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“Oh, thank god,” Izuku’s voice comes over the phone. Shouto can hear Hitoshi’s voice in the background, but he can’t understand him. “Yeah, he picked up. Shouto, are you okay? There was an alarm that there was an attack on campus, but obviously it wasn’t the main campus with the way Yamada-sensei practically blew the door off the hinges running out of here; you’re not hurt, are you?”
“Give the man a chance to answer, Izu,” Hitoshi laughs. His voice is a bit hard to hear, but it’s clear enough — Shouto suspects that Izuku has the phone on speaker and forgot to let him know.
Shouto smiles, laughing lightly as he replies. “Nothing serious, just mild scrapes. There was an attack on the USJ, and All Might, Thirteen and Aizawa were injured, but all the heroics students came out okay. I think Kaminari ended up with Quirk exhaustion, but nothing that can’t be fixed with some bedrest.”
Izuku sighs audibly.
Hitoshi laughs. “Izuku was about to have a meltdown; sorry for all the missed calls by the way. You’ve probably got at least a dozen of them. He’s been calling since they’ve released us. He even went home to satisfy his crazy mom then snuck back out.”
“Sorry! I was just so worried! There wasn’t much on any of the hero network news channels; there were ambulances and I didn’t know if you were one of the people needing them and I just—”
“You’re fine, Izuku. I don’t mind... It’s actually — It’s nice having someone worry about me besides Fuyumi.” Shouto admits, a small smile as he glances down as his phone. There is, in fact, over a dozen missed calls. Not all of them are from Izuku — Hitoshi neglected to mention his own calls. And it leaves him with a warm feeling in his chest that has nothing to do with his quirk. “Do you want to meet up and grab a bite to eat or something? I need to complain about the attack. This shouldn’t have happened. Who attacks a bunch of first years?”
“There’s a pretty nice ramen place not too far from both the USJ and the main campus; that way none of us have too far to travel. I can text you the name so you can get directions, Shou?”
Hitoshi laughs. “I’d ask why you have the knowledge of a cafe approximately in between the USJ and the main campus, but I wouldn’t be surprised to learn you know these kinds of things for all off-campus UA buildings. You somehow seem to know everything.”
“Well, you never know what you’ll need to know, so I just make sure to know a few different locations nearby all UA locations, just in case...” Izuku explains, and Shouto can just imagine how red he is right now.
“I’m good with wherever you want to meet.” Shouto knows he has to say something now or else Izuku will get too far into his thoughts or too flustered, and they won’t get anywhere ever, because Izuku will just end up melting into a puddle on the floor, arms wrapped around his head to hide his red face and pink ears. “Why don’t you go ahead and text me the place and we’ll start heading there now?”
“Sounds like a plan! Right, Toshi?” Izuku pauses, and Hitoshi mumbles something unintelligible but that sounds agreeable. “We’ll see you in twenty or so!”
“Sounds good. See you soon.”
Shouto disconnects the call, and a few moments later, Izuku’s sent him the name of the ramen shop. Shouto looks it up; it looks like it’s a nicer one, not a stall or hole in the wall. He’s glad for that since he really wants to sit somewhere inside with a comfortable seat. But of course, Izuku thinks of everything and probably was able to guess at that after the day Shouto’s had. It’s only a fifteen-minute walk away as well, so Shouto reads over the directions, which is nothing complicated, and starts walking.
He’s ready to complain about the nonsense that was his day.
Villains. At Rescue training. Complete nonsense.
Once he arrives at the restaurant, he gets them a table and orders matcha for all three of them. He knows by now that both Izuku and Hitoshi don’t sleep enough and will appreciate the caffeine, and it will be a nice break from all the coffee the pair drinks.
He fires off a quick message in their group chat.
peppermint tea
i’m here, already got us a table
ordered us all some matcha
matcha tea
fingerguns @ u
nice
lavender tea
do you have to inflate his ego
peppermint tea
usually it’s nonexistent, let him have this one
lavender tea
yeah you’re right lol
“Sho,” Izuku’s voice whines as he slides in the booth next to him, “You don’t have to call me out like that...”
