Chapter Text
Izuku stepped outside the police station, a stack of papers in his arms. He'd been cleared by Tsukauchi after hours of interrogation where he'd covertly avoided any questions talking about Shigaraki. Izuku had felt a bit guilty for making Aizawa stay so long afterwards, despite the amount of times the Pro said it was mandatory for him to be there. The walk home was long and awkward, with Aizawa insisting on accompanying Izuku home.
Aizawa kept mostly to himself, while Izuku was worried about Shigaraki. Sue him for not wanting to leave his.. Friend? Nemesis? Ally?-whatever they were, Izuku was worried about leaving him with AFO. He still had to wait 5 more days before he could meet up with him, so pushing aside all his feelings, he thanked his teacher for walking him home, before quietly knocking on the door.
The front door immediately swung open, with his mom pulling him into a large hug. Izuku could hear his mom crying as she kept talking about how worried she was, and Izuku felt guilty for wanting to stay in the cube.
"I'm sure you're hungry, I've prepared all your favorites for you!" Inko smiled, pointing to the table filled with mouthwatering food. One thing Izuku did miss was all the delicious food, and he had a whole week of eating to catch up to.
After the extremely fulfilling dinner, Izuku excused himself to go take a shower. Despite it only being a week, Izuku felt it was much longer. After taking a long bath, he changed into a pair of comfy sweatpants. Despite there being dried up blood on the sleeves, Izuku still wore his hoodie. Staring in the mirror, the extremely crooked lettering that was embroidered across the sleeve staring back; Izuku felt a whole tangled mess of emotions. Guilt, happiness, sadness. He could only hope that where Shigaraki was, he was safe.
‘Just 5 more days. I can wait.’ Izuku thought to himself, finally walking over to his bed. After days of sleeping on the hard glass, it was nice to be back in his warm bed. Letting the drowsiness lull him to sleep, Izuku enjoyed a peaceful night free of nightmares.
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Izuku took a deep breath, his hand clutched on the handle of his box. It was filled to the brim with all his stuff, including the hoodie that Shigaraki had embroidered. He didn't want to face his classmates so early, but he didn't want to keep them worried for much longer. The elevator doors opened, revealing a brand new dorm. It was surprising how UA was able to build such a large building in such little time, but then again it is UA. Luckily, no one seemed to currently be in the common room. He snuck past the other dorms, arriving at his room. The dorm itself was quite large, containing a bed, desk and closet.
Izuku quickly started setting up his dorm, deciding to not bring any All-Might merch. Instead, the walls were filled with posters of other Pro's. Izuku carefully hung up his clothes, making sure to place his hoodie folded up and hidden. Then, he pulled out his new phone, checking the date. It was Thursday; only two days left till they were supposed to meet up. Every hour seemed to personally drag on as the date of their meetup got closer and closer.
Izuku finally pulled out his laptop, placing it on his desk. His notebooks were also neatly stacked on top of his desk. He could hear his classmates already having woken up. The sound of crashing pots and pans heard loud and clear. ‘Tenko said Kurogiri was a good cook. I wonder how tasty it was for him to actually compliment it.’ Izuku thought, slowly getting up from his bed. He shook his head, before carefully unlocking the door. He walked to the common room, where Todoroki was the first to notice him.
"Uh.. Good morning?" Izuku said, mentally cringing as soon as the words left his message. He's been gone for a week and the first thing he says is good morning?
"Deku-kun!" Uraraka cried. “Where have you been? We’ve all been so worried!” she wailed, tears gathering up in her eyes. ‘ Crap. What do I say?’ he thought, sweating a bit too much considering how chilly it was in the building. He'd wished he still kept the hoodie on, but it would raise too many questions. “Deku? What’s the matter?” she asked repeatedly, growing more worried as she looked at his pale skin. Everybody went silent and all eyes were on Izuku. “You’ve eaten, right?”
He wanted to run, but also didn’t want to hurt her feelings. He had to admit, it was nice to hear her voice again after so long. “Yeah, I have! Don’t worry!” he said pridefully. “My mom prepared a lot of food for me, so I’m fine.” he laughed, trying to reassure the girl who was eyeing him suspiciously. In the end, she sighed and let him pass.
‘Hah! I made it out alive! Take that, Tenko!’ Izuku inwardly cheered, before quickly realizing that the rest of his class wanted answers too.
"Are you feeling better Midoriya?" Todoroki asked, sounding slightly concerned compared to his usual stoic gaze. "Don't worry guys, I'm fine!" Izuku tried to reassure everyone, but ultimately failed.
"How did you get out anyways, ribbit? " Asui asked, a confused look on her face. A few classmates nodded in agreement, all eyes still glued to Izuku. "Well, I-uh." Izuku started, desperately trying to figure out a half decent response.
“I figured out how to destroy the cube..from the inside! Yeah! It just um, took a while to understand the science behind it. The quirk itself is so interesting, since the cube itself bends so many rules of the universe. Made sense in the end since we- uh, I ended up finding out we were in a different reality plane." Izuku started to ramble, before stopping upon seeing the confused look on their faces. Now wasn't the greatest time to go on a ramble about alternate realities and planes.
“You guys built the dorms really fast. Sensi told me that you guys helped with it." Izuku quickly changed the subject, which seemed to work.
Izuku scarfed down his breakfast, earning him more concerned glances from his classmates. He shot them all a reassuring smile, calming them down a bit.
The rest of the morning was spent chatting and catching up. There was a lot that happened over the week, the most important thing being that their Forest Training trip was still on schedule. Izuku was relieved, if he and Shigaraki weren't able to meet up, then they could see each other then. The rest of the day went by normally. Well, as normally as it would get after being trapped in a cube for so long. Izuku had a lot of work to catch up on, tests, quizzes, assignments. Luckily all his teachers were understanding, and gave him plenty of time to catch up. He spent the next two days hanging out with his friends and trying to catch up on all his assignments. His friends seemed pretty calmed by now and their constant concerned questions diminished.
Izuku packed up his bag, making sure to pack his hoodie. After saying goodbye to all his friends, he hopped onto the bus and began his way home. Now usually, Izuku wouldn't go home. His mom was already out of town for work for the weekend and the apartment always felt so empty without her. But today, Izuku couldn't wait to head home and finally meet up with Shigaraki. He arrived home, unlocking the door with his spare keys, before heading up to his room. It was only 5pm, meaning that there were five hours left. The five hours were spent worrying, second guessing, and panicking about their meet-up.
What if AFO has him jailed? What if he doesn't want to meet up with me anymore? What if Aizawa-Sensei finds out? What if Nedzu finds out and I get expelled from UA for meeting up with a villain? Or what if someone from school sees us? Or-’ Izuku starts to overthink, walking in circles before stopping. ‘I need to calm down, getting all worked up over something that hasn't happened yet won't get me anywhere.’
He took a deep breath, before looking at the clock again. It was finally 9:30, which was probably too early for a 15 minute walk, but Izuku couldn't care less. He quickly changed into his cargo pants, deciding that it was too cold to wear shorts, before pulling on his hoodie. His phone, keys, and mini med-kit were placed inside his pockets.
The walk there was quiet, only being broken by distance traffic. A few minutes later, Izuku arrived at the gates of hell. Aldera Junior High. All the horrible memories came flooding back to him, as she shoved them all to the back of his head. Now wasn't the time to have an emotional breakdown. There were no cameras in the school and heroes hardly patrolled the area. And so, the waiting began.
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“Hey, why did you bring me back, anyway?” Shigaraki asked, rolling his eyes as he spun around in his chair. “You didn’t lift a finger when I was trapped in that damn box.” Kurogiri flinched the slightest bit at his words, however, there was no response. Kurogiri brought him a drink and silently observed him. Shigaraki clicked his tongue. ‘ I miss Izuku’, he thought to himself, slowing his spinning as he watched Kurogiri dry a wine glass with a towel. Absent-mindedly clicking his tongue at the lack of emotion.
“Where is.. he ?” Shigaraki asked, swallowing hard and not wanting to put his filthy name in his mouth. Kurogiri glanced at him and sighed softly. At least, it seemed like he sighed. It was very difficult to tell.
“He is.. busy.” Kurogiri responded solemnly. Shigaraki had expected this, and decided against making a snarky reply. He didn’t like the idea of taking his anger out on Kurogiri, so he asked for another drink instead.
‘I really hope they don’t lock up Izuku because of me. That would be irritating, to say the least.’ Shigaraki thought, furrowing his brow. Kurogiri seemed to be curious about what Shigaraki was thinking, however, he chose to ignore it.
