’s not quite a question but then again Izuku has never been very good at intonation. 

And okay. Izuku isn’t quite sure on how to actually broach this subject. He’s never been one for doing things delicately. He must have been standing there for quite a while and making quite the face because Katsuki groans and runs a hand down his own face. 

“What, Deku.” 

“I may have,” Izuku pauses to think of the proper wording, “some. Indigestion.” 

Katsuki’s face goes through a wild array of changes. It settles on bafflement, which overrides his usual anger.  “... take some medicine?” 

Izuku presses his fingertips together, one at a time. “Not that kind of indigestion.”

Katsuki stares up at him, “What other kind of-” he stops. Izuku watches his face process the things he knows with the things Izuku has told him. “Who is it.” 

Izuku presses his fingers harder together and doesn’t look at Katsuki or the door on the far side of the room. “I’m not sure if it’s a. Who, exactly. More a what. It attacked me yesterday after school.”

“It-” Katsuki’s voice catches, “You were attacked? Are you-” He cuts himself off abruptly. Takes a breath. “... was it a villain?” 

Izuku hums and lets his gaze wander to the window, the sky is clear and the sun looks warm. “I think it was going to kill me. Honestly, I think I...” he pauses, “panicked.” That sounds like the word to use at least. He hadn’t really thought about his actions and the consequences they might cause. And now here he is, troubling Katsuki again. 

“Sorry.” He adds, and Katsuki slumps in his seat. 

“Jesus Christ, Deku. Can’t you just like- be normal for five seconds?” He huffs and starts shoving his books and various school supplies into his backpack. “Come on.”

Izuku trails after him and down the hallway, “What about lunch?” He asks, and Katsuki shoots him a withering look over his shoulder, “I meant for you.” He amends. 

Katsuki grunts.

“What about classes? A good education is important if you want to get into UA, Kacchan.” 

A finger jabs him in the chest and Izuku pulls up short- Katsuki has turned around and is giving him quite the heated look. “Don’t.” He says, “Talk about that. If you want this thing in your- your zone or whatever, fine. Be my guest. I’ll just go to lunch now and we can forget this whole thing ever happened.”

“I don’t want it in there, Katsuki.” Izuku says, “Should I apologise? You seem particularly upset right now. Is it because I’m going to the same highschool as you? We won’t even be in the same class, so you won’t have to worry about me bothering you all the time. You’re going to be a hero Kacchan and I want to see that happen. Should I have told you about it earlier? Sorry, I didn’t think you’d want to know. I can make a note to keep you better informed on my future plans if you would like. I don’t-” 

A hand slaps down on his mouth, “Just. Stop talking, Deku.” He lets out a long sigh, “Let’s just get this over with.” 

Izuku stops talking and follows Katsuki out of the school. Katsuki will know what to do. Katsuki always knows what to do.

So Izuku follows him.

-

Izuku takes the written entrance exam at UA High and passes with flying colors. 

Katsuki passes both the practical and the written exams just as Izuku knew he would. Izuku congratulates him at school and Katsuki glances at the acceptance letter that Izuku holds up for him to see and grunts at him. 

It feels like progress.

-

The first day of class goes about the same as all first days of classes in schools go. The teacher goes around the room and has everybody introduce themselves: their full names and quirks. Izuku’s classmates are mildly interesting, but none hold his attention as long as Katsuki might. 

Izuku introduces himself by name and then trails off as he says the words “my quirk...” because there’s a particularly fluffy cloud outside and Izuku has a window seat so it’s easy to watch it drift lazily across the sky. He doesn’t realize he’s tilting his body to the side until the teacher calls his name a few times. 

“-sener? Midoriya? Midoriya!” 

Izuku jolts his attention to his tall blonde teacher and bows slightly. “Sorry.” He says, and sits down.

It takes a moment before the teacher just calls on the student behind Izuku and the introductions continue.

-

Katsuki’s class isn’t at the opening ceremony. Izuku misses having him in class. His new class is so... dull. 

There’s a purple haired boy that sits in front of him in class that holds a quiet anger just under his pliable skin. But even he seems tasteless in comparison to Katsuki. 

-

Izuku steps into Katsuki’s classroom and closes the door behind him. “Did you want to have lunch together, Katsuki?” He asks, and steps up to his desk. Katsuki makes a noncommittal sound but then starts to move stuff into his bag so Izuku takes that as a yes.

“Excuse me.” Says a voice behind him, and Izuku turns around to see an adult man with long dark hair and concerning bruises beneath his eyes. 

“Oh.” Izuku says, “you’re excused.” 

Katsuki makes the sound of a dying cow behind him. 

The man narrows his eyes and gives Izuku a once over, like he’s appraising dried gum on the sidewalk. “What are you doing in my classroom?”

Oh. A teacher.

Izuku tilts his head slightly, considering. He hadn't thought he’d gotten the timing wrong, but had he accidentally stopped to appreciate the texture of the carpet or the moulding on the mirrors?

He honestly couldn’t remember.

“Sorry, is it not lunch hour anymore?”

The teacher makes a face. “No, it is.” 

“Ah,” says Izuku, not understanding, and continues to stare at the teacher, hoping he’ll say more words so that Izuku can maybe piece together this conversation they’re apparently having. 

The sound of Katsuki’s chair sliding back from his desk catches his attention and he steps to the side, letting Katsuki go first. They’re almost to the classroom door when the teacher calls out to them, “Wait,” he says, and even though Izuku can’t see Katuki’s face he knows he’s rolling his eyes. 

“What.” Katsuki says, turning around and stepping between Izuku and his teacher.

The teacher raises a single solitary eyebrow, “Bakugou. Do you know this student?” 

“I guess.” Katsuki says, “He’s in the Gen Ed department.” 

The teacher hums thoughtfully, flicking his eyes to Izuku briefly, “And the- door?” 

Katsuki groans, “His quirk or whatever. I’ll talk to him about proper door etiquette or something. Can we go?” 

Katsuki’s teacher narrows his eyes but sends them a curt nod. 

Izuku follows him out the classroom door and doesn’t spare the teacher a backwards glance.

-

“You have to use the actual classroom doors, Deku.”

“Ughhhh,” Izuku pushes his tamagoyaki around in his bento box.

“If you don’t use the regular doors we can’t have lunch together anymore.”

Izuku scrunches up his face and forces himself to eat (gross) a bite of egg, “Okay, Kacchan.”

-

There’s a knock. 

Izuku is sitting in class listening to Mic-sensei scream about English when he hears it- no. When he feels it.

A knock.

His hand shoots up. 

Mic-sensei pauses and the purple haired boy shoots him a weird look, “Yes Midoriya?”

“May I be excused?” 

The teacher blinks and opens and closes his mouth a few times, “We’re in the middle of class, Midoriya.” 

Izuku nods, “Yeah, I know. It’s, uhm, important.” 

“Well I guess I don’t see why not.” Mic-sensei scratches the back of his neck. “Take the hall pass with you.” Izuku nods, and grabs the pass from Mic-sensei, practically vibrating. He flings open the door and speed walks down the hall.

Just not the school hall. Not the classroom door.

The mirrors glint enticingly at him, the plush carpet sings his name- but he’s busy right now he can’t give into the temptation.

He turns the corner and there’s a door just to his right. 

It’s his door- one of his at least- but he didn’t. He didn’t ask for this one. It’s just there. Izuku stares at it for a moment longer before another knock comes again- frantic and heavy. 

He opens the door.

“Oh thank fuck.” he hears and a hand wraps around his forearm.

“Kacchan?”

He blinks wildly at the world outside his halls. Bodies are strewn about Katsuki and his red-haired classmate. Rugged terrain smoking. “What’s-”

“You have to get to Aizawa-sensei.” Katsuki says, rushed. Izuku looks him over and has to admit he seems a little worse for wear.

“... Would you like to come in?”  

Katsuki barks out a laugh, “Honestly? Right now more than anything. But we have to- the others. Sensei-” he cuts himself off and takes a deep breath. “I’m not running away.” 

Izuku nods. He’s honestly not entirely sure what Katsuki’s talking about but it sure does seem serious. “Alright. Where’s your teacher?” 

Katsuki gestures vaguely off into another portion of the arena and for the first time Izuku notices that they’re actually in a large windowed building. Mountains off to one side, a large lake to the other. Katsuki points him to the center where a lone figure is fending off a hoard of bodies. 

“Can you get to him?” he asks, and Izuku almost laughs but feels, perhaps, that it’s not quite an appropriate time for that. 

“I can get anywhere, Kacchan. Uh, don’t worry.” He lets his hand pat Katsuki’s shoulder awkwardly. 

Katsuki scoffs but doesn’t brush his hand off, “I’m not, dumbass.” He’s shaking. 

Izuku hums but lets his hand slide away, “Well. I’ll be off. Thanks for, uh, knocking.”

And as he turns to walk back into his halls he could almost swear that he hears Katsuki say “Thanks for coming.” under his breath.

Interesting. 

He closes the door behind him but lets it alone. Katsuki might change his mind about having a place to run to. 

Izuku turns a corner and walks to the end of another hall. Thinks about the placement, the timing, and opens the door set in front of him. 

Katsuki’s teacher falls in, his body quickly adjusting to the new base of gravity, and lands on the floor at Izuku’s feet in a heap. Izuku closes the door behind him and crouches down at the teacher. “Sensei? Are you alright?” Because he knows it can be a bit disorentating to fall down and land on what your brain thinks to be a wall. 

The man rolls to the side, dodging Izuku’s outstretched hand and braces himself against the far wall. When he glances up, his eyes flash, flickering over Izuku’s form. Interesting. Is his quirk glowing eyes? How does that assist with his hero work? 

“Aizawa-sensei?” He asks again, and crouches down so that he’s level with the man, “Are you hurt anywhere?” It’s obvious he is. What with the blood dripping down his face and the bruises forming on every visible splotch of skin.

Aizawa works his jaw, still staring up at Izuku with glowing eyes. “No,” he says, “I’m fine.” Which is, as Katsuki might say, the biggest load of bullcrap that Izuku’s ever heard.

“Oh, good.” Izuku nods. And then lets his hand brush against the carpet to his right. 

Yep.

Still wonderful.

“You’re... Bakugou’s friend.” Aizawa says, as he lets himself squeeze his eyes shut, heels of his hands digging into the sockets. When he lowers them he glances around, taking in the long hall and endless mirrors.

Izuku puffs up his chest and tries not to look too proud. 

“Where- where are we?” 

And isn’t that always the question.

Izuku hums, disappointed.  “We’re in a hallway.”

Aizawa has the gall to roll his eyes. “Is this your quirk?”

Izuku hums again.

“Should we be worried about your students?” He asks, “That seemed like an awful lot of people intent on murdering you all.” 

