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Once upon a time, when Katsuki and Izuku were children, they acted like each other for halloween. For the entire day. Of course, it wasn’t perfect, since they were four years old, but it was fun.
With their recently repaired friendship, the two of them hatched a plan. One that nobody would see coming, since many people were under the impression that they still hated each other.
They would completely swap personalities for a day, for old times sake.
But not on Halloween, no. That would be too obvious. Instead, they’re doing it on a random, unassuming day.
That day is today.
They’ve already prepared everything they need, and it really was more preparing than they thought. They had to go to Nedzu and tell him of the plan, too, and the principal seemed quite excited for it, if the evil glint in his eye was to be trusted.
So, Izuku gets ready. Courtesy of Principal Nedzu, he received a new school uniform this morning, two sizes too big. He put it on, without the tie, of course, and it was quite uncomfortable. He felt like his clothes were just gonna fall off at any moment.
Overall he somehow put a lot of effort into trying to look like getting ready was completely effortless. When he looked into the mirror, though, it was definitely worth it. The outfit definitely didn’t match his face, though, so Izuku put on a more Kacchan-like expression, and it honestly freaked him out a little.
Kacchan is always the last one to arrive in the classroom - not exactly late, but definitely not early - so Izuku spends about ten minutes on his phone before heading out of the dorms.
Kacchan must be in class already, and Izuku grins while thinking about how confused his classmates must be.
* * *
Nobody expected it when Bakugou walked into the classroom this morning. Not only was he earlier than half of the class, but he was also somewhat appropriately dressed.
What was more shocking, however, is that he started actively engaging in conversation with people. Asking how their morning was, and whether they did the homework. He had a genuine smile on his face the entire time. It was unnerving.
The next strange thing that happened was when all but one member of the class had arrived. Midoriya.
Now, Midoriya sometimes came earlier, or sometimes came at a regular time, but he was never late unless he was seeing Recovery Girl or talking to All Might. He always had an excuse for it.
But when he walked into the classroom, practically slamming open the door, he offered no excuse and just walked over to his desk and sat down in it, staring at the desk with a scowl.
Shinsou tapped on his shoulder to greet him, but Midoriya didn’t say anything back. His scowl deepened, somehow, and he brushed the purple-haired boy off completely.
Everybody in the classroom was on edge. Aizawa hadn’t arrived yet, and Midoriya and Bakugou caught each other’s gaze.
“What the fuck are you staring at?” Midoriya growled, catching Bakugou off guard.
“A-Ah, nothing! Sorry, Izu-chan!”
Okay, what the actual fuck?!
“Izu-chan?” Uraraka asks, and Midoriya’s head immediately snaps up to look at her where she’s standing next to his desk.
“Don’t fucking call me that, Round Face!” Midoriya warns, and Uraraka shudders.
“C-Come on, Izu-chan, don’t be mean!” Bakugou tries to calm Midoriya down with a nervous smile, and Uraraka looks between the two of them before sighing in defeat, retreating back to her own desk.
Aizawa walks in at that exact moment, and his only reaction to the confusion between Bakugou and Midoriya is an eyebrow raise.
“Alright, today we’re going to field gamma for quirkless sparring.”
“The fuck?! Why fight quirkless when we have quirks?” Midoriya growls, slamming his palms on the desk.
“Problem child, are you seriously asking me that? You know exactly why we do this.” Aizawa says, unimpressed, and Midoriya glares at him.
“Grab your hero costumes and get changed quickly. Anybody who takes more than ten minutes is getting detention.”
And with that, Aizawa leaves the room, and everybody looks at each other in confusion.
“Okay seriously, what the hell is going on with them?” Kaminari asks, grabbing his costume case while staring at Midoriya, who is glaring daggers into the back of Bakugou’s head.
“Dude, I literally have no clue. It’s like they’ve completely switched personalities. Maybe they were hit by some kinda quirk?” Kirishima says, and Sero hums.
“That must be it. There’s no way they would act like this without the influence of a quirk.” He nods, and the three of them walk out together.
When they finish changing and get out into the field, both All Might and Aizawa are standing there.
And Midoriya seems to be… yelling? At All Might?
“And you fuckin’ know what?! You can shove your goddamn rules up your own fuckin’ ass!”
“Young Midoriya, that is highly inappropriate behaviour! What has gotten into you, today?” All Might’s eyes are wide in surprise and sadness, while Midoriya just smirks up at him smugly.
While this is happening, Bakugou is chatting happily with Kirishima.
