Work Text:
“Hey guys! Guys, look at this!” Kaminari’s loud cackling from his sprawled out spot under the tree draws the attention of the rest of the various class 2-A members. Mina –who’s squished between the loud blond and Shouji– leans over his shoulder to pear at his phone, gaining an equally mischievous sparkle to her eyes.
“Midori, check this out!” The greenette blinks owlishly at the device that Kaminari shoves in his face.
“Is, is that a meme? Of me and Todoroki?”
“You betcha!” She snatches the device out of Kaminaris hands and, subsequently, Izuku's face, scrolling through the phone and turning it so the rest of her classmates can see. “There are loads of ‘em, look at the difference!”
It's a meme of Izuku and Todoroki from last year's sports festival versus this year’s sports festival –the one that happened two days ago– specifically noting the state between the years.
Sero gives a low whistle, popping a crisp into his mouth, “Wow, who knew a year could make such a difference.”
“Tch, ya think soy sauce? Bastards didn't even face each other this time round” Kacchan rolls his eyes and Izuku pouts.
“I wasn’t that bad last time.” He protested.
Izuku receives twenty blank stars in response.
“Midoriya, you shattered fifty-six bones just because you wanted me to stop being stubborn.” Todoroki deadpans.
“B-but, ahh-I, umm…”
“Exactly, you have no defense.” Izuku crosses his arms with a huff, but stays quiet.
“Why was Midoriya trying to make you change your ways? We all know that's an impossible task.” Shinsou drawls, raising an eyebrow at Todoroki.
Todorokis makes no changes in his expression “He was using his fourth quirk to make me use my fire.”
“Todoroki, I've told you before, I only have two quir-”
“Super Strength,” Todoroki interrupts Izuku, “Black Wip, Danger Magnet and your Inspiration quirk.” the half and half student lists on his fingers one by one, with all the seriousness that's accustomed with one of Todorki’s unwavering beliefs.
Izuku sputters, trying to ignore Uraraka and Hagakure’s loud guffaws next to him. “Th-that's not true! I do not have an inspiration quirk! That doesn't even make any sense!
“Yes it does!”
“If that was a quirk, you definitely have it.”
“Don't even deny it man, that’s just denial.”
Izuku glares at his traitorous friends, “And I can't help that I always run into problems.”
“Yes, because you don't run into problems, you attract them with your danger magnet quirk. That you most defiantly have.” Shinsou’s voice matched with the grin stretched across his lips, leaving no room for correction or argument. Izuku slumps, releasing it’s ultimately useless to argue. They've been going round and round on this same argument for the past few months now, and, much like Todoroki’s unwavering theories of Izuku being All Mights secret love child, Izuku has yet to convince his classmates otherwise.
“Ignore that, dude. Why was he using his persuasion quirk to get you to use your fire?”
“That was the first time we saw Todoroki use his flames.” Ojiro muses.
Tsu finishes off her milk carton, putting a finger on her chin, “What did you say to Todoroki-chan,kero? We couldn't hear anything from the stands.”
Izuku looks at Todoroki wryly. He may use his fire freely now, without the false ties that bound him to his father for so many years, but it doesn't mean he wants the words of a rather emotionally taxing and private conversation they had over a year ago to be exposed to their classmates.
But once again,Todoroki manages to surprise him.
“Midoriya told me –and I quote– ‘it's your power, your quirk, not his.’ And by ‘his’, Midoriya was of course referring to my bastard, dumpster fire of a sperm donor. Then I burst into flames.” The features of Todoroki’s face don't change, except for the slight twitch of the corners of the bi-haired boy’s lips, making his amusement clear to Izuku.
“The fuck else would he be refering to, you half n’ half basterd?! And you,“ Kacchan points a finger at Izuku, “can you stop being so motivational and shit all the time? It pisses me off.”
“Bakugou… that was last year.”
“Doesn’t matter, the nerd’s too positive, it’s doing my head in.”
“Calm down Bakubro. Man, Midobro, that's so totally manly to say that! It’s such a cool catchphrase too, ‘it's your power!’” Kirishima repeats loudly, Izuku might be mistaken, but he's pretty sure he can see the redhead’s eyes glistening.
“I mean, I’m not surprised, who can say no to that freakled face?”
