Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Running away from the fastest pro hero who could fly was not Izuku’s idea of fun. But of course Hawks would literally betray him when all he was trying to do was help him escape from the hero commision. They had him so manipulated and traumatized, he couldn’t even see the horrible things they were doing.

Something Izuku and his two partners in crime had all struggled with in the past. Which meant of course Izuku now had to take down the corrupted hero commision, one of the biggest governments in the world. Something he was just a little too exited to do. The point is, Izuku was sympathetic with Hawks and slightly over eager to meet up. Which lead to his predicament.

Sprinting across the rooftops with two broken ribs(hawks had body slammed him into a brick wall, and he wasn’t wearing any body armor because it was supposed to be a simple conversation not a fight)was unsurprisingly not fun. At least Izuku was the master at dodging, so the feather knives hawks kept yeeting at him never hit their mark. Unfortunately for him, Hawks was smart and tactical thanks to his ‘training’ and instead of aiming for Izuku's body, he started aiming for the ground underneath him.

Izuku was still scrambling to figure out a plan to get himself out of this mess. Seeing the sky start turning pink with the dawn of a new day made him panic more. Not only was he losing his cover of darkness, but sunrise meant that people were going to start coming out. That is a huge disadvantage because they would take one look at #2 hero hawks and assume he was a serial killer or some shit like that. They would actively sabotage his chances of getting away.

Then hawks got a lucky hit in and the loose stone Izuku had been standing on was no longer there, and he toppled forward of the three story building. Izuku tried to tuck and roll, but his freshly broken ribs prevented him, and he smashed his head on the corner of a dumpster.

Fighting unconsciousness he pressed his com and uttered to his accomplices friends “abort mission, code orange, relocate to our randevu point, now.” Before taking the device out his ear and crushing it with his palm and the concrete below. effectively covering his tracks and protecting his family from the toxic commision they were all fighting against.

His issue warned and Hawks nearing him, he let the dark spots in his vision envelope him. This forced the pro nearby to prioritize his health rather than the capture of the rest of the vigilantes scrambling to relocate themselves. “Shit” the winged hero exclaimed before alerting his supervisors of his now unavailability for the rest of the mission. He then rushed forward to stop the heavily bleeding head injury on his enemy. He cringed in sympathy, that was a concussion for sure and he was gonna be in a lot of pain when he woke up.

Across town in a ragged and rundown apartment mostly abandoned, sat a blonde in front of a monitor cursing as he typed frantically, trying to get a visual on what was going on. Not being able to communicate with one of the only people he could trust, was causing his anxiety to tripal.

Suddenly worried about his significant other, Shinsou Hitoshi, he scrambled to check on them. Before he had the chance to though, he heard their voice over the comms. “Kami….location…compromised ….police….on their way…get out!” Before a pained shout and a beep alerting him that the comm had disconnected. Even with all the static interrupting Hitoshi, Denki got the message.

A feeling of cold icey dread filled his gut and quickly he got to work. Deleting all the information stored on the monitors, denki hacked into his own computer digitally covering all his tracks. Just as he was about to initiate his self-destruct sequence, his door burst open. A small army of police and corrupt heroes poured out the broken doorway, trapping him in.

Freeze!” One policeman said, pointing his gun at denki. Standin up, denki turned around putting on his snarky persona to mask his terror. “Hello officers, what brings you to my humble abode today?” Casually throwing his arms to his side, trying to portray confidence.

“Put your hands behind your head, now!” The man said, glaring at the teen.“That’s not very nice mister officer man. Or woman, I don’t judge.”Denki leaned back, putting his hands on the desk behind him.

“Look I don’t want to shoot a kid so just surrender peacefully” he said not budging. Rolling eyes, the vigilante replied with “how about …. Nah” Quickly typing in the last sequence of numbers his desktop was completely wiped. He made sure no evidence remained of any important information. He smiled knowing that no matter what happened, they wouldn’t be getting any inside information from his devices.

His screen started blinking an eerie red, bathing the room in a blood color. With a devilish glint in his eyes, the blonde hacker turned, readying his fists proclaiming “now the fun begins.”

By the end of the day, the three greatest vigilantes of the mufasta area and greatest threats to the hero commission were captured and tortured under the guise of interrogation, and all were non the wiser except for the hero commision and all police/hero securely under their thumbs. That and of course one mouse bear principal, who had hacked the hero commision because of boredom. “Interesting” he proclaimed, bearing his canines in a smile to an empty room.

Chapter Text

Two hero commision agents grip Denki by the arms and drag him along, drugged and confused. A state the electric user had grown accustomed to the last month and a half. At least the blonde thinks it’s been that long, as the hero commission wants him as unsteady as possible and therefore has not given him any kind of consistency.

The agents grip harshly and pull roughly but finally they reach their destination. Denki looks up in time to see them pull open a blank concrete door in a seemingly endless hallway of similar looking doors. They drag him in and chain his hands to a steel table bolted to the floor.

Denki knows it’s not the room they usually throw him in as it is absent of his blood or the scratches he carved into the floor while they weren’t looking. It could still be the same room though. He thinks to himself, half glancing at the guards who were now briskly leaving the room and locking the door behind them. He sits on the small stool in front of the table and examines it. It was shiny, clear, and free of all blemishes.

A hand in his hair, slamming his skull into the table. He felt as his face erupted with pain and more blood trickled down his nose. He was yanked up and came face to face with the agent currently ‘interrogating’ him.

“I’m getting tired of asking you little brat! What do you know!”

Another slam

“who do you work for!”

Another crack.

“What is your civilian identity!”

This time she threw him at the table and released her grip on his hair. Denki reeling with pain, caught himself on the edge of the table and hauled himself to his feet. The table was grimy, dented, and covered with the boy's blood. That is why he was unable to see the commision agent come behind him with a knife.

