Chapter Text
“Deku, you won’t believe what Tenya told me in his letter yesterday!”
Izuku jolted, flinching hard when Uraraka slammed her plate down on the table with far too much force than was necessary. After the initial split- second adrenaline rush had passed, Izuku sighed heavily, turning to face her where she stood above him, grinning excitedly.
“Uraraka, this isn’t your table,” he said exasperatedly, but he didn’t try and stop her when she sat down next to him, knocking their trays together playfully.
“No one is sitting here but you! Besides, the table rule is stupid,” she said, like she did every time she sat by him. Which was nearly every day.
“You’re just saying that because Kacchan took your seat,” Izuku replied, casting a glance over to the table where the aforementioned Bakugou had made himself at home. “What, does no one tell him to move?”
Uraraka poked at her rice with a chopstick, leaning her cheek on her other fist. “None of the other Hephaestus kids complain about him not sitting with them, and Eijirou isn’t going to ask his boyfriend to leave.”
Izuku hummed, his gaze flickering to where he could see Kirishima and Bakugou holding hands under the table. “Yeah, but aren’t you Ares kids supposed to be all confrontational?”
“Well, yeah, we are, but Bakugou makes Ei happy,” Uraraka said simply. “No one is kicking him back to Hephaestus as long as he doesn’t act up.”
Izuku nodded, and didn't say that it was definitely just a matter of time until Bakugou ‘acted up’.
“Anyways! That’s not what I’m here to talk about,” Uraraka continued, gesturing with her chopstick. “I’m here to tell you about Tenya’s letter!”
Iida Tenya - Uraraka’s long term, long distance boyfriend who’d grown up in Camp Jupiter and was recently named co-Praetor. They’d met when they were young, and started dating shortly after Izuku met her. He’d only seen Iida a couple of times, but he seemed nice enough, if not a bit uptight. Uraraka was enamoured, however, so it didn’t really matter what Izuku thought.
“What did he say?” Izuku asked, bringing a bite of rice to his mouth.
A wide grin split Uraraka’s face. “He’s coming to visit! A group of kids from Camp Jupiter are coming to learn special skills from some of the people here, and he was chosen as a chaperone! One Praetor is coming here, and the other is staying, so it was fifty-fifty, but he’s really coming!”
Izuku’s eyes widened as he nodded along with what she was saying. He’d only met a couple of kids from Camp Jupiter, and usually only in passing. The people he had met had been nice enough, if not a little… tense. Camp Jupiter in general seemed like a much stricter environment than Camp Half-Blood.
“That’s great, Uraraka,” Izuku mumbled through his rice.
Uraraka’s smile turned mischievous.
“It’s not just great for me, Deku,” she said, her eyes glinting. “I’m going to get you a girlfriend!”
Izuku nearly spat his rice out. “I’m sorry, what?!”
“Or boyfriend, I know,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “Either way, Midoriya Izuku, son of Zeus, is getting a date!”
“Oh, my God-”
“Don't stress, Deku!” Uraraka chirped as Izuku buried his face into his hands. “This is a good thing! Very exciting - I’m sure we can find someone at Camp Jupiter for you!”
“Uraraka, please-” Izuku continued to splutter, but she paid him no mind.
“I know you’ve never dated before, but really, I think that’s just because everyone at camp saw you before you really got a hand on your power,” she explained - and Izuku couldn’t really refute her. Walking around with electrocuted hair half the time never exactly made the suitors start lining up. “Which is why someone from Camp Jupiter could be the trick! A clean slate!”
Izuku opened his mouth to refute her, then shut it again. While he could begrudgingly admit that she had a point, Izuku didn’t want to date anyone. Not when he always had a prophecy hanging over his head, not to mention his godly father zapping down to camp every couple of days to help train him personally - no, Izuku was far too busy to try and date anyone.
Uraraka didn’t seem to have the same hold ups.
“Listen, Deku, you’ve been so stressed out lately with all this prophecy nonsense-”
“It isn’t nonsense, Uraraka, we literally almost got eaten by a chimera, like, two months ago!”
“Technicalities!” Uraraka cried out. “And you’re just proving my point - you’re too stressed about everything. You’re seventeen, the only child of the Big Three, and Zeus visits you more than every other god visits their kids combined. You’ve got such a big burden on your shoulders! You just need someone to lighten the load a little.”
Izuku frowned. “I’ve got you.”
