Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When Izuku was separated from his friends, he decided to wander around aimlessly. He had nothing to do there, only coming along because of his friends. But they had all quickly split up, with Uraraka rushing off when he tried to talk with her. Maybe he was being annoying again. Tokoyami had said he was scaring other people with his muttering. He couldn’t believe he still did that. He thought he had kicked that habit after the Sports Festival.

As he continued to wander around, looking at the shops and the items they had on sale, he felt an arm wrap around his shoulders. He froze. Even though they were well past middle school, he still felt the instinct to lock up and curl into a ball whenever someone initiated physical contact with him, the inevitability of the onslaught of kicks and punches and jeering taunts flooding his mind, making him forget where he was and oh god the stranger was getting closer oh my god WAIT IS THAT SHIGARAKI-

“Though, from your perspective, we haven’t met since the attack on U.A., huh?”

Dread pooling in his gut, Izuku looked up to see the looming face of Shigaraki, red eyes peering into his very soul, a hand wrapped around his throat with a pinkie finger lifted. His face was barren of the hand that usually covered it, allowing Izuku to fully see his face. He had scars on his lip and left eye, and a birthmark beneath his mouth. He was also undeniably flaky, with dead skin clinging onto healthy.

“Why don’t we have tea or something, Izuku Midoriya?”

Shit.

Strangers passed by them, ignoring the two and not noticing the hostage situation or the infamous villain.

“Act natural.” Shigaraki snapped, sensing his ongoing panic. “I’m just an old friend you met at the mall, okay? I just wanna talk.”

TALK?!?! Izuku wanted to scream. But with the dangerous hand wrapped around his throat - one pinkie raised, daring him to do something funny - he knew he couldn’t. So he ignored his overwhelming panic, and put on one of his brightest smiles. 

“Tea? That sounds great! Let’s go!” He could practically sense Shigaraki’s confusion at his sudden cheerfulness, but he ignored it and walked towards the food court. Shigaraki moved his hand from Izuku’s throat to his wrist to look inconspicuous, one pinkie still raised.

As the older male trailed behind him, Izuku let himself internally panic. What was he thinking? Shigaraki could end his life in a second! He was being a complete MORON! 

Bet that’s nothing new, huh, Deku ?

No, no, shut up Kacchan. He was no longer the useless, weak Deku. He was the Deku who could do it, the Deku who saved people with a smile.

Dekiru a part of his mind whispered.

He stopped in front of a fast-food place, patiently waiting in line. The mall didn’t have any places where they could drink tea on the spot - as ridiculous as that was - so Izuku made do.

He heard a quiet “What are you doing ?” from Shigaraki, but he just whispered back; “Acting like a friend!”

“And what would you two like?” The lady who was taking orders smiled at them politely.

“We would both like Teriyaki, please!” He responded, smiling brightly.

“Alright, would you like anything to drink?”

“No thank you!”

“Alright,” she handed them some sort of device. “This’ll buzz when your food is ready so you can come get it, have a nice day!” She waved at them.

“Thank you!” He waved back, finding a spot that wasn’t too crowded and sitting down at one of the booths.

“What the hell was that?” Shigaraki finally spoke, giving him a confused and outraged look. Though, the latter might just be there by default. 

“Like I said before, I was acting like a friend. Although, I'm guessing you don’t exactly have any of those, do you?” As soon as those words left his mouth, he slapped a hand over his mouth and sputtered out a quick ‘sorry!’ 

Shigaraki just let out a raspy laugh. “So you do have a spine. That’s interesting.”

Seeing as the villain wasn’t decaying him on the spot, he let his nerves calm down as much as they could, because there was still a supervillain in front of him, still holding onto his wrist with one finger raised under the booth.

“So,” Izuku began shakily, “what is it you wanted to talk about?”

Shigaraki’s amusement dropped dead in an instant as annoyance and rage quickly took its place. “The Hero Killer.” He hissed.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Yeah.” He grunted. “I hate pretty much everything, but the Hero Killer pisses me off the most right now.”

“Wasn’t he working with you?”

“That’s what everyone else thinks, but no. And that’s my damn problem. Everyone’s paying attention to him. I attacked the U.S.J., I released the Nomu’s on Hosu, so why is everyone so obsessed with him now? No one’s looking at me.” He grumbled.

“I’m looking at you.” Izuku replied earnestly.

“I hate you.” Shigaraki said bluntly. He then continued to go on his rant. “What is the difference between us?”

Izuku looked down at his lap and thought about it for a moment. “Well,” he began, “while I don’t condone what he’s done, I can understand his motives. He made it clear what he wanted, and why he did what he did.” He looked at Shigaraki. “You… You just attacked the USJ and screamed about how much you wanted to kill All Might. You never really said why you wanted to kill All Might. You didn’t seem to have an overarching plan. Let’s say you kill All Might, then what?” He shrugged. “No one likes a killer, but they can understand him because they can understand his convictions.”

Shigaraki seemed to mull over these words before the device buzzed. “Oh! That’s our food!” He quickly stood up, and despite his self-preservation skills screaming at him not to, he wriggled his hand out of Shigaraki's grasp and walked to the food place. He quickly picked up his order and paid the yen, returning happily to the booth and handing Shigaraki his food.

“You.. You stayed.” Shigaraki sounded dazed before snapping out of it, before thinking over Izuku’s words again.

“Well, why does it matter so much why I want to kill All Might? I destroy things I don’t like, simple as that.” He snapped.

Izuku gave him an unimpressed look. “That’s my point. You destroy because you can. Because you want to. Stain wasn’t a good person by any means, but he had a reason why he wanted to destroy Heroes. He was looking for a change in society. Granted, making ‘fake’ heroes martyrs isn’t going to make perfect ones pop out of thin air, but you can understand what he wanted and why he wanted it.”

When he didn’t seem to be quite getting through to the pale-haired man, he changed up his tactics. 

“You like video games, right?” He asked, which got Shigaraki’s attention in an instant.

“...Yeah. I do. So what?”

“In most games, there’s always a main antagonist.” Antagonist. Not Villain. “They’re trying to do something to stop the player and their allies from achieving a goal, one that normally opposes theirs.” He paused, looking for a certain example. “Do you know what Undertale is?” A nod. “Okay. So, Asgore wanted to kill any human child who fell into the underground to collect their souls. Why is that?”

“...To free the monsters.”

“Right. What he’s trying to do is bad, but we can understand and empathize with why he’s doing it. We can also understand what pushed him to that mindset of murder. So we can understand him. So, my question is, what do YOU want Shigaraki? Why do you want to destroy things? Why do you want to kill All Might?”

A pause. Then Shigaraki grinned. 

“I think.” He looked Izuku in the eyes with those sharp, piercing red eyes. “That I like you, Izuku Midoriya.”

He froze. What did that mean?

He noticed neither of them had touched their Teriyaki.

Shigaraki stood up. “This talk has been… enlightening. Thanks.” He sent Izuku one last grin before walking off, disappearing into the crowd.

Izuku shakily stood up too, breathing in deeply. He exhaled. He walked out of the food court, and was greeted with the sight of Uraraka looking around. Perhaps she was looking for him? But that wouldn’t make sense, didn’t she want to be alone?

“Deku!” He repressed a flinch. He wasn't a useless Deku. He was the Deku who could do it. “Where were you?!”

He blinked owlishly. “Oh! Sorry!” He glanced back at the food court. “I ran into an.. Old friend. They wanted to talk to me.” 

“Okay… But don’t scare me like that next time!”

He let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “Sorry! I won't!”

Chapter Text

It had been 3 days since Izuku’s encounter with Shigaraki at the mall. 3 days. He should’ve been over it by now, forgotten it and moved on with his life, preparing himself for the Training Camp like everyone else. Aizawa-Sensei would NOT go easy on them. This was a fact.

Which is exactly why Izuku needed to prepare himself instead of laying down in his bed and thinking about it like he was doing right now. He didn’t know why he couldn’t get it out of his head. He managed to bounce back from the U.S.J. Incident quickly, so why couldn’t he do that now?

"I think I like you, Izuku Midoriya.”

That kept repeating over and over in his head with great clarity. He thought about what Shigaraki could mean by that, and what he could be planning. There was no way Shigaraki would have decided to approach Midoriya if he hadn’t had a plan in mind for something. At least, that was what Izuku told himself.

When he finally managed to lull himself to sleep, - he was starting to get insomnia, likely due to the encounter with Shigaraki - he woke up earlier than he normally would.

6:45 AM

He got up out of his bed and walked to the kitchen. It was still fairly dark outside, with the sun only just starting to rise.

He took a mug out of the cabinet and started to make coffee. Not for him, but for his mom. When he was younger, and woke up early more often, sometimes his mom would also be awake, getting ready to go to work. She was always so tired, so Izuku, being the kind hearted person he is, looked up how to make coffee on the internet. 

Nowadays he wakes up a lot later, around 7. But he still makes coffee for his mother. It’s the least he can do for her, since it’s hard being a single mom.

When the coffee was finished brewing, he took some creams and sugar and stirred it around. He had found out through much trial and error that his mother liked sugary coffee.

He stirred the coffee robotically. He was still tired, and he tended to zone out. As he thought about the Training Camp, which he realized they would be going to today, his mind wandered back to his encounter from the mall. Much to his ever-growing displeasure.

He couldn’t get his mind off it, no matter how hard he tried. In classes, at home, with his friends, his mind always wandered back to Shigaraki.

In a fit of frustration, he accidentally activated One for All: Full Cowling, almost breaking the mug. He quickly calmed down after that.

He picked up the coffee and glanced back at the clock. It was 7:01 AM now. His mother would probably be up or atleast waking up by now.

He carefully walked through the house and to his mothers room, purposefully slowing down his movements so he wouldn’t make too much noise with his feet thumping against the wooden floor.

He peeked through the door to his mothers room. It was dark, but his eyes had long adjusted to the darkness by now. 

“Mom?” He asked quietly.

Silence. Then, “Izuku? What are you doing up this early honey?”

He smiled slightly and entered the room quietly. “I brought you some coffee.” He said, placing it down on the nightstand beside her. “Just the way you like it.”

He could practically hear his mothers smile. “Thank you sweetie.”

“No problem. Oh! Good morning by the way.”

He heard his mothers soft chuckling. “Good morning Izuku, go get dressed.”

“Yes Ma'am!” He responded dutifully, rushing out of the room to his own. He quickly dove through his wardrobe, digging out his uniform and tugging it on. He tied his tie (incorrectly, not that he knew that), and rushed to the bathroom to brush his teeth and hair.