Nope. Definitely not the same room. Denki tears himself from his thoughts and awaits the interrogation he knows is inevitable. The minutes tick by till an hour has passed and the boy's hands have gone numb from the too-tight quirk canceling cuffs.

Then the door practically slams open, a redhead dressed in a black suit with HC monogrammed on the front, escorts two figures into the room before abruptly closing the door behind her. If Denki strained his ear he could hear a soft click of the door locking.

The first figure was dressed in all black, slim, and looked like they hadn’t slept in a month. His hair was greasy and tangled, and he had a long thin gray scarf bundled around his neck like a mountain. In the dim lighting Denki could see strands of metal woven into it for strength. He was very obviously Shouta Aizawa, the underground pro Eraserhead.

The second figure was an animal-like creature sitting in Eraser's arms. He had a scar over one eye and was dressed in a suit. It was also easy for the electric user to figure out who he was.

The animal principal Nedzu wore a polite smile as he guided Aizawa to set him down on the table. After complying, the underground hero backed up into a corner and leaned against the wall, waiting for Nedzu to do his thing.

”Hello Mr. Static shock, how are you today?”spoke the principal. Denki rolled his eyes before retorting, “cut the bull crap nedzu what the hell do you want, and why should I give it to you?”

The rat's lips curved upwards into a smirk. “I want you to join our vigilante rehabilitation program and be a hero student.”

While his words definitely shocked Denki, he did not let it show. Instead narrowing his eyes to glare at Nedzu who was still talking.

“As for why you should agree to do it, for one you get to become a hero. But, if that’s not for you, after completing the course and graduating your criminal record will be wiped clean and you can go back to being a regular civilian. So, what do you say, do we have a deal?”

After another quick glance around the small room, The blonde leaned back and relaxed his face to look casual. “Sorry to disappoint you but I won’t do anything without my boss agreeing first.”

Aizawa finally spoke from the corner, shock and confusion leaking from his voice, “Who is your boss?” The vigilante smirked and replayed, “I think you know ‘Mr. Eraserhead.”

Panicked and shocked, he straightened himself, looking around anxiously. It soon gave way to anger and defensiveness. Walking up and slamming his hands on the table he glared and very carefully examined the small petite boy in front of him.

“How do you know my hero name.” The smirk not leaving for a second, the electric user casually replied with “I’m a vigilante and a hacker. No one can hide from me, not even an underground hero.”

Surprise flashed in his eyes before finally settling. “Think about what we’re offering you here. If your boss is something you're afraid of, we can put you in witness protection.”

Denki snorted,’ as if Izuku would ever hurt him’.

“The alternative is you staying here till you give the commision the information they want and then going to prison for the rest of your life.” The electric user griminced at Aizawas callous words. Despite what others may say, he wasn’t stupid. He knew Eraserhead didn’t know what his real options were. The hero commission was very secretive that way.

Sighing he responded, “look eraser, I’d love to take your little offer of making me a better person, really, but I refuse to agree to anything without consulting my boss first. You get his agreement, I’m all in. But until then,” he spread his arms for dramatic effect,”I’m content here.” And thus ended the conversation.

Clearly displeased, the principle was carried out by his employee to the next cell containing the puppeteer. Their response (nedzu was corrected on their pronouns quick enough) was essentially the same as static shock’s.

Nedzu absentmindedly wondered what the vigilante boss mastermind had done to gain such absolute loyalty from his partners. They didn’t seem afraid of him so it was unlikely they were threatened or blackmailed. The principal would just have to ask the vigilante himself.

Entering the last cell, Nedzu hoped he would come out with better results than he had previously. The moment the boy’s eye landed on the figures who had just entered the room, he smirked. Almost as if he knew exactly what the two were there for.

Leaning on the edge of the table, the principal started the conversation. “I’m going to cut right to the case Mastermind. I want you to participate in a vigilante rehabilitation program at UA. You would be a hero student and upon graduation you could go into heroics or re-enter society with a clean record.”

The vigilante in turn did not look surprised in the least. “And let’s say I did agree, what would happen to my teammates, hm?” He tilted his head slightly to the left, provoking the image of innocence that both heros knew to be false.

Amusement twinkling in his eyes, nedzu responded. “They would go with you. Both stated they wanted to take this deal, but wouldn’t without approval from you.” Putting all the cards in his hands so to speak, Nedzu waited anxiously for the vigilante’s response.

A small smile gracing his features, Izuku replied. “I see. In that case, I agree to your terms, on behalf of me and both my teammates.” The principal grinned, pleased with the outcome of the meeting. The boy in front of him grinned back, just as menacingly.

Dear god, Azaiwa thought to himself. Please don’t let this be the end of the world.

Chapter Text

Shinso did not like this. They were stuck in an unfamiliar environment, watched constantly, with zero of their coping skills to deal with it. So yeah. They were not happy.

At least Eraserhead had refrained from referring to them as a he. Normally when Shinso corrected people on their pronouns, they just scoffed at them and did it anyway. At least, before they became a vigilante. Perhaps that was the reason he had been treating them humanly.

Whatever the reason, Shinso wasn’t happy. They had spent so long alone that any intrusion of that solitude felt like a threat. Not even their boyfriend Denki had been an exception. It had taken a long period of casual interaction before Shinso had finally been able to trust him.

Now, constantly being supervised, felt like a pre-battle staring contest, full of quips and poorly hidden tension. Mistrust was ramped in the air, and the poor migraine prone teen was feeling it full force.

Nedzu had said they wouldn’t place cameras or microphones in places where they would become an invasion of privacy(i.e. bathroom, bedroom). Shinso didn’t trust it. Every time they entered a room they would scan it. So far they had found nothing unreasonable, but that didn’t soothe their anxiety.