“And I’ve got Tenya, too,” Uraraka said, smiling sadly. “And that isn’t to say that he’s better than you, or that you’re better than him. You’re my best friend, Deku - but I honestly think it’ll be good for you to put yourself out there!”
Izuku scowled at her as she balanced a heaping serving of rice on her spoon, somehow making it all the way to her mouth without dropping a single grain.
“I’m not getting out of this, am I?” Izuku asked dejectedly.
“Nope!” Uraraka replied cheerfully when she’d finished her bite. “But the Camp Jupiter kids aren’t due for another couple weeks, so you’ve got time.”
“Time,” Izuku echoed morosely, pushing the food around on his plate. “How many kids are coming? Oh, do you think they have the same rituals as us? Like, I mean stuff like the campfire, but also what about physical stuff? I know I’ve met a few Roman demigods, but I’m really curious about their training regimes— do you think any of them would show me what they do? Maybe I could get one of them to run me through a classic Camp Jupiter training circuit before they have to go work on their individual specialties—”
“Deku. Mumbling.”
Izuku clamped his jaw shut, smiling sheepishly at Uraraka. She laughed, high and tinkling, before waving her chopstick around and launching into a new tirade about the changes made in the rock climbing wall.
Izuku dropped his chin onto his fist and listened, nodding when she said something she looked like she wanted him to agree with. Truthfully, he didn’t care much for the rock climbing wall - there were plenty of cliff sides by the ocean that were much better for training.
But if it got her mind off of getting Izuku a date, he would let her talk forever.
—————
Izuku let out a breath through his teeth as he swung his sword again, slicing through the dummy made of straw and twine. It was something he’d gotten one of the Demeter to teach him to make, so he didn’t keep wrecking the nice training dummies that were supposed to be used for material arts when he wanted to practice his swordsmanship alone.
He was a natural swordsman, or at least his father liked to tell him that. He felt comfortable with a sword in his grip, at least - specifically his sword.
One for All had apparently been passed down the generations of Zeus’s children (and oh, how Izuku fangirled when he found out that he was wielding a weapon that Hercules had used in his trials), and got stronger with every user. It took the unassuming guise of a ballpoint pen when it wasn’t an actual sword, and Izuku had found that, if he was in a bind, it could actually be used to write with - but he tried not to. He usually had a couple other pens on him, anyway.
It was a wonderful sword, truly, never dulling and forever shining. If he lost the pen cap, it just poofed back into his pocket.
So why was his perfect, magical sword just not working today?
“Your grip is too high.”
Izuku nearly dropped One for All in shock, but managed to save himself in time to spin on his heel and brandish his sword at the voice that had come from the open door.
There was a figure at the door - someone Izuku’s age, probably. Lean and fit, wearing Camp Jupiter’s signature purple and a pair of tight black jeans. His hair seemed to glow like a homing beacon - half-red and half-white and hanging loose around his ears. There was a mark on his face - a scar, perhaps? The gods only knew how many scars Izuku had, so it wasn’t exactly a shock. But, even so, the shape of it, the placement; in balance with his unique hair, the end result was fascinating.
And beautiful.
Even from far away, the man was stunning.
In all honesty, Izuku had completely forgotten that the Camp Jupiter visitors would be arriving that day - which was shocking, considering how much Uraraka had squealed about it over the last few weeks.
“That’s why it’s not working,” he continued. His voice was a full deadpan, not a hint of inflection. “Your grip is too high on the handle.”
“Excuse me?” Izuku said, but he glanced down at the handle of his sword all the same. The boy at the door had been right - his grip had slid up to nearly cover the engraving on the polished metal. “I mean, you’re not wrong, but how could you tell from all the way… up there...”
Izuku trailed off when he looked up to find the doorway empty, devoid of any mysterious Roman campers.
What—? Had he come by to correct Izuku’s form and then disappear?
He hadn’t even caught the boy’s name, or his reason for being at Camp Half-Blood. Izuku frowned, his feet moving without a conscious decision to start walking. He made his way to the door the boy had been standing at, picking up into a jog down the hall to the main entrance that opened up into a fairly sprawling field.
There wasn’t really anywhere to hide up there, so Izuku would catch up and ask him—
Izuku would ask him nothing, it seemed.
The boy was nowhere to be found - it was like he’d disappeared into the shadows.
The field was utterly devoid of people, as was the rest of the slow walk back to the heart of camp. When he’d reached the first set of cabins, Izuku peered around a few more corners before he decided to put off his search until later, when there were fewer people staring at him. By the looks of the crowd, it was nearly lunchtime, which meant meeting up with Uraraka.
