Work Text:
At precisely 5:00 in the morning, Izuku blinked awake to the sound of his alarm blaring the Mighty All Might theme song and several sticky notes clinging to his forehead.
Izuku fumbled for his phone on his nightstand, shutting off the alarm and turning on his lamp before he peeled off the sticky notes from his face. There were four notes, all of them stacked together and All Might-themed.
Wait, aren’t these the limited-edition All Might sticky notes from six years ago?? They only made a hundred sets worldwide, who could have gotten one?!
That question was answered as soon as Izuku laid eyes on the messy scrawl on the top note. “ Happy birthday nerd ,” it said in Kacchan’s handwriting. Izuku couldn’t help but smile. Kacchan hasn’t wished him a happy birthday since he turned five.
He peeled off the top page to reveal the second. “ We’re gonna do something different for your birthday. You’re gonna do a scavenger hunt to find your presents around campus. ”
Wait, a scavenger hunt? So cool! But what about class? His birthday wasn’t important enough to miss a full day of lessons!
On the third note, in an even messier scrawl: “ Don’t fucking worry about class, you moron, you’re already excused. Plus Aizawa said if you try to come he’ll put you in house-arrest for a week. First clue on the next note. ”
Oh. Nevermind then.
On the last note was a riddle: “ Seek the prize to the east, in the place where you would feast. ”
“Place where I would feast…” Izuku mumbled to himself. The first place that came to mind was the kitchen downstairs, but that wasn’t really east, plus that would be too easy knowing Kacchan. Everything would be on campus, so the only other place the riddle could be referring to would be Lunch Rush’s cafeteria. It lined up with the east part too.
Izuku had half a mind to head to the main building now, but with no classes today he couldn’t neglect the rest of his training. So setting the notes aside, Izuku changed into his gym clothes, grabbed his phone, and headed out for his morning run.
With the delay from the notes, Izuku didn’t get to the kitchen for breakfast until a little after 7. At least half of the class was already scattered among the tables downstairs, and they all wished Izuku a happy birthday as he came in. None of them mentioned the scavenger hunt, though none of them questioned why he wasn’t in his school uniform either. Maybe the entire class was in on it?
Uraraka came downstairs a little while after Izuku, and she nearly tackled him to the floor in a hug as she wished him a happy birthday. They only avoided a sad fate with cold tile when Iida caught them just before they fell.
The rest of the class flowed through the common area, and Izuku waved them all goodbye as they headed to class for the day.
Not once did he see Kacchan that morning.
It was weird walking through the hallways of UA while everybody else was in class. Izuku had his backpack to illusion himself some semblance of normalcy, but it still felt forbidden, and out of uniform no less!
But Kacchan had said it was fine, and he would never lie about something as serious as skipping class, so Izuku kept walking to the cafeteria.
The large room was just as empty as the hallways when Izuku entered. Noise was coming from the kitchen though, and as he got closer he saw Lunch Rush behind the counter working on making lunch for everybody. The cook hero looked up as Izuku’s sneaker squeaked on the tile, pausing in his cooking of fried rice. “Oh, hey Midoriya! I’ve been waiting for you to show up.” Even with the full mask on his face, Izuku could tell that Lunch Rush was smiling.
“You have?” Izuku asked as he stopped at the counter.
“Yep! Your friends told me you’d be coming by at some point, said they wanted me to give you this.” Lunch Rush rustled around under the counter, producing a small pink gift bag with white tissue paper sticking out, green sticky notes attached to the side. “Happy birthday, kiddo!”
“Thanks, Lunch Rush!” Izuku beamed as he took the proffered present, and while the hero went back to work, Izuku examined the sticky notes.
“ Happy birthday, Deku! ” the top one read in Uraraka’s bubbly print. “ It’s not much, but I really hope you like your present! :D ”
Under the tissue paper was a little plastic bag of matcha-flavored mochi, Izuku’s favorite flavor. His eyes widened when he caught a glimpse of the label, realizing it was that really popular but really expensive mochi shop not far from UA. Didn’t Uraraka usually save up her allowance so she could get herself a small treat every few months from there? Izuku couldn’t keep from tearing up. He really did have some amazing friends.