“It’s not calling you out if he’s right though,” Hitoshi argues as he slides in next to Izuku, and they’re all jammed into far too close, but Shouto doesn’t mind at all, not when he can feel the warmth of his best friend where their thighs are presses close and he can sling an arm over Izuku’s shoulder to reach his other best friend.
And it’s brilliant and wonderful and everything he ever could have wanted and more to have such good friends. He’d always pictured himself as going through life alone, and then Izuku had forced his way into his life, saving him from his father’s tender mercies and bringing light back into his life again. And then there was Hitoshi who was a package deal and Shouto hadn’t expected there to be two people who would put up with him, let alone like him, but Hitoshi was like Izuku and Shouto too. Hitoshi was familiar with the dark side of the world.
They were both so smart, witty and clever, and they were going to be the best heroes, Shouto just knew it. It was ridiculous that heroes like Endeavor or All Might got to be high ranking while Hitoshi and Izuku were having to claw their way into the hero course at all.
“Shouto?” Izuku pokes Shouto’s cheek, dragging him out of his thoughts.
He shakes his head. “Sorry, I was just thinking.”
“You, thinking?” Hitoshi teases.
“Must’ve been thinking about something important,” Izuku smiles, leaning forward to rest his chin in his hand.
“I was just thinking how great it’s going to be when the two of you join Class 1-A.”
“Well, now I look like a jerk for teasing you,” Hitoshi laughs.
Shouto reaches around Izuku to nudge him. “That’s because you are a jerk, but don’t worry, we love you anyway. But seriously, can I just complain about today because the villains there legitimately wanted to kill us? Imagine being... I don’t know, in your thirties, and just deciding that it sounds like fun to kill a bunch of fifteen-year-olds. It was nonsense. I am tired.”
Hitoshi snorts. “I mean, yeah, you’re right, you do have to be some kind of loser to decide that your idea of fun is killing fifteen-year-olds for sport.”
“Even more of a loser to fail so spectacularly at it,” Izuku tacks on, taking a sip of his matcha. “Didn’t the news say there were like... I think it was seventy arrests or something like that? Imagine being that bad at something so simple, especially when you have the numbers for success. Embarrassing, really.”
Sometimes Shouto forgets that one of his best friends is a genius vigilante, and then Izuku says these mildly terrifying things so casually and he’s reminded once more. When people think of their friend group, they think that Izuku is the weakest link, but what they don’t realize is that Izuku is actually the most powerful out of them all, that Izuku only needs to say the word and Endeavor has no choice but to bark like the dog he is, that Izuku only needs to say the word and Hitoshi and Shouto would drop everything because that’s just the kind of loyalty Izuku inspires in his friends.
People who look at Izuku and see only that he’s Quirkless... it’s a fatal mistake.
A server comes to take their food orders, and Izuku orders tonkatsu ramen with extra beni shoga, Hitoshi shoyu, and Shouto orders tsukemen, which the other two promptly make fun of him for ordering.
“Okay, but back to what matters,” Shouto lowers his voice. “All Might was supposed to be there from the beginning, but for some reason, he didn’t come with us, and we got there, and he wasn’t there. Aizawa and Thirteen didn’t have the chance to explain why before the villains showed up, but I don’t think they were going to. As a teacher, he’s terrible.”
“He’s Quirkest, too,” Izuku mutters, and it’s the bitterest Shouto’s ever heard him sound. “Remember that time when he tried to scam free analysis for the full heroics class out of me, and he said he’d met me before? He didn’t talk much about our first meeting, did he?”
Hitoshi’s already got a look of dawning horror on his face, like he’s going to be sick. “Was he the one, Izuku?”
“To tell me to be realistic?” Izuku shakes his head. It’s not a denial. “Yes. He was. I was attacked by a villain that day. And he slapped me awake, and then he was going to abandon me, without treatment. I didn’t think about that part until later, anyway. It’s not like any hospital would have treated a Quirkless freak like me. But I panicked when he tried to leave, because I’d had such a bad day. My best friend from childhood had suicide baited me and assaulted me and destroyed my things, then I was attacked by a villain, so of course I wasn’t thinking clearly.”
