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Hitoshi Shinsou does not like people.
And that works out just fine because people do not like Hitoshi Shinsou.
Or, at least, most people.
That little green dude from the heroics course is just really weird.
Izuku Midoriya stands out in many ways.
Growing up, Hitoshi had long since accepted that he was an outlier among his peers. A villainous quirk like brainwashing already put people on edge around him, but his constant “talk to me and I’ll violently choke you” energy sure as hell didn’t help people feel comfortable around him either. His always-present eyebags combined with his resting bitch face made him look unapproachable all on their own. Then the topic of quirks came up and suddenly everyone decided just looking at him wasn’t worth their time.
He’s thankful only a few brave souls were ballsy enough to try and attack him throughout his life. Hitoshi had very little combat experience at that time, so of course he was unable to properly fight back. He got jumped some time in his first year of middle school by some classmates. He managed to nail one of them in the face with a pretty good punch before fleeing.
When he went to school the next day, he was called to the office to be told he had detention for the next week, as well as mandated anger management. Apparently the kids who assaulted him twisted the story and took it to an adult, claiming he’d suddenly punched one of the boys out of nowhere, and they scuffed him up in self defense when he went to hit again. Obviously, he’d denied that the story had any truth, but of course it did nothing. His adoptive dads went feral on that school, pulling him out and moving as soon as possible.
But the same thing repeated.
And again.
And again.
It got to the point where he had to ask his dads not to pull him out and move again when it happened. They were spending so much money over the years that was completely avoidable. Hitoshi would be fine. He could suck it up.
It was routine.
He was used to it.
When he got to UA, he was pretty pissed at the obviously biased entrance exam. Seems like even his dream school had very little chance of being different from the rest of the world. He probably should have expected that. One place isn’t going to be different from everywhere else just because he hoped it was.
Obviously, he failed the exam.
But he was smart enough to make it to General Education at least. His dads were already so proud of him and that made him feel a bit better. And his classmates knew about his quirk, but weren’t outright mean to him! Sure, most didn’t interact with him much at all, but he could tell they didn’t think ill of him either. They were still friendly with him and sent him waves or smiles when they saw him. It wasn’t a total loss.
He realized he still had a chance.
His favorite hero and idol growing up, Eraserhead, had been just like him. Booted to General Ed. because he didn’t have a physical quirk. He got into the heroics course by kicking ass at the Sports Festival. He placed first and made it in. Hitoshi could do that too, right?
He could not do that.
He’d made it to the final event too. He was so close.
At least he caught the interest of Eraserhead, and he was offered to be trained by the pro. That was definitely a plus.
But that doesn’t change the fact that Izuku Midoriya ruined it for him.
He lost to a tiny green midget with a quirk that breaks his own fucking arms.
He really hated that boy.
At least, he used to.
But Midoriya decided Hitoshi was friend material.
Why? He has no idea. He doesn’t even know why Midoriya thought it would be a good idea to try and keep talking to him after humiliating him during their match. Rude brat.
But he wasn’t rude.
Despite Hitoshi constantly telling the boy to leave him alone, insulting him, belittling him, and just being needlessly petty overall, Midoriya never stopped smiling and treating him like he was something special. He seemed really interested in Hitoshi’s quirk, and not in the way his past tormentors had been, just genuine curiosity and enthusiasm about a quirk he’s never seen before.
Obviously, Hitoshi had been skeptical at first. Midoriya was writing down everything he could about Hitoshi’s quirk. Why was he doing that? He didn’t trust it.
Then he found out Midoriya just really liked analysis, he had several notebooks on various heroes and people with all kinds of quirks.
Hitoshi asked if he could look through one. Midoriya was a little hesitant about sharing what was actually in the notebooks, but he did so eventually, only asking that Hitoshi be careful with them. Going through the notebook decimated any doubts he had on whether or not Midoriya was being genuine. Midoriya knew hundreds of people with quirks like his. Inherently “villainous” quirks. The book was full of different people with quirks like possession, brainwashing such as his own, and there was even one about a kid who could put someone into a comatose-like state, and another about an older woman that could manipulate the fluids in a person’s body to control their movements against their will. Apparently he was still in contact with some of the people he wrote about. Midoriya wasn’t like the people he’d met before.
Midoriya broke his routine.
His classmates paused it, but Midoriya was the one to ultimately break it.