Aizawa surges to his feet, stumbles, and braces himself against the wall, “We have to- I have to-” 

“I’m not sure if you can anything right now, Aizawa-sensei. You look sort of, hmmmm.” Izuku puts his chin in the palm of his hand and looks Katsuki’s teacher up and down. “Broken?” The man looks fairly beaten up and part of the skin on his forearm is missing, muscle bleeding sluggishly. 

Huh.

“I’m their teacher it’s my responsibility.” Aizawa says vehemently and Izuku tries not to roll his eyes. 

“Yeah, sure.” Izuku says, “Why don’t I go up there and see what I can do first.”

“You are a child.” Aizawa stresses, and Izuku tries not to feel too insulted. 

He turns back to the door and pokes his head out, popping up straight out of the ground and looking across the field. 

There’s two students on the sideline, one green and one purple. A man made of mist, a man with a hand over his face (though the hand on his face is not either of the hands attached to the arms on his body), and a large hulking figure standing not too far off from the other two villains.

Unconscious bodies litter the land around him and Izuku wonders if Aizawa took them all out himself. 

“Okay,” he says, and pulls his head back in. Closing the door behind him. “Who’s in charge? Is it the big guy?” 

“No,” says Aizawa, nonchalantly wiping blood from the corner of his mouth, “It’s the man with silver hair. The one with the hands.”

“Ah,” says Izuku, “Do you want me to... take care of him?”

“What? No.” Aizawa rubs a hand down his face, “Okay. Alright. I need to get back out there.” Here he ignores the sound of dissent that Izuku makes. “Can you-” he gestures to the door behind Izuku, “With your quirk-”

“Not a quirk.” Izuku interjects, but waves his hand for Aizawa to continue.

“I- what?” The man blinks down at him.

“It’s not a quirk. Also not mine. Continue.”

“No I- it’s your quirk.” 

Izuku does roll his eyes here, "Does your stomach in any way belong to your hand?"

“What.” 

“Also not a quirk. What do you need me to do?” 

Aizawa still looks like he wants to argue but the pressing matter at hand is clearly distracting him. “Alright well could you use your-” He pauses, “could you get me behind the villains? You’re not a hero student and you’re not licensed so you can’t use your power, quirk or no, offensively.” 

“It’s more maxed out on defence than anything; but yeah, I can get behind them no problem.” Izuku makes an ‘OK’ sign with his hand and stretches his face into the approximation of a grin. 

“...Right.” Aizawa says, and Izuku gestures for him to follow. 

Choosing the right door isn’t so much as important to the connection or the placement as it to the feel of the door. The vibe if you will. He just has to listen and the doors tell him which one to open. 

(Thinking about it Izuku could probably choose any door and go anywhere he wanted but he doesn’t like to force it. It’s a give and take relationship and Izuku wants to give as much as he takes.)

He cracks it open and takes a glance at Aizawa, “The gravitational pull will alter so you have to be careful to adjust before you try and attack. Or move. It'll affect your brain more than your body, so if you can just wrap your mind around stepping out to the side and pulling yourself up you’ll be fine!” 

He gives Aizawa a thumbs up as he steps to the side and pushes the door open the rest of the way. “Good luck, Sensei.” Aizawa only spares him a sideways glance and a slight nod before he’s climbing out of the doorway, capture weapon in hand. 

The door closes behind him.

Well. 

Izuku slides down, leaning his back against the door and stares up at the ceiling. 

Aizawa-sensei will probably be fine.

Izuku lets his eyes count the patterns in the wallpaper and his mind flashes back to Kacchan’s frantic, worried face.

Darn it.

He stands back up and edges the door open, peeking his head out over the terrane. His eyes catch on the Heroics teacher, his head currently being held in the ginormance hand of the hulking monsters with the exposed brains. The crusty man with the hands cackles. 

Alright. So not fine at all. 

Izuku steals his nerves and climbs out of the doorway, approximately five feet from the white haired villain. 

He’s never been great at small talk.

“Um, excuse me?” He asks, and from somewhere across the field he swears he can hear Kacchan say ‘god-fucking-dammit Deku.’ 

The villain pauses in his laughter and turns to look at Izuku through the cracks in the fingers over his eyes. With the hand still attached to his arm he scratches deep gouges into the skin of his neck. “Another NPC...?” he murmurs to himself and casts a look over his shoulder at where Katsuki’s teacher is still dangling by his head. “I don’t recognize this one, Sensei. He must not be too important then, hmm?” 

“Um,” Izuku says again, feeling an awful lot like he’s being ignored, “Could you ask your friend to let Aizawa-sensei go?” 

The hand man throws his head back and cackles. “Kurogiri, do you hear this kid?” 

The man made out of mist doesn’t respond. 

He swings his head back down and stares, unimpressed, at Izuku. The corner of his mouth coming up into a sneer.

“Noumu,” he says, “Take care of this NPC so we can get back to the miniboss.” 

Aizawa makes a protesting sound but ‘Noumu’ tosses him to the side where he lands like a sack of potatoes. It begins ambeling towards Izuku, heavy steps shaking the ground as it goes. The hand villain’s grin keeps stretching as he stares down at Izuku. “I didn’t know this side quest would be so easy,” he says, “Of course it would be when you’re hiding the main boss from me.”

Izuku isn’t quite sure what he’s talking about and he doesn’t really know a lot about video games to try and relate to him. Mom always says that it’s important to find a common interest with people when you’re trying to connect with them. But so far the only things this villain seems to care about is murdering Izuku and his fellow classmates, and video games. Neither of which Izuku is too fond of. 

Noumu drags closer. 

Well that just won’t do. 

Izuku takes care of Noumu without breaking eye contact with the villain. Mom always says that maintaining eye contact is important. Even if it makes you sort of uncomfortable and even if it seems super pointless. 

When the heavy footfalls stop the villain whips around only to see an empty dirt field before him. Aizawa shucked off to the side and curled in on himself, the mist villain a few feet to his left. Hero students lining the edge of the [area].

“...what.” He whirls in a tight circle, eyes wide and frantic. “No... no. Where is it!?”

He turns on Izuku, approaching rapidly, hands twitching at his sides, “What did you do with it?” 

Izuku tilts his head and stares up at the man, “He was going to get in the way of our conversation. So I put him away.” 

The villain stops directly in front of Izuku, the toes of their shoes almost touching and wraps a hand around his throat. He doesn’t squeeze like Izuku is expecting, just holds it there for a few seconds before snapping his head around to stare at where Aizawa lay crumpled on the ground. “Impressive as always, Sensei.” He says through gritted teeth, and here he does start to tighten the hand around Izuku’s neck. 

Aizawa’s hair is floating almost lazily and he has a glowing red gaze directed solely at the hand villain. 

“Shigaraki,” The mist man (Kurogiri?) says finally, voice low and emotionless, “We should draw back for the time being.”

Shigaraki uses his free hand to drag his nails down his neck again, muttering under his breath. “If the final boss had been here we wouldn’t be in this mess. And without the Noumu...” He trails off, glaring down at Izuku. 

His hand tightens.

Izuku... can’t breathe actually. Oh. That’s probably not great.

“Shigaraki.” Kurogiri says again, and his body begins to swirl. Maybe. With Izuku’s clouding vision it’s actually quite hard to tell what’s happening. 

Shigaraki’s hand tightens just a bit more- just enough to where Izuku swears he can feel the tendons breaking in half- before he let’s Izuku drop to the ground. Stepping back into the other man.

Izuku’s head spins as he coughs- hands and knees digging into the ground. Still, even with the lack of oxygen he’s pretty sure they just simply disappear in a swirl of black smoke.

Weird.

He crawls his way over to Aizawa-sensei and rolls the man onto his back. 

“Are you okay?” He asks, voice strangely raspy.

“...yes.” Aizawa-sensei says, before his eyes zero in on Izuku’s neck. “He didn’t-”

“I don’t think he crushed my windpipe. Though,” Izuku ponders, “I’ve never had my windpipe crushed before so I guess I wouldn’t really know how that feels.”

Aizawa-sensei gives him a Look. “No I- his quirk. Did it get you at all?”

Izuku thinks about it for a moment, takes stock of his limbs and head and neck and says “I don’t think so. What was his quirk?”

“Disintegration.” 

“Ah,” says Izuku, “No, I don’t think anything’s been disintegrated.”

“Where’s-” Aizawa coughs wetly and Izuku is pretty sure he can see flecks of blood at the teacher’s mouth.

“You probably shouldn’t talk, Sensei. Might be bad for your, uh, organs. If they’re damaged.”

Aizawa brushes him off and tries to sit up- failing pretty spectacularly- “Where’s the noumu?”

Izuku makes a face.

“It’s. Not here.” He says carefully, and tries to keep Aizawa from doing anything else stupid like trying to sit up again or taking on 20 bad guys at a time by himself. Aizawa’s eyes him blearily and Izuku can tell he’s fading pretty fast. He tries not to look too constipated in front of the teacher but he can feel the Noumu tearing up carpets and scratching up walls. 

It’s-

Uncomfortable. 

Eventually the rest of the heros and medics arrive. Izuku's homeroom teacher rushes to Aizawa's side and cradles his head gently on his lap, leaning down to whisper things in the man's dark hair. 

Well.

Izuku can tell when it's time for him to take his leave. 

He dodges between heroes and medical personnel before finding his way to stand next to Kacchan at the edge of the field. 

“Dude,” says Kacchan’s redheaded friend emphatically, “that was incredible.” 

“Ah, uh.” Izuku glances to Kacchan briefly, “Thanks?” There’s a long pause before he says “I’m glad the two of you are. Alright.”

Kacchan snorts, “Yeah I’m sure you are.” He says under his breath, but when Izuku turns his gaze to the other boy he huffs and shoves his hands deep in the pockets of his hero outfit, “That was shitty of me.” He says at length, “You came when I knocked. Uh. Thanks.”

Izuku beams. 

Katsuki shoves the palm of his hand in Izuku’s face and forces him to take a few steps away. “I’m not gonna say it again so chill the fuck out.” 

-

Later, when they’re on the bus back to school Katsuki nudges him. It’s rougher than it probably should be but it doesn’t actually hurt, “Where’d that big thing go? The one Handsy was so fuckin’ proud of.”

Izuku keeps his face carefully neutral, “I put it in time-out.”

Katsuki wheezes.

Chapter Text

Izuku gets to head straight home after they get back to the main building. He and Katsuki walk together for once. Neither of them say anything but Izuku thinks it’s nice either way.

He gets home before his mom, which isn’t surprising. 

Izuku makes himself an afterschool snack and and starts working on some in-class work turned homework, since he'd missed it earlier in the day. For some reason Mic-sensei had been reluctant to hand over his homework and notes that a classmate had left for him to copy. Izuku can’t imagine why.

-

His mother is hesitant to let him go to school on Friday, even though he already got a day off since classes were cancelled on Thursday. He doesn’t quite understand why she’s fretting so much about it- the villains attacked the hero class. It’s not like Izuku is a hero student. 