He turned his attention back to the sticky notes before he could fully start crying. There were only two, and just like before there was a riddle on the second: “ Your next present is up the stairs where you tend to fry your hairs! (Hopefully you don’t fry your hair this time!) ”
Izuku furrowed his brow. Fried his hair? That probably meant fire, but where did he usually end up on-
Oh. Right. The support course studio.
Maybe Uraraka’s fears were well-placed.
Izuku didn’t hear any loud noises as he approached the large doors of the support course studio. He flung the door open and ducked to the side just in case, but when no explosion immediately flew out he cautiously poked his head inside. Support students were scattered around the work tables, working either in groups or alone on whatever support item they were creating. It was surprisingly peaceful, the only noise being the chatter of the students and some power tools.
Izuku squinted as he stepped into the room. It was too peaceful.
“Hey Midoriya!” Hatsume greeted, suddenly appearing at Izuku’s side out of thin air.
“AGH!” Izuku jumped in surprise before sending a withering glare Hatsume’s way, his hand pressed over his rapidly-beating heart. “Can’t you say hi normally for once?”
“Nope!” Hatsume instantly replied, grinning at him behind a grime-covered face. It’s the beginning of the day, how is she already filthy??
“I’ve been waiting for you anyway,” she continued. She fished through one of the pockets of her baggy pants and pulled out a stack of brand new notebooks, bound together with a leather strap and fortunately grime-free. “Happy birthday, Midoriya!”
“Happy birthday, Midoriya!” the other students in the workshop cheered around him.
Izuku flushed from all the attention, taking the journals with a shy “thanks”. More sticky notes were stuck on top, these blue. “ I would like to wish you a happy birthday, Midoriya! I hope these journals will be sufficient for your needs! ” Iida’s neat handwriting said. Under that note was the next riddle. “ Your next gift is in the place where you fought for the friendship and justice you sought! ”
“Oh hey, Midoriya, I made you a birthday present too!” Hatsume said from where she was now across the room. She held up some kind of device that Izuku couldn’t even begin to guess the function of, its outer casing sparking before it spontaneously burst into flames. “Ah! No no no!” Hatsume dropped it to the workbench before running for the fire extinguisher. “Don’t worry Midoriya, I can fix it! Just gimme a few more minutes!”
“Th-That’s okay, I’ll just come back later or something, I should be going now, bye!” Izuku backed out of the room and made a run for it before the device really did explode.
The rest of the day continued like that.
Iida’s riddle led to the Sports Festival Stadium, and it took Izuku a while to finally find the haphazardly-wrapped box from Todoroki in the press box. Inside was an ultra rare high quality All Might action figure, one Izuku could only dream of owning due to how much it cost on Ebay…as well as Endeavor’s credit card. “ If this present is insufficient or you already have it, feel free to buy whatever you want with the card ,” the accompanying sticky note read.
Izuku would probably return the credit card the next time he went by Endeavor’s agency for his next work-study. Maybe.
From there he was led to Tsuyu’s present in the USJ, a soft green frog hoodie on the deck of the ship in the Flood Zone. Izuku couldn’t help putting it on then and there, even if it was the middle of July.
Yaoyorozu, Jirou, and Aoyama’s gifts were also in the USJ. The girls left theirs among the rocky cliffs of the Mountain Zone, a special medicinal herbal tea that helped with muscle aches from Yaoyorozu and a purple sticky note with a link to a study playlist Jirou made. Aoyama left a very sparkly All Might-themed belt on the edge of the fountain in the central plaza; the buckle, shaped like All Might’s head, even spun. According to the accompanying sticky note, Aoyama had apparently made it himself. Izuku wasn’t sure if he’d ever wear it, but the thought behind it had him smiling nonetheless as he left.
Izuku was listening to Jirou’s playlist during the long walk to Ground Omega, the next riddle location, and he didn’t realize he was close to the next gift until a flock of birds startled him as they flew out of the wooded area and past him, dropping a green bunny plush with a sticky note from Kouda into his arms.
The next riddle conveniently led him back to the cafeteria around the end of lunch period, and he got a fresh bowl of katsudon from Lunch Rush and homemade Deku-shaped candies made by Satou as the next gift (he may have cried for a couple minutes when he saw the candy).
Strangely enough, he didn’t see any of his classmates in the cafeteria while he was there. Maybe Aizawa had them doing extra training today so they had to leave early? He was tempted to sneak by and see what they were up to, but the looming threat of house arrest steered Izuku far away from wherever the class could be.
Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, and Sero all scattered their gifts among the pipe structures of Ground Gamma. They must have taken the task of the scavenger hunt to heart, because it took Izuku nearly two hours to find everything; hair accessories and headbands from Ashido, a book on the use of quirks in industrial settings from Kaminari (he didn’t think the electric quirk user would’ve been interested in such a topic, but based on the creases in the spine and pages it was obviously well-loved), and some kind of spicy candy from Sero, taped to the tallest pipe on the grounds; Izuku had had to use black whip to get it.
Half the time was dedicated to just finding Kirishima’s, which just turned out to be a red sticky note stuck to a pipe near the entrance (“ Happy birthday man! I got you some weights to train with but they’d probably be too heavy to carry around all day, so they’re waiting for you at the dorms! ”).
Ojirou, Shoji, and Tokoyami all hid their gifts in one of the training gyms. Ojirou tucked a pair of every-day arm braces between the weights, Shoji left a book on fictional pre-quirk heroes by the rock climbing wall, and a dark green scarf hung from Izuku’s locker in the locker room. Dark Shadow made a point to mention that he picked out the scarf on the note.
Hagakure somehow hid a second rabbit plush in the air vent of Nedzu’s office. It was…awkward, going in to get it, but the principal didn’t seem to mind at all. Knowing him, he probably knew it was there the entire time.
Shinsou left him an All Might figure on Aizawa’s desk in the teacher’s lounge, though it was clear the figure was a bootleg; its face more resembled a cat strangely enough than the Symbol of Peace. Izuku snickered as he stuffed it into his backpack; he couldn’t wait to show All Might later.
Aizawa-sensei and Mic-sensei each left a bag hanging outside the 1-A classroom. “ Happy birthday, little listener! ” Mic’s bright yellow sticky note read. “ Believe it or not, our gifts were Shouta’s idea! Don’t let him know I said that though. ”
Well that piqued Izuku’s interest. Opening the yellow bag first, he pulled out a Present Mic t-shirt. It only took him a second to realize he’d never seen the shirt in stores before. Was it custom-made? If so…Izuku grabbed the simple brown bag still hanging, and his eyes widened when he pulled out an Eraserhead t-shirt. Holy crap. He finally had Eraserhead merch! And was probably the only person in the world to! He would treasure this shirt for life .
Izuku finally grabbed the sticky note Aizawa-sensei left. “ Happy birthday, Problem Child. Whatever Mic said on his note, he’s lying. ” Izuku snorted. “ Your next gift is five paces to your right. I promise it won’t give you a fright. ”
Izuku blinked before looking to his right. Sure enough, only a couple feet away there was a piece of paper taped to the wall at about waist-height. On closer inspection, it was a crayon drawing of him in his hero costume and Eri, two pink sticky notes attached. “ Happy birthday, Deku! ” Eri’s slightly shaky script said. She was getting a lot better at writing, Izuku noticed. It made him smile. “ I drew us when you saved me! I hope you like it! Um…I’m not good at riddles, but go to the forest outside! Mr. Toshi’s present is there! ”
Izuku chuckled at her note, and he slipped her drawing between the pages of one of his notebooks and placed the shirts in his backpack before following her instructions.
In the clearing where he and All Might used to do One For All training was where he found his mentor’s present, a flat rectangular box resting on a tree stump. Pulling back the paper, Izuku gasped when he realized it was a picture of his class. Not just any picture though. After the war with All For One was said and done and reconstruction was beginning, they had all been gathered together days later to commemorate the heroes’ victory. They were all still battered and bruised, bandages peeking through the tattered gaps of hero costumes yet to be repaired, but they were all smiling in equal parts joy, relief, and exhaustion as the photo was taken. That photo was now held in a silver frame that gleamed in the afternoon sunlight.
Izuku stroked his fingers over the glass covering the picture, eyes burning, and he had to tear his gaze away before he was sucked too far into the memories of the war, grabbing for All Might’s sticky notes. “ Happy birthday, my boy! I know the war wasn’t the best time for many of us, but I thought you still might like a memento, just in case. ”
“ One more present to find! Go to the place where one story came to an end, and another began. ”
Knowing the only person who hadn’t left him a present yet, Izuku didn’t have to think long about where that would be.