Hitoshi felt… guilty.
He’d been more than rude to the greenette. He was downright hostile at times. His dads guided him to apologize, which he did as soon as he could. Midoriya forgave him without batting an eye, and it became apparent to Hitoshi that he hadn’t even held a grudge about it in the first place.
He doesn’t know when the short boy became his closest friend.
Doesn’t know when Midoriya became Izuku.
And he certainly doesn’t know when Izuku became more than just a friend to him.
At first, he doubted his own feelings for the boy. It could be something else, maybe he was just relieved that someone was actively trying to be his friend with no ulterior motives. There’s no way the feeling of wanting to hug and kiss him everytime he smiled at Hitoshi would last. No way that the urge to hold him close and lovingly trace each and every one of Izuku’s freckles would stick.
It did.
It very much fucking did.
He could never bring himself to tell the greenette about his feelings. He didn’t want to ruin things with him. Was Izuku even interested in dating at all? Dating men, even? Much less dating Hitoshi ? They’d never talked about that, Hitoshi would be going in completely blind. The risk was too big. There was too much to lose in this gamble. He couldn’t do it.
Then he realized he probably should have.
If Rody Soul thinks Hitoshi is just going to bend over backwards and let him take the first person Hitoshi has been genuinely attached to and interested in since he was 5, he’s got another thing coming.
+++++++++++++
Neito isn’t a bad person.
He’s not.
He wouldn’t want to hurt someone for no clear reason, especially not to the point where it leaves a lasting scar, be it mental or physical. Yes, being a hero is going to involve violence daily. But the whole point of being a hero is fighting to save and help people. He would never want to hurt someone that didn’t deserve it. He may say some stupid things that can hurt emotionally, but he has a habit of getting caught up in his competitiveness sometimes, it’s not in an attempt to actually leave a lasting impression (Most of the time, anyway).
Hurting someone that doesn’t deserve the pain has never been something he wants to do. It’s not him, and he hopes it never will be.
That being said…
He’s about to choke the shit out of the Rody Soul.
He’s had to watch the boy get all cuddly with Midoriya for a week, and he swears he’d never been more ready to fight someone.
“You’ve been awfully quiet lately, Monoma,” Kendo said one day. “Something on your mind?”
Staring and watching Rody toss an arm over Midoriya’s shoulders to pull him close from across the cafeteria, Neito responds easily.
“No one plans a murder out loud.”
He could vaguely feel more than hear Testutetsu and Kendou scooting away from both sides of him, but he couldn't bring himself to care.
It only got worse during hero training.
It was supposed to be a joint training match between classes A and B. Even that Shinsou guy joined them again, Neito thinks he’s supposed to join class B in their second year, so he supposes it makes sense that he’s going to continue to join them at certain points so he’s not left so far behind to the point he won’t be able to keep up.
Shinsou isn’t the only person from outside of heroics to join them, sadly.
The entire exercise, that annoying ginger has practically been glued to Midoriya’s side.
Class 2-A has many annoying brats in its class.
Izuku Midoriya is not one of them.
Quite honestly, Neito is only slightly hesitant to admit that he admires Midoriya.
The boy is a powerhouse in every way.
Despite his short stature, the boy is built like a goddamn tank. Neito remembers trying to punch Midoriya in the chest one day in a previous joint training exercise to knock him off balance, only for him to recoil in pain because the punch hurt his hand. Midoriya had apologized and offered to take Neito to the nurse when it was clear Neito wouldn’t be using his hand for the rest of the exercise. The blonde was pretty thrown off by the fact that Midoriya was obviously completely unaffected by the hit.
His quirk is perfect for heroics, Neito’s a little upset that his quirk is a blank in regards to compatibility to his own, he really wants to figure out how it works. All he knows is that Midoriya has a stockpiling quirk, but he’s not sure what exactly it stockpiles. Honestly, he could probably just ask him, the boy is so enthusiastic about quirks that Neito probably wouldn’t even need to get all of his question out before Midoriya is happily explaining it to him.
That’s another thing, Midoriya is scarily smart.
Neito can remember one time where Midoriya had apparently written an analysis page for him.
And he says page, but it was more like a small booklet, with how many papers there were.
At first, he’d been a little offended that a member of Class 2-A thought he needed their help, much less with something like analysis of his own quirk. Neito loved picking apart quirks too, he kind of had to, with how his own worked, but he loved doing it before his even came in. Why would this brat think he needed their help?