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Only 2 days have passed since the incident with the quirk. Most news about the cube has died down, probably due to interference by the Hero Committee. All for One is currently in hiding due to knowledge of his existence spreading to the public. The heroes are doing everything in their power to track him down, so his movements are restricted for the time being.
Shigaraki doesn’t like being away from Izuku. Although he would rather burn alive than admit that out loud, it was becoming painfully obvious. It was getting on his nerves. “I fucking hate this!” Shigaraki yelled, slamming his fist on the counter. ‘How the hell did I get so attached to him in just a week? He probably forgot all about me as soon as he got back to his hero buddies!’
Shigaraki sighed inwardly and crossed his arms. ‘I can’t live like this. What can I do?’ he thought, groaning and expressing his frustration maybe a bit too much because Kurogiri looked at him and asked if he was alright. Shigaraki nodded slightly and glared at the man in the suit, still obviously displeased from his abandonment. Kurogiri merely shaked his head and turned away.
“Where’s the others?” Shigaraki questioned, noticing how quiet it was. “They went for a walk. They should arrive soon.” he answered, shaking his head at their negligence.
Suddenly, the door busted open. “What’s up, losers?” said a deep voice, waltzing in like he owned the place. Shigaraki was startled and lunged at him like a cat.
The black haired man dodged easily, laughing at his pathetic attempt. “What? Were you trying to scratch me? ” He mocked. ‘ I recognize that annoying voice.’ “Huh? Why aren’t you going in?” asked a high-pitched voice from behind him. ‘ I had forgotten what they sounded like and attacked him due to habit.. my bad.’
“That’s not how you welcome a guest!” a familiar girl with blonde buns said, pouting and stepping out from behind the other man. “What she said!” another man Shigaraki recognized with a gray and black suit declared. “I disagree!” he said again, not even a second later.
Shigaraki got a bit of nostalgia from all the familiar faces. He’d only been trapped in the cube for a week, but it felt like years since he’d seen the league all together. “Settle down.” announced Kurogiri, shaking his head at the commotion.
Shigaraki sat back down without another word. However, the others did not listen so easily. They started bickering amongst each other.
“I said to settle down .” Kurogiri repeated, stopping them in their tracks with a huge portal. “Haha, sorry, Kurogiri. “ Twice apologized. “Not sorry!” he said again, sticking out his tongue. Shigaraki frowned and rolled his eyes. “Welcome back! It’s been a while since I’ve seen your crusty-ass face.” Dabi quipped, smirking. “Yeah.. it’s been a while.” Shigaraki responded, trying to ignore his childish remark.
Kurogiri sighed. “Let’s go, Dabi! Hurry, hurry!” Toga whined. Shigaraki eyed them both suspiciously. ‘ What’s the rush?’ Toga, Dabi, and Twice were already lounging around on a derelict couch behind him. Apparently they had ‘bought’ a nintendo switch and set it up on a worn-down TV.
Shigaraki whipped his head around as soon as he heard the music for ‘Just Dance 2023’ play.
“Did you pick that up while I was gone?” he asked innocently. “Yeah, is there a problem?” Dabi replied nonchalantly, the game on the loading screen. “Wanna play?” Shigaraki was surprised at the sudden invitation and nodded slowly, looking away out of shame. “Yay! Dabi! Let’s show him how to play!” Toga squealed, eager to show off her moves. “Toga, let’s do a duet.” Toga bounced up and down at his words and quickly grabbed a joy-con. Dabi took another. “Watch closely, dumbass.”
They chose the song ‘Sweet but Psycho’ after Toga practically begged him. Their dancing.. was actually pretty good. Shigaraki was a little shocked. He watched in awe as they both got a perfect score. “Yayy! Blue star!” Toga cheered, jumping up and down. Shigaraki looked away quickly and hoped they didn’t catch him staring. “Easy.” Dabi declared, grinning.
Shigaraki was a bit nervous, he had to admit. He’s heard of the game but has never had the guts to go and buy it. He wasn’t really a great dancer, either.
“Here.” Dabi handed him a joy-con and Shigaraki gulped a bit. They decided to do the “Boys With Luv” extreme version. Dabi and Toga shared a mischievous grin and said in unison. “Ready.. Start!”
The game began to display the most confusing moves Shigaraki had ever seen. While they were enjoying their time bullying the poor guy for being a bad dancer, the door swung open. Kurogiri was startled and eyed the door with an ounce of bloodlust.
“Hey~!” A man with a mask sung, walking in casually. ‘ Oh, Mr. Compress.’ “Why are you playing without me?” A lizard-man whined, walking through the door after him. “We just came back from th-” he was cut off by Shigaraki falling on the floor.
“Why.. is this.. game..” Shigaraki panted, sprawled on the carpet. “..so fucking hard?!” he yelled, anger issues finally coming to light. Dabi clapped hands with Toga and they both grinned at him, concerningly wide.
Shigaraki clicked his tongue at the demons laughing at him and trudged over to Kurogiri. “Oh, right. You guys exist,” he said sarcastically.
“Spinner and I brought food!” Mr. Compress announced proudly.
Toga and Dabi rushed over at the sound of food, not forgetting to pause their game. “Hooray! Food!” Toga cheered, jumping up and down. “Where’s Twice?” asked Shigaraki. “Laying on the couch over there. He was too chicken to play ‘Just Dance’ with us!” Dabi jeered. Twice frowned a bit at the petty remark, but all was forgotten when he got a whiff of the Chinese food Mr. Compress was holding.
“We stol- er, bought enough for everyone!” Mr. Compress cheered, holding up the bag. They all began to worship the bag of chinese food as Kurogiri shook his head in embarrassment.
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After that, the days went by pretty quickly. Shigaraki was still getting bullied relentlessly by the league of assholes. He tried to fight back, but Toga and Dabi kept ganging up on him and targeting his new-found weakness: dancing . Shigaraki had no way to defend himself against their sneers and comments about his moves being worse than a blind person without any limbs.
After endless arguing, it was finally time for Shigaraki to meet up with Izuku.
“So, I was thinking.. we kidnap Tokoyami, too. Just for laughs.” Dabi said sadistically. Toga nodded profusely. “I’m fine with whatever as long as I can go stab someone!” Shigaraki shook his head, and in doing so, he remembered about their meeting.
‘Shit, I forgot.’ Apparently, he had been too busy preparing for their attack, he didn't realize it was already Saturday. ‘ Maybe I can sneak away without them noticing.’ Shigaraki attempted to creep away unnoticed, but was quickly stopped by Kurogiri, looming over him.
“And where are you going?” Shigaraki began to sweat a lot, hurriedly trying to think of an excuse. “.. A walk.” Kurogiri eyed him suspiciously, but eventually let him through. Shigaraki inwardly breathed a sigh of relief and swiftly moved past him and out the door.
“Where was that school again..?”
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Izuku waited impatiently, checking his phone again. It was already 10:26 and still no sight of Shigaraki. Still, Izuku continued waiting. ‘ Maybe he just got lost, or was stuck with something.’ Izuku thought, nervously pacing back and forth.
He kept pacing until he saw a familiar un-lotioned, desiccated, face in the distance. ‘Oh, I recognize that crusty-ass skin!’ Izuku thought, but silently felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Shigaraki must’ve seen him, too, because he started walking a bit faster.
Now they were both standing in front of each other. Neither dared to speak up first. “Uh, hey?” Izuku awkwardly greeted him. Shigaraki nodded slowly, gulping a bit. Then, there was silence. “I brought gasoline,” was the first thing Shigaraki said. More silence. Izuku hadn't thought Shigaraki was being serious when he said he was going to burn down the school, but a part of him felt eager.
“Huh? You weren’t kidding?” Izuku asked, his mouth agape. Shigaraki gave him a confused look. ‘ Oh. He wasn’t joking.’ “Not enough gasoline? I can go get some more.” he said, turning away from Izuku and getting ready to head back to the bar. It always had a concerning amount of gasoline, especially considering the fact they had Dabi. “No, it’s fine!” Izuku nervously convinced him and gave a reassuring smile.
Shigaraki turned back towards Izuku, narrowing his eyes. “Do you have money?” he asked. Izuku was stunned. “Huh?” Shigaraki clicked his tongue. “Matches. I don’t have any because why use matches when you have a living lighter in your house?” Shigaraki stated, growing more annoyed at Izuku’s lack of experience. Izuku stared blankly for a second, before answering.
“Oh.. yeah! I’ll be right back!” he ran off, searching for a store that sells matches still open this late. ‘ Where the fuck am I supposed to find matches at near midnight?!’ Meanwhile, Shigaraki was having the time of his life dousing the school in mountains of gasoline.