Ground Beta was quiet as Izuku walked down that middle street toward an all-too-familiar building. It was late afternoon by now, classes definitely over for the day and students and teachers alike most likely preparing for the weekend. Izuku’s backpack was heavy with all the birthday presents he’d found throughout the day, and he hiked it higher on his shoulders before stepping through the doors of the building where they’d had their first battle training exercise what felt like an eternity ago.
Izuku easily found his way to the floor where he and Kacchan had fought, the hallway since repaired after being destroyed by their destructive attacks. On the wall at the end of the hallway was an All Might sticky note, the first in a line that led to where a wrapped box sat on the floor below the last.
“ If you’re reading this, congrats, you solved the last riddle. Guess you’re not that much of a moron ,” the first note read.
“Of course I solved the riddles, Kacchan,” Izuku huffed to himself, moving on to the next note.
“ Believe it or not, I’ve been thinking about this plan for a while. This year has been shit, especially to you, so I thought you might like to enjoy your birthday for once .”
“ I’m the one that fucked them up in the first place, so I should be the one to fix it, y’know? ”
“ Even if the scavenger hunt was 100% completely MY idea, I still got you a present. I doubt it’ll make up for no presents for a decade, and you definitely deserve more, but hopefully it’s a start .”
“ So, yeah. Happy birthday, Izuku. Grab your present and get your ass back to the dorms, we’ve been waiting to start this party all day (I wrote these yesterday, but I’m sure the idiots are driving me nuts by now) .”
By the time he reached the last sticky note, Izuku was full-on crying, swabbing at his eyes with the sleeve of the frog hoodie just so he could make out the words on the small paper squares. Kacchan’s words really made the day set in for Izuku, and warmth settled deep into his chest, practically setting him alight from the inside as he smiled. He collected the sticky notes and Kacchan’s present, not bothering to open it yet as he headed back to the dorms.
He used 3% of OFA to give himself a boost of speed, and he made it back within a couple minutes, stopping on the front porch to dry any last remaining tears before he pushed the front door open.
The lights in the common room were off as Izuku stepped inside and shut the door behind him, and he squinted into the dark space. “Hello?”
As soon as the word left his lips the lights flicked on, and everybody in the class plus Eri jumped out of their hiding places with a shout of, “SURPRISE!”
Izuku blinked away the spots in his eyes from the sudden light, and once he could see again his eyes widened. The entire room was decorated in green, white, and yellow. Streamers hung across the ceiling and down the walls, and balloons were scattered across the floor, shifting with the movement of the people in the room. A giant green and white banner that said ‘ HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEKU! ’ hung from the ceiling above the entrance to the kitchen. All of the dining tables were pushed together and covered in food, with more than enough katsudon, cupcakes, and ice cream tubs sitting in ice to feed an army.
Ashido’s squealed whisper of, “Oh my god, Tsu, he’s wearing your hoodie!” pulled Izuku’s attention back to his classmates. All of them were wearing party hats to match the decorations; All Might, Aizawa-sensei, and Mic-sensei, all there as well, were also wearing hats, even Aizawa from his spot by the light switch.
Izuku stared at it all with wide eyes in stunned silence, before he did what he did best.
He burst into tears.
There were shouts of alarm as footsteps ran to his side, more footsteps running away to grab mops in case his tears caused a flood. Izuku felt hands grab his own and others clap him on his shoulders, and through the tears he could make out the blurry shapes of Uraraka, Iida, Todoroki, and Tsuyu around him as they comforted him.
“Do you not like it, Deku?” Uraraka was saying as she rubbed his back. “Did we do too much?”
“Did we not do enough?” Todoroki chimed in. “We can get more food and decorations,” he said as he whipped out another of Endeavor’s credit cards.
“No, no, it’s fine,” Izuku managed through the tears as he fought to get the stream down to a trickle. “It’s ALL fine.” He sent a watery but still genuine smile his friends’ way, and their shoulders all dropped in relief as they smiled back.
“We are glad you enjoy it, Midoriya!” Iida said, arm chopping. “We’ve all been working diligently to put this party together!”
“It was a lot of fun too, kero,” Tsuyu added. “I didn’t think Bakugou would be as soon at leading party prep too.”
