Work Text:
He wasn’t late.
He would be late if he had shown up even a moment later, but that meant that right now, at this very moment, he wasn’t late! Plus, that wasn’t late for class, that was just late for getting to the teacher’s lounge, for hanging out with his friends. Right now, being late would mean nothing other than his friends not getting to see him until lunch. Their lunch breaks were all the same, though, so… hardly an issue!
Oboro pushed the door open ahead of him, dissipating the cloud carrying him as soon as he reached his desk, letting his legs hang down as he sat on it.
“Good morning!” he called out with a bright grin on his face.
“Shh, he’s sleeping,” Hizashi spoke with a grin, barely serious. He inclined his head toward Shouta. Shouta looked back at the two of them and rolled his eyes, though he didn’t lift his head from his desk, and proceeded to close his eyes again once he had acknowledged that he wasn’t asleep. Didn’t really get his point across, but, well, that was Shouta.
“Hmm, this might be a new record, Oboro.” Nemuri set a stack of papers onto his desk as she went to hers, spinning the chair around to make their triangle a square, shaking her head. “In terms of you being on time. When’s the last time that we saw you in here in the morning? Usually you’re barely even rolling into your first class in time.”
“Ah, give me a little credit!” Oboro laughed. Sure, he wasn’t exactly on time, but. “I show up to my first class fine, it’s just the ‘getting there before Shouta rolls his eyes and starts telling his class that I’m going to be late’ that I’m not as great at.”
“The fact that you’re actually here before I need to go to homeroom is a new record, Oboro,” Shouta deadpanned without lifting his head, but Oboro could still see the pull of a smile on his lips. Yeah, they were happy to see him.
He laughed, kicking his feet out to precariously rest on the arm of Nemuri’s chair.
“I’m always looking to get better, energy saver! You being awake before homeroom is also pretty much a world record, now isn’t it?” Oboro grinned at Shouta, flicking a pencil shaving in his direction, which Shouta swatted away with barely a turn of his head.
“We’re still meeting up after school today, right? Nem’s buying the good takeout, and crashing at our place?” Hizashi spoke up, starting to gather his papers into a bag for the day. It was only a matter of time before they would all have to split up for class, but…
“Please, like you three could get rid of me.” Nemuri grinned, shouldering her bag. Standing up displaced Oboro’s feet, and the only thing keeping him from falling to the ground was a perfectly timed cloud. He grabbed his own things, ducking toward the door.
“We’ll see you then! Oboro and I found this really trashy movie when we were looking for something to watch last night, but we decided to save it until you came around to watch with us!”
“They waited until there was less of an argument to be made, because it’s worth no one’s energy to be against the three of you.” Shouta huffed out a breath, shaking his head at the three of them. “You’re all going to be late to class.”
“You’re the one who’s gotta be there in time for homeroom! See you soon, Shou.” With a mock salute, Oboro left the teacher’s lounge with his friends, still laughing as he headed toward the classroom he’d teach in first.
His schedule during the week tended to be pretty much the same: wake up, eat breakfast with Hizashi and Shouta, still manage to take so much time at the apartment that he’s running nearly an hour behind them, chat for a few minutes, rush to his first class, and repeat. On some days, he’d tack a patrol on, or he’d be called out for a rushed rescue on a whim.
Today was one of those days.
Oboro sat on the cloud in the front of his classroom, gesturing wildly at the board. He taught heroics classes to the upperclassmen, focusing on rescue scenarios and other quick thinking tactics. He’d taught the lower courses at first, but those classes were focused more on basics while he…
Well, things hadn’t gone the best for Oboro in his early hero career. When he was still only a work study, a building had come tumbling down, pieces toppling onto him, leaving him–
It was pretty damn risky, and they thought he wasn’t going to make it at all. Instead, he showed up with some massive scarring on his face and permanent partial paralyzation, using his clouds as his best mobility support, but, well, it was a lot better than being dead!
Most things were a lot better than being dead, but that was really absolutely completely beside the point.
His phone rang in the middle of his lesson, something he’d normally ignore, if not for the fact that it was a specific ringtone that meant it was something for hero work. He eyed it with a frown, giving a quick assignment for the students to work on while he excused himself to the hall, chatting quickly.
There was an emergency a town over – a villain attack, some kind of matter warping quirk. They’d taken out pieces of a building until what was left was barely standing straight, and apparently there were quite a few civilians caught in the rubble.