And if a mystery Roman demigod had been settled in enough to correct Izuku’s form and mysteriously disappear into thin air, surely Iida was ready, too.
He saw them the moment he crested the hill, chatting by the large fountain of Dionysus that the god himself had insisted on constructing. Izuku picked up the pace, waving as he jogged and grinning when they waved back.
Uraraka looked positively giddy hanging off of Iida’s arm as they exchanged greetings and pleasantries, starting their walk to the main campgrounds. Izuku smiled at them, his hands in his pockets and his mind elsewhere. As they walked, he found himself still glancing around, trying to catch a glimpse of red and white - because even if he’d given up the search, surely, the boy couldn't have just vanished?
“Iida, can I ask you something?” Izuku kept his voice casual as Iida glanced over at him.
“Of course you can, Midoriya! Ask away!” Iida replied easily, swiping a stiff hand through the air.
Izuku smiled at him from across Uraraka. “Right, thanks. I was just wondering… is there anybody at Camp Jupiter with, ah- with split-colored hair? Like, half-red, half-white?”
Almost imperceptibly, Iida stiffened, his back going more rigid than it usually was. Izuku saw his eyebrows twitch, like he was forcibly keeping an unsavory expression from his face. After his split-second gut reaction had passed, Iida’s face smoothed back out and he slowly pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, his face artfully blank.
“Why, yes, there is someone like that at camp,” he said, his voice purposefully devoid of any real emotion.
“Oh?” Izuku prompted.
Iida nodded. “Indeed. Todoroki Shouto sounds like the person you’re describing. Did he have a- er, a scar on his face?”
Izuku hummed in affirmation, and Iida just barely winced again. “Do you know him well?” Izuku asked, his gaze studiously trained on Iida’s face.
“Do I—? No, no, I don’t, not at all,” Iida replied quickly, the words falling from him in a rush. “I don’t know Todoroki Shouto personally - no one does. Except, perhaps, Yaoyorozu… but even she only knows him shallowly.”
Uraraka, who had remained silent but watched their back-and-forth like a game of tennis, finally spoke up. “You don’t know him? But isn’t it your job as Praetor to know everyone and make sure everyone is doing their job?”
Iida cleared his throat self-consciously and adjusted his glasses on his nose. “Well, yes, but- I don’t think Todoroki wants to be checked in with as much as I don’t want to check in with him.”
Izuku frowned at that. “Why? Who’s his godly parent?”
“Pluto. You call him Hades, I believe.”
Uraraka sucked in a gasp between them, her gaze flickering up to Izuku’s stunned face and back to Iida. “A child of the Big Three!? I thought Deku was the only one!”
Another child of the Big Three… and Hades, no less. The King of the Underworld was known for his great power - and great cruelty. Zeus had told Izuku about his younger brothers, but while Poseidon was intimidating and influential, he largely kept to himself. Hades, on the other hand…
“Wait! If there really is another child of the Big Three,” Uraraka said, waving her hands about and interrupting Izuku’s train of thought. “Why haven’t we heard about him? Why hasn’t Deku heard about it from Zeus - and what about the prophecies!?”
Iida cleared his throat again, looking profoundly uncomfortable. “Well… we didn’t exactly know about it until recently, either…”
“What?” Izuku asked, undeniably curious. “What do you mean? He looked about our age - no way a child of Had- er, a child of Pluto could survive on his own for that long.” Even if he did seem fit and well-trained, the amount of monsters that would go for a child of such a powerful god… Izuku knew better than anyone that sometimes, the number was just too great for one person to fight off.
“He didn’t live on his own,” Iida replied, somehow making such an innocuous statement sound grave. “He was raised by his father.”
“This isn’t the setup to a joke where the punchline is that he was two gay dads, is it?” Uraraka said, laughing weakly. Iida didn't even crack a smile.
“No. Todoroki was raised by Pluto in the Underworld and trained by him personally. He’s the best fighter I’ve ever seen, and incredibly powerful, too. He doesn’t speak to anyone except for Yaoyorozu when he has to. He’s…”
Iida glanced around nervously, adjusting his glasses a third time in what Izuku was starting to believe was an anxious tic.
“Some people say that Pluto fathered multiple children with the same woman, and that his older brother was a general in the army that raised… him,” he whispered, his brows drawn together.
Uraraka gasped, her hand fluttering to her mouth as Izuku stared, utterly dumbfounded.