The hero’s still haven’t let them see their crew. Nedzu said it was to get them accustomed to the environment a little bit before adding additional complications. Eraserhead said they should calm down, as he’s only making them wait an hour. An hour that felt like a lifetime.

Before they had even gotten to the dorms, the ever tiered pro had laid out the guidelines. “Ok kid, here are the rules: no leaving without adult supervision, no sharp objects in your room, no leaving your dorms after lights out, no attacking your classmates unless in a spar, and please, for the love of god, no sex. My life is already exhausting enough without having to deal with … that. “

Shinso nodded their head in agreement. All the rules seemed pretty standard and reasonable. “What time is lights out?” Aizawa turned his head slightly so he could walk and talk at the same time.

“Power loader rigged up a system that will automatically lock your doors at 10 and unlock them at 5.” This alarmed them as they realized they were effectively trapped throughout the entire night. With no way out.

“What if an emergency happens, will I just be trapped” Shinso could feel the panic welling up within them, and they knew it was coming out as anger.

Aizawa, to his credit, just gave them a side look and responded with “no kid, just don’t worry about it I’m sure the rat has it all figured out”. This did not inspire confidence in the vigilante. The rest of the walk to the dorms was silent.

***

Denki was in no way a patient person. If he had to wait for something, he would multitask. If it was a slow task, someone else could do it. His brain was a bullet train and he never learned how to slow it down.

Suffice to say, this current hour was a nightmare for him. They were all brought to their rooms separately, locked in for an hour, and then they were to be set loose at the end.

The walls were blank and barren, which drove denki even further up the wall. The lack of stimulation was suffocating and he was in a foul mood because Aizawa told him he wasn’t permitted electronics because of his hacking skills. So here he was, with nothing to entertain himself with, for an hour. Great. This was already starting to feel like a bad idea. He was just starting to seriously consider breaking his hand on the desk just so he’d have something to occupy himself with, when he heard the click of the door unlocking and the thumps of Izuku and Hitoshi scrambling to get out.

Denki didn’t hesitate to join them. He sprinted down the hallway, vaulted over the stairs, bound to the kitchen where he ran into Shinso. In the blink of an eye, Denki had tackled them, cuddling them into the ground. They squeezed right back, holding him like the end of the world.

“Teenagers” Aizawa scoffed, rolling his eyes from the dining area. A clank was heard as Izuku popped his head out of the vent.

“Leave them be eraser, they’ve got separation anxiety.” Startled, Aizawa nearly spilled his coffee, twisting his head like an owl to get a view on the vigilante that came out of nowhere.

“What in the hell!?!” Quietly, Izuku crawled out of the vent, screwed the cover back on, and walked away like nothing had happened. Eraser looked suspiciously at his coffee.

A couple hours later the two were curled up more comfortably on the couch softly murmuring reassurances to each other. Izuku was cutting up the clothes they were all provided and made them up in their own preferred fashion.

Shinso liked their clothes in a gothic style, denki liked either revieiling, form fitting clothes or many layers of very oversized clothes. Izuku just need his shoes stretched(the non-quirkless shoes were to tight and there was no way he was gonna reveal he didn’t have a quirk) and since he was the only one who knew how to sew, he had taken it along himself to fix up the others cloths.

Aizawa was in the adjacent dining room grading papers. Occasionally he’d look up, see the mad grin on the green haired gimlin’s face and immediately look back down.

That night Eraser told them they would go to class the next morning, and the students (pre warned) would move back into the dorms. Shinso and Denki reluctantly split for the night, and Shinso laid in their bed.

They didn’t want to go to sleep, but because of how long they had gone without a proper bed, the purple haired insomniac fell asleep roughly after midnight. Immediately, they were thrown into a nightmare.

Freak.

Loser.

No one would ever love a psycho like you.

Ewwwww get away from me monster.

Fucking monster.

A hero with that quirk, please.

Useless pathetic bitch.

He’s just a pathetic excuse of a human being, no, he’s not even that!

I can’t believe you were ever born.

I’m surprised your parents didn’t take a bullet to your head the moment you popped out.

Such a disappointment.

Worthless.

Ha! He doesn’t even fight back!

Stupid.

Stay back you monster!

I’ll sew that mouth shut if you don’t stop talking right now you pathe-

Shinso woke with a shutter, gasping for air. The nightmare about their past foster homes were always the worst. Especially the ones with the muzzle. They couldn’t stop their breathing form spiraling out of control.

Desperately scratching at the door, they heaved for air. They stayed that way until the lock clicked 4 hours later. It knocked them out of their dissociative episode, and they curled up tight. They missed denki. He would always hold them in their bad moments like this. Shinso sighed and started getting ready for the day. They could already tell it was gonna be a long one.

Chapter Text

Denki wakes with a start, jolting into a seated position. After a brief moment of confusion when his knife isn’t under his pillow, he remembers where he is. He groans and flopped back down onto his bed wishing he could go back to sleep.

He gets up after a moment, and starts preparing for the day. He knows the door isn’t unlocked yet as the alarm clock tells him it’s currently 3:06. Not wanting to stand idle, the blonde looking over the course material. Since it was the beginning of the school year, there wasn’t a lot to catch up on. Nevertheless, when the clink knocked the hacker out of his focus, there was still a large stack of assignments to do.

He shoots up and rushes downstairs, breathing in the fresh air. The air in his room was stuffy and claustrophobic. Ending his impromptu marathon, he ends up in the kitchen. Deciding to make breakfast for the entire class, he collects the needed materials for pancakes.

Ten minutes later, while the electric user was wiping down the countertops preparing to cut up some fruit, Shinso approaches. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, denki bids his partner a good morning. Shinso, upon failing to reply, tips their boyfriend off that something was wrong.