Still, Izuku pats her cheek consolingly and leaves her standing in the entryway as the door swing shut behind him. 

-

Mic-sensei seems to be surprised that Izuku is at school and asks more than once if he’s sure he wants to be here today. IzukuThat he could take the weekend.

(Take it for what Izuku isn’t sure.)

His classmates all crowd his desk during break and fire off questions a mile a minute until Mic-sensei shoes them off for him like they're pesky bugs. Izuku figures that’s not too far from the truth.

The boy who sits in front of him, with the tall purple hair, makes a gruff sound under his breath and says something like, “Well someone’s popular.” But Izuku can’t really hear him so he leans forward in his desk and tilts his head to a near-uncomfortable angle to better hear.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t quite catch that,” he says, and the other boy jumps in his seat before hiking his shoulders up around his ears.

“Nothing,” The purple haired boy says, “I didn’t say anything.”

Which isn’t true at all but Izuku figures he just didn’t say anything to Izuku, which is fair. People usually don’t say things to him. And when they do, it’s usually much louder. 

He leans back as the next teacher walks in and pulls out the appropriate notebook. 

Hopefully Kacchan is feeling amiable today and he’ll let Izuku sit next to him at lunch. Izuku hasn’t seen him in over 16 hours and it’s not even the weekend. His mom had said to “Give Katsuki some space”, but Izuku just isn’t sure how much space or how long or what Kacchan could possibly need space for. 

He takes his notes and ignores the whispers around him. If they were talking to him, he's sure they'd speak up.

-

He doesn’t get to sit next to Kacchan for lunch.

Izuku stands at Kacchan’s classroom door waiting for him like he does most days- the exception is on days Kacchan is feeling particularly explosive- but when Kacchan steps out he jerks his head back towards the classroom.

“Aizawa wants to see you.” Then he leaves Izuku standing by the doorway as the rest of his classmates filter out. A few of them stop to thank him, though he’s not entirely sure why. And Katsuki’s red haired friend (Izuku think’s his name is Shitty Hair?) holds his fist out in front of Izuku for a few dragging seconds before laughing and reaching to grab his arm. Izuku jolts at the sudden contact but Kacchan’s friend just brings Izuku’s hand up and presses their knuckles together. 

“Good to see you!” he says cheerfully, and then wanders off in the direction Kacchan had gone.

Hmm.

Well. 

Izuku makes his way past the classroom door once the last student passes him and moves to stand next to Aizawa’s desk. 

“Kacchan said you wanted to see me,” he says , and waits until Aizawa glances up from his papers. When it's clear his eyes have landed on Izuku's form, Izuku bows. “Alright. Goodbye.” He turns to leave. 

“Midoriya,” Aizawa says, and Izuku glances back at him not sure what else there could be. “I wanted to talk with you as well.”

Izuku nods and turns back towards where Aizawa is sitting. Kacchan should have just said that in the first place. 

Aizawa-sensei gestures to a desk placed not too far away from his own and when Izuku doesn’t move says, “Have a seat.” 

Izuku moves over the linoleum and takes the indicated seat. He blinks at Katsuki’s teacher and tries not to let his eyes wander- because even if you aren't looking someone in the eyes, you should still pretend like you are. His eyes roam over the prickly stubble and the fresh scar below Aizawa’s right eye and how it breaks up the regular smooth expanse of skin. Maps the way the flesh of his face stretches over his sharp cheeks and jaw bone. The slope of his nose bumped in a way that implies a previous break. Or several. 

“-doriya?” 

Izuku’s eyes snap up to meet Aizawa’s before quickly flicking down to his collarbone. Aizawa-sensei had been speaking directly to him and Izuku hadn’t even been paying attention. The teachers in middle school had tried to curb his attention problem to no avail. The back of his head echos a long-past throb remembering it. He doesn’t mean to be rude but skin and flesh and bones are almost always more interesting than whatever someone is saying to him. 

“Sorry,” he says, because you should always apologise for not listening and also he really doesn’t want Aizawa to think he’s rude. “I wasn’t listening. Would you mind repeating yourself?” Izuku knows people hate repeating themselves but he almost never hears them the first time anyways and if it was really important they shouldn’t mind doing so. 

Aizawa nods and doesn’t seem upset in the slightest. Or at least his eyebrows aren't pressed together and his eyes aren't tight and his mouth is in the same neutral line it usually is. “Of course,” he says, and Izuku thinks that’s awfully kind of him. “I wanted to ask how you’re adjusting, after everything. Present Mic told me you insisted on catching up on the work you missed.”

“Was I not supposed to do my work?” And fall behind? Honestly, Izuku isn’t sure how high school differs from middle school but he’s pretty sure teachers usually want you to do your work on time.

“No,” says Aizawa, but he drags the word out in an odd way. “We’re just saying it’s okay to take a bit of time if you need. The incident at the USJ was... stressful to say the least. You’re not a hero student. You’re not trained to deal with these kinds of pressures . It’s alright to take the time.”

Izuku scrunches the skin of his face towards the center, “Time for what?” 

“Time for yourself.”

Izuku chews at the slick flesh of his cheek. “All of my time is for myself though?” He’s pretty sure that’s what life is. Spending your time doing different things until one day, you die. 

Aizawa leans forward in his seat and steeples his fingers in front of his chin. “Alright. Are you thinking about the USJ incident at all? Worried about anything?”

Izuku thinks about the thing in the halls, ripping up the wallpaper and carpet and trying to smash the mirrors lining the walls. It’s always there- like an itch just under his skin that he can’t quite reach. Can never really ignore. 

“It was two days ago,” he says, “Why would I be thinking about it?” 

“Because it was two days ago,” Aizawa says. “It’s still fresh. It’s alright to be upset or anxious about it. My class is going to be having mandatory one on one sessions with Hound Dog,the school’s therapist. I think you should consider seeing him, too. You should talk to someone, at least. A teacher, a parent. Neither me nor Present Mic would mind speaking with you, should you need.”

Izuku finds himself nodding even though he doesn’t quite understand what Aizawa-sensei wants from him. “What would I talk about?”

“Your thoughts on the event. How you’re feeling about it now.” 

Izuku thinks and lets his eyes wander down to where his hands are clasped loosely on the desk. “I think....” he starts and Aizawa leans further forward in his chair. “I didn’t really care for it when the villain grabbed me.”

“Shigaraki?” Aizawa asks. “When he grabbed your throat? With his quirk, it’s understandable to be worried. It’d be a traumatic experience for anyone.”

Izuku hums, and runs his nails along the seam of his jacket, “His skin was really dry. It was pretty gross. His friend was really rude too. I think it would probably be a pretty bad house guest.”

Aizawa pauses at that, running a hand by his chin and over the side of his neck. “His... friend? The Noumu?”

“Yes he was not very nice,” Izuku says, thinking about how it had slammed Aizawa’s head into the cement and its inability to appreciate interior design. 

“You... took care of it with your quirk, right? Where did it go?”

“Go?” Izuku asks. “It didn’t go anywhere.” He doesn’t bother correcting Aizawa on the quirk thing. 

“It went... through your door.”

“Yes,” says Izuku, because that was true. “Through a door. I don’t own them.”

“...Yes,” Aizawa says. “You said something like that before. But it was the door you conjured. The door you control.” 

“I think we rather control each other.”

“You and the... doors?”

“Yes,” Izuku says, because Aizawa had only been in the hallways once. He wouldn’t truly know them. Wouldn’t understand the expanse that lay past a simple door. “May I go to lunch now?”

Aizawa opens his mouth, and then closes it again. “You may,” he says; so Izuku stands, bows, and heads towards the classroom’s natural door. 

“Izuku,” he calls. Izuku halts, hand on the doorknob but doesn’t turn around. “If you ever want to talk about anything, you know where to find me.”

He heads to lunch.

-

School slows down after that. His classmates go back to trying their best to pretend he’s not there, and Mic-sensei stops sending him weird looks every five minutes. 

He eats lunch with Kacchan sometimes and has dinner with his mother and does his homework and goes to class each day. 

It’s very mundane. 

Izuku likes it.

-

And then one morning when Izuku arrives at school, there are food stands and booths lined up outside of the brick walls. People and vendors mill around, talking excitedly. It’s hard to move around with this many people in the [courtyard]. 

There’s a buzz about the classroom when Izuku finally makes it there, and no one is in their assigned seats. They're all clustered together wearing their gym uniforms. 

Izuku sets his bag on his desk and sits down, leaning forward so that he can tap the purple haired boy on the back. It takes a few tries but eventually the boy turns around and levels him with a stare.

“What,” he says flatly.

“I was just wondering if something was happening today?” Izuku asks. At the other student’s continued blank stare, Izuku continues., “There were a lot of people outside and most of them were adults and I don’t think that they were teachers and they definitely weren't students, at least I don’t think they were, I guess I don’t know for sure, but there was food and games like at the festival they always have up at the shrine near my house so maybe the school has a shrine that I don’t know about? Also, do you know if we’re having gym early today? Or did everyone just forget their school uniforms? I’m not sure if-”

“Jesus Christ, do you ever shut up?” 

Izuku shuts up and stares at the purple haired boy intently, hoping that he’ll be able to answer at least one of his questions. 

“It’s the sports fest today.” At Izuku’s continued silence, his classmate blinks and says, “You forgot. The sports festival. You forgot about the sports festival.”

“Honestly, I’m not entirely sure what a ‘Sports Festival’ is.” 

“It’s the sports festival,” the purple boy says again, emphasising the words this time like that will make some sort of difference to Izuku. “UA puts it on every year.”

Ah, so it’s an annual thing. Perennial?

“I’m not very good at sports,” Izuku says, “But I hope you do well.” 

He stretches the sides of his mouth so that his teeth poke through briefly before moving to unpack his bag.

“You don’t need your school stuff,” His classmate says. "Once the bell rings we’re all headed to the stadium.” 

“Oh.” Izuku puts his notebooks back in his bag. He was actually looking forward to history today. They should have been covering the Ottoman empire today. 

The boy gives him one last look before turning forward in his seat again. 

Izuku wonders if Kacchan knew about the Sports Festival. If he’s excited for it. He wonders if the excitement is vibrating deep in Katsuki’s chest. Like a caged animal, clawing at the walls to get out. Wonders if it feels like the Noumu deep in Izuku’s halls. Maybe Katsuki’s nervous. Maybe he’s angry, vindictive, proud. 

Izuku wonders how that tastes.

Izuku licks his dry lips. He should ask his mom for some chapstick. 

-

“I’m gonna win.” 

Katsuki stands tall on the podium with a microphone and everything. Everyone around Izuku boos and makes various disapproving noises though Izuku’s not sure why. 

It’s exactly the sort of thing Kacchan would say. Kacchan only ever tells the truth. It's not his fault if they don't want to hear it.