Siblings - full siblings, mother and father - were extraordinarily rare as demigods. The gods simply didn't go back to the same mortal twice, so unless someone bore twins, having a full sibling was extremely unlikely.
To have that bond and to break it - to free Kronos, nonetheless, king of the Titans and general harbinger of destruction…
It was unimaginable.
“I hope he’s alright,” Izuku murmured, biting at his lip.
Iida sucked in a sharp gasp at his side. “Who? The brother?”
“No! Well, I’m not gonna hope that someone I’ve never met is suffering, but- no, I mean Todoroki. Our Todoroki,” Izuku explained. “That kind of betrayal… it has to hurt. I just hope he’s alright.”
Izuku didn’t add that he knew from experience that being a child of such a powerful god could be… inexplicably lonely. The constant danger, the pressure, the expectations - not to mention the uncomfortable way that younger campers looked at him, with a mix of fear and reverence in their eyes that made Izuku’s skin feel too tight over his bones. They looked at him and they saw child of Zeus before they saw Midoriya Izuku.
If that was how Izuku felt, with Uraraka and Bakugou and all the other friends he’d made over the years…
He could only imagine the kind of stress Todoroki Shouto was under.
Izuku glanced at Iida from out of the corner of his eye, watching how he’d started a new conversation with Uraraka after Izuku had delved into thought. Iida was strict, sure, but from what Izuku knew, he was kind and fair. He was responsible enough to be co-Praetor of Camp Jupiter, and seemed well-respected by his peers.
And yet, he was obviously distrustful of Todoroki.
If even Iida, whose literal job it was to help campers feel welcomed and help them settle in, if even he was stooping so low as to spread rumors and hearsay...
Was there anyone at Camp Jupiter who’d ever given Todoroki Shouto a chance?
—————
The next morning, Izuku walked into the mess hall with a plan.
He hadn’t seen Todoroki since their fleeting interaction in the training hall the day before - he hadn’t even bothered to show up to the mandatory ‘everyone welcome the campers from Camp Jupiter’ meeting that Aizawa had reluctantly thrown.
Iida didn’t seem keen to discuss him anymore after their conversation on the way back from the training hall, so Izuku hadn't gotten any more information about him. He couldn’t even explain what he wanted to know about Todoroki - little things, like his favorite color and his birthday, or big things, like if those rumors affected him and if he’d seen his brother since Kronos?
Logically, Izuku had no reason to want to know those things, and no real right to ask.
But when had Izuku ever let logic stop him? He was a child of the gods, for crying out loud. Nothing about him followed a regular person’s ‘logic’.
So, he’d created a plan.
It wouldn’t be too hard to play out, as long as Todoroki actually showed up to breakfast - which, given his track record of appearing at mandatory camp events, was looking more and more unlikely. He hadn’t been at dinner the night before, either, so all Izuku could hope was that he’d see breakfast as a less chaotic environment.
Uraraka was nowhere to be seen on the walk from Zeus’s cabin to the mess hall; probably with Iida, spending what little time they could together. It was almost a good thing, because chances were that her boyfriend would have tried to stop Izuku if he knew what he was about to do.
But Todoroki seemed like he needed saving.
And what else was Izuku better at than that?
Izuku actually held his breath walking through the doors to the mess hall, hoping beyond hope—
There!
Todoroki Shouto sat alone at the Hades table. Not a surprise, given that Camp Half-Blood hadn’t seen a child of Hades since the late nineteen-thirties. Although, if Iida’s story was anything to go by, that didn’t mean there hadn’t been more than one…
No, Izuku couldn’t waste time thinking about stupid rumors now. He had a mission to fulfill.
Nobody gave him a second glance as he made his way to the front of the room after grabbing a hearty breakfast of eggs and sausage, since he usually walked that way to sit at his own table. The Big Three had equally large tables at the very front of the room, with Zeus in the middle, Poseidon on his right, and Hades on the left. They had been entirely decorative, until Izuku came along.
And now, Todoroki Shouto.
When Izuku passed his table, he faltered for a second, nearly giving up and setting his tray down to eat like he always would.
No! He had to press onward!
He took a deep breath, steeling himself before speed-walking the rest of the way to Hades’ table and placing his tray across from Todoroki.
Todoroki barely glanced up.
“No one else is supposed to sit here,” he said in that deep, monotone voice Izuku had heard yesterday.
Alright. Not a great first response, but Izuku hadn’t exactly expected one. He could still work with this.
“Ah, I know, but who really sticks to those rules?” Izuku joked, his voice coming out crackly and more than a bit nervous. A poor start, considering Todoroki just lifted his head more and glanced around the room, swiping his gaze over the rest of the tables.