Izuku can feel his cheeks heating up as his arms wave uselessly around his face. “Please guys, can we stop talking about this and finish eating lun- let's talk about Mina! That move you did in the final round with your new acid drops? So cool! I wonder if you could alter them to…”
The rest of class 2-A watch on in fond amusement (or tolerable exacerbation in a certain spiky blond’s case) as the resident green bean dissolves into indecipherable mutters on the happenings of their past festivals, others joining in and enjoying their lunch.
Little did they know the impending chaos that would ensue from a simple conversation, and the drain on their pockets from the amount of headache medication and coffee they would have to purchase in order to bargain for their lives.
Somewhere in a dark corner, slouched in a garish yellow sleeping bag Aizawa Shouta crakes a single eye open and squints, with a building sense of impending doom.
“They're up to something.”
“Okay! Okay, okay, okay, okay! Not good! So, so not good! Oh kami, I am totally freaking out I- ughk! Did you just slap me?!”
“PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER MAN!” Kirishima grabs Denki by the collar of his hero uniform as his eyes give a piercing stare straight into betrayed puppy eyes, Kaminari still cupping his readdining cheek. “This is so not manly!”
“We shouldn't’ve made a bet with Kacchan, if we lose I'm done for! I won't survive that dude!”
“Listen to me! I don't want to have to clean Bakobro’s toilet with my tongue either, but if we don't focus, it’s a guaranteed death! So shape up and lead our teammates- you guys don't want us to die do you?!!”
Kirishima turns to his three other comrades at war, an imploring expression pleading his case.
Todoroki, Aoyama, and Satou blink back at the scene before them. Aoyama is the first to snap out of it, spinning around and raising an arm. “But of course, mon ami! I would never let my fellow heroes be reduced to such atroce manifestations d'humiliation! That would not be sparkling at all!” He winks, and Denki thinks he might have grateful tears in his eyes because it looks like Aoyama really is sparkling.
Satou pumps his fists together, “I can't let our team leader fall to such a low, I'm here for you!”
He and Kirishima give their best impression of puppy eyes and Todoroki nods once. And that's all they need to know that they have a chance.
“Okay,” Denki pops up, stroking his chin like he could actually grow a beard. “We need a plan, right? We're up against Hagakure, Tokoyami, Shouji, Jirou, and-” he swallows,” Bakugou.”
Denki points to Satou. “What is our goal here?”
“To get the flag.”
“And…?”
“Protect our shiny white flag, mon bon monsieur!” Aoyama flips his hair over his shoulder.
“Right right,” the electric user starts to pace their back alley hideaway, “And we already lost our own, so we need to get that back and steal theirs in the next, like, ten minutes.
“You're the one who lost the flag.” Todoroki points out.
“That is not the point Todoroki, this is war! We have to take it seriously, my dignity is at stake here!”
“I think you lost that a long time ago man, sorry to break it to you.” Kirishima puts a hand on Denki’s shoulder, closing his eyes solemnly, “we all have.”
Denki steels himself once more to question Kirishima, he will not take this lying down! “Who are our biggest threats?”
“Our biggest threat is… everyone?”
“Yes!” Denki whirls around, “All of them are a threat, but we can counteract them if we think of a plan!”
“And you have a plan?”
“Uh, no. Give me a minute,” Denki’s face scrunches up slightly, he resumes his pacing, a distant explosion acting as a quiet ambiance in the side alley. It's quiet for a solid minute, then he stills, eyes bulging, and he smacks his fist into the palm of his other hand. “I’ve got it! Okay, here's what we’re going to do…”
Eight minutes later finds Denki on Satou’s shoulders, running away from a gigantified Dark Shadow, a flag tied to his head like a ninja headband, shouting a battle cry in the wake of his peril.
They turn, skidding in the dirt, Denki grabbing onto a low metal bar and hoisting himself onto the iron structure; Satou joins Aoyama, taking up a fighting stance, circling Jirou and Shouji.
He can hear Bakugou reach the tower and, when he glances over, can see he's got Kirishima in a headlock, with Todoroki going head to head against Tokoyami. If Denki wasn't trying to avoid explosions and the promise of painful and imminent death, he would marvel at the sight of clashing power.
Denki scans the ground below him but notes, or in this case doesn’t note, Hagakure. He has no clue where she is and that's a problem. Denki drops down onto Jirou as she lunges for Aoyama, simultaneously trying to come up with a way to fix this, to get Hagakure to show her sneaky self. Denki’s sure she's here somewhere, if the random metal poles that seem to come flying from nowhere indicate anything. He chops down on the side of Jirou’s neck with an electrified karate chop, feeling giddy when she drops like a rock, then he gets an idea. “Aoyama, Todoroki, swap!” He shouts as he turns to avoid a swing from Shouji, nearly tripping on Satou as he jumps backwards. He feels an invisible blow from Hagakure, but it’s gone just as suddenly as it came, confirming that the girl was close by, Denki just needs to find her.