Dropping the rag he was using, denki turned around to give his lover his full attention, and promptly gasped at the sight he was greeted with. Usually rose tinted cheeks, a stark white. Deep red gashes, some bleeding heavily, crisscrossed across their mouth. Tear tracks that had long since dried, caked on top of the drying blood. Their clothes were rumpled and their purple hair frazzled. Nailers bitten off and dried blood splattered across their fingertips.

“Oh baby, come here.” The blonde opened his arms wide to catch his lover in a warm embrace. He had seen enough of shinso’s night terrors to know what they needed right now. Holding them and reassuring them whatever the dream had said was wrong. Slowly Shinso began to shake off the last dredges of dissociation. They rubbed at their eyes and hissed when they scraped across the scratches.

“Do you want me to help you clean those up?” Denki asked, gently cradling their face and soothing the irritated skin there.

“No, that’s okay. Save me some pancakes please.” The (traumatized NB) replied, gently pulling away and stalking off towards the direction of the bathroom. The blonde let them go and went back to making breakfast, setting aside 2 pancakes.

Half an hour later, Izuku came down also dressed and ready. The two former vigilantes chatted lightly about how bland the rooms were, and when Shinso came out again they also added to the conversation. Denki set the table with the food he had cooked and waited for the inevitable. Eventually the students came trickling down from the rooms. Some were casual, but most were suspicious of the trio. Almost no one ate the breakfast Denki had prepared. Some students were a bit more loud about their disproval.

“Did you see the criminals they let in?”

“I wonder if the food is poisoned.”

“I don’t feel comfortable with them here.”

“I can’t believe they let a bunch of villains into the hero course.”

“Vigilante actually.” The chatter instantly died at the greenette’s exclamation.

“What?” The student who originally commented. She was short with pink cheeks and a brown bob.

“Vigilantes I said. Not villains. There is a difference you know. Something any proper hero hopeful should know.” Izuku replied without looking up from his meal.

“Well from where I’m standing all I see are 3 criminals who belong in prison and not hindering the heroes of the future.” Crossing her arms her surprised face quickly shifted into a glare she threw their way.

rolling his eyes, he went back to eating without responding. A few minutes of tense conversation later, a midget with purple balls on his head practically sprinted downstairs drooling. Once he saw that the new classmates were not in fact female, his expression soured.

“Ah man. There’s no new hot babes! That’s not fair! And I got myself excited for groping a new hottie!” His exclamation was met with a couple disgusted looks from the girls, but nothing else.

“Are you fucking kidding me.” The class flinched at the venom in the voice they heard. It was filled with just pure hatred. They turned and took another look at the speaker. Denki had stood up, his mind filled with images of grown men taking advantage of him, and not saying anything because when he did no one listened.

“You are goddamn fucking heroes. And yet you let this perverted future predator go around doing whatever he wants!?” His arms shaking with rage and he points to said pervert. “What the fuck are you doing?! Are you trying to nurture the next generation of rapists?! Because that’s how you fucking do it!”

Shaking, he stormed over to the grape head, pulled his phone out of his pocket with barely a squeak of protest and proceeded to type furiously for two minutes. After finding what he wanted, he showed the screen to the class.

“Two charges of attempted rape! 5 restraining orders! 3 accounts of stealing underwear and bras! And all of it wiped clean from the judge because he has a good quirk and his parents have money. Is this the person you want protecting people?! You thing he’s going to stop a sexual predator when he is one! Seriously, you guys are supposed to be fucking heroes! So why. Aren’t. You. Doing. Anything. About. It.”

Met with a shocked silence, and terrified faces, denki sneared and proclaimed, “I don’t know what I expected. From where I stand, you're the ones who are the villains.” Ashamed the class averts their eyes. They realize maybe just how badly they messed up.

Turning to face the grape head once more, he said, “as for you, if I ever find out you’ve harassed another person ever again, I’ll show you what makes me a criminal.” Returning the hacked phone to the now pale faced midget, the blonde walked back to his seat and continued his breakfast. The rest of his crew, knowing him and his history, aren’t surprised by his reaction and say anything about it.

***

The trio of vigilantes were the last to leave the dorms. Conversation had not picked up again, and while they were content in silence, the rest of the would-be heroes were tensely silent.

The walk to their new classroom was silent, until Denki initiated conversation.

“Soooo boss. What’s the game plan.” Izuku looked at the electric user with thoughtfulness thinly masked by confusion.

“Whatever could you mean” the blonde rolled his eyes as if he had denied the obvious.

“You never walk into anything without a plan and a goal. So what are we getting out of all this? What’s the game plan?” He pointed out. He wasn’t wrong. Within every mission, Deku always supplied his team with a plan. They were smart, concise, and they never failed. Except for when they were rushed. Like when the three had gotten captured.

“Well first of all, we need to gather intel. These are new people and we don’t know what responses eliset the best reactions. And our goal has never changed.” Denki appetites to mull that over for a moment before accepting that that was as much detail as Izuku was willing to give.

“So in other words, we need to figure these people out so that we get them on our side and take down the Hero Commision from the inside out.” The purplette dryly commented,

“That’s a gross oversimplification, but yes.”

“From that display this morning, we gotta make them see the world a little clearer. They’ve all got some sort of preconceived notion that heroes are inherently good.”

“Yep. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

***

Deku was not anticipating heroics class. He already didn’t want anything to do with being a hero and coupled with the fact that he knew exactly who was teaching, he knew he wasn’t going to have a good time.

“NEVER FEAR FOR I AM HERE!”

yep. This was not gonna be fun.

“Why don’t you three sit on the side and watch the real heroes in training.”

And then the bitch had to go and do that. I guess he already wasn’t enough of an asshole to Izuku before. As the class fought against each other, blood rushed in dekus ear and the phrase ‘be realistic’ echoed around in his head.