-

All of the students are clustered at one end of the stadium. Kasuki is standing by his fellow classmates and when Izuku waves, flips him off. 

“ARE YOU READY KIDS!?” screams a voice that sounds like Izuku’s teacher. Everyone around him yells loud enough in reply that he has to cover his ears.

“ON YOUR MARK!”

“Wait,” says Izuku, turning to a student near him, “What are we doing?” 

“GET SET!!!!”

The other student, a girl with bright orange hair, gives him an incredulous look. “It’s an obstacle course. You have to get to the finish line.”

“GO!!!!!”

“Oh,” says Izuku, even as the girl runs off, “Thank you.” 

He sees a boy from Kasuki’s class ice his way through a field of robots and Kacchan himself is blasting his way through the air.

“WE ARE OFF TO A GREAT START FOLKS!!!”

Ah, he understands.

Izuku steps through a door and then steps over the finish line.

“BAKUGOU AND TODOROKI FROM CLASS 1-A ARE IN THE LEAD! CAN ANYONE OVERCOME- wait is that Midoriya...?” 

The crowd goes wild and Izuku has to cover his ears again.

“MIDORIYA IZUKU FROM CLASS 1-C HAS OVERTAKEN THE COMPETITION IN ONE FELL SWOOP!!!! FIRST PLACE GOES TO MIDORIYA FROM THE GEN ED!!!”

In the distance Izuku is pretty sure Katsuki calls his name, but the other boy is too far away to truly tell. 

Izuku sits down in the dirt while his teacher continues narrating the race, picking at the grass sparced around him. It’s at least a half hour before Katsuki and his ice-quirk classmate blast their way over the uneven ground that lays before Izuku.

“DEKU-!” Katsuki screams. Izuku waves. 

Katsuki crosses the finish line inches after his classmate, skids across the dirt, and whips around to face Izuku. 

“That’s cheating,” he huffs, and Izuku wonders if he waited to say that the entire time. 

“...Was it?” Izuku asks. He tilts his head and stares up at Katsuki. “You were using your explosions and your classmate was using his ice. I thought using the doors would be okay.”

Katsuki growls and digs the heels of his hands into his eye sockets, pressing the soft eyeballs further into his skull. 

“Whatever,” he huffs, “Nevermind.”

As more of their classmates begin to cross the finish line, Katsuki turns on his other classmate. The one with the ice and, now that Izuku is actually looking, heterochromia. Also split hair. Izuku wonders if he dyes it like that.

“I’m gonna win next round Icy-hot. And then I’ll pound your ass in the tournament!” Katsuki stalks off towards the stadium tunnel and Izuku... didn’t actually know they could leave. 

‘Icy-hot’ watches Katsuki storm off before he turns to Izuku. “Congratulations,” he says. “I won’t lose next time.”

Izuku tilts his head. 

“Yes you will. Because Kacchan will win. He just said so. Are you calling Kacchan a liar?” 

Icy-hot shakes his head. “No. I admire his ambition. I’m just saying it’s inevitable. I’m going to win using my power alone.”

Izuku nods sagely. 

“Yes, you shouldn’t use other people.”

Icy-hot pauses. 

“What? No. I’m just saying I won’t use his power. His fire.”

“How would you use Kacchan’s quirk?”

“Not his quirk, Endeavor’s.”

“Who’s Endeavor?”

“...My father?”

“Your father’s name is ‘Endeavor’?” That's very... unfortunate. 

“No,” says Icy-hot, and his eyebrows are pressed nearly to his eyes and his mouth is agape, “Endeavor? The number two hero?” 

“Oh!” Now Izuku understands. “Yes, if you used the number two hero’s power I’m sure that would be counted as cheating.”

Icy-hot continues to stare him down. “...Do you know who I am?” 

Izuku thinks long and hard, but the answer is no. “...Icy-hot?” That’s what Kacchan had called him, though if Izuku is honest, Katsuki isn't the best at names. 

“... I’m Todoroki Shouto,” says Todoroki Shouto.

Oh! Meeting new people! Izuku has seen this on T.V. He holds out his hand. 

“I’m Midoriya Izuku! It’s very nice to meet you Todoroki-kun.” 

Todoroki tentatively takes his hand, “...Yes. It’s... very good to meet you, too, Midoriya.”

Izuku can’t believe making friends is this easy.

-

The next time Izuku is standing in the center of the stadium with the rest of the students from his school that apparently ‘passed’ the first ‘round’ he does his best to pay attention. There is something about... points. And ‘teams’. 

Izuku hopes he can team up with Kacchan. 

He sees Todoroki across the field and waves, the other boy eventually notices and nods in his direction.

Wow! 

Having friends is great.

As soon as the announcer (who Izuku is sure has to be his teacher but he’s so terrible with faces and names and voices that he’d rather just not say anything than be wrong about it) says they have the next ten minutes to choose their teams, Izuku bee-lines for Katsuki.

“Kacchan!” he says when he has the blonde in his sights, “Let’s be on a team!!” 

It’s been rather boring without Katsuki in his class. Izuku hasn’t gotten to work with him on anything recently and it’s quite the let down. 

Kacchan’s red headed friend glances over at him. “Dude!” he calls, “rough luck, with those points!” 

Izuku... doesn’t actually know what he’s talking about, but he smiles and nods because that’s usually what gets him out of situations where he doesn’t know what’s happening. 

Kacchan glances over his shoulder at Izuku, and then his lips spread up into something pointy. “Alright, Deku. Let’s be on a team.” 

-

Katuki sits atop of their team;  Izuku, ‘Pinky’ (a pink girl, actually very pink, all of her), and ‘Shitty Hair’. He has all of the bandanas that they were given and still has his pointy smile on.

“Let’s fucking do this.”

“Uhhh,” says Shitty Hair, “Shouldn’t we uhh, talk about quirks? Strategy?” 

“Yeah,” says Katsuki, “Our strategy is winning.”

Makes perfect sense to Izuku.

“Alright, cool,” says Pinky, “But we still don’t know Deku’s quirk!” She flashes a smile over at him. “Something with doors?”

Izuku opens his mouth to correct her but Katsuki interrupts him with a huff. “It doesn’t matter. It wouldn’t work here anyways. You guys just focus on keeping the other teams away and I’ll focus on getting us more points.”

“Uhhhhh,” says Shitty Hair again, “Are you sure we shouldn’t just focus on avoiding the other teams? We have the most points with Deku and you here, we should be set.”

Katsuki digs his heel into Shitty Hair’s shoulder. “I don’t want to be set, I want to win. Got it?”

Apparently he does because Shity Hair laughs and seems more full of energy than before. “Man, you’re manly. I get’cha bro. Let’s do this.”

Katsuki laughs. “Hell yeah.”

-

They do, in fact, ‘do this’. 

Exactly two other teams manage to take headbands from them, but only headbands that they had managed to steal first. 

Izuku actually gets slapped upside the head by a blonde boy at some point who was yelling something about teleportation and then started cursing Izuku two seconds later when it ‘wasn’t working’. 

Izuku has no idea what he could have possibly been talking about. He'll admit, he hasn’t really been paying attention but he’s pretty sure no one here has a teleportation quirk. 

-

Katsuki has to go sit with his class in the bleachers while the teachers and staff change up the arena yet again. 

The kids in Izuku’s General Studies course congratulate him and another boy on 'making it so far'. Izuku smiles and says, “Thank you.” The other student ducks his head, and, rubbing the back of his neck, mutters a “Thanks.”

The other boy, who has tall purple hair that Izuku’s brain says he should probably recognize, turns to him and sends him a tense nod. “We’ll show them,” he says, but Izuku isn’t quite sure who they’re showing what so he just nods back and smiles.

The final event is a fighting tournament. One on one.

Katsuki is facing off against a brown haired girl from his class, and Izuku is against the purple haired boy from before.

The boy turns to him with a tight expression when the brackets are announced. “I have to win.” he says, “This is my only chance.”

Izuku nods. “I understand,” he says, not understanding. 

-

Izuku stands across the field from the purple haired boy.

The announcer yells loudly that whoever gets their opponent out of bounds first is the winner. Simple enough, really. It’s the most straightforward task so far, in Izuku’s opinion. 

A loud horn signals the beginning of the fight. 

The other boy sizes him up from across the way. He says something but Izuku can’t hear him.

“What?” Izuku calls, and takes a few steps closer hoping he’ll be able to hear the other boy better. The other boy immediately drops into a defensive position when Izuku moves closer. “Sorry,” Izuku calls, “I couldn’t quite hear you?”

The purple boy clears his throat and tries again, “Monoma said quirks don’t work on you?” 

Izuku tilts his head. “Who’s Monoma-?” 

He’s in the hallways. 

But... not exactly?

It’s hazy. Everytime Izuku turns to look at a wall the wall turns into another never ending hallway. The mirrors glint just out of the corner of his eye, but he can’t quite seem to turn fast enough to catch them. He tries to step forward but it feels like he’s falling. 

He’s not breathing- or is he?

He’s not.

He’s.

This isn’t right.

This can’t be real, because Izuku has only ever felt safe in the confines of the halls. Never felt anything but comfort when he walks through those doors.

But here.

Izuku can’t breathe.

He feels confused and lost and-

And he’s afraid.

Where is he?

Why can’t he-

Izuku steps out of bounds.

A large buzzer sounds and Izuku whirls around to look at the purple haired boy who almost looks shocked. 

That was-

Well.

Izuku didn’t like that very much. 

He heads towards the tunnel still not quite breathing. Distantly he hears his teacher say that “Midoriya Izuku has lost! Shinsou Hitoshi is the winner!!”

The stadium roars. 

Izuku stumbles through the halls that aren't his. The ones that belong to the school. 

He wants to be alone.

He wants to step through a door and see the halls but what if it’s just the same? What if he-

No, he can’t even do that because that thing is still there, he doesn’t know what to do with it. Izuku's time in the halls are savored and precious because he has to go to class, has to see his mom and Kacchan, and can’t lose time can’t lose himself- this is important, but it doesn't feel important. But the more time he spends there, the closer that thing can get and Izuku just wants to be alone and wants to breath he doesn’t-

Suddenly, he wants to see Kacchan. 

Katsuki has been past the doors. He’s an outsider in a way Izuku never could be. Izuku can ask- can ask Katsuki if that’s what it's like for him. If it’s cold and confusing and constricting. If his hallways could ever be-

Disgusting.

He stumbles and runs into something warm, firm.

Large hands push him away and he stumbles again.

Izuku looks up up up at a man whose face is on fire. 

“....Are you alright?” Izuku asks, because any experience he’s ever had with ‘skin’ in combination with fire has never been a pleasant one.

The large man leers down at him and his mouth twists up like he’s just eaten something sour. “Watch where you’re going.” 

Izuku blinks and peers around the tall fireman. Todoroki stands hunched before him.