“Everyone else, I think.”
Well, shit.
Izuku just laughed anxiously. Todoroki was even more attractive up close - which should have been obvious considering Izuku had only seen him from far away, but he’d still been good looking then, so for him to be more so…
It was certainly too much for a simple bisexual who’d never been kissed before.
Todoroki paused his survey of the mess hall and stared up at Izuku suddenly, his gaze piercing and utterly powerful.
Another thing Izuku hadn’t been close enough to notice the day before - Todoroki’s eyes were different colors. One was a deep, slate grey, warm and with brown undertones, while the other was a bright, icy blue. Izuku marveled at those eyes - yet another part of Todoroki that seemed split entirely down the middle. Not even the scar could take away from the stunning beauty of those eyes.
Those eyes, that were still staring at Izuku expectantly.
“I-I’m sorry, did you say something?” Izuku squeaked out, still standing awkwardly behind the bench. “I didn’t- ah, I didn't quite catch that.”
Todoroki cocked a perfect red eyebrow. “I asked if you needed something from me.”
“Oh, no! Not at all,” Izuku said in a rush. “I was just- er, you seemed a bit lonely over here, and I didn't want you to feel unwelcome at Camp Half-Blood, because I know how polarizing it can be for people like us, and the campers here are really nice and they usually mean well, but sometimes I guess they can be… how should I phrase it? They can come off as a bit clique-ish, I guess, with the cabins and such. I know things are different at Camp Jupiter- well maybe not super different, but- uh…”
Izuku trailed off, his cheeks flushing as Todoroki stared up at him, his face entirely blank. “Oh, God. I was- I rambled, didn’t I? Oh, man, I do that a lot, especially when I’m a bit nervous, sorry-”
“Don’t apologize,” Todoroki stated firmly, leaving no room for objection. “What did you mean when you said ‘people like us’?”
Izuku blinked. “I- Pardon?”
“‘People like us’,” Todoroki quoted again. “You said that in your little speech. “‘I know how polarizing it can be for people like us.’ How are we the same?”
Izuku’s jaw dropped. “You- You actually listened?”
Todoroki’s frown was small but present. “Of course I did.”
“O-Oh,’ Izuku managed to squeak out, more touched than he should have been by those four words. “I-I just meant… Well, kids of the Big Three have to stick together, you know?”
In silence, Izuku turned his head to look at the other two tables sitting at the front of the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Todoroki doing the same. They stared at the sprawling tables, devoid of a single camper for a long moment before Izuku awkwardly cleared his throat.
“I suppose I should have introduced myself,” he said, to which Todoroki slowly brought his head back around to fix Izuku with that heavy stare once again. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, son of Zeus.”
He stuck his hand out to shake. Todoroki just stared at it until he slowly lowered it again, his stomach sinking in perfect unison.
“Midoriya Izuku,” Todoroki repeated, as if testing how the name tasted on his tongue. “You’re the one from all the prophecies.”
Izuku nearly flinched, but managed to throw on a not-quite-real smile instead, returning his ignored hand to his pocket as smoothly as he could. It felt like a weight in his hoodie pocket. “Hah, yeah, that’s me! My reputation precedes me, I guess!”
Todoroki just continued to stare up at him. Izuku would have thought that standing above someone would give one power in a conversation, but he felt very small under that mismatched gaze.
“Are the stories true?” Was all he asked, simple and concise.
“That depends, I guess. Which stories?” Izuku replied - but they were probably true. The tales of his ventures didn't have to be exaggerated much for them to reach life-and-death stakes.
“The chimera,” Todoroki started. “And the hydra. The three furies on the school bus. And everything else, I suppose.”
Izuku chuckled nervously, rubbing at the back of his neck with a crooked hand. “Yeah, those are- those are all true. Crazy stuff!”
Todoroki was - still - unamused.
“So, what, uh- what are you in Camp Half-Blood for?” Izuku asked, hoping for a nice segue into a more comfortable topic of conversation.
Wishful thinking, it seemed, as Todoroki abruptly stood, grabbing his tray and leveling a smoldering glare at Izuku, who felt his cheeks flood with heat against his best instincts.
“Look. I don’t know what your deal is, or what you want with me, but I don’t care. I’m not here to make friends. Now get out of my way.”
And with that, Todoroki abruptly stormed out of the mess hall.
Izuku watched him go with his mouth hanging half-open, a stunned expression on his face. He just blinked dumbly, staring blankly at the direction Todoroki had gone in.