Right. Not hard to find an invisible person, not at all.
Todoroki and Aoyama swap, the sparkling hero being a surprisingly good counter to the sentient shadow, and Todoroki helping Satou, throwing a ball of fire towards Bakugou.
“Alright Todoroki, ice it up,” Todoroki stomps his foot and all of the members of their team jump at the same time, avoiding the ice slick. All except for Denki, who’s a fraction of a second off, getting trapped in the ice. It's not part of Denki’s plan, but it’s fine, the plan will still work. Denki isn't freaking out. Shouji and Tokoyami both get trapped in the ice, and, just like he was hoping, so does Hagakure, who was trapped only a few steps away from him.
But it won't hold them long.
Satou gets thrown into a beam, Denki sees Bakugou pinning Kirishima by the arms, and there's seconds on the clock.
Denki realizes it's now or never.
Kirishima and Kaminari make eye contact, this was the part of the plan that they hadn't told the others to make it as impactful as possible. Denki really hopes his hunch is right, he needs this to work or he can say goodbye to his tongue.
“TODOROKI! IT’S YOUR POWER!”
Denki and Kirishima yell at the same time, and, just like he was hoping, the reaction is instantaneous and the distraction is, well, distracting. All heads turn to the sudden inferno and the mildly confused but equally in awe reaction of Todoroki. The combustion at the initial reaction and proclamation of his quirk is sudden and, almost like pressing a button, it’s instinctual. Denki has observed this tends to be the case when it comes to Midoriya starting something with Todoroki.
It’s probably a quirk.
In that moment, Denki lets off a big jolt of electricity. Not enough to make him go stupid, but more than enough to get the opposite team that's trapped in the now slick ice –or in Bakugou's case wrestling on the ground in an icy puddle of water– incapacitated and or knocked out. His team, who all have shoes on and have stepped away from the icey sections (or in Kirishima’s case, also wrestling in an icy puddle with Bakugou; a willing victim for the greater good. They were all thankful for his sacrifice.) are mostly fine.
Denki stares in shock for a moment at the scattering of bodies around him, breathing heavily and buzzing with the remnants of his quirk. Aoyama strides over from the crimped, sparkle-covered form of Tokoyami and Dark Shadow to sweeps of the enemy's flag from Bakugou; waving it as the speakers go off announcing the end of the timer and them as winners and solidifying that his convoluted plan had worked.
They had won.
He doesn't have to lick Bakugou’s toilet.
And he now has a great weapon of mayhem that can and will be used for evil.
It may be Todorki’s quirk, but it's not just Todoroki’s power anymore. Maybe. Sorta.
There will be ramifications for this discovery.
Uraraka turns to pout at Mina from where they had both been watching, with wide eyes, as the corrosive hole widens, dripping with melted substances and sizzling the metal of the stove top. “What are we going to do now? I need eggs with my breakfast Mina.”
“It was an accident… I was sleepy, okay?” The pinkette holds both her hands and –the now useless– frying pan behind her back, giving an innocent smile. “We can just find something else to eat.”
Uraraka pouts further, but resigns herself to a tasteless breakfast before homeroom.
“What happened to the stove?”
Both girls jump at the sound of a deep, monotone voice, spinning on their heels to face Todoroki. He's one of the few people downstairs at the moment, everyone else having either already had food and now finishing up getting ready for school, or some of the early risers like Iida, Bakugou, and Momo having made their way to class before most others.
Mina lifts a pink eyebrow at Todoroki, usually he would be one of the ones to leave fairly early in the morning but, instead, he’s half dressed in just his uniform trousers and a vest; lacking the rest of his uniform. She can’t stifle the snort that escapes when she notices his state, despite his missing shirt he still has his tie around his neck knotted perfectly as always.
“You’re usually gone by now Todoroki, what’s up?” Uraraka asks.
“Sero spilled water on my shirt. I had to use the dryer, just waiting in the meantime.”
“Dude, I said I was sorry!” Sero calls as he walks up to the three of them, resting an elbow on Todoroki’s shoulder. The bi-colored hair boy just rolls his eyes, which is about as emotive as he will get when showing his amusement.