“And, like, I know you totally don’t need it, but you should ask Hatsume-san from class 1-H for a support item! It’s not because you’re weak without anything, but you never know! She’s really smart and helped me out a lot-”
“Oh wow, would you look at this? Blasty is actually getting along with his classmates?”
Nobody knows where the hell Monoma came from, but everybody looks worriedly between him and Bakugou, expecting Bakugou to jump him.
He doesn’t.
“I-I’m sorry? I was just-- I wanted to o-offer some advice to my friends?” Bakugou sniffles, and Monoma looks taken aback, just as everybody else is.
“Hey, what the fuck is wrong with him?” He asks Kirishima, who just shrugs.
“Did I do s-something to offend you? I-If I did, I apologise, Monoma-kun!” Bakugou apologies, bowing his head slightly.
“R-Right? Um, I’m just gonna… go.” Monoma announces, before turning around and leaving by himself for the first time ever.
Kaminari stares in shock as he watches Bakugou wipe the actual tears out of his eyes.
“Wait, Izu-chan, no!” He suddenly exclaims, running over to where Midoriya is still yelling at his teachers. “Stop yelling at All Might and Aizawa-sensei!”
“Get the fuck off me, dumbass!” Midoriya yells, harshly ripping his arm out of Bakugou’s grip. “Fine, I’ll do your stupid quirkless sparring.”
Aizawa rolls his eyes, and Bakugou apologises on Midoriya’s part.
“I’m so sorry, sir! I don’t know why he’s like this today! I’ll try to calm him down!” He pleads, and Aizawa just sighs, while All Might stares at them with wide eyes.
“Whatever, Problem Children. Let’s just get this over with.”
Bakugou nods, pulling Midoriya back from the teachers so they can explain the exercise.
* * *
When lunch rolls around, their classmates are basically just going along with it.
They all happily converse with Bakugou, knowing that this could be their last chance to ever see the blonde this outwardly happy.
“So then Sero taped the guy to the railing of the school roof, like, fully hanging off the edge! It was so satisfying to see that little perv so scared!” Mina tells the story happily, and Bakugou laughs along.
“Aw man, I wish I was there to see that! It seems a little mean, but… I mean, you got him down, right? So no actual harm done?” Bakugou asks, and Mina nods.
“Oh, yeah, of course! As much as I would have loved to leave him there for as long as possible, I didn’t wanna risk getting detention with Aizawa-sensei.” She pouts, and Bakugou giggles .
“That’s fair enough. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with tiny pranks, anyways! It’s just a bit of fun, I’m sure Mineta saw the funny side of it, too! Well, when he was let down from the building, anyway.”
“Honestly I wish he was expelled, but at least he isn’t in the hero course anymore.” Sero chimes in.
“As much as I believe anybody can be a hero with the right determination… yeah, he would never have succeeded.” Bakugou says, earning agreements from his friends.
Speaking of Mineta, he approaches their table right as the conversation dies. Or, well, it would be more accurate to say that the conversation died because he approached the table.
“Wow, you guys look real happy now that I’m not here.” He sneers, staring right at Bakugou. “Even that jerk is smiling now, like a fucking dumbass.”
Bakugou’s smile falls at the words, and he bites his lip, as if contemplating something.
“Shut the fuck up before I beat your ass into next Wednesday, Grape fucker.” Midoriya spits, getting up from his seat and looming over Mineta intimidatingly.
“The fuck? We were pals, Midoriya! Did you seriously forget about me?”
The only warning Mineta has is a grin, before Midoriya slams his former classmate in the head with a One For All powered kick, sending him to the other side of the cafeteria where he makes a large dent in the wall, before sliding down and slumping on the ground.
Everybody just stares at him with wide eyes, shocked, but Midoriya just ignores them, sitting back down in his seat next to Uraraka.
“Is… Do you think he’s dead?” She asks, looking at the still body against the wall.
“Who cares, I did warn him. His fault he didn’t fuckin’ listen.” Midoriya continues to eat spoonfuls of his extremely spicy curry.
He glances back up to catch Monoma’s gaze on him. The blonde immediately looks away, staring intently at his own food, and Midoriya sighs.
“For fucks sake, stop looking at me like that! He isn’t dead, look, he’s moving!” Everybody turns to see the purple boy pushing himself up, blood streaming from the back of his head.
“What about you, though? You’re going to get into trouble!” Iida scolds, and Midoriya shrugs.
“It’s fine, he wasn’t hurt that badly, so it’ll probably just be a detention.”
* * *
Midoriya was right. He only got detention with Aizawa, thankfully.
“Midoriya, I really can’t believe you did that. What happened?” Aizawa gives him a ‘disappointed-but-not-mad’ look.