Izuku could already smell the malodorous gasoline as he ran towards Shigaraki, a box of matches in his hand. He finally came back ten minutes later, drenched in sweat, but triumphantly holding his matches. “Oh, I thought you chickened out at the last second.” Shigaraki teased, smirking.
Izuku glared at him. “Do you know.. how fucking hard it was..” Izuku said, voice growing increasingly louder by the second. “..to find matches in the middle of nowhere?!” he yelled at Shigaraki, who sneered at him and tossed over an empty jerrycan of gasoline. “The rest are over there.” he said flatly, pointing to a prodigious stack of empty gasoline receptacles.
Izuku stared at him in shock; then they started arguing. At least the awkward atmosphere was gone, now being replaced with their usual banter. A single match was ignited, before being dropped in a puddle of gasoline. The school began to smolder, thick smoke covering the clear skies.
Minutes later, the school set ablaze, golden flames seemingly dancing in the night sky. The two just watched as the conflagration they had just ignited caused the building to cave in on itself. The support of the building itself was already precarious, but seeing his personal hell burn and crumble underneath his feet, Izuku felt something he hadn't in a long time.
“What a nice view..” Izuku mumbled, growing a bit nostalgic. ‘ At least no one can see us here, since this place was shut down years ago.’ Izuku sighed with relief. Shigaraki crossed his arms, “Don’t forget to take a picture.” he said, grinning wide.
Izuku pulled out his new phone and clicked on the camera app. He wrapped his arm around Shigaraki's shoulder, grinning hugely as he set the timer. "Say cheese!" He smiled, making sure that the raging fire behind them was still in frame. "Fuck off." Shigaraki replied, but still continued to grin as the timer hit zero. They took a couple more pictures and quickly left before the inferno caught the attention of any nearby heroes.
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“Let’s get another selfie!” Izuku pleaded as they perambulated the street, their hands intertwined with each other's. Shigaraki held up his pinky finger without thinking, although he had his bandages on. He also kept his hood on, making sure to stay as surreptitious as possible, while he did his best to resist Izuku's urges to take millions of photos.
“Hey, look!” Izuku said, pointing at a building next to them. “Hah? A cat cafe?” Shigaraki questioned, slightly shuddering. “Definitely not. Let’s keep walking.” Izuku pouted at his words. “No way! Let’s get some pictures with the cats to send to Sensei!” Shigaki shrieked as Izuku dragged him inside, snickering. Honestly, he just wanted to take some cute pictures, but he was still determined to make Shigaraki understand that cats were better than dogs. (Note: this is biased, we are cat people)
Shigaraki tried to break free, but wasn’t used to his quirk not being accessible due to bandages. He somehow still managed to keep his hood on, though. Izuku stopped in front of a counter, as Shigaraki's hand was still tightly in Izuku's grip. He also scooted a bit closer to Izuku, maybe he was afraid of the felines slowly surrounding them. A slight blush covered his face as he scanned the near empty cafe, still tugging lightly at his hood.
“Table for two, please!” Izuku said, beaming as he looked at all the cats in front of him. A lady with luscious brown hair and green eyes hurried up to greet them, cat scratches evidently visible on her hands and legs. “H-hey! Sorry, I was- uh.. a bit busy with one of the cats over there!” she said, smiling awkwardly. “Your table is right over there! Feel free to ask me any questions! The rules for handling the cats are on your table, as well.” She then led them to a small booth, tucked away at the corner of the cafe.
Shigaraki hissed as one of the cats clawed at his sweatpants. “G-get that thing away from me!” he shrieked, desperately trying to pull the poor kitten off. Izuku burst out into laughter and hurriedly took a few photos of Shigaraki, as he fell to the floor. Multiple other cats ran over to him and smothered him with cuddles as he cried out for help, still on the ground. “Izu.. ku! Y-you fucking traitor!” he screeched, sneezing at all the cat fur in his face.
Izuku kept giggling at his helplessness and taking dozens of photos, before ordering himself a regular coffee with milk and extra sugar; also getting Shigaraki a milkshake, his request barely audible with all of the sneezing and pleas for help. Izuku also got a plate of chocolate chip cookies for both of them to share. The waitress just wrote down their order before leaving, trying her hardest to ignore the teen crying out for help on the floor.
Apparently, the names of the cats here are hero-based, how ironic. All the hero-based felines were attacking Shigaraki mercilessly, with hugs and affection. Izuku finally succumbed to his pleading and helped him up, the cats really took a liking to Izuku. Especially ‘Eraserpaw.'
Izuku thought it was adorable and took multiple pictures to show his teacher later. He carefully pulled Present Mew out of Shigaraki's hair. Shigaraki rubbed his aching head, shooting a death glare at Izuku, who smiled innocently at him.
“How can you be so scared of these adorable babies!” Izuku cooed, cradling Eraserpaw in his arms. Present Mew sat down on the table, playing with the menu. Shigaraki shivered and struggled to get all of the cat hair off of his clothing, but ultimately failed.
The waitress came with their order shortly after, so they settled down and took a seat on opposite sides of the booth. “Finally..” Shigaraki gasped, taking a big gulp out of his chocolate milkshake. Izuku swore he saw stars in his eyes as he continued guzzling down the milkshake as if he hadn't had any source of hydration for days. ‘ Actually, he probably hasn’t.’
“So you’re a chocolate person, huh?” Izuku sneered. Shigaraki rolled his eyes. “What’s wrong with chocolate?” Izuku shrugged, remembering Eraserhead likes chocolate as well. Then he took a cookie, and began to munch on it joyfully. He slid the coffee away from a curious Ms. Purr, who meowed in annoyance. Izuku pulled out his phone, quietly snickering to himself as he took photos of the cream colored cat with a bright, mini, orange bandana on her head.
"Did you really just pick this place because the..demons here are named after heroes?" Shigaraki derided, scooting away from a small calico cat. Izuku gasped dramatically, before carefully scooping up Eraserpaw, who was sleeping.
"For your information, it wasn't intentional. But how could you call them demons?" Izuku frowned and narrowed his eyes, Eraserpaw still in his arms. Shigaraki shot him a disgusted look, before hesitantly reaching out a quivering hand as he accidently pulled Mewmight's tail. "Not like that! You need to be gentle!"
Izuku quickly stood up from his side of the booth to sit right next to Shigaraki. Eraserpaw protested against the sudden movement, but went back to sleep as Izuku settled down. Shigaraki was still a bit unused to being so close to someone, so he shifted in his seat uncomfortably, his face flushed.
"Like this." Izuku reached over, gently petting Ms. Purr with his free hand. The cat meowed in content, moving closer to Izuku. Shigaraki paid close attention, before precisely copying Izuku's movement. Izuku was a bit surprised at how fast of a learner Shigaraki was at first, but then he remembered that AFO was his mentor, so it made sense. Present Mew meowed in delight at the touch, excitedly rubbing against Shigaraki's hand.
Shigaraki jolted back in surprise, sweating nervously as Present Mew meowed at him in confusion. “Haha! Looks like he likes you!” Izuku teased, petting Eraserpaw delicately. Shigaraki was stunned. “Wha-?” he began to say, before Present Mew lunged at him and snuggled in Shigaraki’s lap. Shigaraki was stiff and unmoving. ‘I think he stopped breathing.’ Izuku thought, growing a little concerned, but still continuing to laugh at him.
Shigaraki slowed his breathing as Present Mew went to sleep, still getting himself comfortable. Shigaraki slowly reached out his hand, lifting his pinky finger out of habit, even though he still had the bandage on. ‘He lifts up his finger when he cares for something or someone.’ Izuku noted, watching Shigaraki gently pet the cat with a smile that was barely noticeable.
‘Maybe cats aren’t all that bad.’ Shigaraki thought to himself, a small smile evident on his face. “See? Cats are adorable.” Izuku whispered in his ear, startling Shigaraki. “W-whatever.” he stuttered, turning his head away in embarrassment. Izuku quickly snapped a few photos of him when he wasn't looking, before continuing to pet the multiple cats swarming him. They both finished their order, as Izuku packed up all the remaining cookies into a takeout container.
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They finished up at the cat cafe and exchanged numbers. “Here!” Izuku said, handing Shigaraki a folded piece of paper. “What’s this?” he responded, eyeing the green-haired boy suspiciously. “It’s the coordinates to my dorm! In case you ever wanna come over and hang out.” Izuku explained proudly. ‘His dorm? Did he forget that I’m a villain who attacked their school? Maybe he lost a few brain cells when he placed his head through the door.’