He debated standing up to him, exposing him for the quirkest corrupted hero he was. But then it dawned on him that no one would believe him. The number 1 hero’s word against some vigilante’s? There was no question who’d they support.

One day, the boy thought to himself, just got to build up some credit first.

***

Present Mic was surprisingly pretty lenient with the three vigilantes. He didn’t scold Denki for stimming in class, or deku’s mumbles. He even corrected himself on shinso’s pronouns when he caught himself slipping. He almost made becoming a hero seem worth it. Almost.

The three sat in deku’s room speaking in hushed whispers about the situation they found themselves in. They discussed anything and everything from classmates, to teachers, to the food they need for dinner tomorrow.

Eventually though, the elephant in the room was addressed. It was ultimately Denki the one who asked.

“So what are we gonna tell them about our history? I know they're dying to know and there is no way we can get away with telling them nothing. Aizawa at the very least will push” his inquiry was met with silence.

“Let’s just tell them that honestly it's none of their business and go from there.” Having no better answer Deku and denki nodded their agreement and they spent the rest of their time doing homework in a comfortable silence.

Denki was fluent in English so he helped the others there, but his dyslexia was acting up so they helped him write his thoughts down. Deku, being a theoretical genius, was a history wiz and thereby coached the other two through the dates and facts to memorize. They all had an equal footing in math and Shinso wasn’t particularly good in any subject.

By the time they were finished with their homework and had a good head start into their catch up packets, it was time for dinner and they all agreed to skip. No wanting to deal with their hero-to-be classmates, they each went to bed early. None of them slept very much.

Shinso went to sleep around 1, and was greeted by the memories of beatdowns, and times they were treated as less than for something they could not control.

They said nothing about it the next morning.

Chapter Text

“Fuck” denki said to no one in particular.

He was looking down at his bedspread that was now covered in blood. So now he had to deal with this little problem for the foreseeable future. And it was currently 2 in the fucking morning and he was locked in his fucking room. Great.

He unbent a paperclip and used the thin metal pieces to unlock the door. He quietly and quickly sprinted to the bathroom to avoid having to clean blood from the floor of the hallway. He sighed in resolution and headed into the girls bathroom. After grabbing some feminine hygiene products, he headed into the gender neutral bathrooms.

…

“Aizawa is coming to yell at me, isn't he?” Denki thought to himself.

He was correct.

The gruff and heavy boots that pounded on the floor got louder as he approached. Denki groaned softly as a cramp began hitting him. The footsteps stopped outside the bathroom and tapped impatiently. They continued until Denki dragged himself up and to the door.

“Problem child” he was pissed. His hair was floating lightly like he was on the edge of activating his quirk. His red tinged eyes betrayed his rage.

“Can I fucking help you” the grumpy blonde responded.

“Why, pray tell, did I get an alert that you broke out of your room at asso’clock to go into the girls bathroom?” Denki wanted to scream. He was in so much pain, and he could practically feel the blood trickle down his leg. He was gonna have to clean that up. Great.

“Breaking the very clear rules we set for you is grounds to throw you back to the commision, is that what you want?! Do you have anything to say for yourself?!” Denki bit his tongue to keep from crying out at the sharp pain to his stomach.

“static shock! Are you even paying attention to me!?” The short sharp breaths he took started to backfire as sharp spots of black clouded his vision. But even worse he could feel the warm red liquid flowing down his leg in small rivers. He wanted to throw up, it hurt so bad.

“Static shock?” Make it stop make it stop make it stop make it stop please please please. It hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hur-

“Static shock, what's wrong?” He made a choked noise as he clutched his stomach, his legs trembling from the weight of his body.

“Static shock is that blood!?” His breath labored, he folded over, now with a clear view of the thick blood now pooling around his feet, digging into the grooves of the tiles. His thoughts were consumed with his agony.

And then he promptly passed the fuck out.

…

He came to laying in one of the medical beds in recovery girls’ office. The office was painted in pastel and neutral colors made to be soothing. They didn’t work on denki.

“I see your awake Mr. Shock. How are you feeling?” A cold sense of dread filled Denki. They had probably given him drugs for the pain. What if they were narcotics?! Or addictive?! Oh god denki couldt think straight. He was open to attacks. Someone was coming to hurt him. What if he couldt get out. Oh god he was trapped! No no no no no nonono please god no nononono not again please-

“Static shock you need to breathe-“

“What did you give me!?” The blonde heaved, pulling at the iv, desperate to get the drugs out of his system.

“Stati-“

“Were they narcotics?! Was it morphine?! vecuronium!? Please tell me it wasn’t vecuronium! Oh god oh god oh godohgod.”

“Static shock! You need to breathe! we didn’t give you anything at all! You need to breathe, it’s ok, we didn’t give you narcotics or paralytics. the only thing in that iv is saline.” The vigilante’s teary eyes met recovery girl’s older ones. She gently removed the iv pole so he wouldn’t hurt himself pulling it anymore.

“Deep breathes hun, in for four, out for four, ok? There’s no need to panic.” His chest heaved and he looked around the room frantically, looking for exits. Slowly he began to calm down following the heroine's breathing exercises.

“That’s it. Deep breaths. We didn’t know if you were allergic to any medication so we didn’t give you anything.” No longer in the throes of panic, Denki squeezed his eyes shut to keep the tears from falling out.

“Are you more calm now deary?” The heroine, sensing Denki’s uncomfort, gratefully kelp her distance. Denki nodded his head quickly.

…

“And then Recovery girl said to prevent that from happening again they needed to do an emergency hysterectomy and that’s why I wasn’t here yesterday.” The blonde explained to his fellow vigilantes who needed to be caught up on the details.

“What about the drugs they put you on to perform the surgery?” Asked the concerned head of the group, Izuku. They sat in a circle on the floor of Shinso's room, working on all their catch up assignments while Denki explained what’s been happening.