After doing all of his morning duties, he glanced at the clock again.

7:45 AM

He had about 40 more minutes, which was plenty of time. He realized he forgot to eat some breakfast.

So after rushing to the kitchen where his mom was, he saw a plate of eggs and toast waiting for him.

“Here you go, honey.” His mom said, smiling.

“Thank you mom!” He said, quickly scarfing down his breakfast. Though the taste was slightly tainted by the residue of toothpaste in his mouth. So after rushing back to the bathroom to brush his teeth again, he quickly slipped on his socks and shoes.

8:03 AM

He quickly packed his backpack with everything he would need, including H.A (Hero Analysis) notebook #14. He had to get a new one, since he could no longer write in #13 since Kacchan had burnt most of the blank pages. His mom had also scolded him about keeping #13, since she said he didn’t know what kind of dirt it could be carrying, or something like that.

8:10 AM

He had 15 more minutes. Which wasn’t that bad, since for him, U.A. was a 10 minute walk, so he would be 5 minutes early if all went according to plan.

“Bye mom!”

“Bye sweetie! Have a nice day!”

As he walked along his usual path, he heard a “Hey Deku!”

He froze. That was not one of his friends' voices. He turned around to see his old bullies from Aldera. They were grinning at him, but not in the mocking smug way, more in the ‘hey-it’s-nice-to-see-you-again’ way, which was unusual.

“Great job on getting into U.A.! That was a crazy powerful quirk in the Sports festival you had!” Wait, what?

“Yeah! It was so cool!” Why were they acting so weird?

“Hey, do you think after school we could hang?”

What was going on? At Aldera they were mocking his dream, calling him pathetic and weak. What was going on-

Oh.

That’s when he finally understood what was going on. They were being friendly to him because of his quirk. Now that he had a strong quirk, he was worth something. Now that he was in the greatest Hero School with a great quirk, they were trying to win points with him, like they did with Kacchan.

Well, he wasn’t going to let them do that. They didn’t get to bully him for 10 years and then walk on up to him and act like nothing was wrong.

“Well,” he began, “it’s going to be pretty awkward if we do that, no? I mean, you did bully me for 10 years and leave scars on me, and then did nothing when Kacchan told me to kill myself. Besides, we aren't friends.” And with that, he turned around, not bothering to look back to see their expressions, and then ran the rest of the way to U.A.

Useless weak worthless Deku pathetic childish idiot DEKU shut up deku stopcryingdekuyoucan'tbeaheroberealistic DEKU-

“Midoriya!” Iida’s voice broke him out of his spiraling thoughts. He looked up to see Iida waving at him, with Uraraka beside him, waiting for Izuku.

“C’mon Deku! Class is gonna start in 3 minutes!” 3 MINUTES?!? IZuku guessed his old bullies from Aldera had slowed him down longer than he had expected.

“O-oh! Coming!” He quickly ran inside, with the two following his lead. “Thanks for waiting for me!”

“No problem!” Uraraka replied, smiling cheerfully at him.

So, recap.

After everyone had gotten on the bus, Aizawa-Sensei had taken the class to a supposed ‘rest stop’ after about 50 minutes of riding. In reality, it was the Training Camp.

Now they had to fight these giant earth-monsters to get to the camp at the base of the mountain. 

If they didn’t get there by 12:30, they wouldn't get any lunch.

Yeah, Izuku was NOT letting that happen.

Everyone was going to be very tired after this exercise, so they had to get through this forest if they wanted time to replenish and rest.

With everyone working together, Izuku estimated they would be there by about 5:30. That wasn’t going to work.

Izuku looked around. Everyone was working together to help fight these things, but they weren’t progressing. They were staying in one area while fighting off the monsters around them. They were spread out, which wasn’t going to work.

“EVERYONE!” He shouted, loud enough to get their attention. “We aren’t progressing at all! We need to get through this forest! We should stay in a tight group and fight off the monsters while moving ahead!”

“Midoriya’s right!” Yaoyorozu said amongst the chaos. “We aren’t progressing at all, we need to move efficiently if we want to get through the woods!”

With that, everyone quickly changed their tactics. They all shoved together forming a tight group - sans Bakugou, who was being restrained by Kirishima, claiming he didn’t need any help and that they were all in the way - and moved forward. Izuku, Tokoyami, Todoroki, Iida, and Satou were at the front. Using Full Cowling at it’s limit, 8%, Izuku managed to quickly smash through the monsters with help from his friends, while Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, Ashido, Uraraka, Tsu, and Aoyama stayed at the back to fight off any monsters that would come at them from behind.

Then, finally, they saw the clearing where the Wild Wild Pussycats were. Everyone limped out of the forest, exhausted.

Izuku’s muscles ached, as he had used Full Cowling at its limit countless times. He was also sporting a broken arm, having gone over his limit accidentally once. He wanted to collapse on the floor and sleep right there.

“Wow!” Mandalay’s voice called out. “You managed to get here at 2:45! We thought it would take you a lot longer than that!”

Damnit! Izuku thought. They hadn’t managed to get here on time.

Pixie-Bob cackled. “We timed it based on how long it would take us, sorry ‘bout that!” She grinned. “You all did very well! Especially YOU!” In a split-second, she was right in front of Midoriya, in his face. “You’re the one who organized everyone, yeah?” He nodded. She seemed to be dancing on her toes at the confirmation. 

She was saying something else, but Izuku couldn’t hear her. His ears were ringing now, and the world seemed to be shaking. The adrenaline from before was wearing off. His muscles ached, and his arm hurt. He just wanted to lie down and rest and-

He blacked out.

“Is he okay?!” Uraraka said what everyone in Class 1-A was thinking as Midoriya fell backwards, falling into unconsciousness before hitting the ground.

“He’s fine!” Pixie-Bob assured, before taking a glance at the boy's broken, bloodied up arm. “For the most part, anyway. He fought most of my dirt monsters and did the most damage, so he’s just very exhausted.”

Uraraka let out a sigh of relief.

“We’ll take care of Midoriya. Recovery Girl can come over here to fix his arm. In the meanwhile, you all can go inside to eat.” Aizawa instructed.

Shigaraki looked around the bar, seeing everyone all gathered up. He smiled. He had some elite criminals in his party this time, all with unique and dangerous quirks.

As he relayed the plans to everyone involved, he absent-mindedly thought about his encounter with Midoriya at the mall 3 days ago. The hero brat had not responded in the way Shigaraki expected him to. 

However, he didn’t have time to dwell on that now.

“You have two targets.” He explained. He held up a picture of Katsuki Bakugou. “This is Bakugou Katsuki. Winner of this year's U.A. Sports Festival. He could be a great addition to our little party. Seeing such a promising student leave that idiotic hero school will deal a great blow to U.A.’s popularity and support, along with the Heroes. Try to bring him in unharmed, but don’t be afraid to use force. Don’t go overboard though.” He shot an accusing glance at Muscular, who just scoffed.

“Looks like an asshole.” Dabi stated bluntly.

“He probably is.” Shigaraki admitted.

He held up a photo of Midoriya. “This is Izuku Midoriya. Your second target. He is number one on my NO-KILL list. You are to bring him in unharmed, as with Bakugou. But believe me when I say he will be much harder to capture than Bakugou.”

“What’s so special about him?” Magne asked.

“Stain feels that that kid is a REAL hero amongst all the fakes. Why take him?” Spinner added on.

“I also believe he could make a good addition to our cause. He might not look like it, but I assure you that we could convince him.” Probably. Hopefully.

“The brightest smiles can hide the darkest hearts.” Compress agreed.

“Now, Vanguard Action Squad, head out!” He ordered, and watched as Kurogiri warped them all away to their destination.

When he woke up, Izuku’s head throbbed with pain. “Oh! Good! You’re up.” He looked over to see who the voice belonged to, and saw Mandalay standing in the doorway, holding what looked like a food tray. “You okay?”

He nodded numbly. He noticed that the pain from his arm earlier was gone, and looked over to see it perfectly healed. Likely the work of Recovery Girl, if he had to guess. But she didn’t ride the bus with them…?

“Eraserhead wanted to wake you up along with everyone else, but Recovery Girl said that you needed complete rest to make a full recovery.” She walked over to him and set the tray down next to him. “You missed dinner, and you need food to help get your energy back. Once you're finished, Eraserhead wants you to come out to join the rest of the class. I have a feeling he’ll probably be a little grumpy with you, so watch out for that.” She smiled kindly, before standing up and walking out of the room, leaving Izuku to his own devices.

Numbly, he took the try with both his hands. Stupid, stupid! Aizawa-Sensei had told him to get a better handle on his quirk, but he just had to go over his limit and inconvenience his teacher by making him give Izuku special treatment. All because Izuku was stupid and didn’t control his quirk better.

He quickly finished up his food and put on his uniform. When he exited the lodge, he came face-to-face with Aizawa-Sensei.

“Midoriya.” He said sharply.

Izuku looked down guiltily. “Yes, Sir?”

“You went over your limit again.” He accused.

Izuku tensed his shoulders. “Yes. I did.” He admitted.

“Try not to do that next time.” Was all he said, and Izuku looked up at him in shock. “Tiger is waiting for you at the training grounds along with Class B. Don’t keep him waiting any longer.”

“Yes sir!” He quickly dashed towards the direction pointed to him and found himself at the training grounds.

Kacchan was making huge explosions, Todoroki was changing between ice and fire rapidly, Sero was dispensing tape from his elbows non-stop, Uraraka was rolling around in a large plastic bubble, Iida was running around all over the place, Satou and Yaoyorozu were both eating while using their quirks, Kaminari was hooked up to a device that was presumably helping him withstand his electricity, he didn’t know where Tokoyami was, Hagakure and Shoji were both doing what looked like stealth and sense training, Kirishima and Ojiro were both sparring, presumably to enhance their quirks, Aoyama was using Navel Laser over and over again, Koda was doing vocal training, Tsu was doing what looked like training her muscles, Jirou was honing her earphone jacks, and Ashido was repeatedly using acid.

All-in-all, it looked like hell.

“YOU!” A loud male voice shouted. Izuku turned around, and saw Tiger of the WWP looking at him fiercely. “YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE OVER HERE! COME ON! I’VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU!”

Oh boy.

Izuku’s muscles were sore. Again. He had spent all day working on One for All, with Tiger pushing him over his limits. On the bright side, though, he could now use One for All at 9%! That was an improvement.

