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They won’t be seeing each other for three months.
They’re assigned to different missions over the summer: Izuku will be helping with disaster relief, scouring the debris of an earthquake-racked skyscraper for survivors, stabilizing the remnants of the building, and putting out leftover fires in the area. It shouldn’t take long, if the situation doesn’t worsen from how it currently is, but after that he’ll be doing an internship with Miruko to work on fighting with his legs and further develop his Shoot Style for the rest of the summer.
Todoroki, meanwhile, is traveling around Japan for his own internship, and then at the summer’s end he’ll be working with heroes on some top-secret Yakuza takedown operation in some undisclosed location—and the fact that Izuku isn’t allowed to know does nothing for his anxiety.
Not knowing where Todoroki is means he can’t rush to his friend’s side if he’s in danger.
Not being where Todoroki is… means that he might not ever see his friend in person again.
He’s fully aware that his fears are largely unfounded—Todoroki is more than capable of taking care of himself, and besides, he’s going to have plenty of heroes at his side. And he recognizes the ludicrousness of becoming anxious over such a thing—it’s plenty common in the life of a hero, after all, to be sent on a different mission than your classmates and friends.
Yet… getting seriously, even fatally injured… is not uncommon either, Izuku knows.
It’s irrational, but he hates that it’s also so, so possible.
~
At the bus stand where Izuku’s seeing Todoroki off, his friend seems to sense his unease, though neither of them say a word, simply standing side-by-side, shoulders barely brushing, silent.
Suddenly, a rumble announces that the bus has arrived, and suddenly time is moving all too quickly. And then Todoroki picks up his bags and turns to Izuku, smiling slightly.
“Goodbye, Todoroki,” is all Izuku can manage. There’s so much more he wants to say, yet not enough time, and he can’t find the right words to do so even if there was. “I… hope everything goes well. Stay safe, please.”
In a rare moment of displayed emotion, his friend’s expression softens. “Don’t say goodbye; say we’ll meet again on the other side.”
The deeper meaning goes unsaid, but Izuku understands what Todoroki is telling him: fret not, and trust that we’re both strong enough to emerge from this.
“All right,” he agrees. “I’ll see you again at the summer’s end. Maybe even before. And we’ll exchange texts and video-call, too.”
Todoroki nods simply. “Of course.”
With that, the fire-and-ice user turns, waves, and walks away into one of the cars of the waiting train.
~
The earthquake disaster relief mission goes as well as can be, with minimal casualties — thank goodness for the building’s extremely efficient evacuation system — and injuries that aren’t horrible. For the first three-and-half weeks, Izuku spends his days combing through the wreckage, helping stabilize unsteady structures and scouring the debris for survivors. At a few points, he receives an impromptu lesson in first-aid, learning how to treat a specific type of injury or deal with a civilian in a particular condition.
Finally, when the rubble has been sifted through and turned over again and again, and all missing persons accounted for, Gang Orca, the hero in charge of the operation, thanks Izuku and sends him on his way.
His internship begins the day after, one day having been allocated for travelling and unpacking in his room in Miruko’s agency building. Of course, the first thing he does after settling down sufficiently is to send a text to Todoroki, but the dual-haired boy must be busy because Izuku doesn’t receive a reply until the evening.
Midoriya Izuku (3:45 p.m.)
How are you doing?
Todoroki Shouto (7:58 p.m.)
As well as can be when interning with a flaming dirtbag. How are things on your end?
Midoriya Izuku (7:59 p.m.)
Pretty good! I finished unpacking already :D
[attachment: myroom.png]
They go back and forth, exchanging tidbits about their day, until Izuku finally suggests a video call. It’s nice to see Todoroki’s face, especially since Izuku hasn’t seen any of his friends since the summer started. All too soon, however, it’s time for lights-out (who would have known that Miruko, of all people, enforced anything resembling a normal sleep schedule), and Izuku regretfully has to close the call.
“Bye, Todoroki, I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he tells his friend before signing off. Then he flips the switch and the room is blanketed in darkness.
The next day, though, Izuku’s busy with training and patrols, and in the evening he and a group of sidekicks embark on a robbery investigation. By the time he gets back to his room, it’s nearly 9:30 already, and none of his calls to Todoroki seem to be going through—the other boy’s likely being kept busy by his father as well.
Over the course of the next month, they each take turns leaving messages that are answered many hours later by the other, and they only manage to call a few times between all the patrols and training and missions and travelling, but for the most part Izuku’s glad he can still hear his friend’s voice, hear that he’s okay.
But soon enough, Todoroki’s internship is over, and he has to leave again for his secret operation. They can’t text or talk or see each other for six weeks.
And just like that, Izuku’s worries gradually return, his anxiety growing ever greater day by day. But worrying isn’t going to change anything that might potentially happen, so he does his best to trust Todoroki, and to simply hope. It’s all he can do from here.