“Oh. Hello, Todoroki-kun,” he says because it’s good to greet people you know. He steps around the man and up to Todoroki. “Good luck on your fight. Make sure to use your own power.” 

Todoroki doesn’t answer. His eyebrows and lips are pressed tight on his face, and he’s not really looking at Izuku. Through him maybe, at something that could never hope to be tangible.

“I have to go find Kacchan, I think. Goodbye.”

He doesn’t wait for Todoroki to say anything which might be rude but he really does have to ask Katsuki what he thinks about the doors. The halls.

He walks away from Todoroki and the tall man on fire and doesn’t look back once.

-

He steps through a door and doesn't give himself to admire the scenery. (Finds that he doesn't want to. Especially not with how recently it seemed Noumu had been down this way.) And steps into the 1-A seating section.

Kacchan is sitting next to his blonde friend;the one with the spikey hair and the electricity quirk. Izuku only knows what the boy’s quirk is because Kacchan often talks about how ‘Dunce Face’ overused his quirk in class again. (Izuku isn’t quite sure why he’s called Dunce Face. He seems to have a fairly regular face. At least Shitty Hair and Pinky made direct visual sense.)

Izuku gingerly sits himself down on the stair step next to Kacchan’s seat. He must do it quietly enough- or Kacchan is too invested in the current fight- because it takes a few minutes until Kacchan even notices him there. 

“What.” 

Izuku continues to stare at the cement beneath him. Fingernails picking at the cracks. 

Katsuki huffs and jabs at Izuku with his knee. Izuku leans against it and Katsuki allows him about 15 seconds before he grips Izuku’s head and shoves him away. Izuku doesn’t even fall over- Kacchan’s being nice today. 

“Dude, ” says Dunce Face, “Where did you even come from! Bakugou, where did he even come from?” 

Kacchan ignores him and resolutely does not look at Izuku. 

“Are the hallways... bad?” Izuku asks carefully, and Kacchan does that thing where he very carefully does not react. He continues staring out at the battlefield where a large iceberg spikes up towards the sky violently.

“Did someone say something?” 

“No.”

Kacchan doesn’t say anything for a good long while. 

Finally, once the match has been called and staff have flooded the field to help melt the large structure of ice, Kacchan says, “Are you bad?”

Izuku lets his teeth scrape over the flesh of his lower lip. He shrugs. 

“The hallways are like- they’re you, right? Part of you? If you’re bad, so are they. If you’re not bad, then.” He stops abruptly and doesn’t finish his sentence. Izuku can tell he won’t finish his sentence. 

“Thanks, Kacchan.” Izuku says. He understands. 

Katsuki grunts but doesn’t say anything else.

-

Katsuki doesn’t win the Sports Festival.

It’s... disappointing. 

His fight against Todoroki Shouto was impressive but seemed to leave him on edge. He wouldn’t even talk to Shitty Hair or Dunce Face afterwards. Never mind even look in Izuku’s direction.

The fight against the Purple Haired Boy was jarringly quick. 

Whatever he’d said to Kacchan just before the match had gotten a reply out of Kacchan almost immediately. 

And then-

Well.

Katsuki walked out of bounds.

Standing on the tiered podium on 2nd place with his fists clenched tightly at his side he keeps his head bowed as All Might places the medal around his neck. 

The purple haired boy stands tall and proud with shining eyes as All Might nods his head at the boy and loops the medal around his neck. All Might says something to the boy and he nods back, tight and quick and swipes the back of his arm across his eyes. 

-

Kacchan is gone by the time Izuku makes it through the crowds and down to the student waiting area. He expected it and didn’t really have anything to say to Kacchan in the first place, but he still feels surprisingly disappointed. 

Not that Kacchan would want him to say anything. 

He probably needs time to himself. Kacchan hates losing after all. 

Izuku will see him on Monday.

-

Kacchan is quiet the following week. He will not accept congratulations on getting second place and tries to punch anybody who mentions it. 

Izuku does not say that he’s sorry that Kacchan didn’t win and he does not say that he’s happy Kacchan got 2nd place. 

Izuku does however meet him just outside his classroom door on Monday for lunch, and they eat together in a corner of the cafeteria. Away from Kacchan’s other friends. Not talking.

It’s quiet. Familiar.

The corner of Izuku’s mouth twitches. 

Chapter Text

“What’s your quirk?” It’s the purple haired boy from the sports festival. The same one who sits in front of him in class. He’s sitting down at the lunch table across from Izuku. He’s not sitting next to Katsuki today which is a bit of a let-down but he understands that sometimes Katsuki needs space. 

“I don’t have one,” Izuku replies, “What’s yours?” He’s pretty sure that’s the proper response. People like talking about their quirks after all. It’s a part of them. Izuku can relate. He’ll talk about the doors and endless hallways for as long as Katsuki will let him- which usually isn't very long. Talking about the hallways always makes Katsuki... uncomfortable. Izuku couldn’t imagine why. 

“...You answered,” says the purple haired boy, and oh. Izuku forgot he was having a conversation again. He has got to get better at that.

“Answered what?”

“My question,” says the boy, and looks at him as if he’s grown a third eye.

(Izuku feels his face just to be safe.) “Um. Yes. Was I not supposed to?”

“...My quirk is brainwashing.”

“Oh!” Says Izuku and tries his very best to sound actually interested, “Neat.”

“...Neat,” says the boy.  Izuku thinks maybe Purple Haired Boy isn't the best at holding conventions either. That’s a bit of a relief, since Izuku’s still working on them too.

“Yes,” Izuku says, nodding and nodding and nodding, “Very neat. Thank you for telling me.”

Purple Hair stares at him incredulously before pinching his nose between his thumb and forefinger like he has a headache. “Right. What did you mean you don’t have a quirk? I’ve seen you use it. Your weird door thing.”

Izuku rolls his eyes. Honestly. “They’re not my doors.” No matter what Kacchan tried to tell him.

This earns him a blank stare and a few deadpan blinks.  “It’s your quirk though.”

"Does your stomach in any way belong to your hand?"

“What?”

Izuku places his chin in his hand, mouth twisting up to the side. “I’m just not entirely sure it is a quirk. I do have the joint you know.”

“The- what?”

“The toe joint. The extra one. Keep up. And either way it’s not my quirk. I don’t own it. That seems like it’d be rather rude, doesn’t it?”

The boy opens and closes his mouth a few times, “I- what?”

The bell rings.

Izuku stands up from the lunch table. “Goodbye,” he says before turning and walking away.

The other boy rushes to follow him, “What? That’s it? You’re just walking away?”

“The bell rang, we have to get to class.” 

“Jesus Chri- are you doing this on purpose? Or are you like this naturally.”

Izuku stops and the other boy almost runs into his back. He turns and cranes his head up to look at his classmate. “Doing what?” he asks, had he done something wrong? He thought the conversation had been going pretty well. Unless-

“So you’re just like this then?”

Oh! “Hello,” Izuku says, “My name is Midoriya Izuku.” 

He holds out his hand.

Purple haired boy doesn’t even bother looking at his hand, just continues to look down at Izuku’s face. “Yeah, I know.” 

Oh. So that wasn’t it. 

Izuku huffs and pulls his limb to hang loosely at his side, “Well, I’m not really sure what you want, then? We talked. You asked some questions, I asked some questions. I said hello and goodbye and I know I didn’t say them in the proper order but I’m working on that.” He squints up at the other boy. “Are you making fun of me?”

“What!? No!” 

“Is this what 'bullying'  is? Am I being bullied?” Should he get a teacher? Should he call Katsuki? 

“No! I’m not-”

Izuku looks around because maybe Kacchan hasn’t left the lunchroom yet and he’s still- there he is!

“Kacchan!” he calls. Kacchan’s friends glance over at him but Kacchan’s doing that silly thing where he pretends to ignore Izuku even though Izuku knows he heard him and this is important. 

“No, don’t-” the other boy says, but Izuku won’t be harassed any longer.

“Kacchan!” Izuku yells again. “I think I’m being bullied!” 

He’s pretty sure that this is the fastest he has ever seen Katsuki move because before he can even blink Kacchan is standing between him and the purple haired boy. 

“What the fuck is going on?” He’s not talking to Izuku but Izuku answers anyway.

“I think I’m being bullied but I don’t really know what he’s talking about. Maybe that’s what bullying is? People make fun of you for not understanding and they keep asking you question after question even though you answered they just didn’t like your answer. It’s not my fault he doesn’t understand. And I’m just being myself how can I be ‘like that’ I don’t even know what like ‘that’ is and maybe this isn’t bullying and I’m just confused but I don’t know what he wants and-”

“Deku.” Izuku stops talking. “I’m talking to you, Eyebags. What’s going on.” 

“I wasn’t- it’s not- I was just asking him about his quirk!” 'Eyebags' tries to peer around Katsuki to make eye contact with Izuku but Katsuki moves bodily in front of him, blocking all contact. Eyes or otherwise. 

“Well now you’re not. You’re done. Walk away.” 

“I wasn’t-” 

Katsuki’s hands spark. “Walk. Away.”

Eyebags walks away.

Katsuki turns around and sizes Izuku up. “You good?” he finally asks, when he sees that Izuku isn’t, like, bleeding or whatever. 

“Um. Yes,” says Izuku. “I think maybe he was just trying to ask me some questions and I just didn’t understand? Maybe? It got very confusing at the end there. But I think I overreacted. I should apologize. Maybe. It’s not his fault I didn’t understand and-”

“Hey.” Says Katsuki, and it’s not a yell but it is firm. “You don’t have to talk to anyone you don’t want to. You can end any conversation at any time and if that asshole bothers you again I’ll burn his ass.”

“Oh,” says Izuku. “Thank you.”

Katsuki gives him a curt nod and then suddenly his friends are there clapping him on the back and whistling. 

“Dude,” says the one with red hair, “that was so manly. The way you jumped over that table- I can’t believe it! Midoriya! I’m glad you’re okay!”

The blonde nods along with him. “Yeah man! That was so cool how fast you got between them!”

Katsuki huffs, but he ruffles Izuku’s hair before he heads to class with his posse. 

It’s. Weird.

(Izuku’s chest feels light.)

-

Eyebags (Shinsou Hitoshi, he introduces himself as after class) apologizes later. Though Izuku’s not entirely sure either of them know what for. 

-

The next day when Izuku is waiting for Katsuki at the door of his classroom, he sees Shinsou and Aizawa-sensei talking down the hall. He lets his face skin stretch into a smile and waves at the other boy. Shinsou ducks his head when he notices Izuku waving. 

Aizawa-sensei looks over at him and they stare at each other until Kacchan yanks him down the hall by his arm, away from the loud electric blonde calling after Katsuki from the classroom.

-

Shinsou starts talking to him in class after that. Not full conversations, just little things. Greeting him in the morning and saying goodbye in the evening. 

It becomes routine. 