He sighed. They would be making their own food for the rest of the trip. They were instructed to make curry by Ragdoll. 

“Just because you’re exhausted doesn’t mean you get to make sloppy kitten food!” She mocked, laughing so hard tears fell from her eyes.

Everyone got to work lighting a fire to make their food. Todoroki actually came over to help Izuku when he couldn’t light his own fire.

“Oh! Thank you Todoroki.” He said, smiling.

If he looked closely, he could see the barest of smiles on Todoroki’s face too.

“Jeez, Momo.” Ashido said as they all watched Yaoyorozu scarf down her food. “You’re demolishing that food!”

Yaoyorozu looked slightly embarrassed. “Yes… My quirk transforms lipids into brand new atoms, so the more I eat, the more I can create.”

Midoriya perked up at that. “Oh! Do you think Todoroki’s ice works similar to that?”

Everyone looked at him with confusion.

Embarrassed, he elaborated “w-well, if Yaoyorozu needs to eat for her quirk, would Todoroki need to drink more water? Since water turns into ice.”

Todoroki hummed thoughtfully. “I never thought about that, but now that you mention it, I do end up being more thirsty when using copious amounts of ice.”

Todoroki and Yaoyorozu both eventually fell into the discussion of how to manage their bodies to better suit their quirks, and Midoriya preened a little when Yaoyorozu complimented him on his smart thinking.

Everyone was lined up for the test of courage, now. It was nighttime, the perfect time to do something like this. Class B were the scarers right now, while Class A were walking through the forest, trying not to get scared.

Pixie-Bob handed out everyone’s team numbers. He got number 9. With 20 students in class with 5 people in remedial classes left 15 students. And odd number, so someone was alone.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...

Ah.

He was alone.

Of course.

Something twisted in his gut. Something unpleasant. They were randomly assigned, so it's not like no one chose him. So why did he feel like he was back in middle school? Back where everyone picked on him, mocked him, pitied him, drove any nice people away from him with threats and gossip.

He unconsciously started to rub his shoulder, where Kacchan had burned him the same day he told him to jump off a roof. 

He had so many scars that they overlapped with each other. Starburst shaped, burnt scars.

He snapped out of his trance when he smelled smoke. He sniffed again, smelling the scent of burning trees. He squinted, and in the distance, he saw blue fire. His eyes widened.

We’re under attack, villains are here.

He whipped around to tell Mandalay, but he saw nothing but trees and bushes. In his musing, he had wandered off.

In his increasing panic, he didn’t see the pair of electric blue eyes trained on him.

Dabi looked at the green-haired kid before him. He took out a communicator given to him by Shigaraki and contacted Compress.

“Found the kid.” He rasped.

“That was quick.” Compress mused. “Which one?”

“Green hair. Midoriya.”

“Alright. I’m on my way. If he doesn’t already know, don’t alert him of your presence.”

“Got it.” He responded, and kept his eyes trained on the teen.

Everything was blue. 

Then it wasn’t.

As if he blinked into existence, Izuku found himself bound to a chair. He was in the forest a minute ago, what happened?

He looked around and saw Kacchan next to him, also tied up. He began to piece together very quickly what was wrong here.

“Hello, Izuku Midoriya and Bakugou Katsuki.” Shigaraki said, catching their attention. “How nice to see you two again.”

Chapter Text

Internally, Midoriya was panicking and screaming. Externally, he was as cool as a cucumber. Oddly enough, so was Bakugou. Ever since he was brought in along with Izuku, he had been eerily silent.

The League, who only knew Bakugou through the Sports Festival and likely a brief encounter since he was also captured, saw this as a pleasant surprise.

Izuku, who had known Bakugou his whole life, used 10 years of Kacchan study to know that this only meant a storm was coming, and it would be a lot more unpleasant than Bakugou normally was.

But that wasn’t the matter at hand right now. Shigaraki was showing them an interview with Aizawa-Sensei, Vlad King, and Principal Nedzu. Needless to say, the interviewer was not at all on their side, frequently trying to provoke the teachers. Izuku had an idea why Shigaraki was showing them this.

He was also mildly uncomfortable by Dabi’s intense staring at the both of them. Didn’t help that the League’s eyes were all on them.

Shigaraki turned the Tv off. “Isn’t that strange?” He asked. “The heroes are becoming the bad guys! Seems like they’re not dealing with this very well at all, hm?”

Izuku’s eyes scanned the room, seeing about 8 villains, including Shigaraki, in the room. He could use full cowling to get away, but the likelihoods of him escaping were very low. Plus, he also needed to get Kacchan out of here. That was his main goal. The league had a warper with them, so any escape they could have would probably be brief, if they could even escape at all.

“But,” Shigaraki continued, “everyone makes a mistake or two, right? It’s not like they’re supposed to be perfect. Modern-Day Heroes have it rough.” He turned to them. “Don’t you think, Bakugou and Midoriya?”

Bakugou was still oddly silent, which meant Midoriya should probably prepare himself for the inevitable huge temper tantrum.

“Once a Hero receives payment for protecting people, they aren’t real Heroes anymore. That’s what Stain’s actions taught us.” Spinner interjected.

“A Hero in this current system only cares about money and glory. And since society buys in to those idiotic rules, those who are deemed a loser are shoved aside.” Shigaraki ignored Spinner. “We want to ask some questions. What is a Hero? What is justice? Is this society truly fair? Soon, those are questions everyone will be asking. That’s when we know we’ve won.” Shigaraki tilted his head and made eye contact with Bakugou. “And you like winning, don’t you?”

He’s got you there. A more bitter part of Midoriya mind whispered toward Bakugou, before Izuku promptly shut it up. 

Bakugou growled, which meant the temper tantrum was coming. Izuku should probably find a way to hold him back, because he guaranteed that Bakugou would take his anger out on these villains. They probably, maybe, deserved it. Izuku couldn’t say. But he knew that Bakugou was going to slaughter these villains once he had the chance.

“Dabi.” Shigaraki instructed. “Let them go.”

Aaaaand you just let the beast out of the pen. Izuku genuinely considered just letting Bakugou attack the villains. Seriously, Shigaraki knew Bakugou had the instincts of a rabid animal, and he chose to let him go?

“You know they’re just gonna fight, right?” Dabi raised an eyebrow.

“It’s fine.” Shigaraki insisted. “We’re recruiting them, so we should treat them as equals. Besides, they’re smart enough to know they can’t take us all, right?”

I do, but Kacchan won’t.

“After all, U.A. Students are so clever.” Shigaraki mocked.

Dabi was silent for a moment, staring at them. “I’ll get the green-haired kid. Twice, you get Bakugou.”

“Sure thing! No way!” The man presumably named Twice responded.

“Do it.” Dabi snapped.

“Oh, man.” Twice whined

“I do apologize for such forceful methods.” A man who bore resemblance to a magician said, catching Izuku’s attention. “But please understand we aren’t some kind of unruly mob committing crimes without so much as a third act in mind. We didn’t kidnap you both by accident.”

As Twice was undoing Bakugou's restraints, Bakugou was eerily calm. A more monotone expression was on his face. A bad sign.

Izuku focused on the other villains while Dabi was undoing his own restraints.

“Even though all of our backgrounds are different, everyone here has suffered. Because of people. Rules. I’m sure you both are at least similar to us.” Shigaraki stood up and walked towards them.

The first thing Bakugou did when freed was attempt to punch Twice in the face. And the first thing Midoriya did was restrain him.

“ DEKU! ” Kacchan screamed, thrashing wildly. “LET ME GO YOU USELESS BASTARD!”

Izuku flinched at the sheer rage Kacchan was eluding, and at the usual use of his infamous nickname.

“Kacchan, DON’T.” He warned. “We are outnumbered, surrounded by villains, and they have a warper who can transport us back at a moment's notice!”

“I advise you to listen to your green-haired friend.” The magician said, stepping forward. “He seems to be the more reasonable of you two.”

“SHUT UP! I’LL KILL YOU-”

“Jeez, he’s like an angry Pomeranian.” A blonde girl with messy buns commented, giggling.

“THE FUCK DID YOU SAY?”

Bakugou managed to escape Izuku’s hold by giving him an explosion to the face, knocking Izuku off his balance.

There might have been more commotion, but he couldn’t hear or see it. His vision was black, his head hurt, and his ears were ringing. Very rarely did Bakugou ever aim for Izuku’s face. He used to when they were little, back when Bakugou only cared about getting Izuku to shut up, as it was always a one-hit K.O. for Izuku. But as Bakugou got older, he seemed to have a need to make Izuku suffer, and being taken out quickly wasn’t exactly enjoyable enough for Bakugou. Hence the scars.

Izuku’s hands were over his ears and his eyes were squinted shut, desperate to get the ringing to stop. He suddenly felt a cool, large hand ease him up and sitting up, rubbing his back comfortingly. For a moment, Izuku forgot he was in the League of Villain’s base, and thought he was 4 years old again, with his mother comforting him after being told he was quirkless.

When the black spots cleared from his vision, he saw who had helped him. It was a man - or teen? Izuku couldn’t tell - with green scales, so likely he had a mutant quirk. He was looking over Izuku with a concerned look, and shot Izuku a comforting smile when he saw Izuku looking at him, which Izuku returned after a moment of hesitation.

The ringing was still there, unfortunately.

Izuku saw the carnage Bakugou had created. He managed to get a punch in with twice, and had apparently knocked Shigaraki’s severed hand off his face. Izuku didn’t know exactly how important the hand was to Shigaraki, but based on his reaction at the U.S.J., it was very important to him.

And he didn’t like it when people knocked it off.

Izuku had even felt a small swell of anger when he saw what Bakugou had done. He wasn’t sure why.

When the ringing stopped, the first thing he heard was Kacchan’s voice.

“-IF YOU WANT SYMPATHY, LOOK TO DEKU, HE’S PATHETIC ENOUGH TO BUY YOUR BULL.” Kacchan screamed at Shigaraki, who was currently holding his own hand in front of his face in place of the severed one.

“My, my, that’s not a way to talk about your ally. Although, I guess you wouldn’t know much about that, since you attacked him and reduced him to a mess on the floor.” A woman with shoulder-length, red hair stated.

“THAT DEKU ISN’T MY ALLY! HE’S WEAK, HE’S PATHETIC!”

Even with his hand over his face, Izuku could tell Shigaraki had had enough of Bakugou and his screaming.

Shigaraki sighed. “Compress.”

“On it!”