“Of course, no one blames you, Izu,” Hitoshi is the first to reach out and curl his arms around Izuku’s waist.
Shouto’s the second.
“I grabbed him as he tried to take off. He tried to kick me off mid-air — he only stopped when I reminded him I’d die. He didn’t think about my safety as a civilian at all; I can’t believe I ever thought he was a good hero.” Izuku looks down at that. Shouto pushes his cup of tea into his hand. Izuku only swirls it around mindlessly. “He landed us on a rooftop. Some things happened there that I can’t tell you in public. I... trust the two of you. I want to tell you. But I can’t tell you here. It’ll probably explain to you what happened at the USJ, though.”
Shouto sighs, resting his head on Izuku’s shoulder. “You ran into some sort of state secret, and he didn’t even get you the right paperwork, it sounds like.”
Izuku snorts. “No, because he’s both Quirkest and stupid.”
“How unfortunate for him,” Hitoshi shakes his head, then leans his head against Izuku’s other shoulder. “You don’t have to keep talking if you don’t want to.”
“I want to tell you everything,” Izuku murmurs, and something in his voice sounds lighter than before. Shouto recognizes it, because Shouto was there once, with no one to share his secrets to.
“Then tell us everything,” Shouto whispers.
Izuku smiles. It’s a little sad. There’s something else there too. For a moment, it’s quiet, then Izuku presses on. “I asked him if a Quirkless person could be a hero. He told me it was nice to dream, but I should be realistic. It’s clear he has no idea was realistic for Quirkless people these days, because then he suggested to me that I could be a cop, or a doctor, and you can’t get into the police academy at all without a Quirk, and statistically, it’s near impossible to get into a medical school without a Quirk. Sometimes I actually think he was actually implying to me I should have killed myself, because then he left me on the rooftop alone, and the statistics...”
“You didn’t really think about it, did you?” Hitoshi grabs Izuku’s face, cradling him like he’s something precious —
And he is, Izuku is. The idea of Izuku succumbing to despair after what All Might said to him that day and simply just giving up then and there and just — no, it’s too awful to bear. Shouto squeezes Izuku a little tighter, presses his face into the crook of Izuku’s neck.
“Not even for a second,” Izuku breaths out. “The only thing I felt was rage. Imagine being such an incompetent hero and having the nerve to tell someone they can’t be a hero.”
Hitoshi laughs, and there’s something in his voice Shouto, terrible with social things as he is, can’t recognize. “You’re so petty. I adore you.”
“I adore you too, Toshi,” Izuku replies, then he tilts his head slightly so he can give some attention to Shouto. “I adore you too, Shouto.”
Shouto hums in response, nuzzles his face against Izuku. For a while, the three of them sit there, pressed far too close and they bask in each other’s presence until the food arrives, then finally, they at least extract their arms from each other. They eat a few bites — Izuku chose a good restaurant. The food is good.
After a bit, Izuku speaks again. “But Shouto, what else happened? All Might wasn’t there like he was supposed to be, and then I kinda... took over everything.”
“Yeah, but it was relevant; you know why he wasn’t there,” Shouto shrugs. “And even if you didn’t, and you were just telling us about All Might being Quirkist and ditching you on a rooftop — I want to know about that too. Even more reason to not bother surpassing him like the old man wants — why would I want to be a hero like that? I’m thinking about Underground heroics more and more these days, you know.”
No, after today... Shouto was thinking perhaps he’d rather be more of a hero like Eraserhead, who faced over seventy villains, including one meant to defeat All Might himself, and still came out surprisingly uninjured despite the odds.
And unlike Endeavor... Eraserhead had actually made Shouto feel safe when he had said he was going to protect their class.
And thanks to Izuku, if Shouto wanted to think about Underground heroics — he actually could now. It would piss his father off, and that was a nice bonus... but he didn’t want to base his future off of his father anymore. It was something he’d have to think about.
“Maybe we could be a team.” Hitoshi pauses, then he laughs. “But then you two would really be stuck with me.”