Then he actually read the pages and woah, boy.
Midoriya was thorough.
He thought of everything.
Weaknesses and possible ways for Neito to either overcome them or hide them. Strengths and ways to make them even better. Adjustments that could be made to his costume to help him. Other ways to activate his quirk.
The last one had a bit of a darker suggestion, but it only made Neito more interested. Midoriya suggested possibly carrying around something containing a person’s DNA. The easiest, least gruesome, and least likely to get him arrested option- Midoriya had definitely included other, much more gorey options, like carrying a severed limb. It was awesome. He must have suggested it in case Neito was put in a situation where he had no choice, a matter of survival, because there’s no way Midoriya would actually expect him to carry around someone’s detached finger- was to carry around blood capsules like the villain Himiko Toga. Then, Neito should either be able to drink it or simply dip his finger in and he’d have access to that person’s quirk because, hey, technically he was touching a part of them, right?
He’d taken that suggestion to Vlad King and Power Loader, and it turns out he really could copy a quirk from both drinking a person’s blood and simply dipping his finger in it. Drinking it actually lets him keep it longer than his usual five minutes, which is definitely going to be useful in the future. So now his costume has concealed syringes, as well as already full capsules of blood from people who volunteered some for him (Funnily enough, Midoriya had been one of them, and now that he could hold a quirk for longer than five minutes, Neito admits that he’s looking forward to a time where he can actually find out how the boy’s power works.) He just has to be careful about whose blood he's drinking and to not have too much, it's not exactly healthy and he'd rather not pick up a disease by accident.
And on top of all of this, Midoriya is just overall a good person.
He’s kind, considerate, and doesn’t let people push him around. It’s not even in a way that exudes confidence, he just… refuses to stay down for longer than five minutes. He works to save people. He works to be a hero . And he does it all while smiling. Neito vaguely remembers hiding an insult for the boy behind a suggestion to try harder, and Midoriya had taken the suggestion so seriously, and the next time Neito saw him, the boy used his insult-suggest to beat his class into the ground. He’s genuinely just trying to be the best he can be, all to help people. It’s kind of hard not to know about Izuku Midoriya’s many rescues. The training camp, Kamino, the Shie Hassaikai raid…
The boy is jittery and nervous in ways that makes Neito suspicious, because while he understands that some people are just naturally nervous and skittish, it’s never to the degree that Midoriya is at without something to make them act like that. The greenette apologizes for every little mistake, acting like he has to carry the world on his back. It’s confusing.
Yet, despite his constant anxiety, he doesn’t ever let it stop him.
So yes, Neito thinks he’s at least a little justified in admiring his peer.
Which is why he really doesn’t like Rody Soul.
During this particular exercise, he and Midoriya have been watching the groups together. They look away for a few moments to enthusiastically talk about each person’s battle strategies and ways their quirk could be applicable here, as well as guesses on who might possibly win.
Neito feels tempted to ask if he can join, not because he’s interested in theorizing about his classmates’ quirks (quirks he sees every single day, mind you), but because it’d be easier to separate Midoriya from Soul.
You know what? Fuck it.
Neito swiftly stands from his spot, earning a confused noise from Pony next to him. He struts over to the pair, or tries to at least, as Kendou grabs the back of his hero costume and tugs him back.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The girl asks with clear suspicion. Neito rolls his eyes, jerking himself out of her hold.
“I was going to talk to Midoriya, thank you very much,” He grunts.
“Oh, no you’re not. I’m not letting you harass anyone from 2-A today, you can be civil for just another half hour.”
Neito can’t keep himself from rolling his eyes. He likes Kendou, he really does. If anyone were to be his best friend, it would be her. But wow, does she expect very little from him.
“I was actually hoping to join his conversation about our peers’ quirks,” He says with a twitching eye.
It’s obvious Kendou wasn’t expecting that from him, because she immediately untenses with a small, surprised “Oh.”
He takes her momentary surprise as a chance to finally make his way to Midoriya.
The boy jumps three feet into the air when Neito taps his shoulder, quickly whipping around in his seat to see who’s standing behind him. Neito can’t help but feel a sense of pride when Midoriya visibly calms and relaxes when he sees him.
“Hi, Monoma!” He smiles happily. “Do you need something?”