“Uh.. sure.” Shigaraki took the paper and stuffed it into his pocket. “Anyway, I have school on Monday so I should probably get going..” Izuku muttered, not wanting to leave his side.
Shigaraki’s heart dropped. “Oh..okay.” he mumbled. The date hangout had gone so great that he forgot that they had to eventually part ways.
“You have my number, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Text me!~”
Shigaraki turned around quickly and pulled his hood lower in a pitiful attempt to hide the red on his face, absent-mindedly scratching at his neck. “Bye, Tenny!” Izuku called out, walking away. The red on his face deepened at the nickname. ‘He’s such an idiot.’ He thought to himself, trying not to show the happiness he felt. “Tsk.” he stuffed his hands in his pockets and walked back to the LOV hideout with a small smile on his face.
It disappeared rather quickly once he found out that the rest of the League somehow managed to set the T.V. on fire while they were out.
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Everything was back to normal. No one found out that Shigaraki left to see Izuku and they were both back to their normal, boring, lives.
“Uughh..” Shigaraki groaned, lying on the couch like a starfish. “Move, dumbass, you’re taking up the whole couch.” Dabi scolded, narrowing his eyes. “Don’t wanna.”
Dabi gritted his teeth. “Fine.” He sat right on top of him. Shigaraki shrieked at the sudden impact and struggled to get his legs free. “So.. fucking heavy!” Shigaraki muttered, still trying his best to free his aching legs. How can a man as skinny as Dabi weigh so much?
“Get off of me!” he yelled. Dabi, being the petty brat that he is, got even more comfortable on the couch and put his legs up.. on Shigaraki’s torso. “Ow, ow, ow..” he whined. “Not.. cool!”
“This’ll teach you not to mess with me.” Dabi declared proudly, smirking at Shigaraki’s annoyed expression. “Group huddle!” squealed Toga, jumping on top of Dabi. Dabi littered curses at the uninvited guest snuggling between the two of them.
And so, they all simultaneously got up and decided to share the couch.
A few minutes passed. “Let’s go somewhere.” Shigaraki stated, growing bored of watching on their new TV, much to Kurogiri's annoyance. “Sure.” Dabi agreed, Toga nodded as well. “Where, though?”
“...”
“The mall?” Shigaraki said the first thing that came to his mind, quickly regretting it as he saw how Toga’s eyes lit up. She bounced off of where she was sitting and started jumping around in excitement. Twice joined her. Dabi groaned and got up, too. “Who’s coming?” he asked.
“I’ll stay here with Compress and Twice.” Spinner said, not comfortable with the idea of going outside. Twice pouted a bit, but didn’t complain.
“Bye, bye!” Toga called out, walking into the gateway made by Kurogiri. Dabi shook his head and Shigaraki trailed behind.
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“Won’t we be recognized?” Shigaraki questioned. “Oh, right.” Dabi remembered, shrugging indifferently. Shigaraki’s mouth hung open at the laid back reply. “You mean.. You didn’t think this through at all?..” Dabi shrugged again, Toga did the same. Shigaraki sighed loudly. “You both are giving me a headache. Let’s just make this quick.”
As soon as they entered the mall, it turned into chaos. Everyone hid as soon as they saw the villains entering. The smart ones ran out of the building without looking back. “Let’s get smoothies!” Toga cheered, pumping her fist up in the air. She must have picked that up from Deku when she saw him in the sports festival. “Alright.” Shigaraki agreed; Dabi went along with it, too.
The heroes would probably arrive soon, due to their bad decision-making skills, so they should hurry.
Dabi made a strawberry-banana smoothie for Toga, a blueberry smoothie for himself, and another chocolate milkshake for Shigaraki. They didn’t pay, of course. The place was basically empty at this point. All the customers and workers ran out during the commotion of their arrival. I guess arriving through a portal wasn’t the smartest decision.. who knew. Speaking of portals, when was Kurogiri picking them up?
Suddenly, they heard a loud noise from the other side of the building, along with a lot of yelling. “Damn, looks like it’s time to go.” Dabi said, slurping some more of his smoothie. “Awh, already?” Toga whined, pouting at their early dismissal. They hadn't even had time to look around at the shops.
Shigaraki agreed with Dabi, but.. how were they supposed to get out now? “Uh, does Kurogiri know we’re leaving?” Shigaraki questioned nervously. “Why would he.. oh.”
Apparently, these three idiots did not think of an escape, either. “Well, we’re screwed.” Dabi admitted, sighing in defeat. “Wait! We can’t give up yet! They don’t serve blood in jail!” Toga complained, finishing up her smoothie. “We’re screwed.” Shigaraki agreed bitterly, his face growing pale.
And of course none of them had bothered to bring their phones, so that meant they couldn't just contact Kurogiri either. (Not that they knew his number..)
'This is it. I'm going to be locked up. I should have never come here with these dumbasses.' Shigaraki thought, collapsing on a seat on one of the brightly colored stools and muttering to himself. He must’ve also picked that up from Izuku.
Toga was making another smoothie, adding some blood from wherever she got it from and mixing it in. Dabi had decided to leave, claiming he wanted to check out the mall while they were still free.
Long story short, they were fucked.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Izuku arrived at an empty home, a huge grin on his face. After waiting all week, he finally got to meet up with Shigaraki and it went amazing. He changed into his pajamas, scrolling through his photos. The whole night went by so fast, and now Izuku finally had a way to contact him!
'Should I text him? He's probably busy with villain stuff. Maybe I'll send him a text.' Izuku thought, biting his lip before sighing. He had a whole day to himself and after much thought, he decided on going shopping. 'Maybe I'll get Tenko a gift!' Izuku thought excitedly, before a slight blush covered his cheeks.
He shouldn't be this excited to see the villain, let alone buy them gifts. Izuku pushed those thoughts aside, pulling the covers over his head. It had been a long, yet fun, night.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Izuku woke up bright and early to an aromatic smell drifting in the air. 'Mom's awake already?' Izuku thought, still half asleep. He stepped out of bed, pulling off his hoodie before stepping into the hallway. Izuku arrived in the kitchen, a large plate filled with food waiting for him. There was a little yellow sticky note beside it.
Dear Izuku,
I had a few work emergencies, but I'll be back today at 5pm! I made you some breakfast, and left you my card in case you were wanting to go out with your friends! Have a great day and please stay safe. I better not receive another call from your teachers saying you got kidnapped again.
Izuku took a seat, scarfing down his meal. Despite being out of the cube for over a week, he will never refuse a freshly made meal. He scrolled on his phone for a while, his eyes widening once he saw news about Aldera Middle School getting caught on fire. He felt satiated, scanning the news article; there were no mentions of him or Shigaraki. He went back to his room, changing into dark brown pleated pants that Mina had gotten him for some reason, and pairing it with a light-yellow colored shirt. He shoved his keys, phone, and card into his pockets, before leaving his house.
It was a balmy summer afternoon, with the streets packed. Izuku eyed an ice cream truck, making a mental reminder to go there after his shopping trip. The mall was packed as always; Izuku squeezed past crowds of people. He slipped into a random store, scanning the aisles. He found a few more pants and shirts, throwing them all into his cart to later try on. He picked up some sunglasses as well, as well as sunscreen. With the weather getting warmer, it was inevitable that Izuku would get sunburnt sooner or later.
He slipped into the changing rooms, trying on all the clothes he grabbed with no second thought. "Too big, and this is the smallest size they had?" Izuku whisper-shouted, staring daggers at the pants which were too long for him. "Way too small." Izuku pulled off the shirt, adding it into the ever growing pile of discarded clothes."Wait, this is actually cute." Izuku stared at the mirror, wearing a loose cat shirt. There was a cactus in a shape of a cat and just said, 'Catcus." Izuku's fashion choices are..peculiar to say the least. The rest of the clothes were returned as Izuku only picked out a handful. On his way to check out, he spotted pairs of different gloves. There were many different types, including artist gloves.
'Hm, would Tenny want some gloves? It would be pretty inconvenient to just keep bandaging up his pinkies, not to mention it's a waste of bandages.' Izuku thought, his mind racing as he scrutinized the gloves. Finally, he landed on a pair of white, leather artist gloves. The material was lightweight enough that it wouldn't add any more weight to his hands.
He bought two pairs just in case Shigaraki disintegrates the first. He paid for his stuff, before exiting the store. 'I'm kinda thirsty, maybe I'll go for a smoothie.' Izuku thought, stopping dead in his tracks as he saw a hoard of people rushing towards his way. He stepped back into the abandoned store, eyeing the crowd.