The magician - or Compress - grabbed Bakugou with a gloved hand, and before Bakugou could flip his shit again, he was reduced to nothing more than a blue marble.

Izuku remembered how everything went blue for a second before popping back into existence, and guessed it was the man's quirk. He hands twitched for a notebook. 

“There we go!” Compress picked up the small, blue marble from the floor. “I trust you’ll be more reasonable.” He said to Izuku.

Izuku’s eyes flickered around the room in uncertainty. He only knew two people here. Shigaraki and Kurogiri. He wanted to at least call everyone by their names.

“Who… Who are all of you?” He gestured to the 6 new villains.

Shigaraki blinked slowly as he put the hand back on his face. “Oh, right. You weren’t exactly introduced to the League, were you?” 

The girl with the messy buns who was laying across the countertop grinned. “I’m Toga!” She exclaimed.

The woman with the red hair raised her hand in a greeting. “I’m Magne.”

The person next to him helped him back on his feet. “I’m Spinner, here to make Stain’s dreams a reality!” Izuku guessed that from the outfit.

“I’m Twice! No I'm not!” Izuku was saved from the confusion by the fact the other villain had called him Twice earlier. 

Compress bowed slightly. “Mr Compress, at your service!”

“Dabi.”

Izuku nodded. “Right. And you kidnapped us because…”

“We feel you two will make a fine addition to our cause. We believe you two could understand our discrimination.” Shigaraki stated, and Izuku held back a snort. If there was anyone who wouldn’t understand discrimination, it was Kacchan.

“Of course, we don’t expect you to join us right away. I mean, you’d have pretty weak wills if you do.” Shigaraki snorted. “But we feel you two will make good additions to my party.”

Izuku nodded slowly. “Okay..” He said, hesitantly. “Alright..”

After that, not much happened. Kacchan had lost standing privileges, being restrained the rest of the time to the chair. Honestly, that was inevitable. Izuku could walk around unrestrained, but he wasn’t allowed to leave the room, and always had to have supervision. But that was expected.

For the first 3 hours, he was supervised by Toga.

“Sooooo Izuku...” Toga began, drawing Izuku’s attention. Bakugou was screaming his head off, but Izuku had become a master at ignoring it. Toga just didn’t seem to care.

“Hm?” Izuku asked.

“Do you have a crush on anyone?” She asked cheekily, grinning madly, a large blush on her face.

He blushed madly and stuttered. “Wh-what?! No!”

“Really~?” She didn’t seem to believe him.

“Y-yeah! I swear!”

“Hm….” She looked skeptical. “Okay!” Her mood changed in an instant, the bright smile still on her face. 

An uncomfortable silence descended upon the two, sans Bakugou’s screaming. 

Tired of the silence, Izuku said, “u-um, do you have any hobbies?” He asked the villain.

She grinned. “I love hobbies!” Before tilting her head. “Hm… I love to become the people I like! I also like to talk about the people I’ve met, the people I’ve been… Buuut there’s no one to talk about it here! Dabi is a grump, Twice is really nice, but he’s just so weird! Spinner likes to talk about Stain, but not in the way I want to.” She complained.

“Oh.” He said. “That has to be lonely.” He paused. “Do you have any friends, at least?” He realized how impolite that sounded, so he froze and murmured out a quick ‘sorry!’

Toga giggled. “It’s fine Izuku! Everyone in the league is my friend, even if Kurogiri’s kind of too old… Mustard was my age, but he’s gone.” She began to pout.

“U-um....” Jeez, was he really about to do this? Sometimes he was too sympathetic for his own good. Not that he knew that. “We can be friends.” He offered.

Toga’s eyes lit up. “REALLY?” She squealed.

“Y-yeah! If you want! Um.. Wait. Question. Is Toga your first name or your last name?” He asked.

Toga giggled. “Nope! My first name is Himiko!”

“O-okay! Is it okay if I call you Himiko?”

Toga froze and regarded him with a wide-eyed stare. He began to sputter out an apology, realizing how rude that was. She quickly silenced him by grabbing his hand and taking them in her own.

“We're going to be friends.” She said firmly. “The. Bestest. Friends.”

He blushed at the contact.

“OI, NERD, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING? HELP ME OUT OF HERE YOU BASTARD!” Kacchan screamed.

They both ignored him.

After Himiko, it was Dabi’s shift. He didn’t talk much, and mostly stared at him and Bakugou the whole time. He only spoke when trying to shut Bakugou up.

After him, Mr. Compress had entered the room, and mostly stuck with watching Izuku while fiddling with his marbles that contained god-knows-what. Though, for the last few minutes of his shift, Izuku had heard him mention he was a showman, and asked him to do some magic tricks, and Compress always guessed his card. It was nice. 

Next was Spinner.

He mostly asked about Stain and what he was like. Izuku responded that he was serious, and seemed to be very dedicated to his goal. He was driven by conviction, and was passionate about what he did. He also eluded a menacing aura that made heroes like Endeavour stop in his tracks.

After that was Twice. Nothing special happened, Izuku mostly just tried to engage in conversation with him, and he almost always contradicted himself. One side of him seemed more sweet and empathetic, while the other side of him was cold and rude.

Last was Magne. Izuku actually had a fun time talking to her and listened intently to her ‘gender is a social construct’ and pretty much agreed with all her points. She liked him a lot after that. She ruffled his hair and even said his hair looked like a bush. He’d blushed a lot at that.

Izuku guessed it was likely the end of the day. Maybe. It felt like a while. He had no idea how long he was in that marble. In any case, everyone in the League was back in the bar, including Shigaraki and Kurogiri.

Kacchan was asleep. Believe it or not, but he actually got tired of screaming around Twice’s shift. His throat would probably hurt a lot tomorrow.

Shigaraki seemed to not treasure the silence, because he walked over to Bakugou’s chair and slammed his fist down on the arm of the chair. 

“Wake up.” He snapped.

Bakugo was awake and screaming in seconds.

“Way to go crusty.” Dabi rolled his eyes.

“He just fell asleep 3 hours ago!” Twice whined, not contradicting himself for once.

“I don’t care.” Shigaraki snapped and turned to Bakugou. “Shut up.”

“So... “ Shigaraki began, “how do you feel about joining us now?”

“FUCK YOU!” Kacchan snarled. “I’LL NEVER JOIN YOUR DAMN CIRCUS, YOU PIECE OF SHIT-” he was cut off by being compressed by Mr. Compress.

“So loud.” Mr. Compress scolded. 

Izuku blinked. He then looked at Shigaraki, genuinely curious. “Why did you decide he was a good fit for recruitment?”

Dabi snorted. “I’ve been saying that since the blond brat got here.”

“Shut up.” Shigaraki deadpanned at him, then turned toward Izuku. “We believe he will be a great addition to our party. Like him, we’ve been oppressed. We believe he would understand our discrimination-” he was cut off by loud laughter. Which was coming from Izuku.

Izuku couldn’t stop the laughter at the sheer irony in that statement. He fell on his knees and clutched his abdomen, tears falling from his eyes. He was laughing so hard.

The league was becoming kinda concerned.

When Izuku’s laughter finally died down, Shigaraki snapped, “what’s so funny?”

Wiping a tear from his eye, Izuku responded. “Nothing… it’s just, Kacchan would be the least likely out of anyone to understand you. He has not been oppressed or repressed for his entire life. In fact, it’s really the opposite. I would know, I’ve been with him since we were children.”

Shigaraki raised an eyebrow. “Oh? And what was his life like then?”

Izuku shrugged. “Picking on the weak, being praised by everyone for winning the quirk lottery, having the ego the size of the moon, normal Kacchan stuff.”

The league looked more interested now. Some even tensed. 

“Oh?” Shigaraki seemed interested. “And tell us, how do you know this?”

Izuku chewed the inside of his cheek. Should he tell them? It was all in the past now, after all. It was back in middle school. Besides, these were villains . They could air Kacchan’s dirty laundry all over the news, and ruin Kacchan’s future.

He sighed. Well, no one would believe them. Probably.

So he told them.

Told them about his life when he was quirkless. 

Told them how Kacchan was praised and admired by everyone.

Told them about the scars, the teasing, the bullying, the baiting .

Told them about how he still flinched at the name ‘Deku’ and when he was touched.

Told them about how he finally got his quirk after 10 years, needing special qualifications to activate it, being a late bloomer.

He finished off with finally getting into U.A., but that didn’t stop Kacchan from going after him, harassing him.

He was looking at his lap this entire time, not daring to see the possible expressions they were wearing. They probably wouldn’t believe him. After all, Kacchan had an amazing quirk, he was going to be a great hero one day. You shouldn’t go around making excuses Izuku, don’t try to ruin Katsuki’s future.

He finally willed himself to look up and saw expressions he didn’t expect. Everyone was tense. Himiko had a dark look on her face, Spinner’s face was cold and angry, Magne was frowning while gripping her magnet harshly, Twice looked shaken, Compress had stopped fiddling with his marbles and was eerily still, Dabi still had his neutral expression, but Izuku could feel the heat coming off of the fire villain.

And Shigaraki…

Izuku could see rage burning in his eyes behind the severed hand.

It was Twice who broke the tense silence. “H-hey uh boss???” He started. “I don’t think.. Uh.. I don’t think I want him on our side anymore.”

The rest of the league could agree with that sentiment. Bakugou was essentially a combination of all the things they hated in the world.

Bakugou who reminded Dabi so much of Endeavor

Bakugou who reminded Toga of her parents, the repression, the fake friends…

Bakugou who reminded Mr. Compress of all the injustice he had sought to destroy.

Bakugou who reminded Magne of all of the discrimination, the misgendering.

Bakugou who reminded Spinner of all of the bullying, the bigotry, the harassment.

Bakugou who reminded Twice of his old boss, the one who had screamed at him, called him ‘bad luck’, and left him in poverty.

Bakugou who, although he didn’t know, reminded Shigaraki of Kotarou Shimura.

Toga leaped at Izuku and secured him in a tight hug. Spinner walked over to the two and placed a comforting hand on his head.

Twice and Compress walked over to the 3 and offered Izuku some comforting words. Izuku was crying violently.

Dabi, Magne, and Shigaraki were all planning a murder.

It was weird for Izuku to be comforted. Especially by villains. But he wasn’t thinking about that right now.

All he thought about was after years and years of being scolded and shut down by teachers - U.A. and Aldera - was that someone had taken his side. Someone had taken his side.

It wasn’t a perfect moment, and it wouldn’t last, but that didn’t matter.

Because all was right with the world now.