Was it something he’d said? Something he’d done?
What had caused Todoroki to switch on a dime like that? Why had he gone from reluctant conversation partner to- to gone?
“Tough break with the new kid?”
Izuku nearly flinched out of his skin at the sound of Uraraka over his shoulder, peering past him to look at the door Todoroki had just disappeared through.
“You know, I thought you’d forgotten about ‘Operation: Get Deku a Date’, but if that’s who you’re going for, maybe we should postpone,” she said, her tone light and teasing, but poorly concealing something that sounded like worry. “I’m sure we can find someone a little… nicer.”
Izuku just groaned, slumping down onto the bench and dropping his head into his hands. Uraraka slid into the seat next to him, her eyes still hovering on the empty doorframe, like she expected Todoroki to come sulking back. Izuku knew that he wouldn't, though why he was so sure, he couldn’t say.
“Listen, it’s one thing if you come sit at my table, but we can’t both sit at the wrong table,” Izuku mumbled, making Uraraka huff.
“Well, I wouldn’t need to come over here if you weren’t flirting with Moody McGee over there!” She retorted, making Izuku bury his burning face further into his hands. He could feel a breeze stirring around them, touseling his hair. That usually happened when he got nervous.
“That wasn’t- I didn’t- It wasn't flirting!” Izuku stammered, dragging his hands from his face into his curls and tugging sharply. “And even if it was, Todoroki definitely isn’t interested.”
Uraraka hummed lightly. “So you are?”
“I- I didn’t- Uraraka!”
————
Three days later found Izuku lying awake in his lonely cabin, listening to the sounds of the eternal storm that raged above his head.
Uraraka had always complained about sleeping in such a crowded cabin with all the other Ares kids, especially some of the rowdier ones. She said it was hard to get everyone to fall asleep when all they wanted to do was rile each other up until the sun rose again.
Izuku would have preferred that to the empty darkness of the Zeus cabin.
He had no cabinmates, and he wouldn’t ever have any, if his father had anything to say about it (which he did. Obviously.) He was the only child of Zeus, and it would stay that way. It had to, for everyone’s sake.
But that didn’t mean it wasn’t lonely.
His thoughts drifted to Todoroki - if he was as lonely in Hades’ cabin as Izuku was in Zeus’s. If the walls seemed as high and the shadows as long.
He’d thought a lot about Todoroki in the last few days. Some were passing thoughts, like if he’d gotten enough to eat or what he might have been up to. Some were more in depth, pondering the mystery of how Izuku might crack his shell and start to understand the real man beneath - because there had to be more to the story.
But when it came to Todoroki Shouto, Izuku had a million questions, and approximately zero answers.
He never showed up to mandatory events - and yet, he never got in trouble for it, either. He hadn’t gone to any communal meals since the disaster that was breakfast three days prior. If it wasn’t for the occasional whispered rumor he overheard, Izuku might have thought he’d imagined him.
Todoroki Shouto was like a ghost in Camp Half-Blood. How ironic.
Izuku sighed, swinging his legs over the edge of his bed and brushing the soles of his feet against the cold stone floor. He wasn’t going to sleep, he knew that much. He might as well get out of his cabin.
In his first summer at Camp Half-Blood, Izuku had been too afraid to leave his cabin at night - nervous he’d be caught by their terrifying and bitter camp supervisor and fed to the harpies. Ironically, the first time he managed to work up the courage to sneak out for a walk, he was caught by Aizawa.
The man had taken one look at his bloodshot eyes, nodded at him, and kept walking.
Izuku pushed the door to his cabin open, wincing at the way the hinges squealed. He’d have to do something about that if he ever remembered to - but it wasn't like he spent much time in his cabin by choice. He’d probably forget.
The night was warm and just riding the edge of balmy, without a hint of a breeze to be felt in the thick air. Izuku liked these kinds of nights - they reminded him of summers at the beach with his mother before he’d started living at Camp Half-Blood. He still saw her, but not enough - so he relished in nights like these, where he could almost imagine that she’d round the corner ahead of him and smile and say, Izuku, you shouldn’t be walking around without shoes on.
But, of course, the grounds were still at this time of night. Inko didn’t appear, and neither did any campers as Izuku made his rounds past the edges of the Olympian cabins. He’d never seen a single soul on his nighttime walks - until now, it seemed. He stopped in his tracks, hovering by the near edge of the Hades cabin, down at the edge of the horseshoe.