~
For the past few days, Miruko’s been acting strangely around him, often trailing off mid-sentence or watching him thoughtfully, head tilted, or sometimes abruptly rearranging his work schedule. For whatever reason, he’s recently been doing a lot more of both physical training sessions and control room work. Izuku’s not sure exactly what happened, and he definitely doesn’t expect it to culminate in:
“Midoriya. Pack your bags.”
That’s how Miruko greets him one morning, earlier than they usually train or start the day, just as Izuku’s headed down to the canteen for breakfast. He’s glad he’s not in the middle of eating, otherwise he’d probably be choking in shock on his bite of food. As it is, he barely stops himself from tripping over his own feet as he comes to an abrupt stop and spins around to face the hero.
“Wh-what?” He squeaks. “Is something wrong?”
“You’re going to Shizuoka,” Miruko responds simply.
“Why…?” Izuku starts to ask, but trails off at the look in her eyes. “I’ll go get ready immediately.”
“Be down by eight thirty. You’ve got a train to catch.”
From there, everything moves quickly. Izuku haphazardly tosses the few possessions he’d brought for the internship into his singular suitcase, taking care to ensure that his hero costume is easily accessible near the top, then returns downstairs to find Miruko waiting impatiently. From there, the two of them board a taxi headed to the station. They bypass most of the unnecessary security when Miruko flashes her license along with an important-looking document that Izuku doesn’t get a chance to see clearly but only adds to his mounting curiosity and concern.
What could be so urgent?
When they board the train and finally take what seems to be the first breath they’ve consciously taken so far, Izuku has a quick moment of respite before Miruko pulls out the folder containing the papers from earlier and slides them across the table in their private compartment.
“Read. Don’t speak.”
Obediently, Izuku leans over the table to peer at the documents inside. His eyes are drawn first to the huge swathes of black—much of the specifics has been redacted, obviously—and then bit by but, he begins to piece together an image that he really doesn’t like.
And one that’s looking oddly familiar.
Something something [redacted], [redacted], Yakuza, [redacted], final takedown operation occurs at [redacted]…
It’s some kind of top-secret Yakuza takedown.
A feeling starts building in Izuku’s gut.
When they arrive at the agency, it’s a whirl of events as they’re whisked from one briefing to another, presented with so many pieces of information that Izuku loses count within the first hour, and then finally led to a command room that makes Izuku want to fanboy over technology and data analytics and everything. On one wall of the room is a huge screen with bright green dots tracking the position of every currently known and tagged Yakuza member, complete with personal information, associations, and past actions at the click of a mouse. Not only that, but to another side there’s a monitor predicting their next step based on precedent and likelihood of the dots’ motions.
“This is where you’ll be working for quite a bit of time,” their guide tells Izuku. “You’ve been assigned to analytics and planning. You’ll be helping the rest of the analyst team by providing a hero perspective, but you’ll also have the chance to contribute your thoughts before the plan reaches the other heroes. And you’ll be moving between the two groups frequently as well.”
Taking it all in, Izuku nods, slightly too overwhelmed to do anything else.
A card is pressed into his hands. “Let me know if issues arise.”
~
He acclimates into his new routine fairly easily. The analysis, of course, comes naturally, although the fancy instruments take some getting used to. And it does feel strange to be telling the heroes what to do. But the rest of the team seems welcoming, and they even invite him to eat lunch with them!
And yet, Izuku can’t help but wish he could tell one of his friends about the situation…
The best option would be Todoroki, because he’s on a mission eerily similar (Izuku hopes that it’s the same one). Yet he can’t call Todoroki because of the classified nature of the mission, on the off chance that it is just pure coincidence. A few days later, though Izuku’s hunch that they’re working on the same thing is proven correct when he catches a glimpse of the fire-and-ice user walking through a hallway, his head lowered, deep in conversation with another intern. It’s nice to actually know that they’re in such close proximity after almost a whole summer, although they don’t actually meet face-to-face until a briefing that occurs three days before the scheduled date for the final operation. That night, after everyone else is done for the day, they meet in the cafeteria to catch up and share their worries.
They start out discussing small, silly things like the food, the rooms, the interesting Quirks of the other interns, and they gradually fall back into an easy rhythm that has Izuku feeling more relaxed than he’d been for the last few weeks. But their conversation soon takes on a more serious note.
“I was scared, for a while,” Izuku admits to Todoroki. “Knowing that you were somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get to you in time if something went wrong…”
He laughs, slightly self-deprecating. “I know. You’re perfectly capable- even more so than me. It’s not like there’s something only I can do; it’s not like my help would make the biggest difference in the world.”
Todoroki places a hand over Izuku’s. “Please. Midoriya, you’re one of the strongest people I know. Your intelligence, your willpower, your heroic heart, are unmatched. I would be happy to have you with me.”
“Well… that’s how it turned out eventually, right?” Izuku asks, smiling softly. “‘Say we’ll meet again on the other side.’ And we did.”
“Yes,” Todoroki responds simply. “For that, I’m thankful.” His lips quirk into a smile as well. “I’m very glad I’m going to be fighting on your side. You make a terrifying opponent, after all.”
“Hey!”