Chapter Text

“So, Deku, care to explain yourself?”

Izuku looked up from where he was staring down at his lap. This time, the both of them were left with no supervision. However, Izuku was bound to the chair this time. But instead of being held down by multiple cuffs and straps, he had a single strap across his chest, like a seatbelt, and two iron cuffs bounding him to the chair. His arms weren’t cuffed, and he could easily get out of this.

This meant the league trusted him more. This was good. It would be easier to break out.

A small ball of dejection pooled in the bottom of his gut, but he ignored it. It didn’t matter that he had literally just spilled his and Kacchan’s dirty laundry to a group of villains who could easily use it to destroy Kacchan’s future. What was he thinking?! He was too emotional sometimes.

He realized he was thinking too much and looked up to see the unfriendly face of Kacchan.

“Hm? What do you mean Kacchan?” He asked softly.

“Don’t pull that ‘Kacchan’ crap on me, you bastard.” He snapped, smirking when Izuku flinched. “I wanna know why you’re sucking up to the villains.”

Izuku felt a spark of defensiveness. “I’m not ‘sucking up’ to them!” He snapped.

Kacchan didn’t expect him to snap back, based on the brief look of shock that had passed across his face. Before it was replaced with a scowl.

“Yes you are! You fucking offered to be that vampire bitch’s FRIEND! She’s a VILLAIN! Not to mention the fact you’ve been NICE to them. They. Are. VILLAINS!” He shouted.

“They’re still people, Kacchan!” Izuku yelled back.

“So?! They’re evil, and need to rot in Hell!” He growled.

“No. They. Don’t!” Izuku snapped. “They’re people who are hurting because the people in their life failed them!”

“Why should I care?” Bakugou seemed genuinely confused, not that he showed it on his face. “It’s not my problem! I became a hero to beat the shit out of villains! Not to act as some psycho’s therapist!”

Izuku let out a small growl, which actually caught Bakugou off guard. Izuku never got angry. Not really. Sure, he had seemed angry at the sports festival when fighting Todoroki, but that was more annoyance than anything, and came from a place of classic Deku wanting to help people.

So, no, Izuku never got angry, was the general thought people had when meeting him. Heck, people who had known him since he was child (not like the list was that long) thought he was nothing more than a bundle of sunshine.

They’re not technically wrong. But, it is foolish to assume one is incapable of an emotion. Because, generally happy or not, they are humans, capable of murder if they so desired.

This, however, is not something most people think about.

“How can you say something like that? Oh right, you’re heartless!” Izuku snapped.

“What did you just fucking say to me?” Bakugo snarled.

Izuku had a frown on his face. “You heard me.” He said. Izuku had a short fuse at the moment. Between the kidnapping, essentially reliving his childhood in front of strangers, and the breakdown that followed, that was to be expected. “You don’t care about anyone but yourself. Maybe, MAYBE, you SOMEWHAT care for our classmates. But that’s a big maybe. You can’t even remember their names! You call them degrading insults instead! You bullied me for something I couldn’t control, you left scars on me! YOU TOLD ME TO JUMP OFF A ROOF!” He screamed. “ALL BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMN SUPERIORITY COMPLEX!”

Izuku almost never swore. He never yelled like this. He never got angry. He never yelled at Katsuki. It was like he was releasing all of his anger he had built up over the years.

However, he had just touched a sore spot of Bakugou’s.

And that was his mistake.

“SHUT UP!! ” Bakugou screamed. “SHUT THE FUCK UP! YOU USELESS DEKU! YOU DON’T KNOW ANYTHING! YOU ARE A COWARD AND A TRAITOR!” His anger and nitroglycerin sweat were becoming too much for his restraints.

The restraints broke.

And he lunged for Izuku.

Shigaraki Tomura was currently in his room, playing on his Switch. It was an old game console, sure. But Sensei once owned it, and it was fun to play on, so Tomura often found himself playing with it when he had the time.

He had left Izuku and Bakugou alone as a test. To see if they would try and escape or not. While he did think Izuku wouldn’t leave after Izuku had pretty much spilled his entire backstory for the league to see, Shigaraki still didn’t trust Bakugou as far as he could throw him.

At first, Shigaraki thought of the blond-haired brat as nothing more than that, a brat. But one they could draw to their cause. One they could use.

All of those feelings had vanished when Izuku had spilled his and Bakugou’s pasts.

The brat was nothing more than an egotistical bully. A prime example of what was wrong in today’s society. Why someone like him had managed to get into the top school, Shigaraki had no idea.

Actually, no, he knew exactly why. Because, just like every other hero school, U.A. Was corrupt. They didn’t care about their students and only their potential and quirks. They didn’t care about their personalities or wants, all they cared about was making more child soldiers for their corrupt Hero Society. 

The only reason the league hadn’t murdered the blond-haired bastard on the spot was because it would make them look worse. U.A. Would spin it like they had killed the brat for no reason, refusing to ignore the corruption in their society and school. They would pin it all on the villains.

When Izuku had spilled the beans about his past, Shigaraki felt overwhelming rage and a swell of protectiveness. He didn’t know why or how, but Bakugou reminded him of someone. Someone who made him itch. Which meant that Shigaraki hated them and wanted to destroy them, like most things.

Funnily enough, after his conversation with Izuku at the mall, he had been less prone to destroying things in a fit. Whenever he reached to destroy something in a fit of anger, Izuku’s words kept coming back to him.

What do YOU want, Shigaraki?

No one had ever said that to him before. At least, not in that way. When Tomura heard those words, it was normally from Kurogiri. A resigned sigh, and then that question. Normally it was a new video game.

When he had first met the brat, he had a constant itch, an urge to destroy him, and soothe the itch. However, once he had that fateful encounter with Izuku at the mall, the itch stopped. In fact, once Shigaraki thought of Izuku, anything that was making him itch had stopped.

Tomura didn’t know what that meant.

He suddenly heard loud banging and shouting from the room Bakugou and Izuku were in. He sighed, disappointed. He convinced himself he was disappointed because he had spent so much time and resources to find and kidnap the two, and how rude they were by breaking out, and NOT that he was disappointed that Izuku wanted to leave him them.

He opened the door, expecting to see the two breaking their way out, and was instead faced with the unpleasant sight of Bakugou beating a trembling midoriya with his bare fists - how did he get out of his restraints? -  and popping the occasional explosion on his victim, smirking victoriously at the flinching the other did when he let loose an explosion.

Everything went red. Shigaraki snarled and flung himself at Bakugou, moving too fast for the boy to even notice him, not like the boy had even seen him enter the room anyway. He grabbed Bakugou and flung him into the wall - he was wearing gloves that covered one pinkie finger - and checked on the state of Izuku. It wasn’t pretty.

The boy’s shirt had a multitude of rips and burn marks, but his back was the worst part. It was covered in fist marks and 1st degree burns. And on his right eye was a gigantic burn mark, covering up almost the whole right side of his face. It wasn’t serious - thank god - but it still looked bad.

Shigaraki hadn’t even noticed when his other teammates had entered the room. Mr. Compress had already stored away Bakugou, thankfully. Spinner and Magne ran over to the green-haired boy, helping him up. His eyes were screwed shut tightly, like he was expecting more blows.

Magne had taken the boy in her arms and rushed him to one of the small couches they had in the lounge. 

“Put cold water on his burns!” He heard Spinner shout. He zoned out from there, everything was nothing more than background static.

He was angry. Angry at that damn blond brat. Angry at the League members for not noticing sooner. Angry at HIMSELF for not noticing sooner.

He just sat there, head in his hands and zoned out, completely oblivious to the world around him as he continued to self deprecate.

He was like that for a while. Hours, maybe.

He was snapped out of his trance by Toga, of all things. She was shaking his back and forth rigorously, shouting “TOMURA! TOMURA! TOMURA!-”

“WHAT?!” He snapped. “I’m back to earth, congratulations, now go away.”

She pouted. “Don’t be like that! I know Zu’s hurt and all,” her face darkened momentarily at that “but that gives you no right to be such a meanie!”

He let out a low growl. “What. Do. You. Want?”

“I wanted to know if you had a crush.” She responded, back in her peppy mood.

He was caught off guard by that. “W-WHAT???” 

“Your scent indicated that you had a crush.” A thoughtful look crossed over her face. “‘Zuku had the same scent…” She seemed to put pieces of a puzzle together by the way her face lit up. She grinned and giggled madly.

He squinted at her.“What are you so happy about?” He asked suspiciously.

She grinned. “You and ‘Zuku have a crush on each other.” She responded.

And instead of snapping, screaming, or vehemently denying it, his mind came to a halt.

Oh.

Oh.

He had a crush. That’s why he suddenly stopped itching whenever he thought about Izuku. That’s why he decided to kidnap him along with Bakugou. That’s why he was so angry when he found out all the suffering Izuku had been through. How easy for him to catch a crush if he had fallen in love with someone he had hated not even a week ago? It was pathetic.

Toga giggled and clapped happily when she saw Tomura bluescreen. 

“It’s true!” She exclaimed. “Ooooh! You two would be soooo cute together! You should talk to him! Tell him how you feel! Or, you could ask me to pretty him up, I’d be happy to!” As if to demonstrate, she pulled out a sharp knife.

He finally snapped out of his internal panic. “No.” He snapped. “Don’t.”

She put the knife away, still grinning. “Okay, I won’t….” Her smile turned devious. “If you confess to Izu! I KNOW he has a crush on you! The scent is so similar!”

He growled. “Go away.”

This time, she actually left, cackling, as she left.

He put his face in his hands. What the hell was he going to do? What the hell was he going to tell Sensei ?

When Tomura walked into the room where Izuku was currently being tended to, - with father resting on his face again -  he found Dabi looming over Izuku. He felt a spark of jealousy.

He let out a growl to let the man know he was here, and that he was unhappy.

Dabi looked up, unimpressed. “Calm down, crusty. Mag just told me to look after him as they went to get some more first-aid supplies.” He shrugged. “Spinner is surprisingly good with medical tools.”

Tomura narrowed his eyes. “Leave.” He snapped.

Dabi held his hands up. “Fine. You gotta watch over him though, or else Mag will have my head. And yours.” And with that, he exited the room.

Shigaraki shot him one last glare as he left, staring at the door for a couple more minutes until finally turning his attention to Izuku.

He looked a lot more stable than he was when they first found him. Before he was a shriveling mess, now he was sleeping peacefully. His shirt was off, with his torso covered by bandages instead.