Two quick texts (one to a sub, that they had to take over his class ASAP, and one to Shouta, Hizashi, and Nemuri, that he might be running a little bit late), and he was off.
He arrived at the scene quickly, a hero with a teleportation quirk meeting him outside of UA to bring him there faster. They explained along the way in more detail, but Oboro was quick to action once they’d reached the scene of the attack. It was… well, it was what they had explained.
Oboro analyzed the scene, his eyes darting across the buildings. All of them still seemed stable, though it was easy to identify the one that had been hit with the brunt of the attack. The foundation was strong, and all of the occupied floors (thank god), but the amount of shattered glass was…
“Loud Cloud!” someone shouted, and he immediately turned his attention, navigating to them. As he approached, the Snake Hero Uwabami waved him closer, her eyes focused in the distance as her snakes helped her understand the scene.
“What’s up?” He focused a bright grin on his face, looking over the scene.
The other hero gestured and Oboro followed her gaze to the more dilapidated building. It, luckily, was one that had been abandoned for quite a few years now, but the state it was in after the attack… Oboro saw what she was pointing at. A few people were trapped in the rubble, one of them not moving.
“There are a few children in the building. It’s stable enough, but we’ll take some time moving the rubble. The kids are fairly young. Are you up for distracting them?” Uwabami turned to him, her eyebrows raised.
Ah! See, this was one of the parts of the job that he loved best. Providing a little bit of security to people, making it easier… doing something to make them feel safe. Sure, part of being a rescue hero was cleaning things up, but making someone else smile?
What was the fun of the job if he couldn’t make someone happier while he was at it?
“On it! Thanks for the tip!”
Oboro immediately rushed to the other building, lowering his cloud toward the ground so that he could be closer to eye level with the kids there. He smiled softly, using a few small pieces of debris out of the way with his clouds.
“You alright?” he questioned gently, looking them over. The smaller was clutching his arm, both in tears, but neither of them seemed like they were in the worst condition. It was probably fear, a fear he knew well – the sound of the building cracking, looking up to suddenly see pieces falling from the sky, unable to throw his quirk fast enough to block them from crashing down into him – but also was well accustomed to dealing with.
“Her arm’s bleeding.” The taller grabbed the girl’s arm, pulling her toward him. She stumbled a little, tears falling from her eyes. “But I’m okay.” He made a confident face, though Oboro could see the shaking in his smile.
“Well, you’re both awfully brave for that,” Oboro said, reaching to the pouch on his belt. “Remember the first time I saw a villain up close. It was super scary, you’re crazy strong to be doing this well. Think a bandage will help for now?” He pulled the small pack from his belt, handing it off to the boy, who nodded and immediately helped her apply one.
“People are working on making it safe for you to come out from there, but think I can just hang out until we’ve got it clear enough? Give me a reason to slack off!” Oboro groaned, playfully falling back on his cloud. The children laughed, and his smile brightened. It was hardly slacking off, but this was what he was good at.
Being a distraction, just like he’d always been teased. In school, he’d often been told off for being distraction, for speaking when it wasn’t his time to speak, for doing things wild and out of pocket that had no reason to be happening when they did. But it gave him a step up in his line of work, didn’t it?
He had always been an entertainer. He’d been looking to make his class laugh, to bring a smile to the faces hardest to make smile (Shouta). His teachers, his friends, they’d always said it was going to be a detriment to his career if he couldn’t pull his head out of the clouds (ha, good luck with that one!), but…
Well, his work study with Purple had taught him differently. Going around with Shouta, helping out children, people who were worried in the midst of villain attacks.
…What had happened to him. The fear he’d faced, and the way that his friends had pulled him through it, keeping him hanging together with their laughter and smiles, the best when he could draw them out of the three… well, it made him realize just how suited he was for this hero thing. Being a distraction wasn’t so bad if it meant that he could take scared civilians away from where they currently were. He could remove the terror they were feeling and replace it with a little bit of wonder, a little bit of laughter.
Just long enough to make sure that they were safe, that they never had to go through so many of the negative emotions that he had to go through before he was even a fully fledged pro.
It was a pretty damn important side of heroics, if you asked him.
“You know who I am?” he asked, dissipating the cloud slowly and sitting on the ground in front of them.
“Loud Cloud,” the girl whispered quietly. “We saw you on TV.”