“Oi, I’m the best leader here, Frogger!” Kacchan snapped from somewhere off to the side, and Izuku followed his voice to where his friend stood. With hands shoved in his pockets and a green hat sitting off-center on his blond hair, he looked like a grumpy toddler, but when he met Izuku’s gaze a smirk broke across his face. “So? S’this the best birthday ever or what?”
“Yes!” Izuku nodded so hard his neck ached, but he didn’t care. “This and the day and all the presents were amazing, thank you Kacchan! Thank you all of you.” He looked around the room, making sure he made eye contact with everybody to let them know he appreciated every single one of them. Not just for all the birthday gifts, but for everything they’ve done for him since he came to UA.
By the smiles he got from everybody, he knew the message was received.
“I still would like to know what I missed in class today, though,” Izuku said as he was guided to the food tables. “The scavenger hunt was really fun, but I don’t want to get behind.”
“Oh, we didn’t have class today,” Todoroki said.
“Wait, what?! So I wasn’t actually going to get house arrest?!”
“No, I would’ve given you house arrest if you had spoiled your own surprise party,” Aizawa-sensei deadpanned.
“But yeah, we’ve been partying-planning all day!” Kirishima said as he sidled up to Izuku, slinging an arm around his shoulder. “Bakugou had this whole typed-up plan that he showed to us like a month ago, and he got Aizawa to stop classes for the day so we could get everything set up. We only left so it wouldn’t look suspicious if we were still hanging around the dorms.”
Izuku frowned, pausing. They’d canceled classes just for his birthday? Him missing class was one thing, but everybody else? “You guys didn’t have to go that far just for me.”
“Sure we did!” Kaminari said as he suddenly appeared on Izuku’s other side. “You’re our friend, Midoriya! There’s no way we’d skimp on your big day.”
“Plus, it was fun!” Hagakure added, the white party hat on her head bouncing up and down as she bounced on the balls of her feet. “Yaomomo made all this cool stuff to make the decorations out of!”
“Bakugou even let us help cook,” Jirou said.
“And we helped Satou with the cupcakes!”
“They let me taste test!”
“I tried to cut some cool designs for the streamers but it didn’t quite work out, but they still look cool!”
“Turns out Todoroki’s quirk is really good for making soft serve ice cream.”
Izuku listened as the rest of the class chimed in with their own contributions to the party or just random comments about the day, and he just barely kept himself from crying again. He finally relented as he laughed. “I guess if you guys had fun, missing classes isn’t too bad.”
“Exactly! Now let’s get this party started!” Ashido cheered.
Izuku was immediately herded into a chair, his backpack full of presents taken from him and a heaping bowl of katsudon pushed in front of him, and everybody else settled into the seats around him; Kacchan had ended up sitting next to him, Eri on his other side. The food was amazing (no surprise there, Kacchan’s cooking was always amazing), and the cupcakes, dyed green with white icing, were just as good. Izuku made sure to gush about both once he was done eating, causing the faces of everybody who helped to turn bright red in embarrassment.
Music organized by Mic-sensei played in the common room as they celebrated and chatted. A game system had been hooked up to the TV, and everybody was cycling through and taking turns to play together. They made sure Izuku played the most though. There were also regular party games set up, including a version of pin the tail on the donkey with All For One on the poster; Izuku hadn’t won, but the tail landing on the villain’s face was just as amusing.
Slowly the party began to wind down before people started trickling out of the common room, Eri first due to her early bedtime (she’d made sure to give Izuku a happy birthday hug before leaving though), and then his other classmates one by one as they wished Izuku happy birthday one last time before disappearing upstairs.
Izuku was one of the last ones to leave, sitting on the couch and going through all of his presents again now that he had the chance to. He was pulling on the arm braces from Ojirou when he heard footsteps approaching him.
“Hey.”
Izuku looked up and smiled when he saw Kacchan coming over with his hands in his pockets from where he’d been cleaning up the kitchen, the leftovers now put away in the fridge. The blond flopped down on the couch next to Izuku, sinking into the cushion before nodding to the coffee table, where Izuku’s present from him sat. “You open it yet?”
The untouched wrapping paper still on the box was answer enough, but Izuku still responded as his face warmed, “I was in such a rush to come back here that I never had the chance…”
Kacchan shrugged. “You’ve got time now.”