Now that Tomura knew exactly what his feelings were on this matter, it was a lot more difficult to look or be in the same room as Izuku without panicking. But it also made Tomura want to be with him at all times.

Why did feelings have to be so damn complicated?

There was groaning beside him, and he looked over to see Izuku shifting. Wearily, he blinked his eyes open, hissing in pain at the sudden light in his eyes.

“Shi...Gar...Aki?” He managed to get out.

“You’re awake.” Shigaraki was more so saying it for himself than Izuku, as if to convince himself Izuku was okay.

“Ngh.. What happened?” Izuku asked.

“That damn Bakugou brat attacked you. You passed out, I think.” Shigaraki growled at the mere mention or thought of that kid. That brat filled him with more rage than he ever thought possible. He reached up and began to scratch at his neck, not even wincing when days-old scabs began to open and bleed, even though his nerves were screaming at him to stop.

A hand grabbed his wrist and yanked it away from his neck, and Shigaraki almost dusted it on the spot, before seeing it belonged to Izuku.

“Stop that.” It was quiet, but no less firm. Slowly, Shigaraki lowered his other hand from his neck and Izuku let go of his wrist.

A comfortable silence descended upon the two. Izuku was staring up at the ceiling blankly, while Shigaraki, who was bored out of his mind, was mostly content with staying there. 

He briefly wondered why Spinner and Magne were taking so long to get back with supplies, then remembered that they were almost out of Medical Supplies due to his scratching habit and his gunshot wound from the U.S.J, along with his knife wound from Stain. Shigaraki assumed they had used the last of it on Izuku. They also probably had to obscure themselves even more, now that they were wanted criminals. Even if the heroes and police didn’t know who Spinner was yet, they could still recognize him due to his unique mutation and iconic purple hair. They would probably be willing to risk arresting an innocent citizen, since they would definitely get away with it. 

“Did you think about what I said at the mall? About what you wanted?” Izuku asked suddenly.

And god, how could he NOT think about it? That had been replaying in his head for days on end. Even when playing his video games, that would still be lingering in the very back of his mind. It annoyed him, but not as much as he thought it would have. Probably because of his ‘crush’.

“Yes.” Is all he said.

“Do you know now?” He asked.

No. “No.” He thought about it constantly, sometimes even looked for an answer, but he never got one. All his life he had destroyed because he wanted, because he could. So to think about an actual reason… It was frustrating.

“Oh.” He said, and the room fell quiet again. When Shigaraki heard soft snores, he looked back at Izuku, and saw that he was asleep.

Spinner and Magne had just then burst into the room, carrying a brand new first aid kit with them. They both looked confused when they saw Shigaraki instead of Dabi watching Izuku.

“Where is Dabi?” Magne asked.

Shigaraki shrugged. “How should I know?” 

As he saw them sigh and Magne mutter a ‘I swear if Dabi left him by himself before you came here-’ he stood up and walked out of the room, letting them continue to care for Izuku.

Eventually, Izuku was allowed to get up and walk around soon enough. But Spinner had said he wasn’t allowed to lay down on his back, have any sort of bad posture so he didn’t stretch his wounds, and had to be under constant supervision. The last part wasn’t new, though.

Izuku was sitting on one of the stools at the bar, listening to Mr. Compress tell them both some old folktale stories. Mr. Compress was very long-winded, and could talk for hours on end if you let him. Izuku was listening intently, wearing a new shirt since his old one was completely burnt on the backside.

It was definitely one that Kurogiri had gotten from a store, totally a spare. Totally. Shigaraki definitely didn’t lend Izuku one of his shirts and was currently blushing slightly behind father as he saw Izuku wear it, definitely not. Dabi I see that smirk your not being sneaky I swear to-

“Speaking of, are we going to address the elephant in the room?” Dabi cut in, interrupting Tomura’s plan to wring that bastards neck. 

“Ah, yes. We should do that, shouldn’t we?” Compress asked rhetorically. He took out a small marble and threw it in the middle of the room. Everyone backed up and took fighting stances, while Shigaraki got in front of Izuku.

Compress snapped his fingers, and Bakugou came out.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Izuku flinch.

Izuku did not want to be here right now. He didn’t want to be anywhere near Bakugou after having been given a brutal beatdown by the boy, Physically and emotionally.

Turns out, Bakugou was still as great at insults as ever.

Bakugou, as always, came out screaming. 

“MOTHERFUCKERS, WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO-”

“Shut. Up.” Shigaraki snapped.

“FUCK YOU!” Bakugou screamed. He lunged for Shigaraki. “WHERE IS DEKU? THAT TRAITOROUS BASTARD-” He was cut off by Magne using magnetism to pull him back, slamming him into the wall.

“We aren’t here to recruit you anymore.” Shigaraki stated coldly. “I was going to let you live, since that would give people the wrong idea about our cause. But now i’m starting to wonder if you actually deserve that mercy.”

“LIKE HELL YOU CAN KILL ME-”  Knock knock knock.

“Uh, hello? I got a pizza delivery here.” A male voice said.

Izuku looked around the room, and managed to see the League’s tense and wary expressions. He was wondering why they looked so apprehensive, when it clicked.

They didn’t order any Pizza.

“SMASH!” All Might burst through the wall behind Spinner, knocking him to the ground.

“What the-”

“Kurogiri!” Shigaraki shouted. “Gate!”

Kamui Woods jumped down. “Pre-emptive Binding Lacquered Chain Prison!”

Tree branches wrapped around every individual member of the league. Shigaraki was yanked out of the way, and All Might’s smile got a little bit wider when he saw Izuku. Normally, Izuku would feel ecstatic and honored, but now? Now he just felt sick.

He had done a lot of thinking in his time with the League. Every conversation, every moment he spent with them, every time he was left alone to stew in his own thoughts, he had spent a lot of time analyzing the Hero and Villain world, dissecting his own life, thinking about his experiences and mistreatment at the hands of Aldera. He thought about his quirk, One for All, and where he would be now if he never got it. He thought about All Might, his mentor and father figure, and how he had crushed Izuku’s dreams without remorse, then went ahead and offered Izuku his quirk like nothing happened. 

“Young Midoriya!” All Might’s voice cut through his thoughts. He put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and looked at Bakugou. 

“You two must’ve been scared, but you stayed strong.” His smile turned apologetic. “I’m sorry, you’re both safe now, you two.” He looked at Izuku, and his smile turned strained when he saw the burn mark left by Bakugou. The unsaid question of ‘ did they do this to you?’ was between them. Izuku opened his mouth to deny, but Bakugou interrupted him.

“WHAT? I WASN'T SCARED! NOT EVEN CLOSE!” He denied vehemently.

All Might chuckled slightly at that. Izuku noticed Pro Hero Gran Torino and Edgeshot - when did they get here? - and blinked.

Shigaraki growled, frustrated and annoyed. “After I went through all the trouble of preparing this, the final boss goes and shows up on my doorstep.” He paused for a moment. “KUROGIRI! WARP OVER AS MANY AS YOU CAN!” 

All Might’s smile turned sardonic. “The Nomu, right?”

A pause. “What are you waiting for, damnit?!” Shigaraki snapped.

Izuku could sense the dread and guilt coming from Kurogiri. “I’m sorry, Tomura Shigaraki. The Nomu’s were supposed to be in a fixed location but.. They’re gone!”

“Huh?”

“It seems you have a lot to learn, Tomura Shigaraki.” All Might put his other hand on Bakugou’s shoulder as well. “Your little league underestimated all of us. The souls of these two young men. The police’s diligent investigations. Our righteous fury!” All Might seemed to stand up even straighter, puffing his chest out. “Enough is enough. Your game has come to an end, Tomura Shigaraki.”

Izuku felt hollow. He didn’t want to leave. The league had treated him with so much more kindness than anyone had in 10 years. As he saw Shigaraki struggle to stand up while bound, he knew what would happen. The League would be captured, Bakugou would throw accusations of Izuku being a traitor, and Izuku would be lucky if all that happened was that he was thrown out of U.A. and was forced to give All Might's quirk back.

“Kurogiri!” Shigaraki shouted, before freezing when he saw Kurogiri drop unconscious. Izuku swore he had seen a tiny red ribbon pass through Kurogiri’s body.

“What just happened?! I couldn’t see anything! Did they kill him?!” Magne panicked.

Izuku recognized that red string of fabric he had briefly seen pierce through Kurogiri. It was one of Edgeshot’s special moves. Ninpo: Thousand Sheet Pierce.

“Weren’t you listening earlier?” Gran Torino said. “You’d all be better off if you take us seriously.”

He looked at Magne. “Kenji Hikiishi.”

He looked at Mr. Compress. “Atsuhiro Sako.”

He looked at Spinner. “Shuichi Iguchi.”

His eyes were now on Himiko. “Himiko Toga.”

Twice. “Jin Bubaigawara.”

Gran Torino nodded. “Though they had little time, the police worked diligently to discover your true identities. Don’t you understand? There’s nowhere left for any of you to run.” He turned to Shigaraki. “So, Shigaraki. One question. Where is your boss hiding?”

Shigaraki was quiet. For a long time. Everyone could sense his unease and nervousness, and Izuku resisted the urge to cry, feeling his eyes beginning to water. 

Then, unexpectedly, the nervousness and unease turned into unrestrained, raw, hatred.

“No.” He growled. “This is… Not over.” He shook, whether from anger or fear, Izuku couldn’t say. “Just you wait, the game is still mine …”

“You’ll tell us where he is right now!” All Might demanded.

“Go away… Disappear... “ Shigaraki said quietly, his voice shaking from unbridled rage.

“Shigaraki!” All Might warned. 

“This is your fault! I HATE YOU!”

Izuku believed that. He actually flinched from the unchecked rage and hatred in Shigaraki’s eyes and voice.

Black sludge suddenly exploded out of thin air, Nomu coming out through it.

“Damnit, Edgeshot! Stop Kurogiri!” Gran Torino instructed. 

“He’s still unconscious, this isn’t his doing!” Edgeshot responded.

Izuku felt sick as he felt the black sludge crawl up his throat and forced its way out, obscuring his vision.

“YOUNG MIDORIYA, BAKUGOU-”

Bakugou was taken too? Izuku wondered.

Izuku reappeared in a barren wasteland, coughing and hacking violently. Oh, wait, no, there were buildings. Most of them were just broken by… something. 

Something powerful. Izuku thought as he looked at the debris. He felt fear begin to creep through his veins, his muscles tensed.