“Sounds like the opposite of a problem,” Izuku nudges Hitoshi with an elbow.
Shouto smiles. “That... sounds really nice, actually. I still have to think about if I want to go Underground or not, but... if I do, I can’t imagine anyone I’d rather be with than the two of you.”
Hitoshi turns pink at that, looking away. “You’re starting to become a sap; you’re picking up Izuku’s traits. Just go back to your USJ story.”
Shouto and Izuku both laugh at him; Izuku pokes Hitoshi gently in the ribs.
“All Might didn’t show up, but the villains did. They were warped in by a villain with a warp Quirk — Izuku you would have be fascinated by him. Aizawa decided to take on the vast majority of the villains while Thirteen was meant to get us to escape. The Warp Villain came over and didn’t let us, said it was his job to scatter and kill us, of course, and Bakugou and Kirishima, like the fools they are, decided they would attack the villain without any plan or coordination with anyone, and the villain scattered us all over the USJ.”
“That sure sounds like Kacchan,” Izuku rolls his eyes. “His ego always gets in the way of things. He knew better, but he probably thought he was stronger. He usually assumes he’s the strongest in the room until he gets his ass kicked. And I remember Kirishima from the Battle Trials. He wouldn’t stop talking about Kacchan. Probably just followed along like a puppy.”
Shouto snorts. “I see you’ve decided to psychologically dissect the class idiots today.”
“If they didn’t put everyone in danger, I wouldn’t waste the effort, but they could have gotten you all killed catering to Kacchan’s fat ego.” Izuku replies testily, stabbing his chopsticks into a piece of pork in his ramen. “Kacchan is smarter than that. He chose to be stupid, because for some reason he thinks he, a fifteen-year-old with barely any training, is better than a villain who’s there saying they’re there to kill you.”
“He’s an egotistical maniac. Somewhere along the way, everyone started saying he was great, and he took it to heart, I’d bet.” Hitoshi shrugs, a hand on Izuku’s shoulder.
Izuku grimaces. “Sounds about right.”
“Yeah, well, his ego ruined it for all of us; he got me sent off to the Landslide zone, where I was alone. I threatened some of the villains to get some information; they really did think they could kill All Might and that meant trouble, so I went to intervene. I faced off with the villain they called Nomu that seemed to be a genetic experiment to fight All Might and the villain with a disintegrating Quirk named Shigaraki for a few minutes until Bakugou cut in, then All Might showed up not long after.”
“Late as usual,” Izuku mumbles, green eyes rolling.
“You fought the thing made to kill All Might?” Hitoshi fixes Shouto with a worried glare. “Why?”
Shouto shrugs. “The thing was mostly muscle; I can fight from a distance. And Aizawa was pretty smashed up at that point — I wasn’t sure he’d live if someone didn’t step in.”
“We need to transfer in soon; I don’t trust Explosion Asshole and All Might to back you up,” Hitoshi gripes.
Izuku laughs, nodding. “Yeah, we’re the dream team!”
“There’s no one I’d trust more at my back,” Shouto admits, smiling as his best friends both turn a little pink — it’s a nice color on them. “I know I can trust the two of you with anything, and you’re both smart and good at coming up with clever solutions to things.”
Izuku promptly buried his face in his hands, mumbling something incoherent as he slumps on the table over his ramen. Hitoshi and Shouto share a glance over Izuku’s head and immediately come to a mutual agreement and start to tease Izuku with compliments as they try to work on eating the rest of their meal.
Eventually, Izuku gets over the embarrassment, as he always does, and they finish their meal, sharing a few roasts about All Might and Endeavor and discussing what Present Mic’s been having them get up to in their training. Izuku tells them about how he’s been working on some gloves with tasers built in, and how he’d already put tech neutralizers that went out for five feet in the gloves. Izuku had told Shouto recently in private how he had realized he didn’t want to show off all his shoe tricks to UA, worried that it would tie him too much to Grey Hat and get him caught, so he’s not terribly surprised.
Shouto thought that was probably wise.