“Oh I was fine as long as I knew what was going in my body, and when.” The hacker explained, scribbling out another answer in the English worksheet he was focusing on. “Aizawa also said tomorrow we have to start therapy with a commision appointed therapist that isn’t hound dog.”

“WHAT!”

…

Yeah that’s not gonna work well for Izuku. He knew all of this was too good to be true. The hero commision was gonna a point someone to torture them for info as they pretend it’s therapy. God fucking damn it.

“Mastermind, a pleasure to see you!” The agein goes unsaid.

Yeah, Izuku was going to hate this.

~~~
A fist in his face, a hand in his hair, the wall away covered in blood.

You’re nothing but a worthless deku and you’ll never amount to anything

Your better off dead
~~~
“How did you find out about project hawks!”

“I’ll never tell bitch!”
~~~
Why can’t you kill yourself already, auntie into spends to much time on you already

Hand holding him down, a knife carving words on his back

Cigarettes put out on his arms
~~~
“Who is your contact?!”

“Go to hell!”
~~~
The smell of burnt Carmel melted into his skin

Handprints over his waist, bile rising in his throat, a white past sticking to his inner thigh

A pencil through his hand, I just wanted a cup of water
~~~
“Tell me and this pain can end”

“…”
~~~
The stench of alcohol staining the walls permanently

We don’t take to your kind here, please my mom is sick, I said get out you little freak!

Jumping off that roof
~~~

“Have a good day mastermind, I’ll see you next week.”

…

“Hey guys, I don’t think I can take this anymore.”

Chapter Text

Taking a deep breath, Shinso walked into the class expecting disaster. Call it a feeling but they could tell they were not going to have a good day. Most of the heroes in training left them alone after realizing they weren’t evil or some classic villain shit. Except of course floaty bitch and Mr explodes a lot. They kept glaring and loudly protesting how unsafe it was to keep so called vigilantes with hero students.

Anyway the moment Shinso walked into class they knew something was going to happen.

“We’re going on a field trip”

called it.

…
Unsurprisingly being stuck in a bus of people who hate you was not pleasant. Except for tsu and todoroki. They were blunt with their questions and stuff so they weren’t really a hassle to try and deal with.

“Excuse me for speaking my mind but I was wondering why you became vigilantes.” Never mind.

“I was denied my hero application.”

“I’m legally unable to apply to be a hero.”

“I didn’t know heros existed until I met these two.”

“Oh”.

Awkward silence.

Nice.

…
Walking into a villain trap was a welcome distraction from the suspicious glances. Denki and Izuku agreed.

“Hey Mr criminal i hate to point out but this invasion plan is tacky at best. Paper schedules mean nothing if someone has a last minute emergency. Or they don’t show up, like all might.”

“You mean he’s not here!”

“If a loud 6’7 blonde body builder was here, you’d know. He is not subtle in the least bit.”

“If he’s not here, where is he!”

“Dealing with actual villains”

“I AM AN ACTUAL VILLAIN”

“not with those shoes, like seriously what are those!”

“I will blast you to dust!”

“You can try but you will find we are much more capable than that stupid blonde oaf”

“i know right, he’s so annoying I kinda wish he was here for noobie villain here to kill.”

“Wait if you hate all might so much why don’t you join me?”

“Pass”

“pass”

“hard pass.”

“Why not?!”

“Why would I follow someone who doesn’t even know what chapstick is”

“MOTHERFJSJANJSHBDCJH” Izuku got impatient and slammed a pipe into his kneecap.

“See!” He said over screaming “if you can’t block that your not worth my time at all!”

…
“so your saying, you, three vigilantes, defeated over 500 villain at once with no back up” the shocked detective blinked.

“Yep!” Responded a preppy blonde.

“HOW!”

“Mainly sass” the brainwashed shot back.

“SHIGARAKI HAS THREE BROKEN RIBS AND A PIPE STICKING OUT HIS KNEE!”

“Yeah, he was so distracted with our sass he never saw me coming!” The chaotic vent gremlin said, smiling sweetly.

“ERASER WHAT THE FUCK IS UP WITH THESE KIDS”

“❣️t r a u m a ❣️” they all said at the same time.

“HOW THE FUCK DID YOU SAY THAT OUT LOUD!”

…

Shinso guessed they were wrong. It was a pretty good day. Aizawa did not agree.

Chapter Text

Shinso had never liked crying all that much. It made their eyes red, puffy, and very congested. Not to mention anytime they were vulnerable enough to be crying, they almost always were taken advantage of and regretted it. Anytime, that is, before they met their found family of Izuku and denki.

“Sh sh its okay honey, you can stop holding back, I got you” sobbing into the arms of your very caring boyfriend after a particularly bad ‘therapy’ session was unsurprisingly very cathartic. With his arms encompassing shinsou’s head, they felt so safe and it only made them sob harder.

“It’s alright baby, I’ve got you, I’ve got you, I promise nothing is going to take you from me, it’s okay” gently running fingers through the insomniac’s hair denki comforted their partner as best he could, pretending for a moment that as long as they were in his arms he could protect them from their terrible past.

“I got you, I got you, it’s okay baby, I got you” with a particularly loud sob, Hitoshi clutched denki’s hoodie hard enough that their knuckles turned white. Rocking them back and forth, he soothed them as best he could.

“I c-ant pl-ease I can-t do this an-ymore, p-pl-please I-I can’t keep do-ing this” his heart breaking, the electric user kept rocking and rubbing and soothing, wishing desperately he could shield them from their pain.

“Don’t make me go back, please!”

…
“Because of your apparent lack of progress, the hero commision thought it would be prudent to increase your therapy sessions to everyday.” Clenching their hands harder, Shinso used the pain to distract themselves from the all consuming panic threading to overwhelm them.