“This is great and all, but I still need breakfast!” Uraraka wines, passionately glaring at Mina again. “You owe me bacon!”
“Well it’s gonna have to wait, ‘raka. Clearly my quirk had other ideas.” Mina flaps her hands around the still bubbly, steaming mess of mangled stove top, “And I’m not going to get detention for trying to use a broken appliance and catching the room on fire. Again!”
The last part was said with emphasis and a raised voice directed to Kaminari, who has his face stuffed full of cereal, milk dripping down his chin. The tired blond simply blinks back, still trying to drag himself from the clutches of sleep.
Sero examines the stove, eyes moving to Mina, Uraraka and then lastly to Todoroki, before a metaphorical lightbulb blinks above his head. “Hey Mina, you remember that thing we were talking about the other night? The one that could have potential for mass pandemonium, and general tomfoolery?”
Mina scratches her face, thinking for a moment until a smile slowly snakes its way along her features. She rubs her hands together menacingly, grabbing Todoroki by the arm and dragging him to the bar stools.
“Sit.” She instructs, and rushes over to the fridge, pulling out eggs and bacon, collecting them up in her arms and bringing them over to the three other students.
Uraraka and Todoroki share a look, but don’t say anything for the moment.
“Alright Todoroki, arms out!” He seems like he wants to ask why, but does as told, lifting both arms out, resembling a bird about to take off. Mina opens her mouth to correct him, but decides better of it.
It was funnier this way.
Before anyone can blink, both Mina and Sero have, with perfect synchronization, grabbed two eggs and cracked them onto his arm.
“Todoroki,” Mina puts both hands on either side of his cheeks, making him look at her with the most serious expression she can manage. “It’s your power.”
And just like turning on a light switch, the flames instantly erupted from his left arm, flash-frying the eggs that were about to drip off onto the floor.
Everyone jumps back, Uraraka letting out a little squeak. “What are you- why- ohh, ohh!” She lets a beaming smile take over her lips, hugging Mina. “You’re a genius!”
Todoroki just watches the dancing flames, studying the sizzling eggs as it bubbles and cooks to perfect perfection on the plains of his arm.
“Nice going man,” Sero slaps him on the back –the right side of his back, of course. “We should start calling you stove-a-roki from now on!” he jokes good naturedly, grabbing a plate and a spatula to remove the perfectly cooked eggs. Everyone stares in amazement for a solid moment, marveling at the wondrous creation they’ve just constructed.
Todoroki looks from the breakfast food, up to Uraraka, Mina, then Sero, his eyes refocusing on the steaming eggs, Mina’s about to ask if he's okay, but he talks first.
“What are you waiting for? We need bacon for all of us don’t we?”
They all look at each other before sharing massive grins and get to getting to work, spreading eggs and bacon over the hot and cold classmate, they sizzle and cook with efficient speed and before long the four of them (five after Kaminari bribes a couple pieces of bacon out of the quartet) have possibly the most homemade of all homemade breakfasts possible, and it might just be the best thing any of them have ever eaten.
And, if the classmates questioned how they managed to make enough bacon and eggs with a nonfunctioning stove, well it’s okay if they keep that a secret a little while longer, right?
They don't mention the coffee they have to buy for the stove either.
“I’m telling you, Best Jeanist is hiding the fact that he doesn’t have a mouth at all, if he did have a mouth, he’s missing all his teeth.”
“That doesn’t even make sense! Why wouldn't he have teeth?!”
“Taxes.” Shouto responds, gesturing to Kouda who’s frantically nodding in agreement. Midoriya looks like he’s about to refute, but he snaps his mouth closed releasing a huffed little breath.
Shouto will have to work on him a bit longer than.
The three classmates are walking away from the business department. Aizawa-sensei
had given them an assignment in heroic marketing and public persona, it was a collaborative assignment with the business department. That's where they were coming from now, the three heroic students having chosen to work with the same business partner.
Shouto says as silent as Midoriya rambles to Kouda about something to do with the application of flies in surveillance, the quiet boy adding comments here and there with sign. It’s much easier for Kouda to answer than it was a year ago, all of the class having learned the basics of JSL. With one student being deaf and two others selectively mute, it was not only helpful to communicate within the class circle, but an extremely applicable skill in heroics.
Shouto halts at the high-pitched squeak from next to him and turns to see Kouda, wide-eyed and staring at a small parade of spiders, five or six, that are marching up to him along the floor. There’s a low whistle that sounds, coming from up ahead. Kouda starts backing away, Shouto and Midoriya quickly step in front of him.