"What happened? Why's everyone running?" Izuku asked the girl who'd just ran into the store, probably to avoid the frenzied mob. The girl panted, her orange hair floating upwards and slightly glowing. "T-There's.. villain's…here.." she gasped for air, her hair having started to calm down. Izuku furrowed his brow, villains? "Did you see any of them?" Izuku asked, as the girl quickly nodded. "One was a short girl with blonde hair. She was aiming knives at random people, luckily none of them hit me.
The other was this blue haired man? I couldn't really see much with the big crowd. There was another person with them, but I didn't see anything about them." she replied– the memory of the crowd suddenly erupting into panicked yells and screams, before being separated from her friends– still fresh in her mind. The girl told Izuku to leave while he still could, before bolting out of the store herself.
Izuku scanned the area, only spotting a few dead corpses and splatters of blood. 'Why does the league love going to malls anyways? Don't they have Kurogiri to just teleport stuff for them?' Izuku thought, mindlessly walking through the deserted mall, and cringing at a pile of limbs in the corner. After a while, he decided to have his smoothie, which would hopefully be free.
Izuku found the food court pretty quickly, spotting three people. A huge grin spread on his face upon seeing Shigaraki laying his head on one of the tables. He didn't think they'd meet so soon, but it wasn't like he was complaining.
He walked closer to the smoothie stall, grabbing a knife mid-air that was aimed at him. The blond girl looked kind of surprised, as Shigaraki looked up. A surprised look covered his face, before a huge smirk replaced it. "You look like a fucking banana." He teased, pointing to Izuku's unintentionally planned outfit.
The blonde girl looked surprised. Shigaraki wasn't attacking this UA student and he was even talking to them! She blinked, before turning back to the broken blender. The first time they got smoothies, Dabi was there to work the blenders. Now, for some reason, the blender was smoking and there were sparks coming out of it. She backed up a bit.
"Are you finally here to get some lotion?" Izuku replied, his sweet tone not matching his message. Toga stifled a laugh as Shigaraki shot Izuku a death glare, while scratching his neck. Izuku soon turned his attention towards the knife in his hand. It was a sleek black Kunai with cute light flower charms decorating the handle. It was made out of carbon steel, and it was in relatively great condition.
"Where'd you get this from?" Izuku asked, still twirling the knife in his hands. "My knife?" she asks, still a bit confused. "It still seems pretty durable, and carbon steel knives are next to impossible to find."
Toga’s eyes gleamed, “I stole it from a Pro!" she proudly exclaimed, before pulling out the rest of her knives. "Most of these are stolen, but a few I got as gifts!" Toga proudly showcased her knife collection, as Shigaraki groaned in annoyance. "We're trapped in a mall with heroes surrounding us, and no way to contact Kurogiri." Shigaraki admitted bitterly, absentmindedly scratching his neck until it started to draw blood.
Izuku didn't get to answer because a man with black hair and burnt skin barely hanging on walked in. He was holding two bags, filled to the brim with clothing.
"Who's this? He looks a bit familiar." he asked, raising an eyebrow. "I'm Izuku, a student at UA." he introduced himself, handing Toga back her knife. "Oh! The dumb kid from the sports festival! I'm Toga! The dude with black hair is Dabi!" Toga beamed, as Izuku pouted at the insult and took out his phone.
"If you want, you guys can call Kurogiri using my phone." Izuku handed his phone to Shigaraki, shooting him a warning glance that said– If you disintegrate my new phone I'll kill you. Shigaraki just stared blankly, his face a mix of embarrassment and irritation. "Do you not seriously know the phone number of your one and only getaway?" Izuku asked, as the villains collectively nodded in shame. Izuku groaned, shoving his phone back into his pocket.
"There's a back exit I can show you, hurry up." Dabi blinked in surprise. Was a hero kid actually helping them? He eyed the teen skeptically, before turning to look at Shigaraki. To his surprise, he actually got up and started following him, not hesitating or stopping to think at all. Since when did he become so trusting?
Toga was right behind him, excitedly asking questions about knives and asking him if she could stab him. Dabi followed them, still on guard. Since nobody else was, he was making sure the boy was telling the truth. They reached a derelict staircase, which, surprisingly, led to a secret back exit.
"Why are you helping us?" Dabi asked curiously once they reached the staircase. All four of them could hear the heroes making their way farther into the mall. Izuku shrugged indifferently, pulling a hairpin out of his hair. "I’m just helping out, isn’t that what heroes do?" Izuku replied, rather laid back and continued to pick the lock as Dabi stared at him with a blank expression.
“Huh? Are you serious?” Toga burst out laughing. “You’re funny, Izu-kun!” Dabi was a bit shocked at his answer. ‘He’s such an idiot.’ thought Dabi, smirking slightly. A loud click was heard, and the door swung open.
They finally got outside, surprisingly not being escorted by police officers taking them to jail, and began to go their separate ways. “Nice, meeting you, hero brat.” Dabi jeered. Izuku felt a bit nostalgic at the nickname, he nodded in agreement. “Bye, Izu-kun!~” Toga exclaimed, waving obnoxiously.
Izuku looked over at Shigaraki expectantly. “Bye..” he muttered, trying to leave as quickly as possible. He reached over to scratch his neck again, but stopped once he saw Izuku's eye on him. Izuku smiled. “Bye, Tenny.” he whispered loud enough so that just Shigaraki would hear. A light blush covered Shigaraki's face, as he pulled his hood down lower. He would rather be burned alive than admit he likes the nickname.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Izuku sighed, staring at the boring walls of the police station. After being found in the mall that was broken into by a villain organization that had been terrorizing UA, he was whisked away to the police station at once. He couldn't say he helped the villain's escape, so he vaguely stated what had happened, and left the police station once again with Aizawa. Aizawa was becoming a little worried about how this was a recurring incident. ‘How does this problem child keep getting involved with the league of villains?’ Aizawa thought, shaking his head in worry. Izuku was thankful his mom was able to drop off all his stuff to the police station, after permanently banning him from ever going to the mall by himself, of course.
Despite Aizawa not saying anything the entire walk dorms, Izuku could feel the disappointment radiating off his teacher. It made sense, this was his second time being attacked in a month. The whole walk back to the dorms was silent, but not awkward. It was peaceful. They needed some time to themselves after the stressful week it had been. They arrived at UA and Izuku quietly thanked Aizawa and left before he got a response.
‘It’s 9pm already.. I should get ready for bed.’ Izuku went and took a shower, brushed his teeth and all that stuff. Then, he was faced with a problem. He couldn’t sleep. He still hasn’t fully adjusted to sleeping early again. The cube really threw off his sleep schedule. ‘What should I do?’ he contemplated going out of the room and seeing if any of his classmates were in the common area. Alas, he was too lazy to get out of bed. ‘That’s right! I’ll text Tenko!’ Izuku’s eyes lit up at the thought of Shigaraki and he hurriedly grabbed his phone off of his nightstand.
IZUKU: tenny, u awake?? (•◡•) /
He wasn’t really expecting an answer, but he still waited. Then, after a couple of minutes, he got a notification.
TENKO: what the fuck do you want
TENKO: we literally just saw each other
Izuku kicked his legs back and forth like a child and smiled to himself,
IZUKU: cant i talk to my bestie without a reason?≧◉◡◉≦
Shigaraki clicked his tongue at the title, he secretly liked it, but he would take those words with him to his grave.
TENKO: stop wasting my time
IZUKU: yea, yea- anywaay do u wanna meet up at my dorm tmr?(¬‿¬)
TENKO: what 4
IZUKU: to hang out(─‿‿─)
TENKO: sure ig
[group chat ‘idiots’ has been created.]
VAMPIRE QT: heeeyy^^
ALLMIGHTWANNABE: how did u get my number..
VAMPIRE QT: dont worry about it, izu-kun<3
ILIKEHANDS: what is this.
VAMPIRE QT: i made a gc ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっ
PURPLEZOMBIE: why am I here tho ?
VAMPIRE QT: bc ur my bestiiiiee<3<3
PURPLEZOMBIE: oh, k
ILIKEHANDS: i hate you all.
ALLMIGHTWANNABE: u know u love us ≧◠‿◠≦✌
VAMPIRE QT: izu-kun, u should come over and play just dance w us someday:D
PURPLEZOMBIE: shigaraki is trash at it lol.
ILIKEHANDS: i'm not.