“Bingo!” He made an excited noise, leaning forward with a conspiring grin. “Wanna see something cool I can do with my quirk? Bet they didn’t show this one on TV.”
The girl’s eyes widened and she nodded quickly, her attention clearly off of her arm. Oboro grinned, gathering the vapor from the air and starting to shape it, watching the children’s faces as he leaned back on his hands. He started with something small, just shapes that floated through the air and shifted around them. Then he went to the fun part – animals. Oboro made a cat from the clouds he’d formed, dancing it around the kids.
“What’s your favorite animal?” he asked, still lazily chasing the cat around the two of them. They were thoroughly distracted – which was extra good since the rescue team was now closer to where they were. He focused on breaking off some of his clouds to help with that team, starting to guide some of the bigger pieces away from the children, though keeping his focus on them.
“I like ducks,” the boy whispered quietly, still clinging to the girl’s arms.
“And you?” he asked.
“Bears?”
Oboro grinned, immediately breaking clouds off for cloudy ducks to dance around the boy, focusing for a moment longer to form a bear, showing it off to the girl. Both children were giggling by the time he got their favorite animals arranged well enough and he was too, happy to have their attention so entirely on him.
“We’re clear.” He looked up, not having heard Uwabami enter. He moved his clouds slowly, letting them fade away before creating another to pull him up.
“Hear that?” He grinned widely, turning to the kids. “Coast is clear! Think you can grab him if I carry her?” He turned to Uwabami, who nodded, offering the boy her hand.
The safety of the children was their top priority. They carried them to heroes with healing quirks, not hiding his smile as he backed up again, moving quickly with Uwabami to the rest of the rescue. The civilians were safety, now for the easy part.
To be able to best take full advantage of his quirk, Oboro sat on the ground, perched on a large piece of rubble so he could see the scene in front of him. He gathered as many clouds as he could, sending them out among the wreckage and picking up pieces, carrying them to safety. Other heroes did similar with their quirks: destroying rubble, moving it, generally making things safer.
It was a not well-known side of heroics, and one that people didn’t seem to think was all that glamorous, but… well, Oboro didn’t know if being any other kind of hero would be this rewarding. Working directly with the civilians he wanted so desperately to keep safe, seeing the actual progress of cleaning things up…
His quirk was maybe not the best for fighting, and he got that. There were ways that he could attack, but he would never be a hero like All Might who could punch through anything and save the day with a smile.
The smile? That was necessary. If someone were to ask Oboro what the most important part of heroics was, that would probably be his answer. He agreed, full heartedly, with All Might. Being able to tell people they were safe with a smile on your face…
Well, not everyone would have the heart for that. It was the best feeling in the world.
As the scene was cleared, Oboro hitched a ride back with the teleportation hero, making his way to UA to pick up the rest of his things before trudging his way to the agency’s headquarters. The lights were off in the office, which was a fantastic sign. Maybe Shouta had actually gone up to hang out with Hizashi and Nemuri the moment they’d gotten back from school instead of making work a terrible excuse like he normally did.
Oboro wasted no time scaling the steps. As he reached the top, he could hear laughter filtering in from the apartment above their agency and he grinned. Oboro wasted no time throwing his things into his bedroom and swapping out of his hero costume. If it was anyone other than Nemuri, maybe he’d take the time to shower before he came to hang out, but they’d seen each other in their best and their worst.
Oboro threw himself onto the couch, displacing Shouta before he just leaned back against Oboro again with a roll of his eye.
“Rescue go okay?” Hizashi asked, grabbing the food and tossing it Oboro’s way. Oboro took it thankfully, starting to scarf down the takeout.
With a full mouth, he replied, “It was great. Everybody was pretty much safe, but I helped some kids out. Mostly just moving rubble around. Might see a spotlight on the news, but nothing major for once. Was a fun job, honestly.”
Sushi clambered onto the couch to see what all of the fuss was with the four of them and Oboro laughed, summoning a small cloud as a rat to let her chase. Shouta rolled his eyes, carefully moving the food off of Oboro’s lap before leaning against him again, smiling as well as the cat chased the unreachable rat. Oboro grabbed Sushi in his arms, leaning back against the couch and listening to Hizashi and Nemuri laugh.
This had always been their dream, hadn’t it? It was always going to be the three of them, and their own agency. Saving lives, making people smile, being the best damn heroes that they could be.
They were living the dream.
None of them would want it any other way.