Day in and day out of people doing just what Izuku expects them to do- or something close enough. 

Izuku has always been very fond of routines. 

-

One day, Shinsou sits with Izuku at lunch while Katsuki sits with his other friends. Izuku doesn't mind sitting alone but he appreciates the consideration. 

Katsuki is less than pleased. He glowers at Eyebags and makes Izuku swear that Shinsou isn't bothering him and that Izuku is okay sharing a lunch table with him.

Izuku says that yes, it's fine and he doesn't mind.

Katsuki makes a face like that wasn't actually what he wanted to hear. 

This kicks off a new routine. A new pattern for Izuku to learn. Every few days, Izuku will join Katsuki and Katsuki's other friends for lunch. Shitty Hair (Kirishima, the boy insisted the third time Izuku called him Shitty Hair to his face) had corralled him over one day and Katsuki hadn’t even yelled at either of them, so Izuku figured he didn’t mind too much. 

Katsuki’s blonde friend (whose name is ‘lightning’ or something) had, taken to the name “Kacchan” like someone throwing rocks at a beehive. Katsuki always shoves the blonde’s face away but never explodes it. 

Izuku supposed he doesn’t mind sharing. As long as it’s just the name.

There’s also Katsuki’s pink friend, who pesters Izuku about his classes, and the one with tape who will eat Izuku’s lunch for him when Katsuki isn’t looking. 

It’d been a good day so far- Katsuki had actually walked to school next to Izuku instead of the standard block and a half space he usually kept between them, and he hadn’t even said anything when Izuku trailed after him during lunch and sat down with him and his other friends. 

He’d just left the table for something- the bathroom, possibly- and Izuku had quickly slid the bento over to Katsuki’s friend with the wide smile, who tears into it quickly.

“No fair,” whines the blonde one. “I can’t believe you get to eat Kacchan’s home cooking.”

“I can’t believe you still call him ‘Kacchan’,” says the other in between bites.

“I can’t believe he still hasn’t killed you for it yet,” says Pink. 

And Izuku says, “Kacchan’s never killed anyone.” Because Izuku would know if he had.

Pink leans across the table and spreads her arms out in front of her. “So you like, grew up with Bakugou, right?” 

Izuku thinks, and after a moment, says, “Yes, we are both much taller than when we met.”

The one eating Izuku’s lunch chokes on the food in his mouth and the blonde one has to pat him on the back.

Pink looks up at the ceiling for a moment (Izuku glances up there too but he doesn’t see anything, he never sees anything interesting on the ceiling but people keep looking up there anyways, maybe he just keeps missing it. Whatever ‘it’ is). “No, I mean. You guys met when you were kids? And went to school together and stuff.”

“You’re childhood friends,” says Kirishima, and Pink snaps her finger.

“Yes! Exactly!”

“Oh.” Izuku nods. “Yes, we were friends as children.” 

She grins. “So then you know what he was like as a kid?”

Izuku has a sneaking suspicion that Katsuki's pink friend isn’t very smart. “Um, yes,” he says, though he thinks that should be obvious.

 “So spill,” she says, waggling her fingers erratically. “What was he like?”

Izuku thinks for a moment. “He was small.” 

Katsuki’s tape friend makes another choking sound.

Pink is still staring at him expectantly, and she doesn’t look away even after a short no-blinking contest. Izuku shifts in his seat, trying to think what more she could want. “Um, his teeth are all new.” At her blank look he adds, “Relatively.” It had been a few years since Katsuki lost his last tooth. He’d only let Izuku keep one, which Izuku thought was entirely unfair. It's not like he was using them for anything, he just threw them away.

Pink looks like she’s going to say something else but Katsuki appears and sits next to Izuku again, ripping the bento from across the table and slamming it in front of Izuku again. 

“Eat,” Katsuki says.

“Kacchan-” Izuku tries, but Katsuki forces a pair of chopsticks between Izuku’s fingers. 

“Eat,” he says again, and then glares across the table. “Tape Face. Don’t encourage him.” 

Izuku places a single grain of rice in his mouth miserably. “I’m not hungry,” he says, but Katsuki has never been one to care for Izuku’s plights.  He doesn’t look away until Izuku had eaten a clump of rice and a piece of chicken. 

Food has always seemed a bit unnecessary to Izuku, but with Nomu inside the halls it’s been harder than ever to see the actual point of eating. 

“We were asking Midoriya what you were like as a kid!” Kirishima says after a long silence at the table.

Katsuki scoffs. “I was small, what else do you want.”

“Okay,” says Pink. “Well, what was Midoriya like?”

Katsuki side-eyes Izuku. “He was a creepy little shit,” he says as Izuku places another single grain of rice in his mouth.

-

On Mondays, Izuku sits with just Katsuki because, “those other idiots are too loud this early in the week”. On Thursdays, Izuku usually decides that two days in a row of sitting with Katsuki’s friends is enough. He’ll find a table along the back wall with minimal people, or a quiet spot outside, or even stay in the classroom. Though he does wish he could simply sit in the hallways. He doesn’t, because he doesn’t want to miss the bell, and he also doesn’t want to disturb his... guest. Guest is being a bit generous. Although Izuku hasn’t bothered to be much of a host either, it’s hard to entertain when all they care about is ripping down wallpaper and smashing mirrors.

Sometimes, Shinsou joins him for lunch.

Sometimes on Fridays, Izuku and Shinsou will sit in the lunchroom together and Katsuki will join them because, “I’m tired of those loud assholes, no other reason, stop looking at me like that Eyebags before I make you.”

One Friday, when Katsuki is sitting with his friends but keeps shooting Izuku and Shinsou looks, (Izuku tried to wave at him a few times but every time Katsuki notices Izuku noticing he turns around and ignores him, so Izuku isn’t actually sure what he wants) Shinsou hands him his phone.

“Oh,” says Izuku. “Thank you but I already have a phone.” He tries to hand it back. Shinsou does the thing where he looks like he wants to laugh but he’s forgotten how; mouth twisting up to one side and eyebrows furrowing as he lets out a huff of air through his nose. 

“No,” he says. “Put your phone number in there.” 

“Oh,” says Izuku again, but then he has to pull out his own phone and try to find the menu that tells him what his own number is. Kacchan always tells him where it’s located but then he always forgets. He’s scrolling through the setting options when Shinsou does his sorta-laugh again and takes Izuku’s phone from his hands, types something into it, and then hands it back.

Izuku’s phone buzzes in his hands.

It’s a text from Shinsou. 

Izuku responds to the text quickly, because both his mother and Katsuki get testy if he doesn’t respond in a timely manner.

Shinsou snorts. Izuku looks up at him. 

He has a hand covering his mouth and his eyes are doing something strange- all crinkled in the corners. He moves his hand just far enough away to say, “That’s my number. You can text me. If you want.”

Izuku nods and opens his mouth to reply-when a hand slams down on the table between them. 

“Did he just steal your phone?” Kacchan asks, and Izuku nods.

“He gave it right back though.” 

Shinsou snorts again and says, “Damn, Midoriya. Call off your guard dog.” 

Kacchan growls at him, which doesn’t really help his ‘I’m not Deku’s guard dog’ case. 

Shinsou rolls his eyes. “I gave him my number. Chill.” 

Kacchan’s nose flares. “Why would he need your number? You tryna start something?”

“Jesus.” Shinsou runs a hand through his hair and huffs. “You’re a piece of work, you know that? We’re friends, blasty. He’s allowed to have friends besides you.”

Kacchan looks like he might say something, but Izuku has zeroed in on a single thing that Shinsou just said and doesn’t actually care what Kacchan was about to say. 

“We’re friends?” he breathes, staring at Shinsou with wide eyes.

Shinsou’s face does a funny thing where it turns sort of pink and he scrunches his mouth and nose all weird. But eventually, he says, “Uh, yeah? I mean. Yes. If you want.”

Izuku beams.

He is amazing at making friends.

-

Being friends with Shinsou doesn’t change much of their interactions in class. Except now, Shinsou will automatically pair with him for partner projects. Also he sends Izuku a thumbs up for some reason when Izuku has to present in front of the class.

But for lunch, they'll walk together to the lunchroom, and Shinsou always sits with him. Well, unless he’s sitting with Katsuki’s friends, because, “they’re kind of loud and annoying, Midoriya,” which seems to be the only thing he and Katsuki actually agree on.

Shinsou sends him pictures of cats and they talk about what they did over the weekend sometimes. Shinsou and Katsuki argue at the lunch table over different things, it reminds Izuku of Katsuki’s parents when he’s over for dinner. It’s all very domestic and pleasant. 

Izuku’s never really had friends other than Katsuki. He’s never been interested in anyone other than Katsuki before. 

Izuku isn’t even sure he’s all that interested in Shinsou. 

He likes Shinsou, of course. They're friends. But Shinsou is all muted colors and soft tones. It’s a good thing he’s so tall, otherwise he might fade into the background altogether.

Katsuki is loud and bright and explosive and loud. He’s a firework, a natural disaster, and Izuku can’t look away. Doesn’t want to. He wants to see all that Katsuki has to offer the world, wants to watch his emotions grow louder and bigger. Wants to watch him tell the world, “I Am Here”. 

Katsuki is going to be something. Izuku isn’t sure what, yet, but Katsuki is well on his way to whatever it is. 

Shinsou is hardly a blip on his radar. It’s really nothing to do against Shinsou personally. It's just that Shinsou isn’t Katsuki. And Izuku can’t imagine living a life that doesn’t revolve around Katsuki. Everything else seems so dull in comparison. 

So it strikes Izuku as odd when Shinsou approaches him one morning and says, “Sorry I’ve been so flaky and weird lately. I’ve been avoiding you and that wasn’t cool of me. I just- I’m under a lot of pressure right now.” Izuku hadn’t noticed him acting particularly different, and he’d seen him about the same amount each day. Still, it was something Shinsou seemed worried about.

“Oh,” says Izuku, “that’s alright.”

“It’s not,” Shinsou stresses. “I want to be a good friend, I’m just not used to it or whatever.” 

Izuku nods. This is completely understandable. Friends are hard to understand sometimes. 

“I just wanted you to know that it’s not you or anything. I’m going through some stuff and I’m extra busy. That’s all.”

“Okay,” says Izuku, and sits down at his desk. 

Shinsou looks like he might want to say something more but their teacher waltzes in and strikes a pose, so he too finds his seat.

-

“Thank you for meeting with me.” Aizawa-sensei says, and gestures for Izuku to sit in one of the many desks of the 1A classroom. 

At lunch, Katsuki told him Aizawa-sensei wanted to meet with him about something during 1A’s Hero Lessons. So he’d passed Izuku a note that Izuku gave to his teacher after lunch who had sent Izuku to wait for Aizawa-sensei. 