Izuku laughed at the messages on his phone. Apparently, Toga made a group chat. So now he’s in a group with villains, how unfitting of a hero. He didn’t really care about stuff like that, though. At least not anymore. He continued chatting with the villains, but mostly watched them in amusement as they got into another argument.
It’s 8:00 now, so he should probably try and get some sleep. Shigaraki agreed to come to his dorm tomorrow! Izuku needs to rest up so he’ll have enough energy. ‘Goodnight, Tenny.’ he whispered before falling into a deep slumber.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Shigaraki woke up on the couch, Dabi was lying on top of him, along with Toga. He snickered at the sight, barely freeing himself from their tight grip. The sunrise lit up the room as much as it could with the one small window they had. Shigaraki stretched and then put on his hoodie, preparing to go to Izuku’s dorm to bother him. It’s not like he was looking forward to seeing him, of course. Luckily, Kurogiri asked no questions as he conjured up a portal and confirmed that Shigaraki had his phone.
He leisurely walked to the UA dorms, thankfully, Izuku had the decency to give Shigaraki the coordinates to a more secret entrance. That would avoid him triggering like 50 alarms and getting arrested immediately. Where did UA even get the money for this type of security? Once he arrived, he climbed into his dorm through a window. Luckily for Shigaraki, Izuku had left it open. He took a minute to catch his breath, then he decided to take a nap on the carpet like a stray cat. He was still a bit tired and it seemed that Izuku wasn't going to wake up anytime soon.
Izuku didn’t wake up for at least another hour. Of course, he was a bit shocked to see the villain sleeping on his floor so peacefully. He didn’t snore, though. Izuku snickered at how much Shigaraki resembled a cat, then he walked over to where he was lying down. ‘It’s so hard to believe he’s a dog person, really..’
Izuku carefully used his quirk and lifted Shigaraki up onto his bed, pitying the man sleeping on the floor. Although, he looked concerningly used to it. The bed barely fit the both of them, it felt very snug. He pulled the blankets over the two and went back to sleep. They slept placidly for a couple of hours, up until Izuku's alarm went off. ".mh.. turn off your alarm.." Shigaraki groaned, still half asleep. "You're closer," Izuku yawned, vaguely pointing to where his phone was. They got into yet another argument that ended up with Shigaraki falling to the floor with a loud thud. "There, now that you're much closer, you can turn it off." Izuku pulled his blanket over his head, as Shigaraki resisted every urge to disintegrate his phone. He turned off the alarm, still laying on the floor.
"Don't you have school today?" Shigaraki asked, as Izuku groaned and pulled the blanket off his head. With all his missing work, due to being stuck in a cube, he couldn't really afford to miss any more days. "..'M don't wanna go." Izuku yawned, but still sat up on his bed. Shigaraki snorted, "Thought your dorm was going to be full of All-Might merch." Izuku rolled his eyes at the remark, a tired smile still apparent on his face. "Took all of it down after the whole cube fiasco." he sighed as Shigaraki nodded understandingly. Izuku spotted his gift for Shigaraki across the floor, as he quickly got up and grabbed it. With the whole mall fiasco, he had forgotten to give Shigaraki his gift. He sat back down on his bed.
"Here. I saw this and thought it would be more comfortable than bandages." Izuku handed the plastic bag to Shigaraki, who eyed it suspiciously. He opened it, staring in awe at the elegant, snowy white gloves. He felt the soft, smooth, leather fabric against his hands, as he clutched them even tighter in his hands. Izuku had gotten him a gift, it was only right he returned the favor. He chose to ignore the fuzzy feeling in his chest, instead mumbling a small thanks. 'What would he like? Something hero related I'm sure, but I don't want to get him a duplicate hero merch. Maybe he'd like some sort of game? He'd probably like a more sandbox type of game.' Shigaraki thought, carefully peeling off his bandages and slipping on his new gloves. It felt light weight and he could barely feel if it was even on.
Aizawa was minding his own business at first, but he was becoming more worried for Midoriya. ‘I can never get a break because of that kid.’ he sighed, remembering the previous night where the boy had to be escorted back to UA. ‘It should be fine if I just go to his dorm to check up on him, right?’ Aizawa smiled and made up his mind to check on his kid student. Everyone was either still asleep or in their dorms, getting ready for the day. He finally arrived at Izuku's door, raising a hand to knock.
Aizawa stopped in front of Izuku's dorm after realizing that wasn't Izuku's voice, nor any of his students. He could hear Izuku's voice, but it was slightly muffled and he could only make out certain parts. So, out of concern for his kid student, he opened the door. There he saw his the problem child sitting on the bed, casually talking with Shigaraki– Wait, how did he bypass security without setting off the alarm?
Izuku stopped talking upon seeing his teacher, before smiling sheepishly. "Hey Sensei!" he hesitantly waved, only to stop once Aizawa activated his quirk. After a few minutes of just awkward staring, Aizawa sighed and released his quirk once he saw Shigaraki was wearing gloves. "Problem child, you're going to be the death of me." he said, sighing; too tired and sluggish to get into a fight at the moment.
“Ohayo gozaimasu..” Shigaraki said half-asleep, blinking slowly and sitting up from his position on the floor. His energy was quickly used up, however, as he fell back on the floor with a thump. Aizawa stared at him in disbelief.
“I.. can explain,” Izuku said quickly, waving his hands in front of him repeatedly. Aizawa narrowed his eyes at the two: Shigaraki passed out on the floor and Izuku sweating nervously, with bags under his eyes.
“Did you.. have a sleepover?” Izuku stared at him blankly. “Huh? A sleepover?” Aizawa continued to stare at him wordlessly. ‘Ah. I guess that’s what it looks like. Maybe we should have a sleepover sometime.’
“Yeah, we did,” Izuku lied, still sweating quite a bit. Aizawa folded his arms and they had an intense staring contest. Then, Shigaraki sat up and stretched. Aizawa flinched at his movement and watched his hands like a hawk. “Why is Tomura Shigaraki in your room?” Aizawa asked, although it didn’t really sound like a question, more like a demand for answers.
“Can he stay? Pleeeease?” Izuku resorted to begging. Shigaraki shook his head in embarrassment, finally having fully woken up enough to realize what was happening. ‘Why am I getting treated like a fucking pet?’ he scratched at his neck, before being stopped by the fabric of the gloves. He huffed in frustration. A part of him wanted to remove them, but a much stupider part of him wanted to keep it on for Izuku.
Aizawa groaned loudly. ‘It will be a miracle if I’m not bald by the end of the week.’ he thought, still tired from all the stress with the mall incident the day before. Aizawa stared at the two for a moment, before leaving the room without another word.
He trusted Izuku to handle the villain. This could also help them gather more information, as well. And even if Shigaraki really wanted to, he probably would’ve killed him already. He knows it’s stupid, but they can use this to their advantage, too.
Don’t misunderstand it, he is worried for Midoriya, but if this is what he really wants, he will allow it. As soon as that villain tries anything, he’ll kill him .
Now.. how does he explain this to Nezu?
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
The entire week seemed to drag on forever with Izuku having a shit ton of work to catch up on. Luckily, his friends were more than willing to help him and things finally felt normal again. Well, as normal as chatting with villains could be. He hadn't met the rest of Lov yet, but the two he met were nice. Toga was impressed by his knife knowledge and Dabi accepted him as soon as he said that he hated Endeavor.
Right now, Izuku was sitting on his bed. He had caught up on all his assignments, but couldn't even bother Shigaraki since said he was out doing "villain stuff" and he didn't want to bother him. His friends were all currently training for an upcoming field trip, but he felt too drowsy to join them. He was scrolling on his phone before he got a call from All Might.
‘Why is he calling me?’ Izuku wondered. He didn’t really have anything better to do.. If he was a mature young adult, he would have probably accepted the call from the number one hero. But, Izuku is a petty bastard, so, he ignored it and danced along to his ringtone instead.
Was that childish of him? Maybe. Was he spending a bit too much time with Shigaraki? Maybe. But did he care? No. All Might deserved it; Izuku was still upset from the way he acted when he was trapped in the cube. He decided not to speak to All Might until he grew some more brain cells.
Izuku was bored. When is Shigaraki coming back? ‘How dare he leave me here all alone!’ Izuku thought, pouting childishly. ‘What am I supposed to do?’ Izuku huffed and decided to call Shigaraki. Then, he heard music play from underneath his bed. ‘Wait a minute..’ Izuku creeped over to the side of his bed and carefully lifted it up using his quirk. “Shigaraki?!” Izuku whisper-shouted. Sure enough, Shigaraki was sleeping under his bed, laying on his back. He woke up when the light reached his eyes.