“Okay”

…
“Ugh this level is kicking my ass” in the living room, Kirishima, the red haired golden retriever was attempting to complete the rainbow road circuit and failing miserably.

“That’s cause your hitting the half pipes. They actually slow you down, it’s much easier to just avoid them ". It had been a few weeks since they had arrived so Hitoshi felt comfortable enough to work on homework in public spaces. With the iconic chimes of victory,

“Thanks for the advice, man” with a wince and a disgusted look on their face they replied with

“I’m not a man so stop calling me one.” His shocked face quickly morphed into an apologetic one.

“Oh, I’m sorry I just default call everyone that, so sometimes I forget not everyone is totally comfortable with it. What uh would you like me to call you instead” rolling their eyes at his wholesome antics they replied with

“You could start with my name”

“No offense but I don’t feel completely comfortable calling you puppeteer. I just don’t see you that way you know? Your like this really chill dude who helps me stay focused in class and really likes slice of life animes, not a vindictive vigilante no one knows anything about”

“Oh. But um, I was actually referring to my real name.”

“You uh never told us” jirou replied, cautious and curious to their response.

“I didn’t?” Various members of the class perked up, wondering if they were about to be so vulnerable as to tell them their civilian identity.

“Nah”

“Oh well it’s Shinso Hitoshi so cut it with the ‘manly’ nicknames” smiling goofily the red head responded with

“No problem ma- I mean Shinso”

…
Leaving the ‘therapist’s’ office, Shinso felt a violent rolling mass of liquid rage bubble inside them. Wiping away the tears that pricked their eyes, they clenched their teeth and tried to make their way quickly to the training gym where they could rage in peace on a punching bag instead of the human they really wanted to punch.

“Young man, where do you think you are going?” Gritting their teeth harder, they pushed passed the giant number 1 ‘hero’ before he snapped.

“I’m not a man” eyes narrowing, All Might grabbed shinso’s arm hard enough to bruise.

“I said where do you think you are going young man, only hero course students are allowed in the training gyms, and you are certainly no hero student, villain” out of the corner of their eye, Shinso saw a student run off, likely to get another teacher. All of shinso’s boiling anger came to head as they snapped right there.

“You know you hero types think so highly of yourselves and that name. Like a villain is the worst insult to ever exist. Personally, I can’t see anything worse than being told to be like you.” Nostrils flaring, All Might opened his mouth to spout some bigoted nonsense back but Shinso wasn't done.

“You think you're better than me because you grew up with parents that wanted you, kids that wanted to be your friend, and hero schools clamoring to get you to join? Because you were born being called a hero? I grew up bouncing from abusive foster home to abusive foster home. The only thing kids wanted from me was my screams of pain.” A soft gasp could be heard behind them but they paid no attention.

“The only thing I wanted to do with my life was help people. And the only way I could do that was beating up criminals in the night hoping that one of them would get lucky and kill me. I was born and the only label anyone called me was villain.” If they weren’t consumed with rage and years of pent up sadness, they would have noticed the increasing eyes on them.

“I grew up everyday being beaten, spat on, kicked, insulted, and generally put down. Do you know how absolutely gut wrenching it is to look a person who was supposed to love you in the eyes as they tell you the only use you will ever have on this world is getting rid of the scum by killing yourself? The agony of getting a gift on your birthday only to open it and find a pre written suicide letter and a noose? How about saving someone’s life then when they find out your quirk, telling you that you’d be better off dead!” Tears started steaming down their face. All might had long since let go and was being backed into a corner.

“And then, on top of all that! Getting captured trying to help someone only to be tortured everyday, reliving your worst memories because a commision agent disgusted herself as you ‘therapist’ and the smartest people in the world believed them!” Someone grabbed their wrist, trying to hold them back, to tell them something.

“Do you have any idea what that’s like!?! Do you!?! DO YOU!?” arms wrapped around their middle and pulled them back into a familiar Pokémon themed shirt, tucking their head into their boyfriend's neck and holding them close as the wracking sobs overtook them.

“It’s okay baby,” he promised “I’ve got you”

…
Aizawa was angry. No, not angry, he was pissed. 6 weeks. 6 weeks of going to that war criminal masked as a therapist. Of being forced to relive horrible mistreatments. 2 months. 2 months of secretly crying at night. Of being torn down instead of built up. 43 days. 43 days of building up trust, of getting fond of these kids( god they were just kids) only to find out this way they were being hurt the whole time. God aizawa was so fucking pissed.

Storming into Nedzu's office, Aizawa could see the rat was also beyond angry. Fresh scratch marks adorned the otherwise pristine desk. Nedzu’s smile was so strained that it looked more like a grimince. Not to mention his twitching eye, something that Aizawa had only seen when Nedzu talked about his time as a lab rat.

“Nedzu-“ he began, but was quickly interrupted by the principal.

“Did you know that the only criminal thing those three have done was attacking the hero commision.” His stony expression did not change, although his eye twitched a few more times.

“What does-“ aizawa tried again.

“It means that they spent years on the street helping people and when they saw how corrupt the hero commision was becoming they attempted to take it down and were betrayed by the one they were trying to help.” His furry fists clenched tighter.

“I don’t -“ the horror began to set in but befor it could, he was interrupted again.

“The hero commented has been indoctrinating and training to the point of death hundreds of children. The only surviving of which is hawks, who doesn’t even realize the vigilantes he turned in were in the process of freeing him.” The eye twitches subsided to a sad look in the furry principal’s eyes.

“Oh God-“ the reality of the situation was enveloping the teacher, and he covered his mouth, trying to study himself.

“In fact hawks is still out there, unaware that the vigilantes he turned in were not in fact dangerous villains attempting to kill all heroes and destroy humanity” the eye twitches were back.

“ nedzu” he finally interrupted “what do we do now.” Silence settled heavily between the two heroes in the room.