“Oh, come now, none of that. Where’s the spirit that has enraptured my dear Tomura so much?” A voice behind him said.

Izuku slowly looked around, his fear obvious on his face when he saw a masked villain behind him, considering that said villain had just let out a mirth filled laugh.

“Don’t worry, child. Your secret is safe with me. It will be much more amusing later.” The Supervillain assured, softly patting the top of Izuku’s curls.

That’s when Izuku saw Bakugou appear from the sludge as well. He coughed violently. “Damn it!” He coughed again. “The hell?!”

“My apologies, Bakugou.” The Supervillain didn’t sound sorry at all.

Then the rest of the league members showed up, coming out of the black sludge much like the Nomu and Bakugou - and probably like Izuku - did. They were gagging and coughing, much like him and Bakugou.

“That was so gross!” Toga complained, retching.

Shigaraki was also there, as to be expected, and looked up at the masked man. “Sensei...” He said quietly.

This man was Shigaraki’s Sensei?! Izuku guessed it made sense. You had to have a lot of power in order for Shigaraki to even consider listening to you, and deal with his destructive quirk.

Izuku suddenly noticed Kurogiri and Dabi, both unconscious. He felt a pang of worry for both of them. Being unconscious and warped in such a… Disturbing way could not be good for them.

“So, you’ve failed again, Tomura.’ Shigaraki’s Sensei said, walking towards him. “But you must not be discouraged. You’ll try again. That’s why I brought your associates back with you.” He glanced at Izuku. “Even this child, because you decided he was an important piece for you.” He looked at Bakugou. “This one, too. You got him, fair and square, after all.”

He held his hand out to Shigaraki. “Start over as many times as it takes. I am here to provide you with help, all of this is for you.”

The Supervillain looked up suddenly. “Ah.” He said. “There you are.”

Izuku and the League looked over to where the Supervillain was looking, and saw the Symbol of Peace flying towards them all.

All Might threw a punch at the Villain, who proceeded to block it.

However, the force of the punch was almost too much for everyone, who had to hold their ground.

“I’ll have you return my student, All for One!”

THAT’S ALL FOR ONE?!?! Izuku felt panic quickly re-enter his system, and he began to shake, his eyes round as saucers. He stumbled, and started to get blown away, before a hand wrapped around his own. Bakugou’s.

Izuku flinched, and Bakugou had the decency to look slightly guilty.

“Have you come to kill me a second time, All Might? ” All for One mocked.

All for One ended up being able to deflect the punch, which threw everyone off balance, causing Bakugou to let go of Izuku’s wrist and get thrown back as well.

Izuku put his hands over his ears, the boom that came from the crash that All Might got from that punch being too much for him. 

After what seemed like hours, he finally got up again, only for another punch to throw him off balance again. This time, he hit his head, letting out a hiss of pain. He touched the back of it. Thankfully, nothing was bleeding. His burn marks on his back were screaming at him, however, and he thinks some of them were ripped open, feeling fresh blood run down his back and stain Shigaraki’s shirt.

“Don’t worry.” All for One assured as Izuku shakily stood up. Izuku’s nerves were screaming at him, and it was only after years of bullying and assault that Izuku wasn’t on the ground writhing in pain.

“Tomura, get off the battlefield. And take the children with you. Kurogiri,” All for One’s fingers turned into sharp, pointed weapons that proceeded to stab the addressed warper, who’s body shook violently before a portal opened beside him. “Warp them away.”

“Careful!” Magne warned. “One of the heroes messed with him and he’s unconscious. I’m not sure what’s going on, but if you can teleport, why don’t YOU get us out of here?!”

“My warp power is still new, Magne.” All for One explained in a condescending tone, as though he was speaking to a child. Given that he was 200 years old, though, Magne was probably a toddler in comparison to him. “There is much I need to learn about it. It’s distance is limited, and while he can teleport to specific coordinates, I only transport people to and from my location. Or, with focus, to or from someone I am very familiar with. That is all. It is easier for Kurogiri to do it.”

He turned to Shigaraki. “Leave this place, Tomura.”

“But what about you?” Shigaraki asked. And that made Izuku realize All for One was much more than a mentor to Tomura, he was a father figure. Much like how All Might was one for Izuku.

“You’re not thinking, Tomura!” All for One used another quirk to lift himself into the air as All Might flew towards him again. “There remains much room for you to grow.”

“You’re mine!” All Might shouted, throwing yet another punch.

Shigaraki was silent. Then… “Forget Bakugou.” He said, then whirled around to point towards Izuku. “He comes with us.”

All Might turned away from his fight with All for One to look at Izuku. “Young Midoriya!” He flew towards Izuku, stepping in front of him protectively, holding up his fists. Surprisingly, AfO didn’t stop him. But why? Was he planning something?

The League were all preparing to rush at All Might, some even going at him from behind, to get Izuku back. All Might was trying to get him back to U.A.

But, he realized I don’t want to go back. I want to stay with them.

Bakugou was watching them with wide eyes, looking back and forth. Seemingly trying to debate whether or not he should help All Might, or just watch the fight go down.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash. Shocked, Izuku saw Iida, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Kirishima. Todoroki created a huge ice slab, reaching up into the sky as they all ran up it. They seemed to be propelling themselves up the ice slab with Iida’s Recipro Burst.

Kirishima turned to them. “COME ON!” He held his hands out for them both to grab.

Bakugou didn’t hesitate, but Izuku did.

Ever since the League took him, they had been kinder and more understanding to him than anyone else had ever been. Even his friends at U.A. Didn’t fully understand. They saw his and Bakugou’s relationship as rivals, not a bully and a victim. They didn’t seem to understand him. They called his muttering creepy, like everyone else in his life had.

And Izuku had, more than once, had the creeping thought of how they would treat him if he was still quirkless. Maybe they would treat him like his old bullies. Maybe they would ignore his very existence. Maybe they would pity him. Maybe they would deem him too fragile and constantly coddle him. In fact,

Would he even be in U.A. In the first place if he didn’t have One for All?

Would he even be friends with them if he didn’t have One for All?

The entrance exams were deliberately tailored to people with strong, flashy quirks. More physical abilities. A quirkless kid could die in an exam like that. Hell, a kid with a quirk like Shinsou or Hagakure’s quirk could die in an exam like that.

Meeting his old bullies, and seeing how they would treat him if he had a strong quirk had resurfaced a lot of old insecurities.

Could he really look at his friends now, and say with confidence that they would care about him even if he didn’t have a quirk?

He didn’t know.

And that’s why he hesitated.

Bakugou used his explosions to propel himself to his friends?? And grabbed ahold of Kirishima’s hand, but Izuku hesitated.

And his friends went so fast that they quickly flew out of sight.

Missing their chance.

Izuku was still at the mercy of the League.

Not that he minded at all.

Izuku grabbed and tugged at All Might’s arm. “Get out of the way.” He said, voice monotone, face blank. All Might’s shocked face whipped around to face him. “Let them come to me.”

“My boy, are you crazy?!” All Might exclaimed.

Izuku stared at him blankly. “Let me go to them.” He demanded.

“No!” All Might refused. “I don’t know what plan you’re thinking up right now, but I won’t allow it!”

Ignoring him, Izuku walked out from behind the Symbol of Peace, stepping in front of him, in the eyes of the villains.

All Might grabbed his arm. “It’s too dangerous! Stop!”

Silence. The villains looked slightly confused. 

“Did you know,” Izuku began, his voice an eerie monotone, “that quirkless statistics get lower and lower every year?”

All Might looked at him, confused and panicked. “My boy, what does that have to do with anything?! Get back behind me!” He tried to pull Izuku behind him, but Izuku used Full Cowling to break his arm out of All Might’s iron grip.

“Every year, quirkless unemployment rates go up.” He said. “Most don’t even reach their adult years. The police, the people who are supposed to protect us, even discriminate against quirks.” He looked at All Might expectantly, expecting him to catch on.

Sadly, he didn’t. He just looked extremely confused.

He sighed. “So, no, All Might. I couldn't be ‘realistic’ in your sense of the word. Realistic for me meant ending up on the streets homeless, falling victim to hate crimes, or staying with my mom, jobless. I thought you would understand that better than anyone.”

All Might finally seemed to catch on, because his face paled. “My boy-”

“Don’t.” Izuku snapped. All the villains - sans Dabi and Kurogiri, one was compressed by Mr. Compress, the other unconscious - looked interested and confused now. Even All for One eluded an interested aura.

“I thought you would understand.” Izuku continued. “You were quirkless once, after all. But either times have changed and you never thought to keep an eye on the quirkless,” he narrowed his eyes, “or you just forgot all about the quirkless population in general.”

All Might sputtered. 

Izuku tilted his head. “You thought I couldn’t be a hero, like everyone else in my life had said. You didn’t know anything about my determination, my talents, or my personality. You just saw the label a quirk doctor slapped on me when I was four and never bothered to look past it. Just like everyone else in my life.”

He took a shaky breath. “You also never gave Bakugou consequences for attacking me. Sure, it was a battle trial - which was a bad idea in the first place. You should have had us getting used to our hero gear before even thinking about that. But you didn’t care that he had sent me to the infirmary. You didn’t care that he had hurt me. Just like everyone else in my life.”

He glared. “You encouraged me to push my limits, to hurt myself. You gave me praise for it, never helping me see that I was just hurting myself. I mangled my hand because you never told me how to hold back. You didn’t even teach me how to use it. You just gave me the quirk and told me to use it. Even after the entrance exam, you didn’t do anything to help me. It took going to Gran Torino to figure out how to control my power.”

“You hurt me during the final exams. You almost impaled me. You left a scar on me. Did you know that?” Judging by his mentor's sudden paleness, he didn’t. “You could’ve killed me, maimed me. You hurt me, a lot. Even when I begged you to stop. But you didn’t. Just. Like. Everyone. Else. In. My. Life.” 

“Even when you said I could be a hero, you added on ‘with my quirk.’ You didn’t change your answer to my question. I asked ‘can a quirkless person become a hero’ and you said ‘no.’ Your answer didn’t change. You still thought I couldn’t do it, so you gave me your quirk.”

“So let me ask you the question again, All Might.” Izuku looked him directly in the eyes. “Can a quirkless person be a hero?”

All Might was silent, his trademark smile gone. And that was enough of an answer for Izuku. He turned his gaze downwards. He took one step back. 2. Izuku turned around sharply and ran toward the portal, throwing himself in it and not looking back.

"YOUNG MID-"

He fell through the portal and hit the rough, steel ground harshly, allowing the tears he held back for so long to finally flow.