“Huh..” he groaned, rolling out from underneath Izuku’s bed. “Why do you sleep all day? Are you sure you don’t have a second quirk that makes you a feline? Maybe you’re also hiding cat ears underneath that mess you call hair!” Izuku scolded him as Shigaraki blinked at him, his mouth hanging open. “Wha?..” he responded, still half-asleep. “Come on! We’re going to go somewhere. You need to get out of the house.” Izuku continued to scold him as Shigaraki yawned and stretched, still on the floor.
“I don’t wanna.” he whined, rolling onto his stomach. Izuku felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation. “Are you sure you’re older than me?” he said, giving him a fake smile. Shigaraki groaned and shielded his eyes from the light. “Do you want me to put you in a stroller?” Izuku asked, baring his teeth. Izuku was pretty annoyed by now, so he started to use actions instead of words.
He picked up the man-child with one arm, ignoring threats and hisses from the man in question. Shigaraki tried to remove himself from Izuku's grasp, but failed. The two headed towards the common area, with Shigaraki yelling the whole way there. “Hey.. hey! Are you crazy?!” Shigaraki yelled, clawing at Izuku’s back. He was less careful with his movement, now knowing that gloves would assure him that he wouldn't disintegrate him. Izuku smirked and went to where his classmates were hanging out.
Shigaraki’s face paled and he hid his face in Izuku’s shoulder and idly scratched his arm, dying from the embarrassment of being picked up by someone younger than him. Faint streaks of blood dyed his white gloves, as he finally stopped scratching and instead opted for quietly yelling insults at Izuku.
Fortunately, only two of his classmates were in the common area.
Unfortunately, it was Bakugo and Todoroki. The smartest in their class.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Bakugo felt angry. He always felt angry, due to his incompetent roommates always setting something on fire, or roping him into forced hangouts. But he felt especially angry after Izuku came back a week after being trapped with a villain and seemed fine. Izuku described everything just vaguely enough, that his classmates let him be. However, Bakugo could tell something felt.. off.
Izuku would always be texting someone and immediately hide his phone the moment someone noticed or peeked over his shoulder. He trained less often and was more tired than usual, claiming that being the cube throwed off his whole schedule. His explanation vindicated his odd behavior, but it just didn't feel like something Izuku would do. He always went overboard on training, no matter how tired he was.
Bakugo walked into the common area, his empty water bottle in hand. They were all training, minus Izuku who claimed he was too tired which added more evidence to add to Bakugo's suspicion. He filled up his water bottle, before turning to head back to the gym. Todoroki walked in a few seconds later, paying no mind to Bakugo as he grabbed a water bottle.
Suddenly, Izuku walked in carrying someone on his shoulder. “What the fuck?” Bakugo cursed. Todoroki was curious, so he turned towards where Bakugo was looking. “Hm? Who is that” Todorki questioned, walking up to Izuku. “No one important!” he answered, smiling sadistically. Bakugo narrowed his eyes at the figure over Izuku’s shoulder. He was shielding their face pretty well.
“Did you finally get a girlfriend, nerd?” Bakugo asked sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Izuku shrugged, the person on his shoulder yelping at the sudden movement. They seemed to be very embarrassed. Bakugo snickered, “You know we aren’t supposed to have anyone over, right?” Izuku shrugged again. ‘I’m gonna kill you.’ Shigaraki whispered in his ear.
“Sensei knows.” he answered, walking past them. Todoroki caught a glimpse of the person’s face and gasped quietly. Neither Izuku or Shigaraki heard, but Bakugo did.
Once they were gone, Bakugo walked up to Todoroki. “What did you see, half and half?” he asked, an eyebrow raised. Todoroki didn’t answer. “Icyhot!” he repeated, shaking his shoulders. He snapped out of his daze. “Huh?” Bakugo clicked his tongue. “I said, what did you see?” Todoroki stared at him blankly. “I think that was.. Shigaraki.” he replied.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Izuku finally let Shigaraki down when they got to the dog park. “Will this make up for it?” he asked, smiling innocently. Shigaraki scowled and looked around at all the dogs, mindlessly scratching his neck with his new gloves. Izuku smiled, slightly relieved that Shigaraki actually wanted to use the gloves.
Shigaraki spotted a corgi that looked like the one he used to have. “Mon-chan?” he whispered, stopping his mindless scratching. Izuku gave him a confused look. “Who is Mon-chan?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. That name doesn’t sound like a villain name he recognizes. Shigaraki flinched at the question. “Uh.. it’s not important,” he responded, looking away.
Now Izuku was even more interested. “Tell me~!” he whined, his curiosity getting the best of him. Shigaraki shook his head rapidly. “Just forget I said anything.” Izuku pouted and they had an intense staring contest for almost a minute. He groaned in defeat, “Fine.”
“It’s just the name of the dog I used to have.. I told you it’s really not that important.” Izuku’s face paled at the answer. ‘Wasn’t that the same dog.. that Tenko said he killed?’ Izuku started to sweat nervously. ‘Did I just accidentally bring up his trauma?’ he then began to shiver with guilt. Shigaraki shrugged, seemingly unbothered by his prying. “Sorry..” Izuku muttered shamefully, bowing his head in sincerity. However he seemed rather annoyed at the gesture. “Stop it.”
Izuku stood up straight. “Huh?” Shigaraki shook his head. “Don’t pity me. I don’t like it.” he hissed. Izuku smiled a bit. ‘Looks like he’s fine, then.’ he breathed out a sigh of relief.
After that, they just went around the dog park and looked at other people’s dogs. Izuku wasn’t super interested, but he did like the small ones that looked similar to cats. Shigaraki was having the time of his life, though. He seemed really interested in the corgis. “Do you wanna pet him?” a lady with white hair and cat ears asked, smiling genuinely at Shigaraki, who still had his hood on. The boy nodded profusely. Shigaraki pet the soft fur, still cautiously holding up his pinky.
“Waah.. so soft..” Shigaraki whispered, barely audible. Izuku heard it, though, and he snickered. His eyes looked like stars as he petted the dog with his pinky raised; it seemed to like him. Izuku made sure to take lots of pictures capturing the adorable expression on the villain’s face. ‘If anyone saw him right now, they would never believe he was a villain.’ Izuku chuckled at the thought.
Suddenly Shigaraki’s stomach growled. His face flushed in embarrassment and he quickly got up and pulled his hood lower, covering his face even more. Izuku chuckled, then suddenly realized: ‘When was the last time he ate?.. The cafe?!’ His face paled at the thought. “Let’s get ice cream!” he cheered, thanking the lady for letting him pet her dog because Shigaraki rudely stomped off like a toddler.
They walked along the sidewalk, searching for a nearby shop that sells ice cream. Then they ran into the number 3 pro hero leisurely walking with someone beside him, who was wearing a hood that covered his face. “Oh! It’s the kid from the cube incident!” Hawks said, waving at them. “Who’s your friend?” Izuku gulped at the question. Can he really lie to the number 3 pro hero like this? “None of your busine–” Shigaraki snapped, then looked over to the man beside Hawks. His eyes dilated and he became still.
‘What’s with him?’ Izuku wondered, eyeing Shigaraki with concern. Hawks was also confused. “What? Is something wrong?” Hawks asked, genuinely confused at his sudden change in mood. The man next to him smirked. “Yeah, something the matter?” he asked innocently, his malicious grin not matching the tone of his voice. Izuku recognized that voice, but from where?
Shigaraki grunted and pulled Izuku by the collar. He turned around and dragged him away, ignoring his protests and confused remarks. “W-what the– let me go!” Izuku whined. He could’ve easily gotten away if he really wanted to, but his body didn’t allow him to. Instead, he let himself be dragged away by a villain who was frowning and scratching at his neck with his free hand aggressively.
Once they were far enough, Shigaraki stopped and let go of Izuku. “What’s your problem?” Izuku asked, panting. Shigaraki turned away. “I know him, that’s all.” He didn’t ask anymore questions and they both went their separate ways.
“Alright.. don’t forget to text me!” Izuku said, smiling as he turned in the direction of UA.
“Sure.” Shigaraki responded, sighing and turning in the direction of the hideout. He made sure to remove his gloves and place it in his pocket for their next date hangout.
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Izuku stood in front of a large door, wiping his sweaty hands on his uniform pants. The school day had just ended and Izuku wanted to talk to Nezu before the camping trip. He'd hoped, no, prayed that Nezu wasn't going to expel him the moment he knew he was sneaking Shigaraki in. After staring at the unnecessarily large doors for a few minutes and contemplating his life choices, he lifted his hand to knock on the door.