“I do not know.” For once in his life aizawa had no words. He looked sharply at his feet.

“There is much we need to do, the first of which is to fire All Might, something I should have done the first time he almost got the children killed in a training exercise. Then I imagine, we take the three survivors we are housing here and talk to them about their options.”

“Options? “ he glanced curiously at the principal.

“Yes. I imagine they will want to help me destroy the Hero commision, but if they perhaps want to focus on their mental health they can do that to. Also if they want to actually start hero training.”

“I think that sounds like a good idea.” A small smile graced his lips at the idea of the three bright young children, working hard to help people, in the way they likely always wanted to.

Chapter Text

Ever since Shinso blew up at All Might, a lot of things had changed.

For one, now they were talking to Hound Dog. He was nice and talked them through the mistreatment and degrading words from their previous heroics teacher. He empathized with them and when Izuku burst into tears for no reason, he didn’t turn away or get frustrated. He simply gave Izuku a tissue and asked if he was ok to continue. It was a new experience for Izuku.

Not to mention all the pitying glances everyone kept throwing their way. Aparently one of the students present filmed the whole encounter and posted it online. It had blown up, naturally, and now there were several petitions for reform circulating. It wasn’t very organized so it wasn’t going anywhere, but that could be changed easily.

At least aizawa didn’t treat them any differently. Did he look at them sadly when he thought they weren’t looking? Yeah, but it wasn’t pity in his eyes. Just quiet concern and mourning on a lost childhood. And he was much more subtle about the staring then the other students.

Another thing was that now a variety of heroes came to teach, and were always overseen by either Aizawa or occasionally another staff member. They didn’t discriminate them from the other students and they were able to spar against all their classmates. That being said, there was still one problem. Bakugou Katsuki.

Izuku sighed as he dodged another explosion, a right hook, of course. He kinda wished Bakugou would get the hint and just leave him alone or go back to ignoring him like before. But nooooo now he jumped at every opportunity to try and blast Izuku sky high. Try being the key work, Izuku was much more skilled and well versed in combat for him to get anywhere close.

They were in the middle of a “friendly spar” and Izuku didn’t even try to attack. Bakugou was very effectively wearing himself out by going after him so strongly. It pissed him off more, but that only made him more predictable.

Now, Izuku was tiered. Not physically, he got a lot more sleep after a lengthy and painful discussion with Hound Dog about his frequent night terrors. No, he was tired of always dodging, of being Bakugou Katsuki’s personal punching bag. He was tired of never fighting back. That’s why he became a vigilante. To help people yeah, to get closer to death sure, but most importantly, to prove to himself he was capable. That he wasn’t weak. That he could fight back. So when Bakugo called him Deku in the middle of a fight, he snapped.

“The fuck did you call me” the palpable cold harshness made even Katsuki take a step back.

“I called you how you are a de-“ he was interrupted by izuku’s fist slamming into his jaw. To fast to be seen, he grabbed him by the hair and slammed his face into his raised knee, be fore pulling back and spitting out

“Never call me that again.” Blood pouring from a now broken nose, the blonde attempted to raise his hand to blow another exploding at his rivals face. The said rival snatched his arm out of the air and simply broke his wrist in between his fingers. His budding scream was cut off by Izuku throwing him to the ground, turning around and saying over his shoulder,

“You don’t get to decide who I am anymore Katsuki.” Attempting to leave, he walked out of the circle on,y to have to side step Bakugou who had thrown himself at Izuku again.

“You fucker, your just a pathetic little quirkless freak and your new aditude doesn’t change that your nothing but a worthless d-“

“I told you not to call me that” fueled by his rage, his ears still ringing from the blow, he rushed at Izuku again , only for him to spring back and use his legs to propel Bakugou into the wall.

“Your nothing but an attention seeking liar! That why you ran away from auntie and became a pathetic excuse of a vigilante!” He roared, thrashing and trying to escape the wall.

“Ran awa- is that what she told you? She kicked me out. Told me I would be better off dead to to leave her sight and kill myself lest she do it herself. Did you know I was homeless for months before I stopped going to school? That every day I searched frantically for a reason not to take your advise and jump off a building!? That I told myself every meal would be my last because life wasn’t worth it!? That I stoped bandaging up my wound when I would be dead soon anyways?! That I spent every waking moment in agony, waiting for someone, anyone to care?!”

Finaly free of the broken wall, Bakugou stumbled to his feet, and attempted to launch himself at Izuku again.

“Boo-fucking-hoo you peice of trash!” Izuku just smashed his palm into his already broken nose, knocking him over, before placing his boot on top of him, keeping him pined.

Quietly he added, “did you know I was in the process of killing myself when I met Shinso? They were alone, and hurt, and I knew I could help, so I did. Keeping them alive became my reason to live. When I became a vigilante a part of me hoped that it would kill me, but mostly? I wanted to do something with my life. I wanted to help people, and so I did. That’s all.”

Getting up, he trapped his discarded training bag, and bypassed his frozen, crying classmates. He was almost out the door when he heard Aizawa call out to him

“You’ll never have to see him again” he stopped with a faint smile on his face and said,

“I know.”

“Hey Izuku?”

“Ya mister Aizawa?”

“Head down to Hound Dog’s for me?”

“Already ahead of you.” Closing the door behind him, Izuku left behind Bakugou with his consequences in the form of a protective pissed off teacher.

Although he wouldn’t know it at the time, Izuku would never see Bakugou Katsuki in person again. He saw him frequently in his nightmares but the day of his constant torment were well behind him.

Bakugou Katsuki, on the other hand, was promptly expelled and blacklisted. His anger issues would land him in and out of jail for years afterward until he would finally obtain a job at a gas station before attempting to jump into vigilantism where he was immediately killed by a run of the mill crook. His death wasn’t in the news. There wasn’t even a funeral.