“He was being fucking annoying, that’s what happened! I did warn him, but he wouldn’t shut the hell up!” Midoriya argues, and Aizawa rubs his temples.
"Because Mineta isn’t severely hurt, you got off lucky this time, kid. If it happens again, though, the punishment will be a lot more severe.”
“Whatever.” Midoriya mumbles under his breath, and Aizawa sighs.
“I want you to tell me what all of this--” He gestures to Midoriya, “--is. Were you and Bakugou hit with a quirk?”
“I’ll fuckin’ tell you tomorrow.”
Aizawa sighs again, for what must be at least the tenth time today.
“Fine, whatever, but you will tell me.”
Midoriya rolls his eyes.
“Yeah, yeah. Can I go now?”
“No. You still have to stay for detention.”
“Fine!”
* * *
When detention is finally over, Izuku stomps back to the dorms, glaring at every extra that dares to look at him.
He slams open the front doors to heights alliance, immediately approaching where Katsuki and his friends are chatting. Kicking the chair Katsuki is sitting on, the blonde perks up.
“Oh, h-hi, Izu-chan!” He stutters, and Izuku glares at him.
“We need to fucking talk, nerd.”
“O-Okay!” Katsuki turns to his friends, “I-I’m gonna go! I’ll talk to you guys later?”
His friends all agree and say goodbye, so Izuku drags Katsuki outside.
They keep the act up until they arrive at Nedzu’s office.
As soon as the office door is shut, Izuku bursts out into laughter.
Kacchan does too.
“Holy fucking shit, Deku.” He wheezes, “I wasn’t expecting you to actually punt the fucker into the wall.”
“Kacchan, stop it!” Izuku whines, pouting, “I only used about 3% of my power, but I forgot how small he was so he just… went flying.”
Kacchan laughs even harder at that, and Nedzu clears his throat.
“I must say, you two, that was excellent! You two were very entertaining to watch.”
Kacchan sneers. “You fuckin’ bet.”
“You were following us through the vents, right?!” Izuku says, happily, and Nedzu smiles.
“I’m surprised you knew, but yes, I was.”
Izuku grins happily while Kacchan sighs.
“The world should have never let you two meet.” He groans as they both smile at him, simultaneously.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like to go into underground heroics, Bakugou-kun? You’d be great at infiltration missions.” Nedzu brings a paw to his mouth, thinking, and Kacchan scoffs.
“Hah?! With a flashy quirk like this, we all know I wouldn’t last three seconds without being noticed.” He smirks, acting like it’s a good thing.
“How about you, Midoriya-kun?”
“Actually, when All Might decides that it’s time for me to give One For All to Mirio-senpai, I think I will! After all, I’ve been training quirkless for years, now, anyway!” Izuku says, cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just dropped a massive bombshell into the conversation.
“When All Might what?!” Kacchan asks, Nedzu’s glare matching the tone of Kacchan’s voice.
“Makes me give One For All to Mirio-senpai? You guys didn’t know? He was waiting for Mirio-senpai to be trained well enough for it, so I’m just a temporary placeholder until he’s ready! I overheard them talking about it once when there was a crack in the door. Thank God it was just me who walked past, ha! It’s not like we need anybody else knowing about the whole shitshow showdown between One For All and All For One!” Izuku rambles, knowing immediately that he’s deflecting, acting like he isn’t even the tiniest bit upset at the fact that he’s being used.
He is, of course, upset, but that doesn’t matter. All Might had told him from the beginning that he couldn’t be a hero. Of course the man’s views wouldn’t change that easily, no matter what he said. Izuku’s just lucky that he’s being useful in some way, or he probably would’ve taken a swan dive a long time ago--
“What the fuck did you just say?!”
Ah, shit, Izuku thinks, I said that out loud, didn’t I?
“Yes, Midoriya-kun, you did.” Nedzu replies sharply, and Izuku suppresses a wince.
“Now, Midoriya-kun. For today’s session we’re going to go over self-worth, and how to kick the former Symbol of Peace in the balls.” Kacchan chokes, “You’re welcome to stay, of course, Bakugou-kun.”
“Oh, hell yeah! Wouldn’t miss it for the world, Rat God.” He smirks, and Izuku smiles only slightly.
* * *
“The fuck outta the way, Deku!” Bakugou yells at Midoriya, forcefully pushing him out of the way.
“S-Sorry, Kacchan!”
Ah, normality, how much we have missed you, The entirety of Class 1-A thinks collectively.
And if Aizawa smiles slightly when seeing the boys back to their normal personalities after being briefed on the situation this morning by Nedzu, well, that’s between him and his capture weapon.