It had all seemed needlessly complicated. Izuku wasn’t sure why Aizawa-sensei hadn’t just asked Izuku himself, or why Izuku couldn’t have just gone once Katsuki had passed on the message. People seem to like doing things in roundabout ways that Izuku could never quite understand.

Izuku sits at a desk in the second row, the one that Katsuki usually sits in.

“I apologize for not meeting with you sooner,” Aizawa-sensei says as he settles in the desk next to Izuku, sitting sideways and settling an ankle over his knee. Izuku feels like Aizawa should appear comically large in a desk made for a student and not a teacher, but he fits just fine. 

Adults are never as big as Izuku imagines. 

“I’d meant to do so directly after the event, but with the Sports Festival and the internships there never seemed to be a good moment to speak with you.” Aizawa-sensei has a notebook open on his lap and he clicks a pen before jotting something down. “How are you doing?” he asks. “I heard you never went to see Hound Dog.” 

Izuku didn’t know the school had a dog. Animals have never been too fond of him so he doesn’t know that he’d visit even if he’d known about it. Then again maybe the dog worked in administration with the principal. If the school could have a walking talking marsupial who’s to say it didn’t have a dog working there too. 

Wait, there had been a question in there. “I’m fine,” Izuku says, forcing his brain to circle back to the question Aizawa-sensei had asked. 

“It’s understandable that you wouldn’t want to talk to someone you don’t know, so I wanted you to know you could talk to me if that would be more comfortable for you. Yamada-sensei said you seem to be doing fine in class, but I don’t know that he considers how students are outside of a structured learning environment.” 

Izuku nods and hums like he’s seen his mom do when she talks to strangers. He’s not sure who “Yamada-sensei” is or what Aizawa-sensei wants him to speak about. And maybe he should have gone to talk to the dog about something? Izuku isn’t sure what you talk about with dogs. 

They sit for a moment like that, neither of them speaking. Aizawa-sensei raises his eyebrows and gives Izuku what he thinks would be considered a “look”. 

“Who’s Yamada-sensei?” Izuku asks after another beat, just in case the raised eyebrows and eye contact meant that Aizawa-sensei was waiting for Izuku to say something.

“...Your homeroom teacher,” Aizawa-sensei says after a moment. He jots another thing down. “You know who your homeroom teacher is?”

“Yes,” says Izuku. “He told us to call him Mic-sensei. He’s blonde.” Izuku is pretty sure he’s blonde at least. 

Aizawa-sensei’s lips twitch and he lets out an audible breath of air. “Of course he did. Have you spoken with your mother about it at all?”

Izuku is still not sure what “it” is. “I speak with my mother a lot. She tells me about her day at work and asks me how school was and-”

Aizawa-sensei holds up a hand and Izuku stops speaking. He says, “Midoriya,” but then stops. His face pinches and he looks over his notebook. “Midoriya, do you know why you’re here?”

“Yes,” says Izuku. “Kacchan gave me a note that said you wanted me here.” Izuku thought that was obvious.

Aizawa-sensei lets out another long breath of air before he straightens up and sets his notebook on the desk. He rearranges his limbs so that he can lean forward on his knees. He’s closer to Izuku this way, and Izuku has to look slightly down to see his face. “I wanted to talk to you about the incident at the USJ.” 

Izuku blinks. “The what?”

“When you...” Aizawa-sensei pauses. “Used your quirk to help Bakugou and my class.” 

Izuku has to bite the inside of his cheek to stop himself from correcting Aizawa-sensei. He knows he told Aizawa-sensei it wasn’t a quirk but sometimes people forget. Sometimes people don’t like being reminded. 

“Do you remember?” Aizawa-sensei asks. “You used-”

“I remember,” Izuku says. “There was Nomu-san and the man with the hands.” He only remembers Nomu’s name. It’s hard to forget the worst house guest ever. 

Izuku can feel it right now, ripping apart molding, smashing glass, tearing down wallpaper. The carpet will never quite be the same. 

Honestly. 

Even the slime wasn’t this bad. Izuku should really ask Katsuki for help, but Katsuki’s been so busy with school lately. Katsuki also doesn't seem to like the hallways very much. They always  seem to put him on edge for some reason. 

It’s fine. Izuku knows how to compartmentalize. 

Aizawa-sensei is looking at him so Izuku smiles but doesn’t show his teeth. 

“... Right,” says Aizawa-sensei after a moment. “I was... The faculty was concerned, especially after you hadn’t spoken to Hound Dog or- Mic-sensei. So I wanted to check in with you, to see how you were doing.”

Izuku lets this digest for a moment. He’s not sure why he should have talked to anyone after what had happened at Katsuki’s field trip. Especially a dog. It wasn’t Izuku’s field trip, why would he have anything to say about it?

Izuku doesn’t understand. His mom always told him that when he was confused, asking questions was good. She said it helped the people around him know what he didn’t understand, and that way they could help him.

His middle school teachers had never seemed to quite appreciate his questions as his mother seemed to think they would.

Still.

“Why would faculty be concerned? It wasn’t my field trip,” he ends up saying., Then, after a brief pause he adds, “Dogs can’t talk.” He wonders if Aizawa didn’t know that.

Aizawa stares at him for a long moment before sitting up straight again. He crosses and uncrosses his legs. “Hound Dog is the school’s counselor. He has a mutant type dog quirk, so Hound Dog is his hero name.”

Izuku isn’t quite sure what the difference between a dog with a quirk and a person with a dog quirk is, but nods anyway. Either way it’s fairly impressive for a dog (quirk or no) to have a doctorate. He’d spoken with his middle school counselor a few times but he didn’t know why anyone would do that sort of thing voluntarily.

“The other teachers and I were concerned because you’re not a hero student. You have no training for what happened at the USJ. This is an unprecedented situation, and with you being a civilian student, we wanted to make sure you were adjusting properly. After what happened.”

“I’m adjusting every day,” Izuku says. everyday his bones shift and move under his skin. Every day the halls change and stretch. His mother says he is a “growing boy”.

“...Yes,” says Aizawa. “I’m sure you are. But what happened at the USJ was very... intense. It would be understandable if you were scared that something like that might happen again.”

“Is something like that going to happen again?” Izuku asks. If it does, he supposes he can just ask Shinsou for the notes that he misses in class this time. That's nice. “Will I have to talk to Hound Dog if it does?” 

“No! That’s- christ.” Aizawa-sensei slumps in his seat and digs his fingers into his forehead. “Nothing like that will ever happen again. Not if I can help it. I will do everything in my power to keep my class- to keep Bakugou and you and everyone at this school- safe.” 

Izuku nods. “That’s good,” he says encouragingly. Aizawa-sensei seems like he needs it. He supposes this is why Aizawa-sensei is a hero. Hero’s want to protect people. 

It’s very.... enigmatic.

“Tell me how you feel about what happened at the USJ.” Aizawa reaches for his notebook again and flips it open. 

Izuku runs his fingernails along the lip of the desk. How did he feel about it? This is why he never quite got on with the school counselor at his old school. She always asked such strange and boring questions. 

“I feel...” He trails off, trying to think about what happened at the USJ. He’d gotten to see Kacchan, but he’d had makeup work to do for the class time he’d missed. “Medium.” Yes, that seemed about right. 

Izuku smiles.

Aizawa-sensei does not smile back at him. “... Medium?”

“Yes,” says Izuku. Then he thinks about it for a moment and- oh! Of course, how rude of him. “How did you feel about what happened at the USJ, Aizawa-sensei?”

“I- that’s- that is irrelevant. We’re here to talk about you, Midoriya.”

Izuku was pretty sure they were here to talk about the USJ, or perhaps the hero class.

Or dogs?

Aizawa-sensei rubs at the bridge of his nose and looks up at the ceiling (Izuku is quicker this time but whatever is up there is still faster) “Alright.” He says, “let's talk about the nomu.”

Izuku can do that. He knows who Nomu is and at this point one could even say they know each other in excruciating detail. “Okay,” Izuku nods, “what about him?” 

Aizawa-sensei has another few false starts where he opens his mouth only to close it again, “you used your quirk to get rid of it.” He says, “That sort of thing can be taxing on anyone.” 

Izuku nods along, he’s glad Aizawa-sensei understands. It has been taxing with Nomu as a guest, even if it feels like he has more energy than he’s had in a long time. Maybe Aizawa-sensei has an idea of where Nomu lives. Izuku had been waiting for it to calm down before he tried to ask it where he could drop it off but honestly it’s been weeks now and Izuku didn’t know anyone could stay this heated for so long. Even Katsuki loses steam after a few hours. 

“Taking the life of another... living creature is not something to be taken lightly.” Aizawa-sensei says, and what? “The HPSC has already cleared you with self defense but that’s still something that even Pro Heros struggle with. I really think you should speak to Hound Dog, or even Yamada-sensei or me about it. Or maybe there’s someone else you’d feel more comfortable talking to. Either way I-”

“Um, sensei,” Izuku says, and he knows he should interrupt a teacher but he’s not sure how Aizawa-sensei had gotten so confused about the whole thing. “Nomu isn’t dead.”

Aizawa-sensei pauses, “I- what?” 

“He’s fine.” Says Izuku, he’s a little worried now that the disappearance of Nomu resulted in a false assumption of death instead of missing persons or something. “Well, mostly fine. I figure if you have the energy to break mirrors and tear wallpaper down you’re probably fine. Don’t worry, Aizawa-sensei. Once he calms down he’ll be good to go.”

“You- it-” Aizawa-sensei’s mouth opens and closes, “the nomu isn’t dead?”

“No,” says Izuku, patting the back of Aizawa-sensei’s hand, “he’s fine.” 

“Midoriya, you-” Aizawa-sensei is cut off by the bell, he startles a bit and drops the notebook. Izuku hands it to him as he stands up.

“Thank you for speaking with me,” he says to Aizawa-sensei, and bows slightly like his mother taught him to do when he’s speaking with teachers before making his way out of the classroom. He’s glad he cleared up the confusion about Nomu. Even though he doesn’t quite understand the other things they talked about. Aizawa-sensei is a strange person, but Izuku is glad to see he was worried about Nomu. 

-

“Midoriya,” Shinsou says at lunch, “how exactly does your quirk work? I know it had a weird feedback when I used my quirk on you at the Sports Festival, but I guess I don’t really know what it does.”

Katsuki stops eating the onigiri he made for lunch today. 

Izuku is in the middle of dissecting the onigiri that Katsuki had handed him at the start of lunch. He’d eaten the seaweed but the rest was a mush on the wax paper Katsuki had stored it in. 

“Not a quirk,” he says, putting  a single grain of rice in his mouth. He makes a face at the obtrusive texture. 

Katsuki smacks him. 

“Uhh, okay?” Shinsou says. He’s not looking at Izuku; looking everywhere but him, actually. It’s strange. “But how does it work?”

Izuku hums. “How would a melody describe itself when asked?”

“What.” 