“Oh please, you’re not still scared of bugs after all these years, are you? How are you going to be a hero if you can’t even face a couple of creepy crawlies?” Comes a snide remark from just down the hall.
The three hero trainees look up to face a new student –a first year from the looks of it–, brown hair, spiked in a mohawk with purple and green swirl eyes, he’s got a cruel smirk on his lips as he’s focusing in on Kouda, who’s looking rather pale as the small insects get closer. Shouto narrows his eyes.
“Who are you?” It’s Modoriya that takes the first chance to deescalate the situation, to calm Kouda down. Shouta catches more spiders in his peripheral marching along the walls and coming up to their friend.
“Oh no one, just an old acquaintance of Kouji-kun’s,” The stranger coos.
Midoriya sends a questioning look to Kouda, who shakes his head rapidly and signs, ‘Old bully from middle school.’
Well, that’s just not going to do, is it. Shouto glares at the other student, now that he’s looking at him, Shouto’s sure he’s seen him around before, usually lingering in the cafeteria when they eat lunch.
The student whistles. He whistles again, and this time the eight-legged menaces speed up, swarming speedily, heading to Shouto’s terrified classmate. Kouda’s begging again and again for the insects to hold on the siege, but it doesn’t work.
And the reason why it doesn’t work is because these are no ordinary spiders, the whistle pitches in tone once more, and Shouto watches in a bizarre mixture of mild disgust and morbid fascination as the creatures multiply off of his hands, growing in numbers, as the student cackles. The spiders surround all three of them, never once actually touching him, Midoriya, or Kouda, but not failing to give animal hero heart palpitations.
“Stop it.” Midoriya says seriously, “You know you can get expelled for bullying, right?”
“Not bullying if I never even touch him.” He sing-songs, smiling mockingly as he starts to walk past them. The bugs part like the red sea around his feet and he strolls through the floor of arachnids. “It will take five minutes or so for my pets to fall back. Maybe you’ll learn to face your fears in that time.” He says over his shoulder and Shouto feels a cool anger rise inside him.
He glances at Midoriya, there’s a certain look that passes over his eyes and Shouto has a feeling he knows where this is going.
“Hey Todoroki?” Midoriya starts cooly, a deadly edge to the smile that spreads on his face.
“Yes, Midoriya?”
“It’s your power.”
Like instinct, he feels the left side of his body heat up, the flame spread across the floor as if they were flood waters. A flash of fire and the bugs burn up within seconds, and a choked gasp comes from behind them. Shouto’s friends all face each other and then the other boy; his eyes are wide and he’s gasping, one of his hands grasping the other wrists.
“It’s not nice to scare people.” Shouto says with narrowed eyes.
“I think you’ll find, if you look in section thirty-six B, paragraph four, of the U.A. rules and regulations, you'd see some very interesting points on bullying.” Midoriya’s voice is calm to start, then drops suddenly. “I’m sure the principal would love to have a little chat with you.” His smile is far too bright to be matched with his tone, a smile that shouldn't be able to send shivers down the spine of so many people at once.
Just like magic, but is probably just the constant surveillance and the fact that Midoriya is of course, one of Nedzu’s personal students, there’s a chime on the intercom system.
“Takemoto Yori, please make your way to my office immediately!” A voice says, just as chipper as ever, though Shouto thinks it’s probably more sadistic than it sounds.
Takemoto, apparently, snaps his mouth shut from where it was hanging off its hinges as he shakily makes his way past Shouto and his classmates, headed in the direction of the principal’s office.
Shouto can’t say he feels too bad for him.
“Are you okay?” Shouto asks Kouda.
‘I will be. Thank you.’ Kouda signs, looking immensely relieved now that the spiders are gone. And once again, they begin their trek back to class.
Shouto stares at his hand, this has been a new development –the whole ‘it’s your power’ thing. After it had been brought up at lunch that one time, slowly but surely his classmates have increased the use of the phrase.
It started as a joke, but now it has become a class-wide code for encouragement. Or the need for fire.
Depends on the context.
In the beginning, the first few times it was called out, Shouto really had –somehow, someway– unwillingly, unthinkingly burst into flames. It just happened so suddenly, like the first time the words had ever been uttered to Shouto by Midoriya.
Like in that training exercise, so unexpectedly, he hadn’t even thought before his body had instinctually lit up like a candle, and since then Shouto’s realized that he rather enjoys watching the surprise and excitement that lights up in his friend’s eyes when he uses his fire.