“I overheard you talking about your classmates’ quirks and couldn’t help but feel interested.” he answers with a coy smile.
“Oh, that’s right, you like to analyze quirks too, right?” Upon receiving a nod, Midoriya scoots over on his bench and pats the spot next to him in an invitation to sit. “Wanna join us?”
“Gladly.” And with that, the blonde is securely seated next to Midoriya.
The ginger on Midoriya’s other side gives him a curious look.
“Neito Monoma, right?” He asks, making Neito blink. He knows his name?
“Yes…?”
“Nice to officially meet you!” He gives a grin that… actually really reminds Neito of Midoriya’s smiles. All sunshine and happiness. Midoriya’s are still brighter, but he comes pretty close. “I’m Rody Soul, Izu’s told me a lot about you.”
...He has?
Neito looks down to the now blushing greenette that’s twiddling his thumbs. Midoriya told his… “boyfriend” about Neito? Neito, of all people? Why not one of the people in his actual class, or even those third years constantly hanging around him? There’d certainly be more to talk about. The only thing about Neito that stands out is how much he yells, really. He knows he’s loud.
“I just thought you guys might get along…” The short boy mumbles in embarrassment.
Soul laughs and tosses an arm around Midoriya’s shoulders, pulling him in close to ruffle his curls with his other hand. Neito watches the interaction, but it doesn’t quite process in his mind as it happens, because...
Midoriya talks about him.
He’s gonna be riding that high for a couple of weeks, he knows it.
++++++++++++++
Inko is a proud mother.
When her son came home one day, admitting to his mom that he had a boyfriend and he’d like for her to meet him, she was understandably over the moon.
Her baby boy is growing up and discovering new things about himself. He’s self-reflecting and improving, and he’s finding people who support him.
Had she been a little nervous about Izuku being around Rody at first? Yes, admittedly she wasn’t sure how to feel about him at first. Before she met him, Izuku painted him as someone… less than respectful, with all the stories he shared. He seemed rude, blunt, and sharp. She only agreed to meet him because she was hoping to either weed out any bad influences on her son’s life, or to hopefully put her worries to rest.
Simply seeing Rody standing at the door with Izuku, shuffling nervously under a guise of utter calmness, she realized the latter was already happening. Izuku is clearly attempting to console his boyfriend, a stack of envelopes under his arm. He must have grabbed the mail for her on his way in.
“You must be Rody,” She says in lieu of greeting them. “Just leave your shoes by the door, there should be a size of slippers for you.”
“Thank you.” The ginger bows. Inko takes the papers and envelopes from her son as Rody slips his loafers off.
“Come inside, dinner is almost ready. Izuku, could you show him around?”
“Sure,” He smiles softly, taking his boyfriend by the arm. Inko feels a warmth blooming in her chest, watching the two interact. She can see the way Rody’s shoulders lose their tension when Izuku grabs his hand.
She softly chuckles as her son leads the boy down the hall eagerly before heading into the kitchen to finish the katsudon.
Inko is a happy mother.
Her baby boy neve really had anyone that supported him. Inko is ashamed to say she was one of them. She never told her son the words she knew he needed to hear, she was too weak. She couldn’t say it. And it had consequences. When Izuku got his quirk, Inko was ecstatic! Her baby is finally getting a chance to live his dream, a chance to help people like he wanted. She was happy for him. She still is.
But Izuku unintentionally made it crystal clear just how low he sees himself compared to others.
Constantly throwing himself into danger for others, with not a lick of care about the consequences it leaves on him… She played a part in that. Maybe it wasn’t a very big part, but it was there nonetheless. She let him feel like he was only of use to people, if he was fighting tooth and nail to save their lives.
She never wanted him to feel like that.
No mother worth their weight in salt would ever, ever want that for their child.
Inko didn’t want her baby boy to hurt himself for other people like that.
Which is why she’s happy he has Rody now.
Maybe having someone who just… unbiasedly cares will help. Maybe someone can give him the love and support she failed to offer. She’s doing her best now, she promises, but someone who genuinely believes in him from start to finish will do him some good.
With a small smile, she gets bowls out to serve the now-finished Katsudon, calling for Izuku and Rody to come to the table to eat. She gets a very happy “Be right there!” from her son. Inko chuckles when she hears a thud. It’s followed by silence, and then she can hear Rody asking her son if he’s okay. He must have tried to run and slipped on the hardwood floor, she realizes with a giggle.