It wasn’t a person he saw, but rather voices floating through the summer air.
“This rebellion must be stopped,” one voice said in a harsh whisper. The voice was low and sounded like it was unused to being so quiet. “You’re being a fool.”
“I’m being smart,” another voice returned in a much more hushed tone, almost too quiet for Izuku to hear. It was familiar, pricking at the edges of his mind strongly enough to push him to creep silently forward. Some part of him was burning with a sudden desire to hear whatever that second voice had to say, though Izuku was unsure as to why.
“Smart? What about this is smart, Shouto?” The first voice returned, already losing the whispered quality and speaking at an almost normal volume. It rang out in the quiet night, like the strike of a gong.
Shouto. Todoroki Shouto. It made sense, considering they were right outside Hades’ cabin. But what secret conversation was Todoroki Shouto having - and with who?
Izuku pressed forward, peeking around the corner to just barely catch a glimpse of the back of Todoroki’s head. He snapped back, pressing flush against the wall once more as Todoroki spoke again.
“I’ve already told you, old man. You can’t control me anymore,” Todoroki replied, his voice still quiet but dripping with malice.
“That is no way to speak to your father, you insolent boy!”
Oh, gods.
His father.
Todoroki was speaking with his father.
With Hades - Pluto?
It really made no difference in the end, because of course Izuku had managed to run into the one person who hated his father as much as Kronos as his lackeys did.
Izuku clenched his fists, but didn’t back away.
All he could picture was Zeus in his emancipated human form, sitting on the beach a few years back, a few days after Izuku had come home from his first prophecy-driven quest. It had been a mess, really, and it was a miracle he, Uraraka, and Bakugou had made it home alive.
But while they’d come back largely unscathed, they had certainly made a few enemies.
Hades is my brother, Zeus had said, his eyes somewhere far away. He is my brother, but he is a cruel man. He had secrets that not even I know, and I’m sure none of them bode well for this world. He may well forget you and your friends, in which case, celebrate.
Izuku had chuckled at that, but Zeus looked grim.
But if he does come for you again, my boy--
You must fight back.
Izuku sucked a breath between his teeth as he dared another peek around the corner - only to make direct eye contact with two bright blue eyes, aglow with indignance.
Of course, Hades had sensed his presence - he was a god, after all. Izuku had heard about him being present in every shadow in the world, though he preferred not to believe that for his own peace of mind. He should have assumed that Hades had known he was there since the second he stepped out of his cabin.
“This is a private conversation, mortal. Begone from my sight before I kill you where you stand,” Hades snarled, his features contorted into an ugly scowl.
He was still just as tall as he’d been the first time they’d met - probably as tall as Izuku’s own father, and as strong. He was easily as large as Zeus in his more godly form, as opposed to the unassuming gaunt figure his father usually chose to visit the mortal world in.
“Midoriya,” Todoroki breathed, having whirled around the moment his father’s attention had been diverted.
Izuku’s heart faltered in his chest at the piercing weight of the stares of both father and son.
“You know this boy, Shouto?” Hades questioned sharply, his gaze never leaving Izuku’s - and Izuku returned his stare as firmly as he could, stepping out into the moonlight and leaving the safety of his hidden nook.
“I- I don’t,” Shouto started, looking almost… lost. “...Midoriya.”
In an instant, Hades’ glare sharpened, his eyes turning impossibly brighter. “Midoriya, you said? Midoriya Izuku?”
Izuku swallowed tightly, but held his ground. “I’m Midoriya Izuku, yeah. Glad to see I made a real impact. How have you been, Hades?”
“Impudent boy. To you, I am Hades. To my son, Pluto,” Hades corrected, never blinking.
“Hades, Pluto - it doesn’t matter. You’re the same in every story,” Izuku said, his voice much braver than he thought it would be. “You’re the King of the Dead.”
Hades laughed, a dark, fickle thing. “You’ve got a tongue on you, boy. Might want to work on backing it up, instead of prancing around uselessly like you have been.”
“I’m not useless,” Izuku snapped, because he wasn’t. After so long, he wasn’t useless anymore, he wasn’t the sad, lonely Deku he used to be.
The little voice in his head, always the traitor, whispered, a ren’t you?
“I’m not useless,” Izuku repeated firmly, in part to himself this time.
Hades did not laugh again. “I won't take insolence from you, even if you are my brother’s golden boy,” he warned, gaze narrowing. “No son of Zeus will talk back to me. Now, leave me and my creation be. These are private matters not meant for the ears of some foolish cretin like you. Like your father.”