Shouto doesn’t know why he does it, but he has a feeling it’s linked to the significance of the first time he ever used his power for himself.
Or he’s more inclined to chasing anarchy than he realized.
It could be either one.
“Todoroki-kun! You landed on Bakugou’s property, as such, you must pay him rent immediately!” Iida chops loudly.
“True, but he is in jail and I don’t think it would be morally right to give money to a criminal, particularly one as violent and evil as Bakugou.”
“THAT’S NOT HOW IT WORKS, YOU HALF N’ HALF BASTARD!” Bakugou screeches at the top of his lungs from behind the bars of the cardboard jail cell he currently resides in, causing Kyouka to startle and cover her ear jacks at the volume.
“Hey Sero, d’ya think we’ll go viral if we film him screaming and put it on HeroTube?”
“SHUT THE FUCK UP KAMINARI! I DON’T WANNA HEAR IT AFTER YOU STOLE MY LAST RAILROAD!”
Kyouka just stares blankly, feeling a small, withering part of herself shrivel up even more at the site of the utter pandemonium unfolding before her.
Tsu and Uraraka have bonded together, staring down Aoyama, the banker, after accusations of him swindling money for himself on the side were brought up, declaring themselves sheriff of evildoers and money sticklers.
Hagakure has been taped to the ceiling for the past three-quarters of an hour, after she was caught swapping cards when no one was looking.
Shouji is showering Mina with her reward money after passing the start square for the nth time, raining every single white one dollar note that the box contained, after her insistence. Kyouka doesn’t even want to know how they got Kaminaris sunglasses when they haven’t left the room for hours .
Tokoyami is consoling a sobbing Dark Shadow in the corner, muttering something about how ‘the darkness is all consuming, and can never be escaped in this tyrannical time,’ to his quirk.
Ignoring Midoriya’s declaration of wishing he had never been born, Kyouka turns to Shinsou. “Was this really necessary?”
“Absolutely.”
“You just wanted to cause pain didn’t you.” It’s not a question, not really. It’s a statement and both her and Shinsou know it.
“Oh calm down, you forfeited in the beginning, you have no reason to complain.”
“I one-thousand percent do.” Kyouka returns a haunted look as she watches Ojiro jumps to his feet, blaming Satou of cursing him to pay taxes on purpose, which isn't even a thing he can do.
“They needed the practice.” Is Shinsou's stupid, stupid response and Kyouka doesn’t miss the spark of pitiless joy that passes through his sadistic purple eyes. “How else are they going to fight for my worldly possessions when I’m gone?”
“And you’re really planning on writing into your will that we all have to duel in a game of monopoly, winner takes all?” Kyouka pinches the bridge of her nose.
“I’ll even say that anyone who cries during the duration of it automatically gets disqualified, and even if you quit you’re not allowed to leave the room until the game is finished. They’ll be there for days .”
Kyouka had never questioned the sanity of any of her friends. Okay, that might not be true, there was that one time with Yaomomo, or whenever Kaminari tries to use his quirk near large bodies of water. And, like, every time Midoriya has ever had a plan and- okay, that’s not the point, Kyouka questions the sanity of most of her friends on a regular basis; but Shinsou was supposed to be the calm sensible one. And she’s really missing that delusion right now.
“You’re an anarchist.”
“I’ve been told that befo-” Shinsou doesn’t get to finish his response, only just ducking as a chair comes flying past their heads, originating suspiciously from the direction where Kirishima was hardened and breathing heavily. Next to him Satou’s praying increases to speeds in which cannot be distinguished.
Midoriya slams down an Uno reverse card with far more force than necessary. Kyouka doesn’t even know why there are Uno cards being used in this cursed game of Monopoly, but the reaction is instantaneous. Yaomomo swoons back, collapsing with a cry of, “Defend my honor Todoroki! IT'S YOUR POWER!” And before anyone can escape, there’s a burst of flames. Someone throws the table with the game board, scattering the cards and chess pieces, board flying and all.
Kaminari and Kirishima share twin shrieks as they body tackle Aoyama, the sparkling boy still clutching the box of bank money, curled up in a fetal position, trying to avoid the explosions that take out one of the armchairs. It appears Bakugou has escaped prison with the help of Kouda.
Kyouka and Shinsou jump behind the sofa they were sat on to take defense against the hellfire raining down. “You’re an evil, despicable person you do know that right? And you’re gonna owe Aizawa-sensei so much coffee.”