When they finished with the meal, Shouto paid the bill for all three of them, happily using Endeavor’s black credit card. Then Izuku led them both out of the way to some empty alleyway.
“Help me make sure no one’s listening in,” he asked as he bumps his ankles together.
Shouto nods. Izuku’s probably using his shoes to make sure there’s no chance of surveillance. It’s already started to get dark out; they find no one. Satisfied that no one’s listening in, Izuku chooses a spot against the wall to lean against next to a trash can that results in him being mostly hidden from the main street.
“Alright, so you may have seen this morning on the news that he spent a bunch of time stopping crime and such if you follow Hero Networks, right?” Izuku starts. Hitoshi shrugs, not as avid of a follower, and Shouto nods. “Well, he has a time limit these days to how much time he can spend as a hero.”
“You didn’t pull that punch at all, did you?” Hitoshi mutters.
Izuku shrugs. “The day that I was attacked, when we landed on that building he transformed from the hero you’re familiar with to someone all skin and bones. He’s frail and has an injury. And that’s part of his argument for why I can’t be a hero — he couldn’t face off against someone ridiculously strong, so I would not be able to. I’m not trying to fight those types of villains. Those types of supervillains get left to heroes like Endeavor or Hawks. I’d only ever face one if I was unlucky enough to encounter by accident. The Hero Commission handpicks heroes to face those types of villains. They’re not picking the Quirkless one.”
“So his argument is that because he got an injury on the job, you can’t be a hero...?” Shouto can’t keep the incredulity out of his voice. “But nearly every hero, no matter the Quirk, gets a major injury at some point during their career? This is very standard in Heroics. Your Quirk, or lack thereof has nothing to do with that.”
“I know,” Izuku spits out, rolling his eyes. “I could barely believe it myself! Like, I’m not wanting to go and square up with the big bads that the daylights do. I want to be an Under. I just want to help people and make them feel safe.”
“God, you really do have the worst heroics teacher though, Shou,” Hitoshi laughs, but it doesn’t sound like he thinks it’s very funny. “First, he’s just not a very good hero, based on how he treated Izu. He crushes kids' dreams and leaves them in dangerous places also, so there’s that too. Then lastly, he must know he has a time limit, based on the way he was so determined to abandon Izuku and tried to make him fall to his death to avoid revealing it, but he still was more focused on using that time to perform rescues when he wasn’t really needed instead of saving it to do his job and teach your class.”
“Ugh, Sho, remember the battle trials? He was so busy trying to rip me off and get a million yen’s worth of free labor that he forgot to actually supervise the battles and Kacchan dropped a building on him and that girl’s head, and Uraraka and Iida had to dig them out.” Izuku always thought of that as the moment he realized how bad of a teacher All Might was.
Shouto shook his head. “He still hasn’t got any better, but I think he’s trying? But it’s obvious that teaching is not his priority. He has some ulterior motive.”
“He should stop wasting everyone’s time, then, and quit teaching. Focus on his real goal and let someone who actually cares about producing good heroes focus on producing good heroes,” Izuku shoves his hands in his pockets and pushes away from the wall, kicking his ankles again. “Anyway, I better get home and sneak back home before my mother notices I’m gone. She’ll come knock for my shower time soon.”
“Do you need any help getting back?” Hitoshi offers.
Shouto has to resist the urge to laugh. Oh, what Hitoshi doesn’t know. But Shouto only wandered into this secret because Izuku was careless in order to spite Endeavor.
Izuku waves a hand. “Don’t worry about me, Toshi. I do this all the time. It’s like second nature by now. I’ll see you at school tomorrow, okay?”
Izuku waves to them and jogs off and around the corner. Hitoshi watches with pretty pink cheeks. Izuku does have that effect on him quite often.
Shouto takes Hitoshi’s hand and tugs him along. “Come on, Hitoshi; we don’t want to hang out here all night. This place is a little questionable. People will get the wrong idea. Let’s go to my place. My dad won’t be home; we can practice our hand to hand until you have to go home.”
Hitoshi’s face turns bright red, but he still follows along, hand in hand.