Yagi Toshinori was at a loss for what to do.

His student had left him.

Midoriya Izuku had left him.

The villains, though confused, looked overjoyed. Young Midoriya had willingly gone with them. Shigaraki Tomura in particular looked excited or ‘happy’ with this turn of events.

It was disgusting.

A sharp cackle echoed from behind him, to which Toshinori turned around and threw himself at the villain, aiming another punch square for his life support mask. 

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?!” He screamed, anger building as All for One cackled louder and harder.

“Nothing! I didn’t speak to him the whole time he was with Tomura.” Toshinori could almost see the villain's smug grin. “How does it feel to be the final straw that pushes Midoriya Izuku away from the side of heroes?”

“I DID NOTHING! I-” He hesitated, thinking back to Izuku’s words, and how he had crushed that boy's dream without a second thought, desperate to contain his secret, and leaving the boy on the roof, alone.

“Oh really? Did you now? You’re perfectly innocent throughout this whole transaction, despite your former students' accusations?” He laughed, much lighter this time, but no less mirth filled. He flung Toshinori on the ground.

“You know, these turn of events are perfect. All for One, One for All.” He grinned. “Tomura and Izuku. It’s lovely the two quirks are on the same side, after this pointless battle that you and your predecessors have unnecessarily dragged on throughout the span of 200 years.”

“TOSHINORI!” Another voice called out, and said man looked up to see Gran Torino. He looked around the battlefield, only to see that the league had left, and the gate had closed.

“What happened here? Where’s your successor?”

As Izuku was being held by the league members, comforted throughout his crying, he felt warmth.

He wasn’t just crying tears of sadness and pain, he was crying tears of relief.

Because he was home.

Chapter Text

“Alright, you should be good to walk around now.” Spinner put the last of the first aid supplies in the kit. This new location had multiple of them prepared, much to Izuku’s surprise.

“They shouldn’t get infected now that they’re patched up, but I still wouldn’t advise laying on anything from this place until it’s cleaned off, we don’t know what dirt and germs it could’ve collected.” Spinner advised, and Izuku nodded.

“And don’t think just because you’re injured doesn’t mean we are forgetting about what you said to All Might earlier!” Magne shouted from across the room. “It was a beautiful takedown, but we would like you to explain some things to us!”

“I’m so proud.” Compress choked a fake sob, wiping an imaginary tear where his eye would’ve been.

Izuku let out a nervous laugh. He had gotten a bit too invested with chewing All Might out; he had forgotten the League was there, and could hear everything he was saying.

“I will!” Izuku assured them. He walked out of the room quickly, walking through the spacious halls. The new base was very old and definitely abandoned, but other than dust and bugs, it was in relatively good condition. With food and water and multiple guest rooms.

It’s not like he didn’t want to be near them, the opposite really. But he had someone he was trying to find at the moment.

Shigaraki.

Izuku knew that Shigaraki had seen All for One as a father figure. And given that All for One wasn’t coming back to the base, he had either been captured or killed. And it was a given that Shigaraki wouldn’t be happy about that, so Izuku wanted to see how he was doing.

Izuku stopped when he saw Kurogiri exiting a room and waved him over.

“Is Shigaraki there?” He asked.

Kurogiri nodded. “Yes. But he is in a… Bad mood, due to the loss of Sensei. As you can imagine.” His face formed something of a grimace. “He isn’t happy, snaps at anyone who tries to get close.” He then gave Izuku what might’ve been a thoughtful look. “You may be able to calm him down.” He nodded and parted the way for Izuku, walking down the hall. Presumably to check on the other league members.

Izuku slowly cracked open the door, peeking inside. 

Shigaraki’s room looked like… A room. In spite of the relatively poor state of the base. He had several computer monitors and a keyboard on a desk, and had a bookshelf with multiple books, and some video game drives. A small twin bed was tucked into the corner. All in all, it looked like a room that would belong to Shigaraki. Like the room had been made specifically for him.

Izuku also noticed Shigaraki’s collection of hands laying on a nightstand beside the bed.

“Kurogiri, I told you to get out-” Shigaraki stopped when he saw it was, in fact, not Kurogiri that was peeking into his room.

“Um… Hi???” Izuku said awkwardly. It was still odd to see Shigaraki’s unobscured face, since Izuku was used to him wearing a hand over it most of the time.

Ruby eyes narrowed. “What are you doing here?”

“U-um..” Izuku took a deep breath. “I wanted to see how you were doing, since…” 

“Sensei is gone.” Shigaraki spat. “Yeah, I know. No need to rub it in.”

“I’m not trying to rub it in.” Izuku explained. “I just wanted to make sure you’re… Relatively okay.”

Shigaraki scoffed. “Yeah, I am.” He looked away from Izuku, turning his attention to.. Something else. Izuku couldn’t tell.

But, Izuku did notice how Shigaraki didn’t tell him to go away, so he walked in and stood beside Shigaraki, who was pressed up against a corner, his hood over his head and his hands in his pocket.

Izuku noticed the awkward silence between the two, but he felt like Shigaraki was content to let the silence continue, so he said nothing. Experimentally, he did put a hand beside Shigaraki’s, initiating some form of close contact. Shigaraki didn’t push him away, so Izuku was content.

Suddenly, Shigaraki pulled away and walked towards his nightstand, pulling the drawer open and taking out artist gloves that only covered the pinkie finger, and put them on.

So he won't decay anything. Izuku realized. But why would Shigaraki be worried about that right now?

Shigaraki walked back to his previous spot, taking Izuku’s hand in his own, not even saying anything on the matter.

Izuku felt his face heat up, but he didn’t say anything. Shigaraki seemed to enjoy the silence.

It was about a few minutes later that Shigaraki let go, before stepping in front of Izuku, almost looming in front of him.

Izuku blinked. “Um… Hi?? What is it-” He was cut off by two hands suddenly cradling his face, and then found chapped lips pressed against his own.

He froze. His brain trying to keep up with what just happened. What was happening. When he realized the situation, his face felt like it was on fire, with pink covering almost every inch of it.

He was still trying to fully process what just happened, even when Shigaraki pulled away slightly, his face still right in front of Izuku’s. Red eyes were peering into his own. 

“Sh-Shigaraki-” He began.

“Call me Tomura.” Shig- Tomura interrupted.

“O-okay Tomura.”

His eyes squinted in what seemed like joy. Izuku couldn’t tell. He felt lips pressed against his own again. This time, he could actually understand what was happening. He was less tense. His jaw untightened, and his arms wrapped themselves against the older males waist.

Neither of them rejected this close contact. If anything, they actively sought it out. Neither of them had been able to touch so thoroughly, so affectionately since they were children. Too many years of touch-starvation was catching up to the both of them, and they weren’t planning on pulling away from this close contact anytime soon.

Tomura broke away from the kiss. “You’re the first person who’s ever let me get this close.” He murmured. His hands tilted upward so his fingers could scritch at the curly hair while his palms remained on the other boy’s cheeks.

Tomura hadn’t exactly been thinking clearly when he had kissed Izuku. He just had been touched. That was all. But no one had touched him so gently before. He wanted more. He wanted to be closer, to feel closer. He wanted to touch and touch and touch. It wasn’t enough. He wanted to be closer. To feel closer.

Thankfully, the boy seemed to share his feelings, as he pressed himself against the older male, this time initiating the kiss. Tomura kissed Izuku harder, begging for more contact. He heard the boy squeak adorably, and felt the grip around his waist tighten.

Sensei wouldn’t mind, Tomura knew that. Sensei said he could have anything he wanted if he earned it. And Tomura knew he had earned this. 

At that thought, Tomura felt a wave of possessiveness go through him. He broke away from the kiss again, playfully biting at Izuku’s earlobe.

“Mine.” He growled, tightening his grip on Izuku. 

He felt a shiver go through the boy who breathed shakily. “Yours.” The boy agreed.

Tomura felt excited now. Hungrily, he began nibbling and kissing Izuku’s neck. Craving more touch.

He felt Izuku trembling, holding onto him tightly. Tomura’s hands traveled to the boy’s waist, pulling him even closer, keeping him in place.

Unable to escape. Shigaraki thought with a slight thrill. “You’re mine now, Izuku. All mine.” He growled.  “I hope you know that.”

“I do.” Izuku breathed. “I really do.” He leaned onto Tomura, using his body to support his own. 

“I love you, Tomura.”

Tomura let out a raspy laugh. “I know. I love you too, Izuku~.” He pulled away from the younger boy’s neck and kissed him on the lips again. When they pulled away from each other, they rested their foreheads against one another, soaking in the other's warmth, basking in their touch.

Suddenly, Izuku retracted his hand from Tomura’s waist and put one of his hands on Tomura’s shoulder. Leaning down to look at his neck.

Izuku was observing Tomura’s neck because it looked worse than yesterday. Tomura had probably done a lot of scratching since his Sensei Was captured, opening old scabs.

“You need to take better care of your neck.” He scolded softly, placing gentle kisses on it in contrast to Tomura’s rough biting from earlier.

Tomura let out a raspy laugh. “That sounds like something you’d say.” He said, leaning into the gentle kisses Izuku was placing on his neck. 

Suddenly, Tomura threw them both on the small twin bed. It was slightly uncomfortable trying to fit two people on the mattress, but Tomura then proceeded to grab Izuku and turn him toward him, spooning him. 

Almost instinctively, Izuku wrapped his hands around Tomura’s waist again, nuzzling his face into Tomura’s neck, and the pale-haired man rested his head atop the soft curls on the younger boy.

They both were asleep in minutes.

Kurogiri was becoming slightly worried. It had been 10 minutes since Izuku Midoriya had entered the lion's den, and he still hadn’t come back out.

Reluctantly, he dusted himself off and went to check and make sure Tomura Shigaraki hadn’t decayed their newest recruit.

He opened the door and was faced with a sight he did not expect to see.

There, on the bed, was Izuku Midoriya and Tomura Shigaraki. Cuddling.

Kurogiri blinked, before feeling a warmth fill his chest. He walked over and took out another blanket from under the bed and draped it over the two boys. His eyes were squinted happily, and he quietly left the room.

And if anyone had noticed his unusual good mood, then no one commented on it.

It wasn’t a perfect day. They had lost their funding, their homes, their secret identities. Tomura’s Sensei was gone, too.

But that didn’t matter.

Because Tomura had found someone to love. And in this moment, at this time, Kurogiri felt that somehow, everything would be alright.

End.