“Young Midoriya!” he heard an obnoxiously loud voice to his right. ‘Oh, All Might.’ All Might ran up to him, a bit out of breath because he was in his weaker form. “What do you need?” Izuku asked politely, giving him a fake smile. All Might panted a bit then began, “You didn’t answer any of my calls! I’ve been so worried about you since the cube incident..” Izuku had to use every fiber of his being to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the hero standing before him.
“I see, my bad.” he said flatly. All Might had a concerned expression, he was probably wondering if he did something to upset the green-haired boy. ‘Tsk. I’m still a bit upset at him for not bothering to tell me all of that important information about my quirk.’ Izuku sighed in defeat and shrugged.
Suddenly, the automatic door opened. "Come in!" Nezu said excitedly. He was stalking the kid for a painstaking 8 minutes, before he'd knocked on the doors. “See you later, All Might!” Izuku said, smiling at him and waving him off. All Might looked at Nezu, then back at Izuku. He waved back and left the room quietly.
Izuku walked in, feeling more nervous now that he was looking at the Principal of UA himself. 'Huh, Tenny is right. Nezu is only like 3 feet tall, probably won't make it hard to kick him unless he predicts your move.' Izuku thought, before realization struck a bit too late. He quickly bowed down, before starting his speech he'd practice way too many times. "Good afternoon, Nezu-san. I just wanted to talk about a few things regarding the League of Villains." Nezu smiled, motioning Izuku to take a seat. Nezu sat down across from Izuku, pulling out two tea cups and a dark green kettle.
"Would you like a cup of Sobacha tea?" the principal asked, as Izuku nodded politely. Nezu smiled, pouring out two cups of tea, before carefully sliding over to Izuku. "Now, you said you would like to talk to me about the League of Villains. I understand you had two incidents earlier this past month relating to them, care to elaborate?" Nezu asked, as Izuku took a deep breath. The worst Nezu could say is no, right? 'The worst thing he could say is that I'm expelled and maybe even get me arrested.'
"I want to ask for your help in taking down the HPSC, starting with Endeavor." Izuku started off, before seeing Nezu's grin widen. "Being trapped in the cube for a whole week led me into thinking that the entire hero system is flawed. Of course all of it can't be fixed, but we can still do what we can to make it better!” Izuku finished, hoping that he sounded confident enough to persuade his principal.
"That's an excellent idea, and one I have been working on for a while. You have my full support with anything you plan to do with this matter.” Izuku’s eyes gleamed at his words. He sighed with relief at the words and began talking about the plan further with Nezu, who somehow knew that Shigaraki was already at the dorms, and didn't mind as long as he didn't try to kill anyone.
Izuku left the principal's office with a huge smile and an immense amount of weight lifted off his shoulders. Now that he had Nezu's support, it was time for the second part of their plan to commence. Obviously, putting the heroes on blast with everything they had wouldn't do much. Sure it would temporarily ruin their ratings, but the HPSC could just cover it up. Izuku had to show the public the insane amount of public damages from smaller heroes, then work his way up to the top ten pro's.
Hopefully with the information he was able to provide, Nezu would have an easier time gaining the upper hand over the HPSC. A huge grin covers his face as he eagerly heads to his dorm. The sooner Nezu was able to take care of it, the better.
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It’s been a long day and Izuku just wanted to jump into his bed and hibernate. However, instead he was met with a text message from a certain someone as soon as he was settled down in his bed. He reluctantly opened his phone and checked his messages.
,
TENNY: wyd
‘He texted me first?’ Izuku thought, blinking slowly.
IZUKU: nothing, u?
TENNY: preparing to attack ur summer camp lol
Izuku froze at the text. ‘Is he serious..’ he felt his eyebrow twitch in irritation.
IZUKU: well, my class will fight back and defeat you all (>‿◠)✌
TENNY: we’ll see🥱
Izuku laughed to himself and gently placed his phone on the dresser. “We’ll see,” he whispered, drifting off to sleep.
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It was barely morning and Izuku woke up to the sound of laughter and conversation in the common room. “What’s all that noise..?” he groaned, stretching his arms and dragging himself out of bed. He trudged down the hallway and was met with lots of bags littering the floor. “Training camp! Training camp!” he heard cheering not too far away from where he was standing. Still half-asleep, he stood there, dazed.
“What’s going on?” he asked when he finally mustered the strength to pull himself into the common room. “It’s literally four in the morning..” Bakugo looked over at him tiredly and narrowed his eyes, surprisingly keeping his mouth shut. Beside him, Todoroki was silent as well, not even bothering to glance over at his friend and closing his eyes shut instead.
The first person to speak up was Uraraka, quickly skipping over to Izuku and explaining that they were packing for their trip in the morning. ‘Oh.. right,’ Izuku remembered the conversation he had with Shigaraki the night before. ‘But why so early?’ he sighed and shook his head. Izuku liked to be prepared, so he already had everything packed two weeks in advance. There were a few of his classmates who looked tired, others were parading around the room and talking with their friends. It also looked as if they had a sleepover in the common room. Izuku must’ve come back to the dorms too late to join them, not like it bothered him or anything.
He did notice, however, how close Todoroki and Bakugou were laying. ‘Did they make amends while I was gone? They always seemed to hate each other last time I checked.’ Izuku pondered and then decided to walk over to them considering they were the most calm out of everyone in the room. (Bakugou was quiet since he was exhausted, he must’ve missed his bedtime.) Although there was also Denki, who was asleep and drooling on a very disgusted Jirou.
“Uh, hey Kachaan! It’s been a while.” Izuku said, smiling fondly. The blonde-haired boy did not appreciate the friendly gesture and clicked his tongue in annoyance, laying his head back on the couch he was sitting on. “Did.. I do something wrong?” Izuku questioned, noticing how both Bakugou and Todoroki were being distant towards him. They didn’t respond. They didn’t even look at him, both had their eyes closed and acted like he wasn’t even there. Izuku would’ve thought he had some unknown invisibility quirk if Bakugou didn’t glance at him earlier.
Then, they both simultaneously gave him a side eye. ‘Oh no, did they find out about me and Tenko?’ Izuku thought nervously as his face paled at the pressure they were giving off. Then they whispered something to each other that he couldn’t hear properly. Their whispering caused him to become even more nervous, and now he was practically shaking.
–Hey, Bakugou. We should keep an eye on him from a distance because he might be associated with villains..–
–Whatever, Icyhot.–
They stopped their whispering and looked back at Izuku. “It’s nothing.” Todoroki said flatly. Bakugou clicked his tongue and looked away. Izuku was then called over by his other classmates to have a heated argument over who gets to sit in the back of the bus.
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The bus ride was a bit long, but that didn’t matter to Izuku. He just texted Shigaraki the whole time as Uraraka and Todoroki peeked over his shoulder. For some reason, they were both very adamant over finding out who he was texting with such an enamored grin.
“Why are you both looking at me like that..” Izuku asked, narrowing his eyes at his nosey friends peering over at his phone. “Our little Izuku-kun finally got a girlfriend?~” Mina squealed, popping up in front of Izuku and slowly lowering his phone, staring right into his eyes with a mischievous grin. “What? It’s not like that!” Izuku protested, pulling his phone away and quickly shielding it from their view.
The bus suddenly became quiet and others started to turn their heads to look at all the commotion in the back of the bus. “Yeah, sure~! So, who’s the lucky girl?” Mina asked, beaming. Uraraka looked beyond devastated. “D-deku? You.. have a girlfriend?” She asked, gritting her teeth. “Huh? Mido-bro has a girlfriend?” More of his classmates began to ask questions about his so-called girlfriend.
“Let’s let Midoriya explain himself before we jump to conclusions.” Todoroki stated calmly, trying to lower the pressure on his friend. Bakugou looked irritated at the thought of Izuku getting a girlfriend before him. “Guys, it’s nothing like that! It’s just..” Izuku started before he realized: ‘What exactly am I supposed to tell them?’ He took a minute to think of a response, which didn’t help his case. His classmates just got even more suspicious at the time he was taking and thought Izuku was just making up an excuse.
“Let’s leave him alone guys,” Kirishima said, trying to calm down the ruckus. Mina pouted at his words and Uraraka looked a bit embarrassed. “Sorry..” they all apologized in unison.
“Maybe it’s a secret boyfriend! ” Mina began to gossip with Kaminari when she sat back down in her seat. ‘I heard that..’ Izuku sighed, then he pulled out his phone again. ‘This is going to be a long trip.’