As Inko is setting the table, Izuku and Rody are entering the kitchen.
“-were coming today, too?” Izuku is in the middle of asking as he enters. Who’s he talking about?
“They wanted to, for a full five minutes, then realized they’d rather stay with Eri,” The taller snorts, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Aw, I really wanted to see them,” The greenette whines.
"Are we expecting more people?” Inko buds in. She’ll have to get more bowls, and she’s not sure if she made enough katsudon...
“Oh, no, I have two younger siblings,” Rody answers bashfully with a smile. "They wanted to come with me today to meet you, but then decided they'd rather stay at UA to spend time with Eri.”
"Really? What are their names?" Inko asks happily, already pulled into eagerly learning about someone that might be entering the family. The mother in her secretly hopes Izuku’s first boyfriend will be his last boyfriend.
"Roro and Lala. Roro’s about 8 and Lala is 6.”
“And they wanted to stay with Eri?” Inko has met Eri before, a multitude of times, actually. She’d been so thrown off by the clear admiration the young girl had for Izuku, but it made her all the more proud. This is what he was doing as a hero, saving people who were dealt less than ideal cards in life and helping them build a new one to make them happy. She’s such a sweet little girl. She didn’t deserve anything that happened to her and she’s glad Izuku saw that too, and did everything he could to fix it. It’s good that Eri is making friends.
“Yeah, they’re both really happy to spend time with her, I think they’re just happy they have someone outside of family to play with them,” Rody laughs. Inko smiles when seeing any tension that previously remained disappearing from his shoulders as he talks about his siblings.
“I think Kota was supposed to drop by for a sleepover with them too,” Izuku comments.
Ah yes, another one of Izuku’s tiny fans. Kota was the first boy her son ever saved and was the first official Deku fan. She babysat for the boy once, and she had to say, he was the cutest thing. He was a little grumpy at first, but as soon as Inko just mentioned that his shoes looked similar to her own Izuku’s, Kota had shyly commented that that’s why he got them. It was so sweet! Inko used the topic of her son as a way to get the boy to open up, and before she knew it, Kota had taken off his hat and was freely laughing and chattering with her about almost any topic.
It’s refreshing to see that just mentioning her son has that kind of effect on people. She knows he’ll be a great hero.
Inko guides the two to sit down as they continue the conversation.
“Better tell Aizawa that he should hold a pillow between his legs every time the kid approaches him,” Rody says with a snicker as he drops into the seat next to Izuku. Inko tilts her head. There’s a story behind that, she can tell by the way Izuku goes pink and squawks.
“It happened one time! ONE TIME!”
“What happened?” Rody smirks at Inko’s innocent question.
“Wanna know what Kota’s first reaction upon having your son try to talk to him was?” The ginger asks with a sly smile. Izuku attempts to shout over the boy, waving his hands in his space to hopefully dissuade him. Rody simply guards himself with his arms, chuckling.
Inko raises a brow, but nods nonetheless.
“The kid punched him between the legs.”
“RODY-” Izuku’s voice tapers off into a voice crack, and he seems to choke on his spit for a few moments, making Rody cackle.
…
Inko certainly did not know that.
“He punched you… between the legs…?” She asks, unsure whether to be horrified or laughing.
Izuku’s face goes red, and he rubs the back of his head jerkily.
“Y- yea, Kota didn’t really like heroes before… He saw our mere presence as a threat to his safety, I think. In a way, he was kinda right…” The boy explains. Inko’s brows furrow. “He didn’t really appreciate that a ‘wannabe hero’ was trying to talk to him so he just… reared back, and tossed a fist forward…”
Inko is at a loss for words. What can she even say to that? This little kid, that’s not even 8, apparently punched her son between the legs.
“He has some pretty strong arms for someone his age…”
Next to Izuku, Rody loses whatever semblance of composure he had left and is sent into orbit, cackling into his hands in a half-assed attempt to hide them from Izuku. The greenette next to him lets out a noise that sounds very much not human-like, obviously embarrassed.
As Inko lets the new info process in her brain, she watches with amusement as her son carefully tussles with his boyfriend, being mindful of everything on the table. She shakes her head with a small smile when Rody makes a comment about how red he’s getting, earning a repremending, gentle fist to the head that only makes him laugh more.
Yeah, she decides.
This is good for Izuku.