Izuku stood up straighter, daring to stare Hades straight in the eye.
“I am not Zeus,” he said, his voice miraculously unwavering. He spared a glance to Todoroki, who was watching the confrontation with wide eyes.
Had anyone ever stood up to his father before?
“I am not Zeus,” Izuku repeated firmly. “And Todoroki-kun isn’t you.”
Silence rang out as a vein throbbed on Hades’ forehead, his nostrils flaring and his brows knitting together all at the same time. He looked on the verge of a heart attack or a stroke, but before Izuku could conjure One for All, even just to bluster his way through the rest of the argument - Hades vanished.
Seemingly into thin air, he vanished. The shadows stretched around him for a fraction of a second, and then he was gone, leaving only humin summer air in his wake.
There was silence for a long, long moment.
“What the hell did you just do?”
It was Todoroki speaking, his wide gaze fixed on the empty space his father had filled just moments ago. “What was… Why—?”
Izuku took a deep breath, wrenching his gaze from the shadows that suddenly seemed a lot more alive than they had before. “I- I said what I thought he needed to hear.”
“What he needed to—? Are you insane?” Todoroki demanded, stepping forward to shove a finger into Izuku’s chest. “Don't answer that- I should have known from those prophecies and the stories; you are insane, an insane masochist-”
“You aren’t him, Todoroki!” Izuku exclaimed. “You aren’t his- his ‘creation’! He shouldn’t treat you like that! Why is it so insane that I would want him to understand that?”
Todoroki glared at him. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. I am his creation. He’s my father, his blood runs through my veins. I’ve got his damned power and his damned expectations, and you have no idea what that’s like,” he spat out, his words like acid.
Izuku wanted to reel back, to stumble over an apology and fumble through some hasty backtracking. But that wasn’t what Todoroki needed to hear - that much was obvious.
Meddling when you aren’t supposed to is the essence of being a hero.
Zeus’s words rang clear in Izuku’s head as he took a step forward, not minding the finger Todoroki had shoved up to his chest.
“I might not understand,” he started. “I barely know you, your father already hates me - but you know what? I know the gods, and I know what it’s like to be their son. It’s not a curse, Todoroki-kun, not if you don’t make it one. That power-”
“That power is my father’s,” Todoroki spat, voice acrid.
“It’s your power, Todoroki! Your power, not his! Don’t you understand?” Izuku all but yelled.
Todoroki’s eyes widened, his entire body going rigid. He looked like he’d seen a ghost, pale and stiff. Izuku watched him with careful eyes, his heart thumping a sporadic melody in his chest like a drumbeat.
“You don’t- You don’t understand-” Todoroki said, his voice barely squeezing out of his throat in a quiet whisper.
“I understand well enough,” Izuku replied firmly. “You aren’t your father - none of us are the gods that created us. We’re all our own people, who choose our own lives.”
Todoroki stared at him, his brows knitting together. “How can you say that, when all you’ve done is follow the orders the Oracle gave you?”
“Because I want to be a hero,” Izuku said simply. “And those prophecies - they save people. If the Oracle told me to act like your father, I wouldn’t. It’s my life. And it’s yours, too.”
“You really are insane,” Todoroki whispered, but it wasn’t cruel. If anything, he seemed almost… awed.
Then his gaze, once fixed on Izuku, flickered up past his shoulder as his eyes widened.
Izuku turned on his heel, expecting the worst - only to come face to face with Aizawa, wrapped up in his yellow sleeping bag.
“Todoroki, Problem Child,” he greeted blandly. “I let you take your late night walks, but I’m not supportive of midnight tyrsts between campers. Keep it in your cabins, for my sake.”
Izuku felt heat rushing to his face, a choked sound leaving his throat as Aizawa turned back around, throwing a dismissive hand in the air and mumbling something unintelligible. The tension had dissipated from the air the instant Aizawa had spoken - all those heated words fading into the balmy night.
Izuku took the heavy silence as his chance to escape. He didn't even spare a glance back at Todoroki as he threw out a squeaky goodbye before darting back to the path he’d been walking earlier. It seemed much shorter than it had before.
He didn’t let himself stop moving until he was safely back in his own cabin, the door slamming shut behind him. He was breathing heavily as he stumbled to his bed, flopping down head first.
He groaned loudly into his pillow, fists clenching into the sheets as images of Todoroki’s shocked face and Hades’ cruel sneer flickered through his mind.
Sweet Hera.
What had he just done?