“Oh, I know!” Kyouka swats him in the back of the head for the amount of gleeful amusement in his voice.
Kami, she’s going to spike Shinsou’s coffee with laxatives for the atrocities he’s caused today.
Izuku double checks that he has the right soy sauce and drops it into the basket, turning on his heel to make his way to the checkouts. He spots Kacchan stomping over to him a basket on his arm filled with what looks like rice and various vegetables.
“Oi Deku, you see where icy-hot fuckin’ went?”
“No, sorry Kacchan, have you tried calling him?”
“Of course I did, shithead! Bastard’s not picking up, he was supposed to wait by the eggs- this is why we can’t bring him anywhere! He wanders off like a lost, fuckin’ puppy!” Kacchan complains noisily.
Izuku bites his lip, thinking. They’re supposed to meet Aizawa-sensei in a few minutes, and he won’t appreciate them being late. “Did you check the aisle with the soba noodles?”
“Fuckin’ obviously, idiot. What do you take me for?! It was the first bloody place I checked; half n’ half just disappeared!”
Todoroki did have a tendency to wander off, but he was usually easy to locate. He found soba noodles like a moth to flames, and they’ve used that fact as a tracking device on more than one occasion.
The supermarket is crowded, busy for a Saturday afternoon and it might take them a while to locate Todoroki if he’s not picking up his phone.
Well, it's up to Izuku to find Todoroki then, isn't it?
Izuku puts his shopping basket on the floor, “I think I have an idea.” Kacchan narrows his eyes but doesn’t say anything. Izuku takes a step back making it easier to have a good view of the store’s layout, before bringing both hands up to his mouth and shouting as loudly as he can.
“IT’S YOUR POWER!”
“You idiot,” Kacchan scoffs, “nerd, that’s not going to-”
Kacchan stops when, in the distance, there’s a bright tower of flames that sprouts up above a distant isle, if only for a second.
“Yay! I knew it would work, looks like Todoroki is over by the cat litter. He must’ve found Endeavor merch again let’s-”
Izuku stops when all of a sudden, there’s a loud fire alarm that goes off and the sprinkler system activates. He and Kacchan make eye contact and take off in a sprint towards the direction of Todoroki.
Shouta glowers at his three problem children, soaked wet and headache pounding on his brain.
“This stops now.”
“What do you mean, Aizawa-sensei?” Midoriya asks innocently, and Shouta has to remember that as a teacher, –and probably a hero– it is ill-advised to throttle children.
“Ever since you lot discovered this hair trigger for Todoroki‘s quirk, I’ve lost more sleep than that time mic stayed at my flat and had to repair more property damage than should be physically possible.
“Tch, can’t be that fucking bad.”
“In the past week alone I’ve had to put out four housefires, two burning sofas, Kaminari has lost his homework six separate times to mysteriously flammable circumstances, your other classmates have started responding to the phrase and I’ve just spent well over an hour sorting out the mess you three caused in that shop, problem children.” Shouta deadpans with the most done look he can manage, which considering everything that just occurred, isn't hard to do.
“We were only trying to find Todoroki quickly.” Midoriya defends weakly.
Todoroki nods in agreement, “It worked very well.”
“It did not work very well! You set off the fire alarm and sprinklers, they called the fire department. And we had to replace fifty-six Endeavor plushies.” Shouta snaps waspishly.
Shouta’s students stay quiet and he glares witheringly at his top most problematic problem children.
“As good as the whole class has been affirming Todoroki‘s quirk status, and bonding over your collective strength, I would appreciate it if you could get a handle on the situation Todoroki.
“Yes, Sensei.”
“Good. If you people must perform destructive quirk encouragement, please do so in a training facility with a supervising teacher.
Shouta receives three grumbled ‘Yes Aizawa-sensei.’s and decides this is about as good as he's going to get.
Shouta sighs, trust his whole class to find a single thread of bedlam and pull on it until there’s nothing left but raining chaos and property damage.
(Shouta refuses to acknowledge the bribery coffee he’s received in the next day.
He will not discourage a valid bargaining technique.
That would be illogical.)
“Midoriya, what are you doing up here?” Shouto asks when he finally finds his friend seated on the roof of the U.A. dorms. The warm evening breeze ruffles Shouto’s hair as he strides up to Midoriya, the setting sun casting a tangerine glow over the two of them.