Fair enough. Moving his other presents to the free cushion next to him, Izuku pulled the box into his lap, removing the sticky notes he’d stuck there before and gingerly peeling back the paper. He opened the box and peered inside, and his brow instantly furrowed.
There was a Campos notebook inside. It wasn’t blank though. The cover read ‘ Hero Analysis for the Future: No. 13 ’, but it wasn’t the original burned one that was currently upstairs in his room. Flipping it open, Izuku’s eyes widened when he saw the first entry; it matched the first entry in the original journal. All of the entries from the original were here, all of it in the same format that Izuku usually organized his journals, and it was all in Kacchan’s writing. He’d even done his best to replicate any of the sketches Izuku had included.
“You…” Izuku turned to look at Kacchan, but his gaze was turned down to his lap, mouth pressed in a thin line. “You replicated my journal…?"
Kacchan jerkily nodded, eyes darting up to Izuku for a second before darting back down. “Did it those first few days, after you left,” he said quietly. He didn’t elaborate on what those days were, and Izuku didn’t need him to. “So much shit was happening and you’d just left before I had a chance to apologize for anything and I didn’t know what the fuck else to do, so I thought that’d be the best place to start.” He nodded down to the journal. “I shouldn’t’ve burned the first one. I know you still keep it around and use it despite it being torched, so I thought you might like a copy that you can actually read.”
“Kacchan…” Tears welled up in Izuku’s eyes. “You didn’t have to do that.”
“I fucking know that,” he snapped, before instantly deflating back into the couch. “I don’t do shit that I don’t want to, but I wanted to do this. What I did was fucked up.”
“You know I never hated you for that,” Izuku said, smiling through the tears.
“Fuckin’ should’ve,” Kacchan grumbled.
“But I didn’t.” When Kacchan glared at him Izuku only laughed as he wiped away his tears. Geez, he’s cried so much today. He wouldn’t be surprised if he was dehydrated right now. “I really do appreciate it though. Thanks.”
Kacchan shrugged, his glare disappearing. “Your analysis is damn good. Don’t want it to go to waste.” He held out a fist. “Happy birthday, Izuku.”
Izuku beamed, happily bumping his fist with his own.
BONUS:
“Are you sure you don’t want me to walk to the station with you, my boy?” All Might asked as he walked out of the 1-A dorms with Izuku the next morning.
Izuku nodded as he adjusted his backpack straps. He was wearing the frog hoodie again today, as well as the Eraserhead shirt under it and the arm braces. They were really comfortable, he’d have to thank Ojirou personally when he got back. “I should be fine, it’s only a couple blocks away.”
“Alright…well, be careful, Young Midoriya. Tell your mother I said hello.” All Might patted Izuku on the head, making the boy grin before he pulled away, waving to his mentor and turning and heading toward the main gate.
He made it off campus without incident, but he was only a couple feet down the sidewalk toward the train station when he stopped in his tracks. There was a present on the ground ahead of him. Cautiously, Izuku inched forward to get a better look. It wasn’t very big, it could probably fit in his hand, and the box was wrapped in black paper and tied with a red ribbon. There was a label attached to the ribbon, and Izuku realized with a start that it had his name on it.
Somebody left a present for him out in the open just outside of campus grounds. He should definitely go back and tell All Might or Aizawa-sensei about it, it could be a trap. However, Izuku was a hero-in-training who had fought in two wars. Whatever it was, he could probably handle it.
Making up his mind, Izuku picked up the present, inspecting the label again; it didn’t say who it was from. Unsurprising if this happened to be a trap. He pulled away the ribbon and paper and box lid, only to freeze when he saw a vial of red liquid inside. There was a red sticky note attached to it, and Izuku pulled it off with a shaky hand.
“Happy birthday, Izuku!” it said, the words written with a glitter pen, “I took this vial of blood from you a while back, but I thought you’d like it back! It was so hard to give up but I knew you would appreciate it!
~ Himiko <3 ”
Izuku read the note again, and again, and when the words finally registered in his head he nearly dropped everything, barely catching the vial before it shattered on the sidewalk and yep, that was definitely blood in there. From Toga Himiko. The villain.
Izuku could easily chalk this up to the strangest birthday present ever.