“Stop playing with your food,” Katsuki scolds. “It’s gross. And fucking rude.”

Izuku glares down at the mess of rice and fish. 

He wasn’t even hungry. He’d never been one much for... consuming, in the first place.

Katsuki hands him a pair of chopsticks. “Stop being a freak. And wash your hands after this, you degenerate.” 

Izuku finishes the rice pile before the end of lunch, but he doesn’t like it.

-

Izuku is waiting for Katsuki by the lockers after school when Todoroki walks up to him. 

“Midoriya,” he says. Izuku waves at him. Todoroki stands there for a few moments before saying, “Are you going to be participating in the internships?”

“Um,” says Izuku. “No. Am I supposed to have an internship?”

“Not necessarily,” says Todoroki as he switches his indoor shoes for outdoor ones. “I just thought maybe you would. With the USJ incident, and how far you made it in the Sports Festival.”

“What would I be interning for?” Izuku asks, trying to peek around Todoroki to see if Katsuki has arrived yet. 

Todoroki steps to the side and looks in the same direction Izuku is looking for a moment before turning back around. “They’re hero internships. Students in the hero courses received invitations from hero agencies across Japan for a week-long internship next week. I thought maybe you would have garnered some interest.”

“Oh,” says Izuku. “No. But Kacchan is very excited. He’s interning with- uh-” Izuku fumbles with the memory of the words Kacchan had told him and comes up with, “The best jeans.” That sounds right. 

Todoroki nods and opens his mouth again, but Katsuki shoves past, grabbing his shoes out of his locker. “Why the fuck are you talking to half-n-half?" Kacchan demands, and Izuku opens his mouth to answer but then Kacchan rolls his eyes and Izuku realizes it wasn't a real question. "Let’s go. Fucking Aizawa held me back and now mom’s gonna be pissed.” 

Izuku nods and trails after him, not looking back at Todoroki.

-

“I’m being transferred to the Hero Course,” Shinsou says as he sits down for lunch, his face is pinched together and he’s not actually looking at Izuku. 

“What!?” screeches Katsuki. “Why the fuck are you transferring to the Hero Course?” 

Shinsou shifts in his seat, “I’m taking an internship with Aizawa Sensei and after that I’ll be placed in his class.” He’s also not looking at Katsuki, and Izuku is pretty sure he wasn’t actually answering Katsuki’s question. So maybe he’s talking to Izuku, even though he’s not looking at him.

“Mm.” Izuku hums, because he isn’t actually sure what he’s supposed to say here but sometimes his mom just sort of hums when she’s talking to the neighbors and that always seems to work out for her just fine. 

Today, Katsuki provided him with a bento filled with nothing but tamagoyaki. Izuku is currently in the process of unrolling one of the eggs. Katsuki seems too preoccupied with glaring at Shinsou to stop him, so Izuku picks up a second egg to start unrolling as well.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner," Shinsou says. I didn’t- it wasn’t set in stone or anything. But I’ve been taking supplemental classes with Aizawa to try and catch up with class 1A and the paperwork finally cleared.”

Izuku nods and nods but Shinsou isn’t looking at him so eventually he just says, “Okay.” 

“No,” says Katsuki, slapping Izuku’s hands away from the eggs. It's really very impressive, considering he hasn’t looked away from Shinsou once, “Not okay. Why the fuck are you transferring. How the fuck are you transferring.”

Shinsou looks up at the ceiling. Izuku glances up there but he doesn’t see anything particularly of note. “I won the Sports Festival, if you recall.”

“Oh, I recall, all right.” Katsuki half stands in his seat and pokes a finger in Shinsou’s face. “I just don’t see how you can think you’re hero material.”

“Aizawa-sensei seems to think so,” Shinsou says, his jaw is tight and his shoulders square as Katsuki gets in his face. He doesn’t move as Katsuki presses the tip of his finger into his forehead, shoving Shinsou’s head back a few centimeters. 

“Well don’t even think about dragging us down,” says Katsuki before finally sitting back down in a huff. 

“I won’t.” Shinsou’s eyes harden in an interesting way- something glints in them that has Izuku looking away from the mess of egg in front of him to stare at Shinsou with his full attention. Their eyes catch and the look in Shinsou’s eyes fades away, his eyebrows drawing together. 

For a moment Shinsou had been... more.

“Whatever,” says Katsuki. And then to Izuku, “Eat your fucking eggs, you freak.” 

Izuku drags his eyes away from Shinsou. He pushes some eggs on the floor when Katsuki isn’t looking. 

Eventually, Katsuki catches on and forces a full, unrolled, tamagoyaki into Izuku’s mouth and doesn’t look away until Izuku swallows. Izuku isn’t sure why Katsuki bothers. It’s not like he’s hungry. 

After the bell has rung and Katsuki has forced him to clean up the mess he’s left on the table and they’re heading back to class Shinsou catches his arm. 

“Are you going to be alright? Without me I mean. In class.”

Izuku tilts his head and stares up into Shinsou’s eyes, not blinking just in case he sees something interesting. “Will you be alright?” Izuku asks. And Shinsou looks away.

After a moment he says “I’ll be fine.”

Izuku nods, “yes, you’ll have Kacchan with you after all.”

Shinsou laughs and lets go of Izuku’s arm, “that’s not as comforting as you think it is.” He says, and Izuku follows him into the classroom.

-

The week of the internships is very slow and very boring. 

Izuku doesn’t get to see Katsuki for lunch, and they don’t get to walk home together because Katsuki is staying in Tokyo. Shinsou isn’t in class anymore, so there’s no reason for Izuku to pay attention to anyone. 

The days blend together in a gray, tasteless blob. 

-

When the hero classes return the following week they seem much less colorful than they had in the past. Katsuki, however, is red with anger. He won’t tell Izuku why; will hardly talk to him at all, actually. Shitty hair- Kirishima- whose hair actually seems quite limp today, says that Katsuki will be fine soon. Something about not being allowed to help with 'Hosu' and that he’s “feeling frustrated”.

Izuku isn’t really sure what Hosu has to do with anything. 

Shinsou isn’t in his class anymore, but still sits with him during lunch. He looks even more tired than before he left. 

They sit in silence for over half the lunch period before Izuku realizes he should ask how the internship went.

Shinsou ducks his head. “It was- uh- well, Aizawa-sensei was great. But then with Hosu... I dunno. Class is really weird now. Especially without that Iida kid. I only met him a few times but-”

Todoroki slides into the seat next to Shinsou. 

“Midoriya,” he greets. “I need your phone number.”

“Oh,” says Izuku. “Okay.” He fishes out his phone and hands it over to Todoroki, but Shinsou intercepts- snatching the phone before Todoroki can grab it. 

“Hold up. No way you need Midoriya’s number.” 

“I need to be able to contact him,” says Todoroki, which makes perfect sense to Izuku, even though he’s not sure why Todoroki would need to contact him.

Shinsou doesn’t seem to be as convinced. “Why- you don’t need to contact him,” he says, moving the phone further away when Todoroki reaches for it again.

Todoroki pauses, he takes a quick glance at Izuku before looking back at Shinsou. “Midoriya would’ve been a huge asset in Hosu-”

“With the literal Hero Killer-!? ”

“With Midoriya’s quirk-”

“Not a quirk.” Izuku cuts in.

“-the entire situation could have been dealt with much more quickly and cleanly.”

Shinsou grips Izuku's phone tightly enough that Izuku is starting to worry about its welfare. Katsuki is always telling him how careful he needs to be with electronics. “Yeah only one problem. Midoriya’s not a hero student.”

Todoroki’s lips press together in a tight line. “But with his quirk-”

“It’s his power and he can use it however he wants,” says Shinsou. “It’s not for you to decide.”

“He has an obligation-”

Shinsou stands and looms over Todoroki's sitting form. “If he wanted to be a hero, he would be in the hero course. Or working to be in the hero course. Or- literally doing anything at all to imply that he wants to be a hero. You don’t get to tell him what he has to be.”

There’s a long silence that stretches out before them, and Izuku wonders if maybe he should leave before remembering that Shinsou still has his phone. 

“Um-” is all he manages before both Shinsou and Todoroki both snap their heads in his direction, staring him down. He didn’t actually think about what he wanted to say, but they both look varying degrees of upset, so he chews at the flesh of his lip and lets his eyes slide past them. “I don’t really mind if Todoroki-kun has my number? But could I have my phone back?”

Shinsou freezes and slowly glances down at his hand where he has Izuku’s phone clenched tightly in his grip. He awkwardly sets it down in front of Izuku and then sinks back down in his seat. “...Sorry,” he says, his shoulders hunched up towards his ears.

“That’s alright,” says Izuku, though he doesn’t really know what Shinsou is apologizing for. He hands his phone to Todoroki and doesn’t comment on the face Shinsou makes- like he’s eaten something particularly bitter.

“I don’t mind helping,” Izuku says as he watches Todoroki type into his phone, “but Aizawa-sensei might get upset if it’s anything like what happened at-” He knows it had a name, the place with Nomu and the man with too many hands, “your field trip.” That should work. 

“Oh yeah,” says Shinsou, eyes tracking Izuku’s phone as Todoroki hands it back. “He mentioned you guys had a, uh, meeting. Said it didn’t go very well. Or uh-” His eyes flick up to Izuku. “Sorry, that was-” He cuts himself off.

Izuku shrugs and slides his phone back in his pocket. “He seemed upset that I had attended Kacchan’s field trip.” Izuku thinks for a moment. “He said we have a dog for a counselor. “

Shinsou coughs into his hand. “Uh, Midoriya. I don’t think that’s what he meant.” 

Todoroki’s eyes bore into him, and Izuku makes sure to meet his eyes just like his mother taught him. “I didn’t know dogs could be counselors,” says Todoroki, which is the most reasonable thing anyone has said all day. 

Izuku flaps his arms in the air emphatically. “Apparently the dog is also a pro hero.”

“What?” says Todoroki. “That can’t be right. That would violate animal welfare laws. Unless the dog is similar to Principal Nezu. Does Nezu being our principal violate the animal welfare laws?”

Shinsou’s face is buried in his hands. “He’s talking about Hound Dog.” his voice is muffled.

“Oh,” says Todoroki. “I see.” He doesn’t say anything else after that. 

Shinsou coughs again, shifting in his seat. He glances at Todoroki before turning back to Izuku and opening his mouth like he's about to say something.

The bell rings. 

Shinsou closes his mouth. 

Izuku stands and heads out of the lunchroom. Katsuki wasn’t at lunch today so he doesn’t have to worry about cleaning up a meal. 

He’s a few steps away from the table when Shinsou calls his name. 

“I-” Shinsou cuts himself off, glancing at Todoroki again who hasn’t bothered to stand up yet. “We’ll talk later okay?”

“Okay,” says Izuku, but he’s not sure Shinsou can actually hear him over the crowd of students.

Izuku heads back to class.