“Just thinking,” he murmurs, but his tone is distant, as he looks off into the sunset, a contemplative air about him, knees to his chest and chin resting on his arms.
Shouto wordlessly sits next to the greenette, staying quiet as they both sit in comfortable silence for several minutes.
“Do you ever feel like you want to tell someone something, but you’re not sure if you should?”
Shouto looks over at Midoriya as he breaks the silence, Shouto quirks a brow. “Sometimes, that was mostly what it felt like first year. Why?”
Midoriya hums, but doesn’t say anything else and Shouto decides to press, “What’s this about, Midoriya?”
“I think I want to tell you a secret, but I don’t know if you’d want me to tell you.” He admits, finally looking at Shouto.
“Midoriya, you have at least one free trauma dump stored up.”
“What do you mean?”
“The first time I ever properly talked to you, I spent twenty minutes recounting the details of my family trauma and declaring how I was going to beat you for stupid reasons. I didn’t even mean to, it just came out. Probably your quirk.”
Midoriya rolls his eyes “Yeah, yeah, yeah, I’m never gonna get you to give that up, am I?”
“It’s futile.” Shouto confirms.
Midoriya takes a long breath, looking to the horizon. “I’m quirkless.”
Shouto glances over questioningly. “Midoriya, you have a quirk, multiple.”
His classmate huffs, a small sorrowful smile pulling on his lips, “I haven't always.” He starts, and Midoriya begins to talk.
Shouto listens, with fascination and with a cold that builds in the pit of the stomach. He listens, as Midoriya tells him about a doctor’s visit that left him broken and crushed, staring at shattered shards of an unachievable dream.
He listens as Midoriya describes facing bullies, the constant expectations that people had for him or lack thereof. Shouto listens as Midoriya explains his hero telling him on a rooftop to be more realistic and to face reality. To give up on his dreams of being a hero and accept what fate dealt him.
Shouto listens when Midoriya recalls the way his body had moved without thinking, the way he jumped in to save Bakugou from a sludge villain who had attacked him only minutes before. And he listens as Midoriya recounts how the very same hero who told him that he didn’t think he could be a hero, offered him an impossible quirk. One that shouldn’t have existed, but one that Shoutou’s seen countless times, and his friend has used to save so many people and affect more lives than he could ever know.
When Midoriya is done, Shouto thinks back to the way –when he first met Midoriya– he couldn’t handle his quirk. It was a known fact that Midoriya had a vastly powerful quirk, one that his own body couldn’t even contain the raw energy it produced. And how, just over a year ago, Midoriya had stood on the opposite side of an arena, hands broken and screaming his lungs out, declaring Shouto’s power his own.
And when Shouto looks at his friend now, he can’t help but think of those very words, the important words spoken, that changed so much for Shouto. The ones that are oh so infamous around there class, the phrase that has become a symbol of both camaraderie and familiarity within the class, used to encourage one another and declare them capable of whatever they put their minds to.
And Shouto can’t help but think that they’re the exact words Midoriya needs to hear.
“It’s your power.” Shouto states confidently, after a long time of silence, trying to just take it all in and process everything Midoriya told him.
“W-What?” Midoriya startles, fidgeting nervously with his hands. He’d been watching Shouto cerfily, waiting for his response, Shouto supposed.
“Midoriy- no. Izuku. The whole time you were talking, you kept referring to your quirk as All Might’s quirk, or All Might’s power. But it’s not. It was All Might’s power, that he gave to you, and it’s your quirk, your powernow. Not his.
Shouto repeats the words Izuku (because after all that, it’s izuku now) had once told him, the single most important phrase that was ever said to him. The ones that changed Shouto’s life in more ways than his friend could ever imagine.
Shouto watches as tears that had been waiting to be let out of the flood gates finally fall from his eyes, washing down his cheeks and dripping off his chin.
“I-I- you- um, d-do you think?”
“Yes, Izuku. I have never been more certain of anything. All Might gave you that quirk, a quirk that was his to give, and he chose you. It became yours. You have used your power and done so much more than I think even All Might could have anticipated, and you will continue to be so much more than we will ever kno-.”
Shouto doesn’t get to finish what he’s saying, Izuku cuts him off, wrapping trembling arms around his body and squeezing him tight. He does not hesitate to return the action, grabbing his friend in a tight hug, one Shouto hopes can say how grateful he is that Izuku trusts him enough with his most precious secret.
“So does this mean you’re not his secret love child then?”
The laugh Shouto gets in return is music to his ears.